Bah!

Billy checking out the opposition

Diseworth Boxing Day Fun Run

Last race of the year for me and my first ever road race. Also making his debut, in our first race together, was my training partner Billy Bob dog.

This was not just any old road race, it was the highly prestigious Disesworth boxing day fun run ( what do you mean, never heard of it? ). Two laps around the village and a tricky grass verge to negotiate. Each of those gruelling laps being approximately a mile long with ten feet of ascent. It was always going to be a tough one. 

Billy DNF'd after the 1st lap. He saw Ali, Tony and Mrs sbrt and made a beeline for them. I think he was fed up with me slowing him down.

 Lap two went well but I was mugged on the finish line. I keep telling myself it was only a fun run but it is a bitter blow being beaten by a man dressed in a Hawaiian shirt. 

Many thanks to Ali and Tony for having us over. The Christmas dinner. Beer, wine, and mince pies made excellent pre-race fuel. It was so good that I somehow managed to finish in 15th place. Unless it was the bespoke 'Bah Humbug' hat, made by Ali that made the difference.
 Its not part of the usual Milly and Pip range. Ali normally hand-makes, personalised gifts out of recycled materials but if it makes me faster I will  have to wear it again. Either that or I should switch from fell to Fun Running.

Thanks also to the organisers and helpers at the Diseworth Boxing Day Fun Run. For making our run  .....fun and to the residents of Diesworth for not laughing at my sparrow legs.  Last but not least well done to those who were out there running for a charity. Good on ya!

Hat by Milly and Pip 

All the very best for the new year

Steve and Billy

Wait for me!

In answer to Kate and her 'soggy blog jog', post. Yep! running is brilliant.

Many thanks to  Kate for inviting Simon and myself out for a bloggers bimble. Thanks also to both of them for not laughing at my pace. The pair of them are fitter, faster, younger and better looking than me, so it was kind of Kate to handicap herself by having a hangover and Simon to pretend not to notice. 

A couple of hours running around together, getting cold and wet,  then  thawing out over tea and hot food but surprisngly no cake. Kate is right we are very lucky, to be able to do these things.

He's snow angel. We checked for avalanche hazards by placing a pertex clad  Simon, on the snow slope.

Thankfully he did not slide too far

That'l learn ya. Rround one, Hayfield

Dark and White Challenge Events, Mini mountain marathon, Hayfield

This was team Ibuprofens first run out since the Rab. Ray had managed to get out to do  this years Dovedale Dash and the Roaches Fell Race, while I had only managed to get out for a few local training runs with the hound.

We were expecting to head up onto the edges of Kinder Scout, like we had done the last couple of years.  

wrong!  No

Unfortunately the Peak Park Authorities will only allow off piste events  a few weeks every winter. This meant we would be sticking to footpaths and rights of way, rather than being able to wander around on access land.  Never mind. It gave us a chance to check out somewhere new  and although we didn't get  to run where we expected, there were some cracking views of the Gritstone lump that is Kinder Scout.

Following footpaths, gave the runners rather than the Navigators an advantage. Being equally poor at both, we finished in our usual place, about 2/3rds  down the results table.

All went well, only minor confusions and detours. Confusions; The Famous Grouse Fell Race was being run on the same day, in the same area and parts of its course had been flagged. We didn't Know this at the time and were not sure if the flags meant, follow me or keep off the grass.  The detours; were just end of race tiredness and our usual divi-ness.

 Another well organised, yet low key and friendly event from Dark and White.

Who says men can't multi-task?

Many thanks to all who made our Sunday morning so enjoyable.

Blogz

Another look around the blogosphere

More Running Vids on http://www.trailrunning.tv/

End of October, clocks going back, its time for the OMM.

First a run down on the favourites by Nick (Ba Ba).

A bit of controversy over at team inov8

Kate is enjoying her hobby. Loving and hating it.


Ultra runner Nick Ham completed his Run further Grand Slam. Well done Nick

4Winds brings us some more exotic place names from the South West.

Good to see I am not the only one who runs the hills with a bull terrier Albert and Lilly enjoy the fells too. Get well soon Albert.

Talking of hounds, David and Charlie Have not been Marking time

Another stunning slideshow from Carmen Y Alfonso

Good to see John is blogging again. He shows us the contents of his bum bag

 Also good to see, Andy is back racing

Dawn is leading the Open 5 series.

Next up for Ray and me is the Dark & White mini mm. Starting from Hayfield

All the best. Have a good un

Steve & Billy

Parklife

Control 15, edge of vegetation. Dog in background, climbing vegetation. He is a special boy.

This control is part of a permanent orienteering course  on Allestree park. I have been mucking about on this park since I was a kid, it is also part of many of  mine and Billy's regular runs. So armed with local knowledge and nav skills honed on a recent mountain marathon, finding this control should be easy.

Wrong. It took lots of milling about and wandering around the woods until we finally found it.

Peak a boo

Peak District TV
Video by terrybnd @ http://terrybnd.blogspot.com/

If you have not already noticed, Blogger and all-round interweb good guy terrybnd has made the step from competent amateur to professional video maker.

No running stuff yet but well worth a look. Terry posts excellent write-ups, short films and photography of all things outdoors. Most of his work is Peak District based and his has a passion for the National Park shines through all he does.

Here is another one of his vids focusing on Photographers in the Peak District National Park and showcasing some of their work


All the very best Terry and keep up the good work.

Cous custard in the Carneddau

Like passing ships, Mrs sbrt came home after a week away with work and I headed off to Snowdonia, for this years Rab Mountain Marathon. 'Hi Babe, missed you.'  "good luck!"  'Love ya'  x.

Friday night; Ray M and I signed on and had a bite to eat, at race the event centre/registration. The venue was the Dyffryn Ogwen School in Bethesda. A nice touch was that the catering for the weekend, was organised by a local community group.

A quick pint then back to our B&B, where we had dropped our bags off earlier. Our home for the night was Llety Pant Teg B&B . The owners Catrin, Bryan and family could not have made us feel more welcome. The beds were very comfy and breakfast spot on.

 Catrin is passionate about the Carneddau mountains and seemed pleased that we would be up there enjoying them. Definitely a good omen.

A more typical view

Day one;  Saturday morning, wet and windy. A ten minute walk to the start. Dib dibbers, collect Maps and lists that show the days live controls(checkpoints). The list also gives us a map feature, ground feature and points value of each control.

And we are off. Six hours, to get from the start to the overnight camp, finding controls and collecting points.  We pick off our first two easily. It is always a relief to get the early ones right, especially for numptys like us.

Next up control 125 ; Terrace on spur, small ruin, inside, south side, 10 points. We tick off features on the way to the spur. Find the cairn that should be right next to the control. We can not see the ruin. More importantly no orange and white kite, telling us we have found the check point. I check the map again and again, using all that I know about map reading and how to relocate (all I know isn't very much so it doesn't take too long). Still no luck.

 We are not the only ones and general consensus is, something is amiss.

Ray and I head on to control 121 ; Rocky pinnacle, north side, 20 points. This is a short leg, just over 1k, with obvious features to follow. I take bearing just in case but am I taking the bearing from the right place?  

As we climb between Drosgl and Bera Mawr, the rocky knoll of Bera Bach comes into view. Cool! A scramble up the damp, greasy stone to the pinnacle and.......   No kite, no control.  Oh dear! Or words to that effect.

Again we weren't the only ones, there was quite a few of us scrambling about on the rocks, looking for the elusive 121. Either our  brightly coloured cagoules had become like magnets, drawing other competitors to us or the control just wasn't there. Joking aside, this was seriously knocking my confidence. Not being the best of navigators I was starting to doubt myself. 

We started getting cold from just milling about and decided to cut our losses and try for another control.

 It turns out that controls 121 and 125 had been put in the wrong place and not where they were shown on the race map. Never-mind, character building stuff and the organisers credited the points to all of us who had been caught out.

Normal service resumed all further mistakes were down to our own ineptitude. A slight wobble heading for the next control then  no further nav related incidents, just a great days MMing in a great event area. 

We are completers rather than competitors so when Ray started getting cramps, I was more than happy to head in early. 

The neighbours

Dark and White/Rab, did us proud with the overnight camp and as we all came down off the hills, the sun came out. Priceless. The neighbours werent bad either. 

 Tent up, feet up. Time for food, a cuppa, pampering(taping up a blister) and a doze in the sun. 

Day two; Cool, clear and dry. Porridge and Coffee. The porridge is instant but our secret weapon is a cup (pot noodle pot) of almost fresh coffee, courtesy  of Lyons coffee bags. 

Onwards and upwards. A sharp climb back up to the Carneddau, bagging two controls and a few wild bilberries on the way.  

Heading for Carnedd Llywlyn, Ray points out we may have bitten off more than we can chew. He is right. We chuck a right. Sorry, I mean head west and after a brief diversion, we put the ghost of control 121 to rest. Its live again for day 2 and in the right place. 

After that, it's just  a few more dibs and a trot/shuffle back to Bethesda. 

The guy in the flouro hat confessed to looking at this blog.
Another MM 1st  timer.  Good on ya fella!

Dry rocks and control # 121 in the right place : )

Ray studying the menu for Sunday dinner

               

Other Highlights and Randoms

• Getting Completely 'chicked' by Kate and Jane.
• 
  
• Mountain ponies
• 
  
• Sipping Limoncello while comparing route choices. Tks & Good to meet you Cat & Ruth.
• 
  
• Chatting to Hanno & Theo, Pennine runners from the Netherlands doing their 1st MM.
• 
  
• Milk stix x2 from Pant Teg B&B I was going to have black tea 
• 
  
• Dawn-Sometimes an Ultra Runner Won the ladies Elite class. Wow!

Many thanks again to Dark and White/Rab for putting on another excellent event. As always a very enjoyable course and a great atmosphere.

P.S. Thanks to Ray, for putting up with me again.