That was 2013

Another year, another summary. I'm a bit busy, so it's a bit late. And no pictures. BORING!

2013 was about trying to get another sub 4 marathon, and going long. Well, I managed one of them! I also became a godmother in the January :)

In 2012, I ran the Manchester marathon on the only day in April when it was -2 degrees, sleeting and blowing a howling gale - the same day as Stratford got cancelled and people got hypothermia in Milton Keynes. I decided that wading through a half mile puddle trying to get round the dawdlers at Dunham Massey cost me at least 3 mins off of my 4:02 so I entered again in 2013 in the hope of bettering my time. The year started off with cross countries, doing some particularly gruesome and snowy runs (the infamous Midlands XC at Stafford where it is rumoured a junior runner's socks got frozen to his feet!!), but overall I felt like I was running quite well. I did some of the old favourite races, the Stamford 30k where I had a decent run, buy my marathon paced section felt a bit hard on some of the hills. I guess that is the point of doing these things, to get used to your pace again and it's a hard race - so I carried on not to worried.

I was gutted to miss the National XC in Sunderland due to an episode of projectile vomiting on the Thursday night before the Saturday of the run, I'm not sure what caused it, but no way could I even travel to support. I love the National, I'm sure I've said this before, but the National XC is the London Marathon of XC running, anyone belonging to a UKA affiliated club can enter, and the range of speeds is vast. I would encourage anyone to pluck up the courage, stick two fingers up and just give it a go. Strangely after this episode (maybe it was a few days of enforced rest or losing half a stone in 3 days) my running seemed to pick up, and I ran a very speedy 5K at the Barnstaple Parkrun (just a few seconds off my PB) the day before the Duchy 20. I had a splendid holiday down in Cornwall in the isolation of my friends little house that looks across to Falmouth. A week of no TV, little internet, just the radio, lots of visiting cool places (including Kwik Fit in Truro when I got a puncture... booooo!) and some good running.

Just before Barnstaple and the Duchy I got a PB at the Cambridge half, 1:48. I had a great race, but was disappointed to find the one time a year I seem to race a half, the chip buggered up and gave me a time 2 mins slower than I clocked on a LONG course (before you say it, not sure it resembled any gun time either). Anyway, I know what I did, and the simple answer is to do it again and again, isn't it? I'm wondering if I should race a few more half marathons, I think it's a tricky distance. I feel like I'm getting better at 5Ks by attending lots of Parkruns so perhaps the same logic applies. It's a balance between getting sharper and wearing myself out I think. I definitely don't want to do that. 2013 was also the year that Wolverhampton Parkrun started, 2 miles from where I live so it is joggable as a WU. A great little course and if I was less busy doing this and that I'd go more often. I am grateful to the people who started it, it was something that crossed my mind a while ago but I didn't feel I had the time to commit to setting it up. I'm really glad someone did. A few of my running friends also started going, which is great - I am a lot more likely NOT to turn over in bed and hit the snooze button these days because I have people to meet there!

The most memorable race of the first part of the year for other reasons, has to be the Rhayader 20. I blogged about it at the time, but this is the only race so far in my running life where the possibility of dying has crossed my mind. Perhaps that sounds overly dramatic; I don't believe we were ever in real danger but the weather was shocking. We started off in Rhayader village knowing the weather was snowy elsewhere, but it was just a bit chilly and cloudy. The customary 5.5 miles up to the top of "the big one" and all looked ok. I saw the false summit, then I saw the actual summit where the ambulance sits (that's how you know it is really the top) and it started to hail. I didn't think that was a problem, it was bouncing off of me. Then came down snow like I've never ever seen. Total whiteness all around and so quickly. It was settling on my arms, it was settling on my head, and the top of my chest where my race number was pinned. I went to look at my garmin and had to brush off snow. We ran down the hairpins, thanking frozen looking marshals; and still a lot of snow was settling on the roads, cars were having to crawl and a cyclist was skidding along on his bike. I wondered what would happen if someone fell or had to stop. We were all dressed sensibly, but even so... It carried on like this until about 11 or 12 miles, where it then went back to simply "cold". The scenery was still beautiful. To think in previous years I've been sunburned at this race! As always the day after Rhayader is the Ashby 20, and again I did both. I love both races, and run at a sensible pace doing both is a reasonable long run exercise. Ashby was just as cold, and it was sleeting a bit, I'd had a bit of a cold and to be honest at the end my chest was sore from breathing the cold air in and out.

Easter came, and I managed to get a place in the Ely to Cambridge trail run along the river from one to the other, an interesting 16 mile run along the Cam taking in the flat views of black earth fields. It was a great little event, and a creme egg is one of the better race mementos I've had although it didn't last as long as a medal, especially as I had another 5 miles to go after that. I also traveled to Bournemouth with a club mate to do the half marathon, another excellent run after having run 7 miles before the start and tagging on to the back it made for a decent 20.

Manchester did not go as planned, I'm going to have to get a Marathon time starting with a 3 this year, I know I have it in me. I started to feel "off" at Manchester 2013 after about 8 miles. It was hard carrying on for another 18 but I hung on, 4:07 the 2nd fastest Marathon I've ever run but I was disappointed, especially having been overtaken by a woman dressed as a giant tit (breast cancer awareness) in the last few miles. Shortly after I had some mouth pain and had to go to the dentist - I may have actually had a dental infection at the time of the race. It's not an excuse, but something was brewing because I was in a bit of discomfort on the day but thought it was just a sore gum - it certainly can't have helped. I needed a bit of an extended rest after Manchester. With the previous years marathons, 4 marathons in 4 days as base I had decided to enter... 100K.... in Sweden.... at the beginning of August. Previous furthest distance was the Ultra at Connemara in 2011. 40 miles. 62. Wow - that's a reasonable distance in the car.

So I trained over the summer and I really enjoyed it all. The summer was a bit chaotic, I had to move from my flat because my landlord had not been paying the mortgage, but I moved literally 8 doors down and my lovely friends assisted me moving so it was a lot less stressful than it could have been. We (as a work team) also got purchased by another company, and whilst change isn't always a bad thing, it can be scary. It all seemed very very unfair with the flat situation, and at times despite being surrounded by lovely people I felt quite alone, but such is life. Highlights of the summer training included starting circuits. My running friends had started these sessions in Jan 2013 and kept raving about it; I could see the change in them in terms of body shape and general fitness. I decided after the Marathon to sign up for 3 months to go alongside my 100K training. I thought I was fit from running, but this training has improved me - I think the additional core, leg and arm strength I have has only helped my running, and in the right light, if you squint a bit with a prevailing wind I actually have some abdominal muscles. Other summer highlights included spending a week or so in Cornwall and having some cracking runs around there, seeing my pals from Uni in Cornwall and some of them and their children at a reunion and doing the "pink parkrun" at Leamington which was 4 runs of it starting at 7.30 finishing with the "official" one at 9am  - this turned out to be quite a good move. I crewed for a friend at the Grand Union Canal Race which was a great experience and I learned an awful lot about longer distance events just from watching things going on. The Thunder Run at Catton park with the running club was one of the best team running experiences I've had - as a team of 8 we managed a respectable 25 laps in 24h, I had 3 different races - a hot dry run, a run where I was being chased by lightning bolts through the woods, and one at 7am in the morning through 6 miles of steaming slop. Brilliant fun :) Unfortunately as I was not prepared to stay up till midnight to register and the event was sold out in record time I have failed us this year with the entry, but something else equally good will come along. Some of the brilliantness of these things is the event, but it is mostly the people you are with.

Before  I knew it, the 100K had arrived; true I have covered this in a separate blog, but I'll say it again, the whole experience was one of the greatest of my life. Getting there was smooth, and Stockholm was awesome. The only slight downer was that it was one of the hottest weekends in that part of Sweden for centuries; but I had prepared as best I could by doing a lot of runs with the mad dogs and Englishmen at home and rocked up to the start at 7am on the day with a load of nervy looking runners including a man dressed as a dalmatian. I'd managed a marathon distance before it got too warm, but the full heat of the sun kicked in mid morning; the course and its 5 mile loops was amazing, pretty and scenic despite being in the middle of a major city with variety and excellent support both in terms of food / fuel and crowds, and it was a privilege to get lapped and acknowledged by Steve Way, who went on to have an amazing win. I sit sometimes and think about this day, and wonder how I managed to do it. At about 30 miles I had a "Oh bugger I've got to do all of this again" moment, but I just told myself to get to 40, get to 50, and then in was simply a question of counting down laps ("I did this at the 4 Leamington Parkruns") rather than miles. It was cool knowing it was being broadcast on the internet. I finished and I was in total shock, shame I should have soaked it up as after that I was in whole body pain for about 48h. Looking back at my time, just over 12h I felt I could have done better, but it was so so hot. My average moving pace was 11:00mm, which over that distance isn't too shabby but in the latter stages I was slowing down a lot to get as much water and electrolyte drink down me as I could. Would I do it again, yes probably but I don't think I want to go longer at the moment.

I was a bit wobbly in the head department before the 100K full of self doubts; during and shortly after I felt boosted and a few days after I felt a fairly significant low. It's a massive thing to build up to and pffft! It's gone, albeit a great memory. Some things meant a lot; my coach said he was proud, my parents also. I did the run because I wanted to and whilst I appreciate the sentiments of others I found it hard listening to how great I'd done because I didn't really feel great, and with 2 weeks rest (just as well with a totally bruised foot) I felt like I was missing getting out on more good times, e.g. the social aspect of jogging along chatting to my pals. I do still maintain that anyone with the will can pretty much do anything they want. You heard it here first.

In September, I got asked out by someone I'd met at a Parkrun over the summer. We have a reasonable number of mutual friends so got talking, being the wallflower that I am I did wonder about him "in that way" but sort of dismissed it - I don't tend to ask people myself (I've had not so much bad but very strange experiences when I have done the asking so gave up). So he asked me on a date and I thought it would be good; we went out in early Sept and got on really well. We went out again, and again, and I found his company to be just delightful. We can talk, we are the same in the right ways, but different enough in others to make life interesting. I feel like I've known him ages, but also I still find him as interesting as someone I've just met. Happy.

Running wise, between Sept and Dec I have been concentrating on two things really, parkruns and XC in the quest for greater speed. The season started well, and more or less I'd been equaling or bettering my best times on the courses I've run before. Things did feel a bit hard though. Work, rushing around, circuits and running I felt at times I lived out of a sports bag, was having so many showers per day my skin would fall off and I just never had 5 mins to sit down. Not that I'd have had it any other way. I just secretly craved a bit of downtime.

Reasons for everything feeling tough became apparent during "the week from hell" in December. I use this term in jest as worse things happen at sea and all that, but it was a hard week.

Monday - Went to give blood, got told I was anaemic. That might explain my everything feels so hard then! Out with friend, late night

Tuesday - Trip to Blackpool, early start and general knackeredness - Xmas meal

Wednesday - Tired after a late night (no booze just late to bed). Got told boss had resigned (we all like him, found him to be very good at his job and the circumstances were not good. To the observer it looked like he was stitched up. That is all.)

Thursday - Felt so awful went to the doctors - came out with antibiotics for an infection and some advice on Iron, drove a 200 mile round trip to have an Xmas meal in Bristol - it was nice but I was knackered

Friday - Running club Xmas do - got breathalyzed on the way back, and despite being virtually tee total and knowing I'd last had any booze WEEKS if not MONTHS ago it was still a slightly nerve wracking experience, I was stopped because one of my lights had gone which must have only just happened because I'd have noticed parking up at home. Got pulled over in to a lay-by about 2 miles from home as part of a Police Xmas crackdown. Policeman (smiling sarcastically) "Where have you been?" Me (In horrible Christmas jumper) "Running club party!" They were very nice and took care to explain to me what was going on, didn't believe my age (bats eyelids) and with a reading of 0.000mg I was on my way home after less than 5 minutes. I hope they caught some people and stopped a few accidents.

Saturday - parkrun with the girls, nice breakfast but rubbish time - wasn't full on racing but 9.00mm felt hard! Halfords light fitting dept on the way back!!

Sunday - Early run due to meeting my boy, his Dad and Step mum for lunch. Came back at 10 am-ish to find that the flat above me had been on fire, their dishwasher had been put on overnight, malfunctioned and destroyed their entire kitchen. Oh and the smoke alarm failed, so the chap had rolled over in bed, woken and sniffed burning plastic and raised the alarm. The place still has a slight whiff now over 4 weeks on. I got back and the couple were huddled outside looking completely and totally crushed. That picture of them in my head almost makes me cry when I think about it, or about what could have been for them. As I opened my door, I was greeted to the sound of dripping, because what do you know, when 2 fire engines come and pump a load of water in to an upstairs flat there is a lot of water that has to go somewhere. Thankfully it was a few drips by my kitchen window and water marks around the coving, nothing that didn't dry out in a few days but that was another shock.

At Christmas I had some time off of circuits, and some general rest and relaxation - lie ins and naps during the day. It's done me good. In the quest for speed I've just been getting stuck in to Parkruns (one on Xmas day and 2 on New Years day in addition to the normal Saturdays) and having started taken Iron in mid December I cannot believe what a difference it has made to me. Fast runs feel good again and I don't feel permanently tired. On the XC front I'm 2-3 mins ahead of some of the faces I was with at the beginning of the season which is massive. I put it down to a combination of proper training but boosted by having "normal" iron levels.

So I look forward to the Rotterdam Marathon in 2014 and everything else it has to offer. Targets? Yes, lots of PBs but most of all as always to enjoy everything and have fun

Cross country season and more life after the 100K

Following on from the last blog one thing the psychic didn't predict was that I would come down with a stinking cold soon after I saw him; having a small child sneezing on me with a post ultra low immune system it was bound to happen. I felt pretty rough for the best part of a week but better to have a cold when I'm in a period of low mileage then during a peak of marathon training so I embraced the Vaporub and the tissues.

Bless you

The main focus from mid August was getting back in to things and building mileage back up slowly. I did my home parkrun towards the end of August and was pleased feeling relatively "unfit" to clock the mid 25:xx. I've kept a close eye on my heart rate during recovery and it is an interesting thing. I would say a normal marathon I'm back to normal in a month, for the 100K - things seemed OK at first, then went downhill after a week back running (high HR for slow pace) and started to get back to normal after about 7 weeks - so as always it is just a question of patience. I enjoyed just being out doing the easy runs, and being "let out" to do the parkruns at the weekends. I started back on the circuit / bootcamp training as well, something that strangely I had missed whilst tapering and recovering from Stockholm. I thought it was only really running that really "did it" for me but it seems like I have found a love of another exercise type, and made a lot of new friends in the process.

More parkruns towards September, one full of cold paced a bit slower and then one almost in 24:xx territory and I felt like I was coming back. I needed to do these 5Ks as I needed a bit of short distance practice (or at least mental confidence) for the upcoming XC season, the first one is usually very painful in the lung and leg department, and I figured if I could get a few fast runs in beforehand that first XC would be less horrific. I'm well on the way to 50 parkruns now - I believe over the past year or two it has really helped my running, to the point where I'm actually prepared to drag my arse out of bed to help if not running. It's funny how some people never give anything back.

Full of cold but I actually look like I'm running!

The middle of September, as always was the JW Ultra weekend. I wrote quite a lengthy blog about this last year, again it was a brilliant day in 2013. 6 relay teams for the club, our men's teams came first and second, and more importantly all the teams had a good time. We had 3 solo runners who all finished with very respectable times and avoiding illness / injury. I am very proud of the way that everyone in our club supports each other and how we can have such good days out at events.

In October we had our first XC race at Winsford. This is the first fixture in the North Staffs League - Cheshire is very North Staffs(!) from Stourbridge it is 70 miles each way. we had a good turnout from the men, not so great from the ladies myself and Ruby venturing up there. It's always an odd one because it happens before the seasons change, so quite often you've got your XC shoes on but the temperature seems too high - if I'm going to do an XC I want a good miserable time with sleet in my face and frozen feet, not wondering if I should apply the suntan cream. Still, it went better than expected, despite there being a delay, me and Ruby almost missing the start, not hearing the race briefing - we started with 2 x small laps unlike previous years; I'd assumed it would be 3 small laps total and almost cried when I discovered the last lap was huuuuge! C'est la vie. I hung on. Towards the end I was quite strong and overtaking. I clocked my rivals for the season and I shall try and keep ahead of them at the next fixtures.

The mighty SRC take over the north

Soon after we had the excellent XC relays at Walsall. This takes a slightly different format, one runner from each team is out on the course at a time, the winning team obviously being the one with the fastest time. It makes for a different race, usually in our neck of the woods men and ladies have separate races, this one we are all together; men usually race 10k - this is 6k and we all do the same course so it is shorter faster racing for the men; and there is the potential to be in "no mans land" if you are on some of the later legs. It is important to know how to follow markers and tape!

A couple of weeks off of XC and I decided to keep my hand in with the short distance on Saturdays with parkruns and ran at Leamington one weekend followed by Killerton in Exeter the next. I spent a few days (flying visit really) at my friends in Cornwall, and 2 hours to Exeter, parkrun and 2h to hers it proved to be an excellent way of breaking up the journey. A beautiful course. You know it's going to be good when the RD warns "there will be broken bones here one day, it WILL happen" and the start is up a vertical grass hill. Some lovely terrain, lots of mud and very good fun. Also I took in the farmers market (3rd Sat of the month apparently) and the Cider festival - alas I was driving! I got to my friends house showered, had some lunch and asked what we were going to do. Of all the things I ended up building a shed, of which I am very proud and we had a jolly good time putting it together. Just as well as that evening the wind and rain came in with a vengeance, a half built shed would have blown away like something from the wizard of Oz.

Killerton start

On the Sunday I ran at the Eden Project Half. The rain had stopped and the wind dropped, and we started from the "Strawberry" car park (sounds uninspiring but it was OK as car parks go!). It was very warm, vest and shorts weather, and we jogged through country lanes before turning in to a huge puddle which marked the start of a wooded area. The course was gorgeous and the halfies ran with the marathoners till about 7.5 miles where they split off to run more off road delights, we went on to the roads and the joy of the Cornish short sharp hills. At about 8 miles in, as seems to be my luck these days, the heavens opened, flashes of lightning and some of the loudest thunder I've heard in a while (yes louder than the Thunder Run!). It was refreshing though. We finished off by coming back on to the clay trails in to the Eden project, the last mile winding down towards the Biomes. A lovely run, and a very welcome (dry) t shirt and hot pasty at the end. If I get brave I may do the Marathon one day, but it would definitely be at a long run pace. On the Marathon front, I've chosen Rotterdam as my spring marathon next year, having enjoyed Amsterdam and Stockholm I thought I'd go for similar but different. It's around the time of London/Manchester so I should be good for all the usual build up races.

My work in Bristol has kind of fizzled out, and I think in the last Blog I'd taken 2/3 of the exams I needed to take to upgrade my professional qualifications. I was scared of the last one. Work very kindly put me on a course to help with passing the monster, and also put me up. I had a lovely time at the Premier Inn in Manchester, just as well I didn't have to commute it was long days and my poor brain was crammed with the intricacies of Microsoft System Center and Hyper V but I had some good times and some good runs there and the week after I passed the big scary one with 91%. It's a shame it's simply pass/fail and they don't differentiate between pass / distinction but there you go. I'm happy just to have got through it.

And finally - if you've got down this far: something I would not normally talk about in my blogs, but anyway during the course of August, well, I met someone. We'd previously met at a couple of parkrun events, and to cut to the chase we started going out. I've not been in a relationship for a while (through a combination of trauma and fussiness really) and compared to previous relationships it somehow seems very different. Suddenly there is someone who is on the same wavelength. Someone who gets me and simply says and does all the right things. Someone who I feel that twinge of excitement about when we've been apart and I know we are going to see each other. A gorgeous person inside and out he is cool, interesting, he makes me laugh, he rocks and quite frankly he rocks my world. It is very uncomplicated; he's my friend, someone who I would do anything for and seeing him happy makes me feel happy.

On that hopefully not to cheesy note I shall leave it there.

One year on, 3 weeks on and a load of crystal balls

This time last year I was out in Derry for the 4 marathons event. How time flies. This means technically I've done not one but two quite cool events in the space of a year. The company running the 4 marathons event moved the dates a little this year, so the 2nd batch of runners already completed the beautiful routes finishing the other weekend; I think the hills of day 1 were a bit of a shock to the system last year, so in 2013 the runners were eased in a bit more gently, the courses were the same but run not necessarily in the right order. Every time I think of the event, the scenery, the people (both who were at the event and helped me train back in blighty) I have a little smile. It was brilliant. I know this is a shameless plug, no one has asked me to do it but if you are in to the marathon sort of thing:

http://www.extremenorthevents.com/Race/Quadrathon/Quadrathon-B/prod_18.html

(they also have a facebook page that has loads of photos from this year that show the beautiful scenery is = hilly!)

It's been 3 weeks or so since the 100K. In some respects it seems like a lifetime ago, in other respects it seems like only yesterday. I'm recovering fairly well I think. I had an enforced rest for almost 2 weeks before I was allowed to run, my first jog-ette being the parkrun at Wimpole (whilst visiting my parents) a couple of Saturdays ago. At the risk of sounding like I'm on happy drugs, this is a fabulous, lovely, brilliant parkrun, I think it shares joint first place with Leamington and Plym Valley for course beauty. I mean when you get a finish like this:

Free milk at the finish - if you can catch the cow

For the first week after the 100K I wasn't bothered about runs, but that first weekend when my legs felt less tired and my foot bruise had cleared up I got the urge again so the 2nd week was spent drumming my fingers and waiting to be allowed off the leash. I was told to jog the parkrun; I intended to jog it, but after 13 days of no running I was champing at the bit and despite holding back was running at 9.15s which I was quite surprised about having simply used the force I thought I'd been doing 10mm +

So last week I was back at circuits and the first "proper" week back running. Combine this with giving blood and taking an exam it was fairly tiring. I'm so pleased to be back on it though. This week I've been running and doing circuits but I've been struck my the dreaded lurgi (fairly standard 3 weeks post Ultra apparently) and I'd say my hair was falling out :-( no surprise as when I took my elastic hairband off after 12 hours of running and my scalp hurt along that band line for 3 days, so good job I had a mop top to start off with. I passed another exam yesterday, I like working in Bristol but it's been nice to have a rest from commuting even if it means having to justify my existence by upgrading my MCSE qualification.

I ran Wolverhampton Parkrun this Saturday and put some proper effort in as a line in the sand to build from, clocking 25:50. Not great, my best there is 24:50 (and that was the day after a 20 miler!) but it could have been worse. It's been a while since I've done a proper parkrun effort or any speed work, this first one back you know is going to be horrible but you just have to get it done and keep sticking at it. First mile on Saturday I was "waaaay-heeey this is great"; mile 2 "*puff* getting tricky now"; the start of mile 3 I felt like I had nothing in my legs but hung on, by the end I perked up and I managed to out sprint a bloke to the line who thought I was easy pickings. Ha!

I'm not doing anything "big" for the rest of the year, but I have some goals leading up to Xmas and in to 2014:

• Make it to my 50th Parkrun ASAP - Saturday was #34. Planning this out it will be some time in March 2014
  
• Run all the  XC races (we run in 2 leagues and numerous championships/relays - I only missed 2 last year!) parkrun total will suffer but I can still volunteer :)
  
• Drop some more weight (lost a stone but it is not going up but I've hit a plateau, so back on that too)

I've considered what to do next year and I'm going for the Rotterdam Marathon. I've decided combining these events with a mini break is the way forward as I had *the* BEST time in Stockholm. The timing also means I can do my favourite training runs like Stamford, Ashby, Rhayader etc as Rotterdam is on 12th April. Not going to obsess about a sub 4, but I will try and hopefully if I drop a few more lbs it will just happen naturally.

In other news, I've been going out and catching up with friends a lot since I got back from Stockholm. Spent some time seeing my god-family, little Edith and the boys get more adorable every time I see them (their parents aren't bad either) and I find it so sweet the way little Edith greets me with a big smile and "ITS NAAATT!!!!" when I arrive (and for the next 3 hours in between doses of Peppa pig ;) )

In an unusual move, I went to a psychic night at a cupcake shop - to admire and sample the cupcakes. I most definitely don't believe in all that stuff, but it was interesting. Basically there were 3 types of people there last Thurs:

Cross my palm with a snicker-licious...

• Old ladies wanting to talk to dead relatives
• Single 40-50 something women asking "when will I find a man"
• Cake fanciers (me and Jane) "oooh the cherry bakewell one looks nice"

He gave everyone a reading, and when it came to me he seemed to think he was speaking to one of my male relatives who passed away quite a few years ago: "the first thing he wants to say is a big WELL DONE!!" at this point Jane was nudging me. I volunteered to him that I'd just run 100K, which he acknowledged, but he said "no, I think you've been studying". Well I'd taken and passed my first exam that Monday. There were some other things, but also an equal number of things where I was saying "no I can't see how that applies to me". With regards to the studying stuff, I was in scruffy jeans, Doc Martens, had my Cambridge Satchel over my shoulder and a Dexters Laboratory t-shirt with the word "Genius" scrawled across it - I think I could have possibly looked a bit studenty. Apparently "life has been a bit ploddy recently" but this is going to change. Well I look forward to that?!?! Some of it was a bit spooky and it's a neat trick but it didn't really rock my world.

That's it really - next broadcast when there is something to tell!

Stockholm 100K Ultramarathon

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.

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!

"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.

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...

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.

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:

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.

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:

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.

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.

Thunder Run 2013

I have fancied doing the Thunder Run for a while. Two of our club members have done the solo event and the sister 12h events and have had nothing but good things to say about it all. Before Christmas, the Stourbridge RC ladies had a bit of an Xmas "do" in Kinver and we met up with some of the men after their pub crawl. One of our faster runners was thinking of doing the 24h event as his "ultra comeback" and to be honest that evening chat in a crowded pub planted the seed that we should enter a team. So I had a look and out of paranoia got the go ahead from the committee to buy a team entry and worry about filling it nearer the time. Done! we were in for a mixed team of 5-8.

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! :)

Quick update

OK so I'm moved in and fairly settled in the new place. It's the same and different but not in a bad way.

So everything at the moment is geared towards running 100K on 4th August, and I look forward to a little holiday whilst in Stockholm. I had a bit of a rest (it's a relative term) mileage wise after the Manchester Marathon because my HR readings showed I needed it, but I love being back on it with the really long runs.

So firstly, boot camp. I really really enjoy it, and lets face facts if it can get me up at 05.30 for 06.15 to be doing all sorts of crazy jumping around it must be good. I think it is a combination of the instructor (boot camp conjures up visions of a man in combat trousers yelling but that's not how it is), the fact that a growing number of my friends are doing it, the variety of sessions and the personal challenge - seeing the improvement from last session/week/month. I thought with all my running I was fit, but I'm finding the strength in my arms and core has really improved, so much so that my friend who does massage actually passed comment on the new state of my abs - e.g. solid, and I can feel a difference myself. I have an open mind on the high intensity exercise debate, but the fact is that over the 8 or so weeks my heart rate readings on the run are 10-15 bpm lower for a given pace than they used to be. This could be because I'm back in heavier training, lost a little weight or a combination of all those things, but the fact is I feel fitter, stronger and have much more energy.

I've been managing to get to a lot of parkruns which is good, I think in fact the day after the last blog I went to Wolverhampton, and pleasingly on this course it seems I can reasonably happily crank out a sub 25 min off of little specific training. Due to being away at weekends in various places I've made it to Newbury again, Leamington (even x4 in one day!) and Plym Valley to name a few. I always like Newbury and its great to have chats about running with the man I've sold my soul to. The week after that I paid my first visit to Leamington to catch up with friends and fell in love - the course is absolutely superb. I have run many a miserable (not really it's nice in the autumn sunshine, honest!) League XC at Leamington, but the parkrun course is leafy, interesting and has just the right combination of ups and downs. Whilst on holidays in Cornwall I decided to drive to Plym valley run near Plymouth, flanked by a 4 mile WU either side (I got to go past the peregrine falcon viewing point more than once) I felt surprisingly chipper during the race and it was a great route through paths and a wild flower meadow. Being the small world it is I bumped in to the lovely Rich Kennington there who has taken many photos of me gurning in various races, so that was a very good day indeed. It has been very handy to have all these lovely runs close by that fit in with my weekend plans. A few weekends ago I attended the Leamington "pink parkrun" even for Breast Cancer research, runners started off at approx 7am, so we basically did 3 parkruns before joining the main run at 9am. It was HOT even at 7am, but the course is quite shady in places and I had a great time. The Leamington Pink event ticked a number of boxes, one of which was the fairly important question of "how do I cope with laps of the same course" the answer is "OK" I did find myself focusing on laps rather than miles and the 4 parkruns just flew by really. This weekend I visited Wolverhampton again, but jogged it as part of my Saturday 20 miler. It is hard to keep your nerve and go slow whilst all around you are tearing off at 5 minute miling(!)

Hardcore Parkrunners at Leamington Pink Parkrun - 4 runs of fun!

As well as Parkruns I've done a fair few actual races. The midweek race series happens every year, #1 Hagley - I had a shocker. Too close to Manchester and I was NOT feeling it at all. Race #2 Redditch - I love this course, it is quite tough and bordering on 7.5 miles (that's a long 10K), it is off road, muddy with some leg sapping ups and downs. I decided to take it steady off of the start, still mindful of how awful I felt at race #1. I soon got going and felt pretty up for it, and had a good race really. Something struck me in the last few miles - I felt strong, upright, like I could breathe and if I crept up on anyone, or anyone came at me I could take them on. About 2 miles from the end I was aware that the marshals were clapping me, and then clapping a girl about 20 seconds behind. At this point the boosters came on and I managed to use "the fear" to drop her and have enough time to finish, walk back and chat with the crowd and have a cup of water before she came in. This was the county Multi Terrain championships, and being one of the few "old birds" to check the county box on the entry form I was 1st county eligible v35 back. Unfortunately for the purposes of medals they lump the FO and the F35 together, so rather than getting a Gold I got a Bronze as there were 2 FO's in front. No matter because one of them was my friend an team mate, and in combination with a Gold medal F55 we got a team Bronze. Nice! A week or so ago we had race #3 at Droitwich, which is a road 10K. Not my strength as I only run about 1 per year! I had wondered if Parkrun experience might help a bit, and I went in to the attitude that I would go out suitably hard and hang on for dear life as long as I could. This was a really fun race, and the devil in me made it my mission to "bother" people. The first 2 miles I stuck with my club mate who I am not usually with, until he got so fed up it made him put a spurt on and dissappear. There weren't that many over-takers, but when there were, I tried to put some effort in and take them on, which lead to me having a great little battle with a lady between 4-5 miles who seemed shocked when I went clattering kamikaze style down the hill ahead of her. She was always going to get me back, but hey. It made me have a better run, and I got a 30 second PB out of it so it's all good. I'm waiting for the official results but I think I got a Silver County medal and we got a team Bronze again as this one was the county road championships. I shall be taking a wheelbarrow to the presentations in August! More Mr T photos to follow!

In June I got two opportunities to wear a posh dress. At one of my running club awards ceremonies I totally unexpectedly got voted "runner of the year" and came away armed with a massive trophy to show for it. The thing that really touched me was that this was voted for my other members of the club, I do just tend to keep my head down, turn up and run and I certainly don't presume people are interested in me and what I'm doing so it was a surprise.

Also the same weekend I was lucky enough to become godmother to a lovely little chap, Ernie, something that I consider a real honour and privilege. Drove up to Haydock and had a lovely time, was a bit nervous that I would cock up saying the "I do's" in the right places at Church but it all went swimmingly and again it was a great opportunity to catch up with and make some new friends. Ernie, his brother and sister are all doing well, I kind of see them all as my godchildren really, and it is such fun and a total pleasure to spend time with them - oh and of course not forgetting their lovely parents!

Not actually Ernie, but never mind!

As mentioned in June I had a lovely holiday in Cornwall at my friends house. I did some cracking runs, some cracking toursity stuff, ate seafood, fudge and ice cream and generally had a relaxing time. Final trip to the lakes soon before she sells up and moves down permanently towards the end of the year. Really good to see my friend from Uni who lives down there, and in fact the whole gang in Oxford a week or so ago. It's been good to catch up. It's good when you don't see each other for long periods of time, but you sit and chat and nothing really changes.

So my actual 100KM training has consisted of what? Well a period of just ticking over to make sure I was completely rested and then a period of extremely high mileage in July. This has not been helped by the heatwave and I've tried to be sensible but the fact is if 4th Aug is a freak heatwave in Stockholm, at least all of the midday/mid-afternoon 30 degree heat runs I've done will have got me used to it. I've got all my flights / accommodation etc sorted, so I've just got to wait. I did think during this weekends 2 x 20 milers "I could go on at this pace for ever" which is quite frankly, exactly where I want to be. Don't care about forever in reality, but over 100K would do. Looking forward to the Thunder Run next weekend, and then it's time to chill out and get ready for the big one.