Upping the challenge again

I had been aware of The Hill for some time thanks to Jon S. For various reasons I never managed to do the original events on Shining Tor (something I now regret). It is a strange concept as mark would ideally have almost no finishers and then there is the mental challenge too. On paper it looks OK.

Laps of 3.7 miles- 44 of them in 48 hrs. It should mean hour laps and a 4 hour buffer. Easy! Ha ha.
I don't really have an ideal local hill to replicate this on but did belatedly have a bit of a go on Parlic and Fairsnape. Distance is a little further and climb a little more plus there is no flat and the steep bit is at the bottom. I did 3 laps at a steady pace and was sure hour laps was possible.

The advert

Pre race I was worried about the weather. I am not good if it is cold and wet. Jon had suffered dreadful weather on Shining Tor. I was also worried that icy roads or snow might make getting to the event difficult. On the day it was the path and food that were more of an issue. The food is entirely my problem. I know this and took loads with me and knew I had to eat regularly. Knowing and doing are not the same though. Karen W did a great job getting us tea and food and there was a range of food on offer. (although I am not a fan of pot noodle and especially not the flavours on offer)
I banked some speedy early laps to try to gain more of a buffer. This was good but meant less eating!

Friday afternoon as we arrived

Once we had all persuaded Mark that it was NOT going to be too easy and that the snow across on The Cheviot was too deep we stuck to the original plan of 44 laps. I thought it would be good to knock off the four and start on the next chunk before stopping. I think I did 5 or 6 before going inside for tea and some food, although I had some snack food on the trail. We started at 7pm in the dark and already tired having been up all day and travelling. It was good to have a break inside but I was also conscious that this would eat into my time buffer. At some point on that evening we had about two hours of sleety snow which was annoying in our head torch beam but not a serious problem otherwise. I shot indoors to pull on over trousers. After that the weather was fairly kind. It wasn't terribly cold just chilly and the wind was not fierce until late on Saturday afternoon. Most of Saturday was really quite pleasant and with great views.

Auchinhope Hut after a few laps

After my first break I tried to limit by indoor breaks to every three laps although I did also stop to go to the loo. I have no record of exactly how this panned out and it would be good to have those individual splits and to see how much time was spent not running too (need to ask timing man if this is possible). I guess with a supporter they could record this for you and perhaps even chivy you out if necessary. It is so easy to forget when you are concentrating on just getting it done and also doing the mental maths to check what is still possible.
I do remember congratulating myself on being 1/4 way there and this was around the time it was getting light again. Dawn always lifts my spirits and it nice to get rid of the head torch which always seems to annoy my head/ears. The 'tunnel' effect from the torches was not so bad this weekend as the moon was quite full and despite the clouds was giving some light on the wider hills. I was slightly shocked to find how many had already bailed by daylight. (facebook from Mark C = Hill update. Half the field gone overnight.) This is not a race but the sort of challenge where we were all willing each other on. Well, that was my take on it. If I am honest it's a bit of a blur but I do remember going inside to find that Gaynor had stopped (at 10 laps) and that Alan had stopped at 8 laps. Alan had kindly loaned me his spare pair of gaiters and was now rooting for me so that they travelled as many laps as possible.
The route mark had found as a replacement for Shining Tor was interesting. After last years icy problems he was determined the event would not be stopped again. The first part from Mounthooly bunkhouse is a track with some small undulations and a gradual climb. After a mile there is a slight dip and a grassy path to a tin hut. Then the real 'fun' begins with a wet quad bike track to the skyline ridge and then along the ridge to Auchinhope Hut. Most of the first section looked great when we arrived and stayed not too bad though out. After the tin hut was a different story. The quad track was a boggy mess when we arrived. It got worse and worse as we went up and down it even though the lines we took varied as we searched for better lines.At the start it was just wet. After a few laps it was muddy. By daylight you could see a huge brown stain snaking down the hill. By the end it was a peaty muddy bog fest. It was impossible to run up this bog and even running down was tricky. We feared losing a foot or leg in a hole and wrenching forward.

The boggy quad bike track

I was amazed on Saturday afternoon when David H complimented me on my descending - but he lives in Portsmouth and gets little hill practise. I was less timid than I would be on a rocky path given that a fall would probably just mean getting very wet and muddy.
Gradually there were fewer runners passing me in either direction and so fewer cheerful Hellos or more solemn grunts. Carl and Martin bailed at 14 laps and then Mark and Karl at 16. Heather was still in albeit moving slowly. Her crew had decided not to tell her the real maths unless she worked it out for herself. We had shared some chats and maths and knew we were unlikely to do all 160 miles in the time allowed. She bowed to the inevitable after 18 laps knowing she could not make the Half Hill. There were only 7 of us trudging up and down by now 20 hours in.  I kept doing the maths and decided to concentrate on getting a Half Hill of 22 laps in 24 hours. I felt this would mean I had achieved something; although I now recognise that it also set in my mind that I would stop at that point.

Resting not sleeping

We were now heading into the second night and most of us were dog tired. Starting at 7pm on Friday was mean. A morning start to bank some laps, then an inevitable night would mean that we would now be getting dawn and a lifting of spirits. It would then be down to grinding it out through the last night if you knew a finish was possible. I think this did mess with my head. Finishing at 7pm sounded comfortable. Heading out into that night with probably little hope in the end sounded daft. This is what I told myself. Would I have carried on if it was daylight? Maybe. I think it is more likely. Plus on my last two laps I was getting blown sideways on the ridge by an ever strengthening wind. Mark sets a tough challenge. Before long we were down to 5 of us. We were still saying Hi, well done, raising a hand etc but nobody was even trying to run uphill. Even Paul was doubting he could do it. I had lost track of who had done how many laps but was sad to find Robert just missed out on the Half Hill. I didn't know him and he rarely spoke out on the route, perhaps I should have taken the initiative and dragged him with me on those last 4-5 laps.

Windy but not evil weather

Now we were 4. There was one way it was better now it was dark again- you could spot head torches and see where the others were. Somehow passing others in one direction or another was motivating and encouraging. David had said he was going to aim for 100 miles but I fear my suggestion of Half a Hill got him thinking. He was lapping faster than me and so stopped on 22 laps at 5.20pm. 
Now we were 3. Having made my decision I enjoyed the last couple of laps more and at 6.40pm went inside with my Half Hill done.

Yes- I look like I should have continued

I should say at this point that the Half Hill is just my invention. As far as Mark was concerned it was another DNF. Fail. That sounds harsh and in reality he is nothing like as harsh as he sounds on the web. Despite his "no getting as far as you can in 48 hrs" he pulled nobody even when it was obvious they could not complete. He was encouraging and did want a tiny numbers of us to succeed. I think he really wanted me to carry on and try even though a finish was unlikely. I had 24hrs 20 to do 22 more laps. So a buffer of 2 hrs 20 on hour laps. My average lap time was 1.04 (last lap was 1hr 13 but I stopped to look at the stars knowing I had plenty of time before my 7pm limit) and I have to assume it would drop to at least 1hr 10. That meant my buffer was enough for 14 more laps but not 22. Even if the bogs had frozen solid I don't believe it was possible for me. So was it sensible to stop when I did? Yes, probably but when should we be sensible?
I crawled into bed willing Paul and Guy onwards. Paul I knew from Hardmoors races and especially the H200 when back in 2017 he finished in 48 hrs, well ahead of my 56 hrs. Guy I did not know but he was moving well. As I slept Paul bailed at 25 laps having decided the boggy track would not let him do fast enough laps. Guy toughed it out for 29 laps. He did set out on the 30th lap but kept lying down to sleep and wisely decided he should return to the bunkhouse not long after midnight. All this confirms to me that if they couldn't do it then I was wise to stop; doing more laps but in a slower time would not really count as a victory.

Congratulations to all who accepted the challenge- how ever many laps you did

Lessons learnt:
Find a way of recording exactly what your times per lap are and when you have had breaks.
Have a supporter to do this and to chase you out or make you eat. (Karen didn't know me well enough)
Practise more on a local hill- perhaps 15 laps rather than the 3 I did on Fairsnape.
Have a food box outside or in the drying room as Gaynor did- this reduces your stops and getting comfortable.
Get fitter so that I do actually run the easy bits even when I am tired.

Would I do it again. Yes, but not on that course.  My legs felt fine both then and in the days after, although I could not go any faster. My feet felt fine - until I stopped and realised that the frost nip in two toes was reactivated and that the "not a neuroma" was sore and my whole foot was huge. Not sure if this was the newish shoes, laces too tight  or other. I never did change my socks as it was so wet that there seemed little point. I guess if I had maybe I would have spotted the problems earlier. Not sure it would have changed the overall result though.

No idea what went on but four days later and still not good

I keep searching for a better venue- one that has a bunkhouse or similar, won't ice up, is not a bog fest, is a little sheltered from the worst weather. No luck yet. If it returns to Shining Tor I must have another go. In the meantime perhaps I could park our van at Fell Foot and do my own Hill on Fairsnape (I haven't told Bob of this idea yet).
Am I disappointed. Mostly no, or at least not in myself. I was 3rd man standing and 4th on laps per hr. I made it to the Half Hill along with 3 fit men.