Hardest walk of my life .. Part 1

To date I have completed 6 Parish Walks, 3 - 100 centurion’s and ran 3 Marathons. Up until my last 100 I would of said the hardest event I had completed was my first Marathon.

My third 100 was in South Africa - training had gone well after the parish and I was really excited and nervous to go.

The week before I started coming down with a cough, cold and sore throat - I’m not usually one to come down with illness so it was a real worry. I travelled with my eldest daughter we flew in to Manchester and had planned a relaxing day with some shopping ! In reality it was hard going we visited a few shops, not as many clothes shops as I would of liked but more chemists trying to find the best cough and throat medicines I could ! Feeling the way I did I wasn’t at all looking forward to the 2 long haul flights that would take us to Capetown.

We arrived at Manchester airport in plenty of time with all my medicines decanted in to bottles of under 100m for the flights, I was nervous checking in as there are extra requirements if you are flying into South Africa with a child under 18 without both parents being present. I had to have a signed affidavit by the courts, in which her dad gave permission to travel without him, along with copies of his passport, her original birth certificate and my original marriage certificate ! When we checked in all documents had to be checked and approved by a supervisor so if was a great relief when we were given the ok to fly.

The flights went pretty quickly it was a busy flight out but Caitlin was happy she had WiFi and thousands of movies to watch.

When we arrived in Dubai we met up with Andy and Linda Green who were on the same connecting flight as us. It was great to see them and made me relax a little. I has last seen Andy when he was supporting the 100 miles in the Isle of Man, I had told him I was going to try the African Centurion and at the time I was the only person from the IOM going, so the gent that Andy was felt he couldn’t let me go alone so he decided he would take on his first 100 Mile challenge too, it was the day before a special birthday for him.

We all stayed in the same apartment complex - which Andy had found it was lovely. I had 2 days before the race so Caitlin and I decided that we would visit table mountain on our first day, and visit the waterfront on the second day which was also where the race sign on was. Table Mountain was incredible, even with my fear of heights in the cable cars. Caitlin and I spent ages up there walking round and looking a the picture perfect views, I loved seeing Robben Island and was so excited about the walk despite still not feeling 100% but I was definitely improving.

That night we had dinner with some of the other International Walkers Sharon and Justin Scholz (Sharon And Justin are incredible walkers and runners and this was to be their 6th Centurion)

Jantinus Meints (this was his 5th Centurion Badge), Trudy Geldhof (no Centurion badges) and Andy (1st Centurion badge) and Linda Green

There is only 1 person in the world who holds all 7 Centurion badges and that is Sandra Brown she has completed a 100 Miles in The UK, Europe, United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Malaysia. The Malaysia Centurion is no longer held, so unless it is ever brought back Sandra will remain the only person in the world to hold them all! She is an incredible walker and one whom I’m privileged to say I walked with for part of my second Centurion race in the Netherlands

Link to multiple centurion badge holders Thanks to Rob Robertson

The day before the race Caitlin and I shared and Uber to the waterfront with Linda and Andy. Caitlin and I had a lovely walk around and decided to get some lunch before going to sign on, we found a lovely restaurant and whilst I was waiting for my Thai curry to arrive I thought I would check in with my emails on the waterfront WiFi. I opened my email account and waited for them to download and my heart sank when I saw an email from the African Centurion organisers with the title .. event cancelled on Robben Island !

The Parish Walk is a long way...

No matter which way you look at it, 85 miles is an incredible distance to walk, for anyone! There are things I have picked up along the way, so below is a list of things that I find help ME make the walk a little more comfortable (This is a list of what works for me, it may not work for everyone else).

- Vaseline … the advice I was given was if it moves oil it! So this is a must.
- Remove your rings as your hands will swell, and it’s uncomfortable if you have a ring digging in! (I wear no jewellery on the day) – Gloves can help with the swelling if bothers you.
- Don’t wear anything NEW, this is so important you have to test your kit out first. I have quite sensitive skin so normally wear my baselayer inside out as seams hate me.
- Don’t eat going up hill.
- Keep moving forward, try to keep stops to a minimum, any long stops can make you stiffen up.
- If you feel sick try eating.
- Make sure your support know what you have packed so they can offer you a variety later on when you forget what you have.
- If you have blisters try not to alter the way you walk, just keep walking on them and they will pop and feel better.
- Pack baby wipes they are perfect for freshening up and cleaning sticky hands, I keep mine in the cool box so they are nice and cold.
- I have a radio I play out loud from Maughold – this really helps lift me – absolute 80’s all the way home, or till the battery runs out whichever comes first.
- Salt tablets are great if you get cramps – (Up and Running have some great ones called salt sticks that you can chew).

Sleep – I find the Wednesday and Thursday before I get my best sleep, the night before I used to find almost impossible to get to sleep, worrying if I will make it round, will I oversleep and miss the start? Talking to Nigel Maddocks walking up the Sloc on my 5th parish walk he told me his secret was to have a glass of wine the night before, this seemed crazy to me, but he said it helped him get to sleep! So every year since on the Friday I will have 2 glasses of wine, and it actually works for me! I’m not suggesting a heavy night as that is ridiculous but for me it is part of my preparation!

One of the most important things to me after the training, is my support! They are the ones that will keep me going through any bad patches, they never make me feel like I am keeping them up. They spend the whole night (although in recent years the night has started to get shorter) driving round after me, filling up my drinks bottle and offering me whatever I ask for. I count on them to keep me going. Your support are a vital part of your success! Without them there would be no parish walk finish! Mine are simply the best.. I will do another post about them, and the little routine we have! But I have to say, Michelle, Allan and Lynne you are all amazing and I am very grateful for all you do for me.

We did a good 22 mile training walk last week. It was an 11 mile loop that we did twice, incorporating Ballakillowey and the Sloc TWICE! I walked the second lap quicker than the first which was nice. And despite the change in weather on the second lap I didn’t struggle and even managed to complete my mile run at the end of it as the clock had struck midnight so it counted for the next day.

I am looking forward to the Marathon and getting back to doing more training walks than runs!

90 Days to the Parish walk, 65 Days to our Holiday, 14 Days to the Marathon!
Happy Training Everyone!

A good week for the trophy cabinet

Since my last post we did a group walk from Ramsey, 8 of us set off on the bus to Ramsey for an 8pm start. We all arrived fully kitted out in lights and reflective gear, as it is a very dark route. Overall I have had better walks, this wasn’t down to the company but more to do with me throwing myself a the pavement just over a mile into the walk, when I got up there was no serious damage, my new 2XU leggings that were a gift off my daughter had survived so I carried on walking. Its not my first fall in a walk, I remember the last time I walked the Firemans Memorial walk I fell for my training partner Kathryn’s husband in the last mile, and wow did that hurt. We all finished the 18 miles and a few even managed a takeaway, and a glass or two of wine.

Another route I have done is a 5 Mile Hilly loop around Glen Roy, I think I went the least hilly way so I will need to go back and try it the other way. I think that for the parish it is good to put hills into your training as let’s face it the Parish walk route isn’t flat. I think this will be a regular route in this year’s training.

I do have some regular routes that I run or walk frequently, but with my longer ones I try to change them a lot so they are not too repetitive. I have been walking for a long time so know the roads on the Island pretty well, and I im quite good at working out distances from memory. If you are looking for some help with planning your routes the desktop version of Strava is great.

I also took part in the IOM Vets 20 Mile road race at the NSC last Sunday, it was 40 laps of the perimeter road. This is my second time of running the course, on the morning of the race I exchanged a few messages with Áine who is in the same running club as me, in the messages we decided we would be aiming for 8.30 pace so we would run together. We actually hadn’t ran together before but it worked well on the day, and we stuck together finishing with a PB for me of just over 2 and half minutes (around 25 seconds a mile quicker than planned) in a time of 2 hours 41 Mins and 42 seconds finishing as Joint 1st Lady.

This week saw the finale round of the Ramsey Bakery Fireman’s Runs, I ran the 5 Mile course which is 3 laps. After the run there was a presentation in the Mitre pub, where all the finishers of the league were awarded their finishers t-shirt and I even picked up a trophy for being 8th overall.

We have entered the Firefighters Memorial Walk on the 14th April, this is great practice for the parish as it is the route from Peel to Ramsey, it also gives you a chance to test out your trainers, food and clothing before the big day!

105 Days to go…