Mud, Sweat and Tears (Almost)

It seems an awful long time ago now that we set off in complete darkness in search of Marathon 1 and the Endurancelife base camp on Holyhead Island, at which point I remember saying ‘well it doesn’t look too hilly to me’. How wrong I was, how very wrong!!

We parked up (after getting a little lost at first) and followed directions to the registration tents. By this time the sun was just starting to rise and in the distance we could make out what appeared to be the rock face of the mountain we’d been dreading. At this point I think Langley pointed out that we might have found our hill!

We arrived in plenty time and had a good look round and spoke to a few people. If I’m honest I felt like we were the novices of the pack, but everyone has to start somewhere. One day maybe we can look like hardened trail runners and fit in with all the others. As the scheduled start time approached I was filled with excitement and a little anxiety about the road (can I call it a road?) ahead. My anxiety wasn’t really helped by the wise words of the event starter who enthusiastically told us:

'The conditions at the top are going to be mountainous. It's going to be 5 or 6 degrees colder up there and when you turn at the peak the wind’s going to hit you straight in the face - it's going to knock your head off. It's gonna be awesome guys!!'

It was like a scene from Bear Grylls and didn’t sound too ‘awesome’ to me or Langley, but we liked his enthusiasm! Moments later the race was under way and we headed away from the overshadowing mountain and towards the sea before we started our slog up the mountain face.

As the race went on I felt more like an adventurer than I did a runner – climbing over rocks and leaping down drops. Like the man said this was bordering on ‘awesome’. That was until mile 20 where I checked in at the final checkpoint and began the 7mile stumble to the finish line. Never in my life have I endured such a mental battle – one moment I felt like crying as the miles kept getting longer and more painful, the next I’d be singing out loud like a looney, sorry about that folks! It was like a scene from ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’.

Endurancelife’s motto is ‘never, never, never give up’. So I thought ‘when in Rome, do what the Romans do’ or in this case ‘do what the nutters from Endurancelife do’.

This attitude took me to mile 25, the point I had told myself I’d be home and dry. I did however tell myself this not knowing they’d stick a huge 650ft mountain in my way which took me over 20 minutes to climb, and I mean literally climb – rope, harness and hiking boots really should have been provided at this point. Now talking to myself I slowly but surely made it to the top where I was hit by an almighty wind which in the words of, lets call him Bear, ‘nearly took my head off’.

So here I was standing at the highest point on the island and even from this point I could not see the finish line or any of the event marquees. I descended the mountain with the wind crashing into my face knowing that I was inside my last mile. I kicked on, blissfully aware that I was now well and truly home and dry!

I'd made it and was pleased with my time of 5hours 10minutes, but even more chuffed to be presented with a hot cuppa and a seat. Quite simply the hardest thing I’ve ever had to endure, but looking back it was all worth it. Bear was right – it was ‘awesome’

To say I felt like Chris Hay at the end of the race was probably a bit unfair… I’m sure he felt much worse!!! Chris is a friend who ran Kielder Marathon with me back in October and I still berate him for his highly impressive (in the wrong sense of the word) finish time of 6hrs 30mins.

The day would not be complete without cheering my buddy Langley home who finished the race feeling very much the same as I did – sick and in all sorts of pain or in simpler terms ‘feeling like Chris Hay’.

So we are one marathon down with only eleven more to go, sounds good doesn’t it.

Here is our video from the race - great looking back and remembering the views, the runners and that bloody big mountain!!!