Wintery Hill

Last night I got back on the spin bike after my epic stint last week.  I'm not sure if I was just tired or if I was on a really hard bike (they're all calibrated differently) but I was really struggling to get any speed up in the gears suggested and the only way I could keep to 120rpm was to be in a really low gear.  It was still a great workout though and I felt I deserved my pizza, wine and chocolate when I got home.

This morning I was going to have a lie in but, wide awake at 7.50 I decided to rush around and try to get to the UTUP.  I was running late so sent Ed a text to tell him I'd meet him en route.

I left my house at about 8.40 and headed straight up to George's Lane, which was a huge struggle today and I found myself having to walk a bit of it.  Once on George's Lane I bumped into Paul Boardman and his border collie running in the opposite direction and Paul also said he was struggling this morning.  Nice to know it wasn't just me!

I ran up the Pike, well ran/walked up, and when I got to the top and looked down the other side, Ed and John had just come through the gate at the bottom.  I found a sheltered side of the building and stood waiting there for them to come up.  It was bitterly cold up there this morning.

We ran down off the Pike which was incredibly slippery and made our way over to Two Lads.

We then ran up to the mast and then headed to the end of the mast road before descending the diagonal to George's Lane.  The wind on top of Winter Hill was absolutely freezing and the left side of my face when completely numb.  I just wanted to get down that hill but it was quite slow going as it was really slippery and difficult to see the best places to put your foot down.

Once onto George's Lane we headed to the road and then turned right to Hordern Stoops then headed up and over to Lower Hempshaws.  At this point, I decided I needed a second pair of gloves as my hands were now freezing.

We ran along the trail into Lead Mines Clough then up to the Bomber Memorial.  After that we ran out to the road where Ed did his usual sprint up the hill to the stile.  I don't know where he gets that burst of energy from as he left me and John way behind.

We then went through the fields and dropped down to Dean Brook before heading to the barn where I left John and Ed and carried on home.  By now, I was boiling!  It was so different down here to how it was on the tops.  The sun was quite warm and there was no snow or wind chill so I stopped to take off my gloves and cag.  There's no way you would think that it would be so much colder so a short distance away.

Had a great run, with great company on a beautiful day and it was definitely worth getting out of bed for!

Total distance - 11.15 miles