Ultrarunninglife

Review of 2011 and what's coming up this year

2012-01-26T17:39:00.002Z

At the end of 2010, which was a very good year as I had finished and won the JOGLE, completed the Lakeland 100 and ran pretty good all year, I took on the Spartathlon and it annihilated me. I knew I could do it, but just had to have good preparation in the proceeding months and get the fluid intake spot on, as this is what broke me. So as soon as I had failed in Greece in 2010, I was itching to enter the 2011 edition. My sights would be aimed at Spartathlon. Everything else would be just stepping stones that would ultimately lead me to the toes of the statue of King Leonidas in Sparta. My opening race for the year was the Thames Trot, a 50 miler held during winter which I was quite looking forward to. I had a really good run with Rob Treadwell, which is great for the pace. We finished together in 6:53. A massive improvement for me. Shortly after this was the Endurancelife Coastal Trail Series Ultra. 33 miles along the incredible coast of the Westcountry. The finest trails in the country I think! I had a great day even if I had turned up over twenty minutes late! I ran hard and even though I had overcooked it near the end I had a good result. Next up was the Wye valley Ultra. Again I had a good race. I wasn’t overly happy with my pacing and nutrition, but I still finished pretty strong and came in joint 4th place. Next up was the Endurancelife Exmoor ultra. This ranks up there as some of the finest scenery and trails to run on. I was very happy to finish in 3rd place seeing as the week leading up to it was a very sickly one for me. The following week was the opening day of Endurancelifes new concept event, Trailblaze. I decided to run the whole thing and was the only person to complete it. In fact as I write this, I am still the only one. I had an amazing day where my parents followed me in the car, and I had support from the Endurancelife team who paddled me across the estuary mouths in a kayak. Awesome! The following week I was in Scotland for the Highland Fling. This amazing event was blessed with incredible weather, which actually became a bit of a hindrance causing dehydration making the end a real struggle. I was happy though to come in the top 40 as the race was a national trail race amongst others so had pulled in a real quality field. My next challenge was to run on the Cotswold Way solo to try and get a black band as this was another Trailblaze course. It was an incredibly tough day but hugely satisfying and successful. I managed over 100km with no support. Then it was the Grand Union Canal Race. I was happy with my preparation and calmness compared to last time and was really chuffed when I finished a whopping 8.5 hrs quicker than the first time I’d done it! A real boost for the ever-looming Spartathlon. Next up was my long awaited success at running the entire 103 miles of the Cotswold Way in one go. I did take just over 24hrs, which is a little frustrating and means I will have to do it again. Drew and I did a decent length run up on the Pennine Way a few weeks after which was awesome. Then maybe my best performance of the year, the North Downs Way. I really enjoyed the day and was very happy with my time and position even though my experimental fast start possibly cost me the win. Then it was Spartathlon. Even though quite a lot of the route is far from inspiring, the whole experience is second to none. I of course made it and had a really emotional finish in Sparta. I can’t wait to return. Last week I received the entry forms for this years race. I will be running across Europe at the time so can’t do it. It’s pretty tough as the race is so special. After this I had the Brecons Ultra. Had a tough day due to dehydration but thoroughly enjoyed it. Then recently there was the Tour de Helvellyn, which was a truly stunning day in the Winter Mountains with my good friend Dave. And my final day was possibly the toughest of them all. My Trailblaze on the Offa’s Dyke was epic and never to be forgotten. I could never have completed it without the tireless support from Lou.Listing out my year of running has made me realise that 2011 was almost certainly my most successful to date. 2010 wasn’t exactly a bad year with my scratch at Sparta being the only blemish on a year that I had my biggest, toughest and most satisfying event yet, my win at the JOGLE. I feel that I have matured as a runner a lot last year. I am in far more control with my training and this in turn feeds my ever-growing confidence to take on the next challenge with a positive outlook. I don’t know where my limits lie, but it has become far clearer over the year (though it will never be clear!). I look forward to gaining a little more wisdom and gaining another year of running under my belt making me a stronger competitor. The year saw me take on not just the races but the personal challenges that I set my self such as the Trailblaze events which have been immensely satisfying. Covering 100 miles alone with support is really tough but with the knowledge that I will recover pretty quickly has enabled me to shoehorn a few of these in wherever there was a gap in my racing schedule. One of these was the Cotswold Way, which was an incredible day. The other 100 was on the Offa’s Dyke just a few weeks ago. There have also been the shorter races I have done which have been loads of fun, and have taught me that doing no speed work for 6 years and just running long and slow hasn’t dulled my speed to much. I also ran in my first two fell races, which were incredible experiences and have added another fantastic dimension to my running. I will be travelling up north more I think!I have also begun to realise just how much running has added to my life and what a positive effect it has had on me. I want to give something back. I will aim to do some race support this year. At the beginning of December I started a lunchtime running group at work that was purely intended to hopefully motivate people to come out for a short run. There is a nice little group who turn up on Tuesdays and Thursdays now. It’s really good seeing these people getting out and enjoying it then coming back for more. I also really enjoy it as it pulls me away from my desk when I would normally mindlessly surf the web. Who knows how it will grow as the seasons change!That brings me nicely onto the year ahead. 2012 promises to be by far my most challenging yet. At the beginning of March (soon!) I have the Trans-Gran Canaria which is a 125km run that takes you in a meandering route across the island. The challenging part about this one is the 8000 metres of ascent that has been squeezed in. Then there is the Viking Way Ultra. This is a new race that has been designed by my friend and fellow JOGLE finisher Mark Cockbain. And in true Cockbain style this promises to be an incredible sufferfest! We’re talking about a ‘British Spartathlon’ type of event that will be similar in length and pressure due to tight time cut-offs. But with the added difficulty of being on a trail which means the possibility of getting lost! I don’t think there will be a very high finish rate on this one! Next is the historical Fellsman. This is the 50th holding of the event that is over 60 miles on the Yorkshire Dales. Really looking forward to this one. At the start of June I have the Hardmoors 110. I have heard great things about how hard this race is so can’t wait to get stuck into it, especially as I have recce’d the first 40 miles of it with Drew. Three weeks later I have the Ultra Trail South West. The UTSW is a 100-mile trail run on the South West coast path. I have been waiting for a 100 miler on the dramatic and absolutely brutal coastal path for a number of years so I was very excited when I heard that Endurancelife were going to put one on. Shame it’s not North Devon and Cornwall so I would be near my parents place, but still it will be an incredible experience. A few weeks later I have another Endurancelife event. This time it’s a little different for me, being a triathlon. It is long distance (Ironman) and off-road. So the 2.4-mile swim is in the sea followed by the 112-mile mountain bike ride through the night and finishing off with a nice marathon trail run. Should be quite a mad experience for me seeing as I’ll be doing it for fun and will not be able to really train for the other two disciplines. Then I will rest for 5 weeks before flying out to Denmark where my Trans-Europe race begins. The race is over 4000km long and is spread over 64 days. There are no rest days. The route takes you all the way through Denmark, Germany, France, Spain and finishes on Gibraltar. This of course is my target for the year. Nothing else matters in comparison. Not to say that I won’t put everything I’ve got into my races, as I find it difficult not too, but TE can not, and will not be taken lightly. The race has only been held twice before, in 2003 and 2009. I have heard that Ingo, the race director say that this will be the last. This is taking a lot to finance. I have the race fee, the shoes, then of course the fact that I won’t be working for around 70 days! I need financial support so please excuse me for putting this on my blog, but it’s worth a punt. If there is anyone who could support me in any way, then please contact me. As I say, shoes and money is what I need. I can wear logos if necessary.Anyway, that’s enough of that. Also, I am currently developing (in the loosest sense of the word) my blog. I have already added a shoe review and plan to add more as time goes on, maybe a gallery etc. I’m kind of enjoying it, as I don’t really know anything so it’s a steep learning curve. So, check out my shoe review. There will be another one soonish.I will write again soon. Happy running.

Time for some more Trailblazing!

2012-01-13T18:04:00.000Z

As the Christmas period got nearer, talk between Lou and Iabout whether to go for another Trailblaze black band became more serious. Afew people had attempted the full Thames pathand had failed, but there had been one success. A chap called David Carr had made it to the first black bandpoint at Pangbourne the 110km point. A fine effort, but I wanted to make it tothe end at Oxfordat 166km. Something I knew I was capable of but it’s never easy, and anythingcan happen. So, the Thames path seemed to bethe one, when one day Lou said that maybe we should do Offa’s Dyke instead asit would be nicer for her to follow. I was much happier with this choice as itseemed like a hillier route that took you up and over some decent hills andwent nowhere near any cities. It was also virgin trail to me whereas the Thames path had been pounded by my feet quite a bit overthe last few years.

So that was it. Decision made. We had booked a rental carfor the 30^th December to go to my parents for the New Year, so wejust extended it by a day and picked up a car first thing on the 29^ththen began the drive up to the start at Prestatyn on the North coast of Wales.

We arrived on the sea front and easily located the firstdibber and parked up. I had a load of homemade soup and got ready in the car. Istarted up my Garmin and got outside and dibbed in and started the stopwatch.It was just before 1300. Hopefully I’d be finished before dark the next day.There was a gale blowing in off the sea which thankfully blew me on my way.Soon I’d be up in the hills, where the wind would be much stronger. As youleave Prestatyn you start climbing pretty quickly till you have this incredibleview of the coast. I had good visibility but the wind was pretty ferocious uphere. Thankfully it was blowing me more up the slope I was contouring aroundthan down and over the edge, but still I was struggling to hold my line as thestronger gusts battered me. It wasn’t too cold but I didn’t really want to bestopping too much in this as the wind would soon get you cold. Soon it would bedark, and being close to the shortest day meant that I would be facing a 15-16hour night to run through. This would be done alone (except when I would seeLou every 10-15kms) and as previously mentioned on new trails. This would bepretty demanding as it would take a lot of concentration for a long period, butI had bought 5 OS maps that covered all of the path that I planned to run, sohopefully if I just took my time at points that I wasn’t too sure about thenall would be good. After my ‘fun’ on the Green Man recently, I was determinedto not make such rash and therefore poor decisions that would cost me muchwasted time and energy. This would take long enough without extras!

After around 30 mins I found the first cp, which I quicklydibbed before continuing through the fields that seemed to be prettywaterlogged in places and quite difficult to run with any speed on. I was nowheading away from the coast so was sheltered, slightly form the brunt of theheavy gusts of wind. The path appeared to be well marked and easy to followwhich was a relief. Some paths are poorly marked and are easy to get confusedwith, but this so far didn’t seem the case with the Offa’s Dyke, though I hadbarely begun really. I was going alittle faster than normal as I wanted to get as much of the trail behind me aspossible before the torch went on. I’m not really sure why. Probably just oneof my silly little games I play with myself. As I found my rhythm I realisedthat I felt pretty good. The weather was pretty good for the time of year, thevisibility and therefore the scenery was stunning. I was happy and excitedabout the trail ahead. Not knowing what lay ahead really seemed to add to this!I passed through the next few dibber with no issues and continued in the daythat was starting to show signs of ending. I came into Rhuallt and saw the hirecar parked up. Lou jumped out and fed me one of her ace homemade mince pies. Iate it in one and moved on swiftly. I was perfectly warm enough at the momentwith shorts, gloves and a thermal on, but I knew that as the darkness fell andI headed out onto the higher, open moorland the temperature would drop. Notforgetting the fact that I’d be getting more tired so would feel it moreanyway. I passed through Bodfari still feeling pretty good. It was relativelyclear still so I was getting extended daylight. I now skirted around somemoorland before starting a steady climb that would take me on to the top of theopen moorland. As I got half way up at a point that was pretty sheltered, I sawthat the path ahead was really exposed and the light was getting pretty low, soI took the opportunity to get ready for the night. I put on my OMM Kamleikawaterproof, exchanged the cap for my fleece hat and put my head torch on. As Ibegun running up the rest of the hill to the ridge I would be following for awhile, I noticed that the reason it was so dark was an incredibly stormylooking cloud. At least I had my waterproof on. Within 30 seconds of noticingit I was hit by the most intense thunderstorm I’ve ever had the misfortune ofbeing caught out in. The one saving grace was that the wind was behind me! Ihad nowhere to shelter so begun sprinting up the hill, half fuelled byadrenalin and half being blown up by the powerful wind. The hail was hitting mewith tremendous force, and was really painful on the back of my legs and arms.I tried to tell myself that it really was only a bit of pain and that itwouldn’t do me any actual harm, but as it continued to beat me, I started todoubt that. After what felt like a lifetime, I was offered a place to shelter.I desperately dived over the brow of the hill into the bracken and rolled intothe fetal position as the hail was still reaching me. I looked up from my kneesand saw a sheep really close to me also sheltering and obviously more scared ofthe hail than a lunatic in shorts! After a couple of minutes, it eased off andI was able to keep running. The wind was really strong up there and as Iprogressed along the ridge I would often get hit from the side and it wouldalmost knock me down. It was really tough trying to keep some momentum. Iswitched on my torch. That was now it for the next 15 hours. I would now beliving in the bubble world that the beam from the torch provides. Time toreally focus. I was really making an effort to follow every twist and turn Imade on the maps so that I really knew where on the map I was at all times. Therewere a few decent climbs and decents that basically kept you on the top of theridge before I arrived at Jubilee Tower. The wind washowling up here and I thankfully begun a steady descent that would hopefullygive me a respite from the wind. My feet were totally soaked and were gettingconstantly drenched due to the massive amount of surface water there wasstretching across the paths. Wet feet don’t usually give me any issues, butit’s never nice especially when the water is freezing cold! I was feeling thecold a bit in my hands now and had decided when the next sheltered area came, Iwould put my big goretex gloves on. The descent continued around the hill forquite a way before I arrived at a car park, and there parked up, was Lou!Magic. I bundled into the car and got the blowers on. My hands begun to warm asI told Lou about the Hail storm that had given me a good beating. Lou fed meand I pulled on my big gloves while trying to convince her that conditionsweren’t unmanageable for me as she was a little concerned. I left her in a morecomfortable state as I crawled out of the luxurious warmth out into the howlingwind and instantly felt the chill as the wind penetrated my cooled body.Thankfully I was straight into a really steep uphill that soon warmed methrough again. I watched the cars lights disappear into the gloomy night as Loumade her way to the next meeting point. Just me, the wind and mud again. As Iclimbed, I approached a marker post with directions on. I’m sure that thedirections make complete sense, but at this stage of the run, I got a littleconfused and continued climbing the steadily steepening trail instead of takingthe other option which would have took me around the side of the hill slightlydown. Five minutes later and I was on top of the hill at the cairn. The windwas incredibly strong up here and just as I looked around trying to determinewhere the path went next, the hail crashed down upon me, only this time it washitting me hard in the face. I tried to see but couldn’t, even with the mapcase sheltering my face. I resorted to laying on the floor with the cairndirectly in front of me till the hail passed. It would be too easy to just rundown any old track and get lost I sensibly thought (little did I know at thisstage that I had already taken the wrong path!). As the hail passed I got upand followed what I thought would be the correct path right down a steep longdescent. Eventually I got to the bottom and as I entered a woodland on afiretrail I got that sinking feeling that I had gone wrong. The good thing wasthat I knew exactly where it had occurred too. I turned and starting climbingwhile trying to stay calm. It was so easy to loose your temper and hammer it,and ruin yourself. I had a long way to go, I need to get my pacing pretty goodat least. When I set out on this run I had totally expected to get lost alittle due to the fact that I hadn’t been on the trail before, and the factthat it was going to be dark for so long. This is not to say that I didn’t mindgetting lost!

I climbed back up the hill and dropped back down the otherside till I reached the post that directed me back onto the correct route. Iwas happy again. Now, if I could just have no more real mess ups like that I’dbe very happy. I carried on trouble free to llandegla at 49km, where I bumpedinto Lou again. I piled in the car and had some more soup. I was having to keepmy map in a Ortlieb waterproof case to protect it. These things are great, butseeing as I was covering a fair bit of ground I was having to constantly getthe map out and refold it, or actually change maps once I had gone off the endof one. I was running across 4.5 maps over the whole run so this was a constanttask. I left Lou and ran through the village that seemed deadly quiet, beforeturning off the road into a forest. I followed the path up hill for quite a wayin the woods before running out into the open moorland and was instantly blownaway with the sheer beauty of the stars which had come out. I stopped for asecond and looked up letting my eyes adjust to the dark and saw more and morestars as they did so. Now I was still I was also struck by the quiet night thatwas all around me. It is moments like this that make all the hard times and themoments of doubt fade away. They give me strength when the pain is almostunbearable. Unfortunately I had to keep moving I looked back down at the trailand began running again with a grin on my face. I really wanted to do amidwinter all nighter, but was very aware that I would miss a whole load ofscenery. The beautiful night sky really went away to balancing out that loss,and I was happy that the night section was making me grin. Things were goingwell overall.

I passed through World’s End before running along the paththe hugged the steep side of the mountain which demanded lots of caution andconcentration as one foul step would send me tumbling down the hill quite away! I really enjoyed the trail along here and thankfully stayed upright. Ieventually ended up on a road and found the next dibber. I quickly dibbed inand moved on. I left the road and entered another forest on a really nice trailthat slowly took me down to the town of Trevor,where I saw Lou. I ate some more and downed a bottle of Lucozade beforestarting off again. I was beginning to feel a little stiff now but all was goodfor over 60km. After going through a few fields I was on a canal path for alittle way. What a contrast! Smooth, not muddy and completely flat! Not reallywhat makes me tick, but it would be nice to get some easy miles behind me. Thiswas short lived though and soon I was back in the mud and passing throughBronygarth. I was increasingly following the incredible earthworks that isOffa’s Dyke. It was still pretty high in other places, but was pretty difficultto make out in others. I loved the way that this massive thing just wentthrough all the farmers fields and was just part of the beautiful scenery. Itdid make the going pretty difficult at times. Next was Trefonen. I was havingto climb over loads of stiles. This gets harder and more painful as the runprogresses, and it was about now that I really started feeling fatigued.Everytime I slid and sloshed around in the mud I could feel the wasted energydraining from my sore legs. I saw Lou again just on the outskirts of town. Shewas trying to grab some shuteye but obviously wasn’t succeeding as her headpopped up as I approached. I tried not to hang around too long here. I grabbedsomething to eat and sorted my maps before stiffly bounding off. I was soonback onto a canal path. This time for a little longer. When I had to turn offthe canal path there was a dibber. That meant I was at the 98km point in FourCrosses. This was the first black band point. Just another 60 odd km left!

I met Lou again briefly before pushing on. I was beginningto see the first signs of daylight now so was really excited. The wind had dieddown a lot and the sky was looking pretty clear. I may even get a decentsunrise! I crossed through some more fields again before hitting the bank ofthe River Severn, which I then followed for a fair way. On my laft was a goodlump of a hill called Moel Y Golfa which was the perfect foreground to thebeautiful orange sunrise that took place before me and reflected off of thesmooth surface of the river that was silently flowing past with incrediblepower. The Petzl came off and the fleece hat was replaced with the cap again.This is always such a liberating feeling and I was feeling especially good as Ihad just completed my first complete winter night with no real drama. I met Louon the road I had to cross before a short spell on another canal. I then passedthrough Buttington before beginning to climb up what looked like a pretty toughclimb that was a decent length too. As this progressed it got more and moredifficult breaking me down to a slow march. I had underestimated this hill onthe map, it was a killer getting steeper and steeper, till I finally reachedthe top puffing and really feeling the strain. I tried to let gravity ease medown the hill with as little energy expenditure as possible before arriving atForden where I saw Lou and did a map swap. The going was really difficult withlarge areas that were very difficult to run on, and as time passed and I gotmore and more exhausted it got that much more laborious. The countless stileswhere getting pretty taxing now. The weather was looking good though so I wasrelatively lucky. The forecast was for there to be quite a bit of rain laterthat afternoon. Hopefully the forecast would prove wrong, or I would finishbefore it arrived.

Although the difficult footing and general exhaustion were slowingthing a bit now, I hadn’t had to do much climbing for a while, but when Ilooked at the remainder of my route at the next map adjusting point, I noticedthat this would be changing soon with some very close together contours comingup! No option other than just getting stuck into it. This was getting prettytesting. I had kept on top of my nutrition and hydration, but I was really lackingany real speed. I just had to hang on now. Soon enough, I came to one of thehills, and my god! I thought I wasn’t going to be able to get up it at onepoint as it was so steep and slippery. Not only was this really hard at thispoint in the run, but this was adding some serious time the whole thing. It wasstarting to look as though I wouldn’t be beating the darkness. The clouds hadcome over as forecast. How long before the rain. The terrain was rolling nowand I wasn’t really making any time back on the downhills as they were just tooslippery to have much confidence.

After wading through a waterlogged field I met Lou at a roadcrossing at Brydrinog. I sorted my maps for a final time as there was only 11km left. Lou asked me if I needed her before the end, and I told her to meet meat the end. I proceeded up a boggy farm trail the climbed and climbed. The skywas getting darker and darker. Partly due to the clouds, but partly as it wasbeginning to get dark. I had already got my torch back out as I really didn’twant to stop again now. My right foot felt a bit sloppy and I looked downexpecting to see my lace undone, but it was fine. My head was foggy so I justignored it for a bit, until I noticed it again. Something wasn’t right. Istopped and looked at the mud laden shoe. You could barely see the thingbecause of the mud. Then, as I moved my weight between feet my foot slid alittle and the issue presented itself in all it’s glory. There was a 12cm tearon the outside of my shoe along the bottom of the upper. The sole was prettyloose because of this. Hmm, this wasn’t good. I was going back up onto the topsof the hills again in the darkening night completely exhausted with brokenshoes. If the sole became too loose, the shoe would become useless. I wouldhave to run barefoot! This seemed like an almost impossible concept as my feetwere feeling pretty battered after over 90 miles. I was forced to be ascautious as possible to try not to tear it any more. Just around 9 more kms. Icouldn’t be beaten by a shoe!

After following the farm track for a bit further I lookedahead and saw an incredibly steep hill that I knew had to be climbed. Thiswould take me on top where I would stay for a while before descending intoKnighton where my amazing support, Lou would be awaiting me in a nice warm car.As I begun the climb I realised that sheep grazed up the hill as it was reallytorn up with no path that I could see and incredibly slippery mud. This wasworse than the previous slippery hill, and I really wondered whether I wouldactually get up this one as I really found it difficult to make any progress. Ihad to use my fingers and with what little energy that remained I hauled mybody to the top, and with much relief I saw a sign that signified that I was onthe trail. The fog had come down now, it was dark and it was raining. I didn’tcare as it was pretty much done now. I was going to enjoy the remainder. Thefinal descent was very steep and it felt like my foot was just going to tearout of my shoe at any moment, but it didn’t matter now. I saw at the bottom ofthe slope some lights which I imagined to be Lou. As I got closer I saw it wasa car. When I approached the headlights flashed on and lit up the final dibber.I dibbed in for the final time. 28hrs! All I was thinking as I stood there inthe rain was that this had possibly been the toughest day of running I hadexperienced. I had spent a lot of time in the car, but there had been 5000m ofascent overall so this had been a pretty big one. That coupled with theunderfoot conditions, the massive amount of time in the dark and the fact thatthis was the first time I had seen the trail. Overall I was really pleased withmy performance. It had been a toughy not only physically but mentally. After Istruggled to get my sodden, muddy kit off and get my warm, dry clothes on, Icrawled into the passenger seat and thought back over the past 28hrs.

Garmin upload

The back of my lower legs were incredibly sore. I had neverfelt anything like it before except it was a little like shingles. A catbrushed by my leg later and the pain was excrutiating. It was really painful inthe shower, and next day it looked like someone had whipped my legs many times.Around my sock line my skin wasn’t just cut many times, it was also bruised.This was a new one to me. The only thing that I could think of as beingdifferent was the hail storm! It certainly was a really heavy storm with verystrong winds, but whether this was the culprit, I don’t know but I have noother ideas. A week later and I felt good and fully recovered.

I am now back into training mode. It feels like I haven’treally done any training for such a long time as I have just been doing bigruns then taking the week off followed by a big run, and so on. It feels goodtoo. I feel pretty strong and fit. One run a week seems to be getting me intopretty good shape! My next race is the Trans Gran Canaria at the beginning ofMarch which is a 125km event with a whopping 8000m of ascent. I really can’twait for this one it will be truly incredible and beautiful. Anyway that’s itfor now. I will try and do a little summary for 2011 and go over my plans anddreams for 2012.

Cheers

Neil.

Winter Wonderland!

2012-01-03T21:15:00.001Z

Last year, I noticed a race in the Lakes called Le Tour deHelvellyn. It’s a 38 miler that is held on the shortest Saturday of the year. Icouldn’t do it last year as I couldn’t work out how to arrange the transportwithout it costing a small fortune. A little while ago when I was on the wayback from the Yorkshire Dales I popped in to see my good friend David Miles. Hesaid that he was doing it this year and that I should do it with him and comeup the night before and stay at his place. Perfect, What a star! I didn’t needany more prompting. We both entered and I bought the relevant map andhighlighted the route in. This race was totally unmarked and there would onlybe water out on the course so we would have to carry all our own food. A greatdeal of my big runs are unsupported anyway so this didn’t bother me at all.During the week the weather had at last turned pretty wintery and there hadbeen some snow on the hills. There were due to be strong winds which could makeit very interesting going over Stick Pass which is the highestpoint of the race. As the week raced by the forecast improved till iteventually reported much lower wind speeds and no snow. Even good visibility,which would be incredible.

As soon as Lou and I finished work on the Friday, we gotinto the hire car and begun the long journey up to Dave’s place in Parboldwhich is just off the M6. Over five hours later we arrived where we were warmlygreeted by Dave and at the same time Jeanette, his wife and Jack his son returnedfrom a karate class. I hadn’t seen Jeanette and Jack since JOGLE so it wasgreat to see them again. We had an awesome lasagne that Dave had cooked andchatted lots about running and running and umm… running. We eventually got offto bed as we were planning to wake at around 5ish.

What seemed like minutes later we were wandering aroundeating breakfast and having some good strong coffee before getting in the carand driving to Askham which was just over an hour up the M6. When we arrived weparked in the village and had a 2 minute walk to the village hall which wasserving as race HQ for the day. Jesus it was cold! I only had shorts on whichI’m normally ok with but when I considered how strong the wind could be on topand how much colder it would be, my tights seemed like a good idea for thefirst time since the really cold weather last winter! The road was prettyslippy with a thin layer of ice. We registered and got a hot drink, beforegoing back to the car to get our kit. The race didn’t have any single starttime, instead there was a window of two hours. The people who were going towalk it should start at 7 and the mountain goats should go at 9. This wouldhopefully even it out a bit at the cp’s. Dave and I had planned to start around8 and actually did end up leaving at around 0815. The first few hundred metreswere on the road and it was quite difficult with the ice. We then got onto aBridleway that I thought would be a little better but in fact was equallydifficult. Eventually we were on the open fells and the footing improved. I hadput on my tights and had two thermal tops on underneath my waterproof jacketwith a fleece hat and gloves. I was toasty and knew that soon I would have tostrip down a bit as I didn’t want to be getting kit wet with sweat when I mightneed it dry later on on the higher parts. We took a path that wasn’t quiteright so I got the map out and did things properly by following the whole ofthe route as we progressed. We had really good visibility but could make outsome heavy cloud over the tops of some of the hills in the distance. In thedirection in which we were heading! Before we had set off we had overheard somepeople commenting on how much snow there was going over Sticks Pass.I imagine that with the high winds that we would probably experience up thereit was certainly going to provide some entertainment!

We soon stopped and I stripped off one of my thermals andthe fleece hat, replacing it with my cap. Much better! It was just up and overthe shoulder of a hill and we were at Martindale where the first cp wassituated. We clipped our sheets with the orienteering clippers and moved onquickly. All was good and the weather was stunning but still looked threateninghigh up on the tops where we would later be. The next leg would take us toPatterdale which was up a track which got steeper and rockier the higher yougot. We climbed into the bottom of the snowline and when I turned while takinga breather I was rewarded with a stunning view of the green valley floor slowlyturning white up the hillsides. We ran across the top in a couple of inches ofsnow before starting a long and fun descent down into Patterdale. When wearrived at the cp, Louise was already there which was a nice boost. We clippedour sheets, had a banana and moved on heading along the road to Glenridding. Ihad a quick look at the map and saw that we needed to cross one river beforeturning left up towards Sticks Pass. As we headed over abridge, a runner behind informed us that we had just passed the turn. I checkedmy memory and realised that I wasn’t too sure whether we had already passedover a bridge or not and for some silly reason decided to go with the otherrunners judgement. Dave and I ploughed on up the hill. I was excited that wewere nearing Sticks Pass. After around 10minutes we got to a bridge and already doubt was creeping into my mind. Ilooked ahead up the valley and could see not another soul. I looked over themap, and, annoyed with myself, realised our error. We hadn’t gone over a bridge.I was right and should have trusted my own judgement. Never mind. It only addedaround 2km according to the GPS readout so not too bad. It would have beenannoying had I been racing but today was all about being out in the hills withDave. We soon go back onto the road and passed over the bridge we should havecontinued over before and soon came to the bridge at Glenridding where we tookthe correct path and slowly we started climbing. After a little way on the Greenside Road, wearrived at the Helvellyn youth hostel. The view was getting better and betteras the hills got bigger and the angles got steeper and steeper. The snow cappedtops were getting closer too! It was an awesome sight to behold! We now cameoff the path and headed straight up through the snow heading into the unknownas the tops were still shrouded in cloud. As we proceeded the going got steeperand steeper. I was feeling really good and was really enjoying the moment andwas just itching to get up into the deeper stuff. I was surprised at just howmany other people there were out climbing up the hill and I’m not sure why Iwas surprised, but almost everyone had skis with them. As we got closer to the high point of the trailwe were using, we began to feel the force of the wind as it howled over the topand we first felt the massive extra drop this gave to the temperature. Once wewere fully enveloped in the cloud we had a visibility of around 30 metres atthe best and a virtual white out. It was lightly snowing, but the strong winds wereblowing it into our eyes which was pretty painful. I kept my head down so thepeak on my cap provided some protection. As I looked around at the sight of thespindrift blowing towards me over untouched virgin snow with no idea of the surroundingscenery or horizon due to the white out, it gave a slight Arctic feel to it. Itwas shear beauty that I had never experienced before.

It was also pretty bloody cold so we really needed to keepmoving. I had to stop in a little gully that provided a little protection sothat I could change my gloves into my large Goretex ski gloves as my hands weregetting really cold.

After a little while I was grateful when we begundescending. Soon we’d be back out of the clouds. It was a fun descent which sawDave take a few comedy slides on his backside down the muddy snow. Suddenly wepopped out of the cloud and were rewarded with the most magical view of thebright green valley below us. We dropped down to the dry stone wall where thenext cp was located. We clipped our cards and moved on following the wall downthe valley. It was really pretty wet and slippery along the path we werefollowing but it was a fun, technical trail to follow for a little while beforewe followed the wall around to the right towards some woodland where I couldmake out the red jacket of Louise at the next cp. As we approached we heard thesound of cow bells and soon were greeted with father Christmas who hadvolunteered his services at the cp and was dishing out hot drinks to those whowanted them. I was nice and warm now and Louise gave Dave and I a hunk of breadwith a flask of chunky soup each. We greedily wolfed it down before sayingthanks and goodbye and shooting off towards the entrance to the forest next tothe car park. When I looked over the maps of the route beforehand, I hadn’treally checked the contours. We were both now learning that this part of theroute was actually pretty lumpy and was far from a real break in the race. Whatit did provide though was some snow free, beautiful single track that snakedits way through the trees. We caught and passed a few other runners on thissection. When we eventually came out of the opposite end of the forest we swungleft and followed a wall up a gully on the long climb that took us the other sideof Helvellyn that Sticks pass had crossed over. The climb was nowhere as severeas Sticks Pass and we seemed to be prettysheltered in comparison. The question was, would the pass take us into the baseof the clouds before beginning to descend, or not? Shortly after beginning toclimb we had left the green valley below and were back above the snowline. Icould see that we were getting closer and closer to the cloud, but at the sametime as I looked ahead and saw some other runners I saw that they weren’t in ityet. Maybe we would not quite enter it this time and face the harsh weather itwould provide. The path flattened out a little and soon we were shown thebeautiful shining Grisedale Tarn surrounded by the white landscape. I knew thatwe had to work our way down past it keeping it on our right before descendingbelow the snowline again towards Patterdale. The descent was long and quitedifficult with much slipping and sliding on the snowy top part and with equallydifficult footing on the rocky lower slopes, but it was all good fun. Dave tooka rather comical fall right into the bed of a stream, unfortunately getting theinside of his gloves wet in the process which would take a while for him tore-warm. After this really long descent we were back on familiar territory andsoon arrived at the cp where I noticed that Lou wasn’t there. I half expectedher to be here. Never mind. We got a coffee each from the ace crew beforeleaning against a wall and eating some food. Next thing Dave tapped me on theshoulder and pointed towards a car coming into the car park. It was Lou. Ace!We chatted a bit before shooting off, keen to catch as much of the daylight aspossible. We now were just back tracking the first section of the race so knewwhat was in store. The first section was a decent ascent that just about tookus into the snowline for one last time before a nice drop back towardsMartindale. Once we arrived at the Martindale cp, I stopped and put on a warmhat and my head-torch in anticipation for the prevailing darkness. We set offwith the scent of home in our noses. I remembered reading that the organiserhad cooked up a load of soup for the finish. I was really looking forward to amassive bowl with some chunks of bread. The last of the course was over moorlandand was relatively flat(ish!). As we came out onto the open moorland, thedarkness became too much and we switched our torches on. After a little erroron the trail which meant a spell of wading through deep, freezing cold waterand bracken. After finally getting back on track we only had a couple of km’sleft before we arrived back at the village hall to finish in a time of 9hrs and20 mins.

Garmin upload

Not bad for a steady day out in the hills. I felt pretty good and wasmet by Lou who was waiting for us. The soup was as good as I had imagined. Whata stunning day it had been.

This was my first real experience in the Lakes midwinter andI had been blown away by the beauty. Dave and I will most definitely be backagain for this one. Whether I have it in my legs next year after Trans-Europethough is another question!

Next is Christmas. I plan to do nothing except for anattempt at the northern 96 miles of the Offa’s Dyke footpath which is aTrailblaze, supported by Lou. Could be fun!

Not so off off-season!

2011-12-13T18:06:00.000Z

The Beacons Ultra

I was booked into theBeacons Ultra for a few reasons. It was relatively close to home which ispretty unusual. It was at a suitable date for an end of season race. It wasn’ttoo long at 45 miles. The fact that this race seems to fill really fast alsoattracted me. People were obviously pretty keen to be in this race. Months agoI had set up a reminder on my computer to tell me when the race was opened forentries to make sure I got my place. I got my place then pretty much forgot aboutit till after Spartathlon. I then realised that I would be needing a car to getthere as there was no nearby train station. Luckily, Louise came to the rescueby borrowing a car from a friend of hers. Phew! The race started at 0730 and Iof course needed to be there before to register, which meant another very earlymorning! 0430 I believe. We got there with plenty of time to register whichmade a nice change to my almost standard seat of the pants timing! Howrelaxing! We sat in the hall and watched the place slowly fill. During thebriefing that followed, Martin the race director, informed us of some of thepeople who were racing. There was some real talent here! Today was going to bea fast day. Well, fast for some, I on the other hand was not going to take iteasy, but was not expecting anything as I was here for my end of year bash!

The race began. I was nearthe front and instantly the pace was fierce. The first 5-6km were on a canal soit was flat and the footing was good. I thought I may as well stay with it aslong as seemed sensible. Mark, the previous few years winner, had shot ahead atan incredible pace. I left him to it. I was pretty much on my limit here. Theroute was two laps of a 22 mile circuit. All I knew was that after we left thecanal we went up a hill and down the other side. I knew nothing else about the course. Iwasn’t wearing my Garmin and these days I don’t use my heart rate monitor sowas running completely by feel which felt pretty liberating. Soon we pulled offthe canal and instantly began heading upwards through a field. The weather wasreally mild for the time of year, so much so that I was just wearing a t-shirtand shorts. I wasn’t even wearing gloves which is pretty good seeing as I havereally poor circulation in my hands. As we headed up through the fieldsclimbing over stile after stile, I saw as I looked up that the tops of thehills were shrouded in the low cloud. We were heading straight into it! Theclimb continued for quite some time before we eased into the cloud. It wasreally thick like pea soup! Visibility was down to about 20 metres so almostinstantly, I lost sight of the other runners. The temperature also droppedconsiderably and my hands where feeling it, but I decided to hold off ongetting my gloves out as hopefully the temperature would rise as I came downout of the cloud. This climb was a lot bigger and steeper than I imagined, butI was enjoying the severity for the warmth it provided and the downhill thatwould follow. My downhill technique is nothing special, but there are definiteimprovements. I don’t lose any real time now. In fact I will make up time onsome people without expending any more energy!

Soon after hearing somevoices, three figures and a tent came into view ahead. As I approached Irealised that this was the cp at the top of the hill. I passed them and begunthe downhill. It was a pretty fast downhill being relatively non-technical. Lotsof fun but soon over. Fortunately as I came out of the cloud it got warmer andmy hands warmed up again. The rest of the course was lots of fun and prettyvaried. There were some really good downhills that were really technical due tosome really awkward footing. I was having lots of fun on these and was alsomanaging to stay upright which was quite surprising seeing as I was pushing itright up to the limit of my ability! It was pretty wet, muddy and thereforeslippery in places, but again this just added to the fun. I passed through morecp’s but didn’t stop once, wanting to keep the pace high. I was feeling prettygood. Soon I was on a quiet country road, and still keeping a reasonable pace.I was tiring, but nothing unusual. I knew I must be fairly close to the end ofthe first lap as I crossed a bridge that spanned the canal then dropped downonto the path. There was still a few miles from the end though and it did seemto drag a bit as I starting feeling the first signs that I hadn’t kept on topof my nutrition. As I looked behind I noticed around 4 or 5 runners quicklygaining on me. I accelerated a little then realised that I should just stick tomy own pace, and let them pass me. They did so surprisingly quickly leaving mefor dust. I was now beginning to see that I needed some food, electrolytes andwater in me and fast too if I didn’t want to just burn out only half waythrough! I slowly begun to load myself up but continued to crash. The secondtime up the hill wasn’t too bad but I just lacked the zip I should have had hadI looked after myself better. Never mind. As long as I focused on getting backon track then I knew from experience that I could still have an ok race. Ilaboriously made my way down the descent and then hit the woodland road that ispretty long and this is where I hit rock bottom. I was staggering andstruggling to run even though the footing is great and it was pretty flat. Iwas holding onto the hope that soon the food and drink I’d slowly beenconsuming would start taking effect. As I came out of the woods and begunthe steady climb up into the cloud again I began to feel stronger. Nothingamazing, but a definite change, and with this my confidence grew. I now kepteating and drinking. I was in 9^th place, and I would be happy if Icould hold that, but I had no idea how far the other runners ahead or behind mewhere. I now felt how I would expect to feel after 30 odd miles. I now just hadto keep the pace going for another few hours and it would be done. It was goodto not have to concentrate at all on my direction having only been on the traila few hours previously. I was pretty strong and didn’t see another soul until Iwas back on the canal for the final time with only around two miles to go. Istopped for a call of nature and looked behind me. I couldn’t see very faralong the canal due to the bends, but there only a few hundred metres behindwas a runner! I hurried up and bolted. I didn’t look back till I was on theroad with only a few hundred metres left. He was nowhere to be seen. I crossedthe line in 9^th place in a time of 7hrs 20mins. Not as quick as Iwas hoping, but that will serve me right for not looking after myself. Overallthough I was pretty happy with it and it was a really fun and pretty coursewhich I would love to return to.

The Bath Skyline

The next day, Lou, James andI were entered into the Bath Skyline 10km, an off-road course that was justdown the road. I was pretty stiff, but thought I’d just turn up and jog around.As soon as it started I found myself near the front and just went for it. Itwas an excellent cross-country course that was really muddy in places. Again,it was a two lap race that really was quite testing, pushing me to the limit atevery second. So much for the recovery run! Who was I kidding! I finished in 7^thplace in just over 44mins. I felt pretty good at the end too! James came in 9minutes later and Lou just missing out on breaking the hour mark. This was thefirst of a new series which I’d say was a real success and it’s a shame that Iwon’t be able to make the next one. Then again the reason I can’t make it isbecause I’m doing a race in the Lake District.

The Green Man Challenge

The next weekend I had a goat something that caught my eye quite a while ago. The Green Man Challenge isthe completion of the Community Forest Path in 24hrs. The CFP is a loop thatcircles the whole of Bristoltotalling 45 miles in length. It is named the Green Man Challenge as it beginswithin Ashton Courtat a large stone carving of the Green Man. The whole idea is designed andgoverned by the Gaveller, otherwise known as Chris Bloor. He came and met me atmy chosen start time of 0630 to see me off. We chatted briefly before I ran offinto the darkness through the deer park.

Before I continue, I willjust tell you about the preparation that went into this run. Well, I printedout some strip maps that were designed for people to do recces with and I hadan OS map that wasn’t great as it was in the wrong scale for any real accuracyin tricky sections. I barely even looked through the route properly. I had reada few other peoples reports and most people had recced the route. Some thoroughly!I made it out of Ashton court and was soon heading up the hill heading towardsDundry. Soon I was off course and was forced to crawl under some barbed wirebefore being back on the trail. As I ran along the trail at the top of Dundrytowards the village, the sun was rising over the trees setting the cloudsalight. The ground was wet, but it looked as though it was going to be a greatday. I really was enjoying running around the city being surrounded by beautyyet being close to it all the time. The path threads it’s way through the ruralareas and sometimes through built up areas, but always utilising what greenareas there are. It is a really well thought out footpath.

All was going pretty welltill I got to Warmley where I got a little confused and ran in circles for awhile before finding the trail again. I must admit that I did expect to get alittle lost due to having not been over any of the course before, so eventhough I believed that I could beat the course record of 7hr20mins, I knew thateverything had to be just right with no time wasting. Already I had wasted lotsof time, but I was enjoying the path a lot.

I next got disastrously lostaround Kendleshire Golf course. Fortunately Louise came to the rescue here. Shehad decided to come and support me for the last half and it just so happenedthat she was pretty close when I was very confused. She found me running down aroad and fed me a still warm sausage roll before pointing me in the rightdirection and setting me off again.

Next point of confusion wasnot too far away near Hambrook. I then didn’t spend too much time on the CFPtill I got to Around the Parkway area where Louise found me again. She thistime refuelled me with a flask of rooibos tea and then rode beside me for awhile which was really nice. Although I like to run alone it doesn’t mean thatI don’t like the company. She stayed with me right up to Aztec West where itagain turned to bike unfriendly path forcing us to part again. I then travelledtrouble free (amazingly!) all the way to Easter Compton where Louise waswaiting for me. I didn’t hang around, except to get my torch out as the nightwas closing in. I made my way up and over Spaniorum Hill where it was reallymarshy. I had been going for many hours here yet was feeling really good. Eventhough I had been just running around in circles all day, I was really enjoyingit. When I arrived in Henbury, Louise was waiting for me again. This time I wasfed a sandwich which vanished before I ran off through the streets. The nextchallenge was getting through the Blaise estate. I saw it as a potentialchallenge as I had read that others had got lost here. What chance did I have!Sure enough, I lost it and ended up on the road before heading straight backinto the woods to tray and intercept the path. I knew I was heading in theright direction so just continued, hopeful that I would exit the woods whereLouise was waiting. Needless to say that I came out close to Louise, but notclose enough! Around another wasted half an hour later, we met up again beforeI ran off through the golf course. From now till the end was free from error.When I got to the Downs, I called the Gavelleras promised so that he could meet me at the end. I also let Louise know where Iwas. The last section was really nice and the night view that suddenly appearedof the suspension bridge was stunning. As I crossed the bridge, Louise caughtme up so we could finish together. Ashton Court was locked when we arrived so we leapt overthe wall and made our way towards the light of the Gaveller who was alreadywaiting for my arrival at the Green Man. It was good to be done. Even though it had been prettydisastrous navigation wise, I had had a great day running around like aheadless chicken sliding around in the mud and was really feeling pretty goodseeing as my Garmin informed me that it had begun 13 hours ago!

Garmin upload for your entertainment!

We chatted withChris for a few minutes in the dark at the Green Man stone Carving I had leftearly that same morning. Chris had already offered me a lift back but I wantedto run. It only felt right for this to be a true door to door venture. I willof course run the CFP again and probably many times as it is on my doorstep andis a great distance for a long day out. I’m not sure that it will ever be quitethe mad adventure that this was though!

Hardmoors 110 Recce

I next had plans with Drewagain to do a recce. This time the recce would take us to the North York Moors,on the Cleveland Wayto prepare for the Hardmoors 110 we are both entered into next year. The raceis the Cleveland Wayin it’s entirety. All 110 miles of it. I’ve heard some good stuff about thisrace. It is supposed to be really tough. I like to if possible recce any routethat will be long enough to take you through the night so to take up thisopportunity with Drew was valuable for race confidence. I got the train to Coventry where Drewpicked me up and we drove on up to the edge of the North York Moors where Drewhad booked a room for two nights at a hotel. We didn’t get there till after 10so just chilled out in our room and sorted out our kit for the next days earlystart. We had booked breakfast for 0515 and the cook serving us looked like hewasn’t going to wake up for at least another two hours. We had our breakfastthen drove to Thirsk where we left the car and got into a taxi and directed itto Helmsley. This is where the end of the Cleveland Way is situated, and where Drewand I spent 5 minutes hunting for it! The weather was atrocious with verystrong winds which would be a lot stronger when we got up onto the exposedmoorland. We ran off up the path skirting a woodland in complete darkness. Wedecided to start in the dark so that we could have every bit of daylight wecould get. The path was really easy to follow and for around the first 30km,although it is actually slowly climbing for a lot of it, is actually reallypretty easy running. We were going well and I was feeling great. Drew hadmentioned that he hadn’t felt great on the drive up but seemed to be going wellat the moment. Our target for the day was Saltburn by the sea, which would takeus onto the coastal section and the half way point at 55 miles. I was carryingthe map, and as I looked ahead to what lay ahead, I noticed that it got alittle lumpier up ahead which would slow us down considerably. No problem. I geta bit bored with to much flat running!

As the trail got morechallenging, I kept noticing that Drew was uncharacteristically slowing down abit. Drew and I have a pretty even pace so I knew that he wasn’t going well andslowed a little. This wasn’t a race.

As we plugged away at theups and the downs, the mileage was getting higher but not quick enough. Then aswe got onto the open moorland towards Bloworth Crossing, Drew begun walking andsaid that he wasn’t going to make Saltburn, and that we were soon to be atKildale where there was a train station. We decided that we would stop thereand catch the train back from Kildale. We had covered 40 miles so had stilldone a pretty good recce!

Garmin upload

We arrived at the tiny village of Kildaleand found the really nice and cosy family run tea shop. I had a couple bowls ofsoup and some coffee, whilst we waited for the train. After much waiting and acouple train rides later, we arrived back at the car and Drew drove us back tothe hotel.

Eskdale Eureka Fell Race

We had checked to see whatfell races were on the Sunday and discovered that the Eskdale Eureka was. It was 8 miles with not too muchclimbing. I felt pretty good but Drew sensibly decided to spectate as theweather was pretty harsh being very windy and only 2 degrees Celsius. I had agreat race, really enjoying the madness of it. I of course did not know theroute at all, but had some runners ahead of me who clearly did, and chose tofollow them as they would just turn off the path and begin leaping through kneedeep bracken and gorse as they tried to find the fastest route! Fell racing isjust so intense physically and mentally. I never imagined that running could beso exciting! I felt strong to the end and managed 9^th place. 8minutes behind the winner. My descending is definitely improving, and stufflike this will really push it to a different level. Overall a great weekendagain. Shame Drew wasn’t feeling up to it, but I would say 40 miles is prettygood for feeling under the weather!

Garmin upload

Today is the 13^thDecember and on Saturday I’m entered into the Tour De Helvellyn in the Lakes.The weather all around the country is abysmal at the moment and doesn’t look tobe much better at the weekend so being the shortest Saturday of the year, couldreally be a tough one even though it’s just a 38 miler. I can’t wait to getback up to the Lakes. I will be running with my good buddy Dave again which isalways a pleasure.

Will write again soon totalk about Helvellyn.

Happy running.

SPARTA!

2011-11-08T22:31:00.000Z

So finally after a long year of waiting after my first failed attempt at the Spartathlon, the time had arrived to give it another go. This time I felt a whole lot more prepared. I felt like a more experienced, relaxed and confident runner. This all leads to being a stronger runner. I also knew how the race was run and half of the course. On top of all of this, my year had been my strongest yet with consistent performances in the Grand Union Canal race and The North Downs Way race. Recovery was markedly improved over previous years too. All in all, there was a lot of positivity buzzing around my head and this felt good. I was trying not to get too confident though as one of the many lessons learnt in Greece last year was that this was a race that should never be taken lightly. This is seen as the Ultra to finish when you speak to the incredibly experienced runners from all over the world that enter this incredible race.

Why does it have such a high attrition rate when on paper it may not seem so tough? Well, the answer is many things, but the one overriding, unusual (unique?) feature is the quantity of checkpoints. There are 72(?) of them and each of them has a board that tells you what time the cp closes. Usually being fed information like this can be alright as it can be a pretty healthy distraction, giving your mind something else to concentrate on other than the pain that is inevitable.The problem is that seeing as the cp's are every 2-5km then you are almost constantly being informed of your progress whether that is positive or negative. Experience tells you that losing little bits of time here and there is pretty normal for a big one, but for some reason when you are constantly being reminded of this it creates a sense of panic. If you arrive at a cp to discover that you have just dropped 5 minutes since the previous one, for some reason, the need to try and make that back before the next cp seems like the only option, so you push on and reclaim the time. This in turn tires you out a bit and you will then lose time getting to the next cp! And so the cycle continues. The mental side to this race is incredibly difficult to overcome once you slip into this cycle.
Of course, the mental side to this race is not the only challenge to overcome. There is the 152 miles of mostly road that is of course pretty difficult, the heat is tough. And lets not forget the interesting challenge of the mountain that you have to drag yourself over at the 100 mile point in the thick of night.
I had booked flights from Gatwick on the Wednesday morning with a few other Brit runners. I couldn't get in early enough on the trains so decided to travel up to London the night before and stay at some very good old school friends of mine, Rich, Si and Emily. I didn't arrive till after 10 but we stayed up for a bit and had a drink. It was really nice to catch up. I got into bed at 3:30 and my alarm was set for 5:30. Nothing like a good bit of preparation before my biggest race of the year! When I arrived at Gatwick, I floated around the dull shops, burning time with a coffee. I soon bumped into Pete who is the British Spartathlon veteran, who I had met the year before. We chatted till our gate was called.
Now, just a quick bit of nonsense for you. My birthday is the 11 of November, or 11-11. Because of this, 11 has always been my 'lucky' number if I ever get asked. This year my birthday will of course be on the 11-11-11. My race number this year is, yes you guessed it, 11. The gate our flight was at had just been called. 11! I hope I don't get to see many more 11's around else I just may begin to think that there is something in it!

We met up with the other brits who were on the same flight. There wasalready a good bunch of us and I had met most of them which was cool. After auneventful flight, we were in the airport looking for a sign that would directus to a coach that would take us directly to the hotel. Normally you would haveto use the public transport at this point, but due to the unrest in Greece becauseof the financial problems, they were having strikes. On the day of my arrival,the public transport was off so the Spartathlon association had put on a coachfor all competitors. Fantastic!
Once we arrived at the hotel we immediately registered for the race then gota room. Another good feature of this race is that the SA book up three hotelsright next to each other. They then cram you in four at a time into the rooms.You are living right on top of each other (well, almost!). This initially mightnot sound like the best of situations, and some people will book themselvesinto a separate hotel so that they can have their own space, but what it doesis it creates this great camaraderie and also you really are living theSpartathlon for five days. After experiencing it for two years now, I wouldn'twant it any other way. It really develops the experience into a totally absorbing time.
I was in a room with James Adams who had decided to not start as he'd recently completed the incredibly gargantuan race across America so was going to follow the race and see it from the other side. There was a chap called Paul Mott who I hadn't met before, and Dave Miles who is a good friend who I knew from the JOGLE. A good room. There was much hanging about before going to dinner and stuffing myself with the slightly odd meals that they concoct at the hotel. It isn't bad though so I'm happy tucking in and drinking plenty of rather strong coffee. After an expected poor nights sleep we have the entire Thursday to just relax and get our drop bags ready. I had bought a load of energy drink powder with me and some 9 bars and some gels. I went to a garage next door and bought 12 bottles of water and then mixed my powder in. I then taped a 9 bar to each one before dumping them into roughly evenly spaced boxes that are provided, one for each checkpoint. Finally I sorted out my OMM bumbag and clothes for the race. All this didn't take too long which was cool as it left the rest of the day to relax before the not so relaxing day that was too follow.That evening, a few of us ate out at a nice restaurant before going back to the hotel and attempting to get some more sleep before the alarm went off at a ridiculous hour. No bother really as the night didn't involve much sleep again and I was just waiting for the alarm!
We all sorted ourselves out and went down for breakfast before jumping into the coaches that would take us on the 30 minute drive to downtown Athens to the Acropolis where the race begins. After a bit of a wait, and a few visits to the toilet, the time had come, we were off!
I felt calm and content that at last I was running and that compared to exactly this time last year, I was a lot more confident. I knew I could do it.
We slowly snaked our way through the already quite busy streets where police were at each junction and stopped the traffic for us as we passed. No mean feat in any capital, let alone Athens!

Dave and I in the first 30 miles.

I had already decided that I was going to run this all alone as I had to do my own pace, but soon Dave ran up beside me and we started chatting. I felt fine with Dave's company as we had run together a great deal over the JOGLE so I knew that we had very even paces. We chatted quite a bit as we headed out of the city. I wanted to run at a slightly higher speed before the sun rose than I planned to run later on when the heat would rise. Everything felt good and I was content with our pace as we started passing through the cp's, one by one.

It was good to be passing through roads I recognised. Roadsthat were familiar to me. I found it exciting knowing that I would soon be onnew road. Road that I would be unfamiliar with. As we passed through theindustrial outskirts of the city that are peppered with a few too many oilrefineries and the edges of the roads are heavily laden with years of refusethat has been tossed from the constant flow of traffic, the heat was beginningto rise, but to attempt to even it up, the scenery was improving, and I wasfinally feeling like I was set into my rhythm for the duration of the race.

We were starting to pass through sleepy villages and theroads were starting to become a little less busy than the highly dangerousmadness of before. A smile appeared across my face as we ran along thebeautiful peaceful coastal road and I stared out to sea trying to estimate thedistance you could see before the haze took control. This was when Dave firstmentioned that his stomach wasn’t feeling tip top. I of course didn’t sayanything, but I wasn’t feeling too positive for his chances if this problemcontinued. This race took no prisoners!

Shortly after he had mentioned this, he threw up a load ofwater. Not good. He tried to get some fluid down again but this wasn’thappening. We continued to run together for a little while at a slower pace,before he threw up again. As we began to run again, I started to pull awaygradually. I could not wait any longer as you really had to run well when youcould, as sooner or later you would hit a bad patch where you will lose alittle time. The bad patches had to be minimised, so having to wait for someonewhile feeling good isn’t the most sensible of approaches.

I was now alone on the road with my thoughts. My thoughtsturned to what pains were flowing through my body. My quads were pretty sore.Maybe a little more so than I would expect for this time and distance. Iguessed that this was possibly due to low electrolytes so attempted to top upusing the Elete water I had in my bag. I also wasn’t finding it too easy toeat. Again, I put this down to dehydration. Soon after this I began to feel thescary twinges in my calves of cramp! This was very concerning, and reinforcedmy theory that that I was dehydrated and low on electrolytes. I got the Elete waterout again and squeezed the salty solution directly into my mouth. Other thanmaking my face contort with the intensity of the taste, within three minutesthe twinges ceased! Incredible! This added a little more positivity to my mood.

As I ran into the first major cp at the 50 mile point, Ifound a bowl of rice and poured lots of salt all over it . I soon found outthat I had put way too much salt on it as was disgusting, but knew that itwould help. After a little sit down, I left the madness of the cp and walkedoff as I struggled to eat the rice. I really needed to get down and hold downas much as possible, as I knew that I was running a little empty. I keptthinking about this stage of the race a year earlier and it was good. I wasdefinitely in better shape this time round. Ok I wasn’t in great shape oranything, but I felt in more control of my condition. I felt stronger mentally.

Soon I was near the bottom of the bowl of rice and could eatno more. I was happy with how much I had eaten, and begun running again. Wewere now on small country roads where the main volume of traffic was made up ofrace officials and other competitors support crews.

I passed fields of olive trees, vineyards, pomegranates andmany other things which I didn’t recognise. The grapes were looking especiallyappealing in the hot sun and were weighing heavily on the frameworks that hadbeen constructed around them, but I didn’t stop.

Around this time, a Hungarian runner asked me if I knewanyone from Bristol. I told him I live there and found out that he had livedthere for a number of years before returning to Hungary earlier in the year. Wechatted a bit before falling back into our own rhythms and leap frogging each otherfor the next few hours.

My problem with eating continued throughout the day, but hadnot got any worse, so I was happy. I was eating literally a very small handful ofraisins occasionally which wasn’t great, but it was something and I wasmanaging to hold them down and continue running. I was thinking that if I couldjust make it into the coolness of the night then maybe I would be able to fullyrehydrate and this would in turn allow me to take in more food and be betterprepared for the long day ahead. It was a plan that gave me hope.

It was beginning to cloud over a little which gave somerespite from the sun and dropped the temperature by a few degrees which helpedtremendously. As the sun dropped, I knew that I was getting closer and closerto the point that I dropped out at last time. I still didn’t feel greatexactly, but was happy with my progress. I felt a confidence that I wouldn’thave dared feel this time last year. I was starting to feel a little tired sowas starting to take on much coffee at the cp’s. Usually I wouldn’t really feeltoo much of a benefit from the caffeine during a race, but this time it wasreally perking me up and giving me more energy for a short period which I wasreally enjoying. I held off getting my torch out till I really needed it. Ihave got into a habit of doing this for some reason. I’m not too sure whyreally. It’s good to keep good night vision for as long as possible beforeruining it with your bright light, but whether this holds any real advantage Idoubt. Just another little game I play in my head.

It felt great that the temperature had dropped in the nightair and I had almost stopped sweating so was feeling like I was getting bettercontrol of my hydration levels. I was still not eating much, but what I waseating was obviously doing enough to keep me going for the time being. I soonapproached the cp where the heavens opened last year and begun my negativitythat ended in my failure.

Shortly after this point you turn off the road onto a sideroad. I was really enjoying the night air and the feeling of running alone inthe darkness of night. I knew that this part carried on a little while before abig descent into a town where my ‘final’ cp of last year was. I couldn’t wait!Progress went well and soon enough I started the long descent. As I entered thecp I looked across at the chair which I slumped into the previous year a broadgrin crossed my face. I was about to improve upon last year, and the way I wasfeeling I was going to improve a great deal. I sat down and drank some soup anda coffee before pushing on into the unknown. I went downhill for a while beforethe road levelled out. I now was certainly on a bit of a high as I raced on. Ifelt great and was conscious that I should take advantage of this surge ofstrength so pushed on pretty hard. I now felt pretty well hydrated but wasstill struggling to eat any great amount. My current surge was letting me knowthat although I hadn’t been able to eat much for many hours, it was obviouslyenough to keep me going which filled me with hope for the task ahead. Soon Iwas traveling along the valley floor which I knew led eventually to the baseof the mountain. This would be a massive mental milestone for me. The top ofthe mountain was the 100 mile point. A large proportion of the people who getthis far get to the end. I really was looking forward to the off road part tothe top and descending down the other side. It would be good to get off thetarmac. This was the furthest I’d ever run on the road in one go and it had tobe said that off road is definitely my thing. Trans-Europe will be interestingnext year!

After a short climb I arrived in a village where I stoppedvery briefly to grab a soup before power walking off into the switch back turnsthat signified the beginning of the road section of the climb. Although I hadheard and read many accounts of this climb, for some reason I couldn’t really visualiseit. It begun with the turning of a corner and seeing the headlights of therunners ahead of me snaking across the valley and zig-zagging their way up theroad of the mountain. What I did know was that the final part of the climb tothe cp was actually off road and pretty rough. How much of the on-road therewas before this section that had taken on mythical proportions in my head I wasunsure, so I just leaned into the slope and kept power walking. I enjoyed thisslope and it went on for quite a bit longer than I thought it would to behonest. After what felt like around 40 minutes though I have no idea how longit actually took I passed under the main road that was silent at this dead hourand followed a trail that ran parallel with the road before coming to the finalcp that was being manned by a lot of British people. This was a refreshingsurprise, though I was very quick to grab a soup before being directed up themountain path which had been lit with a plethora of glow sticks, flashinglights and torches of many varieties to make sure we all made it over safely.The going was very steep and the footing was fairly loose and there was no wayof running. I’d be surprised if even the gazelle-like front runners would be ableto run it.

I was really warm at this point seeing as I’d been going upfor quite a while, but as I got closer to the top I felt the stirrings of achilly wind. I was wet with sweat so was thinking I’d have to get my windproofjacket out nearer the top. Sure enough as I got closer and closer to the top,the strength of the chilling wind increased creating a pleasant cooling effect.As I looked up, I saw that there was still a little way to go, enough to tellme that the strength of wind would be very strong at the cp. I sat when Iarrived as a thick blanket was thankfully thrown around me protecting my sweatybody from the gale force winds howling over the pass. I again had anothercoffee which I drank very quickly before throwing the blanket off and beginningthe rocky descent that made its way down the mountain. I hadn’t put my jacketon as I was hoping that if I was quick, I would get out of the cold wind, butas I dropped down, the wind wasn’t really decreasing so I stopped, took mybumbag off and put my jacket on before I put the bag back on over the top ofthe jacket. It was here that I lost my cap that I had looped around the waiststrap. After around 20 minutes of painful descending, due to the rocks stickinginto my very sore feet, I entered the cp that marked the end of he descent,grabbed yet more soup and raisins removed my jacket and ran off out of thevillage. I believe that it was somewhere around this point that some daylightbegan to appear.

I had conquered the mountain and passed the 100 mile point.I had just over 1 hour of buffer which I had held pretty consistently forthe whole thing so was feeling pretty happy with things. I was daring tobelieve that success was possible.

I pushed on as hard as I could before the sun would show itspower. I was in a lot of pain and was exhausted, but felt happy with things. Ifollowed the roads along the valley floor, surrounded by the mountains,occasionally looking back to try to make out the mountain I had just been over,but not being successful. When the sun started to feel like it was burning theskin on my head, I reached around for my cap and realised what had happenedwhen I couldn’t find it. I had a slight panic when I realised that I had no sunprotection. Could I survive without? Probably not! What an idiot! Could I makea shade out of a piece of litter from the side of the road perhaps? Within 5minutes of discovering my loss, I noticed a tatty old baseball cap discarded ina bush. I retrieved it, spent a fraction of a second wondering how long thecap had been there and who had owned it, before placing it on my head andthanking my total luck at spotting it at the exact moment.

As the cp’s went by, my time buffer still hovered around the1 hr mark. That’ll do. Soon I came off a small back road and came onto thereally busy main road that had no pavement. Not great, but I was fine with it.Maybe JOGLE had conditioned me to running on really dangerous roads. From nowtill about 20km from the end the road was a bit of a roller-coaster of a ridewith large sweeping ups and incredibly painful downs on my poor ever worsening feet. I had been running pretty much alone since I'd left Dave behind, but you are always running in the same sort of time as a few others, and for the final 30 odd kms I was running with around 5 Japanese athletes. We often ran together. Sometimes they went ahead and other times I hobbled in front, like some race for the knackers yard.

It was pretty warm now, but I felt in control of my hydration. I still couldn't eat very well, but was still moving. It was just a case of finishing it off now! I was now on the downhill that I was pretty sure was the final long descent into the town of Sparta where the statue of King Leonidas is situated. When you finish you kiss the toe of the statue. I was now beginning to fantasize about this simple act.

I was just on auto pilot now. Barring any freak accident or injury, I was going to finish. I was finding it difficult to keep myself running with any haste now. Soon I was at the bottom of the hill on the valley floor just entering the town and I came to the penultimate cp. I took on some water and left straightaway. Just one more cp! I disposed of the ragged old dirty cap just before the final cp and then I was running up the main streets of the town. It was a beautiful and emotional time. Every car beeped and shouted out congratulations, pedestrians shouted and clapped, shop keepers joined in too. I was feeling amazing now. People where welcoming me to their town. I felt broken but elated and pretty emotional. I welled up with tears but managed to hold them off. When I turned the final corner and ran up the avenue towards King Leonidas I saw the other Brits, those who had already finished, the ones that weren't so lucky and those that had been supporting in some way or another all cheering me in with the rest of the crowd. The emotions running through me were intense and I was very happy. As I approached the statue, the crowd parted a little to let me through. I leapt up like I hadn't just ran 152 miles onto the plinth at the base and kissed the enormous toe in front of me. When I came back down off the plinth it did feel like I had just run 152 miles! I was offered water to drink from the river, I had a olive wreath placed on my head and was awarded the rather cool plaque. I then stumbled over to the hospital tent to have my feet looked at and make sure I didn't need any further assistance. Dave was there and he congratulated me. I felt for him, as it's a pretty emotional finish, so to be watching what you should be doing must be tough. He'll be back I'm sure. That's what this race does to you. I then was put into a taxi which took me to the hotel. I got a room together with Paul who had finished about a quarter of an hour ahead of me, which is a fantastic feat being his first attempt! We found our room, showered and crashed out.

The next few days seemed to be dictated by the pain in my feet, but overall I had a really nice relaxing time. By the time I had to fly back, my feet felt loads better and I was feeling pretty good.

So that is one of my dream races completed. Maybe more importantly a race that had previously beaten me. I said to my self I would take 4 weeks off of running, but in fact two weeks later I raced in a local off-road duathlon. I hadn't intended to, but it was a short ride away, and I love mountain biking, so thought it would be an opportunity I couldn't resist. It was very tough seeing as I'm not too used to the short stuff, but I did alright coming in 6th place. Two weeks later, I was in the Yorkshire Dales and had a go at my first Fell race. I'd wanted to do one for a long time. The race was the Great Whernside fell race and this year was also the Yorkshire championships race so the field was pretty stacked with talent. It is a stiff two miles ascent, around the trig point before running like complete lunatics back down. I fell twice and ran faster than I have ever ran down hill having loads of fun. I came 38th out of 175 which I was pretty chuffed with. Need to travel up for more of these!

Garmin upload

In a couple days I'll be running my last ultra of the year (I think). It is the Beacons Ultra, a two lap 45 mile event that I haven't done before so am pretty excited about.

Once that is done, I will be in the winter routine in preparation for next year which is looking pretty big. Very exciting year and that's without Trans-Europe!

I'd better sign off now as this post has gone on a little too long.

Happy running!

North Downs Way 100 miler

2011-09-17T10:56:00.001+01:00

Last year I had applied for the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc, but unfortunately as this is such an oversubscribed event I was one of the unlucky ones to not get a place. Fortunately though I had scanned around the race calendar to see if there was a suitable replacement and had spotted a new race, the North Downs Way 100 which was too be the inaugural race for a new setup called Centurion Running. James Elson was the Race Director, and had completed some classic US 100 milers and was aiming to model the NDW100 on the US races. i.e. Well marked, well stocked aid stations and most importantly, a belt buckle for those completing in below 24hrs.

I hadn't really targeted this race, it was more a stepping stone to the Spartathlon. This was funny when I realised that I was looking at a 100 mile trail race not as a main target. How the confidence grows and the targets change! A couple years previously, a 100 miler would have been a major target that I would have prepared for over a fair amount of time. Now, it was a big race (100 milers will never not be big!), but there was a confidence that never existed before. I knew, barring a serious incident, that I would complete it, it was more a case of how quick!
How quick could I do this in? I wasn't too sure really. I really wanted to beat 24hrs for the buckle, but beyond that I really wasn't sure. On paper I reckoned I could go sub 20, but for some reason this seemed too quick, so I plumped with sub 22hrs. My year had been pretty good so far, but I had eased off the pressure a little lately so was unsure of my form. It was only when there was a week to go before the race that I started to really think about it. I was pretty excited and I was beginning to to realise that I wanted to have a good race for a final little boost before Spartathlon.
On the Friday after I had finished work, I picked up my kit which seemed pretty sparse, and rushed down to the train station to catch the trains to Farnham. I had organised to meet Claire Shelley at the station who would been in her car and would drive to the hotel where we were to share a room. I had met Claire at a few races, namely the Grand Union Canal Race where she stormed it with a fantastic 3rd place. She was supposed to be running, but due to injury she was doing the next best thing, crewing! After a little bit of poor route finding, we eventually found our hotel. We checked in and went straight down to get something to eat. We had a nice but overpriced meal a good chat, then went back up to the room. I did my usual ultra faff around sorting my kit out for a swift exit in the morning, had a quick shower then got into bed for a better than usual pre-race sleep.

The first of three of Claire's alarms went off at around 4:30. I got up and ate a couple bowls of muesli. I grabbed my kit and we went down to the car before making the not as scenic route back to the school which was being used as the race HQ. We met some familiar faces in there and milled around for a bit waiting for the briefing. We learnt at the briefing that the course was dry and in good condition. It would be fine to wear road shoes. I was wearing a brand new pair of unknown shoes I'd bought that week. They were a pair of Saucony Peregrines. Pretty low profile, lightweight shoes with pretty decent tread. They felt really comfortable, so I was happy to give them their maiden voyage on a 100 miler. Not the first time I've done it either, and it was fine then! I'm constantly experimenting with shoes. I never expect to find the perfect shoe, but I like to try different things, and I'm a bit of a magpie with new, flashy shoes!
After the briefing, we all started off on the short walk to the start of the trail. We lined up at the start, I got pretty close to the front, and in 10 minutes or so we were off. I wasn't unprepared, but I certainly seemed to have prepared less than most that I spoke to. I had barely even researched the trail, and I hadn't organised any drop bags for the cp's. As previously mentioned, the course was supposed to be really well marked, and the supplies at the cp's were supposed to be good so I was relying on that, traveling light and stress free. I like to run as clutter free as possible these days. I was carrying a few 9 bars, and Elete salt solution to add to my water to keep my electolyte levels at a healthy level during the race.
On the day there was to be a marathon, which would start later on in the day, and a 50 miler which had started at the same time as the 100 milers. It was a out-and-back course, so for the first 50 miles the 100 milers would have the company of the 50 milers, but when they would reach the cp at the 50 mile point, the 50 would leave the 100's to complete the course alone and going into the night.
I initially was running with Mark Collinson, who I discovered five weeks previously had won the South Downs Way race, a 103 miler in 19hrs 42 mins! An impressive time, and even though he thought that he wouldn't be able to perform at a similar level five weeks later, I was convinced that if you have the condition to run a sub 20hr 100 miler, then you certainly have the ability to recover really well within five weeks. We were chatting a fair bit, as we passed through the first cp, and realised that we were going a decent pace, maybe a tad too quick, but it felt good, so I stuck with it. There were only around 5 runners ahead, but I had no idea whether they were 50 or 100 milers. When we arrived at the next cp, I grabbed some gels, drank some water and ran off as soon as possible. I noticed that Mark was still at the cp as I ran off. I was now with a few other runners which I discovered were all 50 milers. I soon discovered that my pace was similar to one of the 50 mile guys, who I soon learnt was called George. We chatted a fair amount about all sorts and retained a fair pace which I was happy about. I'd half decided that I wanted to go off a little faster than normal and running with George seemed about the right pace. As we dropped down through Denbies wine estate, George pointed out a hill in the distance and informed me that it was Box hill. I was looking forward to climbing up Box hill as it was the only real climb on the whole course. Not to say that the course was flat as there was around 3000 metres of ascent. Not big climbs, but pretty lumpy to say the least.
We both reached the cp at the bottom of Box Hill where I loaded up on some cheese and ham wraps, topped up my water and packed a few more gels into my bag. The cp crew told me that I was the first 100 miler to come through. I was really surprised, but moved on with George pretty sharpish and tried to forget the fact that I was in the lead. After crossing over the river using the stepping stones, we soon hit the base of the climb. It was pretty steep, and stepped. It was really pretty warm now, and as soon as I started working so much harder, the sweat was pouring out of me. I seemed to be keeping on top of my fluids again, but there was a long way to go so I had to stay alert and keep taking sips from my bladder. I kept feeling drip down the back of my legs throughout the day, I kept mistakenly worrying that this was my Camelbak bladder leaking, but it was just the sweat pouring off of me! Soon enough, we were finished with Box Hill and were running through some more amazing singletrack through the woods. I was feeling pretty good still, but was aware that the pace was still pretty hot. I was intrigued to see how my body would cope with this slight change in tactics. Had I overdone it? Only time will tell! If I had, it would be a very slow and painful end to my race, though I suppose all hundreds are pretty painful!
The day was warming up more and more, but fortunately we were largely under tree cover. I was starting to fantasize about cold drinks and sitting down to eat a Burger King. This pretty much always happens during races now. Why I long for a Burger King and nothing else I have no idea, but it is a pretty consistent race craving.
All was going well as George and I ploughed on. There wasn't as much chat now as we were both tiring and the heat was pretty oppressive now, but all was good. We soon arrived at the final cp. George was quicker than me here as he was only around 9km from the end. I was a little more relaxed as I was around 9km from the half way point. I topped up my water, grabbed yet more gels and ate some nuts and a banana. Within a few minutes I had caught George up again, so we ran together. This final stretch was not so well sheltered as we were running through fields, so the sun suddenly felt ten times more powerful. I was starting to feel it, so I walked a bit and told George that he should go on without me, in case any other 50's were close behind. I only walked very briefly, but made sure to drink lots as I did so. I needn't be too sparing with my supplies as the cp's were pretty frequent.
I climbed over a stile and turned left down a country road. In about 5 mins I was at the midway cp. There were quite a few people here as it was not just a cp but also a finishline for the 50's, so there a few friends and family waiting for them to finish. I was the fifth runner in and the first 100 miler. I drank a load of water and coke, George topped up my bladder for me, I grabbed some more gels and was off, for the return journey.
I was looking forward to this as I would now get to see almost all of the field run past me, which you wouldn't normally experience in a race. I would also get to see how big the gaps behind were.
From leaving the cp to seeing the first 100 miler, the time was 18 mins. The runner was Mark. I didn't think he'd be too far away. It was still way too early to really think anything about my current position. I must just run my own race and see what happens. As long as I put everything into it, then I'll be happy (so I kept telling myself!).
It was really cool running past everyone, as I got lots of encouraging comments and grins. I tried to soak up as much of the positivity as I could as I knew that once I had passed the back marker, I'd be all alone again, and I'd be running into the dark. Due to the course being largely through woodland, this was going to be a pretty dark night. As the more intense heat trailed off a little, the gaps between runners was growing. I knew that soon I'd be seeing the final runner (not that's I'd know of course!). I'd heard from the cp's that the drop out rate had been fairly high. Pretty standard when the sun is blazing.
Interwoven through my thoughts (and non-thoughts) throughout the whole run were my future efforts in Greece. Was I on the right path? Was this race an indicator of form? Would I get it right this year? Could I deal better with the heat and stay well hydrated?
As the night closed in, I felt a slight sense of urgency as I was getting close to the Box Hill cp. I had earlier estimated that I could possibly get to the bottom of the hill before needing my torch. For some reason I always set myself a pointless challenge involving staying torchless for as long as possible going into the night. This time it looked like I'd be succesful! I was now at the top of the steep descent down the steps of Box Hill and there was still around 30 mins of useful light left. I let myself drop down the steps as fast as my sore thighs would allow. I ran along the flat at the bottom, and hopped over river using the stepping stones and then I was at the cp.

I was feeling pretty weary now and was happy to have reached this cp, I think I might have sat down for a minute as I ate another wrap and grabbed some more gels. I dug my headtorch out from my bag and put it on my head. It didn't need to be on yet, but it would be very soon. I left after a little bit of faffing. Soon, I was back running through Denbies. There were lots of markers out for some charity walk, and soon I started passing a steady flow of walkers in the half dark, beautiful evening. I imagine I must have looked a bit mental!
Soon after passing through Denbies, the torch came on. The course was really well marked and it really helped that I had ran it 8-10 hours earlier. My memory is generally pretty shoddy to say the least, but for some reason I seem to remember hundreds of miles of trails pretty well. Remembering family birthdays is another thing though!
As the darkness closed around me, the real race began. Now for the pain. The head games. The constant draining of motivation. The almost overriding desire to just lay down and sleep. These are the things I think I'm getting better at, but still need to improve on a massive amount. I was starting to walk more and more frequently to do tasks that didn't really need doing. My mind just tricks me into thinking I have to stop to check something or other, then I realise what is happening and slowly and painfully lurch forward into something that resembles a run.
Soon I was running up a hill to the penultimate cp. The course had been marked every mile or so with glow sticks (worked amazingly!), but as I got closer to the cp the glow sticks got more and more frequent till they gave me the impression I was an aircraft coming into land! Amazing. I messed about for probably too long and picked at the food absentmindedly, half expecting the second place runner to come into view. I had absolutely no idea what the gap was behind me, but was aware that whoever was behind would be getting told how far in front I was. A definite advantage! Never mind, I'll just keep plodding, and soon I'll be able to sit down.
I was glad with the knowledge when I left the cp that there was only one more cp before the end. Looking at the time, I was predicting a time of just over 20hrs. Even though this was way above my pre race expectations, I was a little disappointed that I was going to go so close to 20hrs and not beat it.
I fought to stay running for as long as possible before bimbling along for 30 seconds or so before starting up again, this broke up the time a bit, and I soon arrived at the final cp, where there was a roaring bonfire and loud music. This was far too tempting! I just wanted to lay down next to the fire and be slightly too warm and drift off, but I just downed a couple cups of coke and ran off into the darkness. Around 9-10 km remained. I had a bit of a panic on as I was getting a little paranoid that number 2 was catching me up. surely they would be with my ever decreasing pace! I kept turning around to check for a light bouncing alone in the inky darkness. I came out of the trees and ran along a trail for a while and just before I disappeared back into the trees, I glanced behind, and sure enough, there was the dreaded light. This gave me an added sense of urgency, and as much as my tired body allowed, I bolted. Soon enough though, I was crossing a field, and there it was again, only this time lots closer. He would catch me in minutes. He was traveling at a far quicker pace than me and I knew that I wouldn't be any competition for him once he caught me. As he seemingly with ease ran up beside me, we chatted a bit. His name was Robbie and he knew my name. I apparently beat him by 2 mins in the Grand Union Canal Race this year! Then he was off. I had no answer to this and just did the best I could for the final 5km hoping that no-one else would do the same.
After a tough final 5km I saw Mimi, who informed me the end was just around the corner, and sure enough it was!
Phew! Second place was mine, and as I looked down at my stopwatch, it said 19:57. Awesome, I beat 20hrs. Brilliant.
I saw Robbie and congratulated him, and 10 minutes after me, arrived Mark in third place! top three within 20 minutes in a 100 miler!
I had a couple cup-a-soups and then crawled into a van and got some incredibly uncomfortable shuteye as I had about 5hrs to kill before my train journey home!
When I woke up and peered out the window, I saw that there were many more people, runners and crew stood around. I crawled out. I didn't exactly feel great, but I wasn't to bad either. The train journey back was painful, but thankfully uneventful.

So, as I write this a few weeks later and I have had some time to reflect on my race, I am happy to still be content with my second place. I gave it my all and I see it as one of, if not my best race yet. A win would be nice of course, but this has proven to myself that for me, it really is a quest to better my own fitness, mental strength, resilience and thus my overall satisfaction. There are of course two sides to what I do ; the personal, physical challenge and the other, equally important one is the outdoors element. The more trail running I do, the more I want to do. Some of the scenery I am so incredibly fortunate to witness, throughout the changing seasons, from dawn to dusk, wet, icy, snowy, bone dry, no matter how challenging, often gives me a real high that sub-consciously plasters a massive, insane grin across my face. Without this, running would be incomplete for me. The pain and the time that I put into my running is easily wiped out with just one of these moments. Anyway, that's enough of the hippy talk!

As is usual for this year my recovery was swift, which was great as on the Thursday a friend and I flew out to Geneva for a 6 day holiday in Morzine in the French Alps. We took our mountain bikes and I of course threw in a few pairs of trainers. I've been to the Alps three times before ; twice on family holidays which I have really fond memories of, and about 6-7 years ago on a skiing holiday which was awesome. When we got to our chalet, I went for a run towards Roc D'Enfer, a mountain that I had eyed up on the map I had bought in the UK. I ran for 1hr 20 before turning around. I was blown away with the beauty (as expected!). The next day we both went mountain biking for most of the day. I had never ridden on such incredible trails and insane downhill runs. I was in heaven! I couldn't see how I would ever get bored here! Over the next few days, there was much more mountain biking and running as the weather was incredible and dusty dry! Everyone was telling us how lucky we were as it had been a particularly wet summer!

Whilst walking into town one night we noticed a poster for a running race on the Sunday. It was a vertical km race called La Couratt' de Nyon, starting in the centre of Morzine and heading straight up a mountain called Nyon. It was just over 7km in distance and as the name implies almost exactly 1000 metres in ascent! I'd read about these races and thought it would be a brilliant opportunity. Not exactly my format of race, and way too short, but I was in pretty good shape so thought I'd have a go. The winner finished in 52 minutes and I finished in 14th place (80 odd finishers) in 1hr 2 mins! I felt great after as well. I was surprised with my performance. The view from the top of Nyon was absolutely incredible, so I hung around for a while and took some pictures and then with much excitement I begun the long descent to the half way point to where my friend was waiting. We had lunch then I ran down to Morzine where my bike was locked up, got changed into my cycling kit and we went off to ride some more trails! What a fantastic holiday!

Next is, of course, my second attempt at Spartathlon. My target for the year. I feel much better prepared this time round and my training is complete. All I have to do now is run it, Easy!

I will of course blog it asap. This posting has for some reason been the most painful by far. I'm not sure why. I do hope that everyone is enjoying their running as much as I am!

More black!

2011-08-15T19:57:00.000+01:00

A while back, Drew and I pencilled in a date for a run, probably on the Pennine Way. I must admit that I pretty much forgot about this till around a week before when Drew rang me to see if I was still in. The week before, I'd gone to the Secret Garden Party festival which I also didn't think I was going to till 5 days before when some friends who had tickets couldn't go. I had a good old time but hardly ideal prep for a big day in the hills.
I think this year so far has been my strongest running year yet, which is quite interesting as it has largely been made up of big runs followed by entire weeks off! Not a lot of structured (Not that my training is that structured) weeks of training. I can't help but feel reassured by the fact that tonnes of rest peppered with many big runs seems to really be working for me. I have been running much more for fun this year, and I suppose this is shining through with my results!
When I got the call from Drew just before the festival, I didn't feel to great with my fitness. I had had quiet a few very slow weeks preceding this after recovering from the Cotswold Way run and with the festival that weekend I wasn't going to be getting to much running in for yet another week. Experience told me that it takes a fair bit more time to lose a real noticeable amount of performance though (unless you're right at your peak). It's more about attitude. So it was good to be planning another big one, which would whip me back into shape before the North Downs Way 100 a couple weeks later.
The Pennine Way just happens to be another Trailblaze course so I would be able to get myself on another results board. The whole of the Pennine Way is over 260 miles (which I'd love to do one day!), but is split into North and South. The southern section is around 88 miles which is the Trailblaze course. It begins in Edale and ends in Horton in Ribblesdale. The first black band point is at Gargrave at around 67 miles so this was instantly my earliest drop out point. I love the way the Trailblaze concept has made me think like this. It really makes me push that little bit harder.
After a bit of discussion, Drew and I decided that he would drive up before me and hide some bags of food and more importantly, water at a few points along the route as supplies would be hard to come by otherwise, therefore saving the pain of carrying really heavy packs. He would then park the car at Gargrave which is where he planned to run to before catching the train back to Edale where he would meet me as I arrived. My train would arrive at Edale at just past 2100. The station is a short distance from the start of the course.
My journey went without any hitches but Drew missed his train back to Edale so had to drive it and leave his car there. We made the start of the trail at 2100 just as the night was setting in which was perfect. We would get up into the hills before it was pitch black. Drew had earlier in the year ran most of what we planned to run over a few days which as I would learn would be pretty handy.
I pushed my tag into the first point at around 2130 and we slowly pushed on up the first long stretch up onto higher ground and into the ever increasing darkness. We hadn't mounted our head torches yet. I like to leave it as long as possible and let my eyes adapt to the darkness. After about 2 or 3 km, I stumbled, almost controlled it, but didn't and ended up falling onto my spread out hands which effectively saved the rest of me from injury but my right hand got a pretty decent gravel rash on the palm. It wasn't painful, just more annoying. In a short while we reached the top of the initial large climb where we stopped and got the torches out. As we started off again, the path became very difficult to follow as we were on open moorland. Fortunately Drew’s previous experience helped us out a fair bit even though it was pitch black.
We then lost the trail! The open moorland was now covered in many large dips which gave the impression of many possible paths which became more and more confusing. We backtracked till we got back to the path we were on, then weren't sure whether this was even a path itself. We eventually followed a bearing as best as possible hoping that we would eventually hit the path again which thankfully we did. All in all we guessed this to be a loss of around an hour of walking round in circles getting chilly. Not ideal but just part of the night running thing. What probably seems simple with good visibility gets very difficult with very little.
The trail now was made up of impressive large slabs of rock which had been laid not too many years ago and not only provided some good footing and some faster running, but also provided confidence that you were on the correct trail!
It was a beautiful night. If you stopped for a second and gazed up, you would see a star studded sky. Unfortunately there was a lot of light pollution due to the close proximity of Manchester. It was quite strange to think of all the madness that would be currently be going on in the city whilst being in almost total silence and darkness. Within 15 minutes of getting back on track my hands were warming up again. I was happy that we were back on track and making good progress again.
I was feeling pretty good which was good for my confidence, seeing as I didn't think my prep had been to great. We crossed a road and began another steady climb. We nearly passed a control point without dibbing it. Drew informed me that there was another potentially tricky bit of night navigation coming up. We were both feeling pretty sharp still so hopefully we wouldn't lose the trail again! Sure enough the trail did become more difficult to follow, but we stayed focused and managed to get through with no problems. This was all great for the next time that I'd come up and hopefully take on the whole thing. A good knowledge of the course is invaluable, even a way marked route which can be easy to lose especially at night! Soon we reached the top of a large hill. We were again on a stone paved section, and the light was beginning to enable me to occasionally turn my torch off, so I could see the trail snake out before me for a long descent ahead. As I strode out to take advantage of the long downhill I realised that I could actually remove the torch completely. It's always a happy time when I get to remove the torch, signifying the beginning of the new day and the end of the night. This is always a little invigorating for obvious reasons, but also due to not having to focus so much on the trail and your footing. We soon reached the second of Drew's very welcome stash’s. I ate a tonne of flapjack, a protein bar and downed a bottle of Lucozade. I was feeling a little weary, but overall I was being pleasantly surprised by how good I felt. All pretty encouraging for the NDW100 two weeks later. The morning wasn't as pretty as I thought it may be due to a large cloud covering the sun. It was still pretty fresh as we moved on from the stash point. Slowly the cloud faded and the sun begun to work which at first was really nice, but it soon became obvious that this would end up being a draining force. This is when the water would be most important! Our progress was good and I was really enjoying our day in the hills. The scenery was inspiring, and really helps to keep you motivated. Drew informed me that we would soon be approaching his final stash point. So far these had been an amazing lift. Something to look forward to. When we stopped, and Drew kicked around in some weeds at the side of a trail, it didn't take long to realise that the stash had gone. Someone had discovered it and taken it. This was pretty negative as the sun was really beating down on us now! We looked at the map and worked out possible water pickup points ahead (houses, campsites etc.). We both had a fair bit of water, but not loads. There was a campsite not too far away which could help, but it was largely uphill. This took quite a while to get too as it was really steep, forcing us to walk, and the heat was really quite intense. Finally we saw a sign to farm shop a couple of hundred metres off from the trail. We followed this with our fingers crossed for it to be open. As we approached, we saw that this was in fact the shop to the campsite we saw on the map, and that it was in fact open. We bought a couple large bottles of water. I also got a pint of milk, and a pie. We both wolfed it down and drank lots of the water. It was really nice just sat in the lovely sun. there was barely a breeze. Drew at this point decided that he was going to make his way to the nearest station and find his way back to the car. I would carry on, and Drew would drive up and hopefully meet me somewhere on course. Drew was soon to be taking part in the Leadville 100 in the US which demands respect so I respected his decision and put my pack back on my back and pushed on.
I had a short climb over the brow of a hill before a glorious landscape opened up before me. I could make out the path for a long way, and it looked very inviting. I felt much happier now that I had a couple of litres of water in my pack and was well hydrated. My gps said that I had covered 75km. The first Trailblaze blackband point was at Gargrave which was at 108km. The thing is that due to getting pretty lost near the start, I knew that we had added a fair amount to our total. How much I wasn’t sure. Never mind, as long as I knew about it, it wouldn’t catch me out later.
The sun was truly blazing on me now. For around 20 minutes I had the distraction of watching a helicopter picking up a load of what I believe was lime, flying off over the horizon and returning, then repeating the process till the hills blocked out the deafening noise and the sight. I dropped into a vividly green gorge crossed over a couple wooden footbridges and started a long descent out. I was sweating profusely, but still had plenty of fluids that should keep me going for a while longer.
I had planned to meet Drew at Cowling. Of course neither of us had any way of knowing when we’d arrive so if I got there before him I’d give him a ring to let him know, and he would redirect towards the next suitable point. I seemed to be making pretty good ground and guessed that combined with the heavy traffic due to good weather, I might beat Drew to Cowling. On arriving at the road crossing I was proven right. I was about 1km up the road from the actual village and decided that it would be worth the 2km extra running to find a shop to get something cold. I still had a fair bit of water on my back but it was so warm from the sun and my body heat that I really desired something icy cold. I found a little shop and bought a freezing cold Lucozade which was downed in seconds, and a Magnum ice cream! I ran off up the road while eating the Magnum. Hardly great sports nutrition, but it certainly seemed to hit the spot!
Once I’d finished the Magnum, I got my phone out and rang Drew. We planned to meet at Thornton in Craven. The next little village I’d hit. The going was beginning to get pretty tough now. I was starting to tire. I’d been running around 15-16 hours by this stage and had lost a nights sleep so everything was really getting to be quite laborious. I was at the stage where if I didn’t keep my focus, which was becoming increasingly more difficult, I’d find myself walking. Once I snapped out of this, I’d tell myself off before slowly starting running again. This is where my weakness is I think. I lose lots of time doing this. It’s all about willpower and focus. Practice makes perfect!
I soon arrived in Thornton in Craven, and rang Drew to discover that I’d beaten him again! He said to just keep going, so I did. The scenery was just beautiful, and soon it was idyllic as I approached the Leeds and Liverpool canal. It was, as is usually the case with canals, perfectly peaceful, and within a couple minutes I saw someone running towards me. It was Drew with some bags of goodies for me. What a welcome surprise that was. We moved into the shelter of a bridge and I sat into some cool long grass. I then stuffed myself. I ate an éclair, a pasty, a pack of sandwiches and washed down with about a litre of water. I only had about 4-5km to Gargrave, so hauled my self up and bounded off with an overly full stomach. I suppose I had been hungrier than I thought! The last stretch was pretty flat, and sooner than expected I’d arrived into Gargrave where again Drew appeared up ahead. He ran with me to the check point and I dibbed in for my fourth black band. Drew asked if I was going to carry on and I told him I was feeling pretty good for the distance but I was done for the day. It had been a good recce for when I do the whole thing. My gps recorded the distance as 118km in 20.5hrs. Not a bad days work!
We then made our way down to the river bank and I dipped my bare feet in which was incredible, and washed all the sweat and mud off of me. It was around 1900 now and we had nowhere to sleep. We decided to drive over to the Lakes to watch and cheer on some of the runners competing in the Lakeland 100. We eventually arrived at Ambleside, parked up and stood outside the Lakes Runner shop and cheered through some runners. We then bought a Chinese takeaway and sat outside again watching them coming through. Once we were done there we made our way to Coniston which is the HQ for the race so we could watch some people finishing. I bought a cup of tea, then a cup of coffee and just sat in a daze. Eventually Drew came up to me and said that he needed a hotel room! Phew! I too couldn’t help fantasizing about a nice comfy bed! The closest room he could find at this late hour (2330) was in the centre of Preston! Finally after a mega long day, I crawled, happily into bed at 0100 and instantly passed out.
I really enjoyed this adventure. Running all through the night, on new trails, in stunning scenery, even the getting lost! Plus the fact that physically, I felt pretty good. Indeed better than I thought. Now I just had two weeks to recover and keep things up before the North Downs Way 100. Then my entire focus will be the Spartathlon.
I apologise for my blogs getting seemingly longer and longer. Then again if you get this far you can’t be all that bothered I suppose.

Happy running, and enjoy those trails.

Cotswold, conquered!

2011-07-16T18:45:00.004+01:00

This challenge was to be a slightly different one to normal. Different in that it was to not be a race. It is a Trailblaze course, but if you have read my previous posts you will know that I attempted to run the entire Cotswold Way (166 kms) last year but, as it was too soon after JOGLE, my feet just weren't up to it, so had to make the painful but wise decision to pull at the 90 km point. I know, excuses, excuses. So I really needed to complete this course. It is a truly stunning course which I now knew pretty well which gave me confidence for the night section which would I would have to do as I predicted around the 24hr mark for completion. My main target was obviously completion, but I also knew that I was capable of a sub 24.
I decided that it would be best to start in the evening just as it was getting dark as this would mean that I could get the night section done while I was fresh. I knew from last years attempt and from general experience that some form of support was needed to give me the best chance possible. Fortunately my good friend and housemate Jim offered his services and also convinced his friend Laeticia to help! Amazing! I now had my own crew. I decided that the first 48 miles through the night from Bath to Stonehouse was perfectly manageable on my own, therefore my crew could both get a good nights sleep and be fresh for when they met me in the morning. Jim spent much time poring over maps planning and plotting meeting points where they could both set up cp's to meet me and look after me. This was a new situation for me having a crew with a vehicle. This means my kit selection was only important for 78km. After that I could swap stuff over with whatever I had in the car. One advantage with running the solo section at night time is that it would be cooler, meaning I wouldn't be needing so much water. This is always an issue on the longer unsupported stuff. A minor disadvantage being that what few shops I would pass would of course be closed. This would be the first time I would run through an entire night completely alone. Very exciting yet as the day got a little closer, a little intimidating. I now believe that it's healthy to have a little fear for new big challenges. It keeps you on your toes and sharp so as not to make silly mistakes (hopefully).

I could get a train that would get me to the first trailblaze point in Bath just before 2200 which would be just before it got pitch black. It was just a couple days shy of the longest day so would be a short section of running in the dark.
I would run to the top of the hill just past Stonehouse at the 78km point where Jim and Laeticia would meet me in the car park and I would swap my larger pack for my lighter, smaller, better fitting race pack as I would be supported from that point on so wouldn't need the space. I would also have some breakfast here as I will be mad for some savoury food after living off of 9bars and flapjacks throughout the night. Maybe a coffee too before pushing on. From then on I would just need to run and leave the looking after me bit to the crew.

As the day approached, I started the now routine obsessive weather forecast watching. It wasn't looking too bad. It also wasn't looking too good either though! Plenty of showery weather hanging around. There was even mention of really heavy rain through the night! If I was honest, I did cross my mind to reschedule, but I quickly pushed that thought out of my head. I was ready to take this on now. If I rescheduled, it would potentially not be for a while due to not only my running commitments but the crews time too. It will be really tough so I might as well just get on with it whatever. I'll treat it as a race. I've ran in all conditions and the weather hasn't stopped me going out yet. I was fully committed!
As the time approached on the Friday evening, I got prepared. My pack weighed a fair bit due to the fluids I was carrying. The weather looked a little wild out and it was damp, and there were, as forecast, plenty of showers around. I sat with Jim and Laeticia waiting to leave for the train. They were both having a glass off wine. It's times like this when many people would be out relaxing, having a drink with friends before turning in for a good sleep that I question what the hell I'm doing. The time came for me to leave. I said my goodbyes. I would see them in around 9.5hrs if all goes ok. I ran to the train station and got the 10 minute train to Bath before making the short journey to the first point. I started my stopwatch as I dibbed in, then gently set off. The first section is pretty much all up hill so it was good to get set into a rhythm and warm up. I was wearing a t-shirt with a thermal over the top, but within 10 minutes I had to stop to remove the thermal as I was sweating loads! I really didn't need to be getting too wet with sweat heading into the night if I could help it.
As I headed out of Bath I could make out the finger of highland that signifies the beginning of the Cotswold escarpment, though I couldn't make out the top as it was shrouded in cloud! I don't mind bad weather when I'm running normally, in fact I quite enjoy it, but at the start of a 24hr run, it might not be such a great thing. If I get soaked then it opens me up to plenty of Chafing all over! Not good. I Passed through Weston on the outskirts of Bath and ran across a field before hitting the first of the steep off road sections which bought me straight into the cloud. I soon discovered that it was just that - low cloud. It was very wet but not raining. Hopefully I'd pass through it or it would clear before I got totally wet. It was actually really nice and refreshing. I dibbed in the first spot and looked at the time. It was a fair bit slower than my previous time which was good. I obviously wanted to take it steady and play it safe with the distance ahead that I had. I had to finish it this time!

After about an hour of steady running on trails that I knew really well now, I came out of the cloud cover and was suddenly lit up by a very bright moon surrounded by wisps of glowing cloud. It was behind me and cast my shadow in front of me. It was bright enough to occasionally turn my headtorch off. Truly stunning!

Usually night running is pretty intense as you are so focused on the circle of light that is projected just in front of your feet and watching your footing that when it gets light enough to not use your torch you feel a real mental relief.

So, these moments of extra light were a real positive to my night. As the night progressed and I passed through more hotspots, I realised that I was losing more time against my previous effort. I felt good and wasn't too sure why this was. It kept going through my mind, till I came to the obvious conclusion that this time I was in the dark so my footing was no-where near as sure as normal. My descending was definitely a lot slower, especially as it was a bit greasy in places. This made me feel happier with my performance and gave me a nice little confidence boost.
I was starting to dry out and was relatively warm which was also good. I was really enjoying the run so far, and everything was feeling pretty good. Well, should I say that everything was feeling as it normally would for the time spent running so far! It still felt pretty daunting if I thought forward to all that remained of the course. That is the key to these things - not to dwell on the enormity of the task but to take one step at a time. Literally sometimes! The same philosophy can be used for any seemingly unattainable task in life. As much as you know what you should do though, when you have so much time in your head then it's pretty tough to not think of the trail ahead. Especially when you know it! As the miles built up and I kept on trudging forward I was starting to realise that there was no way that I would be pulling back any of the hour that I had lost early on. I would have to contact the crew later on to let them know that they wouldn't have to meet me till an hour later than planned. As the night progressed, I realised that I wasn't losing any more time. I lost an hour relatively quickly but then didn't seem to be losing any more. I can only guess that I either went off more conservatively due to the task in hand, or it took me longer to warm up. Either way it was nice to know that I was not losing any more time, and that I didn't have to worry about food intake and hydration.

As things progressed, my feet got pretty tender as seems to be normal now. I seem to have forgotten whether they got this painful during big days a few years ago or whether it is worse. They definitely got pretty painful but whether it was this bad is unknown. Pain is a funny thing when you are experiencing it and you have plenty of time to analyse it.

Each time I met up with my crew, they both looked after me with much care. a few times they asked me if I needed a drink and I said I was ok. They would then tell me to drink anyway which I would then realise was always the right thing to do. James was picking up all sorts of different bits and pieces for me to eat throughout the day which was great. The variety and the surprise was really good. I really struggle with making decisions when tired so to have this taken off of my mind was great!

Other than my feet and usual aches and pains and tiredness, I felt pretty good really. My confidence was quite high. The weather was glorious. There were some dark, stormy clouds being blown over by the gusty winds, but the most I got was a little damp, nothing more. The sun was beating down on me mostly though and was pretty hot. Due to being up on the ridge most of the time you get a fair bit of wind was now lovely and cooling. I had a pretty tough section which was really slow. This didn't phase me too much as experience told me that this would pass, I just had to ride it and be patient. Sure enough, my second (third, fourth...?) wind came and my next section was lots faster and felt great. The distance was passing pretty quickly. It certainly helped knowing the course. No surprises!
Even this far into it, feeling as tired and achy as I was I still found myself grinning at just how fortunate I felt to be doing such a thing in such beauty!

After 23hr 30mins I met up with the crew in Broadway. There was 10k left. I knew that I could never finish in under 24hrs especially as there was a massive hill to climb in that 10k! Never mind, I was really happy that I was now going to finish this thing. This has been a target for 18 months now, and this is the second attempt, so I was really chuffed. James put on his running kit, took my pack off of me and we set off together for the finish in Chipping Campden. It was really nice having James with me for the pacing and more importantly the company. We ground our way up the hill. I was happy to know the route exactly from now on. It was impossible to beat 24hrs, but I would still push as hard as I could to the end. I would be annoyed with myself if I pushed hard for 23.5hrs and then slacked off for the last 10k! We finally made the top of the hill. My feet were agonising and I was feeling pretty exhausted but could still run with the occasional short walk. James was trying to keep me running, but I just really felt too tired to run continuously to the end. It was getting dark, but this didn’t phase me as I was close now. Nothing would ruin my moment now. We crossed some fields and as we came to the corner of one I remembered that it turned and dropped downhill all the way into the village at the end. Descending by this stage was pretty painful on the quads and the feet, but I went as fast as I could. Within minutes I saw Laeticia approaching on foot. We all ran together the final few hundred metres to the final hot spot. I dibbed in in 24:30. I was really happy. A few photos were taken, before I gingerly carried on running into the village to the market hall building to the official start/end of the Cotswold Way. Here, there is a marker stone. I sat on it and some more piccies were taken. Then I walked to the car 20 metres away and sorted myself out, before crashing in a painful blissful state. Another of my targets achieved.

That was the Saturday night. On the Wednesday morning, I went to the Glastonbury Festival and had an amazing time with some great friends. It is never very relaxing, as you don’t tend to sleep much and you’re constantly on the go, but I had an extra week off after that and now I am back into full training which is good.

I will take this opportunity to thank James and Laeticia for sacrificing a day for me and doing a fantastic job of looking after me when at my most pathetic. I most certainly couldn’t have done it without you. Thanks.

And if anyone has survived to the end of this post I have some pretty exciting and truly scary news (for me anyway!). I have been on the waiting list for the Trans Europe Foot Race next August since October last year. I have slowly been creeping up the list until a few weeks ago when my name finally made it too the Start list! I’m in! This means that I am now in a race that crosses Denmark, Germany, France, Spain and ending on Gibralter. 4000km in 64 days! Scared witless? You bet! All I need to do now is sort out my entry fee of 6000 Euros which I don’t really have, and see if work will support me and let me take the time off.

If there is anyone who could help me out financially or with footwear then please get in contact. I’m sure that it will make the media and be good promotion for any business.

I’m now in training for the North Downs Way 100 miler in 5 weeks. Really looking forward to this, being the inaugural race. Then Spartathlon!

Happy running. Cheers.

The Spartathlon warmup.

2011-06-08T18:05:00.000+01:00

My training up to the GUCR was not what you'd call structured or specific, but I had managed to get a fair bit of mileage in, which included quite a few 45+ milers. I felt strong except for the feet which would still play up if I stayed on them for a long period of time. The feet were my only concern as this was going to take a long time. I knew that I was capable of dropping below 36hrs, but over 145 miles anything can happen. You really did need to get everything right to give yourself a good chance at a quick time. If I could stay on top of my fluid intake then I think I'd be ok.
These were my thoughts in the final week before the long weekend. I really like the fact that I don't get that nervous before a race now. I thought I might with the GUCR, but no. I was conscious of the pain and effort that lay ahead, and I totally respected it. This was a race that should never be taken lightly!
I know that there is no direct relationship between someones GUCR performance and their Sparta performance but I really wanted to nail this race just for the confidence boost which would hopefully help me lots when I return to Athens later in the year to take on my main goal.
One thing I wasn't sure about was the fact that I'd be running the race as an unsupported runner again. This meant that the organisers would feed me and move my drop-bag between cp's, but other than that I'd be left to my own devices. This was no concern to me in that I knew that I should get around, barring injuries, but now that getting a fast time was rising to the top of my priorities I was beginning to wish I'd got together some sort of team. I especially think that having a buddy runner with me from the 65 mile point (not allowed one before here) would have really helped. The positive spin to this though was that in Greece I'd not have any support so this would be a more closer to reality practice run.
I had booked a train to Birmingham at 1700 on the Friday which would get me there for just after 1830. This went fine and gave me plenty of time to walk to the hotel about half a mile down the road. I was booked into the Travelodge in the centre where the race registration was happening till 2100. I took advantage of this so as to have one less thing to clutter up the morning. The hotel was by all accounts a dump in a very noisy area on the main strip with loads of awful chain pubs and nightclubs. I generally don't like to use earplugs but had bought some anyway! Fortunately I wasn't expecting to get much sleep due to the excitement of getting going. After finding my room which I was going to share with Stuart Shipley who I'd met before at Sparta and wasn't due to arrive for another 2 hours, I made my way over to the O'Neill's over the road to get myself a meal. As I walked in and headed to the bar I scanned around and recognised a fair few faces! It seems that many of the other runners and crews had had the same idea! I spoke to a chap called Dino at the bar who I'd met at a few other races previously. I ordered a massive burger and chips with a pint and sat down with Dino around an already busy table. I met many new people, both runners and their crews.The food turned up and within a few minutes I'd wolfed down the whole lot. Now I was ready to run! I hung around for a while longer chatting before Stu turned up. Twenty minutes later we said our goodbyes and made our way to our room up on the fifth floor where we both proceeded to get all of our kit ready for the morning. The lights went out, the ear plugs went in as it was very noisy out, and we both began our 5 hours of patchy sleep.
The alarm was set for 0430. This would give us plenty of time to wander over to the start in Gas Street which was very close for the hotel at 6. I had my normal massive bowl of muesli, we loaded ourselves up and left the hotel heading for Gas Street. Finally we were there! Just hand my drop bag in and a half hour wait and we'd be off!
I grabbed a coffee just as we were directed down to the canal for the start. Dick, the organiser gave us a little chat as I rushed down my quickly cooling coffee. Then we were off. All that was left to do now was to run. It was as I chatted to others and overheard other conversations around me that I realised that most people had a plan. I didn't! Well, unless you call running at my usual 'ultra' pace till I couldn't, a plan. This didn't concern me at all. In fact, if anything it added a layer of confidence to my race as I am now pretty content that my 'running by feel' is getting better and better. I am more often than not pretty happy after a race with my whole race pacing. It's nice being able to do that without using any gadgets. Though I will wear a heart rate monitor this is more for post race analysis. I feel more in tune with my body than I ever have.
I ended up running with a chap called Phil who I'd ran with for a little while during the Lakeland 100 the previous year. I was feeling fine and was just happy to be running.
The weather was just spot on, being pleasant but not hot. There was some possible showers forecast for the weekend, but not much. As Phil and I passed through cp3 I was still feeling ok. Signs of soreness, but nothing unusual for over 30 miles. Phil stopped for a call of nature, so I carried on. I really wanted to do my pace. Now I was alone to do exactly that.
I was starting to look at the 70 mile point as my first real milestone. When I last did it I arrived at the cp as it was getting dark. I ate a meal and left in complete darkness. I was on track to go a fair bit faster than this. When I arrived it was totall daylight with perhaps 2-3 hours left before the headtorch would be needed. I sat down and ate some flan, beans and eggs. This went down very well. I downed lots off water also. No issues with food or drink consumption yet! My drop back hadn't made it to this cp yet, so I borrowed a torch from one of the crew in case I needed it before the next cp. I believe I was in 12 position at this point which was suprising to say the least. Still, I wasn't even half way yet. The real race began now.
Five miles previously you were allowed to have a buddy runner. I had none, but was starting to see some people having to not worry about pace or carrying a bag.
I was now going to attempt to get to the next cp at 86 miles before needing the torch. I was feeling very sore now, but everything felt in order except for the usual sore feet. No worries, this could all be ran through. As long as the shins don't go like last time.
I made it! I got to 86 miles before needing a torch. I was now regularly passing other supported runners crews which was turning out to be really great. I knew a few of the guys and everyone was being really generous and kind to me, offering food and drink and checking I was ok. This certainly helped pass the time especially as the night quickly drew in. I wasn't concerned about the night though. It wasn't cold if you kept moving and in 14 miles I'd be at the 100 mile point. That would leave a fairly mentally manageable 45 miles remaining. The 100 mile cp was also a hot food stop. I was really looking forward to some hot savoury food to eat as I was at the 'sick of sweet stuff' stage already. I was by now barely seeing anyone else. I was also tiring which isn't too much of an issue except that I find that I really struggle to keep my focus on the pace. I find myself just dawdling along at some ridiculous pace, not due to fatigue, but just because my mind wanders. I find this very irritating, but still, my pace overall is still ok.
I finally ran into the 100 mile cp. The superb crew there immediately started to cook me a meal. Beans, Eggs, Bacon and meatballs. This went down very quickly. I again topped up my camelbak and drank lots of fluid. Just before I left, Claire Shelley arrived with her buddy runner which just happened to be Rob Treadwell. I said hi and stumbled off into the darkness. I imagine that they would soon catch me up as they were clearly currently going faster than I was. Sure enough, a little while later, they both caught me up at an incredible pace. I ran and chatted with them and quickly learnt the true value of the buddy runner. It was a vast improvement over my own pace. No dawdling going on now! I was very fortunate to tag onto this train for a few hours and be looked after by the support crew also. As we ran out of the darkness and refreshingly into the dawn we stopped at a 'mini' cp where Rob left us having finished his duties for the night and the next buddy runner seamlessly joined us. We ran together for a little while before Claire told me to go ahead as I was stronger. I certainly didn't feel stronger, but felt that seeing as I was officially unsupported it was time to go alone anyway. I soon arrived at the 120 mile cp. I sat down and was offered a bacon sandwich which I really fancied. Again the crew were ace, really helping me in any way. As I sat there enjoying my sandwich, Claire arrived and was dealt with by her crew. Just as I was getting set to run, she left. As I started running and saw them both in the distance I realised that they were going at an incredible pace, one that I wasn't even going to attempt to follow. It was as though she had just begun! I stuck to my own pace. Only 25 miles left! It was starting to warm up a fair bit now so I kept sipping water. I soon realised that at the last cp when the crew were filling my bladder, I said for them to stop as I didn't want to be carrying too much weight for the final few hours. Well, I obviously hadn't checked how much water I had, as I really didn't have much left! Again this made me realise the importance of a crew! Oh well, I'd just have to ration it as best as I could. It's sod law that this stretch was the first time that I didn't see a crew out to scavenge water from, and happened to be the warmest it had been! Never mind, I'd survive. Fortunately, for once, I'd managed to keep on top of staying hydrated, so it would take more than a few hours to put me in any trouble. I was now in 6th place which was way above my expectations and heading somewhere towards 32 hours. It now took every piece of mental energy I had remaining to keep the pressure on my pace. I kept flagging. I had no idea where people were in front or behind so couldn't afford to slow much more if I could help it.
Finally I approached the final cp which I was very happy to arrive at for the obvious reasons, but also because my throat was pretty sore from lack of water. I downed around a litre and put a couple in my bladder, then I was off to nail this thing!
The last 12 miles were long and painful. My feet were exceptionally sore. With around 3-4 miles left I approached a crew who were waiting for their runner. I stopped and they asked if there was anything I needed. They gave me a gel and as I was squeezing it down my throat, a friend on the bridge shouted down to them that some runners were coming! I quickly thanked them and dashed off. Now I really couldn't afford to walk. Must keep the pressure on! All I had to do was hold on for a few miles!
I tried to not look around but couldn't help myself having quick glances. I never spotted anything but nevertheless kept the pace as high as possible till I crossed the line. Within 2 minutes a pair of runners crossed the line! Wow, that was close. How fortunate that the crew inadvertently alerted me to the two pursuants. My finish time was 31hrs 24mins.
I was super happy (and still am!) with my whole performance. It all helps mentally for Spartathlon which is the years true target. My fluid and food management was not perfect, but certainly an improvement over my normal effort. Pacing was pretty good overall. And my recovery was pretty much completely full after around 5 days.
All in all a wicked weekend on the canal. I'm starting to really love the canals of this country.
From the finish, I had to walk to Paddington with my big bag, buy a ticket and sit on a train for 3hrs which was truly awful. I was in and out of sleep all the way and was desperate to stretch out and lay down. Thankfully I managed to be awake when we arrived at Bristol!
I am now 10 days into my planned 19 days of rest, but seeing as I am now fully recovered it makes it so difficult to not run! I just have to keep focused and keep faith in my techniques. The rest really seems to work for me. After this 19 days I plan to run the 104 miles of the Cotswold Way in one as my first run back. Very excited about that.
Anyway, that's enough from me. This post has been more painful to write than normal for some unknown reason.

Happy running or if you're like me, happy resting!

Black band fever!

2011-05-13T19:48:00.004+01:00

After the Highland Fling, I recovered nicely and was chatting to James my housemate on the Monday night about our plan to take on the whole of the Cotswold Way in one go (just over 100 miles), with me of course running and he supporting in a van. I decided that I'd start just before dark in Bath, run through the night and James would meet up with me first thing in the morning with fresh supplies and enthusiasm. The Cotswold Way as you'll know if you've read all my posts is a challenge I've been after for a while with one failure due to being too soon after JOGLE last year. It is now one of the eight trails on the Trailblaze portfolio so now I really HAD to do it! The one concern though was the fact that I'd previously always ran it from North to South. In four previous runs I'd run it's full length twice now so was getting familiar with the route. Endurancelife decided to run the course from South to North though! If I was to run from Bath North for the whole of a night, I thought a recce would be in order so as to instil some confidence. The plan is to attempt the whole thing three weeks after the Grand Union Canal race. Which is plenty of rest as long as I don't pick up any injuries. I checked my calendar for any gaps. The very next weekend would work! I had a quick think, and decided to go for it seeing as I was feeling pretty good. I emailed Andrew at Trailblaze and asked them to post me a dibber so that I could post the run.

Soon enough, Saturday arrived. I'd caught the first train to Bath which would get me there at 0541. The start was a 5 minute jog away so I'd have the whole day to run. I'd decided to travel pretty light with my new very comfortable Camelbak with a 3ltr bladder. I got to the Abbey and hunted increasingly panicy for the first box to start the clock. I ran around for 10 minutes before giving in. I waited till my watch was at exactly 0557 before starting my stopwatch and running off through the ghost town that was Bath. It was a beautiful morning and the rest of the day was supposed to be pretty good with maybe a little dampness around. Fortunately I knew the first 20 odd km pretty well so it was nice to just run with no stopping to check I was on the right path. I felt good. This was going to be my last real run before GUCR so I was going to enjoy it. It was turning out to be a pretty humid day. I was sweating pretty heavily. Hmm, will have to try to keep on top of those fluids again! After a few hours, I was happily making some pretty steady progress. Then the rain started. Nothing too heavy at first, but after a while it got heavier. This coupled with the headwind made it nice and refreshing, washing the sweat from my face. As I carried on, so did the rain, till I was completely drenched with my shorts and t-shirt clinging to me. This wouldn't be an issue other than this can be the trigger for some pretty bad chafing!

Thankfully the rain didn't last much longer, and the sun was fighting to reappear from behind the grey. Hopefully with the gusty wind and the warm temperature my kit would dry out quickly.

I decided that once I got to Wotton-Under-Edge at around 50 km I would buy some water and a pasty. Once I'd decided this I couldn't wait! Cold water would be amazing, and a pasty possibly better! I arrived and got a litre of water and a downed it. I walked through the town eating my baking hot chicken supreme pasty as fast as possible before starting up again. That felt better. It's always good to get some savoury food down. Less than twenty km to go before I arrived at Stonehouse near Stroud.

Now this is where the title of this post comes from. Reaching the box at Stonehouse (75km) would mean I would earn a red band, but if I were to carry on to the next box I'd earn myself a second black band. The only two issues here was that Stonehouse was the last place to catch a train back. Plus the fact that the next box was a rather large 28km further on! This would stretch my run out from a 75km to 103km. I would then be at Crickley Hill country park which would leave me needing to get to Gloucester train station 10km West. Hopefully a taxi! The plan was to assess thing once I arrived at Stonehouse.

As I got close to Stonehouse there is a split in the path. The old Cotswold Way passed through King's Stanley. The new route passes up and over Selsey Common before passing down to Stroud then following the canal to King's Stanley. I have always previously taken the longer new route (roughly 2-3km longer) so this was the way I went again. It wasn't till the next day that I realised that the Trailblaze route went the old way! Never mind, it's all good training!

Once I got to Stonehouse, I didn't even stop to think. I'd seemingly, subconsciously decided to continue. I had made pretty good ground covering the first 75km in 9:30 so was feeling pretty tired as I speed walked up the long climb out of Stonehouse through the fields before disappearing into the woodlands at the top.

I now was at the stage where I needed to remind myself to start running again after walking the ascents. I was also aware that I was a little dehydrated and that I didn't have loads of water left. This may mean having to knock on someones door and ask for water. This was going to be a tough 28km. I just plugged on and didn't dwell on the task ahead. The trail was lots of fun through the trees which helped keeping me going.

As I drank from my Camelbak it suddenly ran dry! That was it, I'd have to stop at the very next house I'd see. Soon enough I saw some houses come into view. I knocked on the first door and had no response. I moved onto the next house and had more luck. A fantastically generouse lady answered and got me as much water as I wanted and also gave me a massive bar of expensive dark chocolate! I thanked her and ran off with a full bladder and opening the chocolate. I stuffed the whole bar down within five minutes and washed it down with much cold water. Just as I got to the top of Coopers Hill it started spitting. Within minutes, it was pretty heavy again. I'd just about dried out from the mornings rain. Hopefully It wouldn't last.

I came out of the woods and followed a road down to the Air Balloon pub on a roundabout which I passed straight over and started climbing what I knew was the climb that would take me all the way to the top which was Crickley Hill, the end! I was very tired and drained now. I was also totally soaked and the rain was still coming down pretty heavy. Nearly there.

I arrived at the car-park and saw the last box which I Attempted to dib but it wasn't working! I tried many times but it wasn't having it. Never mind, I'd just note the time again. I stopped the clock at just shy of 14hrs! I then went straight into the only building around, the toilets which thankfully hadn't been locked. I got my mobile out and rang for a taxi but they needed a postcode! I didn't have it. I didn't know what to do so just ran off down the road through the country park hoping I'd find some civilisation that the taxi company would know. After 10 minutes I saw the lights of what looked like a pub. As I got closer I saw it was the Air Balloon! I'd just done a big circle. I rang a taxi and had some time to kill to went into the pub. I must have looked a right sight as I leant on the bar, exhausted and dripping wet and filthy! I ordered an orange juice. I wanted to sit down, but I didn't want to get the chair wet. Soon the taxi arrived and he took me straight to the station. I only had about a 25 minute wait for a direct train to Bristol. On the train, I wasn't feeling to great and couldn't get comfortable. As I stepped off the train at Bristol I suddenly fely sick and ran for the opposite platform and was sick onto the rails! Chocolate orange flavour! Not bad at all as far as sick goes! It was still raining outside, so I ran home, which was very painful due to the excessive chafing in various places on my body.

Wow, what a day. I had got up at 0430, ran for 14 hours and got home some time after midnight. I had ran 103kms solo with zero support (except for the lovely lady!). This was the most I'd ever done so I was very happy. I'd also managed to reach the first black band box!

The next day I felt very tired but wasn't at all sore. Excellent! This was the last of my prep for GUCR so now I just needed to rest up. It's always good to get to a big event with no real injuries after pretty heavy training.

So, as I keep mentioning, next is the GUCR which is a mere two weeks away! I could really do with a good run this year to give me a confidence boost for Spartathlon.

Any way. Enjoy your running.

Neil.

Flinging!

2011-05-05T18:38:00.004+01:00

Well, what a fun three weekends I've had. The first two I've already written up in my last entry, and the last one was spent up in Scotland as I had my first introduction to the Highland Fling. This is a 53 miler that starts in Milngavie and follows the West Highland Way to Tyndrum. Due to my busy weekends, I hadn't really researched it at all. The week running up to it I popped into the map shop and bought a Harveys map of the whole WHW with the intention of looking over the route to check it out. As the week progressed I got more and more excited about it, but neglected to actually look at the map! The plan was to catch a train to Birmingham early on the Friday (Bank holiday due to the Royal wedding), where Drew would pick me up before the long drive up to Scotland. I kind of enjoyed the journey as it seemed to be pretty close to the JOGLE route of a year previously. I was hooked on the blog that was following this years event, but by the time Drew and I were travelling up, there was only one remaining runner with over a week remaining. To run so much of it on your own like that would be so incredibly difficult mentally. We finally arrived at our hotel about a 20 minute drive from the start, after a stop off in Glasgow, where we ended up popping in about four running shops! We pottered round in our room while we waited for Richie Cunningham to arrive. Richie is a friend of Drews he met at UTMB. He also happens to be one of the fastest men on the West Highland Way! We eventually went into a standard chain pub next door for dinner. As long as they had pasta we'd be happy. The meal was ok and it was nice to meet Richie and his girlfriend. We didn't hang around too long as Drew wanted to get back to our room to watch some more of the Royal wedding coverage. We'd set the alarm for 0530 so to give us pleanty of time to prepare.

I had a predictably bad nights sleep before the long day ahead. The weather was looking to be glorious out with fairly high temperatures forecast and strong Easterly winds. This would normally be good for the cooling effect, but we'd be in the shelter of mountains and woodlands for a great deal of the day. So, yet again hydration was going to be top of the agenda again. All good practice for Spartathlon I suppose!

We met up with Richie downstairs then followed him to the start in Milngavie. Drew parked up somewhere that would be safe for over 24hrs. The start is outside the train station in the car park which was a hive of activity. I dumped my main bag off at a transit van so that it would get taken to the end for me. There was the option to have around four dropbags at some of the check points. I'd decided that with the distance, I wasn't going to bother. Most people seemed to be which made me wonder whether I'd made a wise decision. I'd never had dropbags before at a 50 and seemed to get around ok. Yes, I'd be fine!

The ladies had started at 0600, the vets had started at 0700 and we were due to be off at 0800. Shortly after the briefing, it was time and we were off!
I took off at a fairly steady pace and watched as a large number went off at the front like a rocket. I was expecting this as this was a seriously stacked field and I was not expectng any high placing here. The talent had all signed up as this was doubling up as the national trail championships and GB team selection for something else.
As we made our way through the park like area then onto open moorland I managed to remain sensible with my pace and heart rate. I'm sure if I didn't blow, I'd see many of the people who were ahead as I passed them... maybe.

We soon hit a rather large climb, which I managed to run a great deal of, before settling into a speed march. Just as I went over the shoulder of this hill, I was rewarded with a beautiful view that continued to open up as you rounded the corner, of Loch Lomond and the surrounding mountains. The Lock was sparkling in the increasingly powerful sun light. A runner who was near me remarked on the beauty. Absolutely breathtaking! We soon begun a large rather steep descent, which eventually led into the first checkpoint. I planned, as usual, to get through the cp's as quick as possible. I would only stop to top up my drinks bladder. By the next cp just before you get to the shore of Loch Lomond there were many people sat around, eating and drinking. I stuck to the plan and topped up the bladder before moving on. I know that doing this pushes you up the placement ladder the odd few places. Of course if you stop for too long then getting started again can be pretty difficult, though if I'm pretty bad then a short stop can be essential! The route followed alongside Lock Lomond for around 20 miles. It started off being pretty flattish with good footing. It was just fantastic running, and I was catching up with a steady flow of ladies and vets now too which is good fun. Everyone was very gracious in pulling aside to let me past with a smile. So far the going was testing but nothing to difficult. I had been told that the first half was easy, but the second half was really tough, so I was anticipating a ramp fairly soon in the level of exertion.

I passed through a cp, quickly topping up my bladder and downing a litre. Soon after this cp the going got very tough with there not really being anything of a path that was runnable. It was just large boulders all the way for around three miles. This really slowed things down, and involved much clambering using hands and having to hop down large drops. Although this was a relatively short section, the focus on my footing and the extra effort really wore me down a bit. As I came out of this section and begun to move away from the Loch we were suddenly fully exposed to the sun and I really felt it. Drink, drink, drink! Must keep on top of my hydration!

As I plodded on, I started to feel more and more exhausted. I forced a 9bar down while attacking an uphill. Just a few hours left to hang on. Though once you really hit rock bottom even walking seems fast, so it isn’t over till I cross that line! I had to push hard and really take advantage of every downhill section.. I was still catching some people which is very positive. There was a chap who I passed earlier who passed me and went ahead. He certainly looked like he had more left than me I thought as I watched him moving steadily ahead of me. Not long after, I caught him pretty easily as he was walking, but as soon as I got close to him he begun running again. I later got in front of him near the end. This cat and mouse game took my mind of things a little and also helped to push me a bit more and get me to the end that little bit quicker. I couldn’t work out whether he was a veteran or not. If he was, then I was 1hr ahead of him. Since we’d left the Loch, the footing was decidedly easier, but there was still a pretty big hill to drag myself over! I knew I was closing in on the end, so I really pushed it on the down.

Just as my sparring partner finally got ahead of me, I heard the distant wonderful drone of bagpipes! This just had to be the end! As I rounded a corner the advertising flags and the finishing arch came into view. I didn’t really have a sprint for the line which is pretty unusual for me, but I just didn’t seem to be bothered about a few seconds. As I crossed the line, a young girl put a medal around my neck and I was given my goodie bag and my t-shirt. I was also offered a cold bottle of Coors light. This I didn’t want. I needed to rehydrate so downed plenty of chilled water. My finishing time was 9:29 which considering the fact I’d had a pretty dire final 13 odd miles, I was very happy about. I had come 31st overall. Not bad seeing as I’d had a busy three weekends.

I hobbled down to the B&B Drew had booked and showered and got into some fresh, warm clothes. When I got back up to the finish area, I chatted with a few people before watching Drew finish. He looked ok, but was pretty dehydrated. Overall, it was a good day at the office.
After Drew got showered we popped into town to pick up some food. We ended up with a pizza each. On the way back I also got a massive burger! Then I went back to the room to lay down. My feet and legs needed to rest!
The next day, Drew and I had trout for breakfast then went for a walk as the weather was so amazing again. We ended up at a pub that did a £6 all-you-can eat buffet stuffing our faces!
At 1120 we caught the bus to Glasgow which went down the other side of the Loch, which just happened to be the route of the JOGLE. I was surprised at just how much of it I remembered.
After two buses, three trains and a pretty long drive, I arrived home just after midnight. I was exhausted, but knew that by the Wednesday, I’d be pretty much fully recovered.

My recovery has really been getting shorter and shorter over the previous 3-4 months. This could be attributed to many things, but one factor which I am convinced is a major contributor, is the Udo’s oil I’ve now been taking for just over a year now. It’s a year of taking the oil twice daily before the ratio of Omega 3, 6 and 9 is at the correct level. I am now really starting to see the difference. As I’ve already said, I can now do a big, hard day that will leave me thoroughly exhausted and very sore the next day, happy in the knowledge that I will be fine by the Wednesday. This was taking around a full week last year. I don’t think my training has changed much. I was going to take the weekend off, but I feel so good that I will be running between 45-60 off-road miles on Saturday. This wasn’t possible last year! Other than the virus I had a couple of weeks ago, I haven’t really been ill. A couple of sniffles, but I soon shake them. My muscle soreness has also declined. Udo’s oil has now become a major part in my training regime. It is also a major player in my general well-being.

So, after my run on the Cotswold Way this Saturday, which is a trail on the Trailblaze portfolio, I will start slowing down in an effort to taper for the Grand Union Canal in a few weeks. I’m really looking forward to having another go at this beast and can’t wait to get going.

I’ll probably write again once I have ran on Saturday. I hope everyone is out enjoying the trails.

Cheers

My Endurance Life!

2011-04-25T08:51:00.010+01:00

The last two weeks have been very much Endurancelife themed. That is the race organisers, Endurancelife. Last weekend I had the Exmoor Coastal Trail Series Ultra.
The weeks running up to this went well training wise. I had knocked out two solid 60-80 km weeks before getting stuck into eight days where I managed to complete over 260 km. It was pretty hard but I felt confident that with the week off after that before Exmoor, I'd be recovered well enough to be competitive. As it happened, my week off of training ended up being a week off of work due to a bad stomache leading to much toilet time! I didn't even make it into work, spending most of my time either on the loo or in my bed! By Thursday, I was beginning to think that I'd not be able to run on the Saturday. Thankfully I started a slight, slow recovery on the Friday. I had planned to stay at my parents the night before and they were going to give me a lift down to the start in the morning. I had already bought my train tickets so had already decided that I was going to my parents whatever. I'd take my race kit with me so that I could decide at the last minute. My Dad just hapened to be passing through Bristol on the way home during the day so had stopped by my place to give me a lift, saving me the bother of catching the train which was nice. By the time we got home I'd pretty much decided to race. I felt worlds better than I had just 12 hours ago, and infinitely better than I had 24 hours earlier.
With a good sleep, a hearty meal, and plenty of fluids in me I should be good to run!
With the alarm set for 0530, this was set to be a long day for all. I rose and had a now pre-race standard big bowl of porrige and coffee as my parents sorted themselves out.
My last race on this course was two years previously and was the marathon (there was no Ultra option then). I had an awful race for three reasons. I got slightly lost a couple times, I experimented with my pace a bit by going off a little faster than normal. I was destroyed by the 10k point! And my final error was to underestimate the course. This is a tough course that should not be taken lightly.
So with these experiences still pretty fresh in my mind, I felt very much more prepared for the day. Plus the fact that I hadn't had much experience then either, whereas now I have a fair bit more.
My parents dropped me off at the race HQ. They planned to try and catch me at a few points along the course which is always really good for morale. I signed in and collected my number and dibber. For once I actually had a bit of time to chill out before the start, not my normal manic rush which was a very welcome change! Eventually it was time for the brief. I listened in to check whether there were any diversions etc. I then got in to the start funnel. I wanted to be pretty close to the front so as not to have too many people in front. I dibbed out about 4th.
The weather was perfect. It was clear, slightly fresh and I was dying to get out on to the cliffs for the stunning views that you're rewarded for after the torturous first climb. I power walked up the hill and steadily took a few people who had gone off pretty hard. Within 15 mins you're very high up on the cliff, looking a long way down to the blue sea. It's breath-taking, and inspires you to push on. Within a shortwhile you are heading over moorland before cutting up and over a hill. The weather was warming up and the sweat was starting to flow. I was going to have to keep an eye on my fluids, especially after my week of being ill!
From there on there is a long descent into the HQ area which is the end of the 10k course. The ultra course basically follows the marathon route, which runs over the 10k first. Once you have completed the marathon course you then head back out for a second trip around the 10k course. Most people didn't seem too happy to be having to do the 10k course twice due to the monster climb, but I was pretty happy about it as it would be cool to have the last 10k of the day fresh in your mind. No suprises.
So, back to my race. As I finished the first 10k I was soon to be caught by a chap called Dave who I'd spoke too at my last Exmoor race. We chatted lots and ended up pushing each other pretty evenly. After a long while of powering up and dropping down the incredibly tough but fun route, I was starting to assess Dave as being the stronger of the two of us. We were in 3rd and 4th place. I'd love to be able to podium and get myself a lovely bronze medal, but I just felt like he was more consistant. I started telling myself it doesn't matter, especially considering the state I was in just 48hrs previously! We finally turned back on the marathon course and I was still feeling pretty good. There was a large climb which I remembered had some steady downhill after it. I power walked up there and without realising it, I had a slight gap on Dave. He caught me straight back up on the descent, but this showed me that I was stronger on the ups than him. As we approached the final 10k still together, I decided that once we hit the big climb, I would have a good dig and see if I could get me some bronze.
I worked hard but within myself to the very top. I didn't look back at all. He didn't sound far behind at all. Once I reached the top, I kept the pressure on and didn't turn around till just before I turned a corner. He was a fair way behind which really suprised me! I must carry on now. The worst is done. All I had to do was hold on for around 8k. Was there anyone else behind? I hadn't seen anyone there for a long time, so I guessed not. As I went over the top of the final hill before dropping down, I had a little peek behind. I couldn't see a soul, and I could see a fair distance. All I had to do was some half decent descending to get my bronze. Within 20 minutes I was back in the HQ area and saw my parents there cheering me on. I crossed the line in just 5hrs 22mins. I couldn't believe what a good race I had seeing as I had been ill all week! It made absolutely no sense, but I didn't care! I was well chuffed. I relaxed on the grass with my parents and waited to see Dave in. He came in around 15 mins later. Shortly after he had arrived, we had the medal ceremony. I picked up my bronze medal with a big grin on my face. I now had three medals from Endurancelife and every one of them is bronze. I think I need some different coloured medals now! What a slacker!
I now had a week of total recovery before my next race which is the Trailblaze on the South Devon Coast Path which I was very excited about.
Trailblaze is not a race in the normal format. It too is staged by Endurancelife.

To describe this, I have copied some gumph from the site:

Trailblaze is a brand-new concept designed to test your limits and fire your spirit. This hand-picked portfolio of tough endurance challenges consists of a selection of stunning trails which pass through some of the world’s most demanding and inspiring landscapes.

The trails differ greatly, but the challenge is always the same; travel as far as you can under your own steam in one complete attempt.

As well as earning rewards for reaching important milestones, known as 'hotspots', there are some amazing prizes up for grabs. The further you make it, the better the prizes get, and the greater your chances of winning.
The question is:- How far can you go?

So, to record your attempt, which can be ran at any time you choose, each hot-spot is a a timing point that you would push your electronic tag which was posted to you into. The idea being that you get as far as you can in one hit. I think this is a fantastic idea. For me it's great because it'll provide that little extra motivation to travel out to some of these amazing trails all over the country.
Good Friday was the opening day of the whole project and I wanted to complete the entire South Devon coast path course in one go. This meant travelling from Dartmouth to Plymouth which totalled 89km. It also meant I would have to cross four estuaries. I did a little research and calculated that to make the ferry crossings, I'd need to start at 0400! I contacted Endurancelife to check that the first point wasn't indoors and whether they had any tips with regards to the crossings. They responded with an offer I couldn't refuse. If I started at 1100 so as to start with other people and with the press present, then they would support me which would include paddling me across the estuaries in a canoe! Perfect. I had to take advantage of this.
Seeing as I wasn't starting at the crack of dawn, this meant that I could catch a train down to Totnes in the morning, where I was picked up by James from Endurancelife. We popped back to the Endurancelife office quickly before making our way to the hotel in Dartmouth which was where the opening ceremony and brief would be held. I was interviewed about what makes me tick, then had quite a while before the off. Slowly but surely the crowd grew. I popped into the hotel to grab a coffee and keep warm. My parents walked in then, which was really cool. They said they'd be down, and would attempt to follow me which could be pretty challenging considering it was a bank holiday. My No1 supporters!
After a few talks which I mostly couldn't hear, everyone shuffled outside to gather around the first hotspot. There was a couple who were potentially going the whole distance and a chap called Tobias Mews who may also go for it. Tobias had recently returned from a blinding race at the Marathon Des Sables, finishing as the top Brit. No mean feat for sure! I dibbed out first, followed by Tobias, and we instantly started chatting. We had just had the most pathetic of rain showers, but otherwise the weather looked perfect with a little bit of haze hanging around which would hopefully stay to provide some protection throughout the day from the sun. Tobias was a really interesting guy, but he was blasting away too fast for me, so I held back a bit thinking about the day ahead. When I arived at the 10k point, Tobias was there waiting. He started running again and said he'd run with me till the 22k point before finishing. This was excellent news. The company would be great, and he would keep an eye on my pace. We chatted the whole way to Start Point, which is where he would stop. I said my goodbyes and ran off along the most beautiful coast path with lots of wild flowers out and the sun shining down on me. It was just me and the trail now. I had been going about 2hrs now and was just starting to fall into a decent, comfortable pace. There was a long way to go, and it was heating up. I would have to keep reminding myself to drink regularly, as I would lose a whole load of fluids over the day. As I bounced around from rock to rock on some of the more technical of the singletrack, I could feel that grin stretching across my face. This is what I loved!
When I arrived at my next hotspot at Prawle Point, I looked at my wrist where my dibber should have been and saw that it was missing! It must have dropped off after Start Point. Damn, what do I do? Well, I'm certainly not turning back as it could be miles away, so I'll just take a note of the time and tell the crew when I arrive at Salcombe. I arrived feeling pretty good at Salcombe in 3:43. I told the guys about losing my dibber and my time at the last hotspot. They noted this down and gave me a new dibber to carry on with. My parents were there too. I drank a load of water and then rushed down to the ferry and boarded one straight away with my parents and made the short journey to the other side, where I hastily said goodbye to my folks and hopped off and headed off again through Portlemouth. It was really warm now, so I kept forcing fluid down, though I already had a very thick layer of salt on my skin! Within half an hour I was back out on the cliffs. Next crossing was at Bantham in 18k. This time I would need the canoe to get over.
I was tiring, but nothing unusual for this stage of a run. Now nutrition and fluids would be paramount to my success. It is also when tou are this tired that your judgment becomes pretty poor. Just as I was approaching Bantham, I saw my parents again. I stopped for a moment and chatted a bit and drank a whole bottle of Lucozade and put another fresh one in my bag, then I was off. These little meetings really help when things are tough. They take your mind off the strain just for a little while. After 5:53 I was at Bantham. Things felt ok. I followed one of the guys down to where they had the canoe waiting, was shown what route I needed to take once I was on the mud banks on the other side, the go in the two seater canoe, and was paddled across. This was lovely and relaxing. I dragged my hands in the lovely cool water. Within minutes though I was climbing out at the other side and making my way across the mud flats then taking a very steep hill back up to the cliff.
My next crossing was just in 10k. I was certainly feeling it a bit now. I was very tired. In 7:33 I came down a lovely bit of woodland trail to Wonwell Beach, where one of the guys was waiting a little bit up the trail for me. When I reached him he jogged along with me and said that they were having a barbecue. My hunger for proper food must have shone through as he then said that I could have something if I wanted. The barby was set up with loads of delicious looking sausages and meat cooking on it. They promptly served up a wicked hotdog which I wolfed down. I then just had to have a burger too as they looked soooo good! This I ate as I was led down to the canoe. As I was again paddled across, I ate my burger. Yum!
The next and final crossing was Noss Mayo in 15k. I pushed on a little harder feeling a little revitalised after my impromptu barbecue. I was getting closer and closer to Plymouth. It felt good.
After nine and a half hours of running, I had reached Noss Mayo. This time I was taken straight across and I was going to have a couple buddy runners with me for the final 11k. This was ace news as even though I felt pretty good for the last section, I knew that I was fading. Not only that, but the light was fading too! It was a bit of a struggle as I came closer to the end. I found that I was having to walk some pretty pathetic ascents. Never mind, it was nearly over. Within a short while we got our first glimpse of Plymouths lights. I hadn't seen my parents for a few hours, and seeing as they had a pretty long drive to get home, wasn't expecting to see them, but as I attempted a sprint over the final 100 metres, and finally dibbed in, they were there! How great to have my parents there and the really fantastic Endurancelife team, who I wouldn't have been able to go so quick without. My finishing time was 11hr 11mins. Incidentally, my birthday in on the 11th day of the 11th month making my lucky number, 11! Spooky ay?

So, the last two weeks have been really succesful, and hugely enjoyable and rewarding. I just can't wait to get stuck into my next Trailblaze. I'm feeling pretty strong, and I'm recovering fast. My feet don't seem to be giving me as much pain as they were. Things are looking good.
This weekend I have the Highland Fling, which is a 53 miler on the West Highland Way in Scotland. I've never done this one before and I'm really looking forward to it. If all goes well, I could be up for a half decent time I reckon.
After that, there are around three weeks before I set off to Birmingham to tackle the monstrous Grand Union Canal Race. All 145 miles of it. I'm determined to have a half decent showing there to give me a mental boost for Spartathlon later this year.

Anyway, I think that's just about enough of that. I'll post again soon to report on the Fling.

Happy running.

Healthy start to the year!

2011-03-18T19:31:00.002Z

Since my last post I have ran in three races.
I wasn't entered into the Ultrarace 45/90 that I took part in last year as transport is a bit of a mission to get sorted without it costing a bomb. Then there's the hotel in Tring between day one and day two. All a bit too pricey really. My housemate James, had entered it nearly a year previously, and had collected some money for charity. He had a dodgy knee so I offered my services. All we had to do, was get some transport sorted and some accomodation. Well, to cut a long story short, the plan was looking good till the day before, when the transport option fell through. Very frustrating, but that's the way it goes I suppose!

Next on the agenda was the Thames Trot which I'd ran the year before. It begins at Oxford and ends in Henley, following the Thames footpath. It's a fast course and I was keen to see if I could better last years time of 7hrs 20mins. I was happy with how my training was progressing but hadn't raced for a while so was completely unsure of my current form. The conditions seemed pretty good. I saw a few friends at the start that I hadn't seen for a little while which was good. Everyone was in pretty high spirits. It was going to be a good day...

As we started, I went pretty fast to get near the front so as not to get caught behind people, and just as you cross a bridge after a few hundred metres you turn left onto the path. As I stood onto the path, my foot slid and I crashed down onto my knee, which really hurt. Fortunately I had gloves on which prevented me from grazing my hands to shreds. I promptly bounced back up and carried on running as if nothing had happened feeling like an idiot knowing that lots of people would have seen it!

I ran with Mark and James for a while as I tried to settle into my pace. As my rhythm took hold, I started feeling pretty good. Rob Treadwell had shot off the front and I wasn't expecting to see him again, but as I went ahead of Mark and James, I saw him up ahead and shortly caught him. We had a good chat. This was the first time I'd seen him since JOGLE so it was good to catch up. We decided after a while that we both were happy with each others pace so we'd stick together throughout. This proved to be really effective as we seemed to be pretty even till the end, where we finished strongly in 6hrs 53mins! A pb by 27mins! Brilliant. I was super happy with that. My foot was fairly sore but manageable. Things were looking pretty good. Recovery after this event was fairly swift. It suprises me just how well the body seems to adapt to such pressure.

Next target is the Endurancelife Ultra in South Devon. 35 miles on a part of the coast path I've never been on before. I couldn't wait!
The week preceeding the race was very wet. The weekend before I'd been at my parents house and went for a long run on the North Devon coast path and it was epically wet. Really marshy in places. Seeing as the week hadn't been great, I was expecting it to be a bit of a mud fest! Brilliant, all the more fun!
The drive down was long and troubled. We had to leave at 5am and as we made our way down the motorway we noticed a sign alerting us of a road closure ahead. It just happened to be the road that we'd planned to use! We stopped at the services to plan a new route. This was going to be close! We quickly decided on a route and sped off into the rainy dark. It looked as though I'd be 5-10 minutes late. Not great, but not the end of the world. Just as I was speeding down a country lane, I spotted the sea, then a ferry moving away from us. I jammed on the brakes hard as I suddenly noticed the road go straight into the sea! NOOooooo! We hadn't realised that on the map the road disapeared for a little bit as it crossed an estuary! Idiots! We replanned again then sped off around the estuary to get me in a mad panic to the start line. Fortunately the race is done with electronic tags so my run time wouldn't include the 25 minutes that I was late! I sprinted off like a man posessed, trying desperately hard to stay calm which was almost impossible. It was very wet under foot but the day was looking to be a stunner. I was too warm if anything! I was of course running all alone and was wondering how long it would take to catch the back markers. Within 45 mins I sighted a group of around 5 who seemed to be sticking together. I quickly caught and passed them and from then on I had an almost continual supply of rabbits to catch. Whether this is good for my pace I'm not sure. It certainly puts in lots of bursts where I normally wouldn't! My punishment for being late! It is a very positive thing to be overtaking people regularely though. The course was very pretty and would take my breath away at times. The coast is my favourite place to run (maybe). The weather was stunning. It was like a pleasant Spring day. I'm sure the weather gods are looking after these events. The luck they have is crazy. As I came to the end of the marathon section (the ultra course is the marathon course followed by the 10k course) I was tiring quite a bit. Energy levels were low. I was not going to start squeezing what little I had left till I had begun the 10k course. During the last few km of the marathon course, a fair few runners came past me. I wasn't exactly over the moon by this and was suprised by their speed. Each time someone would catch me, I kept wanting to chase. That was until I realised that they were in the marathon which started 15 mins after I did. They were on the home straight, whereas I had over an hour of running left! I breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed a little. As I passed through the pandemonium of the start/finish area, with more than one person telling me that this was the finish, I eventually got out onto the coast again and was all alone which was nice. Shortly I spotted a runner up ahead, and within 10 minutes I'd caught him. We stuck together for a while and had a good chat. We both decided that we'd finish quicker if we stuck together, So for the final 8k we worked hard together. He didn't seem overjoyed when I told him about my late start, hence my 25 minute advantage over him. We worked well together, finishing fast and side by side. My eventual position was 6th place. I thought maybe I'd been stronger than that but, who cares when it's just such fun. I had definitely used up all my reserves, I was exhausted! I finished the day off with a pasty sat in the sun overlooking the sea. Perfect!

Although I'd pushed my body really hard reaching my max HR and sustaining a high average HR, my recovery was swift. This is great stuff. I seem to be recovering so well at the moment. Compared to a year ago it is completely different. I'd take a good week to recover from a 6-8hr run, but now, just 2 or 3 days! Training is going well and to plan, with a major difference to previous years. That being the proportion of trail running I'm doing compared to road running. I've really been making an effort to get out on the trails more, often unknown (to me) trails, so not only is it immeasurably more fun, but it is most definitely more of an adventure. Off road running is a far superior work out than road running, so maybe that is the answer to the recovery improvement. Maybe it's got something to do with the fact that for over a year I've been taking Udo's Oil twice daily. Maybe my body is just one more year conditioned to ultra running. More than likely it is a combination of all of the above and many other variables I have yet to work out.

Last weekend, I took part in the Wye Valley Ultra. A 50 miler that begins up river from the race HQ and heads down river for 50 miles to the finish at the HQ. There are one or two diversions over the hills which give the accumulated climbing of over 2000 metres. Should be fun I thought. I caught a train and then was met at the station by Mark who drove the rest of the way to Glasbury house which is an outdoors centre with accomodation. We arrived at around 10 in the evening which was too late to register so just made our way to our room for the night. We did a little bit of prep for the morning and I set my alarm for 5 then turned the lights out. Within what seemed like 30 seconds the alarm was going off. We got up and ready, had a bowl of cereal and made our way downstairs to grab a coffee before getting on one of the two coaches and setting off for the start. An hour and 15 mins later we arrived at the start point. what seemed like everyone used the portaloos provided, then we lined up and were off! I'd got near the front as we took off at a fair pace. Two guy shot off very fast as we all made our way up the first of many hills. After about 10 minutes, a few of us took the wrong route and had to turn back. I find that once you understand how some people mark the routes you tend not to go wrong so much. Hopefully, I'd get used to this pretty sharpish! After around an hour, I started to get some sort of rhythm going. I did seem to be working at a pretty high level, but decided to ride it. It was a slightly overcast, not at all cold day. Visibility was great, so really this was a great day for running (though aren't they all!). By cp3 (9 in total) I was in 5th place. As I walked up the hill from the cp I started feeling pretty sluggish. I had eaten enough and fluid was going down ok, so I suppose it was just a dead spot that needed to weathered. It'd pass. As time passed on the dead spot improved, but never fully. I just seemed to have lost whatever zip I would normally have had. At around the 30 mile point, I was in 3rd place, but was then caught by 3 guys all together. One just went straight past me. One I had to slowly let get away from me as he was stronger. The other seemed to tail off a little behind. Still a long way to go. I was pushing myself as hard as I could but there just didn't seem to be much there. I kept catching glimpses of the guy who had pulled away from me. He was easily pulling away from me on the ascents but I was clawing a little back on the descents. After cp6 the path headed up, up and up! I hit another heavy legged stage and just power walked as hard as I could. I remembered seeing that this stage of the race had over 500 metres of climbing in it. No need to kill myself! There was a short sharp descent before the bulk of the climb continued. I'd lost sight of the guy in 4th place now and was trying to focus on my pace and nothing else. This was a great climb which bought me out on top of the hills with some truly beautiful views all around. It was exposed, but even up here, I wasn't cold. Eventually I reached the end of the climb and began the descent. I knew that once I'd get to the next cp which was pretty much at the end of the descent then it was fairly flat as you closely followed the river in to the finish at Glasbury. I eventually made it into the cp and stopped for a few minutes to quickly down a litre of water and eat some food, as the chap there informed me that 4th place was around 10 minutes in front. Way too much of an advantage to overcome with only 8 miles left! I pushed on as hard as I could, knowing that there were no more hills left to break me anymore. The finish was a reality now. I'll try to hold 5th place. Thankfully the trail continued to be fun and pretty, which really helps and is inspirational when you are so tired.

Shortly I spotted in the near distance a village which I was sure to be the location of the finish. I was now within around 1 km from the end and suddenly spotted 4th place just ahead of me. Wow, I really hadn't expected that. If he doesn't see me coming then it'll be easier to catch him up. He approached a gate that needed to be opened. Would he look behind as he stopped to open it? Damn, he did! He spotted me and bolted like he hadn't just ran 50 miles. I caught him up as we made our way through the village then went past him. As we turned the corner and got our first sight of the finish line I had the lead. I thought I had him as I crossed the line, but in my periphary I noticed he'd come back and we crossed the line together! A dead heat. Perfect! Joint 4th.

Considering my sluggish sensations and what felt like a poor performance, I am more than happy with my overall placing. With hindsight I can only possibly see that what I ate the night before was the partial cause. I only had a sandwich and a bowl of cereal. Normally I'd make sure I'd have a good, solid, filling meal. There's is also the possibility that I just had a bad day. These things happen. It was a great day out running on a fantastic course. By the following Tuesday, I'd almost fully recovered. There was barely any tenderness in my legs or feet. All looks good. I plan to do two steady weeks then a heavy week. I will then be pretty close to the Exmoor coastal trail series ultra. I'm very excited about this one. It's is one of the most dramatic and exciting courses I have run. Could be even more fun if it's nice and muddy!

Will let you know how I get on there. Hopefully I'll have a better race than my last dismal attempt!

Happy running.

2010-12-09T17:35:00.000Z

Oops! Sorry for the delay with this posting. No real reason other than being in off-season mode. Since my Greek tragedy (I still think about it too much!), I haven't been getting out too much as I'm still trying to sort my foot out that is still not right. I took a couple weeks off after Sparta then would go out for an hour run during the week, then something longer at the weekend. I've been trying to get off road more as well as it's just so much more fun. You get to see so much more beauty when you're out on the trails, and you get the feeling that you are the only person lucky enough to be catching these moments. I've lost count of the amazing sunrises and sunsets I've been fortunate to witness whilst in outstanding surroundings. It always makes it all seem worthwhile and ask the question, why the hell doesn't everyone do this? Like I said, I'd been getting out twice a week and was feeling that my fitness wasn't too bad, but my foot was restricting me to only two sessions a week so hardly firing on all cylinders! I'd done a bit of hunting around and found that there is a 100+ mile footpath called the Samaritans trail that begins at the suspension bridge in Bristol. Perfect! I printed off directions and decided to run out for 90-120 mins then turn back. It took me about 40 mins to get to the start of the trail on the most ideal of days for running. The route wasn't greatly waymarked but the directions I had were well written, and I was thoroughly enjoying running over Dundry into the stunning Chew Valley. I enjoyed myself so much that I had to make my self stop and turn around at 3hrs! A little longer than planned, but I knew I'd be ok for 6hrs. The return journey went lots faster due to knowing the route and I got home, exhillerated, in 5.5hrs. A great day out, but the foot was sore. Not long after this I was checking out future races and noticed that the Endurancelife Coastal Trail Series, which normally consists of a series of races (10k, half and mara distance) at numerous coastal venues in the west country and Wales, now included at three of the venues a 30+mile ultra! I've ran a few of these guys races in the past and have really enjoyed the whole things. Great experiences. As the first of the ultras got closer I found that the draw was too much and entered. It was at Gower in South Wales where I've previously ran an ace marathon. I was purely thinking about the experience and not the race due to my lack of training. The scenery was the great pull here not the competition. My friend James drove me there (cheers mate) very early in the morning in another good friends car (thanks Chrissy). After a slight unplanned detour at the mumbles we arrived at race HQ with just 15 mins spare! After the brief we lined up on the start line and I was suprised at just how relaxed I was. Maybe this was due to the fact that I wasn't competitive, maybe it was experience, either way it felt good. We shot off through the waterlogged fields towards the coast path. I was also experimenting with some new shoes today which had only been worn around the house. Possibly not the most sensible of decisions! I had the normal inner battles of letting the fast boys do their own thing and not take up chase. Today I was going to just run my way round and not chase anyone unless I was right at the end. The first 3hrs I had the pleasure of two other chaps company. One an experienced ultra runner, the other a first timer young lad from the local area. I felt that these two were stronger than me, but when we hit a set of exceptionally steep steps I pushed hard as normal and when I got to the top, I turned around and to my total suprise I had distanced them both. For a fraction of a second, I considered waiting, then turned and ran. A little of the competitiveness had crept back in! I guessed I was in 5th place. There was still a few hours left though. At the next cp I caught and passed 4th place. I felt really good and strong. As I came to the point where the marathon runners would turn off towards the end, I carried on to complete the final 8 mile loop. Now I felt that I fould really start pushing. The end was in sight. Could I catch 3rd place and get onto the podium? Go, go, go! I was making my way up through some boggy moorland towards the final cp. As I approached I could see a runner staggering away. When I got there the chap at the cp asked if I thought it was safe to let him continue. It's fine I said. As I overtook him he was very unresponsive and was staggering around like a drunk. A sure sign of low blood sugar! I offered him drink and food but he refused it and said to carry on, so I did. I was in 3rd place! From here till the end I pushed hard and felt pretty fast. I finished in 3rd place but the big suprise was that the low blood sugar guy came in 1 minute behind! He had an amazing second wind! Thank god I pushed hard. I was elated. What a massive suprise. I din't feel too bad either except for that pesky foot, which was very painful by the end. I didn't run all week till I went home to Bideford to see my parents. While there it'd be silly not to take advantage of the coast path which is only a couple of miles from their house so I did. I decided to experiment with fuel and see whether I could go with nothing except one bottle of Lucozade. I woke up and had no breakfast and got a lift there. The week had seen some very heavy rain and this had turned the path into a mud bath! Great fun! This turned into another absolutely beautiful run. I felt great and was enjoying the muddy conditions. 2hrs bought me to Clovelly which is where I wanted to reach. Just near the end I was a little lacking in energy, but not too bad. I finished in 3hrs 59mins. I think I could go longer, but 4hrs is the sensible limit with only energy drink. I took the next 2 weeks off to rest the silly foot. I was then planning to go to the Brecons with Drew and hopefully do a 8hr out and back. This was on the Beacons Way which was new to both of us. Drew picked me up at 6 and we were parked up and ready for the off at 0745. The temp was around -2 and we could see that there was a fair bit of snow still around. We soon discovered that there was also a fair amount of ice on the trail! This was set to be quite an adventure. As soon as we gained some height on the initial climb we were stunned with some amazing views looking down at the foggy, golden lowlands with the white, snow speckled hills poking through. The route was great, with plenty of ascent, and the snow and ice made the going an awful lot tougher. We climbed up onto a piece of moorland which was very exposed and cold. My hands started to cool and numb, so I wasn't too keen to stop for too long to take in the views and take pictures. We were both wearing just shorts and thermal tops which may have looked slightly insane to the ramblers we saw but as long as we kept moving, the heat we were generating was adequate. We dropped into a valley and passed through a tiny little village before immediately climbing the other side and soon we were on the top of the moorland opposite. We slowly descended for half an hour before we had reached the 4hr point. Time to turn. That went very quickly. The run back was fun, except when we took a slight detour right at the end. We returned to the car and got into warm clothes as fast as possible as the sun was quickly disappearing and what warmth it gave went too. What an amazing day! Another adventure in the hills! We both decided that this was what this running thing was all about. Discovery, Beauty, Risk, challenge and exhertion. This is what really seems to pull me into running. This was last weekend, 4 days ago. I feel almost totally recovered, and my foot seems to have recovered a little faster this time. It's still far from right, but hopefully this is a good sign. I will try to rest it more, and enjoy the off season.

The three dreaded letters - DNF!

2010-10-05T16:51:00.002+01:00

My build up to my first attempt at the Spartathlon had been going pretty good with no issues. I had planned to do a high mileage week and then take 2 weeks off to recover fully, as usual. The week was going to plan, then when I was running into work on the Thursday (2 training days left!), the top of my foot started to hurt, and got worse and worse till I had a bit of a limp by the time I got to work. I rested all day at work then ran home. Hmm, not the cleverest things I've done as it hurt straight away and proceeded to get worse. By the time I got home, I'd decided to cancel the following planned 2 days of training. My prime concern was that I had a fractured metatarsal. If this was the case, then there was no chance I'd even go to Greece. I went to the dr's who advised me to go to the A&E the next morning. A nurse had a look and said it was a possibility but it would be best if I left it for a week and come back in if it hadn't improved. I took it as easy as possible for the week, but it really didn't seem to improve much. I was starting to lose faith in my chances to even start the race now, let alone finish it! When the week had passed, I decided that I needed it looking at again. This time I saw a Dr who had a feel and informed me that he believed that it was ligamentous though he couldn't be sure. Within the hour I had a plan. My flight was on Wednesday, so I'd decided to go for a little run on Tuesday evening just to see if I could manage it. I ran for 40 mins and found that I could deal with it. Not quite 36 hours, but it'll have to do! I was going! Finally coming to this decision was a great relief. I didn't really fancy my chances but was happy that I was going for the experience. My confidence wasn't completely battered, I still had a slight glimmer of hope.I had to wake at 5am to get the train to Paddington, Underground to Victoria, train to Gatwick where I met Mark Cockbain and Stuart Shipley. A few hours later, we landed at Athens and caught the bus to the London hotel. It was a hive of activity with competitors and organisers busying around. We booked in and got given our rooms. I was in a room with 3 Swiss guys. We dumped our bags off then came down for dinner. The food was a little odd, but good nonetheless. After this it was time to get into bed. I barely slept at all. I don't think my Swiss room mates did either. The next morning I had a massive breakfast before registering. Mark, Stu and I then walked up the road to find a supermarket to buy some supplies for the drop bags. My original idea was just to have some supplies at around 4 of the 74 check points, but after chatting with Mark and Stu who both have a wealth of experience at this race I decided to have bottles of electrolyte drinks at 10 points. It was really pretty warm out, but I wasn't too bothered. I was just happy to be there, We sorted out our drop bags for the checkpoints, then we were ready for the off. Instead of sitting about at the hotel, Stu and I got on a tram and made our way into Athens to have a very quick look around. I'd never been to Greece so even though we didn't really have too much time, I was happy to get the opportunity. We were lucky enough to catch the rather bizarre changing of the guard outside parliament, and walk around the ruins a bit and see the stadium before rushing back to the hotel for dinner which consisted of a massive plate of dry pasta! I poured the side of soup over it to add some flavour before getting into bed for the final time before the race. The alarm was set for 0430 too give us plenty of time for the 0500 breakfast. I somehow managed to get a better nights sleep than the previous night. I had muesli for breakfast before putting our bags on the coaches and getting on ourselves. We arrived at the base of the Acropolys with around 30 mins to spare. Perfect to just take in the atmosphere which by now was buzzing. There were a few camera crews and many support crews as well as lots of people who'd come along to see us all off. There were a fair few Brits and we all chatted together and took loads of pictures. Finally the moment arrived. We were off!
I instantly focused on running at my own pace, and trying to ignore everyone elses. We ran for quite a while through the streets of Athens as countless police were at every junction stopping the traffic so we didn't have to alter our speed at all. The sun slowly rose behind us as we slowly left the city. It wasn't hot yet. In fact it was actually pretty good running conditions. I felt happy with my pace. My foot was hurting but I was doing my best to ignore it. One step at a time. As we hit the first few cp's I realised that they were very poorly stocked with anything worth eating. I grabbed a few biscuits and chocolates that melted in my hands, leaving me licking my fingers as I left the cp. As we left Athens proper, we passed the industrial outskirts which were pretty grim. We then were on the old coastal road which was truly stunning. It was pretty hot now, but felt incredibly humid, which was making me sweat an incredible amount. The salt that was forming on my skin was a little concering. I'd sponge my self down at every cp, but by the time I'd arrive at the next cp (2-5km) I'd be covered in salt again! I tried to get lots of the salty crackers down to replace the massive salt depletion. As I pushed on I realised that I hadn't been for a wee for hours. I was getting pretty badly dehydrated. I tried to drink more but was finding it increasingly difficult to consume solids and liquids. I went through 80 km in around 8.5hrs. This gave me a 1hr buffer which was good, but I was beginning to feel as though I'd ran a lot further than I had. My muscles were feeling pretty tender, my energy levels were pretty low and my foot was hurting quite a bit. It was as I walked away from the 80km cp with a rice pudding which I struggled to get down and hold down that the negative thoughts started entering my mind. The nausea and the dehydration were really not good at this stage of the race. Was it possible to get myself rehydrated while I continued at the same pace? I was starting to doubt it, especially with the nausea. I thought the darkness would be a welcome cooling but by this stage I was in to much of a mess to appreciate the advantage. I ran in the dark for a while which was fine, till eventually I picked up a torch at one of the cp's. This took my mind off of things a little, but not enough.
As I was dropping painfully down a descent, the final blow came. It started to drizzle. Within 5 minutes it was really hammering it down, and in my weakened state I started to feel the cold. I stopped at a cp and considered pulling out, but this was a minimal cp. Not a good place to bale. I decided to push on till the next decent cp then reassess my situation. The next stretch of road was badly potholed so I miserabely kept treading in rather large puddles as I kept moving as much to keep warm as to keep in the race.
Finally I came down a pretty steep, very painful descent into a village with a cp under shelter. I pulled in and immediately sat down. My time buffer was down to 20 mins now and I still had almost 70 miles left! As I sat there trying to work out whether it would be worth continuing, my buffer was fast disappearing. I was broken. I had been staggering at every cp for around the last 40 miles as I felt dizzy. I was cooked! Enough.
I handed my number over and signed a form. Shortly after the coach arrived which was taking all the drop outs to the hotel at the end. I got onto the coach sad, sick but content that I'd made the right decision. On the journey back I was sick on the coach. I had covered around 85 miles in around 18.5hrs. Not good enough by a long shot. It was around 0330 when we got to the hotel. Myself and Kevin who had dropped out at nearly the same point, got a room and dragged our wrecked bodies to our room. I turned on the shower, but it instantly started to flood! Sod it! straight to bed.
Thankfully, nine days later as I write this, I still feel that pulling out was my only option. I could have carried on for another 10-20 miles possibly, but there is no way, that I could have completed considering the state I'd got myself into. Very frustrating, but I'll chalk it down to some very good experience, and hopefully a lesson that won't be forgotten in a hurry! As soon as I awoke from a pretty awful, sleep after my attempt, I'd already decided that I was to return next year. I feel confident that with the right preparation, I can finish. I think it needs a little more respect from me though. It's a beast of a race and I have complete admiration for anyone that completes the thing. Actually, I think its amazing that so many people are willing to take on the Spartathlon at all!
I now have pretty much recovered fully. Just my foot to get better now, but it has improved lots, so hopefully in 1-3 weeks time it'll be good to start thrashing again!
There's no rush anyway, as I don't plan to do anything else this year.
So, overall, with a little bit of time passed since the event, I feel quite irritated by the fact that I made such a simple but catastrophic error, but very happy that I made the decsion to go and gain some very valuable experience. I now have seen a great deal of the course and the layout of the event, cp's etc. I've been expecting a DNF at some point and now I have it! Not great, but its all part of the constant education that this game is. I will be far better armed next year!

I do plan on trying to teach my self to run less on my heel and more on my forefoot over winter that could be challenging, which, after reading a bit into it, if I can get to grips with, could prevent some injuries.
I'll keep you up-to-date with my progress (or lack thereof!). At the moment though, it's all about rest and possibly popping out for a cider or two! It's been a long year for me.
Cheers,
Happy running.

My poor feet!

2010-08-02T11:13:00.000+01:00

Ok, they're not so bad now and it's only the Tuesday after the UTLD, but, my god did this race wreck them like I've never seen or felt before!
I've been really excited about doing this race since I entered which was the first day you could. I knew that 11 weeks between the end of JOGLE and this should be enough for recovery and a little training. I underestimated JOGLE's aftereffects on my feet which as I think I've already mentioned in a previous post left me with no training at three weeks to go and my feet were still sore! It was do or die. I was determined to have a go at this race this year so I planned a medium mileage week followed by a fairly heavy week, a week off then the race. Two weeks of training for a tough off-road 100 miler seemed a little silly but made it all seem a little more uncertain, more of a challenge. There was a pretty high chance that I wouldn't finish this one which seemed to make it all the more exciting. The course is actually 104 miles in length and includes a pretty hefty 6971 metres of ascent. I've recceed most of the course earlier in the year so knew what a beast this was going to be. I also knew what a stunning course this is. To see so much of the Lakes in such a short time by foot is an incredible feeling.
I made my way to the train station after work on the Thursday and caught the train to Birmingham, where I was met by Drew, Nick and Steve who was driving. I squashed my bags in then we set off for the 3 hour drive to the hills. I was pretty relaxed and could already start to feel the adrenalin begining to pump. All four of us were signed up for the 100. we wondered What the journey back would be like - who would finish (if any) and who would not. We finally arrived at the Youth Hostel that Drew had sorted for us. We signed in and made our way up to our 4 man room. Bunk beds! Brilliant! I think we were all far too awake to get the nice early night we should have had, but eventually relaxed nicely and slept. In the morning I awoke and looked out the window. The Hostel was around 20 metres from the shore of lake Windermere. It was perfectly still and the sky was clear. A goose dragged its feet across the glass like surface of the lake as it lazily took off. This was going to be a special weekend I thought. We decided to get breakfast at the Hostel, so made our way down stairs and stuffed our bellies for the day ahead (even though the start wasn't till 1730), while looking out across the lake. I felt pretty relaxed. I felt good. I felt I knew what was coming. JOGLE taught me that I can take a fair amount of pain and keep going so I had a little bit of confidence I'd complete.
After breakfast, we packed up and left for Coniston school which was the race HQ for the weekend. We arrived just after 0930 and went straight in for registration. I think we were the first through! They checked I had everthing in my pack, issued me my map and road book, T-shirt and finally my dibber which I attached around my wrist. The dibber is an electronic id device that records you at each check point. This information would instantaneously update the website so that friends and family can keep a tab on your progress. A nice touch that should prevent lots of worry (especially Mum!). After this we parked up in the almost empty school field and erected our tents ready for us to crash out in once we've (hopefully) finished. It was thankfully a beautiful day as we had around 6 hours till the briefing! We wandered into Coniston and grabbed a coffee and walked up the first mile or so of the course. We then went back to race HQ and got some food from the temporary cafe that had been set up for the duration of the event.>
Finally after much lazing around we had the brief, which was all very straight forward, then we had a special guest in the form of Joss Naylor the legendary hard man Fell runner. He gave us some good humoured advice then we were done till the start in one hour.
I got changed into my race kit and made some final adjustments to my bag, then walked over to the start line and waited for the off.
Finally Joss started the race and we began. Stuart Mills shot of like he was in a 10k and would probably never be seen again, while the rest of us made our way through Coniston and began the first of many hills and much walking! I tried to stay at a sensible pace, but was soon finding myself leaving behind Drew and Steve which got me a little concerned that I was overdoing it. My pace felt sensible so I carried on. I made my way up with Colin which is always a pleasure. After just over an hour we crested the hill and began the first major downhill. Pretty steep in places and quite difficult footing meant that this was a fairly slow affair for a poor descender like myself. My feet were killing already, but I just blanked them out and took one step at a time. I made the bottom of the hill and ran down a tarmacked road to the first cp at Seathwaite. I grabbed some food, dibbed in (checked in with my electronic dibber), then ran on trying not to waste any time. We made our way along a valley floor before turning up a decent little climb. The gradient eased as we passed a farm and headed into a plantation on very boggy ground. My feet were soaked through almost straight away.The path was slow, wet and rocky but eventually I came out onto open fell and headed down hill at a sensible pace. A sharp downhill into Eskdale before heading into Boot for the next cp. All was going ok, but as I kept reminding myself - these were early days!
I waited at Boot for a few minutes for Steve and Drew to catch up. They were a little further back than anticipated. We left together and I took off straight away. A small group of us stuck together up the hill and across the moorland past the tarn (mountain lake) and dropped down into Wasdale for the next cp. There was soup and bread in here but I just had some jelly babies, some cake and pushed on, knowing there was a long walk ahead up and over Black Sail Pass where I could eat. The sun was dropping fast now. I thought it'd be nice if I could get down the other side in light as it's a pretty dangerous descent and I didn't fancy it in the dark! As I made my way up, I starting chatting to a couple of guys, Allan and Simon. We stuck together on the climb and as we reached the top, we realised that it was time to mount the headtorches. We nearly made it! Allan lived relatively local and spent a fair bit of time in the Lakes and it showed with his descending as he dropped down the hill like a stone in comparison to Simon and my relatively slow and cautious descent. As we made our way along the flat at the bottom past the coolest youth hostel we turned right to start the next ascent. We started passing a few people and eventually caught Allan again. We dropped down towards a lake and took the amazingly good path that skirts aro> und it for a couple km, then headed to Buttermere, the next cp. We decided that the 3 of us were going to stick together for the hours of darkness as this was good for moral, we could keep our eye on the pace better and not let it slacken off and there was less chance of getting lost. We seemed to be fairly well matched on the pacing side of things too which obviously helps. Next stop was Braithwaite which I hadn't been to yet as this was the point where Drew and I got lost on the recce in the dark. I was a little nervous about missing the trail again but there were a few people ahead and Alan seemed pretty confident with the course. Cool. We climbed for quite a way crossing over 3 tributuaries before taking the 'obvious' path heading very steeply up. I was happy now. This was the path we missed. It was very steep and I was dripping with sweat. I kept drinking as often as I co> uld, which wasn't quite enough in these early stages!
Eventually we went over the top of this monster and began the slightly hairy descent down into Braithwaite. There was a very steep drop on the left, the path was pretty narrow and slighly off camber! I was pretty cautious coming down here! Soon we arrived at the cp. We stopped here for a 15-20 minute feed. I ate loads of pasta and rice pudding followed by loads of bicuits. Yummy Jummy Dodgers seemed to be going down well!
We pushed off from here knowing that there was a fair bit of flat road coming up. This was a relief for the feet and the concentration levels too. It's always suprising how much I have to concentrate on my footing in the dark when running in the dark. It can be very consuming, especially when tired!
We eventually got back to the hills and started climbing till we got around half way up then started contouring all the way around a side valley which enabled us too look across and see how many were ahead. We only saw about 3 lights so the very front guys must have been miles ahead! We turned round the head of the valley the headed back on the other side for a relatively speedy approach to the next cp at Blencarthre. We were here very briefly before shooting off down hill. My feet were really starting to feel hot around the balls, a sure sign of blisters! I never suffer from blisters! Oh dear, this adds a new challenge to the whole thing! Still a long way to go and they're only going to get worse! Oh well, I'll just have to do my best at ignoring it and try not to dwell on it.
We were starting to see day light now. Always good for moral. Soon we'd be able to remove the headtorches which would be such a relief! We ran along a rail track for a few k before heading up a short climb to access the coach track, a decent undulating track that bought you all the way to the next cp at Dockray. We topped up our water and rushed off. My feet were deteriorating fast and giving me hell on the down hills. One step at a time. That was the only way to proceed in my head. We were not quite half way yet!
The next section to Dalemain was one of the longest at 15.9 miles. The weather was stunning and I had simply sweated since I'd left the start! I must keep drinking I thought. I must be losing so much fluid! We had stunning views and this seemed to really help fight the pain that was really hurting me now. When we arrived at Dalemain, Alan said he'd be stopping to do something to his feet as he was suffering from blisters too. I chose to just leave mine. I stuffed my face with pasta again, and sit down and rest them till Allan was done. I felt pretty good other than my feet. This really suprised me considering the small amount of training that I'd managed over the last 3 months. I felt pretty positive.
When Allan was done we moved off. We soon passed Pooley Bridge and then I was on the part of the course that I had n> ever seen. Thanks god for Allan and his excellent knowledge and confidence with the route! after a steady climb we had fairly decent trail down to the next cp at Howtown. Whilst we were dropping down we could see some dark cloud cover up on the higher ground. There had been a little rain forecast from around 12 onwards. Would the jackets have to come out? Another pretty fast stop at the cp and we were off for the next big climb! The climb up High Kop was long and very steep in places. Simon and I were unsure of Allan at this point and kept checking and rechecking the map and road book. We ended up following him up and eventually discovered he'd been correct all along! Don't know why we ever doubted him! This was the highest part of the course. We went from High Kop to Low Kop before dropping down all the way to Haweswater where we joined a pretty good path that followed around the edge of the lake before coming to the next cp at Mardale Head. The clouds were gathering above us. My feet were in a right state at this point and nothing felt ok. Uphills, downhills, flat and even the few stretches of road were agonising. I was still feeling > great in every other way. You get straight into the next climb as you depart the cp. Gatesgarth pass had a howling wind coming down it into our faces as we began to climb. We decided that now would be a good time to don our jackets as when we got to the top the wind and rain would be terrible. The higher we climbed, the more we realised that we were correct and had made the right decision. As we came over the top it was blowing a gale and the rain was heavy. I found this quite envigorating though was aware that we really needed to keep moving and get off the top as we would chill very fast! I found it especially nice to have the rain wash away all the salt that was covering my head leaving me feel really refreshed!
The downhill was long and very, very painful. My poor feet were destroyed. I could feel blisters all over now. Quite a bit of the down hill had slate put across it with one edge in the ground whilst the other edge was projected upwards presumadely to add traction for 4x4's on the way up. For my poor feet though this was pretty hellish. Each footstrike felt like it was ripping open the blisters! We finally passed this section and arrived at Kentmere, the next cp. They had smoothies here which went down very well indeed. I also had yet more pasta before We hobbled off on our way towards Ambleside. Soon we were back on the course that I'd recce'd previously. This felt good as I knew what was left. Just before we got to Ambleside, Allan went ahead to see if he could get his feet looked at. Allan was very determined to try and break 28hrs and his feet didn't seem to be affecting him as bad as mine, so I was expecting him to go it alone now. We were down to 2 now. I felt good in all other ways, but my feet were really slowing me now. When we got to Ableside, Allan was laid up getting his feet done. As soon as he was done, we wished him luck, he got up and shot off. A quick round of soup and bread and we were off ourselves. Just 17 miles left now. I was sure that I could grit and bear it, but it was going to pretty awful! One step at a time.
Knowing the course really was helping me along my way here. I felt positive and knew I'd complete. The pain was nearly unbearable. I kept telling myself that it was just damage to my skin. It'd be fine in a week or two. The next cp was at Chapel Stile in the entrance way to a school. We sat down to rest for a minute. By this stage a few of the 50 milers had passed us looking remarkebly fresh. As we sat and relaxed, a 50 miler ran up and threw some orders at the crew before running off in a flash. Simon and I found it all very amusing just how much of a difference there was between the rather relaxed 100 milers and the rather twitchy 50's. We pushed on knowing there was only one last cp. I used my knowledge to take us fairly confidently to the final cp at Tilberthwaite, which was the back of a van run by some squaddies. A mere 3.5 miles left. Easy, except that the final 1.5 miles was a pretty bad downhill into the finish. Normally this would be fine, but my feet were going to make this a pretty torturous descent!
We were near the top when a thick blanket of cloud surrounded us. We needed to find a small tree! We could see about 5 feet in front and it was now dark again! I was sure we were on the right track, but Simon wasn't convinced. We stood trying to work out what to do, when miraculously the wind just blew the cloud cover away, exposing the tree we were after. Just the descent left now!
This was more painful than I thought it'd be. I had to stop and sit down twice as I'd trod on a stone awkwardly which in turn had burst some blisters which had sent waves of pain through me. After 30 seconds of sitting down the waves would have eased off enough to put my body weight on my battered feet again. Finally we made it down to the tarmac. We went as fast as we could as we had 6 minutes left to drop below 30 hrs. It'd be close! We both dibbed in in 30hrs 00mins 35secs! Oh well, never mind. I finished in 12th position! I couldn't believe it. Way higher than what I expected> , and had my feet held up a bit better, it would have been lot's better, but it's rare that nothing goes wrong at these distances! I tried to eat my meal at the end but my appetite completely deserted me. I wanted a shower but the thought of standing on my feet any more was too much. So I crawled to my tent and passed out.
When I awoke I had a shower and hobbled into the hall. Some people were still coming in so I cheered them in. My feet were really messed up, and walking was painful and slow. I discovered that of the 4 of us that travelled up, only Steve and I had finished. It's a tough race! The journey home was long, but I didn't care. I couldn't manage the walk home from the station so got a cab. Home at 8. I got ready for work, then staright to bed. Somehow I managed to get up at 5:10 and ride my bike into work and do the whole day! Not quite sure how I stayed awake!
So a total success. I write this a week later, and my feet are nearly fully recovered. I'll take a further week off before getting stuck into 4 weeks of training before flying out to Spartathlon in Greece. Then that's it for the year for me.
I'll sign off now as this has been a bit of a monster posting, and I doubt if too many people have made it this far.
Will probably write soon to let you know how Spartathlon training is going.
Happy running,
Neil.

2010-07-06T20:07:00.002+01:00

Education!
I am just getting excited like a little boy at Christmas because tomorrow morning I go to Glastonbury! I can't wait. I would say it will be a time to rest, but it can end up being pretty hard with all the wandering around, standing around and close to total lack of sleep! You don't even get a medal and t-shirt at the end of it!
I am a little stiff because at the weekend gone, I had planned my attempt at the Cotswold Way. All week the weather was predicting perfect conditions. If anything a little hot. I try not to complain about the heat when running in this country though. The only issue about the heat for this run in particular was that I was unsupported so was to carry lots of water and food, and kit for the night etc. Once I had my bag packed and tested the weight, I was happy as it wasn't too bad, though could be painful on fast descents when it bounces around more.
On the Saturday morning I had a massive bowl of porridge and made my way down to the train station. Bit of an awkward journey, but after much waiting, two trains and a bus later I was finally at Chipping Campden. It was 1015hrs. I would liked to have started earlier, but the public transport isn't great.
I asked someone to take a picture of me next to the marker stone, started my HRM, then started. Within minutes I was sweating and had to stop to remove the thermal top I had on. I felt pretty good and pretty excited about the whole venture. As I progressed I was suprised just how well I remembered the trail even though it looked very different in places due to there being lots of growth since my recce. Not forgetting the fact that it was cold and very wet the last time!
If you run, and you can get to any point of the Cotswold Way then I highly recommend that you do. It's truly beautiful. Especially nice when the trail is dry! I knew that this was going to be a hard day but just felt so lucky that I have trail running in my life. There's nothing quite like running large distances over beautiful countryside. It really is a high for me. It usually counters the pain quite nicely!
Around 5 miles into it, I was becoming increasingly aware of both of my feet really starting to hurt. This was remaining trouble from JOGLE. My achilles were pretty painful too. I can deal with the achilles, but the feet is a different thing. They just get worse and worse and need weeks to recover. hmmm...
I pushed on with the plan always being that if things weren't great at Stroud then I'd pull out. I was doing this for personal enjoyment and challenge. It wasn't a race, so I wasn't out to destroy myself. I have the Lakeland100 in 5 weeks which I'd like to finish.
As the day progressed so did the heat. I stopped a couple times at shops when I passed through villages and bought a bottle of water which I downed on the spot. I was tiring, but going ok. I was happy with the pace, but my knees where a bit dodgy on the descents and my feet were becoming very sore, especially on the trail that was made up of lots of large stones.
By around 30 miles, I first starting considering stopping at Stroud. It took me around an hour of internal dabate before I'd decided that for once in my life I will be sensible. I really wanted to experience the whole of the Lakeland100 this year. Anways, the journey to Stroud is hardly paltry being a decent 56 miles. Making it 46 miles from the finish! Definitely sensible.
Once I'd made this rather difficult decision, I then was trying to estimate the amount of time I had to get to Stonehouse (about a mile down the road from Stroud) before the last train. After much guesstimating, I realised that it could be pretty close! If I miss the last train, I'm not to sure what I'd do!
I pushed on as hard as my body would allow, and began drinking more as I now knew that I wouldn't have to ration it to get me through the night. This added pressure was good as it really helped me focus to keep the effort at an even, high level. Earlier on I found myself easing off unintentionally. As time closed in and I ran through the last piece of wooded trail, the night was easing in. I tried to get out of the woods before needing my torch. Finally I made it and was at the top of a hill looking down over fields towards Stroud and Stonehouse at the bottom. I knew I had minutes, but I wasn't too sure how many! I was a little concerned about this little bit as I took a slight wrong turn last time and really didn't have the time to be taking any diversions! Thankfully I found the correct route through the fields and ran straight to the train station. I had missed it by around 10 minutes! Oh dear!
I rang Andrea who was already asleep! (oops), and informed her of my predicament. She seemed really cool about it all and said she'd call me back. Then I went on the hunt for some food. My Mum then rang me to see how it was going. I told her my story and she was initially very happy with my decision to bail, then slowly I think she started to get more and more concerned about me being stuck outdoors for the night. It's fine I said, there's a shelter on the train platform.
Andrea then rang and told me she would wake Kiera (5yrs old. double oops!), put her in the car and come and get me. I sat in the train shelter and tried to eat a chinese I'd bought from a takeaway and waited. At 0030hrs Andrea arrived. I gratefully struggled into the nice warm car, and Andrea without a single word of complaint, drove me home. My angel. It would have been a cold, miserable night in that shelter.
So, hardly a success. but as I reflect on the whole thing, I see it as just more education. It was too soon after JOGLE. My poor feet were just not ready for 24hrs+ of trail running. Especially unsupported. I am a little suprised that I did bail, but it is a nice suprise. There is some sense in me though some of you may doubt that! The day was a truly amazing run on an amazing trail in great conditions. Fortunately the memory forgets pain (except JOGLE). I'm just hoping that there's enough left in me for the Lakeland.
For now though, I will temporarilly forget about all things in life and live in a field for 5 days.

Happy running.

Neil.

2010-06-03T08:18:00.000+01:00

Well. It's twelve days since I completed the JOGLE. Yes, I actually completed it! My greatest sporting achievement so far. As you will have noticed from my pathetic little posts, I didn't get much time for updates, and I certainly didn't have the energy! I've been wondering how to get the experience down in my blog, and after failing to catch it as it happened, I've decided to just waffle about the whole thing as one event rather than chronologically go through each day. Please excuse the scatty nature of this post (yes, worse than normal!)
.
This was one really tough event, and to be honest I can't really see what could be harder. I'm sure that I'll find something worse in the future, but for now, this was pushing my body and mind beyond what I could imagine.
Twelve of us began, and only three of us succeeded. People have asked me whether it was harder than I expected, and to be honest, no, it wasn't. The issue was that it was so tough that you could not really prepare your mind for the pain and tiredness that truly started at around day 4 for me. By around day 5 or 6, we started to stick together more as the going was long and lonely by yourself, especially as we ended up running into the dark of night as the days ticked by and we got more and more exhausted.

The weather for the whole thing was mind blowingly amazing with sun every day, but not too hot. Perfect running conditions! As we passed through Scotland I even managed to get the most sunburned ears and hands that I've ever managed to get. On the last long day in Cornwall, we had about 3-4 hours of rain which was pretty depressing, but that was it as far as the rain went! The problem with having the sun beating down on us all day is that when the sun went down and the stars came out it got pretty chilly. We felt it lots more than average probably, due to being in the sun all day, and being so, so tired. It would be difficult to keep going as we would get cold which would stiffen us up fast. I've never been so tired in all my life, and I've been pretty tired before! At any point of the day I could of curled up pretty much anywhere and slept.

By far the toughest aspect of this thing was stopping and starting every day. Or more precisely, the mornings! Some mornings I'd have to be woken, but some I'd already be awake. I would lie there for a minute as the realisation of where I was and what I was doing would set in. Then the nightmare of the pain would hit home. This for me was the toughest part of the day. I would sit up (as much as my bunk would allow!) which would make my hip flexors scream! I would then swing my feet off the bed and let them hang for a second as I prepared them for another day of abuse (poor feet!). As they hung, they would start throbbing which an excruciating pain that would surprise and depress me with the severity of it. I would then attempt to fight the demons in my mind as I tried to imagine dragging my sorry body another 50 odd miles. Every morning it seemed impossible, but equally so the chance of me pulling out. I would then lower my self slowly onto my feet. Owwww! Oh dear, what a mess I was! I would then hobble around trying to get ready as fast as my wrecked body and muddled mind would allow. Not very fast! I would drag myself down the very steep and challenging steps on the coach for breakfast were I'd consume as much as I could. A tonne of porridge, Eggs on toast and plenty of toast with jam was standard fare, all washed down with a coffee with the pathetic hope that it might perk me up! We would then hobble outside and begin. These were the most terribly difficult times physically and mentally.

Of course the days themselves were far from easy though. We would find it difficult to find the drive to keep on pushing at all times, constantly finding ourselves either walking at a ridiculously slow pace, or stopping for a rest without wanting to. Our bodies were in rebellion not wanting to take orders from our twisted minds. We would pull into a checkpoint with the firm plan of being there for no longer than 5-10 minutes and leaving 25 minutes later!
By the end, we hadn't showered for 9 days! As I don't really need to say, we stank and looked like a bunch of tramps! This didn't help matters. After being on the road in the sun for up to 19 hours, you really want to shower to freshen up. We couldn't!. We'd have a bucket of warmish water with fairy liquid in ready for us at the end to wash our feet off in, then baby wipes were employed for the rest of our filthy bodies. Not ideal.

If you fancy a go at this, then I suggest you gather together as many prescription painkillers that you have lying around. I had some co-codamol from when I broke my leg a few years ago. These I didn't want to use, but some days I just couldn't take the pain so they became my saviour during these tough times.

Another piece of advice I'd offer would be to take 4 pairs of new trainers. I took 3, and to be honest, they are all worn down more than I'd normally find acceptable. Dave, Mark and I found that we all developed a sloppier running style due to injuries, fatigue etc. A lot of dragging heals and shorter strides causing faster than normal wear. I suppose running over 400 miles a week for two weeks is going to wear them down a fair bit though.

As tough as this was I have many positives to take away. I only lost 2 kilos by the end, which tells me my ferocious appetite and dedicated pigging out at every opportunity tactic seemed to work! My body fat was 10.6 at the start and was 8.5 by the end! Not bad considering the enormous workload for such a prolonged period! I think I was in the least amount of pain due to injuries which I put down to my exercises I've been performing in preparation. I also have more confidence in my training cycle which involves taking a week completely away from running every 4 weeks. I also took 3 weeks off before the event to let my body 'catch up' with itself.

This was truly an enormous mind game. Feeling pretty low and delicate for the large part. I was very fortunate to have lots of friends, family and work mates visit me out on the course and the lift this would give me both physically and mentally was just enormous. It was an education in just how powerful the mind can be, how it can simply override your body. Thanks to all the people who could make it out to cheer us on. I can't begin to describe how much of a boost this gave me. Thanks to all the people who came hunting for me but couldn't find me. A real shame.
Another point was just how much my emotions were on a knife edge. Numerous times I found myself welling up, but as I passed over the Severn Bridge I was crying like a baby! I must have looked a right state.

What next? Everyone keeps asking. Well, in a couple weeks I will attempt the Cotswold Way (102 miles) in sub 24hrs, then at the end of July, I have th
e Lakeland100. And finally in August I have the Spartathlon in Greece.
Next year I want to do the Thames Ring 250 (250 miles in one go), The Oner (78 miles on the Dorset coast), maybe a go at the Bob Graham Round (Google it) etc etc. In 2012 there is a Trans-Europe race (John O'Groats to Gibralter) but sadly I think I'm too late too enter.

I'll probably have other thoughts I'll want to write down post JOGLE, but for now I'll sign off.
Happy running,
Neil.

Jogle day 4

2010-05-03T22:04:00.000+01:00

My god! This is so, so tough! Each day gets harder too. Today we lost 3. We are now down to 4! We have done 229 miles in 4 days which is an awful lot to anyone. My shin started hurting today which doesn't fill me with confidence but I'll solider on as much as the pain will allow. Sleeping is difficult as the pain throughout my legs keeps me awake. Today was beautiful as we travelled through the mountains and the weather was again stunning. The downside with the mountains is all the climbing and descending. If my shin was ok, I'd feel more confident. Will have to wait and see how it is in the morning.
Night night.

- Posted from my iPhone

Location:Clifton,United Kingdom

2010-04-30T20:36:00.000+01:00

Well! There's day one complete. Also the longest too. 104 km I made it. We were very fortunate weather wise. Didn't rain properly all day as was forecast. I even was sweating quite a bit in the sun! Am aching a lot now but nothing I wasn't expecting. I finished today in 11:18, about 20 minutes behind Robert Treadwell. I finished at about 20 past 5. It's now 2024 and there's still 4 out on the course. It's only 5 miles shorter tomorrow so we'll be out there a fair time again. I'm not starting till 7 so will get more time to rest. Will go soon as I'm very tired. Thanks to people who are wishing me well. All well appreciated and motivational.
I think there's going to be some funny walks in the morning. Me included!
Overall, I'm ok really. Only 14 days left.
Cheers people.

- Posted from my iPhone

Location:Johnstone Pl,Brora,United Kingdom

The lakes

2010-04-28T18:03:00.000+01:00

Hi there. Well I'll attempt to write this entry sat on the overnight sleeper train to Inverness for the start of JOGLE. It's 2:30am and everyone around me is fast asleep. Not the best of preparation but I figure that after two stages i'll be a wreck anyway.
A couple weeks ago I caught a coach to Birmingham where Drew picked me up and we travelled all the way to Coniston in the Lake District where we would begin our reccee of the Lakeland 100 course we were both entered into later in the year. By the time we where parked up and ready to run it was 2:20 in the afternoon. Fortunately Drew had done the race twice before as well as a few reccee's whereas I'd never even been to the Lakes so I was hoping to learn a great deal this weekend. For about the next 50 mins we climbed almost continuously! We had absolutely fantastic weather which was, along with the education, something I really wanted so that I could witness the stunning scenery we'd be travelling through. We dropped down a long, fast and fairly steep descent when I realised that Drew was stronger on the downhills. The course was proving to be tougher than I'd considered. The footing was deadly in places and very steep, up and down. This was going to be hard! Drew had planned to do around 60 km on the first day which he predicted would be completed around nightfall. As we pushed on I was watching our progress. We where travelling a lot slower than anticipated. We wouldn't get to the B&B before 8 as we'd planned. We tried to call the owner but had no reception whatsoever. The sky was starting to darken and we had a long way to go. Soon we'd pass through Buttermere where there was a pub where we'd use their phone. By the time we'd reached the pub we'd donned our headtorches and the darkness had completely enveloped us. Drew told the lady we'd be a little while yet. We pushed up a hill out of Buttermere and eventually we were completely confused with which trail we were following. We couldn't seem to see the track that we were happy went the right way. After much back tracking and finding many tracks that led nowhere we decided to follow a track down to a road as it was getting pretty late. We found the road then ran into Keswick. We entered Keswick at about 1230am! We were both starving so popped into a kebab shop before it closed and both got a shish. Was so good to eat as we walked to the B&B. We were both showered and in bed very tired at 0130. The original plan was to get out at the crack of dawn so we could get a full day in, but today's gruelling 60 km had changed that. We needed rest! We decided we go to breakfast and decide then.
Next morning we both were in a not too bad a state. We had a large breakfast, prepared to go, paid then left deciding that we'd do around 25km then catch a bus, saving us a fair bit of mileage. We'd get off the bus just over the hill from Ambleside, our next planned overnight stay. The weather was glorious again. I felt so lucky to be there with such stunning weather. The running today proved to be far easier underfoot than the first section allowing us to get a decent pace for a fair amount of it. We eventually arrived in the village we were to catch the bus from. We had a couple of hours to wait. This was no problem at all in the wonderful weather. We bought a drink and dipped our bare feet into the river. It felt so so good, but was bitterly cold so this was shortlived. We then sat outside a cafe in the sun and ordered a sausage sandwich each which was good.
The bus journey lasted a fair way untill we eventually reached our drop off point. We ran the last half hour or so into Ambleside and found our B&B right in the centre. We got showered and popped out for pizza, then again later for chips. Ambleside looked like a really cool place. Will have to come back here again!
The last morning we again woke to a beautiful day. We both enjoyed a large breakfast again before setting off for the last part of the course finishing off at the car in Coniston.
Everything went great till we spent about 20-30 minutes trying to work out where to go at one point close to the end. We finally found the correct path and then we knew that over the brow of the next hill was a long descent into Coniston. The running was fast and fun and within no time at all we were on a Tarmac road leading into Coniston! Fantastic.
We'd covered around 75 miles so had left out around 25 miles of the course but had covered a large proportion which would really help during the event. Plus the weekend had been amazing. It was also my last running before JOGLE so I was very happy to complete my training with no real injuries.
Drew dropped me off at Birmingham to catch the train back. After much messing about on trains and coaches due to engineering works, I got home at 11:30. The next day at work was long!
Well, I do apologise for the shoddier than usual posting, but I've done it all through the night on my iPhone! Not ideal but I've just had no time to do it at home as I have moved house in the last week which has kept me busy to say the least.
This time tomorrow I'll be over an hour into the first stage of JOGLE. Will hopefully post soon.
Happy running.

Location:Riverside,Preston,United Kingdom

Bits and pieces...

2010-03-30T18:27:00.004+01:00

Hi again. Just need to add a few notes here.

I have decided to collect money for two charities while doing the JOGLE. The first is the Stroke Association and the other is the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society. Both have a personal relevance in my life, and I'm quite sure that they do in many others too. I would be hugely grateful to all sponsors no matter how large.

If you would like to sponsor, then just click on the tiny Virgin logo on the right hand side.

I also feel the need to thank my work colleagues who most generously, without me knowing, did a collection for me to buy trainers for the event! I now have 3 brand new pairs of trainers that I'll be taking to John O'Groats and will hopefully carry me all the way South.

Training wise, I am currently on a high mileage week. I will then take 5 days off before going up to the Lakes to recce the whole Lakeland100 route in 3 days. I can't wait to get up to the Lakes having never even seen them before. I just hope the weather is clear enough for the views!

After that, I'm pretty much done. Will just be doing lots of stretching and resting.

Anyway, I'm off. Will probably update after the Lakes.

Cheers.

2010-03-24T16:55:00.001Z

Hello. Well, I'm getting closer and closer to the big day (actually 15 days!) now, and it is starting to consume a great deal of my thought. I'm getting suitably nervous, or should that be outright scared! The good news is that I'm chomping at the bit to get going. I'm really excited. It's going to be a masive adventure, and I'm so happy that I'll be a part of the first ever!
Training has been going very well. Most of the other guys seem to be racing pretty much every weekend to get the miles in. I don't really have the time or money to be travelling all over the country so have to run off of purely self motivation. Fortunately, I don't lack motivation for running. I might lack it in other areas in life though...
I've had a few niggles that have been giving me cause of concern. Normally they wouldn't bother me too much, as my previous targets have been events that you complete in one go. This on the other hand will be done in 15 days. If something really hurts one day, then it's going to hurt more the next, and so on! This is quite a different discipline to what I've grown used to. I think it's going to be more about self management. Every tiny little problem needs to be dealt with straight away in the best possible way. Anything left will undoubtedly punish you later on.
My hip flexors are a slight concern as after heavy mileage, they are very sore, but never yet seem to be a show stopper. I've also had reoccurences of plantar fasciitis which got very painful at one point. I'm doing all I can to control that, but it can be pretty awkward to run with.
I've decided that I'll be running the Cotswold Way in one go (102 miles) 5 weeks after JOGLE, and seeing as I'd be running through the night, I thought it best to do a bit of a recce. I planned to break it into 2 sections. Five weeks ago, I caught the first train to Stroud which is 45 miles from the end of the trail in Bath with the plan of running all the way back. I was quite excited about doing this as I would be all alone with no support, carrying all my food and water for the day, not really having any clue what to expect from the trail. An adventure! As soon as I got out of Stroud I was immediately climbing, and walking! The higher I got, the more snow there was on the ground! Not what I was expecting when I left Bath that morning as all signs of snow had disappeared days ago. The day was beautifully crisp and clear giving me incredible views as I kept climbing. I kept finding a huge grin across my face as I appreciated how fortunate I was to have such stunning weather!
The going was hard. There was a fair amount of climbing. Probably more than I'd considered to be honest, and the snow was 15-20cm in places, making running difficult. Occasionally I'd break through iced over puddles hidden by the snow, which would soak my feet with a numbing sensation which was a shock every time! The weather stayed amazing for the whole day though so moral was high.
Then, after about 3-4hrs I lost the trail due to the snow covering it, and ended up using a trail that was very, very muddy and largely unrunnable. By the time I'd realised that I was definitely off course, I decided that I would carry on as I could see where I was on the map and I'd soon meet a road that would take me down to the trail again. I'm still not sure if this was a good idea, but after much messing about with my GPS to confirm my location (to save me going even more off course!), I rejoined the trail. I pushed on as I really wanted to beat the darkness.
The hills didn't really ease off all day, forcing me to walk, many times.
Eventually after crossing through a freshly ploughed field, where the mud sticks to your feet in humungous great clumps making it feel like you've got concrete boots on, I turned a corner and was in Cold Ashton. This was good news as when I'd been out training from Bath, I'd ran this far then double back, so was familiar with the trail. I put my map in my bag which left me empty handed which is always nice. I also accelerated as I was familiar, and was sensing the end.
I stopped with about 30 mins left and put on my hat gloves and coat as it was cooling down fast as the sun was dipping out of view. I also dug out my head torch, though I didn't need to turn it on yet!
I raced on trying to beat the dark whilst trying to appreciate the stunning sunset I was being gifted with. Finally I crossed the final field and dropped down into Weston. I done it! What an amazing, fun, tough day!
Now I just need to do the other half of the course. I say half, when in fact, it'd be 10 miles longer at 55 miles! I'd read that it had more climbing too!
Four weeks later (last Saturday) I had the opportunity to give it a go. The weather had been beautiful all week, but the forecast had remained unchanged all week reporting rain all day on the Saturday. I'd decided to do it whatever.
I again caught the first train out of Bath to Reading then change for Moreton-in-Marsh where I got my prebooked taxi to Chipping Campden which is the official beginning (or end?) of the Cotswold Way. As my taxi was on the 6 mile journey, it started raining pretty heavy. Hmmm... commited now!
I paid and got ready to run asap so as not to get cold. I finally got off at 0820. Running through the village, I couldn't help looking at the amount of surface water there was on the roads. The path was going to be pretty messy in places!
Within minutes, I was running off road and it was very wet. Rivulets of rain water running down the path. I was soaked in minutes. Thank god for my waterproof map!
The trail was fairly easy to follow, but was very challenging in places. Heavy inclination, and very slippery mud. There was a fair bit of wind too and it was a southerly. I just happened to running South. Lovely! This was going to be a gritty day. After 2.5 hours it actually stopped raining. My shorts dried out in the wind and I could take off my jacket which felt very liberating.
During this dry spell, the clouds cleared and I was rewarded with the beautiful views I'd been unaware of till this point. After a couple hours of dry (still supremely muddy of course!) conditions, the weather turned again. On went the coat again!
This period of rain lasted for the rest of the run!
As the day progressed, I realised that there was no way I'd beat the dark this time! It was more a case of how long I was going to have to run by torch light for!
I was very tired and passed through a village with around 9 miles left. It was very gloomy, so I stopped and mounted my headtorch for the ensuing darkness.
Within 20 mins I was running in the pitched black night. This was very difficult. I had to stay very focused looking out for route markers so as not to get lost and trying to watch my footing in the increasingly boggy conditions!
I was running through a long stretch of woodland and the cloud cover dropped right down. I suddenly had a visibility of around 2 metres. No, really! 2 measley metres! It seemed like a decent path, but I was nearly running straight into trees every few minutes! I would desperately be hunting for markers, to confirm being on the correct path. Watching my footing was now a luxury as I skidded around.
After around half an hour of this madness I thankfully passed through the cloud and I had visibility again! Phew!
A little while later, I came over the brow of a hill and was rewarded with the sight of the lights of Stroud and Stonehouse. All I had to do was get down to the bottom of the hill.
Within half an hour I was in Stonehouse and walked into a Coop to ask directions to the train station. I was caked in mud and was soaked. I must have looked a right sight! I made my way round the corner to the station to wait the 30 mins till the next and last train of the day! I'm not sure what I would have done had I missed the last train. I caught the train to Swindon then swapped for Bath which I arived at within an hour. I'd decided that I'd run back to Andreas place in Weston, as no taxis would touch me the state I was in.
I arrived at 2330. Andrea and Kiera were fast asleep, so I crept in, showered and cooked some pasta to go with the bolognese sauce Andrea had left out for me.
It had been a very long day. I'd ran for 12hrs 50mins. Way longer than my predictions, but I felt happy that with the conditions I'd had to cope with that I'd done a good job. Just got to do it in one now!
That was Saturday, and it's now Wednesday and I feel great. I want to go out tonight for the first time but am forcing myself one more days rest.

So, with only 5 weeks to go, I'd say things are going ok. No disasters, and my fitness is improving.

- Posted from my iPhone

Sticky mud!

2010-02-13T09:27:00.000Z

The problem with racing so frequently is that I have to blog more just so I keep it up-to-date!
Last weekend was my last race before JOGLE so I really felt like pushing a bit harder. That combined with the fact it was the Thames Trot which is 50 miles, and I really felt motivated to beat 8 hours.
My first ultra was the Thames Ultra which no longer exists, and was 50 miles. It was a very painful day due to a very sore knee at around the 8 mile point that got worse and worse as the day continued. I finished, walking in 8hrs 16mins. Happy just to finish my first ultra.
My only other 50 miler was last year. Again it was the Thames Ultra and I really wanted to beat the 8hr mark. I typically went a little wrong at the end and came in in an annoying 8hrs 1min! Good to beat my previous time time by 15 mins, but to not drop below 8hrs by such a small margin was frustrating.
So, the days mission was to go for it from the start. No messing up my pacing and definitely no getting lost!
The start of the Thames Trot was at Oxford at 0830 which meant another 0530 train meaning the alarm was set for 0430! A long day was beginning! I had my porridge and walked to the Train station. After a few hours I arrived at Oxford and waited around for a little while for our pick up with a few other runners. One of the guys was running his first ultra. I knew the nervousness he'd be feeling. I was also nervous as I was a bit concerned about my Anterior Tibialis playing up. I really need it to stop flaring up so much if I am going to have any chance of finishing the JOGLE. I knew it'd play up today, as It wasn't 100% from the previous race. The important questions for me were how long it'd take to start hurting and how fast it'd recover in the following week.
We finally arrived at the start point with over an hour to spare which in itself was unusual for me! It was a little chilly out, so it was very nice to go and sit inside the pub and relax and chat to some of the other guys. It's quiet nice the fact that I know a few of the people at these races now.
Just after 0830, we were all outside waiting for the start. This was a big field. There were some fast runners here too. Will be interesting to see if the course record will be beaten and if so, by how much!
Finally we were off! I immediately started running by myself so I could try to stay in control at the usual frantic beginning. The field broke up fast, which is good as you pretty much have the trail to yourself. The trail itself was pretty muddy, which isn't a concern usually, but this was the thick, sticky mud that collects on your trainers in heavy, great lumps of the stufff. If you're wearing lightweight shoes at the start, then the advantage this gives is instantly wiped out as the extra weight of the mud, gives you a weight closer to a pair of steel toe-cap boots!
Same disadvantage applies to everyone though so it doesn't matter. It will slow the pace a little though, so breaking 8hrs could be tighter.
After around 20 minutes I heard a couple of voices behind that I recognised. I looked behind as I negotiated one of the many kissing gates we passed through to see that, sure enough it was Mark Cockbain and David Miles. We ran along together for quite a while chatting a little about JOGLE holding a good pace. Soon we reached the first cp at 10 miles. I hadn't checked my pace at all and was just going by feel, so when I noticed that we were pretty much bang on my planned pace I was quite suprised! I had a quick drink and ran off with three bits of fruit cake in my hand. We ran along for quite a while further together.
By around the second cp at 19 miles, my shin was hurting a little. This was a definite improvement on the last few weeks!
Between the second and third cp, I started pulling away from Mark and David. The weather was beautiful for running and I was feeling pretty good, so I pushed on.
When I got to the third cp at the half way point, there were around 5-6 other runners there eating and drinking. I was as quick as possible, taking on as much fluid and food as possible before rushing off.
I was starting to feel quite sore, but it was nothing unusual. As I approached cp 4, I caught up with Alain, a Swiss guy I'd met the year before. He said he he'd gone off way too fast as he was running with his mate Harry, who he informed me was quite a way in the lead! A fine performance from Harry as he's pretty young for an ultra runner.
More water at the cp as I was feeling a little dry as it was pretty warm now, then straight back to it whilst eating a 9-bar.
I was now running with a couple of guys. One of them had quite laboured breathing so I thought he might drop off the pace. He eventually did. The other guy, I thought was struggling mentally, as when we passed through gates he'd walk and say 'the end can't come quick enough' then push to run again. He stopped to walk briefly for 30 seconds or so and would tell me to go on ahead as I was much fresher than he. The thing is, that I don't believe he was as finished physically as he was mentally as the pace he could hold was strong. I was happy to stay with him. We went through the final cp in 10 and 11 place. Only 10k left. Time to push on if possible. We stayed together all the way to the end where, I managed to pip the chap on the line, taking 6th place with a time of 7:20! Very chuffed to have beaten my target and feeling more confident that my shin was getting stronger.
Harry was at the finish looking far to fresh considering he'd won the thing, setting a course record of 6:26! Astonishing time. I congratulated him on his achievement then needed to get some clothes on as I was cooling down fast.
I had about 3hrs of hanging around to do before my train departed, so after waiting around at the end clapping people in for a while, I wandered into Henley and found a coffee shop and sat in there with a cup of tea and warmed up. Finally it was time to catch my train. It was only a two hour journey, but had three changes! Not exactly what I needed, but it all went smoothly and I was back home at 2130. A long but good day indeed.
Recovery seems to be very good. I'll be running to Bath (17 miles) later, and I'm really looking forward to it.
I have at last sorted out what charities to collect for for the JOGLE. They are the Stroke Association and the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society. I have posted a link here to my page so please, if you haven't already, give generously. Very much appreciated.

- Posted from my iPhone

Back into the swing of things!

2010-02-03T17:17:00.005Z

Hello, hello.

Well, I'm very suddenly back into the ultra season again. Last week I took part in the Country to Capital race which begins in Wendover and ends 45 miles later at Little Venice which is the same ending as the Grand Union Canal Race. The last half in fact are along the GUC which I was really looking forward to, seeing as the only other time I'd ran this stretch of the canal was at the end of the GUCR and by this stage of the race I was in such a poor state that running was a distant memory! It would be nice to run this section at a decent pace instead of dragging myself along! Before we got to this stage we had to navigate our way round 22 miles of tracks and trails. The previous few weeks had been bitterly cold with plenty of snow and ice. Thankfully in the few days running up to the event the temperature rose about zero and much of the snow and ice had disappeared. That is in Bristol at least! I had to catch the first train of the day at 0530, travelling via London. As I left London for Wendover on a train seemingly full of ultra runners the fields were looking decidedly white despite the miserable cold rain. Frozen lakes with Swans and ducks walking around on top confirmed that the thaw still had a long way to go. This could well be a challenging day! This combined with the fact that I hadn't exactly had a great run of training leading up to this with my operation and the forced rest was leading to a little bit of nervousness. I knew I'd finish, it was just how fast (slow!) and what state it'd leave me in for the following weeks races. I arrived at the pub which was the start point in Wendover with about 15 minutes to spare. I registered and handed my bag in to be transported to the end with all my warm clothes in. After a quick briefing we got outside into the carpark and the cold rain for the start. I wanted to get going staright away as I wasn't wearing a waterproof and only had shorts on. At last we were off. After a few minutes we were on footpaths off of the roads. It felt good to be racing again. Soon we were running through fields and the going was quite icy in places, muddy and flooded in others. Feet were soaked within the first 10 minutes! Oh well, saves bothering trying to dodge the puddles. I soon realised that I was part of a fairly large group consisting of around 20 runners that were following one chap with the route programmed into his GPS. Not a good state to be in! I hadn't followed the route for a while so wasn't sure where on my map we were, so was forced to stick to this routine till we reached the next cp, where Mark Cockbain and I decided to find our exact spot on my map then do our own thing. The problem with sticking together in a large group is that your pace is dictated by the lead runner. Often you do not notice if you are going a fraction faster than your natural pace till it's to late and you start fading. Soon enough we get to a cross roads and the chap with the GPS stops to check which way, and Mark and I run on as we already know. Next thing we realise is that we are now leading a large group! Hilarious. It wasn't long though till we would be getting on the GUC, then we could just put the map away and run. Straight away things started to break up. Mark and I and a couple of other guys stayed together for about 10 miles, then I eased away from Mark and the other two eased ahead. By the time I reached the 13 miles to go point I'd decided to push it out and see if I could drop below 7 hours. Before the race I thought that sub-8 would be good, so now to be at a stage where sub 7 was a possibility was a good feeling. I had one chap in my sights who I was slowly catching till the end but couldn't quite catch. He certainly kept the pressure on though which really does help. I ended up finishing in 7 hrs 51mis. Way above expectations. I didn't feel to bad either! Amazing seeing as I'd not trained greatly due to my operation. I did pick up a little tendinitis on the tibialis anterior again though. My plan now was to take the following week off as the next weekend I was entered into the Ultrarace 45/90 which was starting from Northampton and travelling to Tring on the Saturday and reversing that route on the Sunday. This was going to be painful and I'd need to get some really good rest over the week and hope my tendinitis eases off enough.

The weeks rest was good, but the tendinitis was still present. Not painful but certainly it was going to show after two days of around 7 hours of running each.

I originally had booked train tickets to get me there and back but during the week, Andrea had decided that she wanted to come which was nice. Nice as I'd have her company at the hotel after the first day, and nice because it meant i wouldn't have to catch the train which is always difficult after these things. We left just before 6 on the Saturday and after a slightly stressfull journey due to a dodgy GPS unit I'd borrowed from some friends, we arrived at the hotel in Northampton where the first day was to begin with only 9 minutes to spare! I picked up my number and stripped down to my running kit super fast and even managed to attend the race brief. Before I knew where I was, we were off! After a short distance getting through the city we were suddenly on the GUC. I get the feeling I'm going to know this canal really well eventually!

I'd begun running and chatting with Colin again. It's always good to run with Colin. We held a nice steady pace and the field fragmented instantly. After a couple miles we could only see a couple of other people in front or behind. As is usually the case, before we knew it, we were at the first of 4 cp's. My shin was hurting quite a bit but wasn't getting any worse and didn't seem to be holding me back. I tried not to think about the fact that the next morning we'd be doing this all over again!

The bushes beside the path had recently been cut leaving lots of trimmed branches laying underfoot. The problem for me was that these branches had very sharp spikes measuring around 2cm in length on them, that were tough enough to not only stick into my soles, but to actually penetrate my shoes and go into my feet! Very painful indeed, causing me to stop that instant and pulling the thing from my shoe. One of the times the thorn snapped off in the sole, so I had to stop and try to push it out from the inside. I failed to get this little rascal out and ended up just snapping of the spike internally to prevent further injury. All in all this wasted quite a bit of time. I replaced my shoe and we both started running again. Before long, the conversation was tailing off as we were both slipping into our own rhythms. Slowly a gap started to open up between Colin and I, and soon I was running alone. Time to push on! I love to run by myself at my own pace. I feel I can just slip into my own little world and keep plodding.

It wasn't long before I was at the third cp. I had overtaken a few people but on the whole had been doing my own thing. I stopped briefly to top up my water and to grab some food then rushed on. within five minutes a couple of guys caught me up. The first was going a bit stronger than me so I pulled over to the side of the path to let him past. The second chap said he wasn't going to pass so I slipped back onto the track. He stayed behind me for a while and we chatted a fair bit. He was booked up to do the next day too but his sister had just had a child so he was cancelling to see her. After about half an hour, I very slowly started to pull away from him, and when I arrived at the final cp he was nowhere to be seen. I was tired, but knew that it was around 1hour 20mins till I finished. Easy, just grit my teeth and push on. I was soon thinking of seeing Andrea, having a nice shower and eating tonnes of food. The end dragged, and my watch had died so I wasn't sure of the mileage or time! Eventually I spotted the stickers that pointed me off the path and onto the road. Must be close now! Within 5 minutes I was turning into the property of the hotel where the finish was. I came in in 7hrs 35mins putting me in 12th place. I was pleased with this but felt terribly stiff and tired! I hadn't fully recovered from the week before as I thought I had. My muscles were very tender to touch and I had a very painful blister under the nail of my small toe. My shin felt wrecked too! Doesn't bode well for the next day.

Andrea in the mean time was having a nightmare herself. After much driving around (my fault, whoops!) she made it to the hotel and took me back to the Premier Inn we were staying at. I crawled out of my filthy kit and warmed myself in the shower. When I got dressed I felt slightly human but still pretty awful. We went next door to the Beefeater restaurant and I ordered the biggest burger and chips they do with a starter of soup. We then retired to our room where I quickly prepped my kit for a quick, easy exit in the morning before falling into a broken but restful sleep.

The alarm went off at 7:20 and I achingly dragged myself out of bed. I was finding it hard to believe that today I was going to be running for at least 7hrs 35mins! Oh well, let's just take one step at a time and see where it takes me. I hadn't packed a breakfast like I normally would, so ate two 9-bars. Andrea was ace and drove me back to the hotel where the start was. The briefing was already on when I arrived. Always late...

Within 10 minutes we were off. What a difference! Everyone just slowly jogged off. I wasn't the only one with stiff legs it seems. After beeing on the canal for 10 minutes, I was in second place to a lady who had fresh legs as she hadn't done the first day. Everything was hurting, but I thought that I might as well push on and see how long I could with hold the same pace as yesterday. Writing this now, this seems like a pretty mad strategy at this stage, feeling like I did, but as the time went by, I realised that maybe, just maybe I could pull it off. At around the 35 mile point I caught the lady infront of me and just went on ahead. I was feeling more and more confident.

Then I did the stupid thing, and at the Northampton arm which I was supposed to turn down, I went straight on! I ran and ran till I started doubting my direction. I was guessing that I should have been finishing inside of 10 minutes in the centre of Northampton, yet I was surrounded by fields! I asked a chap on his boat how far it was, he informed me I was running the wrong way! AAAggghhh! I guessed my error to be adding on around 8 miles! The next few miles went very fast due to the adreniline. I couldn't believe I'd gone so far off course. Finally I turned down the Northampton arm and tried to hold my pace I'd been pushing all day trying to salvage something out of it. I eventually finished in 13th place with 8hrs 56mins. My watch clocked the distance at just over 90km or just over 56miles. Good training for JOGLE I suppose. Good for my confidence too. 9hrs of hard running after the way I felt in the morning was quite an education in just how much you can keep on pushing. Just tag on 13 more similar days And I've ran the length of the country! Hmmm, lets not think about that too much just yet.

I have one more race planned pre-JOGLE and that is two weeks later, or this Saturday as I write this. It's the Thames Trot from Oxford to Henley following the Thames path. 50 Miles in length. My shin is almost completely healed and I'm feeling pretty good, so I really feel that a sub 8hr is due. I just hope that my shin doesn't play up as bad this time, else it will be a real issue for the JOGLE.

I'll plan to post shortly after so that I keep on top of it all.

Happy running, Neil.

Me and my new knee!

2009-12-03T19:30:00.006Z

Hello again. Well, it's been 5 weeks and 1 day since my operation and I've been for 4 runs in the 8 days since I was told I could carry on as normal. The first of these runs was in my local park doing laps so that I could bale at any point and not have far to get home. I took this very cautiously and slowly as a rebreak was on my mind! I completed 4 laps in the modest time of 44 mins. God it felt so good to get out! I left it a day and did the same again. This time with a little more confidence, completing 4 laps in 40 mins. I took another days rest and then on Sunday I went out with Andrea for a run on the coast path near my parents place. The weather was diabolical. It was raining and there was a very strong wind making the rain feel like hail! It was also pretty nippy, making exposed flesh pretty raw. I thought this was great fun, and I was really happy to turn around to see Andrea grinning back at me. The weather and very boggy ground made me forget about my leg for the whole hour we were out there. There was a lot of jarring descents too. All in all a very positive first few runs. Overall it just felt so good to getting back out there again.

On Tuesday I went out and did a well used route of mine all on road and with some up and down. takes around an hour usually. Took me around 1 hr 8 mins. All was good except for a niggle on my bad leg on the inner knee. This is a new one. Hopefully isn't anything bad. Tonight I'd like to do an hour again but will go back to doing laps of the park.

A week before I could run, I went to the local pool and did some aqua jogging. Hmmm... not the most interesting of sports! I find swimming a little boring, but this is a bit tedious to be honest. Felt good to be doing something though. Save me from losing a little bit of the fitness I was losing.

I've also been doing a fair amount of strengthening and flexibility exercises to hopefully make me more injury proof for the coming year.

Now i've finally started running again I've had the chance to test my new 9bar sponsored running kit and thankfully it all feels really comfy. Also, the 9Bar website has been given a revamp and has had a little bit about me and a picture added! Here's a link for those who care www.9-bar.co.uk. Just go to the active pages for me.

Only just over 6 weeks to the next race which is the Country to Capital race, a 45 miler. Not really seeing it as a race but as progression towards JOGLE.

I'm off, will write again soon.

Happy running

p.s. Just a little add on here before I post. I've been for the aforementioned run in the park and it was great. I did an hour and didn't feel the slightest complaint from the new niggle. Hopefully that was it, gone! Cool! Cheers.

Round and round and round...

2009-10-30T08:18:00.006Z

It's been nearly two weeks now since I was in my most recent race. I'm currently sat here at my parents with my feet up dealing with some pretty intense waves of pain due to having the operation a couple days ago to remove the plate and pins from my leg. Such a far cry from the great form I felt for the Sri Chinmoy Self Transcendence 24hrs race at the Tooting Bec athletics track in London.
This race has been on my 'list' since when I first started finding these longer events. It is also the race that gets people scratching their heads the most looking for reasons why when you explain the format. It's very simple. Run around a 400m running track as many times as you can in 24hrs. The exciting part is that every 4hrs you get to change direction!
As this race got closer, I found that I was feeling quite confident and positive as this was the final race in my 'season' and I felt like I was carrying across a fairly high fitness level from the rest of the year. I am also starting to have a growing faith in my training plan. There's also the fact that in a 24hrs, you don't have to run for 24hrs, so there's a very high chance of finishing this event, which would mean that I'd have completed my heaviest year of racing with no DNF's.
The start time was at midday on the Saturday which meant I'd have to catch a train from Bristol at 6:30. Alarm was set at 5:30 so I could get up and have breakfast and walk to the station with plenty of time to relax, instead of my normal panicy rushing routine!
Finally I arrived at the athletics track after a 20 minute walk from Tooting Bec underground. I noticed that even when I first saw the track I wasn't feeling very nervous. This is a new and pleasant sensation. I guess that the experience is starting to have an effect on my confidence. I now feel that I can do these things if I'm prepared, it's just how well I do them! Whereas before, I'd be concerned that I might not have the inner strength or my preparation may not be good enough. Inner strength was something I realised that was pulling me towards this challenge. I thought that this would be a real test of your mental drive. Could I tell myself to run for 24 hours with little mental stimulation? If so, could I push myself hard for 24hrs and stay motivated lap after lap? There was only one way to find out the answers to these questions...
I'd set myself a pace that would leave me clocking up 130miles if I could sustain it for the duration, but I truthfully thought that 120 miles was far more realistic, so was going to tailor the pace as I went. My true target was 100 miles which seems to be the benchmark of 24 hour running.
The weather was good and I had a few hours to wait for the start, so I sat outside on a bench and took it all in, watching the other runners turning up signing up and lots of them then went to set up camp, erecting tents around the perimeter of the track so that their friends and family had somewhere to sleep over night, and if the runners needed a lay down then they could just get into a warm sleeping bag and rest. I was running this race all by myself, no support. This didn't concern me as I just wanted to get stuck into this race and focus, and I had no intention of stopping for any length of time longer than the length of time it took to go to the loo!
Finally, the time came for the race brief and we were then introduced to our lap counters, who we'd have to wave too every lap as we passed them to confirm that each lap would be counted. There were 15 lap counters for the first 12 hours and 15 for the last 12 hours! Wow! How amazing that so many guys would volunteer for such a thankless task, and as we discovered would be so happy and cheerful for the duration.
The clock started ticking and we all started running. As with every race I've done people shot off like it was a 10k, while I tried to settle as quickly as possible into my planned pace. I found it very difficult to go slow enough to be at my planned pace so just accepted the little extra pace expecting it to tail off after 4 hours when I'd find my true pace.
At the end of each hour, the results were taken and calculated to determine each runners mileage and their position in the field. The results would generally take about 25 mins to get put up on a giant 8ft board at the side of the track so we could all try to take it in every 400 metres. 45 runners started this race, and after hour 1, I was in 25th place. Pretty much where I expected to be. I felt good with the pace so just kept pushing on. I hovered around this position for around 3 - 4 hours before everyone started finding their rhythm. I felt like I was very comfortable and my pace hadn't changed since the first lap. Lots of other runners had slowed their pace over the first few hours, meaning that my position starting changing. I noticed that people were starting to stop briefly at the side to change shoes, clothes, pick up food etc. The organisers put on a table of food and drink at the side that is permanently loaded and manned by a lady whose name escapes me (terrible bloody memory!), and I fully intended to make full use of this as it would be the quickest way to load up with energy without leaving the track. One thing I seem to be noticing in the longer races is just how much time people waste at checkpoints having a little sit down etc. No sitting down for me!
We finally changed direction at 4 hours for the first time. By now I was in the zone and felt good. It was very strange constantly having every runner in sight and running past the tent with the counters in and all the supporters. I'm usually used to being on my own for hours on end, not seeing another soul, so this was very different. A nice change. This format also has one other great advantage which I was really looking forward to - the fact that you don't need to carry anything. No rucksack, no food of drink, or any emergency kit. Brilliant.
As time plodded on, so began the mental games. Some people were stopping for quite a while as they got more and more tired. Should I stop? I'm really starting to feel very tired, but we're not even half way, should I adjust my pace? As darkness fell and the floodlights came on the temperature dropped quite dramatically. Some runners were really feeling the cold and were wearing masses of layers till they resembled the Michelin man. I felt ok, but had to keep asking myself as my senses were dulling and I was concerned about making a poor decision and getting cold. I was just wearing shorts, a long-sleeved baselayer and a T shirt over the top with a cap and thin gloves. After quite a few hours in the cold dark night, I realised that my hands were cold and getting colder. I couldn't warm them so had to pop into the changing room and get some thicker gloves from my bag. It took a while to get them on as my hands had lost a fair bit of sensation and were just like pieces of meat out the fridge. I finally stuffed them in and got back on the track. By now I knew that I'd pushed past the half way point but still had around 10 hours left and it was only going to get more and more painful.
Some people had taken a snooze in their cars or tents by this stage and, another interesting difference about this format is you can see what state everyone else is in, and by this time, some people were really starting to look tired. Always nice to know that everyone else is struggling.
Eventually at around 7:30 it got light, the lights turned off and the sun came out. I was finally in the last chapter of this monster race. Still 4hrs 30mins left though!
I had now moved up to fourth place, and looking at everyone elses progress I could see that I should hold that position give or take one place as long as some disaster didn't occur.
Was a podium place possible? It certainly was on the books at this point so I pushed as hard as I could sensibly push with so much time left.
Finally after a few hours of pushing myself, I had to admit defeat, I was spent. Also the chap who was behind me had passed both of us to claim third place! With one hour remaining, I realised that I was going to come fifth whatever happened. I also clocked up 130 miles, so my drive and motivation just vanished! I started walking. My counter and some chap watching gave me a good verbal push, which lurched me painfully forward into a run again. I pushed on as hard as my body would allow.
Finally with 2 minutes remaining to run, a runner joins you on the track and runs with you to record exactly where you finish when the final horn is sounded so they can measure, to the yard, your full distance. This inevitably turns into a race. I actually outrun my marker for the last 2 mins! How satisfying.
I went straight into the changing rooms and struggled greatly to undress to shower.
As I took my socks off I revealed a huge blister between my large toe and the toe next to it. I popped it and showered as best as I could.
Once I was changed, I slumped myself in a chair outside and awaited the awards ceremony. Much to my suprise, they award trophies down to 7th place so I got my first ever trophy for running! Chuffed to bits!
I managed to run 135 miles in the end. Far exceeding my expectations, and I got a trophy. I think this has to go down as one of my strongest performances yet. My pacing was solid throughout the race, and I've proven to myself that I have the right sort of mentality for this.
Would I do it again? Sure I would. I'm not sure when, but I'd definitely like to crack 140 miles.
At the moment, and for the next 4 weeks, I just need to focus on recovering from the operation.
Then, I'll begin the long long road to getting ready for the JOGLE. I can't wait!

Results

The Ridgeway Challenge.

2009-09-07T16:51:00.005+01:00

Just over a week ago I took part in the Ridgeway Challenge, a 86 mile off road race on the ancient footpath named, funnily enough, the Ridgeway. It begins in Buckinghamshire near a place called Tring and ends in Wiltshire at Avebury of massive stone circle fame.
I hadn't really targeted this race, but thought that it seemed to fit in just about around other events, and I guessed that I'd carry enough fitness to complete it. Also, if I could complete this race it would qualify me for the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc next year which is a race that I've wanted to do for some time.
There were two starts for this race. One at 10am on the Saturday for people who thought they'd take longer than 24hrs, and one at midday for those that would beat 24hrs. I had no real clue how long this one would take so I took a bit of a gamble and chose the later start.
I hadn't done anything during the week leading up to this one as my knees were still feeling a little tender and I figured the weeks rest certainly wouldn't have a negative impact on my performance.
One of the lessons I've slowly picked up is just how valuable rest is, even if I think I feel fine, the extra day or two here and there really does help. The difficult bit is that I obviously love running, so taking these breaks can be very frustrating. I have to keep reminding myself of the bigger picture.
I had to get up at 5 to have breakfast and make my way to the train station. Fortunately Andrea woke up and kindly offered to drive me to the station. Thank god she did as I only got there with five minutes to spare! I felt remarkably relaxed during the journey. I could even manage to read for an hour or so! I met another competitor on the train at London which was nice. Had a good chat about the usual topics : training, injuries, previous races, future races etc. Finally we arrived at Tring station, where we met a few other guys who were doing the race. Whilst we were waiting for the organiser to pick us up and take us to the start we noticed that the 10 am starts began trickling past.
Finally we got picked up and driven to the start. It was a perfect day for running, Sunny but not too hot. I signed in and picked up my race number and slowly began getting ready for the off.
I still felt very calm which was nice. I can only think that this was due to this race not being a real target and maybe the experience was starting to show!
At quarter to twelve everyone started milling towards the start which is at the top of Ivinghoe Beacon, which has beautiful views of the surrounding scenery. Now I was just excited and keen to make a start. I was a tiny bit chilly which to me means it ideal for running in as soon I'd heat up plenty!
Finally we were off! I started running with Colin who I'd met during the JOGLE training a few weeks previous and a chap called Alex who had never done an ultra before. I explained that I intended to break the running up with plenty of brief spells of fast walking. They both seemed happy with my strategy so we stuck together for the time being. Straight away we found our way fairly close to the back as everyone shot off. It's always difficult at this stage to hold a steady pace, your own pace, and let everyone do their own thing. I felt pretty good with my strategy, as did Colin. I'm not sure Alex thought it was best for him but we stuck together for a while.
Eventually someone caught up and Alex started chatting with them. I realised that the pace was a tiny bit above what I had planned, so I slowed a little. Colin stayed with me and Alex disappeared into the distance. I felt very confident with my pacing today.
We got to the first cp where I stuffed my face with whatever delights they had there, filled up my bladder then set off asap. It amazes me how many people you can get past if you're fast at the cp's, this was no exception. We didn't really see many other people till we got to the 3rd cp. This surprised me as I was holding a 20hr pace which would get me roughly in the top twenty somewhere if I could sustain it. I asked the guys at the 3rd cp how many had gone through. He informed us that we were about seventieth out of 92! Hopefully the tailenders would start coming into our sights.
Soon we were rewarded for our patience. we must have took about 20 people over the next 5 miles. And this continued all the way past the 4th cp till we caught Alex and his running buddy. We passed him a carried on our way. We both felt pretty good by this stage. It's always good to be catching people, but again you have to try to keep control of yourself. It's all about running your own race. Just as it was getting dark, we arrived at the 5th cp, which also was the half way point. Here we had access to our drop bags plus they had some baked potatoes with baked beans which I wolfed down as fast as possible as there were loads of competitors here we had caught up and I fancied getting back on the road before them.
Colin and I left together with headtorches on as it was now pitch black out. I like to run at night, but It's always good to be able to turn the light of when day breaks.
We started on the long uphill drag out from the cp, soon overtaking a group of three. The hill went on for quite a while. I felt good enough to feel like running. Soon we overtook a woman by herself, then we were out by our selves, away from the light pollution enough to notice the stunning canopy of stars above us. I was so enjoying this race that I kept finding a dirty great grin across my face. This is what it's all about.
We kept up the pace until coming up a hill we could finally see the lights of the next cp. This meant there was only one left after this one. We stopped and fortunately my stomach still felt fine, so I ate as much as I could without making myself ill. This strategy seemed to be working well so far, so with only 17 miles remaining, I wasn't about to change it now. Colin on the other hand, was starting to get a bit of an uncomfortable stomach. I noticed that he didn't eat as much as he should have. As we left the cp, I told him to try and eat something else he'll just run out of gas. He ate a bite size chocolate bar. We pushed on, but I was a little concerned about Colin.
By the time we had got to the final cp, I felt great, but Colin was in need of a bush. I ate and had a coffee whilst he dealt with it. Eventually he reappeared not looking great. He said he'd been ill and told me to go on, So I got ready quickly and ran off into the darkness.
I now decided to push the pace a little seeing as I felt so good. The Ridgeway followed a road for a mile or so till it came to a T-junction. I span around looking for a sign post. As I hunted for the sign, a car pulled up and asked me Where I was looking for. I told him that I was looking for the Ridgeway west bound. He helpfully pointed me down a hill telling me to keep going till I found the hospital. Here I'd be able to pick up the path again. I thanked him and started off fast down the hill. The further I'd gone The more doubt started creeping into my mind. Finally I came to a sign that said "footpath to Ridgeway 2.5 miles". Brilliant I thought, Let's get back on the Ridgeway. After about 5 minutes running on this track I again Got a little concerned as the track looked almost completely disused. I kept on running.
I then lost the track and realised that I was on some farm land. I jumped a fence and was on a road. I hunted for another sign but couldn't see one. Which way? I went right and ended up on a larger road. After sitting down for a minute with my map trying work out my location, I still wasn't too sure. I rushed down the road a bit further and came to a village which thankfully gave me my location. Sadly I had been directed by the stranger the wrong way! Probably for a laugh no doubt. I was angry with him, but more so with myself. What a fool for not checking! I put all of my concentration into channeling my frustration into my running. I ran with speed back up the hill I'd been directed down. 10 minutes later I started to see the headlights of other runners. I was back on track. This made me smile. Now I had some serious overtaking to do. I guessed that I'd been bumbling around for around an hour. I straight away started to take people. no-one attempted to stay with me for a while. Then I heard some footsteps behind me. Someone was running with me which I was quite surprised about as my pace was still fast being fueled by adrenalin. We ran together for about half an hour till he informed me he was going to walk for a bit. I pushed on.
Soon I caught up with Colin. I was very glad to see that he was still pushing on. He was going well now, but told me that he had stayed at the cp for half an hour! I pushed on and took about four more guys before reaching the last cp. I ate fast. They informed me that it was 6 miles till the end. My stopwatch said 18hrs 57mins. To beat 20hrs I needed to run 10k in less than 1hr 3mins.
This seemed fast but I felt good and still highly motivated after my error. I left as fast as I could.
The final 10k was smooth and I took another 3 guys. As I entered Avebury my stopwatch reset itself so I lost track of my time. I squeezed out every last drop of energy all the way to the finish.
My time was 20hrs 2mins!
I was of course frustrated with my error and time, but overall, seeing as I hadn't trained specifically for this race, I was really chuffed with my pacing, my speed and I really enjoyed the event. I recovered really fast which is always nice and a sure sign of fitness.
Between the Ridgeway and the next race which is the 24hrs, I have a gap of 6 weeks. I decided to take 2 whole weeks off of running after. This will be followed by an easy low mileage week, two medium mileage weeks, a long hard week and finishing with a week of rest before the race.
Once the 24 is done, that is the end of my season. My biggest yet! Then I'll be slowly building towards the JOGLE.
I currently have another 5 days off of running which is very difficult, but I can feel myself getting stronger and all my niggles are disappearing, so I'll stick to the plan.
I'll Blog soon.
Happy running.

Results

JOGLE training weekend.

2009-08-18T17:06:00.000+01:00

Back again. As I write this I am thankfully recovered and in the middle of a heavy training week.
The thing I am grateful to have recovered from is the JOGLE training weekend which was designed to let us test out the distance by doing two of the days of the planned schedule of the actual event (days 11 and 12). It was also good to meet a few of the other guys who are doing it, and the organiser Rory.

Originally I thought that this may not be the most sensible of ideas as it lay one week after the Classic Cliffs race which took a lot longer than anticipated. Recovery was going to have to be fast and efficient for me to be able to drag myself around the two days of 57 miles!

The first day was to begin at 5am which is fine by me, but to get to the start at Wigmore up on the Welsh border, I needed to be at Severn Bridge services at 3am to catch a lift with Rory. Fortunately a good work mate of mine, Joe, offered to pick me up at home at 1:30am. There was no way I was going to sleep at this stage, so I'd managed to lose another entire nights sleep. I'd definitely need some seriously early nights after this to try and catch up!

Joe drove me to the services where I found Rorys vehicle and then had to wake him up as he was fast asleep and I needed to get in as it was raining which wasn't the greatest of starts!

After waiting around for a few others to turn up for a lift, we sped off North down some very dark, very quiet road. The first day was to finish back at the services we had just left, so I was interested to watch the roads we travelled as they stretched on and on and on...
The roads were soaked in places, and it's at these times that you start questioning what on earth you're doing, before pushing that sense out of your range of thought. There wasn't too much talk as everyone was rather tired and if they were anything like me, a little nervous.

After about 1 hour and 40 mins we arrived at the tiny little sleepy town of Wigmore. Rory found somewhere to park that would hopefully not disturb anyone, and we all crawled out and stretched and started prepping for the days graft. There were six of us in total. Mark Cockbain was not doing the Sunday, so just the Five as long as everyone gets through today ok of course!

We waited till 5 then we began. It was quite nice not being a race so that there was less pressure, and we all instantly began chatting away, getting to know each other. The road was amazingly quiet for at least the first hour, so going two or three abreast was no problem. All very social and very interesting finding out just how experienced everyone was and what they all did in life.

As we plodded on, I felt alright but could feel that my legs where still quite heavy from the previous weeks endeavours. I tried not to think about the next morning and just how stiff I'd be as I crawled out of bed. There were to be check points every 10 miles which is all I'd allow myself to look forward. The first cp came soon enough. I topped up my water in my bladder, ate half a 9bar then carried on. Today was going to be tough especially as it was all going to be on tarmac. My knees felt a little weak from the pounding I gave them the week before on the crazy downhills, so I was expecting to have not too happy knees by the end of the weekend.

It was also raining on and off all the time which was nice and refreshing in the short term but when you're out in it all day things begin to rub. Not nice, especially when you have to do it all again the next day! We eventually got to cp2 where I rammed as much food and drink down my neck as possible. Topped up my bladder then set off again. It was around this time that I suspected that I had a leak in my drinks bladder as my short were sticky from the energy drink. Not good, but it only seemed like a very slow leak, so I kept topping it up hoping it would last the weekend.

As we got to the location for the third cp we discovered that one of the guys had had to pull out due to an injury. We trudged on. By this stage the roads were getting bigger and busier. Most people would give us space but occasionally you'd get some lunatic not pull out at all as they sped past at some ridiculous speed! Very dangerous at times but I was totally expecting this so I had no problems. My hip flexors were feeling really strained by now, my one toe that always seems to get a battering was feeling a little battered and my achilles was playing up as usual. Don't think of tomorrow...

We were still chatting quite a bit which definitely helped with time and to help take your mind off of the niggles that we all seemed to be struggling with. When we got to cp4, Colin looked pretty pale. He said that he'd struggled to get any solids down and that he'd ran out of fluid earlier. We all topped up then disappeared up the road. Each step feeling a little more difficult than the last. We soon left Colin to do his thing. Hopefully he'd fill up his tanks and get a second wind.

Finally we got to cp5. We were all really starting to think of a nice bath and bed. Eventually, we could see the Severn Bridge. We were going to finish at the services which were at the other end of the bridge. I was feeling very tired now and was beginning to think of the next day. As we reached the far end of the bridge, Rory was there to take some pictures as we approached. We'd done it! 12 hours and 26 mins! As Mark was just doing the one day, He didn't need his hotel room which he'd booked far in advance, so he very generously offered me his room for the night. Nice one Mark. I got the keys and let my self into my room. It was dull and normally quite horrible, but tonight it was absolute luxury! I took my soaked clothes off and climbed into a hot bath. I was very stiff, but this felt really good. I never normally bath but standing up seemed like far to much hard work!

I then wandered down to the Burger King and got myself a double whopper meal. A total novelty for me, but the only other option was a pub a 15 min walk away. The walk and the probable wait was too much. I needed instant gratification. I sat in my room and wolfed down the meal. Pretty horrible, but seemed to fill a gaping hole. I then prepped my kit for the next morning, set my alarm for 4:30 and crawled into bed for hopefully a good nights sleep.

I thankfully slept like a log! I painfully dragged myself out of bed to have my muesli, then put on my wet smelly trainers. I had a black toe nail due to not cutting my nails short enough. Silly mistake! I brushed my teeth then, made my way outside to meet the other guys who were waiting for me. All except Bathany, who decided to just start straight away, about 10 mins before us. I say us, it was just Colin, David who looked strong, and myself. We made our way off into the dawn. The weather looked great. Maybe a hot day today! As we made our way down the road I realised that my back and waist was raw from my leaky bladder. Could be a pain throughout the day.

Todays route was from the severn bridge services all the way down the A38 to Taunton train station. These were roads that I'd travelled many times before when I used to do a bit of cycling. It would be nice to know the roads fairly intimately. When certain features are coming etc. Plus the fact that we had to make our way through Bristol which would be easy for me seeing as it's my home town. In fact, we were going to pass within a 1/4 mile of my home. Hmm, tempting!

After the first cp, David and I seemed to be running the same pace, so we stayed together. I said to him that when I got over the Mendips I was going to start a run 25 mins walk 5 mins strategy which he said he would try with me. I found this was good during the GUCR as it gives you 5 mins to drink, eat and make adjustments etc every 30 mins. Seemed to work then.

We reached the next cp just outside Bristol. It was now very hot. I was drinking lots of water, still storing it in my leaky bladder. I ate loads of malt loaf, then we wobbled off. We made our ways over the undulating next 10 miles till we got down the final real hill onto flats. Then cp3. Rory was taking loads of pictures of us here. It's funny when you see these pictures as I don't look in too badder state. I was feeling pretty knackerd by this stage though. Still a long long way left too!

As we left again, we started our run / walk strategy, which seemed to go down a treat. It's good as it breaks it up, and it forces you too look after yourself which s something that is easy to neglect when you're this tired. The next cp we were informed that Colin was having another tough day, not managing to keep much down, and some tendonitis on his shin. My same problem was giving me grief. Something I will need to sort out before the actual event. David and I were managing to keep an ok pace but were starting to flag a little.

Finally we reached the last cp. Eight miles left. So little yet so far! We ran a little faster than normal as we could sense the end. When we reached Taunton we took a wrong turn and had to add on a little extra mileage. Not the best time to do it! Then we eventually came into the station and found Rory stood next to his vehicle. Bliss, we'd made it! Thank god. That was the second and third longest runs I'd ever done, but I'd done them on successive days! I was really chuffed with this performance. Especially a week after the classic cliff race.

The actual race will not be two days, but the seriously testing 15 days! It's going to be very tough indeed. As long as I can hold off the injuries. Very scary stuff indeed.

So, as I said earlier, I'm currently in the middle of a heavy weeks training, then I'll take a week off, then it's the Ridgeway which is 86 miles. I'm really looking forward to this one. More running though the night.

Time for bed now, I'm very tired.

Happy running.

Classic Classic!

2009-08-10T16:44:00.002+01:00

Hello hello.

What an amazing event the Classic Cliffs race was! So, so much more gruelling than I imagined!

I took the Friday off of work so that I'd have a bit of time to relax before starting this beast. We left home with Andrea driving to save my legs for the nights activities! We missed our junction off the motorway and ended up on the outskirts of Exeter! Ridiculous, considering I'd been raised there and had travelled that route countless times! Never mind, we had a far more scenic and interesting drive up through Devon. We eventually arrived with plenty of time to spare at my parents house. Mum cooked Spaghetti meatballs for dinner which was really good. I ate a whole lot more than I normally would knowing that the run would take a minimum of 12 hours. I then spent an hour or so doing my usual fumbled packing routine. I was very nervous by this stage so I found it difficult to focus on the task in hand.
Finally I got changed into my running kit and mixed my energy drink. It was 2045 and I was ready to go. My Dad drove me down to the start line with Andrea for company. This is always a nice part. The wait is pretty much over, the nerves will soon start to steady. I got dropped off at the finish in Clovelly to catch a bus put on by the organisers, to the start at Port Isaac. I said my goodbyes to my Dad and Andrea. It's funny saying goodbye to people knowing that the next time you'll see them, they'd have been to bed and had a good sleep, had breakfast and a shower. Meanwhile you've been running and running and running...
I had a little chat with some of the guys, then we got on a mini bus and starting driving to the start.

It's always nice to be among people that have the same passion. Especially as a great deal of people just don't get ultra running. The journey took about 1.5hrs so we had plenty of time for a good chat. it was interesting to hear what people had achieved. Some pretty impressive runners where apparently running this race! I was aiming to come in the top ten. Bit of a random target as I hadn't known who was taking part till this point. Not too sure about a top ten now, but wasn't bothered at all, just wanted to get out there running.

Finally we arrived in Port Isaac, and were told to wait in a local pub which had a few locals having a good drink in. God knows what they thought when we all entered and sat around with around an hour to go. There were around 35 of us doing the solo event, a few 2-man teams and a few 4-man teams taking part. I sat with a guy called Drew. We pretty much spoke just running and who else was there. Finally we had the race brief then headed out to the start. we were due to start at midnight, but started at 5 minutes past. We went straight up a steep hill on the road and within 5 minutes we were on the coastpath. Brilliant!

Usually within an hour I'll have slipped into my pace which will be comfortable and sustainable. Not tonight! Seeing as there was no light whatsoever except what was provided from our headlights a group of around 15 tended to stay together. I've never experienced this in an ultra before, and I surmised that within the group, not many would be at their optimum pace. I felt like I was working maybe a little too much. But it was difficult to do your own thing. It was easy to lose the usually simple to follow posts in the pitch black night, so staying in a group was good for the confidence.

I stayed at the front of the group or just behind Drew as I don't like running in a line. I used to run out of the line when I was in the army too. We reached the first checkpoint in about 1hr 20. This was way slower than I'd predicted. This was going to be a very long painful day!

I loved running in the dark. It was quite surreal at times. looking behind and seeing the trail of headlight all over the place. Or looking ahead and seeing lights seemingly floating in the sky as the runners in front tackled the next climb. You couldn't see any skyline just the circle of path (hopefully!) that was lit by your head torch just in front of you feet. Occasionally you'd look around you scanning your torch to the left and within a metre the circle of light would dissapear reminding you just how close you were to the edge of the cliff!

As the race progressed I kept trying to estimate just when I'd be finishing this thing. My initial thought of midday was tossed far out of my mind. The course was like a roller coaster ride. The uphills were epic. Very long and super steep. They weren't being ran atall. It would just burn far to much energy for hardly any speed difference. On the other hand, the downhills were very difficult and ended up being very tough on the quads and in turn the knees, as I tried to get a happy medium of staying in control and not braking to much. At around the 25 mile point the group was finally breaking up a bit. This was a huge relief as I could finally do my own thing. I ended up running close to Drew for a fair way with Claire Akin-Smith hovering around too. I was tiring a lot but was loving it and the first sign of light was beginning to show. Eventually I was all by myself for a little while and realised it was safe to get rid of the headtorch. Wow, what a relief! I hadn't realised just how much I'd had to concentrate watching the path to stay upright! I had a bit of a slow point for around an hour and I was just putting one foot in front of the other, in lot's of pain feeling a bit negative about just how much was left to do, and just how many bloody hills there were!
Then without realising I felt a little smoother and was finding some sort of rhythm again. Such a good feeling getting a second wind like this! By now I had left Drew behind and was slowly gaining on Claire. As I stumbled down a hill to the 40 mile point I caught up with Claire and stopped for 5-10 mins as I took on board as much food and drink as possible. We both left at the same time up the next brutal climb.

I had planned to meet my parents and Andrea and Kiera at this checkpoint but they didn't get there in time. I was a bit sad about this but I obviously wasn't going to hang around for them.

When we got to the top of the climb the path leveled out a little and I broke into a painful jog. Claire at this stage said that she didn't have any run left in her, so I slowly pulled ahead. Within 30 mins I saw a man standing on a stye apparently looking at me, who then started to wave!? Eventually my fried head saw it was my Dad. They had got to the checkpoints minutes after I'd left and had rushed on to the next point were the road meets the path. What a moral boosting suprise. I stopped and chatted and ate a lovely egg sandwich, told them how hard it was, then said goodbye again and disappeared back onto the cliff edge. I was now running to finish!

I was in 6th place at this stage but was soon to be taken by Vicky Skelton which is nothing to lose any sleep over! If I could hold 7th I'd be happy.

I plugged on and was getting more and more weary. I now needed that end more than anything.

My 'support crew' met me at Hartland Point and I hungrily shoved another egg sandwich down my neck, before making my way up the next climb with my hands pushing on my knees as my knees were sore and my legs were weak. Only 7 miles to go!

Finally after getting a little confused with the sign post in a bit of woodland I came through some more beautiful woods which I knew took me down into Clovelly.

Then, never too soon I was at the top of the stupidly steep main street of Clovelly. I went past my Mum who took a few pictures then tried to follow me down till I arrived at the quay where the finish was and my Dad, Andrea and Kiera were waiting.

My finishing time was a staggering 15hrs 26mins! But I had managed to hold my 7th place. Very happy with the result. Now the tiredness hit me as my body reminded me that I'd lost a whole nights sleep and of course been running for over 15 hours!

What an amazing event. Would definitely love to have a go at this one again.

Now, I've got one week before I'm attending a training weekend for the JOGLE next year. I'll be meeting some of the other runners and the organiser plus we'll be running days 11 and 12 of the actual event. that's 58 miles on the Saturday and 57 miles on the Sunday! Oh dear...

Happy running!

Results

Back to it!

2009-07-12T19:23:00.001+01:00

Well hello there,

I now have completely recovered from the GUCR and I'm back to the training regime. Ah thank god, I do love it much.

Have recently returned from the Glastonbury festival which was a nice forced break from the running. I've been to 5 previous festivals and this was up there as one of the greats! 5 days of completely stepping outside of the real world and just completely enjoying myself and some amazing bands. The worst thing aboutit is that you have to leave! Always a bit sad to have to return to work and remember that you have boring stuff like bills and money to deal with.
Can't wait till next year though. It's the 40th anniversary so should be a corker!

Tomorrow I'll begin a heavy week of training which should be over 120 miles. then I'll take a week off in preparation for the 'Classic Cliffs' race which is a 58 miler that starts at Port Isaac on the Cornish coast and works it's way north on the Coast path till you reach the beautiful village of Clovelly which is about 8 miles from my parents house. The interesting thing about this one is that it starts at midnight! I can't wait to be running for about 5 hours using just a head torch and then witness the sunrise. It should be quite envigorating, which I think I'll be needing by that stage! It will be some of the most testing and stunning trail to run on in the world! Mum and Dad are of course coming to watch me (hopefully) finish with Andrea and Kiera. Always nice to have loved ones there to watch me doing what I love

Not too sure how well I'll get on really. Should really make the top ten if all goes well. Very difficult to predict at this sort of distance and intensity. I do feel strong though.

This is a bit different now knowing that my daughter, Hanna, will be reading this seeing as up till now I've just written this as a personal diary. I do hope this doesn't bore you too much darling.

Other races I've signed up for are the Ridgeway challenge at the end of October which is the whole Ridgeway footpath in one go which is 86 miles which should be fun. Got the 24 hrs in October, then next May I've got my place (1 of 20) in the inaugral 15 day stage race from John O'Groates to Lands End or JOGLE which is the entire length of the UK - 850 miles. Bit scared about that one but know that I'm capable of it, so had to give it a try!

Will be off to bed soon with the heavy training week coming up. Need all the rest I can get. Will be up at 4:50 in the morning too which is early even for me!

Time for a cup of tea first though.

Happy running.

Neil.

Mission complete!

2009-05-31T09:46:00.001+01:00

It all was getting a bit too much on the build up side of things. Tuesday at work and I was getting butterflies. Four days before the start of the event! I don't usually mind getting such feelings as it shows that I'm still in respect for just how tough it will be. Four days early though is just silly!
Finally, Friday came round. All week I'd been faffing around with my bags and equipment, so all I had to do was ride home from work get changed and walk to the train station.
After a couple hours on the train and a 30 minutes bus journey, I was at the Red Lion pub in Birmingham, which was the meeting/signing in point. I signed in, picked up my British Waterways Key so that I could use their facilities along the canal path, and also picked up my T-shirts, which I daren't put on till after I'd finished.
I then met up with Alistair Parker who I was to share a room with that night at the Travelodge. We sat down and had a pint and a good chat. Was nice and relaxing just waffling away, almost forgetting the impending pain. Got a lift back to the hotel and had a big bag of fish and chips before further faffing around before bed. Alarm was set for 4!
In the morning, we got fully prepped and got a lift down to Gas street for the start an hour later.
It's always interesting at the start line for races like this seeing just what sort of people have decided to have a go.
Once we'd started at 0600, I settled quickly into my planned pace of running for 25 mins then walking for 5, giving me time to eat and drink every half hour. The sun was already out at this point, but I was still my usual cold self. Hands where losing feeling.
After about 30 mins, Alistair and I decided to stop and take off some of our warm kit. Things where getting very warm already! The pace was sustained as we made our way to the first cp, which was at 10miles. Starting to really buzz off this race now. Really enjoying it, and so grateful to actually be doing it now.
We stuck together as we plugged away with the same pace towards cp2 at 20 miles. Was starting to feel the tiredness setting in as we approached it. Filled up my bladder, picked up some more snacks for the next stage and drunk loads of squash before setting off again. After a couple of hours, I'd slowly pulled away from Alistair, and felt pretty strong.
Just before I reached the fourth cp I met an old school friend, Shirley and her boyfriend Mike on the track which was a wonderful sight to behold. I'd been running alone for hours with barely any sightings of other runners, so to see a friend was great! She'd bought me a pasty as well which was great. I stopped briefly then we walked on to the cp together. I stopped there and took on board as much food and water as my stomach would allow. I then said goodbye to the guys and forged on. Such a shame that I couldn't stop for longer with them seing as they'd travelled for 2.5 hrs! After about half an hour I turned a corner, and there they were again! What a great suprise. They did this two more times which did amazing things for moral and helped kill some time. Sadly they then said goodbye!
As the day drew on I overtook more and more people who said that the heat was killing them and they had given up running. I had been coping with the heat ok, that is till the early evening, when my body starting complaining, and I was desperately willing the coolness of the night.
I got to a cp just as darkness fell. I sat down and ate a baked potato with beans, couldn't wait for my tea to cool enough to drink, so I put on my headtorch and made my way into the darkness.
Although it had cooled down alot, I was starting to feel really tired now. I found runnng in the night quite exciting, but my head torch was lacking a bit on the power side of things. I've ran before with this torch and it is not bright, but perfectly adequate for night running. The problem is that the route takes us back and forth over various bridges changing sides of the canal. These bridges are numbered with a small number, often placed in the centre of the arch. My torch would not always be powerful enough to illuminate these numbers so would have to watch runners lights ahead of me, and hope that they'd gone the right way. Finally dawn approached, and things started to heat up again. I reached the 100 mile point at almost exactly 24hrs which was quite sattisfying.
By this stage though, both my shins, near the bottom were really starting to slow me down. The pain was getting worse and worse and they were swelling quite badly. I pushed out of my mind that if this progressed then 45 miles just might not be possible. I tried not to dwell on what could be the cause of the pain, as my number one uneducated guess was stress fractures, which I'd suffered from before. From this previous experience, I knew that rest was the order, as to carry on was to encourage a complete break!
Keep on plodding, keep on plodding!
I was now turning a little zombie like. The heat was truly beating down again, and I was wishing for rain.
Finally, with much pain, I slowly stumbled into cp8 at 120 miles. A gazebo was up and I gladly slumped into a chair in the shade. My ankles and feet were throbbing. The staff asked me what I wanted, and all I could manage was water. They made me a bowl of cereal with a banana chopped up in it, but I could only manage a couple mouthfuls. I couldn't think straight. I could fel that the heat was affecting my poor cooked brain. I decided I should try to go, but upon standing, my feet and legs had shooting pains pass through them, I felt very dizzy and fell back into the chair. I tried to compose myself but had waves of nausea pass over me. Then one of the staff informed me that I only had 10 mins left of my maximum allowable rest time before I was disqualified. This was the one time when I truly considered abandoning. Luckily, I gave myself a telling off for letting such a thought enter my mind, slowly got my self up and very slowly staggered off.
Only one marathon left! Normally something that wouldn't bother me in the slightest. Was really bothering me now though considering my ever slowing pace. Was barely running atall now. Even when I did attempt to, It was slower than some peoples walking. Not great for moral!
What was good though, was that in 13 miles time I would meet my girlfriend Andrea and her cousin Lee, and Lee would guide me in for the final push.
It seemed to take an eternity to finally see Lee and Andrea a few hundred metres ahead. As soon as met up, I gave my rucksack to Andrea which felt amazing. I felt light and relaxed in the upper body. I'd try not to think to much about my lower half. I couldn't really run by this stage, so Lee made sure he was a little ahead at all times to try and squeeze what speed he could out of me. We had a 15 minute detour through Southall which was an interesting change. Not the nicest looking of places, but plenty to be looking at to keep my mind off of the pain. We rejoined the canal then hit the final cp. Andrea had parked the car here and so I said goodbye, I WILL see her again at the end, I told myself. I drank some juice as I stood in the shade, then pushed on.
Lee pushed as much as my body would allow, but not only was the pain excrutiating, but energy levels were bottoming out. He drip fed me Red Bull in an attempt to kick start me but even when I started running, Lee could usually keep up with a fast walk!
And so I plodded on till we passed Paddington station and I knew I'd done it.
Just as darkness was beginning to fall, My friend Shirley, this time with Lisa, approached and met me! Stunned with just what great support was provided to me. I gave some poor introductions then pushed on, Being told that it was about 15 mins from here.
Finally, after 40 hours and 3 minutes I crossed the line, a happy broken man. My feet and legs were shot and my head was jelly, but I did have around my neck the most amazing medal I have yet to be awarded.
It was so good to have my friends there to see me at this moment and to experience this being my biggest physical and mental acheivement to date.
I couldn't walk the next day, and three days later I went to A&E to get my shins checked out. They reckon it's probably tendinitis of the tibialis anterior, though it could possibly be stress fractures, so to be sure, I'll go back in a week. Since then though, they seem to be recovering pretty quickly. I ride my bike to work, and can walk around for a fair while before I need to put it up. The swelling has largely gone too!
All in all I'm very happy with how things went. My body held up well other than my shins, and mentally I've learnt that I have what it takes for at least 40 hours of continual exercise.
Next target.... 24hr track race!

Just hanging around...

2009-05-16T20:46:00.000+01:00

Well, all the hard work is done now. Just the minor, final hurdle of running 145 miles! Gulp.
Went back and stayed at my parents last weekend so that I could race in the Exmoor coastal marathon. I was really looking forward to this one. I also had confidence that I could bag a decent position too. It was also nice to have my parents, Andrea and Kiera to watch me.
I decided that instead of starting off steadily, I'd experiment by going off a bit faster and hopefully not losing so many, if any of the front runners.
We went off like rockets, my heart rate was up around 180 which is far too high. 177 is roughly my race limit. By 10k I was tiring badly but even with this extra initial speed, I was still only in 5 place! I later learned that my first 10k split would have got me 3rd place in the 10k race! Only another 32k left...
I also was beginning to learn that I'd also totally underestimated the gradients. The hills were manageably steep, but seemed to go on for ever! There wasn't really any flat sections.
My final blunder was to twice go the wrong way. Not good for moral or energy reserves! I calculated that these errors added an extra 4k!
Needless to say I was very dissapointed with myself. What an idiot!
On the bright side of things, even though I buried myself on this course, I still managed to enjoy it. The most stunning, dramatic scenery I've been fortunate to run at. I also learned that my fitness is pretty high. This was also highlighted in the following days by my fairly swift recovery.
Exactly a week from now, as long as there have been no disasters, I would have been running for over 15 hours. I would like to think that I would have covered 70ish miles by this stage but the true aim is to complete this beast intact. I just can't wait now.
My friends James and Chrissy are going to meet me at the 100 mile point in James' Dads barge. I've told them that I'll be there anytime after 2 in the morning. That will be great for moral to see some friendly faces.
Andrea and Lee will be meeting me at the end too, and maybe somewhere before.
I just hope everything goes as well as possible now.
I'll be off now. Next time I write, I'll either be very happy or very sad.
Whatever the case, I'll tell all.

Happy training,

Neil

Almost there! Can't bloody wait.

2009-04-16T18:14:00.000+01:00

Hello ether,

Well as the title says, almost there. Only 5 weeks this Saturday till race day. I'm actually getting equal amounts of excitedness and nervousness which is pretty cool. I feel relatively confident at the moment and just want to get my teeth stuck into it now. Will soon start getting organised with regards to the finer details. Food, drink and clothing are the concerns that could make or break me on the day. I'm allowed to have a bag at 9 of the 10 check points, which'll be a massive bonus as long as I've got the right things in there of course!

Haven't decided what to eat yet. I've got a few ideas, like cereal bars, salted nuts, chocolate covered coffee beans etc. Need to think of some other things though as when you run for this amount of time, you tend to get bored of stuff and boredom ends up being hatred. It's all about variety I think. Might put a few pasties and packs of biscuits in my bags as a bit of a boost to moral. I'll need every calorie that I can get down and hold down my neck! Maybe even some cold pizza. Either way, I need to start putting some serious thought into it.

Another thing I'm beginning to learn is the power of organisation. I've never been to hot with my own admin, but when you're doing a big event, the more organised you are, and the more you've thought through all possible outcomes, then you will obviously be better ready for the day, and just as, if not more importantly, speed wise, it is a big boost to confidence. One less thing to worry about on the day!

Training wise, all is looking good. Last week was a week off where I happened to conveniently feel rather ill for about 4 days. Was due to start training again on Monday and felt better Sunday morning! Being ill is not exactly lucky, but the timing alone was pretty damn lucky. Didn't lose anything training wise. The week before that was my heaviest planned week ever. Ended up doing about 20 hours. Monday to Thursday I did 2 hrs a day, Friday I did 4.5hrs. Finished at 5:30 Friday afternoon, relaxed and ate, then at half past midnight, Left Bath with no sleep and did a 48 miler in 7:30hrs. Was obviously really hard work, but overall I was really chuffed to complete the entire weeks sessions exactly as planned.

Am currently near the end of a Medium week (around 6 - 7 hrs). Will do the same next week, then follow that with a heavy week (Not as heavy as above!). Will take the next week off, do the Exmoor coastal marathon, take two very easy weeks then it's race day! Seems so close now!

It's lovely to be running out in the mild weather now. Away with the gloves, out with the short sleeves and sleeveless tops. Whoopee, another winter survived!

Have ben eyeing up a new race lately that I think I'll be entering. The Classic Cliffs ultra race. Organised by Endurancelife who organise the coastal marathons, it's a 55 mile a to b race from Port Isaac in Cornwall along the coastal path to clovelly which is very close to where I come from. Starts at midnight so there'll be plenty of night running which'll be pretty thrilling to say the least. It'll be one tough race as the climbing involved is actually rediculous! In fact, talking about it has made me decide to do it! Too good to miss.

Anyway enough ramblings. I've got some spag bol to make and devour!

So long.

Happy training.

2009-03-10T19:16:00.000Z

Hello there,

I'm currently on a low mileage week after completing my most heavy week yet. Managed to get in 14 hours of quality training in within 6 days. Probably around 110 miles I reckon. Was very tiring, but body seemed to hold out well. Recovery is definitely speeding up now. My only niggle was my achilles again. Seems to be stiff first thing in the morning, but fine after a warm up. I'm not too concerned about it, but would be lying if I said I wasn't. Hopefully this week of recovery will help it.

Looking forward to this weekend as on the Saturday I'll be taking part in another coastal marathon. This time on the coastal paths at Pembrokeshire in Wales. I've already done two of these races and they have both been truly amazing, beautiful and exciting. To me this is what it's all about. Absolutely stunning scenery, lots of mud and no flat section making for a really gruelling race.

The next day, when I'll be very stiff, I'll be running the Bath Half marathon with my Girlfriend. It's her first running race, so I'm really looking forward to running the whole race with her while she experiences the pain and joy. I just hope that everything goes well for her. I'm going to try my hardest to be a sensible pacesetter for her, to get her round in the fastest and safest manner possible. My 60 year old dad is also taking part, as is my Aunty and my cousin. I think there'll be lots of stiff legs in my family Monday morning!

Next week will be another easy recovery week after the racing weekend, then back into it.
This Saturday it'll be 10 short weeks till the Grand Union Canal race! It's starting to feel very real now. Nice to feel like my training seems to be going to plan and I certainly feel like my endurance is getting lots stronger. I think confidence in my ability will play a very large part in such a long event.

The one downer about doing loads of mileage is that I seem to be getting through trainers like there's no tomorrow! Bought a pair in December, a pair in February and I'm just waiting for two pairs I've ordered online!

Winter seems to be on the way out now at last. Sun is nearly up by the time I get to work at 6:15. There hasn't been any frost for a little while and I've been running a few times with no gloves! I love the seasons in this country. They can be very demanding for training but ultimately make for more interesting sessions.

Think I'll shoot now.

Enjoy the trails,

Neil

New leg!

2009-02-03T17:07:00.000Z

Hello.
back again. Pretty short gap since the first post too!
Well, since the last post I had a week off after the 50 where my recovery really surprised me, then I had a medium week, which ended up being around 60 miles, and now I'm in a heavy week. The plan is to run into and back from work Tuesday to Friday. Except on Friday I plan to run to Andreas house in Bath which should end up being around 3ish hours. I'll take Saturday off, then if I feel up to it, I'll go out for a couple of hours on Sunday. All in all, that would total about 12 hours, or around 100 miles. We'll see how it goes.
I plan to get my heavy week up to around 130 miles closer to the race. We'll see how much the old body can take!
The reason I didn't run into work on Monday is because I had an appointment with my surgeon. Let me just get you up to date on the situation. March the 21st last year I came of my bike and broke the distal lateral condyle of my femur (i.e. the knobbly bit at the outer knee end of my thigh sheared off!). This put me in hospital for a week where they fitted a plate to hold it all together. For 6 weeks after it was completely non-weight bearing, so as you can imagine, the muscles wasted away a fair bit, more than I thought they would. Since then I've been building up slowly my fitness and strength.
In the last couple of weeks, I'm really starting to feel that I am getting back the fitness before the break.
The reason I wanted to see my surgeon on Monday is that I'd been advised that it would make sense to remove the plate after a year before it totally becomes embedded in the femur, so I wanted to discuss this.
He said it would be a good idea. I asked if I could give him some dates to work around for the operation (The race in mid May and Glastonbury festival at the end of June). Thankfully, he told me this shouldn't be a problem.
Excellent! I can't wait to get it out of me. Plus I want to see this thing.
It'll be strange as the plate changes the shape of my knee a little and I've got used to it now.
Anyway, that's enough about that.
I'm going to sit down and chill for the evening. Literally as it's bloody cold at the moment. Lovely running at 5:30 this morning crunching through the snow!
Cheers,
Neil.

Blogging at last!

2009-01-20T18:03:00.000Z

Well hello there.
This will undoubtedly be one of the most out of date blogs going but I'll give it a go.
When I do write, it'll be mostly about running. A training log really.
As you can work out from my blog name, ultra running is what I'm into. I'm not that experienced, but have my sights set on some pretty stupid targets.
Last Saturday I completed my second ultra - The Thames Path Ultra which is 50 miles long, starting at Reading, following the Thames Path to Shepperton. This was my second attempt at this race, my first being 2 years ago. In 2007 I completed the event in 8hrs 16mins, but struggled with ITBS and very bad guts. Last week I had a better race with no injuries flaring up, no stomach upsets and better nutrition discipline. I didn't get enough fluids down my neck as was shown by my brown coloured urine at the end! Also, I didn't pace myself great, which has made me decide that I need to start using my HRM more religiously for these longer events. Ended up finishing in 8hrs 1min which is great as it is a PB, but is a bit galing as I targeted sub 8!
Oh well, better luck next year.
My next race, my real target for the year, is the Grand Union Canal 145 race which as the name implies is, yes, 145 miles long! And yes, you do have to do it in one go with a cutoff of 45 hours.
To be totally honest with you, this scares the hell out of me, a I know that this will be possibly the most pain I will experience in my life up untill that point.
It's not till mid May so I have plenty of time to build up my endurance.
I may do a marathon or two in the meantime for a bit of fun.
If I make it through that in one piece, then I've just tonight sent off my application form for the 24hrs race in October. Another simple, but insane format. Start at a 400m running track in London at midday, and see how many times you can run around the track before midday the next day. Last years winner notched up 151 miles which is pretty amazing. I would be overjoyed if I could get to the monumental 100 miles mark.
Anyway, back to reality. My legs seem to be recovering pretty quickly from the 50, and I reckon I'll be ready to start running again on Monday. Can't wait. I hate having to rest!

Anyway, that's enough from me.
I need to get to bed.

Speak soon (maybe).

Neil