The Fan Dance, 22 May 2010

My most recent run was yesterday, taking part in the Fan Dance. A race involving running from the bottom to the top of Pen-y-fan (the highest point in the Breacon Beacons) as many times as possible in 5 hours. Of course the race was taking place on the hottest weekend of the year so far, and the Breacon's don't have one leaf of shade. It made for some spectacular views though.

This picture looks up from the first trail to the top of Pen-y-Fan, the taller peak on the left. The peak to the right is Corn Du, which we go over on the way to the Fan.

On the way up, we first came to the Obelisk, where three walkers were taking a break. No break for the runners though as we carried on to the peaks. The obelisk marks the spot where Tommy Jones, aged 5, was lost in the mists of the Breacons on Jan 9th in 1900, a very sad tale. There were no mists to keep the sun off us as we toiled up the hill.

The trail carried on up and it was like a motorway, with hundreds of walkers and quite a few Special Forces wannabe's trying their hand at getting into the elite forces. I learned later that two of them were stretchered off the Breacons on drips due to dehydration.

From the top, we had a great view back down from where we came (and would have to run back down to in due course). The start/finish was down by the nearest trees in this shot.

Anyway, I made it up and down three times in the allotted 4 hours. On the other hand Jo Green, also from Nailsea Running Club went back up another two times. I ran a total of 16.5 miles, whereas he ran about 27 miles. I remain in awe at such an achievement on such a hot day. I was pretty chuffed with 4 hours, as the third placed man was 3 Hr 50 mins, so I wasn't too far off. Here we are at the finish:

The key issues for the day - hydration and energy. The key factor was keeping fluid intake up. I continue to use Nuun tablets in my drink. These things are 2cm wide tablets that dissolve in water. 1 tablet for 500ml. They contain a balanced electrolyte mixture including sodium, potassium, calcium etc, which replace the salts you lose when sweating during endurance sports. They stop you developing not only cramps, but also nastier ailments like hyponatremia (low blood sodium), which is what happens if you only drink water and your blood salts gets diluted. It leads to hallucinations and, in extremis, death. Not good for a fast time.' Today (Sunday) I then had a short recovery run through Ashton Court and got this great shot of bluebells. One for the album: