The morning started with my housemate's boyfriend staggering out his room, hungover – “Sh*t - I’ve missed my flight”. Bleary-eyed, I inquired about the departure time, ‘0700 from Gatwick.’ he said, standing there in his boxers. “Well, you haven’t missed it just yet…” Turns out my vote of confidence was not what he needed. It was 0645 and he was panicking.
Our new recruit, Alex Bailey had arrived a few minutes before. We were feeling smug. Not only were we NOT hungover, but we hadn't missed any flights and we were about to undertake our biggest challenge to date. We were feeling fresh, strong, sharp and excited. Andy picked us up at just before 0700 to begin our journey to Farnham. We had the pleasure of driving down the road, while my housemate's boyfriend was wheeling his oversized ski luggage to the station. Tick-tock, tick-tock. The digital clock struck 0700. He had missed his flight…
We arrived in Farnham 45 minutes later, it was turning out to be a glorious day. We checked in, grabbed a cup of coffee and waited for it to… “get things moving”… before finally getting ourselves ready to start at 0900 sharp. Expecting to see Elliott and Ben already there, we were surprised to receive a call at 0815 saying they were just leaving Twickenham. As the officials started the ’10 second count down’, Ben and Elliott strolled up to us, arriving with a mere 2 seconds to go. Just in time to get papped by the hordes of cameramen. Standard! Off we went.
The day was hard going; I was out in front, finishing in 5 hours 45. Elliott and Andy crossed the finish line in just over 7 hours, in time for some hot food, a massage and plenty of stretching – unfortunately on a slight downer, Elliott’s knee was giving him some pain that would refuse to go away as the evening went on. We settled down to watch the rugby and waited for Ben. Ben unfortunately had a pretty rough day, finishing near the end of the rugby. After leaving his poles in the car and pulling his groin early on – taking part in the second day was a bit too risky. With only 8 weeks to go till the Desert, there was no point aggravating the injury any further. His lovely sister, Michelle, came by with support from Holly Mack and carted him off for treatment. A tough but smart decision, given the proximity of the MDS.
After a dreadful night’s sleep in a cold school hall with a mere 190 other smelly runners, we rose at 0545 for some breakfast, before packing and starting at 0800. Andy’s sleeping bag had offered no more heat protection than a regular plastic bin bag, but cost him a couple of hundred pounds more. A worthwhile investment? Probably not. Elliott and I had done the smart thing and washed our shoes after finishing the day before, leaving them to dry overnight. So while we were putting on fresh shoes, Andy received no sympathy whatsoever as he squeezed into his muddy, damp, smelly, crusty shoes. Unlucky! A double victory for Elliott and I.
My second day was tough, seeing me get lost (running 7km extra), wade through a flooded river (over waist deep) and pull my ‘Popliteus muscle’ (yeah, I have no idea either) 25km into the race. Alex Bailey had a stormer and finished strong, just 10 minutes behind his previous days’ time.
Elliott made a tough decision and pulled out after the first couple of miles. While his legs were feeling strong, his knee was causing him issues. A real testament to his self-restraint – thinking about our ‘A-Race’.
Andy kept on plugging away. All by himself. Sob sob. While he has been really benefiting from the Bikram yoga heat training, even this was not enough to stop him sweating. When he finished, he had a thick sheen of sweat over his face. Did it stop me from giving him a cuddle? Nope. Did I regret giving him one? Yep. I saw there was a ‘slug trail’ left behind him over the field where he had run but he did finish in a fantastic time – just 10 minutes behind his previous days split. He was looking and feeling strong!
Fantastic weekend all round and one step closer to the MDS. Starting to feel very real now, and when I think about it, there is a slight pang of anxiety and excitement.
Few weeks of training in front of us and then our final test before heading off to the Sahara is the Northumberland Coastal Trail Series Ultra on March 1st.
Good times.
Our new recruit, Alex Bailey had arrived a few minutes before. We were feeling smug. Not only were we NOT hungover, but we hadn't missed any flights and we were about to undertake our biggest challenge to date. We were feeling fresh, strong, sharp and excited. Andy picked us up at just before 0700 to begin our journey to Farnham. We had the pleasure of driving down the road, while my housemate's boyfriend was wheeling his oversized ski luggage to the station. Tick-tock, tick-tock. The digital clock struck 0700. He had missed his flight…
We arrived in Farnham 45 minutes later, it was turning out to be a glorious day. We checked in, grabbed a cup of coffee and waited for it to… “get things moving”… before finally getting ourselves ready to start at 0900 sharp. Expecting to see Elliott and Ben already there, we were surprised to receive a call at 0815 saying they were just leaving Twickenham. As the officials started the ’10 second count down’, Ben and Elliott strolled up to us, arriving with a mere 2 seconds to go. Just in time to get papped by the hordes of cameramen. Standard! Off we went.
The day was hard going; I was out in front, finishing in 5 hours 45. Elliott and Andy crossed the finish line in just over 7 hours, in time for some hot food, a massage and plenty of stretching – unfortunately on a slight downer, Elliott’s knee was giving him some pain that would refuse to go away as the evening went on. We settled down to watch the rugby and waited for Ben. Ben unfortunately had a pretty rough day, finishing near the end of the rugby. After leaving his poles in the car and pulling his groin early on – taking part in the second day was a bit too risky. With only 8 weeks to go till the Desert, there was no point aggravating the injury any further. His lovely sister, Michelle, came by with support from Holly Mack and carted him off for treatment. A tough but smart decision, given the proximity of the MDS.
After a dreadful night’s sleep in a cold school hall with a mere 190 other smelly runners, we rose at 0545 for some breakfast, before packing and starting at 0800. Andy’s sleeping bag had offered no more heat protection than a regular plastic bin bag, but cost him a couple of hundred pounds more. A worthwhile investment? Probably not. Elliott and I had done the smart thing and washed our shoes after finishing the day before, leaving them to dry overnight. So while we were putting on fresh shoes, Andy received no sympathy whatsoever as he squeezed into his muddy, damp, smelly, crusty shoes. Unlucky! A double victory for Elliott and I.
My second day was tough, seeing me get lost (running 7km extra), wade through a flooded river (over waist deep) and pull my ‘Popliteus muscle’ (yeah, I have no idea either) 25km into the race. Alex Bailey had a stormer and finished strong, just 10 minutes behind his previous days’ time.
Elliott made a tough decision and pulled out after the first couple of miles. While his legs were feeling strong, his knee was causing him issues. A real testament to his self-restraint – thinking about our ‘A-Race’.
Andy kept on plugging away. All by himself. Sob sob. While he has been really benefiting from the Bikram yoga heat training, even this was not enough to stop him sweating. When he finished, he had a thick sheen of sweat over his face. Did it stop me from giving him a cuddle? Nope. Did I regret giving him one? Yep. I saw there was a ‘slug trail’ left behind him over the field where he had run but he did finish in a fantastic time – just 10 minutes behind his previous days split. He was looking and feeling strong!
Fantastic weekend all round and one step closer to the MDS. Starting to feel very real now, and when I think about it, there is a slight pang of anxiety and excitement.
Few weeks of training in front of us and then our final test before heading off to the Sahara is the Northumberland Coastal Trail Series Ultra on March 1st.
Good times.