As with all of these things that I try and cobble together, I worry if anyone will be interested, not all folks share my love of XC and sleep deprivation. People started to come out of the woodwork showing interest after a few weeks of pestering, and by June we had a fairly fixed team of 2 girlies and 6 chaps. A last minute change due to one team members leg being about to drop off worked out well, due to his social demands the replacement man offered to do 3 consecutive laps on the graveyard shift in the morning (as a training for the JW Ultra in September) meaning the rest of us all got a little rest in the wee small hours.
The weekend approached and I started to get excited. The heatwave had ended, and I began somewhat obsessively checking the forecast. It didn't look great. #La la la la# just ignore it (but pack enough stuff to deal with things if the worst happens). I sketched out a rough running order which we basically repeated until the evening and then did a bit of swapping due to peoples desires(!) to run a night leg and consecutive legs. This was very rough timings wise and subject to changes but with it being the first time we'd participated it was all we had. I estimated about an hour per leg, we had a few faster runners and I thought that give or take that would be the average. We should be able to do 3 laps each
It is at this point I need to mention Stu. Stu has run with us for a number of years, and in his day was a pretty nippy runner. These days however a knee injury and subsequent operations have slowed him down a bit. Stu stepped in and said he could be in charge of "logistics" as his contribution to the event. OH YES! An ex-military man, and professional camper, this was just what we needed. We had a meeting a couple of Wednesdays before the race, and it turns out there is no piece of equipment that Stu doesn't have or was able to source, and his little car is like the tardis when it comes to packing stuff in. The experience of previous solo TR24-ers was useful, everyone seemed happy and the final arrangements were made, starting with Stu and Steve going on Friday and get us a decent patch. Well... they completely excelled themselves. We were close to the campsite entrance and water tankers but not too close, close to the start and finish but not too close, and close to the toilets (you can never be too close as long as you have a clothes peg). I got a photo Friday afternoon at work and did a little squeal of glee to see Stu sitting in a deck chair with an impressive selection of tents and the mighty SRC flag flying.
 |
| Carry on camping |
Having spent Friday night putting clothes in and out of a sports bag wondering if I had the right stuff, and slaving over a hot flapjack oven, the Saturday morning soon came. I slept well but was awake early, quick detour to pick up Dunc (my boot full of stuff had plenty of room for his one small bag) and we were off. Catton park is a weird place, it took us about 50 mins to get to. You see the signs but it only just feels like you've left Birmingham. You trust in the satnav but also wonder if you are in the right place. Then we turned a corner and wham - saw the massive tented area sprawling out. We were here! Yippee! We spotted our club flag on the way in and then pretty instantly a car park, and rather than park on the site we opted to go in there and carry the stuff over as it was not very far. When we arrived, "Stourbridge Village" was even better than the photos - Stu and Steve had put up windbreaks and a little picnic table and some deck chairs, the camp stove was on the table and hot and cold drinks were available. It was simply brilliant.
 |
| Chicken or Beef? |
On the off chance he'd be allowed, I gave Stu the final team names, DOBs and t-shirt sizes in the hope he would be able to register us on the Friday night. He did, and so we all got the right sized t-shirts, our numbers, chips and some #allin24 wristbands which apparently Stu and Steve had to perform degrading acts with trainers to acquire. They were all laid out in one of the tents for us to collect. Supermen! The team arrived Sat AM and the excitement built. Turns out we were pitched next to the lovely Bedford Harriers, some of whom I know a little bit - it was nice to have such good neighbours. We had a brainwave that Stu could get a t-shirt and medal that had been destined for our injured solo runner in recognition for his efforts, and so he went and registered. True to form he had secretly brought his kit with him "just in case" and decided for the experience he would do one lap of the 24h race and quit. We made sure the name was changed so that our speedie man didn't have any embarrassing records on Power of 10 or similar :)
We had a look around the 'shops' and around the start area, it was exciting. Paul was first up at 12.00. He is not the fastest runner or the slowest. I had read there is no real point putting the fastest runner on the first leg (not that we are ever going to be winning any prizes anyway) because a short way down the course there is a section where the course narrows that causes a bottleneck, so I picked him for leading out the team. At 11.55 the sun was beating down and we milled around the start area talking to Adam, one of our club-mates doing the solo race. He has done the event before and even won the 12h race one year and was as excited as us. We watched from Adam and Barbara's gazebo as the race went off. It was a sight to behold.
 |
| The mighty SRC at the start / finish |
An hour passed relatively quickly, and we had a system of clocking when a person had left the start and their expected lap time so that the next person could be in position in time. Paul came in with a big smile on his face (minus two false front teeth he takes out whilst running) and said the course was brilliant. I knew it would be. Zoe was next up and although she always smiles a lot, she came in with the same grin (plus teeth). Then it was me - the snap band baton was snapped on and I was off. I opted to wear my road shoes for the first go as it seemed very dry. We ran along some grassy paths, up through some woods, more fields, hills, more woods including some quite twisty turny (but good fun) sections, up on to an exposed ridge and then down through more woods. I liked the fact that at various times you were routed back through the campsite and got a bit of support. The mood was upbeat, and I'm not knocking anyone who runs this fair play but as well as club and experienced runners there looked as if there were a few fun runners who would suffer later on for running in their Reebok Classics. I wound my way through the woods to find a man apparently choking - I slowed and asked him if he was OK or needed help, to which he replied "my water went the wrong way". We ran together for a bit towards the end of the lap, and his club mates camped out along the last tented stretch decided to pull down their pants and moon at us - I think 10 pints of lager might have been involved, but that was a first and something I can safely say I've never experienced during a race before. He was apologetic. I was chuckling both inside and out. There was a final turn towards the end of the lap which was a good spotting point as it took a couple of minutes to get up the hill next to a big water tanker and down the other side which meant the next leg runner in the team could be shouted and ready to go like a coiled spring. I felt good and belted down the hill, slapping my baton on to Super-Dave. Brilliant, interesting and fun course. I was happy :) Tannoy man kept saying bad weather was expected around 7pm.
 |
| Stu approaching "tanker hill" |
And so it went on. The sun was strong on Saturday, everyone having a good time. One of our runners Chloe biked from the nearest train station to come and say hello, and the support was really appreciated. Dave got back from having enjoyed his leg and got his guitar out, the relaxing chords of "london calling" sent me to sleep for a little bit, and when I woke up the sun had gone in and black clouds had appeared. We blamed Dave's singing. The next round of runs happened, with Paul going off, and Zoe setting off under blackened skies. I decided to change in to my Innov8s just in case. Now I have never minded thunder and lightning, and there is something quite sexy about running in pouring warm rain - water does not bother me at all. Even the thunderstorms I'm OK with in built up areas. However whilst waiting for Zoe things were definitely brewing. It was about 8pm.
 |
| Ready for anything. |
As we waited for Zoe in the handover area, things started to rumble in the sky, and I started to feel a bit nervy. The thought of being on *that* ridge at about 8k dodging lightning forks and didn't strike me as much fun (geddit?). The announcer kept saying on the tannoy "If you don't feel safe then don't run". Hmm. Zoe handed over the baton to an almost instant flash and bang as I ran off. I swore under my breath and toddled off, admittedly at a bit faster pace than I wanted on the account of me bricking it. How ironic these conditions on the Thunder Run I thought to myself, as there was another bang. I ran past the tented area, I could hear "I wouldn't fancy being out in this" being muttered from all over the place. It absolutely hammered it down and was getting darker and darker, the kind of light where a head torch isn't that helpful. I felt very vulnerable on the exposed bits, and you could almost hear the electricity in the air. Flashes and bangs all round, and quite close by :-s. The rain was still hammering and the paths were turning in to waterfalls. I don't know if it is safer, but I felt much safer under the cover of the woods and I calmed myself down by thinking I was more likely to trip and hurt myself than get struck - however I got to that 8k ridge and absolutely legged it. I saw Adam near the ridge and he was going really really well on his solo effort. Once I got back to the downhill and the tented area I felt better, and better again as I saw Dunc on the corner, I just had "tanker hill" to go before handing over to Dave again. I was slightly traumatized but would I do it again? Like a shot. I was on a high, and felt just about as alive as it gets. It was fun. Interestingly as it was cooler despite the light and conditions I was only 1m30s slower on this lap (not that I was worrying about time!)
 |
| Super-Dave on his first leg |
After this leg I was absolutely soaked and had water where I didn't know it was possible to go. At about 9.30pm in the pissing rain no surprise there was no queue for the showers so I jumped in and it was a relatively pleasant and warm experience actually. It was hammering it down, and my previously "figure of fun" rain poncho was coming in handy for trips around site. I dried off and got in to bed at about 11 as my next run wasn't till 7 or so in the morning. The rain was noisy and my sleep was a bit disturbed, Zoe and I had the "ladies" tent and she had a brilliant night run, so glad she enjoyed her first head torch experience. I think in total I got about 5h worth, which to be fair I'm used to surviving on if I have a late night + bootcamp + Bristol commute. I was woken up in the morning firstly to the sound of the loos being emptied, and then Duncan telling me through the tent wall "Nat it's 6.30!!!" Me: "I KNOOOOOWWWWW!!" :) to be honest Zoe and I were going to get up but Dave had gone off and I was off next. Despite feeling like my eyes were glued together I got up, had a bit of brekkie and diet coke and was there for round 3. Different again. The skies had cleared, and I was warm in vest and shorts at 7.30am. The conditions underfoot were something else. Any midlanders who did the Suicide Six last year - the whole course was very similar to the back bit at Baggeridge as you come down off the trig point - for those who didn't - it was pretty much churned up mud all the way round, and I have done much easier and cleaner XC races. Still I was loving it, ran all the way, albeit slowly in patches but was overtaking and having fun. Mud had added about 1min/mile. Got back and saw Bob, who had turned up from his party in the dead of night in the monsoon and got his gear on to do 18 miles solid. Sterling job. Give him a medal! Oh wait, all in good time!
 |
| Dunc enjoying a Sunday AM leg |
So despite the night and the rain, we were actually a bit ahead of predicted schedule by the morning. We did some calculations and anticipated that Steve would come in at about 11.45 so we could send someone out for one more. If I didn't have a 100k race in a few days time I would have done, but as it was Dunc stepped in and did the honours. Adam came in covering about 140K and 8th place. We joined the snaking queue for the medals and posed with pride with our matching yellow t-shirts and bling. Thankfully the sun was out strong again from early light Sunday so the camping stuff had dried off nicely, and we packed up and made our ways home.
 |
| T shirt and bling :) |
A totally brilliant weekend, a mixture of runners a mixture of ages, speeds and personalities, but we just had the best time and some great laughs. Despite the conditions we all wanted to do the best for the team and we kept going when other teams went home / were hiding in their cars. The event was well organized, and thanks to Stu and Dunc doing pretty much a 30h shift we were organized amongst ourselves, everyone knew what they were doing, and we didn't have any messed up changeovers etc. I am really proud of all of us - such a smashing bunch of people. I'd love to do this again next year, or something similar but different if that makes sense.
As for me, well my legs are ok, running 18 miles in 19h isn't anything to write home about for me, I stayed awake Sunday pm but went to bed a little early and largely speaking I feel OK, just a bit tired. I'm looking after myself this week - off to Stockholm for the 100K on Sunday at the end of the week, eeeep! :)
