Finishing July! including Cock Howe Race Report.

I mentioned in my last post, I was off for a long run to Kilburn.

Well, it was a hot sticky morning an early morning downpour had only served to increase the humidity and the vegetation at the side of the path was steaming nicely.
I set off along Green Lane, an uninspiring track that leads from the A170 to the village of Bagby. From there I skirt around fields leading to Thirkleby. In Thirkleby I thought I'd try one of the gels I was carrying. It an orange flavour SiS gel. It was gross, although not as gross as I thought it might be! It gave me a little boost as I took off once more along farm tracks.
There is a bit of a climb into Kilburn village and I took it steady as it was so very hot!
Today was the day of the Kilburn Feast, a 7 mile road race part of the village festival. It was still 2.5 hours til the start but there were already plenty of runners milling about!
I'm glad I wasn't racing as it was so hot.
I sat on the bench just outside the village to have a snack and text Paul with my whereabouts. Coach Rob and Christine stopped for a chat on their way to the race.
I carried on, managed to find some mud on Trenacre Lane, then it's a gentle downhill across fields back to Thirkleby. I retraced my steps for a while, then took a different track back to Balk. I was flagging in the heat, so I tried my other gel, Hi5 'Mojito' flavour. That was really gross!! Fruity toothpaste. And it gave me tummy ache. Yuk. Short road stretch from Balk to Bagby then back onto the Green Lane. I pretty much walked all the way back as I was knackered in the heat.
I hope it's not as hot as this for the Rock n Rowel...

Fast forward to Wednesday 23rd. I'd dithered about doing the Cock Howe and Beyond fell race. It's a course I enjoy, but I have the RnR marathon on the Saturday. Was it too close? Considering my options - go to club and risk pushing it too hard on intervals. Go for a run by myself (probably not going to happen...) OR do the fell race, slowly. At about 10.30pm the night before, I decided to do the race!! I managed to secure a last minute start and after work on Wednesday evening we were off to Chop Gate for the start.
I ran up the first track as far as the grass hill, then walked. It's a long climb up a big steep hill! It had cooled down a bit but the sweat was still flowing freely off the end of my nose!
At last we reached the top and thought we'd best run on. The route crossed the moor on a little narrow path and the people behind me were pushing me faster than I liked as we passed downhill and jumped a little stream. Short climb, then over long bog-grass (dry today, usually ankle deep water) and out onto good track. The faster runners, including Hilary, passed me and pulled away. I didn't mind as I wasn't racing. I took it steady up the little climb, then just enjoyed the trot along the tracks, heading back towards the top of the initial hill. As I was pootling along, I actually felt sorry for pretty much everyone who wasn't up there! It was warm, but with a nice breeze, the moor looked amazing and massive under a big blue sky the track winding off into the distance, dotted with runners.
We turned off the good track at Cock Howe and the descent began. At first fairly gentle, I could have gone faster but couldn't risk turning an ankle at this stage in the game. I wasn't in anyone's way so just kept trotting on. It got steeper right up to the steepest part, although I did walk down it, I didn't go to pieces like I normally do! That bit over, the rest was steep but on grass. My stupid knee decided to make itself known, but I pushed on down the hill, onto the track, fell off the stile near the bottom and into the finish! Dave Parry noted I wasn't last! DCR said I looked too fresh... I didn't care as I had really enjoyed the run out, it was the right decision. (Also turns out, I was a full 5 minutes faster than two years ago!! Here's to going steady...)