The London 50k - #99

There's a shortage of road marathons in the UK in winter and a surfeit of shorter traily ultras, largely along stretches of the canal ranging from 30 - 50 miles in length. Not having the chance for a whistle stop trip abroad for a race, the London 50k was billed as the lowest fat, shortest ultra on the calendar, plus, falling one week before Malta, provided massive incentive to finish. Unfortunately, after 15k of suburban streets and tarmac paths running through commons, we reached the first bit of mud through Wimbledon, not so bad but pretty greasy. After the wide open skies of Richmond Park, a nice bit of river and the Sunday evening historical-drama-worthy Syon Park which I'd never even heard of, Brent Canal was the beginning of the end. It got steadily grimmer through Ealing and Hanwell, what may have been Hangar Hill and other parts of London I've never heard of. The mud, too, was thicker, stickier and slippier, I fell over once, got covered in it and spent the next few hours looking like I'd been reclining on the side of a hill like those sunbathing lemurs in Madagascar. But in mud rather than on a sun-drenched rock.

At 37k, I entirely hit the wall. A run-walk thing worked for a bit until the big muddy hill presented itself, after that I just couldn't be bothered. It was cold but I walked the rest. Geordie Richard was very good company and offset my mood by being really very grumpy, especially when we missed the turn near the finish. Without him my mood would have been terrible. By the time we'd finished, we'd done a shade off 54k, had wet feet and were pretty cold. My hands were frozen solid and in no other circumstances would I have been glad to walk into the warm fug of the Quality Hotel (you know when a hotel's called Quality it's going to be anything but). My shoes went in the bin, they were too knackered to provide cushioning on the road and too roady to provide grip on the mud, it's a difficult call on this race. So it was pretty unpleasant, and slow, and left my right ankle very sore, but it did act as a sort of swansong for off-road long-distance races, I'll never do another one again.

So, it's all go for Malta on Sunday. Looking like there'll be at least 50 people in the bar which is fantastic, I'm very touched so many people are making the effort to be there. Just 4 days to not break my leg first.......

Wokingham half marathon - a 6 minute PB

Wokingham looked like a good opportunity for a PB but it's hard to estimate my pace these days. I thought I might shave a bit off the existing 1'44'44 but not enough to get excited about. However, my comfortably hard pace turned out to be 7'30s, very pleasing, given my 6 week old 10k pace is closer to 7'40s. 9 miles passed at this surprisingly speedy pace without any incident (apart from going through what would have been a fat 10k PB), my legs felt loose and fresh, and reasonably bouncy, and my breathing wasn't too hard. Miles 10-12 are back up the gentle decline from the start, and into an increasing headwind, I lost 10-20 seconds on each of these miles but that wasn't too much of a worry, plus mile 13 was back to 7'29. I didn't like the two sharp left hand turns to the finish at all (not a criticism of the route, it was generally excellent, and an all round first rate race) but finished reasonably strongly in 1'38'55.*

I was incredibly pleased about this, at no point have I ever contemplated getting anywhere near breaking 1'40 for a half, let alone running at 7'33 pace for the whole thing. It also predicts a 3'23 - 3'30 marathon time which is a huge confidence boost. My motivation to train and enjoyment of running had gone out of the window over December / January and, shallow as it is, a good result really helps me think it's worth putting the effort in. I clearly haven't reached my full potential yet. A nice base of almost 100 marathons, no injuries and rejuvenated enthusiasm should set the spring up to be a good few months.

Well done to all the other PBs and strong performances yesterday. There were loads of them. Thanks to the shout from Lully too. There was a great turn out in the pub later, I was proud to be wearing a Fetch vest (yes, just a vest, in the wind and rain, in February. I'm well 'ard.)

*This is my garmin time. Provisional chip time is 16 seconds quicker but I suspect they will be amended downwards, as it seems like provisional times started from the second mat on the way out. My garmin clocked 13.10 miles from the first mat, and most people report a 10-20 second discrepancy between their watch times and the chip times. If the finalised results give me a 1'38'39, then I'll be even happier, but I'm not counting on it.

Gloucester marathon, #98 (it was #49 last year)

And here's the report from #98, two weeks ago. Yesterday I ran a 1/2 marathon and rather enjoyed it, it was long enough to feel like a decent amount of exercise and to require a bit of strategy (ie. bombing off straight away) but not so long to bore you. Hmm, 100 halves next???


Gloucester was number 98 and I'm well on track for Malta. Luck has definitely been on my side, there have been a few people who've had to struggle through injuries to get to a planned 100th and I currently (touch wood) have no niggles at all. Just proves that it is possible to run 52 marathons in a year without damaging yourself more than the usual overtraining symptoms. 

The marathon was pretty uneventful, it was an easy paced race until the last few miles where my legs started running away with themselves for a speedy finish and a reasonable time of 4'06. The closer you get to the 100, the more tempting it is to look back over them, but you don't want to count your chickens too soon. Now it feels pretty certain that I'll get there. It's good to have an event I'm a little unsure of as my 99th (the London 50k) to add a bit of pressure and interest to it, and the desire to put in a decent race at Malta has picked up my enthusiasm a bit. My favourite maras have been the stronger ones so that's good enough incentive to do some proper training.

Anyway, looking back. In a way, doing the 100 so quickly with 34 in 2009 and 52 in 2010 has meant there have been a lot of races that I can barely remember. Most of those are LDWA style events. Now, I'm not slagging them off, they serve an excellent purpose for time on your feet, more challenging running, cheap entry fees, low key atmosphere yadda yadda yadda, I just don't like them and wish I hadn't done so many. They make my 100 feel slightly false, like I've cheated. More importantly, it would be nice for each marathon to stand out in some way and have its own character. It's hard to differentiate when you're averaging one a week. 


Wokingham 1/2 marathon next weekend to see if there's any speed at all in these legs, then the London 50k, then Malta. Very very happy to see so many people plan to be there.

100 Club AGM marathon - #97

Still catching up... The 100 Club AGM was a few weeks ago now, here's the report, written pretty soon after the event.


The 100 Club AGM is 5 laps of an outer loop and an inner loop, nice for breaking down the distance and making the time pass quickly. Unfortunately, it's been 4 weeks since my last marathon and a misplaced motivation has meant my longest run since was just short of 11 miles. And that was being dragged round by Mark. It was quite clear I was knackered after only 2 laps, so the third and fourth were a bit of a trial. However, having watched 127 Hours yesterday, it was pretty straightforward to maintain perspective. All I was doing was getting round 26 miles, not exactly being stuck under a rock for 4 days before cutting off my own arm, and then dealing with the dehydration, fever and shock to abseil out of the canyon and stumbling god knows how far to find help. Top film by the way, go see.

Anyway, I was knackered but at least the time didn't matter, 4 hours 32 was fine for #97. I can't wait for Malta, and I'm not sure I'll run another marathon again after the few I've got booked (the usual April suspects Brighton & London, and Stockholm in May as I've wanted to run it for ages). I haven't enjoyed running for a long time and am finding it next to impossible to train; on more than one occasion lately, I've got up, put my kit on, had a cup of tea, and gone back to bed. It's cold and dark and boring and just too much effort, but that's not really an excuse. The problem really is I don't have anything to work towards. Last year it was the 10 in 10 which is a proxy for your first marathon really, it's way more than you've ever done before, the training dominates your life and it feels like a huge achievement when you get there. Unfortunately, that sense of achievement is very shortlived for me, and I need a bigger and better fix. Hence loads of marathons, and hence, really, the 10 in 10. I loved the training, loved the side effects of it and loved pushing myself to my limits. But I can't go further than the 10 in 10 with a full time job and the desire to spend time with my friends, my boyfriend and my family, the 10 in 10 was almost too much and that was with such an undemanding job that I could piss about all day recovering. I actually have to apply myself now and it's quite tiring. 

So, there can't be another running challenge that's bigger than the 10 in 10, getting quicker isn't a challenge as I don't care about it enough (it'll never make me stand out as I'm firmly mid pack and always will be) and the 100th is fast approaching. I need something different. This time last year was similar - I knew I had to leave my job as I was bored rigid, not progressing, not learning, with no chance of a pay rise or bonus, but I didn't want to stay in finance. I spent months considering other options before I was headhunted (to another job in finance, but this time with a shed load of cash to invest and a better package, so yes, I continued to be a sell out) so the answer was given to me. I don't know what to do now. Get a bike. Start climbing. Join a boxing gym. Take up fencing. I'm starting with dynamic pilates, on those machines that look like a cross between a medieval torture rack and a kinky bit of kit in an S&M club, it's a good combination of strength and stretching, but it won't be enough of an adrenalin fix. Canyoneering, without the self-amputation perhaps?