My fifth St Peter's Way ultra

I ran the St Peter's Way ultra again a few weeks ago and it was probably the best year yet.

It's obviously an event I love (why else would I run it five times?!) but was really nervous about this one as I'd barely run at all for a few weeks before the race, and wasn't entirely sure I'd be able to finish the distance. I'd struggled a bit just running a marathon distance in December at a GBC event, and so 43 miles on no training was a big ask. I was very close to pulling out, but as the day got closer, with the prospect of seeing friends I hadn't seen for months combined with a day out in some beautiful countryside, I decided that even if I DNF'ed, I would go along, and just enjoy however long I managed to stay out on the course.

The night before I started to get kit together, only to realize just how long it'd been since I ran any distance. This was my first proper ultra since falling pregnant (the 30 miler I did last year was lots of laps and needed no kit or navigation so in my mind it didn't really "count" as an ultra).  I'd forgotten how I used to pack my racevest, my soft bottles had leaked and I'd thrown them away, and the zips on both my race vests had corroded and no longer did up! My shoes were also in a pretty bad way - I've been meaning to replace them for months as the holes in the sides have been getting bigger and bigger. But not to worry. I managed to stuff my things into a vest, I used safety pins instead of the zip, I bought a couple of lucozade bottles to use, and I was pretty sure that my shoes would survive one last race...

Bright and early on race morning, I drove off, leaving Francis to look after the girls. THANK YOU FRANCIS!!

It was bitterly cold when I arrived, but as soon as I'd got out of the car, I saw some familiar faces, and knew I'd make the right decision to start. After welcome hugs and lots of chats, we were soon stood waiting for Lindley (the RD) to finish his pre-race briefing, so we could get on our way...

The St Peters Way race is usually ridiculously muddy. Freshly ploughed furrows, churned up horse enclosures and flooded fields have seen me losing a shoe in a previous race. It takes a certain amount of bravado and foolishness to run across all of that - luckily I have both and have always loved the muddy element of SPW. However, this year, everything (at least for most of the day) was frozen. With the ground hard under foot it felt like a different race, and there were some great finish times posted. It was certainly much easier going than it's been in previous years, if not quite the same challenge, although towards the end there were a few fields that you emerged from carrying half your body weight in sticky mud on your shoes...you could see on the path were everyone had stopped to try and scrape some of it away!

It was obviously cold, but generally glorious. As usual I ran on my own, but towards the end there were a few of us leapfrogging each other - I often find that a bit frustrating, but on this occasion it was motivating, and quite nice to have some familiar faces around. I was amazed at how good I felt throughout. I had a few niggles, and a few bad patches, as you generally do on these races, and a couple of times, particularly early on, I wondered what on earth I was doing, but after about 20 miles I really settled into the run, and just loved it. The route felt familiar, and as we got further along, I realized that I might just make an earlier mini-bus back to the start than I'd previously expected...but that at the rate I was going I was probably going to miss it by about 10 minutes, which would then result in a 2hour wait for the next one! There was no way I could let that happen, so tried to stop faffing about and walking quite so much and started to run with a bit more focus.

The last couple of miles of SPW can be hideous, along an incredibly exposed sea wall, with a icy biting wind, where you can see the finish but find yourself turning away from it as you follow the wall out to sea. It's pretty cruel...but the sun was low in the sky, and the view in-land was absolutely spectacular.

Amazingly, I made the finish with about 5 minutes to spare until the bus, in an incredibly surprising time of 9hrs 9 minutes. My second slowest time, but with my lack of training that was no surprise at all. I was so happy to finish feeling strong and in control - no death march for me!

Lindley gave me a spot-prize to celebrate my return to ultra running...my last ultra before falling pregnant was SPW, and this was my first proper one afterwards, and I got yet another SPW medal and tshirt combo! We headed off to the bus, and then I had a great 50 minute chat with a fellow runner all the way back to the start.

It was a perfect day. Absolutely perfect. I was slower than I wanted to be, but much faster than I deserved to be and I had so much fun. I will be back again, next year.

 

 

 

My new normal

It's nearly the end of October, the girls are nearly a year old, and I'm finally feeling great about my running again.

It'll still take a while longer to get back to being as fit as I was before I fell pregnant, but after a surprisingly good run at the Chelmsford marathon yesterday, I am so positive about my progress so far, and I know I will get faster and stronger as the months pass. I finished the marathon in 4:32...my second fastest time of the three Chelmsford marathons I've run, and although the two halves weren't quite even, I wasn't far off a negative split! It was pretty hilly, but I didn't use the hills as an excuse to walk, I didn't faff about at aid stations, and was really focused throughout. I've taken about an hour off my marathon times from the summer, and I definitely feel like a proper runner again which makes me so happy.

I'm also 23 days into Ronhill's October runstreak challenge "#runeveryday" which is a celebration of Ron Hill's world record runstreak of 52 years and 39 days! Sometimes it's hard work to get out, like tonight, doing a very slow recovery run after yesterday's marathon, and when I'm so tired too, but generally I'm enjoying it and it's definitely contributed to my improved fitness. I've run more with the girls in the buggy, I've done some decent tempo runs and a bit of speedwork, and it's been great to get my weekly mileage totals back into numbers I recognise. I'm considering trying to continue the streak past October as it really has been nothing but positive. Oh, except that my achilles is pretty sore these days, but hopefully that will go away! I'm buying another magic boot so have to see if that will work again.

My new normal is starting to feel pretty amazing.

The Darnley Challenge

Well I did it. Marathon number 93 at Friday's Darnley Challenge in Kent.

Although I was close to giving up at 18 miles, and it was my slowest ever marathon, at least I managed to finish despite it being incredibly hard work.

It was a beautiful course, and I did love being out on the trails, but it's just so demoralising when it feels so tough. I will get fitter though, and I know marathons will become truly enjoyable again for me - I just need to try and find the time to put some work in and do some training. Sadly that's easier said than done sometimes.

Luckily I had company for many of the miles as I ran with Foxy and Paul, even for a bonus mile or two as we went wrong, and it was lovely to catch up with friends I haven't seen for absolutely ages. It was a gorgeous day too - a bit too hot sometimes when out of the shade - but shouldn't complain. Race entries are definitely great birthday presents.

A return to racing without being fit to race

Over six months since my last blog! The girls are 9 months old next week and looking after them is intense (they're crawling, standing, into everything and I can't take my eyes off them for a second!) but they're also very entertaining and although it's taken me a long time, I'm finally feeling happy, able to cope and I think we're all managing really well.

At the Olympic Stadium

We've been making the most of the summer with lots of outings - the Village Green festival, picnics, a Ferrari parade, Leeds Castle, visiting family and yesterday, we went to the Olympic Stadium to watch the IAAF World Championships - they absolutely loved it and we had a wonderful time!

Unless you follow me on twitter, you'd be forgiven for assuming that I had let my running fall by the wayside now I'm so busy with the girls, but I have been able to keep up a bit of training. I find it's been absolutely essential for my mental health and maintaining some sense of self, as well as genuinely enjoying getting out on the trails. I've not done as much as I'd like - time is so limited - but I've been getting out on average two or three times a week, usually between 4 to 6 miles, often in the woods with Chewie, or occasionally with the twins in our awesome running buggy, along the Southend seafront, where there's a wide flat promenade.

I'd hoped to be able to get out with them more, but with the weather hasn't helped, and timing is difficult as I need to have both girls ready to nap at the same time for us to go! I'm hoping this will be become less of an issue as they get older, because I have absolutely loved the runs we've had so far.

Anyway...on this very limited mileage, I've managed to take part in two local races, with Francis looking after the girls for a few hours.

In March, I ran (and walked) a half marathon at the Hockley Woods Trail Challenge - a very hilly and quite muddy race - in 2:50. I felt incredibly slow, and I found it such hard work, but I really enjoyed myself and loved being out in the woods, and am so proud to have got that distance done just four months after the girls were born. It was lovely to catch up with some friends there after so long out of the running scene!

In June, I went to the HARP 24 hour race, and gave myself six hours to run as many of the 4.2 laps as I could, hoping for at least a marathon distance finish. I was feeling relatively confident but once I started I realised how unfit I still was, and how very far away I was from my levels of pre-pregnancy endurance. By about 5 miles I was run/walking, and by about 8 miles my legs felt shot. 8 MILES!! I just kept thinking about how far I used to run comfortably...  There was another runner who was wearing his GUCR t-shirt from this year's race. Once I would have felt a camaraderie with him but I felt a bit of a fraud even being at the race, as he ran past me when I was going so slowly.

Looking at some of the photos from the day (other than the start line picture) I see how hard I'm finding it - the grimace on my face tells it all. But I was determined that I would not give up, and I would cover a good distance. I walked a lot, generally alone, and felt so absolutely shattered I was seriously considering going and lying down in a field for a nap. I was very miserable for much of the day, although it was an absolutely lovely course which looked beautiful on such a sunny day, and I wish I could have enjoyed it more. Through sheer bloody mindedness, I dragged myself through seven laps, completing 30 miles. I spent the last lap with Ian, a fellow ultra runner, who I've not seen for years, but chatting with him for those 45 minutes was brilliant. I ran more than I'd done for the whole day! Had I not seen Ian, I may well have left the race thinking I should just throw in the towel and give up on my attempt to reach my 100th marathon until the girls are older, but actually I came away reminded why I love running, and confident that I can keep going!

Thankfully, my DOMS were minimal and I didn't have any lasting problems as a result of the 30 miles, and I think my struggles during the race were as much as a result of my chronic lack of sleep, as my reduced fitness. Turns out 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night for months isn't the best preparation for ultra running! As the girls get older, and sleep better hopefully this will get easier...

So, now onto my next race - the self-navigation Darnley Challenge in 5 days time, which Francis bought me entry to as part of my birthday present, where I'm hoping to run two laps, completing the marathon distance. Francis is taking the day off work to look after the girls, and I really want to make the most of it! However, I'm still feeling incredibly unfit and overweight. I struggle to fit in any long runs, and haven't run further than 6 miles in 6 weeks since the 30 miler. It's not making me feel confident in the slightest, but the race has a limit of 8 hours (it took me 5hrs 30mins to run/walk 26.2miles at HARP) and so even if I walk more I should be ok, but there's an option to drop to a half marathon distance if I need to. That wont help my "Quest for the Vest"...but hopefully I can just enjoy my day out and come away feeling positive again!

Why I'm running and not sleeping

I had a great run yesterday, albeit on road not trail - nearly 6 miles at a pace of 9:51min/mile. I'm still nowhere near the level of fitness I had before my pregnancy, but I'm very proud of the distance and the pace. I didn't let myself walk the hills (well, inclines!) and am so pleased with my progress, just 10 weeks after our wonderful Eleanor and Florence were born.

I posted about my efforts on Facebook, and a friend's reply got me thinking about why I'm doing it. I'm so busy with the twins - it's absolutely non-stop when I'm with them - and sleep is very limited. Why, on the odd occasion that I can snatch an hour or two for myself while Francis or my mum are looking after the girls, am I spending this precious time running, instead of, say, sleeping!

This is what I replied to my friend:

"Running's always been so important for my mental health but I absolutely couldn't have coped without it since having the twins. It reduces my stress levels, I get all those endorphins, has given me time out of the house away from the babies' constant demands, and it's allowed me to establish that I'm still "me" despite now also being a mum. Over the years, through my running I've also made friends and become part of a brilliant community - I needed to run again so I can really feel that I'm still part of it. Oh, and then there's my inherent love of running stupidly long distances out in the countryside and I need to get fit enough to be able to do that again! I couldn't let having the girls take all of that away from me". 

I thought I'd share...