Saturday 24th November

Before the run

Hills, hills, hills, mud and more hills.

Wow - what a great turnout and great running today - we did about 4.7 miles (oops, too far) and several hills (oops, too high!) but everyone ran so well. We ran a new route called the '3 hills' which, as you might imagine, has 3 hills (although some people said it was more like 6 or 7 hills).

I'm sure there will be a few aches and pains later in the day but just think of the warm bath, warm shower and that feeling of achievement!

We had a good coffee and post-run chat at the cafe afterwards.


Route is shown here (the height profile is shown at the bottom of this BLOG) ...

Route for 24th November

Keep running!

Neil

Oops ... mud.

Ooops ... more mud

1st Hill (of three)

What goes up must come down

The route by my GPS (and height profile)

Saturday 17th November

Before the start

Today we met at 9.00am in the Clough Bank Car Park (off Grimshaw Lane, Bollington) for a route around the Middlewood Way and canal (in fact we did the CAFOD route in reverse with an optional 'shorter run' for some).

The turnout was good (14 runners) but sadly a few group members are 'injured' - hopefully they will be back soon.

One sub-group ran about 4.5 miles (the longest ever run in some cases) and the rest did a slightly shorter 3.5 miles. The longer route took 58m50s which is still (despite the mud) much faster than we did it a year ago - progress is being made.

It was a bit damp and muddy today and everyone experienced wet feet and a bit of slipping and sliding (trail shoes are being debated as the shoe choice for the rest of the winter!).

I am so impressed that everyone is pushing their own limits and also helping other group members - what a great feeling to progress as a group.

Have a good week!

Neil

The viaduct

Welcome back Julie!

Getting muddy

Nice running style Sarah!

The End

Saturday 10th November

Mel was chief photographer this week

Neil was away this week and three group leaders came along to help out - thanks to Dave, Harry & Phil!

For various reasons the group was down on numbers this week (work, illness etc) but still a good turnout. The group split into two along the Bollin, joining at Prestbury, where we ran the loop and back along  the river, including some donkeys!

Once again, thanks to Macc Harriers group leaders for helping out,

A bit muddy at the end!

Neil

Saturday 3rd November - Langley 7

Today was the date for the annual Langley 7 Road Race - a tough race of 7 miles that climbs all the way from Langley & Sutton via Wythenshaw Lane up onto the top by the Hanging Gate. It was a very cold but sunny day - almost perfect running conditions. Our very own Philip Hawkswell ran the race and Nicky helped with marshalling. There were about 200 runners and some impressive times. Philip's time has been confirmed as 1h3m34s. He finished 165th out of 193 runners.

All net proceeds from this race go to East Cheshire Hospice which is the main charity for Macclesfield Harriers & A.C.

Maybe next year more of the group could aim for this race!

Neil

Saturday 3rd November

Before the start

The 5K Challenge

Today the group ran a standard 5k loop with no loop-back (we broke one of our own guidelines!). Alison cycled at the front, Neil brought up the rear and Philip kindly helped in the middle. We were slightly down on numbers this week for various reasons (illness, work, hangovers etc).

The route

The route was our standard 5K route (clockwise). We started at the information centre then up to Manchester Road (left), then left along Dorchester Way all the way round to Manchester Road (right) then left onto Marlbrough Drive and across to Rugby Drive then the Middlewood Way all the way to the end and finally back via Summerlea Close.

Sadly two people (Wendy & Lee) had to cut the route short due to injury - I hope those problems resolve soon). Times were as follows:-

Saff               31m10s
Dawn            31m12s
Nina              32m11s
Joanne         34m00s
Catherine     35m04s
Cheryl           35m10s
Nicky            35m12s
Philip            35m12s
Heather        39m10s
Neil               39m11s

These times would put us towards the bottom end of 'ParkRun' so I feel we may need to work on our speed a bit more before going along as a group - but don't fear - we will do ParkRun early in 2013!

Have a good week

Neil

The group starting to spread out

After the 5K