Bangor XC race

Made my debut for Buckley in the cross country league on Saturday. Had a disappointing race, although it was hard for me to do anything other than run conservatively, since I had never done the Bangor course before. It was around 5.5 miles of predictable mud, short hills and waterlogged fields. All quite enjoyable, but I finished in a poor 74th place - which compares badly to my 58th place at Penmaenmawr (from 238, which is OK for me in a fell race) and very badly to recent road results. All in all, I'm suffering from a dip in form at present - haven't really felt sharp since the Snowdonia marathon, and have struggled to do intervals and long runs. I feel relatively comfortable at all times, but am lacking a bit of speed for some reason.

Penmaenmawr fell race

Had a great day out on one of my favourite races, the Penmaenmawr fell race, last Saturday. It's a cracking event which last year was run in perfect cold, still conditions. This time round the wind howled - gale force gusts, head-on and distinctly unhelpful for most of the race, becoming side-on for the bog and rocks beyond Bwlch y Ddaefaen. Great fun, though. My time of 1:38 was only 4 minutes or so up on last year, but the conditions were much harder so my position was a lot better. Think I finished in the top quarter, but didn't really push it, just enjoyed the elements and scenery. It's not really a true fell race, but is none the worse for that: more like a very long cross-country race in a hostile mountainous landscape. The big climb comes at the beginning, then it's undulating with a few bogs, rocks and streams thrown in. Runnable all the way to the excellent finish past the stone circles. Had a recovery mountain bike ride on the Sunday, in nice cold sunshine, up to Rhosesmor.

Caernarfon 10k border league

A slightly disappointing performance in the second border league fixture at Caernarfon yesterday. I'd had a streaming cold the day before and hadn't fully recovered, although I felt reasonably clear at the start of the race. The course followed the Caernarfon 10k course along the Menai Straits then inland over a series of hills, so wasn't particularly fast, but it has a splendid finish past the castle. My time of 39:18 was only good enough for 61st place in a strong field of 261 club runners, 14 places down on race 1 and a disappointing 50 secs slower than the Mold 10k six weeks ago. Still, glad I did it and an enjoyable race.

Clwydian fell run

Just back from a blustery but exhilerating run from Pantymwyn up to the main Clwydian ridge, then over Moel Dywyll, Moel Famau and Ffrith to join the bridleway down to Cilcain and back to Pantymwyn. Felt good in the wind and drizzle, although this was a longer run than I was planning - the second border league fixture is less than 48 hours away. A tough Buckley intervals session on Tuesday was good preparation, and I followed this up with a 6-miler on Wednesday.

Bryn Alyn run, Pot Hole bouldering

I seem to have recovered reasonably well from the two marathons. Now focusing on shorter events again. Enjoyed a beautiful run over Bryn Alyn above Llanferres yesterday. Perfect autumnal sunshine and nice Clwydian scenes. Quite a steep pull up from Pot Hole Quarry, where I did a bit of bouldering to finish: nice to be in the rock shoes again.