Brass Monkey Half Marathon Race Report

I have not had a very good start to my running year.  A 20 miler all on road just before the turn of the year seems to have given me an overuse injury in my right ankle.  It's nothing too serious but enough to have stopped me doing any speed work for 3 weeks and have had a fair few extra rest days because of it as well.  Both my sports massage therapist and my sister, a GP have assessed it for anything more serious, but it is simply a case of RICE or MICE until it goes away.

However, I had a half marathon booked in York on the 18th January, and decided the extra rest could be considered tapering for this.  Having not had a good run for a few weeks, I was sorely lacking confidence in the few days running up to the Brass Monkey half, but it was a dual purpose trip of visiting our friends Sarah and Chris- Sarah would be marshalling at the race as it was her club, the York Knavesmire Harriers race.  http://www.yorkknavesmireharriers.co.uk/brass-monkey/

It started a few months ago with a rather swanky race entry system from resultsbase.  This meant waking up to get online at 6am on a Saturday morning to try and get a place.  When I logged in, I had 700+ people ahead of me in the queue!  Unlike some other oversubscribed races, the entry system didn't crash and I was able to pay for and confirm my place in a matter of minutes.  

For those who forget about races they enter it was exciting to then receive my race number and timing chip in the post.  A Facebook post featured, and I hoped that the ankle would heal in time.

Saturday morning arrived and we started to make our way to York, via Oxford as I had a boat club society meeting to attend.  It had been an incredibly heavy frost and the temp guage on my car said -5degC. Luckily I had gone out early to defrost the windows and windscreen, not that it helped much by the time we were ready to drive.  We had quite a slow drive toward Oxford and somewhere on the m25 I realised I hadn't packed my race number!  Face palm.

It's been so long since I'd done a race where the number is sent to you, or a race away from home that the idea of packing the race number didn't cross my mind.  Although painting my nails on Friday night did!

Frantic Facebook messages to the organisers and I got a message to email the results base company who never replied.  I text Sarah and she contacted the race director.  They each gave me some reassurance but no guarantee that there would be some spare numbers in the morning.  I was sure that there would be a solution.

As we continued our drive up to York, the expectation that the temperature would rise diminished, as we drove through several snow flurries.  On arrival at Sarah's the boys watched a football match whilst Sarah and I walked the dog.  We discussed my goals for the race, and I told Sarah that I'd be disappointed if I didn't manage sub 1:40, but in my mind I was really aiming for sub 1:38. Neither of which I was overly confident about as I had struggled to pick my pace up to sub 8mm in my last few runs.

Even with two layers of gloves on for this short walk, my fingertips started to tingle, and when we returned home, my hands and feet were plastered to the radiator desperately trying to reward them whilst Sarah prepared a lovely dinner of spag Bol - perfect pre-half marathon food.  I even broke my dry January for a couple of glasses of red wine with my meal, which went straight to my head!

We all settled down to watch TV and then a movie, but I went up to bed shortly after the movie started to get my pre-race sleep.

Race morning and an early start to get my kit on and eat some porridge.  Another Knavesmire harrier gave us a lift to the race hq, and since they were both marshalling we had to be there extra early, which meant I was the first to arrive to claim a spare number.  All I had to do was give my name, age and a few other details and these would be assigned to my new number.  At least that worry could go away now.

I left it as late as I could to drop my bag and in doing so bumped into Becks, who used to be a regular at Colchester parkrun, but now lives up north.  So funny how small the running world is sometimes.  When you travel so far for a club run road race, you don't expect to see people you know, but I saw another in the starting pen; Caroline, who had been on the 2nd placed Ladies team at TR24 and has a championship place for the London marathon.  She was going for 1:29 and told me off that my target of 1:40 was too conservative.  I agreed but knew my fitness had dipped in the last few weeks.  I knew I wanted to target a 7:30 pace, but ultimately I was going to set off slow in mile 1 and see where my pace settled when I got into the swing of things.

In fact it did settle around 7:30 and my breathing was fine.  I felt like this was a conservative pace but I would stick with it as everything felt comfortable, I wasn't getting too hot with all my layers, but I also didn't feel too cold.  I knew that painful fingers would really ruin it for me, so I was glad of that.  I settled into the pace and at about 3.5 miles the first water station came up.  I was trying my torq energy gels out and so had a rhubarb and custard one to sip on for the next mile.  Unfortunately, shortly after the water station there was quite an icy stretch.  The combination of not being able to get traction and trying to take on fuel meant that my pace slowed quite a bit, but i got it back.  Unfortunately the icy sections came back and there was at least 2 miles where I just couldn't get into a rhythm because of this.  With 1700 runners on the course, I thought they would have been able to grit, but unfortunately not.

I decided to get my head down and make the best of it, but by the second water station Just after half way I was a bit pissed off by it all to be honest.  I took my water cup and walked with it whilst trying a guarana torq gel.  I don't usually get on with the flavour of caffeinated gels, and this was no exception, so the gel pack went down with my water cup.  Luckily, beyond this the road was runnable, and where I saw people slipping and sliding, there was enough mud on the road bank that I could run on this, and get my pace back.  I felt nice and strong, but was passing people all the time and struggling to find anyone going at the right pace that I could stick with.  I suppose the ice affected people unevenly, and looking at other peoples splits and reports of the race this is definitely true.

At 10 miles I still felt really strong, which tells me I took the first part too slow.  When I race a half marathon well I'm usually just trying to hold on from this point on, but it all felt a bit too comfortable.  Of course I didn't want to take my mind off what I was trying to achieve either, and I thought that a 1:38:xx time was still achievable here and if I could ramp it up I may even sneak that sub 1:38 I was looking for.  As I was ramping up, I got bunched in a couple of times, and in the last mile and a half there was quite a big (relative to the rest of the race) hill up over the bridge.  My hill running legs weren't packed so this didn't help my ramp up, and as I tried to speed up for the last mile, my injury decided to say hello by tightening my calf.  It felt like it could have gone into a very aggressive cramp, so I took my foot right off the gas.  Unfortunately, this meant that I didn't achieve my real target, but still managed the sub 1:40.  1:39:22 to be precise, and a pb.

Incredibly impressed that despite my race number faux pas. The result was still texted to me within a minute of crossing the finish line:

After finishing I bumped into Sharon who had an amazing sub 1:35 time! She's running really well at the moment, and when I saw Caroline stretching off, she had achieved a pb as well! 1:28:xx. She certainly deserves her championship place.

I booked in for a quick sports massage as I was quite worried about my calf and ankle, but other than a particularly tight, painful trigger point in the calf, there is nothing serious, so I just need to keep managing it with RICE and MICE.

Having looked at my splits for the race, there is definitely room for improvement.  When I race well, splits stay even unless elevation means they shouldn't.  This was a flat enough course that the splits should have been even Stevens, but they weren't:

1: 7:34

2: 7:29

3: 7:30

4: 7:46 ice

5: 7:43 ice 

6: 7:39 baby

7: 7:40

8: 7:23

9: 7:35

10: 7:28

11: 7:37

12: 7:22

13: 7:30 darn hill and cramp

0.2!!  7:11

Looking back, I also could probably have gotten away without stopping for water.  If I had known it would be cups, I would have worn my ultra vest so I could drink water effectively!  And for a first try in a race, torq gels don't seem to work for me; I think I'm better off sticking with something isotonic, and I will save the torq ones for the bike where I know I can carry a decent amount of water.  A shame as they taste so much nicer and have more natural ingredients.

Me having a pic with the monkey :)

5 mile pb and stabby fingers

Christmas was wonderful, a day of eating and drinking, and the joy that Boxing day would be a lie in!  The Witham Boxing Day 5 didn't start until 11am, so we didn't need to leave the in-laws until 9:50, which meant an 8:30 alarm clock.  Bliss after having awoken at 5 to cook the turkey before church and letting it rest in the car whilst I acoltyed (is that a word?).  But for some reason there were vibrations on the floor, and VERY LOUD MUSIC, like a rave.  WHY??? My one lie in of the year!  My brother-in-law had not un-set his work alarm, so it was 7am wake up instead, and I couldn't get back to sleep for needing the toilet, as much as I tried.

I went downstairs for porridge (not the usual rich breakfast of the Christmas period) and then the left overs were divided between us, so we could all enjoy the fruits of my day's cooking.  We set off on our way to Witham, and I received some good luck texts on the way.  I'm not sure luck was needed, as having never run a 5 mile race, this would be a guaranteed PB.  Race predictors suggested 35 min dead on which I must say I felt was rather closer to my 5k pace (20:53) than 10k pace (44:06) so wasn't sure about that especially with no short distance specific training.  I decided to go for it anyway and started not too far from the start line but got caught behind people who were going at a 9mm fairly quickly.  

I managed to catch up time and eventually finished the first mile on 7:01- it felt neither too fast nor too slow but I wasn't sure quite where to push.  I figured I would just aim for even pacing until about 3.5 miles and used a chap in blue to keep in my sights.  At about halfway I could see a girl I knew, Kate,  she has very recently started running and already managed a 45 min 10k on the day I got that 44min time.  I didn't think I would catch her as she was at least 50m ahead but thought I would try anyway.  There was also another lady in red between me and her so this could give me a chance of upping my placing.

I passed the lady in red at around 3.5 miles and started increasing my cadence to see if I could catch Kate, which I did-  she was fading but I knew she had it in her to keep pushing so I offered her some encouragement and ran in step with her- luckily the course started going downhill so our mile pace was about 6:30.

We were running in step with each other and I told her when it was only 800m to go.  She managed to overtake a chap in front and an oncoming car meant I didn't/couldnt go with her.  Plus I know I have no kick so didn't think it worth trying (what a defeatist attitude!?!).

We had been told not to bring the garmin across our chest as we crossed the finish so I didn't know my exact time.  Later publishing of the results showed 34:09 and 7th lady.  Quite pleased with that- my garmin also recorded a 5k pb (by 1 second) of 20:52 and has given me some quite juicy new race predictions!! 

The lady in red came up to me at the finish and congratulated me on my racing and asked if I was a marathon runner, and I said I was.  And that I was training for London.  She asked me my time and what I was aiming for, and then told me that she ran 3:21 last year, so if I race like that I'm in great shape for the marathon goal I've set.

On the down side, I've started to experience Reynauds syndrome in the last few months and during the race, my fingers really did go numb, even with gloves.  I had arranged for David to have the heaters on in the car for me to put some kit on top when I finished and as my fingers regained feeling from warming up it hurt so much it felt like someone was stabbing my fingers with daggers!!! It hurt so much I actually started crying .

I asked on a forum if anyone had any experience with this, and I was directed to this fab blog post by @intrepidsarah Raynauds and Running

I've found since the race that doubling up on the gloves and keeping wrapped up completely seems to help, so I won't be starting another winter race in shorts an a tee-shirt any time soon!

Talking of tee-shirts, look at the one I got for the race: 

Saltmarsh 75 day 2

"Cock a doodle do,  cock a doodle dooooo."  What a strange alarm clock I thought, and I knew ultra runners were keen, but this did seem a bit early.  I checked my phone, and yes, 5:33 seemed a bit stupid since we weren't due to set off until 8am.  I couldn't hear anybody moving around, and remembered we were in the countryside.  It wasn't an alarm clock, it was a cockerel crowing!  "Cock a doodle do".

At least my alarm clock was set and I could relax into going back to sleep, which I did.  Despite an awful nights sleep, by the time my alarm went (at 6:30).  Still, I didn't want to miss the start, and I thought I would finally get to go to the toilet.  I got up and went to breakfast in my pyjamas.  Despite being quite hungry, there wasn't much there I could stomach, so I opted for some cereal and tea and coffee.  Again I was quite disappointed by the lack of fruit, not even fruit juice available at breakfast.  I definitely couldn't face the eggs, mushrooms and beans that were available and there seemed to be a permanent queue for toast, so didn't bother with that.

Sarah and Kevin joined me for breakfast which was helpful as I didn't realise we needed to check in for day 2 and we were fast approaching the deadline with 45 minutes to go.  I then went to get into my running kit, and retrieve Sarah's race number from our car.  By the time I had done this the race briefing was starting and I wondered where Sarah was.  She appeared and then disappeared, so I went to find her.... Her tent was still up! And it was 5 to 8!! Eeeeek.  She was really stressing, and we had to remember that with 37 miles to go a few minutes wouldn't matter.  However when the race briefing had stopped I started to worry.  We ended up asking David to finish taking her tent down, as she would be staying with us later anyway.  Then Sarah and I rushed out to join the rest of the field.   We started behind the walkers.

We were of course in the wrong spot and spent a lot of time overtaking, but we felt it was worth it as we didn't want to get too stuck at the first style.  The scenery from this morning was far more beautiful than day 1, and there was even frost on the field!  It had been a cold night.  Stage 7 was just 3 miles from steeple to Mayland.  Just enough to get warmed up, and apparently lost.  We bunched up with a couple of other runners and took a wrong turn which had the fortuitous result of us seeing a few peacocks wondering around, however, this was not the right way.  A few switch backs got us back on track only there was a huge puddle.  Sarah and the others went the long way, I tried to skirt the puddle, which Resulted in several puncture wounds to my left thigh from the bramble.  Luckily they were superficial and my first injury of the day.  I wondered if they would bleed more though since I was exercising to make me look hardcore, but they didn't.

At CP 7 we had quite a long stop as we needed to do all those things we didn't do before the race start, like fill our water bladders, empty our actual bladders, put on plasters, ask embarrassingly for Vaseline (those last 3 weren't me... Just sayin').  I text David for Vaseline as I didn't want to listen to Sarah moaning about her chaffing all day!  Karma got me back, and after a few more miles I started to feel pain in my right Achilles.  The uneven rutted ground of the sea wall between Mayland and Maldon was relentless, plus this was a part I had run before and really not enjoyed.  Sarah was enjoying seeing other runners snaking the sea wall in the distance both ahead and behind us, but I just wanted to keep my eyes on the ground so I didn't take a stumble.  I was wanting to walk more and more and was going to text David to bring some K tape to the next checkpoint.  Luckily, Sarah had some on her, so cue me, taking my shoe and sock off to try and tape my Achilles.  It didn't make the pain go away, but it reduced it significantly, so it was bearable to run.  After a couple more miles it was in both sides though.  My speed really struggled, and by the next check point i wasn't a happy bunny.  It had been 8 miles to Maldon, officially hitting the 50 mile mark for the weekend, but I could have stopped there.  

Laura and Soraya had come out to see me, and ran me into the CP, to David and elephant.  I was far less happy than on day 1 when the same had happened with Lorraine and rob in sideways rain, and had a long cuddle with David.  Everything hurt.  I really appreciated Laura and Soraya coming and they took a few photos of us.  Laura said she wanted to see me at the finish so I better be on time because she had other things to do.  This was so sweet for her to come all the way to Maldon, and then to come out again later in the day.  I better run well for her!

The next section was apparently all concrete and I wasn't looking forward to this.  Having gotten used to off road running in training for this, I dread running on harder surfaces as I feel the impact effects.  Still it was only 3 miles, and we did most of it with or in sight of a chap called Mark from Tiptree road runners who often runs these parts, so we relied on him for navigation.  It was also on this section that I started using an eating schedule again.  This actually helped dramatically with my state of mind and is a stark reminder of why I use the nutritional strategy I do.  The carb load and race fuel, whilst partly about fuelling working muscles, is mainly about fuelling the brain with glucose.  When brain sees access to glucose go down it sends all sorts of signals to stop you running.  I felt a million times better once I started eating, and was full of beans again by the next checkpoint.  Here we met Lucy, who Sarah recognised as second lady at the Stour valley marathon.  We spent most of stages 9 and 10 of day 2 over taking each other, and another female runner, and given Lucy had been so high at SVM, I did start wondering how high up the field we may be.

The weather and the scenery of stage 10 was beautiful, and Sarah and I were both quite enjoying the running.  I was also quite excited as I knew that getting to CP10 meant I was finishing this thing!  There was no way I would give up with only a couple of stages to go, and we had about 9 hours left to cover 18 miles.  But we both needed the toilet and I wanted a coffee too.  We took our toilet break and I had my coffee, although when Sarah sipped it she realised it was just black tea.  And here we met Lucy again.  She didn't look happy and said she was seriously considering pulling out here.  I told her that Sarah and I were taking a decent break here and were definitely run/walking the next section, and would she come with us.  I really didn't want her to finish here when she had come so far, especially as there was no apparent injury.  I knew if it were me, I would have felt incredibly disappointed to have gotten so far and not finished.

We sat down here for quite a while taking in some salty snacks and I was having a cuddle with my elephant.  Eventually we got ourselves up, and the 3 of us, the 3 musketeers. (Ok, I'll think of a better name) started running for 12 minutes and walking for 3.   As I had a functioning garmin I was doing both mileage check and telling the others when to run and walk.  This was quite a mental challenge for somebody who had run in the region of 60 miles the last two days, plus the temperature was starting to soar.  The stiles along this section were evil, and sometimes forced us to take a walk break a bit too soon, but none the less, each 12/3 section equated to about a mile covered.  Halfway through this 10 mile section from Goldhanger to Tollesbury, I had picked up a little stone in my shoe, so sat down to take it out, and also asked that we walk for 5 rather than 3 minutes this time.  All seemed to agree on that, and it broke up that section nicely.  By the end of this section I was struggling again but it was fatigue in my muscles, as quite frankly, having never done a 75 mile ultra before, they were going to reach a point where it got very tough.  

We arrived at CP 11- Sarah and Lucy ran ahead to it as they both needed the toilet and I walked into it and refuelled and got lots more water, and was happy to see Laura again!  How lovely of her to come see me here, but she wouldn't be coming to the finish as I was taking too long ;). David was there too and he seemed very happy with his pint of ale.  I could have downed that for him.  The heat of the day was getting high and definitely thirst was rising.  Luckily Sarah had a spare hydration tablet, as I had run out.  She had to be the one to get us going again.  We know the other lady that we had passed during the previous stage wasn't very far behind.  I asked the girls if they minded us switching the ratio to 10 run / 3 walk, and they agreed.  Sarah said it was extraordinary that we were still talking about running at 68 miles into a 75 mile ultra, and she had a point.  Most people we had passed in the last section had been mainly walking.

Stage 12 was really remote, like seriously really remote.  There was quite a severe warning on the instructions not to start the stage if you had any doubt of finishing it, such was the remoteness that they didn't think they would be able to rescue you.  That said, there was a water drop a couple of miles out from the last CP.  There were more stiles on this section and they were REALLY evil.  About half way through this section we passed Kevin.  He later said how he was surprised it had taken us so long to pass him but we were going at a really good pace.  When I could be bothered to look at the garmin during a running section we were probably doing somewhere between 9:30-10mm pace, although obviously averaged dramatically slower due to the walking.  My dream of finishing day 2 in 8 hours as well was long gone though.  Eventually when we thought we had about 2 miles to go, Lucy saw some people in the distance she thought were her children.  We decided if they were that Sarah and I would go off ahead and leave her to run in with them.  They were, together with her husband who had started day 1.  I asked him how much further and he said about a mile.  Phew, I've got this.  I was feeling really grumpy when Sarah didn't want us to have our last walk break with so little left to go, and I think that is because I stopped taking on food a bit early- in a marathon I don't take on any more if I figure there is less than 30 minutes to go, but here, I should have kept eating regardless, just in case.  Still, the sea wall became a muddy field, which became a road with some lovely people telling us 'not far to go now' and other such things.  Sarah sprinted for the finish and I saw my car in the car park so knew it wasn't too far away.  The emotions were already welling up and when I saw David at the finish I ran to him, threw my arms around him and cried and cried.  Overwhelmed with the emotion of completing it, but also because of what I was doing it for, in memory of my dad, who would have loved to walk some of the parts we ran.

Lucy wasn't far behind us and we all exchanged hugs and congratulations.  Next was food.  David had brought me chocolate milk, and there was also jacket potatos being served.  The three of us ate and exchanged contact details, and were generally chatting away.  I think I was quite shocked by the whole experience.  After about 45 minutes, we decided to get on our way home- Sarah still had to retrieve her car from the start but was promised a meal when she got back to mine.

In the car, David presented me with a gift from Laura, a new elephant called Saltmarsh Nelly.  How fun, and way better than a medal:

In the following few days I received another elephant from my mum together with a beautiful card that reminded me of one of my favourite poems.  The gifts:

And the poem; Footprints in the Sand- please look it up and have a read.  As I was struggling through day 2 of SM75 with Sarah, one of my best friends whom I've only known a relatively short time, I was thinking how lucky I was to have a friend like her who would say yes to all these crazy challenges.  And I really felt like she was carrying me on day two.  How lucky I am as well to have all those people come out and support me, and a special mention must also go to Sarah Attwood who took me on some lovely long runs around York in training for this, and Rob and Lorraine who said yes to another hairbrained crazy idea of running from Colchester to Harwich, again to help me with my training.

Thanks to mum and Laura for the lovely elephantine presents, and lastly thanks to the wonderful husband who gave up his entire weekend to be support crew for Sarah and I!  When we got home he was the first one to crawl in to bed!

On Monday evening, I saw a missed call from Sarah and picked up the voicemail.  Not only had we completed this epic challenge, but we were 3rd and 4th lady!  4th lady in my first ever ultra, which was actually two back to back.  Wow!  (Maybe I will do another one but don't tell David) 

And, a week later the celebrations with fizz, the pin and the medal:

Saltmarsh 75 day 1

The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to travel on foot, 75 miles of Britain's most unique coastline.  Claiming the title of the longest section of uninhabited coastline, and with a maximum elevation gain of 15 metres, this was a unique challenge.  2 days to complete it, with time limits on each day.

Well, as someone who has never run an ultra marathon before, I chose this one as my first, as I didn't really see the point in doing one marginally over marathon distance, but doing 50 miles in one day seemed a bit much... Therefore 75 miles over two days seemed the easier option (how naive).  Nonetheless, I accepted the challenge, and I promised myself that the only thing that would stop me running was injury.

The day before was spent with nervous but excited preparation- how much food would I need? Would I get sick of flapjacks? Did I have enough hydration tablets, would I be able to carry enough, and would the beef hula hoops squash down enough without crumbling?

The next morning I awoke with excitement of the challenge ahead.  We were giving Kevin, RD of the Stour Valley Marathon:  http://www.stourvalleymarathon.co.uk a lift to the start, and we would be meeting @mia79gbr there.  Given her enthusiasm at the SVM I was sure she would be there hours in advance.

There was promise of incredible organisation whereby you could send various things to whichever checkpoint you wanted and if you left your tent, it would be put up for you.  I decided it was too complicated to figure this out and instead packed a back that David was to bring to me at each CP after CP3, about marathon distance on day 1.  

Here's the full route map:

After registering and going back to the car to change, it was almost no time before the race briefing.  Obviously we had all been checking the weather forecast and knew we were due rain and wind from around lunchtime, which meant it would hit during that long section, stage 3, "Burnham-on-Crouch to Othona Community, Bradwell-on-Sea (13.3 miles)

The big one! Described by Robert MacFarland in his award winning book, Britain’s Wild Places, as ‘…the darkest, loneliest place in Essex’, this 17 mile stretch is as hostile and remote as it is unique and noteworthy." (Saltmarsh75.co.uk)

Day one had 6 sections, of varying lengths, one was as short as 3.5 miles but then the long one, was actually 13.6 miles, so longer than a Half marathon.  Thinking tactically this would best be done by having a pause each 2 CPs except the long one, however some misjudgement on my part meant I was wearing a bit too much for the warmth we experienced early on the Saturday, so had to remove a layer, that included the faff of removing my ultra vest too.  I had been promised that the CPs would be so full of food I virtually didn't need to bring my own, however, a fair comparison with either Stour Valley Marathon or Bacchus marathon, both of which I completed earlier this year, found them sorely lacking. I wondered whether it was just CP1 since it was so early on, and was hopeful for some fruit options and more variety of snacks as we moved through the day.

Me at CP1 still wearing too much kit- that pink top comes off soon.

Cp 1 was just after 5 miles in, and Sarah and I were already overtaking people.  The terrain was nice and easy here and the sky was big and blue.  I was naively thinking there was no way we were going to get that rain that was forecast when it was so beautiful like this.

We carried on and section two was where we met the sea wall.  This would become very familiar terrain by the end of the two days.  It had been mown, and was far easier to run than when I had recce'd parts of the route in May.  Stage two was from north Fambridge to Royal Corrinthian's yacht club in Burnham on Crouch.  8.7 miles.  We still ran this entire section, other than taking small breaks to take on food, and we still passed several walkers.  I had been feeling a bit under the weather in the few days leading up to this event, and I was quite worried during stage 2 as I seemed to be hotter than usual for a gentle jog through the countryside.  But I reasoned with myself that at 14 miles and the next CP it would be quite clear if I were actually too ill to continue.

Arriving at CP2 we really took our time here.  Sarah taped up her feet, and I adjusted my shoes having picked up a tiny rock at some point- I really need some gaiters.  The next section was more than a half marathon and we knew it was going to be tough, so we decided on using a run walk strategy, of 12 miles run, 3 miles walk.  This worked really well, and we were happily eating up the miles until the midway point where the Dengie100 runners had a water drop- I really appreciated this- their gazebo was like a mirage in the distance, not so much because we needed the water, but because the area really was that remote.

The wind was starting to pick up, as you can see in my hair:

But we were still smiling, and I was still hopefull that the rain wouldn't come until CP3, or even not at all. Not long after the water drop, we started to feel wet stuff coming out of the sky.  We decided to put our rain coats on, even though we were in a running section, and thank goodness, as the heavens opened moments later.  It was really really wet, and windy, and cold and soggy, and I started to find the walk sections really tough as I was cooling down too quickly.  

The wind and rain was relentless, and I just wanted to get to the next checkpoint- I wasn't caring much for the walking breaks, but Sarah made sure we were sensible so we could last the entire day, and day 2.

After what seemed like forever, two figures emerged from the darkness running in the opposite direction- oh no, we hadn't gotten lost had we?  As they got closer, I recognised them- Rob and Lorraine whom I'd done the 30 mile run to Harwich with, and who are also the current Guiness World record holders for the fastest 5k dressed as a pantomime camel.  It was wonderful to see them.  They had said they were coming to see me, but I had no idea where.  They helped run us about a kilometre into Checkpoint 3 in the wind and rain, saving us from having to get the instructions out.  Seeing them, and then seeing David, with Elephant at the checkpoint gave me a major boost!  This was the 27 mile point and there were only about 11 miles left to complete the day.  Nonetheless, the running conditions were horrible, and I needed a sit down and a salty snack before continueing.

In my mind this was the point which meant I would be able to finish today.  I had never run more than 30 miles at once, but that didn't matter- I didn't feel like I couldn't do 11.

Section 4 was just 3.3 miles.  Both Sarah and I though we would run this, but the storm picked up again, and I had to get an extra layer on.  Running into the wind was just a bit too much, and we did have a few walking breaks, including as we passed the decommissioned Bradwell power station.  We came off the sea wall for some shelter, and walked.  There was mud, and beyond we had to get back on the sea wall, but this mud was ridiculous.  It didn't just stick to the trail shoes between the lugs, but it stuck to itself... And then stuck to itself some more.  I must have gained 3 or 4 inches in height.  After such a long tough section, Sarah and I were in fits of giggles and this provided from much needed relief from what had been an incredibly mentally tough run.

Mud shoes- weight training in the middle of an ultra.

We arrived at CP4 in a considerably better mood than CP 3, after the fun of the mud.  I think the marshals thought we were crazy and I was mentally telling myself to shut up at my psychobabble- I was speaking like you do when you've had a few to drink in the early hours of the morning to someone who hasn't been drinking and indeed you've just woken up by crashing into some furniture... Red and black jelly babies! Wow! THEY'RE my FAVOuRiTE!!!!

CP 4-5 was 4.35 miles to St Lawrence, but I honestly cannot remember anything that happened.  Clearly the trauma of the previous 10 miles had erased my memory, but at least I can tell you that this run marked me crossing the marker for the furthest I'd ever run, which had previously been (only) 30 miles.

The rain picked up again, and by CP5 it was looking really dark, despite being the middle of the afternoon.

David was at cP5 waiting in the limited shelter.  We were really cold and wet and a little bit shivery, but nonetheless I was incredibly surprised to be asked if we were going to continue, especially as it was only another 3 miles to the end of day 1.  Still, I didn't give it a second thought then.  Of course we were continuing.  David asked us if we wanted fish and chips!  I didn't think fish would help, but the thought of hot salty vinegary chips in 3 miles time was amazing.  This was a part I had run before, so I expected to know the way, but with sea wall closures due to last year's storms, it wasn't as simple as that, plus, we had to go inland for the campsite.  Basically it was a left turn, along a road to cross a hidden style- the instructions gave the impression this style was immediate, but it was actually a very long way along the road- probably 3/4 of a mile.  We eventually found it then it was a few more styles to cross and fields, and then through a wooded area with some beautiful fairly lights, and yes, the finish of day 1.

We did it in 7:59, but wait, this was a village hall, not a pub?  But it seemed like there was food and David and chips.   Post run meal of baked beans on toast, chips, tea, then coffee, and then we realised how cold we were.

Someone gave us some space blankets, and I took off as many wet cloths as I could and wore David's jumper.  Sarah's shivering was concerning me, so we got to our car, and put the heaters on so she didn't go into shock.  Despite the incredible organisation of this event, somehow her tent and kit had become separated from one another.  After a few minutes, Sarah warmed up again and went on another search for her things, I helped David put the tent up as much as I could, then had a brief sports massage, before an uncomfortably cold shower, and then meeting David in the pub for dinner.

I chose Lasagne, and was surprised to be asked whether I wanted rice, chips or a jacket potato with that.   It's lasagne, isn't that enough on its own?  Anyway, I asked for chips, and had a cider, which after discovering a dead spider in it, having already drunk some was replaced with another cider.

After we had eaten, Sarah and I both crashed out, and needed to go to bed- it must have been about 9:30- I asked the pub for some milk and water to make up my nighttime recovery drink, and headed to the bathroom to get into my pyjamas and brush my teeth.

It was already quite cold so I slept in my hoody and with socks on, but it was barely a sleep, as I needed the toilet from very soon after getting into the tent, but was far too lazy to get up and go. . . 

To be continued...

Five marathons and an ultra. . .

If like me you were hooked on Richard Curtis films through the 90s and noughties, you would no doubt think of the film 4 weddings and a funeral.  However, there isn't much about this, that's like that, except perhaps the copious amounts of alcohol I may have consumed during the Bacchus marathon.

This is about my challenge for 2014.  This time last year, I decided that I would do 5 marathons and an ultra marathon in memory of my Dad to raise money for the June Hancock Mesothelioma Research fund.  My fundraising link is here: www.virginmoneygiving.com/angelaisherwood  Please take a look to see why I chose all of them, and see below for a quick review.

The first of the five would be the Greater Manchester Marathon - here is where, on my long term plan to qualify for the Boston Marathon, I would achieve a London Good For Age qualification.  When I started the journey toward my BQ (Boston Qualifier), a London GFA for a lady my age was 3:50;  this changed to 3:45 last summer.  I should have done a marathon last autumn that would have been my first sub-4 hours, but various things happened which meant I didn't have an autumn marathon at all.  Therefore, I had to take 34 minutes off my previous best to achieve my London GFA.  Well, I did more than that; I ran it in 3:39.  I don't think I've ever had a more perfect race, and I do recommend you read my blog to see how I felt in those last few miles, as I nailed it: Manchester Marathon

The next, was London, just a week later.  This was a challenge in itself; would I recover enough to run another 26.2 miles a week later.  I had been mentoring someone on the runnersworld  Forum.  She was going for a 4hr 30 marathon, and I was confident I would be able to pace her around.  This way I could enjoy running the race but still have a purpose.  It was a fabulous day, and we paced it perfectly, finishing in 4:30:10.

There was a luxurious 2 month gap between the second and third marathon of the year, I just had the small matter of getting married and going on honeymoon to attend to before returning to running.  I fantasised about running up the Pitons in St Lucia as being ideal off road training for the next marathons I was doing, but the reality on hiking these mountains was that it took two hours to cover less than 2 miles to the top, and the same coming down, and it was REALLY hard work (and that's coming from a multiple marathon runner).

The Third was my 'local' marathon, The Stour Valley Marathon.  It was just a week after we got back from our honeymoon, and I had done very little running since London Marathon, what with the final preparations for our wedding.  Still, this was one of the most enjoyable days I have ever had running.  What had been a very hot week turned into ideal running conditions, and we were able to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Constable Country without melting.  What's more, a cooked meal when we finished.  Congratulations must go to Kevin, Race Director, who put on a really brilliant race, and a fabulous memento of a horse shoe.  I've already signed up for next year, and can't wait.

Number 4 was a few weeks later, and hubby and I had our second holiday as a married couple in the Lake District.  We camped for this one, and had an amazing view of Lake Coniston from our Camp site, which was just a couple of miles away from the race start, and in fact, I ran past the camp site in the last couple of miles of the race.  The scenery was breathtaking, but one part that really struck me, is that a bit before the halfway point, after running around Tarn Howes, I was running downhill alongside a stream, which I instantly recognised as a footpath I had walked with my dad 11 years ago when he took me there to see parts of the lake district to help me with my A Level geography studies.  All that time ago, I left all the planning to him, so I had no idea where we had been.  I could have cried, but instead I had a big grin on my face that Providence had brought me back to this place to remember my Dad doing something he would have loved to do (well, not so much the running, but the exploring the Lakes).

Number 5 was last month in Surrey - the Bacchus marathon;  Again this was off road and not for time.  The challenge of this one was wine at the aid stations as it was on Denbies vinyard.  We had a wonderful weekend with family, and @mia79gbr stayed with us, and we ran the whole way around together in fancy dress.  The pictures showed we had a really good time, and the wine was fab!  LOVED this event, and I'm sure that will go in the calendar next year too.

This weekend, I take on the final challenge, which is my very first ultra marathon, The Saltmarsh 75.  75 miles over two days including camping over night.  At least this is a challenge, not a race, nonetheless, I am a bit frightened of the unknown.  Its been a long time since I've attempted a new distance.  And its excitement as well as fear.  All I can say is wish me luck, and I'll see you on the other side!

And, I would love some more sponsorship if you can spare it. .  . £7.50 is just 10p per mile!  www.virginmoneygiving.com/angelaisherwood 

Feeling optimistic

This weekend I'll be running the Bacchus marathon, a totally fun event and I won't be looking at my garmin.  This time last year I was upset about not being able to do my autumn marathon because of family commitments.  When I was off work sick, I managed to enter 3 marathons in the space of a week, and then got my place for London marathon confirmed a week later, which has had the effect of this wonderful year of running where I have already completed 4 marathons, and 43 miles of running at thunder run.

However, this blog was started because of my goal to qualify for Boston marathon, which requies me to run a full marathon in 3:35 or faster.  When I spoke to a running coach about how I would get there my pbs for 5k/10k/half/full were 24/52/1:59/4:33.  He said it was possible but would require work, and to be in with a chance of going for a 3:35 marathon, I needed to have a 22 minute 5k, a 46 minute 10k, and a 1:38 half.

I haven't raced a half since this years spring marathon training, where I got a pb of 1:43, but my 5k and 10k times are now 21 and 44 minutes respectively.  With over 6 months to go until London marathon when I get to run from the good for age start, I'm feeling very optimistic that I'm going to meet my goal, and indeed exceed it.

Vo2 max monitors on my garmin suggest a 3:15 marathon is achievable.  Last year I turned my September half marathon pace into my April marathon pace.  I'm sure I can do that again, but as always will exercise the caution necessary for winter training.  With no races planned after my ultra in October, I can really start building the base now, and clocking into marathon pace.  I certainly remember 8:30 feeling tough this time last year, but now it's my easy run pace, so marathon pace of 7:30; it seems scary now, but I'm going to go for it.  As always the pace for race day will come from how well I've trained, but training toward a 3:15 will certainly build me up well to get that BQ and be on the start line in Boston in 2016

One step away from being an elite athlete (Langham 10k report)

Langham 10k, 

-only signed up for it about 10 days before, but we really lack them around here, and its not a distance I would travel to race particularly.  This is the last one of the year that I am available to do, and I wanted to get a clean sweep of pbs before setting my sights on an even loftier marathon goal.  

According to my race predictor on my garmin, I ought to be doing a 10k in 43 something, but I am yet to run a sub 45 10k, so thought I would pace for that, needing to stick below 7:15 pace until halfway, and then see what I could do.

I started a bit too far back, and whilst the race was chip timed, it didn’t have a starting mat, only a finish mat, so I lost time getting over the start, and then battling through people, and getting stuck behind people who were running 2 or 3 abreast-  this was a road race, and the only road closure was the start area for about 7 minutes.  The country lanes were narrow in places, and clearly you wouldn’t want to face oncoming traffic.  Despite a lengthy warm up though, by 1km, my garmin was still saying 7:35 pace.  I didn’t want to over-egg it to catch the time up, but I did start thinking about picking up leg speed, and being a bit more aggressive to find my space.  This eventually worked, and I managed to pick up one of my running club friends Chris, in the process.  We crossed 1 mile in 7:08.  He passed one of his friends who was going for sub-50, Chris said so was he, and I politely informed him that we were on more like 45 minute pace.  It was good to have the company, but I know what I’m like in 10ks, I didn’t want to lose time here when I should be feeling strong and fresh.  I pushed on and Chris came with me, which was great.  It really helped spur me on when my legs were still feeling sluggish.  Second mile in 7:07 – ok, this was nice even pacing, and definitely on track for a sub-45, assuming that the course was accurately measured and there were no surprises (hills).  But when the next mile clicked over and I looked at my garmin again, I was on 6:40 pace, I reacted too quickly and it went to 7:30, and then I thought, clearly miles 1 and 2 were controlled enough, plus you’ve done some bloody long runs recently, lets just risk it, and start the push here.  

Chris stayed with me, but I lost him about half way, more from having the energy to dart around people than anything else.  He’s a very strong runner, and I was sure he wasn’t far behind me, but I daren’t look back, and lose my mojo.  As I passed the first water stop at 4.5k I reflected on how I used to stop for water in a 10k, but know that as long as I’m well hydrated to start the race, it isn’t really necessary.  I would allow myself to stop at the 7.5k one, if really needed.  Mile 3 complete in 7:02; I had sped up, but not as much as I thought, but my legs felt strong, and didn’t have that searing pain they usually have at the halfway point of a 10k.  Now was the time to push and start chasing people- at some point I was sure I would have my usual 3^rd quarter of the race lull, so I was trying to stay strong, but it never came... mile 4 was 6:57.  Aha, there was a reason, it was going to come in mile 5.  I was really starting to catch people here, who were capable of the times they were running, but had gone out hard from the start so were keeping even, or perhaps slightly slowing.  I could see 4 ladies all running very close together and this was my motivation.  I knew I would be quite high amongst female finishers anyway, but the opportunity to pass 4 of them at this pace could potentially put me in with a chance of getting a prize, depending on who else had showed up to run today. I focussed on them, and by the end of the 5^th mile (7:04) had passed them all, and they didn’t give any fight.

There were very few people in front and I was starting to hurt, though it was my breathing, not my legs... this was nothing compared to the 40kg deadlifts I had done  on Tuesday, clearly J.

During the first part of the last mile, I caught up with a guy wearing a Colchester half marathon t-shirt (what an uncomfortable thing to run it as its cotton, not technical).  I passed him on the inside and my pace was pretty quick – 6:30ish.  I couldn’t keep it up though, and he did give fight, which meant I had annoying heavy breathing in my right ear.  I’m not sure if he sped up, or I slowed to get that sound out of my head, but he got away.  There was barely anyone in my sights, and no women, it wasn’t far to go now, and I completed the 6^th mile in 6:51.  Clearly I had started the second half push too early, but was back now, and had some people to chase, even if they beat me over the finish.  I really don’t have much of a kick; that said I always seem to pass men in the last 400m of a race, who then out kick me in the last 50m, and you always wonder were they just holding back the last 9.5km.  Anyway, I crossed the finish line with a watch time of 43:56.  I didn’t place, but must have been close to placing as the commentator said he’d lost count but clearly I was high up.  When I checked the results later, my official time was 44:06, and I was 5^th lady.  Whilst pleased with a pb, I’m not sure it was the best race.  A well run 10k shouldn’t have 18seconds variation in mile split times!!  

It shows that despite improvements to my overall fitness due to running long and slow in preparation for the ultra, it takes me a really long time to warm up to top speed, as shown by the big negative split.

My garmin has told me I ran a 5k in 21:33 during that race, and very interestingly, my cadence was 179.  They say elites run at 180, so I guess I’m one step away.  ;-)