First weekend of the New Year. Hoping to do some longer runs this year, so time to get into training....
The LDWA have a three yearly event, The Surrey Tops, which is 50 miles long. My friends Alan and Tara have adopted the route as an annual training run, on the first weekend in January for the last 10 years, sometimes even running it overnight (hardcore!). Super excited to be invited along for my first Surrey Tops outing.
We started and finished in Guildford, at The Post Box, the official start of the training run....
...doing a circular route in a clockwise direction, heading east first through Abinger and Cranleigh, to Whitley at around half way, then further west to Elstead and eventually back to Guildford, taking in all the 'tops' along the way (almost 7000 ft ascent). It was a lovely route, taking in some of the North Downs Way...
Plenty of bogs...
... and then followed the first checkpoint at 10 miles, on a tomb stone in Abinger....
...it was a beautiful clear day, and the views were great...
The whole day was a hoot!
Soon it was time to head up another Top...
Before heading down Jellies Hollow (maybe named as your legs turn to jelly going down it)...
Talking of legs, I wish my legs were really this long...
But time to stop horsing around...
...(we'll get into trouble)...
....and conquer some more bogs...
...this is all very exhausting...
...but after the rest, we were ready to take on a hill so steep it had a handrail...
It was more than worth it though, as we were approaching half way, and the weather was absolutely unbelievable (in a good way) and the views beautiful!
Checkpoint at the top, and Tara gave us a half-way gift....
...including Poirot Sprout....
...and Ultra Running Sprout...
As dusk started to fall, the skies got even prettier...
Soon is was dark enough to need head torches...
About half of the run was in the dark, and eventually we made it to the top of the final Top, Kettlebury Hill...
Then it was down to Elstead for our last checkpoint in the Spar Shop. Pretty freezing when we came out, but considering it was January, it was such a beautiful clear night, the stars twinkling above.
We reached a golf course, and Tara's Tenth Tee of Tears, such named as the signs to the 10th tee are never ending, and by the time you get there, all hope has been lost. We played an "A-Z" game on the way, for distraction, and complied the "A-Z of fictional LDWA events". As of some other conversations recently, and indeed on this run, most of the A-Z must be censored, and are unlikely ever to make it onto the LDWA official events list any time soon (until we take over), but for an example, the Tenth Tee of Tears and Tantrums Trot will be a lapped event we shall plan around said golf course.
Made it back to Guildford and The Post Box!
And so did Ultra Sprout...
Surrey Tops 50 - done! Thanks Alan and Tara! Top job!
Thank you for joining us Amy and I am glad that you enjoyed it. You are now officially a part of the January Surrey Tops team...there is no escape! Same time next year! Tara x
ReplyDeleteThe date is in my diary for the Surrey Slops 2021!!! xxx
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