Undeterred by my poor time keeping effort the 1^st time around (see from Hero to Zero blog) I squared up for my 2^nd Solo Adventure Race in the South Pennines, Bacup (said Back Up) with a watch and some steely determination to do better!

Lessons learnt from the last race include the following;

1. Stick to roads and pathways wherever possible,
2. Wear a watch,
3. Don’ t take so many photo’s
4. Don’t stop and talk to people with nice dogs

I nearly managed all of them but there was a farmer with a dog on his tractor near the start – so I got a quick ear rub in – the dog not the farmer! Plus, I managed to pick up a hitchhiker, a very nice man called Dave on his 1st Solo attempt at an Adventure Race. This was a marked improvement because he was running and collecting checkpoints as well so I was not losing valuable time and the conversation was a good distraction. I lost him on the bike leg.

The transition zone was up a hill but not where the organisers had originally planned because the wind speed was too high.

The warning signs were there – this was going to be no ordinary race.

I had worn a fleece to the event but planned to shed it early on once I’d warmed up – this never happened. I started out with the run section first; there was a nice logical loop of checkpoints with good high scores so off I strode into Lee Quarry – a bleak and barren place. After about 10 minutes I stopped to put on my waterproof over trousers, close my pit zips, rearrange my beanie, zip up my fleece and waterproof jacket and got ready to face the elements AGAIN.

Checkpoints came and went – some easily some not at all (apparently checkpoint 28 was hiding at the bottom of the quarry attached to a large boulder)!! Checkpoint 42 was on an island in a pond – not that deep admittedly but wet & cold! My feet were already wet and cold but I didn’t realise how cold until later!

Transition came around, a chance to re-fuel and suit up for the bike section. The volunteers in transition kept reminding us to get going quickly, not to get cold and to keep moving…I moved as quickly as I could but alas it was not quick enough.

The start of my bike leg was painfully slow and slowly painful. My hands never recovered and weren’t helped but wet gloves, continual wind chill and being stuck on the end of my handlebars. Not being able to brake or change gears were the first warning signs that things weren’t going well – my hands were ice cubes. I had my sights set on 2 big juicy checkpoints that weren’t too far away. As much as possible I was out of the saddle pumping my ice cube legs and trying to warm up my ice cube feet! After bagging the 2^nd checkpoint I made the very wise decision to head for home and call it a day.

I limped across the line, checked-in, was hurried back down to registration by Graham (my Haglof’s hero) who packed and sorted my bike while I went to change and warm up.

OMG I have not been that cold for a LONG time – the hand dryers (now dubbed 'little angels') in the toilets were HEAVEN, dry clothes were BLISS and once I’d stopped my hands shaking the warm sweet tea went down like the ELIXIR OF LIFE itself.

I came 11^th again – managed to get 170 points on the board and finished in 3hrs & 36 minutes.

Apparently some competitors walked off the race 20 minutes after starting, some were carried off in thermal blankets and one lady who had done 24 races and had never finished early – finished early!  There were 30 ‘DNF’ (did not finish) and a lot of those were Male Solo’s and there were a lot of ‘No Shows’ – they’d obviously read the weather report! So all-in-all not a bad effort from this little Human Ice Cube!

(Oh yes – the cold feet  – when I was desperately shedding my cold wet layers I noticed my big toenail on the left foot was a nasty shade of black – my feet were so cold I had no idea I’d smashed my toe – it didn’t start to hurt until that night when the adrenaline had worn off and the feeling had returned!)

Question is – would I do it again – the ANSWER – ‘hell YES’!

What did I learn this time?  To do more on the run leg and as little as possible on the bike section!