Well, that was a fun weekend! Phoenix Running had a big event on at Denbies Wine Estate - 24 hours to do a half marathon, marathon, the Minotaur 50 miles, Centaur 100 miles, or the P12 and P24 (where runners run a mile on the hour, every hour). It was also Sarah's 200th Marathon!
I originally had entered the 50 miler, and thought I would go along and see how it went. In the end, it was going well, and I was running with Sarah (Princess Twin), so we carried on to see how far we could get, and ended up doing the Centaur 100 miles. I never ever thought that I would manage that, so am still in shock!
The course was just one mile long, around the triangle shaped field and the bottom part of Denbies estate. It was pretty flat and grassy underfoot, so nice to run on. Not even too muddy after all the rain of recent days! Lots of people were there, and with the loop being so little, it was fabulous to catch up with so many people over the day. Felt quite like a festival! Especially with all the tents pitched up at base camp!
I wasn't sure what it would be like to run so many laps of such a small lap. In the end, I really enjoyed it. It was great to be able to see everyone so much, and as the laps went on, we got into a rhythm of which bits we ran and which bits we "marched", and learnt the landmarks on the way round, such as Princess Avenue, Treacherous Puddle, Favourite Puddle, and Grinch Tree. Each lap went by very quickly! Plus, our little aid station (which was actually very big and had quite a party going on during the first day, with a few of us based there, and families dropping by throughout the day) was only ever a mile away.
(that's beer in the bottle, I think, not wee)
Special thanks to my friend Tara for coming by and supplying home made tea loaf (made with whiskey tea) with lemon icing, fresh cherries, support, laughs, and a few laps of company too. Tara had been doing her own 31 miler from Denbies on an LDWA route (one we did a lot during Covid-times), and had run her own personal PB on the course today, as she was worried we would need cake and supplies, so was rushing back to make sure we were OK - thanks Tara! And thanks for my unicorn cake decorations!
Some photos from the course....I do love Denbies!
We were very lucky with the weather. Judging by the forecast, it looked like we were in for a complete and continuous drenching for a lot of the time, but although there was some rain at times, it wasn't too bad at all. Most of it was overnight, and because it was all sparkly in our headtorches, Sarah and me called it glitter instead, which made it seem better.
Wildlife spottings, although a bit scarce, included a tiny field mouse, a bat, birds singing the dawn chorus (which was helpful in determining the time, as it was so cloudy that actual dawn didn't really look much different to night time), killer moths, and two slugs. A unicorn was also spotted (around about the time of the fancy dress mile).
Luxury loos were aplenty, which is quite unusual on a 100. Especially exciting was that overnight, we got to use the spa loos at Denbies, so technically, we got to visit a spa during a 100!
Thank you Rik, all the marshals, and Timing Monkey for a brilliant event. I loved it very much and I want to do it again already! And absolutely huge congratulations to everyone who ran - you are all brilliant and did amazing - thank you for everyone's company and support on the way around! And thank you everyone who gave me lifts (Vix, Jon, Tara) at different points of the journey there/back!
And, of course, thank you Sarah! I always have so much fun when I run with you. Apart from sore feet, the only other parts of me that really hurt are my throat and my cheeks, from talking and laughing so much for 22 and a bit hours. Thank you for sharing your 200th with me, and for getting me through my wobble. One day, I hope I will be as cool, calm, glamourous and talented as you are at doing things like this...maybe by my 200th I might have managed to improve a little bit! Congratulions my Princess Twin!
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