The Druid Challenge - Day Three

I was looking forward to the final day of the Druid Challenge. I thought I would be looking forward to it after Day One, just because it then would be almost over but in fact my reasons for looking forward were much more positive.

The most important thing was it had stopped raining and was shaping up to be a really nice day. Also Day Three is in some ways the easiest day as it has no tricky navigation and a fairly good running surface for most of its length. The down sides are the slightly unpleasant road section around Wansborough Plain and the literally down side of the hill from Barbary Castle where we leave the Ridgeway to the finish. After 82+ miles a steep descent on tarmac does nothing to ease the legs!

Anyway, I was approaching Day Three in a very positive manner, I felt good and was determined to continue my tradition (started the year before) of running the whole of the stage, no walking up the hills for me today. We were taken back to our finish point from the previous day and observed a minutes silence for Remembrance Day before setting off for the last time.

The first 16.5 miles is a wide chalky path and very easy to follow. There are many and varied paths adjoining it, but its fairly hard to go wrong and - as I fancied an easy day rather than a hard one - I didn't. The first checkpoint was after 8 miles and I arrived feeling good so after a quick drink and a few nibbles I was off again.

The remaining 8.5 miles of the 16.5 to Checkpoint Two were also relatively straightforward. I say relatively because, for those that have never been along it, the characteristic surface of the Ridgeway is chalk. Some sections are more obviously chalk than others but the typical wide chalk path is what constitutes most of the first two sections of Day Three. Running on it is fine until it slopes downwards when it becomes a tricky balancing act - literally - between free-wheeling down the hill and being very aware of the wet chalk/wet leaves combination underfoot and trying to make sure verticality is maintained at all times. As I have hinted Day Three was going very well, slips and trips were avoided and base and apex were kept in the correct alignment at all times.

Directly after CP2 came the 'very DANGEROUS ROAD SECTION' as it said on the route card. It isn't a very major road but the traffic along it does move very fast. I don't usually like to use my blog to moan but there is room on the verge for a footway, it's a national trail which undoubtedly brings people to the area so why doesn't the council invest some money in a footpath? Anyway rant over, on with the run...

After the road section the news doesn't get much better as on leaving the road the path almost immediately starts to climb up to the top of Liddington Hill. However we are not at home to Mr. Walk today so I carry on running - albeit at little more than walking pace but I'm still running nonetheless. However there are no more major gradients until the drop into the valley of the River Og and CP3. A few miles before CP3 I was overtaken by Nathan. This is good as it's almost a mile later than the point he overtook me on Day Two. Obviously I'm never going to be able to actually race Nathan but its nice to have a bit of a benchmark for my progress. He is his usual friendly self and we pass with each of us enthusiastically congratulating the other.

After crossing the A346 its a climb out of the river valley back onto the ridge - Smeathe's Ridge in fact - to Barbary Castle. At Barbary Castle we say farewell to the Ridgeway and drop down a very steep hill for the final two miles along the road to the finish line at Overtown.

I crossed the finish line and collected my medal and congratulations from Neil, the race director, head of Extreme Energy and all-round top bloke. Then I looked at my watch - under five hours! 4 hours 54 minutes was the official time, over 35 minutes faster than 2013 and easily my fastest time all weekend. Sarah crossed the line a few minutes later to complete a good weekend for her too.

So what did I learn from the weekend? Well although I was disappointed at the time I think Day One did me good. To be honest this last year of running has generally gone well and so it was probably about time I was reminded that ultra-running has its lows as well as its high points and that actually I've been very lucky to have had mainly highs. It also reiterated what I always tell people, on any run it's not where you are at the start it's where you finish that counts. Although I finished a few places lower than last year I did take 46 minutes off my total time so overall I think it was a positive result. I also learned that perhaps three ultras and a marathon - 216.5 miles of competitive running - is perhaps too much in 6 weeks, although I was lucky enough to meet Robert Young - Marathon Man UK - who ran marathons 224 and 225 of his 367 marathons in 365 days challenge. Also Sir Ranulph Fiennes ran Day Two and he's 70 so perhaps I shouldn't try and use 'too many miles' as an excuse.

The least surprising thing about the weekend was that once again the event was superbly organised and all the Extreme Energy crew made me feel very welcome. Food, encouragement and a real happiness about the event seem to be standard for Neil and his team and so after thoroughly enjoying myself at Druids I'm looking forward to meeting them again at the end of January for the Pilgrim Challenge!

The Druid Challenge - Day Two

So Day One didn't go as well as I would have liked but it was time to forget that and try and have a good Day Two. I felt OK in the morning, even better after a couple of Weetabix and so was prepared to get out there and go for it.

'Going for it' didn't mean setting off at stupid miles per hour and falling apart after a dozen miles or so a la Day One, it meant starting steadily and keeping a steady pace to the end. Day Two starts with a short road section back to the Ridgeway so I used this to establish my pace and settle into my running before it all got uppy and downy again.

The seven and a half miles to Checkpoint One passed fairly uneventfully, the golf course crossing was accomplished without any need to dodge errant golf balls and everything was generally going well. I had a few cocktail sausages and cups of squash, more sausages, and continued on.

My Day One blog was fairly introverted and concentrated quite a lot on what went wrong and as a result did miss a couple of important good things that happened every day, so this seems a good point to rectify that error and mention one of those good points. The Druid Challenge has three start times each day, each one an hour later than the previous one. The first start is for the walkers, the second for the average paced runners and the third for the faster runners. I always start in the middle group. This means I start to pass the walkers from about mile 7 onwards. The walkers are always a very cheerful supportive bunch and none more so than Su, one of my fellow 2014 MDSers. On Day One I caught up with Su at CP1 and she tried very hard to motivate me, which was appreciated and did work for a short while but by then I was already in trouble. Today I passed Su somewhere along the Thames and once again she urged me on and today I made a bit more of an effort and pushed on to Checkpoint Two.

After CP2 the route continues along the Thames path to Streatley where it crosses the Thames and starts to climb away from the river. I mentioned earlier that I generally caught up with the walkers at about seven miles in but about ten to twelve miles after that it's my turn to be caught by the fast runners. I mentioned how supportive the walkers were, well so are the top guys too. Nathan, last years winner and an absolutely awe inspiring runner, was unfailing every day with words of encouragement which I naturally returned. I'm OK at this ultra running stuff, I don't exactly trouble the record keepers but generally my times are reasonable. However when someone like Nathan comes storming past me I can only admire his speed and technique and wish him well as he rapidly disappears into the distance.

I got to the final checkpoint of the day, CP3, in fair time and was feeling quite good. I had a chat with the marshal who had encouraged me at CP3 on Day One, explained I was feeling much better today and he wished me luck as set off on the last leg...just as the heavens opened. Fortunately the last section of Day Two requires no navigation and so it was just a head down charge to the finish. It actually reminded me of the Saltmarsh 75 as it was a similar sort of wind driven rain and was even hitting me from the same side. About half a mile from the finish another of the fast runners caught me up and I was aware that some of my start group were not far behind either. As a result I picked up the pace and flew into the finish some 20 minutes faster than I had been the previous year. One of the runners 'chasing the poppy' as she put it was Sarah who finished no more than minute behind me. In case anyone is now thinking that Sarah was snorting heroin to help her along I should mention that as the final day of Druids was on Remembrance Sunday  I had attached a large poppy to the back of my hydration vest for the event.

Day Two finishes on the Ridgeway so a minibus took us to the Wantage leisure centre where the lucky ones (me) got a warm shower and no-one slept on the crash mats, honestly Mr. Leisure Centre Manager, if you happen to read this. A good day was rounded off with a very pleasant chat with Colin and Elisabet of Racekit who had come over at the last minute to give an excellent lecture on the MDS, assisted by Stig, their huge and very affectionate Great Dane.

What a difference a day makes. 24 hours previously I was just hoping to survive Druids and not DNF. Now I was re-energised and planning a really storming finish. Was this going to happen or would I lapse into Day One territory? All will be revealed in the final instalment...

The Druid Challenge - Day One

After my success on the Saltmarsh 75, I was hoping for a reasonable placing at the Druid Challenge. I wasn't expecting to take three hours off my time again but perhaps 20 minutes a day faster was possible. Of course last year I went from Saltmarsh to Druids without a marathon and an ultra in between. I'd been resting quite a lot after the Stort 30 as I was aware that my epic year of running was starting to take its toll on my body - however I was still hopeful.

Day One of Druids doesn't start until eleven 'o' clock  and so it can be easily travelled to on the Friday morning. I didn't even have to get up much earlier than usual, an extra 20 minutes to eat porridge and Austrian honey was fine. As I knew I'd arrive in plenty of time I decided I didn't need to travel in my running kit as there would be plenty of time to change...

I arrived at Euston at around eight and was trying to decide whether to get the 8:07 and arrive really early or hang around for the 8:34 which was the train I'd planned on getting. While I was debating a very muffled announcement informed me that the choice had been made for me  as the 8:07 had been cancelled due to signalling problems. OK the 8:34 is fine, it was a bit late leaving but that's fine. It's got two extra stops due to the 8:07 being cancelled but this is still all fine. I should be at Tring well before ten, plenty of time to get the mini bus to registration, register, change, put my number on, fill my bottles, drink my beetroot, hear the briefing and get on the mini bus to the start. Everything was still fine - until we got to Queen's Park...

At Queen's Park we stopped - not a scheduled stop, one of those soul destroying, journey ruining, red light type stops. After a few minutes we are told the reason for our stop - the train ahead has failed and is blocking the line. 'Fine' was getting a bit less certain by now. A bit over 45 minutes later when said failed train pulled itself together and got out of the way 'fine' was history. The fallback would be the 12 'o' clock elite start - however this would involve me finishing in the dark and having to watch around 50 proper runners disappearing over the horizon about 200 yards from Ivinghoe Beacon. As it was XNRG were as always brilliant and told us not to worry there was plenty of time (not 100% true but there was enough) and I listened to about 30 seconds of the briefing (sorry Neil, but I did pay attention last year), got changed and pinned my number on, guzzled the beetroot, filled my bottles and got on the bus.

Whilst walking up the Beacon to the start - one of the peculiarities of Druids is that you walk up to the top of Ivinghoe Beacon to run back down it again - things finally started to look up. I found Sarah, my MDS tent mate. We met at Druids in 2013 and were doing 2014 as our mini-reunion. I had a very quick chat with her, took a selfie of us at the start and waited for the signal.

We were off! I was off way too fast trying to keep up with people that could either run much faster than me or who were going to have a really bad time later. As I obviously can't run much faster than me it doesn't take much to work out which camp I was headed for...

Day One is the longest and possibly hardest day of Druids. It starts of with some fairly lethal wet chalk slopes, goes through Tring, through some quite nice woods and after around 11 miles I reached Checkpoint One. I'd made it to CP1 in about an hour and fifty minutes, which would have been great if I had felt even slightly like I could maintain anywhere near that pace for another 18 miles - even 18 kilometres were out of the question, maybe 18 yards, possibly metres if I pushed really hard.

One thing I tell everyone is that when things get tough you can sit and cry if you like but after sitting and crying you'll be exactly where you were and it will be a bit nearer to getting dark - so you might as well just get on with it. Occasionally I take my own advice and this is one piece I do try and stick to so I left CP1 And headed through Wendover and on up to the Coombe Hill Monument. The monument was erected in 1904, by public subscription, in memory of 148 men from Buckinghamshire who died during the Second Boer War. It was almost totally destroyed by lightning in 1938 and was rebuilt in the same year. The original bronze plaque and decorations were stolen in 1972 and replaced with a stone plaque and iron flag. The new stone plaque was also inscribed with the additional names of nine men believed to have been missing on the original. The monument was again badly damaged by a lightning strike in the early 1990s and spent several months in repair. It is now equipped with conductors to prevent the mishap happening again (thanks Wikipedia).

After Coombe Hill its down through the woods, past Chequers and finally to Checkpoint Two. To be honest my memory of CP2 is a bit hazy. Things weren't going well, I was seriously doubting whether I would be able to finish all three days and there was still 12 miles to go.

However, I've started so I'll finish, Day One at least. All I remember of the run to Checkpoint Three is crossing the railway line. One thing that it is terribly important to emphasise about all the XNRG volunteers, marshals and staff is that they are all brilliant. I had a short chat with a marshal who's name I unfortunately don't know but he was definitely giving me some encouragement when an angel appeared. Well, technically it was Sarah but as far as I was concerned it was a 24 carat, 100% genuine, fully fledged angel. I've mentioned 'ultra karma' before, it's the things we do where you help and encourage others, even if it adds a bit to your time, because you hope someone will be there for you when you need it. I felt very guilty about Sarah dragging me the last seven miles to the finish because I knew she was in better shape than me and was sacrificing her time to make sure I finished. However I didn't feel as bad as I could have done because I would probably have done the same for anyone I met if I was in her position - and obviously absolutely so for her, MDS tent mates and all that.

With Sarah dragging me on and it being the final leg, I bucked my ideas up and whilst I wasn't running as fast as I would have liked I was averaging a full minute a mile faster than the previous two legs. With a strange sense of deja vu we finished Day One of 2014 exactly as we had finished Day One of 2013, hurtling into Icknield College at Watlington side by side, albeit 12 minutes later.

So why was Day One so bad? I don't like to blame things which in truth have no direct bearing on events but the train delays didn't help. I wasn't rushed in terms of time to get myself ready but I hadn't had time to relax and take a few deep breaths and plan my race before I started. I think I was too near the front and so got a false impression of how fast people were running but I knew my heart rate was too high and so I should have taken responsibility for myself and slowed down. Interestingly by the time I did slow down at CP1 the damage was done, my heart rate didn't drop back to a sensible sustained level for the rest of the day. However the winner of the day was 11 minutes slower than his previous years time so maybe my performance wasn't quite as bad as I judged it to be, although there is no doubt I didn't run a good race regardless.

I went and showered and got changed. Whilst changing I discovered I had been a bit more rushed at the start than I thought as I'd pinned my number through my shorts and to my underpants. After that I set up my bed, crashed out for a while and received a few kind words from Sharon and some of my Facebook friends.  Time to put Day One behind me and prepare for a better Day Two...

The Stort 30

October has been a busy month for me running wise. After the Saltmarsh 75 - the subject of my previous two entries -  I had two weeks until the Chelmsford Marathon followed by the Stort 30 a week later. It's the latter event that forms the subject of this blog - although if you've read the title you will suspect that to be the case already.

The Stort 30 is another event in the calendar of Challenge Running (www.challenge-running.co.uk). As some of you will know I tackled their St. Peter's Way event in the run up to the MDS and more recently the extremely tough Saffron Trail event. As a result of this I knew that the Stort 30 was likely to be impeccably organised and very friendly - the perfect event for a first time ultra runner in fact. It was also a couple of days after my wedding anniversary so what better present to buy Sharon than entry to the Stort 30? I should add I did also arrange for us to stay at a very nice hotel not far from Bishop's Stortford for the weekend and as our actual anniversary was on the Friday we were able to celebrate before being good on Saturday in preparation for the actual event.

We had run the course from Bishop's Stortford to Rye House a few months earlier and on the Saturday we'd been out to find the start, check out where we could park and have a little look at a short section of the route. Sharon is obviously a good influence on me as usually I have no idea where I'm running from or to until I actually start - which may explain why I so often end up making up my own route...

There were several familiar faces at the start, Ian was there although in trainers not sandals - which was surprising as at least two people did run in sandals. Perhaps that was it, sandals are now too mainstream for Ian, who knows. Anyway it was nice to seem him back after a long term injury had curtailed his running for a while. Local running legends Bob and Darren were also at the start.  I'd last seen Bob at the Saltmarsh and I suspect Darren was, like me, looking forward to not getting lost. Last but certainly not least was Baz. I met Baz on the Saffron Trail where he went from being almost timed out on the first half to finishing over 30 minutes ahead of me.

I was going to run the race with Sharon, partly to help her through her first ultra but mainly because I thought it would be nice to have a shared running experience for once. We'd trained together quite a bit for this event and I'd made her practise eating and drinking every 5 miles as that was the approximate spacing of the checkpoints. I often describe ultras as a jog between picnics but getting used to eating and drinking during a run can be quite difficult and something that is worth practising. Getting cold,wet and lost is not worth practising  - for me it comes naturally...

Fortunately the weather forecast was good (14 degrees and cloudy) and getting lost difficult since as Lindley pointed out in the pre-race briefing 'If you are more than 20 metres from the river you've gone the wrong way'. After said briefing it was outside to the start and two laps of the sports field before heading off down to the river.

Despite rain earlier in the week the path by the river wasn't too muddy and we settled down into a nice steady pace. We were going a little faster than I had planned but no faster than in training so after checking with Sharon what her heart rate was (slightly below that of a hamster) and making sure I could keep up we carried on.

As I said navigation was fairly straightforward but shortly before the first checkpoint the route went across the road but also crossed the river on the road bridge. A couple of runners crossed the road and the river but didn't see the entrance to the next section of the path and started heading into Sawbridgeworth until we called them back. Apart from that we reached the first checkpoint without any drama having overtaken a few people but not trying to push ourselves too hard. Stopping at intermediate checkpoints wasn't compulsory, only at the turn round point (CP3) and we saw a few runners carry on past. We had planned on stopping at all the checkpoints as that was how we had trained so we had a quick drink and a snack and ran on but not before Sharon had demanded to know where the wine was - she was promised it would be there on the way back...

We quickly caught up with small group that had run past the checkpoint and passed them. On an ultra everyone has their own strategy so it's not unusual pass and obviously be passed by the same people more than once, especially near the start. After CP1 the path progressively improved until it became a very solid packed sand/gravel path on the outskirts of Harlow. We were enthusiastically greeted at CP2 by Dean, someone I had at that point only 'met' through Facebook. He couldn't run due to sciatica and so had volunteered to help out at CP2/4. I'd given him our race numbers earlier in the day and asked him to encourage Sharon which he did brilliantly - even if she was a little confused as to how someone she had never met knew her name! Also a big thank you to Elaine for getting a great picture of us coming into the checkpoint.

Shortly after CP2 is some of the artwork along the Stort. The sculpture from which the medals are copied and the steel and glass bridge provide a welcome distraction, even more so on the way back. Shortly after these we started to see runners coming back towards us. The leaders were about five miles ahead of us but still had breath to exchange 'well dones' with us. One of the things I really like about ultra running is the fact that everyone supports everyone else. We continued on towards Rye House power station and crossed over to the River Lea for the last stretch to the turn round point, CP3, opposite the Rye House pub. I'm almost certain that the runners we saw going into the pub only wanted to use the loo... It had taken us 2 hours and 35 minutes to get this far, we were making really good time and way ahead of schedule for a five and a half hour time. We had a slightly longer pause here to make sure we were ready for the return leg and then we were off.

Now of course we were the returning runners taking the congratulations of those that still had to reach half way. I think Sharon's fears of coming last were starting to recede and we continued to run strongly. As we approached Roydon we met Ian coming the other way. He was in high spirits, possibly due to the fact he was running with a couple of women and much whooping and high-fiving ensued. A few miles further on we caught up with Baz, he wasn't having such a good time. He had been struggling with an ankle injury picked upon the Saffron Trail and had left his painkillers at the start. Fortunately I have a small 'emergency kit' of painkillers, toilet paper and an anti-chafing wipe which goes on all ultras with me so I was able to help him out. Some of you may recall my 'chafing incident' on Druids' last year which Sarah helped with by supplying Vaseline so I am a firm believer in 'Ultra Karma' and know that he would have done the same for me if the situation was reversed. We carried on past the artworks and into CP4 - which had been CP2 on the way out and hence we met up with Dean again.

Another quick nibble and a drink later we were into the final third. I told Sharon that if we kept up our steady pace she might be surprised to see how many people we could catch and pass. Sure enough we passed a couple of people on our way to CP5.

At CP5 - which had been CP1 - Sharon enquired where her wine was. She was heartbroken to be told she was too late and it had all been drunk - nothing for it, we would just have to get to the finish and go back to the hotel for wine. We passed the marathon point after 4 hours 34 minutes but I knew the final few miles were going to be very tough for Sharon. Still we kept going and I persuaded Sharon she didn't need to walk. I think she was re-energised a little by catching some more people that were walking. I kept telling her how well she was doing and tried to make the final miles seem insignificant 'Only a parkrun left', '20 minutes to the finish', 'you've done 95 percent, only 5 percent left', all that sort of stuff. However the last mile was going to be tough as we left the river, ran up the railway bridge, a short shallow up slope  and finally turned onto the hill that is Beldams Lane. Sharon was struggling quite badly and feeling sick - I was now torn, we were so close to the end but  obviously I didn't want to push her to collapse. Fortunately we had done so well we could have a very short (about 20 yard) walk up the hill until we saw the Challenge Running flag at the entrance to the finish, without being overtaken.

The short walk and the sight of the finish revived Sharon enough to get us  up and running and we entered the field to the applause and cheers of other runners, their friends, family and of course the marshals. I ran ahead a bit to get a picture of Sharon on her final lap and we crossed the finish line hand-in-hand, 5 hours and 18 minutes after we started. We collected our medals and t-shirts and collapsed in the club house for a while.

As I said at the beginning, this was my third Challenge Running event and they've all been special for different reasons. St. Peter's Way was my longest single stage at the time and my practise for the MDS long day. The Saffron Trail was just incredible - see blog entry for details. However The Stort 30 was the first event I've run with Sharon and I was (and still am) so proud of her performance. I wouldn't have been too disappointed with 5:18 if I'd been running on my own. The fact we ran just about all of it and overtook people that had been up to 3 miles ahead of us at the turn round point shows that if you can keep a steady running place you can do surprisingly well in an ultra, it also showed Sharon that she is capable of far more than she realised - and to be honest, slightly more than I realised.

While on the subject of Challenge Running, once again the organisation, friendliness and checkpoint food was awesome. If anyone is looking for a first ultra the Stort 30 should be very high on your list - the medal is pretty cool too! 

Now she can walk again I think Sharon enjoyed it - she's (rightly) very proud of her medal. Now I've just got to persuade her to do St. Peter's Way next year...

The Saltmarsh 75 2014 - Day Two

It'a really nice when I get positive feedback about my blog so I'd like to thank  mia79gbr for her comment. However possibly the only part of my multi-day ultra routine I've got right is really good ear plugs so I (fortunately) wasn't woken at 5 am by the flipping cockerel. I did wake up at about 6:20, the same time as if I was going to work. However if I was to get breakfast there was no time for a lie in!

I'd slept quite well, mainly due to my MDS proven sleeping bag and a proper sleeping mat - as opposed to the piece of cardboard I optimistically tried to sleep on the previous year whilst trying out potential MDS kit (needless to say the 'comedy sleeping mat' didn't make the cut). What wasn't so good was that due to the low temperatures and me breathing in the tent nothing had dried out. I had a change of clothes but a wet hat and wet shoes would just have to be endured. It's not so bad once they're on...

Anyway I was dressed, breakfasted and had sneaked up on the pop-up tent and wrestled it back into its bag before it had time to fight back. We had the Day Two briefing and were unleashed back into the Essex countryside. Last year the first stage of Day Two was simply about keeping running and making my legs work.  This year seemed to be mainly about persuading my left ankle to loosen up so I could run properly and less like someone doing a very bad impersonation of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Anyway after a mile or so everything seemed to be working and I soon reached the first checkpoint (soon is relative - soon compared to the pace of a tortoise that had decided to do some home improvements and fitted a conservatory).

Checkpoint 8 was on Maldon Promenade and for the second year running I was greeted by my loyal supporters, Marie and Steve. Last year I was in no fit state to say much to anyone by this point but undeterred they turned out again and hopefully this year I was a bit more communicative. It's great when someone goes out of their way to support you and I always really appreciate it, even if it may not show at the time.

The run down to Checkpoint 9 involved navigating through Maldon, which was achieved with hardly a single error (I was ever so slightly the wrong side of a set of railings at one point...). It's a short stage into Heybridge and its from here that I think Day Two really gets going.

I like Checkpoint 10 at the Goldhanger Sailing Club. I don't know why, possibly because it doesn't seem to be very near anything or possibly because it marks the halfway point of Day Two. Anyway whatever the reason the sun was out and I was feeling good. Or it may have nothing to do with the checkpoint and simply be that the dose of painkillers I took on the way had kicked in... Just one more checkpoint then a run to the finish and Saltmarsh 75 2014 would be completed!

The run from Goldhanger to Tollesbury is however quite tough - it's the longest stage on Day Two. So far I had run all of the Saltmarsh 75 - admittedly I had slowed down a bit to take pictures and have a drink...climb stiles...open gates.... but I hadn't had to resort to the shuffle/walk strategy of the previous year and was keen to keep running. I was overtaken a couple of miles in by someone I assume was in the relay. As he disappeared off I just got my head down and kept going with my slow steady pace.

As I turned onto the last part of the sea wall that turned into Tollesbury I saw the 'relay runner', as I had tagged him, walking ahead of me and I passed him as I left the sea wall. I know we were in different races but it does illustrate the point that you should always run your own race. Just because someone passes you don't be tempted to run too fast to keep up  - it's where you are at the end that counts.

I can't believe I asked for directions from Checkpoint 11 to the sea wall... Anyway it was the last stage, the sun was still out and I still felt good so I put my head down and charged. It was my fastest stage of the day and my third fastest overall. I think I was spurred on by catching a couple of guys that left the checkpoint as I arrived at it. Once I passed them I tried to keep up a good pace to discourage them from coming back at me. Inevitably I slowed a little as the stage progressed but as I exited the Old Hall Marshes I knew it wasn't far. Down the dodgy steps, over the field and through the gate into Salcott.

Last year a family sat out in their garden and cheered the runners (and walkers I guess) as they came into Salcott. this year they were there again - I don't know who you are but if you are reading this, thank you. With that little boost the final few hundred yards to the finish were a doddle - ish...

I received my temporary medal (we have been promised much nicer ones) and sat down in the village hall with my recovery shake, a cup of tea and beans on toast to wait for my fellow runners and a lift home.

Whilst drinking my tenth cup of tea I saw Roy put something up next to the canteen hatch. When I went for cup of tea number eleven I saw it was the top 10. I read through it and saw that the first lady home had finished ninth when something made me read it again. There it was, in seventh place 'Colin Harper', that's me, I suddenly realised (running can add something of a satellite delay to my thought processes). I was in seventh place overall and had taken just over three hours off last years time - to say I was a bit chuffed would be something of an understatement!

Shawn came in with his mate Jamie in eighteenth place, a great effort and, judging by the number of selfies they posted from the race on Facebook they had a great time. Simon finished a little while later, another great performance on his first ever ultra. Thanks to Simon and Claire for taking me home where I celebrated with Prosecco and a soak in the bath - I know how to live.

Last year I said I don't know why the organisers did it. I still don't fully understand but I'm still very glad they do. The organisation was again superb, all the marshals and helpers were friendly and encouraging and generally it was another triumph for Maldon District Council. I said I don't fully understand why they do it but I do understand that part of the reason is to promote their part of Essex, so as they did so much for me I'm going to give them a little plug. If you've never been around their part of Essex then go. If you think Essex is like TOWIE then definitely go and be amazed. I hope they won't mind if I just lift this from the Saltmarsh 75 website but I ran past:

"...10 SSSIs, Georgian architecture, the UK’s oldest chapel, 5 nature reserves, ancient battlegrounds, huge flocks of wading birds, Maldon’s famous Hythe Quay and Promenade Park and miles upon miles of distinctive saltmarsh that defines the Maldon district."

And they didn't mention the WW2 minefield control tower and pill boxes!

Whatever happens I have every intention of visiting every mile of the coastline again next year!

The Saltmarsh 75 2014 - Day One

Last time I blogged about the Saltmarsh 75 it was as a nervous newbie who had just completed his first ever ultra. This is only a year on from then but I do seem to have done quite a bit of running since then - if all went according to plan I would cover my 2000th running mile in 2014 just before the end of Day Two.

Despite having now having a bit of experience of ultras I was still a little unsure about whether I was particularly qualified to actually give advice on them - those of you that have followed my adventures will know that being lost figures quite highly as one of my running activities. I'm also not entirely sure that I've really fully sorted my kit or strategy out for ultras yet so should I be telling anyone else what to do? However I'm part of an excellent running group called Run1000 on Facebook and received a message from another member, Shawn, who was doing it as his first ever ultra and was asking for advice. Probably the most important advice you can give anyone running the Saltmarsh is 'don't turn right' (you'll end up in the sea) but I suspected he wanted something a little less obvious. Anyway over the course of several FB messages I bombarded him with various thoughts, suggestions and ideas which probably left him more confused than before he asked. I also passed various hints and tips on to Simon, one of the Chelmsford Parkrun core team members who was also embarking on his first ultra. I won't tell you how they got on, you'll have to read on to find out...

In 2013 I went to Marsh Farm, not sure about what lay ahead, not sure what I was doing there and not knowing any one there. This year I knew exactly what lay ahead, more or less why I was there and when one of the organisers said 'Oh, its you again' I felt very much like I belonged! I chatted to people I met the year before as well as Simon my MDS colleague and Simon from Parkrun. Both Simons were sporting luxuriant facial hair - I'm not sure if that is a particular characteristic of people called Simon or just a coincidence - I suspect the latter. I checked in and got my number. As with previous events it was to be pinned to my shorts and as with previous events it took more than one attempt to get it right, although at least I didn't get it upside down this time.

We all gathered round for the safety briefing. I'm not sure whether Roy (the man in charge) forgot he was holding a megaphone or he just didn't want to wake up the adders (one of the reasons Saltmarsh is later in the year is to avoid disturbing the adders too much) but it was one of the quieter briefings I've attended - alternatively I'm getting a bit hard of hearing in my old age, which may be the real answer. Anyway once Roy had briefed us on the hazards of the course ('assume every stile is broken, assume every time you put your foot down you are going to twist your ankle') and told us about the truly incredible amount of support on the course (take a bow RAYNET and Essex Rover Rescue, plus the medics and checkpoint crews of course) we had a few minutes to get nervous before the Mayor said a few words, blew the horn and we were off!

This year we were straight into the running from the farm rather than being bussed to the sea wall as in 2013 and I was trying very hard not to get swept up in the general excitement and end up running too fast as I did the previous year. This didn't really work but I kept an eye on my heart rate and tried to keep it under 150 bpm as I thought I could run quite far at that rate, a marathon at least - which would only leave just over 12 miles that I would have to stagger to the finish. Sometimes I think I really should come up with better race strategies...

Anyway thanks to some very kind landowners the first stage still involved crossing a railway line twice but not the road - it also made it a mile shorter so getting to Fambridge was achieved fairly easily and I was still feeling good - however I had run slightly less distance than I do most lunchtimes so lets not get too cocky about that. 

Apart from the huge climb to the top of Creeksea Cliff - a massive 15 metres above sea level - Stage 2 was reasonably uneventful too. However Stage 3 was next (obviously) and this was unlikely to be straightforward. This was the stage I started to have problems on last year. It's over 13 miles long on the most exposed part of the whole course. Last year I was worried (with good reason) that his was the stage on which I would pass the marathon distance mark and step out into the unknown. This year it was the fact that at some point it was likely to absolutely chuck it down. Anyway I was making good time so I hoped to get a significant part of the distance done before the rain started. The Dengie 100 Runners Club had once again added a water stop at around 6 miles in and I stopped briefly to drink some water - had I known how much I would be soon soaking up I might not have bothered...

A couple of miles later I spotted a familiar figure on the sea wall. Sharon is training for the Stort 30 and had run from Steeple to the sea wall along St Peter's Way, got bored waiting and run down the sea wall to find out what was keeping me. We ran together back to St Peter's Way where she turned off to go back to Steeple (supposedly on St Peter's Way, however she navigates as well as I do...). It was just before we parted that the rain started...

I saw a few people drop down off the sea wall and run at its base and also stop to put waterproofs on. I ran at the base of the seawall for a short section but as the wind was coming from the west it didn't really help. I also didn't yet feel the need for a waterproof so I carried on as I was to Checkpoint 3 where I had my obligatory navigational error and broke the one rule of Saltmarsh navigation and turned right. Fortunately I ended up at a child's swing rather than in the sea. I resisted the huge temptation to have a go (if it hadn't been raining I may not have been able to resist) and retraced my steps and found the checkpoint.

Stage 4 was fairly uneventful apart from the mud around Bradwell power station. I collected so much of it on the soles of my trainers that for about half a mile I found out what the world would look like if I was average height. Stage 5 was quite uneventful except I was starting to get cold so I decided to deploy the bin liner at the next checkpoint. For those that didn't follow or don't remember my MDS blogs I should say that not even I take a bin liner as a running waterproof, what I have is a very lightweight black smock which Sharon took one look at and said 'looks like a bin liner' and the name stuck.

I ran out of Checkpoint 5 wearing exactly the same as I went in with. I do have a memory like a...one of those things with holes in...my socks?...no, you use it in the kitchen..no, its gone. Anyway as the stage was only 3.1 miles I was fairly sure I would stop shivering once I was running and so I carried on regardless.

I arrived in Steeple after a little under 7 hours running, nearly an hour quicker than the year before! I was also frozen. Much tea, some beans on toast and some warm clothes later I had thawed out and set off to the pub for food, refreshment and a night in a tent. Simon and I sat and chatted over a salmon pasta bake and we retired to our tents. Day One had been quite successful and much better than last year, how would I fare on Day Two?

The Saffron Trail

SPOILER ALERT - I finished. Ever since I crossed the finish line and could actually think again I've been thinking about how I'm going to describe the truly epic, 'it had everything' event that was the first running of the Saffron Trail. I've decided to start with an apology. I'm sorry, I don't have the words or literary talent to do justice to the event. The tale I am about to recall will be but a pale shadow of the pain, suffering, and elation that constituted the event - it will however be quite long. Right, having established to following won't be very good I'll get on with living down to expectations...

I haven't yet entered an ultra that I haven't felt very nervous about and I doubt I ever will, almost by definition every ultra is a test of mind and body. However even taking that into account the Saffron Trail sounded hard. The basic premise was very simple, competitors would run from Southend to Saffron Walden - overnight. The reason for the overnight aspect was twofold, firstly everyone should arrive at a vaguely sensible time on Sunday but also it meant that everyone would run through the night. A 'conventional' start time of 8 am would mean that the front runners could potentially complete it in daylight, this way the slower runners wouldn't be penalised by finishing in the dark.

the Long Distance Walkers Association had decided that Essex needed a route going 'up and down' Essex to complement those crossing it and the 70 mile Saffron Trail was born. It runs from Southend to Saffron Walden, via Chelmsford and is intended to represent a theoretical route that may have been used by the 16th and 17th century spice trade to take spice from Saffron Walden to the coast. This formed the basis for the route of our run.

I had given the Saffron Trail a lot of thought and when I had stopped being terrified I had given my kit quite a lot of thought. Running through long grass and weeds doesn't play well with my legs, much redness and itchiness ensues. I can put up with a bit of that for a few hours but, given we had been warned that parts of the course were overgrown, I decided that full length running tights would be a sensible move. As the run was at night and I needed to carry a small amount of compulsory kit, it seemed a perfect excuse to buy a new hydration vest (a sort of small backpack to carry water and a few essentials for those that have no idea what that is) and a new head torch (a torch worn on the head, sorry, I'll stop patronising you all now).

With a bit of effort I squeezed my mandatory kit into my new hydration vest and wished I'd bought a slightly larger one. I also added a small rear bike light to the back as some of the route would be on roads in the dark. My 'old school' Garmin had its first outing since the MDS as I was certain the battery wouldn't last in my running watch. Suitably attired I got into the car and we set out to Southend.

It was a lovely evening, which is my excuse for forgetting to pick up my waterproof jacket... I had the 'bin liner' jacket that performed so well on the MDS but I couldn't convince myself it was was really a waterproof so it seemed unlikely that Lindley (the race director and creator of the event) would accept it. Lindley only insists on kit that is really necessary to ensure competitor safety, not to catch people out, and as he pointed out thunderstorms were forecast so a waterproof was essential, He did however offer to lend me a jacket so I could still run. As it happened I had a somewhat heavier waterproof in my bag for the finish which I decided I would carry for the first leg. Sharon would perform one of her usual feats of heroic support by bringing my 'proper' jacket to CP1 where I could swap them over.

After a short briefing, at 6 pm on the dot we set off down Southend Seafront. The reaction from the people we passed was mostly one of positive encouragement and it was nice to see the newly-wed proprietors of Racekit out cheering us on - even if I did almost have to tread on Colin's toes before he saw me. It was quite a warm and humid evening and, since we were starting from sea level and turning inland, the route soon started to climb. The climbs were nothing by the standards of many ultras (this is Essex after all) but combined with the humidity I was soon sweating enough to make me think I would have to be particularly careful to stay hydrated. The first leg was a mix of urban and rural running and at this point I was part of a small group of runners somewhere in the middle of the order. The threatened rain didn't arrive, although I could hear the odd rumble of thunder.

A somewhat raucous welcome greeted me a CP1. The marshals are always enthusiastic and welcoming but in this case they were being supplemented by Sharon with my jacket. 10.9 miles down and so far no major navigational errors, no rain and I had all my right equipment. The marshals kindly filled my water bottles for me and few cocktail sausages, chicken nuggets and sweeties, washed down with Coca-cola later (I keep telling people ultra-running is a jog between picnics) I was off again.

Leg 2 was Hockley to Battlesbridge and I set off into the woods behind a group of three runners who turned right for reasons I couldn't understand. Rather than simply follow I had a look around until another runner told me I had missed the first instruction and that the right turn was correct. This is one of the things that makes navigating and running such a challenge, miss one marker and you can quickly become hopelessly lost. Fortunately I didn't end up lost, unfortunately it did start to rain. This made the 'riverside path' section significantly less pleasant than it could have been as it all started to get a bit slippery underfoot, but I made it to CP2 without mishap.

After putting on my waterproof I left CP2 still part of the loose group I had been running with for a while. This was good as Leg 3 was to prove  the most incident filled of them all. I had already seen from the instructions that we would have to run over graves in a 'scary graveyard', however before that we were to be confronted by an irate landowner complete with dog, lamp and shotgun (cocked!) along with his wife who had a lovely turn of phrase consisting mostly of four letter words. We were accused of running round his field (we hadn't), being burglars (we weren't) and generally terrorizing them (he was the one with the shotgun). We remained calm and polite (and in my case, slightly scared) and gave them Lindley's phone number as we had been told to do. After this he seemed to calm down and pointed us in the right direction, although apparently later Lindley was the recipient of his wife's eloquent turn of phrase when the phone call was made.

After this the scary graveyard was simply scary - although the fact that you had to literally run over some of the graves was a little unnerving. What was possibly the lowest point of the run for me occurred a little further on. After the 'incident' the group of us that had been confronted had stayed together and found ourselves stuck in a field full of some sort of malevolent green stuff (possibly wheat, maybe triffids, I was never sure) and unable to find a way across. Three of the guys had recc'ed the field when it was empty and were fairly sure there was no path and so went around. I stuck with the others as they had GPS. Eventually after battling our way along more or less where we thought the path ought to be we cut our losses and got out onto the road a few hundred yards up from the 'official' point and ran back onto the trail. After a few more navigational problems and a run through another (non-scary) graveyard we found our way to CP3 at Danbury. I think we lost about a hour on that leg to shotguns and navigation, it was certainly the most eventful 10.7 miles I've ever run!

I was expecting Leg 4 to be much better as it was through Chelmsford and a section I had previously recc'ed - in the daylight, not at 2 in the morning. The first part was a straightforward run into Chelmsford along a route I knew well. I was still with the two guys with the GPS but I was confidently leading them on. I managed to push the fact that my bed was little more than a mile away to the back of my mind and ran into the town.  Unfortunately I didn't think too much about the time of day and so lead them through the main bar area of Chelmsford through drunken revellers that used what little coherence they had left to shout abuse at us. We got through unscathed and crossed the rest of Chelmsford without further incident to a carwash that marked the point we went back running around fields. We ran into the fields with the sound of the carwash dog's barking in our ears - I don't know if it thought we were going to break in and steal a sponge or something but it was certainly persistent. Obviously I wasn't going to find my way in the dark and sure enough we had to use the GPS again to recover from my error - sorry guys.

We were still around a mile from the checkpoint when we came across a figure by the roadside who told us she was half of the new checkpoint. Apparently the owners of the house who's drive CP4 was located at the end of had returned home, possibly under the influence of alcohol, and had threatened to set their dogs on the marshals if the checkpoint wasn't moved. As it was the location of the checkpoint would have had us running past their house twice so to avoid further incident it was moved some distance away. I should point out there was nothing illegal or unreasonable about its location but for some reason parts of Essex were seeming quite ill-disposed towards ultra-runners that night and Lindley was acting in the best interests of our safety. Anyway we got water and directions to the main part of CP4 in its new location.

Another runner called Pete was at CP4 and quite fed up with getting lost on his own. He asked if he could join us, which I pointed out was very polite of him considering I had just attached myself to various other runners through the event without ever asking. I would run the rest of the event with Pete and we kept each other going as things got harder and more painful.

I really did know my way through Leg 5 (it was quite easy), and we got to CP5 where I proceeded to gorge on chocolate and Jaffa Cakes as I was feeling a bit low on energy. We were then told were the 8th and 9th runners through - top ten! This gave us a boost and we resolved to try and hang on to our placings.

It was also getting light! This didn't stop us going off in the wrong direction a couple of times but with the help of the map (Pete and myself were on our own now so we didn't have the benefit of GPS) we regained the path each time and whilst we weren't quick I don't think we lost too much ground. In fact by the time we got to the checkpoint it appeared two more people had dropped out as we were told we were now 6th and 7th. We were also told the cut-offs had been extended by 30 minutes to try and allow all those that were still running to finish.

I think it says something about how tough this event was that I was quite excited that we only had one more checkpoint and little more than a half-marathon between us and the finish. It was on the next leg that Baz overtook us. I had chatted to Baz at the start and not seen him since - apparently he had had an awful first half of the race but had come back to form and then some. Pete and myself decided we wouldn't even try and keep up with him but would concede one place rather than risk pushing too hard and not finishing so close to the end. We pushed on until we had a left/right issue at some woods where the two guys with GPS caught us back up. We ran with them (through yet another graveyard) until we reached the final checkpoint, CP7.

At CP7 we all sorted ourselves out as best we could and left as a group. By now we were all just determined to finish and to do it within the original 20 hour time limit. As a result although there was no spoken plan we all took it in turns to keep pushing the pace over the last 4.9 miles and it turned out to be the quickest I had run since the first leg. We all arrived at Saffron Walden Fire Station at 1:32 on Sunday afternoon, 19 hours and 32 minutes after leaving Southend and were all given joint 6th place! Of the 26 starters only 14 of us finished.

My original hope was to finish in 14 hours. After Leg 3 that was revised to 16, then to before midday (18 hours) and finally to under 20 hours. 14 hours would have got me third place, which I think shows me how much I had hopelessly underestimated the scale of the task. Ultimately I'm just very proud to have finished and to have earned the massive medal I was presented with at the end. I'm genuinely not sure if I'm more proud of finishing the MDS or the Saffron Trail, that's how hard I found it.

I can't finish this blog entry without giving huge thanks to the team that made the event possible. The marshals were all incredible, giving up a nights sleep to keep a bunch of runners fed watered and motivated - without your encouragement I'm sure I would have bailed out before the end. However none of this would have happened without the driving force of Challenge Running, Lindley Chambers. I have no idea how anyone can spend the night rearranging checkpoints, taking abusive phone calls and having nearly half the field drop out and still be smiling and giving guided tours of a fire engine at the end - he even gave me a lift to the station! What people sometimes forget is that those of us running can just call it quits if it gets too much, the marshals and the race director are there for the duration no matter how bad it gets and for that alone they deserve all the thanks and respect I can give them.

So I got wet, lost and threatened, my nose was almost the only thing that didn't ache on Monday morning and my legs still hurt when I move. Would I do it again next year? Of course - when do entries open?

Fun in the Sun - New Challenges and the Southend Half Marathon

Since my last blog entry, entries for the 2015 MDS have opened and, four minutes later, closed again. I had registered my interest and was seriously considering it, I had only three reservations. The first wasn't really a reservation as such, I just knew it was a lot of money to spend again - however that sort of thing doesn't usually put me off and wasn't going to be a huge factor in the decision this time either. More important was whether or not I could put Sharon through the experience again. This was also less of a factor than I thought it might be, she was actually quite happy for me to do it again and said it was up to me - and no, it wasn't one of those 'it's up to you' with an unspoken 'but you know what choice you'd better make' on the end, she really was content for me to decide for myself. The thing that was really making me unsure was simply the great time I had and the great position I got on the 2014 MDS. I couldn't help feeling that if 2015 didn't go as well it might taint the memory of 2014.

However I had been feeling a bit aimless since the MDS and felt I should look for another challenge. As a result I started Googling desert ultras and found many tantalising prospects. The one that really seemed to fit in terms of duration, time of year and cost was the Ocean Floor Race. Despite its name it takes place in the Egyptian Western 'White' Desert. Apparently 200 million years ago this was under the sea, hence the title of the race. Apart from a different location it also has a quite different format to the MDS. The OFR is 160 miles and you have 96 hours to do it. That's it, you decide when to stop, eat, sleep, just be at the finish in 96 hours or less. Obviously there is slightly more to it than that, there are checkpoints roughly every 15 miles for a start. At each checkpoint you can get food and water, and leave a drop bag with any supplies, clothes etc. you may feel you are going to need. There will also probably be less than 40 people doing it!

I'm already making plans... Equipment-wise, everything MDS should be perfect with a bit of a revisit of the shoe-sock combination to try and avoid the skin-shearing problem I had before. I'll take all my own food but as I can have drop bags, granola doesn't need to figure highly in my meal plans, also as there is hot water at each check point my freeze dried meals won't need to sit in the sun. My biggest issue is race strategy, I want to be placed as highly as I can possibly achieve. I'm fairly sure that 72 hours and two sleeps should be a comfortable time-scale but can I do it with only one sleep and in around 48 hours? I don't know yet but my next challenge might help me decide...

So what is the next challenge? I hear you cry, well I don't but hopefully you are slightly interested to know. However before I get onto that I should tell you about my last challenge, the Southend Half Marathon. We entered this at fairly short notice mainly because Sharon quite fancied doing it and its an event we've not done before as it usually clashes with a Highland Dancing competition in Colchester. However this year the weekend was free, entry was very cheap and its only half an hour down the road...

...Not quite true - Southend is only half an hour down the road but this event was actually in Shoeburyness, which involves going through one of Britains premier displays of traffic lights and speed cameras that adorns the road from Southend to Shoebury. Add to that the inevitable parking bottleneck at the end and a 30 minute journey took around an hour and a quarter.

As a result we didn't have time to do very much other than make the obligatory toilet stop and find the start. The start seemed a little chaotic but did occur dead on 10 a.m. as promised and after taking a couple of minutes to actually cross the start I was off and running. The day was hot and sunny and not really one for PBs. However my half-marathon PB was from the Great North Run and as this was a significantly flatter course I had harboured hopes of a new PB. As I'd started a bit further back than I really wanted I spent most of the first half of the race overtaking people. It was really quite a social event. I saw Mark from Parkrun first, he'd done the Edinburgh marathon the week before and so was understandably taking it quite gently. A bit further up the road I passed the legendary Colin Barnes - one half of Racekit and the real 'Colin' on the 2014 MDS - I was 'the other Colin', especially if your name was Sue. Colin had recently completed the Grand Union Canal Race, an insane 145 mile non-stop run from Birmingham to London and was, even more understandably, also taking it easy.

The race consisted of two laps up and down the seafront. A few hundred yards before the turning point on lap one I caught up with the equally legendary Ian Brazier. Ian was suffering from a hamstring injury and I suspect shouldn't have been running at all but he's an ultra runner and so... Anyway the point is I passed three people that I would have probably finished firmly behind on any other day, which at least made me feel good. I also got to wave to Sharon as I headed back towards the start for the first time. She was going well in the heat and would finish in a very respectable 2 hours.

The race continued fairly uneventfully, a bit of waving as I saw Ian and Sharon a couple more times but otherwise just a very hot trot up and down the seafront. The course had a very generous supply of water stations, all of which I ignored in my quest for a PB. A not even slightly sensible strategy really but I reckoned that as I was very well hydrated at the start I could get away with it for an hour and a half. The water was also supplied in paper cups, I'd tried drinking from these at previous events and - unless I actually stopped - it usually resulted in choking and a quick wash but very little actual consumption of water.

At the 10 mile point I realised that the PB was on if I just pushed hard over the last 3.1 miles. 3.1 miles is a Park run so 21 minutes? Well, a bit longer after 10 miles but I still crossed the line in 1 hour, 34 minutes and 8 seconds, an improvement on my PB of 28 seconds, it almost made the sunburnt head and chafed nipple worthwhile!

Sadly one runner collapsed and died shortly after finishing. I don't know what the cause of death has been declared to be but he was a member of a local running club and was undoubtedly prepared and ready for the challenge, its just very sad and tragic when these sort of things happen.

Anyway if anyone is still interested this is where you hear about my next challenge, the Saffron Trail. I mentioned it in my last blog but I've now actually entered. I've also recced part of the route around Chelmsford and am reasonably certain I can at least run through my home town without getting lost. The event is 70 miles from Southend to Saffron Walden and starts at 6 'o' clock on a Saturday night. I'm expecting to be passing through Chelmsford at between midnight and two in the morning - running through the centre of Chelmsford in the early hours of a Sunday morning, what could possibly go wrong? Well here is where you will find out...

Trails and The Baddow 10

Well I seem to have a had a few hits on the first entry of my new blog (into double figures anyway) so I'll continue...

At the end of my last blog I had completed the Halstead Marathon at the expense of an injury to my left hamstring. Those of you with long memories that read my very early MDS blog entries will remember I ended up having to take quite a long break from running due to not listening to my body and running on an injury. On Monday I couldn't walk without some pain. Tuesday was a little better and by Wednesday it was nothing more than a slight discomfort. As a result Wednesday saw me back out on the local trails for a very gentle run, always ready to stop if the hamstring started putting in a complaint, even an informal one. It didn't and I completed the 6 mile loop I regularly run.

Thursday I thought I'd give it a rest (or possibly it was raining - anyway I didn't run that day) however Friday is usually a day for a longer run from work to home and as it was a particularly nice day I was very keen on having a slightly extended trot round the Essex countryside. It's actually only 2.2 miles from work back to my house, however I usually seem to cover at least 8 miles and no, its not always because I get lost - however...

As I've expanded my running horizons I've found more and more decent footpaths to run and can put together a fairly decent trail run without having to spend too much time leaping into hedges dodging cars driven by clairvoyants. I assume the drivers are clairvoyant anyway, its hard to see how else they can be confident there is nothing round the corner as they barrel into blind bends at 90 miles an hour. Anyway I have quite an acceptable PB for leaping into hedges and generally try not to put myself into situations where I may have to try and break it. Anyway back to the point, I decided to run down a footpath I'd taken once before to link up with St. Peters Way and follow that for a while.

As I said I'd only run the first part once before and that time I had a map - this time I was relying on my memory. I work on a site with a very distinctive radio mast, it's quite a handy navigation aid for those occasions I find myself geographically embarrassed. On this occasion it was meant to be behind me so when I looked up and saw it just before the horizon in front of me I retraced my steps, took the other left and continued...

...onto St. Peter's Way. Sorry if you were expecting a long and amusing tale of navigational mishap but I found SPW exactly where I expected - yes, I was surprised too. I even followed it through West Hanningfield where there are absolutely no markers, amazingly I remembered it from the SPW Ultra, even though that went the other way to this run. Everything was going well, the sun was out, the trails were reasonably dry but with a little bit of spring in them and whilst as far as SPW is concerned the only way is Essex, the rolling fields of the countryside couldn't have been further from the stereotypical image of the county.

Everything went well until was running down someone's drive. Said drive did have signs along it assuring me I was still on SPW - until I went through the gate at the end of it. I followed the obvious path into a field of cows. I'm not sure I've ever seen cows break into a full blooded sprint before but for whatever reason they really didn't want to be anywhere near me. To be fair I had been running for a couple of hours and was a bit sweaty but I didn't think I smelt bad enough to scare a bovine quadruped. Anyway I quickly realised I had upset someone's dairy herd for no good reason as my compass told me I was going 180 degrees in the wrong direction. Yes, I carry a compass and still get lost. Fortunately a man on a ride-on mower pointed me the in the right direction and I was able to continue until I reached the point at which I left SPW and took another trail back towards Chelmsford. I got home with no further major incident other than a large rip in my top caused by not quite ducking low enough under a fallen tree across the trail.

Saturday saw me at Parkrun again where I ran 5km in exactly 21 minutes according to my official time. Not bad and quite enough running for now as I was planning on taking on the Baddow 10 on Sunday.

The Baddow 10 is an event I've run on a number of occasions. It's quite a nice rural road race and it starts less than 10 minutes walk from my house, so as it was a glorious Sunny day Sharon and I took the short work to pick up an entry on the day. The Baddow 10 is a very relaxed event, entries close 15 minutes before the start, which isn't until 11 'o' clock, and as the start and finish are in the same place, the baggage drop doesn't really close at all. We got our numbers and said hello to Ian, who appears to be going to enter every single race within a 100 mile radius of Chelmsford in 2014. I lined up far too close to the front and, at just after eleven, we were off. There is no course I know better than that of the Baddow 10. Even though it's not the race I've run most often I've run all the roads on the course many, many times and so navigation wasn't going to be an issue. Its also incredibly well marshalled so none of the many potential short cuts were really an option either.

I was running at a fair pace and, most pleasingly, my hamstring was enjoying the sunshine and not complaining even a little bit. I wasn't sure how long I could keep running with a heat rate of between 170 and 180 but this was a good race on which to find out. Except it wasn't as the answer appears to be 'for more than 10 miles'. Despite the heat, which seemed to take its toll on some of the runners, I managed a new PB for 10 miles, beating my 2006 time on the same course by 17 seconds to record 1 hour, 11 minutes and 21 seconds. Of course having running across the Sahara recently may have given me a slightly different perspective as to what constitutes 'hot'...

Once again I had the privilege to be part of a well organised an well run event. I'm sure one day I'll be sitting in front of this keyboard berating someone's organisation but it isn't today. As I said before it's a very friendly event and well organised.

So what next? Well I'm planning on entering the Saffron Trail, a 70 mile, overnight epic from Southend to Saffron Walden. This is not something to be undertaken lightly, in fact I'm taking it so seriously I intend to go out his weekend to recce some of the route and try and get getting lost over with in the daylight. I'll let you know how that works out...

Life after the MDS - The Halstead & Essex Marathon

My original blog was started to allow those interested to follow my progress as I trained for and finally competed in the 2014 MDS. I have no idea how many people, if any, will be interested in just listening to me rambling on about my post-MDS running but I'll carry on for a while and see if I have anyone is still reading.

So what have I been doing post-MDS? Well it certainly didn't put me off running! Before I went away it was all rather muddy and grey in the UK and the desert appeared to be largely shades of sand so it was quite overwhelming to be running in the UK through fields of green and yellow oilseed rape and through woods full of bluebells. My first few runs were just for the pure enjoyment of the English countryside, and for the enjoyment of not returning covered in it as I was doing pre-MDS, however things were soon to change...

 I had abandoned Parkrun about six months before the MDS, partly because it didn't fit with my long weekend runs but mainly because I stopped any sort of speedwork in favour of endurance - which is my excuse for being a bit lazy really.

Anyway I was still following Parkrun on Facebook and so when I saw that they were having a 'Bring your Bling' day I naturally couldn't resist the opportunity to show off my MDS medal and t-shirt. My medal and t-shirt drew many admiring glances and comments as well as co-starring in the weeks run report. However what was particularly good was that my co-star was Ian Brazier, who some of you may remember first entered my blog as 'tent man' on my very first Ultra, the excellent Saltmarsh 75 and more recently as one of the tail runners on my last ultra before the MDS, the equally good St. Peter's Way Ultra. Ian had already managed to collect 5 medals in 2014 before the end of April and so was 'quantity' to my 'quality' - as the run report put it anyway.

After thoroughly enjoying my return to running and discovering I could still run at a reasonable pace I came across a link to the 'Halstead and Essex Marathon' - probably on Facebook, I don't remember. What I do remember was thinking that the medal looked particularly cool and I would like one - so I did the only logical thing and entered the event, after all I still had over a week and a half to prepare for it - what could possibly go wrong? I had entered the Chelmsford Marathon and the ballot for the London Marathon a week earlier so road marathons still figured in my plans even though my main focus was still on what the next big ultra challenge was to be - I have an idea...

A new PB at Parkrun thanks to a 'Pacer Day' event started to make me think I might even be able to get a new PB at Halstead, after all it was nearly two years since I'd run a road marathon and I'd done an awful lot of training since then, could I get a sub 3 hours 30 minute time this time? What I really wanted was a sub 3:20 time so I could go straight into the London Marathon with a 'Good For Age' time but that was a little optimistic, especially as Halstead was, by all accounts, a very pretty but not particularly fast course.

Before we finally get to the marathon I should mention Run1000. Run1000 is a particularly excellent Facebook group whose members are all trying to run 1000 miles (or kilometres) in 2014. The group provides encouragement and a monthly log of everyone's miles. In return the page owner hopes that everyone will donate a penny per mile run to St. Elizabeth's Hospice. I've had a lot of support for my MDS training from people in this group and have made some friends so I'm quite happy to support the chosen charity. The reason I mention it here is because 23.7 miles into the marathon, somewhere around water station 5 on the second loop I would break the 1000 mile barrier for 2014.

Of course all this getting the medal and breaking 1000 miles malarkey was assuming I'd actually finish the event. Phase One, finding the start, was accomplished very easily due to copious signs and marshals directing us. The instructions said that parking was less than one minutes walk from the start, so why was it about half a mile from the leisure centre (the start) to the car park? The answer was that a) it only seemed that far and b) we'd actually gone round and back on ourselves so that when we took the footpath out of the car park we were indeed directly opposite the leisure centre. When I say 'we' I mean myself and my ever supportive crew, Sharon - who had driven me to the start and was planning on cheering me on through the run. 

I collected my number and chip, attached both to myself and made my way to the start, where I met Mr Brazier, intent on collecting medal number 6. We set off almost spot-on 10 'o' clock out into the lanes of North Essex.

The first few hundred yards seemed a little congested but things quickly settled down, the rain had more or less stopped and I settled down to what I hoped would be a comfortable pace for the next 26.2 miles. After a couple of miles everything seemed to be going well and a sub 3:30 marathon looked distinctly possible. Half a mile later my left hamstring put in an informal complaint about the idea of running a marathon and made it quite clear it wasn't at all impressed and furthermore would not let the matter drop. I stopped for a bit of a stretch, told my hamstring to shut up, and carried on. I was in some discomfort but I was still able to run at a reasonable pace and still felt that sub 3:30 was viable.

The organisation of the Halstead and Essex Marathon was quite excellent, not just for the runners but also the spectators. Parking and tea was available to spectators at a point where the runners would pass four times. Sharon had made for that point and was there to cheer me on for the first time just over four miles into the race. The support in this area was brilliant but what was particularly surprising was the level of support all round the course. The marshals were extremely enthusiastic and supportive as were all the spectators. I was wearing my CRUK running vest with my name on the front and received a lot of encouragement all through the race. Given that most of the race was through country lanes and the weather wasn't the best, the level of support was especially impressive.

The rain had definitely stopped and, whilst the wind was very strong, it wasn't as much of an issue as I had feared it might be. By now I had run over 11 miles and passed the main cheering point for the second time. I high-fived Sharon on the way past and carried on. My hamstring wasn't getting any better but it wasn't getting significantly worse and at the half way point I looked to be on for a time of a little under 3 hours 30 minutes.

At around fourteen and three quarter miles I started the second lap. ordinarily I don't like doing multiple laps but as I didn't know the area and it wasn't simply a return to the start/finish point and out for another lap it didn't really feel too much like doing the same thing again. Even the third pass of the main cheering point just before 16 miles didn't seem too repetitive and this time Sharon had the camera out so I had to pose as I ran past.

All was well until I reached 19.5 miles. At this point my hamstring obviously got fed up with being ignored and put in a formal complaint in writing. I had just over 4 miles to reach my 1000 mile target and less than 7 to the finish so while ever I could keep moving I wasn't going to give up and thanked my hamstring for its communication and explained that I would deal with it later - after I'd finished. I continued running but at a significantly reduced pace and realised a sub 3:30 was probably not going to happen now.

However it wasn't all bad news. I had previously not stopped to take advantage of any of the jelly babies - and in one particularly delicious case, Jaffa cakes - that were on offer at various points, preferring instead to speed past and rely on my own much less appetizing gels. However as I wasn't going to get a PB I might as well enjoy the goodies that were available.

I passed Sharon for the last time at just after 23 miles and as predicted reached 1000 miles at the next water station. By now limping was figuring quite heavily in my repertoire, this seemed to make the marshals even more supportive , urging me on to finish. Less than a mile from the finish the route went off-road for a short while. This seemed to slow a few people down as I hopped past about three people on this section. I gritted my teeth, ignored my hamstring and made my customary 'sprint' finish. My view is that if people have waited over 3 and a half hours to see me finish they deserve to see a bit of effort.

I collected one of the best medals I've seen and a goody bag containing - amongst other things - a very pink t-shirt and a bottle of commemorative beer. I finished in 3 hours 36 minutes and 16 seconds, 1 minute and 1 second over my PB. I think it says a lot about how my expectations have changed in the last two years that I was slightly disappointed with that, however it wasn't bad all things considered and most importantly I had really enjoyed the event. Whilst waiting for Sharon to pick me up from the finish (as I said before it wasn't very far to the car but I pleaded injury) I saw Ian finish to collect yet another medal.

The organisers, marshals and supporters all deserve a massive vote of thanks for making my first road marathon for two years such an enjoyable event. I fully intend to be back for next year regardless of what the medal looks like!