Quite often I hear this line, or something very similar, from friends ‘you are insane’. This almost always refers to my running habits; doing stupidly long runs, running on holidays and running occupying a huge period of my life. Well this weekend whilst in the Lakes with Justin, Ash and Laura I found myself saying it to him about his dirty habit.

Justin "windmilling"

Justin is insane and likes to run up big hills then down them as quick as possible. Forgetting, ignoring and most of the time denying the high risks involved in coming down the side of an uneven Fell. However as he reached the bottom each time his smile couldn’t have been any bigger!

A few weeks ago Justin was adamant I was going to join him for one of these Fell Races. However, having only recently finished ‘Feet in the Clouds’ which explained the perils involved in this obscure event and also due to the fact I’m only a few weeks from Berlin I had to say no to the races. That said on Sunday morning Justin took me on our own little run up to the top of a big hill…and back down again.

Me at the top of the fell behind our campsite

Once again this was another first for me, I have never been to the Lakes before, neither have I really thought I must run up a massive hill and down again. On my day to day training I usually try to avoid any sort of ascent like the plague especially on my long runs. However, today we were running straight towards that big thing just behind the campsite. It became pretty obvious the paths, routes and trails I’m used to would be few and far between and no matter how many times Justin informed me we were on a path, I knew it had only been created by the sheep that looked to us in puzzlement. The terain was uneven,  boggy, hilly and there was clearly no concept of a plan other than up and down. It was not fast due to me being completely out  of my comfort zone.  This definatly trumped the previous ‘interesting’ run, once again with Justin, and I’m sure in his eyes my reaction to what we were doing was pathetic. For those of you who havent tried Fell running but have skied just imagine being at the top of a tough off piste / black run and you come close to what it was like looking down.

Somehow after about an hour and a half and my Garmin auto pausing the run countless times (no Garmin, I hadn’t stopped, I was trying my best just very slowly), we made it down. Now I have exciting anecdote’s including how I got chased by a sheep protecting it’s lamb, how I managed to sink up to my knees in a bog. Thanks to Justin’s very helpful guidance and words of advice

“dont fall and die”

I live to tell to you, oh yeah bracken and heather is interesting too!

I may come across as negative but as with most new running experiences (thunder run, moors run, marathoning…) after a few days I realise how much I enjoyed it and also how amazing the views were. I’m far from booking myself into a race but I definitely intend on returning to explore further…

Ps

I should probably say on Monday I got out and did the longest training run I have ever done in preparation for Berlin. Whilst I haven’t got any races under my belt I dont think Berlin will be PB territory for me. I have struggled a bit in my training of late. On Mondays run I hit 23miles in 3hrs20 if I can maintain that pace for another 3m it would bring me in at 3:47, I think at the moment i’d be pretty happy with that.

As I sit on a tube looking at the glum faces around me all heading for work I only have to shut my eyes and I’m back running in America…This is quite a long post and unfortunately I suspect the bit most of you have come for is nearer the bottom, sorry!

Las Vegas

Two weeks ago we flew out to Vegas for a mini adventure stuffed full of cool things, as this isn’t a holiday blog I will try stick to running related stories the first of which occurred less than 24 hours into the trip. Inevitably jet lagged I woke at about 5am (1pm British Summer Time), after a while I gave up trying to get back to sleep, put my trainers on and headed for the Las Vegas strip. Given the fact Vegas is a desert even at 6am it was respectably warm. What was amazing to see was how many people were out, although many looked like they were still out from the night before…! It was a lovely run, and my first opportunity to see ‘Disneyland for Adults’ as I now like to think of it, the biggest problem is knowing what to look at! Whilst in Vegas I got out a couple of times trying to push up my tolerance to heat, and whilst here I realised how long it takes for an American traffic light to change, (Sean from.Audiofuel if your reading its over a minute…I know this as I was using Adrenaline Junkie and I missed a whole sprint session because of it!) Cars definitely rule in the states.

The Road Trip

In after what seemed like only a day in Vegas (it was actually 4) we packed the car ready for the drive to San Francisco. We had planned our route to stay off the Interstates and instead it would see us heading out of Nevada and into California over the mountains, first stop Death Valley.

We arrived in Furnace Creek in the early afternoon and it was indeed HOT. The thermometer in the resort read 115°F and we were about to go somewhere even hotter, Badwater. As a runner I know of Badwater, every year there is a 135 mile ultra marathon starting here in July (the hottest time of the year). It wasn’t until I stood stood looking out over the Salt Flats in blistering heat did I realise how hard this event would be. This event is off of my radar for a good few years!!! I did take the opportunity to go for a run in Furnace Creek, I took heed of the advice to get out early and I’m glad i did as it got hotter and hotter. The last 10mins of the run back to the Ranch saw the sun come over the mountains I’m very glad I did! A very enjoyable run in desolate land. In stark contrast to vegas, here I was very much in a world of solitude, amazing.

Angels Camp - 'Famous' for its jumping frog contest each year

I took the next day off, it seems being sat in a car for hours is tiring! This day off did mean I missed out on running in the snow (yes that’s right, in about 4 hours of driving we went from 115°F to sub zero, odd!) Next stopover was Angels Camp on Route 49 and an early morning jog to get my legs ticking over. Felt tough, heavy legs but all understandable given the last few days driving. Again the area was very quiet, it is very obviously a gold mining city which is clearly struggling to stay open… It was a cool run, but as I found in Death Valley pretty hilly. It made me worry a bit for the half mara the next day!

The San Francisco Half Marathon

At about 3.30am the alarm went off to get myself ready for the 5.30am start. With the standard ritual well versed now I was ready to run. That said I did have some other bits to sort out (more to follow). After an eventful taxi ride I was toeing the start in wave amongst other sub 2 hours and I presume sub 4 marathon’ers. This was the first combined mara and half I had done and I liked the combined setup. At 5:43, still dark- we were off and I started to try feel my legs. I hadn’t researched the run much but knew there we’re some hills to come but unsure when.

Off I trotted en route towards the golden gate, the most iconic part of the route and as we only arrived in SF the day before, somewhere I had yet to see. As I neared the two large red pillars loomed in the distanced hidden somewhat by the morning fog, normal for this time of year. However, before the bridge came the first hill and it was challenging, although the chatter around me suggested that this was not the worst “save energy for after the bridge I kept hearing”.

The run over the bridge was great, although at the time I think I was cursing the gradients as from a distance it looked pretty flat! After about 9 miles of which 4 were on the Golden Gate I exited nervously anticipating what was about to follow (on two fronts).
Oh my god the hills were immense. I was given a stark reminder of the Dartford Half course from 2010. However, this time the roads seemed to keep climbing with no signs of stooping. I hadn’t intended this to be a PB race as I wanted to see the sights, but the harshness of the course completely quashed that idea!

With just under a mile to go my mind and focus shifted to my other plan. The one I suspect most of you have come here to read. Looped through my earphone cord I had placed the ring. The ring I had hidden whilst on the road for the last week. I had removed batteries from an emergency phone charger and stored it there, the theory was it would be the last thing Laura would open. Going through customs I hid it in some clean socks in my hand luggage. I also packed a neck lanyard in my gel belt to wear with the ring near the end. At 12 miles, whilst still running I carefully removed the ring from the earphones and attached it to the lanyard.

At 13m I saw Laura at the side of the road and went over to her. She looked thoroughly perplexed and confused ‘why are you stopping, are you ok?’ She mumbled. I was and as she stood there looking for a reason to why i had stopped 100m from the finish line went down on one knee. I wish I could tell you a romantic and cheesy line but if I’m totally honest my mind went blank but I’m sure all the right words came out as I handed over the ring. I think I can safely say it came as a total surprise to Laura, perhaps she may have dreamed for more romance than stood at the side of the road at 7.30am being proposed to by a sweaty man (especially given some of the beautiful places we had just traveled through!), but for me this seemed totally fitting. I doubt for one second I’d still be running had it not been for her and her constant support. I wanted to have a lasting memory plus they do a marathon on the same day, so I have a definite excuse to come back one day – I figure it could have been worse I could have done it at Badwater

So there we have it she said yes, then told me to get on with the run and I promptly stood up as I could feel my legs cramping a bit, I headed to the finish just meters from where I was. The rest of the day was a bit of a blur, I had booked dinner on a boat in the bay that evening but proposing at 8am leaves a long day ahead with a very happy Laura

That pretty much sums up my running in America. If your still reading I figure you were here for the juicy bit because people tend not to get this far down normally! Please leave a comment below so I know you have passed by

Till next time
N