I woke up very early today. Perhaps it was the sunshine streaming into the bedroom, or the early night as a result of the bike ride yesterday. Whatever it was I was ready for a tough run today, and I certainly got that.

The weather was fantastically clear and warm. The former is great for running, the latter not so. The race route actually begins with a 3 mile stretch adding 600ft in altitude, which at least had the positive that I couldn’t go out too fast. The route bobbled along with fantastic views across the High Peak dropping back nicely until mile 7 which was the point I decided was time for my energy gel. Starting the next big hill I realised the heat of the day had taken a lot out of my legs and for the 1.5 mile long 400ft incline I had to resort to more walking than I’d have liked. A few people overtook me but I guess I’d set out quite strongly so it wasn’t the end of the world and I was back into gear by 8.5 miles now the roads dropped away and the gel put some juice back into my legs.

Juice, yes. I’m a devil for not drinking enough whilst running and frequently take a 500ml bottle of cordial along with me, only to consume it at the finish line. Admittedly I did the same today, although I guzzled another 1.5l of water on the route around.

Great to drop back into Buxton and run alongside the Pavilion Gardens past where I’d parked and then back into the other side of the gardens and the finish.

No finishers medal today, just a T-shirt and another 500ml of water. So at least something useful! Although I’m not sure about the electrocuted cat on it…..

I was 85th (yes finally broken into the top 100!) recording a time of 1h46m28s. My slowest of ‘the 13 Challenge’ runs by 3 minutes but I’m upbeat. Not a simple route and boy was it warm out there.

So that’s the first section of the Challenge done. 7 Half-Marathons which is just over half of them that I will do. I’ve a 10k race next weekend (anything for free merchandise) and then it’s the bike ride.

Although I have the North Wales Half-Marathon in August, the onslaught of them continues from the end of September.

Race photos to follow.