Wow, That Was A Toughie

But a goodie. Didn't get to see much of the scenery, in the early stages at least. The clag was down. Looks like I was right to not say never. Sadly, it still looked okay from the safety of Llanberis and still fearing the forecast, I actually applied sunblock before the off - f$*(ing waste of good sunblock. We set out from Aber at nine am, to climb the falls and beyond. It was a fair slog all the way up, pretty without respite, to Carnedd Llewelyn. I very nearly made a mistake running off Foel Grach in the clag. With visibility down to 75m I took a line to far left but my spidy-senses alerted me that something didn't quite smell right. So I whipped out - ssh, no - I whipped out my map and compass. Re-combobulated my position and got myself quickly back on track. I hit Llewelyn and there were no more hiccups.

I beasted my legs on the run off Carnedd Dafydd. I got carried away and piled it down. I paid for that about twenty minutes later... The climb up Gribin was slow as my legs teetered on the brink but I enjoyed the rock climby bit at the top. I actually scrambled like a mountain goat and gained so much time over a whole group of runners and eventually reached Glyder Fawr before the run off down to Pen Y Pass.

The final section up the Pyg Track was torture. As I approached the last couple hundred metres I was very almost being overtaken by walkers! Oh, the shame. I did say 'almost'. Finally hitting the tourist trial the climb to Ugain, back down and up to Snowdon seemed okay though. Somehow I was able to run a little. I guess I was lifted knowing the end was nigh.

I'm not sure it was as tough a race as Ennerdale but at 20 miles and 8,000 feet of ascent it was a bit of a beast and definitely one for the list of races I'd do again - once the pain has subsided. The worst part though, with the race finishing at the summit of Snowdon, means you still have to run the five miles back down to Llanberis - but at least the clock was off - and it was downhill. Glad to be home now though. I feel totally shattered... Oh, yeah, and my time was 5 hours 40 minutes (or just a minute or two quicker because I forgot to stop the clock - doh).