Today I got up even earlier than I do for work at 5.15 so that I could have a good brekkie before the 25 mile Two Crosses LDWA event.
Albert had very kindly offered to give me a lift and picked me up at 6.30 for the drive over to Tottington. It was already looking like a beautiful day and the sun was shining. It was pretty cold at this time though so it was a back and forth decision about what to wear. Eventually, with Albert’s expert guidance, I decided to leave the heavier OMM jacket at the youth centre and just wear my lightweight Aldi windproof. I also emptied out a load of the water from my bladder after Albert had laughed at how heavy it was (not my actual bladder, the one in my backpack, although I did empty my actual bladder too I suppose).
After a short while my running companion, Maggie, turned up at the youth centre and soon it was time for the off.
Waiting at the start line was pretty chilly but within about 10 minutes of running I was boiling. I soon removed my gloves and shortly afterwards off came the hat.
I was feeling really good this morning and the start of this run was much nicer than the start of the Anglezarke Amble I did the other week, as it didn’t go uphill straight away so I had a good long time to get properly warmed up.
Maggie and I were running along nattering away and a bloke commented to us that he couldn’t understand how we were able to run and talk at the same time. He later commented that he thought he had gone deaf because he couldn’t hear us anymore but that’s just because we were running up a hill so saving our energy. We soon got chatting again after that.
Not too far into the run we saw Josie sitting by the side of the road taking pictures. I think the bloke behind us in this picture is the one who mentioned our chattering.
As we passed, Josie asked us ‘Are you at the back?’ and then burst out laughing at how mean that sounded. Maggie asked what she was insinuating and I just couldn’t stop laughing.
Eventually, after five miles, we arrived at checkpoint 1 where I had a few jelly babies and some water. I hadn’t touched the water in my bladder yet but as it was such a sunny day I wanted to make sure I drank enough so from there onwards I made a conscious effort to keep sipping every now and then.
At checkpoint 2, 7.9 mile in, I had a lovely piece of chocolate cake, a jaffa cake and, of course, more jelly babies.
I was still feeling lovely and fresh but at about 9 miles in, when we got onto Witton Weavers Way, my stomach started to churn and I got an overwhelming urge for the loo. Thankfully, after about half an hour, the stomach ache subsided and I felt OK again but this was the only point during the whole run where I didn’t feel happy.
Another few jelly babies at checkpoint 3 and we were off up the hill onto Darwen Moors. This was the bit Albert had warned me about earlier and said it was easy to go wrong if we didn’t follow the directions properly. We paid close attention and managed to find our way though so we were quite pleased with that. In fact, we had had to navigate almost the entirety of this run because the other runners were so few and far between so we didn’t really have people to follow. We only made one slight error which I’ll come to later on so I think that’s pretty good going.
The run around Entwistle Reservoir was nice although there were an awful lot of people out seeing as it was such a nice day. I can’t believe I have never run around any of these areas before as they’re all so pretty. Entwistle Reservoir itself though is it on the busy side for me though, I prefer the more remote places.
Next up was the checkpoint everyone had been telling me about – the one with all the grub! They weren’t wrong either and it even had a menu pinned up on the outside of the tent! I opted for a cheese butty and a bit of gala pie. Oh and of course some jelly babies!
Shortly after leaving this checkpoint we were running through some woods and we came to a fork in the track which wasn’t mentioned on the directions sheet so we didn’t know which way we were supposed to go. I used my tracking skills to determine that the right fork had lots of fell shoe prints on it so that had to be the right one and off we went. Luckily it was the right one and we then headed along to checkpoint 5. Guess what I ate at checkpoint 5? Bet you can’t guess!
Between checkpoint 5 and 6 there was a section which went across boggy moorland towards Bull Hill which was quite slow going because we were trying not to sink. It’s one of those places that I’m now a little bit afraid to go on my own for fear of sinking and not being able to pull myself out, which stems from my experience at Spitler’s Edge a few months back. By this point, we had another running companion with us, a lady with a Staffie which was very entertaining whenever we came to a stile as the dog would just haul itself over, dragging the poor lady with it because she was attached by a waist lead.
On the route description, there is a piece of important information stating that checkpoint 6 has no water provision. What it fails to mention on the route description is that it does provide a choice of whiskys! We politely declined the marshal’s kind invitation for ‘a wee dram’ and continued on our way up towards the second of the two crosses, Pilgrims Cross. At this point, around 20 miles into the run, I was feeling absolutely amazing. I decided that I wanted to run all the way to Peel Tower without resorting to walking so off I went! When I got to Peel Tower I was so pleased with myself and whilst waiting for the others to catch up did something which I NEVER do and am quite ashamed of – I took a selfie! Sorry, I was just so elated that it just happened and I had no control over it!
Rejoined by Maggie and the lady with the dog (sorry, I didn’t catch her name, how rude of me!) we set off for the last part of the run, which we were told was all downhill. Yippee!
A number of times over the past hour I had been letting out an intermittent yelp of pain, which was caused by my big toe. I’ve mentioned my big toe issue in previous posts and am going to the biomechanics people on Thursday to have it looked into further. I’m really dreading it because I’m convinced they’re going to tell me not to run for a while. I don’t know what it is but every so often when I’m running or walking (usually uphill), I will get an excruciating pain in my right big toe, which seems to run along the bone into my foot. It will last for a few seconds but be really painful, then it will go away and might not come back at all. Sometimes a couple of weeks go by and I don’t notice it but there’s definitely something not right. Fingers crossed it gets sorted!
The run down through Redisher Woods was funny because there’s a really steep bit which I just ran down, using a tree to stop me part way and then carrying on and trying to stop before falling over a fallen tree. I managed to stop myself and then hopped over the fallen tree. Maggie didn’t come down quite so quickly though as by now her knees were giving her trouble so she was being careful not to damage them.
Soon the final checkpoint appeared, checkpoint 7. I can’t even remember now whether I had any jelly babies at this one but I probably did. If they were there I’m sure I wouldn’t have been able to resist.
Less than two miles to go now so full steam ahead! This was where we made our only navigational error at the golf club. The route direction said to ‘keep ahead on main track passing clubhouse, through car park, L to cross stream and up Hove Close’. We ran through the car park and then started to descend a hill but after about 100 metres we couldn’t see where we were supposed to go left. The lady with the dog and I had noticed that just before the end of the car park there was a left turn which went down to a bridge over a stream so we ran back up thinking that must be the way. As we started to run down through the path though, a lady told us we couldn’t go that way and had to go back the way we had just come so we turned round again and went the way we had originally done. It only cost us a few minutes though so not much of an error really.
When we got onto the flat track which led all the way back we got a bit of a spurt on because we knew the end was so close. We actually ran at an eight and a half minute mile pace for the last mile which, whilst not mega speedy, I think is pretty damn impressive for the end of a 25 mile run for a couple of girls whose best 10k pace is just under 8 minute miles! I think we need a pat of the back for that.
When we walked into the youth centre we were presented with a badge marking the 30th anniversary of the event, together with a certificate which we proudly displayed for this picture…
Photo courtesy of Josie/Maggie
However we put them down for this photo as Kev and Albert weren’t getting on board with it so we then felt a bit silly…
Photo courtesy of Josie/Maggie
As Albert had hung around to enjoy the food and drink on offer, he kindly gave me a lift home and as we drove up to Horwich town centre we despaired of a girl who must think that if a sun is in the sky it is automatically warm as she was wearing what can only be described as a bra top.
When I got home I got a bag of frozen peas on my toe and then had a nice hot bath followed by a session on the foam roller and it appears to have helped a lot because I feel reasonably ache-free.
Later on Duncan, Ruby and I drove out to a layby near Jepson’s Gate to chill out in the van and I had a well earned can of cidre then took Ruby for a walk in the fields, still feeling surprisingly fresh.
It became apparent later on that I had actually got sunburned during the run (that’s still no excuse for the girl in the bra top – it still wasn’t warm enough for that!) and my face is now bright red.
Anyway, I’ve really waffled on today so I’ll just end by saying a big thanks to all involved in organising, preparing food and marshalling today’s event, and also thanks to Albert for the lifts, the pre-run advice and listening to my inane chatter in the van, Josie for the piccies and making me laugh so much and Maggie for the great company and help with navigation. I’m getting a bit hooked on these LDWA events and am now thinking about what to do next. Any recommendations appreciated!
As for stats, I’m sick of Strava getting things wrong. Strava is telling me that my moving time was exactly the same as my total elapsed time. I fail to see how that’s possible given that I stood around quite a lot for various reasons, i.e. coat removal, checkpoints, Peel Tower. I therefore thought I’d look at Garmin because that’s usually more accurate and that has my moving time as 20 minutes less than elapsed time which sounds about right. However, Garmin is telling me there was 5,351 ft of climb!!! Strava, on the other hand, is telling me 2,574 ft of climb which, in contrast, sounds too low as the route descriptions all say just over 3,000 ft. I therefore have no idea how many feet of climb it actually was. I don't get how both sets of data can be so different, given that they both come off the same device!
Technology is useless. So much so that I’m thinking of having a Garmin free April - that's a topic for another day though.
Stats (like they have any meaning!):
Total distance 25.11 miles (taken from Garmin)
Time 5:55:56 (taken from Garmin)
Pace 14.11 minute mile (taken from Garmin)
Moving Time 5:35:17 (taken from Garmin)
Moving Pace 13.21 minute mile (taken from Garmin)
Elevation 2,574ft (taken from Strava)
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