Ultras 36 - 38

Ultra 36 SALTERGATE CIRCUIT (Sat 6th October)

I had wanted to run the ' Saltergate Circuit ' for a few years and now I had the oppurtunity and it lived up to my expectations. The Saltergate Circuit is an LDWA event which starts in Stape near Pickering (North York Moors) passes by the 'Hole of Horcum' and crosses the Railway track that runs the Steam train from Pickering to Goathland. I also had a chance to run with Shirley which put the icing on the cake. Shirley had ran the 63 mile route of the HM60 the weekend before and even with those recent miles in her legs  I felt like I was holding her up for the duration of the event. My knees caused me a whole world of pain on every descent and I had to stop to walk on numerous occasions.
Shirley had ran in the event several times before and knew the route luckily. (numerous people had made various different navigational errors along the way, we covered 24 miles where others had covered up to 29 miles) After finishing the event I set off on an extra 3 miles to turn the distance into an Ultra and on returning we got to chat to Roy Mc Dougall and Mark & Wendy Colling who had ran the Hardmoors 60 the weekend before. A trip to the Lion Inn a few miles away for some food finished the day nicely.

Ultra 37 & 38 HARDMOORS & LIVERPOOL MARATHON(13^th-14^th October)

Originally I was to enter the Pathfinder 25 but Garry Scott invited me to join him on a training run following the Hardmoors 55 reverse route from Lords Stones to Helmsley (2013 the Hardmoors 55 will be run in the reverse direction for the first time)

View across to Carlton Bank

I drove up to Helmsley in stunning conditions, the temperature hovered around minus one and the sun was shining bright in the sky. I met Garry in Helmsley and we set off to Lords Stones in his car.(later I would drive him back to his car) We chatted non-stop, actually we chatted non-stop for the duration of the day, and what do Ultra runners chat about when they are running?? Yep other Ultras including kit, past and future races and  Hallucinations/blisters/injuries etc etc. ( my Fiancée is an Ultra-Runner and yep the vast majority of our conversations evolve around running, mind you we met via running ultras ;o) )

 View from Carlton Bank

Garry was making the run tougher for himself by not eating before the run (in fact the last time he had eaten was over 13 hours ago) he was experimenting and would try to use his fat stores for energy. I was quite glad because that meant it would slow him down and he may suffer more then me ;o). We set off up Carlton Bank and flew over the top at speed, I was pushing hard to try to match his speed, so far the lack of food wasn’t slowing him down, damn! The route in reverse was stunning. I was looking forward to running from Square Corner to Helmsley as I had never run this section in reverse. Twenty odd miles in Garry hit the wall and pretty hard! He slowed down a bit and stopped talking. I gave him a gel and minutes later he was back yapping on and pushing the pace, I kicked myself for giving him the gel ;o))
On arriving at Sutton Bank the sky was so clear we could see for miles and pointed out the three peaks of Yorkshire. With about 7-8 miles to go we both were feeling sick so decided to nip to the pub and had a couple of pints of coke. The coke as per usual did the trick, unfortunately it didn’t work for the continued pain in my knees, with a short distance left I risked the Diclofenic Sodium (non steroid anti-inflammatory drug) to get some pain releif (I advise anyone reading this to not use these in Ultras, they can cause serious stomach problems and an  electrolyte imbalance, both can lead to hospitalisation )  Running into Helmsley was stunning, I felt sad that the vast majority of the runners competing in the Hardmoors 55 would arrive here in the dark.
We headed for the local chippy and gorged on essential special recovery nutrients ;o))
I returned Garry back to his car at Lords Stones and the sun was still in the sky, Carlton bank beckoned me, but lack of time and knees that would have vastly objected to such stupidity directed me to the car not up the hill, plus I had a marathon to run in well under 24hrs time.

Garry Scott
LIVERPOOL MARATHON (4hrs 39mins of suffering)

I was to help guide Paul Watts (Paul is a blind runner who has completed over 200 marathons) David (Cremmins) usually guides Paul at various marathons throughout the year. For David it was his 100^th marathon and official entry into the 100 Marathon Club! I got to chat to Richard Webster, Ross Moreland and Elizabeth Tunna before the Marathon. This was my first road Marathon.
I ran with Kelly for the first 10k, I found myself drenched in sweat and yet again my knees were crying out in pain. After awhile I caught up with David and Paul and we took it in turns to guide. Liverpool was stunning and the weather yet again gorgeous. I started to feel very rough and had to resort to a walk, David and Paul continued running. The 26.2 miles was kicking my butt! A combination of knee pain and what felt like a virus was making every step feel like a mile.
Finally 25miles was reached and I decided to dig in pretty deep and pull out a faster pace. The last 400 metres I managed a sprint.

After the event I felt like death warmed up, frozen, cramping up and very hungry.
Well at least I know Ill be able to beat my Marathon PB time ;O)

TO BE CONTINUED........