I made a conscious decision very soon after Pete’s death that I had to keep living and that I had to live my life to the full, because unlike he and my mother, I still had a life to live. I felt I could no longer justify being crippled by anxiety and had a great sense of needing to find out where my limits really lay.
There are many things in running that really inspire me, but which I thought were for ‘other people’. I’ve always wanted to enter a sky race but felt I’d never be able to do it, whereas Pete definitely could. It was suggested to me by Sarah from Run Snowdonia that these things were not for other people, but that they could be achieved by me, if I built up the pre-requisites one by one. I went away and I looked up the Scafell Sky Race and it said ‘you need to be able to do the distance, so how about trying Keswick Mountain Festival 50k first...’
I found a 50k training plan on the good ole t’interweb, did some pre-training training and then started in earnest. I genuinely did not know whether what I had set out to achieve was even possible, I did not know if I could get to the start line, without yet another serious injury. I had never attempted a marathon or anything of this magnitude before, it was a ‘proper’ challenge.
Training proved to be an all-consuming, exhausting, but wonderful 5 months. It was important to me to make it sustainable so I am indebted to Michelle and Debbie for keeping me moving throughout, but I was also really, really committed. I went out at 5 am and trained, I got trains to the Ridgeway and trained, I’ve seen enough of Bicester ring road to last a lifetime! But I also did amazing things, like run the Fairfield Horseshoe on a glorious Christmas eve, run over Ingleborough in the snow (straight off the overnight train!), run along the Helvellyn ridge from Thelkeld to Grasmere, run over Wetherlam, Coniston, Dow Crag and everything in between, recced the ultra route over two days, running with my stuff and staying at YHA Buttermere overnight. As I did all this, without even meaning to, I ticked off quite a few of my own running ambitions, things that perhaps before had seemed on the limit of what was achievable. I also changed quite fundamentally as a person, my anxiety lessening, the more I did. I suppose it was just my way of processing all the grief and pain.
I honestly did not know if I could complete the race. I’d recced the whole course so was happy(ish) with the distance, but I was worried about pace and time cuts, so I went back and recced the first 20 miles again to make sure I wouldn't be timed out. This race was going to be the biggest physical challenge of my entire life and right up to the day, I kept thinking, ‘I really don’t know if I can do this'.
I felt remarkably calm as I stood on the start line, there was nothing else I could do by then, I just had to race. Arriving at Honister, the first cut-off, I had smashed my recce time and then I thought, ‘I can relax a bit now’. From Dubs Hause to Buttermere was hard and I didn't feel as energetic as I would have hoped along Crummock Water. The cut-off there was 12 noon so I was pretty chuffed to arrive at 10.55 am. I seemed to be running on empty by this point, walking sections I had definitely run in training. I couldn't quite work out why I seemed to be walking more but in general moving much faster, maybe it was the total removal of faff? My knee started to hurt a lot at 22 miles and for the first time ever in my life, I got cramp when running, but I wolfed down some pain killers and carried on. When I got to CP4, with about 10k to go, I had this sudden realisation that, even if I crawled, I WOULD finish and that this huge thing I had invested so much in to, would soon be reality. I kept choking up as I thought about crossing the finish line and everything it had taken to get there.
Based on my 20 mile recce, I thought that an estimated finish time of 9 hours, at 3pm, was very optimistic, with 3.30pm seeming much more likely. Despite the slow going between CP3 and CP4, I was pleased to find myself in Portinscale, well before 3pm. Now well into my longest run ever, I marched most of the last three kms, determined to save enough energy to run up the finishing hill. Poles in action, I crossed the line at 2.35pm, in a time of 8 hours, 35 minutes and 10 seconds. I had completely smashed my own expectations, while still feeling that on a different day, that I could have done even better. The unachievable proved achievable after all.
Start line selfie... |
Approaching Ashness Bridge |
On the way to Honister |
Running the last few metres Photo Cath Sullivan |
Final result: 51.91 km (32.26 miles), 2061 m (6762 ft) elevation, finish time 8:35:10, 163/183 overall and 38/46 female.
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