Actually, I do want to blog about it as it gives me the opportunity to formally record the events of my most enjoyable running event to date and also to give thanks to those friends who joined me on the run and the all important support crew who dutifully followed us round and fed and watered us.
My life of running commenced in earnest following a serious injury suffered whilst playing football in January 2006. After a long rehabilitation I decided that it was time to hang up my boots at the ripe old age of 34 and to take to a sport which was, by the law of averages, less likely to leave me potted up to the you-know-whats.
After one marathon and numerous halves (not of the beer kind, I don't believe in halves) I discovered Twitter and before long I was virtual friends with many runners. Some already running legends (in my eyes), some soon to be legends, but most of all just a great bunch of people from whom I drew much inspiration. I started to run more regularly and further and, due to the mutual feedback, we all seemed to feed off each other's running and collectively PBs were broken and then broken again.
Many of these friendships developed from people just being friends within my iPhone into real life friendships as we met, ran races together and supported each other through difficult personal times. I could give numerous examples and get quite emotional when I reflect on these experiences, but I should try and hold it together otherwise this blog could end up being as long as our run for the 2013 Longest Day Run.
Ok, let's cut to the chase. I conceived Longest Day Run in 2012 and had high hopes of being an active participant in the debut year of the event. A stress fracture to my Femur, which was diagnosed in early June (having run Manchester marathon with it - oops!) meant that I wasn't even allowed to run one measly mile. The upside was that I spent the whole weekend glued to the laptop reading and retweeting the amazing stories and enthusiastic responses from those who were enjoying taking part.
Many people were keen to have another bash in 2013 and I was keen to put my legs into action and challenge myself.
Having been tempted into running two marathons on consecutive weekends in April by Catherine aka @mrsbedders (I am so weak willed!) and actually feeling better after the second one than I had done after the first, I decided that I was ready to join the band of "Nutters" who had long since moved on from marathons into the mythical world of the "Ultra" marathon. I'd always laughed in the face of suggestions that I should attempt one. "A marathon's far enough for me" I would regularly say on Twitter to Mike, aka @mikew30, Trevor, aka my neighbour, @houndkirk and Andrew, aka @mrafletch (not to forget Matt, aka @m8dkn & and a few other ultra runners who maybe prodded me slightly less).
So, what would I do? Inspired by Trevor who would fly up Blacka Moor nearly every day, accumulating incredible hillage like it was going out of fashion, I started dreaming (literally) about setting off early morning on Longest Day Run weekend with my backpack and running as far as I could through the beautiful Peak District, which we're lucky enough to have on our doorstep. I could do 30 miles couldn't I? If I took my time and had regular breaks that should be no problem, should it? Even a road runner like me could take to the hills and add the extra 4 miles over and above the marathon distance I was starting to get the hang of?
I floated the idea on Twitter and immediately Catherine, my April marathon partner in crime, put up her hand and committed to joining me. Neither of us have made any secret of the downer we both felt after our back to back marathon adventure had drawn to a close and this seemed to be a powerful enough running drug to give us something to bridge the gap between the spring and autumn marathon seasons.
Would anyone else join us?
Like a football manager trying to make the marquis signing of the close season, I knew that the perfect team needed an expert at fell running and also someone who could navigate. The thought of Catherine and I plodding aimlessly across a vast expanse of countryside was too scary to put into practice. There was only one man for the job, the man who got me round the Grindleford Gallop recce and then race within the space of two weeks: Trevor. It also helps that not only does Trevor tick all of the boxes from a running perspective, but he's also a lovely guy.
I got my man!
Trevor asked me "How far are you thinking?". I asked Catherine. She asked me what I thought: "30 or maybe 40 miles perhaps". Her immediate response was: "Let's go for 40 as it's a nice round number". I was daft enough to agree.
Briefed with that figure Trevor set off to pick a route. It was always going to be hilly; we don't nickname him "Mountain Goat" for nothing you know. He came back with a route; it was 42 miles. We decided to let him off with a 5% margin of error. What's 5% after all? Nothing really.
Who else was going to join us?
The Ultra Nutters obviously weren't put off with the distance, but logistics and other plans which had already been committed to meant that they were out. Others may have been put off by the distance (sensible) or maybe the thought of running for most of the day with me?!
Just when it seemed like it was going to be just the three of us, I received a text from Matt and he was in. We were now four and it meant that half of the team had previous ultra experience. This was good.
Things got better. the King of all of the Nutters and twice my marathon saviour, Mike, would be able to join us for potentially half of the run before he had to spend the evening with Robbie Williams. Well, taking his fiancee, Sarah, to see him in concert. Mike's work running partner, Alex, aka @alexloach would be coming along too and then Chris, aka @chrismarritt, decided that he too would be able to join us for the middle section of the run. Brilliant!
We had the route, we had the team and Rachel, aka Mrs W, had kindly offered (or did I beg so much that she felt obliged?) to be one of the support teams and lug the kids, food, drink & clothing to various checkpoints along the route to help us along.
Nothing could stop us now. Training had gone well, the weather forecast was looking reasonable and there were no injuries. Too good to be true? Yes.
I received a tweet from Trevor on the morning of the eve of our run. He'd picked up a stomach bug of some sort and was not in a good way. We don't need to go into the details, but the odds were stacked against him to make a recovery in time. Not eating for 24 hours would be poor preparation for a 10k never mind a 67k! I went to bed on the Friday evening after regular updates and with Trevor having gone from a 25% chance earlier in the day to a 75% chance by late evening.
Catherine was staying with us, Matt driving up from Birmingham in the morning, but would Trevor be walking the 100 yards from his house to mine to make up the full "Team Nutter"?
Having packed away the OS map which I'd tried and failed to follow (see above) I went to bed anticipating a poor night's sleep, but excited about the challenge ahead.......
TO BE CONTINUED
