Sunday 25 October. OMM.

Fellow runners amongst the tussocks and reservoirs during day one of the Original Mountain Marathon (OMM) in the Elan Valley, Wales. If you click on the photo, you can see the rain, which sums up the day....

A heavy cold and a heavier heart, plus the prospect of my 7th KIMM/OMM meant a light week of training with a tough finish. I didn't want to be tired for the OMM so had a good excuse to lay off the training during the week (i managed one 12 mile road run on Thursday before the weekend's 2 day race). To be honest, the OMM was an excuse to not train as i really didn't feel like it anyway.

I've recently been doped up and one of the side-effects is a supression of extremes of mood, both positive and negative. This has had the curious effect of also supressing motivation which has actually worsened my mood cos i didn't run. The idea was that I'd feel better! So, I have chucked all medication in the bin as it has backfired - it's clearly not designed for runners! It might be corny, and it might only temporarily address symptoms, but running is my best and indeed my only therapy right now. In a week when I needed it the most, i ran the least. That won't be happening again.

Resting did mean that the OMM went well and i really enjoyed it, despite it being very tough. Paul and I were 42nd in the Long Score from 191 teams. We were 75th after day 1 but had a really good day 2 (the 25th best) and climbed quite a few places. There are alot of good teams in that Long Score event and so we were pleased. I felt strong throughout and really fresh at the end. I think it's shown that i'm in good shape physically and that the months of recent training have had an effect.

It also demonstrated the value of having a really good feed on the Saturday night. Paul did a great job as food quartermaster. We had tea, more tea, soup, cous cous, pasta, cake with custard, but the highlight was the curry. Paul had bought two portions of vege rogan josh from the takeaway, spread them out on a baking tray and dried them in the oven on a low heat for hours. This resulted in a very light, dry and seemingly tiny mixture of curry and rice. A litre of water turned it into a feast, a gorgeous carb-fest which wafted across the overnight camp. Noone at that event ate as well as us! The Jack D was a terrific, sleep inducing finish to our meal!


Our final course - JD! Taken with a timer, which has the habit of making the subjects look startled!


It was a wet day one and evening, with tents hurriedly pitched in pouring rain. The result was sleeping on very bumpy groud. My head was in a hole! The masses of food and little bit of booze might be an unorthodox mountain marathon strategy but it works!


A rainy campsite

The winter BGR training seems to be going well. It's making me stronger in every sense. Having a goal now is keeping me sane as not working and being somewhat directionless in life gets increasingly difficult.

Hoping to get out in the Cumbrain Traverse this week. Can't wait.