AI and assessments

The University dreamed up something new: the AI declaration sheet. It asks the students to declare in what way they have used AI in the assessments they do. The idea is that they attach that sheet to said assessments. 

What is this for? Im not sure! Is it an arse-covering exercise in some way? Is it an attempt to find out what the students use it for? Is it to give them ideas? I have no idea! I think they soon want to make it compulsory. Currently, it is not.

My current batch of marking comes with those sheets. For those students who didn't forget. And I don't really look at what they say; you're not going to mark something in a different way if you know that someone has used AI to help them with coding or something. But I was curious. What do the student say they use it for? So I had a little look at the field trip report the students have to write about the data they collected in October. And I made a little inventory.

There were 30 students who had submitted the form. Eight of these said they hadn't used AI at all. Nine said they had used it for one aspect of the work. Five said they had used it for two of them. Two had used it for three, three for four, one for five, and two for six. So it looks like the majority of the students is using AI.

So what were they using it for? The most common thing was spelling and grammar. Excellent idea! That option was ticked 11 times. The second most common use was for helping with coding. That was ten times. There were eight cases of help with suggesting sources, seven for providing explanations, six for summarising sources, three for analysing data, two for some other assistive role, and one for translating text.

The one option that wasn't ticked was for providing the structure of the text. That is basically because the assignment is rather prescriptive. I tell them what set-up I want. I know from the dissertation module that where it is less prescriptive, that is what quite many do. Not necessarily to good effect! But that is a different matter. 

So things have changed a lot! A few years ago, none of them would've had access to artificial intelligence to help them. Now more than two thirds are already using it. And spelling and grammar checks are older than generative AI, of course, but if that is what they use it for then they are using it well. And I think letting it help you with coding is a good idea as well. As long as it is used for help, and not for doing the work on its own. In the end, we want them to understand what they are doing. Relying too heavily on AI will sooner or later backfire with things like that.

What about the suggesting sources, summarising them, and providing explanations? I think I will have these tools at their disposal forever, so if with that tool they can do a good job that's good. The risk is that if you rely heavily on AI, you can't evaluate if it is doing a good job. And scientists should be very critical. I would hope that the students use it to be better scientists, not worse ones. If they use the AI to be quicker, but still keep their critical head on, that would be ideal. But the reality is probably that it is a bit of a mixed bag! You will always have students who use tools well and those who don't. Plus ça change…

Infrared progress

I had booked in the installers of my infrared panels in summer. That way I would be well ready for winter. However; it didn't quite go according to plan. The installer left with the job half done, and none of the newly installed panels wired in, so none of them were working. And the company said that they could come back the next month to finish it all off, but that was not true. They had come with too few small panels, and apparently, these just weren’t in stock for a while.

In the meantime, my inverter also conked out, and replacing that was just added to the work to be done by the infrared men. 

After some months we agreed on dates in mid December for the job to be finished. Both panels and inverter seem to be available again! But then there was a positive surprise; someone had cancelled something, so the men could come earlier, on the 1st of December. And I asked the lady who told me that what they would do. Finish the infrared panel installation, or change my inverter. She said all of it. I was sceptical, but we kept the later dates in the diary for contingency.

On December 1st they duly showed up. It was supposed to have been the same installer who had started to work, but he had left the company in the meantime. It was two blokes who had been there earlier; one who I think had installed my battery, and the wingman of the guy who had left. So at least the latter knew something about how the work had been started.

Sam, who had the lead but hadn’t been there the previous time, first asked what the situation was. And he decided to start installing the panels in the landing. When that was done, they proceeded to the inverter. I had been happily working away in my home office while they were installing the panels, but to get to the inverter you have to be in the home office. I picked up my laptop and went elsewhere. And they managed to switch the inverter over, but not quite program the new one yet. That would have to wait until next time.

Panels in the landing! 

The mess that caused

I also asked about the panel in my bathroom. That had been installed really high. That way it is only heating my head! Not quite what you want when you are coming out of the shower. But the man said they couldn't; the cable wasn't long enough. The only thing they could do is tilted downwards a bit, so it would still aim add me a bit more. That would have to do. 

That panel also had a faulty thermostat, but it's turned out it is incredibly easy to change these. He did it right there and then. So at least I have a working panel in the bathroom again!

I also asked him to take away the four panels that had been left in my conservatory the previous time. He was happy to do that. So I have my space back.

All the new panels still don't work. Sam did not realise he would have to bring some supplies for linking it all up. He will have to bring that next time. So it will be very close to Christmas by the time I finally have my new heating installed. Not ideal! But better late than never. I can only hope that everything goes well when they come back in a few weeks’ time. It would be annoying if they would run into difficulty again. Through Sam leaving the company, for instance. It seems that that would be a typical thing to happen! But let’s hope not…

Wheel pit and Conglog

If you walk back to civilisation from Rhosydd you come past what looks like a very big wheel pit. If I come past, I tend to have had a long day underground, and I just want to get home. Or maybe I’m in a group and I don’t feel free to go on a recce. But after our Moelwynion adventure, Neil and I walked past, and I thought this might be the moment to change that. Neil was happy with that. 

It is a huge wheel pit! It made us both feel a bit funny to look down into it. Imagine the size of the wheel this was designed for. But Neil had heard that this wheel pit had never been in use. It may never have had a wheel! But still. It's an impressive structure! From whichever angle we looked at it.

Small-looking Neil om big wheel pit

View from the side

I suppose we were on a roll. The next thing you walk past is Conglog mine. I had never had a close look at that either. But he was up for staring into these strange, more or less concentric, holes in the flank of the hill as well.

The first one we looked into was not very spectacular. It looked like it had collapsed, and you couldn't see any passages lead on. But when we moved further towards Rhosydd we saw that some of the others do. Given that the mine doesn't have big spoil heaps, I thought it would be very small, but having started into the abyss I had to change my mind. It was bigger than I thought! And I figured some of it may still be internally connected.

On the Cwmorthin side: big holes

On the Rhosydd side: small ones

When I thought I had come to the end of the mine I kept walking, just in case. And found an entrance. It was dry. I quickly went to get Neil. I was sure he would want to see this! And he did. And we both had brought head torches. 

It was a very tidy passage, and after not much time it opens up into a big chamber. Downwards. My caving headlight would be better able to check just how big it was! My surface head torch barely reached the far end. And Neil's absolutely didn't.

I saw there was an anchor in the wall. People have clearly explored this! Of course they have. But the anchor looks very old. I don't think this is a well-trodden mine. I suppose that means it doesn't really connect internally. If it did, people would be all over it! Or maybe, you can get everywhere without this descent. Still, it would be tempting to descend one day. Too bad I retired my rope and do not intend to buy another one. But who knows! It just might happen. And an explore for a different entrance would totally be on the cards. 

I was really glad to have ticked these two items off the list! At least with regards to a first explore. It had already been a good day, but this was some unexpected bonus on the way back. Always nice!

Finding snow while not looking for it

There was a Sunday with good weather forecast, so Neil and I wanted to go on another adventure. And I figured I hadn’t been to the Moelwynion in a while. He was up for doing something about that. He arrived at my place quite early, and said the mountains were white again. I hadn’t seen that yet! 

In the Blaenau area, it wasn’t quite as white as the Carneddau. But still somewhat white! We parked by the reservoir and took the public footpath. Later we saw it wasn’t the one I had intended. No problem; we could just turn into the right direction later. That was a bit of a faff; someone had plonked a fence in the way. We were not fazed. Soon we found ourselves in the blazing sun on a series of inclines I had never negotiated. What a good early result! And we got to Stwlan Dam (the venue of my first race of the year). There the weather turned a bit. 

Incline in the sun

Stwlan Dam

Looking back to Blaenau, with the road Sbrint Stiniog is on

We wanted to do Moelwyn Bach first, and improvised the route a bit. That involved some negotiating of a grassy slope with melting snow on it - that was slippery. Not my favourite. But what followed was a lovely scramble! Through a dreamy misty landscape. And when we got to the summit plateau we walked to the actual top through horizontal snow. That was a bit cold. A Jack Russell we came across there thought so too. Poor shivery little dog. All humans and dogs quickly started to head down again; we in the direction of Moelwyn Mawr. Neil slipped on the melting snow. That gave me reservations about doing the bigger peak too! But some people who came the other way reassured me. We continued. 

Different weather on the flank of Moelwyn Bach

Moelwyn Mawr was also snowy and windy. We didn’t linger. And were hoping for some shelter for lunch. That wasn’t imminent! The blazing sunshine of the start of our walk seemed a long time ago. But we found some. Lunch was due! And we had a view (if the clouds allowed it) over the area where the Tyllau of Rhosydd are. Very beautiful! 

Lunch view

After lunch we continued. We had a look at the Rhosydd spoils, and a Twll, and the tunnel leading to it. And some buildings. Then we took the incline down to the mill, by the drainage adit (and main entrance). From there we went down the conventional way, past Llyn Cwmorthin. 

Rhosydd buildings

Autumnal selfie

The route we would take back

Along the way we had a look at some industrial remains I had never explored before. They’ll get their own blog post! But then we walked back with a firm pace as it was raining. 

On the way back we went for a hot chocolate at Swallow Falls. I had never been, in all the time I had lived here! And not too long ago it had undergone extensive renovation. I was curious to see how it had turned out. And it was clear that some considerable effort had been made! We both liked the place, and our hot chocolate. And then we went home to have dinner and light the fire. Another excellent adventure! Although the start was not very representative. The forecast had been a bit optimistic! But at least we had seen more snow than the week before, when we had gone explicitly looking for it…

Allocation done

One of the big jobs of the autumn is done! I have given all the students a dissertation topic. There were many of them: almost 200. And it was different from earlier years.

I let the students pick four topics off a list, and they have to all be topics by different members of staff. And then I have to somehow make it work. The complication with this is that we have many more members of staff per student on the physical side, so before you know it, the biological staff will have the maximum number of students, and then it becomes difficult. So far, staff members have been volunteering for supervising other people’s topics, but typically, the biologist volunteer for biological topics, and the non-biologist, obviously, for non-biological topics. And there's plenty of staff to supervise the non-biological topics! So that doesn't really help.

In the past it has always been the case that some non-biological staff just got considerably fewer dissertation students than pretty much all the biologists. That was not appreciated. I do compensate by giving people with few students more second marking to do, but that's not quite the same. And last year doing my PDR (and at another meeting), I had agreed with the head of school (HoS) and the director of teaching and learning (DTL) that we would do it differently. People whose own topics were not chosen very much just had to volunteer for a sufficient number of popular topics so that I could give them their fair share as well. And if they didn't like it, I would have to just make them. My authority might not do the job, but the combined authority of the HoS and the DTL would.

I started by first giving the traditionally unpopular people students. And then I worked my way up the popularity list. First giving everyone only their own topics, but later also the topics by others they had indicated they could supervise. And it quickly became clear that among the physicists, there were quite many who wouldn’t get to their fair share of students that way. So now the new rules came into force: I asked them to volunteer for more topics, especially biological ones. And most of them did. And I managed to get them their load of students. 

When I only had a handful of students left, I just assigned them to the staff who hadn’t volunteered enough. Job done! Almost. With 200 students on the course, there were bound to be mistakes in the final spreadsheet. 

The check indeed revealed some issues. A few students who had been allocated twice, two students who had fallen through the cracks. Things like that! And that then means some staff have too many or too few students. But I managed to sort that.

Then I sent it to the staff. With the students now distributed evenly I didn’t expect any complaints. But there was one member of staff who suggested a last minute change. Luckily, it was the easy type. I made that happen, and then it was ready to go to the students. 

I expect complaints! They always come. There are always students who say that not getting their first choice will negatively affect their career. And maybe it does! But if I give everyone their first choice, you get members of staff with tens of dissertation students, and that is unworkable. And those who want to keep their future in their own hands can design their own projects. If you start early enough, that is totally feasible! 

 

There are topics about eyespots on fish. Pic by David J. Stang

Marking update

It started with the big and the small piles of marking. I decided to get the small one out of the way first. And in two days, I had marked everything that had been uploaded. That was only about 2/3 of the cohort, as the rest had extensions. But it felt good to get to the end of the list as it was. I decided to not publish anything until the people with the extensions had submitted too. 

With the second batch almost coming in, I got my skates on and did the assignment myself. This is the one that is based on the field trip, so every year has different data. I have to process that as much as the students do! But I have done it before, so for me it is quite quick. Especially since I found a way of doing it in R rather than in Excel.

Before I started on the second batch I tried to make a dent into the assignment of the big cohort. It is not in itself a big assignment, but if you have to mark 100 scripts, it still takes a lot of time. And if you try to do them all in succession you go bonkers! So my strategy was to sometimes do a limited number. 

By the end of that week I had marked the entire small batch, including extensions. I hadn't made any progress on the big batch at all! Or the intermediate one. But I had spent a lot of time on the allocation; this gets its own blog post. And I had been away for two days, on a first aid course, and a day in the field. So I was quite satisfied altogether. The week after, I would have to get a big lump out of the other marking done!

 

There is an age-depth model in the small assignment. This is an example from the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 322 Preliminary Report, doi:10.2204/iodp.pr.322.2009 

 

Cemaes in the wind

This year it would be Dei and me doing the field trip to Cemaes. And I had suggested we distribute the talking points as follows: we take turns, and he starts. That means we would both do ones we normally don’t do. We wouldn’t be as rehearsed as usual, but it made for a change! And that’s nice too. 

The forecast wasn’t very good! Rain in the morning, and wind all day. I made sure to dress warmly and bring even more layers. 

Dei started off with his usual enthusiasm at a dyke swarm. I took over at an old stromatolite. Then we made sure to drive as close as we could to the next site. There we had hydrothermally altered quartzite. We chose to have lunch in the vehicle. It was very windy, and it also still rained. No day for a picnic!

Dei and his dyke swarm

By the White Lady

The next stop was another melange, with some rare bright orange iron carbonate. Then we had an unusually pretty other stromatolite, and a remote view on a thrust fault. We also popped into the church. It is both associated with St Patrick, and the UK’s first Muslim MP. A big claim to fame! 

A limestone in the melange; a student is sceptical 

The iron carbonate 

We then went around to Porth Wen, where we looked at what may be that thrust fault again. And now up close. But was it? And does the landscape show signs of sea level rise? All this was more complicated than we would have liked. Or maybe we should have hoped for complication. It’s more interesting! 

By then we were all tired and ready to get out of the wind. We went back to Bangor. I think it was a good day! And this is the last trip of 2025. In the new year we will pick it up again…

First aid training: different from now on

I am one of the University first aiders. I just thought it would be a good thing to be. And the first time I went up for my qualification, it was ok. But you have to renew this every few years, and the second time I went up I realised that the course instructor did the course word for word the same. The same material, the same examples, the same jokes. It basically was two days completely lost, but with a certificate at the end. Imagine how frustrating it is if you have to renew again. And then I heard through the grapevine that the course instructor had retired. Hooray!

Sometime ago I got an email saying that my qualification would expire again. There was opportunity for a refresher course in late November. I took it. And the location was special: it was the universities farm and research centre. I have been aware that this existed for a long time, but I had never been! And it's even so close by I can bike there.

Found it! 

When I approached the farm I heard some alarm go off. I didn't think much of it. But then I came around the corner and I saw a lot of people milling by a building. Maybe this was my course? They turned out that it was. So I had accidentally found the correct building. We couldn't quite get in yet.

Luckily, after a while someone appeared who could make the noise go away, and we could get in. After a cup of coffee we started. And the instructor first did a little bit of an introductions round; who were we, and why were we interested in first aid qualifications? We were all university employees, mostly from ocean sciences or natural sciences. I suppose we are the schools that do field trips. It's not as if you never need first aid in the building, but it is perhaps a bit less likely, and there will probably be other people you could call on. I trust all security people have first aid qualifications, for instance.

The person I know best was my colleague Ronan. We also had a research assistant there whose face I knew well, but who I have never really spoken with much. And then there were several familiar faces from natural sciences. It was quite nice to have a group like that. And we were quickly united in being a bit chilly. That converted farm barn was not easy to heat!

We didn't went through things such as Dr ABC. Soon after that we went outside to learn to put each other in the recovery position. We started out in all sorts of initial positions. He mainly made us think about: if you have to leave a patient, but will their tongue do, and what will happen if they vomit? If you have dealt with these questions, you are in the best position to run off and get help. On University trips, you'll probably never have to leave someone alone, but we might as well also think about situations in the outdoors outside work. There are plenty of places around where there is no phone signal. 

We also spent quite some time on CPR. I thought that was good! Normally, they make you do half a minute on one of these dummies, and that's it. He had us go on for quite a while. He wanted us to know how it feels if you I have to keep doing it and doing it and doing it.

We also spend some time on diabetes, and stemming bleeding and bandaging wounds. That is probably a bit more applicable in field trips! You don't get many students in cardiac arrest. But you do get diabetic students, and those who end up with a cut or a graze. 

Somewhere in the middle of all this we also had lunch. We didn't quite tackle all expected topics. He gave us some reading to do. That is stuff I have learnt again and again and again so I'm not nervous about that.

At the end of the day, I was quite happy. I had had a good day! This guy really added something to the material, and it would have been a nice group to work with. And the location was fab! This way I don't mind having to go up for renewal once in a while. So I'm up-to-date again, and it wasn't a drag!

Bridge update

In early August, the first part of the bicycle path I often take to work closed, because the adjacent bridge over the river would be replaced. I suppose building a new bridge and taking the old one down is not a trivial job! But I had seen them build the supports for either side of the bridge, and I had seen images on social media of the actual bridge being craned into position. That meant that important milestones had been made in this work! I wanted to have a look.

I could see with my own eyes now that the new bridge I was indeed in position. It wasn't, though, quite yet connected to the paths leading off on either side. I wasn't sure how they would do this. The original bridge was a footbridge, and clearly not intended for cyclists. This might be the same for the new bridge. However; accessibility demands that this bridge is wheelchair accessible, so you can’t have a step involved in getting onto it.

I suppose there's two big things still to be done now. Have smooth asphalt or other paving join seamlessly to the bridge, and then take the old one down. I hope that when that is done, they open up the bicycle path again. I know that there is still work planned in that area; it seems that the rugby club is taking the opportunity of extending its parking. But I hope they can do that work without the bicycle path being closed for it.

I can only watch and wait. But it’s good to see clear progress! 

Eryri Harriers AGM

This year’s AGM was going to be a lot more eventful than last year’s. I would know a lot more people, and I was actually standing for a committee position. I also knew that no one else has stood for it. So we're all likelihood, this would be a sizeable change!

When the AGM was coming up, there was a call for people to stand for positions, as several would be vacated, and some of them have been vacant the entire year. The club needs a committee! And given that in summer, I had retired from the rescue team, I figured I would be able to find time to taken a new function. I had initially thought of membership secretary, but Anna, who currently is actually functioning as both the honorary secretary and the membership secretary, recommended I would instead apply for the former. So I did.

The venue this time was only a few minutes on bike away. That was convenient! It was in the cricket club where I had never been. When I came in I saw familiar faces, and immediately got a hug from Nia Meleri, our chair, who looked unusually glamorous. I normally only see her in running kit! 

I spotted the table with the unwanted running kit, and dumped my stuff on it. Then I went to get a drink. We would almost start, so when I had a drink I sat down at a table that still had space. 

It started with the reports of the chair and the secretary, and then we would have dinner. Vegetarian curry for me! And then it continued with the reports of the other committee members, such as the cross country officer, the mountain running officer, and the road running officer. As I am mainly a roadrunner, I was most interested in that last one. Arwel is the relevant officer, and mainly spoke of the rather spectacular Caernarfon 10k this year, which would be the last one he would organise, and the Borders League. But he also mentioned the club road championships. It turns out I am in the lead among the women! What does this mean? Probably that I just did the most races of all the female Harriers. But it still felt good. There is only one more race to go!

Nia Meleri and Anna taking the stage

When that was done we had dessert. And then we came to (minor) changes in the constitution, and the voting in of a new committee. There were no positions for which more than one person stood, and everybody was voted in with a large majority. It is a bit worrying that quite a lot of positions are empty, but I am a bit hesitant to take too much on. I have a busy job! But there is one position I might take. Mike, one of the stalwarts of the club, suggested I also become vice chair.  I am willing to consider that! But we'll talk about that in the next committee meeting.

When that was done we basically only had the ‘any other business’ to deal with and that wasn't an awful lot.  And at a reasonable hour, we closed the meeting.  I made sure to buy a few raffle tickets; the club has a Christmas fun run, and that comes with a raffle. I can't make it; I am busy turning 50 that day. but I thought I should get myself some raffle tickets because hey, it's my birthday, I might be lucky. You can win entry into several races! 

When that was done I talked a bit with Anna and Nia Meleri  about getting started in my new function. But then I left. I suppose a new era has begun!

Getting ready for the Eryri Harriers AGM

This year's AGM, my second, would have something new: a swap shop. We were encouraged to bring run-related stuff we did no longer use, and either sell it, swap it, or give it away. I figured I had some superfluous stuff, so the afternoon before the meeting I gathered it, and attached some little labels saying ‘free’ to each item. Ready to go! I wasn’t sure how much demand there would be, but if you don’t try you don’t find out. Maybe I could declutter while doing someone a favour! 

Ready to go

Looking for snow

We got the first snow this week! I saw it on the way to work. And if there’s snow, it’s great to get into it. Neil thinks so too! So our plan was to go and seek it out on the Saturday. 

In the morning, it would still be cloudy and rainy, but it would get sunnier after that, according to the Met Office. So we couldn’t really check the mountains from a distance. We just chanced it! We went from the front door up the path past Moel Faban and y Gyrn, and went up y Drosgl. Then we headed for Bera Bach. Hardly any snow! A pity. But still a beautiful walk. But by then we had to make a plan. What next?

About as much snow as we found 

Neil suggested to do a loop via yr Elen. That sounded good! First stop Carnedd Gwenllian. And we had lunch. But then we both wondered if that itinerary was a good idea. We both had forgotten to bring a head torch, and the days are so short! We decided to turn around and go back to y Drosgl. And went back over Gyrn Wigau. And we were back in town well before it got dark. And we were tired anyway. We got home and lit a fire! We hadn’t seen much snow, and the weather had been cloudier than hoped, which had obscured the views, but we had done a lovely hike that had allowed me to show Neil some new terrain. And there’ll be more opportunities to get into the snow! 

On the way down

Heading for Gyrn Wigau

End of a hectic week

I was hoping I could blog about having finished the allocation, or any of the piles of marking! But I can't. The allocation is almost finished. But almost is not entirely. And I haven't finished the small batch of marking because it was Friday afternoon that the students with extensions submitted, but I had other things to do then, so that will need to get finished next week as well. I still haven't started the intermediate batch, and I have made progress on the big batch, but that is so big I've barely made a dent in it.

Hopefully, next week I will be able to blog about all my triumphs! At least, the small batch should be finished, and the allocation done. Watch this space…

Finding a track friend during a race

I was just running along the course of the half marathon, in my own world, when I suddenly felt a tap on my arm. I looked next to me and I saw Katie, one of the track runners. She runs at more or less the same speed as me, so if she's there we very well might end up in the same little group. I was glad to see her! We had a little chat and then we parted ways again. All very unremarkable.

Then the race pictures were published. I looked at mine, and I saw that a race photographer had caught the whole interaction on film. And I initially had intended to buy two pictures; that’s £24. But four £30 you can buy up to 30 pictures. So I went with that! I thought it was funny to see me obliviously run along, and then my response when I realise she was there. I think she was focussed on running, and hence wasn't showing the same range of facial expressions. Judge for yourself! Here is the whole series…

 

Conwy Half Marathon 2025

I registered for the Conwy Half Marathon because it was in the Eryri Harriers road club championships. I had run it before: the first time in 2015, and the second and (I thought) last time in 2022. By the time this year’s race approached, I had decided that that championship was, in my eyes, a bit of a damp squib. And I had abandoned this race earlier on on purpose! I always thought the bit through Deganwy is a bit dull, so from the moment I realised there is such a thing as the Nick Beer 10k I only registered for that. That's the same race, but only the beautiful bits! 

I was a bit miffed when I realised that a Borders League fixture had been organised on the same date, but that problem solved itself; the organisers of that race decided to postpone it. I quite like Borders League races! 

I had also barely run any half marathons without struggling with my IT bands in the last 18 months. After the problem suddenly appearing during the Snowdonia half marathon, I went to the physiotherapist, who gave me exercises I did religiously. Unfortunately, I was still hurting when I tried out my exercised ligament four months later in Caernarfon. And seeing a running coach who gave me helpful tips did result in me being able to do the Snowdonia half again without problems, but the next Caernarfon race the issue again raised it ugly head. I was a bit nervous about it now!

Being nervous, though, might be a good thing in a way; I had bought straps especially for helping me with my IT band problem, and the only way of finding out if they work is running yourself an IT band problem. This might be the day to do it! So there were basically three possible outcomes of the race, two of which would be good: either I would not have IT band problems, or I would, but the straps would help. The only bad outcome would be that my knees would start to hurt, but the straps wouldn't help. But at least I would then know. After all, I really wanted to run a PB at this distance after my 50th birthday!

Something else happened that suddenly made the race more attractive. And that something was Neil. He lives in that neck of the woods. Doing a race in his back garden sounded good! And what was even better: his niece, the daughter of Neil’s sister I had already met, was going to run it, with a guy called Mike. So I would meet them! We would all stay over at Neil’s house the night before the race.

I got there first. I was just doing a little walk on the Orme with Neil when his niece, Lois, send a message she had arrived. Neil had left her a key. So we hot-tailed it back to say hello. She really is a spitting image of her mum!

We had a cup of tea and a chat (Neil and all his relatives can talk for England) and then we had dinner. Neil had prepared spag bol. Good carb loading food! And after dinner we made a logistic plan. Neil was nervous about parking. Understandably so; Conwy isn't big, and there were 4000 or so entrants. And we went to bed fairly early. 

The next morning we had breakfast together. I had twice my normal amount of porridge. Then I prepared my pre-race energy drink and my post-race protein shake. Soon we were all ready to go! Neil drove us to the bridge over the Conwy, let us out of the car, and then went looking for somewhere to park. Lois, Mike and I went to registration, and the loos. And between those we found Neil again. Lois had taught us how to share our location with WhatsApp; that made finding each other in these crowds a lot easier!

I had also packed some paracetamol. Neil had suggested that maybe in addition to carrying straps to fight the symptoms, I might be able to prevent them by having a pre-race painkiller. That was a clever idea!

After all necessary number-pinning and bladder-emptying and paracetamol-swallowing and jacket- ditching it was time to make our way to the start line. We said goodbye to Neil. Lois and Mike would run together, and they aimed for 2:00. I went solo aiming for 1:43, so I lined up by the 1:45 pacer. That was close enough.

Me, Lois and Mike

Ready

Before the start, we all kept a minute silence for a runner who had recently collapsed in a race, and later died. He was so young!

Off we are

Then we started. I make sure not to go too fast. I was sure that going fast was a risk factor for my knee problem. I just happily pootled along! And I made sure to think about my running coach's advice. Run like a duck! And the kilometres started tick by. After not an enormous amount of time we reached the turn across the peninsula. And not much later we were on the other side. We all passed a drum band. They had been there during earlier races as well! I really appreciate them. I am convinced it is the same drum band that practices in Tregarth, in the village hall I pass regularly on my commute. Tuesday night, post-track for me, seems to be their practice evening. I always love biking past and listening to them! I once even stopped.

We then started our way around the Orme. That's the beautiful part of the route! I quite enjoyed it. And along the way I came across several runners I knew from the track, or from other races. I had a little chat with all of them. It was very nice!

By the time we rounded the tip of the Orme my knees were still fine. I was gaining confidence! And the next few miles are quite fast because they are all downhill, but not dramatically so. And when I got to the bottom there were only 5 miles left.

Pic from Facebook with a long view over the route down

Back from the Orme. Pic by Tony

The miles were still ticking away, and everything was fine. I figured it would be fine all the way. If it hasn’t even started to hurt by 15km, surely I can run the whole way without my knees slowing me down.

While I was contemplating that, I was accosted by a fellow runner who was fearing cramp. He wondered if there are any tricks for avoiding it. I didn't know any, other than stopping and stretching. He didn't want to do that; he was aiming for a sub-1:38 time. What? And he was running with me? But he said he had started the back, and I hadn't. I had been three minutes ahead of him. But that meant that if he ran his target time and I ran with him, I would finish at sub-1:41. That was so much faster than I had anticipated!

When the guy unsuccessfully tried to get some sweets from a marshal I offered him a gel. I had plenty! And we kept trudging. I was wondering if I was on my way to a PB. In a way, that would be bad. I wanted to run one next year! The faster my time was this year, the harder that would be. But I hadn't tried! Surely, if I could run a PB without trying this year, I could run one while trying next year, no matter what my actual time this day would be.

I got onto the bridge and found myself a last target. A lady within reach! It's always satisfying to overtake ladies. I knew I was not going to do well at all in the female category in this huge race, but every woman overtaken is one. So that I did.

At the turning towards the finish I saw Neil shouting his lungs out at me. That was fab! I had been looking out for him. There were so many people! It would be easy to miss him. Except that I figured he was going to be noisy enough to not be missed. I had been right. And then I finished. I forgot to look at the timer, but from my watch I could see I had been pretty close to my PB, set two months earlier in Caernarfon. And I figured that this organisation was not going to tell me what my official time was until much later in the day. That is their modus operandi. 

Crossing the finish line 

The first thing I saw after finishing was pretty much that I had come in really soon after Richie, the Cybi Strider with whom I have a bit of rivalry going on. This time he had clearly beaten me! We hugged. This means that in the last four races we both ran, we have each beaten the other twice. What will happen next time?

Then I got my medal and my T-shirt, and fetched my bag. Time to have my recovery shake! And put a jumper and a jacket on. Then I wanted to go back back to where I had seen Neil, but that wasn't happening. He could still track my location, and he had to come to find me! That was fab. Together we went back to the finish to wait for Lois and Mike. We could see them approaching on his little screen. And we yelled at them as well!

On our way to where they would come out of the finish funnel I asked the organisation how I had done. I had been about four minutes faster than I had expected. There was still a chance of a category win! But they told me I had come second in my category, beaten by a lady who had been six minutes faster. She totally deserved that medal!

We struggled a bit to find Lois and Mike, but in the end we did. By that time, Neil had become a bit agitated as he doesn't like crowds. I don't either! I was glad we could quickly make a glorious exit. We walked back to the car and got back to his house. Then, showers and lunch followed. Both very much appreciated!

I laid there and found out that I had come 54th woman out of 1371. Not bad at all! But the one thing that really struck me was when I saw my official chip time: 1:38:57. The exact same time I had run in Caernarfon! That was a strange coincidence. Quite a beautiful one in a way. I was happy with that. 

Altogether it had been a wildly successful race! I had a good time, my knees were fine, I have a new strategy for running half marathons without knee problems, I have met Neil's niece, and Neil has attended a race for the first time in his life. I am sure that soon he will be registering for one! I have recommended Nick Beer to him. Watch this space to see if he takes the bait! And watch this space a bit later to see if next year I can indeed improve on this half marathon time…