By now a very familiar event, I still (mostly) enjoy the Bullock. As well as a good event in it's own right, it starts me thinking about the Fellsman just peeping over the horizon in the spring, and reminds me what I need to do before then.
A week back at work and she was back to the same levels of pain. Desk work really is bad for you. By this time we'd entered the BSH though, and a reassuring trip to the physio ('yes, you should go out and do this 56 mile ultra tomorrow, it's the best thing you could do') settled it.
We'd arranged to give fellow valley resident, Runfurther member and CVFR member Francis Wooff a lift to the start, so on saturday morning we set off around 9 and picked him up from the middle of Todmorden. We chatted about Bullock Smithy route things and previous years as we headed across the motorway and arrived in plenty of time for registration.
The Runfurther banners etc had already been set up by Nick, so I had nothing much to do. We registered and hung around the scout hut. Claire's friend Garth was there, so we sat down with him and talked about races.
At twenty to twelve we walked across to the field, collected our tallies and got ready to set off. There was the usual briefing, then the anvil was hammered and we were off running.
I set off at a brisk pace but from the back, so I overtook almost the entire field in the housing estate behind the park. There were brief pauses as I went along to say hi to various people then we were into the fields and the woods. In the woods I passed Nick, who was having a bad start to the day (he ended up retiring at Chinley Churn). I maintained around 6:30min/km for the first 10km or so, which was probably a bit quick but I was having a lovely time in the sunshine.
After Bowstones I dropped onto the path to the right and across the road & stream. As I climbed up the other side I noticed a few people coming in from the left, who'd carried on down the road. That's probably a route to try out.
I was feeling warm but strong at Chinley Churn. I chatted with a couple of guys on the climb who hadn't done the event before and pulled ahead at the CP. Picked up some crisps and put them in a plastic bag at the road side stop and marched on.
Coming down the path on the far side of the pass towards the long climb to Edale Cross it took me a few extra seconds to find the stile in the field corner - it's lower than I remembered. Another runner followed me off the path and down the hill.
Back up the other side and I pushed on up to the top. It's a long, gruelling climb but I think I took it a bit steadier than last year and arrived at the top in better shape, to be greeted by two volunteers and about a million flying ants.
I checked in, and headed onward down the heavily travelled path towards Edale.
Once I reached the road to Edale I pushed on quite quick, and arrived fairly soon. There was no one visible behind me. Ashok Gurung was just leaving the CP as I arrived. The CP layout was more restrained than last year, and I missed that there was rice pudding set out on the table. I popped inside and helped myself to a small portion without fruit, then thanked the volunteers and headed out again.
Run/walking up to Hollins Cross I still felt fairly fresh, and I dropped down the other side towards the gate, stopping for a pee halfway down.
At the gate I held it open for a quicker runner who was overtaking me (who I saw several times during the day) and promptly slammed my leg between the gate and the stone block next to it. 2nd time I've hammered my leg at this bloody gate! This time was a bit less painful than last year and after some swearing I got going again.
At Castleton the guy in front of me took the long way round by the road, while I sneaked through the carpark and appeared just in front of him. He was stopping to talk to his partner in the CP and I filled my bottles and, after thanking the volunteers for all their years of duty (it was their last year on the CP) I got going up that awful field out of the Devils Arse.
I followed my GPX on my watch up the field, catching up with Ashok & someone else at the top. They got ahead of me again as we followed the paths up through the fields past a group of people doing cartwheels.
We were seeing a lot of people finishing the Peveril/Limestone series at this point, climbing up the hill towards us as we descended. There was a short break in the people passing through during which a farmer enlisted me to open the gate while he herded his sheep through.
Approaching Peak Forest I passed someone walking. He'd run out of steam, no injury just unable to keep food down in the heat. I think he was heading for the CP to retire. I was still enjoying the heat although I was a little dehydrated.
The walk up the side of the road out of Peak Forest was worse than normal, with a transit van of aggressive knuckle-draggers taking issue with my presence. They got the appropriate gesture in response. Most motorists were considerate and safe though, and I was happy to reach the crash barrier and get over onto the field. For the next mile or so I ran with a guy called Phil whose wife was meeting him around the course.
I dropped down through the tracks to Millers Dale and stopped just long enough for water. Usually there is soup at this CP, but it has given me indigestion in the past so I wasn't disappointed by the lack of it. Could have done with a cup of tea though. Claire was very disappointed there was no tea at Millers Dale.
From here I struggled badly for a few miles. Climbing up from Millers Dale I was passed by two guys moving much more easily than me. I pushed myself on the climb and eventually had to sit down and eat some malt loaf. That perked me up a bit but I still had a good solid hour of "I'm shit at this, why the hell do I bother?".
Approaching Chelmorton someone asked me my name, then told me I was 9th, to which I responded "FFS, no wonder I'm tired!". In fact I'd been higher up the field last year. I was just tired because it was hot and I was really dehydrated. It was starting to cool off though, and I was conscious of my hydration and things were improving.
At Chelmorton I was feeling rough but on top of things. I filled up with water, ate a biscuit and walked on. Intending to walk for a couple of miles I started running again within a couple of hundred metres and cracked on towards Earl Sterndale.
Dropping down the road to Earl Sterndale I actually felt pretty good. Earl Sterndale is always a welcome sight in daylight. I stopped for 5 mins or so to get a cup of tea which I shoved in my bag to cool, ate a load of crisps and checked on Claire's location. She was about 30 minutes behind me - fantastic news but if I didn't want her to catch me I needed to get a move on. After the Fellsman I didn't want Claire to catch me up - we'd probably do the rest together and she might not achieve as good a time.
I hopped it out of Earl Sterndale. It's a short leg to Brand Top and I had plenty of daylight left. At Booth Farm I crossed over the paddock before the buildings only to hear the dogs going berserk. Muttering to myself that there's not much point bypassing the farm if the dogs go nuts anyway I clambered over into the boggy field to find two runners who'd followed the Bullock-supplied GPX file straight through the farm. In spite of asking us some years ago to be sure to bypass the farmyard, the organisers have never updated the GPX file to do that.
The runners in question were Ashok Gurung and another guy whose name I never did catch. I chatted with them on the way up to Brand Top and mentioned that I was planning on taking the easier route from 3 Shires Head. They elected to stay with me to avoid the nasty track past Cumberland Cottage so we stopped briefly at Brand Top to sort out lights and reflectives and on we went.
At 3 Shires Head we took the left hand path and the lower road crossing through the fields. I worked it out later to be 7 minutes faster than the right hand path, so it's one to stick with.
Coming down the road to Clough House Farm our companion ran ahead to meet his partner while Ashok and I followed. I was struggling a bit having perhaps pushed it too much to avoid holding up the other two, so wasn't very talkative. Apologies to Ashok if I wasn't very responsive at this point!
At Clough House Farm I needed a short rest. I told the other two to crack on, and I sat down for a cup of tea and some food to sort me out. Crisps, malt loaf and tea got me going again after 5 or 10 mins chatting with one of the volunteers. I was cold leaving the CP and there was a breeze coming up the valley so I put my windproof on. I was planning to walk for a mile or so. Once I got going I felt OK and started running again almost immediately, maintaining a good pace as far as Quiet Lane where I had to walk up hill anyway.
I walked briskly up Quiet Lane and towards Macc Forest. Climbing the stony track up to the summit I made a stupid mistake. I turned off to take the path under the edge of the trees and for some reason thought I needed to be through the gate. Obviously this was wrong, but I continued to follow the (lovely smooth but wrong) path through the woods for quite some way. At some point my misgivings reached the point where I needed to take action, and I took a MTB track up through the woods to regain the main path. This turned out to be quite gnarly in places, blocked by fallen trees, but eventually I made it out onto the track and ran down towards Walker Barn.
Looking to my left I could see lights. Some of them looked like they might have been torch lights, and I fretted that I might have sent Ashok & friend into the woods by giving them bad advice to go through the gate. As it turned out it was fine, they'd stuck to the track anyway.
Approaching Walker Barn I could see lights behind me, which I took to mean whoever it was had escaped (actually it was Orla Haigh who finished first female, and many times BSH veteran Julian Brown - they passed me at Rainow).
Walker Barn to Rainow I was tiring and unable to eat since I'd forgotten to refill my water at Clough House Farm. I was finding descent a bit difficult so I was slow. At Rainow I ate some crisps and refilled my bottle and felt better. I ran on through the complex of paths to Bollington and got on the canal.
I aimed to run the whole of the canal section and did, albeit slowly. I ate a couple of jelly babies at the canalside CP, filled my bottle then got onto the Middleway. I aimed to run all of this as far as bridge 12 and almost did, only dropping to a walk just before bridge 12. There was a light just ahead of me all the way, which could have been Orla and Julian, although I'd expect them to take the faster Poynton route.
I turned off at bridge 12 and skirted round the edge of Poynton. At one point a lone walker said "well done, good effort" which surprised me since I was on my own in a random village on the route.
I started to flag badly in the last couple of km, and struggled to keep running. I alternated, and finally made it to the scout hut 13 hours and 12 minutes after I'd set out from the park.
I lay on the benches and as usual shook and twitched for ten minutes or so, then picked myself up and got a cup of tea. I was cold and uncomfortable, and didn't have a dry T shirt (I'd changed into my dry dayglo base layer at Brand Top). I gradually dried out though, and it was warmer in the sports hall.
Claire was about 22 minutes behind me still, and was in fact the next finisher. I heard the Felltrack sound and a moment later she appeared in the sports hall where I was sat with Julian and a couple of others who'd finished before me. As last year, Claire struggled to eat or drink afterwards (dehydration we think). We sat around for a while as she waited for the nausea to pass, and in the end decided to head back to the van to sleep it off.
We were cold until we got into bed, and the sleeping bag was really uncomfortable with crampy toes. I think we need to find a better way to sleep in the van when we're grubby. We got little sleep, but I was refreshed enough to drive home safely.
So that was Bullock Smithy number 4, ultra race/round number 31 (incl the Fellsman 2010). I still didn't quite get my food right, not helped by the heat. I got away with a small quantity of sweet stuff, but I have to regulate it extremely closely.
Next outing I'll trial a small amount of PB, along with some pittas and maybe some pastry type things - quorn sausage rolls seem to be OK. Rice pudding seems to be OK too, I checked and it's much less sugary than I anticipated. Plus maybe a few fig rolls.
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