Sweeping TES Gyrn Wigau

During the run-up of the Eryri Harriers presentation night I became aware that there was going to be a new race on the Tuesday evening series (TES). It would be right in my backyard. Some of it is part of my regular stomping ground. I was excited about that! I didn't want to run it; I think I should steer clear of fell racing. Too dangerous for my knees. But given that I live so close, I figured I would be an ideal position to volunteer. So I dropped the organiser, Math,  an email. He happily accepted.

Closer to the day, Math asked me if I wanted to sweep the race. I was happy to. I have never done that before! I had imagined myself marshalling. But this would be some new experience! Even though I was a tiny bit worried. When we had done a recce of the route, I had completely failed to keep up with the 80-somethings with us on the way down. As a sweep, you are supposed to be able to keep up with the slowest runners. And let's face it; members of the 80+ category might very well be among slowest runners. 

A few days before the race became clear the weather was not going to be good. This was going to be a wet and cold experience! I decided to dress to the occasion. I was wearing a long sleeved shirt, with a thin fleece, and then my waterproof running jacket over the top. And then my hat for running in the rain. And gloves.

Below the waist I was just going for three-quarter leggings. Warmer than shorts! And not waterproof, but I was resigned to getting a bit soggy. After the finish I could just shoot home and have a shower.

Math had asked me to wear hi viz, so that went over the top. And I had taken an old race number and written "Sweep" in big letters on the back. I fixed that to the front. That would make me quite recognisable!

Race headquarters were at the farm. I biked there, and already saw a lot of people associated with the race along the way. It was still dry! But that wouldn't last.

Race HQ Im a horse box

Headquarters was a horsebox in a field. The field was for parking. Very charming! And after a while I made my way to the start. It started raining. Several people saw my sign and suggested they might be the person I would end up running with. Among them Hazel, an Eryri Harrier in the 60+ category, and John, a Buckley runner of 80+. 

Math (with big moustache) gives race instructions 

Math gave some final instructions, and then we were off. Then in the beginning, it was indeed Hazel and John I was sticking with. One person showed up a bit late at the start and came overtaking all of us, and then I was back with my familiar two.

Colourful dots swarming over the hill

On the flank of Moel Faban

We were so slow that the first runners of the kids’ race already came storming past before we left their course. They headed straight up Moel Faban, while we skirted around, and then crossed the valley. I could soon see a nicely colourful line of dots make its way across the valley.

Hazel (the grey-clad arm) and me being stormed past by the juniors

I knew that crossing the valley was going to be a damp experience. And it was! From both sides. By then it was raining so hard I had to put my hood over my hat, and also, that valley is a bit swampy. But that was fine!

On the other side we were just making up a route to the ridge. And as soon as we were on the ridge, we would be on an actual path for quite a while. But uphill for quite some distance. I would stay with Hazel, but she was never very far from either John, or two runners that turned out to be from Prestatyn. 

The weather stayed horizontal rain, but I was snug in my waterproof jacket. I was actually enjoying it!

After a while we hit the path that would lead back down into the valley again. There was a very miserable looking marshal there. He looked really happy to see us, because the whole point of having a sweep is that the marshals know they can go home as soon as this person has passed them. 

From there the path went  downhill, and Hazel shot off. I wasn't surprised! Last year, she had competed in the Tryfan downhill race. I just did my best keeping up. I wasn't doing too bad. And luckily, John and the Prestatyns weren’t quite as good on the downhill as she was, so while she vanished in the distance, I tagged onto them. 

I was satisfied with my performance. And then we came past another miserable-looking marshal who could now leave. I realised I had so dodged a bullet by being asked to sweep! I could keep moving.

For a while it was the four of us: Prestatyn, John, and me. Until we headed into Bwlch ym Mhwll Lle. Prestatyn went the sensible way, over the path in the middle, but John scampered up the steep slope. That way he could cut off a corner, but I figured he would be back on the path soon; there was one part of the route that was mandatory, and if he would stay high, he would miss it. So I decided to stick with Prestatyn. Surely, after cutting that corner John would rejoin us.

We came around the corner and John was nowhere to be seen. Oh dear! I had lost one of my runners. I figured Prestatyn was going to be OK. I scampered up the hill, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. Nothing! Just empty moor land.

At some point I figured I had better get back to the path. I found Ross, who was doing the race management. Math might have been the organiser, but he was also running! And would come third. Ross didn't know who John was, but he did know he hadn't seen him. I then asked the race WhatsApp group if John had already finished. I quickly got a phone call from Math. He didn't know, but he suggested I just come to the finish.

Just before the incline which was to finish, I bumped into Mike, who was also involved in the organisation. He wondered what the situation was; he had probably heard from Ross what my worries were. But I just saw someone who from a distance quite looked like John run up the incline. So he had come out at the correct path after all! And wasn't missing. Great! I scampered up the incline myself. In for a penny, in for a pound!

Ross clocked John in and that was the end of the race. People were already taking down the last markers and signs. Everyone was wet and wanted to go home. I walked some distance back with John, but he was parked somewhere else. When he peeled off I started running again. The quicker back at the bike, the quicker home!

The field was almost deserted by the time I arrived. But that isn't strange. There are no presentations at a TES race (I think), and while John had finished in 1h 41, the winner had only needed 41 minutes. And no one wants to hang around in rubbish weather. Come to think of that; neither did I. So I put my bicycle helmet back on and made my way home. I couldn't wait to have a shower and then get into some dry clothes! And it would take days before my soggy socks, leggings and gloves would be dry again. 

In spite of losing my last runner, I had actually quite enjoyed this! And I think I am just about fast enough on the downhill to do the job. It is just a bit tricky your runners are so spread out you can't keep an eye on all of them. But if someone asks me again to sweep I'll say yes! And I will already have my special sweep race number…

Bicycle path closes again for bridge removal

It has been really great to be able to use the whole length of the bicycle path for a while. But I knew that there was going to be one last interruption. Recent closures had been because of the installation of a new bridge. Now they also wanted to take the old bridge away.

One Monday morning I avoided the path on the way out. I assumed it was closed, but you can’t tell unless you try, and might get turned back. On the way back I indeed bumped into a fence that stopped me continuing on the bicycle path, and forced me onto the road. It had begun!

Closure has been predicted to only be a week. So I figured that soon, I will be able to admire the new bridge, and mourn the loss of the old one. I think the old one is a lot more beautiful. But I acknowledge that the new bridge now makes it possible for cyclists to come all the way from Bangor over the cycle path, and without having to spend as much as a meter on the A5 (the through road here), continue all the way up to Llyn Ogwen. That didn’t used to be possible. If you would go over the old bridge you would have to somehow get your bike through a kissing gate. And the path leading to that gate starts out so steep that only very stubborn and fit people would be able to bike it uphill. So in that way, it is a clear win! 

To the GP for my dupuytren

I was just talking to a colleague when the topic of Dupuytren came up. He immediately showed me his hand. He had it too! And he mentioned another colleague who did, as well. He was receiving radiotherapy for it. Radiotherapy! That interested me. He was being treated here in North Wales. 

I would like that! I had briefly researched it. It seems you can stop the process. That would be great. I have seen how debilitating it is when the disease progresses, as my father has it. He has had surgery several times. That’s a pain! But the hands you can’t open are a pain too. But I had not found any facilities who offer it in Wales. But clearly, I had overlooked something. 

I went to see my GP about it. She said the NHS wouldn’t do anything until I would lose function. I didn’t think that was a good idea. Why let it get that far when you can prevent it? And what about my colleague? The GP said she would make inquiries. 

I didn’t think it would be such a damp squib! But I will sure go and investigate going private within Wales. One would think it is possible! 

My hand with no visible symptoms (yet)

Jacko breathing session

We had had a taster session in the Presentation Night. The club had invited 'Jacko', who is a breathing coach for sportspeople. I had bought his book there too. I'm about halfway through it.

Since that session, I have been actively thinking about my breathing when I am running. And it really helps! I try to breathe slowly. Jaco had made the point that if you breathe slower, the air has time to reach all the alveoli in your lungs, and the oxygen uptake is a lot more efficient. I do that on the track, which results in more comfortable running, and I do it during races. My results since the presentation night have been quite good, so I think it is helping! And that only through slow breathing. And I knew there would be a full session for club members coming up. Obviously, I signed up for it. How much better could it get? 

It took place on the track. We had the building too. We started indoors. There were about 15 of us. But soon we went outside. 

I had sort of counted on us being either inside, or running. I had clothes for that. Mistake! There was a cold wind out there, and when we were on the track, we spent quite some time standing still. That was cold! 

On the track

The first thing he asked us to do was stand on the start line, breathe in, breathe out, then hold our breath and walk onto the track. And only stop walking when we couldn't hold our breath anymore.

Soon, people were stopping. I didn't have to, yet. I was walking out next to a lady called Emily and we got quite far. Then she stopped. Only me left! That surprised me. I never realised I can hold my breath particularly long. 

We came back. Jacko told us that the urge to breathe is not from lack of oxygen. It is just the buildup of CO2 in your blood. And you can train your body’s tolerance of that. And he said that if you breathe out powerfully a few times, you might get rid of quite a lot of CO2.

He also made us run a lap, and then tell us something about our breathing. I found that a bit hard. I have been thinking about my breathing while running for months! But most people there hadn't been to the presentation night, so they might have been thinking about their breathing for the first time. 

He then took us back inside. We did all sorts of things! Thinking about the ribs, the spine, the nose, the tongue, the pelvis, and what not. We were standing and kneeling and lying down, twisting this way and that, and feeling the difference to our breathing.

Thinking about posture 

Feeling our breathing

We went out for more laps. He urged us to start out breathing through our noses. That was less difficult than I had expected. But he made us accelerate, and you soon hit the spot where you can't breathe through your nose anymore.

He also made us think about how to synchronise our steps with our breathing. I think I do that automatically. But he made us all pay attention to it. It is efficient too line these two things up.

In the end he asked us to run a lap where we started breathing through her nose, but to accelerate so much that in the end, we would do one breath every two steps. That was a bit exhausting! When I was breathing through my nose, which is inevitably slower, I need some five steps for a breath. When I'm breathing through my mouth, I tend to be on four, so cranking it up to only two was quite something!

Then we were done. We thanked him and wished him well on his upcoming challenge: he will attempt to run two marathons a day for 100 days. That’s quite an effort! And we were invited to run a lap with him. I might do just that. Watch this space! 

Group pic

Additional medal rack

It didn’t fit anymore! I made a medal rack less than a year ago, but it is full now. I suppose things started accelerating when I joined the running club. That makes you eligible for NWRAC medals. And I have been doing well since having started both hill and track training. So then you often get multiple medals in one race. 

When I came home from the Snowdonia Half Marathon with four medals (finisher, non-stop runner up Forest Hill, category win, silver medal) I knew they wouldn’t fit. I needed to act! And I put a smaller bamboo stick up in the storage room. I put all my pre-covid medals on it. That made good space on the bigger rack. 

The pre-Covid rack

When I had sorted that it struck me there were so many medals there that weren’t finishing medals. I did a quick count; I have 36 medals there, and only 20 are finisher medals. So almost half are things like category wins and bronzes and silvers. Pretty cool! 

Space on the original rack

The time will come when it will be full again. But I have bought myself a bit of time now. I can ponder where the next rack will go! 

Siabod with Kate - again

I hadn't seen Kate in a while, except during lunch at work. It was time we’d get out together. And one Saturday we were both available. Kate suggested Siabod. We didn’t want to make it a long walk given that it would rain in the afternoon. And Bryn, her Labrador, is getting too old to come with us, so he would be alone while we were out. 

We met up at Pont Cyfyng, and headed in Siabod’s general direction. It didn't take long before we took our jackets off because we were getting warm. And then it didn't take long for us to put them back on because it was starting to rain. 

Along the way we passed a commercial group, headed by Richard aka Rusty; it was fun to see him again. And there were some other walkers as well. The weather wasn't great, but it was a weekend, so we didn't expect to have the hill to ourselves.

Early on

We decided go along the east, past the lake, and then to do the route to the summit through the gully. We struggled to remember and when we had done it before. My memory is rubbish! But as soon as we were properly in the gully it all came back to me. We had both done this once before, together, but quite a long time ago. Checking my blog showed that that had been in lockdown.

 

Quarry lake along the way

We'd done the same hill together since, in the evening. And confusingly, I've also done it with the other Kate. I really wanted to go visit her after she moved to England, but I must admit it hasn't happened yet!

While we were in the gulley, it was mainly misty and drizzly, but not properly raining. And when we popped out we had lunch in the wind shelter at the top. There were two marshals of UTMB there too; there were several races going on. My track mate Louise was doing the 100 miler! She is tough. 

 

Kate in the gully

 

Summit selfie

After lunch we headed down. And the rain got worse. We both wondered if we should have put on our waterproof trousers while we were in the wind shelter. A bit late now!

When we got down things improved a bit. For quite a while, we could even see the lake in the valley! But by the time we got To Cafe Siabod (its new iteration) we were both quite soggy. Our jackets had held, but we had soaking trousers, socks, shoes, and gloves. And I had a soggy hat as I wasn't using my hood.

On the way down

We ordered the hot chocolate with all the bells and whistles that they offer. And we inhaled them quite quickly. That made us feel better! And then we trudged back to the cars.

A bit of a soggy get-together but really nice anyway! Soon again, hopefully…

Slim cat

The diet has worked! My little cat is back to 4.7 kg, and has an hourglass figure again. And she hasn’t run away to someone who feeds her more. I’m happy.

Now that I have the scales, I can increase her portions again and monitor when I get to the point her weight stays stable. She will like that. And I like that this is, in all likelihood, much better for her health. We can have more years together this way! 

Not the clearest picture of her figure but it gives some idea

Slim belly shot