Stanage Stumble

It's all about the running at the moment!  I got up early and dragged myself to the Peak District (unusually for me I didn't arrive late).  The event started at 9am with around 60 entrants, 50 of which were doing the 20 mile course with the other 10 doing a 10 mile course.  Of the 50 doing the 20 mile course, 9 had declared as runners.  We all set off at 9am and I found myself running behind someone who I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep up with.  The first 5 miles are a steady pull to the maximum height and I found my achilles tendon and calf very tight which was concerning.  During this time I was over taken by around 4 or 5 people but I was into 3rd place by the first checkpoint.  I managed to stay pretty much in sight of the 2nd place guy all the way to about 20 miles but then he got away from me.  The winner finished around 1hr - 1hr 30 mins ahead so no chance of catching him!  It was the first time that I'd been to Stanage and I was gutted not to be climbing, the grit looks awesome.

All in all  I was pleased with finishing 3rd (albeit with just 9 runners) and think I could of done a sub 6 hours, as I finished in just over 6:01.  I am also getting fairly happy with my race nutrition and hydration.  I've also managed not to pig out too much since then.  I was pretty well recovered by Sunday and managed to mow the lawn without moaning too much :)  Today I went running at lunch and did 4.5 mile, averaging 9 min/mile although there was one over 10, one at 8.5 and one even quicker towards the end.  I'm pleased with the progress and looking forward to the short, flat grass race I'm doing called the Phoenix Flyer. I'm hoping for sub 25 mins.  I'm climbing and Llanymynech tomorrow for the first time so hopefully I'll get some pics of that up tomorrow.  So far so good!  Should be in good nick for the alps at this rate and should manage 100 miles before the end of the month :)