MY JOURNEY UP THE PENNINE WAY

The Beginning 

I completed the Challenger in 2015 my first ever winter race, in a time of 49 hours 1 minute in 14th position and said: “never again”. The MRT Challenger was first to run in 2016 as a means of payback to the local teams who provide safety cover throughout the ‘Spine’ event. The entry price is hugely discounted and gives entrants the chance to raise funds for their respective teams.

In January 2020, I signed up for the MRT Challenger, which was taking place in January 2021, a year in advance. Once I had my place I trained throughout the year and was as fit as I had ever been for a long time in the run-up to December 2021. I was doing plenty of hill work with a few back to back long runs/walks of 30miles/15miles and was looking forward to the race. Covid 19 struck and everything was put on hold. This sort of saved me as my left hip seized up completely and I would not have been able to start the event anyway. I deferred my place like many others to 2022 and hoped by then I would have a new hip and Covid would be behind us.

The Road To January 2022

I had my total hip replacement on July 29th 2021 and came home the following day to start my rehab. I was lucky and determined and with the help of physiotherapists, I was soon able to increase my walking times and eventually move to inclines and back to the hills.

After all, it’s only a walk.

Through the autumn and early winter of 2021, I upped my training once again and managed to replicate the 30/15 back to back walks as suggested by a schedule I found on an Ultrarunning website. I did lots of hill work and used a loaded pack to get used to the weight of the kit required for the Challenger. My rucksack was about 8.5kg without food or fluids and contained all the compulsory equipment stipulated by the organisers.