A day to remember

Woke up to the most glorious views from the tent, clear blue skies and a little mist around the hills.

The campsite slowly got a little busier with runners (though there were only 32 of us actually running). Set off at 8am and it was just magical. The weather was ace and the route was brilliant, I felt so good. At mile 8, when I’d just climbed some of the hillier bits of the Offa’s Dyke, I hit some uneven ground and fell quite badly, rolling my ankle. Absolutely gutted, as I though that was my race over. I ran a little bit and the pain didn’t seem too bad so thought I’d crack on and see how far I could go. It was so annoying because everything was going so well, and despite the ankle, all other bits of my body seemed to be doing ok. I decided to just enjoy it and see what happened. At mile 15 I was surprised to hear I was the 4th woman (out of an admittedly small field!) and so I decided to just go for it. Definitely slower than I would have been without the injury but it was just a lovely day to be out. I genuinely loved it. Finished at 7.20hours, way faster than I’d expected, and kept hold of 4th lady. 50km later, I am now an ultra runner.

Ankle blew up as soon as I took the shoe off, as expected, but it didn’t stop the fun. Fizz and and BBQ with the family and some of my favourite running friends, who had come to join for the evening.

An exceptional day.