It was Chris's idea for me to celebrate
my 50th
birthday with a Joss Naylor Challenge. With it falling on a Saturday
it seemed a good opportunity for a day out and a bit of a do
afterwards. A bit late in the year (September) perhaps, but more time
for training. Once I had committed to the idea I was determined to
enjoy every bit of training, otherwise what's the point? But I was
nursing a tendinitis niggle in my ankle / foot which meant that my
training comprised a long day each weekend and maybe 1 run during the
week. I hoped that this would be enough. As the months went by
and I started recceing the bits I didn't already know (leg 1 mainly)
I got a bit psyched out by the fast splits. Pals kept reassuring me:
it'll be different on the day, no rucksack, the buzz, fresh legs....
But I was still bothered by it. If I can crack leg 1, I thought, I
know I can do it. I'm very lucky too that I had a great bunch of
pals ready to be my support team and help celebrate afterwards.
One of the funniest things about
fellrunning is the reaction you get from work colleagues. I don't
talk about it much at work but when asked what I was doing to
celebrate my ‘special’ birthday I got some bemused looks when I
explained I'd be going for a run all day. They got into the
idea though when I told them I'd be raising money for the MS
Society. My Dad has suffered with this dreadful disease for many
years, so it’s a cause very close to my heart.
So all of a sudden after a frenzy of
butty making and packing of kit, and an early night, it was 3am
and my alarm was going off. It was still raining after a horrible wet
Friday. Mandy Goth had warned me that the ground was very wet but
having been watching the forecast I was mentally prepared for a soggy
challenging day.
Andy Pooler and I picked Phil Hodgson up
from Kirkstone on the way to Pooley Bridge where we met John
Thompson. Big cags went on, and we set off in the rain at 5am. We'll
run the flats and gentle uphills, fast walk the steeper stuff, said
Phil. The weather was miserable but we were in good spirits. With no
rucksack I felt strong and although I'd only used them once before, I
was using poles to let my arms help my legs, and it felt like it was
working.
Light began to filter in around 5.30, and
by 6ish our torches were off. The daylight helped to relieve the
monotony of the claggy dark. As Mandy had said, the ground was
indeed very wet underfoot which made it harder going. I was
sensing that we should be moving faster and this was confirmed by
Phil as we left High Raise for Kidsty Pike: I'll meet you at
Rampsgill Head, you need to crack on a little bit now. I worked out
later that we were 15 minutes down at this point. I put my head down
and dug in, jogging up High Street, not bothered by the rain; I had
dealt with worse conditions during training. The track between High
Street and Thornthwaite Beacon was a stream but John raised my
spirits by telling me we'd gained a minute or two getting there.
Although I felt I didn’t need it now, I kept eating and drinking at
regular intervals, hoping to stock up some fuel before it became
harder to eat later on.
The rocky descent to Kirkstone Pass was
greasy and slowed our progress but John had shown me a good line and
I headed off down it to meet Chris, my other half, leaving the others
to catch up. I arrived only 3 minutes down despite a slight detour in
the clag on the way to Pike How so I was happy to have made up much
of the time I'd lost earlier. It felt like, without any major
setbacks, I was in with a good chance.
It was a great feeling arriving there to
my mates singing happy birthday! I had a 5 minute stop for
sweet tea and rice pudding with peaches, ably catered for by Janet
Makin and Sarah Rowan, and greeted by my daughter Emma who had got up
especially early for the occasion.
Then it was steady away up Red Screes
with my slightly larger leg 2 team: Josie Greenhalgh, Keith
Mallinder, John Joe McGonagle, Alex Irwin, Robert Green, Paul
Charnock and Paul Calverley. By the time we got the top we had
already gained minutes and it was good to be able to relax into the
pace and start to enjoy the day. I was certainly well hydrated; wee
stops started to become frequent and became a bit of a comedy issue
(for me) throughout the day. Luckily I've no hang ups about privacy
when I'm on the hill, except to try and save other people's
embarrassment.
Being the only folk out on the fells was
very special, and as we worked our way up Fairfield now and then the
clouds parted and we were treated to a glorious view towards
Ambleside and Windermere glittering in the pale morning light, a
private viewing just for us. Coming off Seat Sandal the sun
started to come out and it felt like the whole day was just getting
better and better.
The reception at Dunmail was like a
party, more singing and my pals chatting happily there made me feel
special, and we'd made a few more minutes up on schedule. Again, tea
and rice pudding and an egg butty were slurped down in 5 minutes and
then we were off again, a shame because I would like to have had a
little more time to appreciate the atmosphere and to show my thanks
for all the effort that folk had put in to be there with me.
Chris said, you'll start to make
more time up now. It didn't feel like it on the way up Steel Fell;
the food I'd eaten, although useful for later, felt heavy on my
stomach and having stopped and sat down my legs were reluctant to
start up again. However the banter of the huge leg 3 support team
(Dave Makin, Tony Shanley, Jenny Boocock, Guy and Steph Illingworth,
Bridget Glaister, Maria Cook and Rob Green) was awesome and I just
got my head down and enjoyed listening to the conversations around me
as I plodded up the hill.
The section from Birks Gill up to High
Raise was probably my low point of the day. It's steep, boggy and
tussocky and gives little indication of progress, with no views to
distract you. I felt weary and heavy and chewed unenthusiastically on
the titbits that were constantly offered to me. But the cheery
encouraging voices around me combined with an earworm from my son
Jack's youth theatre group dragged me up the hill, where it started
raining again (luckily not for long). Tony's military style orders to
the 'carrier of the cag' resulted in possibly the fastest assisted
change of outer layer in the history of fell running, and cheered me
up too. And to top it all, John Morrisey appeared out of the mist to
join the party.
Another drag up from Stake Pass followed,
and then we were on Rossett Pike, greeted by the smiling faces of
Carolyn and Keith Daniels, Martin Kirkman and Steve Clancy who had
tea and juicy cubes of ham and cherry tomatoes, a fabulous antidote
to the sweet stuff I'd been trying to eat.
After a couple of minutes we got back to
the business of getting up Bowfell. A steady steep climb over a lot
of greasy rock, Getting Bowfell behind you always feels like a
milestone. The ground over Esk Pike and Great End was
equally treacherous, particularly the descent to Sty Head. Dave and I
attacked it (in a cautious sort of way) leaving the rest of the team
to catch up and reminding me of all the fun years I’ve had
battering the downhills with him.
Reaching Sty Head was wonderful. Gary
Pollard had brought soup and I sat on a rucksack, grimly alternating
bites of tuna butty and slurps of minestrone. My daughter Emma had
walked all the way up from Wasdale Head just for me and it was great
to see her. Mandy and Sarah were there too making me feel better with
words of encouragement.
It was even better to see Chris who would
keep me going on leg 4, knowing all the right things to say and do.
Oz Kershaw and Andy Ford were along too. By this time my belly felt
like a balloon and, knowing that I was about 20 minutes up on my
schedule, I announced that I was going to go as slow as felt
comfortable on the way up Great Gable. This pleased Andy greatly,
having run up from Wasdale Head in order to avoid being late! The
best thing was that when we reached the summit we were spot on with
the split, so I felt able to relax on the pace a bit.
Oz had chosen a great route off Gable
down a grassy rake in the sea of boulders, a gully and then a scree
run. The scree was pretty big so it wasn't easy but it was very
efficient and we quickly reached Beck Head. There was no sign of Andy
though and I worried that he had fallen. He can look after himself,
was the response when I voiced my concerns. Sure enough he soon
turned up, breathless from running hard to catch up, and had indeed
fallen in the gully and was a bit bruised but seemed OK to carry on.
Summiting Kirkfell brought a lovely
surprise in the shape of my niece Katie arriving at the same time
having run up from Wasdale Head. By this time the tops were all clear
and bathed in sunshine, and I tried to soak up the magnificent views
and watch where I was putting my feet at the same time. We descended
Joss’s Gully carefully and then were rewarded with another gang of
pals waiting at Black Sail Pass, including Dave Reynolds, Sophie
Cunningham, Jaynie Dickinson, Janet & Sean Makin and my son Jack.
It was good to be surrounded with chattering happy friends as I got
more tired. My legs weren't feeling too bad, but I was starting to
feel in need of fuel. Proper food wasn't going down that well but
luckily we had bottles of coke and gels on hand as well as fruit pots
to help keep me going up PIllar. Oz and I nipped the out and back to
the top of Steeple and we soon made the top of Haycock. Another scree
run off the top made short work of the descent, and would have been a
lot of fun if my legs had been a bit fresher and my feet a bit less
painful. But it was still a little fun, and an efficient way of
getting to the bottom before the challenge of the grindingly boggy
Pots of Ashness and the ever steepening climb up Seatallan, a
challenge this late in the day, especially as my calf was starting to
cramp up.
The descent off Seatallan was painful
because it’s steep, and climbing up Middle Fell was a mixture of
the relief of being nearly finished and the delight of what was
turning into a glorious balmy sunny evening. I struggled to keep up
on the last descent but it didn’t matter – there was plenty of
time. Jack had been suffering with cramp too so kept me company at
the back. Soon enough we were jogging down through the bracken on the
last stretch and approaching Greendale. Chris shouted, you run in
with Jack and Katie. I thought, I am
running, and I can't 'run' any faster than this! I was definitely
getting messages from my feet that me and my toenails would be
parting company in the not too distant future.
And then we were running across to the
bridge. I felt light as a feather and strong with the elation of the
finish. There were my pals cheering me in, and Joss Naylor waiting to
welcome me. I couldn’t stop grinning, what a day! I couldn’t
think of a better way to have celebrated my birthday. We stood around
chatting and I tried to drink a beer that Chris’s brother Tim
handed to me with a smiling ‘Happy Birthday and well done!’ I had
a refreshing paddle in the river. Then after a while we headed off
over the Hardknott Pass on the way back to Bishop’s Scale, the
Ratti hut in Langdale, and were treated to a beautiful sunset over
Lingmoor.
It was humbling and gratifying at the
same time to think about how many people had made such an effort to
help me achieve this goal (I’d finished in 13 hours 10), looking
after me as we plodded the miles and ticked off the tops. And I
managed to raise over £1300 for the MS Society. Now it’s Chris’s
turn and my turn to support!
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| With Joss (photo: Chris Lloyd) |
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| Greendale Bridge (photo: Jaynie Dickinson) |
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