Slip, slip, ouch, tear, doh!

Well another week done with a few more miles under the belt. I think I have developed a shoe fetish mind you. I had been advised by my fellow fell running friend Jon to include a change of footwear for every rest stop on my up and coming Paddy Round, to reduce the chance of blistering, rubbing etc. Mmmm good idea I thought, but then realised I only owned 1 pair of fell shoes. So that was that, I was caught up in an Internet bargain hunting frenzy. After around about an hour 4 new pairs of shoes had been ordered and were winging there way towards me. Hurrah for January sales as you all know fell shoes aren't the cheapest of things to buy...mmm maybe I should buy shares in Inov8.

Well the arrival of my Mudclaw 330's saw me all excited and wanting to test them out on Sunday. So as it was new shoes I thought it may as well be a new course. So when my friend Tracy arrived it was a hop into the car and off to Edale. We drove past the Roaches, looking splendid bathed in sunlight, and remarked it would have made a great run today; but onwards to new pastures we thought. Well I say new pastures, Edale is in the Dark Peak so it would be more accurate to say onwards to new heather bogs.

When we pulled into the car park the sunshine had disappeared and the Dark Peak was living up to its name. I had packed my Haglof Ozo just in case, but as soon as I got out of the car I thought crikey that is going on straight away; the winds were up and temperatures had plummeted. Still though, with map and compass, we made a good start and enjoyed the run along the Edale vale past Grindslow House. We then forked west along Grinds Brook. As we started the ascent the dreaded white stuff became more prevalent. Once again we had to slow due to the ice at the top, as most of the rock stepping stones were covered in ice. The initial ascent took us from around 240 metres to 590 metres so I freely admit I was beginning to get warmer! At the top of Grinds Brook it was a compass reading to check our direction and then off West  Crowden Tower and Edale Head. It surprised me to see how much snow and ice was around on the top. I expected it last week in Snowdonnia but for some reason I didn't expect to see the whole top covered at Edale still. But hey ho onwards we went. We picked up the Pennine way at Edale Head and went North towards Kinder Low and Cluthers Rocks still slip sliding our way around. The peat bogs were frozen which helped in one respect but in another way the frozen peat mounds were throwing our ankles all over the place, so we still had to be careful with our foot placement. When we got to Kinder Downfall we were treated with a great sight of the Waterfall with a white frozen sheen covering the surrounding millstone grit. We then bore off to the North West and off to Ashop Head. It was on this section that I didn't pay attention to my foot placement and over I went...slip, slip, fall, ouch, tear! The tearing bit was in two parts; a few minor grazes to me- no problem, but then upon looking down...nooooooo...my Haglof Ozo had torn across the middle. Dam! The lesson here I think is to leave race kit at home and wear training kit for training. So needless to say I was then muttering on like a grumpy old man for the next 10 minutes ha.

At Ashop Head it was time to run Eastward to Fairbrook Naze along The Edge. It was also at this time that we noted the sun had probably only got another hour left in it before it set. And yep I had not packed my head torch. Time to get a wiggle on then. So it was as fast as we could go over the snow and ice to Seal Stones along Seal Edge. Past them and along Blackden Moor, buy this time our legs were beginning to realise they had been working hard and it was time to reassess the situation. So at Blackden Edge we took a compass bearing straight South to cut of the corner of our planned route and go over the moor top to Nether Tor. It was the right decision, when we got to Nether Tor and we could see the descent before us the sun was on the horizon just beginning to set. So it was a quick descent past a group of 4 other fell runners coming down from Ringing Roger and a stride out back to the car park. We left Edale just as the sun set; Tracy moaning about how she hates running through heather bogs and myself moaning about my torn Haglof ha. However, we both enjoyed the challenge and will no doubt be back to finish the planned route another day. All in all we were out for 3hours 30mins over 14.5 miles, it wasn't fast but then again conditions were not favourable and it was our first time over the course. But a good training run regardless :)