Chasing the Brownlees round the Chevin

Happy Christmas, dear readers! I hope you are enjoying the festive season and haven’t overindulged too much! No such luck for me – the Christmas break has brought with it a fairly heavy training week.

First on the list (and referenced in this entry’s strange title) was the annual Chevin Chase – a 7ish mile off road Boxing Day romp around the Otley Chevin with a few hundred local runners and some famous faces. Jonny Brownlee (he of triathlon fame) always does this race and always wins. This year he was joined by older brother, and gold medal winning champion, Alistair. I’m not quite sure what the afternoon held in the Brownlee house, after a fierce battle at the front of the race saw Ali romp to victory, but I’m sure that Jonny will have got his revenge somehow… You can see a report and some video of the race here. Obviously, I didn’t get to see much at the ‘sharp end’ of the race, and contented myself with plodding around somewhere towards the back of the pack. I promised that I wouldn’t race this one, but unexpectedly managed to run it at a decent pace, finishing in just over 71 minutes. Not bad, considering I walked up most of the killer hills, and was dressed as an elf at the time.

Second on the list was another 22 mile run, taking the same route as the run I completed 2 weeks ago. This time, the pavements were rather more treacherous, after some snow on Boxing Day followed by a hard frost. So, out came the YakTraxs for the first 4-5 miles on the road and pavements down to the canal. I really struggled with this section – the ice was no problem, but I could definitely feel that I’d run a race the day before. Not ideal preparation for a long run, so I’ll try to avoid making that mistake again. Once I hit the canal, the going was much better and I finally got into my stride. Before I knew it, I’d arrived in Esholt and it was time to refuel with some jelly babies. Next stop Saltaire and I popped into a local cafe to use the ‘facilities’. Unfortunately I’d forgotten to put any money in my bag, so had to forgo any of the goodies they were offering. I made do with some energy drink and a few more jelly babies and plodded off towards Silsden. A mile or so further along the canal, I got a now customary glimpse of a kingfisher, flying away from me under a bridge. It was a bridge I had to cross to the other side of the canal, where the towpath continued, and as I got to the top I saw that the kingfisher had rather obligingly sat in a tree just below me. So, for once, I managed to get some pictures of one of these beautiful birds. These are for you, Marc…

Once I reached Five Rise Locks at Bigley, it was time for some more refuelling – this time on mini cheddars, thanks to a tip off from running legend Hilary Wharam at the running club. Yum! After all that refuelling and slower running in the earlier stages, I reached Silsden very much in one piece after 22 miles. I even managed a smile when Matt met me on the canal!

My third run in three days was a relatively sedate (if icy) run with my running club around the local trails before going back to the club for pizza and cake. Christmas headwear was still very much the norm – including a rather fetching Turkey hat. See if you can spot it in the photo below…

After all that running, you may think it’s well and truly time I had a rest. But with another week off work and some beautiful weather forecast, we are planning on taking a few walks in the Yorkshire countryside. Well, with this kind of scenery, it would be rude not to. Until next time, friends…