Things I love about running Part 1

Hi Everyone,

While I was out running the other day I started to think about about all the things I love about running. The more I thought about it the more things came to me.

The first thing I thought about was that I get to run with my wife, Meredith That's one of things I love about running. We were out doing a 7.5 mile easy run during the only good hour or two of good weather sandwiched between rain and wind.

We have run together for the past 4 years and it really is good time that we spend. It could be an easy run where we get to talk or if there is too much talking (and Meredith likes to talk) I can step up the pace and that soon quietens things down!

Although we didn't run together we have both done the London and Stockholm marathons together (if that makes sense).

I think that I've managed to persuade my Meredith to do her first Ultra next year... She has been so understanding about me bombing off around the UK and the world and she totally understands why I love running that I thought if we could do an ultra together then that would be a great experience. So I think we are going to Iceland to do a single stage 35 mile run across ice, rivers, snow, rocks hills......loads of hills.

I have every faith that Meredith will do it and although she won't enjoy every step she will enjoy it.

So that's number one. That's part one.

Cheers

Johnny

A good week, here's the weekend

Hi All, hope you had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend.

Running wise its been a good week for me as I feel like my running is back on track now. Given that I ran 100 miles though the Himalayas 2 weeks ago i'm quite pleased with my recovery.

This is what I did this week.

• Mon 5.1 miles - 39 mins
• Wed 8 miles - 59 mins
• Thurs 4.7 miles - 35 mins

So this weekend, well its was my brothers birthday yesterday so we are all meeting up for a meal tomorrow so no running. Sunday however is a different day and I am currently planning a half marathon, nice and easy and off road most for most of it. There are loads of paths through the countryside that I haven't tried yet and I need to explore.

I'm looking forward to the Luton marathon now also but I'm still unsure as what time I will do. I am thinking 3.30-3.45 if it goes well. 3.30 might be pushing it but its worth a go. After completing this marathon I'll be up to 25, a quarter of the way to reaching the 100 Marathon club. That sounds ok but at 10 marathons a year I'll be 105 before I join so I need to get myself in gear and start running seriously!!!

Have a good weekend.

Johnny

Great 8 mile run

What a great run. I've just been out for a run and it was fantastic. It was the my first proper run since the himalayas and I really needed a solid run to get me back on track.

Here are the details of the run:

• Distance: 8 miles
• Time: 59 mins 19 seconds
• Calories: 1042

It felt good. Here is a link to my garmin page if you want to see the run.. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/19144756. very consistent mile times and a solid fast finish.

As I mentioned I really needed this run tonight as I have the Luton Marathon in just over 2 weeks and this has given me confidence that my body is back to normal after my 100 miles through the himalayas.

I think I'll do a 10 miler tomorrow and then a day off on Friday. I'll keep you posted..

Have fun, Johnny

An Amazing Week in the Himalayas

Hi All,

I am back from my 100 mile run in the Himalayas and I had a great time. I finished the run and thought you might enjoy my race report.

The days before the run.

We had a great introduction to India which involved going to Delhi's No.1 nightclub!! It wasn't planned. We arrived at our hotel and it was about 1am India time so about 8pm my time so Joe and I thought we'd find the hotel bar and have a beer. We walked into the Hotel bar and it was a full on club. The music was banging, they were setting fire to the bar, there were girls dancing on the bar, it was crazy. So we stayed for a few beers!

The next day we got a flight from Delhi to Bagdogra and then took a bus to Mirik which is where we stayed for the next two nights. The journey to Mirik was interesting. We were in an old bus driving along roads with cows and goats on the side and and weaving in and out of traffic. Driving in India is unique, there doesn't seem to be too many rules. The journey got more interesting as we weaved over 6500ft up into the tea hills of the Darjeeling region. The landscape got more and more impressive.

This is the view from the swiss style chalet we stayed in... Nice

Race Day one - 24 miles.

That was not quite what I was expecting! It was really tough, possibly the hardest single day of running i have done. There was so much up hills. I would say about 20 of the 24 miles was uphill. To put it into perspective we ran/walked up 8500ft of hills today which is equivalent to running up Snowdon 3 times in one day!

The first 2 miles took 45mins!. At times we were walking up the hill and I could feel my heart beat in my chest and head. The rest was downhill which sounds fine but its down very uneven stony roads so it was hard to go fast. We reach an altitude of 12000ft which is where our hut and bed was for the night. A very tough but amazing day, loads of lovely friendly locals along the way.

The whole 24 miles took an amazing 7:20. Here are a couple of photos of the place we stayed at and the view from the top of day one's hill!

Race Day 2 - 20 miles: Day 2 was easier than day 1 although still hilly. We ran ten miles along a ridge then turned around and went back again. The view for the day was Everest and 3 of the other tallest mountains in the world, how amazing is that!

It is very rare to have such a clear day so we were very lucky. Top CD of the day was Above and Beyond Vol7 disc2. We had noodles and ginger tea at the restaurant in the tiny little place we were staying in which was very nice. Our time for the 20 mile run was 4:34. We were all in bed asleep by 8pm as it was so cold. I went to bed with 2 layers on my legs and 3 layers on top and i was in a sleeping bag and had two rugs on me!! We had to get up at 4.45am as we had a marathon to run the next day.

Heres a photo of everest - its the high peak in the middle!! This is also the ` best toilet in the world...

Race Day 3 - A marathon . Well this day turned out to be another tough day. The distances were measured all wrong and it was easily over 28miles in total but the variety in terrain made it interesting. We started off running back along the 10 miles we ran the day before. the course then took us another 6 miles along the ridge and there was a huge climb at the end of the 6 miles all the way to the halfway checkpoint.

The scenery was amazing as we started out at 12000ft with Everest and the other mountains in view. We then dropped 5500ft to were we are staying tonight. The tough uphills were matched with the tough downhills which just kept on coming. We ran through the fir trees to a more dense jungle where there were apparently red Pandas and Bengal Tigers; I didn't see either of them.

The down hill gave me an awkward pain the outside of my right knee which hurt when I took steps downhill!! Bugger. We took our time on this run and finished in 9hrs 40 mins.

Race Day 4 - Half Marathon

Today was a relatively easy one. We had a half marathon to complete which included 6 miles of down hill, 3 miles of flat and then 4 miles of uphill. Again the scenery was fantastic and different to the other days. We ran down the long downhill to a river and had a good relaxing run. This was the first day where you could actually just run and didn't have to look at every step.

We took 2:32 mins to complete the day. We headed back to the motel and had the afternoon to relax before the cultural evening!! Well, the cultural evening was entertaining. Each country had to do something that represented their country like sing a song! Like true brits we all politely refused except for one guy who got up and sang head, shoulders, knees and toes in dutch!! What?

My Po from Taiwan got my vote by doing his Michael Jackson impression, it was so funny. Shamown.....eee he!! Then it got to 8.30 and we left to have our tea. One more day to go and the last 17 miles.

Race Day 5 - 17 Miles

Well this was our final day and I was really looking forward to today's run. Todays run started at the point we finished at the day before so it was a bus ride from the place where we had been sleeping. The route today took us up hill for the first 7 miles and then gave us a lovely gentle downhill of the last 10 miles.

My calves were so tight at the start of the race and felt really heavy but as the run went on they started to loosen and by the time we had reached the top of the hill in around 1hr 25 mins they were all relaxed and I was ready to go.

Joe and I stuck our tunes on, had a power bar and half a viper and went for it. We were hammering it down the hill for quite a while and then thought that we should probably relax a bit. We weren't going to beat any records and this would be the last time we spend the day running around the himalayas.

The finish came around quickly and it was a great welcome. Children had come out to cheer us on and high-5 us as we ran past and there was a big welcome as we crossed the finish line.

Here are some photos from the end of the run.

Im back and ive gone again

In the words of my running mate, Joe, I am back and oh i've gone again.....!

After a short while relaxing after my 85 mile run i'm back and I've been stepping up the training again to make sure I am ready for my next challenge

And oh, ive gone again as I fly out to the Indian himalayas next friday to run 100 miles over the worlds biggest mountains! Well not over them but on them..

I really can't wait to get out there, it is going to be amazing. I've got 1 day to acclimatise at the altitude which is only 6500 ft at that point.

Then the next day we set off. This is the schedule.

Day 1 - 24 miles - climbing 5500 ft!!

Day 2 - 20 miles

Day 3 - 26.4 miles - a marathon over Everest!!!!Wow

Day 4 - 17 miles

Day 5 - 12.6 miles - nice easy day to finish

Im going to try to keep twitter or/and facebook updated

Wish me look and I'll do my best to keep you posted.

As always here's one more request to all you kind lovely people to drop me a few quid to support the amazing work that the guys at Mencap do.http://www.justgiving.com/johnnyultra

85 Mile Run.... Done

Hi everyone,

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...

Great Weeks Training

Hi All,

Just a quick one to say I've had a great week of running. Following my 30 miler last Saturday I did a nice steady 6.5 mile run on the Sunday and felt ok.

I then wenet out for a tempo run on the Tuesday doing 6 miles in total with the middle 4 averaging 6:25 minute miles. That felt great and the fastest I have run in some time

I did an easy half marathon last night and my legs feel good today, its all coming together.

This weekend Im doing a 20 miler on Saturday and a 10 miler on Sunday then I can start to take it easy ready for the massive 85 mile run on Saturday 29th August.

Have a good weekend.

Johnny

Great 30 mile training run

Hi all,

I really needed a good training run today to give me some more confidence with my 85 miler only 3 weeks away now!!

So I headed out, backpack loaded with drink and snack bars and headed into the countryside round Beaconsfield.

Everything felt really good as I headed up to Flackwell Heath on my way to Marlow. I got to Marlow, which was just over a half marathon in 2 hrs 10 minutes so pleased with that.

I grabbed myself some lunch and more drink and headed down to the Thames in Marlow to find somewhere good to eat it. It was such a nice day, the sun was shining, there was still a bit of cloud which helped keep the temperature down a bit.

I took the second half easier and ended up finishing the 30 miles in 5.15 hours.

The good news is that I feel good, my achillies is absolutely fine, so its all looking good for the ultra...bring it on.

Top tune of the day was Marco V - Unprepared from the new Trance Nation CD mixed by Above and Beyond

Off for a 10 miler tomorrow to see how the legs hold up.

Laters...

Good Weekend on the Moors

Alright everyone?

I had a good weekend up on the north york moors with the RTS team. Matt who I met through www.therunningbug.co.uk and ran most of the Grantham Canal 30 miler with is doing the Hardmoors 110 miler in October so we went up to the North York Moors and went for a run.

Matts mate Vin ran with us and Mal was the 'crew' keeping us fed and watered. I ran the first 21 miles along part of the Cleveland Way but was a bit done in after the marathon last weekend so dropped out and let Matt and Vin crack on to do around 27 miles in total.

It is really impressive up there and fortunately the weather held off as it would have been quite miserable if it had rained all the way.

I went for a run tonight, an easy 5 miler which felt really good. Off for a 6 miler tomorrow after work and then probably going to do a 15 miler on Thursday after work!!

Then its friday off work as I'm going to Tiesto....ave it!

Have a good week,

Johnny

Off to the Moors

Hi All,

I'm on a train at the mo coming back from a meeting at Glasgow. Its 10.11pm, unlikely to get home til 12.45 or so but the good news is I was given a complementary upgrad to 1st class and have had free food and wine all night..woohoo.

So last weekend was a good run. It ended up taking me 5hrs 17mins which was better than 2007 but a bit disappointing as I finished the first half in 2hrs 5mins and was on for a good time but I got lost about 3 times, one for about 30 minutes.

How can you get lost you ask... Well you are given 4 A4 pages of notes which you use to navigate yourself around the course. There are no mile markers or any directional markers at all and as my orientiering skills are not that hot it was inevitable that I got lost.

This weekend is much of the same in that I have a 28 mile run planned. Fortunately this time all i need to do is turn up and run as Matt and his mates are sorting out the details, cheers Matt. Matt is doing the Hardmoors 110 run in October so this weekend is a reccy of part of the course, should be interesting.

Right im off to enjoy more free wine.

Cheers

Johnny

im back

Hi All,

Its been a quiet first half of summer for me and my running. After my 4 marathons in 4 weeks my achillies was a little battered so I took a bit of time out to let it repair and strengthen.

So I have been doing about 2 runs a week on average with one marathon chucked in to see what would happen and all was good. It was a great marathon as well, all off road across the south downs, absolutely beautiful. This one had 5500 foot ascent and descent in it which made a different type of challenge but good fun.

But as the title of this post suggests I am back into it now. I've had 4 runs this week totalling 32 miles and I've been pleased with them. Ive got an off road marathon next weekend and the sunday which will be interesting as its the day after a wedding!!.

This one is the Fairlands Valley Challenge which I have done before and it took me and Joe 5.5 hours to complete!! You have to navigate your way around with an instruction booklet. Oh dear!

Im off to yorkshire the weekend after to have a training session with another ultra runner I met through the Running Bug website. Matt is doing the Hardmoors 110 which as the name suggests is 110 miles across the moors, non stop. We are going to be doing a 35 mile stretch of the run to see what it is like.

All this is building up to the big one which is the 85 miler at the end of August. Thats massive....really looking forward to it but have not quite got my head around it yet..

Until next time. Enjoy.

Johnny

All 4 Marathons done now

Hi everyone,

Well i've completed my 4 marathons in 4 weeks and apart from a tight calf and achilles all is well.

The last two marathons were pretty tough. One was over the South Downs so loads of big hills, over 3400 ft ascent and descent in total!. This one was an odd run. The first 10 miles were ok, the secnd 10 were really hard and then the last 7 miles were the best of the whole race!! No idea what happened except that I had an extreme viper bar and 2 ibuprofen around mile 20!

Best tune of the day was an old hardcore tune from around 1993 Force Mass Motion - Panic. Cracking tune, took me back to the old days.

The marathon last weekend was definately one of two halves. I canned the first half in around 1.35 and then fell apart a bit during the second doing that in 1.55! The course was pretty hilly and it was pretty warm so I was pretty happy with my time of 3.30.

Now I have a month off racing with my next Marathon being on 13th June. This one will be a killer as it has 6500ft ascent and descent!!! Oooch, should be a laugh though.

Until them all i have to do is train for my 85 miler that is coming up in August.

Cheers

Johnny

Shakespeare Marathon Done....

Hi All,

Today I completed theSakespeare Marathon in 3:23 which I was pleased with. My calf held up which was good. I came 119th out of 860 which wasnt too bad.

Me at the start...as you can see it was quite warm so another good day to get a tan.

So thats 2 in two weeks now and I am really looking forward to the next one which is the 3 Forts Challenge which is an off road run over lots of hills. Its nickname is the tough one!!

Top tune of the day was a trance classsic - Shadow World by Thomas Bronzwaer, cracking.

Till next time, have a good week. Cheers

One down, 3 to go.

Hi everyone,

I had a cracking run at the Bungay marathon last sunday, everything went well and I finished in 3hrs 12 mins which is a personal best of 9 minutes. Very pleased with that.

The week has been ok. I have a slight calf strain which is getting better but it not going to be fully recovered before tomorrows marathon in Stratford so i'll just take it easy and see what happens.

I'm really looking forward to the one next weekend in the South Downs which is an off road, hilly one which should make it more interesting.

Tunes update, I only listened to one CD during the Bungay run which was Anjunbeats 100, cracking trance. they had a stupid rule that you were not allowed to listen to ipods!!

But for Stratford I have got a new Happy Hardcore CD which is banging, loads of dark, jungly type hardcore. That should keep me going.

have a good weekend.

Johnny

1 week until my 4 marathons in 4 weeks....

Happy Easter everyone,

I've just been out for my last long run before my next challenge starts. The challenge is 4 marathons in 4 weeks. I think I am ready for it.

The marathons I am doing are:

1. Bungay Black Dog - Suffolk

2. Shakespeare - Stratford Upon Avon

3. Three Forts Challenge - Off road marathon - Brighton

4. Halstead - Essex

I am also aiming to get a personal best in the Bungay Marathon going for a time of 3hrs 15mins.

I'll keep you allm posted as I finish each one and also post the run up so you can see I actually did it!.

My sponsorship money is coming along nicely now and I have just over £2300 which is excellent. It feels like it is all coming together so if you want to help please do. http://www.justgiving.com/johnnyultra

Cheers

Johnny