First fell races

[Stolly]

Wear em round the house and for driving, in fact as much as you can till you don't notice them.

Last night I was doing exactly this with my brand spanking new, virginal Walshes as I coincidentally was browsing the forum whilst also coincidentally wearing an old tour of pendle T shirt. My daughter and her boyfriend happened to wander into the room and notice all of this and then proceeded to mercylessly taunt me about "dressing up" to go on a fell runner forum .

Equally I dress up as Hans Solo when I get all geeky about Star Wars on the internet.............

[Guick Dotto]

Today I am mostly wearing pyjamas

[Louisa]

Just thought I'd post a quick update because I'm quite pleased with myself . I ran 15.6k with 667m of ascent yesterday. That's the furthest I've ever run. And i was carrying a little pack with water etc, which I've never done before. I found it hard but I did it .

Anyway, I'm definitely up for Arenig Fawr. I've calculated that, at the same pace that I did yesterday, I could manage this in 1 and a half hours which looks acceptable. Obviously much can depend on the weather. Conditions couldn't have been better yesterday morning. The views from the Offas Dyke footpath behind Prestatyn were fab .

And I wore my mudclaws properly for the first time (apart from the round the house which everyone sensibly suggested - thanks for the advice). No blisters and the grip was fab. Three of the others slipped and fell but I had no problems with the slippy bits at all.

[XRunner]

Today I am mostly wearing pyjamas

Wear em round the house and for driving, in fact as much as you can till you don't notice them.

Did anybody notice them?

How will the police react if they stop your car and you are only wearing pyjamas but don't notice this fact?

[Guick Dotto]

As long as you remember to put the bottoms on I don't think they'll be that bothered.
(I had flu last week. That's why I was posting in the middle of the day. Hope I can get a run in by Wednesday.)

[dominion]

Anyway, I'm definitely up for Arenig Fawr. I've calculated that, at the same pace that I did yesterday, I could manage this in 1 and a half hours which looks acceptable. Obviously much can depend on the weather. Conditions couldn't have been better yesterday morning. The views from the Offas Dyke footpath behind Prestatyn were fab .

....Well did you run 1hr30? I barely scrapped under after an absolute dire run!

[Louisa]

No, not quite. I did 1 hr 40 mins and, given that the ascent went on much longer than anything I've done in one go before, I was quite pleased with that . And, as my husband's just pointed out, I managed to go the wrong way, twice, had to stop to tie my shoe laces tighter, and fell-over , so I could have done it a bit faster.

I'm more pleased than anyhting because I didn't bottle out. I was seriously considering it last night . Anyway, i didn't and I'm now feeling very pleased with myself. Just celebrating with curry and wine

[wheezing donkey]

Well done Louisa! You were still wearing a lovely smile as you went by the dam, where I was doing the head count of runners out onto the mountain. And I never spotted you again as I swept the course and collected the flags! I guess you must have headed for home before I made it back to the quarry.

[Louisa]

Thank you
...and thanks for saying 'hi'

I kept smiling all the way round - for some strange reason (when I could manage to get enough oxygen to smile anyway!). I suppose because I was so pleased with myself for not bottling out.

We left straight after the prize giving because I was getting cold. I should have changed out of my sweaty gear a bit sooner really! A lesson learnt for next time

Now I've taken the plunge I'm sure I'll see you at another race.

[wheezing donkey]

Certainly. Do not be afraid of going OTT by taking loads of dry warm gear to change into after a race. You will have noticed that all the top runners, including Lloyd Taggart the winner, once dried off, were all wearing fleeces or fibre pile shirts, many with duvet jackets over the top, plus gloves AND thick, warm hats. Looking after yourself post race is just as important as during the race.

Ian.