"Shutlingsloe Fell Race"

It's only 1.9 miles long but with an ascent of over 900 feet this short local village fete race deserves its reputation as one of the toughest of the summer season. Every year now for over 30 years I have rolled up and paid my money and tried to tell myself that this year it will be different, that I will run as much of the hill as I can (usually around 20%!) and that the final ascent from the river will see me pick off competitors one by one as I climb back up to Crag Hall in front of a cheering crowd. Then I wake up from my dream!

Yet again the event was part of the English Fell Championship calendar and attracted some of the best hill racers around. Won by international Simon Bailey in 15.15 (only 4 seconds off his course record), I was still coming off the top when he touched the finishing wall at Crag Hall! I managed 26.49 only 3 seconds slower than last year but despite some reasonable climbing my descent off the hill was far too cautious, and my reflexes to react to changes under my feet are definitely slowing down! It was great to have the family there though to cheer me in at the finish. Well sat on Lord Derby's lawn eating ice cream actually!

Weekly mileage 26. Annual mileage 575 (week 21)

"A Five and a Half"

Within four days of the tough Bollington Three Peaks Hill Race it was back to the same hills and trails for the Rainow 5.

A much shorter and "runnable" event it still covers over 800ft of climbing. Once again overall I had a good run of 45.30 knocking 16 seconds off last year, but my achilles heal still remains the long climbing element of the race showing a definite lack of hill work. It was also unseasonally cold.


Not so last Saturday's race, the reasonably flat and fast High Peak Swift Half run in 25c heat! Once again it was the chance to get together with the eurobloggers who make up the net running community and a good time was had by all. Despite the heat we all got round. I was looking for a really quick time for me (sub 1.33) for a change but after hitting a less than steady 70 minutes for the first 9 miles I knew it was crazy to try and hold the pace and ended up ten minutes slower than last year in 1.45.30. I was just happy to finish in one piece without too much damage.

Weekly mileage 34. Annual mileage 549

"When I'm 64......"

Its the start of May and what usually turns out to be the busiest racing month of the year so far. This year will be no exception with six races planned in over the next four weeks.

The first race was last Saturday which saw the second ever running of the Bollington Festival Three Peaks Fell Race covering the three highest points (two of them trigs) in the Bollington area and with just over 1200ft of climb for the six mile plus circuit this is always going to be one which pushes the very limits of your fitness. Although only a low key village race it still managed to attract a couple of international mountain runners!

Having had very little sleep over the days preceding the race (having worked through the night on the Thursday for the general election and then gone straight into the office the next day) it was always going to be a "run and see" what happens. I didn't have long to wait to find out! Whistling the tune to match my race number (64) over the first flat mile I hit the red line on the very first climb of the day to Kerridge Ridge which was closely followed by a rapid descent & ascent back up to White Nancy followed by a further rapid drop to the final hands on knees climb of the day up Nab Head, where on a clear day you can apparently see the Welsh mountains. All I saw was blurred vision as I dropped off the hill for the final fast two miles to the finish at the local village fete in a time of 56.02, ten seconds faster than last year but certainly in a far worse state!

The next race is a mid week return to the same hills for the Rainow 5 which hopefully is slightly quicker and runnable, we'll see!

Weekly mileage only 18. Annual mileage 485

"Out on the Gritstone Trail"

One of the great things about running is that it often only takes one good session or race and you are right back to where you want to be. This happened to me this week, where after a couple of weeks of niggling injury and low key training, a tough track session on Tuesday (including 5 x 800m with 1 minute recoveries) and Open Track meet on Wednesday did exactly that.

With the Tuesday session I held back on doing 1k's in favour of 800's in the hope that it would leave something for the following evening's Open Meet! I had intended to run the 1500 and 800 but opted for the latter only. My target for the season is a sub 2.30 so I was delighted with a 2.37 dead (off a 74 sec first 400). I finished really strongly and with some more solid speed work behind me through the summer hopefully i will get close to this time.

Yesterrday I managed a 12 miler which included several along the Gritsone Trail. Out for over two hours, this is the longest time on my feet for quite a while. On a beautifuuly mild and sunny day it was great to put the watch away and just run and I covered quite a few of the trails that I will be racing on over the next few weeks. All in all a great week of training and racing. Let's hope it continues!

Weekly mileage 30. Annual mileage 467.