Bob Graham Round 2008

Bob Graham - the aftermath

2009-02-02T10:16:00.000Z

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?

The full round

2008-06-03T20:19:00.004+01:00

23/5/8
I got away from work in good time. Catching the 1800 ferry from Fishbourne to Portsmouth and I had a remarkably smooth journey up to Keswick. It seemed as if most of the half term/ bank holiday traffic had got away before me and the reported delays on the roads did not materialise. I arrived in Keswick at about midnight and fell asleep in the B and B almost immediately.

24/5/8

I was up at about 0830 and enjoyed a full English cooked breakfast. I had sorted out my fell kit before I left but I still had to get some provisions - food and water for the road crossings. Once I had done this I drove to the necessary road crossings to put supplies in place. I ended up at Newlands Church mid afternoon where I enjoyed a picnic in the sun. It was a beautiful day and the fells looked magnificent in the sunshine with the odd white cloud. It was fine in the valley but it was obviously windy on top. As I looked at Dale Head, Hindsgarth and Robinson I imagined crossing these fells and descending to Little Town at the end of my round and how satisfying it would be.
I drove back to Keswick and the B and B and rechecked my kit, ate some more and finally went to bed for a sleep at about 1900.

25/5/8

The alarm woke me at midnight and I had a text from Roger offering me support and ending "stay focussed and enjoy it". This came at just the right time and his words stayed with me throughout the day. When I have done hard things before I have been aware of how quickly things can go wrong if you lose focus. It is very easy to do as fatigue, hunger and cold set in. As importantly though – I have sometimes been so caught up in a task that I have forgotten to enjoy it. In retrospect I have regretted that I had not relaxed and enjoyed myself more at the time. I determined then that no matter what the outcome I would savour each moment of the round – I really had a very special opportunity. I dressed in my fell clothes and donned my pack. I was ready for the off.
The weather forecast was much as it had been for the previous few days - clear skies, coolish but with a strong easterly wind.
On arrival at the Moot Hall I was pleasantly surprised to see 3 others - Patrick from Gloucestershire on a 23 and a half hour schedule and his 2 pacers – both called Dave. We introduced ourselves and I asked if he wanted me to keep out of his way. He was very friendly and suggested we keep together if possible.
Suddenly it was one oclock and we were off. I cut straight through the first gennel and arrived in the car park just before them. I was checking my watch and –bang-I was down having tripped over a kerbstone. One minute into the round and I had drawn blood with a graze on my hand –brilliant! I had to laugh at the stupidity of it and at least the rest of me was intact. We jogged together across Fitz Park and along the road but when we got to the track and path up to Latrigg, Pat and team just kept jogging. This surprised me as I was used to walking all this (gentle) uphill section and had always found that to be plenty for a 23 1/2 hour schedule. I was in a quandary because although I wanted to start slowly I also wanted to stay with the others-at least for the night section. I still had a hope that if I could stay with them then my attempt would be witnessed –making me eligible for the BGR 24 hour club. I decided to keep them in sight as I am at my strongest up hill and I thought I might close up on them as things got steeper. By the time we were at Latrigg car park I was only about 50m behind and I caught it all up because Pat had to stop twice to vomit. Not a great start for him I thought but he explained that he was fine but had just eaten too much before the start. We jogged to the foot of Jenkin Hill and I was chatting to Patrick as we climbed at a fast but not uncomfortable pace. About halfway up we looked round to see that we were leaving his pacers behind - not good. As we continued the wind was increasing in strength and we started to get into the clag. Dave 1 caught up and reported that Dave 2 was struggling with the pace. I felt fine but I knew we were way under 23 ½ hour schedule so perhaps it was a bit tough on Dave 2 who would have been expecting a gentler start. Patrick asked Dave 1 to hang back and tell Dave 2 to head back to Keswick as he didn’t know the route and the weather was getting pretty bad. He did this and with a big effort caught us up again just before the first false summit cairn. As we got up there the wind really started howling and visibility all but vanished. When I was behind the others I could only see the light from their head torches for about 5m before they vanished. We found the summit which was a relief and I noticed only 72 minutes on the clock. This was about quarter of an hour quicker than I had planned but at that point I was just glad not to be on my own.
We set off over the other side of the summit heading down to the col but it didn’t seem right. It was very hard to communicate in the wind but the other 2 had GPS and shortly confirmed that we were too far left. We started contouring right with Pat leading and me just clinging onto the light of his head torch. After a couple of minutes I looked round and Dave had vanished. I followed Pat on until we got to the fence overlooking Hare Crag. We crossed the fence with Pat noticing the absent Dave ‘Great now I’ve lost both my pacers’. As we started descending it still felt wrong-too steep and shaly and I thought we were too far right. Sure enough the GPS confirmed this and so we worked our way left again through deep heather. Pat was still running but I felt I was using too much energy for so early in the round so I walked and let him go. As we got down, the clag cleared and we soon found the line on Hare Crag. Pat was visible about 400m ahead of me. Out of the gloom I saw a second torch and guessed (correctly as it turned out) that Dave had found his way down on a better and faster line.

I made my way down to the path and bridge below Hare Crag and then followed the fence posts up Great Calva. These still had reflective tape on them which made navigation very easy. I caught Pat and Dave up a little on the ascent but was still about 200m behind them at the summit. Pat and I passed as he made his way back to the first (false) summit on Great Calva. I crossed the fence at the summit and cut diagonally across the hill to join the fence as it descended towards the river Caldew. Following the fence down to the gate I went through, followed a slight trod through the heather and then descended to the stream which feeds into the Caldew. I planned on this route because I knew it well and it seemed to be simple to do in the dark. In the past I had found it to be very wet but on this occasion it was easy and dry underfoot. I followed the line of the stream then a small section across heather and through to the river Caldew. I was not looking forward to this but the river was as low as I have seen it. I used stepping stones and a big jump at the end and found myself on the other side with dry feet - a real bonus.

There were 3 groups of lights ahead of me going up Mungrisdale Common and I wasn't sure what was happening. I caught up the first light which was Dave and he said Pat was ahead but that there was another group doing a round as well.

I went ahead of Dave who was feeling it a bit and found an ok route up Blencathra. I went a bit left at one stage and had to contour back but I was fine under the screes and arrived on the summit in good visibility and with early daylight. The descent of Hall's Fell ridge was very straight forward - dry underfoot - but I still took it steadily and carefully. It seemed no time at all and I had crossed the main road at Threlkeld and I was amongst a mass of contenders, pacers and road support. There was a really good atmosphere - everyone was friendly and helpful - I felt adopted.

I knew I was ahead of schedule but I felt fine and had not pushed. I was very happy with the way things were going. I didn't want to hang around though and still thought I might be able to keep with Pat who left for the second leg shortly after I had arrived. I ate a sandwich and a rice pudding, drank 500ml of lucozade sport, changed my socks, topped up my water bladder and got more food for the leg - I was off after 7 minutes. Patrick's Pacers for the leg were driven along the track to the farm to catch him up and he was some distance ahead of me by the time I started up Clough Head. Not so far ahead though were another two and I caught them just before the summit. John was doing a 51 at 51 round after having missed out on 50 at 50 last year. His pacer was Pete and they were from Romsey and Southampton - a real day for the Southerners. He had started at 0015 and was going well. They welcomed me along with them. Visibility was improving by now - superb except on the tops. It was still very windy and extremely so on the tops and other exposed places. I was recording the times for the summits and was aware that we were doing well but the pace was comfortable. I did not specifically look at my route card to check progress as it just didn't seem necessary. We chatted as we went along and this leg was an entirely enjoyable experience in good company and with wonderful views. We had a laugh on Helvellyn as I had always thought the trig point was the official summit but John and Pete had their eye on me as they pointed out the large cairn on the edge by the shelter. The same thing happened later on Dollywaggon as I had never even noticed the large cairn on the edge overlooking the valley.

John took us on the direct descent from Dollywaggon down to the tarn outlet and then straight up Fairfield which was a new route for me and one which I really enjoyed. I dont know if it is any faster than round the back of the tarn and then up and back on Fairfield but it seems more elegant and more of a continuous line.

A pattern was emerging where I was slightly faster up hill but they were faster down - it seemed to balance out well though and I found it fairly easy to keep with them.

On the summit of Fairfield the wind was a real hooligan. I looked round for the other two to see them being physically lifted off their feet and thrown sideways in one viscious gust. The wind was making progress a struggle at times - not only did it throw your body off line but even as you went to place each foot it would blow the foot into a slightly different position which would make it feel like you were landing awkwardly. I could tell that the ligaments supporting my knees were getting a bit too much of a stretching and were a bit sore from these unaccustomed movements.

John asked me how I was and I said fine but I felt a bit 'wobbly' trying to explain this instability which was worse for me on the rocky descents. He said he just felt battered by the wind and there is no doubt it was battle.

Despite this we were doing well as we went down Fairfield but we were amazed to see Pat coming up with one pacer. He was agitated as he had lost his dog and spent 20 minutes looking for it before giving up and carrying on. Dogs are fantastic support on the fells but you really have to be able to trust them as they can become a liability.

We got up and down Seat Sandal in good order and found the classic line down to Dunmail Raise. Again there was a fantastic reception and more good news - Pat's dog had been found and was standing wagging its tail (looking maybe a little contrite) on a very short lead.

I only took an 11 minute break because I wanted to leave with John and I was feeling good. I had a sandwich, rice pudding, pint of milk, 500ml lucozade sport and a change of socks. I knew we were up on schedule by about an hour but I wasnt really worrying about time. I was already focussed on the next crucial leg.

We got up Steel Fell and Calf Crag easily enough with John's new pacers Christine and ..... There was a good atmosphere and lots of chat. It had really warmed up by now and the wind had relented a little as well - a great day to be on the fells. I thought of my recce 3 weeks before when I had been with the Macclesfield Harriers guys and I had gone all the way to Keswick. I managed to convince myself that I didnt feel that much different to how I had done then. I was certainly very positive about getting to the finish.

Going up Sergeant Man we were caught up by Pat and his new team Helen, Brown Dog and one other. They were moving really well. I stayed with them for a while as I still had hope of all my peaks being witnessed but I was just starting a bit of a tough patch. It became clear fairly soon that I was working quite hard to keep with them and as uphill is my strong suit I knew that I would be dropped on the descent. A shame but I needed to conserve energy for later in the round. I let them go again but I was still ahead of John and team so I just kept going on my own in sight of and between both groups. High Raise and Thunacar Knott came and went without incident but I was definitely having a rough patch. No big deal - I just slowed a bit, ate and drank some more and waited for the energy levels to be restored. I slowed just at the summit of Thunacar Knott so that John caught me and we wished each other luck as he set off for Pavey Ark whilst I set off for Harrison Stickle. It was a lovely day for the Langdales and I really enjoyed Harrison and Pike O Stickle on my own now really for the first time. I had enjoyed being with the others but there is something wonderful too about the solitude of the mountains. Going to Pike O Stickle I did not follow the paved path across the head of Dungeon Gill but instead cut the corner across the grassy ground to the right. This was a short cut shown to me by the Macc Harriers guys from 3 weeks before and at the time it seemed to shave 30 seconds or so off the time. I used it because the ground was so dry and it joined the path again further up the hill. I dont know if it would be worth it in the wet.

From Pike O Stickle I followed the path to Martcrag Moor and then cut across straight down the hill over the stream and up the other side using Billy Blands traverse under the crags to reach the high ground before Rossett Pike. I then went round the back of the ridge before finally climbing the summit. By now I was feeling better again and I exchanged pleasantries on the top with some walkers who were taking advantage of the stunning views. My knees were feeling sore and I thought this was due to the buffeting by the wind.

I was slightly apprehensive about Bowfell as I still didnt really know the correct line. I had done it enough to know that as long as I was careful I could probably climb my way out of trouble. From Rossett Gill I started the climbing traverse and followed the cairns diagonally up. Whenever the line became unclear I always took the higher option and I sort of improvised my way up. As visibility was so good I had a fairly good idea of where I was aiming and before too long I emerged on the summit ridge in the correct place. I am sure I still didnt take exactly the right line but it worked out ok in the end and I was triumphant and relieved when I got to the summit in very strong winds again.

Coming off the summit I kept leftish and soon picked up a track (again shown to me by Macc Harriers) used in one of the fell races down to Esk Hause.

Esk Pike and Great End were a bit of a slog especially in the fierce winds but I met and hailed plenty of other walkers who were also enjoying the spectacular views so I had plenty of company.

On top of Ill Crag I met a potential BGer who was out reccying and when I told him I was doing mine he was very supportive. I picked my way carefully up and down Broad Crag - staying focussed because I didnt want a mishap on the rocks. It was all very dry though so no real problem. I struggled a bit on the stony descent to the Col before Scafell Pike and from then on that was to be the pattern of the day. My knees just felt unhappy on the stony descents and so I felt I had to be ultra cautious (and slow).

Scafell Pike was seething with people as befitted a pleasant bank holiday weekend but I just logged the summit and moved on down to Mickledore.

At Broad Stand I had been offered the use of a rope by the other teams but I have not done it before and did not think that was the right time for my first go. Besides which I could see a team ascending as I got there so there would have been time lost while they moved through and then I roped up. I do not know which team it was as Pat must have been miles ahead of me by then and I had not seen John pass me. I suppose he must have done maybe coming down from Scafell Pike. I went up Lord's Rake and West Wall traverse on my own and it was very straightforward. Partly because it was drier and also simply because I didnt have anyone kicking stuff down on to me or blocking the route. I was still feeling very good on the ascents and so I made up most of the time I had lost by being a bit feeble coming down to Mickledore. It was a good feeling being on top of Scafell as I had been concerned about the 3rd leg because I was least familiar with it. I now felt I was moving back into known territory.

The descent to Wasdale took me ages. I had run out of water so stopped at the spring halfway down the grass slopes and I kept on the grass and avoided the screes. I was just not moving downhill very well and I lost 12 minutes on this one descent. I wasn't worried though as overall I felt quite strong and I still had 53 minutes in hand on the schedule after a decent 17 minute stop at Wasdale. John had appeared behind me on the descent to Wasdale. He caught me towards the bottom (had my Lords Rake really beaten his Broad Stand?) and was a minute ahead of me by the carpark. He looked to be going well. He started up Yewbarrow a bit ahead of me but I hoped to link up with him again on the ascent. We followed the line of the stream and I caught them just before the square boulder at the foot of the screes. We had a discussion about the line which they thought I would know well from my recce 3 weeks before. Unfortunately I was not that confident but I thought it was right of the lower screes and left of the upper ones.

When I got to the upper screes I was seduced by a diagonal path which took me nicely to the top of the steep stuff but then I realised was too far to the right of the summit. I have taken this line before and wasnt that bothered myself but I felt bad that I might have led the others on an imperfect route. Anyway after Yewbarrow I went down to the col between the two summits and started on the classic line diagonally down and across the scree to Dore Head. Halfway along though I dropped directly down to the valley floor on a grassy rake because I was still struggling with stony descents. I saw John and team moving well on the scree above me but once I got on the grass at the bottom I was outpacing them. I then cut the corner a bit at Dore Head so I was about 400m ahead of them as I started up Red Pike. I thought I heard a shout and when I turned round I saw John's pacers running back towards where he was sitting or lying down just before Dore Head. There was nothing I could do so I carried on climbing and eventually I saw them continuing to climb behind me. I made reasonable time on the climb and ended up on schedule. It seemd now that I was losing time on the downhill but just about pulling it back on the uphill. I kept hoping to see John come past me on one of the descents but it never happened and I did not see him again. I hoped he had been able to pass me without me seeing him but I fear he may not have completed the round.

I loved the little dash out to Steeple and back and I felt good on the climb up to Pillar even though I had been slow descending. I had kept on the more grassy bit off to the right of the ridge. It was hard work getting down to Blacksail with sore knees but I really enjoyed the ascent of Kirk Fell - climbing up to the left of the red gully (another Macc Harriers contribution - thank you). I caught two walkers with huge packs at the top of the gully and we walked together for a while as we went up the shallow ascent towards the summit. We exchanged pleasantries about routes etc and especially about the wind which was howling again on top of Kirk Fell. I told them I was heading over Great Gable and down into Honister but I didnt tell them where I had come from that day - I don't now why not but it just didn't seem appropriate. They were planning to camp on top and finish the horseshoe the next day. I am sure they had a very adventurous if not battered night with that wind.

I struggled again during the descent from Kirk Fell but I was now full of confidence about getting in in under 24 hours. I still had plenty of energy for the climbs and the remaining summits were starting to dwindle in number. I had made good time up Great Gable and was pretty much on schedule for the leg. It was about 1930 and a beautiful evening even though the wind was still doing terrible things. I stayed focussed and took stock - I was still over 3/4 of an hour up on schedule with no more difficult ascents. I still had to do 2 or 3 difficult descents and a long road run. I wanted to make as much as I could of the remaining daylight but really it was only injury that would stop me now so I determined to be extra careful.

I took the standard route off Great Gable which is harder than going straight off the top and contouring round to Wind Gap but it is better marked and I knew it better. I climbed up to Green Gable without problem and then ticked off Brandreth and Grey Knotts without much difficulty and roughly on schedule. The descent to Honister was awkward even though I found the right line. I kept going steadily and dropped 9 minutes by the time I arrived at the nearly deserted car park. I had rice pudding, a drink and topped up with supplies for an 8 minute stop. The shortened break meant that I had gained most of the time I had lost on the descent.

It would have been lovely to stop at Honister - I had had a great day out and I was starting to get tired. I knew though that I could and would keep going and I was really looking forward to completing the round. I determined to plod on and make as much of the remaining daylight as I could. It was still a lovely evening and I really did enjoy taking in Dale Head and Hindsgarth both on schedule.

Coming down Hindsgarth saw me going slowly again but I did ok going up to Robinson and I arrived on the last summit triumphant as darkness started to move in. I had just under 3 hours to get back to the Moot Hall and I knew it was in the bag if I was sensible and avoided injury. Headtorch on I started a very gentle descent of Robinson - contouring down from the second cairn aiming for the gap between the 2 sets of rocks. This is where the path for Newlands Church starts. I could still see the valley floor and thought it would be prudent to lose height as my main priority. I got it a bit wrong and descended too much too early. I ended up having to contour round very low down before I found the path and I had forgotten how steep and rocky it was at the beginning. Later on it flattens and smooths out and I made better progress. It still took me the best part of an hour to get to Newlands church though.

I changed socks and into my road shoes, had a big feed and drink, discarded my rucksack and set off on the road run back to Keswick. I had an hour and 50 minutes left for this and was still thinking 'stay focussed and enjoy'. I decided to jog very easily- no heroics were needed. It was very pleasant and mesmeric to be jogging through the cool night air. It seemed an irony that I had come from a mainly road running background, trained hard for the fells but now was in a position where success depended on my road running. Time passed very easily on this final jog. I walked the steeper ups but otherwise just kept a slow even pace. I exchanged pleasantries with some pub goers at Swinside: 'Are you training for the Bob Graham?' 'No I am doing it!' 'GO ON MATE - WELL DONE!' This brought a smile to my face as I had said much the same to a successful contender last year at roughly the same place when I was on my way to retrieve some kit I had left by the roadside during a recce.

A thousand thoughts filled my mind as I made my way to Portinscale - memories of training runs and dreams of this very moment being among them. Soon I was crossing the footbridge and then jogging along the path across the fields to Keswick. I turned right into the main road and across the roundabout (no cars). I was on the final cobbled straight up to the Moot Hall.

I had planned to continue my sedate jog up to the steps - I had plenty of time - but in the excitement I couldnt help opening my stride and finishing at 10k pace. It felt wonderful - probably because I was using muscles I hadnt used all day! Applause rang out from ahead.

I threw one hand in the air and touched the Moot Hall at 0015 - it had taken me 23 hours and 15 minutes to return to my starting point and successfully complete the Bob Graham round. I was congratulated by a crowd of two people (one passing and one from road support earlier in the day) and had photos taken - which I am promised via email. I was very touched to have a reception comittee as I had anticipated during planning the possibility of arriving on my own.

I stood for a few minutes savouring the experience and then made my way back to the B and B for a shower, a glass of milk and a good nights sleep.

I slept surprisingly well and woke at 0830 for breakfast. 'Did you manage your walk?' the landlady asked me 'yes' I replied proudly '23 hours 15 minutes'. 'Oh well done congratulations ' she said.

Oh and the breakfast? - It tasted really great!

Pat finished successfully in 21 hours and 51 minutes - an awesome effort especially as he was plagued by enteral problems throughout and he lost 20 minutes looking for his dog.

I still don't know about John - I hope he made it but if not then better luck next time - he is a very strong guy.

Times for the round

2008-05-28T16:05:00.000+01:00

These were my actual times for the round. I was aiming for the standard 23 and a half hour round and for comparison the various splits are readily available on the web. (See the Bob Wightman link on this blog)

The first time given is that for each section and the second time is the time (BST) that I arrived at each location.

Wightplodder Bob Graham Round
Date 25th May 2008

Sunrise:4.47 Sunset:21.12
Start time 01:00
Schedule time 23:32
Actual Time 23:15

Stage hh:mm BST Time
START - MOOT HALL 01:00
SKIDDAW 1:12 02:12
GREAT CALVA 0:47 02:59
BLENCATHRA 1:03 04:02
THRELKELD (Arr) 0:33 04:34
Stage time 3:35

THRELKELD (Rest / Dep) 0:07 04:41
CLOUGH HEAD 0:46 05:27
GREAT DODD 0:28 05:54
WATSON'S DODD 0:09 06:03
STYBARROW DODD 0:10 06:13
RAISE 0:15 06:29
WHITE SIDE 0:07 06:36
HELVELLYN LOW MAN 0:13 06:49
HELVELLYN 0:06 06:55
NETHERMOST PIKE 0:09 07:05
DOLLYWAGON PIKE 0:12 07:17
FAIRFIELD 0:37 07:54
SEAT SANDAL 0:23 08:17
DUNMAIL (Arr) 0:18 08:34
Stage time 4:01

DUNMAIL (Rest / Dep) 0:11 08:45
STEEL FELL 0:24 09:07
CALF CRAG 0:21 09:30
SERGEANT MAN 0:34 10:04
HIGH RAISE 0:10 10:13
THUNACAR KNOTT 0:15 10:28
HARRISON STICKLE 0:10 10:38
PIKE O'STICKLE 0:14 10:52
ROSSET PIKE 0:46 11:38
BOWFELL 0:36 12:14
ESK PIKE 0:24 12:38
GREAT END 0:23 13:01
ILL CRAG 0:14 13:16
BROAD CRAG 0:11 13:28
SCAFELL PIKE 0:15 13:41
SCAFELL 0:35 14:16
WASDALE (Arr) 0:47 15:04
Stage time 6:30

WASDALE (Rest / Dep) 0:17 15:20
YEWBARROW 0:48 16:09
RED PIKE 0:50 16:59
STEEPLE 0:21 17:20
PILLAR 0:35 17:54
KIRK FELL 0:56 18:50
GREAT GABLE 0:42 19:32
GREEN GABLE 0:18 19:50
BRANDRETH 0:17 20:08
GREY KNOTTS 0:10 20:18
HONISTER (Arr) 0:22 20:40
Stage time 5:36

HONISTER (Rest / Dep) 0:08 20:48
DALE HEAD 0:34 21:22
HINDSCARTH 0:20 21:42
ROBINSON 0:29 22:11
L/H SNAB FARM (Arr) 0:58 23:09
SNAB FARM (Change/ Dep) 0:05 23:14
MOOT HALL KESWICK 1:01 0:15
Stage time 3:35

Total time 23:15

Kit List

2008-05-28T00:17:00.000+01:00

This is a bit sad but I always found it interesting to know what kit people were using although it is a very individual thing.

I wanted to keep to the absolute minimum of weight but still be safe and have everything I needed. I tested myself and fully laden I was about 4 minutes per hour slower than I was without the kit. (About 1 and a half hours in 24 hours)

My pack weighed 3 kg and contained the following:

Black Diamond Flash rucksack 230g Possibly a bit flimsy for fell running it is the lightest pack I could find and it worked for me. It was comfy, could take all I needed and cost about £30. Highly recommended if you are on your own. I saved it for the Lakes and on most of my practice runs I used a heavier but stronger Berghaus 'Bladdered' which was about 500g. I also had a small hydration pack from Tesco which was £10 including a 1.5 litre bladder and only weighed about 400g. This was a good 1st reserve if needed. They could all hold about 10 - 12 litres of volume.

Platypus hoser 2L water bladder 120g: I had several for practice runs but I felt the lightest and best was this one. It did need to be replaced after a few months use but it sealed reliably. I had a camelback which was good but heavier and my Tesco one kept breaking and leaking at the screw cap.

I tried drinking bottles but felt I lost time faffing around with them and taking them in and out of the rucksack and that they were less comfortable to run with. This is the only piece of kit where I went for something slightly heavier because I thought it would save time in the long run.

Water: 2L 2000g Obviously as each leg progressed this weight decreased. On the third leg it went too quickly and I was looking for water on the run but for the rest it was fine along with what I drank during the rests.

Waterproof - Haglof Oz Pullover 175g This was an unbeleivably light and effective piece of kit - the lightest I could find. I saved it for Lakeland runs and the event itself as it is understandibly slightly flimsy. It is very expensive - over £100 but I thought it was well worth it.

Windproof: Montane Jetstream pertex Jacket 85g £45 This was another star item and I wore it all the time on the day. It makes a huge difference when the wind is blowing and weighs next to nothing. I kept it for best and had a pertex quantum jacket (bit heavier 100g and flappier in the wind) which I picked up in a sale for £10 and I wore on most of my runs.

Gloves 25g Just lightweight microfibre ones although when practicing in the snow earlier in the year I used heavier windproof ones.

Berghaus micro fibre hat 30g This was fine and there are lots of lightweight hat options.

Whistle 25g

Compass 10g

Map 50g I used the Harvey mountain map and (very sad) cut it to include only the BG route. It is 1/40,000 scale and is waterproof. On the day I didnt look at it once as I knew the route. On the practice runs and at home I used the bigger Harvey mountain maps as they had slightly more detail.

Money, Credit card,route card,pencil 35g I wanted all these items. The route card was written on waterproof paper which was the back of a number from a road race I had been in.

It is quite hard to cut to size but very hard wearing and survived several good soakings in practice.

Mobile Phone 60g I bought a lightweight cheapo one for £10

Headtorch 75g I had a Petzl LED one but had one from B&Q for £10 as a reserve and it seemed pretty good too.

Glasses 10g Needed for reading I got a cheap plastic pair £10

Loo roll a few sheets just in case!

Food 300g A mixture of stuff each leg that I thought would keep me going. Obviously very personal but this seemed to me to be about the right amount of calories to go with what I was having during the breaks. I included some savoury salty snacks - cheezy biscuity things. I tried to keep away from too much sugar and chocolate but carried some of that with flapjack, fig roll etc.

All this adds up to about 3,250g but most of the time I was wearing some of it and at the end of each leg the weight was considerably less when the water had been drunk. Of course each leg starts with a big climb and I always had the pleasure of a full pack for that!

I ran in Walsh pb trainers, synthetic socks from Decathlon, synthetic pants and Ron Hill tracksters. On top I had a running t shirt and a capilene long sleeve thermal shirt over the top of it. I tend to be on the cold side so I usually wore clothes from my pack too.

I didnt take a survival bag and maybe I should have done - I just made the decision that what I had would have to be enough.

On my wrist I wore a luxury item - A suunto Observer watch. I found it a wonderful piece of kit and stored all my split times on the stop watch, used the compass as a quick reference, stored altimeter readings at the summits and used the readings to help with navigation. It also had an alarm which woke me before I had to set off.

Success! Completed Bob Graham Round in 23 hours and 15 minutes

2008-05-27T17:51:00.003+01:00

I have done it. At 0015 on Monday I arrived back at the Moot Hall after a wonderful and very testing day out on the fells and having completed the Bob Graham Round.
I am not sure it has really sunk in - even after two nights of dreaming about it but I am really thrilled by the experience and the outcome.
I have been for a gentle bike ride today and the legs are starting to settle down. I have just had a celebratory glass of wine at a friends house in Lancaster where I am writing this blog.
I am still on holiday this week in the Lakes and will post a detailed description of the round when I get back next week but briefly: I was quick (unintentionally) on the first 2 legs and then lost a bit of time on the next 2. On the last leg I was pretty tired and I lost nearly half an hour coming off Robinson before managing a gentle jog/shuffle back to the Moot Hall.
I was not on my own all day as another contender (Patrick from Gloucestershire) started his round at the same time as me and we stayed together until the top of Great Calva and then with one of his pacers up Blencathra.
The second leg I was with John who started at 0015 on an attempt of 51 at 51 and I stayed with him until he turned off to do Pavey Ark after Thunacar Knott on leg 3. I saw him and his crew intermittently until we climbed Yewbarrow but he fell behind going up Red Pike and I didnt see him after that.
I don't think he can have completed unless he overtook me without my seeing him but Patrick came home in a very impressive 21 hours and 51 minutes so congratulations to him. Thanks to both of them and their support teams who gave me great support on the fells and to everyone who helped me at the road crossings.
Full report to follow when I get back next week from what will now be my very relaxing holiday in the Lakes.

Ready for the off

2008-05-22T20:05:00.002+01:00

This project has been going now all this year, I have been thinking about it for over a year and it has been in the background for over ten years.

It is now the eve of my departure for the Lakes (after work tomorrow) and I am filled with a mixture of emotions.

I am excited by the prospect of testing myself properly on the Bob Graham Round and the opportunity to get this thing out of my system. I am looking forward to an absolutely awesome day in the fells and to the sheer magnitude of what is before me. I have grown to love the mountains of Cumbria and the splendour of the scenary of the Lakes. With each visit I have made I have discovered more about this wonderful terrain and grown to like it more and more.

When I started out on this journey I was scared of the heights and cowed by the ruggedness of the land but through practice and training I feel not only at ease but I enjoy being in these wild places.

I am amazed at how my body has adapted to the demands I have made of it. Outings which a year ago would have been possible only with a big effort now seem to be easily within my grasp.

I don't know how much of this is necessary, or how much it is an inevitable part of training but I do know that the nature of the Bob Graham Challenge has changed in my mind.

When I started it seemed to me it was a case of stubbornly keeping going as my body and legs fell apart around me. I thought all I needed was enough determination to keep going for the 24 hours and that would see me through.

In retrospect I am not sure whether I would ever have had that much determination because fundimentally you do have to have a bare minimum of physical capability. Although I was fit I don't think I had enough fell experience for my legs to be able to provide what was being asked of them - they would have reached a point where there really was not enough left in the tank to generate the energy required to get round in 24 hours. If it was a case of simply keeping going until the end of the round regardless of the time taken then I think that would be possible as I am sure that the mind can drive the body on well beyond what would normally be regarded as its limits.

This is why for me it is so important to do this thing in under 24 hours. Although it is a random (ish) time limit - the 24 hour mark does celebrate the inauguration of the round and it defines and lays down the challenge ahead. Without this challenge I would be left with a very pleasant and wonderful walk but no motivation to do it at any pace in particular. It would be easier and in many ways all the pleasanter for the relaxed approach but it would lose one of its dimensions as a challenge.

Having heard of, read about, witnessed and met people who have done this challenge has motivated a competitive side of me to do it myself. There are many things in the world out there that are challenging and spectacular which I would love to do and may be lucky enough to have a go at one day but the Bob Graham some how got under my skin as a challenge that I really wanted to do.

It may stem from my first naiive acquaintances with it. That was a time when I did not really understand the challenge and in some way I committed myself to it psychologically without knowing what was involved. After that stubborness and determination to finish what I had started took over.

Another reason that it became what has been described elsewhere as a 'quiet obsession' may be to do with the fact that it is a challenge so close to my own personal mental and physical limits. Like the sub 3 hour marathon which had taunted me for even longer I felt that it should be possible if I were to be properly prepared. Part of the challenge though was working out exactly what 'properly prepared' was - a very personal thing.

As I write this of course I still don't know if I am yet ready to fully answer this question but I have at least documented my attempt so that any others in a similar position may have the benefit of my experience whatever the result.

As well as the excitement and anticipation there is some fear. I am afraid of the huge effort that will be involved, I am afraid of spending 24 hours on the fells on my own, I am afraid of the natural dangers of the remote mountains and above all perhaps I am afraid of failure. I think this can be used positively as it can be very motivating and it is a natural emotion.

It has been said that to even consider the possibility of failure is a guarantee of it happening and although I do not accept this it may be true.

I call it realism and believe that I have done the preparation for a successful round but that there is always an element of uncertainty. What I am certain about though is that I shall be giving everything I possibly can to lead to a sub 24 hour round and I will be helped by the many people who have sent me their best wishes for the day.

This week I have really rested. I did a 1 hour gentle run on Tuesday night and I did a 20 minute gentle jog tonight This is extreme tapering and it makes you feel terrible - the body justs rebels at the inactivity but I am hoping the rest will mean that my muscles and physiology are in tip top condition on Sunday.
I am not back for over a week now but I shall update this Blog as soon as I can!

New plan and tapering for the big day

2008-05-18T19:28:00.001+01:00

Having got back from the Lakes at the beginning of May I had mixed feelings. I was very pleased with how well I had been going when I did 3 legs of the BGR in one day and felt that there was more in the tank. I was disappointed not to be able to finish the other 2 sections at the end of the weekend and that I finished the weekend with a nasty tummy bug and feeling pretty knackered.

I had 3 days rest though and then went for a trial run to test myself. Although I still didn't feel 100% I ended up doing the best (only by a few seconds) run I had done over 6 laps of my 3 mile hilly course getting in just under 3 hours. This was a further confidence booster that I took as a good omen and decided that I would do a standard week of training and follow this by 2 weeks of tapering.

I now had brought my Bob Graham Round date forward by 3 weeks to 25th May 2008.

Since taking the decision I have felt really excited and good about the commitment and the fact that after a long time of waiting I am going to get a really good go at the challenge.

I have a whole week off on holiday that week and originally had planned to walk part of the south west peninsula coast path with a friend and would have treated that as a start to my tapering phase. Unfortunately due to work commitments my friend was unable to make it and so then I had planned to do some gentle walking in the Lake District instead.

When I felt so good at my last visit to the Lakes I felt that my fitness was unlikely to improve substantially with 2 or 3 extra weeks training and that I was as ready as I needed to be. To continue to push with more training would just invite the possibility of injury.

I think a large part of success in the BGR is about things beyond training and pure fitness. Whilst I might have got better familiarity with the route from an extra weeks reccying - motivation and mental toughness coupled with weather conditions, avoiding injury and ill health, and staying well hydrated and properly nourished on the day are all more important in terms of a successful outcome. As I now have a few days in which to select the best conditions I hope that I am able to optomise all these factors.

In short - I am ready.

I am watching the weather forecasts avidly hoping that conditons will be suitable on the 25th. Ideal would be overcast and cool with good visibility, little wind and no rain. A slowly building but not fully stablished high pressure area would do nicely - typical end of May conditions but we all know how unpredictable the Lakes weather can be.

Am I fully commited as advocated in Richard Askwith's excellent 'Feet in the Clouds'?

I am in some ways - when I get on the fells I will give it my all although I will still have one eye on safety. Before I get to the fells though I will stay flexible. So if there is a storm forecast I shall be waiting for a better opportunity - this is an advantage of a self contained attempt.

I think that I am nearly resigned to the fact that I will not be eligible to join the Bob Graham Club. It is possible that a group may start at the exact same time as I do but the chances of this happening are fairly remote and even if they did, they might not want me tagging along or we would most likely be travelling at different speeds.

I am a bit sad about this as I think it would be a wonderful club to be a member of and it undoubtedly contains some amazing characters.
The main aim though is for me to complete my Bob Graham Round successfully after all this time and effort.

Week 19 5-11/5/08

Monday Rest (ill)
Tuesday Rest
Wednesday Rest
Thursday 18 miles x6 250m hill circuits 2 hrs 59 mins 1500m ascent
Friday 6 miles x2 250m hill circuits 59 mins 500m ascent
Saturday 12 miles x4 250m hill circuits 2 hrs 4 mins 1000m ascent
Sunday Alton 10 mile road race hilly 71.26 ?400m ascent

Total 4 runs, 46 miles, 3400m 10,940 feet ascent

Week 20 12-17/5/08

Monday 18 miles x6 250m hill circuits 3 hrs 24 mins 1500m ascent
Tuesday Rest
Wednesday Rest
Thursday 6 miles x6 65m hills 68.30 475m ascent
Friday Rest
Saturday Rest
Sunday Rest

Total 2 runs, 24 miles, 1975m 6560 feet

Big mileage in the Lakes

2008-05-08T03:00:00.000+01:00

I ended April and started May by easing back a bit so that I was feeling raring to go for the next four weeks. I planned this to be a fairly intense training before a three week(ish) tapering period. This was aiming for a date for the round of 21st June.
I was also going up to the Lakes that weekend and wanted to be able to do as much as possible to kick start this phase of training.
In the event I had a good but tiring and mixed weekend.
It is always a challenge just getting to the Lakes after a full days work, crossing the solent and then coaxing my little car through bank holiday weekend traffic. I was lucky though that I got away early and the hold ups were not on the M6 but the M1 and more traffic seemed to be heading south than north. I arrived in Keswick at 1100 and was in bed by midnight.
The next day I had the full monty English breakfast in the B and B and headed off to Dunmail raise just after 0900 planning to do section 3 and then maybe section 4 or take an easier route back to Honister and then make my way back to Keswick (possibly hitch).
As I arrived I noticed a couple of other cars parked in the BG spaces and when I looked up Seat Sandal I saw 3 guys coming down the fell in BG shuffle mode, They crossed the style and road and went to an obvious team of supporters by the cars.
I went across and found out they were 3 Macclesfield Harriers (Jon,Ross and Mike) on Bob Graham attempts and going well. One of them had done it before in under 22 hours and the other 2 were first timers. They were doing a self contained attempt - carrying their own stuff with roadside support and having a couple of pacers on legs 4 and 5 in case they started to get seperated later on.
I asked if they wanted me to keep out of their way but they were very friendly and suggested I came along with them - well this was wonderful so I said I would stay with them if I could. I didnt want to bust myself if they were flying - and I never find the old cooked breakfast is much good to run on for the first couple of hours. It is not too bad for the 3rd hour and after that hunger seems to set in again anyway.
In the event I had a great time with them. The weather started a bit grey but it cleared steadily as the day went on. Visibility was excellent and the sun came out in the afternoon. A far cry from the predicted rain, low cloud and gusting 70 mph winds although it was still a bit breezy early on.
We kept a good pace all day but nothing too uncomfortable and they showed me some great lines up some of the peaks. I particularly liked Billy Blands rake up Rossett Pike - which cut off quite a bit of distance at the expense of a modest bit of extra climbing. I nearly lost them at this point though due to a call of nature which left me about half a mile behind. I just spotted them in the distance though and was able to catch up going up hill. Generally I felt that I was struggling to maintain the pace down hill but was fine going up. My descending has improved considerably and I find it perfectly comfortable now but just not very rapid - I would definitely be useless in a fell race!
We didnt manage to find the best line up Bowfell although we didnt lose any time. We followed cairns but they just petered out and then we started to run out of room as a cliff appeared ahead of us. We ended up just climbing straight up and got up to the ridge short of the summit and not far from our intended arrival point but not on a very elegant line. I had problems before when I tried this last summer so maybe next time will be better.
We came down Scafell on some scree which was great but I was not sure the stony path after that was worth it and wondered whether the line on steep grass all the way might have been easier overall - interesting though.
We had a good stop in Wasdale - about 20 mins although I was a little late getting away as I had been messing around filling up with water from the stream. I soon caught them all up going up Yewbarrow. For this leg there were 3 pacers - two guys planning a BG on 15th June (Steve and Ian) and one of the contenders wives (Christine) who is no mean fell runner. It was a good fun section with stunning views and I was shown some good places to get water and a good line up Kirk Fell (to the left of the red gully). I have struggled before on that ascent ending up frightening myself with some dodgy rock climbing!
We had a couple of discussions on Brandreth and Grey Knotts about which exactly were the peaks (resolved by visiting them all) and I must find out which the official ones are.
When we got down to Honister I declined the offered lift back to Keswick as it was such a nice evening I thought I would carry on to Little Town over the remaining 3 fells. We used head torches coming off Robinson and it seemed better than Halls Fell in the dark so I have more or less decided to start at 0100 rather than midnight as I should get Halls Fell in the first light that way.
We had another pacer for this section (Jon) - he narrowly missed out on his BG last year when he injured his knee on Red Pike and had to make a difficult descent down into Wasdale on his own (his pacer had had problems too and had had to leave him earlier). I told him the story of Rogers knee giving out as he came off Robinson last year when fortunately he had loads of time to hobble back to Keswick and I commiserated with him. He is not sure if he will be able to have another crack at the BG as he has cartilage and arthritis problems in the knee but I think there may be more chapters to that story as he is very fit and driven!
When I got off the fell I had intended to get a lift back to Keswick as I didn't think I really needed a 5 mile road run in fell shoes. When the time came though I couldnt leave the party early and for completeness really I jogged back with them. We didnt go fast (used our full 3 hours for the section) and it was a good way to end the day. It was brilliant and emotional to see them finishing their BG's and celebrate with family and supporters. I had been very impressed that they had managed to stay together as a team even though they all went (and came through) their own tough times on the round. I was introduced to all their team and someone (jokingly I think) suggested that I should just carry on and do the last two sections to get it done. It was not my time though and so I thanked them for a wonderful 14 hour day out and made my way back to the B and B and a well earned sleep.
The next morning I was very slow and lethargic even after the full English. In retrospect I wonder if it was because I had nothing to eat the night before (it was 2330 and everywhere was closed) and then a protein breakfast left me lacking in carbohydrates. At the time I was not aware of this and decided just to do section 2 and get back to my car. It took me ages to get myself into gear and it was gone 1330 by the time I got to Threlkeld and it was raining and claggy on the tops. I felt rubbish all the way up Clough Head and in desparation I ate something even though I didnt feel at all hungry. Amazingly I suddenly felt ok again and I was able to do the rest of the section in standard time (apart from when I had to do a bit of map work coming off Dollywaggon). I picked up the car in by now torrential rain and drove back to Keswick for a celebratory night out at an Italian restaurant.
I was looking forward to the meal and to polishing off section 1 the next day before driving home but unusually for me I didnt finish my main course and didnt want pudding. I was in bed around 2300 feeling ok but about 0300 I woke up for the first of several trips to the loo with sickness and the runs. I dont know whether it was food poisoning or a viral thing but the enteral bit had settled down by the morning. I was left feeling really tired - like I couldnt get out of bed and felt feverish and headachy too. I kept hydrating all day but couldnt really manage solids. I was allowed to stay in my room until 1500 and then my hosts kindly offered me another room for as long as I wanted. I had a big day at work the next day though so I felt I ought to try to get back to the island and so I set off driving.
The next 12 hours are a bit of a blur.
I drove for about 40 minutes at a time and then stopped for a couple of hours sleep at a service station before continuing. Eventually I was somewhere around Manchester at 2200 and I woke up feeling the worst had past. I was less sweaty and my headache and achy joints had gone. From then on I was able to drive more or less all the way down to Portsmouth getting there about 0200 and eventually getting home at 0330 - very tired and relieved. That journey had been harder and more worrying than 3 sections of the BG!
I had porridge for breakfast and felt about 90% fit at work but definitely on the mend. I was on call the following night but thankfully it was quiet - some one was looking after me.
The following day I was more or less normal and taking stock of a highly eventful weekend.
Overall I was pleased with what I had done even though I had planned on doing the whole route in the 3 days.
I feel it would have been fine if I had not been ill and saturday was definitely a good day where I did more than I had planned.
Originally I had planned on 3 more hard weeks of training and then I have a weeks holiday in the Lakes where I was going to do some final (gentle) recces before tapering for 3 weeks before 20th June.
I have started wondering now though whether I should keep training this week and then taper for a couple of weeks and plan to make my attempt during my weeks holiday. This would give me a bigger weather window and there is virtually the same amount of daylight. I would lose a bit of time to hone my fitness levels but to be honest I think I probably have sufficient fitness and that things like mental factors, health, injuries, weather and other unpredictable eventualities probably play a bigger part. It would be sad to train for an extra couple of weeks only to end up injured.
On the other hand the extra reccying time, familiarising time, and time to prepare my food and kit would be useful.
Looks like I have a decision to make some time in the next week as by then I will have to commit to either training or tapering!

Week 18 28/4 - 4/5/08

Monday 18 miles x6 250m hill circuits 3hrs 0 min 1500m ascent
Tuesday Rest
Wednesday Rest
Thursday Rest
Friday Rest
Saturday 40 miles Legs 3,4,5 BGR 14 hrs 10 mins (2 stops 22 mins each) 5400m ascent
Sunday 13 miles Leg 2 BGR 4hrs 43 mins 1455m ascent

Total 3 runs, 70 miles, 8355m 27,500 feet ascent

April:Plans, hill climbing and Lakeland fells

2008-04-28T07:21:00.000+01:00

April is a lovely month. The light lasts so much longer - giving time to do things in the evenings and there are signs of spring bursting out everywhere.

Having said that this is the UK and we know to expect anything from the weather. This year we had some freezing weather and at times it seemed as winter had forgotten to leave us.

My plan for the month was to continue with more of the same. I wanted to keep 10,000 feet of ascent each week and had another trip to the Lakes planned.

I had continued to read as much as I could about the Bob Graham and spent quite a bit of time with map and route directions working out exactly how I was going to get round.

I had a date in mind of the 20th to 21st of June and was planning for a midnight or 0100 start.

I was planning to do the route on a self contained basis - carrying my own food, drink and other necessary equipment. I would have roadside support at least in the form of prepositioned depots and maybe too with a car. I felt this method was consistent with my first attempts on the route and I liked the idea of the simplicity and purity of the approach. From experiments I had done with and without packs I reckoned if I could keep my pack weight to around 3kg then it would slow me down by about 4 minutes every hour. Over the whole Bob Graham this would be something like an hour and a half. I was therefore expecting to complete the round with the kind of effort needed for a supported 22 and a half hour round. This has been done many times and I felt it was not too unreasonable to aim for.

The other point I had not decided about was whether I would be accompanied for all or part of the route. There is little doubt from my own experience and from accounts of others that having people with you does provide a substantial psychological and morale boost. This can be invaluable when the going gets tough or during a (inevitable) low point on the round. The accompanying person or people can also help with navigation and provide an important safety feature too.

As if that were not enough then they can be witnesses of each summit climbed which can allow a successful aspirant to join the coveted and (by all accounts) very sociable Bob Graham Round Club.

The drawback is that it is hard work to organise a team to be in the right place at the right time and this is definitely not my strong point. I would lose flexibility about the start time so that if there was a weather window I might not be able to utilise it fully.
Finally, although I was very happy to give up a couple of days holiday to help out Roger on his Bob Graham round last year I was not quite so ready to ask others to do the same. I don't know that many fell runners that well and it would be even harder to ask strangers especially if there was substantial doubt that I might not be able to do their efforts justice by completing the round.

I agonised over these issues without really coming to any conclusions.

The first couple of weeks of April went well. I managed over 40 miles of running and 10,000 feet of ascent with at least one run of over 3 hours duration. Generally I felt good although there were some days when I felt tired and so took a rest day.
Rest days are always difficult. In my mind I want to be tough and hard and push on regardless like a training machine but experience and my reading tell me that it might be better to back off with a rest day and come back even stronger. It really does seem for me that my fitness develops during a rest day in response to the stress of the previous high intensity days. It is very difficult to strike the balance between training and resting though and for the Bob Graham this was an especially unknown entity.
The end of the 3rd week saw me on my 2nd trip up to the Lakes for the year.
I arrived at 0100 and slept in the car as I had an early start the next day. My plan was to do legs 2 and 3 of the BGR and then stay the night in Wasdale at the Wasdale Head Inn. I set off about 0800 and made good time up Clough Head but there was a fiendish and icy cold wind.
Once I reached the summit I was exposed to its full blast and when I turned to go up Great Dodd progress was all but impossible into the wind. I ploughed on but when I got to the snow line on Stybarrow Dodd and it was icy hard and slippery I started to question the sense in carrying on.
I could see the snow ahead of me along the ridge line to Helvellyn and beyond and even running with all my kit on I was cold. The temperature was something like minus 3 degrees and with gusts of up to 70 mph wind I was imagining how long I would last up there if I twisted an ankle.
Discretion seemed to be the better part of valour and so I bailed out by descending Sticks Pass (between Stybarrow and Raise) down to the main road. I then walked back to Threlkeld and did some shopping in Keswick.
I got some new Walshes with good studs although they didn't feel quite as comfortable as my ancient ones. Hopefully they would improve with wear.
I then drove round to the Wasdale Head Inn and went for an evening run up to Blacksail Pass and back so that I had at least made something of the day.
I had a lovely evening with lots to eat and a bit of ale too so went to bed in good spirits.
The next day was still windy but much more reasonably so and it was generally warmer too.
I did leg 4 of the BGR in a reasonable time and then retraced my steps back as far as Green Gable and then over Styhead Pass and down into Wasdale. I had some great views and had a good chat with Rinaldo who I met on the way over to Steeple. He is a fell runner planning for the BGR and out on a recce to test his back after a recent injury - he looked to be going well to me so I hope it is not long before he is back to full strength.
I drove back to Keswick for the night and enjoyed fish and chips for supper feeling that I had salvaged my weekend.
The following day I did leg 1 of BGR fairly comfortably in 4hrs 1 minute although I also felt I couldnt go much faster. I caught the bus back to Keswick and drove back through awful traffic - not getting home until nearly midnight.
The week following this I took fairly easily with only a couple of runs to take me up to 10,000 feet of ascent. I was on call that following weekend at the hospital and was pretty busy with a couple of late nights. I aimed to get as much rest as I could because I would be back in the Lakes the weekend after and wanted to be ready for a big one.

Week 14 31/3 - 6/4/08

Monday Leg 1 BGR 12.5 miles + 4 miles walk 4hrs 7 mins + 1hr 1550m 5150 feet ascent
Tuesday Rest
Wednesday Rest
Thursday Rest
Friday Rest
Saturday 18 miles x6 250m hilly circuit 3hrs 7 mins 1500m
Sunday 5 miles road 40 mins no pack 50m ascent

Total 3 runs, 40 miles, 3100m 10,250 feet ascent

Week 15 7-13/4/08

Monday Rest
Tuesday 5 miles x5 65m hills 55.00 410m ascent
Wednesday 9 miles x3 250m hill circuit 1hr 25 mins 750m ascent
Thursday 12 miles x4 250m hill circuit 1hr 59 mins 1000m ascent
Friday Rest
Saturday 15 miles x3 290m hill circuit 2hrs 52 mins 870m ascent
Sunday 7 miles trail 55.16 250m ascent

Total 5 runs, 48 miles, 3280m 10,780 feet ascent

Week 16 14-20/4/08

Monday Rest
Tuesday Rest
Wednesday Rest
Thursday 7 miles trail 58.30 250m ascent
Friday Rest
Saturday 13 miles BGR Leg 2 to Sticks pass and back to Threlkeld on road and paths 3hrs 33 mins 810m ascent
Wasdale Head to Blacksail pass and back 5 miles 1hr 19 mins 475m ascent
Sunday 19miles BGR leg 4 13 miles 4hrs 37 mins Honister to Green Gable and back to Wasdale via Styhead Pass 6 miles 2hrs 1 min (6hrs 38 min) 1285m ascent

Total 3 runs, 44 miles, 3915m 12800 feet ascent

Week 17 21-27/4/08

Monday 13m BGR leg 1 4hrs 1 min 1550m ascent

Tuesday Rest

Wednesday Rest

Thursday 18 miles x6 250m hill circuit 3hrs 0 min 1500m ascent

Friday Rest

Saturday Rest

Sunday 7 miles trail 53.05 240m ascent

Total 3 runs, 38 miles, 3,310m 10,870 feet ascent

March: Building to the Lakes

2008-04-02T10:59:00.000+01:00

I had ended February with a rest week. It would have been good to say that this was planned but in reality it just seemed the sensible thing at the time.

I had enjoyed a good week skiing in France with sunny weather, good company and plenty of snow left over from big falls earlier in the season. I started the week on a snowboard as for many years I had wanted to have a go on one and it always seemed to me a very pure and elegant way of getting down the mountain (when performed by experts). I had had a go a few years earlier for one day with my son in Bulgaria but to be honest we had not done much - really just balancing on a very shallow and icy beginners slope.

Well I enjoyed the challenge of snow boarding but did find it much harder than I imagined. I was able to sideslip down the mountain on the heel edge of the board fairly well by the end of the first day although this was very hard work when going down a long green 'road' of a run such as there were several of in Les Deux Alpes. My inability to turn meant that incredible tension seemed to build up in my legs during the course of a long descent and I had no way of relieving it except by stopping (and I didnt want to be left behind).

It was obvious I had to be able to ride on the toe edge of the board as well and I also had to be able to turn. Over the next 3 days I worked hard on these things and was starting to make some decent progress - able to turn more or less fluently and get down basic blue runs at a reasonable rate. I was very prone to falling though and although I hadn't had any major crashes the number of tumbles was starting to make me feel a bit battered.

On the 4th day - either side of lunch - I had 2 heavier falls landing on hard ice on my backside with a sickening pelvis jolting crunch. The second of these in particular left me almost breathless with pain and it was all I could do to hobble back to the accomodation. I spent the rest of the afternoon lying on my bed followed by a hot bath soak. When I got out of the bath there was quite a satisfying crunching click in my lower back and pelvis area and the pain subsided quite dramatically so much so that I found myself laughing almost hysterically at the relief from pain. I was able to go out to enjoy a meal out with my family that night but it was obvious that I could not afford to take any more hits like that - I had definitely had my public warning.

I spent the rest of the week on skis (where I am much more confident) and slowly got myself moving - avoiding falling again.

When I got home I went for a long walk on the beautiful Isle of Wight coast path and although I felt fine, whenever I started to jog my pelvis felt uncomfortable and unstable.

As a result I determined to have a complete rest week to try to allow things to settle down. It has been my experience that if things are pushed too much too early then a containable injury can easily turn into a chronic one. This having been said it is not very glamorous having a rest week especially as I had not done much the previous week when I was skiing.

The following week I was on a mixture of work and holiday in Cape Town, South Africa.

I was attending the World Congress of Anaesthesiologists four yearly (like the Olympics) meeting. The meeting itself was very exciting - huge with 8000 delegates but it was also a wonderful opportunity to see a bit of this exciting and vibrant country.

The weather was positively balmy at nearly 30 degrees celsius on some days. The city is overlooked by the spectacular Table Mountain and a combination of the rest which I had had, the weather and the location meant that I was champing at the bit to get out again.

I had a really good week in which I climbed Table Mountain 5 times and also found time to get out to the Cape of Good Hope national park and had a good look around Cape town itself. A country with amazing natural resources, fantastic people but some really difficult problems with huge poverty and chronic illness - particularly AIDS.

The following week saw me back down to earth with a bump. My flight back to the UK was cancelled due to bad weather and I spent Monday trapped at the airport in Paris before finally getting back to the Island late that night. That week I was quite busy at work and I only managed three smallish runs before I went to Jersey at the weekend to see my sister and her family.

It is always good when we meet up and sadly it isnt that often as we are both busy and living on seperate islands makes travelling tricky and somewhat costly.

On the Saturday I walked round Jersey which is reckoned to be about 48 miles on the coastal path with a fair amount of ascent and descent as you travel up and down the cliffs - particularly on the north side of the island. Anually - around the time of the longest day in June - there is an organised walk on this path and it is very popular I understand. Many of the entrants complete the whole walk which is no mean acheivement considering its length and ruggedness. Anyway I had superb day with mixed weather. My brother in law joined me for some of the walk on the north side and I really enjoyed the beautiful scenary. The walk took me exactly 12 hours and I was pleased to get so much time on my feet as apart from climbing this seems to be the other key to success in the Bob Graham.

The following week I had a few days off and then had a couple of big climbing days back to back and followed by a 7 mile road race which I took fairly easily as I was quite tired.

Easter Bank holiday 2 days later I did an 8 mile mixed terrain race - the 3 hills - and was pleased that I was feeling much recovered after just one days rest. I was quite close to my strongest and I did a PB for the course whch was a real confidence booster.

I was pleased with my fitness and the way things were going but I still had no real idea how I would be on the real fells in the Lake district. I know from past experience just how tough and unforgiving they can be. I had deliberately not gone up there earlier as it is such a long way. I wanted to maximise the benefit of trips and to me that meant going up later on in the year when I hoped the weather would be better and I would be able to get more done.

I did feel nervous about how I would go when I was up there. After Easter I had the rest of the week off resting so that I would be as recovered as possible for my first long weekend staying in Keswick.

I drove up after work and had a reasonable journey - arriving just before midnight. I had the full English breakfast in the morning and then set off fully kitted up in rather rainy weather on Leg 1 clockwise of the BG.

There was a lots of snow around which made progress up Skiddaw hard work but before the top I met Dave who was a fell runner I think from Skelmersdale who turned out to be on a similar route to me. He was very friendly and we spent the rest of the walk/run together - jogging on the railway track together back to Keswick once we had descended Blencathra. He showed me a number of good routes - especially from Great Calva down to the Caldew. His route being along the fence line and then keeping above the stream, through the heather, to the big bend in the Caldew - directly across (wet feet) and then up Mungrisedale common and under the screes to the summit of Blencathra. We went off Blencathra by dropping immediately off the side to the west of Halls Fell Ridge. After contouring a bit we got back to the ridge below the scrambling bits. It was tricky in the snow - my Walshes had very little studded sole left on them and I was slithering around rather alarmingly. Overall it was a good route but I wasn't sure how easy I would find it in the dark. My feet were very cold in the snow after they got wet - I lost all sensation in them for about half an hour until they warmed up a bit when we started jogging again.

I had a great day and was reassured that I could manage the Lakeland fells albeit only just inside the time allowed for the section. It was wonderful to spend the time with Dave - such a difference from being alone - and I hope that we may meet up on the fells another time.

The next day I was a bit slow getting away but I had a good day doing the second leg of the BG.

The weather steadily improved and it ended up very cold but with wonderful views. There was loads of snow especially on the peaks around Helvellyn and at times moving through it was very hard work. Again I was not very fast but I just about managed to keep to the schedule and did not feel too bad at the end.

The following day I repeated section 1 before driving back to the Isle of Wight. I was abit slower on my own but still around the BG 23.5 hour schedule.

I ended the weekend and the month fairly satisfied that my training was on track and that I more or less had the kit I needed for my Bob Graham attempt. My back/pelvis injury seemed to have healed and certainly wasn't causing me any problem even though my right hip occasionally clicked a bit.

Week 10 3-9/3/08

Monday 6 miles road 43mins
Tuesday 4 miles Table mountain Platterklip Gorge 3 quarters up and down 1hr 400m ascent
Wednesday 5 miles Table mountain Platterklip Gorge 1 1/4 up and down 1hr 40mins 700m ascent
Thursday 10 miles Table mountain x2 up and down 3 hrs 1300m ascent
Friday 5 miles Table mountain up and down 2 hrs 650m ascent
Saturday Rest
Sunday Rest

Total 5 runs, 30 miles, 3150m 10,300 feet ascent

Week 11 10-16/3/08

Monday Rest
Tuesday 4 miles road 35.00
Wednesday 5 miles x5 65m hills 54.00 410m ascent
Thursday 2 miles 240m hill ascent
Friday Rest
Saturday Round Jersey coast path 50 miles in all, 12 hrs ?1500m ascent
Sunday Rest

Total 4 runs, 61 miles, 2150m 7150 feet ascent

Week 12 17-23/3/08

Monday Rest
Tuesday Rest
Wednesday Rest
Thursday 18 miles x6 250m hills 3hrs 18 mins 1500m ascent
Friday 18 miles x6 250m hills 3hrs 16 mins 1500m ascent
Saturday 7.2 miles road race Newport- Ryde 50.30 100m ascent
Sunday Rest

Total 3 runs, 45miles, 3100m 10,200 feet ascent

Week 13 24-30/3/08

Monday 8 miles mixed terrain road race 54.51 300m ascent
Tuesday Rest
Wednesday Rest
Thursday Rest
Friday Rest
Saturday 12.5 +4 miles Leg 1 BG 3hrs 45 mins + jog back to Keswick 40 mins 1550m ascent
Sunday 13miles Leg 2 BG 4 hrs 28 mins 1800m ascent

Total 3 runs, 38 miles, 3,600m 12,000 feet ascent

31/3/08 Monday 12.5 + 4 miles walk Leg 1 BG 4hrs 7 mins 1,550m 5,150 feet ascent

February:Holding and resting

2008-03-03T23:20:00.000Z

I like the meteorologists definition of the seasons which puts March in the south of England as the beginning of spring. The astronomers won't celebrate spring until the equinox around the 21st/22nd of March but that is too long to wait for me.

Anyway psychologically I think of February as the last month of winter and I usually celebrate it by growing (at the beginning of the month) and shaving off at the end - a beard. It is good to not have to shave for a while but after a few weeks it starts to irritate me and I am ready for the big shave off. I also get fed up with being told how old I look and having to explain why I am growing it in the first place - sometimes I feel like wearing a placard round my neck but I doubt that it would deflect the questioning.

I always knew that February would be a tough month for BG training.

It is still dark although the evenings lighten a little to make running after work easier and of course still very prone to wet, windy and cold (I am basically a bit of a wuss).

I was planning to go skiing and could not work out whether the exercise involved with that would justify not doing any running that week and I knew I had quite a few work commitments which would make running difficult.

As a result I resolved that I would aim to just keep the hill climbing going - not worry too much about mileage and maybe have a rest week as well. From now on the runs I did would generally be with a 3kg pack as that is what I would be taking on my BG effort and I wanted to be completely used to it.

Week 6 4-10/2/08
Monday 12miles 16x 65m hills 2hrs 18mins 1,125m ascent

Tuesday Rest
Wednesday Rest

Thursday 8miles 4x 240m hills 1hr 28mins 960m ascent
6miles 6x65m hills 64.13 475m ascent

Friday 7 miles trail 49.31 no pack
6 miles 6x 65m hills 62mins 475m ascent

Saturday Rest
Sunday 11miles road no pack 83.23

Total x4 days run, 50 miles, 3,035m 9,940 feet ascent

Week 7 11-17/2/08
Monday 8miles 10x 65m hills 1hr 38mins 735m ascent
Tuesday Rest
Wednesday 7 miles trail no pack 52.00

Thursday 22miles 4x 290m hilly circuits +1x 240m hill 4hr 11mins 1405m ascent

Friday Rest
Saturday Rest
Sunday 4 miles mixed terrain no pack 30mins 200m ascent

Total x4 days run, 41 miles, 2,340m 7,800 feet ascent

Week 8 18-24/2/08

Monday Rest Skiing
Tuesday Skiing
Wednesday Rest Skiing
Thursday Rest Skiing
Friday Rest Skiing
Saturday Rest Skiing
Sunday Walk /jog 32miles South east section of Isle of Wight coastal path Brighstone to Ryde 7hrs 35mins ?610m ascent

Total 1 run, 32miles, 610m, 2000 feet ascent

Week 9 25/2 -2/3/08

REST WEEK - no running

January: onto the hills

2008-02-04T22:18:00.000Z

I started 2008 feeling good and fit and used to doing 50 road miles per week.

During January I aimed to keep a good high mileage and steadily increase the amount of climbing I did up to the hallowed 10,000 feet per week.
Finding hills to climb on the Isle of Wight is not a problem but by Lake District standards they are only small hills which means, to get the required amount of ascending - lots of laps. There is a hill at the back of my house which has 65 metres of ascent and descent and is a 1 kilometre circuit. I felt a bit like a hamster in a wheel as I did 12 or more of these laps.
Another favourite is a seven mile mainly off road circuit that has 250m of ascent and descent. In order to simulate the ruggedness of the Lakes I tended to concentrate on the steepest routes where the most climbing and descending came in the shortest distance.
The best for this is Bonchurch Down which is 240m high but can be accessed from Monks Bay on the coast (at sea level). Straight up and down is about 2 miles but there is a better loop which is 3 miles long and has 250m of ascent and descent. A longer version is 5 miles and has about 300m of ascent and descent.

I always find it hard to train in January as it can be so dark and the weather wet and cold. I just kept reminding myself that however hard it was then, it would make life seem easier when it came to the Bob Graham in the summer. Sometimes I would trick myself outside by promising that I would only do a small amount - but of course once I was out there I would generally carry on until the session was completed.

By the end of the month I had got used to 10,000 feet of ascent per week, mainly converted from the road to off road running, was starting to get used to the feel of fell shoes (in my case Walshes) and the feel of a pack on my back and had pretty much kept my mileage at around 50 miles per week. I did all the runs at an easy pace - walking uphill and jogging down or on the flat.

This is how the training was broken down:

Week 1 31(12)-6/1/08

Monday: 5 miles mixed terrain, 100m ascent 48.30

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: Rest

Friday: 16 miles Including 12x 65 metre hill plus 5 miles on road 865m ascent 2 hours 44 mins with 3kg pack.
Saturday 5 miles road 40.27

Sunday Club X country race 5 miles 35.04 plus 2mile warm up and cool down plus 6 mile jog (49.25) on road in afternoon. 100m ascent

Total: 4 runs, 39 miles, 1065m 3595 feet ascent

Week 2 7-13/1/08

Monday: 9 miles off road 1 hour 25min, 400m ascent 3kg pack

Tuesday 7 miles trail 52.16

Wednesday: 7 miles road 55.00

Thursday: 15 miles off road 2 hours 32 mins, 3 kg pack 980m ascent

Friday: Rest

Saturday Rest

Sunday Stubbington 10k road race 38.48

Total 45 miles, 5 runs, 1430m 4700 feet ascent

Week 3 14-20/1/08

Monday 4 miles Bonchurch Down x2 70.00 3kg pack 480m ascent

Tuesday Rest

Wednesday: 7 miles Trail 47.02

Thursday: 11 miles 14x 65m 2 hrs 14min 3 kg pack 995m ascent

Friday: Rest

Saturday Lateral thigh trainer 60.00 7 miles equivalent

Sunday 20 miles off road 3 kg pack 3hrs 13 mins 985m ascent

Total 5 runs , 49miles , 2460m 8070 feet ascent

Week4 21-27/1/08

Monday Rest

Tuesday 5 miles x5 65m hills 3kg pack 55.56 410m ascent

Wednesday 6miles x6 65m hills 3kg pack 68.24 475m ascent

Thursday 12miles x16 65m ascent 3kg pack 2hrs 24mins 1,125m ascent

Friday Rest

Saturday 15miles x3 290m ascent 3kg pack 3hrs 32mins 870m ascent

Sunday 12miles mixed road and trail 3kg pack 1hr 34mins 250m ascent

Total 5 runs, 50miles, 3130m 10,269 feet ascent

Week 5 28/1-3/2/08

Monday 12miles x16 65m hills 3kg pack 2hrs 26mins 1,125m ascent

Tuesday 5 miles x5 65m hills 3kg pack 51.42 410m ascent

Wednesday Rest

Thursday Rest

Friday Rest

Saturday 20miles x4 290m loops 3kg pack 3hrs 42mins 1165m ascent

Sunday Ryde 10 mile road race 67.30 140m ascent

Total 4 runs, 48 miles, 2840m 9,320 feet ascent

Rediscovering the challenge

2007-12-31T20:22:00.000Z

After the Lakeland 3000 rounds I did not go back to the Lakes for some years.

I did the Pennine way on my own in 2002 in 11 days. There was a history behind this in that I had started this when at medical school with Roger but we had only got as far as Malham from Edale in the week long holiday we had before we had to start hitching back down to Southampton. I had labelled it as unfinished business and finally had a spare week of holiday (with 2 weekends either side) and decided to give it a go.
I was very lucky with the weather but I had been slightly overambitious with my schedule and I found the 25 miles plus per day to be a bit too tough for comfort. I carried some kit for basic camping but relied on bed and breakfast and youth hostels. I started in Scotland and made my way down to Edale where I was collected a day later than planned and after 270 miles pretty tired. I had lost something hideous like a stone in weight during the journey and I ended that holiday triumphant but in need of a rest and some big eating.
After this I started doing more road running. I had done several marathons but hoped to improve my personal best time to below 3 hours. My best at this stage was about 3 hours 15 minutes so it demanded a substantial improvement.
Eventually in 2006 I managed to organise my training sufficiently so that I ran 2 hours 57 minutes at the Cardiff Marathon in October. It was my 4th marathon of the year and I had also had a period of cycling training in the summer when I prepared for and successfully completed the Etape du Tour. This is a mass participation event which every year allows amateurs to ride and compete over one of the tougher hill stages of the Tour de France. In 2006 the stage ended by climbing the famous Alpe d'Huez and coming across the finishing line was a great end to a wonderful experience.
All this strength and endurance training over the year allowed me to lift myself just sufficiently to acheive my long term goal of a sub 3 hour marathon and it showed me too that it is possible to acheive much more than we would normally imagine with a mixture of dedication and determination.
I was talking to my friend Roger about all this and he told me that he had a months sabbatical in 2007 and that he was planning to devote it all to training for the Bob Graham round.
I was keen to help him as much as I could but it also reminded me of this final 'work in progress' and I wondered if I too might be able to do the round. I was keen to at least have a good go at it even if that might result in an heroic failure.
I got up to the Lakes a couple of times early on in the year but I still struggled a bit on the fells - especially with the descents. Meanwhile Roger went from strength to strength and when his moment came for the round he was very well prepared. Not only had he become fit, strong and fell hardened but he had spent so much time on the route that he knew it intimately. He had bad weather with poor visibility much of the time but he rarely put a foot wrong with route finding and even though he hurt his knee on the final descent off Robinson his round was never really in doubt and he was able to walk back to Keswick, still finishing with 20 minutes to spare.
I was impressed by his effort but felt that if I could just get him to lead me round the tricky bits then I too might have a chance.
I had some holiday in August and thought if I trained hard I might be ready for an attempt during that week. I approached Roger to see whether he might be prepared to help me on the third section - coincidentally the one I had paced and load carried for him but he was not optimistic about my chances and did not want to spend his holiday on any more Bob Graham ventures. I think to be honest he had pretty much had his fill of the Bob Graham round for the time being anyway.
I went up to the Lakes for the week and did loads of reccying. By the end I had got a pretty good idea of the route and it was only then that the real size of the undertaking fully started to dawn on me. At the end of the week I did 2 sections - from Keswick to Wasdale. I felt I could have done more but I was tired from a hard week of exploring the route and so I stopped and hitched/walked back to Keswick.
This week had awakened something in me though. I had really enjoyed being in the fells and I just loved travelling over the mountains. I was really hooked on the idea of having a 'proper' determined attempt at the round.
I started looking at anything I could find on the subject - the internet was very useful. I planned food, kit and strategy. I started to develop a training plan.
Training I knew would be hard - partly because for a challenge like the BGR it has to be and partly because of my lack of access to the fells. The other difficulty was knowing how hard to push and exactly what to do - it was very much a voyage into the unknown.
I decided to start with that I should end the year by training as if I was aiming for a marathon on the roads and that then in 2008 I would some how try to convert this into 'fell hardening'.
It had been obvious from my experiences that although it was good to be fit on the roads there was definitely a missing x factor when this fitness was dumped on the mountains - the legs just didnt work in the same way. The mantra in most of the advice I had read was 'climb climb climb' and then do some more climbing!
I spent the rest of 2007 building up the road miles to 50 per week. I built up very slowly so that come January 2008 this mileage would be 'normal' and part of my routine.
This phase went according to plan and I hit the New Year feeling good and uninjured.
Socially it was a bit of a strain to fit the running in around work, family and other commitments but I felt I had got to first base and was ready for the hills.

Sowing the seeds

2007-12-30T23:08:00.000Z

In 1995 I first heard of the Bob Graham Round and the challenge of it was intriguing. Knowing little about it I set off one day with Roger (a friend from Portsmouth) and Mick (one of his friends from Cambridge) but both passionate about the Lakes. We were laden with huge rucksacks, sandwiches, cameras and bags of enthusiasm. We got halfway round, anticlockwise, hours behind schedule and as the sun set I bailed out into Langdale and the comfort of the pub before collecting my more determined friends at Dunmail Raise the next morning.

At the time I was living on the edge of the Lakes near Carnforth and I had ample access to the fells. However my lifestyle with a young family, a house and garden needing attention and a busy job meant that in practice I did not spend much time taking advantage of my location. Occasionally I would bomb up and down Helvellyn after work (in order to be home for tea) but it was not part of my regular routine.

In 1998 I moved to the Isle of Wight and in (I think it was) 1999 Roger and I had another 'bash' at the BGR. Roger had done loads of reccying and had put depots of food and drink at various strategic points around the route. We made some attempt to lighten the loads of our rucksacks and we knew about the schedule which had to be kept to. We were still very naive as we assessed our chances on the train journey up to Penrith and then the bus to Keswick but it was a great adventure - perhaps in many ways akin to the old pioneers of lake district rounds. I honestly can't remember if we really thought we were going to manage the round or not. Memory tells me that it was a sort of recce where we might just end up going all the way.

We had a night in a bed and breakfast in Keswick and then prepared ourselves the following day for the six oclock ish evening departure. We left our kit in the B and B as we had paid for that night too and we set off clockwise this time in beautiful evening sunshine. I was quite fit as I had been training for a road marathon and Roger was more fell hardened but slower than me at the time. It took precisely Skiddaw, Great Calva and Mungrisdale Common to expose our weaknesses and we arrived at the top of Blencathra barely on schedule and already feeling the strain. Roger was struggling to keep up and I already had massive blisters on both heels. I arrived at the top of Hall's Fell Ridge and looked down with a state of rising panic. At the time I was near phobic about heights and nothing had prepared me for the sudden exposure and steepness of the descent. I got down there as quickly as I could partly because it was getting dark, partly to get off that scary bit and partly because I wanted to do the first section at least in the time allowed. I just made it in the time and Roger was a few minutes later. I was keen to get going as soon as possible to make up time but Roger wanted to have a few minutes to change socks, eat and generally collect himself.

When we did get going it was a clear starlit night and I started to jog up Clough Head to make up a bit of time. Roger was very reluctant to go that fast and in the end we agreed that we would just go at a steady pace and enjoy ourselves.

From that moment on it was a very pleasant moonlit walk and we gently made our way over Helvellyn and to the end of section two. By now I think we were about two hours behind schedule and the sun was well up on what promised to be a beautiful day. As we came down to Dunmail Raise my mind turned to the breakfast which we had paid for at our accommodation and I suggested to Roger that hitching back might see us arrive back in time for the feast. The temptation was too much for him too and we got a lift back from two prospective BGR's who were getting ready for their own recce that day. Oh and that breakfast? - it tasted great.

It had been a great adventure and we had both learned a lot. Neither of us had given up hope of doing the BGR but we both knew that we would have to do things differently.

After that we both had goes (with Mick one year) at the Lakeland 3000 peaks round. This was an organised event with feeding stations on the way so we didnt have to carry so much stuff. We started and finished at Keswick and went up Skiddaw, Scafells and Helvellyn. It was about 40 miles, but with much less climbing as well, it turned it into a very pleasant day out. The first year we did it we finished with plenty of time to spare but the second year Roger tweaked his knee halfway round and decided to walk out via Langdale. I felt it would be safer if he had some one with him so I walked out too. I had already done the round and the descent into Langdale was a very pleasant one so I didn't mind missing out on finishing for a second time. Mick carried on determinedly and finished in fine style.

I remember on the bus back to Keswick with Roger talking about the BGR and him saying that I would never manage to do it (an omen perhaps?). I dont know if he remembers but we had a £1 sportsman's bet that I would not manage it before I turned 50.
I am still hoping to collect and plan to use that memory to help with motivation.