Diary of a middle aged runner

[Bierzo Baggie]

Yep, time to re-evaluate objectives, this is getting painful...

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Looking forward to reading all about it, BB!

[Bierzo Baggie]

2017, an increasingly fragile body is telling me that it’s time for a change.
Have always been an optimistic, glass half-full sort of bloke (I was well into my 30s when it dawned on me that I’d never play for West Brom). But reality will eventually permeate even the thickest skin of self deception.
Thoroughly enjoyed being free-spirited middle of the pack runner. Now as the middle of the pack disappears into the dust I’m grimly hanging on.
Expect fewer races this year and more moaning.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Have run 4 races so far in 2017 with two more to come. Don’t think I’ll risk any more.

January 1st. Race one  and my first encounter with the G-men.

The Morning After is a five mile fell race in the lovely hills around Church Stretton. I have been here several times before so there’s no need to say much about the race itself. Enjoyed the run as usual and was inside the final km when an old fellow overtook me. Now when it comes to racing I’m not excessively competitive and I certainly don’t mind being overtaken by people over 25 years my senior. No shame in that, only admiration. But up to now this has only ever happened in longer events where a sprightly, well-maintained 75 year old may benefit from a combination of training, experience and superior genetics. With the shorter distances an old ‘n should have no chance at all.

I’d always thought that I had a fairly decent sprint in me too and I felt OK so my plan was to tuck in behind and cruise effortlessly past him over the last 100 metres. Wrong. The bandy legged barstool pulled away from me as if I was standing still.

This was my first lesson of 2017, and it had only just started.

More than a little demoralized I decided to check out who the chap was on the race results page. 
Gary Gunner. Croft Ambrey running club. 1st in the over 70s category. 
Great name! Sounds like some war hero from a Boys Own comic. He certainly outgunned me.

Amazing guy it must be said, and then less than one week later I met G-man number 2….

[Bierzo Baggie]

Race 2
January 7th
Ludlow park run 
Welcome to the park run phenomena Bierzo Baggie!
First heard about it here on the RC forum. Discovered this one in the Mortimer Forest near Ludlow. Offroad, undulating, pleasant atmosphere and friendly people. It was all very low key. An eclectic group of about 60 ladies and gentlemen, kids and dogs had gathered below the pine trees. There was also the odd serious athlete looking a bit sheepish as if they had gate-crashed somebody’s party but this time they were the odd ones out..

Set off and soon discovered that in a park run I was in the top third of the field. In fact I was probably about 10th. If so, 9th was a 10-year old boy and some way behind me in 11th was, yet again, a guy in his 70s. As the race progressed I realized that history was going to repeat itself. I reeled in the 10-year old but granddad was getting closer with every stride and soon he was trotting, no, gliding along at my side. Pulled away on a downhill section but as the trail rose again over the final 500m he flew past me with embarrassing ease. I had no answer. There was no answer. For the second time in a week I had been outsprinted by an over-70.

This time I was determined to talk to the guy. And his name was indeed Guy. And he was a very nice Guy. Stop it.

In fact Guy was a Croft Ambrey runner just like GG (see previous entry). A well-spoken chap, he seemed to think a lot about what he was doing, how exactly he was running, etc..etc.. I listened and tried to learn something. In my 70s I want to be like Guy and Gary. Maybe it’s time to refocus my running.

[Bierzo Baggie]

So, if I am to emulate the G-men and prolong my running through middle age and beyond perhaps my first port of call should be Croft Ambrey running club. For there surely lies the fountain of eternal youth.

Googled it and discovered that Croft Ambrey is not actually a town but an ancient iron-age hill fort in Herefordshire. The running club probably encompasses several little villages between Leominster and the Welsh borders. And the G-men are components of its 3 man cross country team, bronze medallists at the British Masters cross country championships, a remarkable achievement for what is a tiny club in the middle of nowhere.

Of course El Bierzo is too far away to attend club nights….but maybe these villages have something in common. Who knows?
 
The runners of Croft Ambrey regularly meet at Croft Castle which is 3 or 4 miles away from the picturesque little village of Pembridge. Here my grandfather on my mother’s side was born and raised in a farm labourer’s cottage without electricity or running water. One day he quite literally took to his bike (pre-Norman Tebbit) and rode to the industrial Black Country to seek work and a new life.

My surprising discovery was that the G-men were from an area which I could at least partly make claim to as an ancestral home. That this loose connection is enough to guarantee remarkable running feats into my 70s I very much doubt, but hey, it makes for a nice anecdote.

Long live the G-men of Croft Ambrey!

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Have I missed something, BB? Have you returned to the mother country?

Regardless, you certainly seemed to have stumbled upon a fine assortment of motivating, older runners. I'd be very happy if I can still be running in my 80s, regardless of what distance or pace that might involve. And guess what? We still have a great many years of running ahead of us before we get there! It's all pretty exciting when you think about it!

[Bierzo Baggie]

No MLCM, I’m still in El Bierzo. Mum lives in Ludlow and I’m usually over for a few days at Christmas/New Year. Shropshire is a lovely part of the UK which I’ve only started to get to know well recently.

Race 3
February 4th
Ponferrada 5k, in support of cancer research.

Organized by Basurko the ultra running butcher this road race is a lap of the town, starting and finishing by the Ponferradina football stadium. This year it took place during a deluge.

I set off from the back and splashing through the puddles I worked my way up the field only to go backwards again over the last 2 kms.
The G-men would have done it differently. They would have started slowly, maintained a steady sensible pace right to the end and then they would have picked off a few cocky youngsters in the sprint.

I still have a lot to learn.

1 minute slower than last year. Worrying ache in right knee.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Race 4
The Alto Sil
March 19th

Should have skipped this one. But being one of the 12 Alto Sil “ever-presents” I’d been given a free entry and next year is the 10th edition so I had to finish to qualify.

Kept just ahead of the backmarkers and squeezed inside the cut-offs although I was struggling at the end. A niggling knee problem was playing havoc with my descending which meant that I was forced to push it harder uphill to make up time. By the time I reached the big climb of “Peña Negra” near the end I was exhausted. It was a similar scenario to last year. Grabbed a stick by the river and doggedly plodded onwards and upwards. I think I registered the slowest time in this section of the race out of all the 437 finishers.

When I finally got back to the village they were already queuing for the paella. I was 6th from last and my time was almost identical to last year’s. But last year I’d lost half an hour when the unfortunate Jorge fell and head butted a rock.
I didn’t previously know Jorge, although for a funny reason it felt like I did at the time. In fact I only shared a few monosyllables with the poor fellow as he drifted in and out of consciousness. Happily this year we were able to share some kilometres and chat in less stressful circumstances. And as Jorge descended the dreaded firebreak this year I noticed that a helicopter was buzzing overhead just in case.

My finishing time was nearly 6 hours. The winner was an American who finished in 2:37. That is a really amazing time when you consider the 33k, the 2000m ascent and the technical terrain. Those in the know say that Jim Walmsley is the best thing since sliced toast. Trail running fans the world over drool at the prospect of a head-to-head between Big Jim “el chulo” and “the monster of rock” Kilian Jornet, undisputed skyrunning champion of the world. This would certainly be the ultimate contest of our sport.

USA v Europe,
Trail v Mountain,
Born to Run v Feet in the Clouds…

It is unlikely to happen quite yet … the American is a runner and Kilian is a mountaineer.  Walmsley is preparing big races on the ultra circuit such as the Ultra trail du Mont-Blanc and the Hardrock 100 while Kilian is looking forward towards more specific challenges such as Billy Bland’s “unbeatable” Bob Graham Round record and the biggest madness of them all, a speed-climbing attempt on Everest.

All this lies ahead.

I trudge back to the car avoiding the massive queue for the post-race paella that snakes across the village square and tumbles downhill as far as the eye can see. At one point I’m forced to skip over a pair of exceptionally long legs. They belong to “El chulo” himself, the elite athlete-dude from Arizona, sitting on the floor supping a “litrona” of local lager from a plastic cup. He’s lean, he’s young, he’s the archetypal, free-spirited trail runner from the U S of A.
All that is lacking is the Krupicka Jesus-beard.

Big Jim Walmsley, remember the name.
 
https://www.facebook.com/Teamlogitrail/v...209805150/

(Facebook link WORTH VIEWING; Jim Walmslry reaching the top of Peña Negra. This man didn’t need a stick!).

[Bierzo Baggie]

Was going to run the Tebaida Berciana on Sunday, recorded many times here on the forum, much-loved at this time of year, with its  lush green scenery... then there was the mother of all bonfires. The forest fires have been raging since Wednesday, all very sad...

[Bierzo Baggie]

So, no Tebaida Berciana race tomorrow as the Tebaida Berciana has been burnt to a cinder. After 4 days the raging blaze has consumed over 2000 hectares of hillside, which roughly translates as 2000 football pitches, to give an idea.
A catastrophe.

Went for a jog around the river. My body gently complained. Overhead buzzed helicopters like mosquitoes.  Also the occasional yellow amphibious “scooper” aircraft they use when the fires get really bad. But the wind has dropped and today they should finally crack it.

It’s warm and dry and the ground is harder than it should be.
Spring came too early
The winds have been virulent and unpredictable.
And the farmer who reclaimed his pastures in the “traditional” way has been irresponsible and misled.
The villager who cleared her land was old and stubborn.
The pyromaniac forgot to take his medication.
The politicians had posed for photos whilst neglecting their duties,
The regional authorities who pulled the purse strings were short-sighted and tight fisted.
The UNESCO world heritage site campaign was ill-conceived and premature.
It was the perfect storm.
It was an accident waiting to happen.
The chronicle of a death foretold.

Excuses, excuses…

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Wow, that's tough luck about the fires and the race, BB. In one of those stop-and-make-you-think moments of synchronicity, last Friday I met Turia Pitt, an ultra marathoner quite famous here for being caught and horribly burned in a wildfire during a 2011 ultra event that wasn't cancelled when clearly it should have been.

This is what she looks like now, and this is why race directors (and runners!) need to be careful...



She's a lovely person by the way, and very inspiring. And of course, courageous.

[Bierzo Baggie]

That’s really terrible MLCM. And amazing determination to be competing again.
 
Don’t know the circumstances of the event you refer to in Australia but I can assure you that the last thing on anybody’s mind was a race. The flames tore up the Aquilianos mountains, destroying its most beautiful area and putting the lives at risk of everybody in the affected villages as well those responsible for putting it out. The “chimney effect” of a fire in the mountains makes it especially dangerous and unpredictable but what made this one different was the incessant wind which hardly stopped for 4 days. Nobody in their right minds would have entered the zone from Wednesday onwards. The army were brought in eventually.

This  photo was taken by the girl from the "Cantina" in Montes de Valdueza, a village bar where we end many of our routes.  They were quite literally surrounded by fire! 
Miraculously nobody was hurt. 

[Bierzo Baggie]

Taken before the fire.

[glaconman]

Blimey. Sorry to hear about all of this BB.

[Bierzo Baggie]

May draws to a close. 5 short runs locally and 3 longer excursions in the hills to record.

Route 1. The Tebaida Berciana.
Inspected the fire damage which affected zones that have periodically burnt as long as man has sought pastureland. Like much of El Bierzo.
 Sometimes things get out of control which was the case here.
 Ran through the charred remains of La Tebaida Berciana and over a post-run beer we spoke to Sara from the “cantina” who took the terrifying photo posted above. It’s bad, but some valuable areas of woodland have also survived so there is some room for optimism.
The race has been re-routed and re-scheduled for June.
https://goo.gl/photos/KFE8ZWHmAfpW1Mfx5

Routes 2 and 3. The Compludos.
More run-walk-stop-start-pissing around in a zone which has largely avoided fire devastation in recent years and the oak forests are significantly larger and healthier as a result. These were exploratory expeditions with view to joining 4 villages in the most imaginative way possible. It is still an ongoing project but the route is taking shape and would one day make for an excellent race circuit.  
https://goo.gl/photos/DRXWqHUqnsLCJNfq5
Aquilianos next Saturday, short route this year.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Aquilianos for the 21st time.
The short route this year had been extended to a nicely rounded 50k.  
Set out with a conservative strategy vowing not to get too excited on any of the early descents. Spoke to a few of the regulars over these first few pre-dawn kilometres, the dentist from the Dominican Republic included.
 
Then pushed on only accompanied by birdsong until an abrupt silence and the smell of charcoal signalled that we had reached Ground Zero. Hardly 6 weeks after one of the biggest forest fires in local memory a few optimistic green shoots were already poking through and speckling the blackened hillside. 
Got to Montes de Valdueza in good shape accompanied by Moses who had finished last in this year’s Alto Sil, beating the time limit by 20 seconds in a heroic rearguard action. We compared the two events.

The Aquilianos (at least the B-version) is very much a trail run. It’s longer but contains faster and far less technical terrain. Also there are no real “time-out” pressures to contend with. A lot of participants approach it as a daylong walking route and it indeed was just this for the first few editions. Then one day Pedro Lumberjack decided to run it as fast as possible and the rest is history.
 Didn’t visit “la Cantina” in Montes this time, there was more than enough to eat and drink on the tables they’d set out in the village car-park. Then, the final big climb up a wide forest track to the highest point of the circuit at 1400m. And onwards to Ferradillo, everybody’s favourite place to crash out and hang out with the cows.

Joined up here with Ruben the Russian, another Aquilianos veteran who with age and injuries had downgraded to the shorter route. He accompanied me on the long, muscle punishing descent until the next village, Rimor, where he disappeared to visit a relative. The food station at Rimor was well-stocked with delicious local cherries as usual. The humid conditions had meant that up to now I’d been drinking copious amounts of water, aquarius, coca cola (and beer!). Ate less, water melon, banana, an Iberian ham sandwich in Ferradillo...

As we left Rimor the first 2 runners on the long route shot past. They’ll have covered 15k more but with an extra 1500m of ascent.

The final section is the least attractive as you are eager to get to the finish. Moses caught up with me again. Felt OK but the big descent had made my right knee ache and I was walking most of the time. We finished in a shade under 7 hours. I estimate about 2 and a half hours were spent running, often sporadically. The winner returned to Ponferrada in 4:23.
One more race for me this year and then an extended rest.

https://goo.gl/photos/TGwN6hgiu59EMy5S7

[marathondan]

Outstanding as always BB. You make an offroad ultramarathon sound like a local 10K event. I can't imagine the idea of running an event 21 times. Well done for this edition, and for all those that have gone before.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Looks fantastic, BB (again!) ... congrats on your 21st appearance. Those cherries do look brilliant.

[glaconman]

Yes, That's an incredible record having run such a race 21 times. Chapeau to you. A real indication of your love and dedication to the sport.