The RAB 2012

Last weekend was spent in the Cheviots at the RAB Mountain Marathon, with my mountain marathon partner and friend, Dave.

I haven’t been to the Cheviots before and was looking forward to exploring a new area.  I took Friday off work so that I could get ready and travel without a mad rush, so I started out with that lovely holiday feeling. 

We stayed in the youth hostel in Berwick on Friday evening.  Our pre event dinner was fish and chips (well, sausage in my case!) eaten sat on a bench on the town walls watching the sun set with a view of the sea.  The weather was cool, bright and dry with a light breeze and this lasted for the whole weekend; perfect running conditions. 

On Saturday we got off to a bit of a ropey start in terms of navigation and route choices, but we soon tuned into the map and landscape and the rest of the day went well.  We found ourselves knee deep in heather for most of the day which made the going tough; I bet it looked stunning a few weeks ago when the heather was still in bloom.

The overnight camp was in a beautiful remote valley.  We’d started quite early so had plenty of time to settle in and enjoy the peace of the area.  I was particularly pleased to see a male hen harrier patrolling up and down the valley (well at least I’m pretty sure that is what it was).

It was cold over night but I was warm enough in my new PHD sleeping bag, RAB power stretch tights, OMM top and crux down jacket …with hat, buff, and gloves too!  It took ages to get to sleep as I’d accidentally eaten a gel with caffeine in about an hour before we were due to finish.  I did eventually get to sleep and although I woke up frequently I slept pretty well.  There was ice on the tent in the morning and our socks were frozen.  I warmed mine on the pot before putting them on!

We had a great run on Sunday.  There were no navigational difficulties and the route we chose worked really well.   For the first few controls we saw only a few solo runners, and really enjoyed navigating without the distraction of other runners nearby.

The post race food was delicious, a Scottish recipe; Stovies made with chicken.  I’ve not had it before and will definitely have a go at making it at home.

Thanks Dave for joining me for the weekend, for being a gent, and for rescuing my water bottle from a particularly revolting muddy bog, carrying it up the hill and cleaning it for me.  I suspect the outcome might have been slightly different if it had been me that fell in the mud instead of just the bottle!!!

All in all a great weekend in the hills…roll on the next one!