Arctic Hares & Bloody Knees

Arctic Hares and Bloody knees. Last Saturday, two weeks before the longest race in one day, (the longest I have ever attempted) I managed to get to bed only having one beer, and last night being Friday that was good going.The day began with an early start, driving to Sheffield to pick up Luke from his 3 fridge, 2 cooker, empty beer canned filled kitchen, with enough washing up to give you soft wrinkly hands for a week. Maybe I was just reminiscing back to my own student accommodation and its delights, when I didn't run much but played lots of badminton for uni, but today I was heading off to run twenty miles which I hadn't done for about 2 months. Why? I hear you cry - well we were meeting up to train for the High Peak Marathon in Derbyshire, a race that if you are unaware of is 42miles, overnight, starting at 10pm ish and finishing, well, when you do. The record stands at around 8 or 9 hours.
Anyway back to my little story of trying to get my training back on schedule in time for the big day. We arrived at the roadside and both got changed and met up with Tim and Simon who we would be running with on the day and Terry who had come along for fun. (non runners may find that hard to believe but yes for fun?!). As we started off I felt surprisingly strong and everything seemed to be going well, a nice long run over Bleaklow looked like the right option for today. It was a bit windy and the pace was quite fast with Luke's long legs on good form, my 5'7 frame trying to stride out to keep up with his 6' metre long jog like bounces along the peaty path.The pace had slowed by the time we had done around 7 miles with total agreement all around and we were now hitting Bob Graham pace. We knew this due to the fact that both Tim and Simon had both completed it recently. (see link ). We got to decision point and decided to split up to see which way would be quicker, I went with Tim and the others went over the river. Its well worth checking out parts of the route on a big race to make sure the quickest and easier path is followed.Just as we were getting to the Bleaklow plateau two fast moving white objects hurried about the peat troughs hopping in and out, at first we though they were dogs, but then realised it was two Arctic Hares. If you have not seen them before they are quite big and well worth venturing into the bleakest part of Bleaklow for the chance of a sighting. The peat is quite boggy at this point and just before it was harsh and they had taken their toll on my legs, everyone had gone in to at least to the knees. I could now feel the energy draining from them. I decided to take on a gel, (which we sell and I think they are disgusting!) however lots of other people do like them and I have to admit that although I do not get on with the taste and it took me 10 minutes to get it down, it did work and I felt instantly re-energised.

Once we got to the top of Bleaklow we hit the Pennine Way and followed the path all the way down to the road near Snakes Pass. The road was hard, from coming from the soft springy peat bogs and my legs were not enjoying it as much as the off road section. As we hopped over the railings onto the path it seemed quite steep - and it was! Before I knew it I could feel the earth disappear underneath my feet. Then in true gymnastic fashion I proceeded to do a full air flip, before continuing down the hill in a series of tumbles bashing my knee full on a rock and twisting my ankle at the same time. So with a full weeks rest and now a week to go my knee and ankle are nearly ready for a warm up run before Friday night, fingers crossed and I'll keep you posted. Maybe the white hares will bring us luck.