Sunday 17 July 2011

Vermont 100

I woke up Thursday morning, checked my bag numerous amounts of times then made my way to Heathrow. We got to Heathrow at 2.45 - 2 hours 45 minutes pre our flight and when we went to check in they told us the flight was over booked and there were no seats left at the moment - I can't tell you how bad we felt, they said come back 50 mins pre flight and there could be some spares. So they gave us a Cafe Nero voucher and we sat in there for a while f8cked off, cutting the story short we managed to get on the flight just. I think BA are a joke of an organisation though.

We arrived in America at 8pm and we drove from Boston to Vermont and were in the hotel by 12pm. Went to sleep then the following day I felt pretty fatigued, we went to the race briefing, checked in, weighed in 169 pounds ( I had eaten a lot that morning). We dropped off our drop bags for all the aids station, then we listened to the race director, medical director go through the race details. We had a meal then went back to the hotel. We went to bed at 8pm, my night sleep was very patchy, a lot going through my mind and the couple next door in out Motel were bonking which woke me up at 11am - I was looking at Elson thinking whats he doing then heard a creaking noise coming through the wall - FINE that one.

Woke up at 2am, put my kit on and then we drove to the race, we got there at 3am (They were playing "Eye of the tiger" fall blast which was quite funny) with the race starting at 4am, so a bit of waiting around and then onto the starting line with the head torches. It's amazing really, your standing in a field in America with 300 Americans at 4am with Head torches on - Loved it. The race we were doing was a horse race as well, they started a little later and passed us during the race.

I started off with James and Sniper (James's mate who was running the last great race - 6 x 100s, he was actually doing about 10 this year and has done 36 now) The race started off with us running down a hill then onto trails through a forest. I started off at 10 - 11 min miles, I always think in a 100 mile race you need to start slow and conserve your energy. I ran a few miles with a guy called Gary who was from the UK and lived in Montreal, it's mental when your over the other side of the world and you meet people who are from the UK. I ran the first 6-7 miles in about 1.10 which was what I was after. Came into the first aid station re-filled my water bottle and it was starting to get lighter - some of the scenery was amazing. The race was mainly uphill and down hill (Total elevation of 15,000 ft, Umstead 100 was 8000ft) through trails and on gravel roads. By about 8am it was starting to get hot and I was running along quite smoothly and had built up a good cadence, running and walking the hills to conserve energy. From this race I wanted to break 24 hours to receive a buckle. I came into the check point at 21 miles and I saw Sniper, then I lost him and later I found out I had left the aid station before him. I carried on running and was starting to get hotter, I was sweating up and was thinking I have never run in anything like this. By the time I got to Camp Bear aid station the first weigh in, my weight was 160 pounds (So 9 pounds down from yesterday) I knew I was a bit over weight yesterday lunch time as had drunk sh8t loads of water and eaten loads. The medical guy started questioning me saying - Am I okay? I was like yes I am fine I was over weight yesterday, they can pull you out of the race if you're over 10% lower than weigh in so 153.1 for me so was over half of that. He was fine in the end and I took off. It was starting to get really hot now and I was thinking how am I going to do this, I got to 50 miles in 9 hours 40 mins so was way ahead of schedule for 24 hours. I came to a point at 51 miles where there was a yellow arrow pointing one way - I took that direction and ran up this hill half a mile in I couldn't see any signs, I was swearing at myself in the woods, turned round and saw an American guy called Mike, we ran back to the original point and had taken a wrong turning - that p8ssed me off - you do not need that in a 100 mile race. I then ran with Mike for the next 20 miles, he had the same goal as me - to break 24 hours as had run the race 6 years ago in 26 hours. We ran along chatting about life, miles passing by, his wife who was 8 months pregnant and a professional triathlete ran 5 miles with us which I thought was pretty amazing. At 70 miles you were allowed a pacer, I didn't have one but Mike had two and he said do you want to run the last 30 with us, I was like hell yeah. We reached 70 miles in 14 hours so we had 10 hours to run 30 miles which was fine. We took off and after about 3 miles Mike was slowing up a bit and I said do you mind if I go, he said go and get them,it was quite emotional but everyone feels different at different stages in a 100 miler. I took off and felt very strong, I was smashing it up and down hills, running past people, I was high on life. At about mile 82 it started to get dark so I put on my head torch which wasn't very good (Need a new one) and carried on running, I was now thinking, I have nearly done this, another journey completed, was counting down the miles in my head. I was thinking of all the good things in my life and it spurred me on. I got to mile 85 and saw Katie who was driving around in the car, she had my jacket so took that off her and asked if Mike was okay - she said he was doing fine. I got to 90 miles in about 19 hours so I thought I want to break 21 hours now, I carried on running, I was over taking people feeling strong. I ended up running the last 5 miles with another dude and we finished together in 20.54, he was slightly further ahead. I can't describe the feeling when you cross the finish line, it's amazing. That was by far the hardest race I have ever done, too hot and very hill but a great experience. I hobbled back to the car and saw James asleep, he had unfortunately DNF'd as was sick all day and had fainted at mile 57, I felt for him. We waited for Sniper to come in who finished in 22.59 and then Sniper collected his stuff and James and I were off. I am now laying on my bed watching The Open with some sore legs but feel good. Another great trip!!!!

Monday 11 July 2011

Monday

4 miles at lunch today and a walk for half a k up a hill on elevation 10. That's me done now until Saturday at 4am American time and 9am UK time. We fly from Heathrow on Thursday at 5.10 in the afternoon and the flight is about 7 hours. We land in Boston at 7pm American time and drive from Boston to Vermont across New England which will take about 3 hours. Game on!!!!!!

Sunday 10 July 2011

This Week

This week I managed to run about 38 miles. Not bad but I haven't trained much over the last couple of months but I am still going to give Vermont a go. I am going to do a small run tomorrow and that will be it. I fly out Thursday and the run starts 4am Saturday American time. I am currently working out how many Gels and Salt tablets I need to leave in each drop bag across the course. I have just had an email from the race director and the temperature looks to be 80f in the day so 27c and 60f in the eve so 15c...so it's going to be pretty, pretty hot. All I want to do is finish this race, it should be a great experience and fun to travel with my mate Elson and watch him take on part 2 of the Grand Slam.

Tuesday 5 July 2011

Monday 4 July 2011

Monday

Today I wanted to put myself through a mini fitness test in the gym to see where I was. I jogged 1k then ran 5.4k in 27 mins, so 4 miles in 27 mins including a 1k warm up jog...... so pretty quick. I am getting there, then I ran to fen street pretty quick as well. I may not have logged the long miles in the legs but I think I will be okay. It's what a guy called Russell Vaughan said to me - it's muscle memory. I have done a 100 before so no reason why I can't do it again even though I haven't trained as hard. I am starting to get excited now, I love America...the food, the people, it's a great place and seeing New England this time of year should be a bit of an eye opener.

Sunday 3 July 2011

Sunday

Today I woke up and it was rather hot, I went straight out at 9.30 - managed 4.5 miles as was hot and I felt weak so I gave in. I did a 12 mile cycle later. That takes me to 50 miles for the week - not what I really wanted but sickness and boozing got in the way. With under 2 weeks to go there is not much I can do now, I am still going to fly out to Boston and give it my best shot. I am looking forward to another adventure and meeting some great people.

Saturday 2 July 2011

Getting Excited

Starting to get excited now.....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMQT8ibAB9A&feature=related

Saturday

Waking up very hungover today, I needed to run 20 miles with 2 weeks to go until Vermont. I managed to run 20.2 miles in the heat today, feeling very tired now. Need to get another one in tomorrow.