https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-49189955
Last year I had a particular nightmare with the AirBnB and gaining entry. This year I went super low budget......the only problem was with the traffic being so bad, getting to Buxton at 9pm on a Friday night and nothing was open....it was either packets of sandwiches from a Sainsburys local or the dodgiest kebab shop in the North West. Not even dirty Dominos would deliver! I opted for the latter......probably not wise but I wanted hot food, washed down by a small can of IPA. A relatively early night and then round the corner to the start. It seemed more low key than last year. It felt like fewer at the start, but apparently still a sell out.
Straight up from the startline, I took a more tentative start than last time around. I felt in less good shape but still really up for it. The sun was shining but the ground was saturated, so I knew the parcours was going to be a tough day out, and there was 7000ft and an 8 hour time limit.
After a fairly lung bursting 400ft climb up to Solomon's Temple, the bagpiper at the top welcoming all to the race with the symbolic tunes was a muddy descent back into town. Laboured, I took it easy but found my race legs on the mighty ascent up Burbage Edge, Axe Edge Moor and the 3 shires head. Overtaking a chunk of the field here to find my race place I felt good. Making a similar minor error after 3 Shires to last year, I followed a group to CP1 and then across what was a nice dry field last year. This time round, a female runner first in our group of 5 went waist deep into a bog. We tentatively made our way from tussock to tussock, knee deep in anaerobic peaty mud. CP2 to CP3 was hard. The sodden ground made hard going. I felt slower than last year, especially up and over the iconic Ramshaw Rocks, where I saw my first casualty of the race, a runner who had fallen off the rocks. After checking he was OK, I carried on. Again I struggled up Hen Cloud and over the Roaches. I felt similar to last time round, heavy legs and no energy. At Roach End to Lud's Church I felt better last year.....this time I still had the funk. It was only into Gradbach Woods that I found something. Down to the CP I drank and drank, such was my dehydration. Again I had little in the legs and the rocky ascent to Burntcliff Top was a walk, not a run.
Running alone I had to battle some demons. Coming up to Shuttlingsloe I just put one foot in front of another and ground out the climb. A quick check of the watch and I thought I might be slower than the year before. I felt like something was left in the tank so I put as much effort as I could on the ascent to Cat and Fiddle and then up to Shining Tor. The back end of the race felt like I had something in the tank, but was I going to be faster than the last time around? Coming down Stakeside was a thigh-busting and boulderous descent. I was concerned about going apex-over-triangle and knocking out my teeth. Through the Goyt Valley now and in the distance I heard the deep rumble of the Chinnook Helicopter, repairing the Toddbrook Reservoir. I paused to take a photo. Then off I went. The rain and sun had led to really lush growth with face high bracken and impossible-to-see paths. I put faith in the fact that the rocky path below was in line with the faint path through the bracken. I dodged right to follow the path and then for a split second, put my foot on nothing. I span round in the air and landed flat on my back, looking up a the blue sky. I looked again and I had fallen down a landslide where the recent storm waters had washed away the gulley. I had fallen about 20 feet. Feeling the ooze of the last gel in my pocket was a blessing and a curse. I was sugar low, but at least it was a gel and not blood.
I'm not sure what happened next, its a bit of a haze. I scrambled up the bank and then back up to the path. I hooned it up to Burbage Edge and then smashed it all the way back into town. Somehow I had run quicker by a couple of minutes than the previous year! My back was super sore though. After a shower and a drive back to RTW, I spent 3 days in bed with the worst backache and sickness. 3 things learned......don't eat takeaway the night before a race; watch where your footing goes but mainly don't drive up North on a Friday night. Its never a relaxing drive.
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