My mother didn’t swear but used to tell people to, ‘go to Buxton’, when she meant eff off. Well that’s where I was today for the start of this event.
From my current level of fitness I liked the look of this event and fourteen miles (20km) seemed a good distance to give me a slow but long workout with the time to break up the running stints with walking. But I had been busy and suddenly found I only had a few days to go with none of the usual preparation – maps and route description printed, gpx route downloaded etc. – done, or even much thought about. On looking back at my list of previous events it was a bit of a relief from the practical perspective to find I had done this version of the GVC only two years before; not quite so clever that I could have so totally forgotten about doing it.
I had once more rather hesitantly entered as a runner and so had the later 9 o’clock start, plenty of time to drink coffee and have some food after arriving at the start and registering. The day looked like being a beauty, high mist on the fell tops that seemed likely to dissipate as the day wore on. Not too cold even prior to the start so I pared down the spare clothing in my back to a waterproof top and gloves.
As we started, it became evident that my memory lapse didn’t just extend to forgetting the whole event. I have done a few of these half-marathonish runny walks in the last few years and they have blurred into one. I had decided that this was the one that had a fairly flat but longish first few kms that would allow me to ease into it. Not so, we were climbing within minutes of the start and soon walking and panting our way up a steep hill to Solomon’s Temple and the first wristband checkpoint. Far more interesting but a bit of a shock to the system. The route carried on enjoyably if not through particularly scenic country through to the official first checkpoint below Axe Edge fords.
The weather being good I was looking forward to the 6 or 7km of the Moors through to checkpoint 2 at Errwood Reservoir. I was running pretty well, breaking up the effort sections with some stiff walking down to the paths along through the woods leading to and alongside the reservoir.
A short section around the reservoir led to checkpoint 5 (I know, but they were numbered for the long route). I remember being disappointed the last time I did this event that I couldn’t run the old railway line up the moors to the tunnel but sadly it was the same again. Lovely views but seeing them for rather too long. Having taken a long time to get going my body was now starting to collapse. Painful knee, calf muscle aching again, back creaking, I tried to keep going jogging the downhills and walking the rest. Getting back into Buxton was good but there was still some serious distance to go on a long loop around the roads.
A relief to finally finish, though I still had the drive back to the badgers and the hills there to come.
