A weekend in the lakes with the dogs

A friend mentioned that High Terrain Events are dog friendly and I spotted one at Ennerdale in the Lake District back in the summer and decided to enter as it was a part of the lakes I hadn't been to and there was camping at the start if required. There was a choice of a 10k, a 25k or a 50k race I decided to go for the 25k as the 50k was just two laps and the 10 just part of the 25k route. This meant I would be racing on the Sunday but it is a long way so I headed up on the Friday for the weekend.

On the way up, after spending way to long sat in traffic, I met up with a Canicross friend Helen and her two trailhounds and we went for a lovely 4.5 mile walk in the Howgills, somewhere I love as its so quiet and so beautiful.

After a hot chocolate and cake at Tebay I headed off to Ennerdale, arriving at the Scout camp just before dark. I was given a choice of where to park up and went for the most out of the way spot even though that meant there wouldn't be a quick getaway. Meant the dogs didn't have anyone wandering past them at any point. Van set up I made myself tea and with the weather getting worse, wind and rain, curled up with a book before falling asleep early. I woke up loads in the night, probably the wind and was up and about early.


On Saturday it was the turn of the 50k Ultra runners so after a walk along the last part of the course with Chip and George, which meant my first view of the lake and an idea what the terrain was like I headed out with Cybi for a run along the 10k route. I wanted to make sure I was well out of the way before the fast ultra runners caught me. The route started along the southern lake shore and the wind was so strong it was blowing the water into the lake wall where it was splashing up and covering us, well at least I knew I wasn't going to stay dry, turning onto the West side things improved and it was mainly fireroad, with one muddy section, up to the top of the lake where we turned down the other side. This was vary different terrain, it felt like running along a wet slippy river bed on rocks that were baby head sized, even with Cybi looking after me I was mainly walking. Once we got on the bit that is mentioned in the race notes, below Anglers Tarn it was fine and the bit of scrambling easy enough. We got back to camp too late to see the ultra start though.

After an afternoon of chilling in the van with some cheering on the ultra finishers we curled up in bed early listening the rain and wind get worse. Waking up I decided it was a little better and got myself and Chip ready. I spent some time trying to decide which trainers to wear and went with my Altra Lone Peaks, this turned out to be the right decision as most of the trail was hard pack and I did manage the muddy sections in them! It is our first time running a human race without a canicross start so we started at the back and she was a star trotting to heel until the tracks widened out and we could do some overtaking. She got lots of compliments as she trotted out nicely in front of me most of the time, she let me lead the way through the boggy section up near Black Sail Youth Hostel though! They had changed the route as it had been decided the East side of the lake was just too dangerous in the weather conditions so once we returned to the lake we crossed over and retraced our steps down the west side. Chip started to feel cold here, well her bum did, so we had a few stops to warm her up and she got a bit scared by a lab who wouldn't leave her alone. But it wasn't long to the finish and we crossed the line in 2hrs 48mins 28secs which I was chuffed with. I did miss the finish line cake though as I quickly took Chip to the van to get warm! This meant we were 72nd overall (out of 113), 12th in our categorey ( F / 20) and 22nd out of all the females in the race (/42).

After some lunch it was time for some last walks before packing up and heading home. I'm now looking at what other races they do up there.

A snowy adventure

Although it was snowing a bit at home it was also very windy and rainy and pretty yuck. Ali had a 6.5 mile run on her training plan (she's entered a marathon) so I suggested heading up to the edges to see if we could find snow. We all donned waterproofs and packed spare layers (the dogs go got me to carry theirs) and headed out along the river. It was pretty horrid weather but good to be out together. As we started climbing we started to find white stuff. George had a good woogle and we all got excited. Along the edges we were back into the wind and as soon as we started dropping down there was no more snow.

We finished the run at the pub, stripped off our wet layers and had pizza for tea before walking the last bit home. A fab 7 mile adventure from the front door.

Waterways 30

So the day of the ultra finally arrived and I wasn't feeling ready. I hadn't really done much running since Christmas and no long runs but at least I had the best team mates in the world and Ali as our support crew. The race was an hour and a half from home so that meant leaving at 6am but at least it gave lots of time for the rest breakfast to digest.

Us canicross lot started five minutes after the rest of the runners at 9:05am, a nice low key start as there weren't loads of us. I was starting with Chip and obviously she set off like she had a 5k race to win! Especially as her pal Bernard was up front. Soon she settled a bit but was pulling hard so I tried to go with her as much as I could without killing myself. The hardest bit being a ploughed field where most people were walking so we had to do a lot of overtaking. Once on the canal we found our spot though. Here it was surprisingly muddy and I was sliding a lot. Once or twice I thought I was going to end up in the canal! I kept seeing jen and Laura with mav and echo, they were running faster than me but maybe stopping a bit. Before long the support crew were there cheering and then Ali was there with George. We trotted past the first feed station as I'd made sure to carry enough water and food and before long Ali popped up again, this time with Cybi and George. Chip was super happy to see them. I shared a mini pork pie with chip as she ran and she was running like a pro. At about 16miles I thought she was licking the grass so tried to persuade her to have some water. Then I realised she may have been eating it. Another pork pie and she was back into pro mode. We came across a metal bridge and she stopped, I carried her across and would have done anyway as I would have been worried about her paws going through one of the gaps. Onto 19.5miles where Ali was waiting with Cybi and George to swap over. I set off feeling sore but fine and we went onto the Trent flood bank. After a mile we were running into a freezing headwind and I was really struggling. I had to walk for a while and got some more food into me. George took the opportunity for a woogle since I was walking. Back running and we reached a stile, Cybi popped straight over but George refused. A nice man picked him up and lifted him over which George loved as he loves men! Turns out there were lots and lots of stiles which I ended up lifting George over, a couple Cybi even struggled with. Then on the last one there was a gap underneath so George went underneath and Cybi over, nearly hanging himself in the process!

I was really struggling now and doing lots of walking. I was looking forward to seeing ali but she wasn't at the next checkpoint, half an mile later and there was her and chip to chivvy me along. Cybi was being a star, walking sensibly when I walked and pulling but not too hard as then it was too much when we ran. He was constantly checking on me and really looked after me. I saw Ali again 2 miles from the finish and then she was there with chip just before the finish who joined us to cross the line. 31.5miles in total. My longest run ever by some way! U even managed to finish just before it started raining.

It was a great day but I really suffered for the last ten miles. If I do another one I definitely need to get more long runs in. Today my legs are super sore. My four legged team mates were amazing and Ali as always was the best support crew I could wish for. Now to recover.

Betws y coed trail challenge

The Saturday in Wales we headed down to Betws y Coed for the trail challenge. After registering I took Cybi and George out for a run, we ran some of the 5k course, some of the 10k and some other linking trails. Added up to 6k all together and we all enjoyed it. An hour later I was getting Chip ready for the 10k start. It's starts straight uphill and Chop was very unsure on this bit. I think we were overtaking too many people and it meant too many dogs about so it was scary. Once it started to spread out she settled into her running and we were having fun. Unfortunately somewhere we missed a sign and a group of us ended up well off course and we had to turn round and go back. Coming into the finish and I had akr any ran 12k. But it was a lovely location. Although we stayed between two of the waves these group start races aren't for me. But I definitely would like to do more running round there. 

Mam Tor Ridge

In last months Trail magazine there was a walking loop from Castleton taking in the Mam Tor Ridge. I thought it would make a fab run and suggested it to Vikki. Today we met in Castleton at 10am to give it a go. Turned out a lovely day for it with clear enough skies to see the lovely views.
On the way up to Lose Hill I had George who was in heaven with lots of new sniffs and blades of grass to pee on, he even had a couple of woogles. I was a little jealous as Cybi dragged Vikki up the hill, we were both walking a lot as it was steep. On the first techy descent we swapped dogs, cybi was still on one and apparently listens a bit better to me, meanwhile George was the perfect descending partner unless I got too far behind when he stopped dead! Along the Ridge is stunning and we ticked off Hollins Cross and Mam Tor itself before heading across to the Limestone Way. After some nice easy running we got to Cave Dale, slippy and Limestone so we were all walking. Fortunately Cybi had calmed down by now. This dropped us out in Castleton.

Just under 8miles and a lovely loop.

22: Tissington Trail and Dove Dale

 

A very wet day and Vikki and I met at Tissington, I was glad we had arranged to meet as otherwise I probably would have put going out off and ended up having to run in the dark as well as the rain. The route sets off along the Tissington Trail towards Thorpe, a nice easy start, then through Thorpe and down to Dove Dale which is stunning I can't believe I've never been here before. A little bit of road to bring us back onto the Tissington Trail and back to Tissington with ten miles on the Garmin.

 

Back at the car and both me and Vikki were soaked, the boys waterproofs had done their job and they were both dry under their coats, which were drenched. I was glad I had brought clothes to change into even if it did mean stripping in the village. Definitely a route to repeat, maybe in the dry.