Tissington Trail Marathon - uphill to halfway, downhill all the way back! (26 miles disused railway)

Back in April I did the very flat, runnable, traffic-free Tissington Trail Marathon in Derbyshire in preparation for my Ultra-Trail Snowdonia 50k race the month after. I ran with my wonderful friend and fellow Nene Valley Races organiser Janine, and met some lovely people along the route. The entire course is along the disused railway line, starting at Ashbourne and turning round at Parsley Hay, meaning 90% of the first half is uphill and vice versa on the way back. The marshals with drinks and jelly babies (amongst other treats!) at the aid stations were so encouraging all the way along the route. The lack of elevation meant this race was extremely runnable - I've never run a road marathon before and this was the closest I'll ever get to it! I'm not used to running hard for just under 5 hours without any hills to hike up and fly down, so I found the last 4 miles hard work, both mentally and physically. I was super glad of a lovely runner called Katie and her friends for dragging me along to the finish! Katie was training for the Lakeland 100 miler so I saw her again in July when I ran the 50 mile event. She completed the 100 miler so her training, including that day along the Tissington Trail, must have been excellent!
I would like to highlight that Nice Work, who organise the Tissington Trail amongst many other races, were really excellent - within a certain timeframe they allow you to move your race place to any other of their races if you end up being injured or not being able to make it, with just a small admin fee or the additional race fee to pay. The organisers of this event in particular were brilliant, the marshals were super friendly and encouraging, and this made for great camaraderie amongst us runners. I really enjoyed the day and would love to do another of Nice Work's events.
Enter the next race here!
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