The Oldham Way Ultra 40 miles - March 20th

Extremely late this one, and that's really quite fitting given that my last post was about time, and not letting it run away with you. Having taken my own advice extremely seriously, it is now almost two weeks since my last event, and I've only just got round to doing this. I am completely rubbish. Completely completely completely. 

And so, I will rewind a little and pick up where I left off. Had some holiday to use up from work, so I decided to dedicate it to a long weekend of training. On Friday I ran 36.5 miles along my all time favourite route along the Thames, with which I have bored you with many descriptions of before, so I will keep it short, and say only that I had a good run, aided by some helpful pointers along the way:

This time, I remembered to take the seal for my camelbac pack, and the whole experience was much drier than the last time.

Had a bit of a rest on Saturday, and then Sunday was time for the Oldham Way Ultra, which meant it was time for 40 miles and 1638 m of ascent. Been looking forward to this one for a while. Time for some Tough Northern Training.

The route started and finished at the Castleshaw Centre in Delph, and took a big circle around Oldham, mostly on the aptly named Oldham Way. It was interesting, I mean I suppose when you think of Oldham your mind might not necessarily jump to thinking of somewhere pretty, but the route really was very nice. There were a few urban gritty style bits, and some bits along some slightly edgy canal paths. But never knock canals, because it's hard to get lost on them, unless, you miss the turning off it, and then in that case you can continue quite a very long way in the wrong direction without knowing for quite some time (so I hear). But routes that traverse a range of environments really interest me. There's the uphills, then the far reaching views over the countryside and towns for miles around, followed by the downhills, and through a pretty village. Then along a muddy track surrounded by trees, through a town, round the back of a housing estate with turned over bins, and along the towpath with broken glass and beer cans. And then there were reservoirs, valleys and rivers, moors and marshy bits, roads and tracks, and then no track at all, just mud. That wasn't all completely in the right order, just some of this things I remember, and all together, I remember it as an interesting and enjoyable route. Apart from the stiles, which seemed to get more frequent, and increasingly designed for the taller person the closer to the end we traveled.

There was a great crowd out running. Some people brand new to ultras, and some seasoned folk, who helpfully seemed able to remember 40 whole miles of route without a single map, but who were kind enough to point those of us with less of a clue back in the right direction. There was the same old camaraderie as always, and makes me proud to be a part of this welcoming and slightly wacky group of people - 'runners'. 

The people organizing the event, Team OA, were a great bunch also and put on a fantastic race. Checkpoints were astonishingly stocked with vast amounts of goodies. Fueled most of it on some supermarket brands of certain popular chocolate bars, flapjack, watermelon, sweets and crisps. 

I hail the event a success for the following reasons: 1) no stomach trouble, 2) most map reading OK, 3) no blisters, 4) got kit right (passed kit check!), 5) enjoyed it, not tired after Fridays long run, and felt I could keep going, which gives me a spark of hope that I might be able to run get round another 60 miles. Somehow. Perhaps. 

Very proud of Andrew who completed his longest run yet, despite having a tough time in the last few miles. Look at your medal, and know you can do ANYTHING!