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@northdownsrunning
"plodding around the course, in the middle of he night, on my ‘todd’ was quite soul-destroying, so I changed my approach. I put my watch onto the actual time, rather than my 1hr 15min-lap time and said to myself, ‘just get to 3.30am’ and you’ll see the first signs of dawn."
I had the pleasure of crewing for Kevin "Max" Matthews at Endure24, here is his excellent race report on a deceptively tough event.
"I was running along a narrow path within a field when out of the blue i saw a lunatic waving his arms at me and shouting my name. Now i had been warned that some people hallucinate during Ultra's and mindful of this i gave a second look. Thankfully i was not hallucinating it was one of my best friends Nick. Turns out he had been in Hove and came to find me. This was a massive boost."
Dan Park's write up on the SDW100.
The Wall Run
The Wall Run organised by Rat Race runs the 69 miles from Carlisle Castle to Newcastle and bills itself as the UK’s most iconic ultra which is quite a bold claim after only one year of existence. But knowing the areas it covers I decided to choose this run over The South Downs Way 100 as my main summer ultra.
I was joined by my good pal Rew (@rewmds) and we had decided before hand that due to other commitments and injuries we would use this as a relaxed but tough training run. Well, thinking back I think the words that were actually used were “lets just fuck about and have a laugh”.
We decided to travel up to Carlisle early Friday evening as the race starts 7am on the Saturday. And for some reason the organisers only allowed you to register on Friday and not on the morning of the race which I thought was a bit ridiculous. Luckily Rew’s fiance Sophia was kind enough to arrange our hotel and drive us up to Carlisle and to basically be the organiser and brains of the whole trip which was great. Anyone who runs ultras knows the less you have to think about in addition to the race the better.
We arrived in Carlisle about 21:30 Friday night and quickly headed to the castle to register. Registration was quick, well organised and easy allowing us to get out of there and into the hotel for a quick pre race drink in the hotel bar. Sophia had arranged a brilliant hotel only 5 minutes from the start line in the centre of Carlisle. After a quick drink and copious amounts of shouting “bring on the wall!” we decided to head to bed.
We were due to leave the hotel and head to Carlisle Castle at 06:15 to make sure we were relaxed, ready and not rushing around to get to the start line. However I was up at 4am to get ready for the run, this was not totally through my own choice as there were a few late night / early morning revellers shouting outside my hotel window but it was better than sleeping in.
Getting to the start line in plenty of time we listened to the pre race briefing which to be fair got a bit boring and condecending, Rat Race split the runners into challengers (doing it over 2 days) and experts (doing the run in one day) but why call a group “experts” and then give them a lecture about making sure they eat! Anyway just after 7am we were off. The start location was fantastic, loads of ultra running nut jobs bursting out of the castle gates onto the streets of Carlisle with friends and family lining the route. I got a bit swept along with the start and lost Rew after only about 1 mile into the run. I didn’t worry too much about it as thought he would quickly catch up.
But as I normally do in these races I went out way too quick and for the first 10 miles I was running about 9 min mile pace, not quick but not sustainable for me to keep up over 70 miles. I then looked around I realised I was running with a group that included Luke Ashton who finished 2nd at TP100 so I very quickly decided I should remember the original plan to run with Rew and “fuck about and have a laugh”.
As I had gone out too quickly I had to wait for Rew to catch up so I had a bit of a walk/run for a couple of miles to drop my pace down to 14 min miles but was soon getting a bit bored so I passed the time by asking the locals stupid questions like was their garden wall part of Hadrian’s Wall etc. Luckily for me and the locals Rew soon caught me up (as I was having a piss) so he could become the target of my stupidness for the next 52 miles.
To begin with the route was quite bland running through local villages and I was beginning to wonder why they had called it the wall run as we didn’t see any sign of Hadrian’s wall until at least 18 miles in, even then some people ran straight past it without realizing what it was but as we progressed towards the halfway mark we did see more and more of the wall. Unfortunatly the majority of the route was on road with only some short off road sections.
We had been going through the checkpoints stopping for no longer than 30 seconds at each but as we approached the (roughly) half way mark at Vindolanda we decided we would have a longer stop to sort out our feet and get some food. As Vindolanda is the end of day 1 for the 2 day runners it is a major checkpoint and it would have been easy to spend too long here but after getting some water, sorting out our kit and having a bit of hot food we were in and out in about 15 minutes.
As we left Vindolanda we got chatting to a lad who had ran the race the year previously, he warned us of a bit of a hill coming up, what we didn’t realise this bit of a hill would be a 364 foot climb where we were literally on hands and knees to get to the top. It was a tough climb but the views from the top were stunning and we managed to have a bit of a chat with the land owner who was riding about on his quad bike before we headed on.
After a good section of trail we were back on the road, which was totally uninspiring, it was just miles and miles of long straight roman road and the weather had become really hot (after pissing down earlier), we were warned of rain but nobody had thought the sun would come out and I didn’t have any sun screen so got pretty sun burnt.
As the road was so long I had plodded ahead of Rew, through a village that randomly had dozens of scarecrows everywhere all decorated as different characters. The Simpsons, the Queen, Prince William and Kate Middleton etc. There was even a mini incredible hulk holding up a barbie car. It was all very strange, I was going to take pictures but Rew was a little way behind and had the camera on him.
Luckily after the village we hit another decent section of trail but when Rew caught up he wasn’t feeling too good. He was complaining about feeling cold, shivering and generally not feeling too well. I think me running off ahead was annoying him a little bit as well as he thought he was letting the team down. So we decided to take a bit of a walking break to the next checkpoint which would be Hexham at about mile 46.
At the Hexham checkpoint we met Sophia, my dad and brother which I was really pleased about as didn’t realise they would be coming out. It turned out they had been driving to all the Hadrian’s wall points such as Housestead Fort thinking the run would be going past but instead we were running on the roads miles away from any wall sections.
I was also pleased to see portaloos at Hexham as I really needed to shit, so I headed off for a sit down. Apart from the hot food at Vindolanda I had only been eating shot bloks and thought it was hilarious that my shit came out in shot blok sized shapes and the exact number of shot bloks I had eaten. I told the others once I came out of the loo but they didn’t find it as exciting as me.
Luckily Rew had sorted himself out and got some food down him and was feeling a lot better and less green so we decided to head off. The next section would take us onto the outskirts of Newcastle and we were well and truly out of the countryside and away from Hadrian’s Wall by this point. It was the most boring section of the race and just consisted of road through some minor villages.
As we reached the 57 mile mark we were both starting to feel the pain, my feet had continued to blister pretty badly (as usual) and coupled with the boring roads we just wanted to get the race finished with. I decided to push on ahead through a village and down a dry river bed. Although the route was boring the locals were great and we got loads of cheers and encourgement as we passed people. One local had even setup their own checkpoint with water and oranges which I was grateful for.
I had probably pushed on a bit to far again so decided to take a few walking breaks and stop to try and sort out my feet while I waited for Rew to catch up but when I didn’t see him after slowing down for a few miles I thought he is either struggling or had possibly decided to drop out. So I decided to press on to the last checkpoint to speak to Sophia to see if she had heard from him.
At the checkpoint I stopped to speak to my dad and wait for Rew who came in a few minutes after me. We were now only 6 or so miles from the finish so we made sure we had some food and under instruction of the medic I put on my jacket as it was getting dark. I think the medics may have been a bit paranoid as at that time they were dealing with someone who looked in a pretty bad way and didn't want anyone else getting into trouble.
Once we were ready to go we ran out together to get the final 6 miles done, we wern’t really enjoying it at this point and just wanted to get the finish. The final sections takes you into Newcastle before dropping down onto the Scotswood road where all we needed to do was head along the Tyne to the finish line but Rew was really starting to struggle with shin pain so we adopted a run/walk strategy. The only thing that cheered Rew up was when we chatted to another runner who informed us his bollocks had chaffed so much they were literally bleeding. I let him run off ahead doing a bit of a John Wayne impression before informing Rew that things could be worse and at least you are not that guy!
As we approached the quayside we could see the millenium bridge come into view knowing all we had to do was get across that and to the finish. We were cheered in by lots of geordie lasses out on the piss and got called losers by the geordie lads which was all part of the fun before we crossed the line in a time of 16 hours 19 minutes 30 seconds.
On a whole this race was fantastically organised, we literally didn’t need a map to follow the route as it was so well marked with Rat Race signs and marshalls at crucial sections and just to prove how little navigation was needed a woman was actually overall winner, I doubt that would have happened if you needed to read a map! But out of the 70 miles of the race I found most of it totally uninspiring and bland, too many sections of road which has totally worn down the tread on my hokas and not enough sections of Hadrian’s Wall. Rat Race do say they are trying to protect the area but I seriously think they would be better off changing the name of the event if the route stays as it is.
Perhaps the genius of ultrarunning is its supreme lack of utility. It makes no sense in a world of space ships and supercomputers to run vast distances on foot. There is no money in it and no fame frequently not even the approval of peers. But as poets apostles and philosophers have insisted from the dawn of time there is more to life than logic and common sense. The ultra runners know this instinctively. And they know something else that is lost on the sedentary. They understand perhaps better than anyone that the doors to the spirit will swing open with physical effort. In running such long and taxing distances they answer a call from the deepest realms of their being – a call that asks who they are…
David Blaikie
My emotions began to get the better of me as I ran to the finish to much appreciated cheers and applause from the crowd. I felt like a champion as I crossed the line. A hug from my Mum and brother set me off and I then fell to my knees and bowed down. I’d done it.
My twitter and training pal Graham Carter’s (@grahamcartergc) excellent write up on running his first Ultra Marathon at the NDW50.
Food wasn’t going down too well at this stage but I was still munching some oranges and Cliff Shot Blocks, whilst vomiting every now and again. Morning was coming and it would soon be business time, time to get my act together and start pushing on!
Robbie Britton’s humorous blog post on running in the World 24hr Championships.
Dropping out
It has become pretty clear to me recently that I have taken on too many running commitments this year and something, somewhere is going to break. It started with having to drop out of SDW50 and then struggling with the NDW50.
I have 2 races left this year The Wall Run and NDW100 and I don’t think I can do both. I could probably get through them at a struggle but to be honest I don’t want to struggle through lots of races. To get better results I need fewer races and to concentrate on doing them to the best of my ability.
Therefore I have decided to drop out of one of my remaining races this year and it makes sense to drop the NDW100 because
It is a longer/tougher race that is going to be much harder to complete when I am not 100%
I run the NDW all the time, so it would be nice to run somewhere else. And Hadrian’s wall country is beautiful scenery.
I had a volunteer place for NDW100 so I won’t lose out financially by dropping out.
I can still volunteer at NDW100 this year to get a place next year and/or crew for someone running this year to still play a part in the event.
So there you go, good luck to everyone I know running NDW100 especially @leebriggs9, @cmmercer, @danpark81 and @rewmds.
North Downs Way 50
The North Downs Way 50 is a 50 mile point to point run along the North Downs Way national trail from Farnham to Knockholt Pound.
As you can probably tell from the name of this blog I am pretty familiar with the North Downs Way and knew all but the first 2 miles of the NDW50 route. With this in mind I was targeting a finish time between 10 hours and 10 hours 30 minutes. To achieve this I had planned to hit the notorious Box Hill at about the 4 hour mark or an average of 10 min per mile pacing for the first 24 miles. After that I would give myself enough of a lead to drop a couple of minutes per mile over the hillier section of the course.
The race started at 8am and everything was going to plan for the first 12 miles until I started to hit a bad patch, this I think was caused by the fact apart from one slow marathon, I have not ran beyond 14 miles for the last 2 months so my current fitness is severely lacking and also the fact having not ran it for a while I forgot how steep a climb it is from this point up to St Martha’s. This meant I was really struggling along and as well as being down to a bit of a run/walk strategy I was feeling physically sick. Being able to visualise the entire route and realise just how far it was to go and some of the hill climbs to come made the situation even worse, sometimes ignorance is bliss!
By the time I got past this section I had also got a lot of sand in my shoes from the area around St Martha’s, now I suffer from blisters at the best of times but coupled with the sand it just made the situation worse, which was a bit of a shame as I was using the Injinji socks sent out to me by Sam Robson (@stupid_runner) to try out, but they can’t be blamed when you have a load of shite inside your shoes.
So after struggling along and a pitstop at Ranmore Common with my crew for the day Max (@maximisemylife) to wash and dry my feet and a change into the usual Hilly X-Trail socks I hit Box Hill way behind my 4 hour target and was more towards 5 hours. I continued on but after the second climb at Colley Hill I was ready to quit, the only good point on the horizon was the run down to Reigate Hill and a bit of banter with regular training partner Lee (@leebriggs9).
By the time I reached Reigate my stomach had stopped doing cartwheels and I was able to eat a bit more, the problem with the aid stations is there is a lot of nice food there but I never feel like I can eat any of it so I had plenty of fruit and a bit of a pork pie that Lee had ordered in especially.
The next aid station I would hit would be Caterham, which I was really looking forward to as I knew Zoe and the kids would be there waiting, by this time I knew there was no way I would finish anywhere under 11 hours so decided to take it a bit easier with a few more walking breaks and a quick picnic at Caterham with the kids which is one of the benefits of ultras, you can’t do things like that when running a 10k! I was also pleased to see the Caterham aid station had been upgraded from the water only pit stop I volunteered at last year to a full on aid station with food, balloons and jelly & ice cream (which went down really well).
Once I left Caterham all that was left to do was take a slow run/walk the 12 miles to the finish line for a finish time of 11 hours 48 minutes. A disappointing time but I think I had over estimated what I was capable of doing after not running much since the Thames Path 100.
You are better than you think you are, you can do more than you think you can.
Ken Chlouber, Leadville 100 founder.
What are the most common mistakes made in ultrarunning? From rookies to veterans, the common mistakes are what lead to less than satisfactory finish times or plain old DNFs…
Great article from trailandultrarunning.com
South Downs Way 50
In its inaugural year the SDW50 is a 50 mile foot race along the beautiful South Downs Way National Trail, beginning in Worthing and finishing in Eastbourne.
I had planned to run this event but had to pull out at the last minute due to the injuries I picked up during Thames Path 100 not recovering in time. So after a brief discussion with race director James I decided to do the next best thing and volunteer at one of the aid stations to help those who could compete.
I was placed at the Southease aid station which I was pleased with as it was at mile 33 of the race. This made things a bit more interesting as the runners would be starting to get a bit more tired and despondent by that point. There are 4 main jobs to do when volunteering, check runners in by taking their number, this needs to be done both on paper and electronically to update the live tracking system, assist runners with what they need which could be anything from getting food or helping them undo clips on their packs, answer the inevitable questions runners have such as how far is left? When is the next aid station? and help runners who may be struggling or on the verge of dropping out of the race.
After setting up the gazebo which would be our aid station for the day we quickly got food and drinks laid out and eagerly awaited the race leaders. We had heard rumours the lead guy was going at an incredible sub 7'30 pace and was expected anytime soon. While we waited the weather started to take a turn for the worse with a howling wind and rain starting to appear. We were down in a valley, the runners would be up in the hills before coming down to us and then heading back out into the hills again. I knew if it was cold down where we were then it would be hell up on the exposed trails.
Just as the lead two guys arrived I went to take their numbers and realised I wasn't standing under the gazebo anymore! Instead it had flown about 6 foot above me before starting to head off down the road at its own incredible pace, dragging behind it a metal cage we had tied it to. Luckily there weren't anymore runners coming in otherwise they may well have been taken out of the race by the very aid station they thought was their refuge! Once we retrieved the gazebo we made sure it wasn't going to move again. Luckily the runners who had seen it took it light heartedly as it did look a bit keystone cops and not the image we were trying to portray.
As is normal in these events the runners come through in dribs and drabs at first before you get a large influx of middle of the pack runners. As runners started to come in I was noticing more were suffering from the cold and there were a lot of comments like "its hell up there" or "do we really need to go back up there" each runner seemed to have a more harrowing tale than the last. I could almost see the fear in some runners eyes as they looked at the trail ahead of them snaking back up the hillside to the cold exposed trails. Most runners decided to go back out and complete the journey but a few decided that enough was enough and they would finish the race early. We tried to encourage them not to drop out but it was their race and their decision.
Once the final runners and sweeper came through it was time to quickly pack everything up and get it on the van to be taken away before handing over the recorded time sheets which had quickly got the nickname of "the bible". As the sweeper was ending at our aid station and handing over sweeping duties to someone else I offered to drop him back at his car before heading home.
The SDW50 was a great event, I am glad I volunteered, it was good to meet new runners and see people I know competing with one highlight being regular training partner Tim (@jedirider) bag himself a top 10 finish. I will definitely be on the start line next year and have already booked my place. There are lots of great write ups of the event, from a runners point of view I would recommend reading Mark Perkins the race winners excellent write up or race director James Elson's write up .
Thames Path 100
The Thames Path 100 is a trail race running from Richmond to Oxford, and is organised by Centurion Running. However due to adverse weather conditions and flooding this year the organisers had to re-route the race as a series of out and back runs along a 38 mile stretch of the Thames Path from Richmond to Cookham.
This out and back nature caused its own problems as the course got very churned up very quickly, it also meant some of the later aid stations were quite far apart and there would now only be one indoor aid station at Wraysbury which coupled with predicted cold weather made sure it was going to be a tough run.
I will breakdown this report to runs between aid stations because that is how I saw the race
Start and registration
After registering and going through kit checks, I made sure I caught up with as many people as I knew on the start line, these included people I speak to a lot on Twitter but haven’t actually met up with before so it was nice to say hello etc.
Richmond to Walton on Thames (0-11 Miles)
The race got underway bang on 10am, the initial section was a reroute due to another race being run on the Thames Path from Richmond but this didn’t bother me to much as I knew there would be plenty of people around to follow. We did actually go wrong though and 5 or 6 of us ran through a park we didn’t have to adding about a quarter of a mile to the run but at that time it was still quite jovial.
When I got to Walton on Thames I made sure that I said hello to Allan Rumbles (@ogeerunner) who said he might be around as he was crewing for a guy called Spencer Rolls (@captwonderpants). I had met Spencer while working an aid station for the North Downs Way 50/100, so was keen to see how he got on. After a brief chat, with Allan I grabbed some food and was on my way.
Walton on Thames to Wraysbury (11-22 Miles)
Not long after Walton on Thames I started to develop a niggly pain in my hip and thigh, so decided to take a few walking breaks to eat and recover. My pattern at this time was to run for 25 minutes and then walk 5 minutes.
When I got to Wraysbury which was the only indoor aid station, I again caught up with Allan Rumbles to see how Spencer was getting on and made sure I grabbed plenty of food as this aid station was very well stocked. I was mainly eating ham wraps, water melon, chocolate spread wraps and mars bars.
Wraysbury to Windsor (22-28 Miles)
This is where my problems really began to start as I had to stop several times to try and stretch out my leg as the pain in my thigh was becoming unbearable. I quickly changed from 25 mins running to 20 minutes running and 5 minutes walking as that was the most pain I could bear at that time.
As it was a relatively short distance to Windsor I decided I would plod on until then and see how I felt. Once I got to Windsor I had some more food and felt ok to go so carried on.
Windsor to Cookham (28-38 Miles)
Leaving Windsor aid station was a horrible experiance as there was a large puddle that couldn’t be avoided and it was about 1 foot deep. Well it could be avoided if you walked along a narrow ledge and tried clinging onto a chain link fence while slipping around in the mud but with my pains I wasn’t about to do that so I had to splash straight through it.
When I got to Cookham I again saw Allan and he asked how I was going, I said about the pain in my thigh and hips and he sat me down and gave me a quick massage which really helped.
Cookham to Windsor (38-48 Miles)
When I left Cookham I felt really good, I had spoken to my crew who were now on the scene and waiting for me just down the road and I was now also running against everyone still on their way to Cookham so could see everyone who was behind me. I met my crew in Maidenhead, had a brief sit down in the van before shooting off to Windsor. This is where it started to get pretty dark, I had hoped to get to Windsor before dark so I could change into my night time kit there but the path was so churned up by now it was impossible to run in the fading light without a torch.
When I got to Windsor I had a brief chat with Sam Robson (@stupid_runner), someone else who I talk to quite a bit on twitter. Sam was supposed to be pacing Mimi Anderson but as she had unfortunately had to pull out of the race he was kindly helping out at the aid station. I got my first hot food at Windsor and felt good to go. I took a bag of salty vegetable crisps out of my drop bag but ended up throwing them in the bin after 2 crisps as I couldn’t stomach eating them.
Windsor to Wraysbury (48-54 Miles)
As I had gone through the big puddle at Windsor I decided now would be a good time to change my socks, put blister plasters on as I could feel hot spots developing on my feet and to change into my cold weather gear. So rather than faff on at the aid station I decided to sit on a bridge away from the aid station to get sorted. First of all I got my cold gear out to make sure I stayed relatively warm before attending to my feet and changing socks. After sitting down for a good 10 minutes though the pain in my hips became unbearable and I was reduced to walking for 10 minutes or so before they loosened up again. And as the path was so churned up every time I slipped I would get agonising pains in my hips. I had all of a sudden gone from a timed run/walk strategy to a run when I could strategy.
Just outside Wraysbury I picked up my first pacer Kiernan (@kiernan5). But once we got to Wraysbury and that nice warm aid station stocked with lots of nice food I didn’t want to leave but Kiernan made sure I didn’t hang around to long so on we went.
Wraysbury to Walton on Thames (54-65 Miles)
The pain in my hips and thigh was now becoming unbearable, I was having to get Kiernan to do things like count out 20 fence posts of running or run from lamp post to lamp post as I quickly went from running to bearly shuffling along. Although I was helped by my competitive side when I saw a runner behind us and I let Kiernan know that “if this cunt wants to overtake me he is going to have to work for it” (we didn’t see him again).
Just outside Walton on Thames I had to call the van as I could tell my feet were now in a terrible state, once we got in the van Lee (@leebriggs9) layed me down and quickly went about cleaning and dressing my feet. Problem was by this stage it was a really cold night and I couldn’t stop shivering in the back of the van despite having towels thrown over me.
Once my feet were dressed we got on our way but I asked Kiernan to run ahead and let the aid station know he had a cold runner coming in as I knew I was in danger of getting hypothermia. This enabled the volunteers to get a chair and heaters ready for me when I arrived a couple of minutes later. The volunteers were amazing and made sure I had a hot drink and helped me get my waterproof trousers on as I wasn’t capable of doing it myself by this point.
Walton on Thames to Wraysbury (65-76 Miles)
This is when I hit a real low point, we were about 65 miles in when we left Walton on Thames and I hadn’t been able to run for a while, the hips were hurting so much if I stopped still I was having to hold onto walls and fences as I plodded along waiting for them to ease up again. And as I wasn’t moving quickly I was getting colder and colder, I decided to get a second jacket out of the van and wore that as well.
As it was 11 miles between these aid stations which is quite a distance at this stage of the race the organisers had put on a “car boot checkpoint” however I didn’t want to stop because I knew it would hurt so much to get going again. However just after the checkpoint I sat down on a bench feeling sick and very sorry for myself giving it the old “this (finishing) isn’t going to happen today”. I then started wretching and felt so sick. Luckily the volunteer saw/heard this and ran over to help. He convinced me to eat something and after a bit of negotiation I said I would try a slice of cheese and a piece of bread. I slowly forced it down and then I felt a lot better and felt able to continue to Wraysbury.
Kiernan was trying to get me to run but I knew at that time I would just have to walk the last 37 miles or so because I just couldn’t make my legs run no matter how hard I tried. Luckily I had built up a lot of time in the first 65 miles so I was still well within the 30 hour cut off but I knew coming in under 24 hours wasn’t going to be possible.
Once we got to Wraysbury I tried to not hang around to long as I knew that lovely indoor aid station was going to be to warm and inviting and I wouldn’t want to leave. So I had a quick cup of coffee, asked Kiernan to get me some fresh fruit and we headed out the door again.
Wraysbury to Windsor (76-82 Miles)
The initial plan was for me to do this section by myself but I was too tired, disheartened and disorientated to be left alone, I was so tired I knew I would find the first bench and lie down to sleep which could have been fatal, so Kiernan swapped with Lee and Lee walked with me to Windsor. By this point the sun was starting to come out which helped with the tiredness but it was still bitterly cold. Once we got to Windsor I had some more warm food before we headed off.
Windsor to Cookham (82-92 Miles)
This was one of the toughest sections. The plan was to meet up with my 3rd pacer Johnny (@johnnyultra) at Windsor but as I didn’t want to stop still to long we left before he arrived. So it was rearranged to meet up with him on route.
My feet were in agony by this point and it wasn’t helped by all the mud that had washed into my shoes by walking through that puddle. So the plan was to meet at Maidenhead bridge to have another look at my feet but it seemed to take forever to get there. I was being really irrational by this point and blaming my crew “why couldn’t they have parked closer” and pacer “you said it was 2 miles, its been longer”.
When we finally got there, Lee looked at my feet, dressed them and said they were not to bad (he later told me it looked like trench foot and that my feet were covered in blood) and that lie down in the car made it agony on my hips, i was unable to walk until they started to loosen up again.
The walk up to Cookham was demoralising because I could see everyone else coming the other way back to Windsor and the finish line. When we got to Cookham I had no intention of stopping because I was afraid if my hips stiffened up this time they wouldn’t get going again so I walked up to the aid station, gave my number before turning right back around while Johnny grabbed me some soup plus some snacks.
Cookham to Windsor (92-102 Miles)
This was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, it was painful with every step as the redressing of my feet had only taken the pain away for a couple of minutes and it felt like I was walking bare foot across broken glass. I had been awake for well over 27 hours and was in agony. I was so demoralised at mile 95 I said to Johnny I was going to quit as I just wanted the pain to end. The mud was so sloppy by that point and every time I slipped I got pains in my feet and even got pains shooting into my hands. I also started to hallucinate, I kept feeling someone right behind me so I would step to the side to let them past but each time there was nobody there.
I was desperate to take my mind of everything so I had 2 energy gels laced with caffeine and that helped a bit and gradually as we got closer to the finish my spirits began to pick up. It was strange I had gone 100 miles but by this point was breaking the race down into 10 metre chunks, “Just walk to that tree” and then once there “Just walk to that fence”.
Coming up to the finish in Windsor I had to go through that bloody puddle again which was by now 2 feet deep but I didn’t care anymore because just the other side was the finish line where Zoe and the kids were waiting. They had never seen me finish a race before so it was amazing to have them there to see me finish this one.
Finish
Unfortunately I don’t have any photos or videos of me finishing as it was still so cold by this point the iPhones wouldn’t work. At the finish I had a big bowl of chilli with bread and a coffee before collecting my medal and buckle and making my way home. Getting to the car again was agony after sitting down for 10 minutes or so.
Although the race didn’t turn out how I expected it to I am glad I managed to stick it out and I think with a finish rate of only about 55% it shows how tough this race was. But I still managed to beat my hoped for time of being a good couple of hours below the 30 hour cut off with a time of 27 hours 19 minutes and 19 seconds. Placing 63rd out of 90 finishers (164 started).
It was also good to get the finish at my first time at this distance.
There's a place
I love running trails, I am not the best or the fastest trail runner in the world in fact I am decidedly average. But when I am flying down a hill on the north downs at night, skipping over tree roots in my own mind I am an Anton Krupicka or Scott Jurek and I love it. But this post is about another person I met on the trail tonight. I was minding my own business doing a pretty good pace and about to hit a good hill climb when I saw a woman up ahead on the trail. Bare in mind this was on a pretty remote part of the trail and she was wearing a mini skirt and heels so my first thought was it was someone who maybe had an argument with someone and had got out of a car and was now trying to make her way home. As she had her back to me and I didn't want to frighten her I gave a cough and shouted coming through. It was only as I passed that I realised this young woman was in fact a man in mini skirt, heels, fur coat, wig and full face of makeup. Most peoples reaction at seeing someone who wasn't "normal" in the middle of night, in the pitch black on a remote part of the trail would be to run away as fast as possible but I just felt an overwhelming sadness for this person and the fact they feel they have to hide away where it is quiet and dark. I guess for very different reasons the trail at night is where we both feel comfortable to go out and be the people we want to be.
In the night garden
As it is the time of year for dark cold nights I thought I would write about night trail running.
A lot of people have a fear of running in the dark especially away from civilisation out alone on the trails. It is a natural reaction to be afraid of the night where you will lose a lot of your visual orientation, but wether it is a genuine fear of falling over or getting lost or an irrational fear of werewolf’s, zombies and ghosts there are things you can do to make your life easier.
Use the right equipment. For night running a head torch is a must. The power of a head torch is measured in lumens, the more lumens the brighter the light emitted will be. Try and buy a head torch that balances power output against the weight of the unit and battery life it offers. For long runs consider taking spare batteries or a spare head torch with you.
Ease into it. Do your first runs on trails you know and have trained on during the day. When you know every root and rock you will be able to anticipate the course better which will make things a lot easier for you.
Run into or out of the night. Rather than starting and finishing your run in the dark try going out an hour before sunlight so you start in darkness but with the knowledge that the run will get gradually lighter as the sun begins to rise. This is especially helpful if you do have a fear of the dark as you can take comfort in the fact the darkness will gradually fade away.
Alternatively you can run into the night and start your run just before nightfall, this is especially recommended for more technical trails so that you gradually lose daylight and visibility rather than being thrust straight into a particularly technical or rocky trail in darkness.
Run with friends. Useful for people with irrational fears. Arrange a night outing with other runners, especially useful if the other runners have experiance of running trails at night. Try not to run with someone who’s fears are just as irrational as your own as you will just end up spooking each other out every time you hear a twig snap.
Run on the night of a full moon. Maybe not one for people with fears of werewolf’s but the increased visibility offered by a full moon will make life easier out on the trails.
Eat and drink more. When running at night the added stress, concentration required and cold weather will mean you use a lot more energy than running during the day. Therefore you should always make sure you eat and drink more than you normally would.
Stay warm and safe. The usual safety precautions you should take when running trails are amplified when running at night. Always take a mobile phone with you and back this up by letting someone know your planned route and expected return time. As you will face reduced temperatures at night always make sure you have enough warm clothing with you incase of an unexpected extended time out on the trail or if you are reduced to walking home.
Music. Useful if you have irrational fears. At night there will be a lot more noise on the trails from nocturnal animals such as scuffling sounds or twigs snapping. If you are the kind of person who gets spooked at every strange noise try putting on some music. This will fill your head with familiar rather than unfamiliar sounds.
However be warned, when I tried this on my first night run after I was feeling a little bit spooked I pressed play on my iPod shuffle and the first words it spoke to me…
“Now Playing: Thriller by Michael Jackson.”
Out with the new and in with the old
I recently replaced my Garmin Forerunner 305 with a newer Garmin Forerunner 310XT with HRM.
As a gadget geek I should be over the moon with the Garmin 310XT, it syncs wirelessly via a usb dongle plugged into the laptop, it has better battery life, it is waterproof to a depth of 50m and it vibrates on my arm whenever it displays a message which is great for when you are running with music, in fact it is better in every way than the Garmin 305 but I strangely found myself with buyers remorse.
It had nothing to do with how many 0s were in my bank account this month or wether I could justify the cost but more to do with the fact I felt guilty about replacing my Forerunner 305 on a personal level.
I soon realised I saw my Garmin 305 as a trusty old friend who has guided me and paced me for 2 years and almost 3000 miles of running. He still has all the dents and scratches from when I got hit by a car on the A23. He was there when I ran 13 half marathons in 13 days something I never thought I would be able to do, he was there when I ran 40 unsupported miles along the North Downs Way carrying everything I needed on my back and he was there at run24 when I got hypothermia, lost control of my guts and had a shit that in my hypothermic and tired mind looked exactly like a full roast chicken.
You can’t get a closer friend than that.