Playing Catch Up...

I admit it, I've been rubbish at keeping up to date on here but the past few weeks have been so full of adventures I've managed to get through the working week then we've been off again. Mrs Um has been a busy camper! Started back in early April when we went along to one of the L100 organised recce weekends. Marc Laithwaite had asked me last year to be one of the guest speakers at the talk given the night before the recce run. Fine, no probs I declared, how hard can that be, and promptly ignored it until a couple of weeks beforehand when blind panic set in. I wanted to talk about my whole L100 experience, from the training to what I wore/ate, and after reading all the debates online about sizes of rucksacks/waistpacks and the mandatory kit I decided to take my 6l OMM waistpack and show that yes it is possible to get everything in it, if you want to go light and fast.

Off we went to the Lakes, with Dave, Fairy and Albert. I dropped Dave off at the start of Leg 2 of the Bob Graham at the crack of dawn on Saturday, with the tops looking ominously white. Then I drove Fairy round to Mardale Head, as she was running to Ambleside. Drove back to Ambleside, just had enough time to pick up some food from The Apple Pie cafe (good cake) and then headed off to Dunmail Raise to meet Dave. Tried to get Albert to jog up Seat Sandal but he was having none of it, so we pootled around the bottom till Dave appeared. Picked up the Fairy who'd had a great run out, then it was nearly time for The Talk!

Albert decided Dave needed a clean...

I'd spoken to Andy Mouncey beforehand as I was sooo nervous, but he said look everyone wants to be there and listen to what you say so enjoy! He was right.

Thankfully I decided at the (very) last minute to do a powerpoint presentation as the 2 speakers before me were really good - Marc did a great talk about nutrition and then Maxine Grimshaw gave a fabulous talk about training for the L50 from a 'Middle of the Pack' perspective, giving out chocolates! So, it was my turn, and thankfully I think it went ok and people seemed to enjoy/take something from it, which was the point I guess.

Running background, from my talk, I think I'm about 10 years old here!

I met Ian Corless from Talk Ultra who was recording the evening, nice chap and interesting to speak to, his podcasts are well worth a listen.

The next day we all ran from Pooley Bridge to Ambleside (with me planning on stopping at Mardale as I was just getting back into running after The Calf). What a great run! Fairy was flying and I had lots of mini 'interviews' from folk as we passed them! My 5 mins of fame...

Anyway we bumped into Paul Tierney (The Irish) and Barry Murray (who were 3rd and 9th in last year's L100) at the footbridge just as you approach Haweswater, bit random, but Fairy and I had just agreed to help Paul on his upcoming BG attempt, so it was great to actually meet up! Stopping at Mardale, with Dave and Albert waiting (Albert had decided that today he would be a fell running pup and had hurtled down Gatescarth Pass) we met Terry Conway, the L100 Record Holder and running royalty! Terry had been running with his girlfriend, the lovely Annie (now Mrs Conway!) and they'd decided to stop so we gave them a lift back to Ambleside.

So, weekend 1 of adventures done and dusted. Met some really lovely running fools and had a brilliant time. More to come...