Catch ups.. literally

So where's ya been?

Injury has prevented anything exciting enough over the last few weeks hence it's 'O so quiet'. Yet I have managed to go playing in the mountains this weekend.

Oh how I've missed the big fellas. Jeez, I'd almost forgotten just what it is about, the mountains, the big climbs and the beauty of the tops, the long descents and the challenge of the terrain that I adore so so much! Winter has that effect, when it all slows down and things get more low key. But my god, we made up for that today (Saturday 2nd Feb 2012). Stu and I haven't played out together for a while and so was great to catch up, and frankly, that's all I did all day with him!

Stu climbed into my brum at the service station and...the first words that two mountain runners say?... 'You have new shoes', oooh so do I', haha, have a guess at what we had both purchased (unwittingly).

The route was in the lake district. A Langdale start and wasn't long before Stu had me puffing up to Stickle Tarn. The weather was everything you want it to be for a great run in February  Clear, crisp, sunny and cold enough to stay hydrated and run pleasantly. It takes me about two hours to warm up ordinarily, so I was feeling it on the ascent up to the tarn, yet all of my anguish had diminished as the tarn came into sight, how beautiful. The sun was bouncing off the water and it simply took my breath away. It felt like I was home and got me excited about the coming year, spring and summer. Then Stu pointed out Parvey Ark and Jacks rake the little scramble that we were to do. My fantasy of all things wonderful and beautiful diminished as I realised I'd been tricked and he was going to make me climb/scramble/boulder my way up this bit of rock.

I adored every moment of it, my fears of heights and getting stuck coupled with being all fingers and thumbs diminished with each little success of climb I accomplished  Stu was mostly sprinting this rock and a large smile was not coming off my face. Each time I managed a difficult (it's relative remember) scramble and survived, the next section seemed easier. Thank you Stu for affording me this experience.

The running was great and I'm definitely pleased that I've had a great winter training as I'm seeing a difference in my running today and it's a good start to an exciting year. The climbs were full of adventure, the snow was packed enough to run on the top and in spite of the ice, there were sections that were dry on the rock and the crispy frost dusted grass was runnable. I chose to ignore the bogs freezing my feet sporadically. So the route was give or take, Langdale - Stickle Tarn

Pavey Ark- High Raise

Esk Pike - Scafell Pike - Crinkle Crag back to Langdale.

I'd not ran Crinkle Crag before, firstly, I like them because of the name and secondly, they are just great technically challenging rocks. The whole run was busy with folk, all taking advantage of the amazing weather, however, I'd noticed that compared to Wales where I've spend a great deal of time training over the previous year, the Lakes, are just generally busier mountains and they were busy today. Nonetheless, everyone was in great spirits, friendly and just all enjoying doing their thing in their capacities.

Stats according to Airs GPS: 5 hours (ish)
                                               1900ft ascent (ish)
                                               miles: who knows
                                               Fun: no measure

The new trainers!!!.............. happy days