My Background

Tuesday 30 May 2017

I would walk 100 miles and I would (never) walk 100 more

I've just regained the physical and mental capacity needed to write, so this is just a quick post.  The 100, or what I've now come to know is more accurately the NYM 102.7 (and never has 2.7 miles seemed such a long way) is finished! 


It wasn't the easiest thing I've ever done. Definitely not. In fact, it leap-frogged right to the top of most difficult things I've done, even replacing last year's Dorset 100 (which I've been reminded that at the time I confidently stated was the hardest thing I would ever do). But I've just been reminded (again) by Andrew (who successfully completed his first 100!) that whenever he says he's finding a run difficult, that I say that you don't do this because it's easy, but to rise to the challenge and prove yourself you can do something you initially think you can't. And what better time is there to eat your words than when you're so emotionally and physically wrecked that you can't stomach anything?



I've noted before that spell check corrects '100' to 'woo'. In this post, I've realised it also corrects '102' to 'wow'. Wow, really! That was worth the extra miles!



When the going got tough (which was the last 30 hours of the 32 it took me to do the thing) I thought of what the money we're raising was for, and if everyone could be so kind in supporting us through sponsorship, the least I had to do was finish the thing. We've raised over £600, but I refused to think that we had raised that much until I'd finished all of it. So basically, I was thinking that for each mile, we were raising £6...and that's how it went on...and on...and on...

...until finally, the magic mile 100 appeared! And then there was the small matter of the extra 2.7 miles at the end. And then finally, the finish! 

So......THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!

Here is the proof! My tally card, which I got quite attached to by then end (literally, by a piece of string) and emotionally (as here seemed so many checkpoints to get it clipped at):


And my finishing badge (funny what you will do for a badge):


I also found this in my finishing pack....


... a little bit soon to be broaching the subject of doing this all again? I can't even think about that right now. I can barely even think. 

So, I will write more when I have recovered enough energy to write more coherently.

Thank you again everyone!





Saturday 27 May 2017

The 100 is about to start!

😲

About to head to start. Yikes! Feels funny to think after all the training, this is it! There's a live tracking link here:


Andrew's number is 156
My number is 306

And this is my story:


And the weather has improved! A bit. No lightening at the start now, just a bit of rain, which is standard:

Thank you again everyone for all of your support, sponsorship and messages! 💗💗💗 Means an awful lot. And also means I'm going to have to finish it now! 

Friday 26 May 2017

One sleep to go...to The 100...and thunder!

Guess what time it starts.....


Yes, actually, 12.00! Really!


Might not need the sack part of the mac-in-a-sac after all. 

Oh well, what can you do.

Thank you thank you again for all of the sponsorship! Wow 😊

💗💗💗


💗💗💗


Thursday 25 May 2017

Two days to go the The 100 - time for a Kit Check

Every time I do an event like this, I'm always astonished by how much stuff I need to get. I mean, I spend most weekends out doing stuff like this, and always seem to have everything I need, so how come I get to looking at the event's Kit List, and suddenly need to get a load of new stuff? Also, as this has clearly happened many times before, how come I haven't learnt in advance that this is going to happen, more than a week before when I need it?

This year, for example, I've been happily running round in leggings that have got holes in them (a record of accidents involving, in no particular order of severity - brambles, falls, and stiles), but right before The 100 I decided that I absolutely must have a new pair, otherwise I wouldn't be able to do it properly. 

And then there's the actual Kit List as well. There have been a lot of stern emails going around this week from the Organisers, regarding The Rules. I do feel a bit like I'm 12 again, doing D of E, and getting shouted at by teachers who are getting more and more annoyed by me. Still, I know they are saying this for a reason, in order to keep 500 people, and all the people helping them, safe over an extreme event. Gosh, I love how I'm doing an extreme event! Especially as it involves tea stops. That's my kind of extreme.

So, advice heeded, I have spent two evenings packing my bag, and maybe a few more sourcing (ahem, shopping) for essentials. New stuff : 
  • A collapsible mug - last year I didn't have a single drop of coffee the whole way round, which I think was a mistake. To be highly caffienated, I feel will be an advantage
  • A new compass - where the needle actually points to North, rather than whichever way it fancies. I genuinely hadn't realised how useless my old one that cost £1.99 was, which is worrying in itself I suppose. 
  • Electrolyte tablets - although, I can't believe I actually spent £14 on tablets that are basically made of salt. £14! Probably got a bit carried away there.
  • Mac-in-a-sac - a mac! In a sack! How exciting!
  • A new first aid kit - I'm confident of pretty much performing minor surgery with this lot. Watch out everyone!
  • A miniature pouch of sun-cream - actually, and I never thought I'd say this about a trip to Yorkshire, I'm a bit worried it's a bit too miniature. Looking at the forecast. 
  • A new survival bag - also useful for sitting on. Not that I plan doing much sitting. Of course not. 
  • A new map case - my old one got ripped when we had to climb over a barbed wire fence in the dark because we'd got lost.....yes you guessed it, in the Chilterns.
  • A new map! - after spending 4 evenings before the recce weekend plotting the whole route description on three separate OS maps, I discovered you could instead buy a special map, centred around the middle of the area, with the route marked on it. I resisted for a while, after all, that was 4 evenings of my life I was never going to get back, and I was reluctant to feel I'd wasted them. Eventually the thought of only having to carry 1/3 of the weight and not have to faff about in the middle of fields in the dark trying to find the right side of the right map won over, and I purchased the special map.
So, there it is. Bag is packed! I've checked the Kit List a trillion times and I'm sure I have everything. I hope so. There is a random kit check at some point on the way around, and if you're missing something, you get disqualified. Which would be quite gutting. So I'm just off to check again....

And to thank everyone for your sponsorship again! Yet more kind donations coming in. Almost £600!!!! I'm sure the money is used in all sorts of amazing things that the Rosemere does to battle cancer, but I always have 'cups of tea' stuck in my head. That's something my Mum mentioned a few times, being able to have a nice cup of tea after the journey to the centre and while waiting for treatment. Little things that mean a lot. And I'm pretty sure that what we've all raised together must be a lot of cups of tea for other people there. So, thank you :-)


Just off to check my bag again. 

Wednesday 24 May 2017

3 days to go to The 100: thoughts, a nice run, and THANK YOU!

Well right now the news, both in the papers and personally, is all really sad. Obviously, with the Manchester attack. And all the other attacks that seem to happen all the time in other countries as well. And there are several friends and family members who are ill at the moment. 

It's all feeling quite a dark time, and it's difficult to look at things and see what possible reason there could be for things happening. Why do people attack others in this way? Why do amazing and lovely and kind people get really sick? Whatever are the answers to everything that's happening? 

Why? 

I'm also feeling pretty apprehensive about the weekend ahead. So am in a bit of a dip about things this morning. 

So I'm just going to write about something nice instead, and hope that's OK with everyone, because writing is quite cathartic, and my Mum (who The 100 is for) has always told me to think of something nice in a dark time, and think of happiness to challenge the sadness.

Well, here goes. The weekend before last was our last training weekend before The 100 (and here's something I've just noticed, if you miss 't' off of 'training' you get 'raining'. Ha!). So on Saturday Andrew and I went to the Chilterns to do a training marathon. I feel dubious when I think about the Chilterns. On the one hand, I had two really awful experiences there in the dead of winter when we went to do some training marathons - but I'm sure I've written about that previously, so won't bore you with woe again. But on the other I had a great run at the Oxon 40 a couple of weeks ago, where I thought I'd finally put the Chiltern demons to bed. Apparently last weekend they'd decided it was time to get up again. Oh, hurrah. But I'm not supposed to be giving air time to negative thoughts, so the Chiltern demons will have to get back in their box (and stay there for all of eternity, ideally).

After that pa-lava, the next day it was time for The Meridian Meander. This is a circular marathon in Cambridgeshire, along the River Great Ouse (and isn't that just the best name!) I almost bottled it to be honest, after the previous day. But I consoled myself with the knowledge that all I had to do was 1) go, 2) do it, 3) eat the cake at the end, oh and 4) there was to be a BBQ at the end as well, so if I made it that far, I promised myself a sausage. 

Didn't seem too bad a deal. And boy am I glad I did it, because it turned out to be one of my favourite runs ever! The weather was spectacular, which helped. Sunshine sunshine sunshine (until about 15 minutes after we finished, when it chucked it down, so I'm sure people who finished a little later will disagree with my enthusiasm for the weather). The route description - also spectacular. Didn't get lost, not once, not during the whole marathon, which is genuinely a record. It wasn't a timed race (the event was to raise money for the Over Day Centre, and included a marathon and 18 mile run/ walk, plus The 5 Pubs Challenge - see later), so there were lots of people all doing different things, and you could basically start when you wanted within a couple of hours, which took the pressure off worrying about times and all that. There were three wonderful checkpoints on the way round, stocked with all sorts of delicious treats. The date flapjack slice will remain forever in my mind as a particularly delectable form of rocket fuel. 

So, 'The 5 Pubs Challenge'. This was another event on the same day, and shared some of its route with our route. The only difference being that The 5 Pubs Challenge had signposts (I suppose to assist on the journey from pint 1 to pint 2 etc etc). I stopped right before one, and stared at it for a good while. There was a 5 Pubs challenge, right here, and I had opted instead to do a marathon involving not 5 pubs, but 0 pubs. There was clearly something wrong with my ability to make rational decisions.

Diddums. Oh well, it was sunny, I had some electrolyte tablets that at least I could use to make my (by now quite warm) water resemble something more exciting, and I still had a bit of that date flapjack left. Who needs a pub? (I can't believe I asked that).

Here are some snaps of the day:

The Meridian Line!

Andrew running towards St Ives (see how fast he is going? - towards the heavenly date flapjack)

The River Great Ouse

The River Great Ouse again (it's pretty great)

A great path by the River Great Ouse (still great)

A beautiful poppy

I feel sunny inside just looking back at the photos. I only wish I was a better photographer and had taken more, I honestly had no idea that that part of the country was so beautiful. Some of the villages we went though (Hemingford Grey, St Ives, Houghton) were just breathtaking - I felt like I was running across one of those pictures on a chocolate box. And the paths along the river were just like being in wonderland.  So green! So many flowers!

Another favourite moment came at Jones Boatyard, just outside St Ives. Andrew had popped to the loo, so I waited outside, lost in a daydream about which luxury yacht I'd get if I won the lottery (which reminded me, I should really buy a ticket). My thoughts were brought back to reality by three walkers arriving, and two of them also went to the loo, while their fellow walker and I got chatting. Turns out he was from a nearby village, and he often walked his dog on this route, but today the dog was having a break at home, as he was a spaniel and 'no good at pacing himself' (sounds familiar). Then, he said that a few months ago, there had been a murder committed nearby, and the murderer had jumped into the river right here and tried to swim away up the river. Fortunately, he didn't get very far before he gave up and climbed out and handed himself over to the police, where he pleaded guilty to the crime. Gosh. It all looks so idyllic here, although actually quite like somewhere where Midsomer Murders would be filmed, I suppose. Still, it was definitely a first for 'conversation topics with fellow competitors'.

Met up with some people who we knew from previous races, including Neil who we'd met the week before at the Ridgeway. Now we've been doing quite a lot of these things, am enjoying getting to know people, it's like having a really big group of friends - but friends who don't stay still for very long, so if you want to talk, you have to keep up. 

Another nice thing to focus on is the sponsorship that's been coming in, and helping our total for The Rosemere go up and up! You are all so generous, and thank you from the bottom of my heart! From my Mum's experience, I know that The Rosemere really makes such a huge difference to people's experience of their cancer treatment, and thinking that you are all behind us in supporting this just makes me feel so so happy. THANK YOU!!!!!!!



Saturday 13 May 2017

2 weeks to The Woo Race

Spell check corrects 'woo' to 'woo'.

See!

'Woo'

ARGH

'100'

Spell check corrects '100' to 'woo'. Good. That's what I meant. 

So WOO! Only 2 weeks left until The Woo Run. Thank you SO much to everyone who has sponsored me so far! People who I know, and people who I haven't met, and anonymous donations....thank you all so much for your generosity. And for your messages. I will try to do a good job, and be worthy of your words, and will think of them on the way round (for as long as I am able to think logical thoughts - and no, no, NO - that was not an invitation for comments).

So, an update on training. Finally things are coming together into some semblance of order! At the beginning of this year, or really up until the end of March, I was having a spectacularly shocking year with running. I felt tired. My body felt like a sack of spuds that I was dragging weekly through muddy fields, and resisting all my efforts to try to go faster. My mind was finding it harder still, and I got into a downwards spiral, quickly gathering momentum, and heading towards the pits of despair. A few weeks ago, I had a break from organised events for a while and, in technical terms, 'get my shizzle back together'.

I didn't think it was working to be honest. I still felt the same, only by myself. I wondered why? Andrew told me that of course I would be tired, because I was running much more than I used to. But was I though? I didn't think so. Despair. Eventually, I pulled myself out of my despair pit, sat myself down at the table with a piece of paper and my diary (how old school, I still use a paper diary!) and wrote a list of all the runs I have done this year that were at least marathon long in length. And in the first 18 weeks of the year, I had done 21 runs that were at least marathons. Which is a lot more than I have ever done before. So Andrew might have a point. I guess.

Well, that cheered me up no end. Maybe I'm not that bad. I felt on top of things enough again to start doing some more events, so two weekends ago, we did the Oxon 40, then the Cake-a-thon, and then the Ridgeway 40. Three good runs in a row! Woo!

The Oxon 40

The Oxon 40 I was quite nervous about, bearing in mind the above. At the start we ran (pardon the pun) into our friends Tara and Garry, and ran most of the way with them. Hills, hills, hills. And some more steep hills. Lot's of bluebells. Good fun. Sadly, Andrew damaged his knee and had to retire at the 32 mile check point. I carried on, and after the initial few minutes where I got in to a bit of a to-do about navigating by myself, when I realised it was actually OK and I can read a route description by myself, I got back into my rhythm, and felt great for the last 8 miles. I recognised some of it, from two horrendous training marathons we did there in the winter, but none of my demons were around today, today was good. I will therefore remember this run as the hilly-bluebell-demon-conquering run.

The Cake-a-thon

Next up was The Cake-a-thon, two days later. This was a 6 hour timed event, where you can run as many laps as you like, most importantly each involving a cake stop, around Samphire Hoe. Fact: Samphire Hoe is a 30 hectare piece of land, at the bottom of the Shakespeare Cliff, between Dover and Folkstone, It was created during the construction of the Channel Tunnel. At the last moment before the start, the route was changed. The weather was so bad (it was a Bank Holiday after all) that the sea wall had to be closed, and the route instead was diverted inland, around a 2.4 mile loop which, funnily enough, turned out to be quite hilly. Hurrah! Sadly, I was feeling a bit unwell, and so missed out on rather a lot of cake opportunities. Still, I tottered around, and started to feel better after about 20 miles, and made it to 31.2 miles (13 laps) despite my tally card blowing off in the wind. Even better, I recovered enough for fish and chips afterwards. I will remember this run as the windy run, where the sea crashed over the sea wall, and I ran past a lot of cake.

The Ridgeway 40
Last up was the Ridgeway 40, five days later. This was an adventure! We had to be at Streatley YHA for 6.45 am (AM!) ready to catch the coach to the start of the walk/run at Overton Hill. Alarm set for 04:00 am. Again, AM! And on a Saturday. It was completely worth it though. Andrew's knee had mended itself, and got him through the whole 40 miles, WOO! Totally fantastic event, such genuinely warm natured people on the checkpoints, and a nice route. I'd heard some not very complimentary things about the Ridgeway path, along the lines of it being a bit boring, but I disagree. Sure, the navigation is pretty straightforward - it's basically a line, following signs, but I'm never going to complain about manageable navigation, let's be honest. And it's a lovely path, and so joyous to be up on the ridge with big views (well, it would have been if it wasn't so hazy), and the rapeseed fields were all in yellow flower, so the world seemed a bright place toady. Met some great people along the way, and my cousin Sammy (who has just completed the South West Coast Path by himself!) and my Auntie and Uncle at the end. I will remember this run as the yellow friendly run.


So, all good. WOO WOO WOO! 100!!!

Thank you again for all of the sponsorship and support!