Ed: Michael Fish returns to familiar territory of the Ridgeway to try out this new idea and for his first significant event for VRUK in club colours.

In my first ‘proper’ run in my Vegan runners vest I ran the Ridgeway Trailblaze from Tring to Goring (61km) on Monday 27 June 2011.

I grew up in Weston Turville and spent much of my time in the Chilterns and in particular Coombe Hill and Wendover Woods so this was an opportunity not to be missed!

My Mum and I stayed at Pendley Manor, Tring just around the corner from the start point the night before (big discounts on nights that are not so popular and very convenient for the start).

The forecast was for a hot and sunny day which it certainly was (up to 30 degrees C!). I ran the 61km in an ‘unofficial’ time of 7:58:13 but the official results have not yet been posted on the Trailblaze website yet:

http://www.trail-blaze.com/race.asp?race=14&button=Go

My Mum was my support crew (for water and food top ups) meeting me every 10km or so of this quite hilly but very scenic and fun route (I was running solo).
This was my first time running more than marathon distance and I had a great time although I was pretty tired at the end and it was tough not to blast down the excellent single track trails in the first half and conserve some energy for the later stages.

I would thoroughly recommend running this route although it is a bit expensive as a ‘one off’ and the Trailblaze concept has caused some controversy with other users of the trails nationwide:

http://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2011/04/26/national-trail-running-scheme-ignites-controversy

I have attached a photo of me and my ‘support crew’ at the 61km point where I finished. I even had one person comment as I ran past: ‘Vegan Runners – very good’!!

I will keep you up to date with my other challenges and races as the summer goes on.