As a child I had high aspirations of running 800 metres wearing the red, white and blue vest of Team GBR. This dream probably was derived from my hero worshipping of someone called Sebastian Coe, and the fact that my PE teacher at school told me I would never be any good at long distance running......
Always a very active child, with a “why walk when you can run” type of philosophy, I was dealt a very heavy blow when I was thirteen and suffered a serious injury while participating in pony club games. At the time, medical advice was that I had sprained my ankle and that the years of pain and intermittent limping was due to the fact that I was lazy and making excuses, perhaps seeking attention.
Fast forward more than twenty years, many hospital appointments, a lot of frustration, and sometimes excruciating pain and I finally found an ankle consultant that decided to perform an MRI scan.
I will never forget the day that I was told the results of the scan. The words are forever etched in my mind, “severe avascular necrosis of the talus bone”. I knew then that “necrosis” means dead, or dying, it does not mean “everything is fine and you have a nice healthy ankle”!
Based upon the evidence that the consultant had before him, I had suffered a compound fracture during the childhood accident that had caused the blood supply to be cut off from the bone joint. As it had never been treated, the bone had become diseased and rotten, resulting in many fragments of bone and cartilage floating around within the joint. The ligaments had also slackened and become detached from the bone.
The good news was that my consultant was a surgical genius! The first operation removed all the debris, drilled through the bone to cause bleeding, which in turn would become scar tissue that would be my new cartilage.
The bad news was that during my post operative check, I met with my consultant's registrar.... His words were, “you will never run again. You might manage a mile or two, but you will never run a marathon.....”. He then went on to describe my future and how I would be a cripple within 5 years and I would probably need either an ankle replacement, or ankle fusion within 10 years.
Before my tears had subsided, I had created and accepted my own challenge. Before I became this cripple, I would run one marathon, and that marathon would be THE marathon, oh yes, I would run the London Marathon!
In order to guarantee my entry to London, I discovered that I would have to run a qualifying time at another marathon. No problem, I then get to run two marathons before I settle for the sedentary life.
Long story short, I ran the New Forest Marathon in 3:34 thus guaranteeing my London entry for the following year. I then decided to run Abingdon Marathon the following month as I liked the idea of a Championship entry for London!
Unfortunately, I didn't quite manage the 3:14:59, at my first attempt, and neither did I quite manage it when I ran Luton two months later.
However, what I did discover was that marathons were relatively easy to run in about 3:30, and I always felt really good within myself, pre, during and post marathon. Far better than sitting at home being a “couch potato”.
I then stumbled across the Marlborough Downs Challenge, at 33 miles, a little bit more challenging than 26.2 and being off road, far more fun!
Marlborough Downs turned out to be far more than a challenge. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It was the first time that I think I really found me, the deep down me that likes to play hide and seek a lot.
My love of ultra running had begun.
Fast forward to 2011 and I find myself a well respected ultra runner. I have represented Scotland and Great Britain in World, European and Commonwealth Championships at 100k distance. I have even raced shoulder to shoulder with Liz Yelling in a one mile race – she won!
I have the most amazing training partners, five Siberian Huskies who have all contributed directly to my speed and my endurance. I have won races with and without them. Run from 5 minute miles to 12 hour events with them. I have run all distances from 1 mile to 50 miles with one particular dog. He is called Kez and is without a doubt the most awesome ultra running athlete I have ever known. He jogs while I try to keep up, he never complains and he is always up for a run, no matter what the time of day (or night) or whatever the weather.
I also have a very supportive partner in Ian, who is always there to offer me just what I need during a race, even if I do not know myself that I need it! He also takes some brilliant photographs, which enhance memories of each race.
During the most important race of my life in 2009, my ankle finally gave up and would not allow me to run. I did manage to get to the finish of that race, almost resorting to crawling at one point! The extreme pain and complete helplessness I felt during that race forced me to accept that I could not run another ultra until I had the operation that I had been trying to ignore.... Last year I finally agreed to have that operation to reconstruct the ligaments within my ankle.
In the weeks leading up to the 2011 Ridgeway Challenge, I had been seriously considering retiring from ultra running due to several factors, but the biggest one being my ankle. I will always have a problem with my ankle, and there will almost definitely be further surgical requirements, I am not yet ready to give up what I truly love, but my competitive days are nearing their end...
