Yesterday i did the Dark Peaks Trail Marathon. This is a marathon in the Peak District, has around 4,000ft of elevation, and some tough terrain. I enjoyed the race, i did the same race last year so i was kind of using it as a benchmark. I managed to knock an hour off from last year, which i’m happy about. I reckon i could have knocked a little more off too. There were some downhill parts that my trainers didn’t cope well with, due to the slippy mud. Which pissed me of a little, but getting the right trainers for every terrain is pretty hard, so i’ll let slide 🙂

So i don’t know how anyone else is feeling when running trail marathons/ultras over long periods of time. Some strange shit happens, there are a few times when quitting goes through my head, when i feel like i have a ‘second wind’, when my feet hurt, quads hurt, glutes hurt, hips hurt and pretty much everything hurts! I also think about why i’m doing it, that i like the adventure, i like to explore places only running would take me, i like the fact that i want to quit, but i don’t! and i like the fact that when i finish, it’s something i have accomplished and worked hard to do.

It’s hard to know what everyone else is going through while doing the race. My assumption 99% of the time is that it’s only me suffering! and why isn’t everyone else in pain! Now i pretty much know this can’t be true, surely everyone is hurting? I going to start asking people on races 🙂 But i’m not sure if more training is actually pushing the pain further down the line. I mean nothing really hurts now for maybe the first 20 miles on a normal flat-ish run, a run up the hills & mountains is different again though!

Anyway, its been a while since i updated this blog. I have booked the races i’m doing next year and a few other things.

I am volunteering on the Spine Race, which should be epic https://thespinerace.com/

I have a trip planned to the Lakes in Feb to Helvellyn, in March i have the hardmoors 50, May is the Great Lakeland 3 day event, June the Lakeland Trails 55km and then in August i have an 83mile Ultra which encompasses all the Dales Way. So far thats it!!

These are a few snaps from the last few months, twice did the Yorkshire 3 Peaks, South Yorkshire Cross Country League, Round Rotherham Relays, training runs etc.