Fan Danced yesterday and thankfully so did hundreds of others
Last year my friend and I did the Fan Dance for the first time in some truly awful conditions and for large parts of the route we barely saw another soul, we were nicely tested but comfortable despite the rain and wind.
This year we planned a second trip but at much shorter notice and in fair worse shape, only for her car to shutdown on the M4 at 0615 just as I arrived at Pen y Fan, leaving me to either strike out solo or drive 3 hours home without a dance.
I was well equipped but would likely have kept to a single ascent and back to play it safe, if not for a few hundred people massing by the phonebox for an organised Fan Dance race.
Still solo but knowing the route would be well travelled gave me the reassurance and I set off, albeit feeling thoroughly unfit and mentally wobbled by not having a companion.
On the Roman road descent, the front runners of the race went steaming past. My legs had already started cramping badly and I was dreading the return.
After the Torpantau turnaround I was headed back with a constant procession going the other way, some giving encouragement and praise as we passed. On the route back up the Roman Road, someone fell into step close behind and there he stayed for mile after mile.
I was genuinely in quite a bad way at points but having someone a yard behind gave me reason to drive on, we hadn't acknowledged each other but I knew my pace was helping him as much as his presence was keeping me going. We'd pulled well away from a lot of the main pack and for so long it was just steady, left right left right left right.
We spoke briefly at the start of Jacob's ladder and then that was it, my thighs and calves were cramping repeatedly but I slowly climbed while he paused for water. I eventually made it back to the peak and shortly after saw him reach the top and strike off down again.
From there I finished solo but was damn glad to have made the decision to go ahead.
I wasn't in their race but the marshalls along the way, the supportive competitors, the sign waving families and my one time walking companion all made a huge impact and saw me through. Everyone I encountered had words of enouragement and it was a inadvertent but all round immense experience.