I'd entered the TT50 before doing any actual research - time wise, it fitted in well with training for the Worlds in April - a good solid 50 miler to see how training was going, to get some miles in my legs and to prove fitness for the GB team. When I mentioned it to friend and 24H teammate
Karen Hathaway, she seemed keen to run as well, so we decided to make a weekend of it. I then did some background reading for the race - the more race blogs I read, the more stressed I started to get - the one common theme seemed to be of people getting lost. Its a run along the Thames Path. You follow the Thames. It's a river, you start at one end, you finish at the other, you can't get lost, right? Unfortunately anyone who knows me, knows that if anyone is going to get lost, it's me. I'm the girl who got lost trying to run from Glasgow to Falkirk long the canal (keep the water on your left....).
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| Pre-race ale and lucky elephant |
No matter, the pressure was off. Neither Karen nor I wanted to race - Karen had just smashed her PB at the Barcelona 24H race a mere 8 weeks before to again secure her place in the GB 24H squad, so still had that in her legs, and I didn't want to disrupt my training by having to taper and then recover from what was essentially a training run. All Karen and I had to do was to trot round unscathed, injury free to prove fitness for April and use it as a good solid training run. So I abandoned the pre-race norms of tapering with the plan to pretty much pick up training again the week after. The focus was after all, April. We stayed over at the race headquarters - the
Hawkwell House Hotel in Iffley, just outside Oxford. Pre-race dinner consisted of a packet of Quorn and a packet of cold quinoa. I didn't want to appear too healthy though so nipped downstairs to the hotel bar to get a bottle of ale. This was going to be my first race as a member of Nathan UK's ultra team. I'd stressed to Stevie though not to expect much as it wasn't an A race - it wasn't even a B race - so again this took some of the pressure off.
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| Someone has actually sponsored me!! |
The morning of the race, I did my usual mistake of eating far too much for breakfast - an instant porridge in the room when I got up, then downstairs to breakfast for scrambled eggs and muffins (it looked suspiciously like a McMuffin) and about half a loaf of toast. I lined up with Karen on the start line feeling completely stuffed. But very stylish in my brand new, straight out the packet
Nathan Vapour vest,
Osmo t-shirt and comfy
Feetures socks (the boys at 2Pure will like this;))
I failed to hear what was said at the race briefing due to the chattering of the 300-odd starters around me but mostly through being distracted by the cute monkey in front of me - which started waving at us from its rucksack as we started running, much to the amusement of Karen and I.
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| The waving monkey |
Within the first few miles I had made my first navigational error - luckily I was still with Karen and in a group though, so was put right quickly. In my defence, there was an arrow, I was just trying to follow the wrong one. If two things could sum up the actual race, it would be firstly, me feeling completely stressed for the majority of it because I didn't know which way I was meant to go (that actually probably sums up my life in general), and secondly, mud. The parts where you were actually running along the Thames were fine (apart from the mud, but I'll come back to that) as they were reasonably well signposted. It was the bits where you came off the Thames - any time the path deviated, there were no signs at all, and nothing was obvious (arguably however, I do lack the navigation gene). I found this quite frustrating, especially in the second half, as any time I pushed on and got to a dodgy bit, I'd then have to hang back and wait for runners to catch up to once again ask advice for directions.
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| I love mud, I love mud, I love mud..... |
The second unfavourable aspect of the race was the mud. I absolutely love trails and running offroad. I'm even not too averse to cross country. I also don't like to use strong words unless I feel they are really justified. In this case they are - I can only describe sections of this course as Pure Muddy Hell (PMH)! It was the horrible, slimy, sticky sort of mud that sticks to your shoes, building up layer after layer so you eventually end up about 2 inches taller than you started and you feel like you are carrying weights on your feet. I had been warned about the mud so had decided to wear my Brooks Pure Grits for traction - however, this word has no meaning or place in the world of PMH - the studs in my shoes were soon buried under layers of slime, so it was impossible to get any sort of traction. I think the worst was not knowing how long the muddy stretches would last. And then there would be points where you came off the mud, onto some drier patches, or even road (I never realised how much I love running on roads until this weekend!), only to then end up back on the muddy fields of.....mud. I'm just glad that a lot of the latter stages of this, I was running on my own, so nobody witnessed the words coming out my mouth.
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| Wish I'd had wings to get over the PMH |
Happy interlude: wow, I have never seen so many Red Kites in my life! I didn't realise that they had been reintroduced in the area, and today there are something like 1,000 pairs in the area, probably more! It was the day after the race that I realised just how many there were - probably 9 out of 10 birds I saw in the sky were Red Kites. They are really distinctive, with their reddish brown colourings, angled wings and forked tails. Anyway, back to the mud...
The guys at the checkpoints were fantastic - very cheerful and helpful in getting our bottles refilled and feeding us cake and chocolate. It was also fantastic to see my brother - Ally is stationed down at RAF Benson, which is one of the towns we ran though, so I'd given him a rough estimate of what
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My Brooks PureGrits. There are studs somewhere
under there. I should probably clean them. |
time I thought I'd be passing through, and asked him if he could pick up a bottle of coke and a packet of salt and vinegar square crisps. Ally's never seen me run before (other than when we were at High School and used to compete at track and field) and I never thought to tell him to have the coke ready and opened - first of all I thought I'd missed him as he wasn't where I thought I'd see him, and then I turned a corner, saw him, and the next 15 seconds consisted of me shouting - "hey", "coke", "quick", open it", poor Ally trying to run after me and open the bottle, me whacking the bottle off my lip with coke exploding everywhere, and only managing to pour some of it down my front, and then chucking the rest of the contents of the bottle down poor Ally's jeans. I doubt he'll ever offer to come watch or support me at a race again...I spent the next 30 odd miles thinking about how much I would love a drink of coke.....and some salt and vinegar square crisps....
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| I can see the finish!! |
I remember finally getting to about 2 miles from the end, when I'd again been slip sliding through the mud, running through prickly bushes just to try to get some traction, when I finally reached the end of the field of PMH and hit a road - there where 3 options and no signs - left, right, or straight ahead. Usually I choose the opposite direction of the way I think it is, as I can at least rely on the consistency of my terrible navigational skills. However on this occasion, I was even more clueless than usual given 3 choices. With no runners in front of me and no sign of any behind, all I could do was hang about until I saw an old lady walking down along the road - I asked her how to get back onto the Thames - her directions were to turn right, run down the road into the village and at the shops turn right. This sounded so wrong, and I was convinced it wasn't the right way - but I didn't have an option so headed down. After a couple of minutes (I may have cried...actually I did), I did reach some shops and also a pub - a quick shout over the bush to the folk drinking in the beer garden and it seemed I was actually going the right way.
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| Karen and me - job done, trophies were an extra bonus :) |
Finally, with the ground no longer squirming under my feet, I was back on a path and I could see a runner ahead, A last long straight, and then I could see the finish curving off to the left...on a nice muddy field. I have never been so happy to finish a run! I came in 5 mins behind the leading lady (damn!), and Karen came in a couple minutes after me - all of us were inside the previous women's course record, and finished top 12, so not bad for a wee trot :) We were greeted with a cup of coffee and lovely homemade cake. My brother was also there to drive us back to the start in Oxford.
When we got back to Oxford, we sneaked into the hotel a nice healthy meal from the local chippy - my brother and I always seem to use each other as an excuse to get a chippy dinner whenever we see each other, sometimes I think its probably a good think that we don't live closer or see each other too often in that respect! Waving goodbye to my brother and finishing the day as I'd started (i.e. stuffed), it wasn't long until Karen and I were again starving. At which point I remembered the square salt and vinegar crisps. Which were still in Ally's car. I'm not embarrassed to say we were the first to queue to get into breakfast the next morning :)
Looking back on the race, it was a great course - I just wish I'd been able to recce it, or there had been markers of some sort. The organisers did a great job though, and the checkpoints were all excellent. And the mud? Those are the sort of challenges that make finishing races like these feel even more worthwhile.
Lessons Learned
- If you get the chance, always recee the course. Or at least, look over the map and be sure of any tricky parts - especially the last couple of miles!!
- There is no such thing as too much vaseline (why do I never learn this??)
- Don't assume any supporters who turn up on the day without prior supporting experience, know how to support. Remember simple things, like ask them to take the lid off a bottle, or open packets etc.
- Honey stinger ginger snap waffles are the bees knees (pun intended)
Thankyou's to
- My fantastic big brother Ally
- The guys at 2Pure for supplying me with all my fantastic new gear and nutrition
- The lovely folk at Brooks for my PureGrits (please can I get a new pair??!)
- The organisers of the Thames Trot 50
- Karen, for keeping me right on the sections we ran together and for a fab weekend :) Oh, and for the salt and vinegar square crisps!!
- Paul Ali for providing me with advice before the race and for keeping me right on the sections we ran together.
RESULTS and REPORTS
Article taken from Scottish Athletics:
Two of Scotland’s top ultra runners were in action at the Thames Trot 50 over the weekend.
In the men’s race, Paul Raistrick was third in 6.07.44. Paul has recently been selected to represent GB and NI for the IAU World Trail event in May.
Harmeny’s Fionna Ross was second in the women’s race in 6.57.03. Fionna is the Scottish 24-hour record holder and has been selected by GB and NI for the IAU World 24-hour champs in Turin in April.
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