#17 Hardmoors White Horse

3rd May 2015

7:17:40

28 miles at least. 

To say it was hard would be an understatement. 

The forecast was for pushing 40mph gales and 'heavy rain' (defined as "greater than 4 mm per hour, but less than 8 mm per hour.")

Pulling up into the carpark with the wind and rain bearing down, it seemed like another of those silly Sunday morning decisions to have even left the duvet and central heating behind. Pass the TV remote. 

A little wiggle through the cycle path at Sutton Bank, mostly dodging puddles for the time being, 

then, 

110metres down to Gormire lake, technical rooty, puddle dodging. FUN. Then 110meters back up again to rejoin the Cleveland Way. Owch. 

Map:

The route goes anti-clockwise, with the Cleveland way being the path on the
West and the South with some 'stuff' in-between.  

8 miles on the moor edge with a bitterly cold side wind and 'acutely angled' rain. I got chatting to a nice lady, she told me all about her waterproof gloves and her run at the Hardmoors Wainstones event which had been the same date as Paris. Lots of puddles now to splosh through; no point in trying to keep dry. 

Inov-8s doing a good job, 2XU tights not holding too much moisture but keeping the windburn at bay, tee-fleece-waterproof combo about right for the conditions. Hood up over visor and elastic pulled tight to hold everything from blowing away; just eyes nose mouth exposed.

A mile or so East into the wind then into Boltby forest. There was some cute tip-toeing beside a shimmying stream, some guys in road shoes were failing to descend without slipping- how they'd got that far I don't know. 

Met Phil in Hawnby village, then up a big f*****g hill, down the otherside, up and over some smaller stuff, then a massive f+++++g hill where my mum was waiting for me at the top. In the fog, the rain, and the wind. Bless her. 

Every time I ate anything I felt really nauseous and nearly vommed. Even just the single jelly baby I got from a friendly marshal holding open the gate for us. So I was taking sweeties from the aid stations, tried a ginger bread man, but struggling to take on a decent amount of calories for such an effort.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the fog. 

Erm, where's the edge?

3,950ft of elevation gain. Let's call it 4,000ft.

Met Phil again in Hawnby before heading up this B&&&&rd- Murton Bank where it seems everyone stopped to take a photo of the 25% gradient sign. I wondered how the h£ll there could be any more hills. I turned around to see that traditional 'NYM' view. Shouda known it.
Almost a mile later I hit the 18.5miles checkpoint around a corner. They had a sign which read something along the lines of "If you think that was a big hill then best get prepared for what's to come."

The bit on private property.
Up then down the back up and along.
Not a used track, forestry waste to climb through.

Erm.....

Just leaving private property I think. CLAY. A bit off camber. I did that common sideways slip thing only I actually fell down. No harm done, I was already sodden so a bit of mud makes no difference :D

Duckboards

The sun nearly coming out as the view of Rievaulx Abbey pops around the corner. A few minutes later I had to strip off all my wet weather gear as I was getting really hot! Out came the Trailscape tee and arm warmers; love that combo.

The last 6 miles were all struggle. My legs felt awesome but the rest of me just wasn't playing. I could run 50-100 meters at a time if flat, toddling downhill was ok, but any incline was a no no.
Phil met me at mile 24 and shhhhh carried my bag for me for a while; the kit I'd taken off and put in there was so sodden and heavy, and the spare kit I'd packed was wet too, so even though I'd run out of drink it was the heaviest bag I've tried to run with.

So close to the finish!

Nearly there!

Yay! I made it. I am Hard       ....(moors)