A man called Bob.

Picture the scene;

A spit and sawdust saloon bar in America's mid-west.  The bar is propping up a couple of trail-beaten cowboys and a time ravaged prospector, sleeping off too much firewater, while the barman diligently wipes glasses with a greasy cloth.  In the corner an old timer is playing ragtime on an out of tune piano whilst keeping a keen eye on the card game being played out on the next table.

Suddenly the candle on the piano sputters out in a gust of wind from the now open saloon doors.  Stood in the doorway is the silhouetted frame of a stranger.  The music stops as the stranger steps in to the room and says "I'm looking for a man. Goes by the name of Graham. Bob Graham." 

The card game continues and the piano refills the silence of the saloon as people diligently avoid the eyes of the stranger.  "I said, I'm looking for a man called Bob Graham!" says the stranger, silencing the piano for a second time and walking up to the bar "Do any of you know where I can find him?" 

"Ain't nobody called Bob Graham in these parts stranger," replies the barman, putting down his cloth and moving slowly to where his trusty Smythe and Wilson lives under the counter. "can I get you a drink?" But before the stranger can reply the prospector raises his head from the bar "I've not heard the name Bob Graham for many a long year...that name brings trouble with it everywhere it goes."

A shot rings out...

Back in the real world I wasn't looking for Bob Graham, but he seems to have found me.  On the 1st June this year, a day after we had completed our last training session for August's 100k TrailTrekk challenge, Jonathan shared two words with me via Facebook, along with a link to a blog.  Bob Graham were those words.  At the time I was very confused. Bob who?  I needed to know more and as Jonathan is a trustworthy type I clicked on the link and discovered that I was being led down a pretty dangerous path, one that I'm teetering on the brink of walking along.

In 1932 Bob Graham, a hotelier from Keswick ran 66 miles through the Lake District, including 42 of the highest peaks, in 24 hours.  The Bob Graham Round was born and people still take it on to this day but less than 2000 people have successfully completed the round in under 24 hours.

I'm only just getting into the idea trail running and am yet to cover more than 17 miles in one go so there is no danger of me taking Bob on any time soon, but as the man himself was 42 when he set the record, I guess I have a few years to think about it.  I have a few other challenges to overcome first though.

There is the small matter of the York Marathon in August, but next year I'm planning on running the Yorkshire Three Peaks which will give me a much better idea of what would be involved running in the Lake District.  I'm not about to become the stranger walking, into town looking for Bob Graham. But I know his name, and I know that if I want to find him all I have to do is walk into the Moot Hall in Keswick, and then go for a very long run.