Phoenix Running weekend: Squid Run 29.5 miles (13.11.21) and Remembrance Day Marathon (14.11.21)

Saturday 13.11.2021 - Squid Run 29.5 miles (#178)

Following a slight dip in form and mo-jo since the Halloween 100, I was a bit unsure of myself and my ability to hold it together this weekend! Turns out I needn't have worried - too many friends there to have anything but an amazing weekend!

Andrew's first runs back since having Covid - super proud of him for knocking out two solid marathons back to back!

Saturday was Rob's 150th marathon - superstar! Absolutely loved being there on the special day, and sharing some miles and smiles on the towpath. Some more miles with Andrew, and some with Richard (thank you for filling me in on the rules of the Squid Games!) plus many more chats made the miles fly by. There were a couple of hairy encounters with some of the more "assertive" swans near Walton Bridge. Saw the cockerel out for a walk with his owner (this is a thing, yes). He had an almost fight with a small dog, who was approximately the same size as him, but after a couple of enthusiastic and self-assured run ups, the small dog took note of the cockerel's crowing and wing flapping, and beat a shame-faced retreat back to his owner. 

We got two medals today, which was very exciting. First, the Squid Games one. After some further education on the Squid Games when discussing the medal with the barmaid in the Weir afterwards, I learnt it has a triangle on, because it is the symbol that armed guards wear on their masks, and that there are also circle ones (normal workers) and squares (managers).

The other medal was a pick and mix medal, and I love it as a whimsical reminder of Covid lockdown rules (not that we all need reminding).

I ran 9 laps, 29.5 miles, in 4:56, which is a PB for me for that distance, and I'm pleased about that, and it has helped build my mo-jo back a bit! 

After completing the runs, I spent the afternoon in the Weir pub with Andrew, Rob and Annabel, drinking hot drinks, eating chips/crisps/soup/Andrew's giant meal, and some fruity cider (watermelon and lime!) and discussing all manner of things, including but not limited to, celebrating a 150th marathon, Maleficent and Disney costumes, Las Vegas, the pointlessness of spiders and flies, wasp stings versus bee stings, the dangers of open water, 100 milers, and dogs. Such a fun afternoon - thank you guys!

We caught a lift with Rob over the river, and stayed at the Holiday Inn. I was very excited by this, as it had a swimming pool, with a jacuzzi and sauna, and I hadn't been in a swimming pool since before Covid! Great way to stretch out and relax after a run, plus a delicious meal with the nicest waiter in the world, and it was the perfect day.

Sunday 14.11.2021 - Remembrance Day Marathon (#179)

I tried a porridge pot of coconut and chia seed porridge this morning for breakfast. It wasn't nice. Fortunately, I had brought emergency hot cross buns (hot cross buns are always great in an emergency situation), so breakfast was saved. After a short confrontation between Andrew and the hotel receptionist over the taxi, we were soon on our way in said taxi to pick up Rob and head back to the Excel Centre in Walton for the Remembrance Day Marathon. There were about 400 runners there today I think, and it was such a brilliant day. Saw so many people I haven't seen for ages, since before Covid in some cases I think.  It felt like old times (BC - Before Covid). Such a buzz. Had an amazing day, thank you everyone! Huge congratulations to David and Peter on your #99 Flake Marathons!! 

The Remembrance Runs are really lovely, they are built around the 2 minute silence at 11:00 - there are marshals out on course with airhorns signalling the start and end, and everyone stops for the 2 minutes.

Ran the whole way with Sarah and Andrew, and had another chat-athon/ laugh-athon. We covered a range of topics, almost as varied as on 100 chats, including; which houseboat we might have/ if you could get sea-sick on a house boat/ if Rik could get a Phoenix houseboat, soup, gorillas on the Thames, bellringing and half-muffled bells, sad dog stories and Andrew's favourite dog joke, and the seafood section of the aid station and how foam shrimps must not be too cold. During lulls in the conversation, we spotted house boats with faces. Surprised houseboat.....

And melancholy houseboat....

Saw so many friends that it's impossible to capture all the moments I will remember with a smile from today, but here are some! 

Beautiful medal!

And thank you Sarah for my cute pin for my Halloween medal! 

Thank you Rik and Phoenix Team for an absolutely first class weekend!

SVN Halloween 100 Miles - 30.10.2021

Back to Samphire Hoe for another spooky Halloween 100 weekend with the fabulous SVN! 

I did this last year, and it was probably one of my favourite events ever. I was so adamant that I didn't want to ruin my memories of it, by going back and trying it again and maybe having a bad experience, that I didn't enter it until a few weeks ago. But I couldn't stop thinking of everyone who was going to be there, having such adventures, and that I would miss out, so I entered. And of course, I am glad that I did!

Being Samphire Hoe, the weather was bound to be bad, so no surprise that the sea wall was shut because the sea was too rough. So there was the added extra bonus of doing the extra 2 laps up the cliffs instead! So it was the same route as last year; 7 x 6.55 miles on the big route (around Samphire Hoe, up through the tunnel, up the cliffs, along and up and down the top of the cliffs and back, down through the tunnel, through Wasteland, and back to base) plus 16.5 x 3.28 miles on the little route (all in Samphire Hoe). 

The weather was wild! The wind wasn't quite as bad as last year (only 62 MPH gusts rather than 74 MPH - thanks Traviss for the stats!) but I would still say, that it felt quite windy! The rain came and went as it pleased, and when it came, it threw it down. Jackets on, off, on again, off again, too hot, too cold, so many outfit changes! 

The clouds and the sky, and the wind on the sea, made for some beautiful views during the day.

The late afternoon up on the cliffs was actually beautiful weather, and even vest weather for a couple of hours!

I ran the whole 100 miles with Sarah, and we had so many catch ups with so many friends on the way round as well, it was brilliant. Thank you to everyone out there for the chats, hugs, smiles and encouragement. It was so good to see you all, and it's such a great feeling to be in something epic all together.

The sunset was marvellous!

I quite like having the two sets of different laps, as by the time you have finished the 7 big cliff laps, you are almost at 50 miles, so then it almost feels like another event when you start off on the little Samphire laps for the second half. At the end of the 7th cliff lap, we came down the tunnel (aka, the wind tunnel) for our last parachute practice of the day (the wind was blowing up the tunnel!) and back into Samphire Hoe for Halloween night! 

As we finished our 7 big laps, we got to switch our tally cards over to a new one. We celebrated this notable moment with a wee (in the posh loos which were still open), a snack, an outfit change for warmer night time gear (alas, no PJs tonight), and got our headtorches out. Because of where the car park was, we could use our cars as giant drop bags, which was quite fun! Despite arranging everything carefully in the boot at the start, so that I would be able to find things easily, of course, in the middle of the night I was completely unable to find any of the things I wanted. 

We got a lap or two of the little laps in before the sun disappeared....

....and Halloween Night began!

I managed I think 3 full little laps before having a fall. Thank you Sarah for picking me up and putting up with my mini-meltdown! And thank you to the First Aiders back at base who cleaned me up, and stuck me back together. It's a shame. After my recent run of falls (3 in a month!) my knees were just about looking like something that might pass as normal, and my future dream career as a knee model was looking more promising again. Alas, the dream is crushed once more.

But, this was no time to be sentimental. There were still around 40 miles to do! Running with Sarah is always so much fun, and we seem to talk away all the miles, which makes them go by quickly! The topics covered did, I suppose, fall in quality as the time went on. We started with sensible things, catching up on a whole 3 weeks of news. Via an assortment of subjects, we eventually, during the night, happened upon the question of do sheep sleep? None of the ones at Samphire did, they seemed to be eating all night.

And if they do sleep, do sheep count humans, if they can't get to sleep? And then how long would they be asleep for?

And what about cows? Where do the Samphire cows go at night? They had all completely disappeared, apart from this one cow, who randomly appeared to eat the grass right on the path at about 3am.

The cows had left some helpful "cow pat markers" along the course, which helped with navigation. Big Cow Pat, was followed by Flattened Cow Pat a bit further down the hill, and finally Third Cow Pat was right at the bottom by the fence where you turned to go up the other hill. This worked well for keeping track of our place on the course, until someone, late into the night, kicked the Big Cow Pat off the course, which completely confused us for the next few laps. 

Quite late into the run, whilst running through Wasteland, conversation turned to concrete, which is an under visited topic of conversation. Wasteland is filled with concrete. All different patches. This makes for interesting shadows and shapes, which in the dark, may turn out to be just a shadow, or may be a surprisingly deep and cold puddle. I think some of the brambles have been cleared since last year, so it seemed a little easier to navigate around - through the gap, round the lake, through second gap, 10 cones, turn round - etc etc! Wasteland is also full of cones to help mark the way. Some of the cones were missing their reflective covering, and so became known as The Naked Cones. We also saw a tiny mouse in Wasteland, who looked very shocked to be caught in 4 headtorches all at once and didn't know what to do, and I felt very bad about. Hope he found a peaceful spot for the night away from us all, the poor wee thing.

It was a dark night, and the moon was hiding behind clouds, and the white cliffs reflected what light there was, making the surrounding darkness seem even denser. There were plenty of ships in the channel (including one that was entirely lit up, and looked like the boat from Blackpool Illuminations), their lights twinkling away, and the lights of Dover at one end and Folkstone at the other end of the course added to the light show.

After filling out our new tally card with 10 clippity-clips for 10 laps, we got our new, and final tally cards, and were down to the last 6.5 laps (less than a marathon!). I refuse to let myself think of the end of a 100 miler during it, as I think that's the start of a slippery slope; 100 miles is a long way to be on your feet, and letting thoughts of the times and distance left to do into your head is likely to stress you out! But, it was getting close now, and if we completed it today, Sarah would have done 13 x 100 milers (that's a conveniently spooky number for Halloween!) and I would have done 8 x 100 milers (and 8 looks like a ghost wearing a belt, maybe)! So we started to get excited, and in our "hundred mile" (crocky) voices, we allowed ourselves to let out the odd squeal. 

Right before we finished, there was the most beautiful sunrise. We had survived Halloween night!! We'd seen a few ghosts, but on closer inspection, mostly these were patterns on the wet paths, cows pats, or sheep eyes, so nothing to be concerned about.  

The finish is always exciting! So happy to have completed another 100 miles and to have enjoyed it! I think it's fair to say it was tough, but then again, if it wasn't, would it be as good? We finished in 24:36, so pleased as punch!

Thank you so much to Traviss, Rachel, Karen and all the SVN Team for yet another superb event and for taking care of us all. I don't know how you stay awake yourselves for so long, keep track of where everyone is up to, and stay so happy and supportive! And thank you to the First Aid team, who were amazing! 

Thank you Sarah for putting up with me for the whole time, and for staying side by side even when I do stupid things like tripping over nothing and throwing myself down a concrete hill and hold us up for ages. It's always the best fun to run with you, and I hope we will have more 100 mile chat-athons! Well done to Jon on your 50, super proud of you! And well done to everyone who ran - it was a tough thing we did there, and you are all awesome! 

Note: questions cannot go unanswered, and Google is helpful:

1. Sheep do sleep, but only for around 4 hours per day. The RSPCA website does not have any information on how sheep get to sleep, or if they count humans in order to. 

2. Cows also need about 4 hours sleep per day, and they can doze lightly on their feet (because they have special ligaments and tendons that mean they need minimal muscular effort to stay standing up), but they have to lie down to sleep deeply. 

3. There are three grades of concrete, which sounds like the start of another 100 conversation......

Saturn Running 10 Bees Day 4, 50km, 25.10.2021

After ending up having to isolate for a week, today I got released. 

Woop!

Saturn Running have got their 10 in 10 series going on right now. It's called 10 Bees in 10 Days, and each day you have 8 hours to run as many 4.4 mile laps as you like. The medals are so cute, and if you do all 10 you get a special flower medal that the tiny bee pins all fit on. Super cute! 

I did my 1 Bee in 1 Day today. And earnt my orange bee!

Loved it, as I love all my Saturn events! Great people, great chat, and a great aid station (giant sherbet strawberry laces!!).

The weather was wonderful (apart from one short downpour), it doesn't really feel like the end of October, it's so lovely. The sunshine and the autumn colours on the peaceful Thames were beautiful! 

Plus there were some extra bees out on course, can you beelieve it?

Pretty small field with it being a Monday, but plenty of good chat opportunities on the way round, of course! It was so good to catch up with so many of my friends. Big shout outs to all my lovely friends doing the 10 days - you are epic and all looking strong! Half way day tomorrow! 

I was planning on a marathon, but I was so excited to be out of the house, and was having such a good day, I decided to do 50km (plus, the 50km pin is orange, so matches the bee).

Thanks Jagjit for the photo!

I only fell over once, and that was into a mud puddle, so no damage done. I think I might retire this pair of leggings. The first time I wore them was when I hurt my calf and couldn't run at SVN, the next time I wore them was at the Jersey Marathon where I threw myself down a hill and lost a chunk out of my knee (and some of the leggings), and today I wore them and ended up face first in mud. I'm not superstitious, but this feels like there might be an issue here. So let me replace my leggings, while I walk round this ladder, pick up that penny, touch some wood, throw some salt over my shoulder, and find another magpie to go with the one I just saw. That's better!

Thanks to Charlotte, George and the Saturn Team for another fabulous event! And Good Luck to everyone for the rest of the series! I will be thinking of you all buzzing along the towpath for the next 6 days, and will be with you in spirit! 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

Born To Run, Andy's Memorial Run - 17.10.2021 (marathon #175)

Today was a very special run, with Suffolk Running Centre, to remember Andy Golding, a brilliant runner and a wonderful guy, who passed away whilst running here in June.

Thank you SRC for putting on such a beautiful event. So so many people there, the start and the minutes clapping was surely a moment to be remembered. It was very lovely to be together to celebrate Andy, catch up with old friends, and make new ones too.

4 x 10km laps on the newly named Golding Hills route. This wound it's way out through Barrow (past the duck pond with 100s of quacking ducks), and on to some tiny country lanes, with some quite lively hills in there (which were completed x 4)! The tops of the hills made for some lovely rolling views of the Suffolk countryside. Very beautiful! I love SRC, and I don't run here enough. 

At the end, to raise money, there was a cake sale, which I think is fair to say was very well supported indeed! (by all, not just me, however these photos might make it look)

The kindest hearted guy, with the biggest smile - I will miss you Andy. Rest easy my friend. 💛💙💛

FYI, should you be interested to check it out....the event was raising money for Cardiac Risk in the Young