What a weekend. If anyone had said a couple of years ago that I would be spending a day of my bank holiday running 85 miles I would have laughed at them. But thats exactly what I have just done.
Starting at midday on Saturday 29th August I set off from Ivinghoe Beacon with an 85 mile run in front of me. The run was to take me into new territory having previously only run 50 miles in one day. Thats the challenge though, thats what makes we do these things. Can I put myself through this and finish?
The first half was pretty straightforward. I very steadily progressed over the first 20 odd miles, running all the flat and downhill sections and walking the uphills. I was averaging 5 miles an hour, so on target.
Somewhere between mile 20 - 25 the reality of what I was doing hit me. I hadn't even done a marathon by that point and I was attempting to run over 3 of them!! I did start to think how am I going to do this. So as I always do, i put some cracking tunes on and plodded on.
It wasn't long after this point that my legs started to feel great, really fresh and relaxed. I stepped up the pace and it all felt fantastic. I kept this up until I got to Goring which was the half way point. That was the first half done in just over 9 hours.
At Goring the organiser have proper food which is massively welcomed. I had a jacket potato with beans and cheese and a cup of tea. That would help me to get through the night section.
It is really weird getting use to eating while your running. When i do marathons I might have a few energy gels and a viper bar nearer the end but not proper food. but during this run I ate:
8 x squares of ham and pease pudding sandwiches
2 x bags of crisps
1 x snickers
3 x Trek energy bars
1 x hot dog and onions
1 x jacket potato, beans and cheese
3 x cups of tea
1 x mini mars bar
2 x peperami hots
10 x litres of energy drink
1/2 x jam sandwich
After a 30 minute break at half way I set off for the second half. It was dark now so this was where it was going to get interesting. I didn't get lost at all during the first half of the race but there were a few points where I would have missed the path of it had been dark.
Fortunately as I was walking up a road three guys doing the run caught up with me and we got talking. They were about to become my running mates for the next 9 hours.
Alex, Tony and Quentin welcomed me into their group and made the night section sail by. Physically I felt fine, I had lots of energy, I wasnt feeling tired and all my joints were feeling good.
The one thing about ultra running is that you always get plenty of time to get to know people. Given it was night time and we really weren't in a race but a personal challenge we all walked the next 25 miles. Alex had run the second half a month before so pretty much knew the way, this helped alot.
We played a variety of games, told stories and shared our running experiences to while away all the time we had. A couple of the guys were suffering from minor injuries so I think it helped them to take their mind off it a bit. A game of 'football' also kept us entertained for many hours. I wont go into detail but lets just say the beans at half way helped.
There are some people you meet in your life who give you inspiration or add a new perspective to your life which you have to grateful for. Alex is one of them. Alex is 37 and 2 years ago was diagnosed with Parkinsons. His attitude to life is spot on, get out there and do what you can. He is raising £1million for the Parkinson Trust so if this strikes a cord with you his page is http://www.justgiving.com/alex-flynn/. I hope we stay in touch.
The sun came up which was a great feeling but it also made we very aware that we were into a new day and that I had been out there for about 18 hours and I still had about a 17 miles to go. I decided to start running again, at this point I wanted the run to finish as quickly as I could. So I said a big thanks and goodbye to Alex and Tony and wished them the best for the rest of the race. I have no doubt that they would finish.
I was still enjoying being out there and playing the mental games that go through your head but I was feeling tired and thought that starting to run again would help. Weirdly it did.
The checkpoints seemed to take a long time to come around but that happens when you so desperately want them to be just round the corner. They do appear eventually and thats another thing to check off the list. You are one step closer to finishing.
When I got to the final checkpoint there was only 5 miles to go. Only 5 miles, sounds easy doesn't it. I reckon that last 5 miles took about 1hr 20 to complete. It seemed to go on for ever. There was quite a big hill to climb and the ground was rough with big track marks which you had to pick your route through. Trying to concentrate at this point was not easy!
Finally the sign arrived which pointed us down the hill to the finish. I have never been so pleased to see the end of a race. I was tired, very tired and although I felt stiff I was not as bad as I thought I would be.
I had finished in a medal winning position in that I was the 3rd fastest man over 35!! I must say I was very pleased with that. I'm not too sure of my exact time but I think it was around 22hrs 30 minutes.
Races like these aren't possible without support. I'd like to say thanks to Meredith for being my crew and being at checkpoints with food and drink ready for me, brilliant. Thanks to my family who have always supported me through all my runs. Thanks to my mum who called me at 4.30am to check I was alright, things like that give you a lift.
Also thanks to everyone who texted or facebooked, entertaining and encouraging.
Its Monday afternoon now and I have a swollen ankle and achey top of my calves. Given what I've done I am suprisingly ok.
What an experience, absolutely brilliant. Definately to be repeated some time in the future.
Until next time thanks...
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