Conwy Half Marathon - November 17th 2019



I'd really been looking forward to this race since recovering from Marathon Eryri, this would be my third Conwy Half and it's always a great weekend, me and Sarah normally make a weekend out if it and travel down on the Saturday and visit the Christmas Markets, do a bit of shopping, then after the race enjoy a few beers and some food in Llandudno. After the glamour of Chicago followed by the brutality that Langdale and Snowdonia hit me with it's been nice to get back to normal training and return to a race I know well in the Conwy Half organised by Run Wales.

The race is now in it's 11th year and attracts a large number of runners of all abilities and increasingly strong field of runners chasing times, about 3000 runners and growing. It starts and finishes at the stunning Conwy Castle on the harbour and heads out of Conwy along the coast to Llandudno and around the Great Orme, so it's got a pretty long climb up around the Orme before returning to Conwy along the coast, it has just under 1000ft of climbing overall, perhaps not one you'd consider a PB course, but a stunning one and I think already becoming an iconic race in the calendar.


We'd travelled over as planned on the Saturday and settled into the accommodation , this year Sarah's dad Bill had joined us as I'd booked a good sized self catering home, booked really early and got a good deal. Once settled we headed over to the Llandudno Christmas Markets for a bit of shopping and food, I had a chicken wrap and an outrageous amount of caramelised cashew nuts, I'm sure the elites would have been doing the same......
The next morning after porridge we headed down to the start, it was a cold and murky morning so I stayed wrapped up as long as I could.

I'd been thinking about how to approach this race in the week or two leading up to it, should I take easy or go for it, it's a hilly course and I wasn't sure how much I would get out of it if I attacked it, or if I'd recovered from other events. But I'm already thinking about 2020, and my time goal for London, so with that in mind I thought stuff it, lets have a go, so the cap went on backwards and the Nike Vaporfly next % shoes went on.
I got myself warmed up and positioned near the front, perhaps about 20/25 runners in front of me in the start pack. There were lots of friendly faces from Hyde here this morning, and it was good to line up alongside Andy Hadfield and have a good catch up while we waited for the start gun.

I took my warm layer off and chucked it and suddenly we were away!  I wanted to try and run most miles sub 6 minute today and so went out accordingly and perhaps a little hot @5:35 minute miles, I tried to correct it by dropping a touch but soon settled at a more sensible 5:50 mile pace as we headed out of Conwy towards Llandudno and the Great Orme climb.

 

As we ran along the coast through the first three miles I was glad it was a calm morning with little wind, I was running with a runner from South Cheshire, there was a pack of runners ahead and another behind and we were in something of a 'no mans land' . I was actually finding the pace tough going, it felt more like a 5k pace than half marathon pace, although didn't want to crack on this was the case to my fellow runner so just ticked along and suffered as quietly as I could, I thought to myself I really don't want to get dropped here or I'll be all alone! The problem with 5k pace is almost every time I've run one I have a moment where I feel like quitting and look for an excuse! So I was able to focus on the battle not to quit for the next couple of miles and try and discover some rhythm. I've never quit yet, but the battle goes on, so if you ever see me drop out of Park Run or another 5k with some crap excuse like I've got cramp or a stitch, just tell me to get on with it would you please.  

Every group of supporters we ran past I heard calls of 'come on Cheshire!' and 'Go South Cheshire' , which strangely was pissing me off a bit. He was a really nice lad and kept replying thanks to all the shouts, but I was just thinking 'what about come on Hyde!' And just kept working to stay in touch.

 

 

Believe it or not I was glad when we hit the bottom of the Great Orme climb from mile 5, which really ramps up come mile 7, the climbs took the sting out of the pace and the groups which were ahead and behind broke up, It was hard going but I found my rhythm here and just kept using other runners as mini targets to pull myself up the hill. I've put about 1kg on in weight since running Chicago Marathon a month ago, and I was starting to feel that a bit climbing the Orme Road, I was also starting to regret eating so many caramelised cashew nuts last night,  I could just make out Gwion (Bobo) who I met at Hyde Park Run a few weeks back a little further up the road and made it my target to catch him up, which helped take my mind off the hill for a short while, exchanged a few knackered words to each other and we pressed on.

 

 

 

Once over the top of the climb I recovered my breathing and heart rate and I was away again, it felt good to be moving quick again and the views were now stunning. I manged to get my pacing back to sub 6 again into my target area, which in comparison to the hill climb actually felt pretty comfortable.  Once at the bottom of the descent I felt good and decided to hit the gas and go for at, my usual mental game came into action and I thought, "just a park run to go"  and managed to maintain 5:40's right the way in.

 

The final stages of those Park Run miles I really pushed on to keep my pace going, it was great to hear a few shouts of 'Go on Hyde!' which I really apricated, with the occasional GO SEAN or SEEN as it seems to be pronounced for some, but all appreciated the same so thanks if one of them was you! There must have been a very small undulation in the road which caught me out and my legs just had a little wobble, but managed to stay up right with no drama's, just 'concentrate!' I thought

 

 

 I crossed the finish line in 18th position and second place V40, I also had a new Half Marathon PB of 1 hour 17 mins and 54 seconds! I was really pleased and little surprised to PB on this course. So perhaps caramelised cashew nuts and a pint of wheat beer is the way forward after all? My hamstrings were as tight a Yorkshire mans wallet after the race so I did a few stretches before having my recovery drink and  getting some warm clothes on, after another catch up with Andy we headed back to the accommodation so I could have a shower and get changed.

 

I ran this race last year in 1 hour 32 last year, which at the time was my half marathon PB! What a difference a year makes, especially when you make a few changes to your routine and join Hyde Striders!

 

I'll absolutely be back here next year, this along with Langdale and Windermere Marathons are now on my list of Mandatory Races , can I temp you to sign up and perhaps join us for a weekend in Llandudno in 2020?  Conway Half Marathon

 

 

 

 







Snowdonia Marathon Eryi October 26th 2019

After Chicago and Langdale Marathons in the last two weeks I'd tried pretty much everything to encourage Sarah to talk me out of running Marathon Eryi, I'd dropped hints such as "legs are feeling it" and "hope this doesn't make me poorly". I'd even gone as far as not booking any accommodation, so as not to waste any money in the event I didn't run. But nothing, she's been here before you see, and just said, "it's up to you" with a caveat of "you'll be disappointed if you don't do it" Which I knew was true. Also, Marathon Eryi is an iconic race, so much so it's own popularity has meant next year will be a ballot entry system, so this could well be my last chance given my record in race ballots is worse than United's form this season.

So off I set to Llanberis at 4am in the pouring rain, I stopped for coffee a couple of miles away, and noted it was raining really heavy now and looked to be settling as snow on the higher summits of the Snowdonia National Park. I arrived at race registration at just after 6am, the race didn't start until 10:30am, but wanted to get parked and registered, so I headed back to my car and went to sleep for an hour or so, listening to the rain crashing on the roof of my car.  About 8:30am I fired up my stove and boiled some water to make my porridge, also went and bought a coffee and had some breakfast, it was still cold and horrible.

I bumped into a few friends, Joni, Gary were there along with Graham from the Brathay 10in10 in 2018, I also met up with Darren Jenness, it was good to see him actually as I knew he ran Langdale also, so I wasn't the only one who was going to feel it today. It was still raining and cold.

We headed up to the start line for just before 10:30, I decided to race in the vest despite the cold wet conditions, I've never been too cold running, so just suffered in the cold a bit waiting around. I passed an additional layer I was wearing to Darren's wife who held onto until after the run. Always good to have friends about at races.

10:30 and we were off, the race starts fast I was moving along pretty well, the race then quickly starts to climb up Pen-Y-Pass for a couple of miles, if you want to chase time on this course you have to push up here, it's far too long to walk, and too cold this morning. It's a tough climb, but I ran well up to the pass summit and it was down hill for a good few miles from here to Nant Gwynant.

Once through Nant Gwynant I formed a group with another 3 runners, really helped to work with some other lads and we ticked along nicely all the way to Beddgelert, the support in Beddgelert was unbelievable , really surprised me and felt great to be running in this strong group. The TV crews were back and forth past us for miles, the woman's race was taking place behind us and a real battle was also developing up the road in the men's race, so I was certain we'd be on TV so tried not to look to knackered.

The group broke up a little by the time we hit the bottom of the rapid climb of Waunfawr, it's here where wheels generally fall off and mine came astray about a third of the way up the biggest and steepest climb of the race, there was only about 3 miles to go, but I could only walk sections of this.

I was working with another runner going up, we kept pushing each other on every time one of us broke into a walk, this really helped, up until the point where I thought I wish he's just fuck off now and let me walk. See the brutal profile below...

The support at the top was immense, it was a horrible day for spectators, yet they were all there with fancy dress, bells, flags and ,music in the middle of nowhere, unbelievable. This fired me all the way down the treacherous downhill to the finish and my quads were suffering big time, I had a couple of slips and trips down here but came through unscathed but knackered in 3 hours and 6 minutes and 1 sec.

I finished 50 mins quicker than last year and 36th overall, which shows how much progress I've made since joining Hyde RC and making a few other changes, but I am knackered now and need a rest, it's been an amazing year and Marathon Eryi is the final Marathon of 2019 for me, a few weeks of reduced miles now before we look ahead to 2020. I have the Conway Half Marathon in November and the Langdale Road Races Christmas Pudding 10k in December to look forward too, especially as Sarah and my Brother Rick are running the 10k as their first 10k run!

The Ballot for 2020 Marathon Eryi opens December 1st, I'd highly recommend this race, only problem being it lands on the same day as Langdale Marathon in October 2020. So next year I'll have to miss Eryi, Langdale just edges it for me, just because of my connections with Brathay, love of the Lake District and of course winning this years race.

(We never did make the cut for TV...)

Langdale Marathon October 19th 2019

The Lake District is really hilly, not breaking news really is it, but it is really hilly. In fact, it's home to two of the most hilly road races in the UK, the Windermere Marathon with around 1700ft of elevation and the Langdale Marathon with over 3000ft of elevation.

The Langdale Marathon is a new addition to the portfolio of events run by Brathay Challenges in the Lake District. The event is in it's 31st year and is considered the UK's toughest road marathon, with some climbs of 30%! The event was originally run by Langdale Road Races pioneered by the legend that is Rob Berry aka "Rocket Rod" . They also host the Langdale Half marathon on the same day and the Christmas Pudding 10k in December. The Marathon also forms part of the Langdale Oktoberfest, so we normally make a weekend out of it and stay over, great weekend all in all.

This year was made more special as my friend Mischa Vliege had travelled over from Belgium to run the Marathon as his second Marathon and first road Marathon following his completion of the Tenerife Blue Trail Marathon earlier this year. He likes to do things the hard way it seems....

We had a quick drive over to the start area the night before to check out the logistics (and have a sneaky beer at the Oktoberfest). That evening we just chilled at the cottage with the log fire on, eating some pasta, nice relaxing evening catching up with Mischa , telling him all about Chicago (is there anyone I've not told, read about it here Chicago Marathon )

I woke up about 6:30am and started pottering about, made some coffee and porridge, took Benny (the dog) out for a little walk to get some fresh air. It was a bit wet and murky but otherwise a pretty good day for a marathon I thought. We got over to the registration and start area, it was great to see family and friends there, in the main they'd come to see Mischa run his first UK Marathon, he's done really well having only started running last year. But it was good for me also to see everyone, I also chatted to some friends from Brathay, 10 in 10 runners were everywhere.

There was some slight delays to the pre race briefing due to the traffic leading into the Great Langdale Valley, which had held up some runners, also some big queue's for the toilets, however about 10:25 they called all runners to the start, so myself and Mischa headed over to the start line. It was a very different atmosphere to 6 days earlier in Chicago. there were no Vaporfly next % shoes here, no sunglasses or fancy dress costumes , the Vaporflys and sunglasses had been replaced by beards and buff scarves , the fancy dress replaced by Keswick and Ambleside running club shirts, the sun of Chicago replaced by a cold wet day in the Great Langdale Valley.

But I know this course and wanted to get going, I had my secret goals again, I knew last years winner with 3 hours 7mins Mike Sprot wasn't here due to managing hamstring problem ahead of  New York Marathon, I'd looked around the field and could see friends Darren Jenness and Paul Brown , both sub 3 hour Runners, but so was I now, and I also knew Paul was heading out to run New York also. So my mind was made up there and then under the start line, I was going out fast today and see if I could do something in the race.

There was a count down by the crowd and Scott Umpleby Race Director 5,4,3,2,1 and we were away , I ran out with the half marathon runners who were moving about 6:15 miles through the Langdale Valley, I thought this was a bit quick to be honest, but when I looked around I had another Marathon Runner with me also so stuck at it. Just after the first mile we hit the cattle grid which signals the start of the brutal climb up to Blea Tarn , over 25% in places, the segment is called 'road to hell' on Strava which seemed accurate.

Two of the half marathon runners pressed on, far too fast to chase at marathon pace.  I continued to push hard up the climb, I heard my fellow Marathon runner whisper "for fucks sake' and eased off a bit, so I pushed all the way to the top knowing I had a long down hill where I could recover a bit. Once over the top I was away again and able to drop into a group of half marathon runners. The pace now felt good, and so did I , we continued to work all of the way around, the next big test was the climb from Skelwith Bridge, a brutal 30% start then steadily climbing for the next mile or so.

I ran back into the valley with the half marathon runners, nice lads and great to work with, just wish they were staying with me, but when we got back to the start they peeled off for the finish, we were on 1 hour 32 mins at this point for the half. Not bad on this course.

Now I was all on my own, the lead car sat in front of me, I've never experienced this and spent much of the next 13 miles wondering if this helped or hindered. I hit the cattle grid for the second time on the road to hell, and it began to hurt. I kept pressing on though and ran up about half way before looking back. If there is anything good about this climb it's the views, stunning views back down to Great Langdale. I could also see back along the course and could see the second place runner hitting the bottom of the climb, I'd broken in to a brisk walk by this point, and seeing the next runner chasing me pushed me up the hill and back into a run. Again once over the top I could hit a good pace once again.

Its a hard descent from Blea Tarn and my quads were in over drive, when I hit the undulating roads at the bottom and had to work again the road just sucked the life out of me, when the race car went out of view I stopped and put my hands on my knees, for a moment I thought my day was done.....I was just knackered. I had a look over my shoulder fearing I was being hunted down, no one there. I just started having a bit of a conversation with myself, "come on, ffs, all your family are there, I'll look like a right nob going out so fast if I can't hold out"  I started to run again, I don't know where it came from, but started moving pretty well.

The timing of hitting the support in Little Langdale was perfect, I really needed it right now, quite a crowd had gathered outside the Three Shires Inn to watch the race, and being led through the village by the race car....I felt like a superstar and the hurt was gone....for now. The next couple of climbs I ate up pretty well. As I dropped down to Skelwith I knew what awaited me, the brutal 30% climb again, fantastic support through Skelwith and great to see Chris Heaton supporting, a 10 in 10 runner and general adventure legend!  As I hit the climb, boom, it stopped me again, I had no choice at all but to walk up here, kept looking over my shoulder, every time I began to run again it just wouldn't happen. I normally use 4 gels in a marathon, I'd had 5 today and they were all gone, I noticed the race car kept having to pull in and wait for me, so I knew I'd slowed a lot.

I ran past the 23 mile sign, I just somehow got going again and over the top of the climb, felt like I'd lost a lot of time on that climb. Its a very steep descent into Elterwater , and my quads were paying the price, but I was happy again, 6:30 miles again now and just letting the hill do the work, I wasn't fighting it. I got to the last drinks stop with about 2 miles to go, they had mint cake! Grabbed a handful of mint cake and drank some electrolytes, mumbling 'fanks' and spitting bits of cake out I headed off, mint cake is brilliant, it gave me just enough to finish. I had one more minor melt down on the climb from Chaple Stile but I could hear the announcement of the finish line now , I came in 3 hours 11 mins an 1st place, so pleased but blimey that was hard work. It was great to have everyone there, my first Marathon win, and to do it here in this race, in the Lake District with family here was pretty much perfect.

  

This is one tough race, and really couldn't be happier to win it, but I know I can run better, and perhaps got a little lucky in the second half. Next year I won't have a marathon the week before and will be better prepared. I'll certainly be back, this run almost chewed me up, but this is marathon running, it's really bloody hard.

Mischa came in 5 hours 57 mins , I was so pleased for him as there were plenty of DNF's today and he said there had been some dark moments out there, but he got it done which is what it's all about.



Entries for next years race opens on December 1st 2019, I'll be there, will I see you for a great weekend in the Lake District and the UK's toughest road race?
see event details here  Langdale Marathon

Chicago Marathon October 13th 2019 #Mychicagomarathon

So I've not updated my blog since May 2018 after the 10 Marathons in 10 Days challenge. I guess I never intended to, I didn't think running would be big enough again to blog about. I mean how do you follow 10 in 10?

You'll see from my 10 in 10 summary post, it was tough for me both physically and mentally after the 10 in 10 challenge (read about it here 10 in 10 Thoughts ) . I needed something else to focus on.

I decided I was going to push my times and try and get into some World Major races, to do this I needed to do a few things:

1: Join a running club  - joined Hyde Village Striders
2: Qualify for a Major  - ran sub 3 hours 20 in Chester to qualify for Chicago Marathon
3: Get some proper advice - Hyde Striders Coach Dominic Sexton
4: Lose some weight & sort my diet out
5. Set an ambitious target - to run sub 3 hours in Chicago

To cut the long story short, I did all of those things starting in November 2018, joining the club was great, running had become a bit stale for me, I felt I had no direction after the 10in10 and joining Hyde gave me a kick up the arse, met some great friends and overall brilliant advice and support.

I'd never seen the point in 5 and 10k races, after all I'm a marathon runner, what's the point? But again, good advice got me racing at all distances to improve my speed work which has helped immensely, in fact, I even enjoy racing other distances now!

So over 2000 miles and 12 months of training, eating better, running races, training with the club, park runs, long runs, along with some strength work and lot of physio I was here in Chicago ready to go to work.

I'd waited a long time to post the above picture , the eve of the race came around and I was super excited and nervous to be here. I had literally 2-3 hours sleep the night before the race thinking about how it might go and what I was going to do. I'd heard a lot about the poor GPS in Chicago down town,  so I had set my Garmin up for manual splits in the hope this would work.

We left the hotel at about 5:15am, the race starts at 7:30 for my corral , so we wanted to get there in good time, had my usual porridge pot and coffee and off we set. No worries about wondering where to go, 100's of runners and their families were heading in the same direction. After some lengthy security  checks we got settled in the hospitality area we'd booked, a very wise move indeed. It was a dry morning but bloody cold, only a degree or two above freezing. Excellent food and drink available in the hospitality area, highly recommend if you do this race, $125 each, including physio and private toilets!

At just after 7am I headed down to my start Corral, I was in B, I wanted to be in A but my qualifying time wasn't quick enough , Corral B was for 2:55 - 3:15 runner. I'd told everyone I wanted sub 3 today, which is true, but I was targeting sub 2:45 and qualification for a place in the London Marathon Championships running for Hyde. I kept this secret, only Dom my club coach, my Physio and Andy Charlesworth from the Club had any knowledge of this, It was a lofty goal and I didn't want to let anyone down so kept my powder dry,  I also knew even if it didn't happen Sub 3 would still be amazing.

In the start zone I waited, I looked over to the Corral A runners with jealousy, I needed to chase them down and get amongst them, so the usual tactic of setting off steady was out the window. Strangely I wasn't nervous or scared, I felt confident, I felt I deserved to be here, in fact I felt I should have been placed in the faster Corral and couldn't wait to get going.

The national anthem played (singer was a bit dodgy I thought), and we were away, I went out fast! and very quickly found myself running with the Corral A runners. My Garmin was a mess though, one minute I was running 9 min miles the next 5 mins, it was all over the place and so was I. I quickly lost confidence and felt I was working too hard for the pace I was running, too slow, too up and down, with no rhythm. Next thing I need a piss, FFS I thought, a novice mistake! Dom had told me to split my watch at each mile marker, well I'd already missed the second marker and my Garmin said I'm 11min running! So I hit the split button twice, and then it was just numbers, I felt like I had an aliens watch on, made no sense.

I still needed a piss, I was a bit unsure of US law around pissing, but was pretty confident I'd be shot dead if I stopped here, so I struggled on at my unknown pace. I came across some portaloos in Lincoln Park and dived in, do you know how long it takes to have a piss when you are chasing a 2:45 marathon with a dodgy Garmin? an eternity!
I blasted out of the Loo like a greyhound out of the traps, I noticed the 3hour runners had just gone past and ran past them like they were gong backwards, once past I looked at my watch and hit the manual split on 6, boom! It was working, 6:15 per mile, it was back on, I really thought I'd blown it. As the miles ticket by I was blown away by the noise from supporters, absolutely amazing. I began working with some other runners for the next 10 mile or so, some quality runners out there and really helped me tick along. I felt good, my confidence was back, I started thinking of all my family, friends and friends back at Hyde Striders tracking me which gave me event more of a boost.

I told myself, and the group of runners I was with I'm going for it at mile 20, I'm wasn't going to hang around and wait for the race to eat me alive, I was going to attack it. I'd never tried this before, but come mile 20 the hammer went down and I was moving at 6 min miles, the group broke up a bit which I felt a bit bad about if I'm honest and there was just two of us left by mile 23. I took the last turn just after mile 23 on to the last home straight, the crowd was amazing. It felt like a dream to be running this race, my first world major, I couldn't believe the scale and size of the event.

 

 



I took my last gel as I ran over the Chicago floor graphics, this signaled the beginning of the end! For the first time in the race I started to get nervous, I was so close now, less than a park run to go, if I can run a sub 19 min park run I've done it!! I know I can do this, just the small matter of a 23 mile warm up behind me. I ran my fastest three miles of the race, I had a small wobble on the last 300m where there is a small incline, but the crowd noise just lifted me again and I was in. I couldn't believe it, it really didn't sink in for a while. But I came over the line in 2 hours 43 mins and 26 seconds. Over the moon was not the word.

 

 

It's a good job Americans like high 5's, because everyone got one, all the volunteers at the end, the people handing medals and water out, even the photographer that took the above picture. I was on cloud nine. I'd had the race of my life! I headed back to the hospitality area for a massage and met up with Sarah, I was a bit overwhelmed by all the messages on social media, and still couldn't really believe it was me.

 

 

That evening we headed out to one of the post race events, we went to Hard Rock Café Chicago, the place was buzzing and everyone (even me) was wearing their medals. After just a couple of beers and the biggest plates of food you could imagine we headed back to the hotel.

 

 

 

 

Chicago - you were amazing - I'd love to return one day, if you ever get the chance to run this race in this amazing city please do, it truly is the city of dreams for me. We had a blast x #Mychicagomarathon