Not a biggie, Meall Cluaich,
That's a lot of contours [url
Meall Chuaich, Drumochter - Route Map /url]
. I'm only a bit jealous.
I also found snow to run in on top of my local Shotover hill this morning, only an 80m climb but still seems to be enough altitude to have stopped last night' fall melting. Always amazes me I can run in 2 inches of snow in thin socks and trail shoes and not get cold feet. The field at the bottom was up to my ankles in melt water.
I often land on my forefoot running down hill to prevent jarring and always run up steep hills on my forefoot (not much choice really). I think it harder work on the calf and Achilles though and change back to my normal style as soon as I get back on the flat. I think running writer Bob Glover describes this as 'changing gear'. (And yes now you mention it I climb and descend the stairs on my forefoot without even thinking about it.)
Attempting an off-road hilly 20 miler and an off-road bit hilly marathon for the first time last year I was surprised to pass many apparently experienced runners walking the steeper hills right from the beginning. They were maybe less surprised to overtake me as I walked up the slight inclines towards the end
. I believe they were sparing themselves the stress of straining up the hills on the forefoot so that their muscles would last the course. Unless you get shin splints or joint trouble it's unlikely to be the bones that hurt first but I certainly get sore leg muscles and I intend to try and preserve them on this years longer runs.
Nik