March marathon

Week 9 started gently and ended in a massive mileage weekend.
For my 2013 challenge I have pledged to complete a marathon a month, either in training or an event. This weekend was Trollers Trot, a walk/run in the Yorkshire dales. It states that it is 25 miles so I figured that plus a bit would sort my March marathon. As we packed our kit on Friday night I realised that I had bought the wrong map. I put out a plea on Facebook for a correct map, and Matt offered me one. I also downloaded the route description and map and printed them off, though the map was not very clear.
I ran this with hubby and the plan was to walk the ups and run the flats and downs. It was a glorious day, very bright and frosty to start, but it soon warmed up. We got a lift with Caroline, along with Annette and Sharon. It wasn't too much of an early start. The race start for runners was 9 am (walkers were 8 am) so we set off from Ripon at 7:45.
We arrived at Threshfield and walked to the school to register. There were quite a few Ripon Runners there already. We were numbers 38 and 39. I collected the map from Matt. Soon it was time to go, we stood outside on the road in the sunshine at the back of the crowd listening to the race directors Irish lilt as he gave us some final information, Annette said it was like being back in Dublin. Annette, Caroline and Sharon were doing the event for fun, Billy and I were racing it. We set off, and soon there was a multicoloured ribbon of runners winding its way into the distance. Within the first mile we started to climb, this was a long climb on grass and moor, but we both have quite a good walking pace and soon were passing people. The sun was shining and there was frost on the ground. The views over the surrounding dales were stunning.
We were at about 6 miles when we first found there was no one in site ahead and so needed the route description. With the help of some walkers who caught us up we soon found our place on the description and were on our way to checkpoint 3. Short or long? The Marshall asked, long we said, (there were 2 routes on the event, 12 and 25 miles.) long we said and headed for refreshments. There was water squash and popcorn. There was not much popcorn, so we had a drink of squash and took a few kernels of corn each, checked the route and were off again.
Soon we headed up a hill, it was really steep, past a copse of trees, it wound its way up the hillside. It was hard work, we stopped a couple of times to admire the view (breathe). Near the top, there was a photographer,"we should run" Billy said, "you can if you want" I gasped. We passed the time of day and continued on our way, onto the moor along a narrow track. We could now see people ahead in the distance again, that made things easier for a while. We slowly caught and passed some walkers and suddenly we were going down, down, down towards a reservoir, we crossed the dam to checkpoint 4. We continued downwards for about 3 miles passing walkers as we went, then to checkpoint 5, hot drinks and food it said on the description. There were just a few biscuits left, so we took one each and carried on our way. We past an ice cream van, mmmm! Tempting, we had an emergency tender with us, but the prospect of 12 miles with rattling change put us off.
Along the river was so peaceful, a few dog walkers but no one from the event in sight, as we came out onto the road we met a lady on her own, she was a competitor, she was a bit stuck, although she had done it last year. We helped each other and set off upwards again. We were running up a lane, 1/2 mile to check point 6 according to the description, it was way more than that. When we got there it was a a small green sign. It said self checkpoint 6. The next description said through a gate by a barn, the barn was a pile of rubble, but we were aided by the sight of some Ripon Runners ahead. We followed them. Suddenly Billy's phone rang, we stopped, I dug it out of his back pack and it stopped. He didn't recognise the number so we put it back and carried on. We came out on to a road, where had they gone? There was no sign of the other runners, suddenly a runner came up behind and pointed us in the right direction and ran with us a while. At Trollers Gill we had another steep climb, above us we could see the Ripon Runners, it was Helen and Stella. As we rounded a bend, there was Ben with his children, enjoying a day out, it was great to see a familiar face at that point. We continued up to check point 7. Yum cake, there were hot drinks and loads of cake and bicycles here. We had something to eat and a hot drink but were stiffening up. Off we went again, a little more up, then a lot of down. We ran more confidently as now there were walkers ahead, but they were a different event. We passed them and continued on, we were into the last 10 km now. Back to the river, over a bridge, past a pub with people sat outside enjoying the sunshine with a drink. 3 miles along the river Billy said." I'm struggling" I admitted. Billy went in my pack and got me a dextrose tablet, we got into a rhythm and trotted along to a suspension bridge. Billy ran ahead and I entered onto the bridge, it was swaying, it wasn't nice, it swayed more, I slowed, I felt sick I almost stopped. But I carried on slowly with white knuckles thinking "I have to get off before the next runners or it will start shaking and wobbling again" I was so relieved to get off it. We carried along the river side. They're just behind Billy said, knowing Id not give up if I thought I was going to be overtaken, I pushed myself onwards and we were soon on the road. The route description finished, we just had to get bak to the school. I looked behind and Helen and Stella were close so I pushed towards the end. I had to walk the hill though, not daring to look behind, and there it was, the school. We ran in. I registered as finished, checked my watch 25.34 miles, handed my pack to Billy and set off down the road to complete my marathon. I ran to the end of the road and back, it was lovely not running with a pack, but I was tired. I got back to the school 25.89 miles. I carried on constantly checking my watch, at 26.1 I turned back. I re entered the school at 26.23 miles.
Now the best bit, pie and peas and a cup of good strong coffee.
That was yesterday, today Billy and I did a 41 mile cycle. We picked a flattish route but that meant relentless pedalling. Was enjoyable though.
TIRED NOW
Run 44 miles
Bike 52 miles
Walk 17 miles
Swim 1 mile
Total mileage for week 9 114
Total run mileage in 2013 = 389 that places me on the E40 in Belgium on my Ripon to Moscow virtual challenge