Mercia Fell Runners Club

Having abandoned my 720 mile challenge after some hefty hints from my body (but not until I'd done 406 miles) my attention has turned to the Houseman 100 at the end of May.

My plan is to re-build my fitness between now and April then recce the whole route in the correct order in five hits on consecutive weekends, have a week off, then do it!

As a celebration of my 60th year on this planet I've decided to race 1 mile for every month I've been alive: 60 * 12 = 720 - simple.

I've set some rules: the miles must be off-road, so road race don't count, they must be part of a recognised race with a mass start and a pre-defined distance (barring getting lost!), so mountain marathons don't count, and the races must be 10 miles or more, so the Shropshire summer series doesn't count.

I happened to be in Devon the weekend of the Exe to Axe race, so why not do it? Its advertised as 20 miles with 4,000 feet of ascent. How hard can a race in Devon be?

Myth has it that whatever time you do on the Stretton Skyline race can be repeated in a marathon. Well, I decided to test this myth and entered the ballot for the London Marathon. I got in! I'm runner number 10044. My target time is 3h 24m (that's 8min/mile, which for an old fart like me is going to be tough).

Arthur Clare-Hay and I did the B class in the LAMM 2008 on the w/e of 7/8th June. We were the oldest team in the B class and the A and the C... The event this year was based around Glenfinnon, this boasts the oldest concrete viaduct in the world (what about the romans?) and features in the Harry Potter films. Very picturesque, especially when the Hogwarts Express steamed over the viaduct during registration (how did you manage that Martin?).

A great route and the weather was OK. 24 miles and 6,500 feet according to my Gizmo.
I nearly retired after CP3 (Heath Mynd) because I 'twanged' my right knee on the descent - excruciating pain for a bit that reduced me to hopping on my left leg! It slowed me down quite a bit, but the pain had  subsided by the time I got to CP4 (a food stop) so I carried on. I'd miss marked CP9 and CP11 on the map but still managed to fall straight onto them!  I didn't realise I'd miss marked them until I found them in unexpected places! Finished in 6h 5m - disappointing. 

My planned Ultra races: