My year in races

If you’d have said to me thirty years that I’d be running ultra marathons when I was knocking at 50, I never would have believed you. I was the one who went around the Fresher’s Fair at university looking to sign up for the only sport you could do whilst also chain smoking (clay pigeon shooting, in case you’re interested).

Yet here I am, at the end of 2024, with another six races under my belt. Some felt amazing, others were horrendous, but every single one taught me something important.

So, I give you, my year in races.

March – The One On The Roads

Anglesey Half Marathon – 13.1 miles

First race of the year and first half marathon in a while. Arrived shiny faced, full of confidence with a clear directive from my coach around the pace I should go at and, it later turns out, zero clue about how to fuel or hydrate appropriately. Turns out eating a cereal bar at the halfway point was not the answer. Not only did my finish line photos look like I had shit smeared all over my face, I struggled to chew and felt sick for the rest of the race. And forgot to drink any water at all. Lesson learned – practice with your fuel and take something on every 20 mins or 5km.

This race also taught me lots about understanding my own capabilities as I get older. I cockily thought I’d get a PB. In reality I was ten minutes slower than my half marathon record, which was a big wakeup call that I’m not actually going to get any faster now. Ever again. I may be able to run for longer and further but speed races for me are now a thing of the past. Sobering, but also maybe a relief in some ways.

April – The One Where I Was Determined To Run

Llangollen Fell Race – 17 miles

Buoyed with my learnings from Anglesey I started this race with a shiny new running vest stuffed to the ginnels with fancy gels and bottles of water. Fuelled up and raring to go I scoffed at all the gnarly old fell runners WALKING up the first hill, less than a kilometre into the race. Ha! I’ll show them I thought. Fast forward to mile 16 and I was pretty much on my knees and these old goats were sailing past me having saved their legs on the uphills by walking fast and efficiently. Lesson learned – it’s ok to walk in fell races.

This was my first proper fell race, and I learned that in these terrains you just have to run your own race and not compare yourself to others. Everyone is there for their own reasons and it’s ok not to finish in the top ten, or even fifty.

June – The One With The Endless Rain

Slateman Legend Middle Distance Triathlon - 70.3 miles

A shit weather forecast can mean an awesome race – this is what I learned in my midsummer race. Clad in ALL my winter gear I embraced everything that the Welsh weather could throw at me, including accidently riding 100km on my bike in a rash vast which I forgot to take off after my swim. Clammy but toasty. Mmm. When it’s raining so hard you can hardly breathe or see I learned to smile and laugh and just roll with the punches, ignoring the fifty and sixty somethings lapping me on the run, and just run my own race. The finish time was immaterial to me – completing the race in those conditions was achievement enough.

Spending 8 hours alone in your own head was also a great exercise in mental focus and willpower. With no one else to talk to and no distractions it’s probably the deepest form of meditation and mindfulness I have ever experienced. I returned from this race a calmer and deeper human being. For a day or so anyway.

August – The One Where I Remembered I Was Scared Of Heights

Ogwen Helgi Du 25km

I LOVED this race. My first proper mountain race. And it scared the living crap out of me. I knew there was going to be a lot of elevation, but I was NOT prepared for the actual vertical climbs and scrambles, sans ropes, sans helmet, and, with hundreds of runners behind me, absolutely no option of going back down. I have genuinely never been so afraid and focused on getting through something. The parts that I could run were glorious, perhaps just because I was riding the high of still being alive and not falling thousands of feet to my certain death. I was also supported by the best strangers in this race who kept me calm and moving, when I thought I would freeze with fear.

We are often told we need to get out of our comfort zone once in a while but this race was the first time I have truly understood what this meant on a very visceral level. Pushing yourself to do something that feels impossible, even if you don’t fully realise what you are letting yourself in for, is both life affirming and a huge sense of achievement. For me this was the race of the year.

August – The One With The Twisted Ankle

Run To The Castle Marathon - 26.2 miles

They say pride comes before a fall and this could not have been a more apt description of this race. After a good few months of training, and the ecstatic high of the Ogwen25 race, I was injury free, had the marathon pace set in my legs and was brimming with confidence for my first marathon in 17 years. My first mistake was not reading the race information when I signed up, believing this to be a flat ‘fly’ race, rather than the hilly beast it turned out to be. All my training had been gearing up for flat roads not off-road terrain. However, I stupidly attempted to keep up my marathon road race pace as we headed off the beach and into the boggerland. Just before the 10km mark I put my foot down a rabbit hold and CRACK felt my ankle go. I lay there swearing profusely for a few minutes debating my options. Bail now? Limp to the next checkpoint? Carry on? I opted for the latter and somehow finished the race in under 6 hours. But I have never enjoyed a race less. Moral of this tale: look where you are going and adjust pace to terrain!

I really had to dig deep to work through the pain and the disappointment of not being able to run the race I had trained for. It taught me that not everything goes according to plan and you need the shit races to give you the drive to make the subsequent races better. It also made me realise that we are made of tougher stuff than we might think, or maybe I was just too stubborn to return home without a medal.

October – The One That Got Cut In Half

Brenig Way 50km Ultra

This race was supposed to be the jewel in this year’s racing crown. The furthest I have ever run, on home turf and putting into practice everything I had learned in all the previous races. Training went well, I made sure I had run the whole route as part of my training runs and was familiar with all the boggy and impassable parts, and had the diversions set in my head. Fuelling had gone well, I was injury free and surely everything would come together for my last race of the year. And so it did. Right up until I rocked up at the start line at 6.45am on race day to be told that it was now going to be a 25km race due to the high winds. Bummer. So, what is a girl to do when she has done all the training, eaten ALL the carbs and sorted childcare for a whole day? She runs the race, collects her medal and then runs all the way back to the start.

In my head there was no way I wasn’t going to run the distance. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed with the way my race year ended. But then that’s probably my biggest learning in all of this racing mullarkey. Plan for the best, expect the worst and you’ll likely end up somewhere in between. In some ways I’m glad it’s been a tumultuous year as it has left me hungry for more challenges in 2025. I may have already signed up for my next ultra…..