Challenges30

It took me a lot longer than I’d hoped but I still managed to complete the challenge. After a 10 to 5 get up for the hour drive to Frodsham before registration for the event closed at 06.45 I had the added drama if not being able to find the coach pick up point! Luckily a local walking his dog happened to be in the right place at the right time and he pointed out the way.

Participants had to meet at the community centre in Frodsham, which is the finish of the race to be bused to Whitchurch which is the start. I must admit I was a little daunted by the 50 minute drive knowing that I would be making my own way back on foot.

Once the event got under way I made a good start and managed to stick to my race plan in terms of pace and remembering to eat and drink along the way. With a target time of 6 hours I was very pleased to get to the checkpoint at half way in around 3 hours. Unfortunately on the way down to this particular checkpoint I tripped over a root and jarred my knee. When I tried to run again after this it just wasn’t happening. I could manage a few paces and then no more. Knowing I had a considerable distance still to go I decided I would fast walk the rest of the way as this didn’t seem to hurt my knee anywhere near as much as running was doing.

My aim was always to finish the challenge so I was glad I opted for this course of action. I think if I had carried on trying to run I would have needed to retire from the race before I got to the end. It took me almost twice as long to complete the second half of the course as it did the first but I’m still happy I managed to do it. Knowing that 6 hours is a good target time gives me something to aim for next time I do it

My legs were very painful over the last few miles of the course as this was one of the most undulating sections. My knee was fine on the flat. I didn’t help my cause when I went the wrong way right at the end and added probably another 20 minutes to my time.

Overall I had a cracking day tackling a fantastic course. The weather was amazing and this highlighted how beautiful the landscape is in this part of the world. Who knew Cheshire had so many hills…

At the final point at which I could change my mind about the coast to coast walk I decided to do exactly that.  A mixture of the weather reports (there still being snow on the hills where I intended to walk), my knowing that completing the journey on foot unaccompanied and previous training as part of a mountain rescue team I decided to abandon my plans to complete the walk this Easter break.  In the past I’m sure I would have carried on regardless but on the day when I was readying my kit everything seemed to be telling me the trip was a bad idea.  So I decided not to do it.

I’m now going to attempt the journey at May half term (well that’s the current plan anyway…) when the weather should hopefully be better and I’ll be able to rope someone else into coming along for the walk.

Few of my challenges have gone according to plan since I started Challenges 30 and new unexpected challenges have cropped up along the way.  I still had to visit the Lake District on Thursday night but instead of making my way to St Bees on the Friday morning I chose to cycle the 70 miles back home rather than give up on a challenge of any sort over the Easter break.  Cycling this far wasn’t on my original list and is almost 3 times as far as I have previously cycled in one go (the 25 mile journey to work being the longest to date) but it challenged me nevertheless.  I’m now thinking of attempting a 100 mile cycle and that wasn’t on the original list either…