When people discover I enjoy running in the mountains more questions follow including:
What races have you done?
Do you compete?
What races are you doing this year?
How long does it take you to run 10k, a marathon, this race, that mountain?
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| Enjoying moving along the Crib Goch Ridge during day one of the Dragon's Back Race |
Well the thing is, I might have a Strava account but I don't really remember many of the figures on it! It's there to help me ensure I don't overtrain for expeditions, to be a log book for what I've done, and to see what routes other people do for my own inspiration. I can tell you how far I've run this morning, or for how long, but I have no idea of whether this was faster than last week or last year!
When I choose to enter a race, it's normally because there's a particular route I would like to do, possibly that route without external support would be significantly harder, or it's because the atmosphere of the event is something I would like to be a part of.
May 2015 I joined the Dragon's Back Race Event Team as the Support Point Crew, 2017 as a member of the Check point crew, and naturally in 2019 I had to run it.
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| Hangin' out with the event crew (I'm on the right) in 2017, taking a much needed break from putting out and collecting markers in the sun (album photo!?) |
It is a five day stage race through Wales, from Conwy Castle on the North Coast to the Brecon Beacons in the South. The route runs 315km along the mountains, taking in over 15 500m of ascent. In addition to the runners a huge event team supports you, providing breakfast, supper, tents to sleep in, advice, medical care and more. It's a route that makes sense, following a logical line of peaks, with only the occasional out and back, or short section that if it wasn't compulsory, would probably leave out, e.g. Moelwyn Bach!
At the beginning of any journey, expedition, race or new work venture I think about many things.
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| Running in the snow during winter |
The Positives:
- I know how to use a map and compass, so when my GPS watch dies or fails to provide me with necessary information, hopefully I will be able to find the checkpoints and campsite!
- Routefinding experience, for over ten years I've been exploring mountains on and off paths.
- Local knowledge - Day 1 is my 'stomping ground', I climb these mountains on a weekly basis, Day 2 and 3 I knew pretty well, and Days 4 and 5 I was familiar with around half of the course
- Campcraft, knowing that I could keep my bit of the tent organised, and I had a system to look after myself each day would not only save time, but help me to recover and be ready for the following day.
- Time on my feet, working in the outdoors as my full time job meant that my feet were acclimatised to day after day of mountain terrain
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| Early morning guiding the 3000s, I was more psyched than ever to do long days at work in 2018 |
The Negatives:
- The distance, I had never attempted to run this far at once
- The time, I had never run this far each day for more than 2 or 3 days at a time. As the week continued would I have enough time in the day to complete the course, eat, wash, do foot maintenance and recover?
- Training, balancing training with work, home life and building a campervan was a constant battle. At times I was exhausted, whilst for most of November 2018 I didn't do any running at all as I spent most of it van building
- People, would tent life work? How would I find the race psychologically with more competitors than they have ever had before?
- Equipment, mine wasn't the lightest, but it was well tested. Would this weight difference impact me?
- Food, whilst over the last couple of years I had figured out what food I can and enjoy to eat during long runs and fast packs, would the camp food provided work for me? Would I be able to eat enough of it?
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| Keen to bag some munros after a day of outdoor work |
Day one
The weather forecast was perfect, cool weather, clouds on the tops at the start of the day, with clear views later. Jogging along the castle walls felt surreal, I struggled to believe this was happening to me, halfway between crying from all of the effort that brought me to the start line, and smiling that the journey had started. The ascent of Tal Y Fan provided a good warm up as the mass start meant we would move slowly. Shortly the running and power walking replaced jogging. Grassy tops in the Northern Carneddau led to the rockier peaks further south. The battle between feeling fresh legged, eager, and attempts to conserve energy had begun.
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| Heading down towards the support point on day one of the race |
Five and a half hours later I was stood grinning in the Ogwen valley, embracing every moment. Shoes and socks off, air the feet, eat lots from my drop bag, drink, restock running pack with food, stretch a bit, suncream on, smidge on my feet and legs for ticks, socks on, shoes on, continue.
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| Running into the support point in the Ogwen valley |
A short sharp ascent up Tryfan came after the support point. It felt busy on the route and I struggled to enjoy following others step after step, soon I left the main trod and took a more direct route to the summit, scrambling over rockier terrain and leaving the crowds behind. Friendly faces by Adam and Eve on the top spurred me onwards. Running off the Glyders the terrain was dry, and familiarity allowed me to follow my nose and enjoy the descent along the red dot path towards Pen Y Pass. I made the cut off time, not by miles, but enough that I knew I would have plenty of time to reach camp and should be there before darkness.
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| Happy to be there and loving mountain running on the race |
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| Selfie with Tim on the safety team on Crib Goch |
The final descent of the day was fabulous, a gradually descending but rolling path led down to the campsite, along the side of Galt Y Wenallt. This section contained some of the best views and trods of the entire day, perhaps it was the welcoming camp, or perhaps the lack of others as the field was spread out. Who knows, but I loved every minute of it.
Clapping and cheering surrounded the farm roads into camp, a beep from my SI chip and into the marquee to download my figures for the day. The crew efficiently ferried me onwards through the bag collection, finding my tent and then food. It was funny how yesterday carrying my own big bag was perfectly manageable, but now I embraced the crew lugging it around for me.
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| The start of the race in Conwy Castle. |
Knowing the camp craft and organisational side of things would be one of my strong points I went about my routine. First up, tea and supper. I had arrived to be able to have a hot snack first, refuelling quickly, and then continuing on to arrange my things in the tent, before my main dinner later. Stretching, cleaning and checking feet, a bit of chit chat, organising my day food and bags and looking at the map for tomorrow.
The first day went well, I was super happy to finish, eat and drink enough, and my legs still felt strong.
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| Dawn Patrol in the Glyders before work |
Day two
5am wake up the next day. The first participants would be allowed out at 6am and I knew that I would have to be among the initial batch to stand any chance of staying within the cut offs. Today would be equivalent to the longest I have ever run in one day and there were some big road sections in it. Not to mention the fact that it was forecast to be really hot and sunny again.
I was fortunate to join the breakfast queue when I did, as it certainly looked longer by the time I was at the front. This was one meal that seemed harder to pick what to eat. I really fancied my own banana oaty pancakes with fruit, but settled on cereal and something hot, along with a big mug of coffee. Having burnt so much energy the previous day, and beginning today with a gradually ascending road for 4km I wasn't too concerned about feeling ill from running so soon after eating. Normally I struggle to run particularly swiftly if I've just consumed a plateful of food!
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| Runners in the sun on Day 2 of the Dragons Back Race |
This section of road was probably the only tarmac I enjoyed that day. It served as a pleasant warm up to get the blood flowing and find my rhythm for the day. An already hot ascent of Cnicht followed. Thankful for local knowledge and some route finding ability, I was able to swiftly remain on track as the right of way is suitably vague on the ground. Descending almost directly down the mountain you link up smooth patches of grass and scree like terrain, grateful for the lack of fog as you have nothing to help you other than following your nose in conjunction with the map. It's a taster for the wilder terrain of Day 2 with the Rhinogs still to come.
The Moelwyns came and went, before a really lovely section of trail running that I'd only ever been on once before, heading South to Maentwrog. Then came more road. It might've only been 5km worth but I hated every minute. Upon reflection there was more than one reason for this.
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| Checkpoint on the summit looking towards the sea |
I was feeling hot and knew the next section of hills wouldn't start for a couple of hours.
The bulk of the pack were overtaking me and suddenly it felt like a road race. There seemed to be so many people and I started to question, probably for the first time ever, why I liked running, why I wanted to do this particular race, and what on earth I was doing!
Honestly and simply, I just quite like running, I get to think about nothing or something or whatever! I revel in being able to do a quick loop around the hills in a couple of hours, when walkers spend all day doing it. I enjoy seeing how far I can go in a day of running, and there's something satisfying about the self sufficient and selfish nature of it. As in a video I saw the other day about two runners, 'it's simple, I think it has become a habit, a bit like having a meal!'
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| Looking across towards the Rhinogs |
So I guess you could say I was having some sort of physiological crisis about my running at this moment, in that, currently, I was not longer liking it, and I was having to think about why I enjoy mountain running! Oh yeah, and I was currently not really mountain running, but in a valley on a hot road being over taken by (in my mind anyway) road runners! (Actually quite a lot of them were not 'just' road runners, but I was feeling a bit pissed off at the time)
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| Enjoying early starts when out fastpacking on days off before the race |
And then, I bumped into Mel. We had both been on the support team for the race four years ago, and said that we would one day do the race. We hadn't spoken much recently and it was great to have a good natter and catch up. Boosting each other along, actually Mel did most of the work here, we continued until we were on the stretch of path leading towards Llyn Eidden Mawr. She told me to stop getting my knickers in a twist and get on with it, I was just having a bad moment and everyone gets these on long running days.
True, but now my heel was starting to niggle a bit. It had niggled a bit in the year before, but rarely, and temporarily. I just put it down to the heat, my heel spurs and length of day. Working in the outdoors means I need my body to function, and I phoned Jim, asking for advice. What I really wanted was him to say, keep going, it's nothing, don't worry. But the reality was that I was a bit concerned and scared that I might not be able to work the remainder of the year or future if it got worse. I had called earlier asking him to pick me up at the end of Llyn Trawsfynydd, and then later saying I would continue to the support point and see what happened along the way.
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| Trying out new foods whilst loving training in my 'Dragon in Training' T-shirt |
The section from Trawsfynydd to Cwm Bychan is so pleasant, perfect mountain running, even without any mountains to go over! It is wild, deserted and just so cool, I'd run there anyway! Things were feeling good, I sent Jim a message saying I would carry on, I had time and my heel was feeling ok.
Support point, sit down, eat from drop bag, restock food and water in hill bag, drink, chat, suncream, tick repellant, change socks and feel psyched to continue. Little did I know that a couple of minutes later, Jim would arrive to collect me, whilst I was already near the top of the Roman Steps.
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| Trigpoint training views, somewhere in Wales |
Similar to my first ever marathon, the Snowdonia Trail Marathon, it was the hills I was looking forwards to the most. (In that marathon Snowdon is the last section of the race, and was the only bit I really enjoyed!) The changeable nature of the paths underfoot, making decisions on what route to take, and being able to tick the hills off, made time feel redundant.
I was beginning to actively look at my map for the recommended times on the peaks and calculating if I was going fast enough, faster, or not. I still had more than enough time in the bag, but I really wanted to get to camp without needing to wear my headtorch. Knowing the final descent off Diffwys required some nimble feet I did not fancy the added duress of limited depth of field and vision.
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| Looking back towards the Rhinogs from Y Llethr, with one peak left to go on day 2 |
The peaks passed in a daze, I knew where most of the good tracks were, and where I could take the occasional short cut to save on height gain or distance. I secretly enjoyed being able to use my navigational skills and assessment of the terrain to my advantage here, it felt more akin to how the original Dragons Back Races were, no recommended routes, fewer people, and no GPX files to download. Whilst understanding the reasoning behind this, I couldn't help but feel as though there was a bit of GPS watch reliance in the race!
At the end of what is probably my favourite drystone wall in Snowdonia, was Diffwys, the final peak of Day 2. To my delight I managed a reasonable speed of descent, passing a very midge eaten photographer, and knew that at least, if I needed a head torch towards the end, it would be on forestry roads and tarmac.
Then the torture began. Fluctuations of pain from my right heel as I ran, with my brain trying hard to continue the push onwards. More fast paced, impactful road running, about 10km worth! It went on forever and felt as though everyone else had passed me by as I slowed to something you could only just about call a jog. At least this edition had altered the gradually climbing road on the North of the Afon Mawddach for the flat trails to the South. I suddenly got cold, forced down the last of my food and put all of my clothes on, I knew it was because I was in need of a hot supper, rest and recovery. Headtorch on for the final kms into camp.
The markers through the camp guided me towards some vague clapping and the end-line of the day. I had finished Day 2 before the cut off. But, it was ten o'clock, my tent buddies all fast asleep, and I was a hungry hobbling wreck. Ironically all of my leg muscles still felt pretty good!
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| My poorly heel turned our annual Scottish holiday from backpacking to bikepacking, it was an enormous positive that came out of the whole injury experience, as I have a new found passion for exploring by mountain bike too now. |
Realistically I knew tomorrow would be a bad idea with my heel, but with my usual stubbornness I planned as though I would being day 3 and leave the final decision until the morning. My only other issue was that the lack of sleep would begin, having the chance to get a maximum of six hours sleep. On the bright side at least I didn't have trench foot, like one of my tent mates, who had had to pull out earlier that day.
5am, I limped out of bed, just standing was troublesome, thankful for my poles I completed the hobble of disappointment and shame to the kitchen tent for breakfast. Friends from the support team asked after me, and I felt as though I was letting them down in addition to myself because of my limp. Food complete, and trying not to cry, I made the decision to pull out of the race. It was a sensible choice, realistically, I needed to be able to work on my feet in a week and a half. I had booked seven days off after the race to recover; in fact I can remember telling my colleague that I wouldn't be able to work then, despite the centre being busy, as I probably wouldn't be able to walk! Dramatic at the time, a couple of weeks before the race, but it was now a reality.
Living within 40minutes of the camp, Jim was able to pick me up before he went to work. It took me about thirty minutes to hobble the 300m from camp to the junction down the road with all of my stuff!
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| Snowshoeing at work in January 2020, the first time I wore boots consistently since the race |
Bitterly frustrated and both happy at the same time, I began to reconcile with the fact that I hadn't finished the race as I spent the remainder of my time off from work recovering.
On the one hand I put Jim through so many early alarm clocks so I could go out for dawn patrols in the mountains before work. He had had to endure my endless obsessing over kit, food, training, routes etc... I had barely rock climbed for the entire year, been more antisocial than usual, and any spare time I had was taken up with building the new campervan. And at the end of it, I still didn't finish the race.
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| Finally back out training again in March 2020, and loving it |
But on the other, I embraced it. So many opportunities and support from people to get out in the hills and go running. The knowledge that afterwards, the only reason I was limping was my heel, but my legs and other muscles still felt amazing. I was forced to question what sort of running I like, whether this kind of event was for me or not, and what some of my weaknesses are. I learnt to manage my food and liquid intake over two long hot days in the hills. I realised that, without unforeseen injury, my legs could probably take me further than I think without being too tired. I also had an incredible season of work afterwards, wearing my running shoes every day, as I wasn't able to wear boots until the following January. In fact, in the year since the race I have probably only worn walking boots for twenty days, two in the summer, ten snowshoeing, and the remainder in UK winter (where working I can't really wear my winter running shoes!)
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| First trials of longer mountain runs when I couldn't resist the winter conditions at home in Snowdonia in March 2020 |
I'm still not sure what the future is, I'd love to try the Dragon's back route again, and I'd certainly love to work on the crew again, whether I would want to race it in the current format, I'm undecided. Perhaps, but I know I still want to continue running in the mountains. And currently, after my slight setback of 2nd degree burns on my legs last Autumn, I'm slowly returning to long hilly running again, and I love it.
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