The Carding Mill Canter

Or in my case, the Carding Mill Crawl! This is the first fell race I've ever entered and it nearly killed me! I did however manage to meet my two aims of the day, to finish the race and not to come last. There's not much shout about coming 73rd out of 76 but I finished, that's the main thing. Race results here

I have to say, I have today been astonished, humbled, and I'm sure my mates would say humiliated! I thought I was in for trouble from the off when 70 of the 78 people running went storming off in front of me and I struggled to keep up, I was out of puff and thought I may have to walk for a bit before I'd even reached the first proper hill. The humbling part of it was seeing ladies in their 50s dashing off in front of me and every 60+ year old chap in the race beat me. If I'm half as fit as these guys and gals at the age of 60 I'll be happy. I know for a fact a huge amount of guys my age would struggle to even complete the race which says something about the lifestyle we've all become accustomed to.

I can't say that I actually enjoyed much of the race, I spent most of it cursing my lack of fitness, my stupidity, my naivety and the hills that were causing my grief! However, at the end of it I'm glad I spent the afternoon slogging it out in the hills. This is definitely not going to be my last fell race and the aim for the next race is to get from 4th from last up to 8th from last. In the mean time there's a serious need to hit the gym and the hills to increase my leg endurance and stamina.

On a final note, it concerns me greatly that my legs gave up the ghost and had to walk me round the majority of the race. If traffic's bad for the 3 peaks and I have to start running to beat the 24hr limit I could be in for a big let down if I don't improve my fitness and stamina quickly!