Lads Leap massage and an easy run

The weekend was pretty busy.
Saturday was taken up by Lads Leap, an English Championship race which I had entered a while back. I was very much looking forward to running with and against the best runners in England, but with my knee still not 100%, it was not to be.

Pre event massage at Lads Leap

I have run the course before, reccying it with Glossopdale, and it was a shame that I started feeling a bit of a niggle in my left knee as we went down the first descent. Running against 400 other guys, giving it everything they have with an appendage that isn't quite working properly maybe wasn't going to be the best idea in the world.

I decided to do the intelligent thing (though not the "fellrunning thing") of listening to my body and didn't run the race.
We were there in the capacity of Massage Therapists though, and had a great time talking with everyone from the fellrunning family, helping out with injuries and little things that cropped up. Although there were never times when we had huge queues of people waiting for a massage, once we started, we didn't stop for quite a while.

A checkpoint at the Rab MMM

The evening was filled with merriment as the Glossopdale Massive took over a room in the Globe for the best part of the evening, it was a 40th birthday, and that seemed like a good enough excuse for everyone to get to the pub. A great evening was had by all.

So my attempt at running in a Championship race was foiled, but I did get out for a bit of a run on Sunday. Lynne had entered the Rab Mini Mountain Marathon down in Macclesfield forest, and as I don't know that area well at all, I thought I'd go along for a bit of a run- not entering the race, just running about the place with a map and a camera seeing how my knee held out.
As it was, the weather turned out ok, despite warnings of rain and wind, (though there was a little snow and ice over the tops). The event was 3 hours long, so I planned to be out about 3 hours, at a nice easy pace.

Snow on the tops

All in all it was a delightful day in which I got up Shutlingsloe, across to the Cat and Fiddle, over to Shining Tor and back again. Roclites may not have been the best footwear decision I have ever made. It was still quite slippy underfoot, and I nearly came a cropper more than once. Happily, I stayed upright for the entire time though.
The knee seemed to cope admirably with the 23km that I got around, twinging occasionally, but generally being fairly uncomplaining. The hip mobility and glute activation work must be paying off.

Cat and Fiddle

So it would seem that I am fit enough to contemplate doing Edale Skyline next week, which was part of the reason for not doing Lads Leap (didn't want to crock the knee in a short race which would stop me from enjoying a longer day out on the hill). Its going to be a fun one as I have a night walk  planned for the Saturday night, the clocks go back, and then a race on Sunday. (and no, the night walk is not something I can get out of). Glad I won't be driving back from Skyline!

Runners in the mist

It looks like mobility and strength work over the next 6 days. Brilliant!