16 April 2011

Night Running

As four us set off up Clough Head a full moon above us with clear skies, it would have been hard to get a better night this time of year, and spirits were high.
Having found 3 other people mad enough to venture out during the night, we had debated long and hard whether the extra weight of carrying our sleeping bags-just in case we fancied a kip- was worth it!

Blanking out my last painful night fell experience out of my mind on Mull in the scottish islands race with Robo helped so I was hoping this would be an improvement!
I'd done nothing all week due a sprained ankle and my weekly total well short of anything remotely resembling BG training, but I felt suprisingly good, a bit more energy than normal.Maybe I'll keep my weekly total to 600ft.

The pace was fine and chance of injury lessened by good moonlight, though the heavy weight of the batteries in my head torch did keep pulling the bloody thing down over my eyes(will have to try and sort that out before the day, tips welcome)

After decending to Dunmail from leg 2 , the descent off Seat Sandal trickier in the dark, we had a quick coffee stop at Starbucks , Andrew ducking out at this point, and then 3 of us headed off up Steel Fell, the leg burn soon kicking in with the steepness of the gradient.
Topping Steel Fell in 21 mins just inside 23 hr pace, the watch reading 0230, we decided to drop back to Dunmail and get a few hours kip instead of pressing on further in the dark,  so we could be up in time to see if we could spot Dave, Ray or Dawn in the London Marathon.

A successful trip out, good pace and a much better night experience than Mull, though I did tweek my ankle again coming off Fairfield, next weeks training will be done on hands instead!

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