Bother

In both senses of the word! I did not afterall get round on my first go, the chief culprit I think being the weather conditions rather than my condition. It's hard to say whether my fitness was enough for the task, as all I can really say is it wasn't up to the task in the weather we had. I had a bit of knee trouble, felt knackered to the point of stopping on certain climbs (Clough Head, Scafell, Yewbarrow), but on the other hand I was still running on leg 4 ok through to Honister where I stopped.
The weather was quite a story. We set off from Keswick in shorts and sunnies and had no trouble at all, just a hint of cool when we came over the top of Blencathra for the descent to Threlkeld. On the climb up Clough Head we still just had a top on each but at the summit I could feel the cold and a hard wind picking up, plus it was 1030 or 11pm so on went the jackets. Then the waterproof trousers. Then the clag came in. We had rain, clag and wind for the rest of the day; the mist gave between 5 and 100 metres visibility which hampered us sometimes, especially around Sargeant Man where we lost around an hour, but it was the wind which really scuppered the Round. It was relentless at 40 - 60 mph, making us stagger and demanding untold amounts of extra effort for the running. Although I'd always thought I'd complete even if over time, you never know what you'll do until you're at that point, and I'd had enough. In fact the wind if anything was getting even stronger and as we came into Honister the rain also lashed down again. It seemed a good choice!
There's always another day eh? We'll see. At the moment I am thinkiing of having another go later this year but need to check the diary.
The last and massively important point to say is the support I had, which was outstanding in every way. The nav was excellent, allowing for the visibility some places, I was fed and watered constantly, encouraged mercilessly, pampered at the roadside and even met in the howling gales at Sticks Pass and Rosset by those who'd walked up from the nearest road with sweet coffee and flapjack: honestly, no one could have more generous and welcome support, thanks so much to you all!

Right, let's get on with it then

I am still planning to set off at 18:00 Friday 21st. There was some thought as to moving it forward a bit but I've decide to stick with the plan, what's a little rain eh?!

If anyone wants to follow my progress I will be carrying a GPS tracker courtesy of the good folk at Open Adventure (thanks James and Lisa) so from the start you’ll be able to see how I’m doing and whether I am on schedule. The link is here: http://maps.opentracking.co.uk/bg2013.cfm?n=5
and you simply refresh the page every now and then; I think it's accurate to within about 10 minutes or so as to where I am

Right, let's get on with it then ...

BG in 1

Beyond the fatigue
curving up into the hills,
in the clag is strength.

BG in 2

Ankle mangling crags
and endless boggy tussocks
enrich the challenge.

BG in 3

Waiting in dark skies,
a thousand miles behind me,
the long fells beckon.

Bring it on!

Well here we are, the blog counter now reads less than 12 days to go, and I am in winding down mode now.
I keep reading the FRA BG forums about other people's Rounds and I'm starting to get twitchy as I want to get on with it. I'm ready. I've run about 1,200 miles in training, as well as biking, hiking, and so on, I've run 7 recces on the route itself, 5 long or super long fell races, 5 further ultra training runs, and even shinned up Table Mountain when visiting my brother and sister in law, all in the cause of getting ready for the year's only race that counts and to be fit enough for it.
I aimed to do one last long run this weekend but an offer of a sailing weekend on a Thames barge came up and that was sufficiently unusual to bring forward my tapering a few days! I am now commited to just some biking and short lazy runs to keep the legs moving over the next two weeks. I'm happy to be in this stage now.
I'm reassured by my last recce over leg 2 and also by the news that Rae and Jarv my leg 2 supporters have checked the route again last night and are confident. Leg 2 is often chosen for the night section, which is what I have opted for, because it is fairly straightforward to nav and a lot is runnable. However I also know people have floundered in poor visibility on this section so I was a little concerned, though I'm now relaxed about it with these recent recces. Leg 1 I'm happy with: two good supporters in Mike and Barney, pleanty of daylight and my legs will be fresh. Leg 3 is of course the make or break leg, the central leg, the longest leg, the highest leg, the first time I'll have run a third consecutive leg. Here I have more good friends: Deasey to nav, the ever strong Stu, and Mark from Northampton in support, so I am positively looking forward to that one. Leg 4 I have run the least but it is an excellent section; I love the part from Yewbarrow to Gable, then after the brief rocky and knackering yomp up Gable its all downhillish to Honister. I have the privilege of Andrew and Paul, courtesy of Stu's arrangements, although I have not yet met either of them - thanks guys! Leg 5; well you can almost smell the finish from Honister, and there are just 3 peaks to go and then a road section 3.5 miles to Portinscale and then the last mile to Keswick (I've measured it!). Edwin from Skipton and Phil from Northampton will join me for this, and if other people's Rounds are anything to go by there may yet be others who join in at this point also.
I don't know how many feet of ascent I have covered in training but it's probably as much as I could have done from a Northamptonshire base without mind-numbing repeated hill reps (I did do some of those). I've done as many recces of the Round as I reasonably could, again given my home base and also the great deal of snow which covered the route for so long (still the odd patch on my last trip on 1 June!!). I've also pushed the boundaries of fairness on the amount of time away from family, balancing training needs with family needs.
So here I am: I'm ready. I'm ready to go tomorrow and 11 and a bit days still to go. Ah well, let's have another beer and think about the plans again!

The Last Blast

Just had a fabulous weekend for my last recce before the Big Day, a run over leg 2 with Jarv, Stu and Deasey as well as Mark on his first trip up to the Lakes for a long while as preparation for helping on leg 3. The weather was fabulous, with just a few gusts of fresh breeze over the Dodds but mostly sun, blue skies with white cloud and perfect views, so we could see the whole, majestic, dauntingly huge Round. This was an excellent opportunity to enjoy this section and try to commit it to memory as best I can before running it at night in three weeks' time. Easier said than done of course. Once it's dark those certain directions become more difficult to pick out .... left-at-the-small-cairn and straight-on-for-a-bit-and-then-bear-sort-of-leftish-when-the-path-gets-a-bit-stonier ... ah well, it'll all come right no doubt! The weekend was also improved no end by fish and chips by the Moot Hall watching someone come in at the end of their Round (in under 20 hours, flippin eck!), a beer or two with the chaps, and then off to The Alhambra to watch Gatsby with Vicki who'd joined me on this trip. So from this point it's all easing off, last minute plans, and waiting :-)