It's not very often that I venture that far from home, but back in the summer when I was casting my eye around for stupid things to do, I spotted the Celtic Ultra trail Marathon. 33 Miles of scenic South Wales countryside, starting from just outside Port Talbot and finishing at Dare Valley Country Park in Aberdare.
Now under normal circumstances I wouldn't bother making the 130 mile trip from home just for a bit of a run, but, thinking ahead, I realised that I could tie this in with a pre Christmas visit to "The Boy", who just happens to live down that way. Result all round thinks I. A couple of nights away in the van, a bit of a run and a chance to get to see his Nibbs, what's not to like about that.
Well, I'll tell you what's not to like about that, South Wales is bloody hilly, and todays run was bloody hard work! That's what's not to like about that.
No, I'm messing with you, it was hard, but it was bloody brilliant at the same time. Although I must confess that the day didn't get off to the best of starts, and I nearly didn't get there at all. Having travelled down on Friday night, I only had a 5 minute drive to the start from my overnight hideaway according to Google. Even so, with the bus to the start leaving at 06:45, and the need to check in and pick up race numbers beforehand, it was still a pretty early alarm call. What our friends at Google neglected to tell me was that their route ended up nowhere near the start, but instead ended at a locked gate, down a steep single track road, with no turning places, which called for some careful reversing skills in the dark I can tell you. Not to be outdone though, after having driven round in circles for 5 minutes trying to work out how to get to the start, I came across another dozen people in the same boat, one of whom was on the phone to his mate who allegedly knew the way. Luckily, it turns out that he did indeed know the way, and a few minutes of playing follow my leader, down ever winding roads eventually got us all to the start location with a few minutes to spare.
Van parked, number collected, last minute kit adjustments made, and onto the bus for the 45 minute drive down to the start location. I wouldn't have wanted to be the bus driver mind, as he had some pretty narrow and steep roads to negotiate. But, by 08:00 we were safely at the start and stood shivering in the cold early morning air, waiting for the off.
Once we finally got going it didn't take long to start wishing that maybe we hadn't, as the road started off uphill and just got steadily steeper for a good couple of miles, which set the scene for the rest of the day. One big long uphill struggle!
Whilst it was nearly all uphill, some of it so steep you could barely walk, let alone run, it was a beautiful route. The odd glimpse of the sea early on was soon replaced by steep sided valleys and mountain tops, before eventually progressing onto more open moor land with wind turbines and forestry plantations dotting the trail side.
Industry meets landscape, with wind and tree's replacing the once mighty coal which once ruled this part of the country and bought fame and fortune for the South Wales Valleys. Coal from this part of the world once powered both the railways and the mighty British Navy, with South Wales Steam Coal being famed the world over for it's clean burn and high calorific output. No more, does Coal rule the roost though, with the pit's long gone and the landscape turned over to leisure, mountain bike tracks and harnessing the ever present wind power!
With a mix of forest gravel roads, steep single track and loose scree, today had everything you could wish for (except downhill), the sun shone with enough strength to just about keep the icy wind at bay, and with the ground mostly dry underfoot, I couldn't have asked for better running conditions.
By mile 26 I'd started to get caught by the later starting 20 mile and half marathon runners, not an ideal situation to be in and unusually everyone seemed to be carrying the same style of numbers, making it impossible to know if you were being caught by runners in your race, or from one of the shorter distances. Do I need to try and keep pace with them, or can I let them go? Am I trying to chase down someone with a marathon in their legs, or 5 miles? There's only one solution to any of those dilemmas and that's to just keep on running your own race. Too fast and I'll be on my knees before the end, too slow and I'll be going backwards through the field. Forget everyone else and just worry about me!
By mile 28 my legs were really starting to feel it and I'd heard a rumour that there might actually be a bit of down hill at some point. Coming into the final checkpoint I got caught out on one of my own japes though, when I jokingly said to the marshal "I've heard it's all down hill from here". To which she replied, "Sure is". That got my attention right enough and questioning it with a keen "really" got the old " Apart from the big uphill bit for the next 3 miles" response. Dam you, caught with my own wit, or lack of.
Oh, well, uphill or not, there's only one way to get there and that's pushing on. I will admit that there was finally a bit of downhill, a mile or so from the end, although I'm pretty sure that if we hadn't started descending at that point, oxygen would have been required, as we seemed to be well and truly in the clouds! One last push to the line saw me home in 5:20:20 for 6th place from the 138 starters. But no matter where I came or how long it took, I wouldn't change anything about todays run though. It was a stunning route, through beautiful countryside, which even on a cold Decembers day, took your breath away. This one's certainly getting logged away in the memory banks for another visit some day. Although maybe a bit more hill training is required before then.
As I climbed back the way I'd come during the day in the van, on my way to my overnight stop, the sun was just setting. Sometimes you've just got to stop and watch as the day end's. Unfortunately, my phone camera doesn't really do it justice, but you'll get the idea from the pictures below.
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Paul PerrattOld enough to know better, young enough to still feel invincible, stupid enough to keep on trying the same thing again and again. Cyclist, Gardener, Runner, Hiker, Cook, Woodworker, Engineer, Jack of all trades and master of none, Anti social old git and all round miserable bugger. Archives
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