Bob Graham - the aftermath

The Bob Graham Round was eight months ago.
I have already started to forget some of the details although whenever I read my account it brings it all back to me. This Blog would not be complete without the opportunity to look back on the event.
It was not all plain sailing in the time afterwards.
After my initial excitement at successfully completing the round I enjoyed a very pleasant and relaxing week in the Lakes on holiday. I did some gentle cycling, I had a few beers and I did a very pleasant and slow walk of the Kentmere Horseshoe. I listened to some jazz and I enjoyed walking round Keswick aimlessly and had a picnic in the sun on top of Latrigg. I stayed with a friend in Lancaster and had a good few days catching up on old times - all idyllic.
It was wonderful to have slayed the dragon which had been the Bob Graham. I returned to the Isle of Wight and went to the Rock festival and had a few more beers.
I was looking through my diary planning things for the rest of the year when I noticed the blocked out weekend for the weekend of 21st June. This was when I had initially planned to do the round and I had taken a day of holiday to make it a long weekend and the B and B was booked.
A nasty little gremlin in my mind started wondering if I could do the round again - this time with the Dark Peak Fellrunners BG machine. I realised that less than a month after my previous effort it was being, to put it mildly, optimistic but it did seem to be an opportunity not to be missed.
I contacted their organiser and got a very positive reception although he did say that I would have to make up my mind before hand whether I was going to support their attempt or have a go myself. I was amazed again at yet another example of the fell running community going out of their way to help out a fellow runner. I agonised for about a week over what to do and eventually realised that the point of doing the round in the first place was partly to get it out of my system and that to take it on again was not logical and would maybe diminish what I had already acheived. I also realised that my main motivation was to get membership of the Bob Graham Round Club and that if I had really cared about that I should have organised a supported effort in the first place. I had made the decision to do a self contained round for the reasons I have already outlined and I should be happy with my decision.
I let the Dark Peak Guys know that I would be happy to support a leg but that I would not be having an attempt myself.
I went up to the Lakes and joined in the festivities at the start of the Dark Peak attempt. The atmosphere was great and we set off on a beautiful summers evening as I had said I would do the (easy) first leg. I really enjoyed doing this leg. There was no pressure, I was not having to worry about the route or the best lines. In fact coming off Great Calva they took a line through the heather which I definitely didn't approve of - but hey it didnt matter to me. I have a feeling I may have been a bit of a bore going on about the round I had done 4 weeks before but it was so good to be in the company of those who understood what the round was all about that it was difficult not talk about it at least a bit.
We kept together for most of the first section although there were gaps appearing going up the back of Blencathra. The guy whose pack I was carrying was one of the faster ones so I kept towards the front and we got down to Threkeld in about 3 hours 50 minutes and it seemed to be over so suddenly. I was tempted for a small amount of time to do another leg but there were plenty supporters for the next leg and I remembered the pubs in Keswick were still open so I cheered the contenders on their way and accepted a lift back to Keswick.
The next day the weather had broken big time - it had been forecast. It was driving horizontal rain - typical Lakes. I spent the day walking on the lake shore and visited Honister slate mine and had a pancake in the coffee shop. I had no regrets about not being on the fells but I turned up at the Moot Hall to welcome in the successful survivors. Most finished successfully despite the weather - about 12 out of 14 from memory which was a pretty good effort especially the way the weather had changed from about halfway round. I enjoyed being a small part of this effort and it definitely helped draw a line under the Bob Graham for me.
I had got a very terse reply from the secretary of the Bob Graham Club when I had written applying for membership. I figured that as most of my round - well half of it - had been witnessed they might take my word for the rest of it. I know there are countless stories of people getting seperated from their support for some of the time and thought they might take a similar stance on my round. In fact the reply simply pointed me in the direction of the rules which said something like 'solo or unsupported rounds are not recognised'. Fair enough - rules are rules but I thought they might have offered some small measure of congratulation or even have been interested in an account of my round 'for the records'.
After the weekend was over I decided that I ought to get back into road running.
I was fit and so I wanted to do a marathon to try to get a qualifying time for the London marathon (for my age group 3 hours 15 minutes). This had to be done before the closing date in September and after trawling the internet I found only one event - the Faversham marathon - in England.
I was lucky to get my application accepted for this as it was a limited entry.
I had 5 weeks to train for it and found out it was a very strange 40 lap race round the local park.
I soon discovered that all my hard won fell hardness was not that good on the road. My legs did not seem to have the springyness they needed to cope with the repetitive pounding from the asphalt and it became obvious that the distance was going to be a problem. On the day it was an event with fantastic atmosphere but the little hill at the end of the park was about 40 feet high and multiplied by 40 times represented quite an obstacle. At about 20 miles I was leading the race and keeping up to schedule but then in the heat it all unravelled very quickly and I ended up 4th and 10 minutes outside my target. No London marathon for 2009 this gave me a new target to try to get into London 2010.
Since then my running has been very mixed. I have managed a couple of half decent 10k times (around 39 minutes), a decent 5 mile time (30 minutes), and some dodgy half marathons (94 mins - 87 mins). There has been no real consistency to my running and I have been plagued by injury (torn hamstring, sore back, shin splints, weak ankle and achilles tendonitis) and more recently 3 colds in January alone.
In short I have found it harder to get back to road running than I found it to change to long distance fell running.
Despite all this I wouldn't change anything - the build up,training and completion of the Bob Graham were incredibly satisfying.
I think those who know me are probably very grateful that the subject comes up fairly infrequently now rather than it being the constant enduring topic of the moment that it once was.
I feel an inner tranquillity where there was previously a nagging urgency reminding me of unfinished business.
So what next?
Well this year I am planning on doing the Stratford Marathon with the intention of qualifying for the London Marathon next year. I want to continue working at road running to see if I can still manage a few more Personal Best times. I don't yet have another big project but I would like to do something hard but perhaps less directly competitive. A long distance walk might be ideal - perhaps the Appalachian trail in the USA or one of the walks across the Pyrennees from coast to coast.
This is my last entry to this Blog - any suggestions?