Montane Trail13 Grizedale Half Marathon Sunday 7th Feb 2016.
The day begins....
Well it wasn't as early as some starts I've had to run days, but today was a 6am alarm call after the usual pre run morning broken nights sleep. I'd had about 5 hours in bed if I was lucky, but I'd slept well the day before so I was fairly confident I wouldn't feel too tired when I got up.
I felt fairly refreshed after the usual shower and then made my final decisions on what running gear I was going to wear. Several layers was going to be the key today as the forecast was about 5-6C and likely very wet and damp. I had to consider there may be times where I have to walk and would rapidly lose body heat, so I layered up with a compression base layer, my Run or Cake tech tee, my zip up running top and then finally my waterproof jacket which I was going to use mainly for it's windproof abilities.
I had compression shorts, running shorts and a thin pair of showerproof full length pants, again to keep the cold wind of my hamstrings. I wore my compression socks as well, along with my hat and gloves I had the complete kit list pretty much on my body to start the race with.
Breakfast was the usual toast and coffee, and a carry along bag for the car with drink and flapjacks and Mars bars and a banana in so I could choose and graze on the journey.
The journey.......
The journey today was courtesy of fellow runner Annie who was driving and our other fellow passenger was another fellow runner Maddalena. We all know each other from the various run groups we are in and often run together in run groups or social training runs in our local area.
I had made the conscious decision today to run with Annie and Maddalena because I wanted to start running with friends more as opposed to racing events on my own. This is all part of my 'Running with Gru' concept this year as well ,and I am trying to run with fellow 'Cakers' from my 'Run or Cake' charity running group in more of a support role and to have more relaxing fun.
The journey was a reasonable 1hr and 40ish minutes up to the Lakes towards Keswick, and then onto Grizedale Forest itself. Quite a few twisty narrow roads for the last 4-5 miles and a few panicked 'are we on the right road' moments but we got there safely and nicely parked up at the Grizedale Forest Visitors Centre car park right near the toilets and indeed the starting area.
Registration and then find a friend time......
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| In it together and raring to go. |
Next was registration time to pick up our race number, chip and event memento t-shirt. This was all done quickly and smoothly and we went back to the car to pin our numbers on etc and put our final gear selection on.
I was now wearing my entire kit list with the exception of my spare base layer. I was feeling nicely prepared and reasonably warmer now so happy with my selection.
Next was get to the start and watch the people doing the marathon set off on their journey as they start 20 minutes before us. Quite a few people we knew were doing the full marathon, Mainly Darren F, Michelle B, Gillian V, Paul G, Rachel R, Dom G and several others.
We saw them off and then looked for fellow halfers who like ourselves were doing the easier option of the half marathon. We managed to find Sarah and Marc, Kelly and fellow injured runner Sharon who obliged in taking the obligatory pre start smiley picture...
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| Myself, Marc and Sarah, Kelly, Annie and finally Maddalena. |
Race start.....
So the 9:50am start was here and we were off, out of the visitors centre and compound and of up towards the forest with a fairly gentle incline. This incline was infact pretty much going to carry on for 3-4 miles and it got steeper and less fun as it went on.
We were now on the Grizedale Forest fire roads and steadily climbing but it was not too hard, and varied with ups and slight downs and then back to ups again. This went on and we ran and chatted and tried to admire the views as we went whilst trying to determine our comfortable pace.
Annie and Maddalena were both nursing injury issues and did extremely well to get to the start itself and to make the decision to crack on with it. It seemed to all be going well and we stayed together as our paces were similar.
As the hill got steeper and we started to work our way up the first and biggest climb I slowly ran ahead but tried not to go too far so they could still see me and I wanted to push up the hill to practice my hill running as I never get to do any and I need to train for Excalibur in May.
It was a hard slog and I was determined not to stop and several people were walking already as it is a long climb. I started to get warm but was content with the fact that when I got to the top I would be nicely warmed up and I could take off my waterproof .
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| Official map of the half marathon route. |
Once I'd decided to stop at the top to wait for the others the top never seemed to arrive, I thought it topped out at about 3 miles in but I was rapidly approaching 4 miles, but it finally arrived and I did it without a walk so I was very happy with that.
I stopped a bit further beyond the top where you go downhill for a while and then hit open hill top and indeed the full 40+mph winds. I stripped off my waterproof and stood at the side waiting and at least half a dozen people said "Thanks marshal" to me thinking I was a trail side marshal as I was stood there with my luminous yellow top, but once they spotted my run number I could hear them saying "Oh, I though he was a marshal,lol".
Annie and Maddalena arrived about 5 mins or so after I stopped , and we carried on across the open hillside. It was extremely wet and muddy and boggy in places as you would expect considering the weather we have had over the last couple of months, and everyone was concentrating on foot placement that didn't involve sinking into a bog, losing a shoe, and slipping on yer a***.
This went on for quite a while but the views on this section were stunning although it was a bit grey and overcast and with the high winds I didn't bother to take my phone out and take pics as the wind would of just given me camera jitter.
I ran any hilly bits and waited at the tops so I could admire the view and get a breather at the top, and waited briefly for Annie and Maddalena to catch up. I think people thought I was playing cat and mouse with them as I kept running up the hills and past them as they walked and I then stopped at the top and looked around as they went past me again.
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| Picture courtesy of Michelle B. |
The views were indeed stunning and I would highly recommend a visit to this area as it is ideal for walking as well, and Grizedale Forest has dedicated cycle and mountain bike trails as well. The visitors centre has toilet facilities and a full on cafe as well.
Approaching halfway....
After multiple slippy wet and muddy downhills and technical bits the path went to a narrow trail back into the hillside forest. This was now single track and technical as you had to watch your footing all the time otherwise you would stub your foot on a rock or even trip over one, and it was puddles galore.
We were approaching the halfway point now and we hit the fire road again through the forest but it was a wide road and fairly open section of forest, but it gave you good views.
Thankfully all the fire road sections of forest etc did keep us pretty much sheltered from the extremely high winds that were howling through the region.
Now past the halfway and a feed station was due around the 8-9 mile point, as we got to 8 miles or so I spotted fellow running friend Darren F, aka #Fatmanultra or Ultra Darren as I often call him. Darren was doing the full marathon and was not particularly feeling the enjoyment of it all at this point, and I'm not surprised as I wasn't exactly feeling fresh myself at this point and I was only doing the half.
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| Myself and Ultra Darren. |
I ran and walked with Darren for a while while Annie and Maddalena ran ahead as I hadn't seen Darren for a while so we had a catch up, and luckily a photo op as you can see from the above picture.
Darren was considering stopping at the half marathon finish point instead of going out for the second more technical second half of the marathon, as sometimes if you are really not feeling it or don't feel right with regards to previous injury it is sometimes a wise decision to stop and start the next step which is recovery ready for your next big event.
Full respect to Darren as the Grizedale event is a fairly tough one and the marathon definitely was a tough one, and I found out later in the day that Darren did himself proud by sticking it out and doing the whole 26.2 with an additional 3+ miles for good measure because he was clearly loving it so much out there. Well done Darren.
I ran ahead after saying goodbye to Darren and caught back up with Annie and Maddalena which wasn't as easy as I expected as I was more tired than I thought, and as usual my hamstring was being awkward and didn't feel right and I was a little worried that extra exertion might cause issues. It hadn't been helped by jumping over big puddles earlier and over stretching every time I did it.
After catching up we hit the feed station and stopped for a quick drink and nibble of whatever they had. I went for the flat coke and had a gel just to keep me going for the last 3-4 miles.
Shortly after we hit another photo opportunity with the official photographers Sports Sunday, and we managed to pull off a decent smiley picture again so we must of still been enjoying it at that point...
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| Maddalena, Annie and myself. |
The rest of the route was now pretty much going to be fire road like you can see in the above picture, and we shortly came across Rachel who was running the marathon so I had a chat with her while the others ran a little ahead. Again full respect to Rachel for taking on the full marathon, I really wouldn't of wanted to do it myself as I hadn't trained up to marathon distance over the Winter as I've been trying to get some rest in. Especially as my hamstring still causes me issues.
I left Rachel and ran on to catch Annie and Maddalena again, and again found it harder than I expected to speed up, but it was fun to practice catching up with people ahead of you as it can be vital for when you are actually racing an event.
We were now down to the last couple of miles and after about 10 minutes Rachel reappeared and caught us up as she was clearly having a good day pace wise, so we all chatted as Annie and Maddalena hadn't officially met Rachel before whereas I've met Rachel loads of times at other events over the years.
The finish at last...
So the finish line could be seen in the distance, albeit down the hillside and several twists and turns away. The 12 mile marker had been passed and we were on our way to the finish and I think I can safely say we were glad to see the finish but we were all finishing feeling in decent shape for a tough run.
A couple of switchbacks and turns later and we were now on flat land and the last couple of hundred yards, we regrouped a little and pretty much all came in together with the exception of Rachel who had another loop to do.
Finish line crossed in roughly 2hrs 29minutes chip and gun time which included little stops we had along the way, and overall for a toughish course it was a respectable time for 3 injured older runners lol.
Medals collected and around our necks and it was now find the cafe time for a nice hot cup of coffee and a chat and catch up with fellow runners and friends who had already finished.
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| Official finishers medal. |
All done and dusted....
We were now ready to set off home after a bit of a clothes change and the odd painkiller or anti inflammatory, to aid the long journey home so we could actually get out of the car at the other end.
I think I speak for us all when I say we had a great day, it was great to run with friends during the actual event and be able to stop and walk and chat or indeed run and chat with others I knew along the way without worrying I was losing precious time on a PB time attempt.
The Grizdale Forest and indeed the visitors complex was top notch and I will return another day as it was tough but not tough enough to put me off going back, and it would be nice to get back on a sunny warmer day so we could take in the full splendor of the scenery in that area. You never know I may even get to wear the great looking t-shirts you get at the event as a memento.
I can safely say I have officially joined the Trail Running Revolution and am getting ready to run #Further Faster.....
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