The 44 th Long Mynd Hike

I have always wondered what a 50 mile race is like and I’ve always wanted to do it in a heatwave, so, I couldn’t believe my luck when the day finally arrived for the event along with the sun! Myself and Richard Hornsby adopted a run/walk strategy and pretty much everybody running had the same idea as with nearly 9000ft of ascent and lots of miles it was quite apparent that the heat really could end our chances of completing if we didn’t stay hydrated and take it steady. Luckily, with extra drink stations and lots of kind and sympathetic locals, we kept the fluid levels up. So, we plodded all afternoon and into the night where we were paired up with two others from Newport Running Club. Luckily they knew the route really well so we didn’t have to navigate too much which was much appreciated. The real sting in the tail of this event is at mile 48. Just as you are nearing the finish, you are sent up Ragleth Hill and at 398m, this is where I thought I was going to die…however, I didn’t, and we were soon back down and over the finish line. Unfortunately we missed last orders and had to make do with tea and a protein shake! However, having completed 13 hours and 25 minutes of hills and more hills it was great just not to be running. We found this event to be really well organised and a really good way to spend a £20.00 entry fee. It was a great feeling to get my first 50 done and was really lucky to have an experienced distance man with me (thanks Rich) who came out with such motivating words such as ‘…only 20 miles to go…’!!