A new event this weekend! A double marathon event up the Lee Valley near Broxbourne, organised by the lovely Fenella at Extreme Running UK, for the first time, ever!
After my last double a few weeks ago which was basically a disaster, I was a bit apprehensive that I'd be just as useless as last time, but fortunately my body had pulled itself together and I felt great the whole way through both days. I've been trying to figure out what it is that triggers feeling good or bad on a run - nutrition, sleep, work, hormones, exercise in the week, stress, etc, but I came to the conclusion that all of those things must surely play a part, and a lot of things you can't control really, so I guess you just have to go with things, look after yourself as best you can, and adjust your run accordingly. In other words, I have no idea what the secret is.
Anyway, something worked right this time.
Saturday's marathon started at Dobbs Weir campsite. Had a bit of a panic, as it was a really small marathon, only 35 of us I think on the first day, and for some reason I'd convinced myself that everyone else would know each other, and I'd get left out and left behind in a field somewhere, as everyone else ran off. Such a fool, as (of course) the complete opposite was true - there were some people I knew already, and everyone was completely lovely. As cheesy as it sounds, by the end of the weekend it felt like being part of the Dobbs Weir family and I met some brilliant people. We started off from the campsite, where one of my favourite things happened. When Fenella called us over for the race briefing, Dylan the little dog (who was along for the weekend with his owner Jayne, the massage therapist for the event), looked up, trotted over with us all, and stood at the front, pawing the ground, as if ready to set forth. He listened for a few moments, then when Fenella mentioned the word 'marathon' he looked up at the sky, as if suddenly having a better idea, and pottered off back to the tent. A smart dog, Dylan. Anyway, it was a lovely route from the Dobbs Weir campsite, along the canal through Stanstead Abbotts and Wear, then off the waterways and on for a few miles through parks and roads and fields to pick up the Cole Green Way, where I caught up with Andy who I'd met near the start, and who was doing his 99th marathon today (100th the day after - fantastic work!). We ran the next few miles together, before catching up with some other runners. The route was lovely, I haven't explored this area very much, but it is beautiful.
The route description was great, up until (much like people running a marathon) about mile 21, when it became a little more vague. The last few miles were quite tricky to navigate, but by that point about 10 of us were running together, and actually, being lost together was a lot of fun, and a lot of laughs were laughed. I think, putting on a marathon for the first time must be such a challenge, there's bound to be some troubles. But, even by the next day these problems had been fixed, with excellent signage and descriptions all through day 2 (didn't get lost once!) - so thanks to Fenella and your team for sorting this out so quickly (I wish I could say the same about my own mistakes, but there you are).
Sunday's marathon started in the same place (Dylan chose not to attend the race brief this morning, he was off looking at ducks), but followed a different route, which was more rural and, I thought, even more beautiful than the day before. Even smaller group today on the marathon (although a 10 mile race was also going on) - only 15 of us. Following the route description was a breeze. I ran most of the way with Ben today - who following a difficult race at the Milton Keynes Marathon a couple of weeks ago, had decided to set the record straight by doing another one straight away, and did a fantastic job - nice one! I also learnt from him some things about shift work and body clocks - which was really interesting as something that's always bothered me on overnight events is feeling really terrible about 4 am (really nauseous, dizzy, unable to focus on anything, etc). I've never been sure if that's because by that time, I'm about 60 miles in, so are you just feeling dreadful because you've run 60 miles, or because you've been up running all night and it's something to do with your body clock? I've tried some very uncontrolled 'experiments' like not starting a 50 mile run until 11 pm and seeing what happens at 4 am - and the feeling is exactly the same, even though I've run probably only 20 miles or so. And Ben reports that when working shifts he and many others would have a similar feeling, so it seems maybe the body clock does have something to do with it after all.
Met a few of the others from yesterday on the way around too, and I know some were doing their first double - and all did an amazing job! 👍😊🎉🏆
There was something up with my nutrition strategy (whatever that is) today - there was Coke at every check point, and I literally couldn't get enough of the stuff. I hate it normally, never touch it, but it was like I entered into some kind of addiction, I must have drunk pints. I went immediately off it again as soon as I'd finished. Weird what you crave sometimes. As well as the coke incident, other nutritional points of interest today included accidently eating a bacon frazzle, and then, my vegetarianism ruined for the day, I ate some jelly babies as well, just to make sure.
Got back. Drank some more coke. Jayne had some space for a massage, so walked across the campsite to the showers to get changed, and when I got there realised I'd left my clothes bag right next to the massage table. No wonder my mind is completely gone at 4 am, it barely works at 2 pm. I've said this before, and I'm sure I'll say it again, but massages really work. I had hardly any leg stiffness on Monday - thank you Jayne!
Brilliant weekend - thank you to Fenella and her team for a brilliant event - I hope this becomes a regular fixture in the race calendar. And thanks to everyone I met, all the encouragement, chats, lifts to the station....it was a really good event, made all the more special by the people there.
Saturday
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Sunday
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