Rab Mountain Marathon, 6-7 Oct 2012

Sarah and I are back together again for the 2012 Rab Mountain Marathon.  After all, we did win the Elite class last year (although we actually aren't that fast).  Not that we were gunning for it again...our summer activities had been pretty energetic and we had agreed that walking might be a more fun way to see the area.  However, we had still entered the "Elite" class, only because the extra hour each day of competition meant that we had less time to be cold in camp.  (Rab, if you are reading this, please rename the Elite category as Long, instead.  After all, it's just the same course over 13 hours instead of 11 over the two days).  Perhaps then more people would enter this category and we would have some, errr...competition.  Yup... newsflash... we won our class again this year, but this time because we were the only entries.  Bummer.

Anyway, this year's Rab MM was up in the Cheviots, near the border of Scotland.   This would be a first visit to the area for me, and I was prepped for it by friends with horror stories of the bogs, which must be running full given the large amounts of rain falling this year!   But the weather forecast was good, actually great...my fingers were crossed the whole week that the sunshine would actually stick around.  The stars were out for the drive up, which went fast as Sarah, Tony and Paul kept me awake and entertained. 

The Rab is a score event, meaning that each control is assigned a point value, and the more controls you can reach in the time limit, the more points you finish with.  The challenge is to choose a route which nets lots of high value controls while still reaching the finish within the time limit.   Unfortunately the highest value controls are also some of the hardest to reach, for example a hilltop, a boggy valley, a steep climb, or just tough, nasty tussocky ground. 

We managed to get lost trying to find our first checkpoint.  Yep the very first one.  I guess we weren't mentally switched on to our navigation yet.  In any case it took the first hour to get to any points to our name, which was quite pathetic.  We picked it up a little after that, making good progress towards the highest point in the area, known as The Cheviot.   Very original.   However, our progress bogged down (literally), when we hit the steep climb to Hedgehope Hill, and then the peat hags that followed after.  It was several hours of slogging through terrain that was sometimes boggy, often very bumpy, and covered with heather or dead ferns.  Tough going.   Hours of tough going.  I managed to faceplant myself at least 3 times, luckily always when I was carrying the camera so Sarah couldn't record my indignities.  She did laugh...and then always gave me a hand back up!

Finally we reached the Pennine Way on top of the Cheviot at about 800 meters.  We felt rediculously speedy running on the sections of large paving stones, which somehow hadn't sunk into the bogs below them (yet).   The control with the highest value of the day would have required us to leave the nice stones and take off back into the bogs.  Luckily for our feet, we were running out of time and couldn't get to it.  Instead we picked up a couple of easier points, and made it into midcamp with just 3 minutes to spare.






It was a nice evening in camp, with my tiny alcohol stove cooking away (it really isn't meant to cook meals for 2 hungry people, as it took about an hour of constantly cooking water to get us both warm and fed.)  Well, fed anyway.  By the time the sun went away, we were wearing all of our clothing and starting to get chilled despite the hot chocolate. Paul was especially cold as he had forgetten any spare socks!  We were happy to climb into our tents for the night at the late old time of 6 pm.  Yes, we went to bed at 6 pm...and happy to be there.   We hadn't gotten much sleep the night before so being horizontal felt great.   Although my Klymit sleeping mat had developed a slow leak, so I slept basically on the grass with no padding...that wasn't so nice. 
 

Last year's prize kept us warm overnight!

12 hours later, we forced ourselves to crawl out of the warm (but wet) tent and start packing up.  It was still dark, as the later date this year for the Rab meant that we had a full HOUR more of darkness than last year.  Yup, we are losing 4 Minutes of daylight every day in October here.  The tent, soaked from dew and our own breathing, had made our sleeping bags damp as well.  It's hard to stay away from the fabric walls with two people inside a tent really sized for one.  As soon as we were out of the tent, the wetness cooled quickly, and as I was taking it down, it all suddenly flashed into ice.  It was cold.  The grass was frosty and my fingers were freezing.  Good motivation to get going and warm up out on the course. 

Despite the cold, we knew it was going to be another beautiful day of sunshine.  As we ran, the layers started coming off one by one until we were down to just a shirt and tights.  A few more degrees and we would have been wishing for shorts, with no wind and the sun actually adding warmth to the day.  We had learned a little from our route on Day 1, and chose controls on Day 2 which would keep us to known tracks and roads as much as possible.  As we went back east to the finish, the lumps and bumps (translation: hills and peat hags) got smaller and smaller.  Our traveling speed actually got faster on the level terrain, despite the tiredness in our legs, and we picked up more points on the second day than on the first.  With an hour less of racing.  Yay.  It was nice to finish but I could have stayed out in the sunshine a lot longer, given that we don't actually see that much of it here. 

Rab put on a great race as usual.  I'm sure they order up good weather months in advance for this!

Results are HERE

(Several photos courtesy of Dark & White) 

At the finish

Paul, Tony and I relaxing in camp



4 Border Collies waiting patiently for their farmer!

Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon, 7-8 July 2012

Hmmm....bogs.  They are slow, tiring, wet, scary, and dirty.  I'm not a big fan.  Although, to be fair, the Lake District doesn't have proper bogs.  I guess they could be called marshes instead.  Which means they have clear(ish) water instead of black mud, and less chance of sinking up to your eyeballs.  However, the grassy ground just seems to sag with each footstep, allowing water to seep up around the ankles, which gives the constant impression that the whole place just might sink underwater in one gulp.  That's a rather disconcerting feeling, and even after miles of running in such conditions I wasn't comfortable.  As part of my defense, I carried a walking pole, allowing me to poke at suspicious ground before sacrificing a foot. :)

Why was I doing this?  I was up in the Lake District for the Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon.  It was supposed to be a pairs event with my friend Sarah, but illness had her volunteering instead of racing. I reluctantly moved to the only class available for solos; the scary, long, hard Klets Class.  There were only two women in this class.  Enough said.  The race was held in Wasdale Head near Wast Water.  It's such a long ways to drive around from Yorkshire, it'd almost be easier to hike in!  But the area is beautiful and well worth the drive...as long as the skies are clear like we had on Saturday.



Homework or race?  Klets sit down to plot their controls...

 The challenge looming ahead of me for the weekend was over 50 km of Lake District peaks, valleys, waterfalls, lakes, marshes, with 3000 meters of ascent.  Between the two days of trekking was a secret camping area, only revealed when the maps were issued.  This meant carrying tent, sleeping bag, cooking stove, warm and waterproof clothing, and any other luxury that participants were willing to bear the weight of.   In a change of strategy, the Klets Class were given controls for both days immediately, giving us choices enroute as long as we picked up all the controls before we finished. 

At the start, bright warm sunshine(!) had us sitting at tables and chairs outdoors in shorts and t-shirts waiting for the starting gun.  Then it was a mad, silent scramble to plot all the controls on our map from the grid coordinates, decide on a course to follow, and head out.  Since it took me a long time to plot my points, almost everyone else was gone when set out.  Gone as it too far up the mountains to even see anymore.  Oh well...I asked for a navigational challenge. 


Photo courtesy of Sharon Mcdonald

The recent monsoonal rains in the UK (June was the wettest month on record....ever) meant that every stream, beck, river, marsh, bog, lake, wetland, cave, and waterfall was running at full spate.  My shoes were constantly squelching water out, when more wasn't soaking back in.  Worst of all was the gurgle of hidden running water...with nary a stream in sight.  The trickling sound would often get louder, until all of a sudden a chasm would open beneath my running feet, with a deep stream of water flowing by.  Relatively deep anyway.  They usually wouldn't swallow me whole, but on several occasions my knees came close to losing my ankles....

The rough ground took a toll on my balance.  I managed to trip over everything it was possible to stub a toe on.  This included, but is not limited to:
Rocks (plenty of 'em in the Lakes)
Ferns (really)
Lumpy grass tufts (hey they are at least a foot high at times!)
Sheep (just kidding, they knew better than to get in my way)
Gorse bushes (really regretted tripping into one of those)

The first half of Saturday was spent in the area of Leg 4 of the Bob Graham.  Flitting in and out of my route were folks from other courses, which sometimes shared similar controls to my route.  At other times I found myself alone in the fells, with soggy ground on every side and not a soul in sight.  In fact it was fun to stop and take a good look in all directions on such a beautiful day.  This was the Lake District was at its best. Waterfalls, high peaks, more marshes, a small lake, or a rushing stream.  The cold clear water tasted so refreshing.  (And that's why my time was so slow...I kept stopping to admire the scenery).   With a 10 hour time limit the first day, I knew I had to get the farthest controls from the finish or I wouldn't finish the full course.  I was racing the clock the last 4 hours, desperately running over the marshes with map in hand.  But time worked with me, and seemed to slow down.  At least I would run what seemed like a kilometer, and only a few minutes would pass.  Luckily I was able to arrive at a bustling mid-camp with a few minutes to spare.


Which tent is mine?!?!    Photo courtesy of Sharon Mcdonald

 In midcamp, it was thankfully still warm, sunny, and midge-free.  In other words, perfect for camping.   Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to set up Sarah's lightweight tent.  Luckily, at least 200 other tents there were the exact same model (not even joking) and I asked my nearest neighbor for help!   Once it was set up, I also managed to lose it for a while after heading over to refill my water bottles.  Well, I didn't lose it, I lost myself.  I was standing in the middle of the sea of tents and had no idea where mine was.   A guy near me saw my confused look, and asked rather unhelpfully, "Is it green?!?".



Klets winner Karen Nash relaxes in her tent.

 My new cat food can stove worked like a charm, with 3 oz of fluid I was able to cook 3 meals with enough left to do 2 more.   To save washing up, after boiling some water I cooked and ate my meals out of a ziploc freezer bag.  That also worked fine until I made hot chocolate...trying to drink it out of a plastic bag wasn't terribly smart, especially considering I was laying inside my tent!  I guess I was too tired to think of mixing it in my water bottle?!?

A gentle rain waited to fall on us until late evening when everyone had set up their tents, cooked supper, and chatted up the day.  By that time I was happy to just lay in my tent and be horizontal for a good long time.

Sunday was another nice day, still attempting to get a suntan with just shorts and a t-shirt even atop the hills.  The ground, if it is possible, was even rougher than the previous day. But perhaps I was just tired after 10 hours out the day before!   All the Klets started together and that was the last I saw of them running into the distance.  After estimating I had covered 35 kilometers on Saturday, I still had over 20k to cover the second half of the race.

Wast Water was perfectly calm as I ran around the bottom of the lake and then steeply up the other side.  Once atop the hills again, I took a better line around the forest to the next checkpoint than the competitors around me (hah!), avoiding a long ferny descent and running along a stream instead. The clag was coming down over Scafell but I managed to stay out of the clouds and rain free all the way to the finish.  The final scree descent from the shoulder of Scafell Pike was brutal, but the sea of cars was already in sight by then and I knew I would finish in time.  Final time was 16:11, all controls found, and I wasn't last!
Results are here

Find your event photo here, obviously they're hoping you buy it! 

Adventure Racing Gear - My Top Picks

Adventure Racers tend to accumulate loads of gear.  It can be fun, but it's also hard on the pocketbook.  I keep telling my husband that NOW I've got everything I need and I won't have any more surprise purchases...but.  There's always a new race requirement, or that piece of kit which will make me race faster, lighter, safer, happier, etc, etc.  

Here's a few pieces of that gear that I wouldn't want to live without:

1. Arm Warmers:  
I love arm warmers in the summer, I can still wear a short-sleeved shirt and then push up/pull down the arms as needed.  I especially love the Btwin Arm Warmers, they are a little bit thicker (for cold British summers) and seem to wick water away from the fleecy-feeling inside.   So rain or sweat is no obstacle and my arms always feel warm and dry.

2. Backpack: 


Inov-8 Race Pro 22

 You can't have just one, and I use the smallest pack I think I can get away with, even if it means dangling something temporarily on the outside for a few miles.  For shorter races, I love the Nathan Intensity Vest, which is so balanced and light I forget I'm wearing a pack.  Until I want something to eat, and then it's waiting for me in the handy front pouches!

For anything up to multiday races, my go-to pack is the Inov-8 Race Pro 22   It's stood up to years of abuse and everything still works great.  I've attached a couple of extra Inov8 front pockets to the shoulder straps, which give me 4 front zippers to store food, compass, etc.  On the back I tied on a few strands of elastic shoelace to give me a secure place to put a multisport helmet if I'm not wearing it.  For multiday races, I've just upgraded to the Race Pac 25, which feels quite a bit bigger than the Race Pro.  It should easily fit a sleeping bag and 24 hours of food, gear, etc during the 4 day Adidas TERREX expedition race this summer in Scotland.
3. Hydration:
 I hate bladders.  They are a pain to fill, refill, empty, clean, etc.  I love to put electrolytes (see #7 below) in my liquid, which makes them doubly hard to clean out afterward.  So now I use Blue Desert drinking tubes.  The tubes come with several attachments to fit on most water bottles, bike bottles, etc, so you can use whatever fits your style, even the really cool Platypus collapsible bottles.

4. Lights: 
Any old cheap headlight will seem great while running, until it comes time to submerge it or ask to see a boulder in a distant valley.  Then it's time to bring out the tough stuff.  I like the Princeton Tec Apex Pro , it's waterproof and throws a strong beam for biking as well.  I've got the model with CR123 batteries, as they are much cheaper than buying AAA Lithiums.  Bummer is the light on high only runs an hour (substantially longer for the medium setting), and it's tough to change batteries in the rain.   Ok, it's tough to do anything at night in the cold rain anyway. 

For my MTB, I'm too cheap to throw out hundreds of dollars on a really good bike light.  So I've picked up a couple of these on Ebay: Bike Light   The great thing is that I now have a spare battery and a spare light, so if I break a light, it won't cost a month salary to replace it.   Do watch out with all really high-powered lights (expensive ones, too) not to run them on high beam while stationary, as they will produce too much heat and might (literally) blow a gasket. 

5. Socks: 
I don't tend to get blisters but I don't want to, either.  In racing conditions where I find it amusing to count the miles before my feet get soaked for the rest of the race (I usually don't make it to double digits), socks are key.   My favorite is now Drymax, as I can feel how quickly they absorb water and get it away from my skin.   I love Injinji toe socks but after one episode of my teammates waiting not so patiently for me to put my socks on, I don't wear them in adventure races anymore.   I also love SealSkinz waterproof socks, but I can't afford to keep myself in them as they aren't as durable as I'd like.  I tend to save them for biking portions as they keep my feet warmer as well as dryer.   For more blister prevention, I use SportSlick or Hydropel lubrication.  

6. Trekking Poles:
A friend showed up to a Bob Graham recce one day wearing trekking poles.  I mean they literally attached to his palms, but could be easily detatched to have his hands free for eating, digging in pack, etc.  I decided that they were for me, as I've always hated the straps of regular poles.  So now I use nordic walking poles, specifically Leki Traveller (Carbon). I prefer to use them in the latter stages of a long race, rather than the beginning, when I am tired and need a little extra power. 

7. Liquid Calories: 
Don't get me wrong, I love to eat.  But in a race I might not have time to think about doing it often enough.  From my background in triathlon, I learned to combine Nuun tablets and Carbo-pro powder into a dense liquid that would get me through an Ironman with no stomach issues.  But then I rarely have stomach issues anyway.   Hmmm.  I've recently discovered Perpetuem, which is has a little fat and protein mixed in with the carbs.  I've heard stories of people living off Perpentuem in multi-day adventure races.  I haven't tried it yet, as I use AR as an excuse to eat jelly beans, potato chips, and other normally terrible foods...but I love the taste so much I think I could use it exclusively.  If I run out of jelly beans, that is. 

8. Waterproofs:  Aside from my cheap everyday waterproof, which I think works just as well as the heavy Gore-Tex breathable ones, for really tough conditions I turn to my Paramo Smock. This seems to be the only fabric that actually breathes while being waterproof.  Sure, it's a bit heavy, as it sort of combines a fleece and a waterproof together.  Trust me, you don't need anything more than a baselayer if you've got this on, unless it's well below freezing.   Also always in my race bag are my OMM Kamleika Race Pants.  It surprising how little I've needed to wear them, but these rain pants almost make me wish for rain because they are so comfortable.

9. Sleeping pad: 
On the Rab Mountain Marathon last year, I discovered the Inertia X Frame, which is an airy pad that rolls up to the size of a soda can.  Plus it's so tough that you can jump up and down on it and it won't rip.  Sleeping in adventure racing just got comfier, as before this invention I probably wouldn't have brought a sleeping mat at all and taken my chances with cold hard ground.   Now if I could just find a sleeping bag that is as small and light (and cheap, too!). 






10.  Climbing Harness:
I remember on Open 24 race last summer, my normal climbing harness took up most of the space in my pack.  Not this year, as I've switched to the Camp Alp 95.  Another "soda can size" object to forget it's even in my pack until it's needed. 

In my mountain of gear, I'm sure I could keep adding things to this list until it overloaded my whole blog, but these are some of my big purchases in the last year.  I hope they will help keep me warm, dry, fed, rested, and light on my feet!

Rab Mini Mountain Marathon, 8 Jan 2012

Following hard on the heels of the Old Crown Round was a Dark & White Mini Mountain Marathon on Sunday to make it a weekend double.  Now you see why I wanted to save my legs from the climb up Skiddaw?...or at least it made for a convenient excuse, anyway!

My adventure racing teammate Jon had signed us up for the 3 hour orienteering run in secret, in order to surprise another team of guys who don't like to lose, especially to women!   I warned Jon that I might be a bit knackered from the 20 miles in the Lakes, but felt suprisingly good the next morning, especially after Jon volunteered to carry my required gear and even give me a tow!   We ended up running into Jon's nemesis friends at the start, so everyone knew the race was on! 

The event was in Hathersage in the Peak District, an area that I had literally never visited except at night (see my Hike Peak Marathon night recce). So I was understandably excited to visit the Peaks in the daylight, especially as they are closer to my house than the Lakes and much easier to get to via the motorway.   I wasn't disappointed when the sun came up, as our route took us up and over Hathersage Moor, past Burbage Rocks (good climbing said Jon), and along Stanage Edge.  The trail over the cliffs was really breathtaking, and that wasn't just due to the wind!  In fact it was a beautiful day, cool and barely windy, not raining with good visibility.    I resolved to return to this area with Rob someday (I know I always say that but this time I really mean it) soon to enjoy a slower hike with time to stop and admire the views.  And take photos...definitely no time for a camera today.

Because I wasn't stopping on this run, that's for sure.  Once we decided on a good route, Jon took off with the navigation and towed me along behind him like a house on fire.   It was all I could do to keep up with his pace, but the hills weren't nearly as hard or high as the day before, so it was an enjoyable morning out.  We ticked off a lot of controls, didn't get lost or have trouble finding the dibbers, so a good day of orienteering.  Our route was fairly circular with options to add or cut off points at the end to get us back on time.  In fact we ended up cutting out not a few points at the end, as the muddy fields and trickier nav in the valley slowed down our pace.   Or perhaps we (ok, I) was just getting tired and not running as fast.   We had about 2 kilometers to go with about 9 minutes left on the clock, and at that point Jon started running faster and I hung on grimly to the tow rope to stick with him.  We finished less than a minute late and I couldn't even talk for a few minutes afterward! 

It was worth it, though, as the posted points showed that we had beaten Jon's competition with 219 points to their 210.   Get in!  

However we came nowhere near to winning our division as evidently there are a lot of fast runner/navigator pairs out there.  It's all good practice for adventure racing, though, learning how to work as a team, navigate unfamiliar terrain, pace and predict arrival times, and eat and drink on the run.  Looking over our route choices, I was really pleased with our route and couldn't find any changes that would have resulted in more overall points.  So I guess the only way we (ok,I) could have gone faster was to grow wings, or (more honestly) eaten less cake over the holidays :)

2012 Race Schedule

My race schedule for 2012 is coming together nicely. It greatly revolves around two tough Adventure Races in June and August, the Adidas TERREX Swift and Sting.  Most of my training and races will be used as part of the buildup for these.  So of course the races listed below could be on the chopping block if my team needs to get together for some quality time preparing for the big ones. 

1 Jan - The New Hangover Challenge, 20 Miles, LDWA 
3 Feb - Dark/White MTB Night O - Cancelled due to ice
5 Feb - Open 5 Adventure Race, North Pennines
26 Feb - Dark/White MTB Orienteering
9 Mar -  Dark/White Night MTB Orienteering
10 Mar - Wuthering Hike, 32 Miles, Runfurther Series
17 Mar - Falcon Flyer, 20 Miles, LDWA
18 Mar - Blubberhouses 25 Marshall's walk, 25 Miles, LDWA (actual event is 1 April)
1 Apr - Brew to Brew, 44 Miles, Kansas City to Lawrence, KS
28 April - The Boonecrusher Adventure Race, IA (if I find a teammate in time!)
12 May - Brecon 40, 40 Miles, Runfurther Series (maybe)
2-4 Jun - 2-day Swift Adventure Race
9-10 Jun - Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon (Ok, I'd have to be crazy to do this after the Swift, so...not)
23-24 Jun - Three Rings of Shap, LDWA (But one or two rings would probably be enough...)
30 Jun - Open Cycling's Coast to Coast in a Day
7-8 Jul - Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon
4 Aug - Hanging Stone Leap, 24 Miles, LDWA
18-25 August - Adidas TERREX Expedition Race Sting in Sterling
15 Sep - High Peak 40, 40 Miles, Runfurther Series (Or not.  Gonna be in pain from 4 days of nonstop AR)
*29 Sep - Hardmoors 60, 60 Miles, Runfurther Series
*6-7 Oct - Rab Mountain Marathon or Open 5
*13 Oct - Four Lakeland Passes, 18 Miles, LDWA
*20 Oct - Round Rotherham, 50 Miles, Runfurther Series
*27 Oct - Snowdonia Marathon
*5 Nov - Open 5
2 Dec - Open 5

      *I realize that there are 6 weekends in a row of possible events.  I'm not going to do them all, I'm not that crazy...I don't think.

Hmmm, this schedule looks a bit top-heavy with running events, not any biking or kayaking races planned except as part of an adventure race.  May need to remedy that...

Hope to see you there there somewhere, and happy training and racing in 2012!

Rab Mountain Marathon, Wales, 24-25 Sept 2011

A Mountain Marathon isn't really a marathon, unless you want it to be one.  Or two, or three...   Actually it's two days of mountain orienteering, while carrying enough gear to camp in the mountains and cook your own meals.  Mountain Marathons seem to be quite a tradition in the UK, as events fills up and amazing amounts of people are willing to carry their own gear and potentially suffer bad weather while camping with minimal equipment.  While you can do it solo, my friend Sarah convinced me to enter the Rab MM with her a pair, meaning that we could share the weight of tent and stove, toothbrush, etc.

We arrived in northern Wales on Friday night, and wondered if the bad weather was going to make the weekend a nightmare.  Weather forecasts predicted rain, wind, and fog on the mountaintops, oh joy.  While camping near the car that evening, I kept expecting the wind gusts to tear the tent apart, and didn't get a wink of sleep.    Mist arrived the next morning, and the dampness followed us all the way to the start.   After making a chaotic mess on the floor of the school while Sarah and I sorted our gear and hopelessly tried to make our packs lighter, we fit everything in (including way too much food), and set off. 

Yes, the winds were strong.   

So much for the waterproof socks...

Yes, it rained a bit. 
Yes, there was a bit of fog. 
Yes, my pack was heavier than I have ever imagined carrying (while running, at least). 
Yes, the footing was boggy, bumpy, rough, trackless, and unfirm.
Yes, the hills were really steep and torturous. 

But you know what? After a couple of hours I was really enjoying myself, even as I worried that we would get soaking wet in our minimalist tent and freeze to death that night.  :) 

I even (somewhat successfully) used a compass bearing to navigate between a couple of points we went to.  Although I must admit that our navigation was mostly by lemming (i.e. other fools ahead of us marking the points by digging in their packs right next to the dibbers!)
  

Photo courtesy of Gill Watson

Amazingly enough, the sun came out and the wind dropped in the afternoon, and the views over the sea to Anglesey were clear and beautiful as the tide receded.  Sarah and I had entered the Elite class, meaning that our time limit was an hour longer than most of the entries (truly, we just did it to minimize the time we might have to hunker down in the tent during a long soggy night).  So after 7 hours of racing, as we dropped down into camp, most people had already finished and set up their tents. 

We were quickly hailed by an assorted motley crew of other adventure racers, (including Tom, Gill, Karen, Mick, Dave, Emma, et al), and set up our tent near them.  Water came from a clear, fast flowing stream, and we could finally relax, change into a dry shirt (what luxury!), and get warm in the sunshine.  With several hours left to kill before dark, we all spent the time cooking multiple courses of cous cous, ramen, and hot chocolate, listening to the banter of the camp, and enjoying the nice weather. 

Sarah's tent was indeed minimalist, but we managed to fit in pretty comfortably, and the tight space probably helped keep some heat in against the chilly night.  I only had an old summer sleeping bag so I was grateful I didn't have to take extreme measures to keep warm.   

Gill brings a (plastic) bottle of wine all the way to camp!

The next morning was still calm, sunny, and almost warm.  While it had taken me a few hours to get into the MM mood the day before, this morning I was ready to hit the hills and capture as many points as we could get to in our 6 hour time limit.  Unfortunately, many of the points with high values were repeats of the day before, but we did manage to see new terrain while linking them all together into a fast route. 

The wind picked up significantly during the morning to gusts of over 50 mph, but our route meant it wasn't a headwind too often.  I did make sure to keep a really good grip on my map as it was the only thing not attached to my backpack!

We made really good time by finding a few hidden small trails, and added more points to our route with revised fast pace.  With 40 minutes to the deadline, we were still 4 kilometers from the finish and climbing a big hill.  Our legs were trashed, I was panting like a maniac when we dibbed in at the summit, and then it was a long run down a slope to the final checkpoint and the finish.   Just as I was saying something to the effect of, "If we push we can still make it", I tripped and fell into a bog.  Then had to beg Sarah to give me a hand up, I was laughing too hard and felt like a upside-down turtle!  We carried on, through another bog that almost covered my knees for a few steps, unfortuntely Sarah had to come through the same spot as well! 


At the finish!

10 minutes left and 1k to go, we were running as hard as we could (which meant a geriatric walker could have easily passed us), and saw the finish flags with less than a minute left.  In fact, after getting our results, we realized that we had finished with just 20 seconds before the penalties would have kicked in!

We had been behind our competition after the first day of racing, so didn't expect to pull ahead of them.  So when the Rab reps started pulling out the prizes for the awards ceremony, we wondered if we should stay for it or not.   Well, that was a definite YES after we checked the results sheet and found ourselves in 1st PLACE! 

We were grinning like loons when our names were called and we walked up to receive our prizes, which were Rab down sleeping bags.  Perfect timing for me as I had been eyeing them after sleeping chilly in my old bag anyway!  Hmmm, perhaps now I'll have to do another MM, just to use the new sleeping bag!  :)

Results are HERE
 

Sarah and I after the first day, with the field of tents already set up in the valley (to the left of the photo)





1st in Elite Women's category, and our booty, a Rab down sleeping bag!

  

(Photos courtesy of Sarah Keast, and thanks for carrying the camera so I didn't have to!)



I want one of these! (Klymit Inertia X sleeping mat)


Additional Photos of Saturday and Sunday here, we made it into a few of them! (below)



Definitely want one of these sleeping mats!



At the finish!