New York and Portsmouth Mara's

I have not posted for ages. But thought I would at least do a quick round up of the last two Marathons I ran this year.
New York
Absolutely amazing city, really, really great fun, it was like being on a film set and seeing all of the buildings etc you see in all the blockbusters. Grand Central Station, Rockerfellar, Fifth Av, Wall Street, Flat Iron Building, Central Park, Yellow Taxis, Hot Dog Stands, Steam form the manholes (sorry, I am going on a bit!!). My wife and I walked miles, and miles, which is not the thing I was advising runners to do when I worked at the New York Marathon Expo on the Pace Team stand, but through experience you learn what you can get away with. But, I was still a bit knackered when I lined up on the start line as the 4:10 pacer at NYC Mara, and coming from next to no training for the whle of October was not ideal. I was lucky enough to pace with Sandra (UK runner, international athlete, Husky runner and all round superstar) whom I already knew and we had a great time, although due to the size of the field (47,000) it is a REALLY tough course to pace, as we had been warned. But we both ran 4:09.43 or so, so pretty much nailed it.
Met the lovely Darris, Star and Robin again fom the Pace Team and they really looked after us UK runners exceptionally well, I hope when they come over to the UK we can do as good a job. Can't wait to get out there again as my wife and I really enjoyed the whole NYC experience, especially the shopping!!

The lovely Sandra and I just about to pace the NYC Mara



The Pacers just about to head off (lovely outfit Ian is wearing on far left!!)



The very tall Rockefellar Building, we went to the 70th floor and
viewed the Empire State building 




NYC skyline with the very impressive Empire State Building.

 
Portsmouth Coastal Mara
In short, ran it as part of a normal training week. Had the work Xmas party on the Friday, which meant a little hungover on Saturday and then the race on Sunday, ideal prep, just like the elite athletes!! All went well, bumped into a few of the Brighton/NYC Pace Team, including the infamous Gobi, on the way round and ran a pretty solid 3:17.09 for 39th place. Lack of proper training meant the last 4miles I struggled and the headwind didn't help, but good solid finish to the year and sets me up well for 2012, which will be a big year in terms of challenges.

Back on Track.

All back on track after last months little "Am I Injured" post. Nothing more than a niggle, but have enjoyed getting a few jobs done around the house while doing a couple of very easy mileage weeks and going to the gym (surprised I remembered where it was!). Full speed ahead for pacing duties at NYC Marathon on 6th November. Can't wait.

Am I injured?

Not sure of the answer. Ran Tuesday and Wednesday last week as normal, no issues. Woke up Thursday morning with a real pain on the hip (bursa area) and pain around the hip joint / top of thigh, which actually made me walk with an altered gait. I have injured myself while sleeping it would appear.

Apart form a Gym session on Thursday, I have done no running since last Wednesday, the hip has got better and I did do a tentative 1/2mile on Sunday morning to see if I could run the New Forest Marathon an hour later, while not painful while running it just didn't quite feel right. So I made the tough but right decision not to run. This was doubly gutting, firstly, because I was/always look forward to running a marathon I have not done before, but more importanlty I was mean't to be pacing my colleague, Vanessa, at 3:30 pace on the Mara as a PB attempt. As it happens, Vanessa didn't really need me and ran 3:26 and 3rd lady overall, good job I didn't run, I would have struggled to keep up!! Very chuffed for Vanessa even if she is very quiet about it and will not make a big fuss, saying there were not many women in the race blah, blah. Well I think it is awesome, and a massive well done. Vanessa even bumped into Sandra (Pacer, Huskie Running and all round awesome runner) on the course and they chatted a little at the end, I think Sandra was trying to talk Vanessa into Ultras. So far the answer is a resounding NO.

So off to the physio this evening to see if we can pinpoint what is up. I am gagging to get out and run so hope the physio, who has fixed me after various rugby sprains and breaks in the past can get me up and running asap, this evening would be good!!!!. Happy Running.

Race Report: NDW50 - Sat 13th Aug

Very late post I know, but been very busy. I had thought that this would be a good race to really go for it and see what I could do, but it didn't turn out that way, and was probably more enjoyable as a result.

I arrived in Farnham in plenty of time (for a change) and found somewhere to park and went to register and pick up my number, bumped into Ian and Sandra on the way in (fellow pacers from Brighton Marathon), Ian was doing the mara and Sandra doing the 50miler like me. The race briefing was very good and to the point and belied the fact that this was Centurion Runnings first events, and fair play to them for putting on a Marathon/50 miler/100 miler on the same day.
I then bumped into a very old friend from my early twenty's clubbing and drinking days, Adrian Hill, it was great to have a quick chat and reminisce about the old days (we are getting old). At the start I also saw Claire Shelley, who was 1st lady (3rd overall) at GUCR this year, it was really good to see her, and to think she ran her first official ultra with me, Jezza and Rob a couple of years ago and I am sure the guys wont mind me saying, but now, she is in a different league to any of us. And then we were off, and almost straight away a lady in a serpentine vest was running next to me and I remarked that another serpentine runner (Claire Shelley) ran her 1st ultra with me, and this lady (Gemma Carter) then said this was her 1st 50miler! What are the odds on that, it was at that point that I decided to run the rest of the way with Gemma and to enjoy the day out, rather than run as hard as I could and go for a time. The rest of the day went well, apart from having to push Gemma up a couple of the massive hills (lucky she is uber light).
The NDW is a lot different to the SDW, in that it is a lot narrower and more through woods rather than open downes like SDW. This makes it less fast but more technical, and some of the views were amazing. It was a good day out and I felt very strong throughout, and just as Gemma and I were coming into the finish, Gemma tried to outsprint me to the finish the cheeky monkey, I just managed to catch her on the line for the same finishing time/posistion of 20th overall. I look forward to hopefully running with Gemma in the future.

Me looking happy (must be early in the run)



Great Views over the Surrey Countryside



Gemma Carter - My running buddy for the day

Me striking a pose (look like a t**t)

What a view.

Race Report: Classic Quarter (44miles)

I will try and keep this shorter than usual (which I know will make a nice change!!), but as the race is fairly long the report may take the same shape. I ran this race last year in 10:42 and came 33rd of about 90 runners, this year I wanted to run around 9hrs (anything under 9hrs in 2010 was a top 10 finish), but knew this would not be easy as this is a very tough course. About 4000ft of climb in the first 21miles then a flat 8 to 9 miles, and then about 3800ft of climb in the last 14-15miles, and most of this very steep, or steps, or scrambling on one section from CP3.


 Drove down to St Just, just outside Lands End on Friday and got to the YHA I was staying in about 3pm, it is down a track and seems to be in the middle of nowhere, but really nice. Parked up and went inside saw a map of how to walk to St Just village and did my best to remember it and walk the alleys for the 15mins walk to get some supplies.


Got back and checked in, turns out three other guys I was sharing a room with were also doing the race so this meant we spent a bit of time that evening talking about running etc and they were asking a few questions as I was the only one who had done the race before. 3am alarm goes off, we all get up and get ready, drive to the finish and get the 4am coach to the start at Lizard Point, a few people on the coach talk about expected finish times, one guy says 8hrs, I say he will be doing extremely well and will be very near the front, which I don't think he expected to hear. Get to the start check in and get ready. Very misty at the start with some very light rain and quite gusty wind coming in off the sea.  Much bigger field this year, probably about 165 runners, race briefing over and we are off.



You can just make out the trail that I have just come along (now the mist had cleared).



For about 5 or 6miles I was in around 15th place, then I made the first of two navigational errors, due to the mist and not being able to see any runner in front or which trail was correct I guessed and ended up going into a field with an electric fence, rather than go back the way I came I found a way out on the downhill of the field which was in the correct direction, and came out on the right trail seeing runners I was ahead of now in front of me (ahhhh). Then as I picked up a couple of lost places I was again running alone, saw two runners go up a steep hill between some bushes and assumed this was the right way, a very steep climb and then onto a road only to see the runners coming back to me. I voted to go linear, which meant directly through two fields and onto the main road below, a 300m run along the road and we were back on track. No excuses really as I did run it last year, but with such a long race and so many trails leading off at various points, it is something that can happen, and did.

Came into CP2 at 21miles (garmin said 22.6 for me!!) and had to sort out the bad rubbing I had on my left big toe, it was pretty uncomfortable and would only get worse. So I sorted my foot and checked the other, and re-filled my bladder, I wished I had packed fresh socks as getting the wet ones on again was a real pain, in all I probably spent 10mins here that should have been 2-3mins at most. Back out again, and it was starting to get warm. On the steps down onto the beach I slip and manage to grab the rails and end up hanging at arms length with my legs outstretched resting on the metal steps, I tell myself to concentrate, and think 'that was close' and have a little chuckle to myself.

Once onto the flat/road section that leads to Penzance I was making good headway, although a very strong headwind made it a lot more difficult than it should have been. I made up about 5 places on this section, and felt ready for what was to come. I came into CP3 and didn't waste anytime, maybe 90 seconds. And was  off, this is the hardest section by a LONG way. You have to climb the first 30 yards or so of trail as you pick your way up the almost vertical hill of rocks and climb through gaps, there is probably only 20-30 percent of the next 4-5miles that you can run the rest is walking/climbing/scrambling or really steep ascents/descents and really mucks up your pace. Felt a bit woozy at mile 39, but realised I had not been drinking enough, and it was a bit warm, so got on the fluids and ate a few Randoms (rowntrees sweets) and felt a bit better. Steep set of steps upto the last water stop and only 5.2miles to go. The problem with this last section is you can see the finish in the distance and think it is not that far but then the coast swerves back in and out and you don't seem to get any closer, and it was also hiller than I remembered.
I knew I would be cutting it close to get my desired 9hr finish, and worked very hard on the last few miles but the time just started to slip away, but I finished strong and came in at 9hrs9mins and 35th of 156 starters.

It was interesting to me that although I ran 1hr35mins quicker than last year, I came 35th when I came 33rd last year, although the field size was much bigger this year (156 to 98 last year). Also, the top 10 finishers were way inside last years times, so the quality of runners was also very good. I think it is great that Ultras are getting more and more interest, but it does make it more challenging to achieve a better finish posistion, as I found this year. But to be honest, that is not the real reason we run them, is it.



Bit misty at the start, and then I got lost!!



Looking relatively fresh, it wouldn't stay that way for long.

Oh no, here comes some runners.

Stunning, Yes. Tough, absolutely.

Southdowns Marathon 2011 - Race Report

I had thought that a sub 4hr run on this course would be a good effort, but would see how I felt on the day as I had never run quicker than 4:12. Admittedly, I always tend to do this race as a training run for other things so this does give some insight into why 4:12 was the best effort as yet.
The journey to QE Country Park was very straight forward and once parked up near the finish area made my way to the coach which takes us to the start over in Slindon. The amusing thing is that the coach drivers usually take a couple of attempts to find the start at Slindon, but this year the driver found it first go.
Had a good chat with a runner called Blades (yes, this is his name), who was doing this race for the first time, he asked if I had done many Mara's, after I said I had, and listed a few he was asking for a few pointers, which I did my best to answer. He was an interesting bloke, works in the City, lived in New York for 15yrs etc so was good to talk to. He is aiming to do the NDW 50miler in August to celebrate his 50th b-day, I may also be doing this race, so said I would look out for him.
When I got to the start area I had a wonder round and found Ian Berry (Pacer from Brighton Mara) and we had a quick catch up and discussed our amazing offer for November from Darris and Star (CLIF Bar Pace Team organisers) as well as his 4 Marathons in 24hrs event next weekend (copying my ideas!).




Ian Berry (who ran a very impressive 3hrs29)

 


Just before the start with all the other runners

 I knew within 2 mins of the start that to-day was going to be a good run, 7.15pace felt fine and before I knew it there was only me and 2 other runners from the early start setting the pace. A serpentine runner was slowly going away and was too quick for me, on the first long climb I went past the 2nd placed runner who was breathing pretty hard and I didn't see him again. From here on I ran pretty hard and maintained my posistion to the first CP and up the hill that follows, I then stopped to take a quick picture on the BIG 2nd hill and was overtaken by the runner who had been just behind me for the last 4miles.



Great Views

 My speed on the flats and downhill sections I was pleased with, but having not done much in the way of big hills for a while I did struggle on the ups (and there are plenty on this course!) But having a little walk on the big climbs did allow me to a) take pictues and b) admire the amazing views over the downs and c) catch my breath, the views and the really good course is why this is one of my favourite events.

I had forgotten how many small steep climbs there are in the last few miles, I had somehow convinced myself it was relatively easy over the last few miles (should know better having run it twice before).


No one in sight - Might have gone off a bit quicker than
the other early start runners.

  
I knew I was on for a good time fairly early on in this race, but just how good was going to be decided over the last few miles. I tried to keep up with the relay runners who were running the last section as this would ensure I didn't slow down too much, although some of them were too quick for me at this stage of the race.

The last mile or so is slightly downhill, which is good, and I had a good run against a relay runner along this last mile or so, he was putting in an effort and I was matching it (well most of the time). Into the last 1/4m and you head into the woods for a little bit more trail to the finish, and it was here that I managed to get ahead and keep pushing for the finish.

Yet another BIG hill

A bit more effort over the last 100m or so and across the line in 3hrs37mins, which is a 35min PB for this course. Very, very happy with that and as per normal ran this off the back of a normal training week (no taper). I think I also scraped home in 48th place out of the Marathon runners, which is great.

So next year if I am fit and well I suppose I will be looking at trying for a sub 3:30 time, but one things for sure it wont be easy, as this is a tough Marathon, but a very enjoyable one. 



At the finish, with my mate Ryan who had run
2 legs of the relay.

Southdowns Marathon tomorrow

I am looking forward to the Southdowns Marathon tomorrow, it is one of my favourite races. It has great scenery, a tough course with 5500ft+ of climb, it is on trails, the organisers (2:09 Events) do a great job and the goodybag is really good (has a Salomon tech t-shirt among other things).
A few runners I know are running tomorrow, so if I am lucky I may see a couple of the runners who were Pacers at the Brighton Mara and a couple of other runners I have run with during Ultras, so hope to have a quick catch up before the race.
I have never tried to run this event really hard, and never gone under 4hrs in the last 2yrs I have run it, however, with the Classic Qtr Ultra in 2 weeks time, I may need to take things a little easier than a full out blast, but will see how I feel in the morning.

Treadmill Marathon @ Bentalls Centre Kingston

Well, I thought I would update my blog in the same month as I did the actual event!!!
On Saturday I did a treadmill marathon in the main entrance area of the Bentalls Centre in Kingston town centre. This was another fundraiser to support Shooting Star CHASE Childrens Hospice (SSC), and was planned before I had done the 4 marathons in 24hrs challenge last month, I was just hopeful I would have recovered enough to run another marathon, thankfully recovery had gone ok since the 16th/17th April's BIG run.
I was meant to start the run at 10am, but we couldn't actually get the treadmill going, so about 12:00 my wife took the kids for a McDonalds as a treat, when they came back we managed to get the treadmill going. I kind of wished I had eaten a McDonalds as well as I could hear my stomach rumbling. So about 12:20 I asked my son to start the treadmill for me, which he duly did and whizzed me upto 17kmh (bit too fast!!!!).
The centre had been a bit quiet in the morning but it really started to get busy as the afternoon went by, people were interested in the info board SSC had put up about my 4 Marathons in 24hrs last month and also about what I was doing to-day as well. I was lucky as a whole load of volunteers from SSC were on hand for the duration to stand with collection buckets and answer peoples questions about what/why/how etc.

Plenty of teenagers asking how far I was running, or how far a Marathon was, one lad, when I told him how far 4 marathons was told me I was 'Hench', not sure if that is good or bad!! The run I knew was going to tough mentally as I really don't like treadmill running, and it certainly made me ache in different areas to normal, or possibly just that this was the furthest I had run in over a month. The run itself passed without too much drama, although the last 10k took foorreevveerr to go past. I was glad that a few friends popped along during the afternoon to show there support, which was really appreciated.

Total time for the run 3hrs47mins (seemed a lot, lot longer), and I have just found out to-day that we raised £1,010 in total, which is fantastic. Another good fundraising event for SSC.

Ranelagh Half Marathon - Sun 8th May

My good friend Rob managed to get me an entry from one of his running club who wasn't able to run. So as the race is only 5miles away and with a free entry I thought it a good idea to give the legs an outing to see how recovery has gone since my big run.
In short, bit warm, went out at 1:27 pace for first 3miles, this felt much harder than it should, so slowed to about 7 to 7.10pace. Kept to this for the rest of the run, definitely noticed how the warmer weather increases the Heart Rate as my HR at 7 to 7.10 pace was about 10bpm higher than normal. At about 11.5miles caught up with a runner who I had spoken to at the start who had said he wanted to do sub 1:35. He was struggling a bit so I did my best to run with him and encourage him to keep going as he was ahead of schedule, he did well and hung in there to finish with me in 1:33.40. Easy 1mile jog back to car and home.

Still a bit of recovery to go until I can look at having a full out attack on my Half/Mara PB's but this will come. Very happy how well I recovered overall, only 1 week off after the VLM x 4 and then 20miles run the next week, so this is a good sign. Events are going to come fairly thick and fast now, some really good events coming up that I am looking forward to.

VLM 2011 (4 Marathons in 24hrs)

Well, I did it, 4 Marathons in 24hrs (22hrs08mins and a few seconds to be exact) along the London Marathon route. I would first like to say a massive thanks to everyone who has helped in the lead up to and during this challenge, to name but a few:

Debs - PR / Tweeting / Facebook supremo and girl about town
Shooting Star CHASE - For their support and PR, oh and the massage straight after the final marathon
Work Colleagues, Friends and Family - For there generosity in sponsoring me
Charlotte (my wife) - For putting up with the months of training and racing (I promise to start doing some of the jobs around the house that have been on hold),
and last but by no means least Rob and Jerry:
Rob (support crew/buddy runner) - Thanks for keeping me company on parts of my my journey, can't believe you ran over 27miles in total after such a bad injury in November (if Susie is reading this I mean 2.7miles!!!!) and lugging my gear around in the car to various points, and making sure Jerry and I were eating and drinking enough, and for all your positive comments
Jerry (buddy runner/mule) - Not many friends who you can rely on to step up and run a double marathon (52.4miles) with you and only 2 weeks after running over 100km on a track!! He kept me running more than walking and also carried my extra supplies and got me back to the official start in plenty of time for marathon no 4, the official London Marathon. Oh yes, and thanks for not singing.

The Start (Marathon 1) - As per usual, some last minute faffing about by me meant we were running late so by the time we got to The Mall we were 10-15mins behind schedule.  There was a small group at The Mall to send me off and wish me luck - Rob (running friend and support crew) who was also there to grab my bag of kit for the later 'turnrounds', Russell (my work colleague) who was planning to run 6 or 7 miles of the first Marathon with me, and also a small group of people who were either from or running for Shooting Star. After a quick photo shoot, first with The Sun (not Page 3!) and then a couple of PR photos for Shooting Star CHASE  I was ready to get going. I gave a quick goodbye to my 'send off committee' and headed off with Russ.  The first 2miles were so busy with 'tourists' that we were weaving in and out of pedestrians before it started to thin out and we could run at a nice easy pace. 

I was chief navigator (never a good plan) but we made good progress with only a couple of errors/detours, 7miles came and went and Russ said he would carry on for a bit more.  Before long we were going past 12miles, and were joined by Rob, we then ran to half way where Russ said goodbye and wished me luck.  A great effort from him as he ran double what he had planned, which was really great. Rob then kept me company for a few more miles, before he left me to it for the run to Greenwich Park and the Red start. This was fairly uneventful although I did notice a couple of hills which would feel a lot steeper/longer come the later miles.

The Rob and Jerry welcoming committee were waiting for me - it was great to see Jerry as I hadn't seen him since February. A quick change into my Marathon 2 of 4 vest (after some faffing about with an extra t-shirt - sorry Rob), some nibbles, drink to re-fill my camelbak, a  change of socks and taping a small blister and we were off after about a 15min turnaround.

Marathon 2
Rob, Jerry and I set off from Greenwich Park.  With the three of us running together, it was like last year when we were running a few races together, Jerry and Rob kept the pace just under 10min miles which I know sounds slow but pacing is key in ultra distance and I needed to run about 75% and walk 25% of the next 52miles to get back to the official race in time.  So going too quick is a very bad idea. Once Rob had advised us of the amount of miles he had run to-day he/we agreed it was time for him to get back to the car so he could do one last support crew meet up before Jerry and I made our way into the night for the remainder of our run.

Jerry and I didn't talk much for a bit as I was having a bit of a lull around the 34mile mark which sometimes happens.  I was just hoping the terrible rough patch of 20+ miles I had during the Ridgeway last year wasn't going to happen again, thankfully it didn't, and we were soon having the odd little chat about the sights and sounds of London at night. We were also getting the odd "bit early for the marathon aren't you mate" or "it's tomorrow" from the locals/passing cars, which we smiled about.

We were soon crossing over Tower Bridge and on the home stretch, as such, back to The Mall.  Tower Bridge was to become the yuck point of the rest of the run as I was going to run past/over it 8 times during the course of this run (not good) and could see it on the way back from The Mall on the other side of the road when it would actually be another 9 miles before I crossed it.

At around 2am Rob met us with new kit, and extra supplies including some lovely flat coke, mini snickers bars and a bannana which Rob practically force fed me. We thanked Rob for his fantastic support (he was off to get some well earned sleep as he was helping some runners from his running club later in the morning) and Jerry and I trundled off into the night. Just as we got to the junction of Embankment and Birdcage Walk we saw another runner and Jerry recognised him as the bloke who was running the course twice and had been in the Daily Mail newspaper.  I just said hi, but Jerry was very quick to tell him I was doing the course 4 times. Not sure what the bloke thought of being told this but Jerry, being the mischiveous person he is, was smiling to himself. We were soon onto The Mall.  Jerry asked Virgin Security if we could get to the finish line gantry, but the answer was no, so we ran up the side to in line with the finish and the completion of Marathon 2 (54miles on the Garmin!), and Marathon 1 for Jerry.

Marathon 3
A few hundred yards into this Marathon we decided to stop at a park bench along Birdcage Walk so I could attend to my feet (one blister on toe, one big one developing on the ball of left foot) and change into running vest Marathon 3 of 4. We had a very chatty Security man come over and start talking to us, we both thought he was "interesting" as he told us of the amount of injuries he had sustained, and how he was a bit accident prone, but we had to get going and we were soon on our way again into the night.

Jerry and I were very quiet for stretches of this leg as both of us were trying to ignore the sleep monsters trying to coax us into sitting down, closing our eyes and snoozing. This is one of the main enemies of ultra distance running, and I really suffered during the night section of the Ridgeway in August, but thankfully we both kept strong and focused on plodding on and only walking when we got to hills, to be honest speed bumps were close to being classed as hills at one stage. We also had the opportunity to encounter some of the more interesting inhabitants of London during the night in some of the more, shall we say, tough parts of the capital, like the drunk lying on the floor, the rowdy clubbers falling out of late night establishments, or the two sexily dressed ladies standing on the corner of a road who had two rather scary looking men sat close by, Jerry said they were ladies of the night, not sure how he would know (haha).

As the sun began to rise so did our energy levels and our spirits  The marathon set up crews were starting to get things ready for the mass starts so we started to get a bit of banter with them, well Jerry was doing a lot of the talking!!  Jerry also managed to scrounge some water from the water stop crew, smooth talker that he is.

We also had a taxi driver ask us why we were running so early in the wrong direction, Jerry filled him in and the guy wished us the best of luck amongst a couple of swear words. Jerry then mentioned the word TEA, and that was then the mission, find somewhere to get a hot sweet tea with 2 sugars. Thankfully we didn't have to wait long as Jerry spied a cafe just as we came into Greenwich. I have to say the tea tasted great and really hit the spot.  It gave me the energy for the last 3 or 4 miles to the Red start, although we did walk the couple of  hills as by now they were not runnable in my book without using up too much energy and we were well within time thanks to Jerry's brilliant pacing throughout the night. In fact, I was surprised we ran so much during the night, but I put some of this down to being in even better condition than last August.  In fact I was probably in the best shape ever apart from the virus I picked up after Brighton Marathon the weekend before and hadn't shifted, which had been a worry all week, but thankfully it hadn't done me too much damage as here I was getting to the end of Marathon 3. 

As we ran up the road we could see the barage balloons and all of the crowds making there way to the 3 starts.  Jerry managed to get me a space blanket to use to keep warm and we made our way into the park and found a nice bit of grass to sit down near the start corral. I started to change and gave Jerry all of the bits I didn't need, we didn't say much, we didn't need to, Jerry knew and I knew we had done a great job of getting to this point, and with a handshake, and a "good luck" Jerry was off home and I was left to myself to get ready for what was going to be a very tough Marathon.

Marathon 4 (Virgin London Marathon 2011)
While I was sat on my bit of green grass, Paul (one of the people running for Shooting Star CHASE Children’s Hospice) came over and wished me luck, he said it was an incredible thing I was attempting and he thanked me for my huge effort. This really meant something to me as Paul's son attends the Hospice so I know Paul really meant what he said; I wished him luck as he was aiming to go sub 3:10. So there I was sat with my feet airing, a big blister on the ball of my left foot even with my attempts at taping it earlier, a big hot spot on the ball of the right, and one on my toe which I had taped many hours before.
So I got my little blister kit out and did my best to patch my feet up and get them ready for another 26.2miles of London's streets.  During this time I became aware that my quads were going into spasm and almost cramping up, which wasn't brilliant. I knew this longish stop wasn't the best for me but I don't think the organisers were going to bring the start forward on my behalf!

So I got some Buzz Bar down me and also a satsuma (which tasted great) and then a Gel (didn't taste so great!!), washed it down and got myself and my gear ready which was just as well as then I heard the gun go for the start - oops. Now I couldn't get into the corals as all of the fences were now in place so I walked up to the official and asked how I got in, who advised me to go back down as there were openings in the fence I could go through, no there effing were not and I wasn't going back down the way I had come. So sensing my slight loss of patience and on reading my race vest "4 Marathons in 24hrs - Marathon 4 of 4" the kind lady said, "it's ok, you can go in this way, and good luck".

It was quite funny, well to me, at how tired and underwhelmed I looked in the picture I took of myself at this point while waiting to cross the start line, as all around me were excited and energetic looking people itching to get going, oh how I wished that was how I felt. But I was on the last leg of a pretty big journey and now was the time to get stuck in and show what I was made of, not to prove anything to anyone or try and do the big 'look what I can do' thing, but to prove to myself I was capable of doing this.

As we crossed the start line I pressed the Lap button on my stopwatch for the last time and started to run, which felt ok but not great as the 35min downtime had not worked in my favour. I figured I was going to run until we hit the big hill and walk it then run all of what I could to the 5k mark, then see how things were with legs and blisters. As it turned out, the first 5k was the most consistent/quickest running I would manage for the rest of the race.

I was very surprised about the amount of people walking when I was, now I know why I was walking, but having to walk 2 miles into a marathon does not bode well in my opinion, but each has their own goal, so I didn't dwell much on this as I had my own worries.

It soon started to get very warm and I hadn't factored in sunscreen, so I knew I was going to get a bit burnt, which obviously added to my overwhelming feeling of joy and happiness! In honesty I didn't worry too much, just turned my baseball cap round the wrong way to protect my neck and used a little water over my head and neck at every couple of water stations. It was at mile 7 that I saw Rob (looking fresh as a daisy), as he had said he would be there, and he took a quick picture, told me I was looking great (liar) and gave me a little bottle of flat coke and a mini snickers bar, what a top bloke. He then told me to get my arse moving, which I duly did, albeit slowly. From here on in the blisters on the balls of my feet were very sore but so were the outside of both of my quads, walking was painful and slow, running was more painful but quicker, not a great set of options at this stage but the only two available. I plodded away, now wishing each mile marker to come quicker, but knowing where they were I didn't have the luxury of being surprised to see a certain mile marker suddenly appear on the horizon.


Getting to Tower Bridge was a good and bad thing, good in that it was pretty much halfway, bad in that I knew all of the rest of the route, and could also see all of the people on the other side of the road approx 8miles ahead, oh how I wished I was on that side of the road. I walked over Tower Bridge, trying to feel the crowd but to be honest I just wasn't feeling it the way I had hoped, I just couldn't get into the atmosphere that much, which was a shame.


At mile 16 I rang my wife to ask where she and my son were, my wife said at mile 19, so I ran a bit more than walked and focused on mile 19 as I wanted to see my wife and son. As I came upto mile 19 I walked keeping an eye out for them, but as I went further past the 19mile marker my heart sank a little as I knew I had missed them. It later transpires that my wife and son saw the bloke in the funny boobs and bum costume going through at mile 19 and I was about 10feet behind him, never mind.


I stopped at the next St John Ambulance station to get a couple of plasters to replace the taping that had come off of the BIG blister on the ball of my left foot which had burst a couple of miles earlier, an extra few minutes wasn't going to make much difference and a little extra comfort over the last 10k or so would be welcome. The St John's people were quick and efficient and asked me a few questions, one of them being "are you continuing the race", mmm I thought - shall I throw in the towel after 98miles and kick back and relax???   Yes, of course I was continuing, thanks for the plasters, but I have a 104.8 mile race to finish. 


A mile later the blister on the ball of my right foot was really painful and I was regretting not getting some plasters for this as well, so my running action at this stage was somewhat 'unique' to try and work round the very painful burst blisters and sore quads. The mile markers semed to be a loooonnnngggg way apart at this stage as I was wishing them to come and when you do that they invariably take a lot longer to reach. Thankfully I was at last on Embankment and mile 24 was in the distance, this was good, as the amount of support and noise here is immense, it has to be heard to be believed, this is what makes the London Marathon such a great event. I was getting lots of 'come on David, nearly there' and 'well done, only 2miles to go', as were most runners going through.  I was now looking for the 25mile marker and then saw one in the distance and then remembered it was the 40k marker (I laughed to myself, as I imagine a huge amount of runners would have thought it was the 25mile marker and then felt a bit peeved).


Coming into Birdcage Walk I was running, not fast, but running, but then walked for a bit and thought to myself how long this last bit is to The Mall, especially when walking. The crowds here are brilliant and I was actually enjoying this last bit (apart from the blisters, and trashed quads) and trying to savour the moment as much as possible as I was coming to the end of my challenge. I saw Calum Best very slowly go past me just as we hit The Mall, I did think 'I can beat him' but then thought 'who the hell cares' so just walked the last 200m or so to the finish line and recorded a little video as I came in, and that was it all over, job done, end of the journey. 4 marathons, 104.8miles, 22hrs08mins, and £2,200 raised for Shooting Star CHASE.


And the best bit, apart from finishing, was making my way to the meeting area and seeing my wife and son, this lifted my spirits no end. A HUGE hug for my son and a kiss from my wife, and then when I got home a massive kiss and hug from my daughter, it made it all worthwhile. I am obviously going soft in my old age.

Me, Russ, with Nick behind and Rob before the start.

Posing for phots for The Sun photographer

WIth the excellent Shooting Star CHASE before the start

The 3 amigos (l to r) Rob, me and Russ

Russ just about to finish having done 13.1 miles (top effort)

Me and Rob on Tower Bridge for the first of many times

If you run Ultras you will recognise how I am feeling

On The Mall next to the finish line at the end of Marathon No 2

End of Marathon No 2 at The Mall (just under 54miles done)

Jerry sporting his now famous Union Jack shorts, this is about 02:00am on Marathon no 2 (no 1 for Jerry)

About to start the Official London Marathon, I look really pumped!!!!




Mucking about with my son on the train to London to start my run

The week that was (including One Race and 2 PB's)

My apologies for not posting for a while, I have been very busy at work and obviously doing a LOT of running as well. A quick recap of the main things from last week.

Weds 16th
Re-visit to Shooting Star Children's Hospice this time with Debs (my PR superstar), met with Emily from Shooting Star and Chris from Chase who do the PR, along with Karen, the fundraising supremo for Shooting Star. We had a lovely guided tour and got to find out a bit more about how the Hospice is run and the funding (lack of) from the state. We discussed getting my challenge out there to a bigger audience, and with Debs ground work and Emily and Chris' contacts this should start to gather some momentum over the next few weeks. The visit just confirmed my original feelings from Sunday's visit, that it is a special place doing amazing things for some very special children and there families. I think Debs was really impressed, I think she mentioned looking into volunteering!!

Sat 19th
As I had been doing a lot of training and no racing I entered the Dorney Lake Half Marathon, it was also where I had set my PB almost exactly a year ago, so with that in mind decided I was going to really go for it and see what happened. My mate (Ed) from work had also entered, and as he had recently run a 1:32 I was hoping we could pace eachother to a quick time. On arrival it was pretty cold and we took a while to decide on amount of layers, but as the sun started to come out decided it was better to start a bit cold as we would soon warm up once running. A quick jog the 1mile to the start and line up, not too near the front but maybe 4 rows back, and then off. A very quick start saw sub 6min mile pace for the first 400m or so but I quickly settled into about 6:40pace for the first mile and watching the speedier runners start to go ahead saw I was in about 45th place. I was slightly ahead of Ed and didn't se him for the first few miles, I was very happy that I was finding the pace ok, and thought that a sub 1:30 might be on the cards. At the 9k point Ed pulled alongside and said he was going to pull out at 10K, as his ITB/knee was again playing him up, but was going to put his foot down to 10K as he was on for a PB. I saw Ed pull off to the side and I looked at my watch as I went past 10K in 42:11, a new 10K PB, which was nice. I couldn't help noticing how good I was feeling as I don't do a lot of distance running below 7min mile pace, but just thought about staying relaxed and keep going. I had started to make a few places up on the next 5k lap (this race is 4 and a bit laps of the Lake, bit boring, but it is flat) and thought I must be in about 35th place, and had actually got faster over the last lap. I did think that any minute the wheels were going to come off and I was going to suddenly slow down a lot, but I was really enjoying myself and talking to the other runners and offering words of encouragement to those that I thought needed a little boost. Ed gave me a big 'Come on' as I went past him to start my last lap, I had been making a conscious efort to keep my Heart Rate under 160 or so, as this is the point I think I start to burn up, but with only 5K to go really put the foot down. I soon caught and passed another couple of runners before myself and 2 runners made a little group and were pushing the pace together, this was good. Quick glance at the watch and mile 11 was 6:29, pick it up a bit more, mile 12 in 6:22, past the 20K mark and realise later that this 2nd 10K was done in 40:50 a new 10K PB. The last mile was really going for it and went past in 6:11, which is faster than my 5K pace!! Gave it absolutey everything coming into the home straight and think I was screaming Aaaaarrrrgggghhhhh on the way into the finish line. I managed to stop my Garmin and hand on knees sucking in air like no tomorrow, I look at the watch and can't quite believe the time, I go to the Race Organisers computer to get my official Chip Time and finish posistion from them, and it is confirmed, my time is 1hr26mins50secs (WOW) thats 6:38per mile, 29th finisher overall of 359 finishers and 19th in my category. I basically had hoped to get near to 1hr30 for a Half Mara somtime this year, and had the run of my life and did a 10K and Half Mara PB in the same race. Days like this don't happen very often. Seems like the long miles are paying off.

Sun 20th
Didn't have time to 30miles in one go to-day so, 14miles this morning, then 17 this evening, felt really spaced at mile 14 of the evening run but resisted the urge to down a gel and just slowed a little and pushed on through, but boy was I tired when I got home. Yesterday took it out of me big time.

Total Miles for week: 83.3

Running Easy

Easy 10miles this evening as this week is an easy week (I do 3 weeks hard 1 week easy), and I am having difficulty running slow, well, what I mean is, slow enough for my 4 x Marathon in 24hrs next month. I seem to be running at about 8.15 to 8.30 per mile pace as default easy pace, this is too fast. Never thought running too quickly (in relative terms) would be a problem.

Meet up with the Shooting Star runners tomorrow at 9am in Richmond Park for an easy 8miles, and then I am visiting the Hospice in the afternoon. All of the people who are running the Virgin London Marathon for Shooting Star have been invited to visit the Hospice, we will have a group photo and a tour of the Hospice, promises to be a really good afternoon.

Warp Speed Mr Zulu



‎06:25am and half hour into my run, I look happy!!!!





Run finished, happy/looking a bit psycho.



The weekends training runs went a little like this:

Saturday 5th March

‎30.2miles of Richmond Park covered this morning, very eerie at 5:45 in the morning, and very quiet. Had my Shooting Star t-shirt on (with another 3 layers), I had forgot how hilly the park was, as 3300ft of ascent for the run. Lucky to have Sherrine (a work colleague) join me for the middle13miles, she did very well and is looking good for her race, Kingston Breakfast Run (16miles) on 27th March. I felt really good and picked the pace up a little bit over the last few miles in fact 3miles (24to26) were covered in 22mins including the hills. Total Distance: 30.2mi / Time: 4hrs16mins49secs = 8.31per mile average 

Sunday 6th March
Having spent the morning at the zoo with the family, managed to get out for my run early PM, which was a bonus. Legs felt pretty good and set off at easy pace and didn't pay much attention to the Garmin until I stopped for a quick chat with a friend (Jayne, thanks for the words of encouragement, nice to see you) where I noticed 7miles done at 8.11 average!!! Blimey it didn't feel like I was running at that pace it felt very easy. So I set off and back along the Thames at 11 miles towards Bushy Park for the last 9miles, and with the wind with me I was now doing sub8 pace for the same effort. I saw Jo Pavey twice during my lap of Bushy Park and even got a friendly wave (I hope she does well at the NYC Half Mara this month), so I picked the pace up a little more towards the end, and a 7.16 last mile.
Total Distance: 20mi / Time: 2hrs39mins12secs = 7.58per mile average
I didn't think sub 8min miles for 20miles would have felt so comfortable, especially having done a 30miler round Richmond Park yesterday. Training seems to be coming together. Warp speed Mr Zulu.........

Total Miles Run for the week: 82.9 (lets call it 83)

Brighton Marathon - 4hr Pace Leader for CLIF Bar Pace Team

Really chuffed as I have been chosen as the 4hr Pace Leader at the Brighton Marathon on 10th April for the CLIF Bar Pace Team. So I will have the responsibility/honour of running at a very consistent pace for the whole way to ensure those runners trying for a sub 4hr marathon can follow me to the finish and get a time of 3hrs59mins59secs or less (no pressure then!!). CLIF Bar will also have a stand at the expo the day before so we meet runners and offer advice and encouragement (I am doing the 4-6pm slot), we also get Saucony running gear including trainers, overnight accommodation and obviously free race entry along with CLIF Bar goodies. Really looking forward to it although it is only 6days before I attempt the VLM 4 x in 24hrs, but 4hr pace will be slower than my easy long run pace, and I am feeling like the training is really going well, so I hope a really steep taper (resting up) after Brighton and before London will have me raring to go.

Some of the other Pacers in the CLIF Bar Team are vv serious athletes, 100+ marathons and World Championship runners, seems like the 4hr runners may have drawn the short straw as they have me pacing them (!!!!!).

Running with Friends

Me modelling the Spring/Summer 2011 collection.

As you may or may not know I tend to do 98% of my runs on my own, not through choice, but because of the times I am able to run, and mine and other peoples schedules not fitting in. This as you can imagine makes getting out the door and doing all these runs a little bit more difficult, so it was really good to be able to do a long run with my firend and work colleague Ed on Friday afternoon. We both booked Friday PM off of work, as Ed had told me earlier in the week he wanted to do a long run of over 26.2miles (Marathon distance) but couldn't do it Saturday or Sunday. We decided on 28.2miles, and Ed worked out a route that took in Bushy Park, Twickenham, Syon Park, Brentford, Kew Bridge and then onto the Thames Path and the 10 or so miles back to East Molesey where we had parked the cars. This would be Ed's furthest ever run and his first ever Ultra distance run, or as I said to Ed, his first proper distance run (!). We decided on a comfortable 8.45pace and promptly did the first mile in 8.20 (oops), it's easy to do this when you are talking and not concentrating, especially as both of us can run at 8.20 pretty easily. With a bit more concentration we got the speed down and the run itself went pretty quickly, as it tends to when you have good company, in fact over the last 4 or so miles I told Ed to slow down as he was gathering pace, Ed has a tendency to start to speed up near the end (he's in race mode from all the Coastal Half Marathon races he has been doing with his better half, Fi). He even suggested we do 30miles as he was feeling good!!!! Thankfully I had almost run out of drink, so talked him out of it (without much effort I hasten to add) but I was also a bit tired as I had run the previous 3days, and our pace had averaged 8.40pace for the whole 28.2miles.
All in all a really good run, and well done to Ed for going Ultra, which is good as he has already signed up to do the 44mile Classic Quarter in Lands End this June, I am of course going along to run it with him, it's a agreat course but v tough, as I learnt last year.
I have also received some The Shooting Star Children's Hospice t-shirts which I will be modelling during most runs over the next few weeks (as per the photo in this post), thank you to Karen and Alicja of the fundraising team for sending them to me.

A solid 70.1 miles run last week, more of the same this week only more so! Seems to be a recurring theme here.......

6:30am, raining and miserable, time for a run.



Back from my rainy run

Saturday 19th Feb:

It's has been a while since I have had to wear my Montane Quickfire waterproof jacket on a run, but Saturday was one of those days. When the alarm went off at 6am I dragged myself out of bed and snuck downstairs, doing my best not to wake the rest of the house, grabbed my Garmin switched it on and opened the window to pop the Garmin on the window ledge to get a signal and realised it was raining pretty hard (arse!). Got ready, grabbed my Raid Revo rucksack with 1.6l High5 energy drink in the bladder (had not used this Rucksack for a while, but needed it to carry more fluid from the start to-day, great bit of kit) ate a pancake (not the most hearty of breakfasts for a 24mile run) and out the door into the rain. The first 3 or 4 miles the rain was pretty hard, by mile 7 it was just a light drizzle and I thought I may have overdone it with the fully waterproof jacket, also chatted with another runner for a mile or so who is training for the 16mile Kingston Breakfast Run in March.

At mile 9 I met up with Sherrine (a work colleague) who is also training for the Kingston run as she wanted to do 12miles, which would be her furthest run so far, I was of course extremely glad of the company. In my infinite wisdom (Ha!) I decided we should set off along the Thames towards Weybridge, but as the rain must have been coming down overnight the tow-path was really waterlogged and extremely muddy most of the way, and the rain did not let up. So very wet/muddy shoes and socks for most of the 12miles (sorry Sherrine), but Sherrine ran very well at a good constant pace of around 8.40, although as I had miss calculated the distance she had to stop about a mile from where we met as she had already done 12miles and didn't want to push the distance too quickly (wise choice). We said our goodbyes, and I apologised for my miss calculation and went off to finish the last 3miles, I must admit my hands were very cold by this stage and the jacket had collected a fair bit of moisture (sweat) in the forearm/elbow area so I had to hang my arms down and feel it run down and out of the jacket (nice), you eventually overwhelm any waterproof jacket with the heat you generate and it can't shift it quick enough, I think it's called MVTR - Moisture Vapour Transfer Rate. My jacket has one of the best MVTR rates so god knows what it must be like inside the jacket when wearing one with a low MVTR, bin liner springs to mind. Anyway, the last 3miles were a bit quicker as I put the Ipod on and a couple of great tracks were playing, and then I was home in around 3hrs30mins.

Sunday 20th Feb:
Met up with Debs (superstar, who is doing PR for my 4 Marathons in 24hrs challenge) for my photoshoot. Debs had picked a nice spot on the Thames opposite side to Hampton Court Palace so we would capture the palace in the background of the photos. Just my luck as I stripped down to my running gear that 4 teeange girls (maybe 14 to 16yrs old) arrived on the scene, Debs joking that my fan club had turned up, I said that it couldn't be as there were not enough and the rest would be along presently!!! I put on the Shooting Star running t-shirt that Debs had got me, I think Debs is trying to tell me something as she only had Large and X-Large with her, but in all honesty I will have to grow into the Large. The first shot was brilliant, Hampton Court and the Thames in the background and nothing in the foreground, Debs had missed me, I was obviously running too fast (possibly not). Debs got some good shots eventually, which was no easy task  with what she had to work with, and hopefully some not too bad shots of me just standing and smiling and not looking too cheesy or false. I have reminded Debs to ensure the camera is set to 'George Clooney' or 'Brad Pitt' mode next time, failing that, get someone who can airbrush like a pro to take a look at the photos before we put them out for public viewing. My thanks again to Debs for all her hard work.
I managed to get out for today's run at 5.30pm, but was under instructions to be home before 7.45pm to do bedtime with the monsters aka the children. I wanted to run at easy pace so 15miles was the plan, I was pleasantly surprised on this run, significant was how low my Heart Rate was, the Average for the entire run was 126bpm at an average pace of 8min23secs per mile. So good pace for easy effort, seems like I was in that lovely running nirvana zone tonight, pity it isn't easily achieved on runs.

A solid 64.1miles for the week.

TCR (Triathlon, Cycling, Running) Show

Last Saturday I popped over to Sandown Park Racecourse for the TCR Show which is on every year. It has a real selection of kit aimed mainly at Triathletes but caters for runners as well as you would expect (Triathletes after all do run!!). It's a good job I am not a triathlete as you could spend a fortune, I saw bikes at £6500!!!!! One of my reasons for visiting was to go to the Brooks stand as I wear Brooks Adrenaline 10th edition and they now have the 11th edition out and wanted to see if they were an improvement on the 10's as sometimes updates are not neccessarily upgrades as was the case from Adreanline 8 to 9. The shoes themselves felt a little different if the forefoot but felt really good when I had a quick jog, this I think is the new DNA cushioning compound in the heel and forefoot which is non-newtonian  (A non-Newtonian fluid is a fluid whose viscosity is variable based on applied stress), my only issue is they seem to come up a little bigger than the 10's in width.

While I was on the Brooks stand I noticed a large queue and then saw Chrissie Wellington (3 x Ironman World Champion and World Record Holder) was signing autographs. She is taller than I had imagined and you could really see the muscle definition on her arms and shoulders (I have a long way to go to get into that sort of shape). She is sponsored by Brooks and is a phenomenal athlete, her marathon time at the end of a 2.4mile swim and 112mile ride is 2hrs48mins!!!! Had it not been for illness I think she would have won a 4th successive Ironman World Title late last year, great to see a British athlete who is the best in the world at what they do.
Sunday, I took my son to see Yogi Bear 3D, it was a good excuse for us boys to buy popcorn and sweets. While we were doing this the girls went to a 3rd birthday party, lots of princess dresses and sparkly stuff.