Thruscross 5hr

Thruscross. 5hr.
This event, I was introduced to by Chris Crabtree; his friend was organising and was I interested?

Well, being only 6 days after Ennerdale 50k and knowing I had been struggling so much the past few months with my knee problem, I hadn't really decided what the plan was. My knee had been feeling tired after the 50 but not too bad so I thought I would give it a go and see what happened.

I arrived early to deliver some 9bars that Alan and Liz had passed onto me at Ennerdale for Rob's event and the set up looked great. Parking at the "transition" point and tables full of cakes, drinks etc with the parking alongside. This was great as I had had to bring "fluffy"along with me as Phil was busy. I had asked and Rob said there was no problem taking her along for a lap.

It was a beautiful sunny day, if a little on the chilly side. The plan was just to see how many laps I could do and stop if/ when my knee started hurting. The "horn" sounded just after race briefing and we were off. I had stuck with the XR Missions and the S lab pack as it had worked so well the week before. I like being self sufficient and carrying all my own drinks etc so that I do not have to stop. I set off at a steady jog alongside Chris and had a chat with him as we jogged along. The wind was very strong blowing off the lake and I was enjoying running to warm up. I must have picked up the pace a little and left Chris, heading out of the woods, I ran alongside Rebecca and enjoyed a nice chat with her. It always makes me giggle how girls enjoy a good chat when they run as the most important thing is to preserve oxygen for speaking, never mind this running malarkey! The track turned into a muddy footpath and I was really struggling in the XR and wishing I had gone for the Crossmax or Speedcross shoes. I did however know that there were some trusty Mizuno wave harriers in the back of my van that would be necessary if I was planning on taking Blizz for a lap.

There were some really rooty steep sections that I had to take rather cautiously as I just didn't have the grip to run down them. There were three stiles on the route all of which should be manageable with Blizz so the plan was to change my shoes and pick her up for lap number two.

As this route ran alongside the reservoir there would be plenty of water for swimming with the dog. I ran into the car park pleased with the route and happy to be up at the front for the moment.

Harness, waist belt, change of shoes and dog and we were on our way! We lost about three minutes in the car park but this wasn't a race just a training run and Blizz needed out. The first section she was just sniffing about and didn't really run then she settled in to my pace. It can be really interesting when running with Blizz, if I had started the race with her she would have dragged me round desperate to be in the lead with picking up on the excitement of a race. However picking her up during an event she just treats it as a training run and runs at my pace with little pull on the lead. Of course as soon as we hit the muddy single track she enjoyed testing out her legs and I enjoyed a nice pull whilst trying to stay upright. The rooty steep sections had to be walked as with 32kg pulling me downhill I had to lean back and walk as I am not silly enough to try running full pelt downhill attached to Blizzard.

The stiles took a bit of time as I had to un clip and feed her through the dog gates whilst tying her to the fence. We also had three swim stops too. I really enjoyed the lap with her and it always takes my mind off any niggles.

Blizz was chucked back in the van with a lump of cheese for her efforts and off I went again. This lap was to be my slow "take on a bit of fuel" lap. So a piece of cheese, 2 cliff shots, some Zero and a bit of a 9 bar were munched whilst running. Lap three no problems. Miles 1-15 - usual training run so no problems here at all.

A quick stop at the car park for a cup of coke and cheery encouragement and off I went again!

Lap 4 was always going to be hard work. My training runs of late have been maximum of 16 miles and I struggled last weekend at 17 miles and yes this was a tough lap. My knee was feeling tired now (1 Diclofenac) so pain killer at the ready. It was more of a trudge into lap 4. I even had a couple of looks over my shoulder on this lap to see if people were catching me up.

I made it round again and fuelled again by more coke and three haribo I set off on what I knew would be my last or penultimate lap. The sun was still out, my knee was feeling heavy now but do you know what? I was just pleased to be back running again! So what if I stopped after this lap and didn't make it to 30miles, I had just done a 50k and am only just getting back into the ultras again. Even if a stopped at this lap I had managed a 25.7 mile training run before I headed off on my holidays.

As I came into the car park with about 48 mins left I did contemplate another lap but upon realising that I didn't need to and noticing my knee was now getting stiff I called it a day and stopped.

I was really pleased to be First Lady, I had a great day and met some lovely new people. I also managed to win the biggest pork pie I have ever seen in my life!

A huge thanks to Rob Jarman and Never Rest events as well as thanks to 9bar for their supply of bars for the runners.

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