Bob Graham - this Saturday

Start of the 1st attempt - the calm before the storm...

At midnight this Friday I'm planning my second attempt at completing The Bob Graham Round.  I tried back in May but was thwarted by some ropey weather conditions.  My love for running in rain and wind usually sees my placing at races improved over sunny days when faster runners can stretch their legs.  I enjoy 'gritting it out' but it seems there's a big difference between a sub-12hr effort in those conditions and a challenge like the Bob Graham where you're out on particularly exposed terrain for nearly 24hrs.  It will only have made me tougher though and hopefully will help when I set off again this weekend.

The route (taken from www.gofar.org.uk)

The forecast is set fair bar some potential rain during the first few hours and I'm running on a 22hr schedule.  The stats say the 42 peak circular route is 72miles with 27,000ft of climbing (in practice it's probably slightly shorter - my GPS says about 68miles) but the difficulty lies in the technical underfoot conditions and the constant ascent/descent with few opportunities to get any real rhythm going.  I've run the route numerous times in bits...never in one.  This time Ronnie Turner (fresh from his surprise Paddy Buckley Round success a few weeks ago) will be running round with me which should make the whole day feel pretty sociable.

The plan is to thoroughly enjoy running a circuit of the most beautiful area in the country.  I'll be posting a full report of how it goes next week.  In the meantime, there'll be updates from my road support team via my Twitter feed @teamwebb which should be on the right hand side of this page.