....... and back to the green door

Three months on from failed attempt number two, this was to be a smaller scale attempt with one pacer for most legs, less road support and less build up. I was not keen to put pacers and family though an other failure, though it was always a very real possibility.

The weekend of the 12th of August was probably the last chance for an attempt in 2011 with other things going on and committed on the Wednesday, picking a Saturday night start as the weather looked better than for a start 24 hours earlier. The forecast was not great, showers, cloud, poor visibility on the high hills and 35mph gusts, but was to get better on the Sunday.

We travelled up on the day and I dropped the family in Keswick at about 5.30 to get chips and went to pick up Stu. from Threkeld. On arriving back at Moot Hall at about 6.30pm, we find Andrew had thrown up (a week later I got the bug while at a music festival) which proved to make Myra's weekend just that bit harder. Fortunately, the sickness only lasted for a few hours and he was much better the next day. What can you do other than thank fate that you have a better half most capable of tackling such matters alone, do what you can while you are there, then put it aside in your mind. With 7 folks lined up in various roles for the next 8 hours or so, delaying even an hour to help sort out the little chap was not an option. Prior investment in Travelodge for the night for the family proved well worthwhile.

Graham from north of Inverness (we had a short exchange on the fell runner forum before hand) was also going at 7pm, so we had a chat and photos by the green door.

Leg 1 : Pacer Penrith Stu.

The final team and positions had come together late, but I was very pleased Stu. from Penrith (obvious really) could do leg 1. We meet 18 months previous on a snowy February day out on legs 1 and 2 where he was somewhat fitter/faster/better than I was. Stu. went on to do a fast round last year and paced leg 1 for my second attempt. He has been incredibly encouraging, sometimes with the subtle charm of a brick. Stu. kept me calm, feed and amused up Skiddaw where we were 9 minutes up and on Calva we got an other minute or so. We let Graham disappear into the distance who was working on a 21 hour schedule and kept to our pace. I kept being told not to look at my watch, but having been up there so many times I know at each stage if I was up or down relative to the schedule on this leg. We crossed the Caldew which was fine, feet were already wet. A few 100 meters up the climb of Mungrisdale common, I started to slow, not sure why, but we both noticed it and I struggled. After about 10 minutes I got a good talking to from Stu. and clicked out of it.

Looking back this was a positive event. I have heard that a wobble can happen anywhere on the BGR and having one this early and getting your head back into gear was a good thing. We probably lost all the time we gained earlier. Worse, so much worse, I mispronounced Mungrisdale in the presence of a Cumbrian and was very lucky not to get buried in soft peat there and then. The rest of the trog up Blencathera was fine. Towards the top the mist really came in which combined with the dark meant less than 5 meter visibility. At the top we heard a voice somewhere in the mist who said they wanted to follow up down, we said OK, but they never followed us!

If I was going to change one thing about my successful round, to admit to one error, then this would be it. I would have gone down Doddick, but not because of any merit of the route itself. There were many reasons for this, the best being that I took someone who is a very serious and experienced mountain man, but not 100% comfortable with the Yiannis Parachute Descent, down it. It would also have stopped him having something to rib me about until I am into my 70's which alone was reason enough. So the lesson here is that even though the descent very much suited the runner, it also needs to suit the team. Visibility was 5 meters at most. Even though I though I knew it quite well, I managed to go off route again, but in a different place this time. A great descent for consenting adults who all embrace a loony trip in the wet down a very steep slope at the end of a leg 1 reccie. To use it on a BGR all the party need to have the intellectual approach of Mike Blake to steep descents, otherwise play it safe. While I remember really enjoying the descent, I understand that Stu. is still in therapy as a result of the experience.

We finished leg 1 about 10 minutes down on schedule. I came into Threkeld in good humor, well feed and watered which Stu. takes the credit for, the 10 minutes down rather than 10 minutes up was down to me and the mist alone.

Dave Swift (tailing for his Paddy round) had also done support for Ronnie (success at just over 23 hours) that weekend, was very kind to get the leg 2 pacer and his car in the right place, and to do tea and sympathy at Threkeld. Porridge, tea, sock and shoe change and we were off. The pacers for leg 3 were also in attendance which confused me a little.

Leg 2 : Jim Mann

Leg 2 is a hard leg in navigation terms at night or in bad weather and with visibility down sometime to less than 5 meters in the mist, even with GPS with a track, it needs a solid navigator which I had. Jim and I have done this leg at least 4 times together and it it always seems to be in poor weather. Clough Head, a low point on my 1st attempt passed without problem with a split just about on schedule. The way up Great Dodd took a bit for effort to find the path in the mist and that pattern continued along the Dodd's. At most of the summits we would need to turn our torches off to see the trig point or pile of stone faintly silhouetted against the sky (there was a full moon behind the clouds, but we never saw it). My stomach played up. I managed to eat enough, though drank just about enough to arrive in Dummail in a reasonable state. I suspect over the leg we lost 10 or 15 minutes on navigation and 5 minutes because you could not see far enough to go full speed (relative to what you could travel at if you could see far enough ahead to place your feet), which given the conditions is very good indeed. A minute looking for a summit here and 30 seconds looking for a path there added up, but no faults in the navigation. Torch decided to give up just after Dollywagon Pike, but we had a spare (and a spare spare). Fairfield and Seat Sandle were done just about on the split times. The leg and each summit seemed to go quickly which suggests we had a good natter and that route finding took a lot of attention. Given the weather conditions and my condition no one could have done anything to get me across leg 2 faster or in better shape.

Near the botton of Fairfield we encountered Graham (who set off the same time as I did) who was on the way up Fairfield having had some navigation problems on leg 2. I have no idea where he overtook me later, there was a lot of mist between Dummail and Wasale, but suspect it was around Great End and he went well to finish in just over 23 hours.

I arrived at Dummail Raise in O.K. condition, happy, but really starting to tire. We were about 20 minutes down on schedule. I had been unable to arrange road support for Dummail, but Edinburgh lads sorted out tea and rice pudding. My feet were soaked, but decided not to change shoes or socks which proved to be a good call. Wet Sealskin socks continued to be comfortable without causing any problems, as did the MudClaws which I wore the rest of the way round. Jim was taking it easy that weekend, so only 1 leg as part of his taper for the BAMM Arctic marathon in northern Sweden where he and Duncan put in a highly respectable 2nd on the 70km.

Leg 3 : Pacers Olly Stephenson, Jason Hubert and Willy Gibson. Tim Hoskin as poor sod on Broadstand for the 3rd time.

I paced Olly and Jason on the Snowdon section of their Paddy last year. They came over from Edinburgh to do legs 4 and 5 on my attempt last September when I wimped out in Wasdale, so there were never any question of stopping at Dummail, I owed these lads a run out. I had meet Olly and Jason again for minutes in a car park in Llanberis at 2am as I handed their friend Mick over on his successful Paddy round in early June this year. Willy joined them at the last minute. For 2 people I had only meet briefly before and their mate, there was not a second in the 7 hours we were together where any of the 3 failed to put in maximum effort and commitment to get me across leg 3 in the best shape possible. It was truly humbling.

Stell Fell is always a bit short and sharp and I found the 1st half hard. At about the mid point I asked for my iPod to see if it would help distract me from thinking ahead which is the real danger on a round. If you just worry only about getting to the top of the hill ahead of you, you are OK, if you start thinking any further ahead, madness and dragons lies beyond. By complete accident, the 1st tune was the tender works of Motorhead and I went up a gear immediately. Its hard to describe but the distraction of the music allowed me to learn that I could push myself just that bit harder with no immediate bad effects, so I did. For the rest of the round, a mix of Julian Cope, Faithless, Cure, Cult, early pink Floyd, James, Happy Mondays, Stranglers, Smiths, Levellers, The The, Squeeze, Ramones, Nirvana among others, distracted my thoughts from beyond the next summit and to focus on the hear and now, the next foot step. I could still hear the lads talking and chatted a bit, but it was not a section to engage in witty banter, it was a section to keep going.

Parts of leg 3 I felt really good and parts were really hard. Steel fell to Calf Crag I really enjoyed, the climb up Sergeant Man was OK and High Raise to Stickle O Pike was a lot of fun, still hard but I remember spending a lot of that time with a smile on my face. It got light between Calf Crag and Sergeant Man, though we were still in the mist, the GPS and route knowledge made navigation a non issue.

I had a bad patch from the bog before Rosset Pike until about Esk Pike where I found the going very hard. Bowfell, in particular, was a struggle. The lads kept feeding me to the extent my stomach could cope with it. In contrast to my May attempt I worked hard on forcing at least a little food down even when I did not want it and Zantac made a difference. Willy was the tattie man and provided me with 2 or 3 spuds an hour. At one point Olly gave me a bit of a Marmite sandwich which shocked my taste bugs, but the different taste seemed to make eating other stuff easier.

Willy had a strange nack of heading off in the right direction without having a map or any prior knowledge of the route! The peaks came and went, but the mist and general wetness stayed meaning a lot of care (read slower) was required over the rocky ground on the 2nd half of leg 3. Scarfel Pike was deserted, I think we saw a single couple walking up as we went down to Mickledore.

Tim, stalwart climbing partner for close to 20 years now, had set himself up on Broadstand for a 3rd time. Last September there was ice and in May it was tipping down with gale force winds. However, this time was much better, it was just very wet indeed. Jason and Willy did the West Wall Traverse to meet me at the top. Olly was determined to win the "weekend balls of steel award" by following me up Broadstand. I did my best to persuade him it was horrible and he could take an alternative.

As I climbed I asked Tim if he fancied roping Broadstand a 4th time if required and his reply translated into "probably not", but the words he choose were very different. As in May, with only a few minute contact time, it is easy to forget how serious a contribution Tim made. I don't much pleasure from climbing steep wet rock, but it works better for me than the alternatives. Had it been dry I would have been very happy to solo Broadstand. With water running off it, I was very pleased to have the rope there. Using Broadstand probably saves me 15 minutes with the energy saving included(your milage may vary) and I am most grateful again to Tim who has now spent 2 nights this year camped on top of Scarfel in appalling conditions to see me up this section. However, he introduced me to the book "Feet in the Clouds", so sitting half way up a wet rock face for an hour or more waiting for a runner to wobble out of the cloud, to see them safe up 15ft of easy rock is just part of the price one has to pay for such gross lack for forethought. I think, but am not sure that Tim also helped Graham's party up Broadstand. What a guy!

I went to the summit, met up with Jason and Willy as I came back down to the coll and down we went. I think I had a bad patch during 1st part of the descent, I don't really remember that clearly that I said to Jason I was probably going to pack it in. If Jason did nothing else that day (and he did a huge amount in the previous 6 hours) then his moment came, his very calm words along the lines of "your are just about on the 24 hour schedule, you look to be getting stronger, at least set off from Wasdale, don't decide now" kept me going long enough to have a really enjoyable and quite fast run down the scree. A run down steep loose rock always seems to cheer me up.

Myra, Rowen and Andrew were the road crew at Wasdale with Dave Almond waiting for the next leg. It was great to sit in the chair, get a hug from the King crew, get socks changed and I could actually eat without having to forcing it down. Some porridge, Zantec and some pain killers along with SIS pink recovery gloop, flat coke(as recommended by Nick Ham) and tea. I actually wanted to eat and was surprised by how easy a pot of porridge went down.

I was worried I was too much of a liability for leg 4 and asked Dave if he was sure he was O.K. taking me. I was very swiftly reassured.

A new face appeared, said some nice things about me getting stronger. I had to ask who they were? It as Jason. I had just spent 7 hours with the guy, I felt terrible and must have been away with the fairies while sitting in the chair at Wasdale.

While I was 10 minutes down on the 24 hours schedule I wanted to finish even if the final time was over 24 hours. What Olly, Jason and Willy had done was set me up very well for leg 4. I was well feed and watered, my legs were in good shape for having run 44 miles and 19,oooft of climb and despite some mental low points, I was also in good spirits by Wasdale and my stomach had started wanted food again. I had also learned something vital during this leg about how to push myself harder when tired than I though possible . I did not have great legs 1, 2 and 3, but they were good enough and looking back they provided a firm foundation for the rest of the round.

Leg 4 : Pacer Dave Almond

If roles were reversed and I was asked to take a near exhausted runner over leg 4 on my own, I would have to think about it for a minute and understand howwreaked they really were. Dave never showed any doubt, not even for a second, that I would get round in under 24 hours and he was going to make it happen.

Yewbarrow (Alternative fell runner name : Yew-bastard), well you know what I mean, its 1800ft of upward horribleness that seems to go on for ever. iPod inserted and ground it out in a few minutes under the split time. Yes, it was very hard indeed, and the wobbling wreak that spluttered "thirty bloody one" and then wobbled off towards Red Pike got very strange looks from the walkers having lunch on the summit.

The only part of leg 4 where I had gentle encouragement to go a bit faster was between Yewbarrow and Red Pike. Dave could see we were getting back on schedule and gently pushed me to up the pace a little, not on the steep hills where I was flogging myself quite adequately, but on the gentler sections even to the point of suggesting a power walk (in one's dreams). We picked up a few more minutes on Red Pike and with much improved (good viz, light wind, clear sky) we picked up a little more time over to Steeple. I felt like I moved up a gear between Steeple and Pillar and probably did some of the best running I have ever done. The climb and subseqeuent descent of Pillar passed in what felt like a flash. We gave a cheer when we passed the point where I sat down on my attempt in May at Blacksale Pass. I kept eating spuds and Dave's mini Mars bars. Had plenty to drink, sometime water, sometimes Nuun. I was able to enjoy the downhill sections at a respectable pace.

Kirk Fell and Great Gable are 2 climbs that feature in many write ups as hard and moral sapping. Yes, they were hard, very hard after 56 miles or so, but there was never any question in my mind of giving up or slowing down so they became OK. I do though recall a far amount of grunting on my way up Gable as I tried to claw back a little more time. We took 3 minutes off the schedule between Pillar and Kirkfell and then 7 minutes between Kirk Fell and Great Gable. I remember getting some really funny looks from the people eating sandwiches on top of Great Gable as I touch the summit, muttered "Thirty bloody Seven" and wobbled off in the direction of Green Gable. Neither of us were 100% sure we could find the grassy strip to the right, so we opted for the more cautious rocky descent, it did not matter, 3 more minutes off the split schedule between Great Gable and Green Gable.

In June 2010 I supported leg 3 of the Tattenhall Boob Graham round ladies relay and tagged along for leg 4 for the training. Going at about the same pace was a guy from the north east on his round and he passed me on the bog just before Grey Knots. I was struggling at the time and thought how the hell do you run when you have done such much. I found out for myself and was able to continue to make good time down to Honister. Legs were still fine for descending, I had been a little worried about the long and steep run down into Honister but I really enjoyed it.

Great to see kids at Honister. Some of Dave Almonds friends had come along and gave me great support. Rice pudding, SIS gloop, cold-ish tea (I had gone a fair bit faster than expected so water had not boiled in time), some pain killers and a change of shirt and I think I wondered off 30 seconds or so before my pacers were ready.

Leg 5 : Dave Sargent, Tim Hoskin, Jim Mann, Rowen King

Dave on navigation and food and Tim on Nuun. I had meet Dave on his unsuccessful Paddy attempt back in June which as the most fun and best spirited round I have been involved in as a pacer and look forward to his successful attempt next month.

I have been climbing with Tim for nearly 20 years now. We have had some great and some fairly scary times together on various types of vertical fun from E4 rock to Alpine ice climbs to Scottish winter and much in between. The poor sod had also roped Broadstand for me 3 times. He introduced me to the Bob Graham Round concept so it seemed very right he was there on leg 5 and I was delighted to be able to run the last leg with Tim as a pacer.

Dale Head felt like it went on for ever. While there was no question of giving up, it just dragged on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and I was relived beyond expression to get to the top. I still felt OK and made good progress over Hindscarth, but felt the larger climb of up to Robinson. I pondered at the time that I should have felt something more then "forty bloody two" as I got to the summit rocks on Robinson, but I did not. With exactly 2 hours left on the clock and 100 minutes on the schedule between Robinson and the Green Door and I knew it was quite possible that I might fall apart either on the descent of Robinson or on the road, so any extra time gained would be insurance against blowing up.

Dave knew the descent down from Robinson like the back of his hand. We may not have taken the most direct route, but it was probably the quickest and easiest. I found it hard to believe I was still able to run at all, let alone make good progress down the steep grass slope after the rock step and down to the path, though my quads might not have agreed at the time and then a reasonable pace along the grass track, even running the slight uphill before the house.

There is a small cottage on the left hand side of the track as you start to drop down into Newlands. I had a chat with the elderly lady who lives there when I passed doing a leg 5 out , 2nd part of leg 3, leg 4 and leg 5 back as a training run back in April. She had mentioned she used to run in her younger days, but it was not the done thing for girls to do "The Graham". She wished me luck for my attempt.

I was really pleased when we passed she was outside. We did not stop as I had no clue how tight time was, but mentioned we had meet before and I thanked he for her wishes back in April. I don't really believe in providence, but ......

Team King were ready at the car park near Newlands Chruch for a change of shoes, socks and shirt.

Dave left us at Newlands, drove back to Keswick and would rejoin us near Portinscale. Tim and I wondered off along the road, but I knew we were easily on target as long as I kept going and did not blow up, this meant I could relax a bit and enjoy the road section as much as you can enjoy running on a road after 60 plus miles of fell. Walking the hills and to my great surprise 9 or 10 minute miles on the flat. I don't like running on roads at the best of times and running now was hard. However, it was not impossible and we kept the pace up between Newland and Keswick with a bit in reserve.

About 2 miles out from Keswick Jim Mann joined us and said we had plenty of time now, just enjoy it. Dave Sargent rejoined us before Portinscale. At Portinscale Bridge, Rowen joined us which was a real lift as I was finding running very hard by this time. Her running style was very good, as noted my both myself and Jim Mann in contrast to my forced stumble. Andrew having been sick the night before was not up to a run of near a mile. The 5 of us ran along the track by the river and into Keswick, negotiated some traffic and onto Keswick High Street where Andrew joined us for the last 100m or so.

Rowen, Andrew and myself ran up towards Moot Hall holding hands and got a really great reception from Dave and friends, some fell runners who just happened to be around, Graham's crew and even from some people who were out for an evening in Keswick. The three of us touched the door 23 hours and thirty four minutes after leaving the green door.

Writing about the last 10 minutes now makes me feel emotional. During the round, the big thing that kept me going was wanting to run the last bit with my 2 monsters. They had been really upset last time when I bailed out on leg 4 as they had the expectation they would run the last section with me. I thought it was be a really emotional event and I would struggle to contain my emotion. The Bob Graham Round does funny things to your emotions and my emotions were all used up by the time I got back to Keswick to be replaced by a confused haze of being thankful it was over, disappointed it was over, a vague understanding that I had achieved something significant and wanting to eat. I was pleased, do not doubt that for a moment, but the elation would come later, days later in fact.

Don't get me wrong, at the end it was truly wonderful to have some of the folks who had help me there and their friends to cheer me on. It now feels very special to have had such fantastic family support and that Myra, Rowen and Andrew could be part of that last section. The memories, and they are great ones, will last until I get put into a box, but at the time I was very conscious that I was not feeling emotional and remember commenting to a few people about it.

Graham who had set out the same time was still around. We did some photo's and to be fair Graham looks in much better shape at the end than I did, though I was expecting to be a heap by that point, but to my great surprise was broadly still functional.

Myra got some chips, that well known recovery food. We sat and chatted, eat chips and people started to go their separate ways. 45 minutes after finishing, we were on our way back to Aberystwyth with Myra driving thankfully. There were a few folks who had given me such wonderful support over the 3 years of this campaign, I felt I owed them a call. Coach Jon from Aberystwyth University Sports Sciences who expertly put some science into my training got a very incoherent sunday evening phone call, as did my brother. Penrith Stu, Mark Smith and Dave Hindly had been super supportive and I let them know there won't be a rematch. When I got home I took my clothes off to get into the shower and got hit by the smell of cortisol, a by product of my body breaking itself down to keep going during the day.

The following week both body and brain were unable to focus for more than a few minutes. Had a lazy but very good following weekend at the Beautiful Days festival (if you ignore the stomach bug Andrew kindly gave me). 9 days later I managed a lazy 3 miles, but was my legs were still tired. I also eat and slept more than I had for a long time.

So what went right on the 3rd attempt? Well, these are the things it was not.

• Better pacers. All the pacers on each attempt have been top notch and fully committed to this daft enterprise
• Better weather. The weather was better this time with no high winds, but there was better visibility last time at night.
• Clive was fitter. This was probably a true statement and may have helped a bit. The must have been a boost in fitness post attempt 2 and I had been doing quite a bit of speed training such as fast hill reps, so may have found going up hills at pace a bit easier, but I still think this was marginal. I had no really big days out between attempt 2 and 3.

So what did make a difference

• iPod : It managed to distract my little brain from thinking ahead which is the biggest danger on a BGR. It also helped give some rhythm on climbs. Try going slow up a hill with Ace of Spades in your lug holes. I did not use it on legs 1 and 2 which was a good thing, it did start to loose its affect a bit after about 6 hours.
• Food : I basically eat small boiled potatoes, chocolate, some other sweets and Dave Almonds mars bars on leg 4. I drank only Nuun and water while on the round itself. This was a gel free round.
• Pain killers : I took a single Paracetamol around Esk Pike. A Nurofen at Wasdale and a Nurofen and Paracetamol at Honister, well below the maximum dose I could have taken and worked very well.
• Zantec, a Ranitidine based indigestion tablet. I took 3 of these and they really seemed to help. Stomach had some problems up to the end of leg 3, but fine after that. Maybe should have taken one at the start. Doc Smith from attempt 2 suggested this, as he suggested the option of mixing of paracetamol and Nurofen.
• Had a GPS with a track on it. Probably saved us 10 minutes or so on leg 2 and reduced the risk of getting very lost on night sections.
• I wanted to finish the whole round no matter what the eventual time was.
• I had learned from the previous 2 failure. As a member of the tail end of the mid-pack, it was always going to take me a couple of attempts to learn how to overcome the various mental and physical obstacles.

A few people have asked .... So What Next?

For the 1st few days I could not contemplate even thinking about running again, ever. I have no ambition to do a Paddy or Ramsey at this point in time and want to keep off any big challenges until at least 2013. A must is to spend more time on family fun.

• There is much scope for me to get faster on easy fell races [all things are relative :-)], I mean the like of the Peris Horseshoe, Welsh 1000m, Long Mynd Valleys race and some of the Welsh AM races.
• I get a kick out of pacing folks on their rounds and want to do some more of that next year. The Paddy looks to be getting more popular and it is quite easy for me to pop up to north Wales for an evening or night leg.
• I want to get to know the Meirionnydd round in part as it has some close hills I don't know that well and so I can do it by proxy(someone more capable) next year
• I have a vague plan to search out a viable route for a 24 hour mid-Wales (Pumlumon round) over this winter
• Like to still do an Ultra or 2 a year,
• Do some more rock climbing and some more Munro's.

The Bob Graham Round was a part of my life for 3 1/2 years. It took me from my 1st fell race in early 2008 where I finished with the mid pack 60 year old women to running leg 4 in 4 hours and 37 minutes. The journey has been a great one and meet lots of great people who I hope I will know for many years to come.

The Bob Graham Round was always a big scary hard to achieve goal to counterbalance the onset of my middle years, reducing fitness, the nature of my job and its travel requirements. It did take on a life of its own beyond that, but ultimately it did its job which was to get me properly fit. As I bonus I got to know parts of the Lakes quite well.

I took up fell running (not quite true, I did 3 races in the mid 90's) to get fit and experienced enough to do the Bob Graham, but fell running turned out to be such a great sport this blog will remain to record the continuing journey of Clive's running, but less heavy on ambition, at least for a while.

Shap Wells in October, here I come!

and the result was ......

23.34

and the decision is ....

Yes. Low key attempt, fewer pacers (though all top notch), over night road support still to be sorted for Saturday/Sunday.

I have not written much here. The fear of failure( for a 3rd time ) has weighted more heavily this time. Its all very well saying to myself both that I now know I am capable of it after the last attempt and that you have to embrace the possibility of failure, then set it aside to succeed.

So this time, less gel, more IPOD and drugs, less rain and wind [I hope] and a commitment to finish whatever the time (less than 24 is the plan).

To go or not to go, that is the question

Along with when to go, if at all.

A lower key attempt is possibly on the cards for the weekend. Wanting to give my self the best chance of success and that needs reasonable weather. Friday and Saturday don't look too good from a distance at the moment, but it can all change.

Outlook for Thursday to Saturday:

Remaining cloudy and breezy with heavy rain or showers throughout, with occasional hill fog. Fairly humid by night. Conditions probably improving during Saturday, but with scattered showers.

UK Outlook for Sunday 14 Aug 2011 to Tuesday 23 Aug 2011:

A generally unsettled end to the weekend with showers or longer spells of rain in the north, but somewhat drier and brighter in the south. Windy also, especially towards the west and northwest, with temperatures largely near normal across the UK. Heading into Monday, turning somewhat drier and more settled for a time across southern parts, whilst remaining breezy with occasional showers or longer spells of rain further north. These drier conditions continue for southeastern parts until mid-week, with more unsettled conditions in the west spreading erratically southeastwards. Thereafter, changeable conditions are expected for most parts of the UK, with the driest weather mostly towards the southeast. Temperatures likely to remain close to normal but perhaps slightly above in the brighter interludes in the south.

I think I will decide tomorrow based on the consensus of forecasts, but Sunday looks better than Saturday in the Lakes.

A bad gel trip!

A good week all in all, though constrained by being on-call

• Monday : 4 * 500ft hill fort reps
• Tuesday : 2 * 500ft hill reps
• Wednesday : 4 miles and 1500ft on cliff route
• Thursday : 100ft * 10 behind house hard
• Friday : rest
• Saturday : Legs 1 & most of 2 of BGR overnight
• Sunday : missed it almost completely

Set off from Keswick about 7.45 on my own. Very nice evening indeed. Leg 1 went very well, though I tried the Doddick Fell descent and it just did not work for me at all. Each to their own and all that stuff, but it is Yiannis's Parachute Descent for me. I missed the feed at Threkeld, but even with a small rucksac and a slight Doddick delay was just about on the 23 hour schedule. What a difference having your own personal Yak's for the evening makes.

Clough Head went fine, a few minuites slower than usual maybe, but no surprise. Meet a chap at the top (remember it was 1am by this time, so not a casual walker out for a stroll) who had been pacing one of the 2 other groups ahead of me and found the pace a bit quick.

About 1/2 way up Great Dodd, I decided to try one of 2 Torq Caffinated Fruits of the Forest gels. It was very hard to consume, bitter, but I managed about half of it before my world started to spin and I spend 15 minutes throwing up (did not stop walking). A side effect was that just about all my water got consumed and regurgitated as part of dealing with this, so I was short of water from Great Dodd on. I did stop throwing up after about 15 minutes, but slowed a lot mainly due to a lack of water and a now empty stomach. I got as far as Helveyn and then took a straight line back to Dummail and my car getting back at 4am. Once I found some running water, put some Nuun in it, drunk it and eat 2 small boils spuds my energy levels recovered and I could happily run again. So a good training night with about 9000ft and 24 miles, but a duff gel did make it a bit more of an adventure than I expected. Still a fantastic night out.

So good thing I tried that Gel while training and not on the real thing and Torq were very keen to get hold of the wrapper and the one I did not consume for tests. I think for the big day No. 3 in just over 2 weeks time I am going to avoid gel until leg 4 and keep on spuds, sandwiches, sweets and rice pudding for the 1st 3 legs. Since the body can metabolize only about 250 calories an hour, we need to make sure we actually eat that much.

A big fat 40

This was the 1st week of training ever where I aimed to do miles, instead of them being an aside to climb. We managed 40 miles, few of them were easy flat miles, though some were. Most had a twist. With Mum still in Canada I ended up 10 short of my goal just through a lack of time.

• Monday : hot day 3 x 2.7 miles with about 1000ft of climb. 2nd rep in 23 minutes:-)
• Tuesday : 4 miles round forest and 2 miles round track with small man while small girl in Gymnastics
• Wednesday : 8 miles out and back along coast south of Aber. Glorious day. Dog came back with sore paw.
• Thursday : rest
• Friday : no time
• Saturday : 12 miles flat along Ystswyth cycle path plus forestry tracks (sub 10min/miles)
• Saturday : 6 miles on coast path (legs tired)

next week is 10k+ of climb. Weather does not look great from here, but hope it will improve towards then end of the week.

Just reps

With Mum on holiday with her sister in Canada, getting long runs in was just not going to happen, so I settled for a week of hill reps. Quite pleased with what I did, but not quite the 10k I was looking for this week.

• Monday : 1500ft : 300ft * 5
• Tuesday : Same 1500ft * 5
• Wednesday : rest
• Thursday : 1000ft : 500ft * 2 bus stop to till fort. 2nd rep in 12.44 (personal best about 12 mins)
• Friday : 2000 : 300ft * 7
• Saturday 1000ft : 100ft * 10
• Sunday : 100% kids day

While I went at them quite hard, there never felt hard and recoverey was quick. That might be a sign I was not doing enough or trying hard enough. Next week going for distance, see how far we get.

More speed

A good week given the time constraints, guided by my experience after last years BGR attempt. Once I had recovered, I started doing a few quicker sessions about 1 week in 3 and made a big difference.

So I have a rough plan for the next 3 weeks of going

• fast (all things are relative)
• high (10k plus of climb)
• long (putting in lots of miles)

then thinking about a 3rd BGR attempt 2nd week in August if the planets align.

• Monday : 2.5 miles (may be 500ft) new quick circuit in 24.27
• Tuesday : 5 miles plus 1000ft of climb somewhere near Rhyader
• Wednesday : 5 miles and 1000ft of climb somewhere between Rhyader and Hereford
• Thursday : rest
• Friday : things got ahead of me
• Saturday : 13 miles out and back along Ceredigion Coast path on an early start carrying rucksac. super morning, hard work and good training. When chase by cows, hound decides it every dog for themselves and out runs the lot of us.
• Sunday : 5 * 400m fast on flat while kids eat ice cream.

Mum is away for 2 weeks on holiday in Canada with her sister, so I am a bit restricted over the next 2 weeks, but going to try to cram in 10k of climb and not worry about distance next week. So hill reps all next week, but might take a day off and have a run out while kids in school.

New GPS purchases on advice of Yiannis. A Garmin Dakota 20 plus all the maps of the UK. Been out today geocaching with the kids (looking for treasure) which it is super for, yes they have an app for that. I also suspect it will be very good for when I am out traveling and want to find somewhere to run and make sure I make it back to the car. The 1:50,000 is very good and shows footpaths, so it opens up a lot of new ground.

Too much in a weekend !

I overstretched myself a little last weekend.

• Friday night was Ras-Y-Hafod, a shortish local trail race
• Saturday leg 5 of Dave Almond's BGR
• Sunday was Derek and Dave (from Cumbria) Paddy Moelwyn's leg.

Friday night was cracking. I got my running mojo back on a 6 mile and 1000ft local trail race (Ras-y-Hafod) through forests. But the best part was there was a kids race. My two were too young to enter (year 3 and above), but Dick the organiser let them run and I paid the entry fee anyway so they got a meddle which they were very happy about indeed. There were not confident enough to run on their own, so I ran round with them and they finished before some children who were at least 2 years older. Probably less than a mile, but they enjoyed it and it was great to see then so enthusiastic about running. I was not going to do this race as I had a Paddy to pace, but it got moved back 24 hours and as this is a local race and the kids could get involved I felt I had to support it.

Dave Almond's BGR was a textbook round, though I hear he was wobbling a bit at the end of leg 2. By leg 5 he was very strong again and took 13 minutes off the schedule from Newland's followed by a gaggle of puffing and panting pacers. I stopped at Newland's to conserve some energy for the following day. Dave has been one of the most supportive people on my attempts, he has trained hard and helped on lots of rounds so a well deserved 21:50 round. I am really pleased to have been there to see him finish.

A short sleep in a car park below Blencathera, an early start and drive down to Capel Curig for 9am was not the best prep for supporting the longest leg and their last of the Paddy Buckly from Capel Curig to Nantmoor. Dave and Derek has delayed their start by 24 hours on account of weather and Dave had dropped out around the Glyders. Derek was about 40 minutes down by Capel Curig and had some work to do. I struggled to keep up going up Moel Shabod and got left behind over the next 2 peaks. I went back to Capel Curig and drove round to Croser and walked up to the quarries with some extra food. Good thing Derek had Simon Ellis from Tattenhall as pacer who should get a knighthood for taking Derek over the rest of the leg and getting him to their start point 15 seconds before the 24 hour deadline. This was by far the most excisiting round I have been involved in and really wish I had been able to keep up, but I had taken too much out of myself on the previous 2 days. I enjoyed this round more than any other I have supported, in part because of its light weight feel, part the closeness of the end result and in part the relaxed and good natured, not too serious approach. It was a real pleasure and I really regret not being able to keep on with Derek and Simon, but I am also glad they left me behind as Derek would not have made the 24 hour limit otherwise. I won't be trying 3 events in a weekend again.

PBR pacing

View North west of the descent from Snowdon

I have had a horrible cold this week, so my ability to pace the Snowdon leg of the Paddy Buckley Round was in doubt, but in the end we managed well enough for Mick the runner to gain 30 minutes on the leg and to finish in 22.30 overall. Well done Mick.

Thought a bit cold going over Snowdon with a cold mist blowing over us, the rest of the leg was clear, the sunset quite something and the last part in the dark just stunning. A great night to be out and I am please my cold did not hold me up too much.

Well done to Jim Mann and running partner, Duncan, on winning the Elite class in the LAMM over the weekend. It looks to have been around Loch Broom just south of Ullapool which is rough and remote ground with some big hills like Beinn Dearg, a cracking area.

Welsh 1000m race : Asking a bit much of your body

The Welsh 1000m race is a classic. It is superbly organized, it has a number of classes, the hardest being class A, long fell race which I guess is about 22 miles and 9000ft of climb. Its a little harder now (but a better route) as Glyder Fawr was added in this year.

I really enjoyed the leg over the Carneddau. Starting at the back I slowly passed folks and had great fun. Coming down into the Ogwen Valley via a fantastic descent to the Ogwen MRT hut, I could feel that part of the 3/4 of a Bob Graham Round was still in my legs. I had drunk loads, but my legs were just tired. A quick survey of web wisdom suggests at least a month is needed to recover from a big outing. I entered this race last year, but got my entry deferred for a year because I was intending to do the BGR in June. Ideally, I should have got my entry changed to the short race. Going up the very interesting route to Glyder Fawr was very hard work. Legs were weak and starting the descent to Pen-Y-Pass my quad's were not happy. I am not sure if I would have carried on the last leg, it was still an open question was I descended along the start of the red spot path.

At about 2500ft I ran past 5 people sitting/lying in a lovely location, but all was clearly not right. A runner from my club was clearly in quite a lot of pain. Actually, it was well aligned with my imagination of what someone having a stroke looked like, and then some. A woman out walking with her 2 sons tuned out the be a nurse (Our friend having convulsions and being sick is a lucky boy to have a qualified palliative care nurse on hand). He claimed that he has had this condition before, it passes and he spend a year at the pleasure of the medical profession trying to find the cause. I am a great believer in leaving decisions to those who probably have the best knowledge to take such a decision and at some point the 3 adults (a fellow lady runner who found out poor unfortunate 1st, nurse and myself) decided it was time to get this chap off the mountain as he was not recovering.

As I attempted to contact mountain rescue via a phone, he started being sick. MRT were busy with other incident, so I was put through to the police who really had no clue of the questions to ask or that information like a grid reference, altitude and we are on the red spot path at this altitude between Pen-y-Pass and Glyder Fawr would give a very accurate description that the MRT could use. Instead she asked if we were on Snowdon, what the chaps name was (I had not idea) and how old was he. About 10 minutes after making the call our poor unfortunate has recovered enough to walk slowly. He did have to stop every so often, but was recovering. We were called back by the MRT coordinator, I said he was now able to move under his own steam and they agreed to keep the incident open and I would call them back when he was safe.

We were joined by a marshall and on the descent encounter some MRT out training and about to be picked up by a big yellow helicopter[who's pilot may owe me 3 quid for paying for part of his wedding]. Our poor unfortunate point blank refused to entertain any thought of getting in the big yellow taxi in the sky, even though it was hovering above him. Why? ....... in case his wife found out. The impression he gave was that to get him on the other end of a winch line, we would have had to knock him out first, which would have really gone against the point of the exercise.

We got down to Pen-Y-Pass, it took a while, but all was well.

I pondered if we did the right thing to call the MRT, even though they were not in a position to help as they were busy elsewhere. I concluded yes. He was showing no signed of improvement, a qualified nurse was getting worried and we were in a relatively remote place. He recovered, but what if it had continued.

Our passing nurse was a absolute star, every mountain should to have one.

The incident gave me an excuse to drop out of the race which given my lack of pace I was probably quite happy about it. All I did was talking on the phone and bag carrying, any turkey can do that.

Should our friend have entered the long race, given he has had this problem before on long races? I also pondered on that and decided it is not for me to judge. I don't know his personal circumstance. Its not what I would do, but I also think he is less irresponsible than many of the walker on Snowdon. He was well equipped, kept himself well hydrated and is a experienced runner.

2 year ago there was foul weather and hypothermia. This year, a chap with having an impressive set of convulsions of unknown cause. I am going to have to think very hard before entering this race again.

Congratulation to Sam Smith, one of my esteemed BGR pacers from 3 weeks previous who finished 2nd.

BGR attempt 2 : 13th of May

Leg 1 : Penrith Stu and Steve

I had not meet Steve before. He is a mate of Stu's and for some reason I called him Chris for the next 3 hours (Sorry Steve). Stu really enjoyed this for some reason. Apart from a slight navigational error on my part coming down the parachute descent all went very well indeed. Stu did a good job of slowing me down. The weather was no problem, I eat and drunk a lot.

We set off from Moot Hall 10 minutes after a party of 14 which include Stef, Derby Tup (from the forum) and Linda. This was good as it gave me an incentive for a gentle chase. My aim was to gain the 10 minutes by Dummail, we just about caught up with them by Great Calva, though Yannis, their navigator took a cracking line back towards Skiddaw Haus, while we went down to the normal river crossing. Passed them again going down Blencathera via the Parachute Jump where I managed to take a wrong turn. Serves me right for passing Yannis.

What would I change? Though it pains every fiber of my being to say so, I agree with Stu. I would choose to go down Doddick Fell instead if I was doing a real round. If I was out for a leg 1 reccie and wanted some fun at the end, then Parachute Jump it is. The ground suits me, I like steep rough downhills and really enjoy it as a descent, but that is not the point. Next time Doddick fell it is for me.

This leg went really well and it was fun. We were about 20 minutes up leaving Threkeld. I did manage to leave Stu and Steve on the parachute jump descent which caused some handover confusion with Stu and Steve running up and down the road looking for us to hand over kit.

Leg 2 : Dave, Dave and Andy

Overnight stops were done by Bryn who knows nothing about running, does a bit of mild hill walking including meeting me on Snowdon during the Peris Horseshoe. and lets say he gets some pleasure out of seeing me suffer. Bryn did the stop by the book. Everything was perfect, drinks, porridge, feet dried, clean socks and shoes and we were off on leg 2 after 5 minutes.

It was odd to change pacers and a little disorientation in a fun way to leave Stu and Steve behind and have different people to run with. I felt a lot stronger than the previous attempt at this point and was happy to drop 5minutes I had gained to take Clough Head a bit easier.

I had meet both Dave Hindly and Dave Swift during some of Mark Smiths Winter rounds. I was very pleased indeed to have them on this leg. Both solid calm chaps. Since things started going wrong on Clough Head last time, they felt like the right characters to have along and I was right. Dave H and Andy (Daves mate) did the navigation, Dave Swift made sure I kept drinking. All went well until after Watson Dodd. We were probably about 15 minutes up and then the weather just got worse with navigation getting much harder. We would arrive at summits and have to spend a minute or 2 looking for the trig point or cairn. An other minute would go as they took a bearing to the next peak and an other minute or two might get dropped while we searched for the path. Visibility really was down to 5 meter or less at time with a fair amount of wind. On this section my stomach started playing up, I felt very full over the whole leg and I eat that much, though drank Nunn well. The peaks passed without event, it was just hard navigation work. We passed the other group and were probably about 5 minutes ahead by the start of Fairfield.

The weather on Fairfield was horrible, no really horrible as in hard to stand up. We went too far to the left on the descent and probably lost at least 10 minutes getting back to the col near Grisdale Tarn. Given the conditions I am surprised were did not loose more. At this point my nice 4 leg Hope Vision head torch decided it was over heating and turned itself off. My spare did not work either, what a fiddle and a few more minutes lost. Did the rest mixed in with the "Bus", chatted to a few new people and down to Dummail. We left Dummail about 10 minutes down on schedule.

The only thing I would change would be the to include a simple spare head torch instead of my old Hope Vision. I wish I had known about and understood a stomach settling drug, which Sam Smith later suggested on the next leg (and I ignored to my shame).

I would also have changed the weather, the Dave H and Andy did a very good job on navigation given the conditions. Dave Swift kept me well hydrated. At the end of leg 2 I still felt good and was going quite well.

I also need to plan a backup torch better or maybe walk some of it with a small torch and only use the Hope Vision where needed.

Leg 3 : Mark Smith (Nav), Dave Almond (water and spuds), Andy Blackette (Head gel suggester), Dave Swift (along for the exercise), Tim Hoskin (man of large minerals on Broadstand), Sam Smith (head of gentle persuasion).

Bryn thought his arrival at Dummail at 2.30 in the morning to be one of the most alien of his life. He claims it is the nearest to dogging he will ever get. A line of 14 cars on the side of the dual carridgeway and he had to wonder round them to see who wanted to interact with him.

I came into Dummail feeling quite good. Knew I had not eaten enough. It seems like I was only there about 8 minutes and we left about 10 minutes down on schedule as I remember it. I got some tea, mango juice and rice pudding down me, but I struggled to eat much as would be the pattern for the rest of the round.

If my stomach had been in the same zone as my head I suspect the outcome would have been a sub 23 hour round. Reflecting on it now, it still feels like I was in the right zone. The weather was still not great, but navigation was easier at it got light at about Calf Crag and Mr Smith knows leg 3 very well. I managed to eat some of Dave Almonds potatoes, the odd gel. I had some dried mango which tasted very sweet indeed. Dave Almond (and Swift when Dave A. we otherwise occupied) kept me topped up with Nuun. It was one of those days when layers were put on and taken off.

Peaks came and went. We were not dropping much time. I remember the climb up Bowfell was hard, and someone mentioned a great view I just continued with the job in hand and don't think I looked up. At Esk Pike Dave's Almond and Swift cut across to have a longer break in Wasdale. Mark, Sam, Andy and I continued over the rocky sections which were wet making OK time.

I have climbed with Tim since 1994(ish) and we have done some fairly hairy climbing together. Alpine ice, scottish winter, a far few lumps of extreme rock, winter mountaineering in Scotland and a fair few adventures. While I would be happy to solo Broadstand if it was dry, there was always going to be a chance it would be wet and slippy and I know Tim is experienced enough

to sort himself out and provide a rope if needed. Tim spent the night in a tent on top of Scarfell which must have been quite windy in itself.

When we got to Broadstand it was dripping. Mark Smith went straight down to Wasdale and Sam, Andy and myself went via Broadstand. I later got admissions from the other 2 and can confirm that we all put weight on the rope, it was horrible. The ramp above took great care and extra time. I am sure it still saved a good 10 minutes, but if you were not a confident climber it would have been very hairy indeed. Looking forward to seconding Tim on Cenotaph Corner this summer. We climbed it maybe 10 years ago together when I was leading a lot harder than I am now. To descend the section above Broadstand in boots with rucsack and rope as Tim did was a scary proposition.

I toped out 1st by a few minutes, went and did Scarfell and meet Sam on the way back. Andy caught up with us on the way down. I was descending really well and the scree was great fun. Came into Wasdale feeling really strong for having run over 40 miles with a few hills included, very different from September 2010.

What would I change? Probably only the weather and having taken something for my stomach.

I might also have taken a bin bag to do the last bit of the slope into Wasdale.

Leg 4 : Jim Mann (Boss), Andy Blackette (specialist in tough love), Sam Smith (Pharmacist), Dave Almond (Camel)

I managed to eat some chunky soup, some tea and mango juice and left Wasdale on the 23 hour schedule. Walking along the road from the national trust campsite with Jim, something had changed. I just did not feel anywhere near as strong as I had coming into Wasdale.

Going up Yewbarrow my head was spot on, but in a different gear to my legs. I did not stop, but could not move very fast. Not being able to eat much had caught up with me and I dropped time. I could sip an odd gel and nibble on a boiled potato, but anything more and I would start to throw up or my stomach crap up. Lost 10 minutes on Yewbarrow, same on Red Pike. We got hit by a real nasty hail shower and lost Jim for a few minutes around Steeple. I noticed I was starting to loose mental focus, mentioned this and had a gel squirted down my neck which almost got squirted back up again. Between Steeple and Pillar I lost my speed of descending. 2 paracetamol and a nurofen were prescribed and took about 15 minutes to kick in, but when they did the world got a lot better.

In the col between Pillar and Kirk Fell, I sat down. We were at the 24 hour schedule and I knew I was not going to recover enough to keep to time. While I had full on encouragement during this leg, once the decision was made and I think we all knew it was the right one. I descended with Jim to his car in Wasdale and the other 3 carried on to Honister.

There are a few things I could have changed on reflection

• Picked a day with better weather
• Not had stomach problems
• Taken the Ranitidine based stomach pills Sam suggested
• Taken the pain killer mix 2 hours earlier
• Gone down Doddick fell instead of Parachute jump

Apart from the 1st two they would not have made much difference to the overall outcome.

I am really pleased with what I did. About 53 miles and 23k feet of climb at a guess. Reasons for failure are obvious and largely outside my control, so no point in dwelling.

I will have an other go this year. Will probably be a lighter weight effort with potentially fewer pacers at short notice with good weather. I now know I can do it, so running legs with 1 strong pacer would work.

I do need at least an other 4 weeks to recover properly.

The thing that will stay with me, the really great memories, will be the quality and commitment of support from road crew Bryn who had no idea what was going up to the most experience BGR veteran pacers. They all did everything in their power to get me round, some days it just not your day.

I am humbled

I have no hint of disappointment or regret, but I have been humbled.

I am humbled by the dedication of my pacers. Each pacer to a man did their absolute best to get me round. I can't pick one out from the 11 who made a greater contribution because each one did their absolute best for me, including the 2 mates of pacers I had not meet before. Some of the conditions on top were horrible making navigation and herding/feeding/clothing a Clive a challenge. Stu, Steve (who I called Chris for most of leg 1, sorry), Dave, Dave, Andy, Mark, Sam, Andy, Dave, Jim, Paul, Mark, other than the weather and struggling to eat I would have not changed a thing.

I am humbled by my long time climbing partner Tim who climbed down to rope Broadstand. In the wet, both the climb and the ramp above were very tricky as the 3 of us who climbed it will testify. With only 3 minutes contact time, it would be easy to forget the extent this was above and beyond the call of duty.

I am humbled by Bryn, one of my beer drinking friend who had no clue about running, let along fell running and found the whole experience of doing the overnight road support quite curious and alien, but followed each instruction in the lengthy Clive's BGR manual to the letter with serious enthusiasm and did not get a step wrong.

I am humbled by Myra, Rowen and Andrew, who were just great in every way, despite me spending too much time with Bob for the past 3 years. What a lucky boy I am.

I am humbled by the support from people at work and encouragement from the members of the other groups who went at the same time.

I don't feel humbled by the Bob Graham Round itself. My respect for it has grown. I gave it my all, with better weather and/or a lack of stomach problems, it would have been on. For someone who inherited general purpose genetics (meaning OK at most things, but not a natural runner) I am really pleased with what I achieved and have such positive memory of what people did for me, how could I have any regret or disappointment.

I will write up a fuller report in time and some very minor lessons learned, but the tangible things that would have made a difference to the outcome that I would wish to change are the weather and my lack of ability to get calories down my neck were outside my control.

Its time for some different adventures for a bit with more family focus. Maybe I will do it again, maybe I won't, for the moment it really does not matter.

Calm before the gales

So the Met. Office mountain forecast looks like this for Saturday

Saturday

A bright day with some sunshine. Scattered showers will break out over the National Park later in the morning, dying away again later in the afternoon. Strong to gale force northwesterly winds across the tops with summit temperatures. This will result in a high wind-chill effect over the higher summits.

Last time we had gales forecast and while there were some periods of strong winds, there were never a worry. Might be the same this time or it might be worse, you get the hand you are dealt with the weather. On the bonus side strong winds tend to assist descending (takes the pressure off your legs if you have the confidence to lean into it) and it is I would argue better than hot weather for an attempt. Best not to dwell on the weather, prepare for anything and take it as it comes, the forecast and subsequent reality may be better. We have finished packing. With what feels like a tonne of food for pacers to carry. Add to that food and gear for the stops, keeping 2 kids warm and happy, there is a fair amount of logistics to take your mind off things.

I feel quite confident. I know it can all still go wrong, but this time, barring injury (mine or someone else) I am going to finish, even if it take me 26 hours, though I am setting out with full intend to do sub 24.

I know there is one chap setting off at 6pm. Linda and Stef. at 7pm and me 10 minutes later, go good luck to the other 3 I know going on Friday night and anyone else.

Despite failing last time so much good personally came out of the experience, I don't feel able to worry to much about any prospect of failure, though I want to move on to other challenges now. I think family life has taken enough of a low level hit for the last 3 years with me being out training during meal times, etc, it is time to complete it within the 24 hours.

I have a great set of pacers and support, so baring serious injury or the prospect of immediate injury, the only excuses for not finishing within 24 hours are in my head.

Keeping two chevrons apart

A tip from a stockbroker (I doubt he is registered with the F.S.A) back last September lead me to Lord Hereford's Knob/Twmpa in the Black Mountains this week while coming back from work near Reading . With a chill breeze on top, there was little time to hang around in shorts and a vest and ponder on the lyrics of H.M.H.B. for long, but we got about 5 miles and 1000ft in and have noted the Black Mountains as an area for some more serious exploration this year before the nights get a lot shorter. They are characterized by long ridges and steep sides, so ideal training ground and the fact I pass through them on a reasonably regular basis makes it all the more shameful I have not explored them before.

We are having a longer ramp down this time of 3 weeks. The week before the week before we have probably done about 20 miles and 4000ft. It will be even less next week with the last planned runs on Monday of about 4 miles and Tuesday a little less. Then its rest and eat while sorting out the logistics for a small war.

2 weeks to go, 2 weeks to go ....

• Monday : Caringorm from car park
• Tuesday : wondered round a scottish Safari park with family
• Wednesday : 11 miles and 3k of climb locally
• Thursday : Tabata
• Friday : 11 miles and 3k of climb locally [ same as Wednesday ]
• Saturday : Now't
• Sunday : Marshaling local trail race. Cracking family fun as small boy runs down forest trail after water cups dropped by the runners. Dr M. off doing 10 hour cycle ride, so running in Ras-y-Daifol was not an option unless I wanted to carry the little people as well.

8k and about 28 miles seems about right as the 1st week of a 3 week ramp down.

1 more 10 miles and 3k tomorrow, then drop down then milage and climb gradually. No more high intensity work and more stretching and rest.

Lots to prepare in the next 2 weeks, but we have an absolutely cracking set of pacers lined up.

Not that they are any better or worse than last time, but I know some of them better and there is more BGR experience included this time.

Will probably start looking at the weather towards the end of this week, not that it makes any difference, I can't change it.

Searching for a concise description of the problem

I guess part of many journeys to the Bob Graham Round come via the book "Feet in the Clouds". I read it about a year before deciding I wanted to do the BGR. When you fail on something significant, it is easy to blame external factors or that you were not fit enough, but deep down you know that there is something else going on and its inside your head, you just need a word or phrase to describe it.

In the early 90's I floundered around for 2 years with little direction on my PhD [2 years out of 6, I did it while working], trying to find an angle. I managed to go through 2 supervisors and supervisor number 3. was a 1/3 time professor approaching retirement, Ian Pyle who had a long and distinguished career, he started York computing department, worked on Safety Critical Systems in industry and was a all round nice chap. After about 2 months of his term as Clive's supervisor he came out with the phrase "Engineering Decisions" which captured what I was trying to do with my thesis. While the road to a PhD was still bumpy, it was a key moment and I could hang the rest of my work on a key phrase that at least he and I understood. 4 years later the PhD was completed.

In searching for the phrase or word to really understand why I failed last time and how to get it right, there have been a few interesting things turn up. Jim Mann pointed me at the book "Born to Run" and the concept of "The Beast" and indeed this has been useful, but did not quite capture why I failed. I was re-reading part of "Feet in the Clouds", the section where he has his final successful attempt(page 304 onwards) and talks about self-deceit in the face of the daunting task ahead being his real enemy.

If I really want to know why I failed in September it was self-deceit, if I fail again in 2 weeks time, baring bad weather or an genuine accident (mine or someone else), it will be self-deceit. Once you are able to describe a problem, you can deal with it, what else do I need to know !

To Fisherfield and beyond

The Fisherfield Forest (not that many tress left) is one of the most remote areas of Scotland and contains 6 prized Munro's which require a long walk in and out. Tim, who I have climbed with for years, had a small number of Munro's left including A' Mhaighdean and Ruadh Stac Mòr. I did look at trying the other 4 in the group, but we only had one map between us and part of the fun was being in the hills with a mate.

Weather was great, though a little hazy for pictures. No midges. Walk in's were long and to help with my training Tim kindly let me carry the tent on the way in and out and we put all the gear in one rucksack and he let me carried it. His consideration has no bounds. The walk in and out were probably quite good BGR training and hard on the feet.

Also included 2 other hills while I was away on the mission to take kids to see Grandad who lives in northern Scotland. Ben Wyvis, which I had been up about 15 years before, and a quick run up and down Cairngorm on the way home while kids were in the soft play in Aviemore.

Just when you don't want it .....

Last week had 2 great days out, including a 12 hours plus. This week had 3 days in New York visiting a customer and 2 days travel plus jet lag [ no, it was not nice or OK for some, it was a pain in the **** ]. Did you run while in New York, Clive? No. To the east of the hotel on Long Island are crack dens and to the west was a power station. Within 5 miles is Jones Beach where 10 bodies were uncovered during the week I was there. So apart from lots of stretching, a bit of swimming, activity was confined to Sunday where I did 20 miles and about 9k over Snowdon via the Watkin path, Moel Elio down to Llanberis for brew and back up and over Snowdon. Hot day for April and good heat training. I had planned to do more, a lot more, but I was just tried, not my legs, but me inside from Jet lag, etc and I feel very comfortable with going with what my body tells me and cutting the day short to 6 hours, 20 miles and 9k.

No work travel planned between now and BGR time in 3 1/2 weeks, but at least a good 10 days before I start ramping down. Going for at least 15 of climb in the next week and after that I learned to make the ramp down a little less steep this time.

Quite looking forward to the rematch in 3 weeks or so time.

Less frequent and more of it

The last few weeks I have traveled a lot with work. Paris and Milan last week which included an overnight on the train to Milan which was as step down the evolutionary ladder from the UK's Caladonian sleeper. Lots of sitting around and not much exercise.
At the moment I am in Long Island, New York. East from the hotel is a power station and west from the hotel is well known for Crack Dens, so I don't feel inclined to go out for an evening run. Though I am probably still recovering from last Friday to be honest.

However, the last week as included 2 super days of training. Early last week Jim Mann and I did leg 1 in a gale. We could just about stand up on Skiddaw. Soaked through, but probably the quickest I have done leg 1 at about 3 hours and 35 minutes. Easy get 15 minutes off that time in good weather. A most enjoyable morning other than the weather.

Friday was a beautiful day. I had got back from Milan and I was really tired on Thursday evening, given the weather I decided on the spur of the moment to return to the Lakes and did Newlands to Honister to Windy Gap to Esk Haus to Great End to Scarfel via Broadstand to Wasdale to Yewba****d to Pilar to Gable to Honister to Newlands in about 13 hours. I had a few work calls I had to took which took about 20 minutes and eat at honister on the way out, so probably about 12 hours over 13k of climb and close to 30 miles on some very rough ground. I found going back up Dale Head very hard, but did not stop and seemed to find new legs from Dale Head summit to the end (I missed out Robinson as it was just about dark by the time I got back to the car). Probably the best days training I have had and it felt good in a hard sort of way.

I am going to continue this training scheme of running myself into the ground once a week plus some bits for the remaining 3 weeks, though I hope that I won't be traveling work wise between the end of this week and the 13th of May. A job where travel is required is far from optimal for a BGR attempt, but we need to stay true to the BGR prime directive about it not having a severe adverse impact on home and work.