by Eleanor Walker
Becoming Spine Curious
Ever since my first race (an entered-under-duress corporate team-building Abbey Dash) I seem to have been drawn to attempting ever longer distances, increasingly proving that I am very much not a sprinter (additional evidence in case needed, comes in the form of my last place in the school sports day mums race, much to my kids’ chagrin!).
Within months I was running Leeds half, and a year later a marathon. Before too long, I discovered my love of off-road running, which led to some “short” 40-50 mile ultras. That felt like enough. By the time, I finished those, coming in late at night, while the men around me were desperate to get to the bar for a pint, the thought of collapsing into bed spurred me grumpily on to the finish! I had absolutely zero ambition to do a 100-miler.
But then I discovered the Spine… a couple of years of transfixedly watching slow-moving dots moving steadily northwards through whatever weathers the mid-winter heavens threw at them, and I was officially Spine-curious. I tried to enter the winter Sprint, but (fortunately) didn’t quite make it top of the waiting list. Undeterred, my thoughts turned to the summer Spine races. Distinctly less iconic but also less gnarly (it’s all relative), and I do hate the cold. Plus it meant I didn’t have to wait another whole year for another go. So I hit enter. Again I was on the waiting list but I really wanted to do this race, so I googled “minimum training plan for your first 100-miler” and knuckled down!
As luck would have it, my gamble paid off and in mid-April I got an email: I was in! Two months of ramping up training, recceing and kit buying later, I rocked up in Edale. Usually a last minute Larry, you can rely on me to be racing up to registration as it closes whether 10pm the night before or 6am on race morning, but Spine registration is very precise.
Registration: very excited for my weekend break!
Race Start and Early Miles
I had been allocated a 1pm-3pm window on the Friday, and whilst I did moan about having to take an extra day’s leave and sort childcare, it made the whole affair feel a bit like a holiday as I was checked into the YHA by 4pm, with what felt like an eternity to check and re-check my pack, carb load and still get to bed at 8:30pm (only to be woken by the rest of my room-mates arriving half an hour later!)
Enjoying the views from Edale YHA
The next morning I woke at 5.30 before the alarm (I have a puppy so this was a lie in) and made sure to get my own back on my noisy roomies as I packed up (not really, I snuck out to do this in the corridor!) One of the volunteers kindly shuttled us to the start, allowing far too much time for last minute nerves, trying to avoid the numerous Spine media bods with cameras in case they tried to talk to me, and obligatory last wees.
Start line selfie!
Then, bang on 8am we were off! With only 108 miles of the wild and wonderful Pennine Way lying between me and the finish line in Hardraw!
Half of me at the off!
The first 40 or so miles passed pretty quickly, somehow managing to maintain a similar pace to my recent recces. Apparently the first five or six ladies were all running ahead of the course record at this stage and I felt very lucky to be racing it after the driest spring in 50+ years, as opposed to the wettest preceding 18 months on record the year before!
I got into a good rhythm, leap-frogging back and forth with the same few runners. I had a moment’s hesitation approaching the legendary Nicky’s Snack Bar at 32 miles, seeing the lady in front run straight through, but the lure was too great and I didn’t regret my quick pit stop for some very tasty and, most importantly, easily digestible tomato pasta and a water top-up. The next 14 miles to Hebden Heys and checkpoint one (and only) was relatively quick and uneventful, although I wasn’t best impressed by how far we had to divert off-route to get there! I had thought I might get there around 9 or 10pm at best so was pleasantly surprised to arrive at 8:20pm.
Stoodley Pike looking majestic on my final recce two weeks before.
I had a vague plan to try and not spend too long there, especially when I saw on arrival, a few ladies in front of me were still there. So I stuck my watch onto charge (unfortunately as I discovered later, unsuccessfully, as turns out it won’t charge in navigation mode!) and shovelled down a bit more food (more pasta, a raisin bagel and two graze bars). I also took the chance to sneak a quick peek at my phone for the first time and was shocked to see an update from my husband Tom, that I was 5th lady! I quickly washed feet, changed socks and was back off by 9pm, psychologically glad to be heading back out while it was still light.
Through the Night
I managed to get a few miles down on the climb out of Hebden and start out across the moors before it got dark. Battery-paranoid despite my spares, I held off turning on my headtorch and mandatory red tail light as long as possible, although once they went on I found it very comforting to be able to see other runners’ lights from far away and know I wasn’t completely alone! Although I’ve done bits of running in the dark in previous ultras, they’ve typically either been in more habited areas of the Lakes or with more fellow runners around and have been running into the finish line rather than heading into the dark for a full night on the hill on my own, so I did find it a bit daunting.
Then completely unexpectedly, as I headed down to Ponden Reservoir, my friend Simon suddenly appeared out of the dark. He’d only found out I was doing the race a couple of days earlier when I’d begged a spare headtorch off him, but as a handy runner himself he’d decided to head out in the middle of the night to see how I was doing, which was a lovely surprise and really buoyed my spirits!
I also knew that the Cowling Tri Club support point wasn’t far off now which was nice to have something to aim for, and they’d even put up a couple of signs over the preceding few miles which helped motivation. I didn’t really need to stop but the tent was so appealing and the volunteers so welcoming, it was nice to take a mental break from the lonely darkness with a few other runners.
After a short break, I headed on down the hill. I hadn’t been feeling too tired up to this point but as I came into Thornton on Craven around 2.45am, motivation to head on into the dark again was low and I knew it made sense to try and grab a quick sleep now rather than wait for the sleep demons to inevitably catch up with me the next day.
I picked a nice grassy spot under a farmer’s trailer just off the Way, pulled on some layers and crawled into my bivvy bag before calling Race HQ to update them on my plan and set my alarm for an hour’s time. It wasn’t the best sleep as I was right by the world’s noisiest gate but it did mean I knew exactly how many runners (and sometimes who as they cursed at the gate!) passed me while I was kipping. I woke with a start just before my alarm and seeing a stream of headtorches descending the opposite side of the valley, I packed up as quickly as I could, keen to get back on my way as dawn broke!
The next stretch was a relative low point. Not having any previous experience of races this length, I had no idea what an optimum sleep strategy was, but I soon felt tired again and battled on slowly for several hours when I probably should have grabbed another cat nap sooner. Instead I settled for a quick sit down in Gargrave with some other runners refilling bottles and resting their feet there, and was sorry to learn that the lady who had left me for dust at Nicky’s the day before and was obviously a really strong runner, had had to retire due to feet problems.
I carried on at what felt like snail’s pace for several more hours before, approaching Malham Tarn, I finally succumbed to sleep, as I was staggering like a drunk despite the runnable terrain. I climbed into some woods by the trail and despite only getting 10 minutes, this time, it totally sorted me out. Feeling like a new woman, I headed back on into Checkpoint 1.5. Having rested already, I took pleasure in grabbing some water and heading straight on leaving my YHA room-mate Ellie who’d passed me while I napped, still sat there.
Heading North with Renewed Energy
Now I’d caught up on sleep, the rest of the race felt great. Plodding up Fountains Fell, I caught up with Joanne who I’d been leap frogging with through the night and was determinedly soldiering although she had been struggling with various issues. I said a few words of encouragement and headed on. I think I knew that I was now first lady which really spurred me on. My legs suddenly didn’t hurt anymore and I found I could fly down Fountains Fell.
Heading along the road to Pen y Ghent, a spectator told me I had a 10 minute lead, which motivated me even more. I am not a speed demon and did not want to be battling it out for the finish on the dreaded Cam High Road. So this spurred me on to try and build on my lead now. Annoyingly, I had to stop at the bottom of Pen y Ghent as my watch flashed up a 10% battery warning. I had managed to recce most of the route but not the final 14 miles and did not want to lose my way or rely on my somewhat rusty map reading skills into Hawes as I raced for the finish. I took out my charger cable and battery pack but as the connection is glitchy, I had to hold the two together whilst simultaneously trying to march up Pen y Ghent – not the most professional look but needs must! I also couldn’t help but notice the contrast between passing walkers shouting words of encouragement to the guy in front, but expecting me to move out of the way so they could slowly inch past, obviously oblivious that a woman marching up a hill might also be a competitor…
When I got to the descent from Pen y Ghent I went for it as best as I could, hoping to take advantage of my local knowledge to build up my lead! I stopped briefly in Horton to use the loo, grab a quick water refill and fruitlessly try to get a bit more charge in my watch before heading on for the final 14 miles. These generally went fine, although Cam High Road was every bit as much of a drag as I’d heard it was.
I also made the mistake of checking my phone again here, and saw a message from Tom that he was bringing the kids to meet me in Hardraw, rather than coming to pick me up the following morning as planned. Obviously, a lovely surprise but in my low resilience state, my brain could not cope with being brought back to control freak mum mode: but they’re leaving too early, they’ll have to wait ages for me, where will they get tea, what if the weather in Hawes is as grim as it was on Cam High Road, they’ll get cold and wet, what is he going to do with the dogs, he can’t leave them that long! Needless to say he had all this in hand and I needn’t have worried (sorry Tom!) Luckily I managed to pull myself together with the help of the motivational playlist that Tom had put together for me, and got back to concentrating on running!
But then my lack of recce came back to bite me, when I missed a massive sign and went hooning down the wrong track for quarter of a mile before I spotted my error and had to reverse it, causing much consternation to my dot watchers back home. With some inevitability, my watch also finally died on the last couple of miles, but luckily my map reading held up through the streets of Hawes, aided by memories from a fortuitous recent family holiday. As I ran into Hawes, I was touched to see Tom and the kids on the bridge cheering me on, and my friend Ellie who lives there driving past en route to the finish to cheer me in! It was approaching 7pm and I used that as arbitrary motivation to spur a final effort out of my legs, to see if I could manage a sub-35 hour finish, “sprinting” over the finish line in 34:59:48.
Crossing the Line
Finish line interview
It all felt very surreal being interviewed at the finish line. When asked about my race plan, my first goal having never run more than 55 miles was just to finish, and then secondly to put in an effort I felt proud of. I never dreamed I would finish anywhere near that time, and even less so, as first lady!
As I asked Tom, with distinctly mixed emotions within minutes of finishing; “Does this mean I need to do more of these now?” My answer came a few days later, in the form of an email informing me that I had earnt a free place for next year’s race. The only question now is, same race again… or do I try longer?
