The purpose.
It's now only 3 weeks until my own return to Snowdon to run the GB Ultras Mt Snowdon 50 mile Ultra, in honour and remembrance of my Mum who I lost last year, and to raise funds for two incredible charities Lupus UK and the Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team as part of 'WWMD-What would Mum Do?' the fundraising legacy I set up in my Mums memory.
Snowdonia is my Mums final resting place, hence this blogs main story over it's previous chapters/posts and it's title 'A Return to Snowdon'.
If you have time please consider reading the previous chapters of my Mums final return to Snowdon. It would mean a lot to me to know she continues to reach peoples lives and memories.
If you don't already know I will be doing a yearly fundraising challenge in Snowdonia to honour and remember my Mum for as long as I can. That is why the Mount Snowdon Ultra is this years fundraising challenge.
I have done a fair amount of training in recent months outdoors and on some specific machines in my local Everlast gym where I also work, but nowhere near as much as you would expect for a challenge such as this.
As many of you will know I'm not blessed with the best of knees and have had to drop out of what would of been my first official ultra marathon many a time in the years prior due to knee injury and an inability to train for them, never mind getting through them.
I'm getting older and they are getting worse and I haven't got that many more tough miles left in them, and tough events require endless miles of tough training and wear and tear and the risk of possible damage to ensure one is ready for what is a serious event. You shouldn't walk up Mount Snowdon in flip flops, neither should you turn up for a 50+ mile tough ultra untrained and ill prepared.
This year was always going to be different, as my target and personal purpose was set, and I just needed to train smart and learn to get round 56 miles of mountainous terrain wisely like Yoda. As he would say, "There is no try, only do!".
I had to do less smaller and social events this year to minimize injury risk and the need to train so much. I was already signed up for the 6 day 52 mile Tour of Merseyside in early July and had seriously considered deferring that event until 2019 so as not to interrupt the type of training I needed. The Tour of Merseyside is pretty much all flat and a lot of road, all stuff I shouldn't be doing.
I took on the Tour with little training as I'd had the Snowdon recce week in early June and had rested ever since for my knees to recover from all the miles and climbing I did that week. The Tour of Merseyside was a hot week so no heroics from me and getting through it was a bonus.
I decided very shortly after that to sign up for the GB Ultras GB24 2 weeks later, a 24hr running event in the lakes with lots of opportunity for hill training and plenty of miles. Also importantly, learning to fuel from aid stations/food and water stops throughout a 24hr period and to keep moving when possible. I took my new running/hiking poles for practice over a long period and to see how much energy I could save with them overall.
The event went well and I have written about it on my other 'Fitness with Gru' blog elsewhere. I managed 11 x 5.9+ mile loops and a total of 65 miles (100k) a new milestone distance for me and also over 15,000ft of climb. All of this with lots of breaks and taking it very easy a lot.
This was a huge confidence boost for me knowing on the day I can push myself physically and mentally to get the job done. The run had incorporated a tactical uphill walk where necessary and running where possible on flat and downhill sections. A similar tactic is key for Snowdon to me as fast hiking is my preferred option for a lot of the terrain at Snowdon. I need to save my knees to stop them getting too inflamed and swelling and thus preventing me finishing.
I had to seriously reduce my downhill running on the last 4 laps at the GB24 and had to walk the entire loop on those 4 as my knees were getting sore on the steeper downhill sections were I had no choice other than to run and brake at times with my knees. This causes great stress on the knee joint with the impact and causes friction and impact within the knee and thus the protective inflammation.
I rested after the GB24 and only did a few 5ks for a couple of weeks and then I took on the local Bliss Runners 24hr event 2 weeks later around the Marine Lake in Southport. This is an event that was created and set up by myself in previous years as the Seaside24 as a charity event. This year an ex colleague Nicky who still works for Bliss Hotels wanted to use the format and idea for their fundraiser and I obliged. I also offered to fill any gaps in the run rota as it was a relay format and a runner had to be out there running at all times. I also brought two running friends from my charity running group who had also done previous Seaside24 events, Kenny and Eamonn.
Kenny, Eamonn and myself do distance running a fair amount so didn't want to sit around much so we ran extra laps alongside other runners to stay active. We had volunteered in particular to do evening and night laps alongside the Ladies so they were never alone for safety purposes and support. All in all I covered 49 miles so it was good practice and good nutrition practice for keeping fed and fueled. Although I may steer clear of so much coffee and cake at Snowdon.
I recently did a couple of half marathons through my local sand dunes range in the same week to kick of training again properly on hillier terrain and this weekend and next I will be getting my longest mile runs in, probably through the dunes again. After that it should be a 2 week taper period with reduced mileage. In my case likely very reduced and minimal as I rarely do much prior to a big event to let my knees fully recover from training for the big day itself.
As I have said I'm quietly confident for the day, but I'm also aware I have slightly deluded myself in that respect, because the first days recce run in Snowdonia with the GB Ultras crew was only 18+ miles and it got very hard at the end as my legs tanked out on the final climb. I did manage to do recces for the rest of the week but mostly fast hiked as there was so much climb. This again is my on the day tactic.
I have basically told myself that I know I will really suffer on the day and I will question myself along the way. It's a long way, it's got a hell of a lot of climb, including once up and down Snowdon itself which is only 1 of 5 mountains we will be climbing and descending that day and they are all similar heights to Snowdon. It's going to get dark early and I will still be out there stumbling up and down mountains and will likely not finish much earlier than the 6am Sunday morning deadline.
The perspective.
I will put this all into perspective for you all. I have had a lot of people supporting me and telling me how amazing it is me being able to do this stuff and how hard it must be. I'm not one for compliments but I do shyly accept them and they do help boost my much damaged self esteem and insecurities. But, I put this into the harsh reality and perspective that this is only one day!
People like my Mum who suffer or have suffered daily with Lupus and many other conditions had to and have to deal with pain and misery daily at times, and at times questioning their very existence on this Earth. That is a daily issue for hundreds of thousands of people far far worse off than me with a pittance of one days struggle and by choice. How can I ever justify moaning about the training, the pain, the discomfort. How can I justify taking credit for any of this? .. I can't.
I will accept credit for the fundraising to help others and that alone, and that is the reason the WWMD - What would Mum do? fundraising legacy was created, to 'Fundraise' and 'Help others' as my Mum would of done. I will remember my Mum always and miss her dearly daily, even though I didn't see her daily as I was too busy with my life in general. Our Mums (and Dad's) are an important part of our lives and we are only here because of them and by the Grace of God. We need to remember this always, we need to remember those less fortunate than ourselves always, we need to get out there fund raise to or donate to great causes, support our fellow fundraisers, pay it forward, set up your own fundraisers, put value and compassion into our often selfish self centred lives. Do what would make your Mum or Dad proud always, they will always be watching over us. I know my Mum will be on the big day!
Many thanks, and God Bless you all.
Les Jackson (Gru)
Please consider supporting the two charities here if possible:
Lupus Uk :
Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team:
WWMD - What would Mum do? fundraising history and legacy so far:
