Dog and I do The Marsden /@lauracranetrust 10 mile challenge

Mountain runner friend Steve asked me on Friday night if I fancied doing the Marsden 10 mile challenge on the Sunday. I took a sip of my Guiness and asked “running?”. “No, there’s a walking part to it, two groups”.. phew. As it turned out it there were about 10 runners and 50 or so walkers/hikers and the entrance fee on the day when Brodie Dog and I turned up was £12. Money well spent as the main charity was the Laura Crane Trust. Which looks to be a great cause.

There are a couple of particular charities I support but this was a local event, I needed to stretch my legs for sure and .. it’s a great cause. Why wouldn’t I take part?

Well, other than the stress of trying to finish a load of work on a Sunday for my fledgling freelance/consultant business.
But (and one of the reasons for this post) .. it was a reminder for me about making time to clear your head and get some exercise. No point working all hours if you (by that I mean me) keel over prematurely due to pesky high blood pressure. And getting out of the house for those 3 hours (in semi sunshine – yay) gave me some objective thinking time and a clearer head to finish some work I had been staring at for a while before hand.

Anyway, the course itself took in mostly moors / farmland (see pics below of one well-wisher) but also some road. A nice mix although the motorbikes roaring up and down the Wessenden Head Road were not the dog’s cup of tea.
I know one side of the course really well (The Wessenden Valley side) but I don’t think I’ve ever gone around the other side of the course so that was good, seeing a new part of the area.

Marsden 10 mile challenge – map courtesy of ( http://www.goodrunguide.co.uk/RouteViewer.asp?RouteType=S&RouteID=180010 )

I’d noticed when we registered that the average time to complete for walkers was just over three and half hours. So I set myself the goal of keeping some  sort of pace up and beating that time. Which I did with a finish time of three hours and five minutes.
It wasn’t a race (though the running part was I guess?) but it was good to push myself. We still had time to take some quick photos and even have a snack break (Dog insisted).

Some photos from the day:

The Mountain rescue guys were on hand at different parts of the challenge

An old gate post, another nearby. This was about the 4 mile mark I think.
No actual dry stone walls around it. These kind of things always interest me.. large gate posts for what was one a boundary / enclosure. Quite grand and the farmer or land owner was probably pretty chuffed. Now everything else has gone but the posts remain.

Cock Crowing Stone — because it says so. Been there for years, on Wessenden Head Road. Not sure what the historical / artistic / vandalism origin is .. and nor it seems does Goggle.

And the winner is… Brodie Dog with Medal at the finish line. Proud or a bit fed up I dressed her up? you decide. She was as enigmatic as ever.