write it in a word processor and copy/paste it in... only a fool would type out a huge post and expect technology to handle it appropriately

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www.richardsimkiss.co.uk

I am a fool.........and what's a word processor??

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L2B...or bust

You can usually back page and retreive your post after signing in again Steve. (If that's what you mean).

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BE PATIENT NOT A PATIENT

FIRST THINGS FIRST

the bit of software on your computer you might use to type a letter... such as Microsoft Word, or failing that, the more basic 'Wordpad'

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www.richardsimkiss.co.uk

Can't seem to do that HF.

Shall redo ina bit.......

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L2B...or bust

Really?!
What sort of glue is needed to paste it with then..........

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L2B...or bust

super glue silly - doh

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A loser is not the one who runs last in the race. It's the one who sits and watches and who has never tried to run.
Bird in Boots Oh what have I done FLM09

and stop procrastinating Steph, we wanna know

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A loser is not the one who runs last in the race. It's the one who sits and watches and who has never tried to run.
Bird in Boots Oh what have I done FLM09

Sorry Steve, I didn;t mean to patronise... never too sure what you oldies can/can't understand with modern technology

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www.richardsimkiss.co.uk

It's like this John.....



...I'll report in stages this time....

It were warm it were...but not as warm as the day before had been when the skies were blue blue blue! It was still far too hot for me and SWMBO though.

Our race started at 11:30 the idea being that those doing the K78 would meet up with us short K42 coursers after having started their little jog at 8am. Mad dogs and Englishmen spring to mind!!

We arrived in Bergun 2 hours before the start...got changed and waited in town to see the lead 78kers come through...amazing guys and gals they are. The lead guy had about a 5min lead at this point...being 36k into his race, with only 42k to go!! The first lady through was Lizzy Hawker who'd won the ladies 78k event the previous 2 years and was 13th overall at this stage.

We got to our start and found The Green Goddess or her equivalent trying to get us all to limber up. Ijust stood and watched the lycra.......

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L2B...or bust

I understand RS ...just can't do!!

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L2B...or bust

Where was I...oh yes...at the start..with spiderman in front of me.

We started on time..Swiss/German efficiency..and started with a small loop out of the town and back into town to run through the high street where we'd watched the K78ers earlier...and the climbing began. The race beagn on tracks, went to road and then back to tracks winding up 10k to Chants....this section would be the hilly part of a "normal" race but here it was simply the warm up. It took us 78mins to reach Chants...sounds slow but we were 2 mins inside what I thought we'd do...so far so good then.

I took a throw away camera on the race and clicked away throughout...running ahead of SWMBO to take her picture or stopping at the feed stations...there were 14 on the route serving soup ( which was great), water, ice tea fruit buns and bananas. We stopped at every station which clearly impacted upon our time but, at the same time did mean we could recover and move on without suffering too much.

From Chants the first hard climb began...no running here I'm afraid to say...walk walk walk....just like most other folk.

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L2B...or bust

Great to have you back Steve!

Good to be back too.......though I miss the mountains already!

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L2B...or bust

So continuing.......

I forgot to say that the 10k to Chants involved a climb of 460odd metres.

The next section of 5.7k ..where we basically walked with everyone else...climbed from 1822metres to 2632metres....and when we reached the peak there was a GP there checking everyone to make sure they were ok to continue...bearing in mind the altitude, thin air, the remaining distance (ie 26.4k) and the next steep climb.

Having taken a few photos..including one of the jazz quartet...and taking on board some soup and a piece of banana we began the 5.4k descent of 440m across the meadow and into the valley. This was a great section...charging down and across the fields...even passing a lone bagpipe man (I've no idea why he was there but his sounds made the legs turn even faster!!)

The only problem with this section was the thought that it was leading to the next but final major climb...up another 414metres to the Scalettapass. At the food station at the bottom of this section was a rescue helicopter.........I didn't see anyone being carried away thank goodness but no doubt some one was at some stage.

We began the climb...walking again with those around us...zigzagging up the mountain...not wanting to look up! Eventually we reached the point where we joined the route the ultra runners were doing and continued the final strides to the peak.

Lots of people made the most of the massage facilities...we just took the time to refuel...and then Andy, from Runners World met us, having followed us up the track. Very handy that as I got him to take a picture of us both. Despite seeming to be struggling a bit Andy said he now intended to run back down(the final 18.4 k) with no breaks.........

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L2B...or bust