Well, here we are again folks. Time for another set of ramblings from myself on my latest adventure along the Pennine Way. I’m sat fairly comfortably in my recliner chair with the cat on my lap, helping me keep warm during the current inclement weather. Here’s Harry looking rather smug and distinguished as usual.
Since my last adventure, (where I finished 3rd by the way) I have been busy in both my home life and my training, still working with my rather splendid friend and running coach, Mr Tim Pigott and generally building up for the next race.
In July of 2022, I helped my good mate Jonny Ulett on his Bob Graham round attempt. The Bob Graham round is one of the country’s most difficult fell running challenges in the Lake District. Basically, you have 24 hours to run a circular route from Keswick in the Lake District, over 42 of the highest fells, a total of 66 miles with a total of around 8200 meters of ascent! So, a nice and easy day out….🥵
It was a fantastic few hours in the Lakes as it’s such a stunning place to be and the views are amazing. I do try to get up there as much as possible for a day in the mountains, all alone as I find it’s usually a very spiritual experience and a very good mental reset.
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| It’s a bit dark here! |
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| Looks like a fluffy blanket |
Here’s a small selection of pictures that we took during our day out. As you can see, on the section I ran it was still dark and slowly but surely, the dawn broke to reveal a stunning view with the sunrise and also a cloud inversion. It’s one of the reasons why I do the stuff that I do. The views and scenery I’ve witnessed will stay with me forever and just reinforces my love for the sport.
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| I looked around me and just had to stop and admire the view |
I also spent a few days in Mallorca with a few friends on a cycling trip, yes a cycling trip! It was a fantastic weekend, the weather was mostly good and the roads were a dream to cycle on. A far cry from the Lunar landscape, potholed roads of sunny Salford. But fear not, I won’t be crossing over to the dark side of cycling or dare I say it, Triathlons. But cycling will remain a part of my training going forward as it’s very good cross training, especially as I’m not 20 years old anymore 😢
Shortly after my cycling trip, my training for the Montane Spine sprint race began in earnest. Helped out on occasion by my new trail running buddy Peggy, who is a very fast Spaniel and loves nothing more than charging around chasing her ball while I jog along. I often wonder what her Strava profile would look like and how many segments she would have? Maybe she could have her very own GPS watch to upload her days out onto Strava!? She’s a great companion and I’m sure we’ll have many more adventures together.
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| Here’s Peggy on a day out with what looks like muddy socks on |
As the weeks and months went by, I gradually increased the volume and intensity of my training sessions and spent many an hour actually training on the PW itself so by the time the race was upon me, I knew virtually every inch of the course so navigation wouldn’t be an issue on race day.
I also practiced my hydration and nutrition and what my stomach could manage per hour because to perform at a decent level during these events, you’ve got to ensure you’re taking in fuel at regular intervals. I have learned this the hard way over the years, I do like to make things difficult for myself as I like a challenge. I also got an episode of OCD about my kit and pack weight, as I wanted to be carrying as little as possible but obviously still being safe and of course carrying all the required kit. I soon discovered on my training runs that every gram counts, especially when climbing up the hills on the course. I spent lots of time, with my kit strewn all over the floor, weighing every kit option with the kitchen scales…don’t tell my wife! Yep, it got that bad. But I knew if I wanted to compete, I needed to be as light as possible. Another issue was that the race was just after Christmas, loosing a bit of weight myself was pretty much out of the question. At least I’m not a big heavy lad already, I’m usually hovering around the 67 kg mark so not too bad to start with.
By the beginning of January, I was feeling very fit and once again, quietly confident. Tim Pigott had worked his magic once again. I had set my sights on a win for this race and anything less than a podium finish would be a failure. I know that may sound a bit big headed, but after all the hard work I had put in during my training plus all my experience on the course itself, I thought why not? Why not aim high? The last week or so before the race, I was easing off the training. I’d completed a final long run of 34 miles from Edale to the M62 with a full kit test and race simulation. I was very pleased with the time it took me to complete this run especially given the atrocious weather on that day! I felt very happy and was pleased to know that I hadn’t left any stone unturned.
The week leading up to the race was mainly spent getting nervous, as my wife will concur. Faffing about with my kit, packing and repacking several times and trying to get as much rest as possible. No matter how many times I’ve done these sort of races, it’s always the same amount of panic. I guess that it’s normal to be like that building up to an event. I did keep telling myself that as soon as I start the race, all the nerves disappear. The morning of the race was once again upon me, I was itching to go and thought “let’s go mate, it’s party time”.
The big day!
The race wasn’t scheduled to start until 12:00 midday and my suspicion is that the start time is deliberate so that we only have around four hours of daylight to make a dent in the race mileage before we’re shrouded in the deep dark depths of a Winter night on the Pennine Way. I do love running during the night though and it’s just as well because night time seems to last for about a week during Winter! I tried to stay in bed for as long as possible to get plenty of rest on the morning of the race, however I was awake fairly early so I made sure I had a bit of brekkie and did some final kit faff.
I was also regularly checking the weather forecasts but then remembered that no matter how much I checked it, the forecast won’t change. Just deal with the weather Andy! As I approached the steep road into Edale, I could see that the hill tops and where the race was heading was covered in mist…looks rather Spiney I thought. Then, the butterflies once again as usual, emerged to tickle my stomach. But i was feeling good and confident, I had trained hard so I just wanted to get going. I joined the queue for kit check and race registration with all my kit in my trusty IKEA bag, this saves you having to unpack your race vest that’s all neatly packed in order to have it all checked. One or two other racers were looking rather stressed and flustered because they made the mistake of not using the trusty IKEA bag (other rather annoying furniture shops with crap assembly instructions are available) this gave me a calming air of satisfaction and the slightly over exaggerated image that I knew what I’m doing! “ I say, he must be a professional” they must have been thinking…or not. Perhaps instead I looked like a right nipplehead drifting into kit check with a big blue bag in my hands?
Behold, the IKEA bag!
I completed all the formalities, received my race number, listened to the race briefing, finally put all my kit together and of course pissed about trying to pin my race number to my pack in a suitable spot, straight and without pinning one of my fingers to my pack in the process. Oh yeah and I must have put nearly a whole stick of anti chafe rub on my nethers to keep the John Wayne stride at bay. Nowt worse than chafed nethers.
As we all assembled on the start line, it started to rain a bit. It had been raining heavily earlier in the day for the start of the Challenger race and I was glad we didn’t start early. It was actually fairly mild for the time of the year, a bit dull and grey but pretty good conditions really…how that was to change later on!
I said my hellos to a few people and my new mate Jon Shield as we toed the front of the start line. The countdown began 3.2.1 and we were off!
There’s me in black on the left next to Jon Shield
I set off at pace at the front with Jon and a couple of others as I didn’t want to get stuck in any bottle necks going through Edale and the narrow path out of the village and onto the Pennine Way proper. Not too fast though as I had a race plan to stick to and wanted to keep my heart rate and effort level under control as we had 45 miles of mud to tackle and if you red line it, you could be in trouble. As we got onto the PW and the short uphill field section at the beginning, Jon and another young lad began to slowly pull away from me and I was in 3rd place. But I thought, let them go if they’re faster. They’re either quicker than me or at least one of them would blow up having gone out too fast too early. I always remind myself of what Eoin Keith, a true Spine Race legend once said in his blogs. Just run your own race and take it steady, don’t worry about what others are doing. Control the things you can control Andy, I thought.
I was however quite pleased to see 4th place some distance behind me when I took a cheeky look at a kissing gate. As I summited the slope after the farmers fields, I knew I could speed up a bit without much effort and let gravity do it’s thing on the steep decent on the other side which stretched the distance between me and 4th place even further. I wasn’t too far from 2nd and 1st places either so I just began to settle down and do my thing. Making sure I’m moving well and relaxing, occasionally taking a sip of my drink and a quick nibble of an energy bar as I knew that the first big climb of the race was looming large, as we approached the foot of the hill, I readied my trekking poles which would help me propel myself up the hill as quickly as possible while again, not going too hard.
Ascending Jacobs Ladder, we were pretty spaced out by now and I could see Jon in 1st place nearly at the summit of the first steep bit of the climb. The wind was picking up now that we were out of the valley but I was nice and warm and was glad of my layering choice. As I eventually reached the very top of the climb, I knew that there was a good runnable few miles on Kinder Plateau so I settled my heart rate and jogged along at a manageable pace while enjoying the cracking views to my left. Kinder Downfall was flowing upwards as usual due to the strength of the wind rushing up the valley and was spraying me with cold water as I crossed the stream. Quite refreshing actually but a highly amusing spectacle all the same. I remember passing this point a few weeks earlier in the ice and snow and I noticed some guys ice climbing the waterfall…balls to that, I thought!
I ticked nicely along the footpath and felt good, passing a camera man at the side of the trail, I waved my bag of Hula Hoops that I was eating. I swear by them and always have a bag to hand when I’m doing stupid stuff like this. It’s always important to keep topped up with food and drink while endurance running so you don’t run out of gas. Well, that’s my excuse for stuffing my face and I’m sticking with it! The first intermediate checkpoint at the road crossing on Snake Pass soon arrived. I didn’t hang around though and crossed the road carefully, then headed up towards Bleaklow.
I knew this section well and took it steady going up the gradual muddy path slope, occasionally using my poles to go easy on my legs. Still moving well though and I took one of my Mountain Fuel gel pocket rockets to give me even more help for the climb. It was tough going further up the path as it got very muddy and hard on my legs, the one good thing about this section is that you are in a little valley which keeps you sheltered from the elements. I couldn’t see any of the other racers now, neither in front or behind. Until I went round a corner and saw the second place lad right in front of me…had he took a wrong turning or something, maybe he’s injured? He was moving very slowly and as I passed him, I asked if he was ok? He said he was having bad stomach issues, so maybe he did set off too fast? My earlier suspicions were validated and I pushed on, I looked around soon after and he had gone. I later learned that he had turned around and headed back to Snake Pass to DNF. I was now in 2nd place and feeling good still, I couldn’t see Jon and didn’t really expect to see him again so I just got my head down and pushed on. There was still a long way to go and anything could happen. If I saw an opportunity to catch him up, I would but I wasn’t going to do anything stupid. That’s definitely one of my strengths in these events, I’ve got a tonne of experience to draw on, mostly learned the hard way!
When I finally reached the next summit cairn, I got back into a decent pace as the next couple of miles to Torside Reservoir are flat and then downhill. As I ran along, I enjoyed the view and occasionally looked behind me. I was pleased to see that I was still on my own. The only trouble was that I was beginning to get cramps in my legs, feckin hell not this early? It was very surprising to get cramps after only about 14 miles. I wasn’t pushing too hard, I was eating and drinking and apart from that, I felt fine. I guess looking back it must have been down to the very muddy boggy terrain that we were running along. It does require a bit of extra effort when the ground is so uneven and soft. As I descended the steep hill into Torside, I was mindful of the cramps so I took it steady to the bottom and crossed the main road and headed along the path next to the Reservoir, stopping briefly at the Mountain Rescue point to say hi and fill up my water bottles. The Mountain Rescue guys do a fantastic job looking after us lunatics and keeping us safe. I’ve got enormous respect for them and I’ll always be grateful to them for taking care of me when I was in the shit during a race a few years ago.
I ran across the path on the Dam wall and started to climb the set of steps on the other side, when both my legs seized up with cramp in the adductor muscles on the inside of both thighs. I had to stop for a few minutes, feckin agony! I got pretty worried about the race and whether I would finish given the 30 odd miles I had left to run. While I was recovering, another racer caught me up, where did he come from? He must have been flying at some pace! We chatted briefly and I moaned about my cramp and as we started the initial climb out of Torside towards Black Hill, he pushed on and I was back in 3rd place. I wasn’t too bothered to be honest as I was more worried about keeping another cramp attack at bay. It was very frustrating as I still felt good and strong, but the spectre of cramp had other ideas and tempered my pace somewhat. On the steep climb up to Laddow Rocks, I once again got my poles out to assist my efforts. The lad that over took me was already a good distance ahead but I was still relieved to look behind to learn that 4th place was nowhere to be seen. I took it very steady on the climb as I was still very mindful of the cramp and I knew it was a decent slog to the top, I stopped briefly at a fast flowing stream near the summit to refill my bottles. I knew that this water stop would be available as I knew the area very well and I’ve used it many times without any issues, one of the many benefits of knowing the actual route that the race takes. One tip I will give you is run the race route as much as possible. Get to know every twist, turn and water stop as come race day, you won’t need to worry about navigation even in crap weather in the dark. In fact, this was the point a few months ago, where a very brave Grouse confronted me and gave me a right telling off for being in his territory. Stood on the path right in front of me if you please! I didn’t realise that they were so territorial, a right ballsy little swine! It then proceeded to chase me for a bit along the trail in order to see me off.
I took a good swig of the fresh cold water, refilled my bottles and moved on. The words of my coach were ringing in my ears, “keep moving forward, do everything on the move”. The next few miles up towards Black Hill summit were muddy and again, hard going until I got to the paved section on the final bit to the summit. I had to cross a stream which by now was rather deep and running very fast, if I slipped and fell into that, it would be a good case of hypothermia and game over. I managed to cross safely and continued onwards. Going up the final bit near the summit of Black Hill, I began to see head torches up ahead as by now, it had got dark. As I drew nearer, I realised it must be the back markers of the Challenger race that had set off earlier in the morning. As I passed, I said my hellos, summited the hill passing the white stone summit cairn and began the decent towards Wessenden.
Before the road crossing, I passed lots more Challenger racers and had to do another dodgy stream crossing, unfortunately this time I slipped and fell. But the water wasn’t too deep, thank God! This gave me a good mental boost as I must have been moving well. Only trouble was I from now on wasn’t sure whether the head torch behind me was a Challenger racer or the runner in 4th place catching me up! Owing to this, I took advantage of the next mile or so and picked the pace up going downhill passing Wessenden Reservoir. The ease up of my pace earlier because of the cramps had helped and now my legs felt ok again. The wind had picked up quite considerably now and it also started to rain. I had to use my goggles now as the rain was hitting me like sharp needles being driven by the strong wind. As I ran along, I couldn’t see feck all as the goggles had steamed up, occasionally I lifted the goggles away from my eyes to try and see better but the needles hit me straight away. It was again a good job I knew where I was going and was very familiar with the route. Fortunately, as I descended into the valley the weather eased up just as I was expecting it to do. During the lull in the weather, I wrapped up well and pulled my hood over my head, took onboard some more gels and food and got ready for the next steep climb out of the valley heading for Standedge. It was pitch dark by now, pissing down rain and the wind had picked up even more… lovely Spine race weather! Fortunately though, my layering choice and my jacket were still working very well so at least my body was nice and warm. I didn’t have any worries about getting cold feet either as I had my trusty Rooster neoprene socks on. In my experience, you’re gonna get wet feet during a race like this no matter what you wear on your feet, so they may as well be warm. I clambered up the steep slope going out of the valley using my trusty poles once again and decided to keep them to hand for the more gradual but rather muddy section up to Black Moss reservoir, only a short distance from there to Standedge road crossing. The wind and needles took one more blast at me head on as I passed the reservoir, but I remember thinking, I’m not actually that far from the finish now, just keep pushing on and you’ll be fine mate. I took another glance behind me and once again, I couldn’t see anyone near me apart from the head torches of the guys I had recently passed. You’ve got this mate, I thought. Only about 14 miles to go now, despite the shite weather I was ticking the miles off and still feeling good, eating and drinking well..however I could murder a brew!
Eventually I crossed the main road at Standedge near the village of Diggle and headed uphill towards the next section of open moorland. As I was jogging along, I noticed some bright lights in the near distance and wondered what the feck it was? Even as I drew nearer, I couldn’t work out what it was. It was only until I was right on top of it that I realised it was another Mountain Rescue checkpoint with bright lights and a gazebo. What an oasis and a sight for sore eyes! I said my hellos and took full advantage of the refreshments on offer, a nice hot tea and a handful of the marvellous cakes they had on offer were most welcome. Awesome job once again chaps 👍
No time for faffing about though, I had a race to run and there was no feckin way I was gonna give a podium place up! I said my goodbyes and began the climb up onto Standedge. The wind was horrendous by now on the open moorland and it was making it difficult to run in a straight line. But knowing the route, I knew i would be out of the worst when I turned away from the wind and descended a bit. Only a couple more climbs left to go and I’ll be done.
The next road crossing was Windy Hill just before you cross the M62 motorway using the footbridge. The delightful Nicky’s Foodbar once again shone brightly like an oasis as I got nearer, it was beckoning me to make a pit stop for further refreshments, but I was aware of my target finish time and also that potentially, fourth place might not be too far away from me. So sadly, I pushed on and headed over to begin the climb up and over Blackstone Edge. The wind was pretty much gale force now but at least the rain stopped. I looked out to the West where the wind was coming from and could see big breaks in the clouds which meant that it’s probably not going to rain again for a bit. I passed a few more Challenger runners and we exchanged pleasantries and I was now heading down to the final road crossing at the White House pub. My mood lifted as I knew I was nearly at the finish now and the next section is quite runnable as you run past as few reservoirs and head over to Stoodley Pike which over looks Hebden Bridge and the finish line. I’m sure I could even see the Pike in the distance, nearly done mate just keep it together. Had I done it? Another podium finish and a previous course record breaking time?
The wind was once again coming at me full force from my left and making me run in a sort of zig zag, to anyone passing it would have looked like I’d had about ten pints and was pissed up! It was also getting very cold as the night drew on, I could feel the side of my face getting numb and my view from my left eye was becoming blurry. I tried to use my goggles but they were still steamed up so it was pretty much impossible to see out of them. Fortunately though, Stoodley Pike was upon me and I noticed a head torch at the side of the monument. Was it another runner? Was it the second place lad? Then I remembered that my coach Tim Pigott mentioned he might come out to see us and offer words of encouragement. He must have been there for a while because as we chatted, he was shivering uncontrollably so we didn’t hang around. It was great to see a friendly face and we headed down the path towards Hebden. I was pretty knackered by now and chatting to Tim really helped me keep moving and I was really pleased to get off the hill and into the shelter of the valley and into the town of Hebden Bridge. We trotted through the town centre, passing some bars and I resisted the temptation to make an unofficial checkpoint stop for a pint. One last slope to climb to the finish along a road, not running that, no chance! Just before the finish line, I noticed my amazing wife Natalie, I think she shouted some words of encouragement, either that or one or two obscenities as usual. I crossed the line under the race banners to a round of applause, photos, medals and a big hug for my ever patient and wonderful wife Natalie, thanks for all you do for me sweetheart and another hug for my coach Tim. I can’t thank you enough either for helping me get that bit extra out of myself on these events.
I’d done it, another podium place I had finished in 3rd place in a time of 9 hours 40 mins well under my target time. I was delighted with my performance after all the hard work I had put in. I said hi to the other podium finishers Jon and Hamish and we chatted about our adventures for a bit. Well done to both of them and a cracking effort from Jon. I knew he was a good but feckin hell he’s quick! He’d smashed the course record so well done to him. I’m sure we’ll meet again at some point.
I’m currently recovering and resting at the moment, but I’ve got yet another jog along the Pennine Way arranged. This time, it’s the big one. The full Spine race in June will be a 268 mile adventure along the whole length of the National Trail. It’s going to be the pinnacle of my running career for sure, my target is to finish but I’m beginning to have some loftier ambitions for the race….I think a good chat with Tim is in order!
Kit wise, apart form the standard stuff.
Montane Geko vest - a fantastic bit of kit with loads of pockets and room for essentials
Inov8 mudclaws - a perfect shoe for all that mud and bog
Black Diamond trekking poles - very lightweight and an essential item for hill climbing
Garmin Fenix 7 watch - a fantastic piece of kit with everything you’ll ever need, plus excellent battery life
Fuel was from my favourite Mountain Fuel products, Supernatural Fuel pouches and of course, my favourite Hula Hoops!
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