I have been quiet in recent months, due to illness. However the past couple of weeks I have been feeling a lot better and have started running again. Nothing too serious, just putting some miles into my legs ready for the new year. Last week I was asked if I wanted to run in the Lee Mills relays, a new event compromising of 4 people each running the same 10km course. I was happy to run as it would give me a chance to see where I was and how much I had lost.
We arrived at the race and conditions weren't great, low lying fog, endless rain and even snow and ice on the tops meant times were going to be slow. Calder valley had sent two teams across and Horwich had entered a fast team as well. The teams were compromised of Gav, James, Karl and Ben on one team and Tim, Myself, Jonny and Darren on another. With Gav and Tim on leg one we knew that both team would be coming back fairly close and so it proved with only 8 seconds between them. Horwich weren't too far behind either. Gav handed over to James and Tim to Myself. It was a steady uphill climb to start, made harder by the relentless wind pushing us back down the hill, I wasn't sure how fast I would be able to push so I was happy to climb with James for the first part as he set of reasonably steady. Little did I realise his recent results have been very good. We plateaued on the skyline and very soon after James took off, or rather I went backwards. I was struggling with the intensity, both in the legs and lungs. We ran across a few fields and tracks before not long after Chris Farrell running for Horwich came flying past. Subsequently Chris went on to past James as well and give Horwich a lead going into the 3rd leg. I reached checkpoint 1 and I could still see James and Chris in the distance. The route started to climb, again it wasn't steep but it was a drag. We eventually came out at 'Top o' Leach'. I just focused on keeping a steady rhythm up the climb. Once reaching the summit (checkpoint 2) it was a long downhill stretch all the way to a quarry, checkpoint 3. Whilst the downhill gave me some respite, it was also equally as hard due to the fields and moors being so waterlogged. Constant stumbling, falling, getting knee deep in mud was energy sapping. I reached checkpoint 3 and was told I was over 3 minutes adrift from 1st. I was tired and wasn't sure how much longer I could hold on. We climbed out of the quarry and hit a moorland path that pretty much took us back to the first accent we climb. It was hard going and not surprisingly I struggled keeping upright. My legs were starting to buckle with not having the intensity or mileage in my legs. I made I back to the first accent and did my best to stride out to the finish.
I handed over to Jonny, who then went out for the 3rd leg. I was exhausted but I was glad I ran. I left the team nowhere really. We were in 3rd place but miles behind 2nd and a long way in front of 4th. My time for the leg was 51.16. It was better than I expected but I'm still along way off where I would like to be at this point. The positions of the team pretty much stayed the same after leg 3. Joe Mercer ran a good leg for Horwich with Karl keeping His team in it. Ben then ran the fastest leg of the day to overhaul Horwich and win it for his team. Darren finished it off for our team and meant we had comfortably secured 3rd place.
We arrived at the race and conditions weren't great, low lying fog, endless rain and even snow and ice on the tops meant times were going to be slow. Calder valley had sent two teams across and Horwich had entered a fast team as well. The teams were compromised of Gav, James, Karl and Ben on one team and Tim, Myself, Jonny and Darren on another. With Gav and Tim on leg one we knew that both team would be coming back fairly close and so it proved with only 8 seconds between them. Horwich weren't too far behind either. Gav handed over to James and Tim to Myself. It was a steady uphill climb to start, made harder by the relentless wind pushing us back down the hill, I wasn't sure how fast I would be able to push so I was happy to climb with James for the first part as he set of reasonably steady. Little did I realise his recent results have been very good. We plateaued on the skyline and very soon after James took off, or rather I went backwards. I was struggling with the intensity, both in the legs and lungs. We ran across a few fields and tracks before not long after Chris Farrell running for Horwich came flying past. Subsequently Chris went on to past James as well and give Horwich a lead going into the 3rd leg. I reached checkpoint 1 and I could still see James and Chris in the distance. The route started to climb, again it wasn't steep but it was a drag. We eventually came out at 'Top o' Leach'. I just focused on keeping a steady rhythm up the climb. Once reaching the summit (checkpoint 2) it was a long downhill stretch all the way to a quarry, checkpoint 3. Whilst the downhill gave me some respite, it was also equally as hard due to the fields and moors being so waterlogged. Constant stumbling, falling, getting knee deep in mud was energy sapping. I reached checkpoint 3 and was told I was over 3 minutes adrift from 1st. I was tired and wasn't sure how much longer I could hold on. We climbed out of the quarry and hit a moorland path that pretty much took us back to the first accent we climb. It was hard going and not surprisingly I struggled keeping upright. My legs were starting to buckle with not having the intensity or mileage in my legs. I made I back to the first accent and did my best to stride out to the finish.
I handed over to Jonny, who then went out for the 3rd leg. I was exhausted but I was glad I ran. I left the team nowhere really. We were in 3rd place but miles behind 2nd and a long way in front of 4th. My time for the leg was 51.16. It was better than I expected but I'm still along way off where I would like to be at this point. The positions of the team pretty much stayed the same after leg 3. Joe Mercer ran a good leg for Horwich with Karl keeping His team in it. Ben then ran the fastest leg of the day to overhaul Horwich and win it for his team. Darren finished it off for our team and meant we had comfortably secured 3rd place.