The Oldham Way Ultra 40 miles - March 20th

Extremely late this one, and that's really quite fitting given that my last post was about time, and not letting it run away with you. Having taken my own advice extremely seriously, it is now almost two weeks since my last event, and I've only just got round to doing this. I am completely rubbish. Completely completely completely. 

And so, I will rewind a little and pick up where I left off. Had some holiday to use up from work, so I decided to dedicate it to a long weekend of training. On Friday I ran 36.5 miles along my all time favourite route along the Thames, with which I have bored you with many descriptions of before, so I will keep it short, and say only that I had a good run, aided by some helpful pointers along the way:

This time, I remembered to take the seal for my camelbac pack, and the whole experience was much drier than the last time.

Had a bit of a rest on Saturday, and then Sunday was time for the Oldham Way Ultra, which meant it was time for 40 miles and 1638 m of ascent. Been looking forward to this one for a while. Time for some Tough Northern Training.

The route started and finished at the Castleshaw Centre in Delph, and took a big circle around Oldham, mostly on the aptly named Oldham Way. It was interesting, I mean I suppose when you think of Oldham your mind might not necessarily jump to thinking of somewhere pretty, but the route really was very nice. There were a few urban gritty style bits, and some bits along some slightly edgy canal paths. But never knock canals, because it's hard to get lost on them, unless, you miss the turning off it, and then in that case you can continue quite a very long way in the wrong direction without knowing for quite some time (so I hear). But routes that traverse a range of environments really interest me. There's the uphills, then the far reaching views over the countryside and towns for miles around, followed by the downhills, and through a pretty village. Then along a muddy track surrounded by trees, through a town, round the back of a housing estate with turned over bins, and along the towpath with broken glass and beer cans. And then there were reservoirs, valleys and rivers, moors and marshy bits, roads and tracks, and then no track at all, just mud. That wasn't all completely in the right order, just some of this things I remember, and all together, I remember it as an interesting and enjoyable route. Apart from the stiles, which seemed to get more frequent, and increasingly designed for the taller person the closer to the end we traveled.

There was a great crowd out running. Some people brand new to ultras, and some seasoned folk, who helpfully seemed able to remember 40 whole miles of route without a single map, but who were kind enough to point those of us with less of a clue back in the right direction. There was the same old camaraderie as always, and makes me proud to be a part of this welcoming and slightly wacky group of people - 'runners'. 

The people organizing the event, Team OA, were a great bunch also and put on a fantastic race. Checkpoints were astonishingly stocked with vast amounts of goodies. Fueled most of it on some supermarket brands of certain popular chocolate bars, flapjack, watermelon, sweets and crisps. 

I hail the event a success for the following reasons: 1) no stomach trouble, 2) most map reading OK, 3) no blisters, 4) got kit right (passed kit check!), 5) enjoyed it, not tired after Fridays long run, and felt I could keep going, which gives me a spark of hope that I might be able to run get round another 60 miles. Somehow. Perhaps. 

Very proud of Andrew who completed his longest run yet, despite having a tough time in the last few miles. Look at your medal, and know you can do ANYTHING!

Time....

Time, it's a funny thing. Presumably, every minute is exactly as long as every other minute. But they can all feel so different. For (a running related) example, when you are slogging along your mid-winter weekend long run and it's raining, and you just discovered your jacket isn't waterproof, you got a blister, and ran out of food 5 miles ago, watching the minutes go by on your watch is like watching a snail crawl through glue. On the other hand, when you're enjoying a run, say for example an early summer run before work and the sun is shining and the air is fresh, and you'd quite like to be out all day, before you know it, it's time to get back. I suppose it's that old saying, time flies when you're having fun. And it is that part in particular that is on mind right now, how fast time seem to be going. 

I have recently been to a course on mindfulness at work. Mindfulness is very popular at the moment, and probably one of those things that a lot of people turn their nose up at, as being a bit woolly. I admit to being a bit skeptical, especially related to work, as I get the whole concept and I quite like it, but is there really time to step back and be mindful about everything, when you've deadlines and waiting lists, and a drawer full of paperwork that currently doesn't shut? 

Perhaps this is my problem. I am so focused about all the things that need to be done, that I often don't sit back and really think about them, I just feel anxious that I need to do them, worry when I'm doing them that I'm not doing them well enough, and then immediately move on to the next thing and forget about it. And then the time just goes by, and it's the end of another week. For example, I uploaded all the pictures to this post exactly one week ago, then remembered something else that I had to do, so left it, and now it's an entire week later, and I've just got back to it again.

There is clearly something wrong with this. 

So perhaps mindfulness has something to it after all. Thinking about what you're doing, and being grateful for the chance to do it, and noticing what you do, and thinking about why you've done it.

And I guess this applies to running too. It's all too easy just to look at your training program, and run because it says that you have to. But what are you hoping to get from that run? I once had a coach, my first coach, who said that every mile should have a reason, in that you should't do any 'junk' miles where you're just going out to get the mileage up; he advocated doing less miles, but with more purpose. I disagree to some extent, as I believe that even  'junk' miles have a place, but I agree with the part that every run should have purpose, be that to work on your speed, your endurance, to clear your head, get rid of stress, spend time with friends, see a new place, to reflect. 

So now, I have finally got around to posting my photos from last weekend's running, down in Eastbourne, running along the South Downs Way in the sunshine. Standing a the top of a cliff looking out into the calm blue, breathing in the sea air, the minutes finally felt like they had slowed down, and the world seemed as still as the gentle waves on the sea........

......just for moment, Then we turned back to the path, ran up some more hills, and into some mud, and things got a bit fraught again. 

But then, we made it back to the end for a nice cup of coffee and a piece of cake, and spent a few minutes thinking about the run and how lucky we were to be in this part of the world for a whole weekend, doing all the things we loved.