A up all
Is fell running suitable for an accident prone 40+ yr old?
I have walked/jogged round a few challenge events, up to 40 miles, average fitness and have the usual middle age war wounds.
I am never going to be a contender but fancy a go.
Cheers sbrt
(1st post)
From someone who didn't start running seriously until after his 40th birthday, who's sat reading the Sunday papers whist icing a sore knee after yesterday running the Three Peaks and proudly finishing in the last 100 or so I'd say you sound an ideal candidate for fell-running. If you love being outdoors and are already doing 40ml challenge events you'll probably love it!Originally Posted by sbrt
Suggest you go back through the beginners pages and you'll find plenty of tips and advice, including races in the area. Have a go and good luck!
Thanks for the encouragement.
...and I didn't start until my late forties, after two years of being unable to run at all due to ankle damage. Like Derby Tup, I did the Three Peaks yesterday as well (only more slowly). So it's certainly worth having a go. Choose races that are local and low-key enough to cater for 'ordinary' runners (rather than just elite ones) to begin with. Choose shorter races at first so that if you do find yourself towards the back of the field, at least you'll keep someone in sight. (I only say "if"... you might be a natural and storm through!)
If you've done LDWA type events though, they're not very different from some of the longer fell races. It depends on your ratio of walking to jogging. It's true that LDWA events don't have the steepest,roughest gradients and terrain of category A fell races, so B or C might be better initially.
You'll be fine, I didn't start until I was 50. And if you're accident prone, it's much less painful falling down on a grassy muddy fell than on a road, well usually.
If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.
George Orwell
Is there some age-related one-upmanship going on here?!
I'm expecting the next posting to say "I didn't begin fell running until I was 87, when the brakes failed on my wheelchair on top of Helvellyn..."
You were lucky! I didn't start until I was 47 when I chose to lose my virginity to the 3 peaks in 2004.............. disappointingly and embarrassingly so, as of course is so often the case.
After trying the 3P on two more occasions in 05 and 07, the next (non-3 peaks) fell race I ever attempted was Borrowdale last summer, followed by the Langdale Horseshoe in October and the Full Tour of Pendle in November. In retrospect I might have chosen a more 'comfortable' introduction to the sport for myself but I've loved every near death experience of it all.
I think I know what I'm doing now
Oh and don't let hardened fell runners poo poo you - if you think you can hack it, have a go....... but don't blame me when you wish you hadn't.
Last edited by Stolly; 27-04-2008 at 11:26 PM.
I don't think there are any "hardened" fell runners who would poo poo anybody. One of the things that attracted me to the sport is how egalitarian it is. The achievement is in doing the course. How fast is secondary (maybe tertiary, after one's performance in the pub), and the winners really do hob nob with all the mere mortals. Long may it remain so.
Thanks all.
Being a plodder I would expect to be just making up the numbers.
is this ok?
The Helvellyn wheelchair ride sounds good.
Well I got a little bit of a poo pooing when I first joined the forum, mentioned I intended to run Borrowdale as a last minute entrant and then proceeded to ask a series of daft questions.
Admittedly looking back I was a bit of a twat and thoroughly deserved the poo pooing (all this poo poo talk is fast reminding me of an episode of Blackadder) but, that said, at the time I knew pretty much nothing about fell races and had thought asking a few questions before a race like Borrowdale might be a good idea. One or two people then latched onto my noobness and jumped to the conclusion that I knew nothing about running in the hills and that I was probably a serious accident waiting to happen
They were right of course
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