Cross country tales, cautionary tales and tales from Wales

I'm a poet! :-p

I think the secret to feeling like you are getting better at XC is to just HTFU, get stuck in and do it consistently. It is my aim to run ALL the fixtures this year + the championship races. Go through the pain and the feeling rubbish, and emerge the other side a few fixtures later feeling stronger. The Leamington XC mentioned in the last blog felt like it had taken a bit out of my legs. I don't have very often have leg aches these days but I had a bit of delayed soreness from this one. Not really sure why, having notched up Winsford, the XC relays and Park Hall before it.

So we've had some more XC fixtures, the next up being the fairly uninspiring Stafford Common. It is a course we usually have to run 2, if not 3 times a year, but this was not the reason it gave me nightmares. By the Wednesday before the Saturday we had 2 confirmed runners, needing 4 to finish a team. Quite pathetic for a club of our size really. It wasn't for lack of trying on my part. In fact I think my epitaph should probably be "She really tried". In the end we had a lot of people step up, including 4 runners who had never done XC before, 10 out in total which was great.

In convincing these people, I had explained how Stafford Common was one of the faster, more runnable courses. This is true - the ground is usually quite easy going, and the hills are drags rather than massive undulations. However, I hadn't factored in a fortnight of heavy rain and the fact there are junior races going on all morning, so we got there and found the warm up jog was a bit waterlogged and the course cut up by other peoples spikes. The ladies race started, and then I realised just how waterlogged the whole place was. The first drag up and down was OK  this descended in to mud. Not too bad, but then a few mins later the large sticky bit of mud known as "the ditch" proved why it is so notorious. I picked what I thought was a solid bit of mud, and my right leg sank in up to my knee. I felt my shoe coming off as I pulled up my leg, but thankfully it stayed put on my foot.

I think the ditch was about knee high.....

The climb up the back of the loop was pretty slippery as was the descent back down again, but you just kind of get on with it. I think I am good at just tanking through the mud. If you dither about and get too hung up on it you will lose time, yes pick a sensible path, but once committed  just go through it - it is quicker. It had dawned on my during part of the first and most of the second lap I was ahead of people I'm usually with. I overtook a woman who had pipped me on the line at Park Hall on the 2nd lap, and intended it to stay that way. I'm pleased to say it did.

So I actually got back in time to see the men start, some of the newbies wondered what they were getting in to seeing the state of our legs. It was great to see all the normal suspects, these people are the backbone of the team, but I did enjoy seeing the new folk enjoying themselves, smiling, high fiving and aeroplaning in to the finish. Two of the newbies didn't make it to the end, pulling out with injury but at least they gave it a go in the first place. I went and stood by the ditch on my warm down with a camera, so here is an example of the shoe eater of doom that we had to contend with:

He's not praying.....

So on to Conwy - the tale from Wales

The day after Stafford Common, I went and did the Conwy Half in Wales with my friend S. She has done a lot of Half Marathons this year, and I went with her for this one. I like races in Wales. The scenery, the atmosphere and the fact that mostly they are civilized in their start time. This one commenced at 12.00. She picked me up, we had a lovely drive there on a crisp sunny morning, plenty of time to find a McDonalds (not my cup of tea but they have decent toilets and do hot drinks). We got there in plenty of time, picked up our numbers and other assorted goodies. Conwy seems lovely, and it brought back happy memories of the Welsh Castles Relay as the start and finish was by the castle. We also had time to mosey around the town and do a bit of sightseeing, yes I took loads of photos.

Tourist alert!

It was so warm and sunny at 11.30, I was persuaded to wear short vest sleeves in November which is a first - after a bit of standing around we started off running by the castle to the sounds of Gangam style (if there was ever an incentive to speed up and get a move on this was it). The course goes over the bridge and around the quayside and some paths that have so much sand blown on to them it is almost like running on a beach. You then go in to the town of Llandudno, with its victorian style coloured houses and pier. At about 5 miles, you start to climb, and this is the start of the Great Orme. People had been trying to describe it, it sounded pretty horrible but in reality it wasn't that bad, and I figured before we got there after some of the 4 marathons hills in Donegal nothing could break me; I was right, it was a mere pimple in the scale of hills, that's not to say I would want to be trying to go up it at my actual half marathon pace though. Fear the worst and you will always be pleasantly surprised!! The up climb lasted for about 2.5 miles, and as we got to the top we saw proper mountain goats with massive curly horns - the big alpha male was standing on top of a rock looking down at all of us as the other little goats were all running about on the rocks. We then started the run down the other side which was nice, ending up back near Llandudno and going back in on the part of the course round the quay we had started on. It was a lovely relaxed easy run, and we still managed to beat the man in the panda suit. I have not been able to get this out of my head since, please don't psychoanalyze me!

Because we entered late, there weren't any medals for us, but that's not what its all about is it. We hit the road pretty soon, and about half way home the hunger struck. S has a weird Satnav in her BMW, which meant the only place I could program before we ate our own arms off was some Little Chef in Whitchurch. Praise be to the gods of junk food, it turned out the Little Chef had closed, and was now a proper sit down fish and chip restaurant. OH YEAH!!! It hit the spot, and 2 meals with multiple soft drinks and tea £17. Not bad at all.

Food of champions

The week after this, there was no club XC but a local XC race, the Suicide Six. I live near Baggeridge Country park, so with a rucksack heavy with dry clothes and rocky road on my back, I ran the 2.5 miles to get there as a warm up. Remind me not to put on any weight, it definitely made a difference with an extra stones worth of rubbish on my back. I got there, chucked my stuff in my friends car and got changed. Saw I from the club who was the race official, who told us that with all the rain, the "water feature" (the bit I'd been quite looking forward to) had been taken out of the course due to health and safety (we would have drowned / got swept away). I wasn't racing this one, I saw little point - mainly because there would be about 700 runners = congested course, and with the rain the terrain would be pretty hard going. I was right on both counts. People were falling over from the start. We ran up to the trig point, back down and turned in to what can only be described as a load of clay, que more falling over and shoe loss. There were quite a few points where the course narrowed and everything ground to a halt, and despite my relaxed attitude to this one, I did get slightly frustrated and I should have had the confidence to start a bit further forward. The Suicide Six has a sting in the tail, a set of 100+ steps towards the end. I thought my legs were OK  but after that and seeing my club mates at the top of the stairs all I could manage was a cheery set of expletives before smelling the finish and haring along overtaking people on the last bit. A most enjoyable experience.

So lastly I come to Burbage Common XC - the cautionary tale

We got there later than I would like, and being mens captain I went to get the mens and ladies numbers. Got the ladies, was told the men's numbers would not be available for another 40 mins. It was 1.10pm, we raced at 1.30pm and the men ran at 2.30. I could not physically get the numbers before I ran. I had to get back over to the start, wrote down our list of runners whilst taking my trousers off and putting Vaseline on my feet! ...and instructed the only man that was there to go back and get the numbers in a few mins when they were available.

I had a cracking run, very consistently paced splits over the 4.2 miles of semi-frozen boggy slop. I felt very strong, and again I had been waiting around at the finish for a good 3 mins before seeing ladies from other clubs I used to come in around the same time as. I'm definitely improving my XC pace, which hopefully means when I do a road 5K or similar I will fly.

I was finished by 2.10 and panicked about sorting out the f**king mess of getting the numbers. The men went off on time, thankfully with the things pinned to to their vests and I was left holding a pile of shite and jumpers because we had no club tent. One of the blokes forgot his vest so I had to take mine off for him to wear(!!) So I didn't warm down and was minus a layer.

I was collecting the finish discs, and after our man #6 out of #10 had come in, I started to shake almost uncontrollably, and developed the worlds worst stammer. I literally could not speak. The guys said it was like someone had shot me with a tranquilizer dart I just slowed down. I could feel this happening but couldn't do anything or get people to understand me which scared me so I started to cry which made me look even more of a weirdo. They tried to get me in to the cafe which was shut, no one could find Z who I came with as she was changing little P, they got the keys to her car and by that time I didn't really know what was going on, next thing I was in the car with the heaters full on and people telling me to put all my jumpers on. I decided I'd lost my phone, and even though I sort of knew it was in the glove box, it upset me I didn't have it and I was sobbing like a lunatic. That evening I googled mild hypothermia. Hmm. 20 mins of extreme car heater and being given fruit cake (feels apt given my bizarre mental state at the time) I felt better. I just thought being my frame / build (e.g. too much body fat) the cold wouldn't effect me. Thank god I wasn't driving or on my own. I'm NEVER getting in to that situation again.

Enough said

Need for speed

So what's new?

Not a lot. My overtime claims at work are looking healthy. Too healthy. That's the great thing about everything going wrong on a regular basis, you get to earn loads of money :-/

Since the month of November started, I've been allowed to do speed work again. It's like a lot of things - you take it for granted at the time, and when you're not doing it or not allowed any you realise how much you miss it.

I never used to be a massive fan of running fast - if it sort of happened then great, but it would seem whenever I attempted to run fast on demand, it would all go horribly wrong or I would find some excuse not to even try. When I joined SRC in late 2008 and started doing Marathon training for my first Marathon 2009 I started doing speed work sessions, as originally dreamed up by Joan and Ian.

As a club we don't have anything resembling a track, so we run to various areas of Stourbridge that have an appropriate sized housing estate / loop. Essentially we have 4 winter sessions:

Short Hills
Long Hills
Short Flats
Long Flats

...Which we do in rotation. Depending on the session we might do reps / sets with static recoveries, or more continuous running with a more moving recovery. Either way I do believe they are good for helping the quest in getting faster. After the summer ends, we commence them, starting small and building up to some monster sessions.

Reasons people don't do them from what I can gather:

"It's boring" - I think if you find it boring you are probably doing something wrong. You can think about your form, your breathing, your percieved effort, what lap you are on - there is plenty to concentrate on that means it is not boring.

"I want to get the miles in" - a 2 mile WU, 3.75 miles of effort and a 1.6 mile WD makes for quite a good Wednesday evening run. Do the Maths.

"I'm too slow" - The loops are designed so that no one falls off the back. Yes you are doing your reps for yourself, BUT you are all on the same loop or loops so you are passing or being passed like the wacky races and feel the same sort of safety as running in a group.

Come in Pussycat 5...

"They don't make me faster, just knackered" - That is because you do all your other runs too fast you donut. Also a lot of people turn up for one week, then for whatever reason disappear off again, you need consistency there. You get out what you put in. The first time you do each session loop it will be hard, I wouldn't say it gets easier it depends how you push yourself but experience helps you. I seem to have a knack of using perceived effort to do all of my reps, no looking at the Garmin - and when I get home and upload the stats I find that say, all 9 of my reps were within 3 seconds of each other. Strange how the body can do that.

It gives me the confidence to push push push. At yesterdays XC when I knew the end was in sight I felt like I had a different gear - on the run in from the main course to the finish I managed to pass two people and leave them for dust (mud)

I am I often find it hard to sleep on a Weds night because I'm still on some weird adrenaline high. I both like and dislike that. I do find now I train sensibly I'm champing at the bit to have a crack at a fast race whereas a few years ago I'd be dreading it.

At this time of year I traditionally sit and look at what races I want to do next year. Obviously I have a plan for the big ones, but I sort of mean in the build up to the main events, the 20 milers and the 30ks. I like mixing it up and having some different places to run. I suppose I'm lucky I can afford to do such things. A few things stick out, I want to do the Rhayader 20 / Ashby 20 back to back combo again, Oakley for the Hoodie and Stamford for the Love Hearts.

One of my best friends has recently brought a house in Cornwall, so I am going to do the Duchy 20 (pasty at the end!!) and possibly some other local races at times I'm down there. She can't actually move down to live in the house for a couple of years, so her friends / family are going down there in rotation to make sure it is lived in. So I'm doing a favour and getting some nice running in a different area in. Probably going to have a few days either side of the Duchy, and do some cool stuff:

Eden Project
Eat something fishy that was swimming about in the sea that morning
Learn to Surf - yes in March this may be insanity but I've always wanted to have a go and I'm game if I can get a lesson.

Pan fried please

Looking forward to having a proper relaxing holiday - yest I know there is a 20 miler in the middle but that's just me innit?

It said on the TV this afternoon 6 weeks till Xmas and then the build up starts again. I can't believe how quickly time goes.

Let's all meet up in the year...

...2000. Today I passed 2000 miles for the year and it is still early November. Yay!

Won't it be strange when we're all fully grown

I didn't have a mileage target for this year, it just sort of happened. I ran 1900-ish last year so I suspected there may be more miles this year with the various events I had planned and have now completed in 2012. Although I've been known to run around a car park or up the road and back to make run a nice round figure, I genuinely don't obsess about mileage totals - I love to get out for a daily run. It has become that much of a normal part of daily life it does however seem like a massive gap when not there. One rest day a week does me just fine thank you very much.

I've been thinking this afternoon what is "normal" and yep, 150 mile months for me are now 'ticking over' when I would once consider 100 miles a month a lot. How does someone manage high(er) mileage and why? What are the drivers? I suppose people have lots of different reasons for running. I wondered, and have tried to think of a few based on myself and other runners I have met.

Fitness/medical reasons
Weight loss
Endorphins - thrill!
Social aspects
Insanity
Something else..?

Yes I run to keep fit. I'd rather be healthy, and on the planet for as long as possible to see and experience as many things as I can. I would also say that running keeps me sane, I'm not prone to depression or anything like that, but I think I'd feel a lot less calm in the midst of life's stresses if I didn't run. This is a good part of the reason I run.

Weight loss. Hmmm. Running helped me shed a lot of weight, but most people underestimate the amount of calories they put in, and overestimate the amount of calories they burn on a run, so it has been known for folks to come out of marathon training far chunkier than when they started. I suppose running cancels out a little but of my baking obsession, weight control is a smaller part of the reason I run. More miles = bigger cake allowance.

Endorphins and thrills. There something about slogging your way to somewhere, looking out at the view and thinking "wow, this was DEFINITELY worth it" or getting somewhere thinking "I wonder if anyone has actually been here for years". There is something about battling the elements, it is a very satisfying feeling getting in from the wind and rain to a steaming bath, a hot chocolatey drink and some toast. There is something about realising you are about to run a distance or a time that you never thought possible, and I mean that in a relative way - we all remember when we could barely get to 3 miles, and the feeling at 2.8 miles when you knew you were going to do it. More recently I've been at XC races, bombing it down a hill thinking "I feel absolutely f**king great, things don't get much better" - this lasts for about as long as the downhill and is replaced by the opposite feeling going back up the hill, but it is really nice when that happens and whilst it lasts. It is also a good feeling when you start overtaking the people who you are usually around in XC races, I'm not sure I have a real killer instinct but I think it is a measure of self improvement, and knowing I've improved a bit makes me feel good. I like to see what I can do, which leads to pushing and pushing that little bit further. We live in a great country and most of the public never see the beautiful countryside we have. So these feelings are quite a big part of the reason I run.

Nice.

Social aspects. I started my running with a club and I still run with that club, but I joined SRC to help me get faster, for different training routes and different running opportunities. In reality it means I know and have run with quite a lot of different people, some of whom I'd probably never have talked to otherwise, it's always nice at most races round the midlands I always see someone I know and I've made what I believe will be lifelong friends through running. If you play football or something, it is very unlikely that your pub team would play against Real Madrid, however running is different. Sure you can start and be in the same race field as Haile or Paula, which is great, but actually there are ordinary people out there, friends and club mates who do things that inspire you, and you get to run with them week in week out. The social aspect is definitely a reason I run, I like having a laugh and a chat and putting the world to rights. Friends have got me out when I've felt less enthusiastic about things.

Insanity. Some people are obsessive or addicted, they may or may not realise this. "Running X miles means I will be thin". Nope. "Running X miles or X Marathons means I am better than everyone else". Nope. "I am nothing if I don't run at least 10 marathons a year - everyone else I know is". Nope. "People will respect me if I am fast or run stupidly long distances" Nope. "I want to impress X and he/she will like me if I run more or pretend to like running". Nope. I have met people who fit in to some or all of the above categories and I have a lot more respect for the slower runner that trains sensibly and consistently, gets quicker and runs longer if that is what they want, and who reaches their potential and enjoys the journey than the one that starves themselves, runs squillions of races and has a miserable time for the same perceived results. I may have something gone wrong in my head that means I can doggedly carry on endurance wise when other people would give up, but I am not enough of a mental to be motivated by other peoples opinions of me (although I have been known to use it in tough patches of a race e.g. "think of the people you would let down if you walked now/DNF" type of thing until the bad patch subsides. In reality I'd be letting down ME). Insanity and insecurities do not motivate me to run.

At the end of the day though, on top of some of these things there is just a pure love of it that keeps me wanting to put my trainers on.

Last week we had an XC race at Park Hall near the fragrant City of Stoke. After the last one I felt like I was getting my XC legs back a bit. Got picked up by the Chloe-mobile, all going well until we got stuck on the M6 due to an accident. As we approached the venue and in to the car park we started stripping down to our racing kit, warm up was a 4 minute brisk jog from the car park, lugging bags (and a tea loaf) which gave us a few minutes before the gun went off. Park Hall is quite an undulating course, the conditions underfoot are usually quite firm, but you have to be careful of loose rocks. I actually felt like I was having a good run in the first mile, and this gave me a boost in confidence to push on the 2nd and 3rd. In the end I came in 40 seconds quicker than last time I ran there, doesn't sound like a lot but over a 3.4 mile course that is quite a good improvement I'm told. There were even photos where I actually looked like I was running. Happy days.

Today due to a lack of XC I did a ParkRun, I wanted to do some speed work but I also wanted to give my XC shoes some extra time to dry out before next week. Myself, J and D had arranged to go to Walsall ParkRun on Saturday, having partied the night away at the SRC / Cricket club bonfire "do" on the Friday night (3 diet cokes, a jacket potato, some colored fizzling, some scary explosions dodging bits of rocket landing on our heads and in bed by 10). I forgot to set my alarm, and my body clock woke my up 2 mins before J texted me to say she would be with me in 20 mins. Eeeek! I was running around, getting dressed, no time for breakfast, necked a big glass of diet coke, she turned up and off we went. The weather was foul, it was freezing, breezy and drizzle and thank god we started on time. Not much to more say really, I started off at a decent pace, and managed to hold it all the way round, very consistent splits and 25 seconds quicker than Cambridge ParkRun a couple of weeks ago, so the speed confidence is coming back. I may try the dis-organised roll out of bed approach more often.It was a great celebration of my 2000 miles to have J and D there, and we went for a nice brekkie afterwards. Nom!

One runner, 2000 miles on the clock this year...

Next week Leamington XC, yeah!!! :) Quite a nice leafy course, small hill on each lap and also the first potential water feature of the season. This is a good place to watch the mens race from. There is always a range of crowd emotion:

Man goes for the jump: Yaaaaaaaay!
Man hesitates: Oooooooooooooohhhhhhhhh!
Man falls over, gets wet or loses shoe: Hahahahahahahaha!
Man goes round and avoids the ditch completely: Boooooooooo!

(Where are we in the league?) We're behind you!

Who needs pantomime when you have the Leamington XC :)

Happy new year

Traditionally, around Xmas and new year time people do a summary of their year. Today it is a year since my auntie died. It's making me think about what has happened in the last 365 days. 365 days time your life could be completely different, or it could be the same boring shite. I guess we decide for ourselves by the decisions we make

So we start from this time last year:

October

I spent the latter half of the month recovering from the stinking cold I had, and worrying why my HR was so high on my runs. I came to the conclusion it was stress from the events of October, recovery from being ill and getting over the Amsterdam Marathon. Last October I had the best tasting pie I have ever had (I'm not a big pie fan, you may not think that to look at me but its true) - thank you Michelle. It was so good it deserves a photo :)

It was.

November

So I started working at BW in Bristol. I cannot believe that Mark and I used to commute down every day, getting up at 5.30, leaving mine at 6, getting to BW about 8.30 and leaving at around 4.30. Repeat x4 or x5 days a week, and it was so dark in the mornings and evenings... Amazingly I still managed to find the time to run. At that point I didn't run from work at lunch time, I was actually doing Wonder Woman changes in the midlands and going out with both my clubs. Obviously I don't have kids, pets (a life?) but am still astounded I managed to fit it all in.

November was the month of XC races and night running (and a combination of both). You know from previous blogs I love XC. It is also obvious I gues that I love running with my clubs, but Dudley Ladies has a very limited selection of winter routes in Wombourne (think "clockwise loop" or "anticlockwise loop" Zzzzzzzzzzz). Someone had a lightbulb moment (yes pun intended) where we decided to go to Decathlon en mass and buy head torches, thus enabling us to do our summer routes in the winter for added excitement.

Night running is a weird thing, there is quite a lot of light if there is a full moon, and usually you get some light pollution from your surroundings. The head torches provide help to avoid major hazards, but running off road at night is something that really wakes up your senses. It can be spookily quiet, the only sound being the sound of your own footsteps and breathing and sometimes the breeze blowing through the trees. We've had owls flying around, bats in our hair, and badgers run out in front of us from hedges.

Running with Dudley Ladies I'm not sure who needs protecting

The pace slows down a little more than a normal road run, but it is FUN, and some big muddy hills more than make up for any downsides. Sometimes on a Sunday run we do some of these routes that we also do at night, I look at some of the sections and wonder how the hell we managed to do them in the dark without serious injury.

December

More XC and speed work. I love speed work. Since Gobi took over my training I no longer have a fear of running fast, I enjoy it and I enjoy the training processes that make me quicker. We don't have a track at our club but we have some brutal speed work sessions where we run upwards of 10 times round a measured distance housing estate; the point of speed work is not to simply go flat out, but to try and do all your reps at a similar fast pace with a measured recovery time. I seem to be quite good at this consistency even without looking at my watch. It definitely helps.

In December I "found" ParkRuns. Parkruns for those who don't know are a series of free 5K races that happen all over the country at 9am on a Saturday. I had been to a few, but hey it's another opportunity for a bit of speed, and if I run 50 of them I get a free t-shirt. The atmosphere is lovely, they are all run by volunteers, and you really are running against yourself. Obviously having others around pushes you a little bit harder. Another thing to obsess over - "collecting" different ParkRuns and working towards that 50 target.

For those of you who don't know, up until the middle of 2008, I was about 18 stone. I still ran and enjoyed it, but obviously my times were slower because of carrying all that lard around. I turned up at the club one night in December, and got pushed towards a woman with a notebook. Yes it was a magazine reporter at the running club wanting "inspirational stories". Well I'm not sure about inspiring but I told her about my progressive weight loss and how it had improved my running. Would you believe she considered some of the runs I've done to be slightly mental. Pah! The next Sunday a photographer was there, snapping our little group as we headed out for a run. I appeared in the January edition of "Wolverhampton Magazine", inspirng lots of unfit people hoping to change their lives (and probably giving up by 15th Jan), but hey I didn't think I'd ever be in print.

"I'd like to thank my parents....."

Yeah rubbish I know but 15 mins of fame. I love the upper photo of me and my friends. The photographer caught us all completely unaware so the laughing and smirking is all natural (we are actually taking the mick out of the photographer...)

January

Marathon training starts in earnest, and my longer runs really started. In the month of Jan we also have the County and Midlands XC championships. This word strikes fear in to a lot of people. Now I would be the first to admit I worry about a LOT of things, but I genuinely don't give a shit about being at the back of a race. At the end of the day you are racing against the same faces that you race with in the leagues, so it is another case of seeing if I can beat "Pauline" (she eats my dust these days)

In January I started running at lunch times in Bristol. Great thing number #34833498 about running: you pack some kit and off you go. NEW STUFF TO EXPLORE! :) Where I work is on the A38, so give it a mile and a half and I'm in the parks and have a choice of weather I go on the Festival way, past SS Great Britain, along the banks of the Avon, or through Ashton Court and over the suspension bridge in to Clifton. I love Bristol. A nice city and plenty of hills which in my humble opinion is never a bad thing for run training. When Mark was around we would go off to Blagdon Lake, the Bristol to Bath Cycle Path, and again Ashton Court, although "we" only went to Ashton Court the once. He turned purple half way up the hill and stopped speaking to me for a bit. Thought it best to leave that one for solo training runs.


February

I did the the coldest run in the entire world - Newbury Parkrun in temperatures of -14 (I kid you not). I could not feel my hands, my buff froze (I SAID BUFF) and at the end I had ice crystals on my eyelashes

Trying to think of a caption, the only thing I can say is COLD

March

March was the month of PBs, and the start of a bit of craziness in the back to back runs. I factored in some races for A) marathon training variety B) they can be a good indicator of how you are actually doing

Cambridge Half Marathon - 1:51 - A small PB but considering I'd been on my feet all day at the Intercounties XC I was well pleased with that on a twisty turny course with morons congesting the paths in the last 3 miles.

Back to back 20s - Rhayader 20 on Saturday and Ashby 20 on Sunday. Done in similar times, and I felt great after both

Cannon Hill Parkrun - 24:11 - A reasonably big PB given the distance, weird how this was the weekend after the back to back 20s - you'd think I'd be knackered.

In March my mum had her knee replaced, and whilst she will never break dance again, I am very proud of the way she got through the operation, kept battling with the physio exercises and within 8 weeks you wouldn't really have known she'd ever had it done. March was also stressful again in so much as I had the threat of being evicted from where I live. (I own a house I rent out, and rent where I actually live) Letting agency I rent my lovely place from went bust and I was the one getting horrible letters from Wolverhampton Court. It is sorted now, I have new landlords but at the time it was incredibly stressful. My point here is hank goodness for running or I'd have gone mad.

April

Pbs continued - each race seemed to be a PB. It's not the be-all and end-all but it's nice.

Oakley 20 - An accidental PB, half it was slow, half at Marathon Pace and I came in quicker than my old PB to a new PB of 3:13. I don't really give a monkeys about 20 mile PBs but it gave me a good feeling

Maidenhead Easter 10 - this has to go down as one of the races of my life. One of those ones where you just feel really good from start to finish. There was a slight hiccup at the start where everyone went the wrong way, but the course was still 10 miles (in fact it was long!!) so it was all good. I set out at about 8.15 pace, thinking "too quick, too quick" but I held my nerve and came in at 1:23. If the course was spot on it would have been 1:22. I ran at 8.14 pace avg and felt great all the way round.

Obviously in April it was the Manchester Marathon. I'd watched my friends at Brighton 2 weeks before, and London on the TV the week before, and then it was my turn. The heatwave I feared did not happen, instead pissing cold rain, gales, sleet, and I was hypothermic pretty much before starting. I won't go on about it, I've written about it in other blogs, but the fact my friends came and surprised me by supporting will stay with me forever. Really touched. It was a 10 minute PB, coming in 4.02, and if it wasn't for that pesky weather it would have been a sub 4. Watch 2013 it is my intention to SMASH IT!!

May

Well I had a bit of a rest, didn't I! (people forget rest is important) I forgot to mention in April was I went to Newbury again, and whilst sitting in the cafe trying to eat the worlds biggest rock cake, we were talking about "cool runs". I'd seen one that finishes at Niagara falls in the USA, and I'd also spotted an interesting looking 4 in 4 in Donegal, Ireland. Thinking Gobi would laugh me out of the place I mentioned it but to my surprise it was a question of "when is it" and then shortly after "we can get you ready for that". Guess I'm in then! :-0

I had an experience at work in May that really upset me, where basically an old man told me I was too fat to run marathons. I think he used to be a runner and we'd had a bit of chit-chat as I was going in and out of the building in kit. Ironically when this exchange happened I was in normal clothes and looking particularly foxy that day (I don't think that too often so yet another bubble burst *sigh*)

Him: "I really don't know how you run marathons at your size"
Me: "Excuse me?"
Him "Your frame, you're just not a marathon runner, it must be really hard for you"
Me: "Do you realise how that is coming across?????"
Him: "Well look at Tom upstairs, he is 8st and a pair of lungs"
Me "errrrrrrrrrrrrr" <rapidly walking off>

Seemingly innocent but it really upset me. Men. Even when they do or say nothing they have the power to upset, and when they open their mouths the damage is often worse. Take note you cannot win. Ever the professional I said nothing to Mr-foot-in-mouth, but collared our account manager on site because I couldn't find Mark. I had no intention of complaining or anything but I just sat there blubbing at him for 20 mins wondering what was wrong with me. Arrrgh!

It ain't over till.......

June

Stourbridge are quite good for club trips and doing different events, and in June I was lucky enough to run a leg of the Welsh Castles relay. This race is very popular and quite hard to get in to, and our club got in to the mixed teams category. I had the 2nd leg on the Saturday, and despite it being another torrential downpour (I think the clouds follow me around) I had a really good run, managing a similar 10 mile pace to Maidenhead on a much hillier course. The thing I love about this event is that for a club runner each leg is a manageable distance - approx 10 miles - and everyone runs the best they can for the team. We had all ranges of speeds in the team and we all had stormers. The scenery was lovely, we got to see lots of castles and the rest of Wales albeit at a relatively high speed. We had some laughs and such a happy time, it was brilliant fun supporting and screaming 'supportive words' at your runner from the minibus. I would love it if we could do this again. If no one wants to organize it for 2013 I will try and make it happen.

July

I trained my proverbials off for the imminent Quad and I LOVED all the long runs. Topped up my weird suntan lines in the little summer we did have. I didn't do a lot else!

August and September

I will talk about these months in one go because the Quad spanned both.

I kind of broke the news to people that I was going to do this 4 in 4 event in August, and I was genuinely touched by the sponsorship I got. If I had high opinions of people before, in August the generosity and general niceness of people meant they doubled. This in turn was very motivating on the days when I felt I would rather stay in and watch The One Show (desperate times!). It made me get my arse out the door because I could tell myself there were people that believed I could do it. I was doing some hefty blocks of 4 long runs but 99.9% of the time - loving it.

And boom, then it came. The Quad, which is a whole other blog http://ndellar.blogspot.co.uk/  For little me I smashed it. I love this photo:

Raaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!

As I ran down the driveway of the hotel on the last Marathon it was a mixture of "fuuuuuuuuuuuuck! I've done it" and looking up at the sky through the trees wondering if someone was looking after me. I wanted to cry but couldn't. I still haven't. I hope I made people proud.

My physical recovery was good. I missed running on the 7 days of rest I was forced to take, but I think it has made me feel more hungry for getting back at it. In some respects mentally the Quad has helped me, I still respect the Marathon distance, but I am a lot more familiar with it and it has helped me get my head round other distances both longer and weirdly shorter seems easier too.

In other respects mentally the come down has been hard. I am most definitely not an attention seeker, I don't really have a lot of confidence in talking to people - I'm good at pretending sometimes, other times you probably think I'm ignoring you when actually I'm too scared to talk to you. In a lot of cases now I feel people no longer have anything to talk to me about, and friends I thought I had aren't really that friendly any more. When an event is that all consuming, and it is all you can think about for months, when it is gone it leads to a BIG empty feeling.

Organising the JW Ultra teams for Stourbridge was awesome. I love my club, and I love seeing so many friends on that day.

October

So this leads us back to October this year. Having built back up slowly and remained injury free I'm loving the XC season, and the good news is that off of the back of not very much speed work over the summer I don't seem to have lost much if any XC pace, in fact I might have got a bit nippier. Happy days. These races also give me a good excuse to bake, something I love doing but I can't sit at home with a tray of chocolate flapjack beckoning me, so I think everyone is a winner

Decisions. Both?

I would summarise that the past 365 days have been pretty awesome.

I promised myself around this time last year that I wouldn't mess about because life is too short, and I think I've managed to keep that promise pretty well. I've managed to do some amazing things that I really wanted to do. I hope to do the same in the next 365.

And I would run 500 miles

Not quite. But the last couple of weeks I've been thinking - yes that burning smell was my cogs whirring.

I've found myself looking at websites for stupidly long races, partly boredom, and well, I have been inspired by reading peoples accounts of such exploits. Not sure what to do, I want to go faster at Manchester in April, but after that who knows. The idea of running a very long distance in one go appeals, e.g. upwards of 40 miles - been there done that and got the t-shirt that I love dearly and wear at every opportunity (Connemara). Ideally I want something with nice scenery and a course I'm going to enjoy. Ever since I met J at the club and heard her tales of what she has done I've wanted to do a long distance in one go. 4 in 4 marathons in 4 days is easy. <JOKE!>

Commrades or Two Oceans ultras have been mentioned, both in South Africa. I'm usually quite OK with travelling on my own, but to be honest with those ones being so far away I find the idea a bit daunting - it is about the one time it would actually be useful to have a significant other. I could try and organize a club trip, but I'm not sure how many people would be interested in running that distance (unless they have a 1/2 marathon option or something!), going on holiday with ME, and have the money to go out there anyway. To be honest whilst those two appeal, they are a bit short.

I'll cut to the chase, I fancy doing a 100 miler. Why? Well it is not something I would enter in to lightly, but mostly "to see if I can". If that sounds weird then well I guess I'm weird.

Walk 500 miles? You've got to be kidding. Running will get you there quicker.

I've also been looking at the "Piece of string fun run", ( http://www.centurionrunning.com/piece-of-string-fun-run/ ) an event which for extra head f*** does not disclose the race distance or many race details apart from basically where it starts. It could be 10 miles, it could be 100+ miles. An interesting psychological take. Most of the time when you are dying a death at mile x, you know you only have y miles to go. And what about pacing and nutrition if you have no idea how far you are running... I shall watch the upcoming one with interest, but all in good time I don't want to run before I can er..... run.

The plan is to do a 100k next year and then go for a 100 miler in 2014. Things happen and plans change but for now the seed is definitely planted. I may well hate the jump from 40 miles to 100K in which case 100 miles would be a non starter but I want to try.

In a bid for all round fitness, I have started doing some core work again. On selected runs I get back and stick the Jillian Michaels DVD in. To be honest I would rather go to an actual circuits class at the gym (Wombourne Leisure Centre do pay as you go classes) but I've yet to find one that doesn't clash with running so my living room seems the next best option. A few years ago I used to do some core sessions in Hyde Park with my friend Boo and really enjoyed them. We'd spend an hour doing CV circuit type stuff, core and arms and it was actually great fun. (I also met Mo Farah on the tube whilst on the way to one of these sessions!) Other things take over, and really since then all I have done is run. (Not a bad thing!)

I started with the most basic workout, the first session I did seemed fairly easy at the time. Situps, crunchies and anything abs related I seem to be able to cope with quite well. Had a quick plank and I've still got it. Perhaps the sheer amount of miles I've done has helped contribute to quite a strong core. The arm bits towards the end of a set felt hard, especially with the weights, and I nearly lost a lightbulb in a comedy style-ee whilst doing some squats that have an arms up bit at the end. I think I made the schoolboy error of starting off at 2KG weights on my first attempt, I managed to do it but by the end I knew that I was going to pay big time. The day after morning I could barely move my arms, and 2nd day after driving to Bristol hurt every time I changed gear, much to the amusement of Mark who kept prodding me in the arm. I left it a few days and had another go using slightly lighter weights. I could still feel it, but it felt much better! Liking it actually, I hope it is doing some good. I guess it's not doing any harm. I've moved up to the next level, where I have discovered my balance and coordination are even more shite than I thought. Practice and consistency.

I entered the Suicide Six last week, a 6 mile ish 10k at Baggeridge Park near Dudley. I have wanted to do this race for years, but it has always clashed wit the Sodbury slog or other events. I ran a league XC at Baggeridge in Jan and loved it, despite having to leg it all the way up to a trig point and down the other side, and this version has an added wade through a waist high lake to contend with. Example - I don't know this man but I think the photo sums up the general jist:

I know my shoe is in here somewhere......

Looking forward to it. I suppose it is expensive for running round some local trails and getting cold in dirty stinking water, but my friends are doing it so fun fun fun :) :) :)

Not much else to report really. I've had all my hair chopped off and am loving it - am quite pleased I was brave enough to take the plunge. Go me.

Spent the weekend with my parents in their new house, my Dad has purchased a "Smart TV" which is so smart that when he starts to rant and wave his arms around (yes I'm so glad I haven't inherited this trait) it actually switches off. Is it possible to love a TV? I think I love this one for its sheer attitude.

Whilst there, to keep the XC momentum going, had a fairly solid performance at Cambridge parkrun. 5K, 25:29. My PB is 24:11, set on a nice tarmac course in Birmingham, but it was a massive course PB, the first time I have ever run this course in less than 27 mins. Cambridge is twisty turny trail terrain and Saturday was very muddy. I definitely had more oomph in me but was a bit afraid to use it - post marathon (let alone 4 of them) my 5Ks are like stepping stones, I don't have the speed confidence so I do one conservatively (its a sub conscious thing) assess it went OK, do another and push a bit more before I realize I am actually alright. Just need to keep doing them. Speed work starts again in November, can't wait.

The loneliness of the (long distance) runner?

One of the beauties of running is that no matter where you are you can take your trainers with you, pop out and explore whatever new place you might be in. This is a very good thing. I've been a member of gyms in the past and even with the super-duper "I can go to any branch in the country" membership, the cost of belonging to a running club plus some pairs of trainers and sports bras is far less expensive and in reality has got me far fitter and more motivated to train than any gym ever has. Sometimes I just love heading out on a solitary adventure somewhere new with the sounds of the birds (or the radio) for company, but running clubs have done a lot for me.

I belong to two running clubs and love both of them equally, they have different qualities and thankfully different club nights. Dudley Ladies was where I started, and I do my easy/long runs there with my friends. I tell them about my week, they tell me about theirs, we laugh, moan, put the world to rights, talk about current affairs (who'd have thought it - and in DUDLEY ;) ). Through the tough times - the times where we feel a bit pissed off with our lives or upset it is almost like having free counselling with 4 or 5 other people listening and asking you the questions maybe you didn't want to think about. You also get some opinions, it helps to get stuff out and other peoples opinions do make you think.

I joined Stourbridge in 2008, and here I do some of my general runs, speed work and they are my first claim club for races. I am not knocking either club, but Stourbridge has a lot more of a structure with its pace groups, speedwork sessions, excursions out to XC races and other events should anyone want to get involved. A few years ago because I wanted to give something back to SRC, I stood for Women's captain - in reality I was never going to get it against the other lady, but the men's captain had resigned and no one else had put themselves forward. Some bright spark suggested I do that job instead. I hope I do a good job. At first in my typical paranoia I did wonder if all the men hated ME and hated the fact a girl had got the job of bossing them about and harassing them to turn out for races, but I figured that it has been the job of females to boss men around for many thousands of years so I kind of got over it. I do still feel a bit shy when it comes to harassing people sometimes, but I think doing something like this has helped me to actually get to know different people in the club, e.g. the faster folks who I wouldn't have chatted to otherwise (but did because I kind of had to) which is also a good thing.

I was prompted to write this blog by a conversation we had at the XC relays today. Obviously in 'normal' XC you are running for you club, wanting to get the best position possible, your exact time doesn't really matter I suppose. If you are guaranteed your spot there is undoubtedly a temptation to slack off a bit. (For those who are unaware the race positions of the first few runners back from each club are added up and the club with the lowest score is first and so on - there are leagues where you can get promoted /demoted /prizes). Today it was the XC relays, which is slightly different and a one off competition; the first runner goes off, next runner waits for them to come in, high fives them and off they go. Repeat for as many runners as there are in the team. In the relay type races success is measured in total combined time rather than position, so you are running for the team, and the best possible time you can.

I had been given the 3rd and final leg today - I'm not proud BUT if I had been on the first leg I would have been left for dust by the chaps and chapesses doing 5/6/7 minute miling. The course at Walsall Arboretum was hosted by West Bromwich and in my opinion was quite a good one. It was fairly flat but there were some deceptively draggy inclines, there was enough variety in the terrain and scenery to keep it interesting. We have had solid rain all week, and whilst it has been a lovely sunshiney day today, underfoot the ground was completely waterlogged with a lot of standing water on top. Splishy sploshy and very muddy in places. LOVE.IT. Makes for slower times than expected though.

J commenting "It is a bit wet underfoot" whist negotiating a large boggy puddle

With relay type events, the field gets quite spread out and it can be tough for those who are used to being in a pack to not have anyone to cling on to. I seem to have a habit in XC races of being in no mans land, that is to say after a mile or so I find myself with no one close in front and no one behind. A lot of the time I do focus on the people in front of me and try and get closer and end up having a mental sprint at the end where I don't quite catch them. I suppose I'm trying to say I'm used to the lack of company. Perhaps if I had someone alongside me pushing me it would make me do a better time, but in reality I think through sheer experience I am capable of pushing myself to the same level weather there is someone around me or not.

The first mile was OK, I went off a bit quick but not too quick  Not very far in I saw J, who had done the first leg. She shouted at me that there were some other ladies not too far in front. I settled down in the second mile, and came through the start / finish thinking not too bad but my feet are sodden and I've got all that heavy ground to cover... a-gain. The 3rd mile was a bit of a slog, but I held on there. All the time I noticed I was getting closer to another girl, I was getting overtaken by some of the men's teams but this is to be expected really.

At 3 miles I upped the pace and she was getting closer. She looked fairly ploddy - sorry I'm not by any means saying I looked any better - despite looks running is a funny thing, you can never tell what sort of finish people have on them. At about half a mile to go I ramped it up a bit more, and she was very close. As we came past the club tents, I decided that I should really go for it, so I pushed, overtook her and then ran like a woman possessed to the line in case she had decided to take it on. She didn't, and I roared over the line. Eye of the tiger! *punches the air*

As I was coughing my guts up in the finish funnel, I looked up and she plodded straight past. Turns out her team was actually a long way behind us and I had lapped her on what was the end of her first lap. Mistaken identity I suppose,  Hahahahahha :) Well it provided some entertainment and a good looking finish (in my head). I got a well done from I, the club captain, I think my time given the conditions had surprised him (and the sprint finish) and my team mates who had come back over the field in no rush were slightly surprised to find I was already done.

So even if running alone in no mans land, being part of that larger team makes people have a better run I think. I also saw this at the Welsh Castles Relay in the summer where all 20 of us had the best run we possibly could for the team and each person did a cracking time at their individual level of ability.

Sometimes I do just like going out and doing a long run on my own, I certainly don't find that daunting - I guess I'm lucky I don't have many stresses but those I do have seem to melt away... a good couple-4 hours out there in the fresh air helps everything seem better. I guess I'm not really ever alone, I do think running itself is one of the best friends I've ever had.

Cross country season

Following on from the last blog post "Next week cross country season starts and I suspect it will hurt"....

When I was at school we never did cross country. Being at a (state) school in central Cambridge we didn't have much space to do so and had to rely on public parks for a lot of PE activities. I remember wheezing my way round Parkers Piece and bits of Midsummer common but thankfully that was it.

For the first part of my running "career" I didn't bother at all with XC apart from stepping round the odd puddle with a frown. I had a bad experience one year (in my really fat days) where I did a local Midlands race called the Badger Bite, did no research, found it was all pretty much off road - whilst running over a seemingly innocent field I tripped on a turnip (I kid you not!!!) and buggered my leg up for the best part of a fortnight.

Turnips can be dangerous

It was only really when I joined Stourbridge that I got in to this new way of running. I was getting changed after club one night and got cornered in a pincer movement - there had been a drop out in the XC for that Saturday and we needed 4 for a team. I was new and a little unaware of what I was getting myself into, so there it was my first XC was just before Christmas 2008 in Leek. Yes Leek, the place that is so hilly it has its own micro-climate and is often mentioned on the radio travel report because it is under 3 feet of snow when the rest of the country is in shorts.

At the top of one of the hills at Leek - note the people down the course looking like ants

Did I like it? Yes and no. I liked the feeling of running on the grass and mud, but it did strange things to my lungs - I could run 5K, so why did this feel so hard! It is a different type or running, and I genuinely believe it contributes a lot to strength, speed and overall running fitness in a way that cannot be replicated by road/track running. Even if I didn't secretly like them I would still do them for that value alone.

Since then I've done loads of XC races, mostly in the North Staffs League which has the venues of Winsford, Park Hall, Stafford Common and Leek every year, and Birmingham League where we get to go to a variety of midlands venues. I've done quite a lot of off road races in general in the past few years:

Worcestershire Midweek Series
The Sodbury Slog
Man V Horse
Hellrunner - Down South
Hell in the Middle
Milford 21
National XC Championships
The Grizzly

One of the less muddy National XCs at Roundhay Park, Leeds

...to name but a few. The Grizzly (20 miles, some hardcore off-road)  has to go down as one of the single worst running experiences of my life. Well it was good, but I fell over and basically got trampled on the road bit at about 2 miles, smashed up my elbow, had to wait 10 mins for some first aid, got pissed off and carried on anyway having lost 10 mins (even more pissed off). Running a further 18 miles after that was soul destroying and I have Zoe to thank for keeping me going. Actually as much as I loved/hated the Grizzly it wasn't really running, there were too many waist deep bogs etc to actually get in to a decent running rhythm  To add insult to injury at the end they didn't have the right T shirt size, and Zoe got told by a woman "next time run faster and we will have some left". I was practically hysterical. I hadn't been in so much pain I would have gone back to find her and give her a piece of my mind.

Me and Zoe finishing the Grizzly - thank f***

Anyway, it is strange because I lay in bed on Saturday morning thinking here I am, having done 4 marathons in 4 days and I'm feeling nervous about a piddly 5K effectively around a field. We run in the North Staffs League, and Winsford is pushing the definition of N Staffs, being South Cheshire. Unfortunately there had been some major traffic incident on the M6, and we ended up getting there fairly late, bursting for a wee to be faced with the longest toilet queue in the world. Warm up was minimal and a bit frantic and bang we were off

Winsford is not a particularly hard XC course, fairly flat and even, but after a mile or so I sensed it was going to be tough going. I felt myself slowing down towards the end of mile #2, and mile #3 I was just hanging on really. The course was long as they have changed it, and as usual I was in no mans land - no one right behind me to push me, and no one really close in front. In the last half a mile I decided to chase down the lady in front of me, and I did actually manage to come in just a few seconds behind her. She looked bolloxed, where as I was relatively OK, but the whole thing just felt way too hard. I don't know why, perhaps the Quad has actually taken more out of me than I thought, perhaps it was just not my day. The first XC of the season is usually a bit of a shock. Everyone seemed to have a bit of a shocker, I think the ground conditions, being so soft were actually harder going that I thought - the sun was out but it had been raining solidly for 2 days before that and things were pretty waterlogged.

I guess the moral here is not to get down about it,  that it is a starting point for the season, and the more XCs I get out and do, the better they will feel (eventually). I can't let one slightly underwhelming experience put me off. Just as well I've got the XC relays at Walsall Arboretum next weekend!

JW Ultra Week

Why did I choose this blog title? Well it was something that someone said about me when I first started running as an 18st runner (in a nice way) but it has stuck in my head so I thought it a fitting caption. 

Well, I've been running a bit more this week. Nothing exciting, just some 5 and 3 mile runs.

In summary, sorry to be all doom and gloom here, but I feel like a knackered old carthorse. There was me saying "I see no ill effects from giving blood" blah blah blah and boom! Zonked. At work we have a lot of stuff to get through, and I ended up being up doing changes until 3am on Thursday and 3am on Friday morning. It didn't go badly, but it just all takes a long time and isn't really something you can leave to complete on its own - it kind of has to be watched. If I'm completely honest I think I'm probably having a reaction to the extreme boredom I feel now I'm not running for hours a day, so I'm over compensating somewhat by filling those extra hours I would be training with work. At least I will be RICH and knackered.

I am not looking forward to work this week for a number of reasons. My mate is leaving me. So nervous breakdown here I come. Yes, the overly sentimental paragraph in previous blog was because I had got wind of something being up. And there was definitely something up. :(

Thankfully I've had some things to take my mind off of it, namely the organization of stuff for the JW Ultra. For the uninitiated, I shall explain a little bit about the JW. A few years ago a runner from Bournville Harriers, John Ward, used to run training runs along the stretch of canal that runs between Stratford Upon Avon and Bournville in Birmingham. It was when he was training for the Comrades Ultra (having already completed it once) that he sadly died of a heart attack, completely unexpected for someone with such a high level of fitness and his young age. John was one of the founders of Bournville Harriers, and also a great friend of Stourbridge Running Club. Unfortunately I never knew him personally.

At one point before he died, John had a conversation with one of his friends and fellow runners Mark about how the route would make a good race, and after his death his friends and clubmates Mark, Sharon and Ed organised a race in his memory - the JW Ultra along this same stretch of canal. This was to be a 30 mile race or a relay of 3 x 10 mile legs. This race was supposed to be a one off, but is now on its 6th running and keeps growing in popularity, and very year when it opens there is a massive rush to enter the full Ultra, and larger and larger entries for the relay.

Every year Stourbridge put in 6 x relay teams and usually at least a couple of runners who want to do the full Ultra. I did the full 30 miles in 2009. It was brilliant and I loved it, although with hindsight I didn't perform as well as I wanted because I ran a Marathon PB 3 weeks before (was supposed to be a training run and turned in to a PB - I now know the error of my ways).

I would say a marathon is a hard thing to complete, and 30 miles well obviously requires a bit of extra effort. Around where I do my training runs, the canals have lovely even paving, and apart from the odd brick sticking up on a cobbled bit there is nothing really bad to contend with. I think the JW terrain is actually a lot tougher than that, there are some sections where you are running on grass that has been trodden in to a path by walkers/runners, some quite rutted and muddy sections, and there is all sorts of foliage in your face. As for the issue of canals being flat, well if anyone has actually run the JW they will know that every lock that you go along is UP, and at about halfway there is a huge flight. Some races just have a nice atmosphere, and this is one of those races. Not sure what the magic formula is, most people there know each other from other races, but the difference here I think is that they are very welcoming to everyone rather than the clique that you sometimes see.

Whilst I loved the run, I kind of feel that I've had my turn, so I organise the coach to take the Stourbridge runners to Stratford Upon Avon and back, and to drop off 2nd and 3rd relay leg runners at the changeover points. We then pick up first leg and second leg runners from the same changeover points and go back for beer and burgers in Bournville. There are usually other clubs that take advantage of this shuttling as well as our own runners. For a worrier like me, I have a spreadsheet updated to the last possible minute and printed out to make sure I know exactly who I am dropping off and picking up at each point, and feel the need to do some ridiculous school teachery roll call at each stage. Thankfully the last 3 years have gone without incident or anyone lost / left behind, and everyone appears to have a good time which is lovely to see. Whilst I am still in cut back mode after the 4x4, I get satisfaction from helping out although in reality I would rather be running I would still make time for this event and some others because I believe it is important to give something back. All some people do is take.

The view of the Marina at Checkpoint 1 of the JW Ultra

We had some absolutely storming performances this weekend.  We had joint 1st place - our man caught up the leading man at the end and they decided to cross the line together which I think is lovely and represents the spirit of the race. We also had the first team overall, which was a mixed one with L running the 2nd leg. She is pretty quick, well they all are - in your face to the all male teams! :). All of the teams did well, and I do believe that everyone had a good run at their own standard. We also had the last runner in the full 30 miles, a 60-something lady, R, who took about 7h.45 to finish. She was in fact was one of the most consistently paced runners. She may have been slow, but she was running at her pace, and just did not slow down. If I can still manage that in my 60s I would be over the moon. Respect!

The view from Checkpoint 1 of the JW Ultra

One of the things I love about our club is that we have the whole range of speeds and abilities out at events like this, we all whoop and cheer and support each other, and can sit down at the pub afterwards and have a chat, have a laugh and get on well. A lot of clubs aren't like this.

It was also lovely to see some people that I only seem to see once a year, usually at this event, although having got up at 6.30 after my burning the candle at both ends week I felt like a bit of a zombie and unable to string a sentence together. Must make an effort to get out more(!) so it is not just an annual chat.

Next week the cross country season begins. I suspect it is going to hurt, but in some respects pain is good.