With races cancelled many ROs were coming up with challenges. This one was relatively simple in idea: instead of The Hill as a race just do your own close to home. Last year's Hill on the back of the Cheviots had been a bit grim. The weather was pretty foul and the quad bike track very quickly became a boggy soup with the high ridge boggy peat and snow. The rain seemed relentless and the wind was blowing me all over. People started dropping out at an alarming rate. I was trying to balance wanting the comfort and warmth of indoors with the need to push on. I wasn't eating enough. One way of relieving the tedium of laps was to constantly do the maths... how many minutes per lap, how many hours left etc etc. It soon became clear that even if I kept going I could not do it in the 48 hours- I wasn't suddenly going to get faster even in the daylight. Towards the end I think there were only 5 of us running and I decided I would try to do a half hill in 24 hours- it kept me moving and gave me a goal. There was no way Mark was recognising a half hill though! When I stopped at 80 miles it was with mixed emotions. It had looked so possible on paper, I had kept going longer than most (3rd left standing out of about 26), I had done my half hill BUT it was DNF and I had stopped before I was actually timed out. As I fell asleep I thought the two last men were still battling it out. They were but not for long. One guy kept lying down to sleep and luckily realised how dangerous this was, he returned and retired. That left Paul Nelson. He is incredibly tough and was hours ahead of me on the Northern Traverse. I woke in the morning to find that he too had stopped- like me he had done the maths and realised he couldn't do it.
So move on a year and Covid meant The Hill itself wouldn't happen but we were being encouraged to find a local Hill. This in itself gave me hours of fun and running trying to find what I felt would give me the best chance. I wanted the correct distance and climb but also a route where the weather couldn't be too dire, the paths could not ice up, a path where it was not too gnarly for my poor battered feet and a place where we could put the van as a CP. Oh, and not too many people to dodge. In the end I decided Beacon Fell would be fine so long as I avoided the weekends. Starting down at Carwags would add both distance and ascent and also give a quieter car park area. The fell itself was one of the first country parks in England and has a myriad of paths. I was keen to include the trig point each lap too and avoid both the water-logged 'lawn' area near the visitor centre and the boggiest of the paths. I spent hours messing with combinations of paths on OS maps and actually running them for real. Even more hours were spent doing the maths and working out what pace I needed to keep and then building in breaks (max 30 mins allowed).
Marc knows how to break people and so determined that we would start at 8pm in the evening, ensuring we would have maximum running in the dark. It also meant sitting around for a day in anticipation and starting just when bed was calling. Cruel man. In retrospect I probably started a little too fast, keen to build in some buffer against slowing down and having food stops later. The first night was lovely in many ways. I had the paths to myself, saw deer and owls more than once. The forecast wasn't great but neither was it dire. I did have some rain but not masses. Worst was the mist... I know this fell like the back of my hand but on one section kept veering off the path and into the edge of the forest. It really slowed me down. Daylight arriving is always a pick me up and today was no exception. I was on target and had made it through the first night. Being a Wednesday the park never got too busy and having a few people around was quite good for morale. I used the van repeatedly and tried to be good about eating regularly. What I wasn't so good about was changing my socks there seemed little point as they would soon be wet and muddy again. Perhaps I should have bought new dry socks but I seem to make holes in them after almost the first run and so was reluctant to shell out money. By the end of the day I was flagging a bit. Still on target but the rain, miles and repetitive nature was taking it's toll. That afternoon a runner friend and member of Bowland Mnt Rescue appeared. I had decided if I was going to run The Hill then I might as well raise some money for them. it was good to see Graham even if I didn't want to stop long and it did motivate me, for a while. During the evening various Bowland Fell runners appeared as they train on the area on a Wednesday. This was even better for morale as it was dark by now and although no one thing was really wrong I was tired and taking frequent stops. Ian slowed down to run walk with me and chat. Ann and others chatted and told me how well I was doing. And then the fell was quiet again and I had it to myself. I needed energy but did not know what I wanted to eat. I didn't want to stop too long and get comfortable. The rain was miserable but my waterproof was fine. The weather got worse- heavier rain, more mist and stronger wind on the top. I huddled in the van and put on more layers and over trousers. I forced myself out and did some more laps. I even varied the paths slightly to reduce the boredom. Before long I was back in the van for a cup of tea and to get dry gloves and bigger over trousers. I got all togged up and suddenly just did not want to do it any more.
There was no really good reason, was still on target and it was my decision. Bob did not try to persuade me one way of the other. A harsher buddy might have said some strong words- shift your arse, I haven't sat here for 36 hours for you to stop now etc. The wind was howling, the rain getting heavier and heavier and I had just had enough. I guess in the 'race' you see others and have the motivation of staying out because they have. I pulled all my layers off and fell into bed- maybe it was just too easy to do that. I struggled to sleep as both my hips suddenly locked up and were screaming. I felt embarrassed and a real fraud by morning- all those who had wished me luck, sponsored me etc had been let down. 101 miles done and no more. Fewer than 60 miles to go and the whole of the day to have finished it. Oh well- writing this a few months later the memories have faded and the edge been taken off. I have moved on. I did run over 100 miles of boring laps. I did raise over £500 if you include Gift Aid for Bowland Pennine Mnt Rescue and I tried. I thought I had already written this up but found the draft of it half finished on a dreadfully wet day in March. There is so much that I cannot remember- which is perhaps why we enter these things time and time again!
