Sit down and get a drink and a biscuit. In fact get a whole sponge cake, this may take some time. Anyway. For a while I've been contemplating doing another Ultra Marathon. I did enjoy the 40 miles of hills of Connemara in 2011 - so I decided: August 2013 it was TIME!
I like running long, I like Marathons. Doing 4 of them in 4 days was "OK", but as an ever modest friend who did a large multi-day / multi-continent event pointed out to me once multi day stuff is very doable if you have the time to train, the will and the time to recover between the events (or words to that effect). I have to agree. It has fascinated me the way that people manage to keep going non stop for hours and hours on end, to the point where you start to measure in days rather than hours. OK then, I'll have some of that! I found the Stockholm Ultra by basically searching for 100K events worldwide in August 2013 and narrowing down from there. It was the first time this event was to be held but the website and everything about it just screamed "really good". I had total faith it would be and I wasn't disappointed.
So it is fair to say that I needed a rest after my last Marathon in April and that is what I had, doing a lot of 10-ish milers but nothing significantly longer. We really started the heavy mileage and "overloading" on my legs in July with a shorter taper and also I think with the improved total body strength from boot camp I was definitely ready. I actually felt ready this time, excited about the whole trip and the event I was doing, how different to the pangs of sheer terror I felt a few years ago, although in the past once I got going in the actual run I had always been OK.
The build up week prior to the Ultra was up and down. I had a cracking weekend at the Thunder run, 3 laps, 3 different races(!) and got a decent amount of sleep (as much as you can in a tent in the biggest thunderstorm Derbyshire has ever known with people splashing and stomping to-ing and fro-ing from their runs at all hours) but it left me a bit tired on Monday. I then had a couple of late nights in the week, and for some reason Thursday night I felt like I barely slept at all even though I probably did, my head was spinning but with nothing in particular. I chose an early flight to Stockholm on the Friday because I like to make the most of all the time available when I am away somewhere, but this meant I had to be at Manchester airport for 7.30am to check in, meaning a 5.15am pickup and because I hate not having a shower in the mornings, my alarm was set for 4.45. I thought only one 4.45 existed in a day. Ugh.
Heather came to pick me up in her little car at 5.15, which was very kind of her (she was off to boot camp at 6.15 so I still felt a bit guilty but not quite as bad as I could have done). She looked after me, waiting on the platform with me until the train arrived where she handed over a small gift bag containing some foot cream for afterwards from her and Wendy. I love my mad aunties from Gornal, I was really touched, I'm lucky to have such nice friends and to be given a very thoughtful prezzie. The train journey was smooth to Manchester, I got to the airport nice and early, however I had the misfortune of queuing behind 100 participants of an international scout jamboree who seemed hopelessly disorganized (and I'm sorry there *is* something odd about seeing older men in short trousers, scarves and woggles) but the Norwegian airlines staff got through it quite quickly.
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| Ging gang goolie... |
I was soon through security and looking in the air side shops being tempted in to buying stuff I really don't need on the basis it is "cheaper", I managed to stop myself but only just. On the plane I thought I'd got away with having two seats free next to me to form a small bed for the flight until a two women and a baby got on. Thankfully the little boy was quite well behaved, to be honest I was so so tired I plugged my earphones and listened to some toons' as soon as the seat belt signs went off and fell asleep, he could have been screaming for 2 hours and I wouldn't have noticed. I woke up as we were getting ready to land.
Sweden seems like a very efficient country. There is a shuttle train that goes from Arlanda airport in to central station in Stockholm that takes 20 mins, and is approx £20 which in turn is about half the price of a taxi. These trains are spectacular. As a rule trains, to quote the great philosopher Shania Twain "don't impress me much" but on boarding this one I actually thought I had inadvertently wandered in to business class or something.... pleb class was clean, roomy and had free WiFi. Brilliant! I'd done my homework and when we arrived in to Stockholm central it was just a case of wheeling my suitcase around the corner to the hotel. Stress free. Staying at the Radisson Waterfront was probably a bit on the expensive side, but I got a good advance deal, I don't smoke, drink or have any wildly extravagant hobbies that I'm admitting to and I thought if I'm going to be running *that* far I'm going to stay somewhere a bit posh. It was about 2 pm, so I spent an hour settling in and having had instructions to do a gentle 20 min run on Thursday I wandered off down Klarabergsgatan, Hamngatan and Strandvagan towards the edge of the ultra course, I ran a mile in reverse direction and a mile back in a direction that would become very familiar to me on Sunday!
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| "Warning - nutters around on Sunday" |
Saturday was a day for relaxing and doing very little, and I was very tired Friday night so went to bed early - I got up at about 9 am having had about 12h sleep. My first job after cracking open the "oat so simple" (yes I am that mean breakfast in the hotel is extortionate!) was to go to the running shop, Loplabbet and get my race number. It dawned on me I'd forgotten safety pins, and before coming out here I'd had a pin cull in all the pockets of my rucksacks which meant I couldn't even cobble together a selection of random ones from the bottom of my bag (we've all had to do it!). On the way to the shop I called in to several chemists and they all knew what safety pins were, they just didn't sell them! Praise the lord when I went to collect my number they had a huge bowl full, in fact they had put them in to the goody bag too. The goody bag was nice, a drawstring kit bag, a massive hard backed book (in Swedish) about running, a discount voucher for the shop and practical items - a sponge, and a white cap which could be useful in the race.
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| My own personal sponge, just what I've always wanted! |
I was tempted to view some of the Stockholm gay pride parade as it went through the city on Saturday PM (lots of events on this weekend, rainbow flags everywhere, rainbow buses, rainbow coffee cups) but figured on such a hot day I didn't need the excitement and I should just relax elsewhere! I mean - what on earth...
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| Horse love - it's a beautiful thing |
So I stuck to my original plan and set about doing a small practice exercise in getting to the start; purchasing a sort of 72h Oyster card for the tube system, I went from the Central station to Karlaplan and walked down to the Maritime museum where they were setting up the race. Not far and I worked out it would take me about 25 mins total to get to the start from leaving the hotel. Swedish tubes run very well, and even on Sundays run very early in the mornings. I was confident it would be ok. I had a little look around the maritime museum and stopped off to get some lunch, thinking "tomorrow I'll be running" - I thought this a lot from when I got up until about the 7pm on Saturday. Thankfully right next to the hotel there was a Wagamamas, so in the evening I loaded up on noodle and rice based food. I'd felt fine all day, quite upbeat and I'd emailed a few people saying "woo hoo I'm excited!!! I got all my shit together in the evening so all I had to do on race day was eat and get out the door and BANG!! All of a sudden I suppose when I had done all my prep and had time to think I had a real nervous meltdown sitting in front of my computer. 100k is a long way. It's from London to Portsmouth! Crisis time. Didn't feel ready. I'm in a strange country. Alone. So the secret is out, even apparent hard nuts have their wobbles. I went to bed in a bit better mood, but my sleep was very light as I had a paranoid fear the alarm would fail to go off at 4.45am - for the second time in 3 nights I was seeing that time again! Double ugh! I would be at the start about 6.20 for the race start at 7.
My alarm did go off, and I breakfasted courtesy of Quaker oats again. I toddled a few metres to Central station, (the road was quite busy with people doing the early morning walk of shame / stride of pride) got on my planned tube and again walked the short distance from Karlaplan, I figured it wouldn't hurt to get my legs a tiny bit warm. I soon arrived at the site I had visited Saturday, and whilst it was not exactly heaving it looked a lot different with everything set up. Tents, portaloos, tables arranged in number order to leave bags and boxes on. There was also a giant screen, this was excellent as it gave live info that you could see about your run such as last lap time, pace, predicted finish time every time you went through a lap. I strapped my rucksack to the leg of my allocated table, thankfully I had a low number so mine was the first table as you came in to the start/finish area or so I thought until the Swedish ladies champion turned up and erected her own table in front of the others! So I milled about a bit and someone shouted something in Swedish, and we went to the start. This video gives an idea of the atmosphere, I am 20 seconds in looking unimpressed at the man dressed as a dog. (I beat him - woo hoo!). It also has some good shots of the course.
http://www.marathon.se/aktuellt/se-videon-fr%C3%A5n-stockholm-ultra
They fired an actual gun dead on 7am which scared the life out of me, and we did the first cut down lap of about 4K, to be followed by 12 "normal" laps of about 8K. It was nice that everyone was jogging and not too stressed about going too fast and I was managing to control my pace well. I felt OK. First lap we went round some roads to a little bridge, and over a river (which thanks to the boat tour I know now to be a canal - duh!) and along past some horses fenced off by electric fence. We then went past a restaurant and a park with masses of geese which looked like Canada geese but not quite, they had whiter faces, a man in a hi vis jacket was trying to herd them off the course - this appeared to be his sole purpose in life on Sunday. We then went through the blue gate, over the bridge and back along a leafy avenue towards the start. On the main laps you added a forest and canal section before crossing that same little bridge and repeating the trip through geese-ville.
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| 13 x through this gate! |
I discounted this short lap as being part of the race, and I thought of it as a "warm up" so when I went through the finish for the first time and the scoreboard said "laps to go: 12" for me that was when it all really began. With the laps being approx 8k things seemed to go quite quickly, and by about 11.30 I had reached the Marathon point. The marshals were excellent, especially the group of old people as you turned off the gravel path left up the hill to the woods, the blonde lady at the entrance to the woods with her pumping "ace of base" dance music, the ladies as you got to the first bit of canal and the team as you came off the bridge in the city centre near the end of the lap. They were all good, but these people stood out as being particularly enthusiastic and as things got harder I looked forward to seeing these complete strangers. Strange but true.
I found out after the race that Saturday was the hottest day in Sweden for ages, and Sunday was a little cooler but wasn't too far off. So I'd run a marathon before it got *really* hot, but from 12pm onwards the temperature rose. Fueling on 100K is important, and I wanted to make sure I was drinking and eating enough. I opted to carry my donut bottle, yes yes I know I look silly but I hate the paper cups and you can never get a decent glug from them. I carried some gels, and had one every 5 miles, also picking up bananas and chunks of energy bars at the stations, things I could eat whilst jogging. I tried a cream cheese sandwich, but I didn't like it much, it put me off having a hot dog or burger, any other time would have been good but just didn't fancy it. Every so often I'd go back to my rucksack to pick up another gel supply and pop some nuun tablets in for my water. By lunch time I could see and feel salt on my skin, and the top of my vest as it started to dry out was going white. I wonder how much salt I actually lost. Quite a lot!
At this point I must mention Steve Way, for those of you not in to running he is a "quite good" (2.19) marathon runner and one of Britains best hopes over the longer distances. A few years ago he was a 16 stone smoker and went from that to being a top class marathon runner in not more than a couple of years. He was on the start list, I have read his blog and so figured if he was around I'd vaguely recognise him. I hoped he would be there, but obviously he would be starting on the later start! I'm not sure how far it was in to my run, but I heard a commotion behind and several men on bikes were telling runners to keep right. A flash of yellow and blue went past, and I was pretty sure it was him. "WELL DONE!!!" I yelled. He looked around at me slightly possibly confused thinking "you are English do I know you?" but a big smile appeared and thumbs up and a "thank you!!" followed. Even then he seemed to be way way ahead. He lapped me several times, and each time I cheered him on and got the thumbs up. Great bloke, he won by a massive margin - 40 mins, coming home in 6.40 which is amazing and the 5th best time by a Brit ever over 100K. So pleased he smashed it.
It was at the halfway mark I had a severe wobble. It basically went:
I'm halfway, hooray!
Oh fuck I've got do do this ALL AGAIN!
I'm a bit tired
It's hot
I'm not sure I can manage it
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!
I'll get to the end of this lap and hand my number in - I've made it to halfway, 50K is respectable right? I've had a lovely day...
No, 50K is not OK if you've planned and focused to run 100K
I wish I'd entered the 50K now, then I'd at least have a medal to show for it
People are watching on the telly. What will they say?
Sod them! They are probably out down the pub or at B & Q anyway. No one is interested (how untrue I found this to be!!)
But you can do this really - you are always saying to other people "you don't know till you try"
Waaaah! :(
Before the end of the lap I felt slightly better, so I carried on. I told myself to try just one more lap. I saw the old people crowd at the left turn up the hill to the woods, and they whooped and cheered in Swedish. I always said thanks in English, just, well just because I didn't want to insult them by saying it wrong in their language and I wanted to be polite and let them know I was grateful. One of the ladies said in broken English as I approached "you do-ink veeery well!" and as I was departing from where they were "you...you a good fighter". I thought "You know what?? She knows it, I know it, KICK ASS" and decided that they would have to carry me off the course screaming at the cut off, or in a coffin. The ladies at the river bridge saw me and started yelling "girl power!!!" good timing ladies! It was about this time I got snapped:
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| Only 30 or so miles to go... |
I think with an event of this distance you have to accept it is going to get tough beyond the realms of what you have experienced before, and you have to accept you will slow down (unless you are at the really sharp end of the race) especially if it is hot. It will hurt, but in a miles time it could well feel like it is easy again. Then tough. Then easy. If you can get your head around that, and deal with the basics of fueling and foot care (there was a man running who I think had to run the last 40K in 'croc' sandals because his feet were mashed - well they are supposedly comfy!!!) you are a large part of the way there. So I made it my next mission to get to 40 miles. This was a milestone because 40 was the longest I've ever run, after this it was all new. After 40 on some of the short inclines I was power walking up, it seemed more efficient to do this and in fact I overtook other runners on the ups using this strategy. On the flat I was off again. Around 40 I also looked at things in a new way - the 4 lap countdown, as a few weeks ago I did a parkrun event at Leamington where we did 4 parkruns back to back. I thought to myself this was really no different, apart from the laps being slightly bigger. The leafy course drew some parallels, and I kind of imagined I was doing the same thing. The last 3 laps or so things started to get cooler for which I was grateful, and the physically I looked good - I still had no blisters, no aches and pains or any problems apart from general tiredness. Looking around there were people even in the 50K who looked done in, sorry but in these circumstances feeding off of others misfortune feeling "superior" did make me feel better and therefore a bit stronger.
On my second to last lap coming in to the finish I saw one or two runners hobbling around wearing the pink 100k medals. I'd seen people milling around wearing the blue 50k but it was a significant thing seeing "my" medal. Seemingly before I knew it, I was on my last lap. So as long as I didn't pass out and get pulled off the course by doctors or have any stupid issues, I could crawl it and still come in under the 15h cutoff. I wanted to stop and hug all the marshals, but I opted to just pour out my sincere thanks as I jogged past and hoped they understood me! I think they did. The rush when I saw the city centre bridge for the last time was immense, and as I turned right up the hill towards the finish I felt a new wave of energy. All the marshals were clapping (still after 12h don't they get sore hands?) and I was kind of pointing at myself with a proud face saying to them "last lap, last lap I'm done!" this lead to increased clapping! As I crossed the road I could actually see the finish. Despite it being just gone 7pm the crowds were still relatively large, and I think by the look on my face and the spring in my step people could tell that this was it. I put my arms in the air and I was over the line. I couldn't believe it. I almost started blubbing as the lady put the medal round my neck. I started wondering around on the grass in a daze and the a man who was part of the finish crew cattle prodded me to get some stew, shoving me at the tent saying "Eat! Eat!" to be honest I was and am fed up (geddit) of stuffing my face. But I did as I was told. Chicken and vegetables in brown gravy with rice got the right mix of recovery foodstuffs down me I hope.
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| t-shirt and medal |
As I was eating I rang my parents, and almost started to cry again (I feel like I want to have a good blub but haven't yet, so friends beware) I decided snotting and spitting rice everywhere would not be a good look, and besides people were still coming in and needed encouragement. I got my stuff together, and decided to start the shuffle to the tube station I had previously last seen at 6am that morning. The pain was immense. My legs had seized in a way like I'd never experienced. I got to the marshal lady at about 200m to go where you came off the road on to the gravel path, and just sat down on the grass looking a bit snivelly and pathetic. Thank GOD I'd put some money, just about £40 cash to cover an "emergency" in to my drop bag rucksack. I explained to her I'd planned to walk back to Karlaplan to keep my legs moving post race but I couldn't. Thankfully she spoke perfect English, so I asked if she could order me a taxi to my hotel, and before I had finished she'd whipped out her mobile (I'd offered her to use mine) and said something down the phone in Swedish. "It will be here in 5 mins". I was so happy. I was even happier when it actually arrived in 2 1/2. The taxi driver was lovely, he thought I was bonkers running 100K on one of the hottest weekends in Stockholm for a long time, and even though it was a relatively short trip he did his best to give me a mini tour as we were driving along. Stockholm is an expensive city - it was about £20 for what must have been about a 2.5 mile journey. The most expensive but most required journey I've had.
I was really really pleased to see my hotel room again, and for 10 mins I just lay on the bed having dumped my bag groaning a little bit. Even unpacking my rucksack was an effort. The next big thing was having a shower. Sweating and wearing a wet salted vest / sports bra etc for 12 hours leads to a bit of chafing, even despite changing in to fresh clothes immediately after the race, and some of my back and under my right arm was a bit raw. Once I had mastered the 10 minute delicate operation of getting my kit off, I realised that that this shower was going to sting... It certainly did, although my legs hurt, my raw skin hurt a lot more initially and the hot water was making me feel a bit light headed. I usually like to stand under the shower for 20 mins at times like this, but I quickly cleaned up and got out, laying on the bed for 20 mins wrapped in towel, not groaning but whimpering a bit this time. I must stress I was drinking plenty and trying to eat, but didn't really feel like it. I had some peanuts and a bit of chocolate when I got back because that is what I fancied. I tried to sleep, but despite being dog tired, I couldn't. My legs just hurt laying there, no position was comfortable. At about 2am it lessened and I was able to go to sleep, but was awake again around 8.30am. It is an understatement to say I was stiff. I wasn't prepared for the sight that greeted me when I rolled back the covers:
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| Ouch! No, not really... |
Yes, the entire left side of my left foot was blue. I'd had no pain or anything when running, after running or even on Sunday evening when I'd taken my shoes off. This just appeared. I do find if I do ever have any niggles, they are more predominant in my left leg / foot than the right. Must be my bio-mechanics. I got up and had a little walk around, it was swollen as it felt like I was treading on a lump when barefoot, but was better with shoes on. I breakfasted, showered (a nice long 20 minute one this time :) ) and decided to go and have a look around now the pressure to "relax" was off. What I must have looked like doing my slow shuffle walk out of the hotel I don't know!
I had a wander towards the old town, having a look around at the Royal Palace and Opera house. I decided to get on a bus tour, and sat on the top deck snapping away like a total tourist (well I suppose I was). I managed the stairs down from the top deck well enough and got some lunch, a smoked salmon bagel being the order of the day, initially I wasn't very hungry but now I was starting to get my appetite back. I got back on the bus and carried on snapping, and once my circuit was complete carried on to the boat tour. I wandered back to the hotel, I'd been out for 5 hours or so, so I had a lie down and at the risk of sounding boring off to Wagamamas again, this time having the most spicy thing on the menu that I didn't want to risk the night before. I had a much better nights sleep on Monday, a long lie in and spent the Tuesday morning packing and pootling around buying gifts before setting off to the airport. I resisted the temptation to smuggle some Surstromming in to the UK.
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| Yum! |
And that is it really, not sure what else to say. My friend Lisa picked me up on Tuesday night, it was nice to see a friendly face waiting on the train platform, and she was amazed at how well I was moving. The foot feels better, although stiff in the mornings and possibly a little swollen it is not bruised any more. My legs feel ok, I am reminded I've done a bit more than usual when I get up occasionally but I'm feeling good. Back in my own bed again and familiar surroundings I'm finding I'm needing my sleep, and working from home I'm trying to get a lot done first thing and having a late afternoon nap because I think it is when you are sleeping your body is in repair. I hope I'll be running soon because I'm starting to feel like I want to again.
Having been in to work in Bristol speaking to other people at work, and having gone to both running clubs (just to say hello) I must say I am really amazed at how many people were tuned in on Sunday. I didn't really think anyone would be interested, although I tried to kid myself that they were and many times I looked down the little camera by the lap start / finish with its flashing red light wondering who was watching. I pretended that you were watching, and it turns out you were! :) I am touched how mental my phone and Facebook went during and after the event and some of the lovely things that people have said. I had the best time. It just goes to show again that you don't know what you can do until you try.
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