It was many things: tiring, lots of fun, hot, the most physically tough thing I’ve ever done, a good test of the amount of food we need to carry, and so on. It’s really hard to describe the full range of emotions and feelings that accompany such a mammoth event.

We had planned to do 26 miles but in reality we ended up doing 28.7 miles as we took some wrong turnings here and there. Reading this now you may think that extra 2.7 miles to be insignificant. We’ll, you would be VERY wrong!

All told we were our for about 7 and a half hours, but the last 5 miles took an hour and half, largely due to the pain I was having in my right foot. Obviously, we weren’t breaking any speed records but this wasn’t a marathon (which is primarily flat and on roads), this was a 28.7 mile fell run. We covered some really tough terrain; hills we had to walk up (and down), scrambling over rocky outcrops and plenty of woodland routes littered with badly placed tree roots.

Previously, the most I’d run was about 14 miles so I’m well chuffed with yesterdays run. Rich had run slightly less than me previously, so his effort was even greater.

The run was painful and increasingly hard to push on after about 18 miles. A couple of weeks ago I bruised my right foot by standing on a sharp rock, that injury obviously hadn’t healed fully and after about 20 miles it started to hurt a lot. The last 5 miles were really tough and any downhill took me close to agony.

I’ve got one blister just below my big toe on my right foot, probably due to that fact that I was wearing new shoes. I’d got my Vibram fivefingers KSO Trek the day before and couldn’t leave them at home! They performed really well. The only downside was running so much on roads, but we didn’t plan to do that and they aren’t designed for that so I can’t hold that against them!

Physical hardship apart, I learnt a lot about our run:

• We need more water than we can carry – the route needs to include plenty of places where we can fill up
• We need lots of food when we stop – in our rucksacks we had enough food I feel but when we stop, we need lot’s to carry us over until we can find a suitable evening meal. We finish each day around 5pm but many places don’t serve food until 7pm.
• Sun cream doesn’t work when running – I’d covered myself in factor 30 as I burn easily. When we started running, my face instantly became a horrid mix of sun cream and sweat. Not pleasant. I need to get a buff head covering instead.
• We need to know the route well – we made a couple of errors yesterday and that add extra miles that we don’t need. Also, psychologically, knowing where you are and how far you have left to go makes a huge difference.
• We need more time to do our run – we’d imagined 6 hours would be a good time for 26 miles. Assuming the terrain is similar, we’re going to need more like 7 hours.

Lots to think about really. The run has given us all a massive amount to think about. At this point though I’m not sure if I feel better or worse now I’ve done that distance. On the plus side, I know I can do it. On the minus side, it was rock hard… and we need to do that 6 times in a row!

Okay, I’ve decided, I feel worse. Much worse!

We’re running 26 (ish) miles from Sheffield to Baslow and back again. You can see our rough route here.

I have to thank the volcanic ash cloud for blocking UK airspace as otherwise RIch would be unable to make it due to being in Norway. But now we’ve a full contingent of runners.

As well as being a test of our fitness (or lack thereof) it’s a chance to work out other things such as how much food do we need? Will we have enough water? Is 6 hours a good pace to aim for? And so on and so forth.

I’d love to say I’m confident that I can do it but the reality is that I’m pooing myself! 26 miles is almost double the furthest I’ve ever run before and I’ve not been running long since my blisters and I’m not sleeping brilliantly and… There are a million and one reasons why this will be hard but I need to keep telling myself that I can do it and if it takes longer than 6 hours, it takes longer. If Eddie Izzard can do it, so can I!

On the plus side, I should be running in my new Vibram FiveFingers KSO Treks! They’ve finally arrived in the UK and I placed my order for next day delivery today. I’m far too excited really, they’re only shoes after all…

There is still so much to arrange, so much to agree on, so much training still to be done, but time is short. Oh I wish I had a TARDIS!

I am finding myself flipping between absolute conviction that we’ll all do it without issue and utter disbelief that it is possible even to run one cross-country marathon distance in a day let alone six!

We’re all going out to try our first 26 mile run on Sunday. A route to Baslow and back is about right so I’ll finalise a route later in the week. We’re going to leave six hours to do it in and try running with our full packs and have the day as close to the real thing as possible.

I’m scared. Very scared.

26 miles seems such a ludicrous distance. At the moment 16 miles seems doable but even 20 is too far. I need to get out of that mindset, and quickly!

To test how my blistered feet were healing I went for a run in my normal, cushioned running trainers. I was cautious about wearing my FiveFingers as I really didn’t want to hinder the healing process (I’ve had far too long out as it is).

Setting off through the park was hard. Nothing to do with the shoes, but not running for three weeks ruins your fitness! Once through the mental barriers, I got into my stride and started noticing pain in my left knee and ankle.

It got slowly worse through the run. By the time I’d finished my 4 miles I certainly wasn’t in agony but it wasn’t pleasant. I also noticed that my thighs were killing me. They were really tired and the next day they felt awful still.

I went out and did the same route in my fivefingers and what do you know? My legs, knees and ankles were fine. No pain, no real tiredness, no hurting blisters.

This is far from a conclusive, scientific test here but wearing fivefingers for the first time changes your gait: you absorb shock using your calves rather than relying on the shoe. Running on cushioned shoes seems to bypass the calves and concentrate effort in the thighs. I’m sure there’s a PhD thesis in there somewhere…

That’s assuming I can walk though! Today’s run with Rich was a good 10.5 miles and I was a little concerned before we set off. Concerned for two reasons. Firstly, I took a very brief run on Wednesday evening but about 2 miles in I got a really bad pain my left leg, in the bone, behind my calf muscle. By the time I got to about 3 miles I had to stop and walk for a bit. I took it very, very easy and got back home after running about 4.5 miles. That evening my ankles, calves and the bone in my lower left leg hurt a lot.

Secondly, my blisters haven’t healed yet. They were still painful and the run on Wednesday evening was painful.

Anyway, we set off and much to my relief all was well. My leg wasn’t hurting and although I could feel my blisters, it wasn’t at all painful.

However the last 2 miles of our run was on roads and mainly downhill (running downhill forces you to heel strike which is really bad in five fingers if the ground is hard). After about a mile I was in pain with my blisters. I had taken a pair of “normal” running shoes with me for just this reason. I should have stopped and swapped my shoes, but for some unbelievably stupid reason, I was stubborn and completed the run in my five fingers. What an idiot!

Now my feet are killing me and my blisters are bigger than they ever were! I’ve just returned from the bathroom after popping them and covering them in antiseptic. I do have to say that popping them has released a lot of pressure (and fluid of course!). I’m going to wear normal shoes until they go this time!

If you see me in my five fingers before my blisters have gone, you have my permission to give me a slap!

But not too hard…

The day started with a run in the company of my brother-in-law, Mr Mark Sprenger. He’s just started running and was up to about two miles. I’d told him that was nonsense and, seeing as he’d done that distance three or four times now, he could easily run much more than that.

He insisted that he couldn’t and also refused to believe that he was running too fast.

Anyway we set off and it was an effort to slow him down! He shot off at a ridiculous pace – probably about 9mph! The young whipper-snapper reminded me of me, out for a run with that wily old fox JP many years ago in my first attempt to get into running (I was unsuccessful then!).

We settled into a much more reasonable pace and made good progress through the parks. All in all we did 4.5 miles in about 45 minutes, which Mark was (rightly) impressed with.

Later on we went out for a walk through Longshaw and then retired to the shelter of the Fox House for food. It was snowing heavily at this point. I was going to run back from there while everyone else drove back and wasn’t too impressed with the snow.

In the pub, I had a dilemma over food. What do you eat before a run? I mean, I know what you should eat ideally, but in a pub there’s really only pub food. I was starving hungry as I’d not eaten loads after my run in the morning and so settled for a shepherd’s pie.

We didn’t stay long after that and I set off for the run home only 30 minutes after lunch. My stomach was still heavy but thankfully it had stopped snowing.

The route back was 9 miles, bringing my total to 13.5 for the day. It was all done in my Five Fingers, which is the furthest I’ve run in them in one day.

The next day my calves ached a little but I was able to walk and run without any issues at all. That’s good news for me as I was a little worried that my calves would be in pain. I must be getting stronger!

Now I’ve done a couple of 13 miles in a day, my next target is an 18 mile run. I think I’ll do one more 13 miler and then up it to 18 miles in a couple of weeks. Then by the first week of April I need to up it again to 24 miles or perhaps a full 26 miles.

We’d been planning the route for a while but to wake on Sunday morning to about 6 inches of snow was a shock. The run would be off, or so I thought. We were all up for cancelling the run but JP kept strong. He was going to go out anyway… That made me feel like a wimp and so reluctantly I said I’d go. Boy, am I glad I did.

I couldn’t wear my FiveFingers as they had less than no grip in the snow, so it was back on with my trail shoes.

When I met Smack and JP (Rich decided against joining us) I felt way under dressed. I’d forgotten my hat, my gloves and I was in shorts. But I’d remembered the important things: lots of homemade peanut butter and honey flapjacks and a jam jar full of homemade sloe gin!

Off we set to the park. The route was through Endcliffe Park as usual, up to Fulwood Lane. Nothing out of the ordinary here, except for feeling the extra strain of carrying a 30 litre rucksack. It wasn’t over packed and on the run we’ll need more stuff, but it was much heavier than the pack I’d been taking out previously. Smack and JP were carrying hydration packs too – the first time they’d taken a pack at all. I think they were shocked at how much extra effort that required.

Once at Fulwood Lane we started across fields and open countryside. Did I mention that it was snowy?! After a windy and exposed mile, I think the cold got to us. We took a wrong turn and ran back to path across knee deep snow and stopped to have a snow ball throwing competition and then carried on laughing hysterically. Writing it down, it doesn’t seem funny at all, but somehow out there, it was the funnies thing in the world!

The route only got harder, the ground got boggier and snow got deeper. Running across frozen bogs was really disconcerting. Hearing the crack of the ice underfoot and waiting for the time when it gives way and you go up to your ankles in freezing bog water… we all took a tumble or two and had at least a shoe-full of bog!

We missed the path and had to scramble across some rocks to get to Redmires Reservoir. We got to the reservoir, 7 miles, in about 2 hours! A quick stop for more flap jacks and a glug of sloe gin and we were off on the homeward leg. It was good to pick up some speed and get out of the snow because at this point I couldn’t feel my fingers at all and my feet were freezing.

The route was dull in comparison on the way home, along a path by a stream (which I was convinced I was going to fall into!) and then back through the parks. We covered the final 6 miles in just under an hour which is pretty good going. Running on snow is like running twice as far in terms of effort.

The last 2 miles were hard. Really hard. My legs were tired. My feet were aching and it was a real effort to keep going.

At the end we were all exhausted but very pleased we’d done it. Thanks JP for keeping us strong!

Surprisingly, today I feel good. My legs are tired but not stiff or sore. I tried running and it doesn’t hurt at all but my legs feel empty. No power there at all.

I’m going to go for a 2-3 mile walk to loosen up and tomorrow I’ll try a 4 mile run.

I’d go on runs with Smack and when I would moan he’d always say things like, “Yeah, but it’s great to be out. Isn’t it?”. Every time I would respond along the lines of, “No, it isn’t. It’s hard work and I’m knackered!”

But this last week or so, something has changed. I think it’s because I’ve changed my routes to get in as many hills and as much off-road as possible. Even through the parks I’m looking for the hidden path away from the main route and I’ve taken to following off-road footpaths I’ve never seen before, just to see where they go.

The FiveFingers pay their part too. I’ve mentioned before that running on the road or pavements is fine but running on the grass or through the woods feels amazing. Coming from a trail back onto a hard path is like coming down off some drug induced high (I imagine, of course I have never taken any illegal drugs.)

I see pictures of woods or beautiful scenery and rather than thinking, “That looks nice, I wouldn’t mind going there”, I’m thinking “I’d love to run around there!”

The joy to be had in just running is bizarre. I can’t explain it at all. Why would just putting one foot in front of the other over and over and over and over be such good fun? I mean, I’m not even chasing a ball or anything!

It’s my rest day today but I’m itching to go out and find a new path to explore or just run through the muddiest, wettest bits of the woods I can find!

It’s taken nearly seven months but I think it’s happened.

My name is Kit. And I’m addicted to running.

Today was a 7 miler through the parks into the Peaks. It was muddy and wet. Perfect conditions for a run really. You can see my run here.

At first I’d planned an easy 6 miler through the park, I’m still getting used to my Vibram FiveFingers and didn’t want to push it too far too soon. But as I got almost to Fulwood Lane I noticed a footpath across a field that looked interesting. I would like to point out that the reason I took the path was that it looked interesting and had nothing to do with the fact that it was downhill and I was tired of going uphill. Honest.

Anyway, taking that path was an inspired move. It proved to be a brilliant route with varied terrain – some roads, some tracks and lots of mud! It also opened my eyes to a whole new area of available routes that I’d not really thought of before.

I sped up and was running with a smile on my face. Perhaps it was endorphins or perhaps it is just actually good fun to go for a run. Whatever the reason, it was brilliant. I did 7.1 miles in about an hour and ten minutes. Considering the terrain and the hills, I’m well pleased with that.

How did my FiveFingers perform? I have an entire post about that…

I was a little worried because it was freezing this morning. Literally. A bit of snow on the ground and frozen ponds in the park. I was concerned about how well the FiveFingers would cope with slippery conditions and whether or not my feet would turn into blocks of ice! I was wearing toe socks but wearing FiveFingers you can really feel the temperature of the ground.

Even though I was [mostly] expecting the run to be fine on my legs, knees, ankles and feet, having read so many warnings about being extra careful as atrophied muscles will moan and hurt for a while, I was a little nervous that I would ache really badly.

My plan was to do a couple of miles at most.

After one mile I felt good. Really good. My feet weren’t at all cold, I had no pain from either bones or muscles and I couldn’t even feel the blisters that I’ve had on my second toe since starting running.

I didn’t want to stop and so I kept on going. All in all I did four miles but could easily have gone further. I only stopped because I was worried that I’d regret it afterwards when, later in the day, my calves hurt like hell.

I was running slightly differently too. My observations were that I was:

• running with a higher cadence
• taking noticeably shorter strides
• running faster than usual (four miles in just over 30 minutes)

Running on hard ground didn’t feel odd at all. It didn’t feel like I was pounding the ground either. But running on grass and mud, even frozen solid grass and mud felt brilliant. I wasn’t expecting that at all. I found myself running on the verges where possible, not because the pavement hurt but because the grass felt so good!

Grip wise, it’s hard to tell. The thing I noticed was that, because I could feel the ground much more, I could tell when my feet were slipping even a little bit. So I did notice the ground was slippy. I can’t tell if this is just increased sensation or decreased grip.

Now I’m back I can feel the smallest amount of tightness in my left calf. At this point I don’t know if I would feel that normally after a run or whether it’s from the FiveFingers. We’ll see after a longer run I guess. Tomorrow I’ll up it to 6 miles.