The Milton Keynes Marathon - 02.05.2022

 

I really loved today, MK Marathon day! A lovely day in Milton Keynes - nice and warm, but not too warm, and nice and sunny, but not too sunny.

It's really a big event (marathon, half, relay, 10km and fun run), and haven't done such a big event for quite a long time. I do like a big city marathon, the atmosphere is really special.

Starting just outside the MK Dons stadium, there was a big buzz at the start. Lovely to see some familiar faces milling about amongst the crowds and have some pre-race chats with Alan, David, Steve, Rachel, and Simon.

The route is a big circle around Milton Keynes, and really, you wouldn't really know you were anywhere near a town at all (apart from all the roundabouts), it's mostly along lovely green paths, and around the lakes. Tourist highlights included running past the Peace Pagoda, the concrete cows, Roman ruins, and Great Linford Manor. I loved the route (and recognised a few places from running round there with Alan!) The support all along the route was fantastic, and the route was exceptionally well marshalled! I loved the signs in the way around, often concrete cow themed "moooooove it", and also "pain is bread in French" and "don't whine, they will soon be wine" amongst many others....

Ran most of the way with Andrew (congrats on road marathon #10!!) and also saw Theresa and Neil on the way round, which was fab.

I had a good run, and I thought I would push it a bit as I was feeling good, but not stress out about it, because what's the point in worrying and getting stressed? Ended with 3:47 which I'm super happy with. Well done to everyone, super performances!

I loved the finish in the stadium, it's like the MK version of Athens. Nice time afterwards catching up with Alan, and watching people cross the finish line - it's such a buzz watching people finish a marathon, and feeling so proud of everyone! There was even a man dressed as a cow running! 

The journey home was a bit epic - 3 mile walk, rail replacement bus, train, tube, and a walk, but it was definitely worth it! Thanks MK Marathon! 

The Blackpool Marathon, 24.04.2022

A weekend trip to the seaside, with Andrew, Sarah and Jon! A list of some of the things we ticked off on our seaside to-do list over the weekend:

Fish finger sandwiches:

Luxury accommodation: AKA the Travelodge by the football stadium, looked like a prison, checked in at the same time as a giant stag do who were unloading crates of beer and vodka in the car park, and had a view of a car park full of skips. Surprisingly, had a comfortable night's sleep!

Ice creams: from Notarianni Ices, who make solely vanilla ice cream, and do giant portions with special cones (shaped like a cocktail glass) to hold the size of the scoops.

Amusement arcade: Andrew won enough to retire early on, and to get Sarah a rubber duck and me a paint-a-dinosaur. Jon won enough to get a Mr Bean luggage tag and fruit salad sweets.

Drinks: on the pier, in the wind:

Sightseeing:

Cliff and Samphire spotting:

Pre-race meal: at Italian La Bottega, which surely must be the nicest restaurant in Blackpool. They had a dessert trolley, and shots of Limoncello.

Sunset watching:

A marathon: up early on Sunday morning to walk to the start of the Blackpool Marathon (organised by Fylde Coast Runners), where we saw Craig, and Simon. Also saw Brian on the way round, and Steve out on a club run (thanks for the photos!)

I love the Blackpool Marathon. This is the third time I have done it, and every time has been good. It is two laps, starting just north of Blackpool Tower, heading south past the Pleasure Beach, back north past the tower up towards Cleveleys, to turn around and back to the tower. Then the same all over again! It is a bit undulating, the bit up towards Cleveleys, and it was pretty windy, so the half of it that was running in the north direction was quite hard at times! 

There was great support on the course, and not even too many drunk people in Wetherspoons at 09:00 shouting insults this year (which was actually a little disappointing, as I feel that that is part of the charm of running the Blackpool Marathon). 

Ran with Sarah and Andrew, and had a brilliant time running around in the sunshine (spotting the Eiffel Tower), a proper day out by the sea! Chuffed with a 4:01 time. Jon did the half, and we all met up afterwards for stretching on the seafront (like the professionals that we are).

The required medal photos:

A quick wedding: (only kidding). I love how the Wedding Chapel is in the Tourist Information Centre. How many people have popped in to pick up a map, and been accidently married??

Fish and chips: posh fish and chips at Papa's. The menu was a newspaper!

Rock shopping: 

Paddling in the sea: because you can't go to the seaside and not have a paddle.

Thank you Sarah, Jon and Andrew for a fantastic weekend! And thanks to Travel Agent Escott (five star rating) for arranging the trip! 

Easter quadruple marathon weekend - 15.04.22 to 18.04.22

A Phoenix/SVN Easter sandwich! A beautiful sunny weekend, and I felt better physically and mentally than I have for a few months. Thank you to everyone!

Friday 15.04.22: The Intrepid Key Run with Phoenix Running (#213): A marathon on a day that is normally a work day is the best feeling! Back to the towpath at Walton-on-Thames, to rejoin the Phoenix 10 in 10 (TiT)/ 12 in 12 (TwiT) at Day 7. All the TiTs and TwiTs were looking strong! Ran with Sarah, who had accidentally ended up doing the TiT and was doing amazing! Three days of chat to catch up on since I was last there, so there was plenty to talk about, and the miles passed by quickly in the sun. It was the Hampton Court little loop, which was quite nice and shady. En route, we rescued a bee from the towpath, and had an ice lolly (a Rocket!). Nice to catch up in the pub afterwards with birthday chips - thanks Andrew, and for my birthday cake! 

 

Then, it was a drive up to Northampton and a stay at the Premier Inn, ahead of an SVN weekend!

Saturday 16.04.22: The Cakeathon with SVN Running (#214): I haven't done the Northampton SVN route before, and I loved it. It's a 5.3 mile loop - about a mile along a nice cycle track, then about 3 miles all around a lake on a raised path on the embankment, and then back along the cycle track. The weather was outstanding, wall to wall sunshine! Was a bit too sunny probably, as there was no shade at all on the route, but shouldn't really complain about that. Loved the feeling of being up high and seeing all the birds on the lake - I don't know much about birds, and I know that it is a popular spot for real bird experts, but even with my paltry ornithological knowledge, it was still wonderful to see the swans and geese flying around and landing on the waters. Almost got flown into by a pair of geese taking off from the lake. 

5 laps for a marathon, and I found just counting to 5 (rather than 8) was a nice change and felt easier, and the laps seemed to be over very quickly. Would have been very happy to keep going, but it was time to celebrate Clive's 400th marathon with cold drinks in the shade - well done Clive! 

As it was "The Cakeathon" there was a vast array of lovely looking cakes at the aid station. My favourite was the expresso chocolate brownie - wow!

Considering the Premier Inn was in a business park, it was a very nice business park, with lakes and fountains and gardens, all very nice.

As we were very hungry, we only made it until about 4pm before having dinner in the Hungry Horse next door, which was actually pretty good, and even had a TV in the booth with cartoons on to watch. Plus, discovered you can order form the kids menu, which is perfect for a mini ice cream (with flake! 😉)

Had a good chat to the man on reception in the hotel - turns out he has run over 50 marathons (with a PB less then 3 hours!) and used to run for England, until he was diagnosed with a heart condition which means he can't run any more. He last had a heart attack only two months ago and is already back working. An absolutely inspiring guy.

Sunday 17.04.22: The Chocathon with SVN Running (#215)

Easter Sunday and a chocolate themed marathon! Same route as yesterday, but it was a few degrees cooler, which was nice. Congratulations to Richard on his 100th marathon, and everyone else celebrating milestones today!!

Ran my fastest time for a while, which was a nice feeling.

Monday 18.04.22: The Invincible Key Run with Phoenix Running (#216)

Back to Walton this morning for the last of the Phoenix 10 in 10 runs, and also Sarah's Birthday Run! On the Blue Bridge route, there was a definatley a pary atmosphere going on, as the TiTs became TiTs and the TwiTs were getting pretty close to turning into proper TwiTs as well in a couple of days. Huge congratulations to all the TiTs and TwiTs!

The run was lovely in the sun, by the sparkling water, spring flowers, and the trees which are becoming ever more green each day. There seemed to be a lot of swans taking their Easter break on this part of the river, there were many more than usual, the river was packed! 

Lovely cathing up with everyone afterwards and thank you Annabel for our birthday chips extravaganza!

Thank you Pheonix and SVN for a wonderful weekend! 

Phoenix Running: a triple weekend (two marathons and an ultra) 09.04.2022 - 11.04.2022

Day 1: The Fortitude Key, Saturday 09.04.2022, Marathon 

A weekend of running with Phoenix Running, down by the river. Blue Bridge route today. It's so pretty this part of the river, especially in spring. I love it so much. The flowers are all coming out, and the colours are lovely. It was still freezing cold first thing, but lovely and sunny. 

Ran with Andrew and Sarah. Haven't seen Sarah for three weeks, so there was a lot of chat to catch up on....hurty hamstrings (fixed!), the recce weekend, stag parties and weddings. After all that (which took several laps), there was haggis chats, how much a tiny piece of land across the river costs, how many words there are that sound like prostate but are completely different, and squips (AKA Skips).

To the Weir for lunch....tomato soup and chips. And Grand National sweepstakes.

Stayed for the first time at the Walton Central Travelodge. This turned out to be the least relaxing place to stay, as it is opposite the Wetherspoons, which is open till 1am on Saturdays, and is quite the place to be in Walton on a Saturday night, it turns out. Also the people in the room next door had been to Wetherspoons, and then carried on the party all night back in their room. That's quite the night out, Wetherspoons, then a Travelodge room party. I also had used my new Deep Heat roll on earlier, which I think on reflection, you aren't meant to use as liberally as you are, say, a roll on deodorant, so my legs were feeling quite tingly. So sleep was quite scarce.

 

Day 2: The Gauntlet Key, Sunday 10.04.2022, 29.5 miles

The other way along the towpath today with Sarah and Andrew, so it was locks instead of the Blue Bridge, roots instead of pebbles, and a tiny mouse instead swans. Andrew almost knocked out Tiny Mouse when he threw away a peanut pretzel pillow into the hedge. Also, sitting on the dock of the BAY, boat face, and haggis/ Teletubby hills are included on that route. 

Fitted in an ultra before our lunch time reservation at the Wier, which tragically had run out of soup, our staple post run food! So chips instead. In the pub (the best place to make decisions) decided with Sarah to enter tomorrow's event too (it's the Phoenix 10 in 10 and 12 in 12 on at the moment). 

Day 3: The Dauntless Key, Monday 11.04.2022, Marathon

Monday marathon - my favourite day to run a marathon! Back on the Blue Bridge route today. The weather is really warming up, and it was a beautiful sunny day on the towpath. It was vest weather, and got a tiny bit sunburnt, woops. Sarah and I had a nice relaxed run in the sun, and we missed Andrew, but got to spend two laps chatting with Andy and also part of a lap with Dom who was finishing his half. 

A few fly incidents, one flew into Sarah's eye, and I choked on one. The pet cockerel who lives in a boat was out for his walk. Lots of cute dogs out. The swans were in the Swan Spa first thing, and then moved down the river to the pub for lunch. 

Lovely to sit outside afterwards in the sun, chatting to many friends, with orange and lemon squash cocktail and chocolate cake.

Huge congratulations to everyone who's celebrated milestones the last few days!

Good luck to everyone doing the Ten in Ten, or Twelve in Twelve. Have an absolutely amazing sunny week by the river! I wish so much I could stay and do it all, and I have never been so unenthusiastic and sad to go back to work this week! But will see you on Friday!

Thank you Rik and Phoenix Team for an awesome three days! 💙💙💚

Recce weekend - LDWA Trans-Pennine 100 route - Part 2/2

Day 3: Hathersage toTankersley, 23 miles, 3633 ft

The day got off to a rocky start, when I learnt that porridge pots don't go thick like porridge should do, if you fail to make them with boiling water. So if you are somewhere like a Youth Hostel you should check you have used the kettle that just boiled, and not the one next to it, that boiled half an hour ago. Otherwise, porridge ends up like a luke-warm, thin but somehow lumpy smoothie, which is not the best way to start the day off. 

Anyway, the start of the run was basically vertical, up Stanage Edge, so that took the mind off the icky porridge. 

It was really fabulous running along the rocky paths along the ridge, and the views were great. There were also many millstones scattered around - which had been quarried and made (from the gritstone) but then just abandoned (the Peak District millstone industry died out very quickly with the advent of machines and different types of material used to make millstones).

We had a checkpoint in the sunshine just before "Boots Folly Tower". It was lovely in the sun, but so cold. I couldn't get my temperature right at all today, it was nice in the sun and I got too hot, but as soon as it clouded over or got breezy it felt like the temperature dropped about 10 degrees. Ate the Easter crispy cake I got in the outdoor shop yesterday!

Shortly after, Tara had a fall, down a muddy hill. We were taking it in turns to fall over, it seems! Found a sign with a good amount of silly names, and "Penistone" was replaced by "Ughill" as my favourite....

Then we found a glove which seemed to be giving everyone the finger....

And then it felt like time to stop being silly, and focus on recceing the route properly again. 

We had a checkpoint in Worral, before Andrew had to leave to go back to work, and Tara, Alan and I carried on. The route got a bit more urban for a while, then there was a dreaded "continue over 7 fields" section, but we were rewarded when we reached Wharncliffe Crags. This was a beautiful couple of miles through some mossy woodland, with the sun shining on the silver birches, and surely there must be leprechauns leaping amongst the branches?

This was easily one of my favourite parts of the route! Even spotted the rare "Wharncliffe Sloth" as well.

We had a quick regroup in the sunshine in a very picturesque spot underneath a giant chestnut tree with one of those circular benches around it, outside Wortley Hall. We had been hoping for ice-cream, but with it being Sunday, the village store had closed early, as had the tea room. So sad. But it wasn't far to the end, and we were soon running through the back of an industrial estate, to reach our most glamourous of stops for the evening, the Sheffield/Barnsley (M1, Jct 36) Premier Inn. It actually had everything I'd been dreaming of. We had toffee lattes from McDonalds. I had a shower so hot that it made me go so pink I worried for a whole hour afterwards that I'd actually got sunburnt. A hot meal and cider (new cider - blood orange!) in the Brewers Fayre, followed by the long anticipated ice-cream. And a comfortable bed. What more do you need? I may go back for a holiday here! 

Day 4: Tankersely to Penistone, 27 miles, ascent 2198ft

Last day, so Purple Palace breakfast treat! Then it was off back through the industrial estate, to pick up the route again. Today was more roads, cycle tracks, and was much flatter. We ran past the remains of Tankersley Old Hall, where parts of the film "Kes" were filmed.

Then we found Scarlet O'Harley's village, and Alan set off the speed recorder (11 mph).

In a couple of miles we got to Wentworth, which was very pretty.

The Wentworth Woodhouse Estate came next, a nice Grade I listed country pile, which has the largest frontage of any house in Europe. 

The estate has a number of follies and structures, including the Needle's Eye. This was built in the 18th century, the story goes, in order to win a bet (after the a Marquess claimed that he could ride a horse and cart through the eye of a needle). 

In a few more miles, we arrived into Elsecar, and from here we picked up the Trans-Pennine Trail, which we followed pretty much for the rest of the way, a little along the canal, then onto the cycle trails. At Wombwell, which will actually be the start of the route on the real event, Tara had to head off to catch her train. Alan and I finished the last two sections, to get back to Penistone, which was mostly along cycle trails on the Trans-Pennine Trail, and made for a nicely flat and quick finish, just in time to catch the train back to Sheffield station (where we ran into Tara again!) for hot drinks and pastries, and M+S picnic, before catching the train back down south.

The route description, at 31 pages long (including 1/2 a page of abbreviations), was absolutely first class, and we barely looked at a map or GPX. It was a great weekend of adventures, and discovering of new places, sharing old stories and jokes, and making new ones. Thanks Recce Crew! Looking forward to the event in June! flatter and fa