50:50

A couple more 50 milers...

First up, the annual summer overnight 50 at the end of July, organised by my friend Alan. Alan dislikes the heat, and so in the warmest months, organises an overnight run to get some miles in while it's cooler. Whilst not adverse to the heat myself, indeed being quite partial to it usually, the last few weeks had been a little toasty even for a summer lover, and the anticipation of some cooler running came as a relief. The weather had been heating up all week, and had been dry as a bone for weeks before that, but thunderstorms were forecast overnight for Friday, plus an eclipse, so it look set to be a tempestuous night.

Victoria station was also quite tempestuous at 7.30 on Friday evening, and catching the train down to the start of the run felt like escaping from the rat race, to a secret adventure. Hopping off at Amberley, the mid point of the South Downs Way, we set off into the gathering dusk. The clouds scuppered any chance of seeing the eclipse, but added an extra layer of atmosphere to the darkening landscape, the hills in the distance already looming like shadows. Despite the obvious drawback of getting no sleep, I love running through the night. It feels like a blanket of stillness descends on the world when the light fades, the world shrinks to the circle of a head torch beam, the other things going on outside it suddenly unimportant.

After a few hours chugging along the trails, we were permitted a rare treat - 10 minutes for a snooze! Never having slept on a run before, I followed the lead of my team mates, pulled on a jacket, picked a soft grassy spot on the path, and rested my head on a fluffy pillow/ lumpy bag. It was a revelation! I've never stopped and stayed completely still on a run before - it was amazing how much was going on, right in the middle of nowhere, in the pitch black of night. The stillness I mentioned before was absolute rubbish - there was all sorts going on out here! A chorus of sounds, and lights and movements in the air. After a few minutes tuning in, I started to drift off. Suddenly it seemed lighter. Really rather lighter. Had we slept through the night? Was it dawn! I opened my eyes and stared into the light, which was getting bigger by the second. 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!

We scattered either side of the path as two mountain bikes came tearing through the grassy patch, which seconds before had been our bed. 

Blimey. That was close. Note to self: don't be caught napping. At least, not in the middle of a national trail. Who would have thought it though, it was 2am, who would have thought anyone would be out here at this time!

Come to think of it, it was really quite busy up here in the night. After that we saw a few more mountain bikers, a group of men doing a charity walk, and several people all out eclipse hunting.

We successfully avoided needing any more naps, and made it without further ado to the end at Winchester, conveniently in time for breakfast.

Fresh from the overnight training, The Herts Stroller (54 miles) was up a couple of weeks later, for #80. Put on by the Essex and Herts LDWA, it was a most excellent event, a well organized and a pretty route along countryside trails. The start went off well, and it soon became clear that the route descrption was bang on the money, and navigation wasn’t going to be an issue, which was lucky, as I had a deadline to get back for the last train, and getting lost was not factored in to this plan. 

The first few miles ambled through pretty villages, and up the first couple of long gentle climbs, along some lanes, and the first checkpoint was reached at 8 miles in. Then it was on along idyllic hedgerows and through woods, and through a village called Hexton which had a quite beautiful church. Up and over Barton Hill....

....to checkpoint 2, where we picked up the Chiltern Way, and soon, I after met up with my cousin Sammy and had a good chat. By the by, he is now currently walking his way back to uni. Not just up the road, but from his home in Sussex back to Lancaster. Yes! What a legend! If you see him along the way, please offer him a brew, as loves tea. And, on that subject, we soon happened upon Tea Green....

I slowed my pace, as instructed (ha!) and trotted along to checkpoint 3, 22 miles in. I was feeling sick, which is a boring and repetitive theme in my recent blogs, so we'll skip over it for now, and focus on the positives - that now there were only a further 32 miles left, and apart from feeling sick I was feeling otherwise strong. Some more undulations followed in the next part of the route, and the route description kept mentioning things such as 'high tension wires' and 'power poles'. I amused myself for a while, imagining the wooden poles dressed in power suits and heels, and tottering into meetings where everyone/everypole was under high tension. Fortunately, my mind was saved from these ramblings when we went through Peter’s Green, and then Chiltern Green, and I instead became distracted by the abudnace of greens all around, when in fact, how everything was really quite yellow at the moment...

...... I realise my thoughts were becoming delerious, and fortunately I soon came back into civilisation in Wheathampstead, and CP4 at 30.6 miles, where a delicious pasta and red sauce was being served. My appetite having returned, I lost all control and ate two bowls, and felt momentarily better, until I tried to run again.

Although the next section was very beautiful, along a river, up a hill, and through a field with sunflowers, I now had a really really bad stitch and was feeling like rolling back down the hill into the checkpoint and sleeping there (I would have gone for a snooze in the sunflower field, but was mindful of my last outdoor sleeping experience)....

Anyway, I got over this nonsense and tackled the next section -  a long section on a dis-used railway. Soon we came to Ayot St Lawrence, which had a magnificent neo-classical style church, St Lawrence Church, which I was so struck by, I neglected to take a photo. CP5 followed soon after at 37.4 miles, at Kimpton, which I will always remember as the checkpoint with the poshest loos I have ever seen on an event.

I left the luxury loos and headed past another beautiful church, hills and an increasing number of woods, which I couldn't help noticing were becoming concerningly dark inside as the evening marched on. Anyway, CP6 was up next, where it was nice and cosy and bright inside, and only 11 miles left.

The next field included a large number of menacing looking cows. I walked past them, so as not to startle them, but out of the corner of my eye could see them following me, forcing me ever closer to the woods, which were becoming more frequent on the route description, and were definitely getting dark inside, now dusk was setting in. I was momentarily distracted by the next instruction, which stated, simply, “TimmedL”. I started looking for a timid left turn, but couldn't see one. Maybe it was so timid, it was hiding itself. Ah ha - of couse! Turn immediately left! I must be out of practice at cracking LDWA code. It was starting to rain now, and a very long uphill challenge ensued, through long wet grass, to, oh, another wood.

The last checkpoint, CP7 came and went, where I relented, got out my head torch and resigned myself to the fact I was going to have to run 6 miles on my own in the dark. I had neglected to realise this was going to happen, what with the later start time, longer route, and fading summer. Dang and blast it. It was dark. Still, the next bit seemed to be on a road, and it was only a few miles to the end now, so it was all going to be just fine. No problemo! 

I kept up the pretence for a whole 5 minutes, even when leaving the road, until I came to an avenue of trees on a desolated farm track, where a car had been hovering with it's lights on, which now started crawling slowly towards me down the track. A bolt of fright, matched only by the biking incident two weeks previously, shot through my core. I switched off my head torch, and switfly exited the avenue of trees, where I tried to make my way across the next field on the route descritpion, towards Welby Buisness Park, which apparently is the place to be on a Saturday night. It's biazzare. I remember this from the Three Forests Way (in a similar area). It would be pitch black and dead as night, and suddenly you would happen upon an isolated house or warehouse where there was a right old booze up going down, with spot lights circling the sky and beats shaking the ground and drunken screeches piercing the air. And then you'd run on a little bit further, and leave it all behind, in the middle of no where.

After being followed by another two cars out of the party park, I picked up the pace, and dived into the next field. Here I met a dilemma. Backwards, and into the hands of the people I was now convinced were following me, or forwards into the looming Shadow Of The Woods where, well, who knows what was in there.

I chose the woods and took my chances.

I guess it's clear by now that my bravado about running in the dark on the South Downs extends only to if I am surrounded by a group of people whom I trust, and when thrust into the countryside alone in the dead of night, I am  pathetic. I spent the last 5 miles of the run, which were entirely through wooded areas and remote footpaths, staring fixedly at the centre of my headtorch beam and thinking about ghosts. The fact that everything, ghosts included, would take one look at me 50 miles into a run, and walk (or float, I suppose, if it was a ghost) in the opposite direction failed to occur to me until later, when I arrived at the end, exhausted more from the mental draining of the last hour of ghost stories than anything else.

Safey ensconced within Hitchin Rugby Club's solid and reassuring walls, surrounded by friendly and familiar faces, the ghosts faded fast. I did 11.54 for 54 miles, which was an improvement on my recent times and I was happy with it, and also enjoyed it hugely, which was the main thing. Plus, although I made it in plenty of time for the train, Andrew came to pick me up (cheers!). Thanks to Essex and Herts LDWA for a splendid event - top notch!