Peris Horseshoe Mountain Race 15/9/12

AL. 28k 2590m. Set in Snowdonia, Wales, around the Llanberis pass.

I think, for some sadistic reason, this is my favourite race. The first half, a race in its self, has some pretty long, hard climbs with some nice, fast runnable sections in between. But, the second half hardly has any runnable bits at all and often requires hands and feet to get up some of the mountains. Added to that, the weather is, more than not, very unpleasant. I think of it as a "real mans" race, although, there're are some tough women that get round and usually a lot faster than me.
The first half of the race went really well for me. I knocked more than ten minutes of my 2010 time. The second half, although hard, was also going well until, that is, I decided confidently to take a short cut off Snowdon missing part of the Rangers path. A bad mistake considering the weather. I went way off track and found my self contouring a ridiculous scree slope miles away from where I should have been. I think it cost me about twenty odd minutes in the end, but, I still came in fifteen minutes faster than last time.

                                                 Photo from Alastairs site
Got to see Steve again, of Run Forest Run blog his account of the same race before the race, which is always a pleasure. Just glad I didn't see him afterwards, as he may not have been in such a friendly mood.
Sarah Ridgeway local mountain goat was also knocking around the mountains. Not racing, just out for a jog and taking some photos for her blog. Like Steve's photos, they are well worth a look as they show the terrain really well.