Saturday, March 19, 2011
The Grindleford Gallop- Event Report
My apologies, I've been a bit late writing this one up! It's tough to know how to prepare when you have two events on two consecutive weekends. I didn't want to just do nothing but didn't want to go mad either, so went for a couple of 4- 5 mile brisk walks and the gym. I also did some swimming- still got a triathlon in mind one day so I got my sister Katie (who's a competitive swimmer who has represented Leicester) to teach me proper front crawl.
Maybe with a bit of practice I'll be able to do a length without nearly drowning myself...
But I digress. I wanted to start around 8am (it's a rolling start between 7:30am and 9am with runners starting later). By the time I parked up and registered it was 8:06am- exactly the same as last year. The weather was looking a bit grey and misty but at least it wasn't raining. There seemed to be quite a few folks setting off and I overtook some of them in Froggatt.
Froggatt Bridge
I had printed out a route description but as the route doesn't change I knew it pretty well, so didn't actually need it. I knew that we would be faced with our first steep climb quite early on and it was just as steep as I remembered it! I decided to jog downhill into the plague village of Eyam.
Approaching Eyam
I have likely mentioned Eyam and the Plague before but it is a most fascinating village- I keep meaning to go back and explore it properly one day instead of just passing through but haven't so far. I stopped in the little shop and bought a cappucino like last year and sipped it as I walked through the village looking at the plaques outside the old stone cottages commemorating the victims of the plague who had died there (not sure whether I'd feel quite comfortable living in one...)
Plague Cottages
Stocks in Eyam
As I clipped my tally card at the self clip check point and climbed out of the village it was still quite misty. I knew we had a stretch of track leading mostly downhill to a busy road, so once I finished my coffee I jogged most of it. Then there was the long gradual climb onto Longstone Moor. The route went through a field with three ponies in it, two of them shetlands, and they were pretty taken with one of the walkers as he was offering them mints.
Climbing Towards Longstone Moor
There is a manned checkpoint on one of the roads crossed, offering water, but nobody stays long as it's quite open and exposed. Quite a few runners had come past me, including a lady I chatted with briefly before she disappeared into the distance, so they must have entered as walkers.
Once on Longstone Moor it started to brighten up, the going was a lot drier than I expected too. I found the next self clip and jogged the track downhill into the village of Great Longstone. The route then follows the Monsal Trail ( I think it's the Monsal Trail, doesn't say on the route description...) to the next manned checkpoint. This bit always feels a bit endless but I ate one of the mars bars pocketed on the Belvoir Challenge and felt strong enough to jog most of the way. The runners were starting to come past, including the lady I'd been chatting with before who said she'd got lost and it had taken her 45 minutes to get back on route!
There was coffee and cakes at the checkpoint, which were very welcome. The sun was out by this time- it always seems to brighten up on the old railway- and I left the checkpoint for Bakewell and another steep climb up through the golf course. This was the muddiest part of the whole route but not as bad as last year. A few of the hardiest runners were actually trying to jog up this path!
After another self clip checkpoint the route becomes a lot easier- across a huge meadow, mostly downhill so very runnable.
Looking Towards The Edges
I noticed that a lot of the runners who were now going past in force were calling 'well done!' as they passed and realised that they were just addressing me and not the other walkers. It dawned on me that they thought I was a 'proper' runner who had set off with them and had managed to maintain a lead on them until now... I felt quite guilty about earning praise under false pretences!
There were some lovely views of Chatsworth as we descended towards Edensor, but most of it appears to be covered in scaffolding and plastic which detracted from its charms.
The path through Chatsworth estate to Baslow always seems quite long, and my legs were starting to tire. I tried to walk bristly and then managed to jog to the next checkpoint- who were serving coffee and cakes. I decided to forego the coffee but selected a piece of flapjack and left. I wasn't feeling great when I left the checkpoint- my legs were aching and I felt slightly sick- I nibbled on the flapjack but couldn't finish it, so put the rest away in my bumbag.
The next part of the route was the last steep climb of the day- up onto the Edges. I felt as though I was walking really slowly and it seemed a real effort. Runners were passing me, walking, so I must have been quite slow! The first part of the edge doesn't seem too bad (although if I am struggling I would rather not know how many miles I have done because I am always disappointed, but there is always someone who comes up behind you and casually informs her friend not only exactly how many miles you have done (and it's always less than you think) but works out how long it will take then to finish- and as they are about to pass you and disappear into the distance, you know that however long it will take them, it will take you far longer...)
The second part, though, after dropping down to cross a minor road and climbing back up again, seems endless... and also includes a bit of light scrambling! I usually have a backlog of runners behind me, patiently waiting for me to pick my way down.
View From The Edge
After this it is just an easy rocky descent- but I was feeling really rough. My legs felt very wobbly and I felt almost light headed. I was really ready to finish and started to worry whether I was going to be able to do it. Maybe it was the combination of the Belvoir Challenge the week before and not much food- I forced the rest of the flapjack down and just gritted my teeth and tried to get on with it.
I don't think I was the only one though- a couple of runners passed me and as they ran by I heard the chap say to the woman 'Come on- we can sub four hours!' She replied 'I don't give a shit anymore!'
By the time I crossed the road and started to descend through the woods towards Grindleford I started to feel much better and actually managed to overtake some walkers and manage a shambling jog finish. I finsihed in 6 hours 9 minutes, faster than last year's time of 6 and a half hours, so I was chuffed.
Soup and cheese is served at the Village Hall but it was packed and pretty impossible to find a seat, but I collapsed into one somehow and by the time I'd polished it off with three chunks of crusty bread I felt quite normal (relatively speaking for me!) again...
I have had a quieter week as I developed a headache Tuesday and Thursday- some walking and some gym work. I had another swimming lesson from Katie today- proper breast stroke this time, does wonders for bingo wings I hope! It's amazing just how tiring it is doing the strokes properly. Managed a little 6 miler this morning across fields too- gorgeous morning.
It's the Charnwood Forest Marathon next Saturday but I am probably not going to do it as a) I am skint as I am going to Italy in under a fortnight and need to find some spends and b) Katie is swimming Saturday night and I'd like to go and watch. I will also be able to step up the training this week- doing events every weekend does limit what you can do in between.
Maybe with a bit of practice I'll be able to do a length without nearly drowning myself...
But I digress. I wanted to start around 8am (it's a rolling start between 7:30am and 9am with runners starting later). By the time I parked up and registered it was 8:06am- exactly the same as last year. The weather was looking a bit grey and misty but at least it wasn't raining. There seemed to be quite a few folks setting off and I overtook some of them in Froggatt.
I had printed out a route description but as the route doesn't change I knew it pretty well, so didn't actually need it. I knew that we would be faced with our first steep climb quite early on and it was just as steep as I remembered it! I decided to jog downhill into the plague village of Eyam.
I have likely mentioned Eyam and the Plague before but it is a most fascinating village- I keep meaning to go back and explore it properly one day instead of just passing through but haven't so far. I stopped in the little shop and bought a cappucino like last year and sipped it as I walked through the village looking at the plaques outside the old stone cottages commemorating the victims of the plague who had died there (not sure whether I'd feel quite comfortable living in one...)
As I clipped my tally card at the self clip check point and climbed out of the village it was still quite misty. I knew we had a stretch of track leading mostly downhill to a busy road, so once I finished my coffee I jogged most of it. Then there was the long gradual climb onto Longstone Moor. The route went through a field with three ponies in it, two of them shetlands, and they were pretty taken with one of the walkers as he was offering them mints.
There is a manned checkpoint on one of the roads crossed, offering water, but nobody stays long as it's quite open and exposed. Quite a few runners had come past me, including a lady I chatted with briefly before she disappeared into the distance, so they must have entered as walkers.
Once on Longstone Moor it started to brighten up, the going was a lot drier than I expected too. I found the next self clip and jogged the track downhill into the village of Great Longstone. The route then follows the Monsal Trail ( I think it's the Monsal Trail, doesn't say on the route description...) to the next manned checkpoint. This bit always feels a bit endless but I ate one of the mars bars pocketed on the Belvoir Challenge and felt strong enough to jog most of the way. The runners were starting to come past, including the lady I'd been chatting with before who said she'd got lost and it had taken her 45 minutes to get back on route!
There was coffee and cakes at the checkpoint, which were very welcome. The sun was out by this time- it always seems to brighten up on the old railway- and I left the checkpoint for Bakewell and another steep climb up through the golf course. This was the muddiest part of the whole route but not as bad as last year. A few of the hardiest runners were actually trying to jog up this path!
After another self clip checkpoint the route becomes a lot easier- across a huge meadow, mostly downhill so very runnable.
I noticed that a lot of the runners who were now going past in force were calling 'well done!' as they passed and realised that they were just addressing me and not the other walkers. It dawned on me that they thought I was a 'proper' runner who had set off with them and had managed to maintain a lead on them until now... I felt quite guilty about earning praise under false pretences!
There were some lovely views of Chatsworth as we descended towards Edensor, but most of it appears to be covered in scaffolding and plastic which detracted from its charms.
The path through Chatsworth estate to Baslow always seems quite long, and my legs were starting to tire. I tried to walk bristly and then managed to jog to the next checkpoint- who were serving coffee and cakes. I decided to forego the coffee but selected a piece of flapjack and left. I wasn't feeling great when I left the checkpoint- my legs were aching and I felt slightly sick- I nibbled on the flapjack but couldn't finish it, so put the rest away in my bumbag.
The next part of the route was the last steep climb of the day- up onto the Edges. I felt as though I was walking really slowly and it seemed a real effort. Runners were passing me, walking, so I must have been quite slow! The first part of the edge doesn't seem too bad (although if I am struggling I would rather not know how many miles I have done because I am always disappointed, but there is always someone who comes up behind you and casually informs her friend not only exactly how many miles you have done (and it's always less than you think) but works out how long it will take then to finish- and as they are about to pass you and disappear into the distance, you know that however long it will take them, it will take you far longer...)
The second part, though, after dropping down to cross a minor road and climbing back up again, seems endless... and also includes a bit of light scrambling! I usually have a backlog of runners behind me, patiently waiting for me to pick my way down.
After this it is just an easy rocky descent- but I was feeling really rough. My legs felt very wobbly and I felt almost light headed. I was really ready to finish and started to worry whether I was going to be able to do it. Maybe it was the combination of the Belvoir Challenge the week before and not much food- I forced the rest of the flapjack down and just gritted my teeth and tried to get on with it.
I don't think I was the only one though- a couple of runners passed me and as they ran by I heard the chap say to the woman 'Come on- we can sub four hours!' She replied 'I don't give a shit anymore!'
By the time I crossed the road and started to descend through the woods towards Grindleford I started to feel much better and actually managed to overtake some walkers and manage a shambling jog finish. I finsihed in 6 hours 9 minutes, faster than last year's time of 6 and a half hours, so I was chuffed.
Soup and cheese is served at the Village Hall but it was packed and pretty impossible to find a seat, but I collapsed into one somehow and by the time I'd polished it off with three chunks of crusty bread I felt quite normal (relatively speaking for me!) again...
I have had a quieter week as I developed a headache Tuesday and Thursday- some walking and some gym work. I had another swimming lesson from Katie today- proper breast stroke this time, does wonders for bingo wings I hope! It's amazing just how tiring it is doing the strokes properly. Managed a little 6 miler this morning across fields too- gorgeous morning.
It's the Charnwood Forest Marathon next Saturday but I am probably not going to do it as a) I am skint as I am going to Italy in under a fortnight and need to find some spends and b) Katie is swimming Saturday night and I'd like to go and watch. I will also be able to step up the training this week- doing events every weekend does limit what you can do in between.
Labels: Grindleford Gallop
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Hi Steph,
I really enjoyed this one last, it's a cracker isn't it ?
We have been back to Eyam several times to explore, and will probably go back again, it's a poingant reminder of the human suffering that the plague brought.
Well done on such a good time, I think it took me over 7 hours last year.
Incidentally, do you fancy an event called the Leaden Boot challenge (White Peak Area) on 22nd May ?
Google it and let me know, I'm already in.
Catch you later.
I really enjoyed this one last, it's a cracker isn't it ?
We have been back to Eyam several times to explore, and will probably go back again, it's a poingant reminder of the human suffering that the plague brought.
Well done on such a good time, I think it took me over 7 hours last year.
Incidentally, do you fancy an event called the Leaden Boot challenge (White Peak Area) on 22nd May ?
Google it and let me know, I'm already in.
Catch you later.
Hi Ross
Yep the Gallop is a good event, lovely scenery. I will definately have to go and explore Eyam properly sometime.
I have looked at the Leaden Boot challenge, looks like a real good event and one which would definately interest me- the only slight problem is that my sister has chosen Saturday 21st May for her hen night! Will have a think about it...
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Yep the Gallop is a good event, lovely scenery. I will definately have to go and explore Eyam properly sometime.
I have looked at the Leaden Boot challenge, looks like a real good event and one which would definately interest me- the only slight problem is that my sister has chosen Saturday 21st May for her hen night! Will have a think about it...
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