Hardmoors 55 DONE!!!!! Wow it feels great to be able to say I have run this far, it was a bit of a slog towards the end but the end goal was to finish, and that I did.
It all started at 3.40am Saturday 21st March, that horrible sound of the alarm yet excited feeling of needing to get up and start my preparation for the day ahead. Porridge on and final checks of kit and then wrapping up warm so as to at least begin the journey in comfort. Placed all the food bags in the backpack and additional clothing knowing full well its all coming back out in the kit check. I wanted to be out the house and in Helmsley early so not stressed about missing the bus, so the aim was to be there for 5.30 therefore leaving home 4.30. This all went to pot about 2-3 miles down the road when I had this flashback of my Garmin watch charging in the kitchen, do I remember picking it up, oh chuff its still there, what do I do carry on and stuff it or go back and chance it????? Yep, I went back and chanced it, I decided it was worth it. I still made it there well ahead of time so as to prepare myself and not to miss the bus! So, I'm wandering round Helmsley carpark in umpteen layers of kit, headtorch on and flipflops ha ha, good job it's still early and a carpark full of other weido's doing the same. Kit all ready and out of the car, and back to my ongoing issue of clothing, since I've got it wrong it seems on so many other occasions I thought I'd change from my original plan of starting in shorts then adding the leggings when it gets dark and cold, to......wait for it........I just added the leggings on top and thought would take off once warm then put back on later. Not at any point thinking I wouldn't have time to do this, oh how wrong I was! So that was how I stayed all day, plus I'd had these great plans of changing my top and socks, oh no that didn't happen either but look on the brightside I'd put them in my drop bag which gets handed to you at Osmotherly check point. Great, now I just had the pleasure of carrying them all the way to the end. Huh, genius Ed!!!!
I managed to get the bus and squeeze a few minutes of sleep before arriving at Guisborough Sea Cadets Hall. Straight in and had my kit checked, more or less empting the whole bag, so glad I didn't pack it in any particular way. Then I had the joy of sitting around for the next hour and a half watching everyone else go through a similar experience. Now still being what I consider a rookie in this sport it was clearly evident being in this room. All I could think was, 'I'm way out of my depth' and 'what am I doing here', 'I'm such an idiot to think I could do it' and then the biggie 'Why is everyone else's, barring a few other liked minded people, packs so small and not really a pack at all?????' This bothered me and still does. My pack has everything in the kit list and a few small light extra's but looks and feels like it has the kitchen sink in it!
Some time passed and like human nature is curiosity took hold, I kept looking round the room seeing what other people did in their preparation and eyeing what kit they had with them. The human race is brilliant really, the desire to all be different to stand out yet be part of a group. Love it, there were giddy excited people, serious and frown like people, people sleeping, non stop chatting people and dead solitary people just mentally getting themselves ready for what lay ahead, oh and one guy meditating in the corner. I suppose I fell into the solitary category since I didn't know anyone, it just meant I could scour the room observing everyone else's antics.
After the race brief we all made our way outside to the start, the road. This is when any traffic just has to wait whilst 350 people crowd onto the road, or not in the case of my mate Daz who was still in the toilets unaware of the start ha ha! So 3,2,1 and off we go, this is it, this is what all the training has brought me to, this is how far I have come. I had one goal, FINISH!
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