Race Review - Major Series (Midlands) - 20th April 2013

The Major series is run by British Military Fitness, I don't train with BMF, but the missus does and she told me about this race. She wasn't up for it but I signed myself up for it. The race number and chips are sent out before the race, so i rocked up 30 mins before fully kitted up. A quick look around the event village and a trip to the loo, and I was starting my warm and stretches. After 10 mins of stretching the 'official' warm was due to begin, I joined in,. but I found the warm childish and didn't really get me warmed up, so i was grumpy in the corner doing my own thing whilst the majority of the rest of the runners ran through each others legs and did the hockey cokey. I must have missed the starting pistol, as i was just standing near the start line and people started running off. I joined the runners and worked my way up to the leading group.

The water jump in the pre race dawn

The running was good and an early shallow water jump livened up the pace and spread the runners out a little. The running through the fields and woodland was tough going with shallow tree hurdles, and muddy ditches to jump. This was certainly a cross country runners, run. so i was very happy to be able to keep in the leading group. In the opening few kilometres the course was mainly running with no real obstacles until a pool of dark muddy water to wade across. The water was pretty foul, so i was glad to be only at waist depth. after more running, a series of hale vaults loomed. The hale bails where up ended, large round hay bales that stood roughly chest height. the first two or three were tackled with ease, but got progressively harder and more painful to clamber over. by the final bale (10th, at a guess) I was pretty knackered but had to carry running. the next series of obstacles were around a steep sided bomb hole in the woods. steep climbs and descend with commando crawls mixed in, helped me gain a few places from the runners that peeled away from me in the open running.

Because I'm worth it

After more running through fields, I spotted the next obstacle which was a water slide on a large tarpaulin. I didn't slow my pace, in fact I may have cranked it up and leap out, feet first onto the wet slippery blue sheet. The rough grass at the end of the tarpaulin did a good job of slowing my free fall  but took a far amount of skin from the side of my left thigh too! at the bottom of the hill the course sharply turned back up the hill to climb back up a second blue tarpaulin. As I crawled like a cat up the blue tarpaulin, marshals tried to slow our progress with buckets of water. A few more hill reps help take more energy out of my legs and lungs.

More running and a few more minor obstacles,and i was faced with a larger obstacle, this time it was a deeper pond with four dunking points where I had to submerge fully under a pipe on the surface of the water. this disorientates and the extra chill saps what remaining energy I still had. The marshals gave out lots of encouragement and I push on for the last 250 meters which included a couple of kids with paint filled water pistols..

post race self portrait

I finished I was slightly disappointed I hadn't pushed harder in the last 2 kilometres  and let a few people past me, but I hadn't realized I when I was in the last 2 km. It was a decent trail run, and fairly average obstacles, with a couple of notable talking points.

In summary: A great trail run, but only a few obstacles and challenges of note. Incredible marshalling and motivating from the BMF instructors.

Scores (out of 10)
Course: 5
Terrain: 7
Difficulty: 6
Return factor: 5
Overall: 6.5

Race Review - Endurer - 13th April 2013

This is my third time at this race, and I keep coming back because I love the course, and i will keep coming back until i manage to run every step of this course, which may take a very long time!
I was picked up and we drove the 45 mins through the stunning countryside of Matlock, Matlock Bath, Darley Dale, the stunning Chatsworth Estate, Baslow and then up to Holmesfield its self. we parked up registered and then go into our race kit.

Whilst i queued for the toilets, Jim had time to sneak in a quick pre-race massage. The pre-race warm up was a bit of a mess due to sound equipment problems and most people not really getting involved. managed to jostle up to about the 3rd line of the starting group. a quick 10 second countdown and we were off. It isn't technically an obstacle, but the first 150 meters of the course is an incredibly steep run. that ends with a less steep field to run up. It was only a minute and a half into the race but my lungs and legs were starting to feel the strain.

After the killer uphill start we had a short sand bag carry and 15 meter commando crawl which was very wet and muddy but great fun. it was then my favorite part of the course and one of the unique selling points of this  race. The Ravine. The ravine is a steep stumble down to the valley floor into a narrow slate bedded stream. the course at this point become single file but it's hard to press hard enough, to try and pass another racer. running streams and and climbing up and down the small valley walls are hard work but this path is beautiful and incredibly challenging.

Thankful to be resting my legs by crawling

Once into the open the course took another uphill turn, this long drag always defeats me, turning my pace down to a somber trudge, towards the top i fired my self up and ran the last 20 meters before the narrow young tree wooded area and into the heather and gorse bush strewn moorland. The moorland is a hard place to run due to the tall, sharp gorse bushes trying to snag clothes, shoes, and in my case; beard. The trail its self is incredibly twisty to ensure zero rhythm, and incredibly muddy in places to ensure at least one poor sole will loose their footwear today. The one thing that pushes you on is the knowledge that some great tunnels are up ahead. these 10 meter long, mud carpeted. muddy crawl tunnels.

Managed to hit the ground running

another run around the edge of a farmer's field and I was met with the monkey bar challenge, last year I had mountain bike gloves on that had zero grip, and I fell at the first rung and, they were to high to re-attempt. but this year I came armed (or should that be handed) with neoprene surf gloves, with more grip than a gecko's gonad. after the monkey bars it was a shock to see the track was through a foot of snow. the hardest things was the dazzling reflection from the sun on the snow. the uphill snow run was hard, but was spurred on by the crowds poking their head over the warm, clapping and cheering on the runners. at the end of the snow was a huge pile of tires, piled up against a gap in the wall. it was half climb half fall to get over the rubber obstacle.

A welcome water stop and a short marsh run, and then, once again opens out into more farmers fields, this was a long drag of runs, but at least I could open up my legs up and build up a decent pace. After a km or 2 the run was brought to an abrupt halt by a 7 foot wooden wall. i slowed to a job and with a meter to go, i leapt and managed to get an arm over, which gave enough purchase to bring a leg over, which gave enough weight to throw the rest of my body over the wall and crash into the floor on the other side. its not elegant, but it is efficient and quick.

I'm a slow swimmer so jump as far as possible

After a few more minutes it was bath time, a swim across 20 meters of neck deep water with a couple of ropes to help drag yourself across on. As a approached the lip of the water, two cameraman adjusted their position and focused their cameras, and the gathering crowd expected entertainment. Well. I know's it deep. Go on then. I leapt as far as i could and give the water hard and fast. i managed to keep my head out of water but my beard got a dunking. i swam until last couple of meters and then used the ropes to drag myself to my feet and out the other end.

With only 1 km to go the tank is nearly empty

It was now three hard and lonely zig zags up and down the steep field, a traverse across some chipboard frames, a series of sole destroying hay bale clambers before the hilarious and high speed water slide, with added fairy liquid to help things along. I was now in the quarter of a km so I emptied the tank and ran as hard as possible to the finish line.

Once we hard cleaned up and sneaked another massage in we headed to a local cafe and replaced the lost calories with a huge 10 item breakfast and a mug of tea.

Summary: cross country running, the obstacles are basic and more fun than challenging.

Race Review - The Beast - 24th Feb 2013

Reserving energy by jogging downhill

 After missing my junction on the M1 I got there only 35mins before the starting gun, which gave me time to register nip to the toilets and pin my number on my chest. Once in my race gear of running t-shirt, running vest over the top, along with swimmers with an outer layer of mountain bike shorts, also a thermal beanie, running socks and trail running shoes. I mention my clothing so that you can imagine how under prepared my outfit was when you know that it was 0 degrees with light dusting of snow in the air. most runners where in log sleeves and running tights, lost had gloves too.

Actually smiling whilst running uphill.

I've had a week off my training, due to a snowboarding holiday, which has left my back, legs and ass bruised and very sore. Oh an my liver has taken quite a beating over the last week too. I usually like to start races from close to the front of the pack so I can try and to keep up with the fast runners. But today I was feeling under prepared and sore so I sat at the back of he pack and waited for the countdown. I kept pace with the slower runners for a about a minute before I decided I needed to run faster, and started cutting my way through the pack.

Very very cold water

The cold was numbing and relentless, I couldn't feel my fingers and my forearms where painful, stiff and distracting. the first water feature on the course was a shin deep ford which was cold, but didn't numb my toes or feet, so I was pretty happy. I kept taking my hat off and stuffing my hands inside to try and bring some warmth to them, it did but was only a temporal relief from the biting cold.

power house in full flow

The next water feature was a chest deep pond to wade through, I desperately kept my hands out of the water for fear of getting them even colder. This was a testicle shrinking, breath snatching, nipple hardening freezing dip, constantly fighting for grip on the slippery mud once out of the water it took a while to get the full feeling back into my feet, and calfs so I went pretty gingerly over next couple of horse hurdles. The following water horse feature had shin deep water again, but was infested with 10mm thick ice plates which bashed the lower legs with icy bruises.

I think I landed this leap.

The following horse hurdles and hills were tough going, but my fitness held out enough for me to calmly maintain good running form up the hills. the hills are steep and hard but I managed to pick up a few more places on the uphill sections which was great, and ran ballistic-ally down the hills to maintain the gains. after the fourth water feature of a short waist deep wade, where a male marshal comically warned me that the leading female runner was only a few places behind me and to hurry up so avoid being 'chicked'. This was the kind of motivation I needed to push on over a few more hurdles and hilly run back to the start line ready to complete a second 5mile lap.

Water so cold I was technically in the
running for fastest woman.

The second lap went strongly and managed to fight to over take another 2 or 3 places and fought even hard to maintain this lead. my hands and forearms never warmed up and were incredible stiff and sore by the end, so stiff I could barley hold by post race goody bag or press the button on my car key fob. I jumped into my warn coat, and gloves and pottered back to the finish line to wait for my mate to catch up and cross the line. we celebrated with a well deserved double lamb burger each, before a short chat and then my drive home to warmth and an afternoon nap.

Thanks to the organisers and marshals for a great event and race
www.thebeastrun.co.uk
www.runner-photos.co.uk

Race Review - Xtreme Challenge - 3rd Feb 2013

soaked, coming out of the nipple high water obstacle

My mate and I arrived early as he was registering on the day and we car shared. It only took a couple of minutes to get signed in, so we took the opportunity to look round obstacles at the end of the course and also those just after the start.

We were both impressed by the quantity and density of obstacles and were very happy with the signs and  course markings. We noticed there were no 'stoppers' and none of these obstacles shouldn't stop you, just break your pace.

We grabbed a coffee and headed back to the van to get kitted up and stretch . Once in full race kit we jogged the road back to HQ to avoid the sodden car park, quick pre race pee and we were on the start line.

The race had a little false start when a flash bang went off, but we were quickly herded back behind the line and waited for the countdown. the going was pretty soft and slippery, but i managed to work my way to leading pack of about 20 runners when we hit the first fence and steep hills. The hills thinned out the pack and I was happy to still be in the top group, this group started to thin out too and I wasn't able to keep up with the leaders. we hadn't spotted the 2km or so run round the outer lying fields on our earlier reccy, so they came as a bit of a surprise. i managed to only lose a couple of places through the trail running section, but kept them in my cross hairs.

At the end of the trail run the course changed from open running to a barrage of obstacles, ranging from tire mounds, to water dips, to classing horse trail fences. This is what I was hear for, this is where I pull those lost places from and gain a couple more in the process. At the end of the first lap I've settled into a rhythm moving and picked up running buddy who is sitting on my heels, and making sure I can't slow up and give a position away.

Very happy with 45:51 for a 10km obstacle race

The hills on second climb are tackled with hard walking rather than slow running, this leaves more in the tank so I can run hard down the hills. this ended up with my lying on the floor in slippery mud, but a few curse words and scrambling go me back on my toes. Not only could I not loose my shadow, but I gained a second. three of us now ran at a similar place, occasionally swapping lead into an obstacle or in an open run. as the final field of obstacles approached I maintained the lead of our trio. It was a downhill finish, so I pushed hard to keep off any competition. One of the marshals handing out water suddenly moved too far aside to let me through, which meant I hadn't lost my shadows.
Crap.
Not sure I want to do this.
Sod it.
Hammer down.
Full on sprint finish with one of my shadows we crossed the line neck and neck, the results put me ahead of my shadow, but I think he took me on the line.

Summary: I great way to finish a great race, I shook hands with the other 2 guys and thanked them for pushing me hard on the final lap, and ensuring I didn't let up.