Sunrise to Sunset – 27 December
Report by Amanda Ellis
Ever since running those first two half marathons in September and October of 2016, the thought of "how will I ever run more than 13.1 miles?" had been in the back (or sometimes, forefront) of my mind. I became aware of a local company, How Hard Can It Be Events, http://codrc.co.uk/ which runs long distance races/events with the added draw of great bling. On 27 December they were holding the Sunrise to Sunset challenge which allowed participants to run any distance of their own choosing between sunrise (at approx 8.20am) and sunset (at approx 4pm). You could record an official half or full marathon time and then carry on as long as you wanted. The venue was at Sundorne Sports Village in Shrewsbury, around a cycle track just short of 1km in length. The course length had been officially measured by Wrekin Road Runners' own Jon Aston.
Ever since running those first two half marathons in September and October of 2016, the thought of "how will I ever run more than 13.1 miles?" had been in the back (or sometimes, forefront) of my mind. I became aware of a local company, How Hard Can It Be Events, http://codrc.co.uk/ which runs long distance races/events with the added draw of great bling. On 27 December they were holding the Sunrise to Sunset challenge which allowed participants to run any distance of their own choosing between sunrise (at approx 8.20am) and sunset (at approx 4pm). You could record an official half or full marathon time and then carry on as long as you wanted. The venue was at Sundorne Sports Village in Shrewsbury, around a cycle track just short of 1km in length. The course length had been officially measured by Wrekin Road Runners' own Jon Aston.
This event appealed to me as the ideal incentive to break the 13.1 mile barrier for the first time, where I could perhaps experiment with pacing, rest breaks etc, with plenty of people around me and easy access to refreshments (with a 1km circuit, runners passed the aid station every few minutes). Plus, what better way to run off my Christmas roast goose? Debi agreed to join me and we signed up.
December 27 dawned crystal clear and sub-zero. I think the temperature might have scraped 3 degrees C thanks to the feeble winter sun by the time we finished running, but for the first few miles our feet and hands were numb, despite warm socks and running gloves. The hundred or so participants were each issued with a laminated lap card which was punched every time we completed a lap. My intention setting out was to get to 15 miles or 24km, using my marathon training method of 2 1/2 minutes running, 30 seconds walking. I considered taking a longer break mid-distance but on the day just kept up a steady pattern.
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The race started from two points depending on whether you wanted an official half or full marathon time recording. With such a short circuit, by the end of the first lap or two you couldn't tell who was running what distance, or how many laps anyone else had done. That was one of the good things about this event, there was no feeling of "I'm at the back", although being passed by someone dressed as Santa Claus (including a leather skirt over running tights) what seemed like every couple of laps was a clear indicator that there were some pretty fast people taking part. Similarly some of the conversation snippets we overheard were along the lines of "I'm training for a 100 miler so thought I'd go for 40 miles today" which put our 15 miles into perspective. There were also plenty of people taking walk breaks so our 5:1 run walk ratio didn't look too unusual.
Gradually we thawed out, though any longer walk breaks than 30 seconds would have had the frozen numbness setting in again. Walk breaks keep the heart rate down so it was the legs which started feeling it as we approached the 10 mile mark. The aid station was really well stocked, with cups of water/squash/coke and a variety of snacks including a box of Celebrations. The water was so cold due to the ambient temperature that you could feel it running right down into your stomach and it was almost good to start running again in order to raise your body temperature after the icy drink. I'm quite partial to Malteser Celebrations so took to popping one (frozen...) in my mouth every couple of laps in the latter part of my run. I'm now convinced Malteser Celebrations are the key to my running a new long distance although I do need a way of carrying them away from my body heat when I have no handy aid station every km!
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The key to running a longer distance for the first time is to keep the pace down. Maintaining an average of around 11:40 min/mile, we reached 13.1 miles/half marathon in just over 2 1/2 hours, noting with some excitement that we were now in uncharted territory. Adding the extra couple of miles was literally just a case of keeping on doing what we had been doing for another 3 laps. 2 min 30 run, 30 second walk. We counted down the laps, 3, 2, 1, and there we were. My GPS watch showed 24.56km or 15.3 miles in just under 3 hours. We collected our medals, which are really eye-catching and good quality, and had a celebratory photo taken before returning to the warmth of our houses to enjoy the rest of the bank holiday. In summary, a great event for pushing yourself to a new limit, be that distance or time, with efficient, friendly organisation and good facilities.
Mortimer forest trail run - December 11th
Report by Steve Gill
First of all why this race? I have always wanted to do this race after hearing great things about it from Deb Millington and Kim Bennett but the problem was it always clashed with Telford 10k.
Having done the 10K a couple of years on the trot I then decided to look at Mortimer but for the previous two years I was injured. So this was my year of doing it.
A posse of 12 of us travelled to Ludlow to see what all the fuss was about.
Starting in the grounds of Moor Park school you were already greeted to a lovely scenic view of the forest.
After collecting our numbers, having a pre-race coffee, club photo (apologies to Deb who we couldn’t find) we set off to line up. A total number of 405 runners which was a record turnout.
So Alex and Warby (I’m taking it easy) sprinted off out front as we crossed the school grounds and over a road into the forest. This I believe looked like the migration of wildebeest as all traffic was stopped for us runners to cross.
Off we went into the woods on a steady climb to the reach the top and then back down. This put us on a track before we dropped across a stream and shortly reached the first major obstacle. Looking up all you saw was runners going up the side of a hill, no running, just walking. This was poison bank as they named it.There was no overtaking as it was too narrow. At this point I would like to question some people on their choice of footwear, road shoes? Trail shoes with little or no grip? Come on people. This coupled with overnight rain mean’t the faster ones got the best of it and us at the back got a rather slippy slope to contend with. Eventually the top was reached although my average speed had taken a right hammering.
At the top you could push on as we were met with beautiful trails (muddy ones) to run on. We carried on over the road again (See Bob Wilsons pictures on Facebook) and down a slippy slope. More trails as you ran around the side of the hill with some superb views of the Shropshire countryside.
At about half way you reached the big dippers, you went down and then up each one. Everyone did get steeper but note I didn’t mention run up. Run down and walk up was the only thing possible.
At the top of the last dipper you hit a firetrack which went left and continued on upwards. This went on a fair way just gradually meandering up the hill and if you were feeling strong you could pick a few people off.
Once over the top you were running downwards on roads, trails and firetracks. I have to admit my legs didn’t appreciate the downs on the road and my calves were feeling sore.Thewater station was at 6.5 miles in and I stopped for drink before carrying on. Just after this point Deb caught and passed me. Again into the woods along some beautiful trails I was chasing a lovely lady as Deb bounded along with ease and me doing my best to keep up.
There was one last sting in the tail as we headed back up the first hill that we had ran down earlier on with Deb and I running all the way passing quite few that were only able to walk it. Off down the trails towards the finish which was just before our first road crossing. Not quite where we all thought it would be (note for next year).
For the record I couldn’t catch Deb so was chicked as they say J .
At the finish it was great to be greeted by the loyal supporters of Julie, Becky and Vicky. Thanks to one and all.
As we all recalled our adventures and looked at how muddy we all were we reflected on what a great event it was. Would we be back again? You bet on it.
So if you fancy something different why not join us next year for more hills and mud adventures.
PS. Deb got first lady in her age group – Well done Deb
First of all why this race? I have always wanted to do this race after hearing great things about it from Deb Millington and Kim Bennett but the problem was it always clashed with Telford 10k.
Having done the 10K a couple of years on the trot I then decided to look at Mortimer but for the previous two years I was injured. So this was my year of doing it.
A posse of 12 of us travelled to Ludlow to see what all the fuss was about.
Starting in the grounds of Moor Park school you were already greeted to a lovely scenic view of the forest.
After collecting our numbers, having a pre-race coffee, club photo (apologies to Deb who we couldn’t find) we set off to line up. A total number of 405 runners which was a record turnout.
So Alex and Warby (I’m taking it easy) sprinted off out front as we crossed the school grounds and over a road into the forest. This I believe looked like the migration of wildebeest as all traffic was stopped for us runners to cross.
Off we went into the woods on a steady climb to the reach the top and then back down. This put us on a track before we dropped across a stream and shortly reached the first major obstacle. Looking up all you saw was runners going up the side of a hill, no running, just walking. This was poison bank as they named it.There was no overtaking as it was too narrow. At this point I would like to question some people on their choice of footwear, road shoes? Trail shoes with little or no grip? Come on people. This coupled with overnight rain mean’t the faster ones got the best of it and us at the back got a rather slippy slope to contend with. Eventually the top was reached although my average speed had taken a right hammering.
At the top you could push on as we were met with beautiful trails (muddy ones) to run on. We carried on over the road again (See Bob Wilsons pictures on Facebook) and down a slippy slope. More trails as you ran around the side of the hill with some superb views of the Shropshire countryside.
At about half way you reached the big dippers, you went down and then up each one. Everyone did get steeper but note I didn’t mention run up. Run down and walk up was the only thing possible.
At the top of the last dipper you hit a firetrack which went left and continued on upwards. This went on a fair way just gradually meandering up the hill and if you were feeling strong you could pick a few people off.
Once over the top you were running downwards on roads, trails and firetracks. I have to admit my legs didn’t appreciate the downs on the road and my calves were feeling sore.Thewater station was at 6.5 miles in and I stopped for drink before carrying on. Just after this point Deb caught and passed me. Again into the woods along some beautiful trails I was chasing a lovely lady as Deb bounded along with ease and me doing my best to keep up.
There was one last sting in the tail as we headed back up the first hill that we had ran down earlier on with Deb and I running all the way passing quite few that were only able to walk it. Off down the trails towards the finish which was just before our first road crossing. Not quite where we all thought it would be (note for next year).
For the record I couldn’t catch Deb so was chicked as they say J .
At the finish it was great to be greeted by the loyal supporters of Julie, Becky and Vicky. Thanks to one and all.
As we all recalled our adventures and looked at how muddy we all were we reflected on what a great event it was. Would we be back again? You bet on it.
So if you fancy something different why not join us next year for more hills and mud adventures.
PS. Deb got first lady in her age group – Well done Deb