Written by Al Pepper - https://alanpepper.wordpress.com
I find it somewhat disappointing yet exciting that summer has now drawn to an end, as this for me is usually a busy time of year with a few more races to contend with. But this year the Ring O Fire is to be the final one of the year (Unless of course I get talked into something else). And what a race to end my year of running.
Its been a year of ups and downs both in and out of my running career. I struggled last year to identify the underlying reason for a DNF on this particular race. Yes the majority of the sole of my left foot had decided to part company but that in my analytical mind looking back was not 100% of the reason. There’s something else, and it reappeared on this year’s South Downs Way 100. Again another fantastic race that I’d entered into as a reunion for those of us that shared a tent on last year’s Mds (Most people would normally get together and have a social but no, we decided to run a 100 mile race). I’d had a severe case of chaffing during the race and it was so much so that I ran the last 15 miles in my pants! Thankfully it was dark so I didn’t scare anyone or get arrested but I eventually threw the towel in at 69 miles. But that was still not 100% of the issue?
Day 1 (35.7 miles) Holyhead – Amlwch (Start time 13:00 – Time allowed 11hrs)
With much trepidation I made my way to the registration area at the top end of Breakwater Park and almost feeling as if I’d pulled out already, I was not in a good place within myself. This was definitely not the positive approach I normally have at the start of a race and certainly not what I wanted knowing that there was 135 miles in front of me.
But within seconds I was spotted by ‘Bing’ the Race Director who came forward and with a broad smile shook my hand and said ‘Al it’s great to see you again’. We chatted a while and I then headed over to register. Several others said hello, shook my hand and said it’s good to see you. Even two ladies from last year’s MdS recognised me and said hello followed by meeting a fellow Spine racer. The mood was lifted and my positivity had started to resume normality.
After the race briefing by Bing and few words from the local MP and Deputy Mayoress the bell was rang promptly at 13:00 and the all too familiar sound of Johnny Cash’s ‘Ring of Fire’ played loudly as we started the 2015 Ring O Fire.
Before long we were headed East along the path and marina area of Holyhead then on to CP 1 at the Alaw Estuary. I’d spent some time tagging along with a group of three and one of these, Carl, had also been on the Spine CR in January so there was a lot of war stories to talk about. CP1 came and I was down on last years’ time but quite happy not to be pushing on as much. My plan was to reach the end of Day 1 before 23:00hrs and be in bed by 00:00 so all was good so far. So pushing onto CP2 at Church Bay (D1 Half Way) it was only a short 6.8 miles but steadily the terrain gets decidedly tougher as the coastline becomes increasingly steeper. But this on the plus side lends itself to some pretty spectacular scenery and awesome it certainly was. At CP2 it was a quick in and out affair passing on my thanks to all the CP staff and not staying more than it took to fill my water bottles. I’d been tagging along with various runners of whom I’d catch, they’d leave me, I’d catch again and that was the format for the remaining part of the stage. The scenery continued to please the eye and even though a spectacular sunset was absent I was wishing for nightfall.
After CP3 at Wyfla I spent a little more time there and consumed a ‘Power Cookie’ with some more electrolytes before starting the final 10.4 miles leg to the D1 Finish.
It was almost completely dark by now and the stars made some occasional appearances but mainly the sky was semi overcast and the biting wind that had been with us all day seemed to be more noticeable.
I ran as long as I could without my head torch on allowing my eyes to become accustomed to the dark and the feeling of being slightly detached from the surroundings was brilliant. But the shear drops to my left kept reminding me that I must switch on the light at some point.
The tiredness was starting to creep in and I was scanning the coastline to see the lights of Bull Bay. Within another mile I spotted them in the distance. This meant that on reaching them it was a simple task of finding the ‘Honesty Book’ further along the path as it runs parallel with Amlwch, tear a page out of it, head inland to the finish and that was it, over and done with.
Not so simple! The path seemed to have disappeared and by the sight of various head torches wandering about in different directions behind me it was obvious I was not alone wondering where I was.
Anyway with a bit of precise navigation, a whole lot of gorse bushes, nettles and a few brambles the track was found. Shortly after I passed through Bull Bay I caught up with some other runners and then found the Honesty book not too long after that. Feeling pleased with myself I put the torn out page in a safe place and started on the homeward run to the finish.
This didn’t take long and the overnight stop at the Sports Centre was reached in no time. Again some happy smiling faces greeted me and another warm welcome from Bing as we finished.
I’d planned my stop to the minute in my head. Here at the sports centre we had the luxury of a shower and a bit of time to regroup. I didn’t waste a minute of it knowing that if I was going to finish I’d be using every minute of the following day to complete the stage and any downtime would have to be earned.
My routine remains the same for all multi-day races – Eat, check feet, prep kit, eat, clean myself (if time), prep feet, eat some more, rest. Feet are the most important asset so whenever possible I air them, check them, apply cream, change socks etc etc. Everything else can be done on the move (including sometimes sleeping).I’d stuck to my plan and was horizontal by midnight.
Day 2 (65.9 miles) Amlwch – Aberffraw Village (Start time 06:00 – Time allowed 22hrs)
05:00 – ‘Love is burning thing – And it makes a fiery ring – Bound by wild desire – I fell into a ring of fire – I fell into a burning ring of fire – I went down, down, down – and the flames went higher…..’ (Johnny Cash)
Yep the wakeup call of Ring of Fire echoing through the sports hall followed by some hard-core dance music!!!
This brought a smile to my face as it is definitely my sense of humour but I also turned my thoughts to the feeling of hearing it as I crossed the finish on D3. Anyway I was already up and filling my face with flapjack and coffee before most people. It was however, amusing to watch the zombie like creatures with glazed expressions on their faces wandering about. I’d spent the night with broken sleep and listening to someone who must have brought with them the world’s squeakiest air bed!
Anyway 05:55 and we were gathered outside listening to the race brief and weather forecast and in an instant the bell rang at 06:00 and off we trotted out of Amlwch.
Again my day was planned. Take it easy, make sure the navigation is accurate, look after the feet, oh and enjoy myself! The initial sunrise was spectacular and as always sets me up for the day. The warming rays of the sun eventually burnt through and lit up the coastline in all its glory reminding me of why I do this. The wind had dropped and the skies were clear so it was going to be a fantastic day.
The race continued clockwise in a South Easterly direction and my first point of focus was Beaumaris at CP 8. This was the halfway point at approx 33miles.
However, there was some pretty spectacular scenery in between. Surprisingly I’d started to catch other racers up and spent some time with each of them along the way chatting about just about anything. Down through Moelfre I stopped a few seconds and admired the new RNLI lifeboat station and monument before pushing on and eventually caught up with Jon and ‘Otto’. Jon is an ex Paratrooper and Otto a cross Husky. Both of them run various races and challenges to raise money for the Parachute Regiment benevolent fund and I must say this is an excellent cause and a little close to my heart having spent a bit of time with them several years ago. Every admiration for these two and they were running in complete synergy which reminded me of myself when I run with Henry.
We reached CP6 at Red Wharf Bay and I must say that this is one of my favourite CPs as it’s just a gorgeous place. So a couple of minutes to drink and eat and then off again.The next leg is quite a long drawn out affair taking in the edge of the bay some sand a raised coastal path and some tarmac before climbing up and reaching the furthest point East at Penmon Point.
On the way I’d stopped for a drink at a small ice cream shop in a car park and came across Jon buying Otto some cheese and was insistent he bought me a can of coke. We moved on again and Jon and Otto somewhere I lost sight of Jon and Otto and didn’t see them again for the remains of the day.Climbing up towards Penmon there is a diversion in the path and I met two runners (James & Rhodri) coming the other way asking if I knew the way. I glanced at my map and pointed them in the right direction. From that moment on the three of us naturally stuck together and chatted as we pushed on. Another runner (Anthony) joined us at some point along the way on a beach and we now had become a group of four and this was going to be it until the final couple of miles on the last day. The three runners had expressed a slight concern about the navigation towards the end of the stage as it got a little tricky, especially when we had to try and find the hidden Honesty Book on the edge of Newborough Forest along the beach.
I was feeling a little apprehensive about his as from last year I’d been led up into the estuary and almost waist deep water so I needed to avoid any errors at all costs as time would be a premium at that point. We reached the halfway CP and my routine kicked in. Food, feet, food, go. I’d experienced some slight hotspots on my left foot again so a covering of Moleskin held in place with some Rocktape did the trick and also donned a pair of fresh shoes and socks. I’d allowed myself 15 mins at the CP and went over by a few minutes but that really didn’t matter at this point.
The four of us set off leaving behind some poor souls who had withdrawn and were waiting for the ‘happy bus’ to take them home and away from the encounter that faced us. My next focus was CP10 at the Sea Zoo as last year I’d been suffering here and almost dropped at that point, so on we pushed through Menai and CP9 making good progress as we travelled. We had a constant regime of calculating moving averages, distances and ETA’s at the next CP and so far it was working very effectively.
CP10 came and it was a very brief stop as we had been convinced we had missed a turn and lost a little time but having confidence in the map had solved the problem. This leg was now all about getting it right and I was at the helm with the Navigation. It was now dark and finding any form of signage was near impossible and also the coastal path signage is a somewhat random and well-spaced out. I’d marked a few reference points on the map and knew if we could hit them then we would be pretty much on target and hit them we did. Newborough forest loomed and we pushed on along the South Westerly edge of it and headed onto the beach to find the hardest sand then turning West then North we started or search for the Honesty Book on the Western side of the forest. Finding the marker flag for the honesty book took some doing as it seemed to be much further around the forest and further up the estuary than I could remember but yes we eventually found it. An obvious track back into the forest was picked up and we followed this towards a more prominent track through the forest that I’d identified on the map.
Along the way we came across someone’s maps, the torn page from the honesty book and various other bits and pieces. So we collected them knowing that a runner in front would be missing them. A few hundred meters later and we came across the said runner seemingly fatigued and slightly disorientated. He was convinced that he hadn’t lost anything and randomly checked his kit and eventually discovered that all we had found was his. Again we didn’t hang around and I think he followed our lights through and out to the forest perimeter where we located CP11. The evening had turned cold and some of my fellow runners had put more layers on and during our journey we had all seemingly taken it in turns to be up and down both physically and mentally. Another quick stop at the CP with a change of batteries in the head torch some more fluid and a quick calculation to check our progress and ETA at the D2 Finish.
It was now 01:22hrs and we had until 04:00hrs before the CP finish for D2 closed and we had 6.5 miles to cover and find another honesty book on the beach at Aberffraw bay. This gave us 2hrs 38mins to reach the end of D2 before the cut-off so we had to travel at least at 2.7 miles per hour to be home safely within the time cut-off. This last leg had a few tricky bits of field crossing and footpath location but we eventually found the beach and then the honesty book after a little time looking for it. Suddenly after another recalculation it was obvious we had to move quicker to reach the CP. We had a couple of miles to cover and most of it was to be on sand so reaching the finish of D2 seemed to be slipping further away but we pushed on and broke into a rather rapid trot. After 60 something miles for the day and being on our feet for over 20 hrs it was somewhat of a challenge to run fast but we managed it finishing the day with 14 minutes to spare!
We entered the small village hall to be greeted by lots of smiles and congratulations from the support team and of course Bing himself. The hall was rather cramped and finding my drop bag and some floor space was a real challenge but after a bit of a search I found enough space to sort myself out. The same routine applied – Food, feet, food. I’d decided that little rest was going to be the best option so I stayed in my kit, wrapped my sleeping bag around me and put my feet up on my bag and lay listening to a whole lot of snoring going on!
Day 3 (33.4 miles) Aberffraw Village – Holyhead Breakwater Park (Start time 06:00 – Time allowed 11.5hrs)
05:00 – Love is burning thing – And it makes a fiery ring……………….etc etc
There it was again! Fortunately or unfortunately I’d not been to sleep as I’d been lying in wait for Johnny Cash to make an appearance so the shock to the system wasn’t quite as great. I’d had around 40 mins of lying down since the previous days / evenings ordeal and was getting ready to start D3. My plan was to have minimum rest as not to stiffen up and it all seemed to be working. More coffee and flapjack and at 05:55hrs the race briefing started then at 06:00hrs prompt we staggered off on the last leg. Next stop the race finish (I hoped). I knew that at the first CP of the day at Rhosneigr a treat of a bacon sandwich awaited us, courtesy of ‘Sandys Bistro’ so it made it all the more important to push on for this. At the CP myself, James, Anthony, Rhodri seemed to be remaining together as a group and it was all going swimmingly until I started to drop behind as we made our way around Cymyran Bay.
I’d hit a real low point and was totally exhausted. The others pushed on and I could see them gaining distance on me, lots of distance! I felt terrible, my head had gone and I had convinced myself that I was to drop at the next CP at Four Mile Bridge. A combination of cramps, nausea, and depression was gripping me and eating away at me. I slowed to a rather slow amble and didn’t even care about finishing anymore. I’d completely lost it. At one point I think I sat down. Heading towards me was a runner who was out for his morning run. He briefly paused and told me I wasn’t far from the CP and to keep going. It didn’t make much sense and looking back I’m not sure if I even responded to him. Shortly after he came back the other way and paused again telling me again I’d not got far to go and something about how he didn’t know how we did it. I wasn’t even convinced that he was actually real as things had become a little blurred and I can’t remember some of it. However, I’d started trying to get some glucose in me another Power Cookie, some electrolytes and a tramadol.
Unbelievably I began running and trying to chase down the runner and following him across the fields. The CP was now in sight and I remained focussed on reaching it before the cut off. I did and found my new friends still there and cheering me on as I ran the final few meters. Job done, I was suddenly back into it and now determined to finish this thing and beat my demons. I’d no idea where the strength had come from but it was now a joy to be trotting along with everyone again and the beach and CP at Trearddur Bay was now in sight. Both myself and Rhodri exited the CP knowing full well we only had 9.5 miles to the finish but there was somewhat of a bit of a hill to climb at the end!
The scenery was again stunning and we had started to catch other racers up and re-joined Anthony. Another map check and work out our ETA at the finish and everything was going to plan again. The final push up towards South Stack then onto North Stack was epic and certainly an evil twist in such a long race. It was thigh burningly fantastic with climbing a constant for a few miles, but it was worth the effort as we were rewarded with a view that was absolutely stunning. I’d become separated from the others as my feet had begun to complain and I was intent on finishing so a slow steady pace was to be it until the final few miles of which I’d promised myself a run in. Coming off the mountain it was a steep rocky descent and I’d managed to lose the path in favour of a straight line route that unfortunately treated me to large boulders, gorse bushes and some fierce drops. But I was going downhill and that was the main point. Eventually I picked up the correct path and made the final descent towards the finish. I could see the finish in the distance across the headland and could hear the infamous Ring of Fire playing. I’d started laughing and giggling and the feeling of elation was overtaking me. No pain, no discomfort just bouncing down the rocky path and heading towards the Ring O Fire finish flags.
The feeling was amazing as the finish line was crossed and I was immediately handed a beer (courtesy of Purple Moose Brewery) by Bing and presented with the much coveted Welsh Slate Ring O Fire finishers medal. My new friends had finished just before me and we were reunited and impressed with each other that we had all finished the journey more or less together. A steady stream of runners made their way in and we all cheered and clapped each other. It was all over and the job was done. I’d not moved as quickly as last year but this was part of my plan just to finish and it had all come together.
In Summary
I’d stayed over on the Sunday night after the race at a fantastic campsite (Blackthorn Farm) just outside Trearddur Bay and on Monday morning gone to the onsite restaurant for breakfast. I staggered my way in moving as fluidly as the tin man who’d been out in the rain and gone rusty. Sitting down I noticed the place maps had a map of Anglesey on them. I pondered this and it still didn’t sink in that a not too many of us had just covered the 135 miles of coastal path in just 3 days. This was put into perspective when I noticed that my journey back home was only 143 miles!
I was still deep in thought when I’d overheard a couple also looking at the map on their place mats and planning their day out. One of them said ‘Did you see the runners yesterday, apparently they were running all the way around the island’. ‘That’s impossible’ was the reply!
I’d mentioned early on that something else other than severe blisters had prevented me from finishing last year. Well, I did a book review earlier in the year for the Ultra Running Community. The book was ‘So you want to be an Ultra Runner’ by Andy Mouncey. In his book he mentions that ‘Performance is Emotional’. In other words a happy head is a happy heart. Last year and for the earlier part of this year I’d become stressed and depressed with my work and hadn’t realised it had taken such a toll on me that it was affecting many different aspects of my life. Getting to the finish line is not always about strength and performance because if you don’t have the right mind-set to drive forward it becomes difficult to maintain any sense of wanting to achieve. I’ve made a life change with regard to work and its paid dividends with my positivity and drive. I can’t wait to see where this is going to take me.
Finally –
Thanks to all the organisers and CP staff that help out on this event, you are all stars and I cant recommend this race highly enough. A big thanks to all my friends and family that support me and send all the messages on social media, text, follow my tracker etc it means so much to me. And last but not least my lovely wife Liz for all the support and putting up with my crazy challenges.
Would I do it again? Well what do you think…………..?
