My 5 1/2 hour plod!
June 7, 2013
The sun is out, and the distant glimmer of the fells urging me to wonder their grandeur, so I must!
In my preparation for my next challenge my road seems paved with blood blisters, numb quads and wavering energy levels. Yesterday was my fourth run in the mountains and I thought it would be getting easier...how wrong I was!!!
I started at the base of Wetherlam wanting to push in a more northern direction exploring some fells that are new to me. With this heat it was hard to get going but I made it up Wetherlam (2502 ft) then up Prison band to the cairn of Swirl How (2630 ft)
I then turned right and in a couple of minutes I was standing on the top of Great Carrs (2575 ft). Leaving the cairn I took a tiny footpath east and it wasn't long before I was standing on Grey Friar (2536 ft). I remember thinking to myself, wow 1hr, 25 mins in this heat was not too bad completing 4 of the Fells I would eventually do on my record attempt.
It is not that I'm going for any speed records so I only focused on keeping moving forward no matter how slow. I now wanted to move north towards areas I didn't know. I also limit my use of a map - probably not always the best idea - I figured that I'd learn the mountains fairly fast if I had to remember where I am.
The next fell I wanted to topple was Crinkle Crags but first I had to run down Grey Friar and this was where I got lost- again! The combination of not knowing the area and lack of willing to use my map cost me an hours detour run which would later near kill me.
After finally making it to the right track my next hurdle was Little Stand (2385 ft) before I could see Crinkle Crags towering in the background. From the foot of Little Stand to the tallest of the Crinkles took me 54 minutes and by now I was running the mountains for 3 hr 21 minutes in the heat.
My energy dropped to zero as I made it to the tallest cairn of Crinkle Crags (2816 ft). It was as if my body said: OK, so you made it to where you wanted to now I want to rest.
In my preparation for my next challenge my road seems paved with blood blisters, numb quads and wavering energy levels. Yesterday was my fourth run in the mountains and I thought it would be getting easier...how wrong I was!!!
I started at the base of Wetherlam wanting to push in a more northern direction exploring some fells that are new to me. With this heat it was hard to get going but I made it up Wetherlam (2502 ft) then up Prison band to the cairn of Swirl How (2630 ft)
I then turned right and in a couple of minutes I was standing on the top of Great Carrs (2575 ft). Leaving the cairn I took a tiny footpath east and it wasn't long before I was standing on Grey Friar (2536 ft). I remember thinking to myself, wow 1hr, 25 mins in this heat was not too bad completing 4 of the Fells I would eventually do on my record attempt.
It is not that I'm going for any speed records so I only focused on keeping moving forward no matter how slow. I now wanted to move north towards areas I didn't know. I also limit my use of a map - probably not always the best idea - I figured that I'd learn the mountains fairly fast if I had to remember where I am.
The next fell I wanted to topple was Crinkle Crags but first I had to run down Grey Friar and this was where I got lost- again! The combination of not knowing the area and lack of willing to use my map cost me an hours detour run which would later near kill me.
After finally making it to the right track my next hurdle was Little Stand (2385 ft) before I could see Crinkle Crags towering in the background. From the foot of Little Stand to the tallest of the Crinkles took me 54 minutes and by now I was running the mountains for 3 hr 21 minutes in the heat.
My energy dropped to zero as I made it to the tallest cairn of Crinkle Crags (2816 ft). It was as if my body said: OK, so you made it to where you wanted to now I want to rest.
Read the full story on my Current blog @ http://www.ettiennedebeer.com/current-blog.php
See more on my website http://www.ettiennedebeer.com/ and keep up to date with other events as well.
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