race - AnnaTheApple

November 4, 2015

Running Survey

As I can’t blog about any current running, I can do a running survey instead! This is stolen from Mary’s blog and I love the questions so thought I’d steal it…

Would you rather run along a beach path or on a mountain trail? I’d much prefer a mountain trail. This is probably because I live by the sea at the moment so I’m quite used to running along beach paths. Also I detest running against wind and it can get very windy along the coast. It just feels so demoralising to be putting in so much effort and not getting anywhere fast. You could argue that mountains are, well, hilly but at least you can get to the top and feel like superman/woman. And the views are amazing.

If you could choose the flavour of Gatorade at your next race’s aid stations, what would it be? I’ve never had Gatorade. I’m really not a fan of the sugary sports drinks. I know they work for some people, especially for those who don’t want to take gels, but they make me feel a bit sick and I don’t feel they quench my thirst. I love plain water or nuun/High5 water.

If I gave you a £100 gift card to a running store, what would be the first thing that you would purchase with it? Where do I start?? I could be sensible like Mary and say trainers…but I just love fitness clothes. For running I tend to go with more sensible gear in terms of fabric, technical spec, fit and survival in different weathers.

When it comes to the gym I like to spruce things up a bit with colours and style as I have a bit more freedom as weather doesn’t matter. But back to running, I would probably buy a couple of Nike or Adidas items as they’re such good quality and last forever. Though you wouldn’t get much from the price! Ka-ching!

Do you prefer to follow a training plan or wake up and decide then how far and how fast you want to run? I don’t follow a strict plan per se, but I do plan out the weeks in terms of what I want to achieve. It depends if I have a marathon coming up or a race of course but I will never go out on a run without knowing how far I’m going to go. But if the run goes awfully (niggles, illness, tiredness) I’ll cut it short, I’ll never force myself to finish a set of miles purely for the sake of ticking a box. Though I’m quite neurotic and like to plan ahead. I use a spreadsheet to track things. When it comes to marathons I tend to look at online plans and see where the long runs fall and then do my own thing for the other runs.

Would you rather start your run with the uphill and end on the downhill or start your run with the downhill and end with the uphill? Definitely get the uphill done and dusted first. That way I can run it when I’m fresh and then focus on the rest of the course afterwards without dreading the oncoming hill. That said, I don’t really mind as long as I know where the hill is so at least I’m mentally prepared. For Bournemouth I was well aware of two significant hills (miles 12 & 18) so IN THEORY I could have adjusted my strategy accordingly. Well, we all know how that turned out in reality.

When you can’t run, what type of cross-training do you choose to do? I like Mary’s answer of sulking. I’m getting an A* for that at the moment 😉 But, like I said in my previous post, I’m focused on building strength at the gym. I had previously been following the New Rules of Lifting For Women but I’ve put it on hold at the moment as Stage 2 requires a lot of lunges which I’m avoiding for the moment as I want to give my knee some TLC.

Cardio-wise…*sighs* I suppose spinning and rowing. Boring and purely for the purpose of keeping fit.

What is your preference—> Out and back, point to point or loop runs? Oooh I’m just not sure. I like an out and back because you get to know the course and nothing’s a surprise in the second half of the race. I also like that you can think you’re running back to the finish. But I like loops as well (Cheddar Gorge marathon was great for this, mentally I could segment the two halves). Again, the course is no surprise in the second loop. I’m not a big fan of point to points as it feels like one big trek to the finish. Mentally I find that a lot harder. Hello, Boston 😉

If you could recommend ANY running related item to a new runner, it would be a—> BodyGlide. Chafing is a bitch. It takes two seconds to put on but days of pain if forgotten. It’s small to pack in your pre-race bag and I personally find it lasts a bit longer than good old Vaseline. That said, it’s better than nothing!

Do you ever see any wild animals while out on your runs? I love how random this question is. Not really as I tend to run around residential areas. This is such a boring answer sorry!

Ever gotten lost while out on a run? Surprisingly not as much as I probably should do considering how little of a sense of direction I have. I’ve run in quite a few places that I’ve never run before and just made the route up as I went, but most of the time when I do that I play it safe and do an out and back. It also helps doing that when I have a set distance I want to hit. I hate having to think too much about my route when running which is why, unless I’m running with others, I’ll always do the same routes.

If you could have one meal waiting and ready for you each time you got home from a run for the next 30 days… what would that meal be? As much as I love planning what to have when I’ve finished a race or a long run, the reality is it takes me quite a while before I actually fancy eating anything. I have got better though with protein shakes to make sure I’m not a quivering wreck later in the day. My KFC after Cheddar Gorge marathon was pretty damn tasty but I wouldn’t want that all the time. Dream world it’d be ribs (like I did after the Southampton half marathon that I made into 18 miles), but reality porridge is one of my standards. Then cake.

Capris or shorts… what do you run in most often? Shorts. My lower body doesn’t tend to get that cold when I run. It’s more my hands and arms. I much prefer the freedom of shorts and during a marathon I like to wear compression socks and capris and compression socks aren’t a great combo (weird naked knee syndrome).

At what mile (or how many minutes) into your run does your body start to feel like it is warming up and ready to go? Probably 5 miles in, which is why 5ks royally suck for me. I think my perfect distance is 10 miles (which ironically is my worst race distance so far). I absolutely don’t understand how people can do races less than one mile. We’re all different though and I have a huge amount of respect for short distance runners. My body doesn’t just doesn’t like short speedy stuff.

What do you do with your key when you run? This is terrible but when I’m at the club I used to put it on the wheel of my car…until I realised you could leave it in a locked room. If I run from home I take the key off the keyring and then pop it down my sports bra if I don’t have any pockets.

If you could relive any race that you have done in the past, which one what it be? Like Mary said, I’m not sure I’d want to relive any races. Races are hard and generally if you got a PB it was really hard so I wouldn’t want to go back there. After getting my 10k PB in the summer I swore I’d only run one 10k a year!

If I could re-do a race to improve on it then I would definitely re-do Bournemouth.

Or at least the weeks leading up to it. I don’t want to live in regret but I can’t help feel so bitter about a marathon that was supposed to be run just for fun. As many people have said though, I was pushing it with two marathons so close to each other (and three marathons in less than 6 months) and not really recovering properly between them. I don’t regret doing Cheddar Gorge as I loved it so much…but if I hadn’t have done it and Bournemouth went well? I don’t know if I could choose between them. I do wish now that I hadn’t forced myself to finish Bournemouth. Initially I said I didn’t regret it, but now I realise that one race isn’t worth so much time off for an injury. No medal is that good. But lessons have been learnt.

What has been your biggest motivation lately to get out the door to get your run on? Generally that it will mean I have to rearrange my week’s plan if I miss a run! I’m that anal about these things. If I say I’m going to do something I will do it unless something legitimate stops me. Even if I feel really demotivated about a run I know as soon as I start going I’ll be fine. I’d rather push myself to go then spend the rest of the day annoyed that I didn’t.

When you go for a run, do you leave right from your front door or do you drive somewhere to start? Either I’ll run straight from my office, straight from my front door, or I’ll run from my club or parkrun. Depends what day it is!

When running in daylight—> are sunglasses a must or an annoyance? I have a really good pair of (cheap) sunglasses that just sit really nicely when I run. I hate getting blinded by the sun.

When you get tired, what keeps you from quitting? Fear of failure! If I have a goal in mind I will really push myself to reach it. If I don’t hit it it’s because the goal was unrealistic (I’ve set myself stupid goals many a time!) or something out of my control happened (illness, injury, weather, etc.). I’m a very driven person. Of course I have demons in my head and self-doubt but if the goal is achievable from the training I’ve put it then I will do everything I can to get there. A killer playlist as well is a great motivator for me, or crowds. Something like that can suddenly flick a switch inside me to GO GO GO despite how I might have felt 30 seconds before.

Pick a few questions and answer – I’d love to know your responses!

October 28, 2015

Rants and Raves #22

I can’t believe how quickly October is flying by! It’s almost Halloween – I thought that was ages away until I realised I had a Halloween party this weekend and didn’t have a costume… Anyway, here are my latest rants and raves.

Rave: I forgot to mention in my post about my trip to Wales that I got ID’ed for entering one of the beer tents at the Food Festival!! This made my day. I’m only 27 so really this ins’t that big a feat but in my head I believe she thought I was under 18 😉 Bahaha!

Rant: Since realising how close Halloween actually is I’ve just bought a costume for parkrun. I have no idea if I will be able to actually wear it to run in though and I’m thinking it will be too cold to stand and marshal in. *Sighs* Well it’ll do for the Halloween party anyway on Saturday night so it’s not a complete waste… I also bought a (very cheap) costume for Alfie as well. “Costume” sounds quite elaborate, but it’s really more of a jumper. If I can’t run and wear my outfit then Alfie will be coming to parkrun again and will be wearing his. He doesn’t know it yet 😉 I reeeeeaaaalllllly wanted this one but they didn’t do his small doggie size.

Plus I’m pretty sure he’d pack his little bags and leave if I attempted to put him in that (but how cute, seriously??).

Rave: These little chocolate cupcakes are so scrummy!

I wish I’d bought more from the sweet shop in Wales. The salted caramel one was to die for.

Rant: DNS’ing the same races I’ve DNS’ed for the past two years. How weird is that? I’ve now been injured at this point in the year three years in a row. It’s getting a little silly now. I wouldn’t have signed up so far in advance but these are really popular local (and cheap) races. Who was I to know Bournemouth would cause me such an issue? (Probably every other sensible runner in the world who suspected I was running too many marathons too close together…).

I’m desperate to run the Gosport Half marathon (in a few weeks time) as it’s literally where my parents live and where I’ve done so many long runs before. It goes along the coast and has the view of the Isle of Wight, which is rather nice. But it seems this one, as with the Lordshill 10 mile this weekend, it’s not meant to be.

Rave: I’ve entered the Chester marathon for next autumn. I know, I know. So far away but it was cheaper to enter now than to wait and I like having things down in the diary.

I was tempted to do Bournemouth again as it was such a disaster for me this year, but marathons aren’t like 5ks or 10ks that can just do at a drop of a hat and I want to do lots of different ones rather than revisit the same ones. Chester was voted as the UK’s number one road marathon by Runners’ World in 2012 and 2013 so should be good. I can also time it nicely with a trip to Shropshire with my grandparents and parents (that also means more parkrun tourism, wheee!).

But next year I will not cluster marathons together either and ensure I have proper breaks afterwards. Oh the wise words of an injured runner…

Rave: I signed up to Tribe Pack to test out their snack boxes.

The concept is like graze where you get a box of snacks delivered weekly/monthly/etc. and it’s a surprise what you get. The range of snacks include things like seeds, dried fruit, cereal/protein bars, etc. all made by Tribe. In a box you get two bars, two trail mixes, a ‘discover’ snack and a Tribe Life magazine. My box contained Tamari Seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, hulled hemp and chia seeds and tamari), Tumba trail mix (pumpkin seeds, almonds, organic goji, toasted coconut), Organic Mountain Berries (sour cherry, raisin, goldenberry, goji, aronia, barberry & wild blueberry) and a Baobab bar (superfruit energy bar) and a Wild Apricot, Pecan & Lucuma bar.

Use the referral code TRIBE42383 which will get you a pack like I got for £1 (I would also get my next Tribe Pack for free).

Rant: Still no running. I could go on and on (as you can imagine). I had an extremely deep and painful massage on Monday though which I’m still feeling the effects of so I really can’t judge. The person I saw said try in a week but I won’t unless it feels absolutely fine walking, which at the moment it (intermittently) doesn’t.

Rave: I’m hoping to see Spectre tonight. And I have six free cinema tickets from my bank as part of the bonuses I get with my account. I foresee lots of film trips happening… I’m actually not a huge James Bond fan but the film does look good and I feel like I need to see it because I’ve seen so many of the others. Plus, Daniel Craig. And Nandos.

Rave: When I was in Wales I bought myself a pack of four pastry forks.

Basically they’re little forks with a sharp edge that you use to eat cake. As a regular cake eater I thought it would be nice to have the proper utensils to fully enjoy the experience. I’ll be keeping one in my handbag at all times of course.

What are your rants and raves of late?

James Bond: yes or no? Who was the best Bond? I like Daniel Craig. Less cheese but still a lot of smooth moves.

Are you doing anything for Halloween? Any costumes?

September 24, 2015

Bath Two Tunnels Half Marathon

There’s nothing quite as good as using a race as a training run, especially for a long run. You’re running with others, there’s a set course so you don’t need to worry about where to go, it’s catered and you get a medal.

With three weeks until Bournemouth a few of us decided to sign up to the Bath Two Tunnels Railway race series. One of my friends wanted to race it because he’s in great shape and PB’d in a training run for his current half marathon time but wanted to see if he could make it ‘official’. His pace was around my long run speed and I didn’t feel up to racing the half so decided to run with him and try to help him.

Another one of my friends, Kate, decided to race the 10k and a few more from the club were doing the half and one the marathon (her first marathon!). Kate, Mike and me travelled down to Bath on the day which meant me being picked up at 6.30am on the Sunday (ouch). It would take about 2 hours to get there and Kate’s race started an hour before ours. I had a banana bread Trek bar and an Americano for pre-race fuel to keep things simple and we arrived at the park and ride in good time. It was all very smooth and easy to get to, though it didn’t feel like we went that far on the park and ride bus to be honest!

We met up with the other club mates and then milled around on the large grassy expanse. Relish Running are the race organisers and I’ve done quite a few races with them now (Cheddar Gorge being one of them). I would say that while they do put on good races, there are some rough edges…Their website isn’t that clear for finding information out and you don’t find out crucial race information (like start times) until much closer to the time. We had more emails about them needing marshals than the race itself. That said, the races are always very scenic and personal-feeling because they’re quite small.

The race area for the short colour race

There were several races going on and different waves and start times which was a bit confusing! We got to cheer off the marathon-runner, Lisa-Lou, and then cheer off Kate.

Then we had just less than an hour to hang about…we watched some very strange warm-up routine going on while which was somewhat amusing.

Just as Kate finished (she came second female and PB’d – whoop whoop!) we got ready to start.

The start was on grass which was a bit annoying. Anyway we headed off at a comfortable pace. Straight away it was clear this wasn’t going to be an easy race for me, or an easy PB-achieving race for Mike. It seemed to go uphill straight away and just felt tough from the outset.

We got to the first tunnel fairly quickly. It was about 400m long. It was nice and cool inside and fairly dark. We were slightly behind our target pace but due to the uphills at the beginning we weren’t stressing about it because we believed we could pick it up later.

The next tunnel came around quickly afterwards. It was about a mile long, very dark (with cat’s eye lights), narrow and very chilly. It was novel at first but then it got to be a bit wearing. It felt like you were on a treadmill as there was nothing really to look at. As none of the roads were closed quite a few cyclists had to navigate past us (runners going both ways as a 10k wave were coming back) which made things a bit tricky. There was a radio playing classical music which was nice and atmospheric so that’s something.

The tunnels, as expected, buggered up our Garmins. My watch was completely out from the mile markers so I just used the stopwatch and try and do the maths as we ran. The mile markers though seemed to be out as well. We got to five miles far too soon (it would have been close to my PB, which we definitely weren’t!) and this meant we were left running blind, just going on feel.

Race selfie required

The race had been advertised as fast and flat but it clearly wasn’t either. There were some nasty steep inclines, steep steps to navigate down and twisty turns. I found the course quite challenging and I know Mike was struggling too. I think we were both tired from marathon mileage and a bit misled by what we thought would be a PB-potential course. As we chugged up a really steep hill I asked a marshal (or gasped), “I thought this was supposed to be flat?” and he laughed and replied with an evil grin “Yes, compared to our other races”…having run a few of their other races I could agree. But they shouldn’t mislead people by saying it’s flat!

The course was beautifully scenic though, as you can expect with running in the rural parts of Bath. We ran a very long stretch down a canal and it was lovely. Though again we were constantly moving out of the way for cyclists, and some who were rather impatient and I’m sure expected us to jump in the canal to move out of the way!

Our pace had dropped and Mike decided that a PB was never going to happen. Mentally, physically and the course just went against us. I felt fatigued as well despite the pace being “easy”. So we settled in to a slightly more comfortable pace (though we really had no idea how well or badly we were doing with our watches being funny) and I yabbered away about fluff and nonsense to keep Mike’s mind off the race. It’s tough pacing someone in a race because you don’t know how much to talk and how much to push.

At least I could take lots of photos and selfies 😉

And also finding conversations that didn’t require much from the other person so they could just listen. I’m sure I bored Mike to tears about my house moving problems! 😉

In true Relish Running style, the feed stations were very good. Lots of sweet and savoury options and electrolytes, flat Coke/lemonade and plain water. And gluten-free options! The marshals were very helpful and friendly as well.

As we got closer to the finish, with two miles to go, Mike started struggling more. I tried to encourage him without annoying him. We had a moment of respite at a set of traffic lights that we had to push the button and wait until it was red to go (yes, this is a legitimate part of the route and you can get disqualified for not waiting for the light). It was warm and the undulations still kept going. Right to the end (through a residential area) there just seemed to be incline after incline.

The final straight before the grass finish (thank you Kate for the photo!)

We finally finished and both agreed it was a tough race and not one we’d do again. The course was pretty but there was a lot of running along canals which got a bit tiresome, and the hills we just weren’t prepared for. And without knowing your pace and miles it made it mentally quite tricky. I don’t blame Mike at all for giving up on his PB-attempt. I absolutely couldn’t have got a PB on that course! Especially not at the moment.

My time was 1:56:11 (Mike was just after me) which I’m a little disappointed with I must say considering we were aiming for 1:45-48. But these things happen. The race organisers also said afterwards that they measured the course as 13.4 miles. We got some good miles in and we came out uninjured so that is a good race result three out from a marathon!

Afterwards Kate, Mike and I headed back to the park and ride bus and then drove to find something to eat. We found a lovely pub, called the Red Lion, where the menu was amazing and we all found a few things we could easily have had. I went for the butcher’s board which had chicken wings, pulled pork, chorizo, chicken liver pate, sour cream, chutney and bread.

It was fantastic! So, so good. Kate had the pulled pork pizza and that looked amazing too. The perfect end to a rather tough training run!

Do you like to know a race elevation profile before running it? If I’m not bothered about times (for me or pacing someone) then I don’t mind.

Do you prefer a city or a rural race?

What do you like to find on a feed station in a race?

August 19, 2015October 28, 2016

Cheddar Gorge Marathon

It’s long, I’m sorry, I just really had a lot to say!

This marathon was so vastly different to my previous ones. It’s off-road, technical trail, sharp inclines, long inclines, sharp declines, slow declines, jumping over rivers, stiles, rocks and logs.

The marathon is two laps of this course

I’ve done the half marathon so knew roughly what to expect. It had taken me just under two hours so I was aiming for 4.5-5 hours, but I wanted no pressures so didn’t mind how longit took as long as I remained injury-free.

My dad and me set off at 7.30am in the morning. It takes about two hours to get there and I would need a coffee and loo stop en route. The start time was 11am (or so I thought) so we had enough contingency time. I ate my porridge in the car and felt rather relaxed.

I had a coffee and a Beet It shot. I noticed the Beet It shot went off at the end of June but it tasted fine. Bottoms up and finger’s crossed! I had planned to take four gels en route: one was a Mule Bar brand (Lemon Zinger with caffeine) and the other three were the 33Shake Chia Energy Gels (which you add coconut water/water to and I’d done the previous night). I knew for this marathon I needed to take on more fuel because I would be running at least over an hour more than a normal marathon.

We arrived at Cheddar Gorge and then did a reckie of where my dad planned on standing. We’d Google mapped it the night before and found an ideal spot between mile 11 and 12.

The course is a bit of a nightmare for spectators (there are barely any on the course) but this is a good point when the runners come near the road before heading up off the stairs of hell. In the above photo you can see where the course goes behind my dad and up that hill (which are large steps).

They go on further than you can see in the photos! We then needed to find registration. We headed off to where we thought it was and found it was just more parking. Now it was 10.30am and I started to panic (panicked so much I didn’t even wait for the ladies public toilet, I just jumped straight into the men’s).

I then found out it was at the start – which is at the top of a very steep hill. So I quickly got my gear together: hydration belt, one gel – my dad would have the rest – sun tan lotion slapped on and visor. I said a quick goodbye and headed off up. He wasn’t going to climb the massive hill because it was HUGE and, bless him, it might kill him. He went instead to find breakfast.

Up and up it went

It took me about 10 minutes or so to climb that hill and I was panting by the time I got to the start. Good warm-up! It was now 10:45 and I leisurely took some photos and looked around before heading to registration.

“Oh the marathon started at 10:40. It’s only the half that’s at 11” said the volunteer. Now I don’t really swear that much or that aggressively but my immediate reaction wasn’t PG friendly. I instantly panicked. What do I do!? They told me it was OK I could start now if I wanted. I HADN’T EVEN GOT MY BIB ON. This is my worst nightmare. I’m struggling to get the bib on as I keep swearing and my heart is going a million miles an hour. Then someone behind me, also putting their bib on, says they did the same. So the marshal said we could start together at a set time and they would adjust our times at the end according to when the marathoners started. They suggested starting at exactly 10:55 so we quickly headed over to the start line after they took our bib numbers. We had our own private start!

Needless to say my first mile was STRESSFUL. I had to keep telling myself not to try and catch up because it would ruin the race for me. My heart was still going and I tried to calm down and ease into a nice pace. I’d printed out and laminated my half marathon split times and had it with me to refer to so I could ensure each mile was slower – hopefully meaning I wouldn’t go off too quickly. Because of the crazy terrain you just couldn’t have a consistent pace, so this was a good way for me to not be stupid.

Elevation chart of the entire marathon

Sometime towards the end of mile one the half marathoners started overtaking me. I willed myself not to go with them and keep to my own race. They only had to do the course once, whereas I was down for two laps.

The first few miles flew by. I couldn’t even tell you what was going through my head. I was probably too focused on not falling over and where to put my feet. I had my phone with me take photos and listen to a podcast and music later but I was fine just plodding along.

The scenery was beautiful but the course was unsteady under food, very technical at times, and lots of inclines and declines to negotiate with. I was happy to walk as soon as I got to a hill that required significant effort to run up. There was no point beasting it up a hill and knackering myself so early in the game.

My hydration belt contained coconut water (brilliant idea from Lauren) and I made sure to keep drinking. I got to a feed station at around mile six after a fabulous downhill stretch and the marshals wonderfully filled up my bottles while I drank the nuun that they had on the table – nuun!! They had a great spread of food and drink. I took a couple of sliced oranges (another great tip from Mary) and headed off again.

Around mile seven we hit one of the worst hills. I was fully prepared having prior course knowledge and watched as people optimistically attempted to run it and quickly stopped. I used this time wisely to have my first gel.

After that hill I knew it was relatively easy going until we got to those steps around mile 12. I was keen to get my dad and tell him about my disaster start and to make sure he wasn’t worried that I wasn’t among the marathoners. Though by this point I had caught up to the slower runners and was easing past them.

There’s an out and back section up to another feed station which is fairly narrow and a bit of a nightmare, especially with the half marathoners and marathoners there at the same time but I caught up to a girl running the half and started chatting with her. We swapped running stories and she told me her PB for a marathon was around 3:44. She (her name is Jilly) looked about my age so I told her she must be pleased with a London GFA. She had no idea what it was! I was pleased to explain it to her and she seemed quite chuffed.

I was feeling great and was enjoying myself. Talking would also help me stick to a sensible pace and Jilly was lovely to chat to. Disturbingly I started to feel my tummy doing some crazy bubbling and cramping. I continued to chat but in the back of my mind I started to panic that my stomach was getting worse. The race is fairly low key and there are very few portable loos on the course (I think there is one at the feed station around mile six) but I knew there were portable loos at the start/finish area (which would be halfway for me) so I just kept pushing on and hoping for the best…!

I saw my dad and he gave me my gels, and I ate one going up those ridiculous steps. I knew I needed to keep fuelling despite my dodgy tummy.

Jilly and I eventually parted ways as she went to finish the half and I continued on. As the marathon course does a sweep around the start/finish area I had to wait a bit longer before I could actually get to the loos. Eventually I was able to run off the course towards the loos. This has never happened to me before. It was probably the Indian food the day before (not my ‘normal’ Indian takeaway – lots of sauces I don’t normally have) or it could have been the gone-off Beet It. Either way, my body was not happy.

Annnnnnnway, I got back to the race and felt much better. The course then goes all the way to the bottom of the gorge to then climb that bastard hill we had to climb to get to the start/registration area.

This was TOUGH. No running involved (this is mile 14 which also includes my bathroom stop – I didn’t stop my watch). The half marathoners were now coming down after finishing, all wearing their medals and looking happy. They were all lovely and supportive to us though and one even gave me his water as mine had run out. There was a feed station just along from the top so I could refill again with nuun water but it was just at that point I needed water.

What was great now was that you knew it was just one more lap. Mentally this was easy in my head. I still felt good and still didn’t fancy listening to anything. I was ‘at one’ with the race if you like. I was having a great time!

Unfortunately as I got a few miles into the second lap my stomach started whirling again. I overtook a guy who was having a wee stop and started frantically looking for the ideal area to hide myself away in. I found a spot that was sort of hidden away from the course trail. I was mildly amused that I could see the man run past and if he just looked up the hill near him he’d see me nestled into a bush doing my business. THANKFULLY he didn’t. Again, I felt so much better and, I’m sure you’ll all be glad to know (as my bathroom habits are clearly a highlight of this race recap) that my stomach for the rest of the race was fine. As I saw the guy ahead he turned round and asked if I’d got lost. I had to shout across at him “no, just a call of nature!”. Mortification complete.

We ran together for quite a few miles, chatting about this and that and it was lovely. We walked the hills together and then picked up the pace again on the flats and the time flew by. I couldn’t believe it when I checked my watch to see we were at 19 miles!

We got to the flatter, downhill trail again and I broke off from him as I found a new lease of life and energy. I managed to take a more photos as well.

As it got to about mile 23 I decided to put some music on which was a nice change. But Apple Music kept cutting out (I’ll soon be switching back to Spotify) so it didn’t really work. I wasn’t bothered though.

The temperature was warm and I sweated a lot but thankfully there was no searing sunshine. I felt like I was keeping well hydrated. At each feed station I’d refill my bottles, drink a few gulps of nuun and take either an orange slice or some jelly beans.

I saw my dad at the same spot before those steps at around mile 24 and knew I just had to get up them and I was home-free. This last mile was tough as I knew I was almost there but my legs were now feeling very fatigued. Whereas for the first lap when I got to this point I still felt like I was fresh and fine to carry on, but now I was feeling the hills and was very tired. I had an agonising moment where I kicked a rock as well. I guess because my feet weren’t picking up enough and it was like a dagger in my toe. But I was almost there! Genuinely this was the only mile where I seriously thought “OK I’m ready to finish now”.

With one final little incline that I had to walk, then a sprint to the finish and I was DONE.

And now it gets a bit awkward. I saw the main race organiser and headed over to him after I finished and said to him about my start time mix-up and how I’d been reassured I would have my time readjusted. The marshal from the start was there to corroborate my story and the other late man’s wife as well. It was clear I wasn’t lying and had my watch time to prove it anyway.

The organiser looked really awkward and said it would mean I would ‘bump’ a girl to third place as her time was 4:38:33, and mine was 4:31:26 on my watch (and 10:46 marathon start and 10:55 my start difference = 9ish minutes off my gun time of 4:40:12). He said that he would sort it though and took down my details again. Reassured I headed off, grabbed my medal and then had to walk down that bastard epic hill to find my dad.

That hill…walking down it was a nightmare. Bless my dad he had made a good effort to work his way up and find me and had gotten about 1/3 of the way up. We finally got to the bottom, took the standard post-race photo and headed to the car.

Unfortunately when the results were released I saw my time hadn’t changed. It still said 4:40:12 (third female). I emailed the organiser. He came back and said in the end it was too awkward to bump the current second place female into third and that the results would remain as they were. He further added that how were we to know that if the lady knew she was third not second she wouldn’t have pushed harder (she would have needed almost seven minutes…). So I’m third female in the results. I won’t lie, I’m sad about this. I wish they had told me this at the time as they led me to believe the results would be adjusted. BUT I know this is my own fault for being late and not reading the race information properly so really I only have myself to blame.

What does make it a little bit harder to take is that the difference between our gun times was only around 1 minute 40 seconds… perhaps the equivalent to two bathroom stops. GARGHHH!!! That said, I never expected to get on the podium anyway so I’ll take it!

In the end I was 3rd female (4:40:12 official time *grumble grumble*), 2nd in my age category and 14th overall (men & women – incidentally my ‘chip’ time would have gotten me 9th overall).

Despite my idiocy and the annoyance I feel about the results, I fully enjoyed the marathon. Though it was such hard work surprisingly it felt easier than Liverpool. I guess because I knew I could walk at any time and I was just ‘taking my time’. In my heart (and on my watch) I know the time I got. But it does remind me that no matter how much pressure I take off myself from a race I still need to READ THE RACE INFORMATION PROPERLY.

Oh, and don’t eat stupid food the day before a marathon 😉

Have you ever started a race late?

What is your preferred race: road or trails? I can’t decide!

Have you ever had tummy issues during a race?

July 22, 2015October 28, 2016

Ultra12

After my fairly rubbish experience at Endure24 last year (specifically the running part), I was reluctant to sign up to a similar event. But a team from my running club needed another person to make a full mixed team and I was tempted to revisit my previous demons in a better running shape.

It was awkwardly timed with my visit to Bristol but it was doable so I agreed. It was also only 12 hours, rather than 24, so really it wasn’t as daunting. I’d planned to do three laps (each lap was just under 5 miles). Can’t be that hard, right?

We had a team of five and the race started at 7pm with Kate (furthest right) leading the first lap. I was to go second. The drive over from Bristol had really helped my digestion of ALL THE FOOD and I no longer felt overly full.

Because I’m a control freak and stress out about these things I was keen to get a schedule of timings together so I knew when I would next be up. We worked it out by saying each person would take roughly 40 minutes to do a lap.

The campsite was lovely and relaxed, with hay bales and a fire around the communal area and a few sport shop stalls (like CEP and Ashmei).

There was a catering tent to buy hot and cold food and drink and a massage tent (no set price, just donations – great idea!). There weren’t a huge number of loos (probably under 10) but we were only there for a day so it didn’t matter and to be honest no portable loo is ever going to remain rosy and delightful and by the end it wasn’t as bad as it could have been (urghhh, Endure…).

It wasn’t long before Kate was off on her first lap. We each had ankle bands holding our chip on so laps and timings could be recorded. There was also a live monitor screen you could view to see how teams were doing. It wasn’t just teams either, there were solo 50k runners and solo 50 milers. [Side note: One of our running club members was doing the 50k and she was AWESOME. She did it in just under 4.5hours!]

The start

As soon as Kate left I knew I had about 35 minutes to potter about and prepare, before heading to the change over area in enough time to be ready to go.

You had to wear head torches after 8pm and most people were wearing them before then so for my lap I thought I might as well wear mine to be on the safe side. I was glad to be able to use my ridiculously expensive head torch again but as I tried to turn it on I realised what an idiot I was.

Thanks Mark for the photo!

No batteries!! I am literally the biggest tool in the world. Who doesn’t check these things?!

Luckily someone leant me some batteries so I was good to go. Kate made a storming start with a lap of 36:18 and I headed off on my merry way. My legs felt a bit heavy and tired and I tried to pretend my earlier parkrun hadn’t happened. My aim was to stick to 7.30min/miles as I didn’t want to smash out a ridiculous time (not sure that I could have though) and then be in pieces for the other laps.

Thanks Mike for the photo! A rare bit of road running

The course was mostly off-road on grassy trail and was quite picturesque running along the Thames river and through lots of greenery. It was nice and flat as well, though there were some sneaky rabbit holes and uneven terrain to be careful of.

I passed a marshal and she called out to me to say I had the best hair she’d seen. What? I puzzled over this for a while as I continued to run. I did a quick check to make sure it was all kind of in its place…all seemed normal. Apparently, I later found out from Mike who was next to the marshal, it was because my pony tail was “swooshing” a lot. Cool.

My first lap was 36:51 which I was pleased with.

Smooth hand-over going on there

As Claire had to leave ridiculously early in the morning she took my second slot which would have been just before 10pm. [Side note: Claire is literally a superwoman. She had to leave at 5am to head off home to lead a cycling group!!] So my next run would be before 11pm. It was time to get some fuel in. I wasn’t hungry at all as I’d just finished running and I’d eaten a fair bit for lunch but I knew I needed something to power me through the night.

I’d brought with me a 33Shake (All in One shake) which was absolutely perfect. I didn’t want actual food as I would be running soon but I did need something and didn’t want to have to eat in the middle of the night (running is hard enough!)

I added one pack of the Cacao All in One to 200ml of milk (you’re supposed to add a banana and blend but obviously this wasn’t possible out in the sticks). I’ll do a full review in another post, but it tasted good and had no ill effects. In fact I didn’t need anything else until breakfast the next morning.

For my next ‘shift’ I was keen to do a double run as the effort involved in stopping and starting was hard going. It also meant that it gave the other guys a bit more time between runs to rest. Mentally though this was a bit daunting.

I chilled out before the run by wrapping myself in a thick towel and having a cup of tea (cups of tea were just continuous throughout Ultra12!).

Our area that my club was camped at was right next to the start/finish so we could see runners running past and cheer them on, which was great. It also meant a nice boost when you ran past.

Hey there good looking 😉

I decided to listen to a podcast as I wanted to treat it like any other ‘normal’ long run and I needed the distraction. I’m hugely glad I did this because a) apart from my head torching lightening a few metres ahead of me I couldn’t see a thing so it was fairly boring running and b) my head torch died on my second lap and I had to use my iPhone as a torch.

It was very surreal running at that time and knowing I was to be out there for a good while. I kept my pace around 8 minutes and actually didn’t feel too bad starting running again. Mentally though this was a tough, tough run. I kept looking at my watch and seeing the time and just thinking “this is mental”. As I passed our camping area I yelled out that I was on to my second lap and got some cheers which was a lovely boost. There were other people out on the course as well but a lot of those who I passed were walking (most of them the ultra runners doing nine million laps – major kudos to them!).

I was so pleased to have got through the double laps (39:46 and 39:57 respectively) and pleased I’d done my three laps. I knew I’d be OK for a fourth lap as well as I felt good (albeit tired and a bit crazy). My next lap was to be around 5.30am and as I had finished around 1am I had enough time to get a quick massage.

If I thought running in the middle of the night was surreal then getting a massage was even weirder! The masseuse was so lovely and we chatted away and it felt like the middle of the day (but in darkness of course). She really helped my calves feel better as they were starting to tighten up and my problematic one was being a bit grumpy.

Afterwards I headed straight to my tent and tried to sleep. My alarm was set for 5am and it was almost 2am now. I literally put my hoodie on and pyjama bottoms on over my running gear and closed my eyes. Sleep didn’t come easily as I could hear people talking around the tent and the constant beeping of people crossing over the finish mat for their laps.

By 4.30am I was just too awake and couldn’t sleep anymore .I think I managed just over two hours sleep in the end. I got up and headed out. What’s nice about events like this is that there will always be people awake because someone is out running and someone else is getting ready to run or just back.

I got ready for my final lap and it had started to rain. Typical. I felt creaky, tired and just out of it. I was nervous about this final run.

Just over an hour and a half left

As I headed out I listened to a podcast again. I just needed it. It felt like such hard work, more mentally than physically. Physically I felt like I was OK but mentally I was feeling slightly unhinged. It was now light so I didn’t need a head torch thankfully.

On the second mile I slowly passed a young man. I was overtaking him and then he sped up. He said “right, you’re my pace now” in quite an abrupt way. I turned off my podcast reluctantly. It wouldn’t be so bad to run with someone else but honestly my mind at that moment was just wanting to GET THE RUN DONE. I didn’t feel up to making small talk or conversation. But to be polite I chatted away. He was a fairly new runner and part of a team of work mates.

I was running a comfortable pace but I could tell he was struggling a bit. Now I know this might be awful and terribly mean but I wasn’t going to slow down. If he was going to “use me” as a pacer he would have to speed up. I wanted to get this final run done sharpish. This was not a social plod for me.

Just before three miles he suddenly grunted loudly and stopped. Alarmed, I asked if he was OK. He told me to go on and he’d catch me up, he just needed a breather. Right oh! Podcast back on and I was outta there. Yes it was mean but honestly running at 5.30am with around two hours sleep does not make me a particularly friendly person. Incidentally he didn’t catch me up and finished about four minutes after me. I know this because when he passed our camp area to the finish I was already having a cup of tea. I did have the decency to look shamefaced.

My final lap was done in 38:09. And I was DONE. I tried not to celebrate too extravagantly because two of my team mates still had a lap to go, as did other runners around me. I did make myself some porridge though and enjoyed in immensely.

Mike was our final runner and as he ran up the finishing straight we all (but Claire who had to leave early) ran along with him to the finish. The bell had already rung for the end of the 12 hours (but if you were still on a lap it counted – so effectively you could start a lap with one minute to go before the bell).

In the end our team did amazingly. Between the five of us we did 95 laps (all but Claire doing four laps each). We won the mixed team prize as well! Woohoo!

And we celebrated with some of Mike’s very tasty homemade sandwich bread thing. Basically he de-middled the inside of a loaf of bread and stuffed it with sundried tomatoes, cheese and roasted vegetables and then popped it in the oven (at home). It was delicious! Though we all joked it might have been more impressive if he’d have baked the bread too as effectively it was an elaborate sandiwch… 😉 A very tasty one nonetheless!

I’m really pleased with how it went but honestly it knackered the hell out of me. Driving home from Reading (1.5 hours) I had to have the music up loud and the air con on super cold to keep me awake. I fell asleep after I showered – on my bed, still in my towel, soaking my pillow with my wet hair. Sunday was a rough day and I was in bed by 8pm. Out cold.

Have you ever done a 12-24 hour relay event?

What would be your ideal running shift if you had to choose? I was very lucky as I got a late evening one and an early morning one so no graveyard shift. The other guys who did those times were amazing.

What’s your camping essential (aside from a tent and sleeping bag)? I think a kettle and cooking utensil is a definite for me!