THE KIELDER JAUNT

A run from the bottom of cheviot to Kielder village was something Karl had been dreaming up for a while,so when the time came i was looking forward to it.The only thing i could see spoiling it was the weather so when i was awoken in the night to the sound of torrential rain on the window the alarm bells started ringing.
I was out the house for 5 past 6 picking up the other 4 runners to make our way to Langleeford,the rain had stopped but it was bitterly cold.
A snow covered Hedgehope came into view as we drove up the road,i could hardly say anything as the absurdity of the whole situation hit me like a lead balloon-i'm going to run 32miles!in the snow!with 4 people,3 of which i would never have even met let alone ran with a couple of years ago.
David and Alison who i did the Lakeland 50 with(managed to shoehorn it in)Sue is a member of the Northumberland fell runners that i've seen at almost every race i've done this year,Karl,i've known since our maxways days 20 years ago( now a parish councilor and along with Rob Murray John is the 1st male member of a pta anywhere in the world) and Adam,a surfer/runner who i've just realised says the last sentence in a broad Leeds/Harrogate accent (chaaarlieh)was accompying us for a bit of the way.
I had my 1st food of the day,a jaffa cake bar and a twix washed down with some fresh orange juice.Looking at what the others were taking i felt massively under prepared,i had a bottle of powerade and 2 energy gels .
We hit the snow half way up Cheviot,getting my feet wet for the 1st time made me realise how cold it was going to be,quick photo op at the summit then we were off,theres not much to say about the run other than we were either on ice covered paving slabs or snow covered boggy ground,neither is great so i'm sure if we had done this run 4 months earlier it would have been far quicker.
I was 1st to go arse over tit,a rather theatrical slip landing on my side in wet peat drew a 9.5 from the judges but by the end of the day i think we'd all went over 1 way or the other.
Running in the wet was taking its toll,constantly having to pull a foot out of the bog or trying to stop yourself slipping is unbelieveably draining.I think that was 1 of the reasons i was a little quiet,apart from a brief chat about Tom Cruise-his best films,how good looking he was in Top Gun etc etc i just left Karl and David to talk about computers and what covered the earth 500 years ago(honest to god they were).
By 18 miles i was beginning to regret not being as prepared as the rest,cold sweat,sore head and stomach cramp told me i needed food,the onion rings (choice of the elite runner)that Leanda would be waiting at the 20 mile mark would be the greatest ever.
A brief 2 mile or so not knowing if the wives would be at Burness due to a road closure and them just being women(joking)were tough but it all worked out ok as we met them on the road.
The coop onion rings were tasting like Marks n Spencers finest,the coke was'nt touching the sides and by the time i had changed my socks and trainers i felt a lot better and the doubts about not finishing had lifted.
Not far into the 12 mile run through Kielder forrest i realised i needed to keep going as chafing and aches were taking over my body but its not the most interesting run i've ever done 1 tree looked like the next and around every corner was another stretch of road with trees either side.It was only when i happened upon a parked car the excitement levels grew.Just as i got up to it a bloke jumped out,oh god i thought,whats he doing.He had something in his hand,a hammer?knife?gun?no it was a camera!he nodded and walked past me.Out the corner of my eye i could see he wasn't about to attack me,phew,i was safe-to run along a road with trees either side!
I met up with Leanda and Cindy about 4 miles from the end and leanda ran back with me,modesty stops me from saying she still couldnt keep up with me(oops)i was glad to have finished it with her and a couple of minutes later the rest were done too,after a few back slaps we headed home,eventually finding the right road i now realised what a nightmare the women had had getting through.
Apart from a sick stop for David the spirits were high and we discussed everything from school to swimming,it was when Alison nonchelantly said "yes i got sick of driving to the bottom of the alps so the men could go climbing"i felt exactly the same as i had 10 hours earlier-i wouldnt have known these people had i not started running,god i'm glad i did.
thanks to Karl for organising it,the people for running it,the women for driving/moral support and Lisa n Caroline for looking after the boys!