THE BEAST

HillyHilly ✭✭✭
First DW and Pizza Man I looked for you both but couldn't see either of you. I even got my friend checking out all the yellow and green vests! I was at the end until the end and still didn't see either of you. Did you run, if so how did you get on?

Well I'm really chuffed as I got a PB. With it being so hot I didn't for one minute think I was on for this. I felt relaxed and in control the whole of the race.
My 2 club mates and I also took the first ladies team prize of a big cup and a bottle of red wine each! I think I was about 11th lady but not sure until the results come out.

For those of you who don't know the race. It's a tough 14 mile off road race that takes in much of the coastal paths and cliffs around Corfe in Dorset.

It started with a gentle downhill on a private road,which was quickly replaced with an uphill section that lead us off road. Once off road the first half had parts of the race that ran through wooded tracks, these were bliss as they were cool and a reprieve from the intense heat of the sun. The first part was mostly uphill and I found myself walking once or twice (only on really steep bits!)as I needed to let my breathing settle.

On the downhill sections I was flying! One of the guys who was running at about the same pace commented if we combined his uphill running with my downhill we would be pretty good! I think this was a compliment rather than a suggestion that my running wasn't good.

Anyway I continued to feel strong and in control even when we got to the first set of cliff steps. In the past I can remember feeling like crying for my mother at this stage-but not today. Forward and up I went and decided there was no point in trying to run the steps, they were just too steep. A Fell runners dream I think!

There was a second set of cliff steps and at this stage I was hoping they had oxygen at the top, no such luck. So again off I went for the final 3 miles, praying that I would stay strong and not fatigue in the last few miles. Luck was with me and my best bit of the race followed, which was a long section of downhill running, my strength. I came into the finish, a field, with a final burst of sprinting and knocked over a minute off my time for this course-1hr 50mins!

The free t-shirts were really cool looking and of good quality-purple with a rather tired looking runner and THE BEAST on the top.
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Comments

  • Hilly - that is inspirational - Well Done!!!

    It sounds an absolutely tortuous route - soemthing for you to be really proud of - I'm in awe of you right now!
  • Bravo, yippee! Just exactly what I like to read about just now. Inspiring bed-time stories, while, for a time I must be a reader and not a doer. Thanks, Marj
  • HillyHilly ✭✭✭
    Thanks Shattered Shins and Stickless. It is a tough course but the views at the top of the cliffs are magnificent. Mind I don't like heights so I was pretty aware of how close to the edge we were!

    Stickless you'll be a doer again soon I'm sure just stay positive. Inspiration is people like you who carry on even when not at their best!
  • great race report, hilly, it was a terrific read, and well done on the PB on what sounds like a pretty awesome course in more ways than one. I know what you mean about cliffs, I always feel I'm going to lose concentration for a fraction of a second and go hurtling off the edge - vertigo sucks!
  • drewdrew ✭✭✭
    Hilly, great run and report. Good to see you fit again.
  • Well done, Hilly. Thats a real achievement. I know what that guy means about downhill. I cannot run downhill properly, thats when loads go past me. What's your secret? I blame mine on vertigo!
  • Well done Hilly.
    I presume you're also a Grizzly person so may see you there. Also fancy the other over the hill run down your way but can't remember its name., late January time. There are some great hillys down there.
  • Great run Hilly, but the organizer tells me that they're renaming it 'the Pussycat' next year - as it was originally designed so that everyone got a PW - you've just ruined its reputation.

    Doing the Grt Sth Rn next Sunday?

    S.D. ;-)
  • HillyHilly ✭✭✭
    Achilles when I got to the top of the cliffs I can tell you apart from the odd peak through the corner of my eye, they stayed pretty fixed ahead!

    Drew it feels good to feel fit again. This is my first positive race since London. Mind I love off road running.

    Keswick1uk I think I'm good at downhills as I seem to have good balance and I just don't think about it. When running down the cliff steps I actually ran down the grass verge sometimes going sideways. Or it could be that because I don't like heights I just want to get to the bottom as quickly as possible!

    Head Gone, I would love to do the Grizzly, but unfortunately it falls in March which has always for me been too close to the FLM. I agree there are some very good hilly races in this area. I'm not sure what the one in late January is. There's The Montacute House in December-btilliant! Another excellent one is The Stickler, the three peaks race in North Dorset in October.
  • Well done Hilly. Great to sense your enthusiasm and joy!!
  • Well done with the pb sounds like a great event.After my off road debut a few weeks back I love hearing about these sort of events and good to see RW have added a x-country schedule in the latest issue.

    I think DW was running too, he mentioned it at Burnham .......
  • V impressive Hilly.
    I had some 35-minute runs along the coastal path in Cornwall when on holiday, so got something of a taste of what it must have been like - including the vertiginous cliffs! I'm not too keen on heights either!
    14 miles of that in heat - were there no refreshment stations?
  • WOW,
    What a run, I've never run anything like it.
    Thanks to Hillys' course description earlier in the other thread I took it fairly easy untill the just after the 2nd set of steps when I pushed myself for the last 3 miles miles passing quite a few runners & finnishing in about 75th just in front of the 3rd lady in a time of 1'40.
    It's a fantastic event with views 2nd to none, but not for the faint hearted.
    Sorry I missed Hilly & DW.
    Can't wait for net years. To top it all I actually got a decent t-shirt that fits.
    All the best,
    PM
  • Congratulations Hilly, really pleased for you ,I know you've had some disappointing races recently and entered this at the last minute so it must feel like you exceeded your own expectations. Sounds like a fantastic run and achievement I enjoyed reading the race description. Hope you make the most of the red wine too!
    The course sounds amazing, I don't blame you for not looking over the edge though.

    Well done Pizzaman as well, your time sounds awesome; shame you missed each other as you can't have been that far away from each other?

  • Hilly & Pizza man - well done you two. It's reading reports like yours that keep me motivated when I can't run. And I laughed out loud at the 'crying for my mother' line....so funny!
  • So caught up in what I great event it was I forgot to say well done Hilly. I'll bet that wine tasted good last nite.
    I don't think there is any one in the world that could run up those steps, mind you I had trouble going down that fist set, how steep?
    I noticed it wasn't in RW so thanks for posting it or I'd never have run it.

  • I was one of that seemingly endless stream of runners along the cliff paths! It was a fantastic event and I recommend it. I am good up hill, so didn't mind the steps at all - but I am not good downhill, so a few people I'd got past on the ups came past me on the downs! As Hilly says, the views are amazing if you've got time to look up from the track. I couldn't finish it last year because my knee packed up. So I was particularly keen to finish it this year. I took it steady and just enjoyed being out there. I've been smiling ever since I crossed the line - in fact I was smiling all the way round too! I did it in 2 hours and I'm sure I can knock some time off that. All being well, I'll be there next year to have another go!
  • Hilly, Pizzaman, Katie, well done all of you. Marvellous race report, Hilly. Your account made me NOT want to do this race, ever, so probably see you there next year...
  • Nice one hilly and the rest.

    Sounds like an awesome run. Not sure I'd fancy it but you never know....
  • Well done to the 3 of you. Hilly's continued enthusiasm for trail races of this type encouraged me to try this out last month (as per Dustin). I'll defintiely be looking for more........

    keep on singing the virtues of these H.
  • Wow Hilly, it sounded awesome! I apsire to taking part in something like that and your race description has made me even more determined.
  • HillyHilly ✭✭✭
    Thanks everyone for your kind words of congratulations.

    Well done Pizza Man and Katie. You both had very good runs. I too would recommend this race as one to do.

    Pizza Man the wine was great!

    Snoop I was allowed a pb because I got stung by a wasp before the race. An adrenalin rush I think!

    Laura, I was very pleased after a bit of a horrid summer. But I've been analysing my symptoms over this period and trying different things to try and get back on form. Since taking iron supplements my energy seems to be returning.

    Mike there were 3 drink stations on the course with water on offer. I took a small drink bottle with isotonic and used the water to pour over my head!

    It looks like from everyone's replys that there will be an extra few people at 'The Beast' next year. See you all there!
  • HillyHilly ✭✭✭
    Pizza Man the results can be found at www.pooleac.co.uk

    I've just checked them out. There were 320 runners, I was 14th woman and 4th in my age group.
  • Thanx,
    66th overall, which means I passed 19 runners in those 3 miles, as one of the marshals counted us in over a style earlier on, & 25th in my age group. Wierd realy as I'll officialy be a vet in 5 weeks & would have finnished 44th in my catogary then!
    Thats not 14 miles though, is it? I'd have put it at 13 & then only just. But hey, if it was 14 then we all did even better than we thought.
    all the best,
    PM
  • I agree with Pizza man - it wasn't 14 miles. I measured the route on the map with my trusty piece of string and made it between 12 and 13. Taking the steepness of the hills into consideration, I'd say it was nearer 13. And judging by the speed that I was grovelling at times, I don't think I could have been running fast enough to cover 14 miles of that terrain in 2 hours.
  • HillyHilly ✭✭✭
    Yes agree with both of you. I couldn't run 14 miles off road on that terrain and steepness in 1.50. More like 12/13. What we need is a time/distance monitor next time. Right, now I know why I want one for Christmas!
    The distance has been a discussion at my running club every time 'The Beast' comes round. Last year when they changed the course, missing out the cliff steps it was shorter, still tough though, as I did it in 1.47. The year before that it was the same course as this year and that's what I based my pb on as I did it in 1.51... in very similar conditions.

    If you want another fantastic off road run. I can recommend Exmoor Stagger on 27th October. I will most probably do it again. This run is 16/17 miles of all sorts of terrain and the final mile.....do it and discover! You will definitely need a black bin liner at the end!
  • Im nearly sixty and finished with the sorest of knees but thought it a great run and will be back next year it wasnt a pb though.
  • HillyHilly ✭✭✭
    Well done supervet! I agree it is a great run.
  • Hilly, have you got any details of the exmoor stagger. I think I've become hooked on over distance X-countries.
    Cheers PM

    Supervet, you sound like you've done it a few times, well done!
  • Pizza man, I don't know anything about the Exmoor Stagger but I have heard a bit about the Stickler, which is also known as the Dorset 3 Peaks, and is also on 27 October. It's 10 miles and starts somewhere NW of Blandford Forum. My club members like that sort of thing (I'm in the New Forest Runners - we're very keen on off-road stuff as we have a very handy forest nearby!)and they say it's good. I've decided not to do it because I am also a racing cyclist who enjoys one of the cycling versions of off-road - cyclocross - and there's a race I want to do on the same day. Sometimes I've managed to run a race and ride a race on the same day but it depends on the times of the events and on my enthusiasm to exhaust myself! The Stickler will have to wait until there is no clash.
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