Amanda’s story
So in a few weeks I'm heading to Conwy to turn up at the castle at 6am with a few hundred other people, all with the aim of spending the following six days making our way to Cardiff castle, 236 miles away, as competitors in the Dragon's Back Race.
I was quite naive when I entered two years ago - I love the technical terrain of the mountains in northern Snowdonia, and didn't really think past the first day across those. I'd assumed day one must be the hardest as I didn't think there were many hills south of there (I was very wrong - you can find out more about the entire route here), and I hadn't really clocked just how far you have to cover each day.
Just over three years ago I managed to get myself around the Bob Graham Round in a respectable time, and felt confident that I could put my mind to bigger things with more focus on my training. Shortly after, I was knocked off my bike and my partner started what has been (and still is) a long journey enduring post-covid fatigue. Since then, we have both had our ups and downs with returning to our previous levels of activity, albeit very different challenges.
Moving from Leeds to Kendal in December last year seemed like the perfect opportunity to plan a long and steady increase in mileage, time in big hills, and commit to strength and mobility - whilst I am in better shape than this time last year, my plan hasn't exactly worked out, but here we are a few weeks away and it is what it is!
I've gone round in circles contemplating deferring another year (again) but have come to the conclusion that I want to see what I can do, share the journey with my friends Phil and Alistair, and learn from the experience - best case scenario I manage to not get timed out or fall apart before Cardiff, next best case is I see what I can do and drop onto the Hatchling course (half of each day) which would still be a significant achievent, and worst case scenario is I make it through a couple of days and get a bus to Cardiff!
The last few years have put a lot of things into perspective, with the bike collison, seeing the debilitating impact of long covid and chronic health conditions on my partner and various friends, and losing some people to cancer at a young age. Many of my friends whose highly active lives have been curtailed by sudden health conditions would give their right arm to have the health to start this race, and my running friend who passed away last year would have certainly committed to starting this race just for the adventure, regardless of whether or not she believed she could finish it.
So here I am, setting myself up to start what is apparently the 'world's toughest mountain race' (I'm sure they all say that), fundraising for the Long Covid Support charity which provides information, support, and advocacy for people with Long Covid and facilitates patient involvement in research, with the purpose of reducing the impact of Long Covid and improving the lives of all those affected. You can read more about long covid here.
Please donate what you can and I'll share the tracker link once it's provided so you can follow me online and shout encouraging messages at the screen (or send me 'Dragon Mail' via the tracking system).
Fundraising Targets
All funds raised will be passed to the charity irrespective of whether my target is reached, not reached or exceeded.
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