Type of Race: Route description, self navigation
Course: First 25 miles, mostly flat and some minor hills. Last 15 miles, there were quite a few steep hills. Ground was muddy from the last couple of rainy days.
Route Description: Personally thought it was excellent.
Organisation and volunteers: Excellent
Food: When there was some, very good. Carrot cake was divine at CP2
Weather: Dry and perfect (10 degrees celcius and overcast)
Start Time: 07:00
Location: Henley Upon Thames

Dear Organisers,

Please can I pull my tyre, Red at your event.

Yours truly

Tyregirl
****************************
Dear Tyregirl

We don’t discriminate against people with dogs; so is the tyre obedient?

Regards

Organiser

Of course Red is now obedient. Since her redesign and marriage to Landy, she has settled down and been fine on muddy grounds

4th May 2012: Final Preparation
The plan was to have a cheesy pasta dinner and then sleep early, but preparation continued. First with touching Red up with some fresh paint and then was sucked towards “the cloud”.  The internet has replaced television to providing an unlimited amount of information, entertainment and socializing.  My route preparation to the venue, took a diversion to replying to emails, chatting to friends on facebook, and browsing websites in my search for solar ventilation/heating.  My early night was midnight and a conversation in my head told me 5 hours sleep would be fine…..that is, if I had slept.  The engine in my head was still churning out thoughts and it was about 2am when I resorted to a tension technique in order to relax the body.

5th May 2012: It's All About the Food
I wrestle with early mornings but I did manage to get myself out of bed by 05:15, eat the rest of last night’s pasta and a sausage for breakfast and was out the door by 06:00 as planned.  Arrived at the venue by 06:35, tried to check in. My name was not there! Thankfully I had my event number and found myself....of course ...listed under “Tyre”.  After all this was Red's event. I was simply the "dragger".

I was anxious to get going, however my reins were held back.  I had to chill out with the other walkers and do a mass start at 07:00.  So I fubbled, that is fussed around with my gear and bumbled around and tried to get the morning’s abultion out of the way.  Guess no such thing when one has had carbohydrate, fat and protein for dinner and breakfast.

07:00: Early morning chatter
Announcement: There is flooding on the banks of the Thames…
Mutterings: And there is still a hose pipe band!
Announcement: So there is a diversion at Goring. There will be a marshal to guide you.  You can see the new route on the map over there. So now if you are ready, tear off your “tear-off” strip off your event card into the “Start Time” box and have a great day!

My brain cells are rarely awake in the morning and there is a dull sense of awareness. Morning conversations are generally avoided.

Walker 1: You going to be pulling that tyre all the way?
TG: Yes
Walker 1: Does it have a name?
TG: It’s a “she” and her name is Red
Walker 1: But it looks orange.
TG: Her name is Red!
Walker 1: Why not Orange?
TG: You’re only looking at her superficially. What primary colours make orange?
Walker 1: Oh yeah, I get it.
TG: Anyway I have to do a short run as Red wants to get moving.

The walking mass were a couple of hundred metres ahead of me, so running really did not get me very far before I had slow down back to a walking pace to meet another inquisitive older walker.

Walker 2: Are you doing 40 miles with that?
TG: Yes I will be doing 40 miles with Red.
Walker 2: But she doesn’t look Red
TG: Yes I know. She likes the name Red
Walker 2: She is orange you know.
TG: Yes she doesn’t like being called orange.

I could not push forward as we were grouped together on a narrow street. I was trapped with this older gentleman.

Walker 2: You know it’s going to be all countryside on this route?
TG: Yes I know. I like small quiet marathons.
Walker 2: Well you’re not going to get any donations.
TG: Yes I’m not expecting any.
Walker 2: And there are lots of obstacles like roots and rocks and stiles….
TG: Yes I’m good with all of that. I’m a professional now. So how many marathons have you done?

Have found a question is always a good way of deflecting off negative conversations.

Walker 2: Oh I just did 50 miles last weekend, 40 this weekend, and will do another 50 next weekend…..you know you’re not going to get a lot of donations

Oh dear perhaps he has a little dementia? Or perhaps he was just adamant to make his opinion known.

TG: Wow that’s a lot of miles. What was last week’s marathon like?
Walker 2: It was a little wet and muddy. You know us walkers and runners won’t have any change on us because we want to be light.  See change makes us heavy.
TG: Notes will be fine….
Walker 2: I mean you are expecting change in your bucket, right?

My synaptic neurons were pulsating away to bewilderment. After a little more of the same conversation, the path widened enough for me to run ahead and find my own space.

Where's the Banquet?
By 09:00 Red and I were motoring well, reaching CP1 (6.6 miles). Scoffed a piece of cake, and was soon out onwards to the next check point. The plan was to eat a cereal bar every 30 minutes, and then eat something heavier at the “lunch time” check points.  The LDWA events are known for having plenty of food, especially at lunch time check points.

11:30: CP2 (16.1 miles). Red and I were a mile ahead of ourselves, as had expected to roughly complete 3 miles an hour. There was some cake and chocolate bars. It was a bit early for lunch, though was sure the next check point would have a banquet of food as can normally be expected at an LDWA event.

The route description appeared easy to follow. This was a dangerous thought, for when fatigue crept in, concentration can go. Soon our route diversion began and I don’t think the group of us really listened to the instructions from the marshals.

Marshal: Turn right at the green bridge

I was distracted by a Welsh runner donating 50 pence, and then a passerby throwing £2 into the bucket. I had forgotten what was said and foolishly assumed that the four others ahead of me would get it right. They turned left and so did I. The route description no longer made sense, until another passerby corrected us. (phew).

Pfaffing cost @ 10 minutes.

13:00: CP3 (20.2 miles). There was one chocolate bar left and crumbs. Where was the banquet of sandwiches, cake, pastries....? My expectations had been demolished. The marshal was very apologetic. I would have to go onto my emergency ration of three scones. My mind wanted something more substantial though my body would have to accept it didn’t need anything more. After all I was not really staving. I’d already eaten 5 breakfast cereal bars, 3 pieces of cake and two chocolate bars.

My mind and body were wrestling, and the hills were now biting hard into the quads. I spaced out briefly.

I allowed my mind to be distracted with food illusions and found myself wandering back and forth in a woodland, trying to make sense of the route description. I was now lost. I asked a family where we were. They had no clue and I began to feel a sense of hopelessness. I’d have to call the organizers but they too would probably not know where I was, if I could not say where I was! I wandered around further and found a “godsend” sign post pointing me towards Stoke Row, the next checkpoint. I had been going in the opposite direction. Admittedly I was a little fed up, but really just needed another feed.

Pfaffing cost @ 1 hour

16:00: CP4 (25.8 miles). 3 hours to complete 5.7 miles meant I had spent my excess time. If we got lost one more time, it would be game over. The check points had a time limit and the next one closed at 17:15. We had 5 miles to complete however my head was a little distracted to complete the mathematics. Here there was a banquet of food! So thinking I had time, I slammed dunked some jam and cheese sarnies, followed by more cake and replenished my emergency supplies.

It was 16:15 when I departed, watched by the marshals peering out the village hall windows, shaking their heads as Red pulled away. My head was now in a better place, so my body felt better as we ran into the distance.

About mile 27, I did not see the stile and carried on up a hill. Again the route description was not making sense. I began to think about a DNF. It was so easy to do. I’d already DNFed once this year. No big deal to fail on another, or would that just be failure after failure.

Fortunately in the woodlands, there was a house and a resident for me to enquire and thus had to retrace my steps back down the hill to find a stile and Michael!

Pfaffing cost @ 15 minutes

Michael had started at about 07:20 and was surviving on 2 hours sleep. He was steadily moving along but in no hurry. He looked tired but his head was stubborn. He became my energizing buddy. I knew there was no way we would make the next check point by the set time limit, however he was still hopeful that they would allow him to continue. He was tired though still positive so I tried to shut out my negative thoughts. At the pace we were going it would be approximately 21:00 when we would complete. That is one hour after the event closed. However Michael remained enthused in positiveness. Loved the attitude and so decided to pick up our pace! In order to make faster ground, I carried Red except on hills. We ran down hills and despite Michael’s initial cautiousness he was soon speeding down them hills with us! We were flying on endorphins.

17:55: CP5 (31.2 miles).  By this point we had caught up with a couple.

Marshal: Sorry guys but you are 40 minutes late at this checkpoint so am going to have to retire you. We can give you a ride back to Henley.
Michael: Well I would like to continue, if you all (the couple and me) want to continue
Marshal: This will be at your own risk. So if you fall over and break a leg.....we are not responsible
Michael: If we stick as a group, we’ll be fine

The couple were not going to continue. Everyone looked at me to confirm my intentions. It would be so easy to return with the couple, but no way was I going to let Michael and Red down! It was just under 9 miles to go even if there would be nothing for us at the end. No food, no welcoming committee, just a dark hall and the mere satisfaction of completing the event. This was now personal.

TG: Well we just need to food to keep us going.
Marshal: So happy to hear that. We have got loads! Here take what you need but remember you are on your own.

Armed with marmite and cheese sarnies in our pockets, ALLONS-Y, we went steaming ahead. 1 mile completed in 10 minutes. Michael and I looked at each other, perhaps the route description was a little generous, or we were really moving much faster than when we had first met. We were utilizing each other’s energy and fast walked together as if we were old friends, and ran down hills as if we were kids. It was great to have a buddy to check the route description.

18:45: CP6 (34.9 miles).  The check point marshals were just completing their pack up when we arrived. They were beaming because they could off load more food unto us and we were beaming back from hill racing adrenalin. We were packed us off with more food and a tin of rice pudding and fruit cocktail for Michael.

20:23: End (40 miles).  There were still walkers who had only arrived about 10-15 minutes before us. The organization had only begun packing up. We had made it and we were elated.

Red’s official time: 13 hours 23 minutes.

Thank you to the fantastic organisation and to the folks who donated. Your funds will be going to EarthWatch. AND, Michael it was a real luxury having you as a buddy! :-)

Next event 26th May

I am about to attempt to do a 40 mile event and my training has been another joke. I have been slack since completing 30 miles 3 weeks ago. Slack, lazy, tired, what ever! I wondered whether TyreGirl should just hang up her tyres.
I promised Landy a couple of hours and looked up at the sky. Dark clouds were collecting in the sky, ominously hanging over the park I would be training at. The weather forecast was rain for the rest of the day. It has been very correct for the week. I could not find my wet weather gear, but I forced myself out the door with Landy and sighed. No more excuses.

As I entered the park, I was greeted to big smiles from a group leaving the park; followed by a pair of ladies laughing incredulously as they took their dogs for a walk.  The day continued with more fellow park users giving me the thumbs up, words of encouragement (I must have looked bad - I certainly felt it) and generally being happy despite the darkness above.

3 hours later and very little rain fell. I can only believe that the positive vibes emitting from the park users kept the rain at bay and their sunshine happiness caused rays of sun to beam into the park. As I walked in everyone's happiness, it reminded me that maintaining inner peace is so important as we are surrounded by the turmoil of others. Being able to forgive those who choose to try to pull us down is part of keeping our peace, as well as deflecting their angry hearts away.

I thank God for giving me the strength to be out there today and to the other lovely park users for being so cheerful despite the threatening skies above.

After accidently doing 30 miles.....well I meant to do 20 miles and then my head got distracted and .....anyway....after doing 30 miles, legs felt fine. Did a fast 5 miles the day after and then have felt a little dead except when pushed to do another 6 miles 3 days later. No problems with the legs, just feeling lethargic and eating everything in sight.

Landy had a bad 5K race (46:33), mostly due to me not waking up and then starting a couple of minutes late.

Got to get better at waking up. I love my pillow at the moment (sorry Landy).

Hopefully a good massage will get me back up for another couple of long runs and ready for the 40 miler on the 5th May.

2012 has been a little bit of a non-starter with regards to completing any race!  Now I am faced with a little quandry, my own selfish ambition to complete a race on Sunday or be with a terminally ill good friend.

I have chosen the latter as I want to personally say good bye and maybe help bring peace to those around.   Sad as it might be, accepting death helps the one who is dying to move on peacefully. We must all face death one day, it is part of life, and sometimes we must let go of those we love and turn the page to a new adventure.

God bless to you all.

In a game of hockey on Saturday, I was running down the side line and girl dropped her shoulder to try to take me out. Yes we were playing a game of hockey! Ref blew his whistle to call a foul. Later I managed to get in the shooting area, same girl took a swipe and just missed my legs. Whistle blown for a short corner.

Now this was a friendly match I thought, but this same girl later took belted the hockey ball into the air with me being directly in front of her. I was smacked on the ring finger. I did swear a lot with girl saying "sorry I didn't mean it"!

The finger was immediately iced and went into A&E. X-rays showed two bits of bone had splintered off the main bone. The sister warned me no hockey/no contact sport for eight weeks. That means out of action until end of May! BUT my legs still work, so I asked the sister if running would be okay. She asked me if I was likely to fall down as any further trauma to the finger might cause complications. I'm pretty stable I responded. So running is okay :-)  Of course I neither told her the distance nor about the tyre! I was warned that my finger will be in pain for the next couple of months.

I am a little nervous about this Sunday.......but have been icing the finger as well as putting an anti-inflammatory cream containing arnica with calendular. 3 days later, the swelling has been greatly reduced and my nurse friend has been impressed about the speed the bruising has gone down. Additionally there is very little pain, unless it is knocked. I still think the cream is a magic cream :-) Perhaps it will cure it for Sunday's run around the hills!

Yes - I know there has been a lack of activity. I have just recovered from an achilles injury and wanted to ensure it was strong before pounding the streets.  I have now been training in a pair of "minimalist shoes" and was recently told by a fellow runner, who is also a podiatrist, that those types of shoes are most likely to cause an achilles injury and that I should wear a pair of shoes with more heel support to encourage a heel strike that will help stretch out the achilles.

Just for the record - my achilles injury was caused wearing a pair of supported trail shoes on terrain that was soft snow packed. The ground continually collapsed underfoot causing the ankle to twist and turn in all directions. I was not the only one to suffer an ankle injury from the terrain. (ref: Arrowhead Ultra)

Up until 2010, I used to be a heel striker and had no end of injuries. At that time I was "wearing out my legs". Until end of 2009, I was constantly suffering from "runner's knee", and people around me were telling me I should give up running when I'd only started long distance running in 2006 with and without a tyre.  From 2006-2009, I spent time seeing the physio for shin splints, achilles pain, ITB strain and finally plantar fasciitis. Fed up of simply throwing money at my problems, that is seeing the physio and buying a different pair of "supported" shoes when injury struck, I decided to research about running techniques.

The one that appealed to me was Pose running. It had scientific studies and facts about what was happening biomechanically in different "poses". It became obvious why certain injuries were happening. At the end of 2009, I went to an excellent "pose clinic" with Dr Mark Hainsworth (GP and a level 4 coach) and discovered I could run injury free with or without a tyre. I also started running in sandals to free my feet. My physio was waiting for me to injured.

Injuries in 2010 - NONE! No pain, no niggles after 10 marathons

In 2011, Dr Romanov came into town. Another fantastically awesome person to meet.

Injuries in 2011 - NONE! Again no pain, no niggles after 11 marathons.

Injuries in 2012 - as indicated - one. This has been sorted out with advice from Jon Port to do eccentric stretches. I have worked hard and my ankle that suffered an achilles injury is now more stable than the other ankle (oh dear better put more work in on the other). It has taken about a month for the achilles to feel completely fine. My current challenge is to be able to do the pistol version of the one legged squat .

1st April is when this fool starts her tyre dragging marathon again :-)

With having joined so many races, it was my turn to give some volunteer time back. So volunteered to mark 30+ miles of a race. Recce-ed 95% of the route the weekend before. A relaxed cycle time took me about 4 hours to complete the distance. It thus seemed reasonable that it would take 7.5 hours in total to mark the entire route. I mean how hard could this job be?

So started at 8am, two hours before the official kick off time. Found deciding where to put up signs; trying to be discreet in towns; stressing about runners not seeing my markers; sometimes being plain comically incompetent; and the occasional justifying myself to enquiring resident locals - wasted lots of time. I was the "new girl" in a job. My first sign took me 10 minutes to do with a lack of experience in threading cable ties. I discovered one side of the cable ties do not thread. Thought they were duds initially!!! Sent a text to the RD that had only reached the ferry point at about 10:00am. 10:00am was also when the race started, the time when the RD would be sending the runners on their way!  It had taken took me 2 hours to do less than 5 miles and the runners were about 10 miles away.

At 11:00 am tried calling RD to let him know I was slow but phone told me that "calls to the number were barred!" Text didn't complain so sent him another text.

At 1:00 pm began to be overtaken by runners at Windsor! Asked the Windsor checkpoint to let the RD know I was slow. Was stressed about being overtaken by runners. So no breaks just kept on going. Gave my water to another runner at Dorney Lakes; told off by a local resident who I just politely agreed with and carried on; requested some water from Cookham checkpoint who told me to get my own water who later relented when I said I was their official marker; yelled at by another runner who thought I was taking down the markers who apologised immediately when I told him I was their official marker. At the end of my marking stint at Marlow (about 6pm) directed one runner the wrong way when he asked me if the route was over the bridge and I said I think so - the Thames Valley sign is pointing that way! Only realised 10 minutes later that I had directed him the wrong way....opps.....decided to wait for him as had no idea which direction he had taken after the bridge. He came back later and told me off for wasting 20 minutes of his time. Apologetic, after all I did empathise with his frustrations, I redirected him to where he should have gone.

I am dehydrated, tired and hungry having only eaten a slice of bread at 7am and drunken 1/2 a bottle of water. Tried to call Uncle to get a ride home from Marlow but mobile again told me "numbers were barred". Found a phone booth that wouldn't accept cash nor calling card....grrr. So cycled back 6 miles to Cookham checkpoint to see if I could either grab a ride or borrow a mobile. Had no headlamp, but fortunately I have excellent night vision so sang loudly in the dark so that folks wouldn't run into me. It was a beautiful clear night and the stars were bright. By the time I got back to Cookham checkpoint I was high on being outside on a glorious night and my fatigue had somehow disappeared. Got to finally eat something from the checkpoint's left overs of biscuits and bananas as they packed up. Uncle picked me up and got me back home by 9pm.

Feeling a little battered and disappointed that it took me 10 hours to completely mark up about 30+ miles. In that time I would have completed a 30+ mile marathon with a tyre.

I now need to go for a long run!

Red and Landy have been playing with each other's treads since the day they met.

So it was at Bedford Athletic Stadium, on a wet windy day, suitable for something rubbery that was impervious to rain, Landy and Red became officially devoted to each other.

For the day Landy had a major make over and looked rather fetching ;-) for the Fetch Wedding Mile. Red pushed him forward as TG passed them and thus was given a lap of honour around the track for his sweet fair tyre Red. Red screeched with delight and has asked for photos of Landy to be put up on the site first. Photos of Red will be up at the end of the week :-) ....when I can get them to stop playing with each other's treads!

For those wondering what I wore and carried and want to attempt this event in the future. Please note though that this year the temperature range was crazy warm for the "ice box" of the country;  -14 celcius to -4 celcius (ssshh - I'm not supposed to tell you)

Clothing
Head gear: Started with a balaclava, later switched to light hat - to keep the ears warm,
Body: Two fleece bodies
Hands: Runner's gloves + fleece fingerless gloves + mittens if got cold
Legs: Long john baselayer + a pair of ski pants.
Feet: Thin socks + vapor barrier + thick pair of wool socks
Shoes: Trekking shoes + gaitors + yak traks that I took off later

Was toasty and warm. The temps could have certainly gone down further

Carried:
- Snack bag + water bottle in jacket. Lost water bottle at some point on trail. Bought another at Gateway
- Snot rag - hate a blocked nose from the cold. Lost the rag some point bombing down a hill.
- Spare batteries
- Gels + electrolytes
- Compass - because it looks like I know what I'm doing!!!!
- Whistle to play music to keep me entertained
- Head lamp - helped me see where I was going when sledding down a hill. Other than that - never used it throughout the night
- Chemical stuff to keep hands and feet warm - never needed it this time

Pulk:
- Fiberglass expedition sled - (next time will adapt a children's plastic sled)
- Food/snacks for 4 days + cup - (next time reduce cooking food and snacks - brought extra in case I made a friend!!!!)
- MSR stove + 2 bottles of white gas for cooking
- Overboots (next time will not bring them)
- 2 jackets
- Spare socks, hat, gloves and goggles
- fleece hood balacalva neck gater
- Spare clothes for end point (next time give to drop off)
- Sleeping bag for -40 celcius (this time could have just carried a smaller bag for -20); bivvy bag; mat
- 3 litres of water
- Medical bag with plasters; strapping tape (that I didn't how to use!); anti-inflammatories; hair brush (need one luxury!)
- Electrolytes
- Two spare lamps + spare lights (snapped a light off - so had to use spare light!)
- Trekking poles - that I nearly left behind two times.

Thank you to my friends in Wisconsin for all your time, help and support :-)

Felix (from Kilimanjaro trip) once asked me "Does Peace come before Love or does Love come before Peace?"

My mind has pondered over this thought. Is it possible to say we love this world without peace? If we loved this world, we would fight to protect this world. In order for us to protect this world we must find peace with this world. That is we should be in harmony with this world. Yet corporates tell us to spend on trivialities, spend on toys/goods that won't last, spend because that is what makes the world go round and that is what will get us out of recession. Firstly what are we supposed to spend when inflation and wage freezes have meant we have less money? Secondly change that word to "consume" and I cannot find peace with those thoughts. Our economics and greedy corporates need to change to become more sustainable so that each one of us can find peace with the way we live our lives and look to protect our natural world or we will continue to destroy our heritage for us now and for our future generations.

We all need to pull together for peace!

Bisaniiwewin would remind me of this continually throughout this trip for I was nervous about this event. My preparations were haphazardly put together, but some how everything came together in the penultimate days leading up to the event.

Just days before, Dave (Arrowhead organiser) found me a buddy, Eszter, a biker and a great athlete who finished in the top 10 and smashed the women's record by 2 hours. She sorted out my accomodation and ride up to International Falls.

_Nicole, another amazing woman who is a friend of a friend, lent me her gear. I cannot complain, but when I saw the 5ft fiberglass sled she had lent me, I thought "oh dear". It was beautiful beast, weighing about 8-10 kg that needed two hands to carry it. In comparison, I could lift other racers' plastic sleds with my little finger. My second thought, was no big deal, I've pulled 60 kgs before.

With that thought, my mind went into expedition mode and began to load my sled for survival instead of opting for drop bags at check points. Wrong mode! Eszter helped me to adjust my head. So I left the snow shoes and a small bag of gear for a drop off at the finish, but still forgot to take out the over boots and a spare bag of thermal clothes that I would never use. I still had all of my food. All of which would be dead weight, and contributed to a total sled weight of about 30 kgs alone.

Most sleds in the race had a total weight of about 12-15 kgs.

Again, I thought "no problem", this would be great practise for an expedition. My head was challenging my body and my body was rising up to the challenge. My mother asked me to leave the tyre behind, but how could I leave Bisanii behind! Tim, another bike racer, who picked me up and dropped me off at the start point, commented at how heavy my sled weighed. However, at 6 am on race day I was committed.

The night before the race was an unrestful night as being a girl, my menstrual cycle was happening. Yes that "girly" thing that makes us crabby and snappy to those around us! This meant my body temperature was on the rise and thus the room felt hot and sweaty. It is typical for me to have insomnia the night before when that "that girly thing" is about to happen, although I managed to snatch an hour or two of sleep! It is typical for me to have an upset stomach and diarrhea when "that girly thing" is happening. Thus I had several moments in the toilet before the race started and unfortunately I had to be in the toilet when the race started! It is also typical for me to feel extremely tired when "that darn girly thing" is happening. This is a mind game, and the only way to defeat the mind was to keep everything positive.

The Race
I raced over to the start line and saw everyone's flickering racer lights disappearing into the distance. I was 5 minutes behind everyone but no big deal as I normally started a race behind everyone!

We were briefed at the pasta dinner that the first 25 miles would be flat with undulations. After that the hills would strike with increasing severity.

Within 3 miles I had caught up with 4 other walkners (walking runners). Ryan from Manitoba was attempting this event for the second time (he completed the event). His motto was to just keep going. Jen had completed the bike last year and was now attempting to complete the distance by foot this year. Her head was not in a good place starting, so I tried to encourage her. She kept up with me at first but had to stop for water for about 5 minutes. I stopped with her but later had to question myself why I was stopping. Ryan kept going. On her second stop I had to apologise to her that I needed to keep going. As a racer, it is important to stop only when you need to stop. With cut off times, time was an important consideration and I wanted to be going at least 3 miles an hour in the beginning. When I next looked back to see if Jen had caught up with me, she was in the distance with another walkner.

The trail was easy to follow, with marshals located at turn points to ensure you stayed on the correct path. Temperatures this year were warmer than last year starting at -14 Celcius. However the soft snow packed trail would collapse unevenly under foot. I did not consider that this would have a significant impact on one's ankles and would force John, the walkner who had won the event 3 years in a row, to quit 10 hours into the event.

Day 1, 10am: I was at mile 10 and was fairly happy at the progress being made. However the yaktraks that I was wearing in case of ice, were making my feet impact with the ground sooner than I had expected. I had only tested using these for about 5 miles prior to the event. I decided to bear with them until the first check point as I would have to also remove my gaitors in order to remove the yaktraks.

There was only a french man (Jean) and a lady (Angela) a couple of hundred metres behind me. Both had completed 100 mile marathons before this marathon, both were looking strong and both would eventually catch up and overtake me back. First Jean at mile 11 and then Angela caught up with me at about mile 20 something.

It was nice to have a chat with someone, but as we continued a wave of lethargy washed over my being. I blame it on the "girly thing". It is when the brain vacates the body, leaving the body to feel alien and wanting to stop and sleep. It was 3 pm, too early to be in a zombie stupor and I would have to fight this, but I needed to do this alone. So I shooed Angela on ahead of me so that she would not pick up any negative emotions I would be feeling. I decided gels would be my answer.

3 slow hours, 3 slow miles and 3 gels later, my head began to sync back in with my body. By this time I had caught up with Chuck, a man on a mountain bike with normal mountain bike wheels. I guess if the snow was hard packed, the wheels would have worked, but being soft snow, the ground below collapsed into crevasses making the bike inoperable and useless. However Bisanii packed down the snow for Chuck, and made the route a little easier for Chuck to cycle on but not significant enough. He would make the first check point just after the cut off time.

Day 1, 5 pm: Anton, a volunteer with a snow mobile who was looking after participants on the course told us the first checkpoint was 5 miles away. Just before Anton came by, I began to have an achilles niggle on my left ankle. Dave and Ron who were behind me decided to dig in to make the checkpoint by 7pmish.

Unfortunately again I had to slow everything down. I was annoyed at myself for even having an achilles problem but continued to find difficulty with the soft snow to correct my technique. I felt the real problem was having left on my yaktraks and now my "girly thing" was really kicking in. Yuck! But I was close to the check point and would be able to sort everything out in the warmth of the service station.

Some slopes presented themselves, steep enough for me to dive onto my sled, head first, to take a ride down. My first attempts to use my body weight to steer the sled, ended with me crashing into a bank of snow and laughing to myself. I looked forward to more hill runs so that I could perfect my technique. However there would be no further runs until the first checkpoint, which I reached by 20:22. This left 38 minutes to top up water and sort out gear. Having over compensated on the right leg, my right shin decided to play in the pain game. I should have strapped up my left ankle, but time was ticking away fast. I was able to remove the yaktraks and just hoped this would help to make the ankles play nice.

Day 1, 21:00: I was back on the course, excited about the night. The ankles felt slightly better with the short rest, or perhaps it was the milky coffee I had at the service station. I walked without my headlamp on so that my night vision would have a better panoramic range rather than being light focused.

As I turned back onto the trail, I met a very positive Jen, who thanked Bisanii for making her so happy!

Day 1, 22:00: another wave of tiredness swept over me. I decided to use my secret weapon - red bull. It's sickly sweetness made me retch but unfortunately I had filled my bottles with energy drinks for the night so just had to deal with the sickly sweetness.

The trees were shimmering a strange green tinge. I looked up at the sky and it was a muted, faint green. Perhaps this was the Northern Lights, but as the sky thickened with clouds, the green tinge quickly disappeared. Or perhaps I was just high on caffeine. Regardless I was happy with my "illusion" even if it was watered down.

In the gloominess the pine trees appeared to have big broad prehistoric leaves laden with snow. Outlines and shadows took on shapes of animals and everydday objects. Every now and then light would catch onto the snow falling from the sky, making me think I was catching up with someone. I was happy my mind was entertaining itself but I could not stop the achilles pain that would occasionally cut across the back of my ankle with a shooting sharp pain when I did not concentrate on keeping my form. Soon a battle was stewing in my head:

The negative side: "You have a 100 miles more to complete and this could have a long term impact on your achilles. It would be better to consider a DNF (Did Not Finish) in order to save your achilles."
The positive side: "This will be your first DNF. You know about running techniques, you can correct yourself and you'll be fine."
The negative side: "Additionally you have slowed down to a mile an hour. You are not going to make the second checkpoint."
The positive side: "You can overcome your pain and have done so before"
The negative side: "Yes you broke an ankle because you strapped up a sprained ankle so stupidly tight in order to continue with your sport. You were out of sport for a year. Also remember your brother who continued competitive squash with a badly sprained ankle and won the game but suffered for years after."

TG: Okay you two sides, I will go to the second checkpoint which will probably be late and so will be kicked off the course anyway. So leave me alone to continue with whatever hallucinations my mind wants to entertain me with.

Anton came back to check on me and again asked me if I wanted to leave the course as there was a minivan with participants who were leaving the course. My mind was made up, and besides the trail was getting better with a hill to climb and a hill to go down. My spirit was alive. Bisaniiwewin was riding on the sled with me.

Day 2, 4am: There was the minivan with Ron, Jean and Lynn. The boys were sleeping at the back. Lynn said they were feeling too tired to go on. I tried to persuade her out but she had made up her mind as had the boys. My achilles and shin were now just a dull pain despite a flush of heat upon the achilles. I was high on hills and suppose the pheromones were dampening any pain.

Day 2, 6am: More participants were being snowmobiled out. I was surprised to see Angela and asked her to continue. She did not want to do another night. She had made up her mind that she had done enough and just wanted to get back to see her kid.

Day 2, 7am: I was now steadily completing 2-3 miles an hour and looked forward to the sun rise, to watch the sky lights changing. Anton came by and asked me if I wanted to leave the course. Again I responded no. However he wanted to reason with me and said I would miss the checkpoint time. I wanted to head for the second checkpoint. He decided he would leave me for a couple of hours to think about it. But I was adamant that I wanted to make that second checkpoint.

Day 2, 11am: More hills and I was feeling very good. 60 miles completed and 12 more to go. Anton came back to see how I was.

_TG: Anton at this moment in time I am feeling strong. My head is in a good place.
Anton: Yes you look strong and we have no idea how you are hauling that load the distance you have done but you are not going to make the second check point. You have 3 more hours to make that checkpoint. At the rate you are going, you will need 4 hours.
TG: Well I do not want to go back to International Falls, I want to keep moving forward and get to Mel George (second checkpoint).
Anton: I can take you there because by the time you get there, the checkpoint will have packed up and have moved on.
TG: Am okay with that. I have everything here to support myself, including stoves to make my own water. I would like to carry on under my own steam.
Anton: Okay well, I will wait for you and support you.
TG: Please do not, I will be fine.
Anton: I want to ensure you are safe.

I felt guilty about my own selfish pride and I buckled. Anton had been working non-stop throughout yesterday and the night checking on our health and safety. It would have been unfair to have made him cover the extra distance and cause further concern just because I felt I had to go the distance. It was after all just an event and mentally I knew I had the capacity to go on.

It was time to use the achilles card and allow someone to help me. So it was at mile 60 I was snowmobiled to MelGeorge. Unfortunately I had caffeine coursing through my being, thus was wide awake and at a loss at what to do. The caffeine would not release me until 22:00 on day 2.

_I decided to support the rest of the back guys. At mile 85, Lisa started to have negative thoughts. But I would not allow her to entertain those thoughts. After all she had to carry on as there were only 2 women left out of the 7 who started and she had less than 50 miles to complete. She completed in 59:29 (59 hours and 29 minutes). Alicia, the other woman, completed in 55:56. This apparently doubles the number of women who have ever completed this race on foot!

Out of 51 walkners, only 45% of the entrants completed the entire course.  A number of drop outs were hard nosed ultra runners who by MelGeorge were suffering with all sorts of ankle injuries. Last year out of 55 walkners, only 36% of the entrants completed the entire course.

My sled weight was a contributing factor to my slowness but my tyre was certainly not to blame. If my ankles were perfectly fine, my sled weight would have been a non-issue. I will be back to slay this dragon and so will Bisaniiwewin.

Thank you to all the excellent volunteers and the organisation. I thoroughly enjoyed the scenery and the course, and feel lucky to have watched the sun set, wandered through the woodland trail corridors, watched the sun rise in a beautiful natural place and play on the snow and hills. This is a fantastic race and one that I look forward to completing the next time round.