Running 11:24:58 [4] 97.09 km (7:03 / km) +3518m 5:58 / km
Fellsman. Wanted to come back for another go after an overly sociable outing last year. Conditions were good mostly with no wind, a bit of rain and sun and loads of hazy mist wafting around making it all very atmospheric, although the fog proper came in later on.
I started fast, partly driven along by another speedy guy who later disappeared. I was well up on last year by the top of Ingleborough and grew the gap all the way to Dent, where I had a decent gap behind too.
Had a bad patch after that and toiled up some of the more gentle climbs. This was a bit worrying as it was still early days and the out and back to Great Knoutberry revealed a group of chasers not far behind. I had been eating a lot though and I think that I often struggle when my body has to divert resources to my stomach. Anyway some caffeinated shot blocks seemed to do the trick and I perked up over the next boggy section.
After that I started to get a bit more confident, just tapping out a solid pace and roughly matching my splits from last year. I made a conscious effort to remember to look around and enjoy myself, as I was too busy nattering last year.
I had properly lost my appetite by the time I reached the bottom of Buckden, but they had a massive tray of juicy red apples there, which cheered me up no end. That was the last proper food I could manage and it was Kendal Mint Cake from there in in for the last couple of hours. I did feel bad rejecting all the amazing food that they had lovingly prepared at all the checkpoints all day.
By Great Whernside I was feeling fairly confident, still moving OK and making good progress. I didn't even mind the boggy bit on the way down and seemed to get pretty good lines generally in spite of the fog. I realised a bit too late that a PB was still realistic and ran the last ~10km pretty hard to chase it down, but I was a minute or so off in the end. Rory Harris was second around 25 mins back. Really enjoyed almost all of that - its a cracking race and I thoroughly recommend it!