Beacons Ultra - 20 November

Another marathon another day! Was a little concerned about this race, only being 5 days after the Druids though....hmmm! Had booked into the bunkhouse in Llanberis through the forums. Drove up after work on the Friday. Was great seeing Sue & Martin Like again. Met Jill at the bunkhouse & being the only 2 females staying over, we had our own room & pretty much our own shower & loo - sheer luxury!!! Rab & Mike B also staying over. Met Carole (Perks) & she had made a chilli for dinner for all. I discovered I had left my sports bra behind, & Carole, bless her, took her bra off her back & lent it to me! Amazing. Met a smashing guy from the forums called James (uglyjess) & he appeared to be the same level as us & decided to join us tomorrow. Had too much wine & headed to bed around 11pm.

Up very early & strolled up to the rugby hall for the start. Pretty chilly so keen to get going. Start was fine - 3 or so miles along the canal - lovely & flat. We were pretty much at the back where we intended to be! Then the ups started: bit through the woods then up up up through the fields. Dont know why but my left knee was in agony! Everytime I had to push up on the hills I got a sharp pain. So much so that I thought I would have to withdraw. Jess also struggled a bit on the hill whereas Jill took it all in her stride! Another disaster - wondered why I couldnt get any water out of my camlbak - it had emptied itself & I had nothing to drink! Also when we got to top of hill I decided to don all our clothes in the wild wind - I had left my fleece behind. It couldnt really get much worse. AAAAGH!!! This if nothing else, would certainly keep me moving! Anyway, once at top of hill, pain in leg disappeared. I decided to keep on going hoping there wouldnt be to many nasty hills & just grit my teeth for the second round!

Fog hardly lifted all day so we couldnt see all the apparently beautiful views, but we still had a thoroughly enjoyable day. Lucinda even came down to cheer us on just before the halfway point Got to the halfway make after 5:52 and finished the whole thing in 13:03. Second part of the second round was pretty challenging. We couldnt see our hands in front of our faces, very cold & windy plus pitch dark. Got through it fine but last 2 or 3 miles along the canal went on for ever & ever. Back to the rugby hall for hot tea then to the bunkhouse for some reheated chilli & a few glasses of wine. We even managed to talk Jess into reinstating his entry for next years MdS. He agreed that Jill & I could probably pull him round. Excellent. Another jolly camper in our tent! :-)

Good nights sleep before heading home & for a pub lunch at the Dev...perfect! Another 45.71 miles done.