Scott Snowdonia Trail Marathon - July 2016

This was my first marathon...I had decided last year when I was finally running injury free having changed my technique that I didn't want to wait a prolonged period before achieving a long held ambition, I just wanted to go for it, so from late autumn last year this had been my target for 2016. I had known that it would run long, 28.22 miles in fact, and I also knew that I could have picked far easier marathons out there as my first, lol. But what's the fun in that right?! If I'm going long, I may as well make it hard for myself, and I wanted to finish the course broken, to know that I had achieved something epic with this race...

So the profile of this run was a hill almost straight from the off that went on for a couple of miles, then a period of mildy undulating until mile 20 when you hit Snowdon, BOOM! You had to be at mile 20 after 5:15 hours, otherwise you wouldn't be allowed up Snowdon. Well, I had no intention of being anywhere near this cutoff but...if you'd read my last post you'd know that I came into this race with ITB syndrome and I had only managed to run about 15 miles in 4 weeks since Swansea Half Marathon...not the best preparation by any means as I couldn't use the turbo much either as my other knee was playing up (cleat alignment had something to do with it after my cleats falling off mid-ride and being re-aligned wrongly).

We travelled up on the Saturday (my parents and I that is) and stayed overnight in a quaint family run hotel overlooking the Menai Straits. Can't say it was my best sleep ever as the fabric of the hotel was paper thin it seemed, with wood floors that vibrated every sound and then noisy gangs of people in adjoining rooms!!!!! I think I got off to sleep some time around 2am, with the alarm set for 7am!

As I didn't know what breakfast would be available I took rice pudding with me for breakfast as this has worked previously prior to races and long runs - a good mix of protein with sugars and fats. It served its purpose anyway as I didn't get hungry at all on the run and stuck to my strategy of eating Naked cocoa bites every 15-30 mins or so after the first 50 mins. I also threw in some strawberry chewy sweets to be sure I didn't overload on the natural fruits, although I had taken an immodium pre-race. I also took ibuprofen and paracetamol pre-race, and took another dose after 2 hours of running (boy was I glad to be able to take them, not that they made much difference). 

Pre-race...sizing up the challenge

The race started in Llanberris, on the field adjacent to Lake Padarn, but I can't say I was impressed with the race expo or the "race field" on the day which had advertised itself as having loads of music going on, different fun events for everyone to take part in, etc. The race expo had a few shoes on display to buy, some nutrition stuff, but nothing else, where as I'd been hoping to maybe buy a buff or two as advertised. The weather was grim, drizzly, cloudy, but not cold, almost humid. Not great for spectators though, as it was my parents went back to the car for a bit, then had a coffee in the coffee shop, and I text upon reaching mile 20 to let them know where I was. As it was I was about another 1hr45 from that point, bless them, as they'd anticipated I'd be nearly done so went to the finish area!

So the race itself...well I can say it was truly beautiful, other than up on Snowdon when you couldn't see much because of the mist, but...saying that, you daren't hardly look up to admire the scenery as for the most part the security of your footing was less than assured and there were potential trip hazards almost throughout the whole race. I duly obliged to fall, on a fast decent off the first big hill, which was on a snaking series of switch backs, there was I politely pointing out the boulders and trip hazards to those behind me, as if I were on a bike, and what do I do, slip on almost nothing I think! Smack down and straight back up and again, hardly missed a stride, lol! Fair play, a couple of blokes asked how I was, and one even came onto me after the race when he saw me hobbling asking if it was from when I fell. I also had another stumble or two later on, but these were only air falls and I managed to write myself before anything catastrophic like a face-plan occurred, LOL!

Up and up and up right from the start!

The problem was that at mile 5 my ITB syndrome kicked in like a bitch and after that I struggled to breath at times because of the pain let alone enjoy myself! If I hadn't have been in searing agony then I might have actually enjoyed large parts of the run, but for me from mile 5 onwards was about completion and not having to throw in the towel. The pain had set in even before the split between half marathon and full marathon and for a moment it crossed my mind whether I should play it safe and do the half but no, I was in this for the long-haul, I was told it wouldn't do me any damage if I could handle the pain and that was what I was determined to do! There were times when the pain was less, but still present, and there were other times when I had shots of pure agony shoot through my leg and I could barely hobble. The amount of times on a single track section that I had to stop and let others by purely because I couldn't say I was running, merely moving forwards and I didn't want to hold anyone up. The terrain varied between forest roads, single track muddy slippery tree root laden paths, and muddy grassy boggy sections. My hip flexors had started to play up not long after the ITB pain set in and this made it hard to maintain my usual technique which is raising knee up and landing on mid-foot. It seemed almost that I was barely able to lift my knees so my focus became on just moving forwards!

Some of the terrain meant if you didn't want to face plant you had to walk, there was thick slippery mud on single track sections, and lots of rocky sections that you had to pick you way through. It was lovely to see a friendly face when Jonathan, who I am Facebook friends with from the tri world in Swansea, passed me after about 10 miles or so and we had a little chat, and even a selfie (he loves a running selfie), so that distracted from the pain and misery for a little while.

It was quite beautiful really, even if I hardly noticed!

Like in the Preseli Beast Bach, there was a moment where you rounded a corner and all you could see was a huge hill/mountain in front of you that looked vertical and a steady line of runners ahead of you who were all walking up the climb. This was the climb up to Pen-Y-Pass which was the 20 mile mark, so for about a mile or so it was mostly walking with some brief moments of being able to get into a jog. It seemed never ending but thankfully my calves were fine and it was just a case of moving forwards and overtaking a few people as felt right at key points. It was still single track so overtaking was difficult but I was conscious that if I felt decent (relative to the pain I was in) then I'd push on as much as I could. Getting to the top was a welcome sight as I could then refill my camelbak with isotonic drink, which is what i'd inadvertently been drinking when I had taken cups from marshals on route up until now so I continued to take isotonic drinks when I could. Took a few sweets, a couple of swigs of isotonic drink and then straight on, no hanging about, lol! This is where the pyg route started for us and right from the off it set the tone with huge boulder steps that required a big step up each time. There was no running going on, which actually was my race strategy given the pain, get to this point within the cut off point and I knew I could walk the rest of it. As it was I got here at 12:30pm and the cut-off time was 14:15 so I was fine. Phew! Of course I had no intention of walking it even if running was agony, but the majority of the climb you had no option but to walk/step/scramble. To be honest there were certain parts of the path where if you fell from a wrong footing you'd be off, falling down the mountain that was directly to the side of you - a sheer drop! Mostly it was those huge boulders that went on forever, and at times the signage wasn't great, having to look around to be sure I'd taken the right path when it came to a fork. There was also more traffic on this path that I'd anticipated and this held things up now and again with some walkers just being oblivious to the fact that you were in a race and young kids just scrambling around in front of you for sheer fun! The scrambly bits really were climbing, not for very long, but a good few foot/hand movements at times which is when things could have gotten hairy if it had been windier. It was wet and at times slippery but thankfully no falls for me. It was just a case of keeping on going. It was actually about 3 miles up from the 20 mile mark and that path seemed to go on forever. Hearing the sound of the train was a welcome sound as I knew I must be near the summit to hear it and then I chucked to myself when I saw a seagull perched up on one of the rocks, right up near the summit of Snowdon! Well he was certainly a long way from home. The weather up top was drizzly but not raining really and not as cold as when I was here in May. The race up until now had been a mixture of light rain and dry periods, but never cold, so I didn't feel the need to get the jacket on. The wind wasn't as strong as it was in May either, just no views, not that I dared look around anyway! 

Eventually the climb opened up to the welcome sight of a marshal and from there it was straight right and start the descent down the Llanberris path, which I knew. We didn't have to go right to the top, probably because of the amount of foot traffic with visitors from the train and walkers, plus we'd have to run into oncoming racers going in the other direction, so we were about 300m short of the top when we topped out. However, the descent was where the pain really set in as parts of the descent are really quite steep, which meant fast work for all those that flew past me, some asking if I was OK because I was walking mostly, sometimes trying a little shuffle, but the agony brought tears to my eyes! I had resolved myself to seeing this race as all about finishing, so whilst I know that I could have been at least 30-45 mins faster, and about 10 female places higher, plus about 50 places higher overall (given the amount of people that flew past me on the descent alone let alone those that passed me in earlier parts of the race when I was slow due to my lameness) I just accepted that for me I just wanted to get down off the mountain and finish the race. As the path eased off a bit I did try and run but it was hit and miss. When I was in sight of Lake Padarn (the start/finish area) on a steep descent that I knew left only about 1 mile or so left I was told to turn right through a cafe car park and into woods - NO!!!!!!!!! As it was this section I was able to run (well, what I was able to call running at this stage) as it was flatter, and a nice flowing trail actually. I just thought they were taking us away from the steep tarmac descent but No, they got us within touching distance of the finish, I could hear the commentator, and then rather than left towards the finish, I was told to go right, taking me away from the finish, even though I was probably already on 26 miles by this point (I couldn't even look at my watch at this point). This was another wooded section and then a young marshal said "1 mile to go" - "WHAT????????" But carry on I had to, and then there was a section where there was a little tourist train that was coming meaning the warning sirens were sounding and the path was about to be blocked - the marshals were calling us forwards quickly so I had to speed up - speed up?!?!?!? This hurt like hell but I made it before the train and as it was it possibly helped get into a better stride as from here I was running a bit easier, and we did a loop of the field basically, cutting out of the park, and then back in through what looked like a work's entrance. From here I could recognise the finishing area and was told "400m" to go. Now I always liked to finish a race strongly but I didn't feel I had a sprint finish in me today, thankfully I didn't need to test that out as I'll never turn down a sprint finish opportunity to pip someone at the line. With about 250m to go I was able to pass one guy who was in my sights, and thankfully he didn't come back at me so I had no-one directly in front of me to chase down, and no-one coming up behind me that I had to fend off. I could finish in my pace, arms aloft, and feeling so relieved that I had made it! I had completed the 28.22 miles (I can't say ran, as a fair bit of it was enforced walking from the terrain let alone my injury)!!!!!

Less than 100m left...

Thank heavens for that!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Official photographer delayed taking this till after I had crossed the line and already started to drop my arms, DOH!
I look awful, lol!

Crossing the line I was disappointed to be told there was no medal as they had run out! That's what had kept me going, the feeling of having that medal around me neck. Everyone was disbelieving that they had run out of medals so early on as out of about 600 runners I placed 219th, 29th female, and 16th female under 40. Time was 6hr11. Not quite what I'd had in mind if I had been fit, but given I was running injured for 23 miles then I fared a lot better than a lot of people...They said they'd send the medal out in the post, not the same as the satisfaction of wearing it for the rest of the day for everyone to see, LOL! However, whilst it didn't make up for it, the finishing line treats of chocolate digestives (one for my Dad) and gummy bears with plenty of water was a welcome treat. Crossing the line I felt OK actually, although as soon as I stopped the pain in walking again was EPIC!!!!!!! My mother had thought I was running well when she had seen me but once I stopped and tried walking again she realised how much pain I was in. I can't say I was particularly tired and I certainly wasn't out of breath as there had been no sprint finish. Very strange from finishing a triathlon or the half marathon last month but then I guess the injury put paid to any speed and instead it was just about moving forwards. 

It was disappointing that there was hardly anything going on in the race field other than the finishing shoot so the atmosphere wasn't that great. I decided to have a post-race massage, £10 for 10-15 mins, but there was quite a wait and I quickly got cold. By the time the massage came about I was shivering almost uncontrollably and thankfully Jonny, the sports therapist threw loads of blankets on me to get me warm! I have to say Jonny was amazing, if not brutal! My hip flexors had seized completely and just lifting my left foot off the ground even less than an inch was agonising but he had me lying down and putting my let down straight, and then bringing my knee up to my chest - just this movement along brought cries of agony, let alone any actual treatment! Jonny felt that my adductors and glutes weren't firing and that possibly other areas were tight which meant when the injury kicked in and the body started to compensate all these other issues flared up. My sports massages are always painful but this was by far the most pain I've ever been in, which given I've just been in agony in the race for 23 miles, was quite something! I'd like to think it helped a little as I was walking a little easier that evening but BOY that night I couldn't roll over in bed without waking up through the pain, and the next day just trying to lift my left leg was almost impossible, having to lift my left leg to get in and out of the car, and to get up from lying down. This was purely because of my hip flexors being so tight, other than that and my ITB issue I felt good and had plenty of energy. When back at the hotel that afternoon I had a sauna and a very short swim, but it was lager I wanted!!!!!! Alas, I was so tired when we got back from eating that I went straight to bed, so only a couple of lagers for me over our luscious chinese. 

All in all I'm happy with my efforts and I know if I'd been injury free it would have been a completely different story but I achieved my goal, I completed my first marathon and yes, it had broken me as intended!