Reflection, memories and Snowdon

Miles to date: 615 
Races to date: 28


A little look back at where I've come from over the last year: 


3rd July 2011 - my first 'run' which was really more of  a walk / run / walk / run 
23rd July 2011 - the first time I managed to run to Oxenhope and back along the Goit (river path) - 3 miles (ish) - and running all the way rather than run / walk / run / walk 
17th September 2011 - 5km Roundhay Park Run in memory of the wonderfully lovely Sue Corrigan
21st July 2012 - Snowdon Mountain Race, 10 miles and 3500foot in 2hours and 17 minutes

Eddie Applegate, previously Daniel  Butterworth
Photo taken on the day of his death - 28th July 2007
Loved and missed by many

Part of what's driving me to do this is the memory of my brother - Daniel or Eddie depending when you knew him - who tragically died from an Asthma attack at a friends wedding on the 28th July 2007. He was 39, (the same age I am now) and is deeply missed by so many who loved him. 


So as I write this blog I'm in a very reflective, and emotional place which may not be the best to write from so I'll apologise in advance.  But this might give you a little insight into what's driving me - if I can really push myself beyond anything I thought I might achieve then perhaps I might persuade, encourage or inspire a few others to make a donation (click here) and (probably more importantly) achieve what you aspire to - for me it's become running on the fells, for you it will be something else. I've had some amazing comments that make me blush and keep me going but I'm not special - everyone can be what they want if they believe in themselves (oh .. and are prepared to put in the effort, feel the pain, the fear and then do it anyway) and have the confidence to believe in themselves. 


Enough of the self indulgent emotion and back to what this blog is meant to be about - running!

Heptonstall Festival Race was a wonderful, low key, proper fell race organised as part of the Heptonstall Festival. 7 miles that set off on a steep descent to the bottom of Hardcastle Crags and then almost immediately up steeply to Pecket Well and on up to High Knoll, trig on top of Wadsworth moor, before looping round and descending down into the valley bottom and a killer steep ascent back up to Heptonstall village. Wow what a route! The sun came out after the floods and torrential downpours the day before - Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd in the valley had found themselves underwater with rivers running through houses on the hillside. 


I loved it! The descent at the start was hilarious and made me realise just how much I need to practice my downhill. Skating through leaf mulch and peat, knee deep in places, down a 1 in 2 hill left me laughing so much as pretty much everyone slipped past me including Caren who skipped away and disappeared into the distance! 


Undeterred I grunted up the ascent to Pecket Well, gained a few places, and had Caren in sight as we ran out onto the moor. Running over the bogs and ditches I passed a couple of blokes tip toeing round as I splashed through loving the mud! Having reached the trig it's all downhill back into Hardcastle Crags and off I went, really stretching out but I couldn't get enough to make up the distance I needed to catch the Crabtree woman! After the ridiculous ascent back up through the woods the finish gently dips through a field with a single strip of mown grass through. A great little race that I'd love to go back to next year. 


Walking back to the car, downhill, I had a real pain through my left knee. It was really quite sore and uncomfortable. When we got home Blue needed a walk so I thought that a gentle walk around the moor with Blue, calling for his girlfriend Storr on the way, would help loosen it up. All good as we walked uphill on to the moor - bit sore but felt like it was loosening off. Across the top and then down and the pain was awful, almost unbearable. We reached the road and I had to phone home to ask if someone could come and get Blue as I couldn't quite manage to hold him and limp down the road. 


Sunday I spent on my backside, knee strapped up with ice and heat regularly applied. A neighbour lent me a pair of crutches and an appointment with a sports physio made for Monday. The upside was that I watched Andy Murray play the Wimbledon Final and thoroughly enjoyed it! The diagnosis on Monday - my Iliotibial Band was tight and the likely cause of my knee pain. I didn't know I had an 'ITB' but I do now! Some massage, ultrasound, acupuncture. A week of rest, ice, compression and elevation and then gradual use and I was fairly sure that Snowdon might still be on the cards. 


The next week I had a couple of very tentative 6 to 7 mile runs whilst I was in London - good and flat - which felt ok and so, after the nod from Becca the physio, we set off for Snowdon. 


I've walked up Snowdon on almost every walkers path on every side - 20 plus years ago! It was hard walking then and I was about to try and run it. We arrived and found Keighley and Craven friends, pitched our tents and I realised just how nervous I was. 

Saturday morning and the sun was shining, a clear and beautiful view of the highest mountain in Wales and the second highest in the UK opened up before me as I crawled out of my tent! The race didn't set off until 2pm. A largish group raising money for MacMillan Cancer Support were camped next to us and they were keen to be away by 8:30am to walk up and down (an inspiring bunch who had also convinced NPower to match pound for pound their fundraising) - I tried to not be too grumpy as I crawled out blinking into the sunshine. 


We wandered around in Llanberis all morning, bits of retail therapy, breakfast at Petes Eats, tootled along to register, picked up our numbers to discover they had our names on! 
I'll use this space here and now to publicly apologise for all my wittering and twittering before we set off - thanks J-P, Katie, Joe, Steve, Si and everyone else who put up with me. I spent ages talking myself out of it and then rationalising that I'd run harder - I was still in that space when the Welsh / English count down began and then we were off. 


Snowdon Mountain Race - 10 miles and 3500 foot of ascent started with a fast run out of Llanberis along the road, turning right along a tarmac track which started steeply up before turning on to the mountain path and continuing up and up and up and up. The path is shale and rocky so the need to concentrate on where your feet land is paramount. As I grunted slowly upwards I was increasingly worrying about running back down. My knee was fine until there was any descent involved, at which point excruciating pain would shoot through my knee making it buckle. And descending on the rocky and unstable path would test it, and my technical ability to maintain focus, to the limit. As I continued grunting slowly upwards I forced my myself to look up and out, realising the enormity of where I was an what I was doing. I passed the MacMillan walkers, on their way back down, I shouted cheers of encouragement to them as I toiled past breathing heavily. 


About two thirds of the way up and the leading international runners started to pound down towards me - they are truly awe inspiring and amazing athletes who fly over the hardest terrain - the winner had finished (65 minutes) before I reached the summit (87 minutes). I realised as they started to pass me that I was actually going to make it to the summit and by the time I got there, running up and round the trig point summit marker, I had tears rolling down my cheeks. Almost completely overwhelmed with what I had done and why I had done it, I lost about 20 places whilst pulling myself back together but that didn't matter. What mattered was that I had made it - I had set myself a target to reach the summit in 90 minutes and honestly didn't think I would manage it. I knocked 3 minutes off. 
Running down was a mixture of absolute pain shooting through my knee and sheer joy and exhilaration. Only the very steep sections really hurt and I developed a lopsided gait to keep as much weight off my left leg as possible. The final steep section of tarmacked track was a killer but as it levelled out on to the flat road back into Llanberis the pain went and I ran down the road with people clapping and cheering around me - having your name on your race number does mean that everybody knows your name which is a good place to be! As I reached the end of the Mountain path and started down the tarmacked track I passed the MacMillan walkers again who were just finishing their walk. Loads of personal amazing stories of achievement amongst them. 


Arriving at the finish and spotting Rosie and Si was just brilliant. I crossed the line totally overwhelmed with emotion. The St John's Ambulance man was simply lovely, as soon as he realised I was medically ok he gave me a great big hug. A bottle of water and a momento slate coaster put into my hands and my boy appeared to greet his totally over emotional mother. 2 hours 17 minutes, 467th overall, 70th female and 33rd female under 40. I think I'm quite happy with that.  

We had a few Keighley and Craven hoops out for this wonderful mountain race but only two women - next year I think we should have a few more to join in a fabulous weekend and experience. 


When I started attempting to run a year ago I couldn't contemplate being able to run 3 miles. Now I'm really looking forward to Borrowdale - 17 miles and 7500 foot of ascent. I might not make the cut off but I'll give it a damn good try and enjoy it regardless.