Day Five - The Last Push

Worst night's sleep ever. Up every hour with road noise, bathroom breaks and body aches. We struggled through breakfast before heading back to the start point outside the Wellington. Simon's sister, Sarah, joined us at the start for what she hoped to be a marathon, something she herself had trained hard towards. It was a perfect morning with cold clear skies that preserved the snowy peaks over the beacons for much of the day. We set out on the Taff trail that leads from Brecon to Cardiff Bay, which would give us vital space and freedom to run without traffic as well as a variety of surfaces, which the joints craved.

The three of us, along with the ever-present and impressive Bri (who would finish the week with 160 mountain bike miles under his belt having never ridden more than 25 miles in one go before) made good progress and reached the Talybont reservoir by 10am where we were joined again by Tim and David who, despite feeling stiff from the previous day's effort, were keen to share some more miles with us.This next section was beautiful as we were off-road and enjoying a steady climb up and away from the water's edge to give us amazing vistas of the snowy Brecon Beacons with evergreen trees and freshwater in the foreground. The sun was out to join us too and was very welcome. Unfortunately for both runners, as we were heading towards the coast and started on fairly high ground, we were inevitably going to have to encounter a fair amount of downhill running. We usually enjoy these sections and let our legs run hard down the hills rather than slowing them down and increasing pressure on the joints. However, we were tentative to say the least and were probably slower running down than up with a mixture of backwards running and grimacing with every step.We next passed the Pontsticill reservoir, which was equally stunning as we cruised towards lunch.

Lunch came just north of Merthyr Tydfil where we were joined by even more family and friends. We said goodbye to Tim and David and thanked them for their monumental support, which was delivered in timely fashion in our darkest hour. After lunch, the two of us and our entourage set about getting through the town of Merthyr and reuniting with the Taff Trail. We were joined by Danny, Dean, Jonathan, Andrea, Lewis, Jonathan, Mo as well as Sarah who decided to continue on with us too! We were soon back on the trail and enjoying the different conversations from our new members of 'Running for Sol'.Although the mood was light, both of us were feeling the strain on the body. By now, we were firm believers in those theories that place mental toughness as most important in endurance events. The pain that we were able to endure because of our cause, because of the time and dedication we had given our training and because of our knowledge of where the finish line was still came as a surprise to us, despite reading about it beforehand. In fact, we can explain man's physical capabilities through training and physiology but the resilience of the mind is something that you need to experience before you believe it and even then you'll never be bale to completely understand it. With a firm goal in mind, human potential is verging on limitless.

We were greeted to a rapturous welcome as we stopped at 'The Bunch of Grapes' pub in Pontypridd. It wasn't just our family, it seemed as though half of the pub had heard of our challenge and had come out to cheer us on. This gave us a taste of what was to come later and we knew that with just a half marathon to run, we would finish - it would just be a question of when. Continuing on the trail kept us away from the main road but we were still aware that we were now very much in suburbia. We'd left the beautiful rolling hills and expansive lakes behind us and entered residnetial Cardiff.

Simon's wife Chloe was running with 4 month old Lennon in the running buggy and we each shared a turn in running with him for a mile or two, Sarah included, who completed the whole of day 5 - a phenomonal achievement in itself. In fact, there were a whole host of peronal bests throughout 'Running for Sol'. Mike Hodgkinson, day 1, 32 miles; David Shardlow and Tim Porter, day 4, 24 miles; Danny Call and Dean Corden, day 5, 16 miles; Chloe Baker, day 5, 16 miles; Bri Ashton, days 2-5, 160 miles on the bike and finally Sarah Baker, day 5, 51 miles!!! What a fantastic inspiration 'Running for Sol' had been for so many!

The final few miles took us through parkland that was only made possible by the cycling support of Charlie Cunliffe and Emily Buckle who lit the trail up for us to see where we were running. This turned out to be the longest stretch of the whole run, most probably through anticipation and mentally winding down. We let the support crew get to the stadium as both runners joined up with their shadow Matt Davey for a final huddle and to allow things to start to sink in. One years worth of training, one hundred miles of running per week at times, the hill repeats, the dietary discipline and of course Solomon was in our thoughts as we prepared to complete our dream - ultrarunning the length of Wales in 5 days.

As soon as we came into view, we could hear the roar of our tremendous support who had travelled miles and miles, just as we had, to see us reach the Millenium Stadium. A whole host of emotions were fairly obvious on our faces as we crossed the brilliantly decorated finish line. It was 10pm but the faithful crowd had stayed with us and waited to share our moment with us, which is one we'll never forget. With our friendship strengthened through our experiences of the last 5 days, we stood together and felt proud of each other, proud of the money we'd raised and proud to have been 'Running for Sol'.

Day 4 - Catch up Day

We woke at 5.30am and after a brief period of 'Where on earth are we?!!' we tiptoed downstairs so as not to wake our generous guests....we should have known better. Our fabulous hosts John and Maya were already seeing to the Aga porridge and frying banana halves for an energy boosting breakfast. They had dried all of our clothes on the aga overnight including our trainers, which was a great relief! Mid-way through breakfast we looked out to the ridge to see Matt, our shadow, reversing up the main road in preparation to meet us. John and Maya's commitment to 'Running for Sol' didn't end there. They gave us wellington boots to walk through the field up to the van and came along with us to carry them back again. Later that morning they helped retrieve Brian's bike (Simon's father in law Bri had cycled the route with us and then carried the bike through deep snow until such time that he could no longer make fast enough progress with the bike on his shoulders!!).

As it turned out, we were only a quarter of a mile short of tarmac when we were rescued the day before but we weren't to know that at the time and we would only have proved ourselves more naive than we'd already proved by pushing on and ignoring the offer of help. When we reached tarmac, we left the security of the van and headed off wondering how we'd make up the lost mileage of the day before. We decided to take a more direct route round the eastern edge of the spectacular Llyn Clywedog instead of the proposed scenic route around the west side. This shaved off some valuable miles but still treated us to some incredible views of the lake surrounded by snow drenched peaks, some of our favourite views of the trip so far.

The morning was tough going with undulating hills and significant pain for both of us. However, we were given a huge boost when Tim and David joined us for long sections of the day, providing invaluable company and help with navigation, which included an 8 mile stint on a disused railway line south of Rhyader. This was a turning point of the day as we crossed rivers, had a change of running surface and got chased by playful sheep to give us welcome distracction from the pain!

After joining up with Ross' parents and Auntie Pat at Newbridge, we pushed on to Builth Wells making good time that would leave us just 16 miles up and over a good climb down into Brecon. Mentally, this was well within reach and we were really encouraged at the prospect of reaching Brecon and making all of the miles up in that one day so we could wake up on day 5 with the original scheduled miles left to complete.

The climb was superb, lasting 6 miles with gradients of 25% at times. Matt duly greeted us at the top with a hot dog, produced within the campervan of course,  and hot ribena that would give us the legs to fall down into Brecon.

We started to lose light on this section, which served as a good reminder of just how long day 4 had been. During steep sections, Simon ran backwards to ease the pressure on his shins and Ross was becoming less and less able to bend his right knee with worsening ITB trouble. But we were floating along mentally having put a massive shift in and clawed back all that we didn't manage to achieve on day 3.

Arriving in Brecon was special. There were dozens of family and friends that came up to greet us and they lined the streets outside the Wellington Hotel in the centre with loud cheers, much to the curiosity of the local night life! We put some more calories in, caught up with friends and family and then went looking for a campsite. With no luck at such a late hour, we parked up in lay-by and went to sleep smiling but wondering how we'd feel putting our trainers on the next day.

Day three - barmouth to beyond!!!!

You were all wondering why runningforsol went dark at 32 miles. This was not for stealth reasons! The weather closed in overnight and snow, by the bucket, landed in our path. The run went well and everyone was feeling good . We hit Machynlleth in high spirits and started to tackle the mountain pass over to llanidloes. Between mile 33 and 34 it became impassable. The miles before had been waist deep snow at 1700 feet with thick horizontal snow fall- what were we thinking! Just when the situation was getting desperate up popped our heroes John and Mya. They took us off the ridge in into the warmth of their beautiful home. What might have happened without their kindness we dread to think. We cannot thank them enough - a true kindness.

As fate would have had it Matt was only round the corner and had set out to look for us (no phone signals!!) but a miss is as good as a mile. Curry in and a great nights sleep has helped no end. We start again with 8 miles to make up. Welcome to Tim and David who join us for the day.

Here we go!

Snowdon to Barmouth day 2 on the run

We always new this day was to be hard. The challenge of Snowdonia was glimpsed on our journey in but today was the day to tackle the beast.

The morning was cloudy with scattered showers but that soon gave way to full on rain. This had the potential to dampen spirits however Runningforsol unveiled its secret weapon. Ladies and gentlemen meet Bri - not just a man but a cycling, traffic wardending, gag cracking, spirit lifter of a man. (having said that he did forget Ross's name!). Llanberis soon arrived and our first stop was an opportunity to dry off and reload on hot Ribera and Frankies cake(FC -Ross wants to meet you - he's in love!)

Then came the big one.... The llnaberis pass had been looming in our mind for some time but we cruised it.

Eventually the weather broke and the sunshine flooded in. Lunch was had by a beautiful little stream after 5 miles of the most beautiful running in Britain. Onward we went past accident Harlech to our destination - Barmouth ? Three things will stick in our minds - the aforementioned hot Ribena, the support from Bri and the stunning views across Snowdonia.

The journey continues ... Little did we know what would come next!

Day One North Stack to the Menai Bridge

Starting off on the trip of a lifetime!

We arrived at North stack early but left late due to the complsion of the John Barnes Rap in New Orders "World in Motion". Great to have Mike Hodgekinson at the start line joining us for what turned out to be his personal best of 32 miles running and the option of 10 miles cycling.  We set off in good spirits and ate up the miles. North Stack was a worthy start point with towering cliffs and
stunning vistas.

15 miles in we were joined by Rich and Sam Husselbee, Rich choosing to show his support with an 8 mile stint. What a fantastic suprise and great to see them both. Thanks also to Dave Hughes who joined the support crew for the whole morning.

After finding our way through gorse fields, dunes and railway lines we stopped for lunch with 24.5 gone.  Struggling to find a location we pulled up outside HRH Duke and Duchess of Camberidge's gaff and following a breif security check lunch was served. With batteries recharged (phones and bodies) we set off. Neil ran for Sol, Chloe and Clare cyclced for Sol and Matt continued to drive for Sol.

Mike, Ross and Simon 15 miles in welcoming Dave's suprise appearance

Day One done!

Coastal paths gave way to country estates and pebble beaches as we wound our way along the south coast of this fantsastic island to the Menai Bridge. The RAF treated us to fly overs and the weather was, for the most part, kind.

The Bridge crossing was a real high point and one we will not forget. Good deeds were done today. One lamb saved, one phone found (Ross) and many generous donations arrived. The later is a huge motivation -Thank You all.

We are under no illusion of the challenge ahead for, all through the last half of the day, we have been running in the shaddow of Snowdon.

Ice baths done. Compression bottoms on. Pizza in and families tucked up. Time for a well earned sleep. Night John boy.

Time to go

April 2nd 2012 8.15am

Runningforsol left North Stack, Anglesey for the Melenium Stadium, Cardiff. 230 miles. 5 days.

Here we go boys!

Prologue

Prologue 1st April

What a morning! Awoke at the foot of Snowdon basking in sunshine. The travel over to Anglesey was gorgeous and showed off the the beauty of this part of the world.

We headed straight for North Stack on our recon mission ahead of the big off tomorrow. Great to get a view of the start and take in the scenery. Most of Anglesey could be seen from the top! Whilst we enjoyed an ice cream and Matt chatted to grown men playing with toy boats (and an action man jet ski) our families were on route to join us. We headed then to Kieths field. Near RAF Valley this picturesque patch was generously lent to us by a top man. Keith - Thanks for everything.

More examples of Matts culinary delights were on display as the meatballs and spaghetti hit the table. We welcomed Mr Hodgekinson to the team ahead of the run and with family around us it was a perfect way to spend the evening before this epic run!! now for four in a van!


Posted 2nd April due to 3G networks etc- this could be a trend!

Pictures to go with yesterdays blog!!