What is the Dragons Back?
More than anything else it's an enigma - a vortex - an opportunity to unravel - to discover your ghosts x It's a bloody tough and epic ultramarathon!!!!
Dragons Back is a 6 day (multi-dayer) from the Snowdonia region of Wales (Conwy Castle) all through the 'spine of the Dragon's Back....' to the finish at Cardiff Castle.
Last year Camino were proud as punch to coach Benji Byrne all the way through (and pick off a top finisher slot) and nearly five months ago we began coaching Alex Novicov to the start line of this blue-ribband event.
More than anything else an event like the Dragon's Back is an opportunity to go way beyond pure running. Problems often come early in Day 1 - some runners underestimate the summer temps in Wales - last two events have seen super hot days. There are relentless climbs and descents on rocky paths where you need to get down on your backside or cling on or scramble. It can feel remote (unless you bump into Gary House filming you) So many tough things can happen on Day 1 that you have a license to write your obituary before believing in a second day.
So in the training we went deep with Alex on the mindset - the gratitude - the problem solving - the sensory perceptions - everything that comes under the training hood of the Camino Toolbox. For many runners attempting other types of ultras these are fun - almost nice to knows. However for Dragons and Spine runners these are life-savers - so we are much strict in their frequency and their application.
By the time that Alex came to the final week we knew that he was ready - absolutely A-1 student. He had totally done all his homework - completed recces on all the course - done parts in inclement weather - he trained around the clock - he did tricky navigational tests - he properly researched Dragons helpful kit - he tested and changed some and he put it all down in methodical fashion.
He ran huge mileage weeks - when he travelled he still put in sessions - he saught guidance from other experts - no stone left unturned.
Inside the race week itself we fired up the Camino WhatsApp chat and we absolutely loved the private dialogue - when Alex needed it - often he was in full control but on Day 4 when a major injury struck - that's when we came together and said what needed to be said - the human plasters x
Congrats to you Alex - we lived every step and we have been proud of you from Day 1 of training to the final step across the line. We know you dream of more and we love that x To more magical times - from the full Camino Coach Team x
Alex:
When you read things like The Toughest Mountain Race in The World, sometimes you don’t really understand what it means. When you see a race that is 380 km long with 16,400 metres / 53,800 feet of elevation your brain can’t really comprehend how tough this challenge really is.
To better understand how much elevation there is, think of Mount Everest. Then imagine that you need to climb up and down it twice in six days on a terrain that is slippery, muddy and in some parts rocky, some parts grassy and with one wrong step, your life can be over. It sounds dramatic, but I’m being literal. It’s dangerous.
There were 400 runners at the start line on Monday 2nd September 2024 and on Saturday 7th of September 124 runners finished the full race. This means only 31% of people finished Dragons Back Race 2024 and that’s why it is the toughest mountain race in the world.
I thought the elevation was the biggest challenge, but I was wrong. The biggest challenge was running injured for two days on swollen ankles and the complicated terrain. It’s not one straight line up and one straight line down. This race is exactly how life is: it’s full of ups, downs, highs and a lot of lows with tears on your face.
I will share with you my experience and the lessons I learned about the race, including the most important lesson I learned about myself in the past 6 days that would have taken me 6 years to learn otherwise. I hope that these insights will be really helpful for you.
Here’s an outline about what I will cover:
Introduction: What is Dragon’s Back Race?
Feedback about the event team: Ourea Events.
Terrain.
Coaching.
Nutrition.
Gear.
Mindset.
Redefine Crazy.
What is Dragon’s Back Race?
It’s a multi stage race of 380 km run from North of Wales running all the way down South to Cardiff across the mountains in six days.
You start at 06:00 at Conwy Castle and you finish on Saturday in Cardiff Castle.
Every night you have a camp set up by the event organisers which is Ourea Events.
During the race you have a limit of bringing a 15kg bag with you with all your daily nutrition for the run and everything you will need for the six days, which includes your sleeping bag, mattress etc.. The event team sets up a camp every night and you have your place in a tent that you share with other people.
You have another small bag that is your transition bag that you will be able to access usually halfway through the days of the race. You are allowed to have only 2.5 kg in the bag with whatever you might need: food, spare shoes, clothes etc.
The event team is one of the most professional organisers I’ve ever experienced. You could see the professionalism from the start. With all the details that they included and while you are on course you know they are looking after you.
I was a bit worried about a lot of things but one was getting lost as this is not a marked course, so you have to self navigate and you have a tight cut off time to reach each checkpoints.
To my surprise the GPX route was the most accurate and the most detailed I’ve ever seen. All the checkpoints were marked properly on the GPX, distance to the next checkpoints and all the details were just spot on. I didn’t have to stop even once to check the offline map I had on my phone.
The Event Organization
Ourea Events is the organiser of the Dragons Back Race, their CEO / Race Director Shane Ohly is a very humble human being. He just ran 2 weeks before the race, the whole route, 380 km in one go! Crazy! He did it to feel more connected with the race and to celebrate every single runner that completed the Dragons Back Race.
I had the pleasure to meet him and speak to him and I have to say the level of humbleness is on another level. When I watched his Webinar when he completed the route (380 km) you could see that there was no ego at all - the energy is about how he puts others first and how he and his team has an athlete first mindset.
Every night we had an incredible food selection, they cooked food in their commercial kitchen and most of the food was vegan / vegetarian. As a vegan I was pleasantly surprised. I thought I would struggle a bit with getting enough food during 6 days but I was wrong. The food was delicious, the main course, the desserts everything was just spot on.
They feed you each morning - a proper breakfast and each night a proper dinner.
I noticed that most team members at the event call you by your name, not a number. And you feel that they truly care. You are treated as a human, not a number. Most races see you as a number as it’s understandable that they have so many runners you “can’t” have a personal touch. Not for Ourea Events, every time I finished the day, they asked me how my day was, how I felt and you could see that they really cared.
The medic team was so kind and empathetic. On Day 4 I got injured (swollen left ankle) so unfortunately I had to visit the Medic team. On Day 5 my right ankle got swollen so I had to visit them again. The team was incredible, very knowledgeable.
Every single volunteer, every single team member was very kind. I can’t express this enough. Every time I got to the half way water checkpoint I didn’t have to ask for my water to be refilled, the team asked me to help once I arrived. Super, super kind.
The other important element of the race is that you feel that they don’t prioritise elite athletes, they treat everyone the same. At the event ceremony on Saturday where you get your trophy they call out the names alphabetically, not the elite winners first and then the rest peasants. Every single athlete is treated equally and that is very nice to see. As most races focus on taking beautiful pictures and videos with elite runners, making it clear that all they want is the elite runners. The last person who finishes the Dragon’s Back Race gets the biggest medal! That should tell us all something about how they treat every runner.
Terrain
I hated this terrain, it was hell on planet earth. Most of the terrain was scrambling (Day 1 - Day 3), bog festival was every day until last day and mud everywhere. Mud on the uphills, mud on the downhills, mud in my dreams and mud on my legs when I was at the camp. Mud and bogs are basically your worst nightmare.
Here’s a tip: to avoid mud in the camp don’t get Havaianas flip flops with you like you are going to Cyprus on holiday, get flip flops for muddy terrain.
The mud and the bogs made this experience so much harder. It’s harder because you can’t get into the rhythm of running, you can’t get to enjoy it for a bit as you have to be very careful where you step. On the first day I’ve fallen around 100 times. On day 1 I decided I wasn’t going to continue on Day 2.
My biggest fear was Crib Goch Mountain, it’s a proper Grade 1 scrambling.
Wikipedia says:
Crib Goch is described as a "knife-edged" arête in the Snowdonia National Park in Gwynedd, Wales. The name means "red ridge" in Welsh.
I’m scared of heights so for me this was a no go. I recced in July Crib and I decided after that recce that I wasn’t going to show up at the start line because it’s not worth the risk.
One wrong slip, you are literally dead. No exaggeration.
What made it better is that the Dragon's Back Safety Team that was there, they had 3 people: one at the start, one in the middle and one in the end. This helped me a lot as I saw that they had ropes on them and I felt slightly safer.
I focused so much on doing Crib on time that I didn’t really think of other aspects of the race. This was a huge mistake I made. I wasted so much mental energy on scrambling Crib that I didn’t focus on other elements like bogs, mud, downhills and complicated terrain.
This can be an insight into our daily life as well, we might focus on ONE goal that we want to achieve and we neglect other goals in our life. It might be focusing all our energy on growing a business but neglecting our relationship. Yeah, that’s me.
At the end of Day 1 I saw the camp from far so I was relieved but then the last downhill was so slippery that I got so unmotivated and I got scared that I could break an ankle or a leg going downhill. You can watch a clip from Gary on Instagram of how slippery it was.
When I got into camp on Day 1, I made up my mind that I already ‘won’ this race. I’ve done Crib and that was my biggest challenge. A kind man told me to eat, rest and decide tomorrow.
I remembered what Shane Ohly, the event CEO said in the race briefing: “Don’t make a decision when you are tired, get some food, sleep and then decide”.
The event organisers encourage people who DNF to stay on course and do The Hatchling course - basically it’s half the distance of Dragons Back and you choose when you want to start - in the morning or at lunch. I guess the cut off times are more relaxed as well.
Day 2 came and I said to myself just go to the first checkpoint and then decide there if you want to continue. I did continue by telling myself that I can decide on the next checkpoint.
I told my partner Anja that I will DNF and I don’t need this in my life. She was the most loving and kind human on planet earth (and still is)... she told me that it’s up to me to decide when I want to end this challenge.
The downhills got tougher as I couldn’t run them, I’m slow downhills anyway and with this slippery terrain with mud, grass and rocks made it harder so I was going slower.
I continued running until Day 4 as I got injured…My left ankle got swollen. On Day 5 with tapped legs I continued but it got worse. My right ankle got swollen as well and I couldn’t lift my legs up. The medics tapped both ankles and of I went to Day 6.
On Day 6 the terrain was one of the most runnable, there were little bogs but every single step hurted.
Coaching
I’m incredibly lucky that I had one of the best running coaches. David Bone from Camino Ultra was so supportive and so kind that it made my race so much better.
You hear people saying that you don’t need a coach, or that running is easy and you can figure everything out yourself. There is so much content on the internet that all the answers are ‘free’ and are available at our fingertips.
I don’t think this is the right mindset if we want to achieve an important goal. For the past 4 years I’ve worked with different coaches, two ultra running coaches, one triathlon coach and 3 personal trainers. I learned a lot from every single one of them. But for me there are two best coaches:
David Bone from Camino Ultra - Ultra Trail Running Coach. He helped me finish Dragons Back Race 2024.
Alex Alvarez - Personal Trainer & Nutrition Coach. He helped me lose 15 kg of body fat in the past 9 months and transform my mindset on nutrition and strength training.
In this instance I will share insights from my coaching with David Bone as I already wrote an article about Alex Alvarez experience here.
Working with David Bone was very easy, I had my training plan on Training Peaks every week and all I had to do was execute it. There were times I didn’t understand why I needed to do a certain run but I trusted David’s experience.
David is a very humble guy that is very chill and relaxed, he goes with the flow. What I loved about David’s coaching is the weekly Camino’s Toolbox: every week I had to do a session that was different from running that really helps you and gives you a tool for your race day. Basically you have a toolbox to choose from when you are in your race.
One was Gratitude Runs - I used this a lot during Dragons Back Race. I was constantly reminding myself how grateful I’m to be able to run, to have a body that moves, to have amazing people like David following and dot watching the race, to be able to live in this beautiful world and experience life. Even with bogy terrain, I’m incredibly privileged to be able to run and use my body this way.
Before working with David I did a course with English Athletics to become a running coach myself so I can avoid the cost of paying a coach as trail running is one of my hobbies and I would like to improve and continue. I thought wrong.
Yes I did qualify and become a certified running coach by English Athletics but I had a lot of questions that I didn’t have the answers to. This is why you need a coach: experience and advice that is tailored to you.
I learned this with Alex Alvarez as well, I knew what calorie deficit means, I thought I was doing it right but I was wrong. For 5 years I struggled to lose body fat because I was listening to all the podcasts, all the ‘gurus’ tell us to do this, not this and nothing really worked until I received advice that was the right advice for my body and my lifestyle.
With David Bone it was the same, the training was a custom training plan that was adapted to my lifestyle and my needs.
One simple question I had was how to prevent blisters - as this is a huge thing in ultra trail running. David recommended I get a pair of Injinji’s socks.
What? I didn’t know that brand. I googled blister prevention socks and hundreds of brands showed up. Every single brand was shouting that they are the best socks… who do you trust?
A machine or a human being that won The Tunnel Race 200 miler, came top 20 at The Spartathlon Race: a foot race in Greece that you have to cover 180 km in 24 hours? Of course David Bone.
The result: I had two small blisters and the medic told me that my feet look very good (except the injury that I got on day 4).
There are other ‘small’ and ‘big’ questions that I had on this journey and David was always there responding and suggesting what I should do.
David’s training plan, experience, energy and coaching was definitely one of the key points for me finishing Dragons Back Race 2024.
What I loved most about David is that he goes out and runs with his athletes. Just a month before Dragons Back Race we met at Primrose Hill to do Camino 300. It’s basically running up and down the hill for 30 minutes and you need to manage to do as many reps as possible. This shows that he is not just a coach sitting at home doing training plans, but he meets face to face with his athletes and runs himself.
As you can see on Strava, once I started working with David in June my fitness went from 68 points to 119 before the race and after the race it went up to 203 points! That’s crazy. In the past two years I’ve been around 54 points, when I did the full Ironman 2023 in Bolton I was 60 points!
This is an incredible increase in fitness but I have to say it’s not just because of one secret thing, it’s because of multiple things combined, having the best personal trainer and nutritionist working with you and tracking your macros every single day since January, increasing your strength training and having the best running coach David Bone helped a lot.
Nutrition
In this race I decided to go with one single brand: TORQ. All my nutrition was from them. It included bars, gels, hydration, gellies and flapjacks. Everything, the whole nine yards.
I tried most of the brands on the market in terms of nutrition, including Precision & Hydration, Naak, Veloforte and many others and I have to say every single race I had some sort of issue. This wasn’t completely because of the brands but because I only had gels perhaps - as I changed my nutrition strategy this year to not use gels but bars because I felt sick after 50 km usually.
One of my best races was Valdaran by UTMB in July and even at that race at 60 km I had some pain in my stomach for 10 km…But then it disappeared. I struggled with Precision & Hydration tablets as they always got stuck in the box if it was hot weather. So I had to break the box usually and lose half of the tablets because of that.
This summer I had a chat with Marcus Willday, performance director at TORQ. We talked about my nutrition strategy during the race and he recommended to me what quantities and what nutrition I need to prioritise. One of the strategies was to drink TORQ Energy for hydration not just during the run but the night before. So I followed all his advice and my nutrition was spot on.
A lot of runners at night were struggling to eat food, I had 3 plates of food (okay 4 plates) and didn’t struggle even a bit to put down food. I was pleasantly surprised.
In the first two days I followed my plan and had one bar an hour, on the rest of the days I started eating slightly less but made sure I still chewed one bite every half an hour to an hour.
I had TORQ Gellies as a backup for the end of the day when I knew it would be hard to eat. Those gellies went down as fast as a squirrel chasing nuts.
During the whole day I always had Vanilla Pod Energy in my water flasks and my ‘backup’ water in the back.
What I loved about TORQ products is that they were not as sweet as I thought they would be. I don’t know why or how but I know that every time I had a bar or any product it went down.
Obviously as the days passed I started to chew for longer and longer, but it worked.
During the night at the camp I eat chips, couscous with beans and all the other delicious food the team at Dragons Back Prepared.
During the day I had planned ten TORQ bars with me at all times and at the half point checkpoint I had a bag with more TORQ bars. Initially I planned to have a peanut butter sandwich with banana but I didn’t manage to make it in the morning as I wanted to get out of camp as early as possible.
Here’s how I fuelled during the race:
This was my nutrition strategy that really helped me keep moving. I’m very grateful to Marcus for helping me with my nutrition and to Matt, the founder of TORQ for creating an amazing product and caring about innovation.
I highly recommend you check out TORQ products and even book yourself a half day consultancy package on performance.
One tip I would add is to bring food that you really love that you will look forward to at the camp. I brought with me Biscoff Spread and Wraps that I was looking forward to everyday…unfortunately the spread finished on Day 3. Yeah I know…
GEAR
Gear is very personal so I will go quickly and share what worked for me. Throughout the whole race I used:
SHOE: Nike Zegama Trail 2 - I loved this shoe from the moment I wore them. Before them I tried Hoka Speedgoats that caused painful blisters, Nike Pegasus and ON Cloudsurfer.
I loved the Nike Zegama Trail 2 shoe because of the strong grip. Nike finally I guess understood that they can’t do everything by themselves and they collaborated with Vibram to create the outsole. So the shoe itself had Vibram Megagrip enhanced with more ZoomX plush foam.
My backup shoe that I had in the transition bag was ON Cloudsurfer Trail - I loved this shoe when I did my long runs but I didn’t want to use them as I felt that Nike Zegama was doing an amazing job. I felt that the ON Cloudsurfer Trail shoe will be more slippery especially as the terrain was very wet.
While running and looking at the ground I noticed what shoe other runners wore…
I saw all brands… from Hoka Speedgoats, Hoka Tecton, Innov, Scarpa, Adidas Terrex and of course Nike Trail shoes. I guess with shoes you have to test and see what fits you and see what you love more.
SHORTS: On Day 1 I wore my Nike Trail 13 cm shorts but unfortunately even with anti chafing cream I got some chafing. On Day 2 I changed my shorts to 2-in-1 Nike Stride Shorts and my chafing disappeared. So for the rest of the days I wore the same dirty shorts. I had one more pair of 2-in-1 shorts that are my favourite as they are pink but I decided to keep them for the last day. So on Day 2, 3 and 4 I wore the dirty ones and on day 5 I couldn’t stand the filthiness. I wore my pink shorts and hoped I don’t fall again in a bog or in the mud so I have a clean pair of shorts.
JACKET: My waterproof jacket was an OMM Kamleika Jacket which I absolutely love. This is the best jacket as whenever I felt cold I put it on, whenever I felt hot I took it off and put it in my running vest. I put my waterproof jacket in a special ‘holder’ on top of my running vest so I don’t waste time taking the vest off and on. My jacket is a size bigger so I can cover my running vest with it.
RUNNING VEST: I love my Salomon Vest ADV SKIN 12 Pack as it has a pocket for the Jacket on top so you just put it behind your head without taking the vest off. All the pockets are well thought through and there is plenty of space for all the gear you need. Previously I had ON Running vest which I didn’t like and it wasn’t very practical for running ultras.
TECHNICAL T-SHIRTS: For my t-shirts I wore a basic finisher t-shirt that was my favourite race (Valdaran) and my Ironman technical t-shirt. One of the reasons I wear finishers t-shirts and gear from other races is to remind myself of my previous achievements.
For long sleeves I had my Ironman running top and Nike Dry Fit running top.
CALF SLEEVE: I bought a Compressport calf sleeve when I was in Vielha Valdaran Ultra Village and I believe it made a huge difference. Initially I thought it was just a gimmick because we don’t really need more gear as we have enough but I guess it helped me. I tore it on Day 5 as they were so muddy and dirty and I couldn’t get them off. ( I guess the nerves kicked in as well)
WATCH: My watch was Coros Vertix 2 which was absolutely amazing. I got it as a birthday gift this year from my dear friend Tutu. I used GPX the whole two days and the battery life was still at 54%! I charged while I was eating back to 100% and never thought of charging it again or worrying that the battery would die.
I even had a feature that notified me every time I was running 40 metres of the course! This was crucial at Dragons Back as the race is not marked and it’s easy to get lost. At some point I was running behind a guy that was going of course, my watch bibed and I told him we were going the wrong way. He said his battery on his watch died so he just followed other runners (He had Garmin).
Another tip: don’t follow other runners, I saw around 6 runners going the wrong direction - I shouted for them to come back, some didn’t hear me and went into the wrong direction.
I had a Garmin fēnix 6X PRO for 3.5 years and I was beyond disappointed with it. It died on one ultra at 55th kilometre while I was in the middle of Peak District and the race was very poorly marked. So if you are thinking of doing a long ultra or considering buying a great watch, Coros Vertix 2 is top notch.
My running poles are Evadict 3 Piece Carbon Folding Trail Poles.
I always had Mio Anti Chafing Cream with me but on day 5 and 6 I barely used it and everything was okay.
I had in my back obviously the mandatory gear and a power bank that really helped me have a phone battery during the whole day. Some athletes prefer to take a small phone that weighs less and they are not that bothered if it breaks, which makes sense. I don’t have a second phone and all my apps and Whoop is connected to my main phone so I just covered it with a waterproof bag.
All my other important stuff was covered in waterproof bags just in case I fell in a bog.
MINDSET:
I think a positive mindset is one of the most important things we can train ourselves on a daily basis. It’s not something that you learn within a day or a month.
It played a huge role in how I got throughout the day.
When I got my injury and was in que for the medic I secretly hoped that the medic would tell me I can’t run anymore. The reason why is because I created a rule that I DNF any race if I’m injured and it will just make things worse. You don’t let your ego take over.
If you get seriously injured, call it a day and that’s it. So some part of me wanted this to end on Wednesday and Thursday night. The kind medic/ physiotherapist I forgot the name now asked me to do some standing exercises to check if I broke a bone or if it was a ligament.
They tapped my left leg and said I can go tomorrow but I need to leave at 06:00 sharp to give myself plenty of time.
I left the next morning and came back with a second injury on my right leg. The same problem. Swollen ankle but worse pain.
I asked the medic why this happened so I can learn and prevent it.
The medic said because of the bogs and the green baby grass that you can only find in Wales. Basically your foot doesn’t step normally, my ligaments in the ankle joint got injured because they are not used to this kind of movement. I asked if I can move forward to Day 6 - last day. He said yes but I have to be very careful.
After finishing Day 5, I didn’t want to give up as I went through so much hell.
When I run on trails I don’t usually listen to music, audiobooks or podcasts but on Day 5 and Day 6 I had to listen to something because I had to keep going. I had a downloaded playlist named Gold Playlist that includes my favourite inspirational songs.
Highly recommend having a “SOS Playlist” on your Spotify downloaded for dark moments. I have this song that I listened to 1000 times called Born For This by The Score… One of my favourite lines was:
We can write our story
We can be an army
We are the warriors, who learned to love the pain
We come from different places but have the same name
'Cause we were born for this
You can listen to the song here.
If you want me to share my playlist with you, send me a message. I will share it with you.
I think that one of my strongest points is my mindset. I might not be the fastest but I do have a positive outlook on life even when I’m in pain.
At some point tears started rolling because I couldn’t do it anymore, I was in so much pain that I didn’t know what to do. I said to myself at the next checkpoint I can DNF and go home. The tears got even more intense when the pain was too much and my ankles were hurting as I couldn’t go downhills, it was painful. So many runners were going past me and I suddenly started panicking that I would miss the cut off time.
I told myself and lied to myself that I just need to get to the camp and then I can DNF. The bus is always ready to take you back to Cardiff.
When I got into camp I met some incredible humans. For example, a guy that travelled all the way from Australia to do the event and DNFed on Day 1 because he didn’t make the cut off time at Crib Gogh it reminded me how lucky I’m to be able to continue as I have the health and the strength within.
But continuing the race wouldn’t be possible without key people that dot watched the race and send me WhatsApp messages every day:
Anja Mikuz, my beautiful and encouraging girlfriend that was dot watching and sending me positive messages throughout the day. She is the reason I didn’t DNF with all her positive energy and empathy I kept on going.
David Bone, my amazing running coach who was dot watching and praying for me to keep going and send me positive vibes. He encouraged me to tape the leg and keep on going.
Paula Bedford a beautiful running coach at Camino Ultra that was dot watching as well and sending me inspiring messages.
Arthur Caruana, my beautiful friend that is like family to me. He was sending me encouraging messages and I’m beyond grateful for him.
Manuel Caruana, my amazing friend, that I consider my family as well. He sent me positive vibes and funny emojis with pictures of my lovely doggo Chanel.
Tutu Mirhadi, my lovely friend that sent me positive vibes while I was running and donated to the Dogs Trust charity.
Sam, my trail running buddy that was sending me encouraging messages on WhatsApp to keep going because he knew the pain I was going through.
There are many other people on Instagram that send me encouraging messages which I’m very grateful for.
Running is not a solo activity, it’s a team sport, it’s a team of amazing people that support you and send you positive and thoughtful messages. I can’t tell you how much each message helps because when you are in pain and tears are rolling down your face you check your phone and you see all the kind words you know you are not alone and you are doing this as a team and you are going for all of the team.
LESSONS LEARNED
Running is not just physical, it's not just running. Running is a tool, it’s like a pair of shoes. A good pair of shoes will help you get from point A to point Z. You have to run but the pair of shoes will help you throughout the journey.
I’m a huge believer that every start line and every finish line changes us as human beings. We start as one person and we finish that race as a different person. It doesn't matter what distance you run; it can be a 5 km park run or it can be a 380 km run across Wales.
That change happens from the time we commit to a race. From the time we register because from the time we register we start to train for whatever challenge we signed up for.
Everyone changes in different ways, it might be the same route but everyone is on their own journey.
The biggest lesson I learned is self awareness.
How come on a trail race you learned self awareness I hear you ask? Isn’t it about fitness and endurance? Running uphill, downhill, bogs, running technique, meeting new people? No it’s not.
For me it’s self awareness. “Know thyself” said once a Greek Philosopher, Socrates.
Wikipedia explains what “know thyself” means: :
"Know thyself" (Greek: Γνῶθι σαυτόν, gnōthi sauton) is a philosophical maxim which was inscribed upon the Temple of Apollo in the ancient Greek precinct of Delphi.
Why self awareness? Because during the race you understand what works for you best. For example for me, when I am running I don’t really speak much. A lot of runners do like to pair up and speak to each other while they run. It doesn’t work for me. My coach David Bone suggested that I pair up with a really good guy Rich on Day 2 as we were close to each other.
I ignored his advice because I knew myself, I don’t want to hold anyone back and I knew my strength is running on normal terrain. This is what happened: Rich overtook me on downhills and I overtook him on normal terrain. Unfortunately he DNFed on Day 3 as he had the same injury as me (swollen ankle).
I knew that when I run my long runs with some friends I like running and not speaking because I think when you speak you waste vital energy, mental energy.
Self awareness in knowing what you enjoy, where do you find joy? What kind of a runner are you? I was a road runner and still run on roads as I live in London but I know now that running on boggy and muddy terrain is not my thing. I love running in the mountains but runnable terrain. Valdaran / Pyrenees has beautiful terrain. Vipava Valley (UTVV Slovenia) has stunning runnable terrain. That’s my thing. It’s where I get runner's high, it’s where I’m smiling even when I’m tired.
It’s the same as choosing Pizza with pineapple or without: some people love pineapple on their pizza and some don’t. It’s absolutely fine either way. We wouldn’t judge someone by what they put in their mouth, well except Italians they love to judge people who like pineapple on pizza.
That’s why I believe learning self awareness and being honest with ourselves is one of the most important things we can learn and practise on a daily basis. And this comes from me, I was delusional for so many years about a lot of areas in my life: what success means, what I should be doing, trying to be liked and accepted and many many other aspects.
I take this lesson to other aspects of my life: self awareness in my professional life, what do I enjoy doing most, what is my unique ability, what is my strength? How can I improve what I do so I can improve my clients' results.
REDEFINE CRAZY
What does crazy mean to you? It can mean going out for a 10 km run. It might be jumping out of an aeroplane with a parachute. It might be writing a book, it might be changing careers in your 30s or closing a company down after 12 years.
We all have different versions of crazy. A couple of years ago I stumbled across Dragons Back Race and saw the distance - 380 km run across Wales. I thought to myself only crazy people would do something ‘stupid’ like that. Why would you run for 380 km in six days?
Well I found out that this ‘crazy’ thing running 380 km across Wales is a life changing experience and it’s one of the toughest things I did in my life that I can use it as a tool now to go and implement in other areas of my life. Like challenge myself to become a better professional in my work, inspire more people to create clear marketing strategies that inspire others with creative storytelling, be a better boyfriend, a more empathetic friend, a better human being that learns to listen with the intent to understand the other person, not just to respond.
This ‘crazy’ thing taught me that we are all ONE with nature. Nature is not above us or below us, nature is one. People say ‘slay’ the Dragon or ‘I slayed’ the Dragon. No you didn’t. The mountains don’t care if we finish the race or we don’t. Nature is there regardless.
The same goes with humans, nobody is above us or below us. We are all the same. Because somebody finished Dragon’s Back Race in 45:39:18 (Max King, Dragon’s Back Winner 2024) or if someone finished 124th with a time of 89:23:56 doesn't make them a better or a worse person. Just because someone didn’t finish the race and had to go home doesn’t make them worse or better.
A gentleman I met was on his 5th attempt to finish the Dragon's Back Race. He tried 4 other times and still showed up for the 5th time which he got timed out at a checkpoint. It doesn't make him any better or worse. He is on his own journey. He loves the terrain (I guess), he loves the challenge and he does it every year.
I finished the race in 74:30:21 which means I came in 63rd overall, 53rd in my age category and 28th in Group Category (I don’t know what Group Category means). I ran the last two days with two injuries and I finished. It doesn’t really matter what time or position I finished for me, the most important goal was to finish. It doesn’t make me any better or worse.
Many years ago a client & friend of mine called Roy told me I should try skydiving as he was an experienced skydiver. I said I’m not crazy to jump out of an aeroplane with a parachute and risk my life plus I’m scared of heights. Why would I do that to myself?
Who knew that many years later I would become a skydiver? I thought it was crazy but now it’s normal for me.
Nearly 7 years ago I quit smoking and I started running 5 km around the block. I hated running. I thought it was crazy to go out and run for 5 km when you can just drive or take a bus. Why would you go out in the cold and just run on the tarmac?
Then a couple of years later I ran my 10 km long run. I thought it was crazy to run 21 km… In May 2021 just 3 years ago I ran my first flat ultra London to Brighton which was 100 km. I thought that was crazy. I remember vividly that they said there was a hill at the end that you had to go through… Yeah looking at that hill now it’s crazy to think that I thought that was a hill. When I finished that race I thought I would never do something so crazy ever again.
Every year we can redefine what crazy means to us. I watched a video from Jesse Itzler that said that you have to put ONE big thing every year that defines your year.
I did put on some tough races - Dragon’s Back wasn’t on the list when I planned my year last September. I think that this helps me train harder and push myself.
Every year we can redefine what crazy is for us. Not what crazy is for me or your parents. It can be whatever is crazy right now for you. Maybe it’s taking more time off during the weekend. This was crazy for me two years ago. Why would I take some time off when I need to pay the bills?
You know what crazy was for me? Not having my laptop for 7 days and not checking my emails for 7 days and not being worried that I need to do something for a client. That was crazy. Again, redefining what crazy is for you is the key.
I said 10 months ago it’s crazy to measure your food and see your calories intake on a daily basis… It was a crazy idea for me back then. Now it’s normal because Alex Alvarez taught me and inspired me to look after my health and what foods I eat.
We all can inspire each other with our own purpose, we can all inspire with our words and actions. Shane Ohly ran 380 km, the whole Dragon's Back Route in one go with 4 hours of sleep in total. That’s crazy but he inspired me to push when I was on the course.
There is a difference between sending someone a YouTube video saying look this is what you should do or what I think you should do… versus actually doing the work yourself, figuring out for yourself what works best for YOU and then just sharing your experience and if someone wants to run, lose weight, write a book, start a company whatever that is they can get inspired with our actions.
We have enough social media ‘influencers’ that preach what we should be doing, we have enough people being macho… This was the first time I didn’t listen or think of David Goggins, but actually tapped into gratitude and empathy. I did the opposite of what I used to do on ultras. Both methods work but I guess we have to find for ourselves what works for us.
This race changed me and the change is going to unveil itself in the coming days, weeks and months. One major change I noticed I stopped being so hard on myself. From my childhood I got used to constantly putting myself down and I used to be constantly pushy to people around me: “You should do this” “You should try this” “You should read this” and on and on with advice. Now I understand more that not all paths are for all of us, some people need a different method, some people like myself need more time to understand certain things.
If I would have done this race maybe a year or two years ago I would have said to you know that “you should’ do this race, or “you should” try trail running.
I actually don’t know what you should and shouldn’t do. We are all on our own journeys and our own time. You shouldn’t do anything. You should follow your journey whatever that journey means to you. For me this is my journey and this transforms me. I love trail running, I love challenging myself. For someone else it might be something else.
Redefine YOUR crazy and go beyond your own expectations. It can be writing your own cookbook, it might be whatever is crazy right now for you. You don’t have to run ‘crazy’ races, you don’t even have to run. It can be just going to the gym for 30 minutes a day and moving your body. Whatever it is for you, I challenge you to redefine crazy because we are all incredible human beings and we all can achieve extraordinary things when we come together as one.
A huge thank you to Shane Ohly and the whole Ourea Events team, you are truly amazing and a huge congrats to everyone who stepped on that start line and pushed through the pain. This race redefined what crazy means for each of us.
Here are some links you might find useful:
Dragons Back Recap Videos - link here.
Dragons Back Blog - link here.
Camino Ultra - link here.
TORQ Nutrition - link here.
Alex Alvarez PT - link here.
To every single human being that sent me a message and supported me, we won the battle. We won the battle within, starting from Crib Gogh to the last 10 km when I had to go backwards downhill because the pain increased while the kilometres were piling up.
Would I do the event again? I would do any event Ourea Events organises in the UK or Europe that doesn’t have bogs. I would happily run 100km or a 100 miler with them as they are exceptional event organisers. But I would never do Dragons Back Race again because I learned a lot about myself. I’m slightly more self aware now.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love you all.
I'm so impressed with the preparation and then the tenacity to finish the race - huge congratulations Alex!! I hope your ankles have started to recover, although I know tendon strain can take some time!!