What a great race at the weekend. As a first timer, some observations from the day include:

1. I liked the lady at the start doing the pre-race introductions. It was great to hear other runners such as Wendy Dodds and Karl Gray being interviewed
2. Thank you Salomon for the free running socks - I needed some more and they will come in handy.
3. Fair play to Rickey Gates for flying in to the UK previous day to run the race. With the jet lag, I couldn't have contemplated that. Was that the reason why he pulled out at Ribblehead?
4. Was I the only one who thought it looked daft for the 2 Salomon runners to use cycling arm warmers combined with a running top? Or is this the new look and I am just "old school".
5. Cramp, Cramp, Cramp. Wow, I have never experienced anything like it. My calves started complaining on the climb of Whernside. On the climb of Inglebugger, my thigh's and calves were in spasm. I have never had it so bad. Judging by the runners around me, I wasn't alone and other's were suffering their own private hell. 5 days on, my thighs have only started recovering.
6. I took off on the descent but the long run in caught me out. By the time I reached the limestone pavement, my energy was gone and I was reduced to a jog / walk / jog.
7. After finishing, I vowed never to run it again. However, its funny how you forget the pain and start to think where you can shave time off next year!

Craig