Firstly, thank you for helping me! I’m so lucky to have such experienced and enthusiastic friends joining me on this adventure! I could not do this without you, so thank you!
Since publishing So, this Bob Graham Round thing..., I've made some excellent progress against my todo list:
Making it real
I finally came clean, unlike my shoes and formerly announced my intention to attempt the Bob Graham Round: anyone looking at my training on Strava knew I was up to something with all the hill repeats and as a result of my training going well, I thought it was time to commit and to start assembling a crew.
I'd had a fantastic time last month showing Jeff Pelletier leg 5 of the Bob Graham Round and on the 2nd of July, it was finally go time!
The keen-eyed who follow me on Strava have noticed... they've noticed the hill repeats and big elevation gain days, they've noticed the recce's and the Bob Graham Round support stints I've been doing. They've also noticed the appearance of poles... the ultimate give away! I hear their murmurings... he's definitely up to something!
Well, it's true. I am up to something.
Truth is, I first planned to have a go at the Bob Graham Round in May 2021.
I was slow out of the blocks this month, with a few consecutive rest days before I finally laced up the fell shoes and ran Paddy's Pole Fell Race, a short, punchy week day race on home turf, namely Parlick. The race is superbly organised by Olga (and wonderful volunteers from Preston Harriers), who took over as race director last year.
A late change of plans saw us glamping in Ingleton at the weekend, both my wife and I have memories of doing the Ingleton Waterfalls Trail but neither of us can remember when! We're getting to that age.
Although it was overcast, it was a very warm day so we were soon shedding layers as we started climbing up the steps next to Pecca Falls. We hadn't got the earliest start on the day but still, the trail wasn't so busy until we got to Thornton Force Waterfall.
Well, that was a busy month!
I continued with hill repeats on Parlick throughout May but I only managed four sessions... granted, one session was ten repeats, which gave me just over 7,000ft of elevation gain: these sessions are hard, sometimes it's blowing an absolute gale, other times the sun is blazing but all-in-all, they're helping, I am climbing better and I feel stronger!
Okay. Things are finally looking up. Phew.
April got off to a good start as I attended my Fell, Hill, Off Road and Trail Module - Leader training in Sedbergh... I have been working towards an England Athletics coaching qualification and this bolt on module was the next step on the ladder to becoming fully qualified. Due to COVID, I missed out on the two day outdoor first aid course organised by my running club in February last year, so I will have to do one soon as having a valid outdoor first aid certificate is a requirement for achieving this part of the qualification.
The Wray Caton Moor fell race is a category B (less than 25 metres climb per kilometre with no more than 30% of the route on road), short (10 kilometres or less) fell race and it's everything a proper fell race should be... you pay your fiver and you run!
Required kit? None. Ace. Simple.