Dress Rehearsal

After seemingly ages away for many months, the Bob Graham is suddenly looming massive and inescapable on the horizon. But alas, things haven’t gone to plan as far as the team is concerned. We started out well endowed with runners, a biker, pace runners and support crewmembers. But lately the team has exploded and fragmented.

The first significant change came about following Daft B’s reccie rides onto the higher mountains. These turned out to be ridiculous affairs. The first coincided with Rich and my zero-visibility random wandering somewhere near the massive Bow Fell. Daft B carried his bike upwards, dragged it along the flatter sections, and largely carried it back down again, all whilst trying to avoid hypothermia.

His second reccie involved similar amounts of stupid bike dragging, this time up and over Helvellyn range. The degree of biking pleasure was similarly low as the first, albeit this time in glorious weather.

What these two reccies proved was that a biking Bob Graham was not feasible. It would be more fun to rub fresh chillies into your mucous membranes. But that didn’t mean Daft B wouldn’t have a pivotal role. In fact his role is now more important to the runners remaining.

I say ‘remaining’ as there are now just two of us. For various reasons – injury and personal circumstance – Rich, Banana and Dan have pulled out. That leaves only Vin and myself. We will try to run the full BG together.

Vin’s mother, Ans, has had to pull out from the support crew, but we still have Bondy and Mrs RTS filling that role.

So after a brief flirtation with an extended team we are back to the core, the usual, solid team Respect The Stupidity. No additives, no preservatives.

So, what is the final plan?

Well, Vin and I will run, and stay together until the end or until one cannot physically go any further.

Daft B is a human ‘mule train’. He is venturing on a long and mountainous solo hike, carrying supplies. He will meet us runners mid way along three of the five sections, provide us with food and drink, and eventually drop off the mountains to be picked up by a crew car near Borrowdale. He will be on the fells all night and all day, and will construct a small shelter at the places he is due to meet us. These are all high and remote. It is not an easy job.

(Daft B may well wear a mankini or a gimp suit to scare any other Bob Graham attempters that may pass along.)

Bondy will just do what Bondy always does and be support crew extraordinaire  – magically be wherever you want him, whenever you want him, with whatever you need. After all these years we still have no idea how he does it.

So, we still have a workable plan. This Friday (June 3^rd) we will be in Wasdale for the final reccie and to test our logistics through the two most difficult stages.

Will the plan work? We’ll see.

Fitness wise, we will also see what happens. Vin is extremely road fit after having run VLM in 2 hours 45 minutes. But his mountain training is limited. Will fast road running convert to slow mega-mountain running? We’ll find out.

My fitness is good. So far I have run over 40 mountains in 5 runs since March, but here are still many more to learn.

My BG experiences have so far been mixed in the extreme. I have scrambled slowly on all-fours up ridiculously steep, rocky slopes, and bounded at four-minute-mile pace down soft, forgiving grassy mountains. I have tiptoed across snow filled gullies, almost been blown off my feet, fought to avoid hypothermia, clung to dangerously sharp rocky edges where one slip could be fatal, and been up to my knees in swamp. But I have also been soothed by the bright sun in a cloudless sky, run effortlessly for miles, seen and heard fantastic wildlife, and stood and stared in wonderment at the indescribable natural beauty stretching far into the distance in all directions. The feelings and emotions that these stimuli produce are fantastic.

Is it running? Well some of it certainly is. The rest is way beyond running in another magical world. But without running it is a world I may never see.

So, lets see how things go on the dress rehearsal on Friday.

Then the main event waits just one week after………