Earlier in the year, some of you may remember when I ran to North Wales and then with no planning, or thought attached, proceeded to run all through Wales, including one mountain, just using directions from locals I met on the way.

Mountain Lake

Summit of Moel Siobod

Well Part II is going to be more of the same, but bigger, better, colder and more mountains hopefully. Starting from Pembrokeshire in South Wales; I plan to run up through Snowdonia, into North Wales and back home again in Cheshire.

For everyone that competes on a semi-regular basis; that first DNF (did not finish) is always on the cards; it is waiting in the wind like an inevitable pride killer.

As the old saying goes: ‘Finishing dead last is better than DNF, and DNF is better than DNS’. I think this is a great expression, which gives an order of merit to these otherwise difficult outcomes, but surely sometimes there are reasonable scenarios where DNF and DNS are actually the more sensible options…

It’s psychological turmoil, running in a race and having to come to terms with the idea of pulling out, and one which I have now experienced twice inside three weeks.

Frodo’s Advice:

I’ve been asked before now, what do you need to take with you on trail races, or long ultras? – An excellent question, as these events tend to be predominantly off-road and weather conditions in this country can vary greatly and not always predictably.

Firstly, I find it quite funny when people choose to ask ME about all this stuff, mostly because of my well documented and solidly proven status as a complete moron.

However, it did dawn on me that by making every mistake in the book along the way, I will have surely inadvertently picked up a few things. So here it is! My take on what equipment and nutrition is needed for those long, off-road races…