This was the weekend I had originally intended to do my round. For lots of reasons with kids, works, Myra falling off her bike and if I am honest I did not feel ready, I am glad I moved the attempt to September. Still very good to see at least 12 runners plus slaves/hand maidens starting out and all I know of finished it.
The Boob Graham Round is a Tattenhall Runners concept where they do a Bob Graham Round relay with the ladies sharing the various legs out between them and the chaps being the slaves^D^D^D^D^D pacers. and much fun the weekend was, it was a privilege to be a small part of it and excellent training for me.
For a small club in a small village in Cheshire, they have a lot of good runners and a very healthy club vibe. At least 6 of the male supporters were Bob Graham Round Vets, some used the day as training for the UMTB, intending to do more than one leg.
It has been a bit of a hard week with quite a lot of work travel for Clive and a reasonable amount of running in the previous 7 days, so I was quite tired to start with. I am quite used to getting up at 1.30am, but I don't usually wake up. One the rare occasions the little people wake up now, I tend to be able to do what they need without waking up properly and go back to sleep quite easily. I really felt like I was still asleep until the top of Steel fell.
I was down to be one of 3 pacers on leg 3 for 3 of the ladies. In the end one of the pacers who also did leg 3 did an ankle 300m from Dummail Raise, and 2 of the ladies had to drop out for various reasons, so there was only Carol, Dave and me on leg 3. After a sterling leg 1 where the 2 runners arrived about 15 minutes before the support crew, they took no chances on the leg 2/3 changeover and made us get up at 1.30am, even though the runners who did leg 2 did not get in till 3.30am. I had between 30 seconds and 2 hours sleep, between a tractor in the field outside picking up horse poo and a couple of runners taking 15 minutes to blow up an air bed which started life as a Zepplin, I did not get much sleep. Still if you are doing the BGR for real, you get no sleep.
Many of the female runner were not hardened fell runners (some were), but each one aquited themselves very admerably. Carol who got the short straw of leg 3 which is the longest, most climb and roughest ground took herself to planet iPod and even managed the odd 5 seconds dance while going across Scarfell Pike. No idea what she was listening to. Carol was a hardned long distance walker/runner who had done 100 mile hikes, but was not keen on rough ground. Apart from the odd comment "I don't like rough ground" as she danced across the rocks was the only hint of decent from what was a challenging task. I had done nearly all this leg in bits on my own (or with dog), so it was really good to learn some of the better lines from Dave. A chap doing the full BGR called Colin (and his pacers) was doing about the same pace as us for most of this leg and it was good to chat as we were moving at about the same pace.
At Broadstand, I split off from the group who went via Foxes Tarn and climbed Broadstand. I had not been over it before. While I would not be too happy about climbing it solo and unroped in the wet, in the dry it was no problem and did not even raise the heart rate. The hardest bit was getting through Fat Man's chimney with a bum bag on. I waited for about 15 minutes at the top of Scarfell, so it does appear to be a reasonable time saving if you are up for it. Would I like to solo it after 40 miles and 16,000ft? I am no so sure.
At Wasdale, I was orginally intended to take a car back to Keswick, but Dave had a tight calf, so decided not to do leg 4, so I carried on with the new group.
Doing leg 4 after leg 3 as a pacer is quite hard. Trying to keep up with a group who are burning glycogen when all yours has gone is a challange. More so when the heat really started as we went up Yewbarrow. I would end up a minute or 2 behind at each summit which was not too bad. At Great Gable the group carried on at my suggestion and I plodded on and ended up about 10 minutes or so behind at Honister. It was an excellent training day for me, 12 hours, 26 miles and about 13k of up and down. The limiting factor was not climbing the legs, but available water and food. I had drunk all my water (a full bladder) by Kirk Fell, so I am greatful to the walkers who let me have about a litre at the bottom of Great Gable. If I had not had it, I would have had to go over Moses Trod as a short cut. With BGR slaves/hand madiens/pacers to feed and water me on the day things should be much better.
The girls finished in under 24 hours with some very fast running on leg 5.
By the evening I was a space cadet. A number of people asked me if I was O.K. and to be honest I struggled to stay awake through a very nice meal in Threkeld.
My limited association with TattenHall runners started when I meet Peter Taylor in April 2008 at a fell race they organise. Peter was trying to make the best of limited parking. I overheard a conversation he had with someone that he was going to do the BGR in a few weeks time. We had a quick chat about it, I mentioned it was part of my long term plan, he asked what running I had done, I pointed out I finished with the 60+ ladies in the Aran Race a few weeks previous and he managed to contain his laughter.
On saturday night, Peter in brutal Scottish honesty said something along the lines of
when I 1st meet you were s**t. You had a plan, worked on it and are just about there. Legs 3 & 4 self supported is a good effort.Doing legs 3 & 4 which is about 1/2 the climb of the round, the hardest 2 legs and the roughest 2 legs and still climbing well has given me a good confidence boost. Pace was a little quicker than needed on the day and I carried my own (and other people on leg 3) water and food. I feel that if I had gone for the BGR on friday night, while at best it would have gone to the wire, I was capable of completing in the 24 hours if things went right. The next 3 months are about getting some margin in place. I need a few more 10 hour plus days out, but the ability to keep climbing hills is there.
In short a great weekend in all aspects, people, weather, experience and having a laugh. I also picked up a few very experienced BGR veteran pacers who are very welcome.
Monday : rest
Tuesday : hill sprints
Wednesday : 10 miles and 1k on the south Downs path near Petersfield
Thursday : rest
Friday : tried to sleep
Saturday : 26.66 miles and 13,000ft
Sunday : you must be joking
While my legs were a bit stiff on saturday night, they did not stay that way into Sunday. I am still tired, but I think most of that is lost sleep with an accumulated defict prior to Friday. I am having the 1st part this week off running. Time for a bit of R & R.
