"Piggford Moor"

It's 8am on Saturday morning, the sun is starting to heat up the day. There isn't a cloud in the sky and you have run for over an hour in the hills without seeing a single person. Definitely the best run of the year so far

"Lads Leap - The English Fell Championships"

It may only have been six miles long but Lads Leap was the toughest six for a very long time. The first round of the English Champs drew some of the best fell runners around and I saw them twice, at the start and after about ten minutes when I made the mistake of looking up the one mile drag of the first climb to see tiny colours moving along the skyline!

It was as hard as the views were fantastic of the tops, not that I stopped too much as I was busy concentrating on traversing the unrunnable five foot deep ravines across the peat bogs of the Peak District!


Over 1700 feet of climbing it took me 80. 52 to complete, but I wasn't last!

Weekly mileage 21. Annual mileage 284 (week 11). Races 6. Sessions 53.

"Cloud 9"

Sleet, driving rain and a temperature hovering around 3c, yes spring is definitely not on its way! After a week where the weather seemed to warm up and promise good conditions for my first running of the Cloud 9 race for over ten years it clearly had other ideas.


Run from Congleton up Bosley Cloud topping out at just over 1100 feet with magnificent views over the Cheshire Plain (when you aren't actually in cloud as this morning) this is a tough race at the best of times but continual rain had turned the trails to sticky mud and the weather made for a recommended full body cover from the organisers, something I was only to happy to comply with.

After a fast flat first mile the course gradually ascends over the fields leading to a winding ascent of "The Cloud". The descent was probably more difficult with slippery tree routes and rocks just waiting to turn the ankle but I still managed a smile for the photo!. All in all though I was happy with an 82.19 and a mid race finish position which was slightly faster than I had predicted but I'm not going to look to see how it compares to my previous outings.

Weekly mileage 32. Annual mileage 238 (week 9). Races 5. Sessions 44