Herod Farm 3m 1100'

with the happy arrival of optimisticjunior v 2.0 in February, my time on the hill has been pretty limited so far this year, but i have managed a couple of 10 mile / 2 hour sessions over recent weekends, along with running the Edale Skyline through to the Mam Nick checkpoint, where i pulled out as i'd been running with a raging flu infection and was actually shivering despite temperatures of around 20 degrees C - but i'd still done around 3000' so had a good trot out none the less.

so with an almost (relatively) respectable amount of longer running in my legs, but a lack of short sharp stuff, i was slightly nervous about my second attempt at this race.

i'm hoping to 'race myself to fitness' in the absence of a decent training schedule, so was ready to give this one all i had. at least i knew about the second hill as i'd be really gutted if i thought the race was over once i'd got to the top first time round!!

took a wrong line into the heather!

conditions on the night were pretty drizzly, and the foot of the second climb was a quagmire by the time us mere mortals came to plough our furrows through it, but i managed to run most of the course to clock a time that was 1m20 faster than 2011's time.

This was also my first run as a Pennine member - unfortunately i've not got round to getting a vest yet - John Jodrell was on his jols when i spoke to him to try and arrange one - and a sense of not wanting to let the side down helped spur me on.

It was good to speak to George Scott and another Pennine runner whose name escapes me.

happy with my race, didn't set the world on fire but after a pretty hectic start to the year, it's a pleasure to be out on the hill. next stop: Kinder Downfall on Sunday!