I’m not the best with the English language and I know my blogging is limited. My mind has always focused on numbers and combinations of them. I have an unhealthy obsession with vehicle number plates. It might be sad to admit but sometimes I forget peoples’ names but can remember their phone number. I even get family names the wrong way round, which has got me into trouble on a few occasions, especially once many years ago, when collecting Lucas from nursery and asked for Nathan (my nephew) and had to go through security checks to collect my own son!
I have favourite numbers and ones I’m not as keen on and then combinations of the same. This has come over the years from experiences with numbers and also, simply the way they look once written down.
Favourite numbers 0, 1, 3, 6, 8 and 9
Less preferred numbers 2, 4, 5 and 7
I know lots of people say 13 is unlucky but it has 2 of my favourite numbers and seems to always be lucky for me. I took my maths “O” level a year early on Friday 13th and got my only ever exam “A” grade.
I’m not superstitious but prefer to have a number I like with me when completing a task, including the Brathay 10in10. Yes, this post has a reference to the 10in10! Each year Brathay ask the 10in10ers what race number they would each prefer and try to kindly allocate a preferred number to each runner. As you can guess I ask for 13 and that is usually what I get, as most people shy away from it, and it has always done me well.
In 2017 there was an exception, it was my 5th attempt at the 10in10 and I was given race number 5 to signify this. All sounds good and fitting but I don’t like 5, probably my least favourite number and sadly I went on to fail that year. This was due to a torn knee meniscus that made it impossible for me to complete that year and I only managed 4 days before my knee was too swollen to walk, never mind run so I dropped out of the event on the morning of day 5. I don’t consider myself superstitious but everything that went wrong that year had a 5 involved. This has increased my dislike for the number 5.
Subsequently my knee was fixed by a nice surgeon called Rob Gilbert and I came back to complete a nervous 5th 10in10 and then move on to 6, 7, 8 and this year my 9th Brathay 101in10.
This year I didn’t get my wish for number 13 and instead was given the fateful “5”! Over the last year I have been remembering and playing over and over in my head the events of 2017 and my fail. Would it happen again? I decided not to complain about this, nor mention it to the race organiser Scott or anyone at Brathay or my family, I didn’t want to seem to be fussing. Instead, I made it part of my challenge this year to not only beat the course for 10 days (I always think of this event as the course trying to break you and your job is to complete it each day) but do it wearing a number 5!
For the whole of the 10 days this was playing out in my head as I ran around the course. Would some kind of bad luck or injury strike me down and stop me completing the event? Day 5 had me particularly mindful, but with the fun of Lady’s Day and pleasant weather, the run went surprisingly smoothly, was uneventful and I finished with a decent time of 4:23:57. Thankfully, we all now know that I completed all 10 days and to my relief injury free.
Some years ago, Joss Naylor MBE, the famous fell runner and patron of the Brathay 10in10 challenged me to complete 10 Brathay 10in10s and it is becoming wildly known I would love to be the first to do this.
The last 4 Brathay 10in10s have all seemed to have gotten harder. Is it because I’m getting older? I don’t know. They have felt more like a job as part of my larger quest to get to 10 and not the same exciting fun challenge the first few were. I hope that one day I will get to do my 10th Brathay 10in10 will have the special excitement return, I do believe it will. They say that day 10 of a 10in10 is your lap of honour, I wonder if your 10th 10in10 will be 10 laps of honour?
I suppose the 10th Brathay 10in10 will have to be attempted at some point. I’m just taking time to rest and recover from last week’s efforts before wondering when that should be.
It is already in my mind that should I finally complete a tenth Brathay 10in10, it will be the last. I have thoroughly enjoyed all my 10in10’s. I have experienced winning days but also being last. I have experienced the joy of finishing a 10in10 and also the heartbreak of having to pull out. The event is hugely emotional and massively rewarding. I would recommend it to any long distance runner that wants a real challenge. I’m also very proud to have raised over £50,000 for Brathay and must thank all who have helped me do this with their contributions.
When will be the 10th?