A transition from doubt

Dry days- 75
Days of rain- 62

After I registered for the Morecambe Cross Bay Challenge in a fit of success and wine, I woke yesterday to the realisation that 13.1 miles across wet sand and rivers may not be that easy. I wondered to myself if this was a bridge too far, a thought that sat in my mind all of yesterday.

I finished at a reasonable time today, so I put on my shoes and went for a run in the drizzle. I had a vague idea of where I was going but no real plans and no idea of distance. I wanted to see how far I could go, so I set off at rest pace and just kept going.

Somewhere around a mile from home my legs were going, but I made it back OK. After checking distances online I have managed to do 10.8 miles, in 1:54:45 (although that includes time spent waiting at crossings etc) which gives an average of 9.1kmh- certainly not fast but I know I can do a half marathon now and if I kept up that pace it would be in 2 hours 20 minutes, although I am under no illusions that the Cross Bay Challenge will be tough and no place for a PB.

Tired now, but quite pleased. Need a bit more prep before the day, and it should be OK.

Pissed off with the weather though, totally shite.

Manchester 10k

Dry days- 75
Days of rain- 60

Blob 2 had her super exciting mega fun birthday party yesterday, so we all had sugar and E-number fuelled kids to deal with. More excitement when BeardyBeast needed a jump start due to forgetfulness. My knee has been pretty bad recently and I wasn't even sure if I was going to do the Manchester 10k.

I was taking the Doc to Manchestah anyway as she was doing the race, so I decided to give it a go. It was cold and rainy today, not ideal but at least it was cooler than it has been for sometime. I ended up doing the run, taking a rucksack full of coats along the way. Other than the bad knee I felt pretty decent, although by no means was I pushing it. I managed to get around OK, my stopwatch said 56:14 but the electronic chip time will be out soon.

I've been thinking about doing the Morecambe Bay half marathon- after today I'm even more keen, looks like a really interesting day out. In fact, I may go and register right now.

Bugger

Either the wall or my recent return to running has annoyed my left knee. It's never been right since Magic Bus and the last time I started training for a 10k it flared up. I thought last time it was a meniscal pathology, and the fact it settled down meant I'd left it alone. I'll have to see what it does long term, but it has pissed me off somewhat.

So the question this week is this: do I go running again to train for the Manc Run, risking annoying it more? Or rest it until the run itself, relying on basic fitness to muddle through. The was it is today I'm thinking the latter.

Crap Indoors As Usual

Dry days- 75
Days of rain- 52

I had an hour at Wet Poo today, before an afternoon at work. I felt battered actually, dragging myself up lots of V4/5 things and getting close to a few V6s. Fingers are quite sore too.

The fact the last few days have been wet means Red Wall will be out for a bit, projects will have to wait for a bit.

The Weather Breaks

Dry days- 75
Days of rain- 50

Today it rained- I am really pleased to have got Rivers of Blood done yesterday.

As it was raining I thought I'd go for a run, especially as I have the Manchester 10k in 2 weeks or so and I haven't run since November. I did the local circuit after work, 4.83km in 23:50 (12.2kmh) in the rain. It felt OK, but I could do with doing some longer runs to get stamina back.

Whilst running it occurred to me that I could link the sitter of RoB into my 6b Jump Arete- I reckon this would be a notch harder than RoB SDS. But the rain needs top bugger off first.

YYFY

Dry days- 75
Days of rain- 43

This afternoon I had a couple of hours free, and as the forecast suggests rain soon I opted to look at Cadshaw again.

On the way over the fire of Anglezarke Moor was evident, having spread across to Wheelton Moor over as far as the A675. Quite a decent burn area, reinforced by the number of fire engines around.

Red Wall wsa in pretty decent nick. I spent a while trying the various moves on the Red Wall, before getting sucked into my project. After a lot of trying I managed to link from the LH crack and RH sidepull to the finish of the stand up of Rivers Of Blood (that nobody else can do as they can't reach the starting holds?!?).

After a lot more trying I finally did the project. It felt super hard, I'll suggest 7b+, but also very morpho (my solution involved a dynamic slap at full stretch for me) and condition dependant. Really really pleased though, it's a cool problem.

So there was the little matter of the Rick's Arete project. Shit, this is also pretty tough. And as my skin was trashed and ROB had given me a flapper, I left it for another day- and headed home happy. And psyched for more. YYFY.

Rivers of Blood from GCW on Vimeo.

Esoterica

Dry days- 72
Days of rain- 43

A day at Fairy Steps. The Trick and beyond!

Greg's guide mentions a couple of things of V6 and above beyond The Trick. I explored a bit, eventually finding the V6 wall. This ended up being a really hard pull on, then a slap for the top. it took a while to get the move sussed but then it was dans le sac.

I then did the rib to the left, although I didn't top out as there was a big loose block.

Then back to The Trick, and the sitter. After trying to do The Trick via my original sequence:

The Trick Font 7a/+ from GCW on Vimeo.

I suddenly found a Trick involving a left foot lock. After a bit I managed to link from the sitter, albeit via a not--as-eliminate as before sequence.

This weather is pretty mad, almost 4 weeks of sun and dry weather. Time to get on the projects....................................

Even More Fairy Steps from GCW on Vimeo.