The Woldsman 2016

Some background info before I start my blurb: The Woldmsan is a 50 mile run/ walk event in the Yorkshire Wolds, organised by the East Yorkshire LDWA, held in the Spring, with 4500 ft of ascent, and passing through my favouritely named place of Wetwang.

Two years ago, just before my 30th birthday, this was the first ultra-marathon event I ever did, and I loved it. I had been looking forward to a repeat performance, but several things happened in the 48 hours before the Woldsman, which gave me a hint of a feeling of foreboding:. 

1. I had a nightmare about it. Two in fact. Big nightmares, the type that you wake up from in cold sweats with a beating heart, and are completely confused that you are in your bedroom and not back in the hell that you were in a few seconds ago. The first dream, was set on the morning of The Woldsman. I went along to the start with Andrew, who was about to take on his longest run yet (so far, the dream was sticking to the facts pretty well). We set off, but Andrew had decided that he wanted to take it super slow, following his bad experience at the Red Rose 40 a few weeks back. This in itself was also true, but my dream slowed it down so much that it was like a slow motion fast forward bit on a video tape (remember those, when you were trying to get to the exact part that you wanted - fast forward too far, rewind too far, fast forward a bit less far etc etc...) where it takes a whole minute to lift a leg, and everyone's voices go all slow and deep. I had forgotten and left my maps and instructions at home, and thought I could get away with it, but it soon became apparent that this was not to be so. Then Andrew decided that he needed to have a sleep at 10 miles in, and  I got really angry. Then my Mum turned up, and it turns out that I was running in high healed boots, which explained the dreadful blisters, so my Mum offered to let me use some spare shower shoes that she had in her bag, so I put these on, and was quite pleased, as they were covered in purple flowers, and so matched my top. Then my Dad arrived and started shouting at me, because he wanted to wear the flowery shoes, so I ran off (wearing them). Then I realised that I'd left my rucksack behind......then I woke up. In the next dream I had, I woke up late and almost missed the start, and lots of driving around in taxis and running between places was involved in trying to get to the start on time, which we missed, but then it turned out that loads of other people hadn't got there either, so we all got a telling off, and the event was delayed...... Considering I was looking forward to this event, there seemed to be a lot of underlying issues I was battling with.

2. The evening before, I fell over while walking on a polished wooden floor in tights (this is real now, not  dream), and spent a couple of minutes lying on the floor berating myself for getting injured before I'd even started, and planning options for how to explain this to people, whilst keeping my reputation intact. Turns out it's just some bruising, so if I hadn't just mentioned it, I could totally have got away with it

3. I was drugged up on painkillers because a) I've had a headache for 3 days, b) see point 2

4. The night before the event The Team arrived in Wold Newton to set up camp. Andrew was running it also, my Mum and Dad were walking in 'definitely their last 50 miler' which I'm sure they've already done before, a few times. My cousin Sammy, whose 18th birthday it was on Woldsman Day was also walking (with an '18 Today' balloon, surely the first person to complete such a distance and carry a balloon the whole way??), and my Auntie and Uncle were there too. In preparation for his Final 50, my Dad and Uncle located the local pub, and with the aim of 'fortifying his courage', a pint of Yorkshire's finest, Wolds Gold, quickly turned into two, and we ended up being late for tea, which got burnt (although was still deliciously tasty, thanks Mum!)

It's a miracle that we all made it to the morning of the Woldsman in one piece, to be honest. Breakfast and 18th birthday celebrations started around 5.45 am, and celebrations of the weather also started around then too, as it was a dreadful day. I was psyched up for it though, having followed several forecasts all week, in the hope of finding an alright one, but it had become clear to me by Thursday that there was no hope of a nice day today, and so I had come prepared with full wet weather kit, and was ready to use it. Come on Yorkshire! Throw it at me!

Yorkshire was game. The whole morning was cold and rainy. Then the rain eased off, then eased back on, and off again for a few hours. Then it finally stopped, and the sun came out, and the end of the afternoon was actually nice. It did nothing for the mud though.

I'd had a little think back to my dream before the race, and it made me think of something that I hadn't though of before (and I've done so much thinking in that sentence alone that I'm really quite tired). From previous posts, you will know that I am having an ongoing battle with shoes right now. Since doing more off road stuff, I've discovered the need for trail shoes. Having spent a small fortune on a brand spanking new pair, I have since been trying to weight up the benefit of their Spiderman-like grip in even the muddiest of mud, against the horrible blisters I get from them. If I were wearing heals say, like in my dream, I might have got some of those Party Feet gel cushion things, so I thought, why not try them in my trail shoes? Got a pair of those, some extra blister plasters, and bob's your uncle, only one tiny blister! I think also, my shoes are probably better suited to actual trails, which although sounds obvious, wasn't to me before now. I think because they are so structured and rigid, that wearing them on harder paths just makes them hurt the feet more, whereas in the mud, the ground is softer, so it doesn't matter that they are so rigid. Anyway, what I mean to say is, don't laugh at my Party Feet, with these it's still possible to dance after 50 miles.

The Woldsman was every bit as good as I remember it. Fantastic route - big skies and big views, a joy to be out in it and feel a part of the landscape. Absolute first class organisation. Big thanks to all the volunteers at the checkpoints who gave up their weekend to check all the people taking part were safe, and extremely well looked after. As I always say, and will say again for sake of tradition, LDWA events are not ones to do if you are looking to loose some weight on the way round. Just out of interest, as I always make sweeping statements about this, statements like there being enough cake to sink a ship, this time I recorded diligently all of the things I ate and drank, so you can see just how good these events are...

At the Start:1 piece of toast and butter, 1 cup of coffee
Dane's Grave, 6.75 miles: nil

Sledmere, 13.5 miles: 1 cup squash, cheese sandwich (1 triangle), 3 prawn cocktail crisps, 1 slice chocolate swiss roll
Wharram Percy, 20.5 miles: 1 custard cream, 1 sweet, 1 cup squash
Thixendale, 25 miles: warm apple pie and custard, 1 cup squash, 2 boiled sweets
Givendale 31.5 miles: 2 cups squash, 1 piece flapkjack
Huggate Wold 35 miles: about 2 miles before this, I had a shaky episode, so I ate my emergency marmite sandwich (1 slice white bread, butter, marmite) and a coco Nakd bar. At the checkpoint: 1 cup squash, 1 jaffa cake, 1 cookie, 1 piece flapjack
Wetwang, 42 miles: 1 raisin and cranberry cookie, 1 cup squash
Garton Station, 47 miles: 3 sweets
The End: 1 bowl of vegetable soup and bread roll, 2 cheese and crackers, 1 bowl rice pudding and fruit, 1 cup of tea
Plus between 1 - 1.5 L of my own water throughout the day.

So you see, I haven't been exaggerating. There is an awful lot of awfully delicious food around at these things, and what I ate doesn't even scratch the surface (my parents, for example, had asparagus rolls at Wetwang - asparagus!). Most of the checkpoints are like wandering into a party, with tables groaning under a vast array of foods and drinks. The choice is quite intimidating, especially towards the end of a long run, when functions such as decision making get shut down. Hugh thank you to the East Yorks LDWA - cracking event! 

As always, met some lovely people, including Nigel, who is the Dad of Tanya, who I ran a lot of the Woldsman with two years ago. Two years ago, Nigel was driving round supporting us as he awaited a hip replacement, and it was good to see him back in running action today! As I was thinking back to 2013, I dug out my blog from two years ago, so here it is: my blog from the 2014 Woldsman 

Andrew did a first class job, putting to bed his bad experience at the Red Rose 40 and replacing it with a solid performance, and strong finish, where 6 months of hard training and preparation paid off. Very proud! Also very proud of my Mum and Dad who completed it in excellent form also, despite finding it 'challenging' and swearing that they're not doing another 50, and will stick to 'shorter' events, of say '30 miles max'. Also very proud of my cousin Sammy who completed 50 miles on his birthday, what a thing to do on your 18th! Surely, SURELY, he must be the first person to do that? I'm feeling all warm inside and proud of everyone! Thanks also to my Auntie and Uncle who gave us their support - I always say this too, but it's true, having people around offering encouragement is just incredibly kind of them to give up their time, and it makes such a difference. 

So there we go. Finished in 10 hour 51 minutes (knocked 21 minutes off last time!), and here is proof:

Incredibly, given the ominous premonitions I had prior to the event, the only injury sustained was by my mug, which didn't quite make it when I took a corner a bit tightly and ran into a wall, and now has a hole in it's side.