Went out for a walk last night and spotted a nice little loop I could run, so tried it today. Starts off on road before hitting the woods/trails. Was a lovely day.
Went off quite quickly but slowed on the ankle-twisting terrain, then had to tiptoe over loads of cobbles, before powering up the big Stockport Road hill and then increasing pace a bit more off of that.
Lovely run 
Nice 5k run which will plan in as regular run – down Stockport Road, nice trail section through the woods, then the massive incline up Stockport Road to build in a bit of a hilly section to practice both running up when tired, and also running the last k fast off it, finishing off at Town Lane. Good practice for the mixed nature of races
And imagined Becky with me in the woods, before she ran off to chase squirrels in the trees yonder
This was my first 5 mile race, and the most local of all the races I have done – indeed, the pub they used for registration is just around the corner from my mum’s house, so after I got my number I jogged there to hydrate and warm up a bit while checking the mail as well.
I knew this was a multi terrain race and knew where the course was roughly. It had been raining so I knew there would be a bit of mud, but didn’t know what else to expect. Anyway, from previous race results I thought there would not be many entrants but there seemed to be quite a lot, so it appears the race is catching on and that’s good as it’s a special race to raise money for St Mary’s Neo Natal Unit and WIllow Wood Hospice (my mum spent some time there so it’s a worthy cause).
Anyway, they had a little kids race, then suddenly we were off too. I was already sweating from my warm up but felt good. I went off at sub 50 10k pace but quite soon I realised it was going to be more of an assualt course than a PB course! I was faced with mud, hills, grass, lake-like puddles, stiles, steps, more hills, huge mad dogs, and even a leap over a stream, and even queues for stiles at points (good job I hadn’t charged off in front of someone fast !!)
I really enjoyed it though, the best thing for me was that I was giving everything and when I hurt I kept going. I was astonished when I was one minute struggling to keep level with someone, but found some more, and then pulled away from them, and looked round to see they were a speck far behind – and then in front there was a speck which I reeled in. Best bit was taking people out on the hills, I just went mad and powered up them and was never overtaken after the first 2k. I enjoyed running it as a race in fact, and in the last 100 yards I was neck and neck with someone and although I felt half dead I found a sprint finish and managed to power on in front.
Will definitely do it again, a flat 5 mile road race would be handy for a PB though, he he, otherwise next up are my back to back 10k’s in 3 weeks, one of which is hilly, I think I will be doing more hill work in the meantime as I love taking them out on those hills
My niece is a bit ill lately so is taking a break from her training, I had held off running today to see if she was up to it; as she wasn’t, I ended up going for a run in the early evening sunshine. Intended to run aroun 6 mins per k and started off at 5:59, then slowed a bit due to inclines and wooden steps in hills! Took the scenic route which was nice, and running at a slow pace was almost like walking used to be, felt I could just keep going, although would feel a bit puffy after hills.
Saw more runners around than I normally do in my daytime runs! I am doing the Dennis the Menace 5 mile race in June so a few evening runs will be good preparation, but took it really nice and easy today.
Hamstring seemed to twinge a bit when I did a burst of race pace for a few 100 metres, but doesn’t seem to be anything major. Think I will rest for a couple of days before another easy 5 miler, and then prepare for the Great Manchester Run 2009!
Think this may be the first time I’ve done an easy run that actually felt easy – apart from the last bit uphill!
Started running around streets then saw a path which lead to a trail leading to Mill Lane and Denton Woods, so was a scenic route. Had Garmin setup to bleep if I went quicker than 6mins per k, so was very slow and easy but what I needed.
Average pace was 6:35/k. There is an art to running slowly!
My enthusiasm got the better of me today, as I wasn’t feeling in the mood for a 10 miler but watched the Great North Run on tv and was suddenly raring to go! I got my trail shoes on after banging the mud off them from my last canal side run, and set off walking to warm up. It was cold, but the sun was out, so I had shades on! I set off at a nice slow pace and by the time I had got to the hill down into Haughton Dale I was feeling quite comfortable and good. The hill up to the canal was a bit slippery and tough, but settled back to a sedate rhythm, planning to get past the long tunnel at Woodley, and turn back at 9 or 10 k so the ten miles would tick over near home. The real fun began on the canal path, which was deep puddles every few footfalls after the heavy rain yesterday. Some of them were pretty deep, and where I could I ran to the side of them, which sometimes involved running at an angle or runnning through slushy mud and trying to keep my balance near the edge of the canal.
After the long tunnel, my feet and legs were soaked and numb with the freezing water! I was still feeling good though, and turned back as planned. On the way back I started to feel quite heavy legged and felt I was tiring – but with only 4k to go to reach the 10 mile mark, I knew I could do it. Shortly after that my right hip started to twinge a bit, so I slowed, and just decided to make it back to Hulme’s Wood so I could then walk home. I passed what I thought was the right marker before my entry back into Haughton Dale via the waterfall, but soon I was approaching the cobbled footbridge on the way to Hyde, so had to turn back. This was when the real problems began – I headed into what I thought was the right path, and this ended up being a dead end into bushes. Out again, and I tried the next one – this looked more promising, but was very unfamiliar, I thought if I followed the path it must lead back through to Haughton Dale – I had no idea where the correct path had gone! There was a treacherous path, wet and unstable, over a deep drop, and then the path went down a very steep hill covered with tree roots, and I ended up at the side of some kind of river or stream, with no further way forward – now I was at the bottom of a huge hill, and looking up it I couldn’t make out where the “path” was I had just come down, so I had to make my way up and it was almost vertical; I had to grab tree roots with my hands to drag myself up at some points! Finally I got back to the canal and the next path I tried, although unfamiliar, did lead through to the waterfall. I had expended a lot of energy for a 10 minute kilometer and was feeling really dead now, but managed to tick over the last k and by 16.1 at the foot of the hill back up into Haughton Green I could hardly pick one leg up after another.
It was a struggle to walk home, and the hip started flaring up more and more. After sitting down to check a few emails, etc, I stood up and almost fell over, wincing with the pain of putting the slightest weight on my right hip. I had to take mega painkillers to be able to do a couple of things I needed to do. In all, I think the atrocious underfoot conditions are what caused both my hip problem and unusual tiredness – there was a lot of slipping and sliding, running at odd angles with weird impacts and over such a long distance/time this took its toll. The Indiana Jones excursion into the wilderness didn’t help either, as I was already struggling by then!
Ah well, it is a lesson learned, that 10 milers over rough underfoot conditions are probably not a good idea, at least for me. Maybe 5 miles next time, and when the hip is better I will try a long run on the road. 
