Sara Killey 2014 - Ticked!

Sunday April 13th 2014 was the Sara Killey Firefighters walk from Peel to Ramsey via Ballaugh, Jurby, Bride and Andreas. A total of 50km (just over 31 miles).

The turnout was good, a lot of the usual faces and a few very welcome new ones.

The weather was almost perfect. There was a strong headwind from Bride onwards, but otherwise it was a sunny and cool day (although I did hear a few complaints about the heat!)

My co-blogger, Richard Wild, led the race out of Peel but soon disappeared out of my sight. For the first 20 miles I managed to hold onto the position of 2nd / 3rd lady, constantly jostling with Jane Foster but coming into Bride Maureen Moffat passed me with relative ease. This was not unexpected! I was tiring and Maureen had much more stamina than I did.

I kept my position of 3rd lady for a few more miles but knew that Karen Lawrie and Sammy Bowden were hot on my heels. They overtook me in Andreas - also not really unexpected. I really need to work on my fitness!

With 5 miles to go Jane once again caught up with me but this time we walked together in relative silence, just concentrating on keeping up the speed for a sub-6 hour finish. 

We finished in tied 5th position in a time of 5:56:17.

A special thanks to Brian for supporting me once again. Without the constant supply of water, supplements, food and encouragement I would never have finished in the time I did.

Also thanks to Jane Foster for keeping me focused throughout the race, but especially the final 5 miles. I very seldom walk with anyone else but our speed was so similar for the full 50km that it just made sense to spur each other on.

Congratulations to all who took part in the Sara Killey and thanks to all who supported the race.
Congratulations to Richard and Karen, our 2014 winners.

A Little Bit of a Rest

During the last week I have done very few miles at a very gentle pace. The reasoning behind this is to try to rest my injured foot and to give my body some rest before the Sara Killey. Normally I would only rest the week before but this year my body has been given almost a full two weeks.

So this Sunday is the Sara Killey race from Peel fire station to Ramsey fire station - 50km in total. I'm hoping for a similar time to last year which was 5:56. For some reason I don't feel as fit as I was last year, but this could just be because I'm getting harder on myself and expect more each year. Only time will tell.

2013 was a busy walking year for me. As well as doing all the shorter race walks I also did the Sara Killey in April, the Parish Walk in June, the 100 Mile walk in August and the End to End in September. 

SARA KILLEY 2013

It was a chilly start, there was still a bit of snow around on parts of the course, but after a couple of miles I was nicely warmed up and enjoying the walk. 

The Sara is a perfect training walk for the Parish as it follows the Parish route and is fairly flat.

For the majority of the distance I was 3rd lady but I could hear the crowd behind me talking all the way. This constant chatter kept me motivated in keeping ahead. However just as I left Andreas Karen Lawrie came alongside me. She chatted to me for a couple of minutes and then effortlessly left me behind! I tried to keep up with her but there was no way my legs would go that speed so I settled for a respectable 4th place behind Sue Biggart, Maureen Moffat (joint 1st) and Karen (3rd). 

I'm really looking forward to Sunday's race, although I can feel the nerves starting to kick in whenever I think about it. Nerves are apparently good - they turn into adrenaline on the day!

Good luck to all those taking part and loads of thanks to all those supporting on the roads and in the cars.