5,500ft of ascent up Welsh hills,down again,up again,down again,up again,....are you getting the picture yet??

Intro....

So where on earth do I start? this was always going to be a massive adventure and a massive challenge for me. I had had enough of road marathons after breaking the sub 4 mark finally last year, and as I run to raise money for charity now as my priority it was obvious I had to set the mark higher in order to tempt donations in.

Vast amounts of people had obviously recently run the London marathon, and vast amounts of friends and family had obviously sponsored them. Now was the time for me to get out there and plug my next big challenge and one of the fourteen charity runs I was doing this year to raise vital funds for THHN (Torbay Holiday Helpers Network).

That run was to be the Claire House Children's Hospice Excalibur Marathon, a grueling beast of a marathon I had been told by many, and one I was confident I could get round without too much of a problem. I mean all marathons are hard aren't they? how much harder could it be? (you may see a pattern of stupidity forming along the way of this blog).

My first mistake, although deliberate, was not to look too closely at the elevation profile for this event (actually I didn't look at all..oops). I was fully aware it had 5,500ft of ascent (ups to you and me), and I figured that it would be fairly well spread out over the entire course, and I could easily walk up the difficult hills as a rest from the running (I'm an idiot) and that there would be plenty of flat bits up top and along the ridges, and then lovely gentle downhills (I'm a deluded Idiot).

All the physical training had been done after months of running in the dunes and multiple 20+ mile runs to get the legs ready, and mentally I thought I was ready, so next was the day itself.

An early start....

So I had set my alarm for 5am, which was a challenge for me as I usually work late and stay up to 3am on a regular basis, so my body clock was definitely confused.

Quick shower and then the best bit....putting on your running gear for the event itself. Is it just me that sometimes feels like it's a superhero costume? or that it has magical powers that will transform you into a super athlete capable of mighty challenges?... no?...just me then (told you I was an idiot).

Breakfast for the day was toast and peanut butter, and a coffee and plenty of snacks to have on the way like banana's etc as it was going to require a lot of calories over the course of the day.

My  stuff was packed including all my carefully checked and packed kit list which was a necessity as we could end up in a dangerous situation out on the hills if the weather took a turn for the worse. It was for this reason we had to carry full waterproofs, hat, gloves, compass, map, whistle, spare food and water and one or two other things.Efficient bag packing had never been so important.

The journey there....

6.30am arrived and my very helpful fellow running competitor for the day Annie arrived promptly outside. We also picked up another friend and fellow competitor Michelle on route to Moel Famau.

Sat nav was our friend today, and Moel Famau isn't actually that far away from Southport and Liverpool etc and we were there within an hour and a half, even with a few sat nav blips involving talking in the car and not listening to the very polite sat nav lady telling us when and where we should be turning (or not in our case, several times).

Moel Famau....

So we arrived safely at Bwich Penbarrass car park (as opposed to the farmhouse on a back country lane we first arrived at lol) and promptly decided to get out and have a wander around the well organized event start and finish area, which thankfully had multiple portaloo's for are convenience, and relief.

The Bwich Penbarrass car park and for today Excalibur start area.

The official start and finish area

After a bit of sitting around and wandering around it was time to line up amongst the others and register at the start and get our kit officially checked to ensure we definitely had it all.

As mentioned earlier the kit list was vital and we had to show all the items in our kit list was definitely in our bags before we were indeed safe to be let loose out on the Welsh hills (now who's the idiots? fools).

The registration and kit check was extremely efficient and it was good to see people nicely queuing up without pushing and shoving and waiting, and not getting your heels rammed by someones family member like you do at city marathons.

Look at that, how dignified are we?

Starting to get busier as the countdown to the start is on.

Vital bit of kit, the compass and map. (I've got a story about mine, but that's for another time)

The big start.....

So now it was time for a little safety and route briefing from two of the organizers Nigel and Mark (I think). We amassed in the start area looking like we had all got dressed in the dark in the sports section of a charity shop (or is that just me?) and listened intently to the race and safety instructions given, unlike the city marathons were most people are too busy with their faces buried in their smartphone telling all their friends what useless crap they had for breakfast (Didn't I just do that earlier??).

Final instructions from the guys in the know.

Starting to get busy around the start, final nerves anyone?

See what I mean about us dressing in the dark?

And we are off...

A few best wishes and good lucks to fellow competitors and friends and we were off.....and straight into an upwards forest fire road. So it was going to be like this was my first thought, as I had pictured a slow gentle sloping road winding around the mountainside and forests of Moel Famau and it's glorious country park etc..etc..how wrong was I.

This was no gentle slope, not to me anyway and not to a lot of others behind me as we runners always get carried away in the first few kilometres or miles of races/events and tend to run a slightly speedy pace as we try and gauge the course. This slope was never ending and when we rounded a corner it suddenly went down again? what? .....you mean we are going to be climbing up and then going back down again and going up again back to the same level we were at a hundreds yards ago? too right we were.

This was no ordinary stroll in the park forest road, and it zig zagged around the hillside for many a mile and eventually thankfully up to a nice checkpoint, checkpoint no.1 to be precise. And lo and behold a friendly face by way of Rachel from Penny lane Striders who was on the half marathon of the event and they had a slightly different route to us so where further ahead into their run when our paths crossed at this checkpoint.

A quick chatter and of I went again onwards and upwards towards the top that never felt like it was in sight, and to be honest it was never going to be because we were cruelly diverted off the hillside at checkpoint no.2 and over towards the next hill before we even got to it.(mind games were being played clearly).

Off we went galloping off down the hill on nice smooth grassy fields and meadows etc until we hit checkpoint 3 which had water and sweets etc and was a welcome little break for a breather if needs be.I was on GU salted caramel flavoured gels so was keeping to one every hour as opposed to the on pack advice of every 45 minutes to start to see how I felt and I had a handheld with water and a little bit of HI5 Source 4:1 powder in which usually serves me well.

From the start at the bottom of the map, to checkpoint 3 at the top right of the red route line.

From checkpoint 3 it was off along solid paths for quite a while and past several little reservoirs and onto the hills again and slowly slowly up the next hill. this was tiring and it was warm so was also tiring because of that, but we all obviously plodded on and upwards.

We did soon come across the friendly face of an official event photographer from Sportsunday Event Photography who offered us encouragement and well dones as he snapped a picture of us approaching and crossing a little plank over a little stream (see pic). I swear he was trying to put us of by talking to us so we would fall in lol.

I wasn't falling in today.(Photo credit : Sportsunday Event Photography)

A rare smile for the friendly photographer (Photo credit:Sportsunday Event Photography)

We carried on upwards from there and I for one was starting to walk a lot of uphill sections no matter how short they were because it was so tiring, but others around me were doing it was well, so it was a good marker that we were indeed all in the same boat and not competing against each other but rather alongside each other.

We soon hit checkpoint 4 which was on a ridge and at this point we actually saw front runners retuning on their return section of the race...unbelievable pace and endurance.

We now headed out on a long downhill section down and along a very long and often steep grassy section with sheep and sheep **** everywhere (note to oneself, potential slip hazard) and it apparently is known affectionately as 'telly tubby land'? can't think why. although I did feel a bit Dipsy and needed a Tinky Winky pee after seeing all the sheep  Po(o) but  I happily ran on singing silently to myself Laa Laa la.(still an idiot).

The happy Laa Laa attitude soon disappeared when I saw the next mammoth never ending hillside we now had to walk straight up. Although walking feels like a welcome relief, when you actually try and walk up this stuff straight up the lactic acid build up in your legs is unbelievable, and my calves felt like they were going to explode it was that painful.

The only solution on these type of inclines was to walk until you couldn't anymore and then have a little breather while the lactic acid levels flushed out of your leg muscles a bit so you could actually carry on.

I had a good chat with another runner who was on a return to fitness and mentioned he hadn't done any hill walking for a while due to this, I quickly pointed out I hadn't done any at all as I live in a very flat area and this was indeed a challenge.

Eventually we hit the top of the ridge and indeed checkpoint 5, and this was also were the full and half runners split off into different directions, left for us and right for the halfers who would then head back towards Moel Famau and the finish.

Of along the ridge I went after having a 5 minute break to take some pictures of the surrounding views, and onwards towards Moel Llys-Y-Coed and then a very very steep downhill down  rock steps and worn path to the car park for Moel Arthur and checkpoint 6 for a bit of welcome refreshment.

Looking down to checkpoint 6, and upwards toward Moel Arthur, our next climb.

From checkpoint 3 on the bottom right of the red route line and up to checkpoint 6 in the valley just below the top of the map.

Up we all had to go again and I tried a little run up the hill path but after only 50ft my muscles were burning with lactic acid again so it was walk with hands on knees to get up the steep bits and then a little run when I could.

Checkpoint 7 (according to race directions) was actually a friendly marshal pointing the way to the top and offering an encouraging "it gets a little easier from here" Wohoo I thought, as I sure as hell knew I couldn't do all over again if the rest is like this up to that point.

I had serious doubts on several occasions on my ability to make it if my legs carried on screaming at me like this, although I was getting through it with the little walks I wasn't sure how bad my legs would get further on or whether they would just stay the same as now.

Moel Arthur was a nice viewing point and another opportunity for more pictures, which by now I was using as an excuse to stop for a rest. Onwards I went after a few people passed me and I became conscious I was losing places so I ran on and this time it was another downhill section.

The problem I was discovering was there was not a lot of flattish or ridge crest running opportunities so you couldn't make up for lost time whilst walking, and the downhill were not runnable at speed. I also become fully aware that trying to slow myself down coming downhill was putting a lot of pressure on my toes at the front of my running shoes and I was vary that I may get bad blisters and again hinder my journey even more.

Soon it was the bottom of the hill and again several people around me who I got past again at some point and then we went through the car park for Penycloddiau and past a crowd of people in the car park, I can't for the life of me remember if it was checkpoint or supporters, I don't remember stopping before then yet again climbing upwards alongside some nice forest scenery towards the top of the next hill


This was another steep walk up on tired legs and this one was never ending..You would go up for several hundred feet towards the top of the ridge and then discover when you got up there that there was infact another 100ft+ climb to the next top, and again and again this went on.

Eventually it tops out at Penycloddiau which is the remains of an ancient fort. I'm guessing this was the circle of stones with a pile of rocks in the middle that I stopped at for yet another rest and more pics.

The remains of the ancient fort at Penycloddiau, plus hill top marker and surrounding views.

Checkpoint 6 at the bottom and Moel Arthur and up to checkpoint 8 and then Moel-Y-Parc at the very top of the route.

Onwards again and slowly down and eventually we hit checkpoint 8 manned by several members of the mountain rescue etc by the look of it. I took a single cube of flapjack and struggled to eat it as I carried on upwards again up the next section of hill toward Moel-Y-Parc and the furthest point out on the route. By now it was also passed the halfway mark.

The approach to Meol-Y-Parc again was a long steady climb followed by climb after climb, but not as steep as others and running on the flatter sections was again possible.

I peaked Moel-Y-Parc and had a little breather and then spotted another runner further behind so it was time to go again, and down hill this time.This section was nice and a fairly steady downhill past yet another marshal making sure we didn't go the wrong way at a major turning point.

Top of Moel-Y-Parc, the furthest point on on the course, all homeward from here on.

It flattened out now and we were on the return leg of the route and heading back towards check point 8 again as we were running a loop out and back. My pace grew as it was a lot flatter and I passed a few people who were walking at that point or possibly just getting a breather, as I did several times.

In no time after a few knackering ups again and a few more people passed it was checkpoint 8 again. Unfortunately they had just run out of water and I was pretty much out myself so after being told it was several miles to the next check point and that some is on it's way, I decided to have an extended sit down and rest, I lost major time but it wasn't worth the risk and at the end of the day I rested while i waited.

At this point several people went past and several also decided to stop and sit, and at this point I also saw the friendly faces of Gillian and her boyfriend Adam from Liverpool Running Club who asked if I was OK as they thought I was lying there injured. I told them I was fine and advised them to check their water before carrying on due to the water situation.

The water finally arrived and after being refilled I carried on off down the fairly level route towards checkpoint 6 again, although by now I hadn't remembered 6 was the check point at the bottom of a big hill.

The 'couple of miles' to the next checkpoint was clearly in Welsh mountain miles because the miles passed and nothing was in sight.At several points on this stretch I chatted briefly to another runner who had his  dog with him and we too and fro'd position as we ran the muddy track.

I had at this point slowed on the regularity of taking my gels and was often forcing myself to take one as I didn't particularly feel like one. I stupidly went 10-15 mins over the one hour intervals and as I was running towards mile 20 thinking I would stop there and take one, or that the next checkpoint is probably around the next corner. I suddenly had an energy crash and felt drained and hungry. The sudden feeling of being hungry is my marker for the fact that I have gone through my energy stores and any energy from gels that was in my system, at that point I have to eat as it is physically all downhill for me from there if I don't eat, I go weak, feel hot and can go lightheaded and slightly dizzy.

I decided there and then that I was going to have to walk the flat for a while and see if I could recover. I had my gel and luckily as I was carrying 2 full size flapjack bars as a back up I had a full one as I walked. I actually covered a full mile in 16 mins while walking which wasn't too bad as the terrain often dictated 11-12 min run miles on some sections.

After a mile and a half I felt better and started running again and managed to catch back up with the two runners in front of me who I had lost sight of earlier.

Check point 6 for the second time finally arrived around a very long upward road section, and they had a nice selection of snacks. I only had 2 Jaffa cakes as I had had my flapjack and gel, and I topped up my water as I wasn't risking running out anywhere.

Sadly checkpoint 6 was infact at the bottom of Llyn-Y-Coed and indeed the very very steep decent that we had come down. Which meant we had to go back up it to get out of the valley again (mind games again by the organizers I reckon lol).

This was a horrendous climb up big stone steps and rocks and worn bits of path, and again my calves were screaming at me every 10 to 20ft, it was a long slow climb and may well of been part of one of my 20 min miles in my Garmin/Strava statistics.

Checkpoint 6 on the return journey and the climb back up to Moel-Llyn-Y-Coed.

Looking back down on checkpoint 6 and across to Moel Athur fro the top off Moel Llyn-Y-Coed.

Once over the top it was a long welcome run over fairly familiar territory as we ran along the top/ridge etc.It was still up and then down at times but nice little ones so didn't require a walk or rest stop.

I could now see the infamous by now Mount Doom in the distance as I realised that Moel Famau was at the final stage of our run at mile 24 (seriously dudes, that was cruel) this filled me with dread as it slowly got nearer and nearer and looked bigger and steeper as I approached.

I passed quite a lot of families out on a walk with kids at this stage and the puzzled looks on their faces was priceless as they gawped and then smiled as the mad men passed with a cheery 'Hello'.

Moel Famau was now within my grasp and again it was one last gel time at least to aid the last couple of miles and then upwards I went towards the top, several leg muscle bursting sections later and I was finally approaching the top along with all the walkers and tourists who had merely walked up the path from the easy side.

Mount Doom (Moel Famau) in the distance, I still had to run to that before climbing up it at mile 24.

Back to Moel Famau from the top of the route map and then down towards the finish.

From the top of Moel Famau Southwards down to the finish at Bwich Penbrras car park.

Checkpoint 9 was indeed at the top of Mount Doom...sorry...Moel Famau and at the base of the Jubilee Tower, and was manned by possibly Mark who was part of the race briefing team (not sure for definite). He promptly assured me it was all a nice run down from here, although looking at the steepness of the first bit I wouldn't be running anywhere down there.

Off I went after a water refill and pounded by the bemused and puzzled walkers wondering why these mad people were hare arsing down the path. By now I felt great as I knew I was on my last mile and again runners in front were becoming within sight. I managed to pass one called Nick, who had passed me along time earlier and as I flew by he recognized me from earlier and commented that I could do another loop at the pace I was going, in which I replied "it's only because there is only a couple of hundred yards left".

Once I know where the end is I don't mind giving it my all and some extra on top, and I was gaining on the bloke in front but stopped behind him because no-one likes people who flash past you on the last couple of feet on a hard run as though that one place matters so much.

The finish line...

The finish line was finally there and I had excelled myself with a final mile pace of 7 minutes 40 seconds for mile 26 (admittedly downhill lol) and I was extremely happy to get over the line in one piece in 5hrs 42mins. It was made all the better by being greeted by the friendly smiling face of Annie who had given me the lift there in the first place. She had finished earlier after having a cracking run on the half marathon version.

Medal awarded and water and Lucozade offered and it was onto the food mobile for a nice free hot cup of coffee and stew ( I had to go back for the stew as I can't eat straight away). A quick chat and well dones to a few people who had finished before me who I had seen out on the course and then a first time hello and handshake to the winner Charlie Sharpe,who I had chatted to a few times on Facebook within the running forums but had never met in person.He had kindly given me valuable advice about the course and my ability to complete it months earlier while I was in training, so I am thankful to him for that.

Now Annie and myself waited for our other friend of the day Michelle who came in roughly 45 minutes or so  after me which was a great performance by her.

Fellow friends Eamonn from Penny Lane Striders came along as well with his friend Lisa and we all gave mutual well dones, and then it was time to go.But not before picking up a custom labelled Excalibur Welsh Pale Ale as a memento.

Fellow runner and car companion of the day Michelle finishing.

Fellow runners and friends Eamonn and Lisa finishing.

Rewards of the day.....

Well what can I say? the rewards of the day are the great memories of the day which will be lifelong memories, and a tremendous sense of achievement and new found confidence in my abilities to endure hard times. Put that together with a smashing Excalibur running top, a medal and a special bottle of real Welsh ale, what more could you ask of a great event such as the Excalibur Marathon? well nothing really other than an email reminder as soon as next years entries open.

Memento's of the day.

Final words....

Well a big and massive well done to everyone who completed the event, and to all the marshals, volunteers and people behind the scenes who put all the hard work in to make it possible.A big thank you to the Mountain Rescue Teams who were there on the day. Thank you to TDL the chip timing company on the day, all the caterers and a massive thank you to Sportsunday.co.uk who generously offered free use of a selection of photo's from the day to use in this blog.

A big thank you to everyone who has donated to my fundraising page so far and don't forget I have many more runs to do and still some tougher ones to go.

The Excalibur is a fantastic event and is extremely well organized, and is for a fantastic charity Claire House Childrens Hospice who I raise money for via another project of mine.

Donate to them direct if you can on their web page at the link provided above , and for those who haven't sponsored me yet, as I said I have many more charity runs to go as part of my 14runs campaign on behalf of THHN Torbay Holiday Helpers Network so please donate when you can to my fundraising page at the link provided below.

Thank you all and God Bless..

Les Jackson.


My fundraising page....

https://www.justgiving.com/14runsthesequel/   

The only way is up, a mere 5500ft up!

Please note you can find the post race blog report/blog here: http://fitnesswithgru.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/5500ft-of-ascent-thats-up-welsh.html

It's all getting real...

So it's Excalibur marathon week and I've got one more day in work (Tues) and then I'm off work and making the final preparations for my hardest marathon yet, the Excalibur on Sat 30th May at Mount Famau and the entire Clywdian hill/mountain range.

Preparations are mainly making sure I remain uninjured by staying away from work and taking it easy in the gym, with very light exercises to keep things loose and a fair few trips to the jacuzzi to soothe my leg muscles after months of training for this marathon.

Training so far...

I won't lie my legs have suffered over the months of hard training, and I have thrown in four long runs of 20+ miles instead of the usual one I do pre road marathons. The toughness of this event is way more than a road marathon and required me running through my favourite training ground the Sefton coastal range and sand dunes on a weekly basis for my longest runs.

I can get in a good 12-13 miles of dunes and beach in before I have to hit stretches of road when I run to Liverpool from Southport for my 20+ miles long runs, and this helps break up the boredom of running roads all the way. Likewise I often run out to Formby Point (8.5 miles) and turn round and run back,getting me a total of 17 miles of dunes which are great for strength building. My longest run was 22 miles which was from Liverpool to Southport via all the dunes between them.

Dunes around Formby.

Pinewoods around Formby.

Formby dunes.

One of the most important bits of pre marathon prep I have had to do is getting some local press and online media coverage of my 14run charity running campaign itself. I have been holding off on the local press until my first of the big runs came up, as my first two runs at 10k events were only warm up's for the year itself to get me started so were not worth trying to plug them.

Thankfully my local paper the Southport Visiter agreed to do a piece on the charity running aspect and did a nice half page article with a picture and links to my fundraising page etc. They also importantly mentioned my local business sponsors and supporters who have been very good to me this year by making a monetary contribution to help with costs of clothing, shoes and race entries in return for an advertising spot on my running top and mentions throughout my social media etc. I am eternally thankful to them for this.

Southport Visiter article.

I also got an online version of the article done by the Southport Visiter as well, which is pretty much the same article with an extra picture. This was good as it would reach a wider audience. I've provided a link to the article below if you would like a read, it also saves you having to squint at the picture above to try and read it.

http://www.southportvisiter.co.uk/news/southport-west-lancs/southport-man-run-14-races-9281220

I also got my instruction and race pack through from Claire House Events who organize the Excalibur marathon itself. Included in the pack was my race number and my actual t-shirt/top for the event which was posted out in advance so we could wear it on the day of the event if we so wished.

Official top for the event and race number.

 
The pack included a handy little map of the area which kindly pointed out how hilly/mountainous this event is, and also pointed out that we don't merely go up and around Mount Famau for 26.2 miles but rather go up and down 3 or 4 of Mount Famau's brothers or sisters as well, which would explain why we are climbing a total of 5,500ft in total during the event. Just as a comparison Snowdon the highest mountain in Wales is 3.560ft.

Final thoughts...

Well my final thoughts are, I can't wait to finish work for the week and enjoy my 'holiday' with a nice trip to Wales my second favourite country. Also I can't wait to actually start to crack on with one of the tougher events I am taking on this year to raise funds for my chosen charity, the very worthy THHN Torbay Holiday Helpers Network. You can read all about them on my fundraising page which will follow at the end of this post, and you can also find out about them in one of my older blogs which details all the events I am doing this year, just scroll down after this blog post and you will see all my previous blogs for 2015 and 2014.

Please support me and donate where you can at the link below , and I will see you all at the end of the week when I do a race/event blog after I have hopefully finished.

The fundraising page link...

https://www.justgiving.com/14runsthesequel 

Sunshine, scenery and the return of the Three Amigo's......

Well the time had finally come, my second charity run of 2015 and another warm up distance of 10k as I start to train for the longer and tougher runs of  my 14run charity campaign for 2015......

So this event had been coming up on my calender since the start of 2015 obviously, and after doing the Southport Mad Dog 10k as run no.1 of my campaign I had continued with my 10k training runs as a standard distance to do on my days off etc. I had done this in order to build fitness and eventually distance as I would soon be moving into my marathon training for my 3rd event the Excalibur mountain marathon at the end of May, more on that later.

My lead into this event was never going to be good as I had had my days off work earlier in the week and had already done 3 10k training runs this week alone, and I was working til 11.30pm the night before the run, and had been on my feet all night.

As soon as I got home it was feet up and tea in the microwave. On this occasion it was chicken and pasta followed by 2 hours sat up making sure it was well on it's way down before I went to bed. I managed to utilize this time on Facebook running forums I am part of, mainly the Running Discussion Board and my own personal running group 'Run or Cake'.

Time for bed finally, and alarm set for 8am as a last resort as I was confident I could be ready in an hour in the morning and not need much food etc.

Race day

Up on time, showered, dressed and toast and peanut butter down and a coffee, and I was ready for my lift by the very helpful and new running pal Barry who is a fellow member of the Natterjack Running Fast Forward Group who meet in either Liverpool on Monday nights at their local store, or the Southport store on a Tuesday night. 

9am and we were on our way to Ormskirk, it doesn't take long thankfully as it is not that far away so ideal as a local event.

A short time later and we arrived safely at Edge Hill University and into their ample on site parking on campus. It's a cracking place and a hell of a lot of money has been spent on it and it's lush buildings, it looks more like a business and technology park to be honest with all the landscaping and water features etc.

Off to registration next to pick up our numbers, and thankfully no queues as we clearly got there early which was good as we then got to say hello and chat to fellow running friends, in my case, Adele, James, Mandy, Clare, Marc, Sarah, and also Andrea and Sharon from 'Run or Cake' who I'd never met before.

The Three Amigo's

Perhaps one of the highlights of the day for me and several others including the guys themselves was the return of  the trio Stan,Keith and Derek as the self named 'Three Amigo's' who hadn't run together for a while especially as Keith had had a calf injury to overcome and like the trooper he is managed to overcome it with grit and determination as he always does. He is a shining example of the runners spirit and will not let injury define him or indeed overcome him.Look out for their finish line photo later :)

The race event

The race itself is organized by Skelmersdale Boundary Harriers along with support and sponsorship from O2 Ormskirk to raise funds for the National Autistic Society and actually coincided with World Autism Awareness Day this year.

The race was this year titled the 'Jacobs Leg It 10k' in honour of Jacob who is the Autistic son of Nick the owner of O2 Ormskirk, who has tirelessly supported this event over the years and as well as starting the race today was actually going to run it.

So off we went after a ready, steady, go! or something like that as we all surged forward over the start line which was on the race track on campus....

Off we went around 3/4 of the running track before we exited and ran off through campus and the various area's amongst it. It certainly is a big place and seems to go on forever, but it's nice to look at, which can be a problem when there are several b*ll busting bollards in some of the narrow points and if you are not looking where you are going you can fall foul of them. Thankfully I noted them from last year and I had already run off into a decent sized gap in the runners so I could see where I was going at all times.

We eventually exited the campus and entered a country road towards Westhead, this was not a closed road so we did have to watch out for cars etc.

The first mile I had sped off at a sub 7 minute miles pace in order to get clear of as many people as possible ( totally different to advice I had given myself and several others) it was now time to settle down a little and try and find a pace that was not too comfortable that I slowed but fast enough to make me push for a new Personal Best time, which was my intention here as I got one on this course last year, and this was also going to be my last 10k until at least Sept, so it was now or never.

Onwards we all ran down the country roads until we got to Westhead and through a few residential area's and then down a little side lane towards some fields and a Church. This was to be the beginning of the trail/multi terrain element of the course and where the fun starts as now we were at 5k and halfway through and usually this is where legs start to tire especially if you have been pushing the pace a little.

Several grassy,stoney and slightly muddy twists and turns later we hit another road and then into a nice woodland path and trail again and a water station. I thanked them but refused the water as I'd had some last year towards the end at the same event as it was hot and ended up with a stitch as I had too much.

Not long after we appeared out of the woodland and back onto the scenic running paths of the campus, these are actually part of a large landscaped and open area of the campus surrounding various sports fields etc and are undulating ups and downs for several kilometres so pacing was vital here.

I was at this point passed by Marc who told me I must be well on for my sub 45 min target and I admitted I hadn't looked at my Garmin/watch as I was pushing as much as possible in order to get a PB. Him passing me was handy as it gave me someone to at least try and keep in my sight as a faster runner and although I would never catch him, trying to narrow the gap was exactly what I needed at this point.

I got the final uphill out the way and shortly hit the 8k mark and I looked at my watch that was set for a 7:15 min pace target, and when I looked it was a row of puzzling zero's as opposed to how far ahead or behind pace I was, turns out I was exactly on pace to the second, so neither a second ahead or second behind target.This was good to know as I was not completely knackered so decided to push on faster to build a little time to ensure I got the PB.

9k appeared and I was puffing a bit but knew I would get around ok, I tried to catch the female club runner in front of me but she was 50 metres ahead and running as fast as me so that wasn't happening.

The finish

Final approach to the running track again for a final lap and low and behold friend and fellow runner Vicky was stood there pointing me in the right direction for the entry to the track ,and this was a nice bit of encouragement to get me around the last bit. I tried my best to sprint in, but there was no one close behind me so I didn't need to and I knew I was at least 30 secs ahead of target so was happy to cross without a beetroot red face......

So moment of truth as soon as I crossed the line and looked at my Garmin..... 44:10
a whole minute and a half off my previous PB.....the look on my face? the typical geek runner reaction of....if only I ran 11 secs quicker I could of got sub 44 minutes...we are never happy it's ridiculous lol.

I was truthfully very happy and I hope in the split second after the first above picture was taken that I actually smiled at least a little as I collected my medal from the volunteer kids giving them out with a smile at the finish. At the very least because I saw the ample supply of welcoming bottles of water and ample supplies of Mars Bars my favourite...

Welcoming friends home

So what happened to the Three Amigo's?  I hear you ask, well they finished practically arm in arm in true running support fashion and all smiles, and as soon as they crossed the line what did they do?...of course the customary well done handshake for a job well done and another 3 runners safely home injury free.

It was good to see my friends coming in one by one and also having a quick catch up with the speedy ones who had beat me like Marc who I couldn't catch, he achieved a new PB as well.

Shortly after Sarah, Marc's girlfriend crossed the line to a new PB as well ( you may remember Sarah from my Tour of Merseyside blogs last year, she's getting faster ready for round 2 this year!).

Several other friends came home safely including Jane from 'Run or Cake' and Southport Waterloo Athletics Club, and of course new running mate and also new competition may I add as he beat me at the Mad Dog 10k recently, Barry. He had ran with a friend for a while today so was not on my tail as much luckily for me (Barry is on the left in the picture below).

Finally..

It was now time to go home after a good day and a good run, full of happy feeling for seeing all my running pals again, and no doubt full of feel good endorphins. Sadly I was on my way to work again in a few hours.


What next?... well charity run no.3 will be at the Excalibur marathon at Mount Famau in North Wales, running across the Clywdian mountain range on Sat 30th May 2015. Allegedly the toughest in Wales, I'm not sure I really want to see an elevation map for this one...........

Donations and support

As ever your support through the year will be greatly appreciated when I am training for the events or when I'm running them, and of course your donations are vital as that is why I'm doing all this and putting myself through all the training and events throughout the year, the Excalibur in particular will be one of the toughest for me this year and I have other tough events and challenges coming up, so please donate as the THHN Torbay Holiday Helpers Network it is a good charity cause that I am raising money for and I am personally chipping in £10 every month into the donations pot to try and keep it respectable.

Donations can be made here to my fundraising page:

 https://www.justgiving.com/14runsthesequel

See you soon folks, God Bless you all.

Gorillas in the mist?..nope,how about Mad Dogs in the fog!

Well the time had finally arrived, after weeks of anticipation and several weeks of 10k training runs it was time to finally get out there and run the inaugural run of my 14runs charity running campaign for 2015.

Sunday the 8th February was the date and a lazy 8am alarm call for me to get up as I live local so it was a huge bonus not to have to rush about and travel to the event.

A quick shower and some breakfast of wholemeal toast and peanut butter and a cup of coffee and I was ready to start the painful ritual of deciding for definite what run kit I was going to wear. I can sympathize with the ladies when they have to choose outfits to go out in or shoes a little here, difference is though men tend to choose sensible items that usually fit well, properly and comfortably and don't need taking off half way through the event unless we are too hot of course.

The previous day I was toying with the idea of wearing my new running shorts I got from the charity I am running for this year THHN Torbay Holiday Helpers Network they were a little shorter than I expected and I had misgivings about wearing them on their own without something else underneath because they were practically what a fellow running friend Keith called '80's porn shorts' and I must admit they wouldn't of been out of place in an Olivia Newton John fitness video from the 80's!

Anyway it was only 2C out that morning so a sensible pair of compression shorts underneath was in order and a compression top to help keep warm. I even had to put a winter running top over that to ensure I would be warm enough.

I had originally planned on wearing my dedicated 14runs running top that was getting printed up by  Rungeek.co.uk  but we had some issues with some of the logo's from the sponsors so more work was required on them prior to print and sadly this couldn't be completed on time.

So it was 9am and time to leave the good old warm flat and head out into town and onto the car park where the free buses would be.These are put on by Mad Dog every year for free inc the parking and are one of the many reasons the Mad Dog is often the winner of the best 10k in the UK.

On the walk down the Prom it was nice to bump into up and coming Ultra legend Darren Finnegan who is a fellow running friend from the Facebook group 'Running Discussion Board' and although he has only literally been running near on two years tops he has already progressed to Ultra marathons, he is an inspiration to us all.

Finally I'm on the bus and quickly at the school were the event is held, and of to the gym to collect my legendary Mad Dog t-shirt PRIOR to the event, a lesson many other events could learn from. Upon collection I was even given a free pair of More Mile running socks, how good is that? bonus.

Plenty of familiar faces seen in the gym after t-shirt collection, David, Jan, Vicky, Adele, James, Niamh and new fellow running friend Helen. Best thing about these events is the ability to make new friends that you have something in common with.

Next it was over to the sports hall to the changing rooms for a quick change and then to put my bag in to the baggage store area, as ever it was quickly taken from me and stored safely, another thing others could learn from.

Many more familiar faces were now appearing around the sports hall, Linda, Keith, Stan, Lyndon, Chris and many more and the usual hello's and best wishes were passed on, and then it was time to go to the start.

This year we had dedicated categories for our run numbers which were based on our expected run time and they were you guessed it 'breeds of dogs' all based on how fast we were or weren't. I was a Dalmation which was the second wave of runners so this meant not having to queue up with all the other runners who stood wherever they felt like at the start area and promptly got in your way when we all set off. The wave idea makes it safer for everybody because you pretty much run with people of your own speed and pretty much all set off at the same speed.

Top marks to the organizers for being brave enough to introduce this at a 10k, as it is not the norm for an event of that distance and length.

Finally we were off but only after Mad Dog himself had danced on stage happy and content with the Mad Dogs themselves for their enthusiastic howls .......

It was the usual route onto the seafront and strangely enough into the fog? this was a new one for the Southport Mad Dog and certainly a new one for me for an event, but onwards we went along the seafront admiring the golden san.....well, the field of beach grass that seems to of replaced the once beautiful golden sands of Southport Beach.

A couple of km's in and it was the treat of being able to hear the Batala Band from Liverpool, you couldn't see them though because it was so foggy. We soon reached the enthusiastic band members and onwards we went. Next up was the famous 'Pelvis Presley' by the Southport Pier, it's always a good laugh and a heart lightener to see him every year at that spot just when you need a lift to keep going.

Running around the outside of the Fairground was next and roughly the 5k mark and then onto the Promenade after passing another Batala type band or maybe even extra members of the other I'm not sure. Down the Prom we went and through the water station for those who needed refreshment, and then under the Pier again and the 5 million pound+ Marine Way Bridge and past my workplace the infamous Ramada Plaza Hotel, and then back up onto the Prom again.

The last two marshals at this point  we have just passed were both wearing doggie fancy dress, so hats of to them for the effort.

Still along the Prom we go to roughly 7-8k and past the infamous Darren Finnegan who is taking pictures of friends, sadly I was too fast and he didn't spot me, or so I told myself jokingly as I waved at him too late for a picture due to the long lens on his camera, and by now I was practically in his face so way out of focus.

We now rounded the bend of the Prom and headed back towards the Seafront and the Batala Band again, double bonus and extra encouragement for the weary runners.

Down the seafront and fast approaching 9k and fellow Natterjack Fast Forward Running member Barry glides past me without any effort at all, at this stage I'm thinking either He's having one hell of a run or I'm going slower than I think! He was actually having a really good run and it's good to see friends doing so well in runs.

I did finally look at my watch just prior to the last corner just to see if I was going slower, but to my amazement I was actually on a decent time and at just over 43 minutes at that point. I told myself to push on a bit but I wanted to sprint in so tried to hold on a bit.

The final straight is a welcome sight but bl**dy hell it's long, and when the finish line is disguising itself in the distant fog time seems to travel at warp speed whilst the distance covered crawls past when your running fast to the line hoping to clock a late new PB.

I crossed in 45 minutes and 53 seconds which was a new PB at the Mad Dog course for me and only 7 seconds slower than my all time PB! I was happy with that though as I had tried hard and I looked fairly comfortable on the finish line picture.

So it was done, a quick high 5 of the Mad Dog mascot and a "well done" and it was off to get the infamous 'Doggie bag' packed with food,drink,samples and money off vouchers, always a good one at Mad Dog events.

Several well done's and how did you do's from fellow running friends including Tracey, Maddalena, Ben, Lyndon again and several more and then it was the race for the showers to beat the rush, another bonus that you don't get at other events.

Bag collected and it was the best bit of the post run event activity... the visit to the pub, it is the law!.....

The lovely and original Old Southport pub the Hesketh Arms is the traditional after run pub for Mad Dogs as it is the nearest good pub to the event. It had had a refit since we visited last year and when I got in there it was a challenge to find an area of good seating to fit the 30+ odd people I had invited from the Running Discussion Board for an 'Afters drink/snack meet up'.

Eventually after fellow runners started to arrive Adele thankfully took the helm and found a decent sized area of tables where we could intimidate the lunchers who had dared to beat us to the seats.....

Again hello's and well done's were said and how did you do's as well as "how do's" which is either typical Lancastrian or whatever you call Yorkshire people (other than tight fisted of course).

So that was it for the day,after several pints and relaxing hours with great friends old and new it was finally time to go home and put the feet up, and face the dreaded 200+ Facebook notifications we will have to trawl through when we get back :)


So that was run #1 of my charity campaign done and dusted and I'm already looking forward to run #2 at Edge Hill in Ormskirk at the 'Jacobs Leg It 10k'  on Sunday 22nd  March 2015, another fine charity event raising funds for the National Autistic Society, a bargain at only £9 for club runners and £11 for non club runners. Give it your support if you can by either entering or coming down to support.

http://www.bellevuehouse10k.org.uk/

And if you manage to get there, I'll see you there and hopefully I'll be sporting my dedicated 14runs running top with my sponsors logo's etc on it, and my 80's porn shorts of course ;)