Samphire 100 miles, with SVN Running, 24.09.2022

A weekend adventure at Samphire Hoe with Sarah, also with Andrew for the first marathon part, and with lots of friends along the way.

Starting off at 08.00 on Saturday, Sarah and I ran 27 laps of the Hoe, to do 100 miles, in 21 hours and 51 minutes, finishing at dawn on Sunday.

The night before, we stayed in the Folkstone Purple Palace, and Andrew, Sarah, Jon and I fuelled up with dinner (aka the one lentil hot pot/ potato pot with chips). 

The morning dawned quite nicely, and the weather was mostly OK on Saturday, just some squally showers, but they passed over quickly. The Hoe was looking lovely, and the cows and sheep were out in force. We had both a cow and a sheep incident during the run, but our cow herding skills were on top form. Another animal moment of note was meeting Roxy, a 10 week old French bulldog, who was out for her first walk, and looking a little bemused by all the runners, but seemed to enjoy all the extra attention!

The sea wall was very calm, and the waters in channel were only gently sloshing about (or, lapping, which I forgot the word for).

On Andrew's last lap, we did a quiz about King Charles, so as to learn some key facts about our new monarch. 

After Andrew left, we missed his cheesy jokes, and felt like the lonely cheese. Halloumi.

Thank you Jon for letting us use your van as a checkpoint! Very kind. Our nutrition strategy went well, which was to have something every lap, including mini salty baked potatoes, spinach and pine nut falafels, rocky road, cheese and grapes, jaffa cakes and jammy dodgers, pretzels, shrimps, ginger, and Kendal mint cake. We also nailed our hydration, and many pee stops were scheduled (luxury loos in the day, portaloos at night - which were also pretty luxury for portaloos).

The sunset was absolutely mesmerising!

Overnight there were a few hours of nasty windy rain. We decided this came from France, on Cloud Thierry, who we had seen approaching during the evening. Having worked our way through a few different combinations of layers and gloves, we were glad when Cloud Thierry finally departed, and we were left with the most magical clear night of stars overhead (thanks Jon for the photo!). We got our layers right, and it felt nice and cosy overnight. 

On the horizon, the clouds and lights danced around in ever moving shapes, but a constant was the orange glow, which we couldn't quite work out what it was, and so it became known as the Discotheque. And in the darkness in front of the Discotheque, the lights of the ships twinkled away in the channel. 

I enjoyed the route, I've never done 100 miles all in Samphire Hoe before (as the Halloween 100s go up on the cliffs). I've said it before and I'll say it again, Samphire Hoe is so magical....driving down the tunnel, out into the secret world, a great place to escape for a weekend! 

As always, it was the best fun to spend a whole 100 miles with Sarah! Thank you to my princess twin for a fabulous adventure. 

It was beyond brilliant to catch up with so many people over the weekend, and have lots of long overdue catch ups on the way round and afterwards. I'm so proud of everyone who was there, everyone was awesome.

Loved spending time in the hut afterwards, catching up, and with hot sugary mint tea.

Thank you so much to Rachel, Traviss and the SVN Marshal Team especially Karen, Kirsty, Kim and Sophie for a most excellent event! 

This week's running: Ricky Races Marathon (Running Miles, 15.09.22) and Moulin Run (Saturn, 17.09.22)

Ricky Races Marathon (Running Miles, 15.09.22, marathon, 03:55) 

A scheduling mishap, meant for a slightly anxious run with bit of a tight a deadline 😆 My first time running the Running Miles course at Rickmansworth Aquadrome, and I really enjoyed the route, which was 8 laps all around the lakes and through woods. It was a nice smooth surface to run on as well. About half way, there was an incident of being chased by a goose. This was followed by an incident of almost being mown down by a greyhound, who sounded like a herd of elephants bearing down from behind me, such was his speed and drive. He was headed for some geese (hopefully the one who chased me earlier). I commented to his owner that I wished I could run that fast, and she replied "if you could, you'd win all the races!" Well! If only we could all be greyhounds, hey! I spent a few strides seeing if it was possible to match the greyhound's speed. It wasn't. But I imagined myself looking as elegant and composed, and striding out, and was quite getting in to it, but I will admit it was hard work. In a few more strides I came across a small fluffy cockapoo, who was pottering along quite happily, and stopping to look at things every 2 seconds, and I thought, in reality, this is more like my approach. In another few strides, there was a small French bulldog, running around a tree in circles and trying to eat it's ball, and I thought, OK no, let's be honest, THIS is my spirit animal. This little French bulldog and me have really got much more in common than the greyhound and me do.

Anyway, all that thinking took up quite a lot of time, and despite my stress levels and time pressure, I felt pretty good, the time went by really quickly, and finished in a good time for me. I loved the event, the course, and loved seeing everyone (even if my enforced "trial separation" from Sarah wasn't going well 😆), had plenty of Shrimp Technique moments, and it was a great morning. Well done to all runners! Thank you Rik and Team Phoenix (Beryl and Theresa) for a great event!

Moulin Run (Saturn, 17.09.22, marathon, 4:19)

Today was a day to celebrate, as the enforced trial separation with Sarah ended!! We had missed out on three weeks of chat, so there was a great amount to catch up on. 

The run was from the Wokingham Waterside Centre, just outside Reading. Met Sarah at the station and we walked to the start. It was a mass start at 10:00 which was nice, seeing everyone together is really nice, and we had a minute silence for Her Majesty The Queen before setting off.

It was 6 laps for a marathon, of a lovely route along the river and nature reserve, and it was the best fun. Thank you Sarah for a brilliant run! I think we did a good run as well, especially considering Sarah's preparation the day before had included standing up all day and eating 1/3 of a brownie and a bacon sandwich, and mine had included prosecco. 

It was very lovely to see so many people. The weather felt really cold this morning, but turned into really lovely running weather in the sunshine. Some more geese incidents occurred (so many geese have got real attitude problems, I find). 

Thank you George, Charlotte and Team Saturn for a fabulous event! And thank you for my princess cup, I love it so much, and it is so much nicer than the original!

Well done to everyone!

 

The Tiree Ultramarathon, 35 miles, 04.09.2022

A brilliant adventure running around the whole of the island of Tiree!

I've spent lots of time in Scotland, but have never visited a Scottish island, so I was looking forward very much to this event and trip. For a long time actually! Stephen, a friend of Andrew's (and now I am lucky to have as a friend too!), had had the idea, and got the ball rolling almost a year ago.

Friday after work, Andrew and I got a flight from London up to Glasgow, where Stephen kindly put us up for the night, and cooked a delicious homemade seafood paella to get carb loading underway. Thank you Stephen for everything this weekend!

Saturday morning, the three of us headed back to Glasgow airport, to catch a flight with Logan Air over to Tiree. It's about a 50 minute flight, on a very tiny plane (only 14 seats on board!). 

Sat at the gate, there was an announcement that the plane was overweight, and so the airline had to take off two passengers who were booked on the flight. They were two guys who were meant to be running, so altogether it was all a pretty rubbish situation, and I felt so sad for them.

The weather was not great for Saturday or Sunday morning....

So the flight out was pretty bumpy, and I have never been so happy to be back on solid ground, even if the solid ground was mostly covered in water. It was pretty exciting though, and there were some great views.

We caught Angus's Dial-a-bus to the Tiree Lodge Hotel, which is in Gott Bay, and where registration, and the start and finish of the event was, so it was a pretty handy place to stay!

After checking in, we went for rainy run along the beach and in to Scarinish, where the Co-Op was, to get some supplies. On the way back, after visiting Gott Bay Pier, it started to rain even more, and one of the other runners driving past in his campervan with his partner and dog stopped and gave us all a lift the last couple of miles back, which was super kind, thank you!

Picked up our numbers, goody bags and maps at registration. 

Then for an early dinner at the hotel, to complete our carb loading with some Cullen Skink and lasagne. 

The race started at 08.00, on the beach outside the hotel, so it was definitely the shortest journey to race I have ever done! The weather was looking somewhat mixed for the run....

...but our spirits weren't dampened! There was a piper at the start, which always makes for a stiring atmosphere. Met up with Stephen, who has been injured, so was part of the event team and marshaling at Checkpoint 2, and who was about to head off over there.

The route was a whole lap of the island, anticlockwise this year.

It was a run of two halves weather wise! The first half was rainy and windy. I didn't take many photos, as my phone was wrapped up and waterproofed. Then, about half way there was a magical moment where the wind finally blew the rain away, and the sky changed to a bright blue with the sun high above, so I got some new tan lines to add to my summer running look.

It was the most beautiful run, and I absolutely loved it. We ran along 14 beaches, along trails, through bogs, over some hills, and along small roads. It was varied, and a lot of fun! 

The different terrains made for quite a hard run, but it was brilliant. I only had one moment in "Happy Valley" near Hynish, where I had a small tantrum as my GPX route failed me and I for some reason kept missing the marker signs, so kept heading off up extra hills and bogs. I was very frustrated with myself, and kicked a tuft of bog in my mini tantrum, which turned out not to be a bog tuft, but actually quite solid. Now with a sore foot to distract me from my woes, it occurred occurred me that I might be hungry, so I had some crystallised ginger and a salt tablet, and perked up a bit, and got back on track.

Soon I got to checkpoint 3 where the lovely marshals gave me some jaffa cakes and I filled up my water. The last 9 miles were all along beaches or roads, so were easier to run on. Big thanks to the lady on the beach about 7 miles from the end who gave us orange segments and told us "there are no more of those stupid bogs and hills!", which was exactly what I was hoping to hear!

The last part along Gott Bay to the finish, seeing the finish line get closer and hearing the piper (who was piping everyone over the line) get louder was just magic!

I'd been really nervous beforehand, that I wouldn't be able to do it, so I was so happy to finish in 6.08 and come 7th in the ladies. It was a tough course, and big well done to everyone who gave it a go! And thanks to Will and Tiree Fitness and all the amazing marshals (especially Stephen!!) 

Veggie haggis pizza at the Tiree Lodge bar afterwards followed by the Cèilidh (and stargazing) at the Scarinish Hotel was a great way to spend the rest of the day!

I loved the whole weekend, which had a real festival atmosphere to it, and everyone was so friendly.  I would 110% recommend it, and hope to be back soon!