Wuthering Hike here we come

I've spent the week since the High Peak Marathon thinking about the Wuthering Hike. It's always been difficult to prepare for this race with it being so close to HPM. I think I'm doing quite well this year, taking it easy and then going for a 6 mile run north of Chippenham this lunchtime. The lunchtime run felt good: I was pleasantly surprised with how I was running.

This lunchtime I was running with Martin Indge. I'm running with him as a team in Wuthering Hike. We have ulterior motives here as Martin is going to be running the Three Peaks Yacht Race with me this summer and we want to see how we can run together effectively as a team. Martin is also hoping to have a crack at the Vasque series this year, so running with him should be a good way of easing him into the scene (and showing him the way!).

I keep visualising the course in my head. This will be my third time in the race and I think I know it quite well now. I'm hoping to navigate well. The section round the back of Todmorden golf course is a particular concern as there are loads of little alleyways and ginnels round there. I'm also looking at navigating the very last section better than last year. In 2008 I had to ask the local dogwalkers where Howarth was: not my best navigational effort to date, but at least I showed resourcefulness!

Whether Wuthering Hike will make a big impact on my final position in the Vasque series is not my greatest concern (but we'll be giving it everything). I'm going to be running several team races with the other Martin this year and Wuthering Hike should be a good learning curve for us.

Good luck to everyone else racing this weekend!