Pre-race ramble
June seemed to arrive too soon, and all the plans I had made to come into
the race being super-fit, super-toned and super-ready never did seem to have
materialised. But on the positive side,
at least I was ready to get to the start line - and that meant that I knew that
nothing would stop me from getting to the finish line in Fort William.
The start of the year had begun badly - an awful Inverness half marathon in
March, and disastrous D33 later that month during which I almost pulled out,
and then an equally disappointing Fling in April. I was seriously thinking that running just
wasn't happening for me this year and that maybe I should take a break and
reassess things. Several people told me that the D33 and Fling experiences of
this year were actually positive things for me - that it was good to experience
races where things go really badly, because the WHW certainly wouldn't be easy:
it would hurt, I would feel miserable and I just had to get on with it. But I couldn't get over this overwhelming
feeling of apathy; that I just couldn't be bothered anymore and what was the
point anyway? Life's short enough as it
is, so why voluntarily make ourselves suffer more than we needed to? But as any
other runner knows, the question is never "why", but "why
not". So I decided to stop
stressing about why I was running so badly for the time being and just
concentrate again on enjoying running.
The months following the Fling and preceding WHW were therefore taken up
with a Glee Club run at Glen Coe, several social runs in the Pentlands, parts
of the Cateran trail and WHW, and other runs with my Harmeny clubmates – the
main emphasis was on running in beautiful , inspiring places and not worrying
about how fast or slow I was going. The
decider would be the Cateran Ultra in May - if it went ok, I'd run WHW, if it
didn't then I just wasn't cut out for that distance, not this year anyway. The
race did go well though - I got a huge PB from last year and it felt good, so
the WHW was back on!
My husband Mark and Harmeny clubmate Keziah had agreed to support me for
the first "half" of the race up until Auchtertyre, after which my
dad, Charlie, and other Harmenite Lorna would take over, with Mark and Keziah
returning again at Kinlochleven. So
Mark, Keziah and I left Balerno around 10pm on the Friday evening (usually
around the time I would be going to bed!) and headed through to register at
Milngavie. I wasn’t feeling particularly
rested – my plan to doze for most of the day and do very little didn’t
materialise and instead I spent the day rushing round the supermarket buying
last minute stuff, running up and down the stairs at home trying to pack stuff
and going over the map and meeting places with my Dad. To top it off, I’d woken up that morning with
my glands swollen and a sore throat – I’d felt like I’d been fighting off a
cold for the past fortnight and finally, on the day of the biggest race of my
life so far, it looked like my immune system had finally given up. I spent the day gargling TCP (discovered it
actually takes like Laphroaig!).
I was feeling and probably looking very nervous, something that another of
my clubmates, Donald, pointed out to me when we bumped into each other at
registration. It didn't take long to
pass the time between registration and race briefing, and we spent some of it
with Donald and his support crew in their luxurious motorhome (thanks again for
the cuppa and biccies Derek and Shona :)).
I was pleased to see that Donald had been reunited with his (in)famous
tartan shorts that had worryingly gone astray following the Cateran the
previous month.
And we're off
As we all headed towards the official start, I bumped into another
Harmenite, Paul and we agreed to run the first section together. It was nice to know I'd be running with a
friend through the dark as anyone who knows me, knows I'm a big feartie in the
dark on my own! It was an amazing
experience leaving Milngavie and heading out towards Drymen - looking behind us
all we could see was a string of headtorches meandering behind us. The pace felt fine, and I felt surprisingly
more awake than I thought I would have at that time of the morning - the
adrenaline and excitement of it all must have played a part. Weatherwise, there had been a brief interlude
from the torrential downpours earlier on that day (actually in Balerno, there
had been thunder and lightening, horizontal rain and even hailstones!!) during
the race briefing, and as it was really mild, I had decided to start the race
wearing my long sleeved t-shirt and carrying my goretex in my rucksack. It didn't take long however for the rain to
start again and before long I was soaked through. I didn't want to stop though - I figured if
you are going to get wet, then you are pretty much going to get wet, regardless
of whether or not you are wearing waterproofs.
Because of all the heavy rainfall, underfoot conditions were very muddy
and flooded in areas, and any hope I'd had of keeping my feet dry were soon
dispelled. I don't usually get bothered
with blisters, but then again, I don't really have much experience of running
for 20+ hours at a time in torrential downpours! Not a problem though, just meant that I
didn't have to try and avoid the puddles, I might as well just take the direct
route. Other parts of the first leg were
quite narrow and there were times when we were all funnelled single file along
the muddy tracks - not ideal as I felt my pace was dictated by those in front
and behind me - but it was early days, I didn't feel like I was going
excessively too fast and so I stuck behind Paul.
I took the opportunity to eat a honey roll – I’d had a banana just before
the start, but know that often I find it hard to eat later on in a race, so the
earlier I got food in, the better. My
strategy was to eat mostly real food (honey rolls, rice pudding, soup, fruit),
substituted with shot blocks, and to drink alternating bottles of water and
lucozade. I’d stuck some gels in for the
later stages as well – ordinarily I avoid them as I find they are pretty gross,
but I thought I might need them in case I wasn’t able to stomach anything else
in the latter stages. By this point I was pretty much soaked through and
starting to get cold – but I didn’t want to stop – so managed to get my goretex
on when we walked up one of the hills.
It made a huge difference just to keep the wind off and it didn’t take
long to feel comfortable again. Soon we
could see the lights of Drymen and the first 12 miles were done. Mark and Keziah were waiting for me, and Paul
had Iain and the rest of the crew waiting for him – I had a quick change of
bottles, and then we both left for the next leg, over Conic hill to Balmaha.
I love hills :)
I love Conic hill – I’m a hill runner, so
gradients, mud and descents don’t usually phase me (although talk to anyone in
my club and they’ll tell you I always moan whenever I see a hill….!!). I don’t usually enjoy the forest part though
to get to Conic Hill, but the time passed quickly as Paul and I chatted
away. We even passed a few runners which
felt good, especially as it didn’t feel like we were pushing the pace. The
morning was starting to brighten and it didn’t take long before we were able to
turn our head torches off – the misty view out over Loch Lomond as we
approached Conic Hill was breath taking, and it was an amazing sight, seeing
the string of runners making their way up Conic. As we started the ascent, I felt the pace was
a bit fast for me and there was still a hell of a long way to go, so Paul
pushed on to the next stop without me. I’d never climbed Conic in such
atrocious conditions before – the paths had gone and instead there were just
torrents and streams cascading down. It
was like walking up a melt-water channel, most of the sediment had been washed
away leaving only rocks and pebbles. I
caught up with Donald just before the top and we pushed on together. I tried to take a photo – it didn’t come out,
but it would never have been able to capture the beauty of it all anyway (Loch
Lomond, not the rear end of Donald !!) – Its times like these that I wish I was
an artist and could paint! The descent
off Conic Hill was fun, very slippery and so much water. I had my first and only fall (that I can
remember) of the race, landed on a slab of rock, no problem though as I have
lots of padding and tend to bounce!
Donald and I caught up with another of my friends, Graham, as we came
into the carpark at Balmaha, and I was happy that although the weather was
still pretty grim, I was feeling good.
The cheerleaders
Mark and Keziah were waiting for me in the car
park at Balmaha – Keziah waving harmeny-coloured pom-poms – and it was great to
seeing them both! That was the last time
I was to see the pom-poms though as the dye was coming off with all the rain! I
changed over bottles, ate a tub of rice pudding (which I’ve never tried in a
race before – was brilliant), grabbed a few other things and set off on the
next leg to Rowardennan. Anyone who
knows me is aware that I have a pretty awful memory, so the remaining stages
are pretty patchy! I remember catching
up with a girl who was wearing headphones and thinking she’d be deaf by the end
of the race as they were blasting so loud I could hear her playlist! I know that lots of people use music in races,
but I’ve never seen the attraction. I
like to concentrate on running and what’s around me, so I started to feel a bit
irritated with the noise and pushed on ahead of her. I love the section between
Balmaha and Rowardennan – all the rocks and the ups and downs. It can be pretty draining, but at the same
time, it’s fun so doesn’t feel like such a slog. The midges were bad in places though which
surprised me as it was still chucking it down, and parts of the path were pretty
treacherous – some bits even looked like they had been completely washed away. I soon caught up with Paul (a side glance
suggested he was having a quick “pit stop” at the side of a tree – probably not
the best time to shout hi and stop for a chat) and ran ahead, but he caught up
with me a few minutes later and we ran on together for a while. I caught up with another girl on one of the
steeper uphill sections and stuck with her until Rowardennan, pulling away from
Paul. I didn’t know if the pace was too
quick for me or not, but I’d planned from the start to run how I feel rather
than rely on times, and as it didn’t feel excessively fast, decided to go with her
into Rowardennan.
Where's Wally????
The “run how I feel” strategy however wasn’t the
best plan for my support – the estimated times I’d given them up until this
point had been far too conservative and so I arrived in Rowardennan without my
support team. It was a bit of a blow, as
I’d planned to change my socks here, which by this point were full of silt, and
have breakfast, but I couldn’t find my team!!
I saw Iain M, Paul’s support and shouted to him if he’d seen Mark and
Keziah – he called over Norma, Paul’s other support, who kindly gave me a
bottle of lucozade and an amazingly tasty flapjack, while Iain ran around the
car park looking for my support crew. We
couldn’t find them; the girl I’d been running with and hoped to stick to had
disappeared, and so I just had to push on.
Paul decided he wanted to rest up a bit as the pace felt too fast, but I
still felt ok at this point, so pushed on, Iain M shouting out after me to take
my time.
It later turned out that Mark and Keziah were
parked 4 cars down from Iain, but were having a wee power nap……!!! The alarm they had set went off 5 minutes after
I checked out, so they had just missed me!
I walked for the first couple of minutes out of
Rowardennan so that I could eat my flapjack and try to phone Mark to find out
where they were. I was worried they might
wait in Rowardennan and wouldn’t realise I’d passed, and so miss me at Glenbogle. Also, Mark had been having some car issues
over the last couple of weeks, so I was wondering whether the car had broken
down somewhere. Poor Mark was so
apologetic, he felt really bad. This was
a first for all of us though, it was no-one’s fault and I’d made sure to carry
extra food supplies in my bag anyway. Regarding
the shoe change, it probably didn’t matter anyway, as I would never have been
able to keep them dry and silt free!
I soon caught up with the girl I’d ran a bit with
in the previous leg and we got chatting.
Gaynor – I recognised
the name – one of Debbie Martin-Consani’s “just for fun” predicted race winners
– so I must have been going too fast, I shouldn’t be anywhere near a potential
race winner! Paul and Donald were both
behind me too, it didn’t seem right, but at the same time I still felt ok and
thought I might as well go with it, so kept with Gaynor into Beinglas. I enjoyed chatting to her, and thought, well
if I end up finishing last now, at least I can say I ran with one of the fast
girls for the first 40 miles…..!
Beinglas
John Kynaston was waiting for us at Beinglas Farm
with a huge smile, I had a quick stop to get some food and change over my
bottles, and when I looked round Gaynor had disappeared. My changeovers were proving to be far from
slick, something I need to think about for future races! I plugged on, feeling quite good and it
seemed like I ran for a while on my own without seeing anyone. Graham caught up with me again as I slogged up
one of the uphill sections and encouraged me to dig in which helped, and soon
we saw support crews waiting at Glenbogle.
Graham saw his support team first and I was beginning to wonder whether
mine had made it when I heard Keziah shouting – great, I was looking forward to
changing my sodden top for a fresh, dry one, not that it would stay that way
for long. Again, it wasn’t the slickest
of changeovers, I struggled to get my waterproof Haglof off and on the right
way around again (thinking I really need to buy a waterpoof jacket with a full front
zip rather than my current pullover one), but managed to grab some food, top up
bottles and set off again. I felt a bit
guilty for Mark and Keziah, I didn’t know how long they had been waiting for me
in the pouring rain, and they both looked freezing. Support teams are absolute heroes!!
I remember feeling really crappy on Crianlarich
to Auchtertyre leg during this year’s Fling, I wasn’t running well and every
step felt laboured. I was feeling much
better this time round though and power marched the uphill sections, enjoying
running on the rolling downhill parts. Usually
around this distance my legs start to feel heavy and I don’t pick my feet up
properly, causing me to trip over rocks.
But my legs still felt light and I didn’t feel like I was shuffling at
all. I was looking forward to seeing my
Dad at Auchtertyre. My dad’s amazing,
he’s supported me with running ever since I was at high school and tries to
come and see me run whenever he can, so it made sense to ask him to be part of
my support team for WHW. And at this
point it looked like I was still second lady, so even if the rest of the women
passed me now, even if I did finish last, at least my Dad saw me when I was
running well! As I got nearer Auchtertyre,
I caught up with Andy Johns – he was struggling and looked like he had picked
up an injury. But he was still smiling
away and being super positive, even though he should have been miles ahead by
this point. I’ve met so many positive
people since I started ultra running – people that manage to put a positive spin
on even the worst of situations, and it’s really inspiring. The “reception” coming into Auchtertyre was
amazing, lots of cheering and encouraging shouts. I spotted Lucy C smiling away in the crowd
and then looked over and saw my team – now joined by my dad and Lorna. I got checked in and weighed (lost some
weight, yes!), then Mark pulled me over to sit down and get some food in me. I
changed my socks and shoes for the first and only time during the race – it felt
nice to get fresh shoes on, but at the same time I was anxious that I was
losing time. My dad and Lorna wouldn’t
let me go on though until I ate some soup – my dad had brought some of his home
made tattie soup in a flask (complete with quorn “beef” strips – great stuff!)
– it tasted amazing and I was pleased that I was able to eat it all. This point at the Fling, I remember feeling
really sick and being unable to get any food down, so the fact that my apetite
was still intact was an excellent sign.
I arranged to have some chips waiting for me at Tyndrum and set off.
Where's my cuppa??
It’s hard to believe that just a month or so ago
I was running the Crianlarich to Tyndrum leg with one of my friends who was
visiting from down south – in completely different conditions. Today I don’t think it could have been any
wetter. Last month, it was so
unbelievably hot and dry, it felt like we were in some other country. We were so hot that we ended up stopping off at
a river just past Auchtertyre to have a swim and cool down. Slightly different from today’s
conditions! It was during this leg (I
think!) that I was overtaken by another
girl, I think it must have been Rosie Bell.
I came into Tyndrum just behind Rosie, who seemed to push right through
without stopping. Another sloppy changeover
from me – Mark and Keziah were wandering over when they saw me so started
running. My dad was still at the Real
Food Café in the queue for food, so no chips or hot cup of tea waiting for me. I also had a craving for some coke – it was
in the car though which was parked across at the Green Welly stop. Keziah tried to get me to stop to wait for
the chips, but my chances of finishing top 3 were slipping further away so
instead I grabbed a banana and headed off.
I passed Andy’s support crew who were waiting for him and think I
mumbled something about really looking forward to getting chips. I noticed they were all drinking steaming cups
of tea and coffee and felt a bit jealous…..then Mark came running up behind me
with a bottle of coke, he’d ran back to the car and got it for me. I felt really guilty, his arthritis had
flared up really badly in his hands and feet the weekend before to the extent
that I was wondering if he’d actually be better in time to support me, so the
fact he was running just to get a bottle of coke to me made so grateful. I said my goodbyes – this was the last time I
would see Mark and Keziah until Kinlochleven.
They were heading to Onich to check into the accommodation I had booked
us and to try and get their heads down for a couple of hours.
It felt exciting running on from Tyndrum – I’d
run the Fling and the Devil before, but not back to back. I remembered how
tired I felt after the Fling the previous two years I had run it, and was happy
that I was feeling good at this point. Still
a long way to go though and I still had the Devil and climb out of KLL to get
over, as well as the long slog over the Lairig Mor. I forget where I saw Debbie and Sharon who
were both out running (by now you are probably getting the point that I have a
rubbish memory….!!) but I think it may have been on this leg. It was such a boost seeing those two, Debbie
was shouting words of encouragement, letting me know that second lady wasn’t
that far ahead and to stick in – it really made me believe that I could finish
well up, if I just kept focused.
I love the last wee section down to Bridge of
Orchy – it feels a bit of a slog for some of it, but when you see the railway
station and know you are almost at the hotel, it’s a good feeling – another
section ticked off. I’d caught up with
two other runners and we all came into Bridge of Orchy together. As I ran in, I realised I hadn’t actually
confirmed to my team where to meet me – at the hotel car park, or down by the
bridge – so I wasted a bit of time wandering about. I was happy to see Lorna run towards me
though, and she directed me to my dad who was waiting for me with a chair and
more of his magic soup just over the bridge.
The chair felt too comfy though, and I mumbled something to that effect,
so next thing Lorna and my dad were pulling me to my feet and telling me to get
going again – the sign of a brilliant support crew!! Andy’s support team were there too, so he
couldn’t be far behind, and Gavin (another Harmenite!) came over to say hi – he
passed on a hug from Kenny, one of my running friends from Balerno, and also a
kick up the ass (yeah, thanks for that KT!).
It gave me a boost though to know that people were thinking about me. I hoped to have Lorna run this section with
me, but I was within 4 hours of the overall leader at this point, so had to
push on alone.
It’s just a short wee section over to Victoria
Bridge, but there’s a bit of a climb in the middle. The weather was still pretty horrendous, so I
was amazed to see a guy standing at the top of the hill when I finally slogged
up, cheering on all the runners and handing out jelly babies (think it was
Murdo?). These guys are the true
heroes! Should probably point out here,
I have been a strict vegetarian now for over 15 years – to the extent that I
won’t eat jelly babies, wine gums, certain brands of wine/beer and anything
else that contains gelatine or other dead animal byproducts – I kind of flung
that out the window for the WHW though and had been eating jelly babies and
wine gums. (That’s as far as it went though!!)
The weather really was awful – but I loved it, I’ve run in a lot worse
conditions, and the great thing about these kinds of conditions is that you
know it’s not just you feeling it – everyone is. So in a way, it kind of levels out the
playing fields a bit. Everyone is
getting wet, falling over, and slipping about, so I was thinking bring it on –
these are the kind of conditions I love!!
The section from the top of that hill down to Inveroran is another of my
favourites (downhill ones usually are!) and I enjoyed coasting down to the
bottom, where my Dad and Lorna were waiting for me. It was a quicker handover
this time as I grabbed some wine gums, topped up on drinks, and started the
slog over Rannoch Moor to Glencoe.
Rannoch Moor
I’d really hoped to have Lorna with me over
Rannoch Moor. It’s not a particularly
tough or technical section, it can just be a bit exposed and lonely and a bit
of a slog. I’d run it a few times this
year in training runs though, so could mentally break it down into wee
sections. And the treat at the end was
the fun downhill section into Glencoe, so I had that to look forward to. This section was pretty uneventful – I could see
some runners in the distance, and there were a few walkers out braving the
weather. Again, the weather was so
different to one of the times I’d run over here last year – it had been so hot
and dry that day, that a huge fire had caught on the heather, lighting up an
enormous area of the moor and causing huge plumes of smoke that you could see
for miles. We almost didn’t make it back
from that training run as the fire had spread over the path and we were lucky
to make it through. The conditions
couldn’t have been more different today thoug!
I plugged on and it didn’t feel like too long before I’d reached the
high point and began coasting down to Glencoe.
I made a huge error here though – rather than cut up to the ski centre,
I followed the WHW signs which took me out much further down the hill. I could see groups of people up at the ski
centre but couldn’t remember if this was one of the checkpoints or not (crappy
memory…!!!). Lorna and my Dad weren’t
there and I didn’t know what to do so I started to try to phone my Dad. I didn’t want to waste even more time and
energy having to run all the way back up the hill again, so I figured I could
run onto Kingshouse and meet them there.
Luckily a runner saw me though and told me I had to check in at Glencoe
first. I was so annoyed with myself, I
was starting to feel tired now and I couldn’t afford to go the wrong way – I
had far enough to run as it was and I’d just added an extra hill on!! Lorna saw me as I started to jog back up the
hill and I had a wee rant to her – she got me checked in quickly though and
then my dad saw us and came running over with some chips. By this point I was allowed a support runner–
great, so Lorna could help me get up the Devil’s Staircase! I managed to eat a few chips, have a quick
cup of tea and set off on the next stretch to Altnafeadh.
It was great having some company, someone to help
me keep focused and take my mind off what lay ahead. We ran straight through Kingshouse, there was
no point stopping as I’d just seen my dad a couple of miles back, so he raced
on ahead to Altnafeadh. The rain just
didn’t seem to want to give, but luckily it didn’t feel cold, so we pushed
on. My dad was waiting for us at the
foot of the Devil – some lovely woman had gone over to share her huge umbrella
with him, so he wasn’t as soggy as he otherwise would have been! I topped up on more wine gums and pushed on.
The Devil’s Staircase had been one of the legs
I’d been a bit worried about. In the
Devil last year my calves had cramped going up it. The weather had been slightly different then
though! I felt like I was having to dig
deep now to get up the hill. Lorna was
great, she just kept pushing on ahead of me, so it gave me something to focus
on. We caught up with and passed two
others and I was glad to see the top.
Coming down the Devil’s Staircase at the other end is magic, one of my
favourite parts of the WHW. I love the
huge stepping stones at the bottom too.
The second lot though were completely submerged by the raging storm
waters, so we gingerly crossed over them.
It always seems to take an eternity to get into KLL – you can see it
from so far away but it never seems to get any closer and you seem to have to
run downhill for a long way. At least it
was downhill though. We made good
progress and it didn’t feel like long until we saw the familiar street leading
into KLL. Not so familiar though – made
another mistake as couldn’t remember how to get to the check in point – I
thought it was along a road on the left, so we kept running along the road
trying to find this turnoff that never came.
I started to feel annoyed again, where were my support team and why
weren’t they here looking out for us? I
was being a typical blonde though, would have helped if I’d actually spotted
the WHW sign and followed the path! I
may have been slightly arsey with Mark over the phone when I was calling him to
find out where we were meant to go, but at over 80 miles in, I thought I’d done
well to keep my temper tantrums to one…..so far! I was more annoyed with myself at wasting
more time – we were so close to the finish now, I was 3rd lady, and
I desperately didn’t want to give that up.
I was really happy to see Keziah run towards us, she’d had the common
sense to work out where we’d gone wrong and sprinted out to bring us in. I got checked in and weighed, and finished
off the rest of my dad’s soup, confident that its powers would see me through
to Lundavra! It was great to have Keziah
join us on the final stages too, an extra person to drag me in if it came to
that!
The climb out of Kinlochleven was another stage
that I’d been worrying about. It is such
a long drag, I think its actually worse than the Devil’s Staircase, and just
seems to take ages to get up. Keziah and
Lorna were great at distracting me though and we chatted (I was probably
complaining at this point) as we power marched up the hills. This section also has the Lairig Mhor,
another section that I remembered from the Devil as being a particular
slog. It was along here that we caught
up again with Graham who by this point had his brother running with him. We stopped briefly for some iron bru and
photos with the mountain response guys (it was them who introduced me to the
amazing powers of irn bru during the Devil last year – more heroes!) and
plugged on along the Lairig Mhor. I was
really having to dig deep here and Lorna and Keziah were great, like mt two
body guards motivating me to keep going!
I was just so scared that, after all this time of the race, some girl
would whizz past me and take my 3rd place. For a moment we thought that might happen too
– my neck and shoulders were so sore, so I was getting Keziah to look behind us
every so often to see if anyone was gaining – Keziah announced there was a
group of 3 runners making ground on us and one was a female. My heart sunk – I’d worked so hard for this
and I didn’t want to give it up now. The
next couple of miles we tried to push the pace, catching up with Graham and his
brother again and pushing on further. The
group catching us though and soon came level with us. I felt devastated as the girl ran past me, I
didn’t know if I had any fight left in me to chase her. I wanted this place so badly though!! Huge sigh of relief though when Lorna just
asked her outright if she was racing and it turned out that she was supporting
one of the guys. Phew! That in itself gave me more determination
again and we pushed on to Lundavra where Mark and my Dad were waiting for us.
The final push
I was so happy to get to Lundavra – I was tired
obviously, but I still felt like I could run and we were so near the
finish! I stocked up for the last time
on more wine gums and juice and the 3 of us headed off on the final leg. The climb through Lundavra wasn’t as bad as I
remembered it during the Devil and I felt strong going up the hills. We were on the final stretch, I was hurting,
but I knew it would soon be over. I wish
I’d looked into the finish properly though – when we dropped down towards the
final stretch into Fort William, I remember the confusion of last year at the
Devil. I’d followed the official WHW
signs down onto the road, which takes you in the opposite direction of Fort
William and the town centre, but I remembered some runners cutting it short
through the Braveheart carpark. I wanted
to go through the carpark, but I wasn’t sure if that was the route for this run
– the three of us stopped to discuss briefly and then we kind of concluded that
we should go the official route just in case.
Is that the wrong way? Its’
definitely the longer way, so I was feeling a bit downhearted when we finally
got to the point along the road where we would have come out if we’d taken the
car park!! What if another girl had got
ahead through the car park?!! I was soon
distracted by bats flying over our heads and then a young deer further along
the road, standing right next to where we ran past. We were so near the finish, but again, being
the disorganised person I am, I hadn’t checked to see where the actual finish
was!! So we ran past the official WHW
finish and weren’t sure which way to go! Luckily Graham’s wife was out on the
street waiting for him and sent us in the right direction. The final stretch along the road to the
leisure centre was amazing – there was no-one behind me and I knew I’d done it
– I knew we’d done it!!! I ran up the
steps of the centre and just stopped, not quite sure what to do, where to go or
how to feel! Ian saw me through the
glass doors and beckoned me in. I’d
finished! My only aim for this race had
been to finish within the 35 hour time limit.
I’d finished so much further ahead of what I could have imagined – 21
hours and 32 minutes - and my Dad was there to see me do it.
The WHW race for me was amazing – I expected the
worst (in terms of how I’d feel), but can honestly say I loved every minute of
it. My support team were amazing – to
give up their weekends and support me the way they did, I can’t thank them
enough. And same to all the other
supporters, and of course to the organisers and countless other individuals who
are mad enough to give up so much time to be part of such a mad adventure! I am so proud of my team and of course, my
goblet….and maybe one day there will be another one to join it! J
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