Pumlumon

A day in the sun..... it was lovely weather for the Pumlumon Challenge (i have now asked and been told it is pronounced "Ply-limon"). At a "short" 27 miles i knew i should be OK to get round -- but knew my legs were not yet recovered from the Lakeland 100 (although it was 6 weeks ago now). I needed to complete the race to make up my short race counter in the Vasque runfurther series so i had decided to come along and enjoy it.

It is a very small friendly race, i think there were probably only about 40 runners and it was an area of Wales i had never ever been too. I had been pre-warned that it would be "mountain marathon"-type terrain so was prepared for the off-path tussocks. Some of the route was on tracks and paths so the mixture made it interesting. The glorious blue skies meant visibility wasn't a problem, and arrows on fence posts made most of the navigation straight forward. It was pleasantly hilly - not too much climbing but it ceratinly wasn't flat. There were some great views over the reseviour the route circled, as well as Snowdonia mountains and the sea. I ran 2/3rds of the race mainly on my own, although Julie Gardner kept catching me up. As i climbed up the last hill and Julie caught me again, i decided to relax and run together & that helped enjoyment of the last section of the race. I was very impressed with Julie's running - she has done so much this year.. and this race was only 2 weeks after the PTL out in the Alps -- i was still feeling slow 6 weeks post Lakeland so was amazed! Julie and i finished together (along with Julie's dog) in 5hr 50mins as joint 3rd lady. It was a great venue to finish in too - i sat in the sun eating my very nice pasty watching a red kite gliding around the woodland! Definately a lovely little race & one to do again. As for the runfurther series this year.... well i got a few more points than i expected for this race, so will have to wait and see till after the Long Mynd in a few weeks time to see the final ladies results.