Ramblings

The waiting game The weather forecasts were for 100+ mph winds across the summits.  I like to think that if I'd read that weather forecast for myself that I would have independently decided to stay put and sit out the storm in warmth and comfort.  I was happy to have the decision taken out my hands, though. So, I hung my socks up to dry.  I ate, slept, drank tea, ate doughnuts, chatted to racers and organisers, flirted hopelessly with Jacqui and, all in all, the time disappeared very pleasantly.  I caught up with Phil for the first time since we set off.  We had chance to reset our strategies. We were going to be setting off early on Thursday which gave 36-38 hours to reach the finish and be in time for a pub meal, maybe even finish in daylight.  That was my aim now.  The break had given a complete confidence that I would finish.  It was only 80 miles after all and I had three days.  I would go as hard as I could tomorrow, get a couple of hours sleep and push for the finish.

Push The Spine Challenger is the Spine Race's little brother.  Teasingly called "The Fun Run" by some, it's 106 miles and finishes at checkpoint 2, Hawes.  Catching the tail-end of the Challenger race had given me great encouragement through the morning from Horton to Hawes.  I left Hawes at 3.30 pm and knew that there was probably no-one catchable in front of me and no-one I could see ready and about to leave.  I was looking forward to a night alone on the fells.  The temperature was dropping but the afternoon was clear and the visibility looked like it should last. One of the glories of walking the fells at night is to watch the sun go down; to see the light fade and change slowly; to watch the colours come and go. Climbing Great Shunner Fell this night was a treat.  A red sky at night that hinted at a spell of more stable weather, a fantastic sunset over the Yorkshire Dales and steel blue sky out to sea kept me rapt. As darkness fell, the temperature d

An Epic These are just a few photos and thoughts about the Spine Race 2015 which I completed between 10th and 16th January 2015.  The Spine Race is a continuous foot-race up the 268-mile Pennine Way.  It's not really an ultra-run; most of the course is not runnable for mortals over extended periods. It challenges navigation, self-reliance and mountaincraft as much as running endurance. The competitors are for the most part not elite athletes but fit and obdurate.  They are some of the best people you'd wish to meet as well (and me) I spent a huge amount of time on my own over the race but the time shared with fellow competitors and race volunteers on the hill, in the checkpoints and in bleak huts on god-forsaken moorland was golden. How do you eat an elephant? The Spine started to dominate my waking thoughts almost as soon as I'd entered in February 2014 and it was pretty much an obsession for the last 3 months.  Strategy, training, kit and familiarity with