April/May in a flash!

I'm slowly getting worse and worse at updating my blog. The month of April and May just flew by for me. I have had many of good and bad times over the last two months from winning races to being hospitalised for a few days due to illness.

April saw me race many road runs in a bid to find some fitness and hit some small goals I had set for myself. One of them goals being going sub 17 minutes for the Conwy Parkrun. I have ran sub 16:30 several times but the Conwy 5km is a tough little course and I just couldn't get under the 17 minutes barrier till I finally achieved this in April. (All results below) I also won the Denbigh 10km and placed on the podium in 3 other events over the month.

Flying the flag in the Anglo Celtic Plate 100km, after a tough day on the course..!

Not that many expected me to make the start line of my Welsh International vest race in the Anglo Celtic Plate 100km, I did.. I wasn't going to miss this for any thing. Unfortunately I didn't run any where near what I wanted to but I was still pleased and proud to have pulled on the Welsh vest and give it my best on the day.

Exploring the Picos National Park

I followed this up by a brilliant 3 weeks out in the Picos De Europa National Park, just a couple of hours outside of Santander. I had received an invite out from the UTPE Ultra race with work to basically go and experience their race. For anyone who loves mountains and a huge range of trails you have to check out the Picos National Park. The UTPE race has to be one of my favourite races to date, the course is spectacular and gives you a real experience of trail running at it's best. Technical trails to gorge running and wildlife. Never in a race have I raced along cows, descended with mountain goats or climbed with vultures flying over head! This race had it all.. Apart from racing the UTPE out there we had several running/hiking adventures around the local areas.

From 30 degree heat on some days to snow on others! 

Making the most of every day in the mountains!

Racing with the locals..

I also got a last minute entry in the Edinburgh Marathon for the end of May. I was pleased with my run after not doing any marathon training or road running for that matter. The return leg of the marathon was all into a head wind too what made things harder too, but good to get another one under my belt and take my marathon/ultra race number to 27 now.

Recent trip to the Lake District with Work. 

Results for April - May:

• 4th April Morning, Conwy Parkrun 5km - 17:15 (2nd Overall out of 239 runners) 
• 4th April Afternoon, Llandudno 5km - 17:09 (3rd Overall out of 169 runners)
• 11th April, Conwy Parkrun 5km - 16:58 (1st Overall out of 194 runners) Course Record
• 12th April, Denbigh 10km - 36:24 (1st Overall out of 74 runners) Course Record, new event.
• 2nd May, Anglo Celtic Plate 100km - 9:52:38 Wales 3rd team in British Championships. 
• 16th May, UTPE Ultra - 8:29:59 (51st Overall out of 381 finishers) 
• 31st May, Edinburgh Marathon - 2:51:22 (52nd out of 7814 finishers)

I look forward to racing and training more in June as I'm now a month closer to the Ultra Trail Du Mont Blanc 100 mile race at the end of August. 

UTMB Race Profile.

Thanks for following and reading as always!

For more pictures from my adventures follow me on Twitter: @PaulWathan

Paul x