A soggy adventure in The Lakes

I said that I wanted to challenge myself in positive ways. Glancing back over the last week, I think I can say that I’ve succeeded on the running front. Saturday’s run was awesome.

I accepted the invitation of two runner friends to go and run in The Lake District.  The Lakes is approximately a 2 hour drive from where we live and it’s totally worth it. I have so many great memories of the Lakes and the scenery is beautiful.  So, I got up early and fuelled up for the day on some porridge and toast and a very large coffee. The drive was quick and before I knew it, we were there. It was definitely worth getting out of bed early for.

The weather was cold, so I had made sure to put on a base layer, long sleeved top, t-shirt on top and my OMM waterproof jacket on top of that. I also put my pack-away inov8 waterproof pants in my backpack just in case. I had visions of us being out on the hills or exposed moorland, shivering somewhere.

We ran from Ambleside and up past a river, before finding ourselves on rocky trails. We had decided to run some of the Lakeland 50 route. I haven’t run Lakeland 50 since 2010 and I don’t remember an amazing amount of this section, as we would have reached this bit of the course in the dark and moved pretty slowly on tired legs. However, every now and again, I’d exclaim ‘Ah, I think I remember this bit...I don’t think I enjoyed this bit’. After all, Lakeland 50 is the slowest 50 mile ultra I have ever done.

At the start of our adventure, we happened to come across another runner who was recceing the Lakeland route, in preparation for Lakeland 100, which starts the evening before Lakeland 50 and is significantly harder/ probably one of the toughest 100 mile ultras around. I love the fact that even when you’re not even running a race, that there is such camaraderie amongst fellow runners and you end up meeting new people. The lady runner (Jo) stayed with us for the remainder of our run. And then there were three...

At about 8 miles in, the wind and rain really began to hammer us. The marshy ground also kept suctioning off my running shoe and I was pretty slow and cautious as I negotiated the rockier bits.  The thing is, ‘back in the day’, I ran this type of terrain often. I’ve never been a crazy daredevil fell runner who can throw themselves down the side of a hill without a second thought and I never will be, but I used to be braver. I definitely felt myself going a lot slower than I would have liked. Another thing is that I’m a lot faster (in general) and fitter than I was back in the ‘good old days’. I don’t run as many races and my training miles are of better quality. But I was rusty on the rockier, more technical aspects of trail. I think it is a matter of confidence sometimes, and practice. I have only just got back into hillier trail running and I am training for a very long, FLAT canal race (GUCR 145 miler), so it’s no mystery that I wouldn’t be the best at this. Yet, I want to be. I want to be better and I want to be ‘hard-core’ again. I don’t want to be afraid of tricky mud, rocky bits and hills. I love this type of running.

So, after 8 miles, we had a bit of a rest from the rain and went for a drink. Everyone else decided upon a cuppa’ tea and I don’t blame them, as I guess it was warming. However, I decided to get a half pint of pale ale. I figured that the carbohydrates would come in useful.

After the pub, we carried on, on our journey. We decided to loop back towards Ambleside, a different way from the way we came. Fortunately, we had a good map reader amongst us and Mark knew exactly the route we should take. At this point, the rain had turned to hail. The hail in itself wasn’t significant, but the wind blowing it against my legs and face was ferocious. I had to shield my eyes with my hand (should have worn a cap) and I yelped a little at how much they stung me. Yet, I told myself to ‘wo-man up’, as it was only a bit of hail and not the end of the world. The weather was actually worst at the end of our run, where the rain was just relentless. I was glad that the worst waited until the end. Although, I did wonder about some poor souls we had seen out walking earlier on; none of them had proper walking gear on, merely jeans and ‘everyday coats’, and yet they looked at us like we were the mad ones!

Ultimately, we ran just under 18 miles and we looked like drowned rats, so we decided to go to a local café and hunt for pasties to warm us up. Unfortunately, all the pasties were sold out, so I ordered a brie and caramelised onion toastie and a pot of tea. It was scrumptious. However, as we sat there, inside the café, eating our food, water was dripping off us.

All in all, I had a brilliant day out and I took a lot away from it. I’ve figured out some new goals that I want to accomplish this year, which mainly revolve around wanting to get more confident with hilly trail running again. I will do this.

L x

Variety

It has been a little while since I last wrote a blog. I have decided that I am going to endeavour to blog more frequently. Sometimes, I might even just ramble. Sometimes I need to get lots of thoughts out of my head and just ramble. See, I’m rambling already.

Running-wise I have been attempting to up my mileage a lot more. However, I had found myself getting stuck in a bit of a rut with my ‘same old run down the local main road’ and back. With no near (well, not any weekends coming up, but I do have Manchester Marathon in April confirmed) races on the horizon, I haven’t been able to rely on what such races used to provide: variety. So, I’ve been mixing up the time of day that I go running. If I run in the evening one day, I might go for a mega early run the next day. It’s also great training to run on tired legs, for upcoming ultras later in the year.

I’ve also been taking my running kit with me when I travel. When I was down in London a few weeks ago, me and George did a couple of interesting runs along the Thames Path and through Richmond Park (my favourite). It certainly is muddy along the Thames at the moment...and a little flooded! By the end, well, by a few miles in, our bums and legs were caked in mud. It was so much fun. In fact, we were so muddy that once we had reached Putney, we strolled down to the banks of the Thames to wash off some of the mud in the river water...

On the way back towards Clapham Junction (where George lives), we stopped at a nice pub by the Thames for some dinner. We had run just over 17 miles and it would be another 2 miles to home from that point, but for the time being we relaxed and had some lovely food. Then suddenly, there was a freak lightning storm. The sky just went incredibly dark and the wind picked up force. There was no thunder, but then I saw the most amazing lightning bolt in the distance. I love storms. They’re so interesting. However, I was glad we had made it inside before the weather went crazy and that we could be spectators to this storm, and not participants.

So, ultimately, I guess my main thoughts on running and on life at the moment are to ‘mix it up’. I think variety is a great thing and it stops you from getting into a rut. I’d say that things have been particularly trying recently, due to a number of different factors. I’ve been frantically working away at my computer, searching for jobs and applying for jobs. 


You don’t realise what a source of self-esteem having a job is, until you don’t have one. Not only is it somewhere you go to earn vital pennies, but it can provide you with a whole sense of self worth. Another obstacle at the moment is being away from someone I care about, being in a long distance relationship, which I am. All of this can make the days seem so long and it can add a bit of a challenge to each day in itself. Therefore, it’s super important to mix it up. Consequently, I want to make my runs exciting and vary my daily routine as much as possible, so that I stay both sane and training. In this way, I'm facing each day with a positive challenge.

L x

Christmas, New Year & Being Merry...

Christmas was hectic, but completely lovely. Getting to Winchester on the train was a stormy adventure, involving fallen trees on train lines and ale to the rescue on the train, whilst being stuck at Basingstoke station for quite some time.

Once at our destination for Christmas, a wonderful time was had by all. Christmas morning was glorious, with a beautiful sunrise and crisp morning air.

Me and George ran across fields and through picturesque villages. Christmas was also spent making mince pies (they turned out pretty amazing, much to my surprise), walking in forests and around gorgeous countryside and drinking mulled wine and cider.

For New Years, it was back to London. The fireworks near the London Eye were absolutely amazing, but shortly after making our way home through the crowds of people and partygoers, me and George got separated and we got lost, with no phone battery left. Ultimately I found my way back via tube, but it is still scary. That same instinctual feeling of helplessness overwhelms you, like when you were a child and got separated from your parents in a crowd. All came good in the end. That is the main thing.

So, I’ve really been trying to seek out some good races and events for this year. I’ve got the Brathay Windermere Marathon in May and GUCR 145 miler a week later...I did this combination last year, so rest and ice bath-ness is the key to recovery with this one. I’ve also been making enquiries about the Liverpool to Leeds 130 mile-ish race. However, in the meantime I’m trying to up my mileage, whilst upping the speed. I’ve also been doing weights like crazy and have bought a weighted vest. We’re going hard-core this year :-)

Running through the forest & mince pies :)

Ahhh, it’s nearly Christmas woooo 

I have been feeling particularly festive today. A friend from my old local running club asked me along on a trail run with a club of local runners - The Delamere Spartans - who do a lot of running on the trail. So, I got up early & he picked me up and we drove to Delamere Forest, which is about 15 minutes away, but really rural and very popular with cyclists, runners and dog walkers.

Mega sleepy eyes...

I was promised tea and cake at the end, so I was determined to join them... So, we arrived at one of the forest car parks for 8.30ish am and met all the other runners and we did a really lovely undulating 5 ½ mile run through the forest and off the beaten track. We also ran up some hills and went over some stiles and ran up by some farmland also. I had such a great time. It was so much prettier and more challenging than running up by the main road all of the time. However, I did go out for a nice run yesterday evening and I got caught in the torrential downpour, and that was pretty fun. I expected there to be lots of mud on the trail today. It was indeed pretty muddy, but there is nothing better than running off road and coming back with your legs splattered in mud 

There were so many nice people out and about this morning as well and friendly walkers saying ‘Merry Christmas’.

At the end of the run, one of the members who hadn't joined us on the run had pulled up his car in the car park and in his boot he had massive containers of tea and coffee, homemade mince pies and some Christmas cake. It was an awesome idea. I will definitely be going running lots more with these guys in 2014 for sure.

So, now I’m sat at home, chilling out with a bottle of Doombar. I’ve packed most of my stuff for London tomorrow, although I did have a stress before and I’m a little bit concerned about these supposed stormy winds and torrential rain that is forecast. The Virgin Trains website says there will be major disruption and my train is booked for 2.35pm, but their Twitter feed and website says that no restrictions will apply on advance tickets and that we can get any train tomorrow, preferably as early as possible, to avoid disruptions. So, I did some manic packing and I’m going to get the 7.35am train into London 

Well I hope everyone has a lovely and amazing Christmas, with lots of scrumptious food, some nice festive running and lots of loveliness.

Running: It's not just for Christmas...

Take a look in any women’s magazine or female targeted newspaper/ internet article at the moment and all you seem to get is advice on ‘How To Fit Into That LBD (little black dress)’, ‘How To Burn Off Those Mince Pies’, 'Planning Your Low Carb Christmas'  or  'Drop A Dress Size For The Party Season’. It all makes for rather depressing and repetitive reading...

Don’t get me wrong, I originally started to run to help me lose weight years ago. There was a lot of weight to lose. But I always told myself that I wanted to do something positive with the weight loss. I don’t believe in diets. They are simply not sustainable long-term. I didn’t want to live my life counting absolutely every crumb that I consumed. Instead, I decided to change my entire lifestyle and running became a major part of my life and who I am. 

I feel the same way about advice given to women in magazines during the summer, advising us how to ‘Look fab in an itsy bitsy bikini’. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to look attractive or feel great, but quick fixes sadden me. It worries me to think of the after effects of such restrictive diets; to think of people punishing themselves, only to momentarily lose weight and then 'fall off the wagon' and pile on even more. Weight loss isn’t just for Christmas... (Or summer). I read a Daily Mail article - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2520030/Tis-season-jogging-Women-run-hours-burn-calories-consumed-Christmas-Day.html - entitled 'Tis the season to get jogging: Women will have to run for five hours to burn off the calories consumed on Christmas Day’ and although slightly intriguing, my main thoughts were ‘For goodness sake, it’s bloody Christmas, live a little!’ 

My other thoughts prompted me to think of how grateful I am that running is what I absolutely love to do all year. I don’t have some dreaded obligation hung around my neck. I would quite willingly go out and run for 5+ hours because I enjoy it. So I say, let’s all enjoy Christmas, eat lots of dins, be merry, make the best of ourselves, enjoy what we love and be happy. 

Sleepy eyed

And to those who don’t have an active hobby now, seek something out that you would love to try this New Year and don’t be intimidated by phrases such as ‘change of lifestyle’ – it could be the best thing that ever happens to you...

Running Under Darkness.

Now, I’m not a morning person by any means. I’m also not the most organised person in the world by any means. But, a strange thing has occurred over the last few weeks and I have found myself making lots of lists and actually (religiously) marking down things and goals in my calendar. This week I have taken it one step further by utilising a little app on my mobile and colour coding lots of tasks (and adding in lots of cute picture icons like snowmen...). 

Another miraculous thing to come out of this is that I have been going running at 6am many mornings. I know you’re all shocked, you should be.  I am. And more alarmingly I have found that I absolutely love it. I love running when it’s dark outside. Its one of the best bits of ultra-running, that night section followed by the glorious sunrise.

I’m no stranger to evening running, but I find that as much as I love running, getting myself through that door and out into the cold evening air later on in the day can be a struggle. So, morning running has been my best form of defence against my reluctance to un-snuggle myself off of the sofa. Fellow runners also seem to be pretty friendly in the morning – not that I normally always encounter grumpy runners – and it’s a nice start to the day to exchange a simple ‘Good morning’ whilst out running. 

This morning's 6am-er was full of interesting bird noises, like all the birdies were talking to each other. One bird sounded like a ringing telephone and another boisterous group of birdies sounded like they were wolf whistling. Lots of smiles were brought to my face. So, my thoughts for today are that early morning running is a brilliant way to go. Try it. I love it and I’m a nocturnal night runner ;-)

The Canadian Adventure & Vulture Bait 50K Trail Race

Canada was absolutely amazingly wonderful. We did so much in such a short space of time. And, like everyone told me I would, I fell in love with the place. All the leaves on the trees were beautiful changing colours and we had pretty great weather. I packed my case expecting it to be really chilly, but the first week was scorching hot. The skies were blue and it was sunglasses, ice-cream and shorts weather. On the ice-cream note, I had the biggest and tastiest ice-creams ever. The Canadians sure do love their food. So, I won’t give you a day-by-day account of our adventures, but I will give you a mismatched excitable account of things that spring to mind:

·         I am still having Tim Horton’s withdrawals. This convenient bagel, doughnut and coffee provider is something of a Canadian heritage (or so I have been informed). It was great for a very cheap coffee and I loved the novelty of it.

·         Muskoka Harvest Ale and Flying Monkey IPA are some of the best ales I have tasted – I’m so sad we don’t have them :(

·         When walking around trails, look out for weird orange and black furry caterpillars and cute snakes.

·         Ice Hockey is awesome!  I didn’t know what was going on and then about five minutes in, I was hooked. The atmosphere is great and our team won on penalties, yey!

·         Halloween stores are so much fun. They take it all so seriously over there and I love that they make such a big effort. There was a particularly fantastic advert from a company called Value Village, which is still stuck in my head and cracks me up and went like: ‘You can be anything, even a zebra with a big green moustache. You can be a duck. You can be a ref. You can be a duck that’s also a ref. You can be anything, a steampunk pickle or a zombie hotdog! Sexy Ben Franklin, funky future Ghandi lalalalaaa’ You have to witness the video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsUOMTSLUQE

·         Root Beer (yep, all the healthy stuff...) is very addictive and yet strangely medicinal- tasting. And A&W burger was also a guilty pleasure...

·         Beagles are the cutest doggies – we helped look after a Beagle called Emmet and he was the cutest thing ever. He didn’t bark, in fact, he didn’t make any noise. He had the most adorable big floppy ears and friendly temperament.

·         Niagara Falls impressed me much more than I thought it would. It is amazing to see such a vast amount of water plummeting over the edge like that! However, the casinos and various amusements bewildered me...

·         Poutine (see: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poutine) is such a simple, yet strange foodstuff. Imagine chips covered in strange gravy and cheese curds = really unhealthy, but really tasty carb loading food.

·         Canadian Thanksgiving is crazy. I have never been so full in all of my life. Also, pumpkin pie is delicious and who knew that cheese went so well with apple pie?!

·         We went to Canada’s Wonderland Theme Park for their ‘Scare fest’ /  Halloween night and if you run a 50k the day before visiting, you really do blend in pretty well with the people impersonating zombies (well, my walk was pretty spot on!) Also, wooden rollercoasters and runaway train rides are much scarier in Canada. They are also very rickety and they hurt.

·         I wish we had a Bulk Barn, because it is such a great place to go and pick up snacks before an ultra, which me and George did before Vulture Bait 50k.

·         I learned/ rediscovered (I should know this by now, I’ve run around enough lakes!) that not all runs around lakes are flat and that the clue is often in the name. ‘Vulture Bait’ was definitely tougher and muddier that I thought!

Talking of Vulture Bait 50k trail race, here is a quick ramble about that... Well, we got up pretty early and set off, with Emmet the dog in tow towards London, Ontario. We stopped off at a Tim Horton’s on the way & got a much needed coffee and breakfast bagel, which Emmet tried to eat. Arriving at Race HQ was all very strange and different; none of the usual suspects here! We registered and got our numbers and timing chip and goodie bag. Interestingly, the goodie bag was full of chewing gum and teeth related stuff like floss and toothpaste and a toothbrush. Well, I guess ultra-runners do need to brush their teeth a fair bit after all the sugary energy snacking. Vulture Bait consisted of two laps around a rather expansive ‘lake’, which looked more like the sea... Runners were made up of those running the 50k and those that were running 1 lap. The course was marked by little flags in the ground.

Before I knew it, we were off. The first lap was pretty tight packed, because there were obviously more runners on narrow trails and so everyone was bunched together. This was good in some ways, because I got into a steady consistent pace and I was running pretty well. Having said this, the trails were a lot tougher than I had though they would be. They were so narrow and winding. The run did encircle a lake, but we didn’t actually get to see too much of it. However, a memorable moment with regards to the lake came about six miles in when I saw a really huge deer go for a swim! Its head and antlers were poking out of the water and it was a great sight to witness. And, all I could think was that I didn’t know deer could swim haha! I also saw a deer about 1 mile into the run when it ran across the trail just ahead of us...glad we missed that!

So, the run made its way through narrow and very leafy/ rooty/ muddy woodland paths. It really was a beautiful course, with tall trees and nature surrounding us and every now and again you would catch a glimpse of the water. However, because there was a lot of potential for tripping, you really had to be vigilant and pay attention to where you were putting your feet. Therefore, I found that my eyes were often focused on the ground, instead of relaxing a bit and taking in the wonderful scenery.

Now, before the race started we were told that there was a 30% of rain forecast for that day. And the Canadians reassured us that this meant that it basically wouldn’t rain. However, 17 miles into the run the heavens opened and the second lap was a mud bath. Fortunately, I didn’t slip over until about the 27 mile mark and it was a good ‘body plant’. The whole right side of my body was literally covered in mud. However, I wasn’t hurt and that was the main thing, I was just extremely dirty. Fortunately, there was a stream crossing where we had gotten our feet wet in the first lap and this time around it was a very welcome sight. I stopped for a few minutes to wash my face and onwards I went.

Aid station-wise, everything was great. They had pretzels and various sweeties and chopped banana and Hammer Nutrition stuff. The marshals were also super friendly! I was wearing my 100 Marathon Club top with my name on the back and whenever anyone wanted to get past or you were at a CP, people actually used my name. There was one particular lady who was so friendly and was driving around the accessible bits of the course to offer support and on Lap Two, she was shouting ‘And here’s Liz, Go Liz!’ as I ran towards her. It was just so friendly, considering my name was on my back and she had obviously remembered it from Lap One. Made me smile.

So, it was a beautiful, yet tricky and very muddy 50k. I was so happy as I legged it towards the finish, as I thought it would never arrive at one point and it had now gotten really chilly. Running across the finish line, there was the same fantastic support that had greeted us all the way around the course. And of course there was George, who had not long finished and his sister and her boyfriend :). 

At the end there was a really nice buffet of food for runners to pick at and I felt like I had earned it. Normally I just think, ‘Well a 50k is not much more than a marathon, it’s just a long marathon’, but it is easy to forget that even marathons can still be tricky and this was definitely that, so I felt like I put in a good effort. I also got talking to an English guy at the finish and it turned out that his wife was from my hometown! It is a small world indeed.

After the race, we drove a short distance to Brandon’s parents’ house (George’s sisters’ boyfriend), where his parents cooked us the most massive post-race steak. This was accompanied by Caesar salad, jacket potato, beer and wine :-) This was possibly the best post-race meal I have ever had.

And so, this ramble concludes my Canadian adventure.  I realise that it mainly consists of talking about food and that my adventure largely consisted of eating lots of food and drinking lots of coffee and beer. For all of these reasons, I really miss Canada. I had such an amazing time with George and I couldn’t have asked for a better holiday or a better travel companion :-)

The End.