Sunday, March 11, 2007
Race Reports; Grindleford Gallop and Rushcliffe 10K
Wew, what a weekend!! Grindleford Gallop yesterday, Rushcliffe 10K today!
I drove to the small Peak district village of Grindleford for an 8:15am start. It was a rolling start, with walkers starting from 7:30 to 9:30 and a mass 10am start for runners. I had done this one in 2004, after the disastrous Belvoir Challenge drop out, and managed to complete it in a morale boosting 7 hours 40 mins.
I set off through the woods to the village of Froggatt, before a steep climb with views over the valley and the descent to Eyam.
The Checkpoint
We had a steep, muddy climb up through a golf course out of Bakewell, good fun as there was a metal tube and hammer to strike it with to warn golfers of walkers' prescence, so I gave it a good whack, I swear my ears are still ringing!
Shortly after we dropped down through the village of Edensor and through the lovely Chatsworth estate, passing right in front of the impressive Chatsworth House.
Chatsworth House
The route passed through the park before reaching Baslow and the last checkpoint, where I had another cuppa and a rather stodgy lump of fudge. There was still a surprising number of runners coming through.
The last steep climb of the day took us up and along the spectacular Baslow, Curbar and Froggatt edges- literally long ridges where the earth drops away, topped with oddly weathered Grit stone boulder. My legs were aching by now, and my feet were hurting- must find some shoes which don't rub blisters- but I was still overtaking people every so often.
Baslow Edge
Finally we descended a wood back to Grindleford, and I was quite shocked to discover I'd completed in 6 hours 40 minutes, much better than I expected!
Luckily I didn't ache too much, a hot bath helped! Plus chocolate of course... chocolate definately aids recovery...
So I drove to Ruddington Country Park near Nottingham for the Rushcliffe 10K this morning. I did this last year, and managed a then PB of 1 hour 1 minute 11 seconds, but just thought I'd do well to get round today. The event seemed much more popular this year, and as I lined up at the start with everybody else looking rested and fit, I was conscious of my aching legs and blisters feet!
The odd thing was, once we started, my aches seemed to disappear, and I found myself overtaking people. The route is two laps of the park, and by the time we got to the 5K point and water station, I felt tired but not too bad. I gratefully accepted a cup of Gatorade from a young lad and just kept overtaking people. I kept expecting to suddently run out of steam, but it didn't happen. It was amazing! I overtook one chap who was walking, only for him to run past me. A few minutes later, he slowed to a walk and I overtook him again, only for him to run past again a few minutes after that. He repeated this for a while, until I wanted to suggest he just tries a slow jog he can maintain; but he finally went past about 8K and I didn't see him after that. I still managed to overtake folk, and when I reached 9K I tried to put a bit of a spurt on, but everything was starting to hurt at this point!
Finally, I turned for the finish, and passed a marshall who said "Come on, sprint finish!" All right for him, I thought, but did grit my teeth and lurch forward to the finish. I saw the clock and was in a state of shock.... I PB'd!!!!! 59 minutes and 29 seconds!!!!!!!! Subbed an hour and PB'd- after a 21 mile walk the day before! (scuse me while I have a little smug moment!)
So, well happy this weekend! (although I managed to text my mate and tell her I did the run in 59 hours and 29 minutes, which definately wouldn't have been too impressive...) So- I'm feeling like an endurance athlete today! And am off for a lovely hot bath, with chocolate of course...
I drove to the small Peak district village of Grindleford for an 8:15am start. It was a rolling start, with walkers starting from 7:30 to 9:30 and a mass 10am start for runners. I had done this one in 2004, after the disastrous Belvoir Challenge drop out, and managed to complete it in a morale boosting 7 hours 40 mins.
I set off through the woods to the village of Froggatt, before a steep climb with views over the valley and the descent to Eyam.
Froggatt
The village of Eyam is famous for a rather grim reason; in 1666 the plague came to England, and when it reached Eyam, the villagers made the brave decision to quarantine themselves to prevent the spread of the disease. One lady, Mrs Riley, lost her husband and her six children to the plague, and buried them all, one by one, in a little graveyard on the hill. Out route took us right past this spot, known as the 'Riley Graves'. In fact, a lot of the cottages in the village bear plaques as a testament to the villagers who lost their lives there.
The Approach To Eyam
After a long pull over the bleak Longstone Moor, we joined the Monsal Trail, a disused railway line, and reached the checkpoint. At this point, the runners were passing us and I felt quite strong. There was a disappointing shortage of cakes, but I did get a cup of tea!
The CheckpointWe had a steep, muddy climb up through a golf course out of Bakewell, good fun as there was a metal tube and hammer to strike it with to warn golfers of walkers' prescence, so I gave it a good whack, I swear my ears are still ringing!
Shortly after we dropped down through the village of Edensor and through the lovely Chatsworth estate, passing right in front of the impressive Chatsworth House.
Chatsworth HouseThe route passed through the park before reaching Baslow and the last checkpoint, where I had another cuppa and a rather stodgy lump of fudge. There was still a surprising number of runners coming through.
The last steep climb of the day took us up and along the spectacular Baslow, Curbar and Froggatt edges- literally long ridges where the earth drops away, topped with oddly weathered Grit stone boulder. My legs were aching by now, and my feet were hurting- must find some shoes which don't rub blisters- but I was still overtaking people every so often.
Baslow EdgeFinally we descended a wood back to Grindleford, and I was quite shocked to discover I'd completed in 6 hours 40 minutes, much better than I expected!
Luckily I didn't ache too much, a hot bath helped! Plus chocolate of course... chocolate definately aids recovery...
So I drove to Ruddington Country Park near Nottingham for the Rushcliffe 10K this morning. I did this last year, and managed a then PB of 1 hour 1 minute 11 seconds, but just thought I'd do well to get round today. The event seemed much more popular this year, and as I lined up at the start with everybody else looking rested and fit, I was conscious of my aching legs and blisters feet!
The odd thing was, once we started, my aches seemed to disappear, and I found myself overtaking people. The route is two laps of the park, and by the time we got to the 5K point and water station, I felt tired but not too bad. I gratefully accepted a cup of Gatorade from a young lad and just kept overtaking people. I kept expecting to suddently run out of steam, but it didn't happen. It was amazing! I overtook one chap who was walking, only for him to run past me. A few minutes later, he slowed to a walk and I overtook him again, only for him to run past again a few minutes after that. He repeated this for a while, until I wanted to suggest he just tries a slow jog he can maintain; but he finally went past about 8K and I didn't see him after that. I still managed to overtake folk, and when I reached 9K I tried to put a bit of a spurt on, but everything was starting to hurt at this point!
Finally, I turned for the finish, and passed a marshall who said "Come on, sprint finish!" All right for him, I thought, but did grit my teeth and lurch forward to the finish. I saw the clock and was in a state of shock.... I PB'd!!!!! 59 minutes and 29 seconds!!!!!!!! Subbed an hour and PB'd- after a 21 mile walk the day before! (scuse me while I have a little smug moment!)
So, well happy this weekend! (although I managed to text my mate and tell her I did the run in 59 hours and 29 minutes, which definately wouldn't have been too impressive...) So- I'm feeling like an endurance athlete today! And am off for a lovely hot bath, with chocolate of course...
Labels: 10k, Challenge walks, Grindleford Gallop, running
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Did the Grindleford Gallop last Saturday (14th March) it was great fun - we managed to get round in five hours jogging and walking but were amazed that folks can do it in two and a half hours - awesome! Like your blog, very good.
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