So Roseberry Topping revisited, 3rd year in a row and loved it just as much as the first. Although the first time was my trail running initiation and it has a lot to answer for ha ha!  Brilliant day, such a beautiful location, with the glistening sparkles of the snow topped Moors and the sun shining down on us to make a glorious day.  If we weren't wading through the mud we were crunching through the icy snow, slipping and sliding our way round, or was that just Darren!

Off we went bright and early on a fresh Sunday morning in December, heading off from David Lloyd's in York.  I picked Darren up and his mate Fabian and we headed off on our mini adventure.  Full of excitement, enthusiasm and a few nerves.  Fabian was slightly apprehensive as it was his first official race and even more so as a Hardmoors event, which maybe sounds tough in its name, but also by the time Darren and myself had built it up and reminisced on various brutal aspects of this run he was nearly white with fear ha ha!  So as normal I was completely convinced I could remember my way to Guisbrough, how hard can it be!  After driving for nearly an hour I was beginning to doubt my navigational knowledge especially when Darren asked if we were supposed to be driving into Middlesborough, ooops!  So we got back on track with a well known device on Darren's phone and managed to get ourselves in to Guisborough,  listening to Darren give a very detailed on route tour description of nearly every street and major building, followed by 'my parents live over there' and 'we used to bike round here'.  At which point Fabian and myself then had to question how we managed to get the journey so wrong ha ha!

After setting off together and enjoying a spectacular day the route took us up some fairly treacherous banks and muddy paths but we had a great time, the camaraderie on these runs is just brilliant whether in first place or last your treated the same, not that I have ever been in first and most definitely have enjoyed most events from the back, but I am making that assumption.  Everyone has such a friendly and encouraging nature and everyone just wants each person to succeed and finish that race whatever there reasons for being there its very much a team effort.  That's how it feels anyway and I liked to believe that is how it is.  We had a few funny moments, well quite a lot actually, there were moments when I couldn't decide what hurt the most my legs from the ascents or my stomach muscles from all the laughing ha ha!  We battled round, all having times of struggle and times of energetic spurts but we all finished together which was good although I did feel I held the other two back slightly but I didn't them racing off into the distance they allowed me to keep catching them up.

The journey home was fun, although I think Fabian was almost asleep by the time we got back and Darren couldn't move ha ha! Me, well I had to go to work, and then I managed a celebratory pint.  Great day, I never get bored of this kind of running, so when someone says to me they get bored or ask 'isn't it boring?'  I say no its amazing because I get days like this to remember for ever!

The disappointment of not being able to get to the start line of any run hurts me plenty, I hate it, its a lost opportunity to do what I love!  I entered a race recently called the Maravan which was a 6 hour run around a caravan park which at first didn't seem that appealing but the more I talked about it the keener I got lol!  I got to the day before and things were not right my heal and calf were not as good as I wanted and as much as I wanted to go and do this I knew it wasn't right. Devastated, pulling out of any race hurts, its like failing but I knew I was right to do it.

I have though, since the Maravan, been out and training.  Its great I love it the buzz was back, I kept it to short but regular runs with gym work.  It was paying off I felt like I was back in the game.  My entry to the Hardmoors Triple Ring Challenge had been accepted, which meant HM110 in April is a go!  In the same week my entry for the Marathon de Sables across the Sahara Desert was accepted and confirmation of place was sent.  So I was on a high, loving it, bouncing around like a kid at Christmas.  This was my dream, this is how it started, this had been the end goal...I am nearly there!

Frostbite 30 was on but this week I have had so much bother with my hip its been agonising, and as normal I have persisted through it and believed right to the end that I will run.  I can't, I can't start the race knowing that once it seizes up I will be in bother.  If i am stuck on the Dales in pain and freezing then I will look back and think how stupid when I have had the warning signs.  I hate it, but I can't go its just about being realistic, its my work and future that I jeopardise and my long term goal of the MdS.

On the bright side I might be OK for Hardmoors Roseberry Topping next Sunday ha ha! Lets get ready for that.