Saturday 10th October. Hardmoors virtual Fryupdale marathon. 31.6 miles, 7 hours 20 (average 13.55 minutes per mile), 1,030m of ascent (32.6m of ascent per mile).
We checked into the Yorkshire Cycle Hub and headed down the drive to the road for our start. We both put rain jackets on as it felt cold and looked dull about us. As usual Andy took his off quite quickly when the rain shower eased off. I kept mine on not tempting the fate of knowing it would rain again as soon as I did.
The official start of the virtual race is at the bench so we turned right and headed to the bench took a quick photo and headed back past the entrance to the Cycle hub. The route was undulating initially on the road for a mile then climbed up to the ridge line that would take us to Blakey Ridge and the Lion Inn. We’d done most of the route in reverse in July but skipped the bit down to the cycle hub so I knew what to expect from here on. I was delighted to get to 9 miles in just under 2 hours, 5 minutes quicker than last week and we were taking it easy!
I was impressed by the mountain bikers coming down on our narrow, very steep track up to the ridge and it was lovely seeing lots of hikers heading east.
We spent the day dancing between rain showers and slices of bright sunshine. Lo cloud was mostly in the valleys around us so we didn’t always get a good view. Rainbows teased us into thinking the day was brightening up just for another rain shower to hit us.
After the Lion Inn we had a long, cold, flat section on the old railway line. I remember it seemed to take forever to get to the pub in reverse so wasn’t surprised by how long the section was before we turned right and headed north downhill. I’d hardly drunk anything but also felt hungry so had a piece of sweet naan bread left over from our trip to Prashad the night before. The downs were tricky preventing our average pace from improving much plus I still didn’t have the umpf I was missing last week.
Over the golden covered moor and down to Castleton and a good long flatish section to Danby. The memories were flooding back of the route. I suddenly realised we were joining the half marathon route that we’d done with Kipper as we approached the visitor centre. We both pushed ourselves up to the beacon keeping the average pace under 14 minute mileing. It was definitely the flat sections between the hills that allowed us to get to 4 hours and 5 minutes for 18 miles!
Andy slipped ahead easily towards Leaholm as I munched on a chia bar soon followed by more naan bread trying to get more energy. A flat section to the railway line then the final big climb. I was impressed to see Andy running past me up the the village but he wanted to get in a marathon under 6 hours. I started running again and was seconds too slow. That climb up wasn’t as bad as I expected. I slowly ran on up the hill and only really walked the steeper sections. Andy was teasing me that we might get back by 5pm for hot chocolate and cake, I was sure the cafe shut at 4. Why hadn’t we asked for cake to be put aside!
The final 2 miles to the cycle hub we’d done in the dark last time and struggled to find the path. The route on my GPS didn’t tally with what we had to follow but I kept going knowing we were close to it and we soon joined GPS trace and path under foot. A very slippy, tricky downhill slowing our pace further down to the road. I was delighted to keep running on the road despite there being 3 steep climbs pushing every last step. It was just gone 5, we’d managed 7 hours 20 for 31.5 miles! Such a strong finish compared to last week, I was delighted!! 69 m’s more ascent this week than last Sunday but over 4 more miles which only added 35 minutes onto our time, averaged 13.55 minute miles today but 14.39 minutes last week. I felt strong all day despite lacking the push to move faster on the down I didn’t ever feel as low as last week.
We stretched, washed our shoes and headed in for warm showers and recovery shake. WiFi was limited so Andy read to me then we heated up the chilly and settled down to watch Wild Rose before more Knife Edge and sleep by 10.
Sunday 11th October. Other half of the Farndale marathon. 21.24 miles 5 hours 18 (14.48 minutes per mile), 701m of ascent (33m of ascent per mile).
The cycle hub spoiled us with their breakfast bap. 3 veggie sausages, mushrooms and tomatoes. I made coffee for the journey but we also drank a Cafetiere of coffee in the car made from their self catering kitchen. We bought some carrot cake for later.
We parked where the half leaves the road on the long drag up as we didn’t need to do the section from Hutton Le Hole via Gillamour again. We headed down the road to warm our legs up and took the turn for the marathon. My right heal ached a little bit not like last week. My left hamstring soon eased and I was pleased with our speed. Andy didn’t think he’d done this version of the marathon but I had memories of a couple of sections which may overlap from other races. Road initially then fields and a few sharp turns as we headed east. The rain held off just a few sharp showers, we were mostly warm. Low cloud filled a few views but improved as the day did.
I remembered my errors from last time plus told Andy the tale of my 2nd lady finish last time as Alison, who eventually won, and I crisscrossed during the day. She was stronger downhill unfortunately!
We ran through a deserted farm which Andy felt was the blueprint for his ideal home. Sadly no road access and he felt it wasn’t quite the right location.
Initially the day rolled by but the second half as we headed back to the main edge track gave us the hills which slowed us. I was already saddened that 8 miles took us more than 2 hours but still impressed on my energy levels compared to 6 days ago!
I still have that slow trudge that doesn’t improve until downhill tarmac as I have that fear of tripping. Still over 2 days we’ve managed 53 miles in under 13 hours. Fingers crossed we can repeat that in weeks!
We picked up a restless Kipper from Sashas I had a hot bath as usual as Andy ordered a take away from the Thai Sun Inn. Kipper needed a walk before he finally settled down!
Making lifes adventures - Sarah Norman 