Ironbridge Half Marathon

Well it's been a long time since I did a blog post and since then I've been running mostly with the usual Tuesday nights bouldering.  I've tried to sort out trips to get the last of the winter in at Wales/Lakes and Scotland but have had no success for various reasons :(

Anyway, I did the Ironbridge Half in 2:14, a shite time :(  I was aiming for 1:50 and I thought 1:55 was very doable.  I lost a lot of sleep over Friday and Saturday night because one of our cats got run over which was distressing so I started tired and the photo of me crossing the Ironbridge shows it!  I ran a PB 10k on Monday of 52 minutes (I'm sure I can get a 50 min time).  My watch ran out of battery on the half (a catalog of problems on the morning!) so I only recorded the first 6 miles which came in around 55 mins ( I was surprised because I felt awful!).  Anyway here is a photo of me looking crap!

Check out the bags under my eyes! Me crossing the Ironbridge, half way through.

My feet might look static but I was running :)

Anyway I am very keen to get out again and prove I'm not making excuses although I do feel I need to consolidate at the half marathon distance as the last 3 miles were tough.  Watch this space, I'm planning on doing an LDWA event soon so longer and slower!

First rock of 2010 (and update/excuses!)

It's been a while since my last post.  I was expecting to be able to put some photos of me on the Burway Burn up as someone was taking photos but I haven't been able to track them :(  2 miles, 1000ft of ascent, mostly in the first mile.  I managed a 23:53 which wasn't great but it fell on the day after my long run so all in all I wasn't too disappointed.  Since then I've had some grief from my back, which moved to my hips.  Plenty of stretching sorted this out but I had a week or so off running and climbing but I'm back into gear now just in time for the Ironbridge Half Marathon next sunday.  I've also missed about 3 opportunities for winter climbing and I fear that unless I can get to Scotland I won't see any more snow or ice until the Alps in the summer.

Anyhow, today Chris, my brother-in-law (with sister and daugher in tow) and I went to Much Wenlock to climb Ippikins Rock.  You can get the information from West Midlands Rock.  We set up a top rope and got to it, starting on The Whole Truth (4b) (I think these routes are right from the description but there is no topo).

Lee on The Whole Truth (4b)

After we moved over to the arete and tried The Black Hole (5a).  Unfortunately I got a bit stuck and bottled out, traversing left to escape but Chris and Lee both cracked it.  It seems there was little to get your hands into but plenty for the feet.

Chris on Black Hole (5a)

At this point Lee and co left so me and Chris made plans on Live Evil (5c) (without the crazy 6a start, you'd need a bouldering mat for that I think).  We started on the left hand side before working over the cave and straight up under a couple of overhangs.  This route had pretty good hand holds but not brilliant for feet.  Me and Chris were both stoked (and pumped) to finish it.

Me on Live Evil (5c) at the crux.