Around a year on from vowing to never again give any thought to the idea of attempting my own Bob Graham Round, I discovered the Bob Graham Sounds podcast. Feeling nostalgic, I was back in love again. This was exacerbated when I also discovered the Tea and Trails podcast. Before starting to listen to Eddy and Gary’s chats, I had never seen the point in ultra running. Humans weren’t designed to run such distances. Stories of hallucinations, runners collapsing and post-race night sweats were just a few of my arguments that this is not a natural thing for a human to do. But the Bob Graham Round, well that’s different, isn’t it?
I’m not sure what it was, exactly. No particular conversation or words spoken where I can pinpoint my change of heart. But at some point, somewhere, I once again thought it would be a great idea to train for, and run, my own Bob Graham Round.
I kept it to myself for a little while, as I often do when I’m letting an idea stew. I don’t like vocalising ideas of doing things and then not following through. I pride myself on being a man of my word and if I say I’m going to do something, then it’s going to take something extraordinary for me to not fulfil my promise. This is a bit different, given the magnitude of the task, but the same principle applies.
As it stands, I am a half marathon runner. Sure, I’ve done a few 20+ mile training runs on the trails, but I’ve never even ran a marathon. And yet here I am considering running 66 miles over some of the toughest terrain in the country. So there’s a lot of training ahead and, given my circumstances, there is a lot of scope for life to get in the way. Still, if you don’t set plans in place today, you’re never going to succeed tomorrow. So here I am, plotting my journey to a future Bob Graham attempt, at some point in the future.
I turn 40 in 2027 and figure that would be a great time for an attempt. That gives me three years to train. I’ve no idea if that’s enough time. I guess we’ll have to see as we go along. Ideally, I’d love to have a coach to help get me to where I need to be. As my life stands, I have alternate weeks of having a lot of time to train and not having much time at all. A coach could help me make best use of the time that I have available. £80+ per month however, is a luxury that I must refuse at this time. I’ll take what I can from the internet, and podcasts, and make my own plans, learning as I go.
I eventually expressed my thoughts to Rebecca, my girlfriend, during a recent hike in the Lake District. Her response was more positive than I could ever have imagined. I have her full support, on the proviso that I don’t die while doing it. I reassured her that death is not part of the plan! The day after, we hiked up to Scafell Pike via the Corridor Route, and then around to the north east to the crags, Great End and Glaramara, part of which is some of the BGR route. I loved it. Rebecca was finding it tough so I did a couple of out and backs to tick off some of the summits. We were becoming a bit pushed for time so I ran some of these. It was very uneven under foot but I found it so enjoyable, bouncing from rock to rock.
Onto my plans then. How do I plan to go from road half marathon runner to mountain ultra runner? Gradually is the answer, and it all starts with a trail marathon – the Broadway marathon in the Cotswolds in November. The natural progression from that is a 50km. The Centurion Running Hundred Hills 50km comes as a recommended first ultra. That takes place in March so seems like a good one to target next. Following that, the next step is either another 50km, progressing the elevation, or move onto a 40 or 50-miler. I’ll decide that when I get there and after seeing how the HH50km goes.
It would be great if I could tick off the sub-40 minute 10km before moving onto the trails. That project is already in full flow, with the Milton Keynes 10km in July earmarked for the attempt. If you’re here after the race, check out race reports to see how it went. If it doesn’t go to plan, then I’ll have to come back at some point to achieve that goal. Regardless though, the next step is some trail running. I’ve had enough of road running for a little while.