Struggling a bit

Last weeks running was OK (ish). 3 runs. An hour on road, a fell run and an hour offroad. I didnt find the motivation to do a reps session, and that hour offroad was really just instead of walking the dog in the cold and rain.

As long as I arrange with either Plucky or Daz to run on Tuesday then thats the road run taken care of. I also need to continue going to Blencathra (other Lake district summits are available) on a Wednesday evening. Going home straight from work then walking for an hour with Scamp then getting back to the warm house is proving too difficult to then drag myself back out to run, so,  ideally, I will go to the track after work on a Thursday, walk Scamp round the river, then do reps on the track before I go home.

The weekend didnt go brilliantly either. On Saturday I was thinking of going down to run the Mid Lancs cross country near Blackburn. I didnt feel fantastic on the day, with a mildly sore throat and cough, so opted out of the long drive there and back with a intense training blast inbetween. Instead, I set off for the lakes at midday. Wearing walking, not running gear, I traipsed up Clough Head with ALL my camera gear on my back.  When I (eventually) got to the summit I turned around to see Blencathra now had a veil of clag obscuring the summit ridge where previously it had stood out against a backdrop of bright blue sky. I did get a couple of shots looking down to towards the Scafells, but the wind was so fierce I was unable to keep the tripod perfectly still so the otherwise great photos are not 100% sharp when viewed closely. I had really left it too late to get into the Lakes, early morning is best.

So on Sunday I met Penrith Stu at 9am and we set off on leg 1 of the BGR. Stu had said he would run Skiddaw only and although I was keen to complete the full leg, I knew that given my mild illness it would be sensible to cut it short.

We went to Millbeck then took the route up via Carlside. With approx 1 mile of flattish road to cover from Keswick, and at only 3.5miles (Latrigg route is 4 miles), the Carlside option is much steeper than the more commonly used Latrigg/Jenkin Hill ascent. Stu didn't like it. He moaned and moaned and moaned about how steep  it was and how unsuitable it would be to go that way on a BGR attempt. I was growing tired of his moaning - I didnt feel great myself, so I kept ahead  out of the way. Stu kept stopping to take photos - I think these were excuses to have a rest.  Fair play to Stu though, he's not long since been through an invasive and traumatic operation just below his bikini line. I reckon he will soon be back to form and wonder if he is thinking of being the first BGR 'doubler' (appear on Male and Female BGR successful completion lists)?

'Shirley' tackles Skiddaw

From Skiddaw we made for Gt Calva but on reaching the Cumbrian Way turned Right and ran all the way past Skiddaw House, under Lonscale and back to Keswick. I felt terrible and was pleased to have cut what might have been a 4 hour run to just 2.5.

We continue.