As planned, I was able to successfully complete my Malvern Hills End-To-End trail run today.  I ran the trail from South to North. I discovered that it was a very tough trail; much tougher than I had imagined.

The first few miles of the trail were particularly tough.  The first three hills involved climbs and descents as follows:

• Chase End Hill  –  300 foot ascent at 10-20% grade and 260 foot descent at 15-25% grade
• Raged Stone Hill  –  450 foot ascent at 15-35% grade and a 340 foot descent at 30-50% grade
• Midsummer Hill – 425 foot ascent at 15-35% grade and a 450 foot descent at 15 -35% grade

There were other steep climbs along the way and also some climbs involving more elevation gain, but those first three hills were a very tough start.

I thoroughly enjoyed my run.  The weather cooperated, by staying quite warm.  It was cloudy but I had almost no rain; just a slight drizzle as I finished the run.  The hills were relatively quiet with just a few other hikers, and some people out walking their dogs. The views into Wales and out across Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire were spectacular.

My only challenge while running this tough trail came in the form of blisters.  I got a couple of nasty blisters on my heels that developed early on, while climbing the steep slopes.

I would love to run the trail again one day, but would probably go from North to South next time. This direction would be a little easier and would also be net downhill.  Today, I had a net uphill run, with 3,680 feet of total elevation gain and 3,400 feet of decent.  That occurred over a total of 9.35 miles and a total of fourteen hills.  Like I said, this is one tough run.