"January, sick and tired, you've been hanging on me. . ."

Well I was definitely sick and as a result quite tired.

As 2014 finished with a 10k, 2015 started with a 10k, in the guise of another local race 'The Broadstone Quarter' on New Years Day, a race I had not done before. OK, so strictly speaking and to appease the pedants it was a quarter marathon. Its a popular race, despite being on New Years Day, and for a lot of local runners, including many of my running friends, it has become a bit of a tradition - kicking off the year as they mean to go on.

Unfortunately when I ran the 10k on Boxing Day I was just coming down with some sort of coughing lurgy and I spent the interim time between the two races just managing dog walks with a 'feckin cough', as I put it, and wondering if I would be able to compete. In the end I just decided to give it a bash on the basis that the race is a 2 loop course and if I felt really bad I could drop out after lap one (DNF beats DNS after all!).
The course starts and finishes with a bit of a wiggle by the Broadstone Sports Centre, with big triangular laps in between. Although the route has a nasty long hill up (twice!), of course it also has its counterpart, a lovely long hill down.

Strava data shows a pretty good pace considering that my aim, as I put it, was to 'finish and not die'!

In the end I found that running surprisingly didn't really have an adverse effect on the coughing and I was able to do both laps. But I finished looking like the walking dead (according to my caring running mates!) and once I stopped running I started coughing like I was on 60 a day!

Before I staggered home though I was presented with the oddest or perhaps the most puzzling race memento I've had, that of a Broadstone Quarter Tea towel. Perfect for drying your sports bottles perhaps?

Of course, now all thoughts turned to June as I started to realise I had better have a serious look at my training plan for Mont Blanc.

Obviously I would need to do hill training and hoped to do most of my training off road, but of course at the time we were still in dark evening mode meaning that apart from Thursday evenings (not being done on my own), the only off road work was done at the weekend.

I'd asked a couple of local experienced trail runners what sort of training program I ought to follow and the main conclusion was that I should train for time on feet rather than distance.

Given that the time on feet was going to be closer to a marathon time, I decided to do 2 off road marathons leading up to this, both by my favourite race providers, White Star Running. One was the Larmer Tree Marathon in March and the other was the Ox Marathon in May, both around Tollard Royal in Dorset.

The other thing that needed sorting was kit. Which always makes me fret. Quite a lot. Decisions, decisions. . . .

Mont Blanc Cross instructions call for the following obligatory kit list (as taken straight from the website so spelling is not mine!):

• Mobile phone.
• Stock of water minimum 0,50 liter.
• Waterproof jacquet windproof.
• Whistle.
• Survival blanket.
• Personnal cup

I was also planning on adding a thin hat and gloves to this list too, given how the weather can change quickly on a mountain, and obviously a few gels or other nutrition. You also have to complete the race in what they call 'semi autonomy' e.g. not allowed any assistance except at the 2 aid stations and must carry everything you need with you.

Obviously the thing to do was to keep weight and volume down if possible, while having just enough storage.

I'd already been looking at hydration packs v water belts, and contemplating the old bottles v bladders debate. Hydration packs have their up side but the down sides were bothering me, you couldn't see how much fluid you had left, it was often difficult to get stuff out of them while wearing them, and the straps always chafed my shoulders. I tried the Salomon XT Wings pack (shown below) last year and while it was seemed initially comfortable and held a lot I found the following problems - the adjustment straps wouldn't stay adjusted and kept loosening slightly, with the lack of stiffness in the pack the bladder pulled on the attachment loop and dragged the back of the neck down causing discomfort in the way the pack sat after a while, the front pockets were too small for my usual gels, and the back pockets were difficult to get things out of. " Our survey said. . . .Eh-Erhhhhh!"

Rejected

Thinking in the other direction I decided a waist belt would be the answer, but it would have to be a generous one to fit in all the kit. I currently had a cheap one courtesy of sports direct which was actually made from 2 waist belts joined together, eliminating the thin waist strap and increasing the storage. This was always pretty comfy so i wanted something similar without a thin strap. After trying a couple of belts I ended up with the Salomon Agile Belt complete with 500ml soft bottle. Although this has a waist strap it is wide and padded and stays in place very well and despite its apparently smallish size miraculously holds all the essential kit plus more.

Shoes - I didn't think the Merrells would be man enough and whilst I did briefly toy with the idea of trying different makes and models I'd already tried and tested a pair of inov8 trailrocs last year and in the end decided to go with them. Mind you the Merrells are on standby!

Waterproof jacket - my Montane Minimus smock was going to be ideal, given its small size and weight

So, kit sorted, hurrah! back to fretting about the training. . .

As last year, this month heralded the return of Jantastic (organised by the Marathon Talk boys) and I signed up (with far too much enthusiasm) to Steve Way's DBS Team, and promised 5 runs a week.

With a team captain like that you don't want to let them down, and at the end of January managed to drag myself to 100%, goodness knows how February and March were going to pan out however!

Daisy's running was coming along well and by the end of January she could manage around a 5km run (her walks were even further but for constant running I was increasing her distance very slowly)

If the training schedule said further than that then Kev was walking her while I went for a run with Max.

Ooh, yes, training schedule. nearly forgot!

Well after my initial thought that I should do 2 Marathons in the run up to June, something kept nagging me in the middle of January that I ought to swap the Larmer Tree marathon entry for the half entry instead. Don't ask me why, I'm not normally one for chickening out, but after not taking notice of my inner voices last year and ending up injured, I'd already decided that if I got a bad feeling about a race/training run etc I would act on it. After all lets face it, I'm never going to be that competitive apart from against myself!

says it all really!

Soooo, once i swapped i felt much better, and after doing so I also found myself deciding I would race it as best i could instead of just being a long training run. This decided I then switched to a half marathon training program (which wasn't all that different to the marathon one at this stage so no harm done!) up to March.

My thoughts were to do a half schedule up to March, a marathon training program up to the Ox in May putting in as many hills as possible and doing all off road and then switch to the remainder of a half schedule again in the remaining 4 weeks leading up to Mont Blanc with the emphasis once again being on hills and off road.

Sounds complicated but seemed to make sense!

I did well on the Purbeck Marathon with a training program lifted from the Bournemouth Marathon Website training zone (by none other than Martin Yelling) so figured if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

I used the advanced program, not because I thought I was advanced but because on inspection it was 5 days a week and the distances seemed doable plus would fit in with Jantastic!

I started 5 weeks in, i think (shown as 9 weeks to go), which looks like this

As i wouldn't normally run on a Monday I just shunted the first 2 days up one and so Monday was now Tuesday and Tuesday now Wednesday. (still with me?)

I also found the book Trail and Mountain Running by Sarah Rowall and Wendy Dodds to be very helpful with quite a few relevant training pointers.

My longest run in January turns out to have been 20-21km (bit vague as I stopped the garmin at one point and forgot to start it for a couple of minutes!).

Obviously in February this was going to have to go up. . . .

Bonus Post - Cross de Mont Blanc route

So this is a stand alone post just to run through the Mont Blanc Cross route (or to give it its current name, the Mont-Blanc 23km) as I thought a few people might be interested and it was too much to put in the 2014 post.

This year as I understand it the route is slightly changed both after Argentiere and at the finish section, and so as we walked the 2014 route, there will be some discrepancies, but I will try to make this clear which is the changed bit when writing, and to give as much info as I can about the new route. 

This is the 2014 route we were following which shows both the Cross and the Marathon routes and was the only map available on the website!

We walked this route in three sections. The first half we did in one day. the second half was split up due to bad weather and cloud coming in. it wasn't nice to walk in at all so we chickened out (well you know being on holiday and all!) 

You can download the new 2015 course in gpx form from the website, and I have loaded this onto my runkeeper account as a reference. The only reason I put it on runkeeper was because if I load it on Garmin it automatically loads to Strava as well, and then FetchEveryone. . .(what? no I am not obsessed with running data, i just like to keep things tidy and can't let go of any of them. . .) 

The Race starts on the edge of Chamonix on the landing field for the paragliders. 
we had a lovely chat to some of them when we were there. There was a couple from Australia that had travelled specifically to that area to do paragliding in the mountains!
The weather was fairly warm, tshirt weather, but overcast.

Starts about here somewhere - thataway!

Yes its flattish for a while just to let you get your breath together.  Then after the first 2km it starts to go up. we took photos at approx 1km intervals, sometimes more, sometimes less.
The route goes from the paragliding field through a local wooded park section, all very pleasant and reasonable but very subtly uphill!

km1, through the woods, pretty nice says Max

1.5km "that way i think"

2km by the heli station on the left

3km still going slowly up (Kevin checking the map)

You go through a little pedestrian tunnel, across a river and past the helicopter base and its no worse than what I'd call an 'Alpine Flat' (eg looks flat but is going gradually uphill) At 4km you have only gone up approx 100m

4km. going up!

This soon changes though as you climb out of the woodland park section and start on a mostly uphill, zig-zagging gravel track through the trees (look out for mountain bikers coming down!) - the gradient feels quite relentless in places reaching a peak above La Lavancher at approx 1200m.
Cresting a rise in a little car park you drop into La Lavancher village, winding behind the houses on a little path (we got this a little wrong on our version as we followed the road all the way through the village, but then realised what we should have done!) and then leaving the village on a gently rising track through fields, passing a little toilet hut on the way (just in case you need it!)

 

5km and rising

The next few km undulate up and down between approx 1200 and 1300m through woodland tracks on the Petit Balcon Nord behind Argentiere until you reach an area just behind the cable car station. Note Max the dog checking out the route! This is quite a pleasant section as you are in dappled shade for most of it and the dirt tracks are easy to run on, and there are a couple of streams to hop over. When I took a short run on this part later on I found it a very 'feel good' section and as I happily 'skipped' through the trees, even though in reality it was quite hard and I was knackered afterwards! Watch out for the tree roots though.
In searching for more pictures of the Petit Balcon online I came across this youtube video of a chap mountain biking down part of it to just above La Lavancher (the reverse direction to the Cross unfortunately but it give you a good idea - please note he doesn't appear to have to do much pedalling so that is testament to the gradient!)

5.5km

6km

6.5km

7km

7.5km downhill

8km, through the woods behind the cable car station

Just before you reach Argentiere at around 7.5km there is a very steep hill (I will be walking this!) which is part of the ski run system, and as you reach the top of the hill you pass under the drag lifts of Les Chosalets beginners area which you can see on the left, then drop steeply downhill again to pass through the woods behind the cable car station - there's another one of the little toilet huts which I think are mainly for Skiers but are really quite delightful for a rural loo - whether they will be open while the race is going on remains to be seen as several hundred runners nipping in may prove to make them a little less delightful!

handy if caught short

and quite nice inside too!

As you draw level with the back of the village last years route took you left and under the rail bridge (show below), then through the village followed by a zig zag up through woods until you reach the village of Le Planet

8.5km

However this years route turns right at this junction not left through the tunnel, and goes up steep zig zagging through woods straight away, continuing to follow the Petit Balcon up to approx 1400m and then along to Le Planet at around 10km. I have walked this section on a different day but don't have any pictures although I did find this one online which shows i think a little of the path on the way to Le Planet after the climb

not my picture - found on the t'interweb

The route then follows the original path down a steep road section and across a bridge to Montroc train station.

10km

10.5km

12km Montroc Station

We finished the days hike at the station for convenience sake as we could catch the train back to Argentiere from there.
the strava route for the first half is here, but as you can see at Argentiere it is the 2014 route. Total elevation shown as 556m but that is accumulative
It all doesn't look too taxing does it, but bear in mind the slight constant gradient lifting you from just over 1000 metres to approx 1400 metres at Montroc Le Planet.
2 days earlier as I tried out my first 'Alpine run', as mentioned above, along part of this first half, from Argentiere, and nearly to La Lavencher and back. I took 54 mins to do just under 6km at an average pace of 9:14m/km, compare that to an example of my easy trail pace in the UK of 6.30 - 7m/km ish and you can see how much the altitude really takes it out of you.
The same day as the walk above I tried another flatter alpine run of 6.75km and 53 mins with an average of 7:54m/km. In the Alps it appears that flat is not really flat and this was still really difficult!

So the next morning we returned to Montroc, the weather was a tad colder that the day before and felt a little damp but still pleasant enough for walking in to start with.

12.5km Kevin showing the way to Tre Le Champ

We left Montroc station and walked along to where the path climbs slightly above the rail tunnel through the hill that the train would continue into.
Along towards a little village called Tre Le Champ where the first aid station was going to be and a checkpoint, which on race day would have to be reached in a 2.5 hour cut off time. Just up the hill from the village was a road crossing, although we didn't have the benefit of the temporary bridge that would be built just for the runners, it didn't take too long to cross and on the other side the route climbs straight away, up a rocky pathway.

this is just the start of the climb at 13km

This pathway continues to rise, up through woodland and open hillside until it reaches approx 1700m, so a climb of about 300m in about 2.5km. There's quite a lot of foliage and so if its a warm damp day its a bit like a rain forest in places!
I was so busy concentrating on the climb, which may involve a lot of walking on race day, that i forgot to take another photo until 15km which is near the top of the climb. 

15km

15.5km

Around about here as well was this rocky descent shown below, as we drew nearer to Argentiere again, and this was in my opinion the second most technical bit of the course. Unfortunately I cant remember exactly where this bit was but from the garmin data wandering about at around 15.25km I'd say it was around there.

going down!

The track then went mostly down with more of the same sort of track, rocks, dirt and tree roots, until we were back at a little over 1400m above Les Chosalets once again, but on the other side of the valley.

16km

We pass a trail coming up from Argentiere and continue upwards once again until we reach 17.5km and 1600m, but by this point the weather had quickly changed as it often does on a mountain, and all but the most immediate vicinity was swathed in cloud and fast getting colder. Although it wasn't too far to La Flegere at which point we could have caught a cable car down, we made the decision to abandon the walk at this point as there was a path down to the valley floor where we hoped it was not as cold and wet. Although as you can see Max wanted to go on!

escape point at 17.5km and the point we returned to the following day

The days strava data is shown below

The next day we returned to the 17.5km mark and continued onwards. Unfortunately it was still damp but the visibility was better to start with. The route goes upwards from 1600m until you reach Flegere at approx 1900m and just over 19km. The first half of this is through more woodland and stony dirt tracks. . .

18km

But then after about a km the track opens onto a shale ski run which takes quite a bit of effort to trudge up, and was a bit demoralising after all the lovely woodland sections. Whether it will look a little more inviting when we get to June 2015 I don't know.

at 18.5km you are faced with this looooong slope.

19km, almost there

Unfortunately its pretty much a gradual rise until you reach Flegere, where the second aid station is and checkpoint, and which on race day will have to be reached in a 4 hour cut off, 1.5hrs after Tre Le Champ!

Flegere looking a bit deserted

We had a little rest and a hot drink at Flegere and took advantage of the 'facilites' before moving on. Although the cloud had come down during our slog up the ski slope we had decided to crack on to as the visibility was coming and going and we knew the remaining path having walked it before.

19.5km

The next 2 or 3 km are once again relatively pleasant as the track is comparatively flat undulating between 1850m and 1900m as it winds its way along the side of the mountain. If the weather is clear there are some spectacular views to be had.

But not on the day we did it as you can see. This scree slope can be a bit hairy though!

19.75km scree slope crossing

This bit as I remember is before the scree slope.

Along this section also there are these following exciting bits, which I'd say are the most technical bits of the course.

Unfortunately i cant tell you exactly where they are as i have had to pick these photos from a previous walk (hence the weather improving like magic!) , and my photos are all a little mixed up but i believe they are just after Flegere. Before or after the scree slope I cant work out so it will be a surprise!

The trail drops slightly and goes through a large Alpine field with boulders in at about 21 km and then rises slightly again through trees and just under a chair lift to meet a large ski path.

22km

At this point we followed the old route which was pretty dire as it just followed wide gravel ski paths down and then back up again and the gradient was relentless and tiring, so I'm pretty glad they changed this bit this year.

this is what it looked like on the day!

As far as I can tell the new route goes across the ski path and picks up a small track again the other side.

I have some pictures from another days walk which i think capture some of the remaining route, so I will just post them all below so get ready for a weather improvement again!

I think the new path will be so much better than the old path, as the views are great and the trail is much nicer to run on, hopefully the weather will be better than the day we did the course as when we arrived it was like this

A few days earlier it was like this as we watched the para gliders taking off!

Our last section strava data is as below,

however remember this is the incorrect route at the end and the last 2km ish of the new route is like the first 2 km of this walk below (which we did in reverse a few days earlier) it goes up just 100m from 1900 to about 2000. See the big curved shape at the start with the zigzaggy 'V' in the middle? thats the new bit.
I believe that makes the new finish downhill - bonus! Happy running ;-)

Back To The Future (Part 3)

Just to keep the theme going and because I wracked my brains failing to think of a better title for this post here we are going back to the future once again - this time with 2014.

Up until i started writing this I thought i was going to split 2014 up into 2 sections as there is a lot of emotion involved, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to handle it all in one go. But now I've squared up to it I think maybe I'll just get it all in one post and move on to this year, otherwise I'll be putting off part 2 - but it will be a bit of a long one, so bear with. 

Mind you given the events and the ensuing emotional roller coaster effect, maybe this post should have been titled after another of my favourite films. . .

"Get on with it then, we want to hear what happened", yes OK here goes. . .

Paris Marathon training was in full swing come January. A friend who had run many marathons over many years, including the famous Comrades (impressive!), and who was an experienced runner, offered to write me a training schedule, and as I wanted to have a good chance of doing under 5 hours at Paris, I accepted with thanks. (More accurately, but probably unwisely, I wanted to 'show 'em' at the 'RW/Asics 26.2 project' that i could do it myself).

The training schedule was quite comprehensive. I don't have it saved anywhere as it was 'old school' and written on sheets of paper, and stuck on my fridge. But given the Garmin data and what memory I can muster, I should be able to give you the gist.

A sample training week from the middle of January was thus:

Monday: rest
Tuesday: 20 min warm up, 800s* x 6 @ 4:40 with 200m recovery, 20 mins cool down
Wednesday: 8 mile steady run (can't recall pace sorry)
Thursday: 3 miles with cadence drills**
Friday: rest
Saturday: parkrun in 28-29 mins
Sunday: 14 miles at easy pace with 1 min walk break every mile

(*800s refers to Yasso 800s, which involve running 800metre intervals in your predicted or hoped for marathon time as if in minutes, with 200metre recovery between, and apparently once you can do 10 intervals you can be fairly confident of hitting your time. EG if your predicted time is 4 hours 40 mins, then each 800 metre interval should be done in a time of 4mins 40 seconds)

(** Cadence drills involve doing short sections in an increased cadence in order to quicken your leg turnover)

By the peak of the training there were 10 x 800s scheduled and 20 mile runs lined up. Probably the most intense training program I had ever attempted

To be quite honest the 800s were doing wonders for my fitness and I was managing the long runs fairly well, up to and including the first 20 miler. . .and so was Max the dog, although he didn't do the 800s. (mind you i think 20 miles is about his limit as he was flat out for the rest of the day after that!)

Somewhere around that first 20 miler at the end of Feb/beginning of March (I cant recall if it was before or after) i developed a slight twinge in one of my quad muscles. Of course i ignored it and tried to run through it.

During the next week or so it got a little bit worse, but not enough to make me think I should stop. Just a nagging twinge.

I recall looking at the schedule 3 weeks before the Paris Marathon and realising what i thought was another 20 miler was in fact 22 miles. I don't know why but my brain balked at this and went something like. . .

Still, trying to stay true to the training I went out to do it.

I only got halfway before. . .disaster. . .my quad muscle gave up and I couldn't complete the run. . .

So i gave it a week off, Icing and Massaging as much as possible, before attempting a short run, and got about 4km.

After another couple days off I managed 5km - but the leg still hurt and so with about 2 weeks to go I decided I should go to see a Physio who advised me to stretch hip flexors, strengthen glutes, and loosen quads, and NO RUNNING until Paris.

I dedicated the remaining time to the stretches and exercises i had been given but despite the physio's advice did a slow a 3km run the following week just to reassure myself.  I suppose at this point i could have pulled out of Paris but i had a point to make and i figured if i just gave up on a time and just tried to complete it I ought to muddle through! (what was i thinking?)

What I haven't yet mentioned about the early part of the year is that also in full swing was my daughter's wedding preparations, on countdown mode for 16th June! I was making the wedding cake (being a trained cake decorator in another life), and was also supposed to be looking for a 'mother of the bride' outfit (which i wasn't trained for, so hence had done nothing!) 

So, back to Paris; I met the Massey Ferguson RC massive at London (loads of fun), caught the Eurostar (not at all fun), and arrived in Paris on the Friday. The Expo was visited, medical certificates were handed over, numbers were collected, wine was drunk, tourist attractions were visited, and then all of a sudden we were at the Arc de Triomphe on Sunday, looking for the portaloos and the baggage drop.

Cue the start pens - I was already in the slowest 'Rose' pen, having no illusions about my finish time. It was a long wait, but eventually we started, the leg held up, I kept a really steady easy pace, and was hopeful of finishing. At just over halfway, however, it all went horribly wrong. By the time I reached the midway aid station, at around 23km, the road was covered in orange peel and banana skins from the thousands of faster runners that had gone before. . . . Of course a classic 'comedy' moment ensued, and in trying to stop falling over completely I jarred and pulled my quad muscle.

After that, the pain in the quad just got worse and worse, but unfortunately being the stubborn mule that I am, it didn't occur to me to stop running and bail out (like Magnus Magnusson, I'd started so i would finish). I struggled on through the horribly dark road tunnels with all the music thumping (which I hated). By about 35 km and the Bois de Bologne I was hobbling about 3/4s of each km, and walking the remainder, and was in a very dark place.

I did have a bit of a lift at 41km when i saw the person who had pipped me to the post in the Asics competition, apparently throwing up behind the 41km marker, and so with this small boost i managed to force up the pace a modicum for the final 1 and a bit km and finish several minutes in front of them in 5:19 and change.

Nowhere near a sub 5 finish but a finish all the same.

Cue Medal, Tshirt, bag collection, MF RC meetup, hobble back to hotel, eat all the food, drink wine and generally collapse, followed the next day by inability to walk due to seized up quad. . . . and oh god it was a long limp back to the train station. . . .

I needed help with my ancient misbehaving suitcase especially when the wheels seized up and I found I couldn't walk up stairs without hanging on to the handrail. I'm sure my travelling companions must have thought I was being a bit of a diva, but if any of them are reading this, I was in agony honestly!

If I learned anything from this it was the following:

1. If you get an injury rest and seek medical help as soon as you can, don't wait until its well established
2. Its OK to pull out of a race if you are not sure you are fit.
3. Training programs are not set in stone, if you feel something is too much don't do it, even if someone really experienced has given it to you, only you know how you feel.
4. Given the right incentive you can usually pull a bit of extra pace from somewhere even if you think you are finished
5. I really don't like road marathons!

Short term recovery started immediately. Long Term recovery took a tad longer than I expected

3 days later I managed a walk/jog of 2.5km, then hobbled round parkrun as the sweeper and could only just keep up with the person walking at the back! My leg would just not work properly and i was running a bit like Quasimodo....The week after I started slow progress through 4 & 4.5 km, and also started a further series of physio/osteo visits. . and so it went.

By this time, and over the last year or so, we'd gradually got to know local running hero Steve Way via Poole parkrun and while on the injury bench it was great fun watching him romp home in the London Marathon as first non-elite, while cheering enthusiastically at the TV. His amazing performance gave him a qualifying time for the commonwealth games later that year in Glasgow.
Most amusing listening to the commentators shuffling through the paperwork trying to find out who this unexpected bloke was!

Increasing the distance slowly i reached 10k again the day after my 100th parkrun in the middle of May. There was still a long way to go but I was looking forward to a 2 week holiday in the Alps we had booked at the end of June - just after another visit to Cerne Abbas and the Giants Head marathon (glutton for punishment and cider at mile 20 obviously!)

I'd also managed to finally find a dress for the wedding (Mother of the Bride should have been making a bit more effort don't you think?). Given that I needed hat, shoes, and handbag to complete the outfit there was also a fair way to go, but i was quite pleased with myself given my feelings for clothes shopping (not a fan).

I was due to be sweeping the Ox marathon (another White Star event above Tollard Royal) at the end of May, and Kevin was marshaling, but as I was no-where near recovered for that kind of distance I asked if I could sweep the half instead, and my pal Nic was going to run with me. I also decided to take Max along too as i knew 13 ish miles was well within his abilities and he would enjoy a lovely run in the countryside.
The start was at the top of a sunny, but very windy hill, and it was a lovely run downwards but soon went back up again.

such great views!

We let the runners get well ahead as I planned to let Max off the lead for much of the run (he's a right pain on the lead when running!), but when I eventually unclipped him I didn't expect him to leg it for around 400 yards, catch the runners way ahead and nearly trip some of them up! Oops, apologies to anyone reading this that had their first Ox half marathon nearly cut short by an over-enthusiastic small dog.

This was a very nice route with some lovely bits through woodland, and along ancient cart tracks and it was all going very well with no real leg problems at an easy jog, but when we caught up with the last runner they wouldn't run at all after halfway, not even a bit of a jog downhill and so we had to walk from then on. (no cut off time for the Half as the Marathon and the Ultra runners would still be out there)

Even Max got his own medal!

June began with a 10k race in the guise of the Poole Festival of running, and Kev got a chance to join in, by doing his second 5k race. He also had an idea for a T-shirt, one that would prove more popular than we intended or ever envisaged.
Those of you that have read the aforementioned Steve Way's blog will know that one of his philosophies is 'Don't Be Shit!' one that he applies to running and to life in general. Its blunt but strikes a chord with a lot of people it seems.
Kevin innocently said "we could make Steve a tshirt with his motto on (in the end it was changed to 'Don't Be Sh*t!' so it could be worn in public), and give it to him to say well done for being picked for Glasgow". Steve was due to be running the Littledown Marathon in Bournemouth that month so we decided to give it to him then (after checking with his wife to make sure he would like it), and bless him, he was suitably chuffed, and mentioned it on his blog.

So many unexpected comments followed, not about his training as usual but 'where can i get a tshirt like that Steve?' so I had the thought that, If Steve approved we get some done and sell them for charity; "if you think they would sell?" he said, "we might sell a few". I started off with a facebook page with all profits going to Steve's favourite charity Julia's House, and asked people to message me if they wanted one; Steve promoted it on his blog and the orders started trickling in.

By the time Glasgow came around, we had surpassed all expectations and made over £800 for Julia's House and did a classic Giant Cheque presentation at Poole parkrun, and a super send off for Steve.

In the end and following Glasgow in July the orders kept rolling in, and we closed the shop later after selling over 350 tshirts and raising over £2000 for Julia's House Charity! Amazing!

presentation at Poole parkrun

While all this good stuff was going on however, other forces were at work.

Still in June and about 2 weeks before the wedding my dad called me at work to say my mother had a fall and so I rushed home only to find her wedged in a doorway and unable to move.

Eventually the paramedics arrived, swiftly diagnosed a broken leg and whisked her away to hospital. The doctors decided that given how weak her bones were they would have to operate on the leg to mend it. Before they could do so she developed mild pneumonia which had to be treated first However she was still hopeful of being able to attend the wedding even if it was in a wheelchair. She was not 100% when they eventually took her to theatre from intensive care but they said she was stable. Fitting in hospital visits and trying to finish the wedding cake was difficult but had to be done. I don't know if it was mum's age or condition but she took several days to regain any kind of consciousness following the operation. 2 hospital visits a day and not sleeping through worry was starting to take its toll on me, I was training for the Giants Head marathon at the time and long runs were done in laps around the heath in case i needed to get to the car in a hurry. By the morning of the wedding she was only staying conscious for a few minutes at a time but a phone call first thing suggested she was stable.

I still hadn't bought a hat. .

the wedding morning went like this: check on Mum, deliver wedding cake, rush back home via local TKMaxx, grab 2 hats that would go with my dress, pick up the first suitable shoes and handbag I could find, rush home to wash and change, collect Dad, bundle into car, and arrive at wedding venue just in time after all other guests were there including the bride and groom - I think I scrubbed up OK and so did the cake!

Hazel and her new hubby, my other daughter who was bridesmaid, and my son all went along to the hospital to see my mum in all in their finery to cheer her up and caused a stir in the ICU :-) Everything was looking fairly positive.

The very next day though....

I phoned the hospital first thing, and was told mum had perked up a bit so went to work...

Dad phoned a while later to say she had taken a turn for the worse and could we come in.

I rushed to collect him and we went to the hospital but when we got there the Doctor met us and said she had already gone. . .

To say I was devastated was an understatement, I felt like the bottom had dropped out my world. And all because of a broken leg.

Just writing this is making me upset so I wont go into too much detail if you don't mind, but of course the next couple of weeks was spent doing what needed to be done. Helping Dad with funeral arrangements, paperwork, and making myself go out for short runs to regain some normality.

The funeral was booked for 2 weeks later and in between was the Giants Head Marathon, which I don't know now how I managed to complete, but it seemed there was nothing to be gained by not doing it. Running was keeping me grounded and feeling like there was something I could control.

We postponed our Alps holiday until the middle of July and were considering cancelling that so my Dad wouldn't be on his own but he insisted we go.

However, another worry that had reared its ugly head was now Kev's Dad who at nearly 90 but still with all his faculties had taken a swift turn for the worse physically over a matter of a few weeks.

With all this going on I can't remember at what point in 2014 I decided I wanted to enter the Mont Blanc Cross (which is a little over a half marathon at 23km) but by the time we went on holiday I was planning on signing up when entries opened later in the year. While we were in the Alps we were going to walk the Cross route and see what it was like.

I will be doing a separate route report in my next post.

We did manage to have a reasonable time as best we could given the circumstances in the fresh air and among the amazing scenery, the area around Chamonix has to be one of my most favourite places in the world, and we returned, if not refreshed and rested, then at least feeling a little restored.

Nearly 2 weeks of hiking brings us to nearly August and we returned to find Kevin's Dad still ill and getting worse. I wont go into detail but very sadly he passed away about a week later, adding to an already emotional few months. Looking back I wonder how we got through it all.

After getting through yet another funeral, in the circumstances it would be easy to overlook a very small local 10k race called Maiden NewTEN madness which took place on a Saturday evening in the first week of August but I just wanted to give it a mention as it was a nice little race. 

A new race series called the Purbeck Trail Series had started up in 2014 and 4 local races were involved automatically giving runners points based on their finish times. The more of the races you did the more chance to get points but only the top 3 results counted. The 4 races were: The Studland Fun Run 5k, The Beast (which I hadnt done before), and 2 of my favourites, Purbeck Marathon and the Studland Stampede. I was determined to complete all 4 races in order to get as many points as possible. Of course I had no hope in winning a prize but I wanted to see how far up I could get in my age group! (not very far up as it turns out as there are a lot of great local lady runners my age!)

The Beast was the most difficult certainly, consisting of a 13 mile (ish) course from Corfe Castle out to the coast path and taking in these steps at about halfway at St Aldelm's Head.

After doing these I had jelly legs and managed to trip over a blade of grass on the other side and spectacularly faceplanted causing a fair bit of leg bruising later on. This is a challenging but fun race though with spectacular views and bit of stile hopping to keep it interesting.

This same weekend we were in awe of a diminutive local runner Gemma Bragg (wife of Ultra Runner Jez Bragg) after she completed her first UTMB race (Ultra Trail de Mont Blanc). As we had walked a little of the route the month before, and I looked ahead to the Cross it made her accomplishment even more real. You can read about her experience on her blog.

Gemma very kindly gave me some good advice and tips for my upcoming (but slightly less impressive!) mountain race.

Attending the Purbeck Marathon with me this year were 6 of my running friends (including Nic), 5 of whom had decided to do this as their first marathon on the back of my recommendation that it was such a nice race - a lot to live up to! Thank goodness they all finished!
So in no particular order I'd just like to say well done to Janet, Jacquie, Gordon, Steve, and Angie for joining me on a mad offroad run as your first marathon! You were, and are, truly awesome.

A week later came the Black Hill Run in Bere Regis again, and I think attendance was doubled from the year before, proving a great success and being picked by several local clubs as one of their championship races. The race start was improved from the year before. more improvements are planned this year

Around this time as well was born a tiny black and tan Patterdale/Jack Russell/Chihuahua cross puppy that would soon have a big impact on us.
We had been talking about a second dog since early in the year but with everything that had happened it had been put on the back burner, but now we felt we could start looking.

With 2 more races on the horizon, The Studland Stampede for the third time, and my first time at the Stickler, a taxing local mostly offroad race with 3 huge hills in 10 miles, we somehow found time to go and choose little Daisy at her farmyard birthplace which was very near where the Stickler was run at Shillingstone. We fell in love and collected her in November. Max wouldn't speak to us for a week, but now he loves her and wouldnt be without her!

Her first insight into the sort of life that she would have was spectating at the Wimborne 10 race a week later although she spent most of the time snuggled up on someones lap under a blanket (it was cold); finally at this race I felt like I had fully recovered and to top it all bagged my first PB of the year! The multitude of cake always available at this race was most welcome.

My next race (which I did more as a training run) was the Endurance Life CTS half at Lulworth and at 16 miles I am calling this an 'Ultra-Half'. I picked this one to do, partly because I liked the 10k in 2012, partly because as you know I like a challenge, but mainly because when perusing the previous results, I discovered that the finish times were similar to the Mont Blanc Cross and so might be an indication of similar difficulty, thus giving me an insight into where I stood fitness and ability-wise.

It would be an understatement to call this a tough race, it was a VERY tough race, starting at Lulworth Cove, doing the 10k route first then going up and out the other side of the cove, and having to tackle the nasty hill called Arish Mell, not once but twice, Flowers Barrow and the hill out of Tyneham as well. But it did indeed give me the confidence that I could finish a tough course and I was very happy with my finish time of around 4:20 as there was a lot of walking!

I know this has been an epic post but I'm winding up now honestly -

Christmas was a mixed and a slightly sad affair but we got through it and we rounded up the year with my second and only other PB of the year at the Poole Round the Lakes 10k on Boxing day and I waved goodbye to 2014 gladly - it was certainly a real emotional roller coaster.
Oh, and i forgot to mention that in April I had my 50th birthday but it didn't seem that important at the time!

Mont Blanc Cross route report including some kit info to follow in the next post.