Alarm went off at 04:30, despite my excitement I really could have stayed in bed. After working 4 night shifts this week I could have done with the rest, but I had other things planned. Cereal and coffee then a 5 bacon rasher sandwich, not forgetting the brown sauce, and I was in my car for the hour ish trip up to the Brecon Beacons for the Might Contain Nuts Ultra Brecon 42-Winter Edition. Amazing drive up, clear night with a bright moon promised for some decent weather for the days activity, although you never can tell in the Beacons as the weather can turn pretty quickly. I arrived at Tal-y-bont, got registered, had a chat and coffee with some of the others then popped back to my car to get changed and then made my way down to the start line in the early morning mist. It was still dark but getting lighter so I didn’t bother with any lights, not many did. As we lined up, facing uphill, at the start line we got our briefing and then off we went.
An uphill start, just as we mean to go on.
I didn’t really have a plan in mind, just hike the hills, run what I could and walk if I needed and then hopefully bag a sub 10 hour run. Training had gone ok, mostly consisting of running back and forth work with the occasional long run when I could fit it in. I could have done with some more hill and long run sessions but with work and family sadly my running has to take a back seat. A saving grace for me is my job, working 12 hour shifts as an A&E nurse helps a lot with conditioning, lots of time on my feet!
A frosty start by the canal.
A couple of miles in I met Natalie, who I spent most of the race with. First check point came in good time, just as the sun was rising behind us. Lucky for us the low temperature had hardened the ground up a lot so I was able to keep up a good pace. Not long after CP 1 as we were descending down into a valley I came across Natalie, who had pushed ahead, with a runner on the floor. He had gone over on his ankle and couldn’t walk on it. So me and another runner Leigh got under his shoulders and helped him down, with natalie carrying his kit. 20-30mins of struggling down some steep muddy switch backs we arrived a a farm where the owner was just leaving for town and agreed to give our guy a lift. Even though us 3 were the first on scene to help the injured runner every one who passed us offered help, pain killers, gels, water and were even willing to hang around for more support or take over from us. Its humbling to be part the the ultra running scene with attitudes like that all around you. So with our guy in safe hands the 3 of us set off with some time to make up and defiantly got into race mode spending the rest of the day pushing hard to make it up. CP 2 came and went nicely and then CP3.
Tal-y-bont Reservoir. Just passed CP2, about 12miles in, 30 to go!
I had run from here to CP5 a couple of weeks ago and to say bog is an understatement. But like earlier it had hardened up nicely in the cold weather so I made some good progress over here which I was quite happy with. Even though I was feeling strong I made sure I held back and got some food down me as I knew what was coming after CP5. The format for the day had been myself pushing hard on the hills ahead of Nat and then she would overtake me on the flats or at check points where I would catch her up later on. However when she said for me to go ahead as she was filling up at CP5 I respectfully declined as I knew the ascent from Story Arms was going to be hard and it would make all the difference going at it in a pair. Well boy did I make the right decision there as having a partner for this section proved essential, we kept a good pace hiking most of it with a bit of running in the middle part that descends into a valley. I had to laugh, it was either that or cry, as we hit the turning at the top, i think we were passing the marathon mark at this point. So all down hill to CP6 and I must say that I especially can’t wait until next year to run this bit again, the decent was so scenic it was amazing, breathtaking. Only a half marathon or so to go and most of the climbing done, easy now, right? Nope. Started to feel it now, CP6 to 7 were mostly a struggle, had a couple of low points but the free gels and some food helped me to push on. These low points are always “fun”, they are what make these events worth while for me, being low on energy in the middle of nowhere all adds to the adventure. I don’t feel like that at the time though, it’s more a case of thinking of every possible way to get out of the situation. A couple of miles past CP7 I passed a guy who said we were a about 3-4 miles from the finish and that a sub 9hour finish wasn’t on the cards, I looked at my watch and saw it was 8hrs 40mins. Now I’ve run sub 20 for 3 miles easily in the past and that seemed to fix in my head and made me run hard despite how I was feeling. I knew I had no chance but still I went for it. Well I caught up with nat who had pulled away earlier, and a couple of other guys that had passed me. Then me and nat just pushed and pushed to the end, leaving the others behind and passing a couple more runners. Getting dark now we should have got our torches out but with the lights of the finish in sight we ploughed on and got home in 9hrs 15mins. Ecstatic with that time, and walking into the cafe to a round of applause felt awesome. Will book some annual leave before any future races as I felt ok after but defiantly could have done with being a bit more rested before. Nutrition wise I was quite happy. Two pink lady apples, nice and juicy. Two mini pepperamis. 5 go ahead crispy slices and yoghurt breaks, savoury but with fruit and sugar for a little lift. I never use gels but took 2 of the free GU samples they gave us, I used one and it really helped. The consistency was good and tasted ok. I’ll be ordering some for the future events.A great event with some great runners. My first MCN event and defiantly not my last, planning on doing rounds 1, 3 and 4 of their race series next year. Top marks to the MCN team for showcasing our beautiful country in this way and allowing us to experience it.
NurseRoberts 