2nd Sept The man who doesn't quit twice


You would think that any normal individual would be able to notice pretty quickly that Friday 1st September is followed by Saturday 2nd September. So the question is why didn't I? 

This weekend I should have been down in Cardiff with TOM, partly for a weekend away but also to watch Andrew's investiture as his Bishopness of Wales, but Covid intervened. And so finding myself with a free weekend I looked to see if there were any organised runs. and before you know it I had signed up for two, only to realise after signing up that they were back to back literally being on Friday Night and Saturday morning. Ouch.

First up was the Great Longstone Chase, a run that I have done twice before. Last year we were met by 12 hot air balloons on a brillianty clear autumn evening and then pre pandemic, I apparently must have hitched a ride in a balloons such was the time I ran which I have never come close to matching.

Climate change might have melted glaciers but what it hasn't done is made the hills of the Peak District any flatter and so I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my finishing time over the 4.6 mile course, whilst still not coming close to my 2019 best, was in fact almost a minute and a half quicker than last year. And that's a significant win.

Today, just over 15 hours after completeting that, I found myself on the start line of the Longshaw Sheepdog trials fell run, a race that I ran two years ago and still have nighmares about the awful climbs it involved. How would those climbs feel on Bambi like legs, the answer was just as awful! 

It didn't help that a couple of sections of the route were badly marked resulting in a 300 yard wrong turn and a couple of sections of rock scrambling trying to find the correct path. But...given that I was running on empty, to finish only 5 mins slower than two years ago wasn't too bad.

At the time of going to press whether TOM will be having to help me get dressed in the morning is uncertain but I suspect the answer will be yes.

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