Lloyd Biddell

I might have revised my plans had I known in advance that within 15 minutes of leaving Bellingham the hallucinations would start so soon.  Again, more caffeinated gels came out and again they did nothing.  I was beginning to think I could be chucking away a potential finish of the Spine Race for just sheer stupidity.  However, I made my bed (excuse the pun) and now I needed to make the best of it. I decided to make decent progress in this section by going at a good walk and no more, not knowing how I would fare later on.  I was having wave after wave of new hallucinations, occasionally interspersed with some normal thought.  Thankfully a useful distraction was that my wife turned up at one of the road crossings and Ultrarunning Sam was also there who was doing media work for the Spine.  This time I was happy to stop and have a chat for 10 minutes and both my wife interviewed me for the Youtube channel she puts daily updates on as did Sam.  With hindsight I think a lot of the material w

On paper this leg looks to be the easiest.  For the first time I didnt know any of this section, the possible exception being where we follow Hadrians Wall which I have done in the past going the other way.  Early on I hooked up with a French competitor for about an hour, but the pacing was just too hot for me and we drifted apart.  I have to say that although I consider myself a very proficient navigator I found it very challenging here and needing to use the GPS almost constantly.  Despite this, I'd often drift into the wrong path or into a sheep trod and I must have lost loads of time here.  Just before arriving into Greenhead and hitting Hadrians Wall I met Malcolm who views the daily videos my wife makes.  I couldn't believe he had driven some 20 miles at 1 am in the morning to cheer me on!  I felt really bad explaining that I couldn't really stop and he was very understanding, but it was very much appreciated and I do still owe you that pint!  At Greenhead car park to

This was the big day ahead.  No more comparisons for me to last year beyond Dufton as it was a little beyond there where I dropped out in 2022.  It was also the stage I feared the most, last year I had the most horrendous section through Falcon Clints and Cauldron Snout.  I had assumed that if the diversion was set up last year (which I ended up not taking, but that is another story) then it would be a given this year, but no. No heroics following the River Tees on what is otherwise a very runnable section.  I continued to take the view that at night a solid pace is all that mattered and I wanted to avoid the Shin Splint that started to develop last year and then got steadily worse as I headed to Dufton.  As I was doing this section I could actually feel my shins starting to ache.  Not again!  I think with the benefit of hindsight it was sympathy pains from last year coming through and if you think things are there then they will be, even if they are not there in practice.  Either way,

I set off once again into the foray at around 3am, so only about half an hour down on last year despite arriving into Hawes 2 hours later.  I felt fresh and a damn sight better than the manner in which I had arrived.  Next up is a brute of a climb - Great Shunner Fell.  Its about 5 miles long and seems to be a long old drag with lots of false summits.  In an increasing trend as we trekked further North the snow on the ground was heavier and heavier, many icy patches and plenty of drifts.  However, generally there was a well trod path in the snow, although at times I would drift off and it would then take some time to reattach myself.  The downside of only using GPS navigation and not having a watch with turn by turn guidance and alerts when straying off route. It was up Great Shunner that I started to have my first serious sleep monsters so for the first time I downed a caffeinated gel.  I don't know whether it was a placebo effect, but it soon knocked me back into a state of consc

I left Hebden Bridge by myself unlike last year and this seemed to be the trend for the rest of my Spine Race.  In fact, I'd estimate that I was only with someone else for <5% of the time, and I'd go as far as to say 75% of the trip was so isolated that I wasn't really in sight in either direction of anyone else either, but I was fine with that.  The next stage for me is always the hardest, some 62 miles is difficult to overlook, even if there are opportunities to refuel along the way.  Any opportunity to run was still impossible for me so it was a case of just keep a sustainable pace going and that I did.  Dare I say that bits were even on the border of being enjoyable! As time progressed my feet were feeling more and more sore.  Not only did I have the ankle pain to contend with, but my feet had clearly started to swell.  I had noticed this coming into CP1, but I didn't seriously consider changing my shoes for two reasons: 1) How early along it was in the race and

I titled my last blog review of the Spine Race as 'Maybe me and the Spine Race just don't get on', after two successive failed attempts.  The first being at last years Winter Spine Race shortly after Dufton with various issues on my left leg, whilst in the Summer Spine I turned my ankle not long after the start.  Spoiler alert: I finished this year so I feel I have got that monkey off my back.  But as always in a race of this length it came with drama as i'm sure it does for most people; but in my case much of it came deep into the last leg, so hopefully that is an incentive to read on! Ready for the off. At the start I slotted into the front group of about 6 with the usual contenders all there.  I knew for me it was always going to be a false position but its nice to be amongst the leaders and have a good look at how they seem to be shaping up.  I even took the lead for a short section, but much of that was influenced by wanting to get ahead as I needed the loo.  The g

After dropping out of the 2022 Spine Race just north of Dufton and then a further failed attempt on Day 1 at the Summer Spine, I could be forgiven in thinking that I never want to do this race again.  Indeed this was my initial thinking.  The Winter Spine though is a special race and there is something there that just sucks you back in. All smiles at the start of 2022 Winter Spine. In the last 12 months there is no denying that I'm nowhere near as fit as I once was.  A significant back issue and fatherhood have both resulted in much reduced volume and for the most part of the year little or no intensity.  A by product of all this has been a weight gain of almost a stone, albeit I was probably too lean at my peak.  None of this is conducive to Spine performance, perhaps excepting getting used to the sleep deprivation caused by having a newborn! In recent weeks I've started to do more volume and intensity so the base fitness is there, but just before Christmas I've managed to