The forecast for the day was grim - heavy rain, strong winds, general nastiness. The route goes up Ingleborough from Clapham, then down through Humphrey Bottom almost to the Hill Inn, round the bottom of Park Fell to Selside, across the valley to Birkwith, down to Horton, up Sulber Nick and down into Crummackdale, to Wharfe, sharp uphill out of Austwick, and finally down to Clapham. My Garmin worked out the ascent to be 1000m, but I've found the 310XT underestimates ascent on fell runs by at least 25%.
In any case, it took me 5 hours 45 mins. Quite a bit more than even my slowest time on the Yorkshireman, which is down to the terrain and amount of ascent I think. I was running in Vivobarefoot neo trails, as I do more or less all the time now. It was a bit of an experiment over that distance and on that type of terrain, and they were perfect. A newish pair, with plenty of grip left on them. That's the trick with Vivos I think - the uppers last for ages, so it's tempting to keep running in them when the soles are badly worn, then you slide around in the mud. Better to replace them when the soles are worn, then use the old ones as everyday shoes, road running shoes etc. The climb up Ingleborough, rocky ground and all, took 15 minutes less than I planned at 1:15, so no grip problems there.
As it turned out, the weather was nowhere near as grim as expected. It was windy and cloudy on the top of Ingleborough, and there was some very heavy rain and strong wind as we climbed Sulber Nick, but otherwise it was a fairly nice day.
This was also the first off road marathon I've done fueled by jacket spuds. They seemed to work pretty well, although I ran out of steam whilst dropping down into Wharfe at about 33km. I'd been running with Andy from Hull since Selside, but he'd developed a blister and dropped back on the section from Sulber Nick to the top of Crummockdale. I'd maintained my pace to start with, but then ran out of steam in the walled tracks on the way down to Wharfe. Chocolate solved that problem, and Andy having adjusted his shoes caught me up there.
We charged into Clapham feeling pretty good, finishing joint 3rd. I was completely nonplussed until I found out that the Calderdale Relay and the Leeds Half were both the following day, attracting most of the regions runners. Ah well, "you can only race them as turns up on t' day".
The food: one substantial jacket potato for breakfast, another whilst waiting to set off, and one during the run. Oh, and half a large soreen halfway round, and the chocolate for the last couple of miles. It turns out that jacket potatoes are higher GI than cake, which is pretty damned annoying. Malt loaf is lower though. Food on longer off road runs continues to be an experiment. I'm better at managing without than I used to be, up to about 25km. More than that and food is really a necessity.
I made a basic mistake in the evening. We were booked into the Buck at Malham for a mates birthday, and I'd ordered rabbit pie, and stilton mushrooms. Nothing rich and difficult to digest there! On top of a dose of flucloxacillin, I was doubled up with stomach cramps and cold sweats the minute I finished eating. Oh well, it was still delicious, just a shame I missed dessert...
Update: anyone who wants to support the Cave/Fell Rescue team can make a donation via justgiving here:
https://www.justgiving.com/caverescue/
or sponsor me for the run here:
https://www.justgiving.com/charles-colbourn
GPS track here:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/498042114
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