Young Hearts Run Free Podcast
Mel Sykes Winter Spine Race 2025 - Young Hearts Run Free Podcast - Season 12 Eps 10
We catch up with our Yorkshire Correspondent Mel Sykes to talk all about her 268 mile traverse along the Pennine Way during the Montane Winter Spine Race 2025
Think 'challenging' weather, think sleep deprivation, think sleeping in public toilets and churches.
Think Alston Lasagne!
Mel replays her pre race thoughts and preparations, takes us on a detailed journey from Edale to Kirk Yetholm and reflects on the challenge and adventure of such an undertaking.
This is an absolute belter of an episode, Mel done it for Yorkshire, Mel done it to inspire, Mel done it because..she is Mel Sykes, our Yorkshire Correspondent.
Winter Spine Race...completed it mate.
- Duration:
- 1h 46m
- Broadcast on:
- 24 Jan 2025
- Audio Format:
- other
[Music] Welcome to Season 12, episode 10 of the Young Heart Shrung Free Podcast. We have a very special guest with us this week. There's none other than our Yorkshire correspondent Mel Sykes. How are you doing, Mel? I'm doing great, John. How are you? Oh, I am doing very well. I'm very excited about this conversation. People are going to chat about your most recent adventure. But let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a question first of all. Today, Friday the 24th of January, right? What were you doing this time last week? This time last week, I was somewhere over the TV at Hills, I think. When did I finish Friday, like Friday evening? So, yeah, so this time I would have been, I don't even know how long that last bit took. Ages, bloody ages. Yes, I would have been somewhere probably setting off. I would have a bit curled up in a ball on the floor and burn this church and trying to get some sleep. Or I would have already set off on the last slog over the TV, it's, I think. Yeah, I think it was Friday, I travelled three to Glasgow last Friday night about 7pmish. And by the time I got to Glasgow, you were finishing. So, that was back of eight in the evening. Yeah, somewhere like that, my little jump over the line. Yeah, yeah, I don't know where that came from. It came from your soul, from the soul of your, and the side thing already, that photograph in the church. Were you sleeping in the church? Yeah, that would take a bite. Tom. Yeah, there's one of these iconic photographs, I think, that the spine will have as a gift, I'm sure, for years to come. There was other ones as well, with people's boots hanging off the end of the pews. Because a church just adds to that atmosphere, doesn't it? But maybe we'll speak a little bit more about that. Let's start where we are right now. How are you feeling in the week since the spine? It's been really weird, really, really weird. And obviously, you know it's going to battery out of your course. You just never spent that amount of time doing something like that. The first couple of days afterwards, my ankles, I couldn't even, couldn't even bend them. They were like massive and fused. But that's that to go down since I've spent a few days looking about on some bed. The sleep was horrendous. You'd fall asleep. You'd think you'd be absolutely knackered after something like that. But you'd fall asleep. And then two hours later, wake up in a panic that you were still at a checkpoint. It's been really weird. And the last two nights, the first two nights, that I've been able to sleep through without that happening. But for like four nights after the race, I were waking up thinking shit. What do I need to get ready? Like where am I? It's really, really odd feeling. And I've heard people talk about that sort of thing after a back yard. It's just that days of sleep deprivation. And your body must be, it just shows you how deep it goes into your psyche, doesn't it? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. But that's good to hear that you can see your ankles again. That's always a good sign. That's always a good sign. That's always a bonus. Yeah. And now I want to jump the other side of the spine. Because we've been talking about you actually getting to EDO to register and then going back home and then going back to the start the next day. And then there was a massive dump of snow, which changed things, doesn't it? So it changed the whole race. Yeah. So take us to that, talk us through that, getting registered and the kit check and all that sort of stuff. What was that like? It was really stressful actually. So the week leading up to race, I'd found the whole process building up to race quite stressful. And normally quite chilled out about stuff like that. You know, like you just turn up at Lakeland, you know, you've got all your stuff. But they're so thorough with the kit check. You can see now after this race this year, why they've got a bit because if you had anything that wasn't up to up to it, there would have been a lot more dropouts on those first two days. And so yeah, I've been a bit nervous about the kit check, but I knew I had everything and went over on the sat day, watched the start of the spring and then did my kit check and went back home. So I was getting a bit worried then about even being able to get to start. But because I were driving from home, it were about to go a bit of a long away in the end now to go out from mine into Sheffield Center and I want main road, which I wouldn't normally go that way to a day or but all the little side roads were closed. Some of the main roads into a deal were closed. It was an hour and a half, it took us to get there on race morning, but it was fine as it was, that all the roads were clear, but it's just one of those extra stresses you don't need on an already stressful event. Yeah, because it's not like there's a dual carriageway in the ideal, you know, and that little roads. And that jumpers know that happened, although the impact, excuse me, the week of the race, the week before the race. It had been beautiful weather up until then. And then just that and then I don't know how many feet of snow, so it's a whole different dynamic. What about, what was your mindset? Expectations, hopes going into the race before you started. And going like for my own race, going into it, nothing really the only expectation I had of myself or the only hope I had would to get to finish. And I think with a race like that, you just can't really prepare because it's the longest I'd done before with like Lakeland 100, what without 30 hours. So you just finished before you go into a second night, so all of that would be unknown. So I knew that I would have a lot of problem solving to do, but yeah, just didn't really know what to expect. But that's all part of it, isn't it? That's why we're out of these things. Yeah, you've said the magic number there, 30 hours at Lakeland 100, and then this one, 132 years, blows my mouth. Honestly, mental, absolutely mental, and I've spoken to people about this, about a number of times that when we go, I'm going to just go back. There's a spine in ultra marathon is an ultra ultra. God knows. God knows what you would call it, but I suppose to people about doing ultra marathons and you're out doing 30, 50, 70, 100 miles. I often equate that back to, what did I do that weekend? No, it's like a Saturday, Sunday, 132 hours. People go about their day, their week. And I've never known dot watch and to be as addictive as it was this year. You know, the social media stuff was off the scale, which is brilliant. I love that. It was really, really good. Yeah, it breaks out to Spencer for keeping us up to date. He did a great job. He was doing some tweets. I didn't know he was doing that until about three or four days into the race. I opened Twitter by accident when I got my phone out to do something else. I was like, whoa, some of those photos were very questionable. I'm not sure what I'm posting them myself. But he was given, I think he was given a true reflection of what it was like, you know, and more speak more about that. And I'm just trying to piece this together in a way that will get a flow. And I think when they do this from the sensual kit part, we spoke about the kit check. How much of that sensual kit did you actually use? More than I would have hoped to have used. I didn't use my stove, but I probably should have done. When I was having my little moment in the toilets in hot and I probably should have heated some water up and even just drunk some hot water to try and get my body temperature back up. But most of the stuff I did end up actually using, the only thing I didn't use was the handheld GPS. But I had two watches and then obviously you've got your map and compass, you've got your handheld GPS. But because I'd record a lot of the route, I didn't need to use a handheld. But I think a lot of people did it. Actually, on in the early days, when we were going over the snow, because there was all you were doing was following the footprints. You knew he wasn't actually on the pen I'm way, but if you stepped off the footprints that were already there, you ended up up to your ass in snow. So you had to just follow the footprints that were already there, whether they were the right route or not. Well, that's it, because then you're putting your faith in the person at front, those where they're going, you know. Because you can't obviously see the path of the stones. So how did you record it from start to finish? Have you been on the whole lot? Yeah, I've been on the whole lot. Yeah. Obviously I'd done the Challenger South, so I knew that bit to Hawes. And then I'd record the bit between Hawes and Alston, just on my own. And then everything north of that was what I did with the girls, when me and the girls went on the three day weekend. So then I'd done all the north section with them. So I was definitely need it. That's one thing. I would say if anyone's going to do it to record it, because you don't know what time of day you're going to be. I know it's not easy for everyone to get out there and record it. But when your brains just turn to mashed potato and you don't know what day it is and what time it is, even just little things that you remember from the record or the path goes there or when you're in dark. And you mentioned two watches. Why two watches? Just in case one of them died. So I had two gammons that both had the root loaded onto them. I was carrying a portable charger and my gaming cable, but it was just in case one of them died. I didn't actually log the root on my watch. So I haven't got the thing that's uploaded to my strawberries from open tracking. So I didn't use my watch to record the distance or anything like that. I just used it literally to navigate. Okay. And did, were you looking at, you mentioned about following footprints and you'd be doing that. And it was that heavy snow and then the snow turned to slush and mud and all that sort of stuff. But were you looking at your watches for navigation or were you confident because you've done the recks? I didn't use my watch for navigation up until halls because you were either following the footprints or it was what I knew. I did use it a couple of times, like up around Olston and that sort of thing that I want more familiar with. The ones that snow would, it's just sometimes you get into a field and then it's knowing which direction the style is because you can't see the style at the other end of the field. So yeah, I used it a couple of times for that. But a lot of it was, it was that mordet. You just followed the buggy after the snow went, you just followed the buggy footprints. So I found navigation easier than, because that's what one of the things I were worried about, but that were fine. And you mentioned map and compass. Do you ever have to get them out and look at them? No, I didn't get those out. Okay. Okay. And you mentioned you should have got your stove out in the toilets to heat up some water. Let's just talk about the toilets. And what took you there? What took you to the toilets? Oh, that was so fountainsfell is you go up and over fountainsfell and then the next climb after that's Penny Ghent before you drop down into Horton. The diver does round Penny Ghent because it was too dangerous to summit it. So you came down where you walk up if you're going to do the three peaks route. But fountainsfell was actually the worst experience of our life. So I was following the footprints up, which I knew wasn't the pen I'm wearing, but again, you were just weaving up on a completely random route that someone else had been through. And then as you submitted fountainsfell, that's when the fog came down. It was absolutely chucking it down and the ground had turned to ice. So you were just into the wind, wouldn't really see with your head torch because of the fog just bounces the beam back. So pointed my head torch like down at my feet and we're just literally following the footprints. And so came down fountainsfell. I think that's when I started to get cold. Up and down Penny Ghent and you drop into Horton and then you've still got I think it's about 40 miles from Horton to the next checkpoint at horse. You see what they'd done when they'd got to where the normal checkpoint one should have been at the scout hook. There was no water there and they couldn't access it so they had to move the checkpoint. I think it ended up being about four miles earlier than it should have been. So you had maybe between checkpoint one and horse. It was like 60, maybe 63 miles, which is a fair old. Fair old stint. Yeah, especially in bad weather as well. So I tried to have a little nap in Malam in a gift shop and I went into a gift shop and said to blow up the encounter. Do you mind if I just say, he says, Oh, no, go for it. So I killed up a window and gift shop. I thought if anyone were walking past they were probably like, what the bloody hell is she doing? But I didn't really get much sleep there. So set off fountainsfell. But yeah, that were that were horrendous. Came down into Horton and I don't know if anyone I don't even know what time of day this was. So I don't if anyone were looking at tracker, but I started walking towards a bit of heart and in ribblesdale hundreds of times and started walking through heart and then turn around. At the way came just, you know, completely disorientated to where I want to saw another athlete coming through and I said, Oh, I'm going right way. But he didn't speak in English. So I just followed him and ended up getting to the toilets at Horton. And they were one of the safety teams there and a guy called Ian. And I just went up to Ian and by that time, you know, when you're so cold, but your whole body is basically shaking. So you're not just your teeth chattering. You're actually shivering your whole body. And I said to Ian, I need to go somewhere to warm up. Obviously what I would have looked into there was, I just couldn't say care for a bit, but I've been straight out straight out at race if that had happened. And so the only thing that there is in Horton is the public toilets, but because all the other athletes have been going in there, the floor was soaked. Oh, it would just, but that's literally the only place you've got to shell up. And so Ian said to me, I can't let you set off on the cam high road in this state because one, we can't get the safety teams to you if something happens halfway along there. Because there's no drifts. So he said, you're going to have to stay here until you've warmed up. So into the women's toilets. And he just said to me, am I alright to do what I need to do to help you out. And I was just like, yeah, just help me. So wet clothes were off. All my lairs, all my spellers that I had went on, he inflated my thermorest mat, put me into my baby bag, put me into my sleeping bag and took me under the baby changing unit in the corner of the toilets. So I just curled up in a ball there and I would just lay in there for I think I was there two hours, maybe just kill up in a ball under the under the baby changing the toilet. But that was, I was right on the limit of if I were going to drop out that that is where it had been. Although Ian kept saying today I'm just going to be in HQ and just tell them what's going on. I was like don't tell them I'm dropping out Ian. I'm not dropping out. Don't tell them dropping out. It was like I'm not. I just need to get you started. So yeah so that was that was a bit of a bit of a moment and looking at the tracker I think that's where a lot of people ended up dropping because you've still got 14 or 40 miles to get to the checkpoint. You know that you're going over the Cam High Road, which was just ended up being like wastey drifts. So you knew it were going to take you away. Does it want like you thought off just got five miles and maybe an hour to checkpoint. You knew it were going to be ours. I'm trying to best know you interrupt because I want people to hear your story because it's fascinating all so much already. What time is this like is this day one as a day to. So this is so this is Monday night and we'd started Sunday morning. So we're on a day two. Right. Okay. Even in the evening. But this is we've been looking at the stats or when people do drop out. And it is a lot of it's a checkpoint one. A lot of it is there the highest percentage. And what you've been describing there about being curled up under that baby changing shelf. What's going through your mind. I mean, you're trying to get a heat. You're obviously cold. You're trying to hear about what's in your mind about the race apart from what the bloody hell am I doing here. Yeah. Yeah. Not what I envisioned so curling up on a table floor. I don't know. I don't remember really thinking anything about the race apart from just got to get warm going to get started and then I can then I can carry on. But I never once thought that I would drop out there. But I knew that I was close to I think if I hadn't been able to warm up and be so the next lady. Bev. She'd come into the toilets as well. And she was taking all the wet stuff off when I kind of woke up and peeped out my sleeping bag. So we had a bit of a chat and me and her decided to set off on the last leg together. But I think if that hadn't have happened, I'm not, I'm not sure I would have made that that journey. But these things happen sometimes I think for a reason that you and Bev who had no idea who Bev is but you do. And you did that together and that was one of the photographs that Spencer posted as well. When you were there that next day and moving together. Oh yeah. Yeah. You mentioned that Ian took off your wet stuff. Did you get that dry? What happens with that? I just hung it on the toilet door. I was actually hoping that hot toilets might have had like a hand dryer, but they had like, they had sort of this all in one thing where you shove your hand under and it put some like so upon then the water then the dry. So that was bloody useless. And it was so cold in the toilet. So I just had to put my wet. It back on again. But do you know what that Ron Hill jacket. So even though that was absolutely soaked through everything underneath that was was dry. And so once I'd managed to warm up again, I could put that jacket back over the top of what I had on. That quality gear is worth every penny of it's in there. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely is. Yeah, because I think a lot of people's waterproofs see a lot of people. If they were planning to move a little bit faster, they went for sort of a lightweight waterproof jacket, which is fine if you're trying to stay away in your cake. But I'm sure that's what ended a lot of people's races because you needed a really, a really good almost a walking like a really thick walking coat for that to be able to keep warm. And I'm sure a lot of people that had packed like a lightweight shower, shower jacket. If that would have just failed in those conditions. You just, you couldn't get warm. Yeah. Did you get warm? Did you feel your core get warmer? I didn't really get warm. I didn't really get warm because what had happened. I was in my bivé and then in my sleeping bag, but the sleeping bag had got wet because I'd spent half of the time falling on my ass coming down fountain spell. And that was at the bottom of my pack on my back. So every time I fell and sat on it, obviously it would get more and more wet. So the sleeping bag ended up being damp. So I didn't really, I cooled off, but I didn't really get sort of warm, warm because you soaked through out. Yeah. But that's my thing. That's the thing that's in my head just now, Mel. The challenge of being and moving in the conditions without heating your body, when did you get a heating your body across the week or did you? Yeah. No, no. What, when did I warm up? Yeah. Yeah. Well, what happened? So when Biv came in and she just said to me, she just said, get all your layers on and we'll just start hiking because the only way you're going to get warm is to try and generate body heat. And if we could keep drying, keep walking. So we put his ice spikes on, put all the layers on that we had and we just set off fast hiking up the Kam High Road. But once we've been going about even 10 minutes, because you come out of heart and it's straight uphill, and we were warming up there and we had all, she had a really, really good jacket on, which I loved. And as soon as we were hiking, we managed to obviously generate body heat, but I think what it was up until then, coming, you're coming down, found and spell, and then you've got a little up and then you're coming down off pen again, but you're not moving fast enough to generate body heat. Because it would just so icy then that you couldn't jog down, even though it were downhill, you couldn't jog down because that ended up being the problem that you were moving too slow to generate any heat. I'm smiling, I'm smiling because even in the conditions you're admiring babes jacket, I love that. Yeah, it was, it was lovely. Now you're talking about, you're talking about generating heat and we're talking about walking, maybe jogging, probably an appropriate time to talk about what was on your feet, what shoes did you wear? And while the innovate trail talons, say I had two pairs of those, I changed them at a horse actually, so they were a full size bigger than what I had and the deck shell socks on. So I started in a line of sock and the deck shells, and then after horse, I didn't wear a line of sock and I just wore the deck shells on their own then for the rest of the race. If the shoes got a big log on them, for grip. Yeah, yeah, really big look for grip and then add the micro spikes on as well for some of it. Okay, how am I? Deck shells, how were your feet across the week? Do you know what? I'm going to come out with a statement now, not one blister. Got to the end, took my socks off, my ankles were huge, so there was a lot more foot than there was when I first started, a lot more surface area. But I didn't have one blister the whole week, not one, didn't have to put any tear pond, didn't have to put anything, every checkpoint socks off, that squirrels nut butter, have you heard of that? Yeah, covered my feet in that peridic shell socks, just on their own, no line of sock. Yeah, no. I can feel, I can feel the searching of squirrels nut butter and deck shell as we speak. I know that's going to be one of the things, because people will be inspired. If it works for you, it might work for them, no guarantee, because everybody's definitely. But there's also, we should also give Flex the Tola plug at this point. Yeah, Flex the Tola. Flex the Tola as well, we should do that as well. So, that was your shoes. And then, people talk about the spine race, okay, and I know for the people up the front, I know that they're running hard. What was your experience of walking, hiking, running, jogging, was it mostly hiking? We're talking about it. Yeah, the weird thing was, Iran, most of Hadrian's wall, which is, what, 200 mile in? And then, Iran, a lot of over the tributes at the end, which is just baffling really, that you can still run, that far into something like that. Stephen talks a lot, he spoke to me a lot about that draw of the finish line. You're over 200 miles, you've never been to this place before in your head, or your body's never been pushed to that limit before. But maybe that draw the finish line, because in that last couple of days, the tracker gives you an estimated time of arrival. But you were smashing that, you were taking, like, sometimes hours off of that. So, you were obviously moving well. So, was there a shift in your head or something after day four? Absolutely. No idea, because my right shin was absolutely battered, so that started hurting Dave. But maybe day four, Thursday, when I came off Hadrian's wall, and he started going through more bog. I don't know what day that was. Oh, blows into one. But yeah, we're having a real problem with my shin, and I think that was, I've never had a problem there before, but I think it was pulling that leg out of, so for the first few days, you're pulling it out of the snow, and the snow and dreams. And then later on in the week, you were, like, stepping way left foot and then yanking your back foot out of the bog. And just all down the front of my shin was really painful by the last day. But I think it's one, adrenaline, and two, that you know you're going to do it, because there's absolutely no way I should have been able to run that last bit. You just shouldn't be able to do it, I don't think it. So, yeah, definitely adrenaline and just, you know, that the finish is coming. I wasn't really sure if I was going to ask this question, but I'm going to ask it right now, or when I was going to ask it. Was there ever a moment I'd doubt in your head that you were going to finish? Not in my head, no. I think even from when I started the mind, the mind was willing to finish. And I always knew in my head that if everything went all right, barring any injury, or barring any falls, or barring shriveling up in a toilet, that I could always picture the finish in my head, which I think mentally is what you need for something like that. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Most definitely. But I just think you can never prepare for what the week's going to throw at you. Do you know what I mean? And getting that, I'm not even going to call it a setback. Getting that challenge early doors that you described about Ian and Horton and going to the toilet and being in there and losing that body temperature and getting that back up. That could have been enough for a lot of people to think, this is not for me. But I think having that mindset of going in with, I'm going to finish unless something happens that medically, maybe I can't. Well, I'm just wondering, because for a lot of people, we see a lot. There was a brilliant video of a guy, Tim, I think his name was, who finished the spine, that he's third attempt, the first two, the first one, I think he said he felt about the event got to him and his head, maybe. Yeah. The second one, the second one, he had to pull out because of medical reasons, so there's nothing you can do about that. And then he finished it this year, which is, so obviously it gets under your skin. So I'm absolutely delighted you finished it the first time now. Me too, what do you do? The public toilets, they are public toilets. The Danny members of the public command, who know these runners were lying in all sorts of states. No, luckily, the time that I was there was, I think I ended up getting to the halls checkpoint at half, three in the morning. So probably 10, maybe 10pm. I've dropped one too. Oh, I met him before that. Yeah, so it had been an evening, Monday evening when I was in the toilet. So luckily, no, people might have come in while I were cold, but I didn't even pee part of my sleeping bag. I would just do a little, little cocoon. Yeah. And that also takes us to sleep. Before, I know it changes on the day or on the week. Did you have an idea or a plan to sleep? Before you started the race, about places that you would pick up or you would lie down. Or was it a case of taking it when you can? Yeah, I wasn't really sure. I ended up miles behind. So when I was myself, I think I'd finished maybe between four and six, Monday afternoon. So I thought adding some time on to that, I should get to halls 10pm, 10, 11pm. And obviously that all just went to pot with the conditions. So I ended up getting to halls at half. It was actually three, 33 Tuesday morning by the time I rolled into halls. So I was already miles behind what I thought should have been my first time to sleep. So yeah, it just all went to pot after that. There were no real plan. It would just to try and keep moving and then sleep at the checkpoints, if you can. But again, they're dead noisy. I think a lot of people, especially Sarah, she really struggled with the checkpoints because of how busy and how noisy they were. In the first few days, if the weather hadn't have been as bad as it was, I would have probably slept on the trail somewhere before we'd got to halls. But obviously you can't just light out of the snow because it wouldn't have been the most comfortable or warm. So yeah, my first, what I probably would have done knowing what the conditions were like is trying to sleep at head done. But I just thought that that would have been, if I'd have been moving better, that would have been too soon for me personally on sort of sleeping on the first day. But knowing how long that second section would have been, yeah, probably should have looked at head done. This is it though. You've got to make these decisions on the day and when they're moving checkpoints as well, and the distance is becoming greater between checkpoints. You know, this is the, yeah. And you're right, the conditions didn't lend themselves to sleeping outside. We've seen people hanging out of phone boxes and wherever they can get a bit of shelter. Yeah. Oh, man. There'll be people listening to this and they're going, "Pate it. There's no way I would do that." But equally there'll be people going, "Yeah, this is what I want." Yeah. I love for that. You mentioned Sarah, we should say Sarah Perry, previous guest friend of the show. Sarah finished 115 hours, so massive well done to Sarah Brawian. Yeah, absolutely. She did so well. Yeah, I mean, the women had a Brawian year, didn't they? Yeah, they sure did. And it were, it was just brilliant. Every time I got to a checkpoint, that what first thing we asked when I walked in, "How are girls doing? How are girls doing?" He just finding out, hoping that they're still moving. Obviously Hannah's race didn't work out. How she'd planned. But everybody else managed to manage to keep moving. And I think with the women, since all of them seem to spend quite a lot of time on the road, whether that were by choice or I purposely tried to spend more time on my own, you do end up sort of toing them from with the same sort of few people. Obviously Martin, I spent quite a lot of time. I went past and he went past and I went past, he slept a lot more than me, and then ended up catching up again. But yeah, I tried to spend most of the race just on my own, which is what I wanted to do. Yeah, yeah. A couple of things. You mentioned about you got a new horse at 333. Is that after the race, did you know that at the time? I didn't know that at the time. I had no idea. I only found out that because my friend Kirste, who was volunteering there, she messaged me two days ago and said she woke up at 333, looked, she was off shift. So she was upstairs in bed. And she said she woke up at 333, looked at the tracker and I had just arrived at a horse. So I had no idea what time it actually was, but I only found that out here two days ago. So it was already way behind. Yeah, I'm just thinking to remember that detail at that time, but it was after. Okay, and of course you've volunteered the horse yourself. You've been there. Yeah, yeah, I was there last January, so it was great. I knew a few people, the same people had volunteered the year I was there and they'd gone back again. So it was great to see some of them when I got the horse. So I ended up being their absolute ages because our bloody gas ain't too much as usual. Instead of just getting on, we saw in my kit out. I was like, oh, I just get on with it. Sides, come on. A couple of things. I'm maybe going to do this now. I was going to do it maybe later on, but let's do it now because I was talking about it. Let's say a wee bit about the race team and the volunteers. I know I've seen a lot of stuff on Blue Sky. The first time Blue Sky has really been mentioned on the Young House on Free Podcast. Dr. Nicky Lago plays a massive part in the organization of the volunteers for the Spine Race. Nicky was putting out loads of stuff. Do I say a wee bit? I'm just thinking about the logistics. Even putting in diversions and then even from the safety team helping you and keeping you safe. Do you want to say a wee bit about the Spine team and also the volunteers? Do you want to say a bit about that? I think a lot of the Spine volunteers go back every single year because they just love it so much. The good thing about the volunteers is they have seen athletes in varying states of mess and they're all so good. So when you turn up at a checkpoint and you just blubber in a way and say no I don't know if I can continue. Instead of them going oh it's alright, it's alright. Like they're just like right, let's get you some it to eat. You know like they're they're all just so none of them ever falter and start feeling sorry for you. They just they know that that's what people are going through. They know that that's what you've signed up for and they just get you some it to eat. Like they don't pesteer they'll just come over. What do you want to do here? Do you want to sleep? And they're just it's so organised and they're so on here with no judgement like with Ian. Like what I expected Ian when I came into the toilets to go go oh gosh oh it's alright. You like you need it and you're just like right get yourself started, curl up there, I'll come back in two hours and see how you're doing and that's what you need. You don't need someone you don't want somebody. You feel like you want somebody to feel sorry for you and give you a hug and tell you it's alright but you do. You need someone to sort you out and send you on your way again because you don't want to drop out and you don't want to be molly coddles you just need a little bit of a shove to get going again and that's what they do when you're in the checkpoints. Obviously I could have sat there all day gassing because that's what I do and then every so often they'll be like no like any chance you leave in any time soon and they'll be like oh yeah yeah. Yeah because that coddle in a hug that can be nice but it can also tip you into that I'll just stay here. You know and you know so yeah it's that tough tough love but done the kindness yeah I totally totally get that. And that's why I think they have the same volunteers back most of the time because they get it. Yeah yeah yeah absolutely. Um. Low points. Let's talk about if there was a lowest point for you. Do you want to describe that? It's weird because there was a lot of low points in the race but it was all part of it so I don't see it as a bad thing. So I just, I think it was day three or four and I set off from Duften to go cross fell. And for some reason I started crying going up the ascent of cross fell and I cried all the way until I got to Alston checkpoint. But I wasn't upset and I wasn't sad. I was just I think it was just an emotion probably over tiredness and just the emotion of doing the event and going up cross fell. But it still wasn't a low point even though I was crying it wasn't a low point because I hit the summit of cross fell at four p.m. It was an amazing sunset and I had a really nice cloud inversion on the whale. I was doing what I loved to be doing. I was in an event that I've always wanted to do so I wasn't crying because I was upset. I just don't know why I just couldn't stop. It was really weird and there were a couple of points where it would just getting a little bit tedious. It was a long downhill and through a forest before you get to burn ice and that like on a forest like a fire track. And that was I was sleepwalking there and I was trying to seem to myself to keep myself awake wobbling all over and it just seemed machine worth killing. It just seemed to go on for ages and you know you're getting closer to the finish. So that was a, yeah it's hard because I don't see it as a low point because it's part of the race but it was a not so enjoyable bet. Not so much I love that but maybe that's down to your mental preparedness and you've built in resilience that you've got. You know maybe that isn't it? But it's also a good way to frame it. It's just it's part of what's happening. Yeah. Sleep keeps coming back in my mind. Have you any idea how much sleep you actually had across the week? No, a couple of times. So when I got into some of the checkpoints I'd always set my alarm for three hours when I went up and got into bed, but maybe an hour and a half was the most I had in any one chunk in any of the checkpoints. And I just woke up and thought right that's, that's obviously what I'm having. There's no point laying here for another hour. So I just get up and crack on again. So, but yeah I'm not, I'm not really, not, not a lot, the round up. Yeah, not, not a lot at all. That's cool. And are we curious question from me as well? What's in that pack? It's on your chest and the front. What's in there? Snacks, snacks, snacks on my phone. So is that what you need? I was talking about this and it's not what you need like today. You got the backpack obviously, but you don't want to be in about that or the time. So that's what you're needing just to move forward. Yeah. Yeah. So I had a little sandwich bag in my drop bag. I had a sandwich bag with enough food that I thought that ended up with way too much food. But what had planned to get me from one checkpoint to another. So every checkpoint took out the plastic bag that was in my little camp, my little kangaroo pouch, put the next one in and then set off with that. So I had like my phone, my charging pack and the little food parcel in that, in that little front pocket. Just so it were easier access and fettling around in your pack. Yeah, kangaroo pouch. That's a perfect description, actually, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Right. And you mentioned Austin, which leads on. Austin, lasagna. Is it what is built up to be? It was amazing. Yeah, it was so good. And do you know what? It's little things like that. The quite iconic part of that race. So a hone instead fam, raster Ralph, the lasagna. So it makes it a little bit easier to take off in your head, each portion of the race, because I thought, right, lasagna is next. So we were crying going up Crossville. Obviously, there's Greg's hook before that. John Bamba making his noodles. So you drop down to Greg's hook. And then I knew the next point after that was Austin, but it all makes it ticking off. Because I think if you think of the race as one thing, it's just too much. You just can't compute finishing that. And whereas, like right now, I need to get to the noodles at Greg's hook. Right. And now I need to get to the lasagna. Now I need to get to there. So you just, yeah, ticking off each section, but the lasagna were great. So four portions, I arrived there, four portions of that, went to bed, managed to think an hour and a half until I was in room on my own at Austin, actually. And then after an hour and a half, Martin arrived, started his snoring. Thanks, Martin. And so I got up as Martin, got into bed and started snoring, and I went downstairs and got ready to carry on then. So three questions about Austin that you've just, with the lasagna, is it just lasagna, or do you get chips or garlic bread and everything like that? No, there were no chips or garlic bread. No, there was lasagna, various different lasagnas. So they had a gluten free one and they had a veggie one. So there was different lasagnas. And there was some other food as well, but I don't think anybody really goes for that. Okay. Yeah, Austin lasagna is Austin lasagna. Four portions is a good, that's a good, that's a good help. And I don't think that's the record. The record's something in double digits. Somebody. Oh, yeah. Somebody smashed it. I think somebody's at 12, 12, 13, somebody's up there. And, Austin, you mentioned there again, the room yourself for a bit. Is it warm? Is it cozy? It's just, it's just a YHS. So there was the bunk beds. So I was on the bottom bunk bed. You need to take your sleeping bag up. And so it's like those white, clean mattresses, sticky mattresses. And so you go up where you sleep in bag. So I had my sleeping bag that was in my pack. And then I had another sleeping bag in my drop bag, which was what someone had said to do so that you're not faffing about getting the one out of your packet at the checkpoints. So I took my sleeping bag up that was in my drop bag. And yeah, they were, they were pretty quiet. And I'm a really light sleeping armament. But I think you're just that knackered. You shut your eyes and you're out like a light. You don't sleep well, but you get enough to be able to get up and carry on again. Okay. And then you mentioned Martin a couple of times. I want to speak about Martin. Martin Morrison is a very good friend of the show. Listen to the show. We've met him in his very few times. Both it has been in Perth helping out at the Anglo Celtic plate, met him with the legs a couple of times. He's run and he's done the 50s, done the 100s. So, and he was taken on the spine. And for a good portion, certainly the last few days, dot watching, as you've already described, we've seen you and Martin were moving around each other. But do you want to say a wee bit about Martin? Well, well done, Martin for finishing as well. Do you want to say a wee bit about Martin? Oh, yeah. Well done to Martin. He was. And I think he had fast-tiked most of it. And so it just shows the different tactics. So the weird thing was me and Martin stood next to each other, chatting on the start line. So we were together. Oh, they're about nearly the whole race. So I got to Hebden Bridge and he was there. He had a three-hour sleep at Hebden Bridge. And I carried on. Martin then appeared as me and Bev came out of the toilets at Horton. He was just coming into Horton. So we did the Cam High Road together. So there was a lot of the race where we were just back and forward going on Hadrian's Wall. He appeared. We ended up in the same room at Alston. We both ended up sleeping in the church at Burnes together and then finished more or less the same time. So, yeah, great guy. We had some nice chats. He was very much like me where he wanted to complete a lot of it on his own. So when we came across each other, we had a bit of a chat, "Oh, you all right? Yeah, how are you doing?" He was sleeping more than I was sleeping, but then moving quicker between when he was sleeping. But yeah, great guy. And then we both knew that we wanted to spend the race, like a lot of the race, more or less on his own. So we just split it up and then ended up seeing it. But yeah, and nearly every checkpoint I saw him at him. Yeah, but that's what happens, though. You meet people, well, it's long enough where you can have time on your own, but you can also have these little meet-ups and conversations with people. And I'm sure there are other people. You've already mentioned Bev and Martin. Was there anybody else that you were coming along the way at different points? Just them, really. There was two lads and I can't remember the names. Oh, I think one was called James. So we were twin in frame with them a little bit as well. But only them, really, that ended up spending more time with. It's crazy to think 268 miles, isn't it? And you're doing that because we were watching these dots where there was quite a lot of dropouts as well. That's so fascinating, so, so fascinating. You mentioned earlier that you put your phone on and you saw Twitter and you saw what Spencer had been up to. Were you aware of what was happening outside the day? But I saw your media device. No, no, no, not at all. No, I had, obviously, I'd set up that WhatsApp group just to put some pictures in that Spencer was taken out of. But I didn't really read any other my WhatsApp messages didn't, didn't really go on my social media, mainly because of a lot of the time, and three pair of gloves on. So you just won't get to your phone to start faffing about. And then once you got to a checkpoint, like, I didn't really get my phone out and start, start scrolling. Because you just end up in a hole then, no, yeah. And just needed to get some it to eat and get to sleep and carry on. So, no, I hadn't, I hadn't really looked. Okay, that's cool. I really looked. It didn't like look at the tracker or anything like that. And how they were doing, but yeah, no. Oh, nice. I asked previous spine winner, she'd say winter, spine winner, Debbie Martin-Kinsani, if she'd ask you a question. And the question that they became back with, where did you get the best cup of tea? Well, the best cup of tea I got was what Nikki made me when I finished. So when I went into the hole at the end, well, actually, she'd made it for herself. So she came and sat next to me for a chat and she'd met herself a cup of tea and I looked down and I said, "Oh, that looks a good brew, Nikki." "Oh, do you want it?" So she'd actually made it for herself and then she donated it to me and met herself, another one. So that was the best cup of tea that I had. And that just sums up the spine team perfectly, doesn't it? I've made this for myself, but you can have it. I love that. I love that. But I also know that tea is important, you know, because I was teaching you and now there's cups of tea. So brilliant. Cool. And you mentioned your kangaroo pouch and the food bag that was in there. What were you using? What was in your food bags that you'd made up? So there was the instant mashed potato packets. So I think I only had. I bought about 10 of those and only two in the end, one at Malam Tan and I can't remember where the other one was. I was having, I did have some gels. I don't normally go with gels, but I did have a couple of gels. They were the protein rebel maple gels. So Laura Swanson Rovalen, she'd given me one of those when we went on as Wrecky Weekend because I'm a bit funny with gels because they can do dodgy stuff to your guts, can't they? So she gave me one of those, and it worked really well. So I had a couple of those in there. Haribo flat jacks, the usual sugary stuff. Would you recommend the mashed potato? Oh yeah, absolutely. So easy to make. So you just put one of those packets into your little metal cup that had 200 milliwatt and absolutely brilliant. Brilliant. The cheesy one, cheesy mash. I think it's called Ida Huns or something. But yeah, that would be great. Brilliant. It's actually pretty good. Yeah, it should be an actual sample. If you can send the link, you'll be in it in the summertime. If you can send the link, then we can add that in the show notes. We can do that. People can try it for themselves, because you know, people are always looking for something nutrition wise, and I'm assuming there's salt in that as well, and I'm thinking, but it's good to try again, go and try it for yourself and see if it works for you. Even something different, just to change the taste of things over the course of a long event can be brilliant. What about water? Now that's a thing, water, because it's cold and you're not moving as quick as you would to run with hydration on your mind, or did that all work out okay? So every checkpoint I left with both my bottles full with tailwind, so I had the berry tailwind in, and do you know what I did? I don't think I refilled my bottles between checkpoints on any day. No, I didn't. Yeah, so I filled them up, left the checkpoints with them full, but then never had to refilling between between the checkpoints, which seems weird, don't you? It does, given a distance, you know, but then maybe the conditions, and you weren't maybe generating loads of sweat as well to be doing that, but as long as you were, you never felt dehydrated, which is good. No, I didn't, no, not at all. But like the, if you think about the section from Langdon Beck, so there was a, there's a caffeine duffton, so I'd add a coffee there, and a can of pop, and then you get to Greg's hut, and they gave you a cup of tea, so even though I didn't fill my bottles, I was getting fluids between between the checkpoints at various different spots. What was the worst bit of weather you came across? The worst bit of weather was from after my lantern, over fountains fell, and down pen again that were just sheet ice, and you're moving so slow. And then the cam high road, so I think that cam high road normally would, when I've done the summer race, five hours, I think it sort of takes, and it took me and Bev, me, Bev and Martin, I think eight and a half, on race day, just so the wind, the rain, it was dark, it was foggy, the snowdrifts, it were really, really, really tough going. But now I'll look back on it, it were, it were enjoyable, it won at the time, it were horrendous, but it was enjoyable, it was tough. I think I wouldn't have wanted to do that section on my own, I've been interested to see what Martin thought about that section as well, because we were all just death marching on there. I remember reading a book, I read the number of Scott Durex books, and one of the things that he said, he was talking about mantras, and you'd be saying that when it gets really tough and when it's hellish, one of his mantras was this is what I signed up for. You weren't thinking that at that point in the week, when you're just described, you know, yeah, it's quite fascinating. The human resilience and how we can move through these things, I absolutely love that. Biggest learning for the Spain. With regards to the race or just in general. Oh, let's go with the race first. Oh, biggest learnings from the race was, if I was to do it again, be a lot more efficient in the checkpoints, stop talking so much, I think most people would probably say, stop yapping, get on with it. Be a bit more efficient in the checkpoints. But if you're doing it just to complete it and get to the end, then that's fine, because that's all part of the experience of it, meeting people and having a chat. And biggest learn. Biggest male seats then. Are you ready to beat yourself? I'm tough. Yeah, I can get out and carry on. And even when you think that you're in a bad spot, you just wait a few hours and it comes back around again, like everything comes back around. So on some of the really, really bad bits. And you just have to wait them out, just ride it out and a good thing will come back. Yeah, that's too short pass. Yeah, I like that. There's too short pass. Yeah. And I've noticed a few times that tattoo on your arm, the brain. Yeah. Yeah, that was in focus. You wouldn't be aware of that, but that was in focus for the page on the BBC website about this girl from Yorkshire. Yorkshire, who's had a brain operation. She's a way of doing this. This run. Yeah. Does that even comment on your psyche at all? Is that something that you've, it's happened? You've moved on. You're now who you are now. Yeah, that's so we'll say hopefully, hopefully touch wood. That's been recovered from. And this is the next, next chapter. I didn't realise, actually, so I've done an interview with Lee at the hospital about, they wanted to do a little write up about me recovering from the surgery and going into the spine. But I didn't realise that that had come out because the BBC put that out, but the race had already started then. And so I didn't even realise that that had gone out after the race, which it, and then it will, when I got to one of the checkpoints and I think it was halls. And someone said to me, Oh, this articles come out on the BBC and I was like, Oh, wow. But yeah, I didn't, I didn't know that they'd put that out. I think, I think Lee's hospital put it out as a media at like a press release and then it's just whoever picks it up there, but I didn't expect the BBC. I thought like the local paper might pick it up, but I didn't expect it to be on BBC. So that was great. Yeah, it's good, it's good exposure. And I think a lot of the comments that I've seen have been around people who themselves or they know people who have the carry malformation. And it gives, it gives them as well, you know, it's, and being inspiring is what the Yorkshire correspondent does. There was also lots of comments about do it for Yorkshire, wasn't there? There was a lot of that. Have you ever looked back? Have you had the chance to look back at messages? Yeah, I'd have looked. Yeah, well, I've been away. I've been having a look through the track and there's some, there's some real, it really chucks you up. There's some from, it just says, "Oh, we think you're a braille male." And then it's like Isabelle Three and Eleanor Five and I just think, "Oh gosh." So they've obviously got their parent to put the little comment on. So, yeah, and they're the sort of people that you want, like young girls like that. They're the ones that you want to see. You want them to see somebody, especially a woman doing something like this and think, "Oh gosh, maybe I could, maybe I could get into something like that." Yeah, definitely. And you mentioned, in your wee, there was a wee video, you were part of, I don't know what day it was, but the Spine official video, they put a clip of you. And you mentioned there about women and going out and doing stuff, don't wait for tomorrow, so I start to go and crack on and get it done. And as an inspiration, when you see messages like that, it's brilliant. I also seen a message. Was it from the toilet attendant? There was a message from a toilet attendant. I don't know if that was early on, but just to what people put in and how they describe themselves, it's quite brilliant. Yeah, it must be quite emotional, we can order afterwards. Oh, yeah, well, yeah, when I finished it, it took me a couple of days to read them, so they gave you a niche, but I couldn't read them for a few days. So, I read them when I got on holiday, or having a little bit of a read-through, but gosh, yeah, they're mad at people that were following the race, and even people thinking to go on and leave a comment, like, even when I were mid-race and people were putting stuff on, like, oh, you've done day three, and you just think, oh, gosh, we're so like the following year. And it's, yeah, we're just so brilliant knowing that there were people willing you won all the time. Yeah, definitely. It's a amazing endeavor. And I think I actually got invested in other people too, because you go on that and then you read their story. They're going to say the spine, the spine official social media is really, really good. We give them UV insights to people's stories and what they're doing it for, and they're raising for doing stuff. And then you go and you check where they are on the track and you leave them a message, and then you browse what other messages are, and you're like, oh, my God, it's just so, so good. It's absolutely amazing. Would you do it again? Do you know what I've been wondering about this for the last couple of days? When I first finished, I said that I wouldn't do it again, because that raised for me. I had such a good, bad experience, like I got the real gritty weather the first few days, then got the better weather, managed to run, spent the time in checkpoints, hit cross fell in daylight, all that day on Hadrian's wall were just so, so good. I do think, if I went back and it wasn't as good experience, I had the best experience that I wanted and got everything out of that race that I wanted at that time. If I went back again, trend again, put yourself through that maybe you've finished five hours faster, but what does that really mean? Because if the experience isn't as good, all right, you finished it fast about the conditions are different, and it's not about the time, is it on something like that? It's about the whole race experience that I had, such a good race experience and love every second of it that I won't want to go back and then it not be as good. Yeah, I get that, I get that, and even we can previous course records and previous course records, the conditions are different, aren't they? Yeah. I don't think that we get two years with the same. It's even been spoken about that this year was the most hellish ever. Would you agree? I can imagine, yeah, I can imagine. Obviously, I've not done it previous years to be able to compare, but I think just the rate of dropouts and the conditions of those first two days, definitely, definitely made it challenging. When did the spine first come on your radar? Well, for me, it's been on my radar quite a while, because part of the pen I wear just passes just up where I live. So I've been up to watch the race come through six, seven years, every January I've gone up, but it's always one of those, like, oh, else I want into the longer distance running then. So you just think, wow, look at them crazy bastards. I'll never do out like that. But I think the niggling thoughts always there, but you just don't think that you're capable of it yourself. Well, you proved that wrong, haven't you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did the late lint 100 play a big part in the belief for the spine? Oh, yeah, absolutely. So that was my thing we'd be covering from the up this year. The first one was the pen I'm barrier, one of the GBL truss ones that I did in May, and I thought, right, if I can do that, then I can do Lakeland. And then once I managed to complete Lakeland, I thought, do you know what? I think I'll be able to do the spine. And then it's just a case of getting through the training, even to get through the training on injured for something like the spine is just mega. Yeah, how did you rock up at the start line? How were you feeling physically? All right, yeah, I've been pooling for the side. I didn't run for just over two weeks, I think, before the start of the spine, because I've been pooling, I had a bit of a virus, which I think a lot of people had had really just that time here. And I thought I'd done enough hiking and distance wise to be able to get through. I just want sure how this virus did affect me, because as soon as you start doing anything like that, any little niggle or anything, it's going to pull it out from the depth, isn't it? I lost my voice on that little video, where I'm just like croaky, croaky voice. I lost my voice on day two, and that didn't come back until maybe two days ago. But yeah, I think I probably wasn't 100% well as in virus wise, but I had no injuries. So you think that two weeks where you didn't run before, did that actually play in your favor, physically, on the race? You're never going to know I don't think I am. You're never going to know, no, because I think for something like the spine, all the training's done, even in the build up to the lakeland, so a lot of hiking, a lot of getting out there, just being out on your feet. So I wasn't worried in those two weeks that fitness wise we're going to go, because I just don't think that matters, it's what you've been doing over the year leading up to it. Yeah, but maybe you're starting forced rest as well, it's giving your legs a chance to be fresh, or as fresh as the candy, you know? Yeah, yeah. I've written down here, lockets, we had a conversation, because you'd been reading race reports and blogs and stuff before, when you were in that two week period of not running. And somebody had mentioned about using lockets for the voice and for the throat, did you heed that advice? I did. Oh, that was in my little pouch at the front as well, I always had a packet of lockets in there. I told my mum that I'd read about having a packet of lockets with you on the race, obviously she bought me five packets. So I always had a packet of lockets, and every so often just put one of those in. I think it definitely helped with the cold as well the first two days, breathing in the really cold air. And so that's one thing I would definitely, if anybody's thinking of doing the spine, or any of the long distance race is actually a packet, especially in cold weather packet of lockets. Yeah, fantastic. Top tip. Top tip. Not saying that Randy Sykes will buy you five packets, but a top tip from Mel Sykes. No, I was just, one of my questions was about what would you say, you've just maybe answered part of it, what would you say to somebody thinking about even thinking about doing the spine, what would you say to them? I would say, do it. Obviously. I think there's enough of the longer distance races, there's enough other races to build up to something like that. The thing with the spine is just the lack of aid stations and the lack of crew. So long days out on your own, making sure that you carry everything, and the pack's quite heavy to carry. So making sure that you're used to carrying that amount of weight, because I know Laura, her race had ended the last couple of years because her back went because of the pack, and so getting used to that. But yeah, just start with the spring and build up that's obviously the other distances. What would have been my idea would probably have been to do the challenge in North before I did the full spine. I think that would have been the more sensible way to do it, because then it's going past those two nights and having that experience. But we're what had happened with the old brain leak. I just wanted to go in and make sure I could do the spine because you just don't know how recovery is going to be after that. I would have built up using smaller distances rather than going straight in for the main race. Yeah, so just there's loads of information there, I think, as well about the spine and the racers and people listening to this. You've given a lot of information here as well. So there's no there's no reason not to find out about stuff, you know. Oh, yeah, there's like a stuff out there. I think what you're saying though, it's about getting your foot on the route. I think that's what I mentioned the guy earlier on the guy Tim that finished it. He is a spine finisher. He's done it where he hadn't completed the two years before, but he has no. And he said in his, it was almost like, you know, when football matches finish and they want to speak to the captain of the manager just as it's finished. Imagine putting a camera in somebody's face at that point and that's what it did to that guy. I was asking him how to use questions and what he was saying. One of the things that you said that happened was the records and it's like getting a foot on the route and getting the training done and that's just what you've described. And there are other events that will give you that build up in distance before you go for two, six, eight. Yeah, that is mental. It is 260 miles. Honestly, bro. Can I take you? Can I take you back last week to burn this? How past the Friday morning? That's when you arrived at burn this. Oh, right. Yeah, I'm just checking. I've got it up in front of me. And what were you thinking there? You know, you're going, well, were you hoping to finish on that day now because it's Friday morning, half past eight. Do you know what I didn't know? I didn't have a clue what, what time of day or what day it was by then the section before that. So I'd got to Bellingham checkpoint and that checkpoint is just the worst of the whole race. So you're in, there's like a small area with a load of seats in and then next to that, there's a wooden hall way that you sleep on the floor off. But there's just a door that's opening every two minutes between where you sleep in and where everybody's coming in to get ready. So it's really noisy. It's really cold. So I'd gone into Bellingham, gone into the hall to try and sleep thinking that I might have three or four hours and ended up. I don't know. I need to have a look back at the times really and see how long I was there. So I got up and left Bellingham, then. Must have been early hours in the morning, I think, to do the section over to Burnes. And there's a really long descent down a fire track that seems to just go on for hours and hours down into Burnes. So I was going down there, falling asleep on my feet, entering HQ at one time to make sure I would go in the right way. I had the route on the watch and I could see the line and I knew I was on the right route. But I run HQ and just said, "Can you just tell me if I'm going right way?" And she was like, "Yeah, just keep going, you're on." But I just no idea what we're going on there. Got to Burnes. So it was half eight in the morning when I got to Burnes, was it? Oh, right. So then you go into this like a 30-minute monitoring checkpoint in Burnes. And basically they just fell you over there to make sure that you're safe enough to set off over the TV ads because there's hope one and hope two. But there isn't very much of anything over that section. It's really bleak. So yeah, you go in there and they just start asking you a few questions. You gave me some coding for my shin because I was struggling with that. And then I went and tried to have a little nap in the church, which is where Tom took the photo then just as I bedded down. Oh, do you know what? I was so tired. So I killed it on the floor of the church. And obviously Tom took the photo and just got comfortable. I found a little blanket to put on myself, shut my eyes, nodded off, and then somebody came in and started sweeping. The guy, I think he must be there. I think he must be the caretaker of the church blessing. So I just literally shut my eyes ready for a nap. Just managed to get warm enough that I could fall asleep and I heard this. I thought, what the hell is that? Open my eyes and this man's just sweeping up all the mud. Obviously the race has been dropped down the aisle of the church and he was sweeping. And I just opened my eyes and I just thought I'm not going to get back to sleep now. So I started to sit up and he went, oh, yeah, you're right. I said, have you been having a good race? I was like, yeah, thank you. But they put a little tea and coffee station in the church as well. So I made myself a coffee there next to that. Martin was still fast asleep on one of the pews. So he managed to sleep through the sweeper. And then I got up and started off over the TV. It's then for the last day. Why did you choose to sleep on the other? Because it's a brilliant photograph. It was just where, so there was a couple of people in the pews at either side. It's only a really small church. And so that was really the only other, the only other place I could sleep right at the front. And there were people, I think there were maybe, it might only be five pews each side. So it's a really diddy cute little church. And so that were the only, and those, these two mats on the floor and those were there already. So I laid down on them. So someone else must have already made their, made their little bed out. So I just thought, oh, that looks comfy. Because it was almost like the alternative Yorkshire Nativity scene. This is, it was brilliant. And I noticed as well that the Bishop of Newcastle, who's a keen follower, she had tweeted about how the church opens its doors for the spine race and people are welcome. And she loved the fact that that photograph had been used. So, but you know, Tom's last name, it took the photograph. Tom Hoyle. Tom Hoyle, because it's an app. Tom Hoyle, yes. So on his Instagram, it is Instagram handles ultra aim possible. So yeah, ultra aim possible. It's on the right that he gets cared for that because it's a, it's a brilliant picture. No, when you leave Bernays, I have a hero about Hot One and Hot Two. What are the lovely hats? What's that, Hot Two? No, yeah, the literal edge, just a shed, just a little shed that's plunked on the hill. And so I can't remember how far they were actually from Berness until we got to, until we got to the hooks. And the first one seemed ages to get to, but the guys in Hot One and Hot Two were just absolutely brilliant. So bearing in mind, they get up there at the, for the start of the race, and they camped out in little tents outside the hut for the full week. Because once you're up there, you, you're stuck up there for the week. So they've got, they had a little bit of music playing. And the first hut had, when he went in, they had four boards on the wall. So they were writing down everybody's name, everybody's number and the time and the day. So when I looked at the boards on the wall, the first one was Damien Hall, because he was doing a Rekke of the new Charlie sprint north route. So obviously he'd been through on his Rekke of the route. So his name was first an L.A. second, because those two were doing the Rekke. And then it was just great looking at everybody's names and what times and what days. They'd been through and I were looking for the girls' names to see. And all the challenge in North people, obviously, they'd been through as well. So they were, they were just absolutely brilliant in the huts because they knew that people were completely buggered by then. But they were really teary, mediocre tea, like heated up any dehydrated meals that you wanted and then, and then you carried on. But literally they are just a square wooden hut, nothing in there. Nothing in there at all. So you don't stop there? Yes. I stopped there, just had a cup of tea and then carried on. Yeah, carried on to the next hut. And the next, so a hut too then, is you come down off one of the descents that was bloody horrible. And I just, I fell so many times going down that. And Martin were laughing his head off, I spent half of my time sat on my ass, got to hut too. They were playing. So the two, two of the guys that were in hut too were young huts, run free listeners. Ah, brilliant. And when I got in there, they had the Venga Boys lined up because, you know, that's one of the songs that I'd picked when we did a podcast before. So, yeah, so two of them were, were podcast listeners, really, really nice guys. And they said, Oh, we've got you tunes lined up. So they played Venga Boys, made me a cup of tea. Some more coding for my, for my leg, just to get me through to finish. And then you set off from hut two on the final. I love that because they'll be watching your door, getting the Venga Boys lined up. I love that. Yeah. Well done. Yeah, they were, they were absolutely brilliant. Each runner, they'd done a little bit of research on each person. So they had a song, I don't know how they managed to find out, obviously for mine, they'd listened to young huts, run free and got the Venga Boys, but other people, I don't know how they'd managed to find out what, what their song were, but they were playing that for you and, Oh, yeah, it were, it were brilliant. They're just the wee touches that make a massive difference. Yeah. Just something like that. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. Because you think you feel like you're nearly there when you get to, too, but there's another climb to do called the shill, since then. So you go up and over the shill before you drop down. So every time you just think, oh, I'm just, I'm nearly there. I'm nearly there. So what else just, just in your way to get to finish again, though, that's the beauty of doing the reki because you know, although, you know, you know, I never knew it was called the show, but you're doing that. So let's go at the top of the show. Mm hmm. Yeah. You're then on the final descent and they cut you at them. Is that what happens? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. You go to the top of the show, which I couldn't see because it was, it was that by then. Yeah. And for some reason, I couldn't remember the shill from when we did the, the reki. I don't know why, maybe because we were all just chatting so much, but I thought it was hooked to and then down all the way and I'll win my in again by then. And he says, oh, we've got, we've just got to go up and over it, shill. And I was like, aah, damn it. Yeah, because you're late, I'm looking at this. You got a hot two, half as five on Friday in the evening. And then just under three hours later, you were approaching cut down. So that, describe that, that we even had to, is there emotions going through you, then, you know, you know, you're going to finish. You know, you're going to finish. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So what was going through your mind at that point? Um, well, I was with Martin then, and we decided that we were going to walk, both walk to the finish together, but then, oh, just getting so cold, um, so I said to my, and my shin was hurting so much, um, and I said to my, and while these co-ordines are kicking, I'm just going to have to run to the finish and just needed to get it, get it over way and get the pain in my leg to stop. So, um, I managed to run, run that last bit, but you just, you know, it's not far away. So you set off running and you managed to do maybe 100 meters and then you think, oh, I'm going to have to walk because you, my leg were in, so you walk a couple of pastes and then you think, oh, no, run, it'll be over quicker. So you set off running again and you just in this weird, like running a 50 meters and then having to walk, but then realizing walking really slow. So you try and run again, uh, and I knew my mum and dad were going to be there. So that were, that were great. Yeah. Well, yeah, it's a, it's a weird, weird feeling because I expected to cross the line and burst into tears, but I think you just that relieved and you're in that much pain by then that you, you're glad that you've finished. Yeah. When does it, when does it come into sight because it's night time and they've got lights that cut you out of the pub and they've got the archways and they're all that up. When do you actually see, how far away from the finish when you actually see the lights? Oh, only under meters, something like that. And when you see it, because it's, uh, oh, ah, ah, yes, thank you. We are live. Good authentic. I love it. The clean as well. Um, yeah, you don't, you don't actually see Kurt yet on until, um, right until the last minute, you're only maybe a hundred meters from the finish because there's a real steep road climb and you go up and over the hill, run down the road a little bit and then you can just see it on the right hand side, um, as you come into the, actually into the village. So it's right at the last moment when you managed to see the, the lights. And there's a good crowd and, um, people with air at the finish, isn't there? It's, it's quite brilliant. Yeah. And your folks were there. And then you touched the wall, you kissed the wall, you do whatever you want to wall and achieve. And achievement are quite magnificent, you know, it's just the strength of this audience, the character, the physical, the mental, the emotional things that you must be going through then. But just to touch that wall and know you're done, was it, you, you describe it. You were feeling then, and it was over. Just, I don't know, it's really hard to describe how you feel because in one way, everything just hurts so much that you're just glad it's over. In another way, you're just so, like, proud of yourself for managing to get there. And then you start thinking back of the, the days that what you've been through to actually get to the finish, and it's a bit overwhelming, actually, because you've spent so much time on your own and then all of a sudden you're coming to, yeah, I mean, there's all the people around. And as soon as you cross the line, they do like a little mini interview with you, because then they gather some information to put out on your finished post. So for every finisher, they do a Facebook post and a little write up, which is really good. And you get that information off what you say at the finish, but your brain's complete mush by then. So you, you're just waffling along. Sorry, I'm just looking at my phone there. The reason I'm looking at it is Lana Davenport was there and she filmed you finishing, but she shared and tagged in young hearts from free. So massive, getting a bit emotional, think about it, massive, thank you, Lana Davenport for sharing that with us, because we were, we were then able to share that on Instagram as well. So thank you, Lana. Who gave you your medal? My mum. I thought it was that because everything was getting medals from like the guys with the race team and stuff. And all I can look at was somebody saying, there's somebody here. That's a brilliant touch as well, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So my mum managed to, and they'd waited there. I think they'd been there since I don't know, four or five o'clock waiting for me to come in, bless him. So they were probably looking at my dog thinking, if I can't say it, get on with it last. I didn't know about it too long. I didn't know about it too long, you know, you'll get a cup of tea at the pub and then there you go, then you're coming home, but she's brilliant. And then I had, so when you finish, you go into the Borde Hotel and you have one of the volunteers allocated to Le Cafftea and mine was lovely Lindsay. Mad Maggie from Treska. Yeah. Who's been a spine, you've mentioned about people going back. Lindsay's been there a number of times as well, so over the years, say a few words about Lindsay. She was just absolutely brilliant when I finished. So I think they did have some food on, but me and Martin had been talking about getting a burger and Martin actually from hook two, he'd rung the pub and pre-ordered me and him. And I think they call Borde, Borde burgers or something. So, say it was actually with it enough to wring the hotel from hook two to put as ordering for his burgers. Oh yeah. So I had the burger, but Lindsay was just great, she must have seen people in all sorts of states, but she took my socks off, she gave me a little bowl of hot water to put my coffee in, just looked after you, started your stuff out, started your bag out, she were brilliant. And it was really nice to have somebody like her there at the finish. So somebody recognized, somebody who knows you, and she looked after me. And then Nikki LIGO was there at the finish as well, so then I stole her brew offer and we had a bit of the chat as well. It's brilliant, you say it's nice to have somebody that you know and you recognize. And it's so people are really lovely and attached and invested in the whole running journey, you know. So I love her all comes together, I'm really happy that it was your one that gave you the medal. And I never knew that, so that's why I really wanted to ask, I love that. How does this 268 miles, how does that make you feel about the other distances, like 50 miles, 100 miles that you've been used to doing, you've done 120 before, you've done the UTS, it was a long one, wasn't it? No, UTS, I did the 50k. Right, okay, okay, but well, having done 268, what's next for mail settings? No longer, no longer. I would like to go back to the spine again at some point, but I don't think I'll go any further. If there is anything further than that, I don't think that was my bucket list race really. And it definitely doesn't make the shorter ones any easier because I think you're more likely to race race those, I don't know, you've put the effort in. Yeah, it's about how you approach that distance at the start, isn't it? Because that's what your mind does at the start of what you're doing, so yeah, wow. How long you taking off? Running. Yeah. Probably a month, I think. And it'd also be remiss of me and a lot of people will now be saying, "Are you going to ask her about her, Shen? How is your Shen?" It's so, I think it's still a little bit swollen, actually, so when that goes down a little bit, but touch-wood, so I've got a fella about maybe a mile from the, maybe a mile from the end, me and Martin were together, and after I'd said to him, "Oh, I'm going to set off and run this last bit." I must have got maybe set off running, maybe 20 metres away from him and tripped over a rock. So I'm cracked. Oh, no, honestly, you just can't believe it. That was just tiredness, it was dark, tripped over this rock and ripped a hole in the ome out that I had across the front. That's why it's not on the finish photo because it's got a big rip across from it, so I took that off before I crossed the line and cracked my ribs, so my ribs on the right-hand side are a little bit sore from that fall. But apart from that, I think I don't, touch-wood, I don't think there's any injuries. I think it's just general knackeredness that hopefully should settle down, but yeah, my ribs have been the worst, especially because I got a bit of a cold in the day, in the days after, so every cough and sneeze were hurting my ribs, but that's me on bloody fault for trying to run that last bit. And you still realise that we jump at the finish? It was all about it. Was that comfort that comes from? I don't know. I've been, the last bit when I've been jogging in, I've been thinking, "What shall I do when I cross the line?" "Do you put your hands in air or do you just go, 'Yes, get in'?" And then I just ended up doing some weird little jumps. I don't know where it came from, but the photo, actually, and so the photo they used for my finish, he's sort of jumping in and like halfway through escape, so yeah, that made me laugh, because that wasn't pretty planned, it just kind of happened. Just roll with it. You're going back to a little 100 this summer, aren't you? Yes, yeah, I'll be back at Lakeland, yeah, I'm looking forward to that, that's a good event, looking forward to seeing everybody there. Will that be you from now until the summer, or will you do a bit of recovery and then do a couple of smaller things in between? Yeah, I'll probably do, so there's a local company near me called Crag Runner, and I do quite a lot of their events out of volunteer there, or rumbles, so hopefully I'll get back to doing some of those, but I didn't really put anything in the plan, because you just don't know how you're going to recover from something like that, and you don't know whether you're going to end up with an injury, so I didn't want to put pressure on myself to start running again too soon, so I think, yeah, I'll probably have a month off, make sure everything's working again as it should before I start, because the worst thing you can do is just start too soon, isn't it? Definitely, yeah, yeah, you've been the right thing, you're not in Yorkshire today, obviously. No, not in Yorkshire today, well I only booked this on Monday, actually, to come on Tuesday, so yeah, I just went online and I just thought I can either slob about, or more I can slob about in a bit of heat, so. Yeah, cool, and how has this, I know we spoke about, you're waking up from sleep and still thinking you're in checkpoints and wanting to get your kit together and do that, and you spoke about your shin, and you spoke about your ankles, but overall, we are literally a week later, overall, how are you feeling? Yeah, today, I think yesterday, it's a lot of my voice that didn't come back until maybe two days ago, got a bit of cold, which is just the immune system being completely battered isn't it, for a week, but yesterday and today I felt alright again, so I think it's starting to get back to some normality and feeling a bit more normal, but yeah, it took a while, I didn't know what day it was, really spaced out for a few days, obviously we tried to catch up, didn't we, and I just did not, my brain wasn't functioning at all. That was interview one, that one. And the, how about your appetite, have you got a hunger? Yeah, yeah, well, I don't know, I think, because I didn't have it on my gammon, there's a full route, but I think it were about 40,000 calories, and a burn, so yeah, that's just been eating everything, I've been to eat every couple of hours, which is ideal when you're somewhere like this and you've just got access to the buffet, yeah, yeah, fantastic. Making some sandwiches from breakfast. So part of life, rich tapestry, I do believe that, I do believe that, well, I think, no, we've covered everything, I think, or just, for just now, I'm sure there will be people shooting it, whatever, ever in the car, on the headphones, if they're out ramping up, I think you ask this, so an open invitation to people, if you've got a question, let us know and we can pause it to mail those questions about this. Can I ask you one final thing, actually, a few words about Lucy Gausage? Oh, yeah, she, I am just in awe of that woman, she's absolutely brilliant, I know on a lot of the videos, she was just in such good spirits, but there was some real, real dark moments as well, especially of an eye, I think that's where it gets people of an eye and she was on her own for quite a lot of the race as well, once you saw, you're getting to your own head, but how, how she managed to run that time over some of that terrain, I, it's just unbelievable, it's just unbelievable, she's just so talented and I hope she does go back and do it again, because I think that was the second time, I think if she does want to go back and do it a third time, I think she's got a real good chance of winning the thing overall. Yeah, I mean, we should put context to this for people listening, Lucy Gausage finished first lady in 87 hours, quite mind-blowing to do that, and the conditions are absolutely lovely, yeah, because if you think if there hadn't been those conditions, how, how much quicker would she have been, what, what time could she have run, she just, yeah, unbelievable, and she's great as well, she's, she's just such a great person as well and, and sort of lovely to be around really good company. And really supportive as well, yeah, she's been really supportive messaging after the race to make sure that asking how I'm feeling and how recovery is and, and that sort of thing. So yeah. Oh, there you go. Thank you for sharing that, because that's an insight we wouldn't have had. So thank you for sharing that. One final question though, and it's a musical one, this is a big email, what song are you going to add in the young that's wrong for you, play or less? Oh, do you know what? I've been thinking about this. And it's, it's probably an unexpected one for most people, but it's the one that reminds me of the race the most, and it's, it's Billy Ray Cyrus, an achy, breaky hat. It's got no to do with race at all apart from. So that five, five miles when I was sleep walking down into burness, I had that on repeat. So I was going down this fire track, and it's, if I got to burness at half eight in the morning, so this must have been sort of four, five, six AM, something like that, going down the fire track, and I ended up playing that song. I don't know why I just ended up playing it over and over again, as I were walking down doing a little bit of line dancing in between the sleep walking, but it just kept me awake. I think it was because it was a song that's so random, not obviously my usual music that I listened to, but, but that was on and it was just, yeah, I was just singing that out loud in the middle of the forest, trying to keep myself awake. So that's, that's the one I'm going with. So for anybody who's listening to this, and you see a runner out this weekend or on the next few weeks, and you see them breaking up their line dance, going across whatever run they're doing. It's probably male sex inspired. So, a tune from the male sex random playlist. I love it. Billy Ray Cyrus. That's a word. Fantastic. Mel, thank you so much for giving us your time especially when you're in this very important first week of recovery. People have been chapping at the bit, chapping at my door, when you get in the Yorkshire correspondent, and so thank you for doing that so, so quickly. And congratulations on a fantastic achievement, 268 miles on the pen and whey, the spine race, completed it mate. Well done. Well, thank you very much, yeah, really chuffed, absolutely chuffed a bit, Stefanice, chuffed a bit. Chew Billy Ray Cyrus. You can tell the world, you never was my girl, you can burn my clothes and run down, or you can tell your friends, you just want to fool up there, and laugh and joke about me on the farm. You can tell my arms go back into the farm, you can tell my feet to his and floor. Or you can tell my lips, you can tell my fingertips, they won't be reaching out for you the more. Don't tell my heart, my eggy-breaky heart, I just don't think it understands. And if you tell my heart, my eggy-breaky heart, he might blow up and kill his fam. You can tell your mom, I moved her up and saw, you can tell your dog to bite my leg. Don't tell your brother, Cliff, you can tell my lips, he never really liked me anyway. Don't tell your emuies, tell anything you please, myself already knows I'm not okay. Or you can tell my eyes to watch out for my mind, it might be walking out on me today. Don't tell my heart, my eggy-breaky heart, I just don't think it understands. And if you tell my heart, my eggy-breaky heart, he might blow up and kill his fam. Don't tell my heart, my eggy-breaky heart, I just don't think it understands. And if you tell my heart, my eggy-breaky heart, he might blow up and kill his fam. Don't tell my heart, my eggy-breaky heart, I just don't think it understands. And if you tell my heart, my eggy-breaky heart, he might blow up and kill his fam. Don't tell my heart, my eggy-breaky heart, I just don't think it understands. Don't tell my heart, my eggy-breaky heart, I just don't think it understands. Don't tell my heart, my eggy-breaky heart, I just don't think it understands. Don't tell my heart, my eggy-breaky heart, I just don't think it understands. Don't tell my heart, my eggy-breaky heart, I just don't think it understands. Don't tell my heart, my eggy-breaky heart, I just don't think it understands. (guitar music) [BLANK_AUDIO]
We catch up with our Yorkshire Correspondent Mel Sykes to talk all about her 268 mile traverse along the Pennine Way during the Montane Winter Spine Race 2025
Think 'challenging' weather, think sleep deprivation, think sleeping in public toilets and churches.
Think Alston Lasagne!
Mel replays her pre race thoughts and preparations, takes us on a detailed journey from Edale to Kirk Yetholm and reflects on the challenge and adventure of such an undertaking.
This is an absolute belter of an episode, Mel done it for Yorkshire, Mel done it to inspire, Mel done it because..she is Mel Sykes, our Yorkshire Correspondent.
Winter Spine Race...completed it mate.