So the arrangements were in place, meeting 'Mad Dog' 7am  at David Lloyd.  His last message being 'no wussing out, bring your waterproofs!!!'.  Forecast was bad, heavy winds and rain, I have to say this did not inspire me, but that was that, Mad Dog had spoken!

We parked in Helmsley near the ruined castle adjacent to the track we would be starting out on.  Normal dilemma, what do I wear, there was a cold wind and it was early so first thoughts were rap up warm head to toe.  This meant hat, gloves, under layer, top and jacket, with leggings and shorts and my all new awesome Innovate trainers! Rucksack on with hydration system at the ready and map in hand.  Usually pre-run banter on the way discussing previous runs and many 'do you remember when's', then kit talk which gets a bit train spotting like but always good to discuss new kit and changes.  Its been a while since I've run with 'Mad Dog' so we had plenty of catching up to do as we headed up the intial ascending trail thinking only that this was a typical Hardmoors run due to the climb, yet in reality this was going to be the end of my 55 mile torture.  We eventually had a good stretch where we were able to get a decent running rhythm going and get some miles done, awesome run in the sunshine eventually which brought me to my dilemma, I was beginning to over heat, too much clothing, the beanie hat was too much I think! I was melting, but as I was considering how to deal with this minor problem ha! The temperature started dropping as the speed of the running began dropping due to the elevation.  So as it turns out I was spot on with the clothing now, it was cold, the wind was whistling past our ears and my sweat was beginning to make me feel ice cold!

So my first question to Mad Dog was, has he packed enough 'cheese sandwiches for two?' I received no comment just this look of 'ha ha ha very funny' then, 'those sandwiches were the best, they might have been melted, sweaty and disgusting looking, but they were the best!'..........  Really!!!

We made it to just short of Sutton Bank which was an area I new so was happy from there so due to time we decided we should head back.  It was a shame as we were feeling good at this point and wished we'd had more time to continue.  We passed through Cold Kirby, passed the farmers out ratting and in the fields with the dogs and chasers.  We headed back along the trailers having a great run back as majority was down hill.

 Except for this bad boy, whilst I was content with jogging up, Mad Dog went on one and sprinted up just to take a picture of my good self ha ha!  It was worth it just to hear him out of breath after lol!    The finish wasn't far away now so we had a good run to the end just passing a few other folk out for a little run in the hills.  Typical drive back, me slugging down as much fluids as possible and Mad Dog discussing how much food he was going to eat on our return.  We headed into the club and relaxed with a coffee, just mentioning to the odd person of our heroic, epic, adventureous, ultra 12 mile jaunt!

Love it as always, was great to be out, struggling and realising training was going well but I'm no Mo Farah!!!

What did you do today :)