Traveled up the day before from Bewdly as was working up in Northampton Thursday so stayed with friends so I didn't have to go back to Sussex and then back to Wales within 24hrs. Had my first Radio Interview as well on the Friday for work which was scary but went okay so I was told.
Got to the apartment we were staying in early evening, and crashed a bit before a reasonably early night. I got cuddles with Mic, who I absolutely adore!
Saturday was a slow start the race wasn't until 2pm. O was a bit poorly in the night with a temperature and wasn't great still in the morning. Let and I did a bit of shopping and went and checked out the venue for parking etc.
Got back and met O's dad which was nice and after a bit of fafing about (mostly on my part) we headed to Abergavenny. I decided to run in my new Salomon Speedcross 3s which I am really pleased with. Tread on them comparable to a tractor!
When at the event we also met up with one of O's colleague Lee. We found the train I was never optimistic about beating it I just didn't want to be last.
So we soon were set off with the whistle of the train and I think I kept O in sight maybe for 1km then let him go, I couldn't keep his pace. Little did I know that I would nearly catch him up later.
It didn't take long to get out of the town, now I come to think of it I don't think I have known a better supported event in terms of crowds and cheering. Was so encouraging! And then we were out in the countryside and the route followed a reasonably flattish route for the first half of this 14mile route, with a few sneaky climbs but nothing that stopped me running.
I could feel my form slowing me down, my lack of training recently had really affected me and I just wasn't enjoying this as much as I did the half marathons I was doing early in the year where I was fit for them. But I was okay and the miles went by and I got chatting to a few people, the marshals were really supportive and there were supporters dotted along the route.
The train went by a few miles in and I have a very unattractive photo with it but as my readership is rather minimal I suppose there is no harm in sharing.
I'd like to point out that it was really really hot and I had tipped a cup of water over myself which turns out isn't a very attractive thing to do and must make not to avoid doing that in future to avoid looking like a puddle of sweat. Or at least more of one than usual.
The pain in my hip started to bother me by mile 5 and I pushed on until mile seven where there was a water stop and I paused for a breather and to review the damage. My knee was niggling as well on the descents as well. By this time I wasn't too shabby for time was on track for a 2:20hr finish I think my pace was around the 6:20-7min mark which wasn't much different to the marathon, well, the first bit.
I pushed on, a very unpleasant passing of two partially decomposed sheep carcasses that I would have thought the organisers should have arranged to dispose of prior to the event as the smell was horrendous and was very unpleasant to see.
The route then continued up somewhat and along the side of this hill for what seemed like ages. There were some sections so steep that we had to climb with our hands! The camber of the path must have been varying between 15-30 degrees at times which put a lot of strain on my untrained and unstable body that was already hurting. My new trainers were awesome though and the views were stunning, when there was chance to look up as the terrain was quite treacherous with bits of slate sticking out the ground, rocks to clamber over and all sorts.
So I was pushing through a lot of pain after mile 7. I hurt a lot. There were a lot of sections that I just couldn't run even if I wanted to so did walk when I had to but there was a descent just after the bog I think when my knee had just had enough and I had to stop briefly to compose myself as I literally was finding it hard to even put weight through it. Once I got on the flat again I picked up the pace a bit but it was hard. My knee was the worst it hurt so much. It was more crippling than the marathon and I didn't have Owain in my ear encouraging me but I don't think that would have helped at this point. With 5km to go and the promise of a Jaffa cake and then being told that there were none left was devastating in itself (I recently found out that O had passed brought not long before me and he had some!), I conceded to walk the rest. Though I did still do this as quickly as I could. Though I remember it hurting I can't remember much of that walking miles.
As soon as we were back on the roads and there were people and supporters cheering us on again I somehow managed to find a run in me. Well I say run, I mean hobble type run that was quicker than a walk. The fact that one guy was starting to take down some barrier tape was even an incentive to keep going! I think I managed 1.6-2km I tried to work out how far was left based on confusing signage from different races. The finish seemed to come quicker than I thought and I crossed the line without realising and my name was called out which was nice but i didn't want to stop for fear of falling over as I had momentum and needed to find my friends. I nearly went straight passed them mind and O was there surprisingly out of breath and as it turned out he only finished 3minutes before me. He hadn't had a great race either. But we finished, we survived (just) and had our medals and t-shirts and goody bags and hobbled back to the car.
So like I said O didn't have a good time of it and was quite sick a few times and had to walk a lot of it as well in the end. He was still poorly after and I hurt so we went home, O went to bed and did feel a bit better later but even a week after he's only just started feeling a bit more normal so lesson perhaps not run with a temperature or feeling poorly. And for me, maybe I shouldn't have run either. Probably not. Will I learn. Probably not.
Day after both O and I had knee injuries (he always has to copy me) and turns out his was worse, is worse. From running on the sideways hill no doubt too and masked the day before because of being poorly. Poor thing even went to the minor injuries as swelled right up and was, is, agony for him and still feeling rubishy. He's done his MCL we reckon and is now recovering from that. He is a terrible patient mind. Gave him a Tens machine last night to help with the pain but he found it more fun to see how high he could take the 'therapeutic' effects.... At least it was a distraction for a bit I suppose. Our knees....
Anyway, back to my knee. I got home Sunday night and did the whole RICE thing for a few days and the pain was gone by Wednesday. Considering I was going down stairs on my bum it hurt so much Monday I was a bit shocked. More on my injury on the next blog as I have seen the physio and this post is getting a bit long.... But let's not forget the medals:
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