Fastpacking Guy

I bought a couple of local climbing guides (I’d particularly recommend the Andalusia - Guia de Escalada Deportiva (if you want it please click on the link and buy it so I get a bit of cash from Amazon too!) and spoke to a local guide called Nino from the amazing Club Cabraloca (the appropriately named crazy goat when translated - Seriously, if you want to climb in Granada hit him up, he’s an absolute legend and they do everything through canyoning, via ferrata to diving or caving).  We chatted by email in the run up to the holiday - Nino doesn’t speak English so it was a great opportunity to practice my Spanish (I’m terrible at languages but I’ve been trying to relearn since before our last trip to Barcelona with Andy and Elaine - I’m rubbish but getting there).

Lads Lads Lads - From left to Right; Antonio (interpreter & dog owner extraordinaire), Andy, Yours Truly and Nino (Club Cabraloca and all round legend)

I explained to Nino that there would be 4 adults (who apart from Sammy, climb regularly indoors, along with me having done a bit of rock climbing as a kid), Lenora (age 7 - an absolute beast), Esmé (9 - who has done a bit of bouldering indoors), Autumn (3 - who has done a bit of bouldering indoors but mainly will be climbing for our entertainment *please don’t call social services) and James (4 months, who most likely won’t be up for climbing but we would see how he feels on the day).

We wanted to climbs somewhere (in order of importance) 1 - That was in the shade (It’s brutally hot in Granada in August), 2 - (that had grades between 4-7 in the same spot so that everyone could have a challenge) and 3 - My Spanish isn’t particularly good so would he have someone that spoke English (I’m happy ordering a few beers or chatting conversationally, but don’t want to die because of getting a verb mixed up).  Nino was all over it and reassured me all would be taken care of.

For anyone that hasn’t been, I can’t recommend Granada enough.  It’s a small city that isn’t very busy (coming from London that’s a massive plus), there’s very little traffic, you’re right on the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountain range (which has Mulhacen, the highest mountain in Western Europe outside the alps as well as the most Southern ski resort) and some ace beaches (the lesser known Costa Tropical) which don’t suffer the hordes of people and Brits that other coasts nearby do.  Plus the Alhambra, Nasrid Palace & Generalife Gardens are truly spectacular.

The Nasrid Palace, presented to you by Big L

We spent a few days checking out the area, visiting the tourist spots, going to the beach, lounging around our pool and BBQing (with some drinking thrown in too), but also scoped out some climbing routes on a hike too.  For those not in the know, Los Cahorros is a fantastic trail of rope bridges, rivers and stunning views through a gorge and mountainsides.  It’s also famous for having some incredible climbing routes, so we had a good old hike around to check it out.

A hill at the start of Los Cahorros

It’s always a good idea to set off early when the days get so hot so we did most of our hiking in the morning to head home at around 2.  The hike is really fun and family friendly with plenty of access to mountain run off water (I always bring my Sawyer Filter with me wherever I go where I might run out of water, despite the several litres of frozen water we had with us, as it’s ace just to fill up whenever you need.  Super handy, very light, connects to a regular bottle and lasts forever. link on image below).

Los Cahorros only has about 300m of elevation across the hike so is family friendly whilst being hard enough work when Elaine was carrying James and I was mainly carrying Autumn.  

Lunch in a nice little cave

Anyway...it’s really cool with a load of rope bridges, stunning scenery, great access to water, lots of shade & amazing climbing routes.  Do it.

Next up on the list was hooking up with Nino.  Unfortunately Antonio, Nino’s buddy and translator couldn’t make the Thursday so we rescheduled for Friday.  No biggie, as we had a lazy day by the pool but come Friday we were all super hyped to get on some rock.  

We met Nino in the Lidl car park near the main Decathlon (I love Decathlon) and had a good laugh about my obscene amount of emails I had sent Nino.  He had been very patient and was just as nice in person as he was on email.  His mate Antonio would be our translator as Nino’s English was similar to my Spanish, and Antonio came with the added bonus of his dog who was epic.  She was a jet black Belgian shepherd and the kids were super hyped as they were missing Ripley (our Sproodle).

After a quick drive to Alfacar (there are loads of routes within a very short drive of Granada) we found our wall.  After a pretty steep hike up the hill through some trees (I was a little worried about Elaine as she had James strapped to her chest, but she’s an absolute machine and didn’t seem phased at all) we got to a really nice and shady ledge below our climbing spot.

Autumn kicking back at basecamp (poser)

All the gear, all the ideas (Nino & Antonio, at least)

Sammy, checking out the photos, being stalked by the dog

After setting up, Nino asked who wanted to go first - before he’d even had the chance to finish the sentence, Lenora was up and putting on a harness whilst simultaneously saying ‘I will’ in a manner that suggested this wasn’t up for discussion.  Within minutes, she had blasted her way up the first route (route 8 of el Sector del Esconchón in the Guia de Escalada en Alfacar Granada, if you’re interested) and cockily confirmed that it was easy.  

Lenora (just turned 7) before ‘warming up on an easy route’ - her words not mine

Esmé and Autumn found it a bit trickier and only made it half way up, but Esmé doesn’t climb as much and Autumn is only 3.  To give her credit, she got a good 8 metres up and it’s her first time climbing outdoors.  We all had a good laugh when Autumn rolled over onto her back, hanging from the rope and started shouting “I can’t roll over!  I can’t roll over!”.  Please don’t call social services.

Like a beetle on it’s back (Autumn, 3 years old)

I normally belay with a Black Diamond ATC Guide (linked to Amazon) but Antonio got me on a Grigri+ for the first time and it felt a bit odd to use.  Paying out the rope was a little more tricky but I appreciated the extra safety feature knowing that it auto locks if someone is belaying me and not paying attention (having 4 kids with us, that’s quite possible too).  I’m still in two minds about which I prefer to use, but then redundancy is key in climbing and the GriGri definitely offers a greater level of safety.

Esmé getting involved

Sammy had a good old crack at the route and managed to top out, but freaked a bit when she saw the view.  It’s a bit different to an indoor wall, when you’re already 1350m up, the 30m feels a lot higher.

Nino and Antonio started planning out the more challenging routes once they’d gauged our abilities on the warm up route.  They put up a harder route (route 5) which Elaine and Andy promptly powered through, followed by me.  It was a challenging route (a V+ in the local grades, which according to the guidebook and the UKC website which have a conversion chart shows the local grades being two lower than normal French grades, so this would have been a 6a+ apparently).

Andy!

Esmé having a crack at the second route with Andy on belay

Not one to be outdone, Lenora got tied in and had a shot at the harder route.  I wasn’t sure how far up she’d get as it wasn’t particularly easy and she’s still only small.  Of course, she flipped the beast mode switch and absolutely crushed it.  

She never fails to amaze me.  Big L went up the wall like a rat up a drain pipe & both our guides were super impressed by how brave she was.  Putting in all those hours at YonderE17 and the Arch obviously paid off.  Things were going really well until Lenora reached up into hold (in the side of the big rock in the picture above and got a nasty surprise.

Lenora topping out but getting a nasty surprise

There was a really spiky bush in the rock which Lenora put her hand right in to, so the pain combined with a sudden realisation that she was super high up freaked her out.  She wanted to come down right away, but was pretty gripped so lost her concentration.  Usually at the Reach and Castle climbing centres (which I think are about 15 metres) she loves abseiling down, with whoops of joy and wild/possibly real claims that she’s a ninja/special forces etc.  Things were a bit different here, with the wall not being as flat as in a climbing centre what with overhangs and the risk of other spiky plants.  It all got a bit much for her but we finally got her down.  Nino was great and climbed over to her, got her to relax a bit and then things were fine.

Nino helping Lenora find her Zen 

Meanwhile, Antonio had set up a much harder route (route 2 in the guide) along with changing the first easy route over a few metres into a similarly hard route (route 7).  Elaine had a crack at the hardest route and despite having the background noise of a crying 5 month old baby James being held by Andy, a mildly hysteric Lenora, along with Autumn and Esmé arguing over who was more of a unicorn, managed to focus and get on with it.

Elaine, getting stuck in

After Elaine got down, the kids were getting a bit grumpy so I helped Elaine and Sammy get them all back to the comfort of the air con in the cars (and iPads) so that Andy and I could have a crack at the last routes before helping Nino and Antonio Pack up.

Where’s Wally?  I’m on there somewhere (shots from the cars)

Me, topping out on route 2 - loads of fun & a bit of a challenge.  Great shot by Andy

The view over Granada from Alfacar

All in all it was a great day.  I thoroughly enjoyed the routes - the final two routes were the most challenging and in very different ways, but I think we could have pushed it up a grade looking back even.  The view over Granada was spectacular and the size of the mountains is really humbling.  To give context, Alfacar (a low to medium size mountain) from where we parked the car, was starting at around 1300m, which is roughly the height of Ben Nevis (the highest peak in the UK at 1345m) with the peak topping out at around 1400m.  

I’d love to get back to the area again for more exploration - apparently Autumn is ideal as it’s still nice and warm, but not so punishingly hot.  This opens up a number of walls that don’t have shade at the bottom, so that would be nice.

Deciding it’d be good to catch up with some of the Gosport boys, I sent a few invites, with Matt & Joe saying they were up for it.  Matt had recently had surgery on his knee after a split meniscus so was in a similar state to me, which was a good thing in many ways.  God we’re old.  I decided that seeing as Matt lives in Bristol and Joe’s in Gosport, the Wye Valley would be an easy place to meet & hike.  The Wye Valley is stunning, fairly wild, not too mountainous but with some lovely hills, well forested with a huge water source flowing through the middle.  Not to mention some great pubs.  Matt lives in Bristol, Joe was coming up from Gosport and me from London, so it was probably the closest location of the sort for all 3 of us.

Joe and I arranged to meet at 7pm in Chepstow and miraculously arrived 5 minutes apart which was a good omen.  We parked the cars up in a side street and decided to go for a few pints, leaving our gear in the car.  I’d scoped out the Three Tuns, a lovely pub right by Chepstow Castle with the friendliest staff, awesome local beers (very affordable too) and a great beer garden.  About 7 pints and a few rums later, the pub closed, we were turfed out and decided to get our gear and start the hike.  Obviously I’m sure you can see the potential for things to go wrong here.

Lads lads lads!  Dogs dogs dogs! Chepstow massive.

Somewhere, during the first and last drink, Joe realised that he had forgotten a minor bit of kit.  No biggie, it was only his sleeping bag, the tit.  We got to the cars to pick up our gear and he managed to find a blanket to strap to his backpack.  I probably hadn’t mentioned but Ripley my dog was also with us, and she was also super hyped for a drunk hike through the forest.

The Three Tuns - Ace boozer, ace beer, ace staff.  

I had probably over estimated how easy it would be to find somewhere to camp.  The only wide open spaces on the first many drunk kms of the hike were cow fields with grumpy looking bulls, farmers fields full of crops or a massively overgrown Offa’s Dyke Path with high fences on either side.  

The entire way Joe was roasting me as I’d been giving it the large one about my new Black Diamond Storm head torch (review to follow), as my Silva Trail Runner 2 had died after years of abuse.  The damned thing didn’t work at all and looked like I’d strapped a tea light to my head.  Luckily Ripley seemed to instinctively know to follow the trail and dragged me along safely/drunkenly in her wake.  

After many kilometres and over 3 hours, we finally found somewhere to camp in forested area, set up the tents & fired up the Primus Lite stove for a couple of drinks before bed.  I was using my trusty Coleman Raid for Ripley and me, while Joe had bought the amazingly priced (£19.99) Decathlon Arpenaz 2 man tent (which only weighs 2.2kg, great at the price).

Get off the tent Ripley.  Man’s best friend they said.  Dick.

I had an amazing night sleep, as did Ripley.  Joe suffered the entire time, which was amazing and definitely karma for him being mean about my head torch.  It turns out the blanket he picked up whilst spannered, turned out to be really thick, but really small and just about covered one of his legs.  Basking in the glow of his suffering and my comfort, I decided to have a look at my head torch and it turns out I don’t know which way batteries are supposed to go around when I’m completely munted.  The Black Diamond Storm lit up the trees like a miniature sun in my hand and all was well in the world.  I knew this was going to be a good day.

Joe, Ripley and I decided to set off without further ado, as we’d planned to meet Matt in a car park approximately halfway between Chepstow & Symond’s Yat.  We had an amazing hike, the scenery was stunning, and we got to see a few of the climbing areas around Ban-y-Gor, Wintour’s Leap & Tintern Quarry.  We even found a place called the Devil’s Pulpit and after Googling it, this turns out to just be a square rock on the footpath, but we assumed it was the tree that seemed to have turned into a giant rock with some sort of weird pagan clearing & steps vibe going on right behind us.   

Feeling Cute. Might do a sacrifice and delete later.

Being the planner I am, I’d decided that a mid morning stop at a boozer with maybe something for the hair of the dog and a bite to eat might be in order.  The Brockweir Country Inn was at a good point on our route and looked stunning.  Unfortunately, when we got there, they had lynched a hiker from the top window and the man scouring the brickwork in a painstaking effort to bring the pub back to its former glory, informed Joe that it was closed for the first time in 400 years.  Just our bloody luck.  The next boozer was miles along the hike if we didn’t want to take a huge detour.  Still, the chap was kind enough to fill up my backpack bladder, so onwards and upwards.

The valleys are dark, the hills have eyes #lynching

Following on from Brockweir, most of the steep inclines and declines were behind us and the Offa’s Dyke trail opened up some stunning & picturesque wide open views as we hiked along the riverside.  Our progress was much faster unimpeded by hills and we made good time before stopping for lunch at Bigsweir Bridge.  Joe and I cracked open our freeze dried foods, fired up the ridiculously fast Primus Lite stove (seriously, this thing is ace) and chowed down.  I also took pleasure in pointing out that my 1000kcal Expedition Foods were not only tastier, but considerably better value for money than the Decathlon 600kcal packs.  We didn’t give ourselves much time to eat as Matt was due at the Cadora Woods car park just up the road and we realized we didn’t have any reception at all. 

Lunch at Bigsweir with the Primus Lite stove!  My Expedition Foods are bigger than yours, and I’m like...

Miraculously, we got to the car park (only 20 minutes late), sat down for 5 minutes and panicked a bit trying to work out how to get a hold of Matt, when he rocked up in his car.  Thank God.  With the team assembled we took stock of our situation - having realised that there was a hog roast and mini beer festival with local bands in Redbrook (we saw an advert on the bridge a mile earlier) it was obviously something we couldn’t miss, however it was still quite a hike there.  If we were going to spend any meaningful time there, we decided it’d be best for us to skip a leg of the trail, head there in Matt’s car and leave it there so we had transport closer to Symonds Yat.  Fate was on our side.

Gspot Squad all up in your hogroast!

Arriving in Redbrook, we were a bit disappointed to see that the festival appeared to be predominantly populated by small children.  I’m ok with this when I’ve got mine with me, but looks a bit weird when you don’t.  Still, after we’d parked up and got some stuff from the village shop, the number of adults had increased so we dived right in.  Local beers were on tap for an amazing £2.50 a pint from a local brewery.  The bands were good, people were lovely and it was too tempting to stay, but we had a mission to complete and wanted to get some climbing along the way, so we decided to get our skates on and head uphill into the forest.

The last thing Matt’s victims saw

The trek through the forest towards Symonds Yat turned out to be considerably more steep than we expected.  Perhaps it was having had a few beers in the sun, but it was a bit of a shock.  It shouldn’t be, as I can read a map, but I’m an optimist and often suffer as a result.

We followed the official border between England and Wales, having departed from Offa’s Dyke (the old border) and were rewarded by some truly stunning views.  I had hoped to visit Rodge Wood along the way where (I found on the amazing UKClimbing site) there was apparently some good bouldering, but we somehow missed it and decided to carry on.  Continuing along the border, we continued our search for the famous Suckstone (jokes ahoy, boom boom).  The suckstone is apparently the UK’s biggest boulder and it didn’t disappoint.  Walking along the path, we spotted it jutting out amongst the fronds and Ripley shot off to investigate.

The sight of the famed Suckstone from the trail! #winning

One side of the Suckstone is a head height overhang, whilst the other side is a huge slab.  Apparently it had been cleaned a few years ago, but unfortunately it was completely covered in moss, making climbing it a little tricky.  There are some really nice routes with little crimpy holds, a nice side arete route, and some cracks too.  When cleaned I imagine it’d be a nice place to spend a good afternoon climbing but things felt a bit hairy with moss crumbling off the wall on every hand and foot holds.  

Posted again, for extra ego - The suckstone.  Not nearly as dramatic as this photo suggests but don’t tell anyone.

Further up from the Suckstone is Hearkening Rock, which looked better for trad and top roping so we had a little scout around but as things were getting late, we headed on towards Symonds Yat.

The route was pretty steep and downhill, with our quads really taking the brunt of it.  With all 3 of us old men having shot knees (mine from smashing it up skateboarding, Joe from the Brecon Beacons fastpacking trip and Matt from Basketball) things got punishing but we pushed on.  At the bottom of the hill, we found a nifty rope bridge leading to a scout camp at Biblins Cave and followed the trail around to Symonds Yat.

Symonds Yat is quite a strange place.  It’s a bit hobbity with everyone living by the river on steep hillsides, with little rope pulley boats to take you from pub to pub on either side of the river.  Absolutely amazing - boat pub crawl ahoy!  Except we’d finally arrived there at 10pm so only had an hour and a half to sink a few at Ye Old Ferrie Inn rather and cross the river to try the Saracen’s head in the morning.  As to be expected, we arrived 3 minutes after the chef had closed down the kitchen so the pub were kind enough to let us crank up the Primus Lite stove and get some Expedition Food packs down us (mine is bigger than Joe’s #1000k4TW).  

Wolfing down as many pints as we could cope with (they had amazing beers there) we decided to hike back up the extremely steep hill that Symonds Yat West is based on and find somewhere to camp.  Brutalised by the climb, we arrived at camp stone cold sober and crashed out.

Dog Pillow

We had a great night’s sleep (even Joe seeing as Matt had brought him a sleeping bag) and when Ripley and I woke to get out of the tent, we were confronted by a scene that looked like Jurassic Park.  There were giant fronds everywhere, with a huge cliff face surrounding us that we hadn’t managed to notice, even with the sun like beam of my new Black Diamond Storm head torch.  It turns out that we had inadvertently camped in the middle of Bailey Quarry without realising - what a stroke of luck!

After packing up the tents, we decided to have a bit of a climb.  Bailey Quarry has got a number of fantastic trad routes of varying grades, but as we didn’t have any kit beyond shoes, we decided to have a bit of fun soloing the routes up as far as we were comfortable.  It’d be cool to come back and try these top roping which we’re planning to do later in the year.

Heading off back down the hill, we reached the rope ferry and crossed over to the Saracen’s Head pub to get a bit of mid morning lunch.  We didn’t want to spend too long here (despite the pub, food, beer and view being second to none) as we were pushed for time and wanted to check out some of the bouldering up the hill in Symonds Yat proper, with still having quite a long hike back to the car in Redhook, so we stuffed down a meal and a pint before heading off.

The hike up the hill was steep but not too far, although some of the road hiking was a little hairy.  We got back on the trail and wandered around, managing to find a few of the cliffs and some boulders probably a bit above our pay grade.

Despite having two climbing guides, an OS map and GPS on our phones, we struggled to find the boulders we were looking for.  Perhaps because we were exhausted, perhaps because we’re useless, or perhaps because we were becoming aware of how short on time we were for the 4 hour hike back to Matt’s car followed by a 30 minute drive back to ours, with a 3:30 drive back to London on the end, we decided to call it a day and start the trek home.

The trek back to the car was probably a bit more arduous than we were expecting.  

4 hours later we got to Monmouth and 20 metres from the boozer (of course, a quick pint was necessary) Ripley dropped into a fur puddle on the floor and refused to move.  To be fair she’d probably done around 40 miles and hadn’t complained once so fair game.  Upon entering the pub and enquiring about taxis, a fella named John at the bar was kind enough to offer us a lift so I put some money (which he had refused) behind the bar for him and we headed off to Redhook.

Rippers, doing the butterfly chicken, I’m not moving another inch pose.

The big motivator for me was after a friend got me into climbing, which I hadn’t done for years (probably 15 or more).  I’d forgotten how fun it was and probably enjoy it now more than I ever did then.  There’s two ways to get better at pull ups - get stronger or get lighter.  I focussed on the latter first and it paid off.

My whole family have got into the climbing vibe now which is ace.  We usually go on Sundays and do a variety of bouldering or rope climbing, along with Andy & Elaine who can be seen in other adventures on the blog (particularly the Brecon Beacons one).  We occasionally go to Fairlop Boulders which isn’t to far from us and is ace.

Autumn (3) has no fear, but her short chubby limbs hold her back a bit on some of the reachier routes.  Still, I’ve got her training on the dead hangs so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Lenora (6) is an absolute beast.  One of my favourite proud parent moments was when two girls I know who climb pretty hard said hi, just as Lenora said she wanted to try a pretty gnarly V1 overhang.  One of the girls said ‘that one might be a bit tricky for you, it’s an adult route’.  Dead eyed, Lenora stared at her, then looked at me and said ‘I’m just going to use my arms daddy’.  She proceeded to do just that, send the route, (mic) drop down and casually saunter off, staring down the girl who dared offer her advice.  Brutal.

Lenora (above) mercilessly dyno-ing the hell out of YonderE17

Sammy’s getting into climbing too - she gets freaked out on some of the big wall stuff, but due to weighing next to nothing cranks out bouldering routes pretty easily.     

I also go to the Arch most Wednesdays with a select crowd of mates followed by a few pints after.  Which is really good for letting off steam on hump day, whilst doing a much harder level of climbing.

#Squad

Also, this weekend a few mates I grew up with, Joe and Matt, will be meeting me in Chepstow to hike the Offa’s Dyke trail, do some climbing & wild camping.  All exciting stuff.

I couldn’t walk for a year and I’ve been off crutches for just over 4 months now.  I’ve lost 15kg and although I can’t really run like I used to (it’s getting better and I’ll be back to speed soon, I have no doubt), getting into climbing has helped me in many ways beyond just having fun.  

Despite what people who make money from exercise will tell you, the only real way to lose weight is to not eat as much.  Cranking out a 10k run only burns about 600kcal, which to me is a small enough amount of food to snort.  I decided in my usual fashion (read obsessive and self destructive) that if I was going to lose weight, I’d do it as quickly as possible, so set myself a goal of 1200 kcal a day and eating as little carbohydrate as possible.

My usual day consists of an omlette in the morning (sometimes with spring onions or cheese), then generally I don’t eat anything until the evening when I have a single chicken breast with a salad.  Sometimes I might have a couple of boiled eggs during the day, or an apple or two.  I’ve managed to keep below the 1200 kcal limit fairly consistently probably 5/7 days a week and it’s worked pretty well.

So far in the last two months, I’ve managed to shed 15kg (33lbs for my imperial friends) which is ace.  Despite warnings from friends about whether my diet is sensible or not (they warn me that most of my life choices are not sensible so I’ve got used to ignoring them) I feel great.  I generally feel more alert when I’m hungry, but also have had considerably less problems with IBS, indigestion or acid reflux.  Also, because I’m eating so little I’m scared of drinking alcohol in case I start a fight with myself after half a pint, so that’s cut out a lot of calories too.

The outcome of this now that I’ve dropped a sufficient amount of weight (I’d like to drop another 5kg if I can) to start ramping up the training again, but I’ve made some impressive gains.  

When I started walking again, I struggled to do 3k in under 30 minutes and a couple of days ago I did a 49 minute 10k with my 7kg work backpack on which was a surprise.  I’ve only really been focussed on improving my climbing too so it came as a bit of a surprise.  

OK, so not all of that was true, I did it skateboarding.

Going from running a high and regular mileage to being told that there’s a good chance I wouldn’t be able to run anymore (or walk without a stick) was a little bit disappointing, if I’m honest.  It also probably had something to do with me not going for the MRI until 6 weeks after it happened by which point it had got so bad I could hardly walk, so I couldn’t even pass the buck on this one.

I had been running a pretty consistently high mileage, enjoying a level of fitness I hadn’t had for some time (I bust my hip a couple of years before in a race and had been on a long road to recovery already, but had been getting much faster at shorter distances) and had a couple of fastpacking trips planned for the summer which didn’t feature being crippled.  I had also been 5 weeks into my new job after leaving my previous of 10 years, which was also an inconvenience.

Never one to get down over trivial things like not being able to walk, I vigourously pursued other hobbies I hadn’t been making time for (shooting, painting, board games, beer, ice cream, chocolate, ice cream, beer, spirits and ice cream) and spent many months of crutches and cortisone injections.  

It wasn’t all doom and gloom, I worked from home a bit more (in the early days of extreme pain) and regularly got a seat on the tube which was great.  Probably not as regularly as I should have though, so I learned what it means to be a pregnant woman on public transport - a lot of people suffers from selective narcolepsy. I also got to engage in food and alcohol like Caligula on his birthday, and Netflix got a pounding too.

Unfortunately so did my fitness and my waistline, putting on a solid 12-15kg.  Oops.

3 weeks ago, when I finally felt strong enough to get off the crutches/give up my seat on the tube, I started walking again.  It felt odd but I was pleased.  I was walking my dog Ripley (below - chocolate) a lot and the slower pace (I’m usually quite a fast walker) really helped me to get in some slow and steady exercise (more on Ripley in another post).

An old friend of mine who is a PT put together a really good physio plan for me to do at home (calisthenics based) and I’ve been running 3k every other day with Ripley at roughly the same speed I used to run 5k, but it feels good to be back out on the road and she loves it too.  

A new friend I made at work who is an awesome climber really gave me a reason to get back on the horse, as I had been quite despondent about how weak and unfit I felt.  When I say she got me back on the horse, she recommended that I watch Bojack Horseman on Netflix and now I’m completely obsessed.  It’s amazing.  She said I’m Mr Peanutbutter which I hate her for as it’s possibly the most accurate on screen portrayal of me I’ve ever encountered which is both nice and tragic in equal measures.

That aside, I also went climbing with her and her friends, which was amazing fun.  I haven’t climbed for well over a decade and possibly longer; I’m overweight (not as overweight though, I managed to lose 7kg in under two weeks prior by being obsessive in advance), weak and unfit at the moment, whilst she and all her friends are ripped, accomplished climbers. It was a humbling experience and I probably could have done with a few weeks more physio, but it was extremely enjoyable.  What’s more, my knee is fine today, it’s just the rest of my body that hurts.  

I met some really nice people who were even better climbers.  It was fascinating to see how different everyone’s styles were - Louisa and Ewan had very elegant styles with really calculated footwork, Rod was hyper and powered through problems (still with amazing technique) and everyone else I met also had very different styles too.  After predominantly running for a number of years where style doesn’t really come into it, it reminded me more of surfing which was my previous main focus when I was young.  Refreshing stuff.

I spent most of the time with shaking limbs, staring mouth wide open at everyone doing their thing.  I must have looked a bit of a tit (*more than usual).

The jury is still out on whether I’ll ever be able to run the sort of distances I was doing previously again (I plan to), but I’ve found a huge gap (or crevasse?  Boom boom) in my mountaineering skill set that was sorely missing and sufficient amounts of shame at being super weak are a great motivator to get better.  

I’m one of those people who doesn’t like instruction manuals.  I like to do things my own way.  An IKEA constructing rebel, if you will.

My daughter is exactly the same – one of her favourite phrases is ‘I can do it all by myself’, followed by sometimes success and often abject failure.  I’m very much in agreement with her that although I love doing research and studying, the best way to learn is by failing.  

I probably mentioned before, but I started running largely because it was the most time efficient manner available for burning calories in order to lose a bit of weight I had put on from years of beer in my mid-20s.  I’d generally go out for 20 minute runs around Hackney Marshes or 30 minute runs home from work in central London.  I didn’t particularly enjoy it, as it was more of a necessity.

After some time. I got a bit faster and began to enjoy running a little more.  I’ve never been one for running clubs most likely to my detriment, as one of the things I love about running is time alone (my job requires lots of socialising) and the fact that it is so easy to fit around your life especially when you swap running for your usual commute.

I entered a few races because friends were – they seemed to love racing so I thought it might be fun. Training wasn’t something I really considered as I liked to go running and was happy with my fitness and speed increasing at a natural and comfortable rate.

My first race was a 10k and I think I must have been about 25.  I regularly ran 7k to work and 7k back so I wasn’t too concerned about the distance and wasn’t all that interested in racing.  Friends were doing it for a charity so I thought I’d join in. I came in at 43 minutes which remains to date, my fastest 10k time.  I remember being a little annoyed at myself that I’d taken the first 5k a bit too slow (I still almost always run negative splits) as I still had a lot to give at the end.

Sometime later I did a 5k, which I got my (still unbroken record) of just over 23 minutes.  This annoyed me even more as if I could run a 43 minute 10k then I should have been a lot faster than that.  I decided there and then that short distance races were rubbish.

Over the following years I ran a lot, often combing running and camping (not knowing our cousins over the pond had a name for it).  I was generally running longer distances but never raced again and rarely tested myself on speed.  Speed was never really a focus of mine as I was more interested in just being able to run for longer.

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It wasn’t until I did Tough Mudder that I began to take my running seriously and thought about it as training.  Living near both Hackney Marshes and Epping Forest which frequently flood knee deep becoming a complete quagmire in the winter, I began doing regular runs between 12-25 miles often in knee deep mud at night in the dark.  I loved it.

Tough Mudder came and went – The 24 odd obstacles and the day itself were absolutely amazing.  The brutal dysentery my entire team bar one lucky survivor received as the hidden obstacle 25 was without doubt the most physically and spiritually challenging.

I continued with the higher mileage (rather than the dysentery thankfully) and haven’t really stopped since….until I hurt myself.

I injured my hip doing the Calderdale Ultra and it never really got better.  I started to overthink my running form and being concerned I was going to make it worse, I severely dropped my mileage.

This brings me back to the beginning of this blog post.  I’ve started running again but this time differently.  I’ve discovered short distances and I’m really enjoying it.  

5K is the perfect distance for a lunch time run at work and seeing as I’ve got a gym by my office, the treadmill is giving me a new lease of life.  I’m not a fan of treadmills or even particularly road running due to the monotony, however sticking to a training plan is something I’ve never done before.  

My plan is to…get faster! This may seem odd to most runners, but it’s not something I’ve really thought about before.  

As I’ve mentioned before, the main considerations when planning a fastpacking trip are the route, the type and weight of kit, food and water.  Running is a pretty calorie intense business at the best of times, even without throwing several days camping gear and supplies along with mountain trails into the mix.

Generally, your backpack, tent/tarp (if you need one) and sleeping bag make up the bulk of the weight, however water is often the heaviest item at a kilo per litre.  If anyone missed it, I did a previous article on finding watersources safely in the wild which should help negate that issue, or at least reduce the amount you carry to an emergency weight.  

Running is estimated to burn approximately 100kcal a mile on road without a pack full of gear and elevation, so either a fastpacking trip needs to pass through areas where you can resupply, or you need to carry a lot of food; but there is an alternative.

Much as water is frequently in great abundance throughout the UK, it is possible to find food almost anywhere, although often not with such ease.  Foraging has always interested me and although I’ve never tried relying solely on it for a fastpacking trip (I feel a terrible idea coming on) there are usually edibles on the way that I would always take advantage of.

Many people when asked would say that they’ve never been foraging, although with a bit of probing, they have often eaten an apple from a tree, picked blackberries or other such fruit.  The key is to be confident in what you’re trying to identify is what you think it is.

I don’t know why I find the word scrumping so funny

This leads me on to the most important point of foraging.  Just because you’ve eaten a few button mushrooms in the supermarket doesn’t mean that you should go out with a book using illustrations or photos to try and identify your dinner - best case scenario you’ll get it wrong and trip balls for half a day, worst case scenario you’ll die, or at least suffer near fatal liver and kidney damage.  Call me a coward, but my advice would be to stay away from mushrooms full stop.

Seeing as we’re focusing on fuel for running, I’ll ignore most of the huge variety of plants on offer in the UK (I’ll focus on the UK, as I’m not particularly familiar with foraging in other countries, but similar principles apply and you can use a great thing called the internet to look up some info if needs be).  Nettles are fantastic as a spinach substitute, but you’re going to have a hard time getting enough calories out of them during or after running an ultra.

Before I give my suggestions, I’d like to point out that replacing calories by foraging is hard.  Really hard.  It’s unlikely to be an efficient option even if you are Ray Mears after running all day. but eating various fruit, seeds, nuts and plants along the way can make a fastpacking trip that bit more interesting and add the odd nice surprise now and then for the evening meal or breakfast.

Below is a list of easily recognised and foraged foods found regularly throughout the UK, however my list is far from thorough and if you decide you enjoy foraging, there are far better sources then me.

One last thing - please bear in mind that I persuaded about 10 of my friends in school when I was 7 that the poisonous holly berry was perfectly safe to eat just to see what happened (it didn’t end well), so please do your own research before taking on any advice I give you.

The Bullrush/Cattail/Typha/Reed Mace

I thought I’d throw a pretty weird one into the mixer as my first choice, just to see if anyone has bothered to make it this far.  Plus they’re pretty cool and if you harvest some in front of your mates, you’ll look like a total badass.  Think Ray Mears meets Dolph Lundgren, or something.

Cattail

The bullrush, also known as cattail, reed mace, punks (US), corndog grass (US), cumbungi (Aussie) or raupo (Kiwi) are from the typha genus and there are approximately 30 varieties known.  I forgot to mention before - many of these plants have awesome and often quite dirty sounding names.

As far as plants go, they’re extremely easy to identify, have no toxic varieties and no toxic lookalikes (unless they’re in their early stage when they don’t have their distinctive features), so it’s pretty hard to go wrong with these.  They’re always found near or in water so if you’re collecting some of that, you can kill two birds with one stone by having a look about.

The shoots can be eaten raw in spring (a bit like leek) or if a bit more mature boiled, the cob can be eaten like sweetcorn and by digging up the roots (called rhizomes) you get a sort of potato.  You can bake them in a fire and just scrape off the outside and voila - fastpacking potato.  Use your imagination (it’s basically potato) if you’re making dinner and the cumbungi (snigger) is your oyster.  You can use it to make flour, but after a day of running you’re unlikely to be getting all Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, so I’ll leave that for someone else to talk about.

One word of advice - as with any foraging, certain plants can suck up pollution and foraging from the side of the road is considered a bad idea, but with these, you’ll want to make sure the water they grow in isn’t polluted.

You can find these growing all year around in various stages and are a huge carb option.

Pignut

Pignut.  Pignut.  I just like saying it.  

Pig.

Nut.  It’s a great name. (This one is the actual pignut.  The first image was just a pig.  If you’re hoping to dig one of those up after reading this then I apologise)

Pignuts taste almost as good as they’re named - they’re like the bastard child of a coconut and a parsnip.  If you’re lucky, you’ll find one as big as a ping pong ball and they’re packed with carbs.

This is what you want to look out for.  Pignut plants are all over the place and super easy to find.

Real Nuts, that aren’t at all Pig

Nuts can be a bit of a pain to process and are not the quick and easy carb that roots tend to be, but are nutritionally extremely dense and it’s nice to have something savoury.   Nuts are packed with fats, proteins and carbs, making them an ultimate runner fuel.

There are five edible nuts in the UK, but only three are an easy choice.  I’ll list them below.

Sweet Chestnuts - Tasty raw straight off the tree, or roasted to remind you of Christmas.  Just remember to learn the difference between the sweet chestnut and the horse chestnut or conker.  They aren’t edible.  The sweet chestnut looks like a curled up hedgehog, but the horse chestnut has wider apart spikes, kind of like a submarine mine.

Split open the spiky hedgehog, remove the fur and eat the nut.  Quick and easy.

If they’re more mature and tough; roast them for a festive treat.

Sweet Chestnut

Inedible horse chestnut, or conker

Hedgehog

Although hedgehogs are edible, please learn to tell the difference between the above three.

Walnuts - Everyone likes a walnut.  Although not native to the UK, they often are planted years in advance by kindly squirrels who have stolen a nut from a tree in someone’s garden and planted it with the sole intention of giving a nice surprise to a weary fastpacker at some point.

Walnuts can be split open and eaten raw.  Commercial walnuts are dried to last longer, but you get to eat the good stuff.  Good on you.

Hazelnuts - Hazelnuts are another tasty treat.  Crack them open and the job’s a good’un.

Awkward nuts - As mentioned before, there are five main edible nuts in the UK, and the three above are the easy ones.  That doesn’t mean that the other two should be ignored, but they can be slightly more labour intensive.  Actually, ignore one of them.  Beech tree nuts are a pain in the backside to harvest and prepare.  However...

Acorns - Full of tannins so can be hard to process in order to remove the bitter taste, however if they’re good enough for native americans, roman centurions and pigs (I love pigs), then they’re good enough for me.  Even better, the Roman word gland (meaning acorn) was pilfered by the medical community for a certain part of the male anatomy.  Snigger.

Use your imagination

There are myriad ways of preparing acorns, but if you boil the hell out of them and keep changing them between two pansinto fresh boiling water (the water they are in must always be boiling from the start, or the bitter tannins bind to the nut) until the water they are in remains clear, then you can crush them into a paste.  It can be eaten just like that, or used as an ingredient in something else if you feel adventurous.

Fruits and Berries

Of course, the UK has a huge number of edible berries at various points in the year but predominantly in the autumn - the most popular time of year for most foragers.

Blackberries and Raspberries - Most people will have picked blackberries and sometimes raspberries (although these are often escapees).  They’re super tasty and full of fructose - a great pick me up during and after a long run.

I’ll leave it to you to guess which is which

Other frequently found easy to eat berries - damsons, bilberries, elderberries and if you’re lucky wild strawberries can be found too.  These are all great sources of a quick hit carbohydrate and a great option to eat while on the run if you’re passing through an abundant area at the right time of year.

Awkward berries - Other options which people may not have considered are berries such as sloes, rosehips, hawthorn.  Although these are generally close to inedible without cooking, many can be made so with a little preparation, which can be fun after a day out running.

The super tasty rosehip - sports gel of champions

Rosehips for example can be boiled in minimal water for 20 minutes, mashed, boiled for another 10, strained through a buff and then boiled for a further 5 with a little bit of sugar and you’ve got possibly the best sports drink/gel (depending on how much you reduce it) which is insanely high in vitamin C (in fact, one of the highest plant contents available).  Plus it’s damned tasty.

Sloes are pretty hard to stomach due to how bitter they are, but boiled with a bit of sugar makes them palatable.  Or you could just whack sloes in some gin and pretend you’re being cultured.

Hawthorn berries are similar - generally most berries that can be used for jams or preserves can be boiled with a little bit of sugar into a pretty tasty tea, sports gel or syrup.

More traditional fruits - The UK has a large number of wild and/or unused apple, pear or  trees and these can also be a fantastic option if you happen to know the route or pass by some.  Damsons, or rogue escapee plums, are generally a bit harsh, but can be treated in the same manner as the more bitter berries with minimal processing.

Dandelion

Don’t knock the dandelion.  They may look pretty weedy (excuse the pun); my daughter calls them fairy seeds.  Maybe they are - who knows.  Still, nutritionally, they pack a punch.

OK, so dandelions aren’t going to win many awards on the carb front, but they have four times the amount of vitamin C and B, protein, carbohydrate, fat, iron and calcium than the same weight of lettuce, five times the phosphorous and twelve times the vitamin A.  Plus they’re tasty.  Use them in a salad, or make a tea.  The milky sap is tasty.

Finale

I’m going to end my list here.  There are tonnes of fantastic and easily identifiable plants you can eat in the UK, but these are the ones that are probably going to be the most useful to you on a fastpacking trip.  Wild garlic, for example, is extremely tasty to add to a recipe, but probably won’t do much to sustain you after a long run.

I’d like to give a footnote mention to the fantastic “Forager’s Apprentice” app by Ashburton Cooking School, forager and chef David Beazley.  It’s a beginners guide but has a great function where you can hotspot the location using your phone of the listed items in the app, creating your own wild food map.  A great timesaver if you’ve walked or ran the route before.

Ultimately, my plan was to inspire you to do more than just race.  Fastpacking is about spending time outdoors enjoying the wild, the beautiful, camping, eating and spending quality time with friends and family.  Hopefully you’ll feel adventurous and add foraging to the list. It’s great fun, even better nutrition and what’s the point of being in the great outdoors if you don’t want to connect with it?

Fast forward to April 2015 and Salomon were kind enough to send me the new X-Scream 3Ds to try out.

I was apprehensive.  I don’t like change.  Were they going to be worse?  Was I going to get hotspots where I didn’t before?  I have a policy that I won’t review kit that I have nothing nice to say anything about, which is always uncomfortable if a company has been kind enough to send you something for free.

April was a month before the Calderdale Way Ultra 50.5 which I was going to do in June, which gave me adequate time to test out the new shoes before the race.  

Out of the box, they looked sexy.  That’s always a good start.  Running shoes definitely need to look nice as it certainly makes you run faster.

The new X-Scream models had more colours as opposed to the block luminous yellow (which I liked a lot) and seemed to be more robust.  I’m not sure if this was the colours and pattern accenting the supportive plastic cage on the shoe more, or if they actually were.  

Breaking every cardinal rule of running for the sake of the readers of this blog, I decided to test out the Salomon X-Scream 3D shoes at the Wings for Life World Run event.  I hadn’t run a single mile in them but they looked so pretty and new and I wanted to look pretty and new in the race photos, so vanity overtook experience and I donned my new running shoes.

It turned out to be a good decision after all.  I did just over 17 miles in them through hills and didn’t have a single problem.  The X Scream 3D’s fit like a glove.  Although the entire race was on Silverstone Race Track and then country lanes and road, so I didn’t get to test their off road capabilities, they were perfect.  I often have problems with my toe next to my little toe on each foot (those nails are usually the first to go), along with the upper arch of my right foot, but nothing.  Nothing is definitely good.

A few weeks later, was the Calderdale Way Ultra 50.5 and I was holding out on what shoes to use.  I had been told that the Calderdale Way was a pretty solid trail and that there would be little in the way of genuine off-road fell running as part of the route, however the previous year it had bucketed down and looked pretty boggy, so I kept my eye on the weather.

Fortunately for us, the weather was fantastic.  The running Gods were smiling on me as I prefer to run in cooler temperatures; it was warm, but with a cool breeze.  Good running conditions, good X-Scream 3D conditions.  Perfect.

My wife carried a drop bag to meet me at a couple of the checkpoints in case I was being over optimistic and needed to change back into the old X-Screams (which are still going surprisingly strong) but that threat never materialised.

There were a couple of occasions on the course when we hit some extremely muddy and slippery sections where a more aggressive tread would have been preferable, however a couple of friends who had the type of aggressive tread I would have liked in those short instances told me that they would have preferred something closer to a road shoe for the rest of the run.  

Still looking pretty new!

Not once did I worry about my choice of footwear which on a long distance run, is really not an extra concern you want.  Peace of mind is a big part of a run like that.

I’m still using the X-Scream 3Ds for my daily commute, and I’m actually still using the original X-Screams too although they’re starting to get to the end of their life.

The main difference I have noticed after really putting them both through their paces is how robust the new 3Ds are.  

Sections of the sole on the original X-Screams wore down faster than on the new 3D model and the material used on the sole certainly feels more hard wearing.  Although they’ve discoloured a bit from running/wading through knee deep mud, the soles still look almost as good as new.  Despite the material appearing to be much harder wearing, I haven’t noticed any different to the comfort of the ride.

The X-Scream range continues to be my absolute favourite all round running shoe, with the 3D certainly having improved on the already ideal previous model.  In terms of comfort, I didn’t notice any improvement (they were as comfortable as they could be to start with), but the 3Ds seem to be a bit tougher.

I’ll be interested to see how they plan on improving on these.  As with the previous edition, if you’re looking for a fell running shoe, or road running shoe, these aren’t the ones for you.  If you want a single pair of shoes that do all terrain types equally well then you can’t go far wrong with these.

Below Suunto Ambit3 Run which I received a few months ago.  I have to admit, I’ve always loved the look of the Ambit series watches.  They’re pretty damned sexy.  The choice was also between my favourite colour lime green, and black.  I opted for the safe option and went black, so that I can wear it formally too.   It was a hard choice to make as they’re both beautiful, so I added to the list of reasons why I hate myself and moved on.

It arrived very quickly and I’m not sure if Suunto were having a poke at my overgrown beard, but it was pointed out to me by a friend that the box they decided to send me had a rather interesting 4:20 on the watch.  Google it if it doesn’t ring any bells.

You can get the Ambit3 Run with a heart rate monitor which I opted for.  I had purchased a cheap bluetooth HRM for my iPhone the year before which I found incredibly useful, despite it not registering for large parts of the run.  I decided to see how it fared with the watch - it’s called a memory belt.  More on that later.

The Ambit3 Run sits as the most affordable option within the Ambit3 family, with the Sport in the middle and Peak at the top.  It’s a model that has been specifically made with runners in mind, hence the name, with slightly less features than the more expensive models.  There is also the highest priced Sapphire model which is stunning and I’ve only just read is designed specifically for women.  I’d be more than happy wearing it, but then I do have delicate wrists.

Gone are the barometric altimeter and fused baro alti/gps altitude, weather monitoring and alarm, tide, sunrise and sunset times, air pressure ascent and descent times and vertical speed of the Peak model.  Apart from the increased accuracy for vertical gain over a run, these are additional extras that I really don’t need anyway.  The storm warnings could be very handy, but then I’m happy with my ability to read changing weather patterns.  They’re nice extras to have but certainly not my main focus.  Plus, if I ever need to check my vertical descent speed on a run, the chances are I’ve probably fallen into a ravine and stats will be the least of my worries.

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In terms of features removed from the Sport and Peak models are the more multi-sport functions, such as the swimming and cycling sensors.  Unless you’re super serious about triathlon, the watch is fine for both though, as you can still monitor sport specific workouts by creating custom sport settings.  I certainly have no use for swimming and cycling functions, beyond tracking my location and heart rate.

The only minor interest/concern to endurance runners is the reduced battery life compared to the Peak.  The Ambit3 Run sports a 15 hour battery life on it’s 5 second GPS setting and 1 minute GPS setting can carry 100 hours for hiking.  This is compared to the 30 hours on the Peak (200 on the 1 minute setting).  Interestingly, the run has the same battery life as the Multisport, despite a much lower price, which for me is a massive bonus and one of the most important features anyway.

After a quick search on Google, I found out that you can charge the Ambit3 Run on the go with a battery pack and it doesn’t affect the workout it is recording, so problem solved!  From what I understand, many GPS watches are unable to do this.

All in all, I couldn’t find fault in the reduced feature set - it has everything I need and much more.  The real gem of the Ambit3 Run is that it has kept the more advanced navigation features of the more expensive models, despite many similarly priced GPS watches not sporting these functions.

For fastpacking, navigation is key and I was really keen to test out how this aspect of the watch worked.

For the social media addict and tech nerd in me, most importantly, was the notifications link.  The Ambit3 Run links by bluetooth to your smartphone, and notification enabled apps, texts and calls pop up on the watch with a little bleep.  This is extremely handy if you’re expecting a text from someone (mainly my wife) or if someone calls, you can glance at your watch to see if it’s worth answering.  It’s also nice to see supportive tweets pop up from Facebook or Twitter if you’re doing an ultra.  On the recent Calderdale Way Ultra I had a good few facebook notifications from loved ones wishing pain and suffering on me, which really inspired and enthused me to carry on.  Or it can just be used as another method for your friends to insult you when you’re excited about your new toy - please refer to the opening image.

If you’re looking for an in depth analysis of the Suunto Ambit3 Run then I’m not your man.  As I said, I have little experience with GPS watches.  I’m not even particularly tech savvy.  I did get a pleasant surprise however.

My initial impressions once I’d moved past how sexy the watch is, was how easy it is to use.  I’ve used hiking GPS units in the past and their menu systems always felt clunky.  This was a smooth, user friendly experience and everything was logically laid out and simple, but with plenty of features.  

The thing I was most keen to test was the navigation.  I was enormously skeptical that following a black line could compare even slightly to following a map.  How wrong I was.

I programmed three routes - one was my standard long run through Epping Forest (12 miles out, 24 to Theydon Bois and back), my standard 8-9km run to work and a new 25 mile run through London.  This is done through Movescount; Suunto’s website (and connecting app).  It’s a lovely, user friendly design with detailed analytics.

My test runs through Epping Forest and commuting to work and back were spot on and if I deviated from the line, it was clear how to get back.  I hadn’t really considered the fact that looking at my mobile and trying to make sure I was on the right place on the map was actually very clunky and the sheer simplicity of glancing at a line and following it was extremely liberating.

When I finally got the chance to test my new exploration route, it really opened my eyes.  I was sailing through Central London, busy roads, Regents Park, Hampstead Heath, Alexandra Palace, Finsbury Park, Stoke Newington, Chingford, Epping, Wanstead; not once did I have a navigation problem and I finally understood what GPS watches were good for.

The heart rate monitor is also incredible.  It has a memory so if the bluetooth connection cuts out the data isn’t lost, or if you’re swimming, it can remember the data too.  The thing that I really noticed was how it appeared to be extremely accurate.  The blue tooth heart rate monitor I used with Mapmyrun was constantly jumping up and down or telling me that I was dead (blame on either the app or the device) - I had none of that with the Suunto and it made actual heart rate training possible.

An interesting feature is the ‘Recovery’ calculation.  Based on your heart rate, exercise duration and other factors, the watch gives you a live display graph of your estimated recovery time.  It’s actually really addictive trying to build it up to an impossible amount of time by doing way too much exercise - I was frequently on about 120 hours.  This probably accounts for how I injured myself by over training.

One of the features of the app that isn’t running based but feeds my fantastic for my ego, is the Suunto Movie, as modelled by Killian Jornet below.  If you go on a really interesting run (note, it’s at its best when there is elevation involved, as the video shows terrain on a 3d map) then the app will make a short movie of your run, showing photos at their relevant point on the map, the position of your fastest time and other interesting data; the presentation is great.  I’m looking forward to documenting a few up and coming fastpacking trips using this feature - it really captures the essence of a trip.

I went on to use the Suunto Ambit3 Run for the Wings for Life World Run and it was extremely accurate; only about 300 metres more than the catcher car said. 

I also used it at the Calderdale Way Ultra 50.5 mile race, where it absolutely navigated the entire race for me and I would have easily ended up completely lost without it.  As mentioned in a previous post, I bust my hip (and knee) and dropped out at 40 miles, which was after 9 hrs 40 minutes.  I still had about 10% battery and had charged it the day before, used the push notifications and constant navigation.  I had a portable battery to hand just in case I needed to charge it, but it turned out that I didn’t need it in the end.  Rather disappointingly, I didn’t start recording my run properly until about 20 miles in because I was on the toilet when the race started, but that was entirely my fault and it still navigated for me all the way to checkpoint 4.

To summarise - I love the Ambit3 Run.  It may not have some of the more advanced features of the Peak, or the multi sport features of the Sport, but it’s got everything that I need (and more) and is an absolute pleasure to run with.  The slick menu system is a joy to use, the navigation system has revolutionised my exploration and fastpacking runs, and what’s more, it looks sexy.  What’s not to like?  It’s the Apple of GPS watches.

The Suunto Ambit3 Run retails at £249.99 with the Heart Rate Monitor, although I’ve seen it recently at very competitive prices.  You won’t be disappointed.

The big day soon approached and Sammy (my wife), Lenora (my daughter) and I set off from London just after rush hour; the drive was an extremely comfortable four and a half hours, with a quick stop for petrol. We had planned on meeting Matt, Tim (another team mate from our home town) and Laura (Matt’s girlfriend) at roughly the same time, but their journey turned out to be an ultra in itself, taking a hideous 8 hours from Portsmouth.  Sammy, Lenora and I had smugly already been to the local for a couple of pints and a meal.

Pre race nutrition strategy is key

Upon our arrival, we were greeted by John Lloyd the race organiser and a lovely chap. We had a good chat and Lenora spent the rest of our time there pointing out “John George Lloyd” as some sort of weird mantra on repeat.  The venue was fantastic and a hell of a lot more comfortable than we were expecting.

Camping pitches and caravan spots are right at the start line of the race, with a toilet and shower block attached to the Todmorden Cricket Club main building.  The town of Todmorden has some fantastic pubs within a couple of minutes’ walk (it’s a really lovely town, but with convenient shops, supermarkets and amenities) and the cricket club bar was extremely welcoming (a dangerous proposition the day before a 50 mile race).  All in all, we were pretty happy so far.

The compulsory race briefing from 7-7:30 pm was good, if a little brief.  It was more of a five minute briefing, but that was ok as it covered everything we needed.  

Following a comfortable night’s sleep, I got up at 4:50am for some breakfast and general morning routine stuff.  I won’t paint you a picture.

Matt, Tim and I were on a strictly complete not compete schedule.  Tim had the most experience having completed the MDS and a number of other ultras, Matt was the fittest having done an insane mileage since Christmas but had only recently got into running and I look like a fat cleric.  

Using the bathroom, I heard John Lloyd’s voice shouting something out, which I assumed was a 5/10 minute warning so I quickly rushed out…to find everyone legging it off the start line!  As I mentioned before, I’m used to running on other people’s schedules but this happened pretty quickly.

Sammy shouted at me to get my stuff and run; Lenora waggled her finger in a suitably disapproving and condescending manner.  Snatching up my new Inov8 Race Ultra 10 backpack, which I had painstakingly packed and repacked the previous night and again in the morning, I legged it past the ladies for a quick kiss and off down the road to catch up with Matt and Tim.

Turning left out of the golf course, I headed down the road and could see the bulk of the runners already half way up the hill through gaps in the trees – the route followed a zig-zag path ascending the first climb.  Not the best start to the day.  Spotting Matt tying his shoelaces (obviously pretending to do something while waiting for an idiotic friend) gave me a bit of relief, until I realised Tim wasn’t with him.  500 metres into the race and we’d already lost each other – this didn’t bode well.

Matt told me that Tim had gone to the toilet and then the race started.  He didn’t want to look like a complete plum, or like he had bottled it, so he decided to run around the corner and wait.  Sure enough, Tim came running down the road and I was relieved that I wasn’t the last one.  We put on a bit of speed to try and catch up with the pack and were confronted by a pretty steep climb up Stoney Royd Lane and through Well Wood.  

We passed a lady in her mid-50s who from what I understand, withdrew at Checkpoint 1 later.  I really don’t blame her, as the first section was pretty punishing in terms of elevation.  Seeing everyone go out so quickly was also quite disheartening, especially when viewed aurally from the toilet.  Up ahead we could see three ladies running together at roughly the same speed as us, one of which was the lovely Jill Lawson, who was staying just next to us in her camper van.  One of the first people to the site after us, we’d had a good chat the day before – it turns out that Jill was a walking guide in the Lake District, so she was certainly used to the hills, although this was her first ultra-race too.

Overtaking the three ladies gave us a bit of a boost and feeling a bit more buoyed up by this we proceeded to run…in completely the wrong direction.  “Boys! This way!” became one of the main consistencies up until checkpoint one, as we were repeatedly saved by Isobel Pollard and Jayne Booth who turned out to be from the local running club, the Todmorden Harriers (also responsible for the annual and much older Calderdale Way Relay).

Jill and Issy

Jane and Issy - our babysitters

Rather stupidly, we had been lulled into a false sense of security by the repeated assertions of the race staff that it was near impossible to get lost.  Despite both Matt and I having loaded the entire race route for navigation into my Suunto Ambit3 Run and Matt’s Garmin Fenix 3, as well as having a clearly written set of directions on the map, we had taken it for granted that it would just be a case of following a clearly marked trail.  After all, the race organisers had told us that they had spray painted sections that were less clear and it’d be a walk in the park.

We overtook the trio of ladies, only to run completely the wrong way, receive another “Boys!  This Way!” and to run past them again later with our tails between our legs.  Following a series of wrong turns, we finally hit a trail along a windswept hill top where we were able to open it up a bit, getting some real speed on flats and downhill which felt amazing.  As warned by Jill the night before, there certainly were 45 mile and hour wind speeds, although they were coming from behind us and were fantastically cooling.

Reaching check point 1, we were greeted by Laura, Sammy and a wind-swept, pretty pissed off Lenora.  The marshals were amazing, filling my bottles for me and reminding us repeatedly that we needed to get a move one; how we were right at the back. They all had a great sense of humour and really buoyed us up stuffing food in our faces and saving time on hydration. I’d forgotten a few things, including my race number when I had left, so Sammy had brought them for me which was great.

Refuelling at CP1

The girls pounded past us (again) at the checkpoint without even stopping.  We didn’t even have a wrong turn as an excuse this time.  To top things off, I’d pulled a muscle in my hip.

About a month before, I’d done a 32 mile training run which was fantastic.  It felt easy and I really enjoyed it.  10 days before the race, I had scheduled in a 50k training run at a slow pace before tapering, which went wrong at about 20km.  My hip felt tight and at about 35km was beginning to hurt, so I went home a little dejected.  My biggest fear was that this little niggle that I’d never had before, would flare up on race day. 

The section between checkpoint 1 and 2 was beautiful.  Tim had given me an ibuprofen (don’t judge me) and it made everything better.  I don’t usually take pain killers, but a one off isn’t so bad.  Also, navigation had become more natural since we had to decided to actually do some.

We flew down excitingly technical descents, ran parallel to some truly epic views and through beautiful wooded areas.  We even stopped for a few photos to capture the moment.

Somewhere on the way to checkpoint 2, we started to notice a group of lads approaching us, along with a load of people descending the hill we had just come down.  Assuming the marshals weren’t lying to us at check point one (which is entirely possible; they did have a cheeky sense of humour and were doing their best to motivate us) then it was likely that other people had found navigation difficult too.  This was a huge motivator and reminder to always trust in the long game.

Later on, we met up with three runners; a couple, Sam Blanchard and Andrea Taylor, with another runner, Steven Jones.  Sam and Andrea were roughly our age and both were annoyingly athletic and good looking, whilst Steven was in his early 50s and clearly extremely resilient.  Fantastic people who made the day so much more enjoyable.  We ended up running as a group for the rest of the race.

The crew - Tim, Matt, Andrea, Sam and Steve

At about 20 miles and just after check point 2 (18.97 miles), my hip started to hurt again.  I ran on for a bit but it got much worse, so Tim gave me some more ibuprofen.  This time, it only dulled the pain a bit and it started to become a bit of a concern.  I cracked on with the running, as if you obsess then it’s never going to help.  

Talking to our new friends really helped keep my mind off the slowly building pain and I was still really enjoying the day.  With Sam on the map and Matt and I on the GPS navigation, things were much more slick and we were chewing up the miles effortlessly.  We were flying through stunning scenery, laughing and joking with friends, old and new, my broken pelvis was remaining firmly at the back of my mind where it belonged, and everything was perfect.

Then disaster happened.

I had been using my Suunto Ambit3 Run for navigation, but hadn’t for one second looked at our mileage.  I decided to check.  I wished I hadn’t.  Having left the start line from the toilet in a mad panic, I must have double pressed the start button and not a single metre had been recorded.  I was about 25 miles in, with absolutely 0 miles to show for it!  The race officially hadn’t even happened.  I went into complete melt down.

Matt and Tim looked at me with the kind of pity you see in people’s eyes when you’ve lost a loved one or just seen your dog run over.  Taking deep breaths, I managed to avoid a full scale tantrum in front of our new friends (who were possibly already giving me a wide berth).  Sometimes you just have to take one for the team and get on with it.

Fortunately, I’ve got the attention span of a three year old on amphetamines, so managed to forget about it with the help of my old friend agony in my hip and the stunning fields covered in yellow buttercups we were running through.  For the sake of posterity, I’ll point out that my hip really was extremely painful.

I’d like to make it clear that the fault was entirely my own.  I’ve never had this happen before and it only happened due to my idiocy of not being ready at the start of the race.  I managed to focus on the positive side; I may not have recorded the run, but the navigation had been faultless.  Without the Suunto Ambit3 Run I know for sure that I would have been lost a hell of a lot more.  Following that little black line and arrow really does take an enormous stress out of navigation.  On a fastpacking trip, I’m not so concerned about stopping to check maps and compasses, but on a race with cutoffs, it was an enormous crutch.

Just over a third of the way past checkpoint 2 we ran through the entrance to Shelf Hall Park where we were joined by a bewildered ultra runner in sunglasses who looked at a loss as to where he should go and rather put out.  I’m pretty sure we didn’t get a single word out of him for the duration he joined us, but did poke and grunt at the map a bit.

We were confronted by a very steep ravine which we all finally decided to descend into, although we had totally lost an obvious trail.  Once we were next to the stream at the bottom, it was pretty clear we had lost our way and the climb on the other side was considerably worse than the descent.

Considerably steeper than it looks

Following the stream for 50 metres, we were confronted by a fallen tree and so decided to climb up the side.  It was extremely step and we had to dig our shoes into the mud and pull up using tree roots/branches, occasionally helping each other out with bunk ups.  I love getting lost - it usually leads to the most entertaining situations but our silent companion didn’t look so happy.  

When I got to the top, I began to run and something went ‘ping!’ in my hip.  The pain train had arrived on the platform and I was well and truly feeling it.  Something must have given on the steep climb and it didn’t feel good.

The rest of the race for me was constant agony.  I was still really enjoying the scenery and company, but hung back from everyone as I’d lost a lot of speed and preferred to shout expletives at myself where no one else could hear.

Turning a corner through some woods, I was confronted by some nightmarish sheep, which actually turned out to be llamas.  I wasn’t thinking straight.

Sam ran behind me at one point and said “you know that your left foot is turning in at the toes right?” which reminded me of the exact same comment my friend Elaine had said to me towards the end of a long hilly run a few months before, which I had automatically ignored.  He told me to try to run as if I was kicking a football to turn my foot out - his advice was an immediate improvement.  After a short distance, my knee started to hurt as I wasn’t used to running in this way, but it was clear where the problem was to be found now at least.

Hitting a wooded trail up a hill filled me with joy - I was suffering on the flat and downhill section, but the steep climbs were fine, comparably anyway.  Heading up a hill in what I think was Cromwell Wood, my friend Simon Green from team Ashmei came bounding past on the short ultra (28.5 miles), spotted me and ran back for a hug and a quick chat before bouncing off again.  I had been hoping to catch him at some point and it cheered me up.

Later, Andrea said she wasn’t enjoying the more frequent roads we were running on this section of the race and I tended to agree.  The harder surfaces certainly weren’t helping me either.

Passing a shop just after checkpoint three, Sam treated us all to an ice cream and a can of Coke.  Asking if anyone wanted anything else, Tim asked for a packet of B&H cigarettes.  They all laughed (not realising he was serious).  Andrea and I were running along eating our ice cream and I opened my Coke.  Suddenly everyone took off - Andrea laughed at my despondent look.  She ran off too.  No mercy.

The next 10 or so miles were eaten up in a haze of pain, canal paths and whining noises coming out of my mouth.  I was starting to feel guilty for holding our little team up who were kindly hanging back for me, which was actually worse than the pain in my hip.  I had promised myself that I would drag myself to the finish line, but I hadn’t counted on holding other people up by doing so.

On the run up to checkpoint 4, there was a 600m stretch of flat/gently ascending road.  Everyone else had bounded ahead due to hunger and I was hobbling along in tow.  Sammy, Lenora and Laura were due to meet us there and as I approached the checkpoint, Lenora came running down the road to me shouting daddy.  At that point, I knew it was time to throw in the towel.

Checkpoint 4 was at 36.65 miles and according to Matt’s GPS (which had actually been started at the beginning of the race) we had done just over 40 miles.  I made it there in 9 hours 40.

I told the marshals that I was out, spoke to the team who all understood entirely and gave them a high five, telling them to smash it for me.  Sam told me that if the painkiller he gave me didn’t work, then I’d be foolish to have continued.  I was disappointed to be dropping out so close to the end of the race but then I knew it was the right decision.  Ultras aren’t meant to be easy and if it wasn’t a challenge, I wouldn’t have been doing it.

I’m a big believer in the saying that you learn more from your failures than your successes.  The fact that I had learnt a lot really softened the blow of the DNF.  Here’s what I learnt.

1) My left foot turns inwards and when I’m pushing speed, distance and vertical gain (bearing in mind I don’t usually race), the problem is compounded.  I need to do some work on my running form.

2) I need to get up earlier and make sure I’m not on the toilet at the start of a race.

3) As a result of 2, I need to take time to make sure that I’m actually recording on my watch.  Although this isn’t essential to completing a race, it certainly is to avoiding a meltdown.

4) My mental game was strong and if I can run 20 miles in pretty tough terrain on an extremely painful hip injury, then I did ok.

5) I still had a load in the tank.  My legs were strong and if I hadn’t hurt my hip, I still had a hell of a lot more to give.

6) My nutrition and hydration was spot on.  No stomach issues, no cramping and no problems.

All in all, a success, despite the failure.  After a lie down and quick nap in the tent, Sammy, Laura, Lenora and I went to the finish line to cheer in the team.  Matt had texted Laura giving us a heads up and they came in exactly on time.

Tim, Matt, Sam, Andrea and Steve all came in together at 12 hours 48, to a proud and jealous in equal measure me.  

A few minutes later (6 to be exact), Jill, Isobel and Jayne crossed the finish line.  I cheered them, followed by a sudden realisation that the ladies who had both saved us and repeatedly overtaken us had in fact come in behind Matt and Tim.  It wasn’t a competitive thing at all; but a joyous outburst that at least two of us had clawed back a bit of dignity from their having to babysit us for at least 10 miles.  Sam looked embarrassed and I realised my outburst wasn’t good form.  Andrea realised she wasn’t the last woman and gave a similar outburst much to Sam’s now double embarrassment.  Still, our early saviours had made it in and I was pleased for them.

A highlight of the race for me was when Sam and Andrea saw Tim having a cigarette by the finish line with Laura.  I wish I had photographic evidence of the look on their faces before they cracked up laughing after realising that the request for B&H a few hours earlier was genuine.  I honestly have no idea how Tim does it.  He’s a positivity machine.

The full race results are available on this link so I won’t reel off who won, but I’d like to mention Jennifer and Paul Hopkinson, our camping neighbours and number 1 mixed couple on the race (who also gave me severe Bimobil envy).  Also to Martin Davies who came in joint second - a really nice fella who hopefully I’ll be seeing again.

All in all an amazing race, a lot learnt and a great weekend in beautiful scenery with my family.  Thank you very much John Lloyd, but I’ve got unfinished business - I’ll be back.

Simon and Julie Freeman own Freestak, a running and sports PR/comms agency, but produce Like the Wind purely out of personal passion for running.  Anyone who has met them can verify that they only do this for one reason.  I had the chance to look at the magazine at one of their events.

Working in publishing myself (and producing a quarterly high quality magazine too), I was immediately impressed with the quality and scope of the publication.  The design of the publication is sophisticated, while the graphic design and photography is impeccable.  

Content wise, I was enthralled and immediately bought issues two and three (issue one had sold out) to finish reading them at my own leisure.  There were a huge diversity of runners writing for them, from Scott Jurek, Emilie Forsberg, Robbie Britton, Killian Jornet, James Adams and Ian Corless.  The stories were hugely personal and really caught the spirit of running - I was sold.

I've never been a competitive runner.  Racing has never really enticed me (although this year, I’ve started to remedy that) and I’ve only ever run for the sheer love of running (and camping).  As Matt Ward of Salomon put it to me when we spoke (and also describing himself); I’m a soul runner.  Searching for the perfect trail is more important to me.  Like the Wind really resonated with me on a personal level - reading about why people run was what I wanted.

My paths cross at running events with the Freestak team fairly frequently and they’re a nice lot.  Simon and Julie mentioned to me in passing that I should submit something as a contributer some time.  I didn't really take them seriously as I had seen the level of contributors they had and I certainly wasn't up there with them.  Still, I’m not one to miss out on an opportunity and as a realist, decided that if I wrote something and it wasn't used, then I could just put it on my website.

Not long after sending my submission, I received a really heart felt and kind email from Simon complementing me on the article and informing me that they would love to use it.  I was really quite surprised (for the previously mentioned reasons) and greatly honoured.  I bumped into him a week after at the Endurance and Running Show in Esher, and he was laughing as he had read it and enjoyed it without realising it was me; when he showed it to Julie, she reminded him as he hadn't noticed.

Issue 4 of Like the Wind Magazine came out in April 2015 and as usual, the design was stunning (as per the lead image).  I didn’t have a clue what the graphics were going to be for my feature as I hadn’t provided any photos and I was really excited to see what they were going to do with it.  Like the Wind allows their pool of graphic designers to choose which feature they would like to represent, which I love.

The first time I saw the issue was at a celebratory event that Freestak held for the launch of Issue 4 in Shoreditch.  Fortunately, I work just down the road, but unfortunately our babysitter bailed, so we brought our daughter along to join the festivities (but had to leave early as she was exhibiting the early warning signs of being about to hulk out).

We saw a good few people reading my article which was amazing to see and I had a couple of people who I already knew complement me too.  I even had the good fortune to meet the immensely talented Naomi Edmonson, who was responsible for the brilliant graphic design of my contribution.  Not only is she a talented artist but it also turns out a hard as nails ex-pro freestyle skier.

Have a look at more of her work on her website - Below is the amazing graphic she did for my contribution.

Issue 5 is now out and the magazine is going from strength to strength (although having reached it’s zenith at issue 4, of course) and if you’re a runner, the best read you’ll find.  With or without me in it.

Buy it - you won’t be disappointed.

Fast forward to about 6 years ago.  Socks were still just socks.  I was running a lot, but as a huge cynic of marketing spin, I dismissed running socks as a chance to put a really high price tag on a pair, despite the fact that they remained simply socks.  The Emperor’s new socks, if you will.

I had upped my mileage a fair bit at that time and had begun to suffer with blisters on the inside of the arch on my right foot, just behind my big toe.  Someone suggested not using Sports Direct’s most budget trainer socks.  I pointed out that I had in fact bought the pair in question from Asda, thus winning and losing the argument simultaneously.

After being bought a pair of proper running socks by said friend as a present, I was furious.  After a long run, I didn’t have a single blister and was proved entirely wrong.  They had single handedly made me excited about receiving socks as a present and simultaneously killed part of my childhood.

Perhaps I’m being a bit dramatic.  Moving forward; I love a good pair of socks now.

I recently got two pairs of socks by a company called 1000 Mile.  I had heard some extremely positive noises about them from friends in the military and hiking fraternity, but so far hadn’t heard much regarding their running kit.  Runners rarely talk about socks (unlike hikers) - they tend to bang on about trainers and races a lot more.

1000 Mile Socks have been around for a good 20 years, are UK based and a leading brand in hiking, military use, running, cycling, golf, general sport and health socks (diabetic and compression).  Even a cursory google search for blister free socks show that they have this market pretty well cornered, with a huge range of specialist fabrics and their anti blister ‘double sock’ design.

Thinking back to my earlier sock defeat, I decided to test another of my preconceptions - my mistrust of compression socks.  More on that later.

After some time looking at their extensive range (over 60 different socks on offer, with varying levels of fabric, drying time, padding etc. for even the most discerning customer), I opted for the 1000 Mile Fusion Sock and the 1000 Mile Compression Sock.

Upon first inspection, the Fusion Sock appeared no different to other running socks I have, however it’s actually a double sock.  A sock within a sock.  The two layers are made to move independently of each other in order to stop friction occurring against your skin.  The outer layer (57% Nylon, 41% Tactel® 2% Spandex) is more padded for support and the inner layer is thinner and more breathable (100% Tactel®).

If I’m entirely honest, it felt a bit weird when I played with them; almost as if they were going to bunch up, but went on just fine and didn’t bunch even once.

After about two months of solid running in varying conditions, I can safely say that they’re a fantastic running sock.  They’re extremely comfortable, I haven’t had a single hot spot or blister.  A major concern of mine was whether the double sock would cause my foot to slide and therefore bang my toenails against the front of the shoe (this happens when I lube my feet and subsequently lose toenails), but this didn’t happen at all.  I’ve done several 30 mile runs in them and my feet are still good as new (well, as good as a runners feet should be anyway).  Fantastic.

The 1000 Mile Fusion Sock fared well in wet conditions and even pretty well in muddy runs through a forest, which surprised me.  I wouldn’t wear them for a muddy obstacle race as although they’re extremely well designed, I honestly believe that mud and grit would find a way into that double layer.  Still, they aren’t designed for that purpose.

All in all, a fantastic running sock and I’ll most likely be using them at the Calderdale Ultra next week.

The 1000 Mile Compression Sock was a mental obstacle to overcome.  

I’ve always been skeptical of compression gear.  Sure - the science supports compression gear for aiding in recovery, reducing discomfort, swelling and the risk of embolisms.  This is why they’re used in hospitals.

There is a lot of marketing about compression gear reducing muscle oscillation (bounce, causing micro tears) and increasing blood flow to the muscles making them more efficient.  There is little in terms of empirical evidence to support this.  I also believe that your body can’t be made more efficient by things such as compression gear and “detox smoothies”.  If your feet swell up on a long run, surely they’re supposed to in order to better cushion vulnerable muscles?  Also, I’m slightly scared of what they other boys will say when they find out I wear tights.  Compression socks too.

Still, I gave them a shot - what harm can it do.  

It turns out, none.  The 1000 Mile Compression Socks are extremely comfortable and are fantastic to run in.  They’re comfortable, they don’t ride down and I only have good things to say about them.

Do I believe they made my legs more efficient?  No.  I’m still not sold on that concept, but they’re still a great running sock and I also found a good alternative to running tights in hot weather as an effective barrier against stinging nettles, for those of us who like forest runs.

The real revelation came to me after running.  I had tested out the compression socks first and when I moved on to the Fusion Socks, I decided to try using the compression socks for recovery.

This could be placebo, or it could be compensation bias as I trust in the peer reviewed studies that confirm that compression socks aid in recovery.  Still, I am now a convert.  They feel great after a long run.

I don’t wear them after every run, but I do wear them after every long run.  Regardless of whether it’s imagined or real, I genuinely seem to recover a little faster and my aching legs seem to ache slightly less when they’re on.  Hugs for your calves.  Great stuff.

All in all, I’m impressed with 1000 Mile’s Socks.  Two very different designs but two extremely well made socks.  I’ll be trying out some others in their range in future and you might see me in tights more often.

I had also invited a personal team including friends Bonny Sentrosi, Megan Steblecki, Trish Haylock-Vize, Robin Nash and Steve Skinner.

The coach ride up was a good chance to get to know each other better and upon approaching the race track, Simon gave us a quick run down of the itinerary.

We were being put up, courtesy of Red Bull (thank you!) at the Snoozebox Hotel, owned by Formula 1 superstar David Coulthard no less - the very man who would be attempting to run us down the following day.  The hotel is a load of shipping containers stacked up and converted into nifty little rooms; a double bed, a single bunk bed, a wardrobe and an en-suite.  Far from spacious, but extremely cosy.  Kind of like glamping.

Dinner had been put on for the evening and took the form of barbecued meats and salads, which was lovely.  A load of other guests invited by Red Bull from famous BMXers (badass Shanaze Reade below) to climbers were staying with us too, which was interesting.  We had a few beers but I decided it would be far too easy to get over excited at the bar with so many nice people around and got an early night.

Breakfast was served between 7-9 and then we jumped on the bus to the track.  Registration was really quick and then we went to the cafe to get ready.  A few friends of mine who I had invited along to the race had met up with my wife, daughter, mum and dad, who were attending to spectate, so we had a little catch up before the race began. 

Mum, Lenora, Dad, me, Trish and Bonny (Sammy behind the camera; no idea where Megan is!)

Tom, Charles, Russell, Laura and Emma after checking in

Checking in with Tom

Team pre race shot! 

And another!

Moving to the start line was kind of surreal.  Being on a formula one track as famous as Silverstone at the actual start line was a strange feeling.  I was chatting to Charles right at the front and taking some photos, with my family spectating from next to the start line too.  My daughter can be seen in purple in the first photo of this post sucking on the fence next to Megan’s son Alex.

Meanwhile, a few friends were getting ready further back and my wife had found Megan, throwing up gang signs in full effect.

As I've mentioned before, I never really race.  Fastpacking trips and going out for long runs exploring new places is my things.  I’m not a very fast runner, but will happily trundle indefinitely.  The Redbull Wings for Life event was exciting for me as it was the opposite of what I like to do.  If I ran at my usual pace, I wouldn't get to run as far as I’d like - in order to run a preferred distance, I’d have to up my pace.

I was thoroughly enjoying the company of friends chatting away at the start of the race, not really thinking about what was happening.  My family were next to me taking photos and my daughter was blowing kisses and trying to eat the wire mesh fence, cameras were going off etc.  The thought hadn't really crossed my mind that I was standing there with people who run twice as fast as me (I’m not kidding; Simon doubled my distance, Charles a little more and Tom ended up running more than 3 times as far as me) - schoolboy error.

Me, Tom, Charles and Simon at the start line

The race starting sort of took me by surprise and the realisation that I was going to have to peg it to not get trampled slowly dawned on me.  As the race started everyone kicked of at a blistering pace (for me).  According to my watch, I did the first km in 4:15, the second in 4:45 and  5 minutes.  I had planned to try and keep a pace of 5:30 min per km, so blew a tyre almost immediately trying really hard not to look like a massive tool.  Still, at least I was in some photos.  Oh, the vanity.

Tom at the front - this essentially sums up the entire race, start to finish

Me on the right and Steve Skinner on the left.  As Steve got to 37km and was 13th in the UK, you can probably guess that I didn’t see him for very long

My heart was in my mouth and I was not in a good way.  I was slightly despondent that I had fallen foul of the first rule of racing - don’t go out too fast.  I like to think I’m pretty good at pacing, but then I also am pretty good at underestimating how much of a dick I am.

After speaking to Kate (who later went on to be the women’s race winner) the night before she made me laugh by telling me a mantra someone told her that really helps when she’s in pain, which was ‘don’t be shit’ - apparently it had a good rhythm to it.  It actually really helped me pull through and I started to feel a little bit less like I was dying of ebola.

Tom, Emma and Jen

At about 8km, I was on the verge of getting my game face back on when Trish pulled up alongside me, looking as perky and joyous as always.  She wasn’t even sweating.  I hated her intensely.  We had a little chat and I explained that I had blown a tyre and was just coming through the other end, but she should carry on.  I didn’t see her again.

Trish on the far right

9km in (aproximately), we left the race track.  I had enjoyed the novelty of being in Silverstone, however suddenly being confronted by lovely countryside and a massive downhill, my spirits soared.  

Not me, but someone considerably more photogenic to emphasise how lovely it was to leave the track

I love running down hill.  As my friend Andy once informed me on a fastpacking trip; downhill running is a golden triangle of technique, lack of fear and stupidity.  He explained that I was extremely fortunate as although I lack technique, I have the other two in spades.

With my heart rate finally reigned in, my position amongst similarly paced runners and the joy of not only nailing a load of people on the huge downhill, but also a fair few on the following uphill (I like hills), things were starting to finally tip in my favour.

We ran through villages where the locals cheered us on (some high fives from toddlers were particularly effective at giving me a huge boost) and some lovely fields.  I continued to take great pleasure at seeing how many of the runners were really suffering on the hills.

Meanwhile, Bonny...

...and Megan

Towards the end of my race, I had got into some friendly banter with an extremely tall muscle bound fella and an extremely petite lady who had run past us and shouted ‘try to keep up lads!’ whilst whooping and running off.  Although it was all friendly, we had stabilised our pace and proved to be a pretty even match.  As someone who hardly ever races, I really enjoyed the banter.

Remembering what Tom had told me about last year’s winner, apparently he had hung behind the person in first place and then rushed him just as the car was overtaking.  I decided to use a bit of deception as the competition was taking it’s toll, so I said to the lady ‘I think you've done me!’ and let her and the fella pass.

Hanging back and getting my breath back a little, I heard the cyclists start to warn of the car approaching.  As they passed me, they made a few cheeky comments to us to drive us on.  I fantasized about their demise.

As I normally run much longer distances and was just shy of 17km (my issue was pace and heart rate, rather than muscle fail), I still had plenty left in the tank.  I put on a sprint and passing my two unknown competitors, shouted ‘try and keep up ladies!’ - I heard them laugh and thankfully never saw them again.  I managed to pass about 25 people (not that I was counting) as almost everyone around me seemed to have paced themselves to their limit.  It felt fantastic to be the only one in sight really racing the car and I absolutely loved it.

Starting to realise that the sprint I had put on for the car was actually matching the car’s own speed, it dawned on me that I might end by blowing up and then lying on the floor weeping as the car passed by.  Not the dramatic end I was hoping for.  I reeled my pace in a little and finally was gunned down by Coulthard with a passing high five just shy of 18km.

I was originally aiming for about 18km before I realised how hilly it was going to be, so I was super pleased with my result.

The bus picked us up about 500m down the road and we headed back to the track - I met some nice people on the bus, but didn’t see my two competitors again.  For the journey back, I sat down next to a fella who turned out to be Ned Feehally of Beastmaker fingerboards who was a thoroughly nice fella.

Meanwhile, Kate was still knocking out some impressive kms

After some shots with friends post race and to see my family off, I headed up to the bar to catch up with the team.  It turns out everyone was super happy with their results - Bonny knocked out an impressive 12.43km (after a year of surgery and weight gain, aiming for 10km), Megan with around 15km (also aiming for 10km) and Trish who smashed an impressive 22.5km. 

Obligatory staged start line photo 

The bar had a bit of a party vibe going on and everyone there was pretty amped up following the race.  I was greeted by the amazing news that our Kate had won the women’s gold with an amazing 35km.  Of course, I mugged her for the trophy and sash.

I caught up with a few friends I hadn’t known were there, chatted to some others I had spoken to on Twitter before but not in real life (high five, Rachel Bonner of RachRunSmiles) and enjoyed a bit of down time with the team.  Charles had managed an extremely impressive 41.96km making him 513 globally, 4th in the UK and officially the fastest Charles globally on the day.  Tom, of course, was still pounding out the distance looking entirely relaxed.

The big man himself - David Coulthard

David Coulthard was a complete gentleman - he stuck around for the party, engaged everyone in conversation and was just a generally nice fella.  A real honour to meet such a huge racing legend and all round good bloke.  Someone asked him if it was weird to be driving so slowly at Silverstone and he replied to them saying ‘you obviously didn’t follow my racing career’.  Legend.

Finally, Tom came in at around 61km.  Absolute beast.  He said his legs were cramping from about 40km too and as usual was entirely humble and interested in how the race went for everyone else.

Medals, check.  Beers at the bar, check.

All in all, I had a great time, with some really great people.  The race is fantastic for people of all abilities - faster people get to run longer, slower people don’t have to run so far.  Having a car chase you really ups the excitement and drive to push yourself and a few beers after with like minded people really doesn't hurt.

Hopefully I’ll be back next year to see if I can get that little bit further.

I’m discovering the beauty of an accurate pace display (rather than the huge range of random figures I was presented with before), the more convenient placing on my wrist and the surprisingly and enormously superior GPS route function.  Although I’m still very early in the testing phase of this watch, suffice to say my thoughts of GPS watches has changed considerably and I’ve turned into a bit of a fanboy.

Next up is a kind gesture from Salomon - they saw that I was a fan of their X-Screams (they’re currently my main go to shoe for road and hard trail) after their Switch event at the end of summer last year which you can read here, and asked if I’d like to check out their updated model, the Salomon X-Scream 3D.  Of course, I accepted gratefully and am keen on seeing how the changes affect the ride - hopefully these will be my new shoe of choice for the upcoming Calderdale Way Ultra 50.  They should be arriving any day now and I’m a little nervous - trying an updated model of a shoe I love always fills me full of dread in case the changes are bad ones and I have to panic buy all their old stock.  Only time will tell.

1000 Mile Socks have been kind enough to send me over two pairs; one of their compression socks and the other of their Fusion sock model.  The Fusion is quite unlike any sock I've ever run in; at first I wasn't sure as the double layer is really quite clear but after extensive trialing/punishment they’re holding up extremely well; as are my feet.  More on these to follow.

Nice socks, pasty legs - the horror

In an exciting twist, I had been speaking to someone about my newly found interest in packrafting and it’s potential applications for fastpacking trips (again, this is something I’ll be hopefully covering in more detail soon - so much to do!) and Ultimate Performance suggested that I might like to try their Thor backpack.  

The Thor backpack is essentially a drybag made into a high quality 28litre backpack/daysack.  It’s the perfect size for a fastpacking trip; it’s only 635 grams (as well as saving the weight of having to use additional dry bags) and from my estimation could also double up pretty well as a flotation device.  Exciting stuff!  

Finally, my Ashmei gear arrived.  I love this stuff.  It’s so pretty it makes me feel like Gollum.  I got a hoodie and running jersey, along with a new pair of socks.  So far, I’m thoroughly loving the fact that for my commute to work I can dry it in the hand dryer at the gym and run home in it without smelling as bad as I did before.  I hate myself for admitting I do that in a public forum.

So all in all, I’m feeling like the Gods of running are smiling on me at the moment.  Loads of gear to test and review, along with some great events and runs coming up.  

It’s nice to have support from big companies for my upcoming races, fastpacking trips and events throughout the year, but it’s also nice to get to trial gear so that you don’t have to.  I try and be as honest as I can about a product and if I don’t have anything good to say, I’d just not review it.  As my mum always said ‘If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all’.

Plus, it’s starting to look a lot like summer.

It wasn’t as much of a surprise to Simon as to some people I’ve said it to (”What?  You’ve run 35 miles with two days worth of camping gear but not 26.2?”) as we’ve chatted before about where my interests lie (the clue is in the website title) but it did start to reverberate with me.  Maybe I was missing out?  Would it be fun?  Could it be a good impetus to stop being lazy and actually put together training plans?  

Seemingly reading my mind (probably not that hard; I expect I had a vacant look on my face) Simon suggested doing the Redbull Wings for Life race.  He explained the concept, which I’ve already written about here and I was taken in by what a great idea it was and accepted.

As my friend Matt (of Ride,Life,Run) and I walked around the trade show (I’ve remembered; it was at the Running and Endurance Show in Esher) I started to really warm to the idea about training for a run.  

As the day was ending we were approached by a lovely team of people who did a fantastic job of pitching a race around Halifax called the Calderdale Way Ultra.  The showed us drone footage of the event last year and the route looked fun, so we took some leaflets.  It’s a 50.5 (I love it that they bother with the 0.5) mile ultra race around the Calderdale Way (for those that hadn’t guessed); a circular trail that goes around Halifax and the scenery looks stunning and a little hilly.

Matt and I ran back to London from Esher following the event and discussed doing an ultra together over a few/many pints when we got back.  The following day, Matt had signed up so I couldn’t really refuse.

Less than two months away, the Calderdale Way ultra is looming.  I’m very excited - although I've run ultra distance a fair few times carrying heavy kit, I've never had the pressure of cut off times (I rarely even look at the time), other runners, pacing and all that jazz to consider before.  I/We usually run until we’re hungry, stop for a picnic, repeat until we want to sleep and continue the following day.  

This is new turf for me and I can’t wait.  

Recently, Suunto gave me one of their new Ambit3 Run models to test out, which I’ve mentioned before here.  I’ve already tested it out a few times and so far, I’m amazed with it; I’ve always been sceptical about the dodgy looking line that high end GPS watches use for navigation (I usually use an iPhone with MapMyRun and a portable charger) but have been amazed at how much better it is.  I’m officially a convert.  So, for any Suunto Ambit users out there, I’ve uploaded the official race .gpx file and edited in the check points so if you’d like to use it, please feel free on the link below.

Suunto Movescount Calderdale Way Ultra 50.5 Route

Anyway - Big thank you for Simon for giving me the impetus to change my ways, to Matt for prompting me to sign up and to John for organising the event.