Last Marathon of the Year

This weekend I completed my last marathon of the year, but it didn't go all to plan.  You might remember that my goal for the year was to run 4 marathons and 4 ultra marathons.  By ultra marathon I had originally intended this to mean 4 ultra marathon events, which were going to be:

XNRG two day Isle of Wight Ultra in June
XNRG three day Thames Path Ultra in September
London to Brighton in October
XNRG three day Ridgeway Ultra in November

The first two ultra events were completed successfully enough.  I then decided not to run London to Brighton as it was going to be just one week before the planned row of the English Channel, which I hadn't even contemplated doing at the start of the year.  I didn't want to do anything that could potentially jeopardize the row, especially as I was doing it with seven of my clients.  I was going to argue that I replaced an ultra with rowing the Channel, which was a pretty awesome event in it's own right.

So I had already pretty much decided to only do three ultra running events.  My four marathons were then going to be Paris, Greensands and the Broadmeadow Double, i.e. two marathons in one weekend.

As you know, in running the Greensands marathon I picked up an annoying little injury to my peroneal muscles on my right leg.  This put me out of action for a few weeks and meant missing the Ridgeway Ultra.  I was really looking forward to this event, so was very disappointed at having to cancel it.  I thought I was all fixed, but the injury flared up again yesterday after completing day 1 of the Broadmeadow Double.  I decided to strap it up and sleep on it and make a judgement this morning as to whether or not I should run.  

As soon as I got out of bed I knew that I wasn't going to be running anywhere today.  The course of the marathon was basically three 8 to 9 mile loops that kept returning to the race HQ.  So I wrestled with the idea of just trying to run the first loop, knowing I could easily pull out at 8 miles. But I realised that this was going to be a stupid and pointless venture that wouldn't achieve anything other than making my injury worse.  So I went to the race start to tell the organiser that I was withdrawing and I then returned to Cambridge and spent the afternoon completing my Christmas shopping.

However, I considered the runs that I have done this year and I feel I can argue that the original goal has been fulfilled, if you look at it in the following way.

Runs completed in 2012:
Paris marathon
Isle of Wight - day 1 - 38 miles
                      - day 2 - 31 miles
Thames Path Ultra - day 1 - 27 miles (let's call it a marathon)
                                 - day 2 - 33 miles
                                 - day 3 - 32.5 miles
Greensands marathon
Broadmeadow marathon

So that is 4 marathons and 4 runs that were longer than 30 miles.  So who's going to argue that I didn't achieve my goal?

I'll be writing a review of Broadmeadow marathon a little later.

Autumn Turns To Winter

Once again I’ve been neglecting keeping my blog up to date, leaving myself several weeks to write about.  Since writing about my long autumnal run on 11 November the weather has definitely turned more wintery.  Looking back over my diary it would seem I’ve only been running about four times each week.  I include Sweaty Betty nights in this total, but I’m not including any runs I do with clients.

The weekend after my last entry we visited our good friends Kate and Ron in Derbyshire, who live on the edge of the Peak District in the charmingly named village of Tintwistle.  Weekends with Kate and Ron usually involve eating very well, more alcohol than I normally consume and long walks to clear the head and refresh the soul.  They are fortunate enough to have great walks right on their doorstep.  The Pennine Way passes the village heading north to Black Hill and south to Bleaklow, two names that conjure up just how wild and unforgiving the landscape can be in this part of the country.  From our friends back garden there are views up the valley along the length of four reservoirs.  The reservoirs provide great running routes that avoid the need to go up.

On the Saturday we headed out for a walk in the rain, which is the price you have to pay for living in the Peak District.  There is a reason why our friends have four reservoirs outside their back door.  Fortunately, it was nothing more than a persistent drizzle, which did clear up in the afternoon.

The next day we woke to clear blue skies.  We quickly got through breakfast so as not to squander the opportunity of making use of the great weather whilst it lasted.  I headed out for a run whilst the others went for a shortish walk before lunch.  I ran half the length of the reservoirs and then headed southwards and upwards to Bleaklow.  The initial climb is incredibly steep and had me walking up fell runner style with hands on knees for added push.  Once near the top I had the sun right in my eyes, making it almost impossible to see where I was putting my feet.  The path was very narrow, slightly cut into the surrounding soft ground and containing lots of pointy, sharp rocks that I tripped over on several occasions.  After a couple of miles I decided the running was too treacherous so turned back to the reservoirs.  I then ran to the far end of the reservoirs and back to our friends’ house.  My total mileage was just over 12 miles, but it had taken me 2 hours to complete.  I got back in time for a stretch and a shower before Kate and Ron served up a delicious Sunday dinner.

In the week that followed I mainly did runs that took me around Cambridge Airport, with the aim of testing my tempo pace.  I concluded that I’m a little off my pace from earlier in the year.  Not surprising given that I’ve been neglecting any speed work from my running routine since about June.

Last weekend I went for a 20 mile run on Saturday morning.  I left the house just after 8am to discover icy pavements for the first time this winter.  It was certainly a very cold start to the day.  I headed out to the Roman Road again, which had completely changed in character from just two weeks ago.  It was damp, muddy and grey, rather than crisp, clear and golden.  Still I completed the run without any drama and then spent the afternoon in the pub watching rugby with a few mates, followed by a curry in the evening.  This is why I ran on Saturday morning rather than Sunday.  It was a precaution more than anything.

This week has been more of the usual.  5.5 miles Monday morning, a total of 8 miles on Wednesday as part of the Sweaty Betty running club, then 6 miles yesterday.  Tomorrow I plan to run about 10 miles.  This is tapper time, as I’m running the Broadmeadow double marathon next week, which will be my last two marathons of the year.

Autumn Run

How great it felt to be out running again.  It was hard to believe that the Greensands Marathon was just three weeks ago.  I felt like I hadn't been for a long run in ages.  

Just after 9am this morning I drove the 4 miles to Magog Down to then run along the Roman Road to Linton Water Tower.  It was such a beautiful morning and I was glad I took a camera with me.  I stopped on the way out to take a few photos, which meant I really appreciated my surroundings and it made me take my time on the outgoing run.  

I hadn't really decided how far I was going to go.  I figured I'd run for at least 13 miles, but hopefully get up to 16 miles.  My legs felt fine on the way out and I reached the Water Tower without any hitches.  This got me 7.5 miles from the start.  I turned round here and headed back.  I told myself that if all felt good I'd add on a few miles at Magog Down to take my total mileage up to 18 miles.  This is exactly what I did, and although my legs felt fine I felt exhausted.  I had to summon up a huge amount of will power to add the few extra miles on the end, the temptation to head straight back to the car was very strong.  I'm pleased that I got an 18 mile run under my belt, although the last 3 miles felt incredibly slow.

Approaching the Water Tower at approximately half-way

Time to try some new toys

O.k. I’m going to have a stab at multi-tasking. Let’s see if I can update my blog whilst watching Wales and Argentina play rugby.

The slight strain I picked up during the Greensands Marathon hung around much longer than I’d expected.  I was out of action for almost three weeks.  In the days following the marathon walking became painful.  Initially, I had a little swelling on the outside of my ankle and some pain to the top of my foot.  After a few days the pain was all in the front of my shin, and this is where it stayed for about two weeks.  I couldn’t believe this was happening to me.  I don’t get injured!  It would seem that I am human after all and just as prone to injury as anyone else.

The Saturday following the marathon my leg was almost feeling better, but I stupidly did an unnecessary long walk.  As I wasn’t planning a run, I walked into town with Ruth and we both visited the Fitzwilliam Museum to see the exhibition of Han Chinese burial goods, which includes small terracotta warriors and jade burial armour suits.  We then walked around the shops and back home.  By the time we were walking home I was limping and in a lot of pain again.  I felt really stupid for not resting.  Oh why didn’t I rest?  Stupid fool!

I’d been contemplating buying compression socks since running the Thames path ultra; my injury prompted me to actually get on and buy some.  I also bought myself a Silva trail running head torch, just in case I was still able to run the Ridgeway ultra this weekend.  I wore my compression socks as much as possible (almost all the time) and I was amazed at how much difference they made.  The pain in my shin diminished from the first time I put them on.

I was feeling better by the following weekend, but decided to rest as much as possible.  I did find myself jogging about a mile and a half around the Girton fitness trail with three of the Channel row crew in the pouring rain.  The others bottled out because of the rain.  The wimps!  After our drenching we met the others in a pub to discuss rowing plans for 2013.  We’ve settled on two events, but as we don’t have anything confirmed just yet I’m not going to count my chickens and discuss them here.

I finally felt able to try a little run on Wednesday evening last week.  This was helped by having the most excruciatingly painful massage of my life on Tuesday from Mike Power at Cambs Massage.  I was expecting pain and pain is what I got.  Fortunately, I left feeling like it had done me the world of good.  So on Wednesday I finally got to give my legs a little test whilst coaching the Sweaty Betty running club.  Ahh, it felt so good to be running again.  It was hard to believe it had only been two and a half weeks, it felt like I’d been out of action for much longer.

I managed another run last night.  This time I went for an 8 mile run along the river to Bates Bite, leaving after sunset to test out my new head torch.  I have to say I was impressed.  For most of the run I had the torch on its mid setting, which gave out plenty of light to see the tow path.  Once I reached Bates Bite Lock, I crossed the river and headed back via Fen Ditton.  For the short section through woodland I turned the head light up to full.  I expected the torch to give out plenty of light to see my way, but I thought I might need to slow my pace a little, but no, the full beam throws out a massive amount of light.  I’d say it lights the way ahead for about 20 to 25m, but it also throws out a lot of light to the side to give great peripheral vision as well, so you don’t feel as if you’re running in a tunnel.  I’m really impressed.  However, the most important result of last nights run is that I completed it pain free.  My legs fell like new.  I am gutted that I’m not running the Ridgeway ultra this weekend, though.

Now I can get back to the rugby.  So far it's 9-6 to Wales with about 6 minutes of the first half to go.

Greensands Marathon Race Report

What better way to spend a damp autumnal day than to go for a ramble in the woods?  The ramble in question was the Trionium Greensands Marathon in Surrey.  I set off nice and early Sunday morning so that I’d be in Dorking with plenty of time to collect my race number and get myself ready for the 10am start.  Once everyone had amassed at the race start there was a short briefing from the race organiser which was followed by everyone singing Jerusalem to a small gathering of onlookers.

Ready for action

The singing of Jerusalem before the start

At 10am we were set off and immediately had to climb the first hill of the day.  The Greensands marathon is relentlessly hilly.  None of the hills are that big, but there isn’t much that is flat.  As soon as we reached the top of the first hill we immediately started to descend again on a steep path covered in wet, slippery, fallen leaves that also hid numerous tree roots.  I almost slipped or tripped about three times in the first half mile.  This was an early indication of what the day would be like.

First hill of the day and into the woods

Once over the first hill we started a gradual ascent towards the foot of the next major hill and landmark on the marathon route, Leith Hill, at just over six miles.  Anyone not making it to the top of Leith Hill in 73 minutes were stopped and sent back to the finish, which was the fate of 12 runners this year.

Those who made it beyond Leith Hill had to tackle numerous climbs and descents on woodland trail to get to the turn around point.  In places the path was submerged under large puddles, in other places the mud would attempt to suck the shoes off your feet.  I had to tighten my trainers after almost losing them on one occasion.  The turn around point was a road cone in the middle of the forest at no particular landmark.

The half way point

There were many unavoidable puddles...

...and deep, sticky mud to pull off your trainers.

The out and back run meant seeing runners going the other way.

As I turned to head back home I realised I was far more knackered than I should have been at the half way point of a marathon.  The second leg was going to be tough.  Someone also seemed to have remodelled the landscape.  I thought the run from Leith Hill to the half way point had been fairly undulating on the way out.  On the run back there seemed to be far more up hill sections than I’d remembered.  I was reduced to a walk on climbs that would normally not have been a problem to run up.  It was a relief to get back to Leith Hill and to know that the next 5 miles would be almost all down hill at a shallow gradient.  Then there was just one last hill about half a mile from the finish.

Made it!

 

Just a little muddy

I reached the end muddy and knackered and in 12^th place overall in a time of 3 hours 47 minutes.  I was very happy with my result.

Race goodies at the end included a medal, mug and long sleeve technical T-shirt, which is very good for a fairly low key marathon with about 200 entrants.  A cooked breakfast was also laid on for all runners.

The only downside of the run is that I seem to have picked up an injury.  My right ankle has been in agony every since getting home Sunday evening.  I’m hoping it’s just a minor strain from the times that I almost twisted my ankle on tree roots.  I’m really hoping I can get out and run this weekend given that I’m supposed to be running the 88 mile Druid Challenge on the Ridgeway from Buckinghamshire to Wiltshire in about 3 weeks time.

(I've taken some photos from another blog, after first getting permission: http://kristhehungryrunner.wordpress.com/2012/10/21/race-report-greensands-marathon/#comment-382)

Ready for Greensands Marathon

Tomorrow I'm off to run in the Greensands Marathon in Dorking, Surrey.  This is billed as one of the toughest UK marathons.  It doesn't got particularly high, but there isn't much in the way of flat bits.  You can see the course profile here:

http://www.trionium.com/greensand/

I didn't do any running for about 10 days after the 92 mile Toad challenge.  My first foray back to running was taking the Sweaty Betty running club for a few 800m laps of Midsummer Common on 3rd October. 

The following weekend was then taken up with my other challenge of the year, which was to row the Channel with seven of my kettlebell clients.  We did this on Sunday 7th October.  Our only goal was to row across, have a good time and raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support.  To our great surprise we actually ended up breaking the course record by 16 minutes to set a new fastest time of rowing the Channel in a Cornish Adventure Gig of 4 hours 3 minutes.  You can read all about it on my other blog:

http://ckchannelrow.blogspot.co.uk/

I had a couple of easy days after the row and then ran again at the Sweaty Betty night the following Wednesday.  My next serious training run was to do two laps of a very hilly 4 mile loop around Royston Heath last Sunday.  I used to go to Royston Heath quite a lot a few years ago. I'd forgotten just how tough those hills are.  Hopefully, it's been good training for tomorrow's marathon.

Over the rest of the week I did an easy 6 mile run Tuesday morning, followed by an afternoon interval session with a client, and the usual Sweaty Betty night on Wednesday.  Then I just did an easy 5 mile run yesterday, just to get me out of the house later in the day.  I contemplated parkrun this morning, but realised I'd be making the mistake of going from doing hardly anything over a couple of weeks to suddenly a lot in one go.

I'm looking forward to getting out and running a rural, hilly marathon tomorrow.  I'm not looking forward to getting up and leaving at 7am.  As a result of tomorrow's marathon I'm also sacrificing an afternoon and evening out with friends, who are at the Oxjam day.  There's live music in four pubs from 12 noon to midnight.  Tickets cost £10 to all four venues with proceeds going to Oxfam.  I thought about going for a couple of hours, but didn't want to end up drinking and staying out later than I'd intended.  I would have gone earlier in the day, but none of my friends made it out until 5pm.

Thames Path 3-day Ultra

Where has the time gone?  I’ve been really rubbish at keeping up to date on this blog this year.  I was definitely more diligent with last year’s blog (http://12marathonsin12months.blogspot.co.uk/).  I guess I could use the excuse that I’m writing two blogs this year.  My other blog: http://ckchannelrow.blogspot.co.uk/ , is all about my training for a cross Channel row, which should take place this coming weekend if the weather is kind.  I’m doing this with seven of my kettlebell clients and we have been in training since April.

So what have I been up to since my last entry in July?

Throughout July I only managed a few long runs of up to about 14 miles.  August seemed to suddenly arrive from nowhere and my next running challenge was to be the 90 mile Thames Path Ultra starting on 21st September.  As I was due to be on a two week holiday in August, with no idea of how much running I’d get done whilst away, time suddenly seemed to be slipping away.  I had also planned to see the women’s Olympic marathon on Sunday 5 August and the men’s the following week. 



Watching the men's olympic marathon with friends

As I train with the Channel crew on a Saturday morning it meant all long runs would have to be squeezed in to some other time in the week for a couple of weeks.  I managed a 14.5 mile run on Friday 3 August, and then 15.5 miles on Thursday 9 August.  The following weekend we were at a barbecue at a friend’s house in Longstanton on the Saturday.  I was able to drive and get a lift home.  This provided the opportunity for an 18 mile run on a different route to normal as a means to collect the car the next day.  We must have had the hottest weekend of the year that weekend, and I had chosen to run along the guided busway for the last 4 miles of my run.  The footpath alongside the busway is wide and with no shade at all.  Heat was being thrown up from the tarmac surface making the air temperature evening hotter.  By the time I arrived at my friend’s house on Sunday morning I was dripping head to toe in sweat.  Her toddler son stood in the kitchen starring up at me whilst I downed a couple of pints of water and dripped sweat onto the kitchen floor.  I don’t think he quite believed that I was the same person who was chasing him around the garden the day before.

The following week we were off to Chamonix for a fortnight’s holiday.  Our holiday in Chamonix would coincide with the running of the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc race (UTMB).  This is a race that I very much want to do at some point.  Ruth had booked our holiday not knowing that the race was going on whilst we were there.  There are actually four races that take place over several days.  The UTMB is the classic 168km race that circumnavigates Mont Blanc starting and finishing in Chamonix and going into Italy and Switzerland.  It has a time limit of 46 hours.  The CCC is the 100km baby brother of the UTMB which starts at Courmayeur in Italy, goes through Champex in Switzerland and finishes at Chamonix, hence the name CCC.  The TDS is a 112km trail race that also starts in Courmayeur but goes in the opposite direction to the CCC and on a more challenging route than the UTMB.  TDS stands for Traces Des Ducs De Savoie.  The 112kms includes a total ascent of 7150m, the CCC climbs a total of 5950m and the UTMB 9600m.  It’s the climbs that make these races really, really tough.  60% of starters do not finish.  If you think that these sound tough then the fourth race, the PTL, is totally mad.  PTL stands for Petite Trotte a Leon.  It’s a 248km race with a total ascent of 21,500m.  Up to 80 teams take part with each team comprising of 2 or 3 runners. 

Start of the UTMB in Chamonix

I’m hoping to be able to run the CCC next year and the UTMB the following year.  However, to enter you first need to get points from other ultra races.  I now have enough points for the CCC.  Next year I need to do a long ultra run to get an additional 3 points in order to apply for the UTMB in December 2013.  Unfortunately, the race is also over subscribed each year so getting the points does not guarantee getting a place.

I knew of someone who would be taking part in the TDS race.  Neil Thubron the race director at Extreme Energy (www.xnrg.co.uk) who organised the Isle Of Wight run I did in July, the Thames Path race last weekend and an event I’ll be doing in November with them.  Neil had sent out a general email to all his clients saying he’d be in a particular bar on the Sunday after the TDS if anyone happened to be in Chamonix, so I knew he’d be in town at some point.  I actually bumped into him and his wife, Anna, whilst I was out for a 9 mile run one morning.  I ran a short way with them both and wished Neil luck and said I’d see him in the bar after his race.  However, Ruth and I then both bumped into both of them again that evening and had a drink with them. 

The TDS started the next morning, just as the weather changed from glorious to damn right miserable.  As it wasn’t going to be a day for walking in the mountains Ruth and I decided we’d look into getting to a checkpoint on the TDS route to see if we could see Neil on his run.  We managed to get a bus to the 60km point of the race, where we once again bumped into Anna.  At least we then knew that Neil hadn’t passed already.  Less than an hour later we saw Neil approaching and ran with him briefly just as the weather changed from ok to awful.  Neil was looking pretty good considering he’d just run 60km.   He had a further 52km ahead of him, which he would mostly be doing through the night.  We got back on the bus for the 3 hour journey back to Chamonix.

Neil at the half way point of the TDS chatting to Ruth

Moments later and the weather changed for the worse. Neil's wife, Anna, is under the umbrella

In all the UTMB races the vast majority of runners use walking sticks to help with the climbs and to steady themselves on descents.  As I’d never tried running with sticks before I thought I’d give it a go so I’d know what to expect if I do get a place in the CCC next year.  So I borrowed Ruth’s walking sticks and went off for a 16 mile run in the Alps.  On my run I managed to climb a total of just over 1000m and the 16 miles took just over 2.5 hours.  The next day my legs were wrecked.  Still, it was a fun run and I really enjoyed hurtling down the mountain paths and using the sticks to help with climbs.  I didn’t manage any more runs in Chamonix after that, just lots of walking.  Amazingly the weather improved as soon as all the races were over and we had lots of sunshine for the rest of our holiday.

Proof that we did have good weather in Chamonix

We were back in Cambridge with just two weeks to go before the Thames Path 3-day Ultra.  I decided I needed to get out for a long run, so on Sunday 9 September, which was another hot day, I set off to run 22 miles along the Roman Road to Balsham and then back home via Fleam Dyke and Fulbourn.  It was a tough run, but I was glad to have it under my belt before doing almost 30 miles a day for three consecutive days.  The following weekend I ran an easy 12 miles with some of the Sweaty Betties, which was a nice sociable run.

So I am now almost up to date.  The weekend of 21 to 23 September I took part in the Extreme Energy Toad Challenge or Thames Path Ultra.  This was just my third running event of the year, which seems remarkable compared to the 16 marathons I ran last year.  As my run didn’t start until 12.30pm on Friday, I travelled down from Cambridge by train early that morning.  Once at the race HQ in Oxford I spotted a couple of runners I recognised from IOW, so I had a chat to them whilst getting ready to go.  As with all Extreme Energy events, the slow runners started earlier at 11am, then the first wave of runners at 12:00, and I set off with the fast runners at 12.30pm. 



Day 1 start - The overall winner, Justin, is No.50

The first day was a 27 mile run from Oxford to Moulsford.  I immediately set off too fast, believing I could keep up with Justin, a Royal Marine who well and truly beat me at IOW.  During the IOW race I ran with Justin up to the second checkpoint on day 1 and I believed I’d be able to do the same at this event.  However, I checked my Garmin and realised I’d run the first mile too fast.  It then took me the next 3 miles to slow down to a sensible pace, this is what typically happens if I start too quickly, I find it hard to re-adjust my pace downwards.  Justin disappeared into the distance with another runner, Luke.  I then ran most of the day entirely on my own, apart from briefly saying hello to people from the earlier two waves as I passed them.

The first checkpoint was at the 9 mile point in the picturesque town of Abingdon.  We crossed a series of bridges over weirs and locks to cross the Thames to reach the checkpoint.  I passed a large number of runners from the earlier group at this point.  Whilst they stopped to take refreshments at the checkpoint I ran straight on through.  In my head I had told myself that today’s stage was JUST a marathon and, therefore, I didn’t need food at every checkpoint.  This was probably a mistake.

Checkpoint 2 - a brief stop for food

I carried on running well to the second checkpoint at mile 15 and had a little bite to eat.  Most of the run on day 1 was on narrow muddy tracks close to the waters edge.  It was very similar to a run I occasionally do from Cambridge to Ely, only 10 or 11 miles longer.  On the way to the third checkpoint I almost went off course, which we had been warned about in a briefing.  When crossing a lock at mile 17 the main path seems to lead away from the river to cross a bridge.  I got halfway across the bridge and thought I’d better just double check I was going the right way.  Sure enough the Thames path went under the bridge.  Lots of people made the same mistake, but I don’t think anyone went too far out of their way.  I reached the next checkpoint at mile 21 starting to feel knackered, which isn’t good on the first day of a three day run.  I stopped to have some food and was soon joined by Luke, who by rights should have been ahead of me.  He reckoned he’d gone about 10 minutes off route.  He seemed keen to make up for lost time and continued through the checkpoint without hardly stopping.  I continued at my own pace. 

I started to flag on the last 3 miles.  However, I passed Luke who was obviously suffering more than I was.  As I made seemingly slow progress over the last 2 miles I kept expecting Luke to catch up with me, but he never did.  I crossed the finish line in 3 hours 32 minutes.  I had predicted it would take me about 3.5 hours, so I was happy with the time.  Luke crossed the line 4 minutes after me, the 4^th runner (Ken) was just 6 minutes back and 5^th (Ian) 8 minutes after me, closer than I was expecting.  The next runner arrived 17 minutes after me.  The first lady (Michelle) was the 7^th person to finish the stage, 21 minutes after me.  The remaining 50 or so runners would continue to arrive over the next 3 hours.  Justin had a massive lead of 15 minutes over me going into the second day.  I was extremely pleased to be in second place overall and I wondered if I could hold on to it.  There was clearly no competition for first place, but second and third could end up going to any one out of me, Luke, Ken and Ian.

Stage 1 winner, Justin Montague, and race organiser, Neil Thubron

Accommodation on the Friday night was in the sports hall of Moulsford School.  The dinner ladies cooked us a great evening meal.  I rather enjoyed having dinner in a school dinning room and chatting to other runners.  The school dinner was definitely better than the ones I remember having when I was at school.  I’m sure Jamie Oliver would have approved.  The school itself is also very well appointed, right by the Thames with great views of the surrounding countryside.  The first floor balcony at the front of the sports hall made it almost feel like an African hunting lodge.

Stage 1 finish at Moulsford School

Friday night accommodation

Runners relaxing on the balcony overlooking the Thames

That night I didn’t sleep a wink.  I don’t know why not, I certainly felt tired enough and although there were a few snorers they weren’t that loud.  Talking to other runners it seemed that everyone had been as restless as me.  The lights to the sports hall were turned on at 6am to wake anyone fortunate enough to have slept.  The walkers then had an hour to get themselves ready for their departure at 7am.

7am group of runners/walkers have their daily briefing

Being in the faster group of runners meant I had plenty of time to get ready.  So I lay in my sleeping bag listening to the commotion around me, and then got up to watch the walkers leave.  I then had a leisurely breakfast with a group of other runners and watched the 8am group depart.  I then had an hour to pack my bag, which was more than enough time, before us fast runners set off at 9am.

The 8am group get ready to leave




9am group ready for the off.  Justin (50), Ian to my (47) right and Ken (69) to my left. 1st lady, Michelle, behind Ken.  Luke far right.

I decided I wasn’t going to even try to stay with Justin on the second day.  I found myself running with Luke over the early miles and we watched Justin disappear ahead of us.  Ian and Ken were close behind.  At some point I found myself letting Luke run on ahead of me, whilst I settled into a comfortable pace for 33 miles of running.  About half way through the day I passed Luke again, he seemed to be having trouble running.  He obviously had some sort of niggle.

The route on day 1 was far more rural than day 2, staying close to the Thames on the border of farmers’ fields.  On the second day we passed through a number of villages and towns where the route of the footpath moved away from the river, making it easier to go wrong.  Fortunately, there were enough Thames path signs and Neil had also put out some XNRG arrows to also mark the route.  But it was still possible to miss a few of these.

The sun shone all day on the Saturday making places like Henley seem particularly lovely.  I was with Ken and Ian as we ran through Henley, and we almost went wrong.  We hadn’t realised we needed to cross the main town bridge to run on the other side of the Thames.  We stayed on the same side of the river but soon suspected that we might be going the wrong way.  We asked about 6 people if they knew which side of the river was the Thames path, but everyone seemed to be visiting for the day.  An ice cream seller put us back on course, and I’d guess we’d only wasted about 5 or 6 minutes.

From Henley we still had about 10 miles to go to the finish.  Ian, Ken and I stayed pretty close to each other for the rest of the day.  Sometimes we’d be running side by side, sometimes we were in a long line with maybe 100m separating each other, and the person at the front would constantly change as we each took a short walk break.  I tried to keep my walking restricted to any significant inclines, which pretty much meant the ramps up to any bridges, as hills are very rare alongside the Thames.  Ian would take a short walk break almost every 2km, and then run fast to catch up with myself and Ken, a strategy that wouldn’t work for me.  Ken would stop and walk about mid way between checkpoints to have something to eat, but would then catch up again. 

Approaching the 26.2 mile mark I had told myself I would have a short walk whatever happened as a way of ‘celebrating’ reaching marathon distance.  Just as I stopped to walk Ian caught up with me and decided to walk with me.  Shortly after Ken caught up with the two of us and thought about running on, but he stopped and said, “F**k it, if you two are walking then so am I”.  We only walked a couple of minutes together and then ran as a group to the next checkpoint, which was only about a mile away.  We stayed very close over the next 3 miles towards the finish in Marlow. 

With about 3 miles to go Ken seemed to speed up.  I tried to stay at a consistent pace, but also found myself increasing my speed slightly.  The path on the approach to Marlow was busy with walkers out enjoying a sunny Autumn Saturday.  I think this helped me keep my pace high towards the finish.  Coming into the town we passed a statue of Sir Steve Redgrave, which looked nothing like him from a distance.  We weaved through the town to finish outside the school that would provide our Saturday night accommodation.  Ken had finished 1 minute ahead of me, and Ian came in 1 minute later.  Once again Justin finished well ahead of everyone else, 15 minutes ahead of Ken.  Runners kept on arriving over the next few hours.  The benefit of being a slower runner was that you’d get a louder cheer at the finish as more and more people were on hand at the finish line.  A while after I’d finished I met up with Luke.  He had to pull out at one of the checkpoints as he had too much pain in one leg to run.  He wasn’t going to hang around with an injury, so he wished me luck and we said our goodbyes.

Having tea and cake at the finish of day 2.

Michelle finishes with an entourage

The 33 miles on day 2 took me a total of 4 hours 38 minutes.  As it was early afternoon and the sun was shining I decided to have a walk around town.  I was joined by Michelle, the first female runner.  We had a very pleasant walk and chat, and then found a nice little café to have a big portion of tuna salad.  I was walking around thinking of burgers, but a tuna salad packed with vegetables and new potatoes seemed a more sensible choice as recovery food.

Saying "hi" to Sir Steve Redgrave

In the evening we were treated to another school dinner and a talk about the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc from Neil.  Afterwards I was sure I’d have a good nights sleep, but still only managed to get about two hours complete sleep.  I woke the next day feeling tired, but knew all would be well once I started running.

The "elite" group get ready for day 3. Top 6 men at the front from L to R - Justin (1st), Ian (4th), Ken (2nd), Me (3rd), Hammish (5th), Jeremy (6th). Michelle just behind me was 1st lady and 7th overall.

The starting times on Sunday were the same as the previous day, and the distance would be roughly the same.  The route would also get more urban as we got closer to London.  Once again Justin went out ahead of everyone from the start.  This time Ian, Ken and I were also joined by Hammish, a first time ultra runner who had clearly been taking it easy over the first two days.  The four of us stayed close up to about half-way.  Then Ken seemed to find a lot of inner strength and sprinted off at a pace that I thought was suicidal.  I tried to keep with him for about half a mile and then thought better of it.  If I’d kept with him I’m sure I’d have ended up injured, which was something I couldn’t allow to happen.  So I eased off and stayed with Ian for most of the run.  By this point Hammish had slowed slightly and was trailing behind us.

There were two outstanding landmarks on the third day of running.  The first was Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s railway bridge at Maidenhead.  This appeals to the old civil engineering nerd in me.  It might not look so unusual today, but it was the first brick arch bridge to be built with a low parabolic arch over such a long span.  Engineers at the time scoffed at the design and said it wouldn’t be able to support its own weight let alone the weight of trains going over the top.  Brunel proved them wrong and it is still being used as a railway bridge over 150 years later.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel's bridge at Maidenhead

Without any doubt the most impressive view of the day was of the approach into Windsor with the Castle dominating the landscape.  Even though we were running in persistent drizzle, it couldn’t be denied that the western approach into Windsor was amazing.  I imagined American Ken wetting himself at the view.  I wasn’t with him to check if this actually happened.

View of Windsor Castle from the west along the Thames

We still had about 15 miles to go from Windsor to the finish and my legs were starting to really complain.  I had a consistent throbbing pain in the back of my right knee.  I momentarily thought about giving up.  My reasons where clear, I couldn’t afford an injury as my income depends on me being fit.  Then I thought about something Neil had said the previous night.  He told us that during long runs you will hit low points when you will think of all sorts of reasons for not carrying on.  I was feeling slightly disappointed with myself for not being able to keep up with Ken.  I had pretty much resigned myself to coming third instead of retaining my second place overall and this little detail felt like failure.  At the time Ian was also ahead of me and I questioned whether I could keep up with him and started thinking that I might actually end up in fourth place, which might as well be last.  As these thoughts went through my head I remembered Neil saying that one time when he was running in the UTMB he considered given up but then imagined the letters DNF next to his name on the results list.  I considered this and realised that I was being incredibly stupid.  I was just using my knee and my finishing position as an excuse.  Who cares what position I finished in? Its not as if the results would be published anywhere and they wouldn’t mean anything to anyone else anyway.  The most important thing was not having DNF next to my name on the results page.  I focused on the pain in the back of my knee and decided it was more of a dull ache than excruciating pain and when I really thought about it I didn’t think it would lead to serious injury.  So I gave myself a little motivational speech and decided that come what may I would finish the day. 

Soon after my little pep talk to myself I caught up with Ian again and we ran together for the rest of the day.  As the route came increasingly more urban and occasionally deviated away from the river it became easier to make a wrong turn, which we did on a couple of occasions, but we never strayed too far from the course. 

As we approached the finish in Walton on Thames it was pouring with rain and we were soaked and getting cold.  The final approach to the finish was along a gravel track that had practically turned into a stream.  At first I tried to dodge any puddles, but I quickly gave this up as futile and splashed my way through puddles that were a good two inches deep over the last quarter of a mile.  I arrived at the finish HQ and gave a loud cheer as I crossed the finish line.

It wasn’t until I was indoors that I realised just how wet and cold I’d become.  I couldn’t get my fingers to move to undo my shoe laces.  Fortunately, there were plenty of willing volunteers to help me.  The first priority was to shower and get on some warm clothes.  I met Ken in the changing room.  He finished 10 minutes ahead of me, which meant he had overtaken me for second place overall by 5 minutes.  I was more than happy to come home with a trophy for third place.

Once showered and dressed I sat around with several other runners having tea, coffee and plenty of cake.  Several people complimented me on my running form, including Justin, the overall winner.  It’s not something I necessarily think about but the others all said that out of all of them my running form looked just as efficient at the end of the run as it did at the start.  I can only put this down to having a rock solid core, which is vindication for all the kettlebell training I do.  I tried to convince them that they had to try kettlebells, but most said they were too lazy.  How ironic is that?  A group of people who had just run 92 miles in 3 days felt they were too lazy to add another exercise regime to their repertoire.

Once refreshed I decided it was time to make a move for home.  It would have been nice to hang around to witness everyone finish, but that could take hours.  I needed to get a train back to London, get some food on route and then get back to Ruth in Cambridge, where I hoped more food would be waiting for me.  It was the end of yet another excellent weekend organised by Neil and the team at Extreme Energy.  I can't wait to have a go at their Druid Challenge along the Ridgeway in November.