Race Day Part Four

Directly from the Aid Station, I was walking whilst enjoying the juiciest apple ever (or at least it felt like it during the heat), when I found myself walking alongside a female fellow participant.

A good chunk of about the next four miles was spent chatting to her, as one of her past achievement was doing the Marathon des Sables, a five-day multi-stage race in the Sahara desert - something I would never do due to the heat but I am always fascinated with reading about it.

As part of our chat, she mentioned she was going to walk this race and be done in 20hrs, which I responded with "that pace sounds pedestrian"......on a normal flattish path, it probably is but I struggled walking to keep up with her "pedestrian" pace, something I would referenced to her many a time during the race, particularly uphill where I would end being left behind and could only catch up when I choose to run.

Occasionally you could spot a field where the small copse of trees would have a crop circle around it.

 

These never-ending shallow inclines proved to me I am terrible at walking fast uphill - it would take until the latter half of the race to realise my best option was to run uphill as my running muscles were trained for, and my walking muscles were not trained for it.

If you merged these three photos together you would create a panoramic view - the first photo has a power station in the distance, and for sometime it would feel like all I was doing was moving a wide circular route around it.

There was a really sharp uphill directly after this short tunnel.

This sign like the other nine similar signs lie - it maybe just 1km but it always felt like the longest km in every section.....

At this point 27 miles had been covered, meaning everything from now on was a new running distance for me, and I was only 4.5 miles away from the half-way point.

Race Day Part Three

 The early part of this section was easy going although the mars bar was a poor food choice - the cheese and onion crisps was a great choice.

The route along the river was slippery under foot as the long grass had been cut and left on the ground.

I needed to stop here as I had acquired some stone chips in my shoes.  The bridge is a railway bridge and in the space of about five minutes I saw three high speed trains cross it.

Further along across the river was a shop selling ice creams, and in this heat I would have been tempted to find a way across.....

 

warming ham clearly has embraced it connection to the Ridgway, and again the pub was tempting in the mid-day heat.

Streatley is pretty big, and must be a great place to visit and walkabout but also has a never ending uphill incline after this section - it was very tough to push a decent walking pace.

The higher up you go the better the views but I was beginning to think I would never see the 1km to go sign.

at last the third Aid Station where I did my first change of socks having done 21 miles.  The best range of snacks was here.

Race Day Part Two

Early after the aid station was this church - whilst I am not religious I do like church buildings.

A great Gate entrance to a picturesque building.

This is the iconic race to the stones photo that I have recreated - sort of terrain I have trained for, and it was good fun to run.  Ironically I couldn't get a mobile signal at the aid station to give an update (to go on my Facebook page) but I could here.

The bunting was for a village in bloom type event.

Shortly after the bunting, we crossed some nice smooth well cut grass, to then suddenly hear "Four" as a golf ball heads in our direction - fortunately, they were amateur golfers......

There was a technical section that was narrow and tended to have tree roots under foot.  Tough but great to do.

The maps were regular on the Ridgway and show how well people are encouraged to use this national trail.

The building was a water mill - you could hear but not see the mill itself as the water rushed through it into the river.

The second aid station where I grabbed a packet of cheese and onion crisps and a mars bar.

Race Day Part One

I got up at 5.30am, and had a cereal bar and a cuppa tea, got into running gear, and made sure my rucksack and my transfer luggage (to the end) were correctly packed - although I had brought a pillow and sleeping bag, I left them at the hotel as I felt I wouldn't need them.

I arrived at the start point of the race about 6.40am, in order I could have more time to do final bits and pieces plus I could purchase the official technical shirt, and pack it with the transfer luggage.

I picked my registration pack, and grabbed a cappuccino, and did all the usual stuff to be race ready, and I just soaked it up with 2000 fellow runners.

There was meant to be two starts - 8am for the runners, and 8.15am for the walkers but it all merged into one start that kicked off at 8.06am.

There was a lot of congestion and stoppages as 2000 people tried to funnel into paths wide enough for two to three people, and at points one person - the biggest stoppage was at the stage where you join the Ridgeway proper that involves a steep uphill forest route wide enough for one person and ends with a kissing gate - I would say a good 30 minutes was lost due to these stoppages when your legs are fresh, and with hindsight it might be worth starting off five or more minutes later than everyone else because it is a chip (not race) time event.

The views once on the Ridgeway were impressive, and I was pleased I had taken the IPad with me to take lots of photos up until nightfall.

The final congestion was at the top of this bit where the first aid station was.

Race minus 10.5 hours - Reflections on the training

Looking back over the last 16 weeks, I was initially half-heartedly training for the Black Dog Marathon, before I signed up to do the Race to the Stones race, picked up the 5 times a week ultra-running training schedule, and pretty much stuck to it, something I have not done in a couple of years.   Over the last 12 weeks I have lost a stone in weight, and am now at my lowest weight in about 20 years.  All of this is despite losing 10 days of training at the peak schedule stage, due to a chest infection.

There have been a number of learning experiences, from coping with carrying half a stone in weight rucksack on my back, to getting lost in the Halvergate Marshes in the cold wet rain, to confusing the local pub-dwellers of a bobbing head torch light out in the fields when I did my night-run session, to achieving a personal aim to run from Cantley to Great Yarmouth along the Wherryman’s Way river route.

All of my running has been done without headphones and I did it fasted, in order to train my body to rely on what it has at least for the first 10 miles, and again I have nailed the timing of when I need to refuel on the longer runs, so apart from the one time I intentionally bonked, I did not run out of energy.

To be blunt, Spring is the optimum training season if like me your training needed to be fitted in as early as 5am.  It does mean you sacrifice any evening TV as effectively I needed to go to bed by 10pm to get enough recovery, especially you have the triple back to back mid-week runs that made the third 6mile day as tough as the Sunday long-run.

Growing a beard to be a stereotypical male ultra runner is something I do not plan to repeat, and it will bite the dust sometime on Sunday - far too itchy and I found myself picking at it resulting in bald patches but fortunately not too visible.

I have loved discovering all the local fields and where seemingly hidden footpaths led.

I will definitely want to maintain an element of trail running, and look for other off-road challenges in the future, as well as some road running.

Eating more sensibly, particularly using MyFitnessPal, has showed you can be disciplined 90% of the time, so you can fall of the wagon the other 10% of the time.

This is my final blog until Sunday, when I hope to write several (with photos) blogs about the day itself.

Race minus 17 hours - Even with the best of planning stuff / sh*t / life happens

As I write this bog I am half way to the hotel where I am staying this weekend, three hours later than planned but at least I am enjoying a coffee and a granola slice.

Last night my black 19yr old cat passed away in her sleep, having deteriorated quickly the 24 hours beforehand. With me not being about this weekend, I spent the morning taking her to the pet crematorium then doing my packing, that I intended to do last night.

To add to the fun, I had bought some last bits and pieces yesterday lunchtime before meeting friends for coffee, promptly leaving said items at the coffee shop when we left - I did realise until the coffee shop had closed, and so I needed to make a quick visit into the centre of Norwich to collect it.

Tonight I will do a second blog which will reflect on the training since I signed up for this mad adventure three months ago.

Just seen the forecast for tomorrow - starting area at 8am is meant to be 15 degrees Celsius, rising to about 20-21 degrees mid-day but I have noticed that near the end in Avebury it is forecasting heavy rain at about 10pm.  Good job I packed a waterproof.

Race minus 3 and a half days - Trying to stick to the plan in the last few days, Paperwork, Weather, Fruit & Nuts!, and Fundraising Video

With fairly minimal running this week, sticking to my calories is become a challenge.
Today my appetite was fired up, and I just needed to eat and eat this morning, plus I was tempted by peanuts this evening.....
It does feel a little like the lull before the storm at the moment - once I am driving from Norfolk to Oxfordshire on Friday, it will feel a lot more real - packing starts tomorrow night.

I now have received by email my car parking pass, and shuttle transfer form, as I will be parking at the start point of the race, and will then need a shuttle bus back at the finish back to the start.
It is the booked shuttle that in effect set my maximum time to complete the race - 23 hours (7am Sunday) as if I missed it, the next shuttle would not be until 4pm!

Looking on the Met Office app, the current forecast for Saturday is 19 to 21 degrees, dropping down to about 14 to 15 degrees by midnight (when I aim to finish).
These temperatures are very do'able for me, and I am very thankful that we do not have last weekend's stonking high-20s weather.

I have decided to take a 150g bag of dried fruits and nuts (indulgent because some are covered in yogurt and chocolate) - 700 calories in the whole bag, and will be used to top up where I want something different to what is on offer at the aid stations.

A fellow runner posted up a VirginMoney Giving video with Stephen Fry, where you add your details and it feels like it been done personally for you - absolutely brilliant, and here is mine;

https://www.myfundraisingfilm.com/view/4600a7ab-a1b3-49bd-b3dd-7e8946e1580d?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialshare&utm_campaign=myfundraisingfilm