Herts 10k

Sometime, for unknown reasons, you have a great run.

I think we've all had them. The ones where you go out for a 'slow jog' and smash out a speedy distance run. Or the ones where you somehow find yourself full of energy, when you thought you were knackered. My favourites are the runs where you find yourself grinning half way through your run, out of nothing more than the joy of running outdoors. 

And sometimes you can have a run where it simply beats expectation, as I did today. I've been ill most of the week; haven't eaten or slept well; and expected nothing special from this morning's Herts 10k. 

I had a stormer! 

The rain lashed down all morning, and water logged much of the course, but it didn't dampen the spirits of the runners. I started a few metres from the front - a little further back than I would have liked - but a quick start overtook a few people in the first kilometre, and by the third I'd settled in with a few similar paced runners. By now, the third kilometre, I'd typically be starting to slow, and while my fourth km was the only one over 4 minutes, it was an anomaly in a run that otherwise felt pretty good. I didn't feel the usual exhaustion - tired, yes - but not exhausted. And there was a determination that I didn't realise I'd be taking around the route with me. It's possible the new playlist had something to do with it!

Through the race I remember seeing the km markers tick by faster than usual, and having 'revised' the route a little last night I knew when I wanted to push hard. A km before the end and I dug for that last ounce of energy. I overtook someone I'd been running with most of the race, only to hear them splashing in the puddles at my heels with 400 metres to go. A sprint to the finish (with the aforementioned runner behind me!) and I caught sight of my finishing time... 37 minutes and 41 seconds. 

Sorry. 37 minutes?

A celebratory fist bump was definitely in order! A PB of just over a minute, and on a day when I really didn't expect to even hit sub 40. This also put me in 9th place of over a thousand. I felt elated! 

I should use the end of this rather self centred review of the Herts 10k to talk of the organisation. As it has been in each of the three years that I've now taken part, it's hard to fault. A great route (although I'm biased as a relative local), plenty of marshals and an efficient finish. The race is in cause of local hospice, Grove House, a charity I've raised money for in the past, who are doing some fantastic work in the area. 

Overall it's still one of my favourite races in the calendar. I'll be back next year to crack the top 5...

Beauty and the Beast

This year has been bloody amazing so far. I've taken part in some incredible races and had some unforgettable experiences. The last 3 days has really opitimised this for me.

On Saturday I took part in the Helly Hanson Beauty and the Beast trail marathon. To tell you how it went, I'd like to explain my preconceptions before the race:

1. 6 laps would be dull, and soul destroying
2. The 'trail' was going to be lacklustre
3. It would be badly organised
4. The atmosphere would be crap 

As you can tell, I wasn't particularly looking forward to it.

In reality, this race turned out to be one of my favourites so far this year.

In particular, laps turned out to be motivating - making pacing feel less of a chore, and providing a better sense of how far into the race I was, and how far I had to go. The trail was varied, wooded, exciting, and hilly. Yes, it was hilly! I didn't bosh out a quick time (4hours 20minutes), but instead I enjoyed making friends with the other runners; I made friends with the marshalls; I made faces at the photographer; I highfived children; I cheered back at the spectators and I had a lot of fun. The day was incredibly well organised, the goody bag at the end was packed, and they even offered a swap-your-old-techical-tee-for-a-new-one, which I took advantage of.

I would love to do this again next year, and to see if I could improve on my 10th place finish.

And then today; today I find myself featured in Men's Running magazine.

As part of my competition win to Ultraks, Men's Running promised a feature in their magazine which came through our letter box today. It is very cool to find pictures of me gracing the magazine I've been reading for the past year!

To think of the luck that has befallen me in the last year is to remember:

• Winning entry into Wildman in November last year, and then coming second
• Winning a pair of Vibrams in June, and subsequently being befriended by the Primal Lifestyle company at their London Zoo 10k this month
• Winning entry into Ultraks, and then speaking to the editor of Men's Running ready to be translated onto the pages of his magazine
• Making like minded friends through Twitter and featuring in a Run Commuters blog

It's been a good year, and it's not even over.

Forget what you know about pasta...

This evening I joined a lecture hall full of fellow sports enthusiasts, particularly runners, to catch ultra runner, physiologist, and biomechanist Mark Hines talk about nutrition.

Always fascinating, it was another chance for me to absorb information on the action of putting one leg in front of the other.

Hearing advice from someone like Mark in particular - who lives his studies running in some of the most extreme conditions on earth - feels particularly valuable. Researched, tried, and tested advice, and not without blowing several of my ingrained preconceptions clean out of the water.

What did I take out of the talk? 

Sports gel companies don't know what they're talking about. Fructose; a core ingredient in the majority of sports gels isn't a great energy source for us humans, and can even lead to stomach cramps. 

Ibuprofen too, prescribed by doctors (even during races), can make your gut bleed and interrupts a very normal healing process.

But perhaps most interestingly is that you should forget the pasta parties. Marathon expos thrive on the things (I've been to a few...) but cereal grains and wheat based carbs clog up your gut and aren't particularly efficient as an energy source. Instead eat plenty of veg and fruit and build up familiar carbs (not pasta!) in the 3 days before a race.

It was an evening of forgetting what I thought I knew.

Then, an incredibly inspiring hour finished the night listening to the amazing Mimi Anderson. Mimi started running 15 years ago, and now, at the age of 51, has achieved more than most ultra runners can dream of. A double Comrades, a double Badwater, a double Grand Union Canal, and additional records in the JOGLE and the M2M doesn't even complete her list of achievements. Her first ultra, after seemingly only a few years of running, was the Marathon des Sables - a race that many runners see as the peak of endurance running.

She's certainly worth reading up on, if only to feel humbled by her ambition. 

It's been a while since I went to a talk, and tonight reminded me of how important these are for me. It's easy to get into a routine with running, and Mark and Mimi have lit an interest in nutrition and ultra events that I didn't have before. I'm looking forward to testing out different food strategies on my remaining 4 marathons of the year. 

Ultraks: My Review

Gornergrat (3,100 metres above sea level) - 13km into Ultraks
 

It's been almost 2 weeks now since I ran the Matterhorn Ultraks in Zermatt, Switzerland - one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places on earth. I've recovered and had time to reflect on a race I will never forget. I say race - this was about survival; reaching the finish line in one piece, or at all!

It was very hard to prepare for Ultraks. 3,600 metres of ascent and descent across 46km was a challenge that was going to test my everything. So, a fortnight before Zermatt, I dragged my girlfriend, my brother, and his girlfriend camping to Wasdale in the Lake District to run up Scafell Pike - the tallest place we could drive to for a quick weekend away. At just shy of 1,000 metres high, I managed twice up and down - feeling slightly more confident by the end about the prospect of Sunnegga, Gornergrat, and Schwarzsee 14 days later. 

At the top of Skafell Pike - as you can see, the view was fantastic

When race day came I felt nervous. Probably more nervous about completing a race than any that I've done before. There, behind the starting line, I stood amongst the world's best sky runners - Kilian Journet, Emelie Forsberg, Luis Alberto Hernando, Phillip Reiter - it was easy to feel intimidated. 

It took me 8 km to settle down and to start enjoying the run, by which time I'd seen the sun rise over Sunnegga, after 600 metres of ascent, and experienced an incredible 65 minutes of running in the shadow of the Matterhorn. Words, and even photos, don't do justice to just how grand and stunning the scenery looked as I ran up through wooded trails and along the rocky tracks.

By 20 km, 2 of the 5 peaks had passed - Gorgergrat with the highest ascent of the day, surrounded by snow, ice and cheering spectators, many who'd taken the train from Zermatt to support us - but what followed almost floored me. The ascent up to Schwarzsee, a mere 700 metres, felt like it was vertical, and the 5km must have taken me almost an hour and 50 minutes. Feeling deflated, and knowing at this point that I still had 20km to go, a DNF felt like an attractive way out. And it may well have happened if it wasn't for my girlfriend at the peak, who'd secretly travelled there in the morning to cheer me on, and cheer me up!

From Schwarzsee, after a 5 minute break to eat and drink from the checkpoint, I made my way downhill towards the 30km mark. The funny thing about running up and down mountains across such a long distance is how much I came to look forward to the change in terrain. After 5 km uphill, with thighs screaming, I found myself longing for the downhills - and a chance to switch muscle groups. Several km later, and I found myself longing for the uphills (the relief didn't tend to last long!).

The final 10km of the race took in a checkpoint at Trift, and some meandering trails that passed a waterfall, and navigated around the edge of plunging valleys - with Zermatt visible in the distance. Seeing Zermatt was comforting, but still seemed so far away, even approaching the final few km! The crew at the final checkpoint were amazing, filling my bladder for me, passing food my way and offering up a massage. This kindness was incredibly motivating at such a late stage in the race, when my emotions were already taut.

Leaving Trift just as the rain started to fall, I knew it was 8km to home, and it went by fairly quickly in comparison to the race so far. A few choice songs on my iPod and I was able to pick up a little speed, helped by a drop of 700 metres over 3 km.

With the finish line in sight, and the rain falling heavily by now, my emotions were running almost as fast as my feet. I crossed the line, in the centre of Zermatt, after 7 hours and 50 minutes of running.

Ultraks, with it's beauty and it's devastating difficulty, will stick with me forever.

Meeting my idols

A final thanks once again to Men's Running, and Scott Running, for the entry into Ultraks. I would never have done this without their opportunity.

Skyrunner!

A week and a half on from my seventh marathon of the year, and I'm looking ahead to my next! It's 3 and a half weeks until I face the tough mountains of the Matterhorn in Zermatt, Switzerland. I'm pretty nervous about this one... 3,300 meters of ascent and descent will be more than I've ever done before; and the profile of the course is aggresively up and down! This type of race is also known as Skyrunning - awesome.
In preparation I'm heading up to the Lake District a fortnight before the challenge to test my legs on Skafell Pike. At just shy of 1,000 meters, three times up and down should do the trick...! Gulp.
It's going to be an amazing experience, and I can only imagine the views. Zermatt is famous for not allowing any cars to drive into the town (unless they're eco-friendly electric cars!), so the pollution and noise is going to be about as minimal as it could be.
I'd like to thank Mens Running magazine, and Scotts for this too. I won a place in the 46 km race through the magazine, and Scotts will be looking after me when I'm there as the main sponsor for the event. They've also posted me a t shirt, which I've been testing out this week, and a pair of trail shoes which I'm heading out into Hampstead Heath with tomorrow morning.
Wish me luck!

To finish this blog post where I started, my seventh marathon was on the trails of Hertfordshire. I ran the Fairlands Valley Marathon, organised by local Stevenage running club, the Fairlands Valley Spartans.
The race was interesting! Rather than a marked course, competitors were given written directions (turn left at the set of trees, follow the fence and then bear right acros the field...) and off we went! To further confuse my directionless brain, the marathon ran alongside 12, 18 and 50 km races. Needless to say, at mile 22, an Ultrarunner behind me yelled "mate, the path goes this way!" and off I trotted on a half hour, 3 mile, detour. Realising my mistake, unsurprisingly, led to feeling demoralised and tired, and with 4 miles still to go, when I should have had one. I still managed to pull out 18th place (out of 155), so it could have been worse, and of course I should say that for the most part the course was very pretty - taking me through woods and cross country trails. My highlight: running through a beautiful village called Datchworth, where my Grandparents lived while they were still alive. I haven't been back there since, and running through was quite emotional.
I will be back next year, when I plan to run with a vengance and win the race!

Back on Track

This is a long overdue post; a lot has happened since the last time I wrote.

South Downs Marathon (marathon number 6!)
This was a fantastic run. The scenery was inspiring, the route was amazing, and the people incredibly friendly. I will definitely be going back.
For the overall day, this has been my favourite marathon of the year so far.














June
June was a weird month. I had a couple of bad weeks - with Glastonbury to blame for no running for 5 days (as well as a lot of drinking!); but the fortnight since has been pretty good, and I'm on track to run over 50 miles this week.
I also had some pretty good experiences during June:
- Mark Hines talking about ultra marathons! His trek across the Yukon was incredible, as is the ultramarathon through the Brazilian jungle
- Barefoot Ted was incredibly funny. He spoke to us (Peter joined me for this talk) about his story of getting into barefoot running, before taking us on a jog around Green Park. I've never seen so many Vibram wearings in one small place before...!
- Sean Conway was my favourite talk. Organised by the amazing charity My Million to One, Sean gave a hugely inspiring, and incredibly motivating, talk about his experiences cycling from Lands End to John O'Groats, cycling around the world, and of his plans to swim from LE to JO'G - which is now underway. Also, and perhaps most importantly, he's ginger.

To top off June, I've won 2 competitions! Primal Lifestyle ran a competition to win a pair of new season Vibrams. They enjoyed my story about how I got into barefoot running so much that they gave me the prize, which arrived today! The second was entry into the Ultraks marathon in Zermatt Switzerland in August, organised by Men's Running. It's going to be a crazy race - 3,300 meters of climb and the same descent around the Matterhorn mountain range. Wish me luck!

My final note is to say yet again that I love running around Hampstead Heath. I had a great 10 mile run yesterday with my running club, the Mornington Chasers, and tonight I ran a further 11 miles with Peter up around the woods and down through the extension. Good fun.

Oh, and I've decided that doing the aeroplane across the finish line of a race is a good way to end a marathon :-)

Lost: Running Mojo. If found please return to 12-Months 12-Marathons...

Mojo, where did you go?
Was it because of the Edinburgh Marathon?
Was it because my knee hurt this week?
Was it because I had my prized Garmin stolen?
Surely you're not getting tired of running marathons already? We're not even half way through the year!

Whatever the reason I'm pleased you're making a return - I've missed you! This week has felt stressful without you.
Perhaps all you needed was a 9 miler around a sunny Hampstead Heath this weekend. Perhaps you just needed an early night? I know the incredible kindness of Peter, who bought me a replacement Garmin, helped a lot. He's an incredibly selfless individual.
Maybe I just realised that the only way to find you again is to go for a run?

In any case, I have a treat for you. A Chi running session with Gray Caws tomorrow evening, and perhaps a session at the track on Thursday (watching, not running) while some fasties leg it around at breakneck speed.
Then, on Saturday I have marathon number 6 for you. So soon you ask? Edinburgh was only a week ago?! Yes, but the South Downs Marathon is a trail marathon - you like trail marathons.
Then, as if that wasn't enough, the day after you've got a City Trail event run by Salomon, featuring on hand help from Mark Hines - the explorer you're going to see on the 17th June.

If that doesn't bring you back, we're screwed.

Hampstead Heath in the sunshine this weekend. Can't not love it.