Jo tells us of her experience running Edale Inferno Ring of Hell:
I was looking forward to a scenic plod the weather I knew was grim, the route to be tough .
I struggled a few times at certain points, Ringing Roger was a mud slide !
I leapt over boggy bits just to end up landing in the middle of the bog , and wondering about the ridiculousness of my predicament....and then it went downhill.
After getting to the first checkpoint in good time I went off course , confused by a randomly placed way marker, combined with my terrible sense of direction and poor weather I climbed a steep waterfall … that cost me lots of time and added miles . Motivation at an all time low , wet and cold I was ready to sack it off.
But I meet fellow runner Aiden , also off course who was contemplating a short cut . We looked at the map and agreed together we could make the next check point before the cut off and made our way back to the route. Whilst running I was so annoyed at myself for loosing so much time .It was a real battle with the head to try and get back into a good frame of mind, be present and soak in the experience but I ran on with my new buddy and somehow we made the check point with time to spare .
The finish was in sight , well almost another wrong turn added on more time and miles . After a moan I eventually came back to applause, pizza and pop , feeling exhausted !
It's really hard to accept that a day didn't go to plan. It's really easy to get demotivated. It's really easy to give up and it's really easy to throw it all in....but it's ok . Life doesn't always go smoothly but you live n learn. This running malarkey really can make you feel like you are epic but sometimes it just teaches you that we are human. We can fall and get it wrong . We don't always run well or fast and accepting that is well....quite humbling.
I will never ever take it for granted and I will check the route much more closely next time.
But for so many reasons this is now my most memorable run . I will try and focus on all the positives like the laughter and the people I met a long the way. I’m going to do it all again next year
Thanks for taking the time to read my ramble