Aside from a couple of anomalies my fell season has been just shy of 10 days long.
Frustrating?
Yes.
Surprising?
Not so much.
Injury and ‘life’ have both got in the way. Mainly the ‘life’ side of things.
I had a decent block of running and training over winter and started fairly well at Coledale with a 7th place offering and a cameo appearance in an inov8 video of Vic Wilkinson stomping her way downhill….beat her, no biggie. Apres that? Well, my old mates work and injury came a’callin’.
Fast forward to late July and a frantic 10 days of Scafell Skyrace, Dolomites VK, Dolomites Skyrace and Rydal Round. Phew right? Seeing as you’re begging me, here’s a brief synopsis of each run…..
Scafell Skyrace: went out hard, paid for it later.
Dolomites VK: 1000m ascent in 2300m length….how’d you think it went?!
Dolomites Skyrace: part of the course was closed off due to bad clag on the summits. I’m not fluent in Italian so I didn’t know this until I got to the point where it didn’t go where I thought it’d go……not that I was chasing the lead or anything. Top 100….just.
Rydal Round: nothing in the legs….see above if you need a reason why.
Now, a little note on the Scafell Skyrace. To quote a great and wise bunch o’gals….’haters gonna hate’ (3LW). WTF am I talking about? Oooohhhhh just some minor controversy regarding a stolen rope due to be used during the LSU to help protect Pinnacle Ridge on St Sunday Crag. Cue people whinging about the Lakes turning into some hell hole where people seek to squeeze money from all nooks and crannies for their own personal gain. Look around you fellas, it’s known as tourism in other parts of the world and has been happening for centuries in all forms of business, yes, even your own. Of course you can do all the crying you want but please don’t patronise us by choosing to ignore both the irony of your ire and the gleaming credentials of the person/company that you’re judging. Charlie Sproson is as good and proper towards the Lakes and the wider environment as you’re likely to get. LSU and SSR are damn good races and the whole event weekend is awesome. Having seen it from the continental point of view, and the good it does for the local community and the wider, trail running community, what Mountain Run and Charlie are looking to do is mega and massively commendable. I for one will be supporting him in any way I can over the coming iterations.
On another note, I’ve done summat to my ankle. The tibialis posterior tendon to be exact. I’ve employed the help of a highly recommended coach, Martin, but unfortunately all he’s able to do is give me easy runs to do. Frustrating for both of us I’m sure. It’s pretty shitty seeing the world through instagram and Facebook at the best of times, let alone when you’re thousands of miles away watching the guys you compete with tearing it up and getting the jump on you. Alas, I’m not the first and I’m not gonna be the last.
Life a bitch and then you die, right?……….I’m kidding! She ain’t that bad!
Got some exciting tings lined up for next year….provided the above doesn’t get in the way again. Fingers crossed.
(Also, I noticed that I spelt ‘things’ as ‘tings’….I could have corrected it but I’m street as fuck and, well, YOLO)
