OK here is an idea for a new game. You may be familiar with the TV show "Room 101" (based on Orwells room 101) where you get to consign the things you don't like to history. It's a chance to have a rant about things you hate. I hope other bloggers do the same and post them.
Enjoy.
This is a race report in three parts. Part one is here. Part two is here.
I don't think I slept at all. I nodded off a few times but I was not warm enough and there was always something making a noise. I got up about 20 minutes later and started to get my things together to head out again. I drank some coffee that Gemma had put in a thermos for me 15 hours earlier. It was still warm. I got up and was waiting to get directions onto the third loop but was held up slightly as she had to wait and record the winner coming in. Now I had not heard of this guy before and I assumed that all of the "elite" runners would have been at a more pedestrian 100k race in the north island the week before but 22 hours on that course is an astonishing time. Not sure how much he has raced outside New Zealand but he could be one to look out for.
When I first arrived here on Friday for registration I saw this sign that said "loop 3 60km". It was going to be a significant moment of the race getting past that bit. I was really pleased that at no point yet I considered quitting, even at the warm cosy end of loop tent. This bodes well for another looped run I would like to complete one day. It was just gone 4am, I was back out on the track again where I was promised the biggest climb so far.
It started with steep switchbacks similar to what I had just come down and then joined the uphill bit of the loop of despair. I thought this would take 5 hours and that would include a sunrise.
I was tired in many ways and stopped a few times to regain myself, usually after stumbling on something. The clouds in the sky were keeping us warmer in the night and cooler in the day but I wished they would leave so I could see the stars and the milky way. I had looked forward to spending a few minutes lying down and looking up at how utterly insignificant I and everything I have ever done or will do is. This always comforts me.
It was still dark as I approached TW for the third time. The only thing concerning me at this point was the location of those cows. They were not in the same place as before, I hesitantly scanned my light around but was careful not to focus it too much. I did see them, behind me. They had moved and were way down the field, still staring at me. Quite glad I did not have that burger now. 
I got to TW in around 5 hours and was pleased with that progress. I didn't think there was much up and down left and the wind had died down a bit. The next section was a short 4k to the leaning rock, heading back down then up again. This was into a headwind again and quite difficult but ok. On getting there I was told to head back down another path where I would see another marshal after about 3k.
I could jog some of it but most of it was too steep for me and I had to do a power stumble instead. I was still going faster than I had been for a while, looking out for a car that signified that 3k was done, doing that retarded thing where you look at the time and try to work out how fast you are going and extrapolate how long it would take to get to the end. More than an hour passed and I knew it could not be 5k, it just couldn't. Every switchback I expected a car and a smiling face but it would not come. For the first time in the race I thought I might have gone the wrong way, I stopped and looked back and saw far into the distance at two runners following me, much much higher up.
The car and marshal finally appeared and directed me on an 8k out and back along the side of a mountain. The trail was a bit easier but the wind was still harsh. I got to see the people just ahead of me and just behind too and was surprised that I was close to many. With all these switchbacks and corners and darkness I had not seen many people in the last 24 hours.
The 8k came and went fairly quickly, now it was time to head down a little further and then back up to TW, the last big climb of the race. I wasn't quite prepared for the "water race" though.
I am not a farmer and have no reason to what a water race is. Its a horizontal irrigation system that works its way around mountains. Instead of going back up and down we ran right through this thing. There was no trail at all, I saw the posts marking the way but there was no path. It was like Barkley, in fact no it was worse than that, there was no ground. With every step I was taken by a paranoia of my feet falling through the earth. Its was not obvious what was ground and what was air. Some of the grass looked like it was suspended. I am sure it was not as bad as I make out, maybe I was tired but I quickly lost my sense of humour at this bit, it was horrible. There was about a mile of this and then a walk on a ridge that required a rope to stay on it. Who would do this 80 odd miles into a mountain race? I was not amused.
I was having difficulty with my temperature, very cold when I just wore a t shirt but roasting when I put the jacket on. My neck was warm and my head was fuzzy. I was falling asleep on my feet. After the rope ridge there was the small matter of the climb back up to TW. I debated with myself as to whether to tell the medic I felt both hot and cold. I had not quite felt like this before, not that I can remember everything. Dr Goolgle afterwards says it could be Pregnancy, menopause, diabetes, poor diet. I reckon the last one. I fueled for this race on soup, coke, bombay mix, cashews and jet planes. Kiwi's will know what jet planes are. They are awesome.
The wind was at it's worst now, pushing us all back. I swear they moved this checkpoint to a different place each time, no amount of climbing seemed to get us up there. I could not remember exactly which mountain it was I was heading to the top of and inevitably it was the furthest one again. The whole climb was on an exposed mountain side with vicious wind.
I was going so slow I was ready to quit. It was going to be 3pm before I got to the top of this, there was about 25k of downhill after that and if that was going to be as slow as previous downhills I thought I'd be finishing in the early hours of the morning, perhaps nor even making the 48 hour cut off. I was very despondent at this stage and not really looking past just collapsing in a horsebox and being asked to be carted home.
As we got onto the last climbing straight there were about 4 of us getting battered by the wind. A marshal Andy ran down handing out walking poles. I laughed as he offered them to me, no thanks I said. My dignity already took a hit with the tights.
Lisa then came down, taking photos and walked beside me a little. "come on James, you've done tougher than this".
If I were able to get out some breath just to respond I would have said "I don't think I have".
Of all the big hard climbs I have done in the big hard races this would certainly be up there. Sangas pass, Townes pass, Bovine, Rat Jaw. This one really broke me and made me think that finishing was impossible. I gave myself a maximum of 15 minutes at the top before I was going to descent again and called Gemma to say that I may be some time.
There is a lesson here. If you estimate your finishing times by using a "bottom up" approach of taking how long you have done certain sections and then multiplying you are going to get it wrong. I was here. Not only was I doing the wrong calculations but I was also doing the calculations wrong. I was running with a few others who all seemed in a good state and moving at the same speed as me and with the intention of getting finished before dark. Surely that meant that I was going to too? Instead of trying to work out how fast I was going I should just be able to look outside and see that others around me seemed to be moving OK and they intended to make it.
I spoke to a marshall at the checkpoint who said I only had 23k left and that it was about 3 hours to the next station "Brewery". I set out at around 3pm and hoped to get there in the 6 hours that they said. I was in good spirits again but falling asleep on my feet. I texted Gemma to say I was on my way back down and hopefully back before sunset. She said she was going to meet me at Brewery. I was looking forward to this. The Northburn Station produces the merino wool that makes icebreaker clothes you might wear. There should be a barcode on them so if you can scan it you can see whether the wool came from Northburn Station. Recently they branched out into producing wine (which Gemma tells me is very very good). I didn't however know that they were also making beer. I was looking forward to this Brewery.
I jogged a bit down the windy winding path. It was getting cooler. The noises of the evening piped up, the birds and the crickets. I really should be on a patio in Wanaka drinking a beer and waiting on a BBQ. Instead I was trying to force my eyes open to get to this brewery. I escaped a sheep stampede as they got scared by me and tried to run into another field. We were told that sheep sometimes try to run away and run into you but not to worry because they are very soft. I still didn't fancy getting put out of the race by a sheep though. That gave me a kick that lasted about 10 minutes. I tried sodcasting on my phone too, blaring out a tinny version of Kashmir but that was not doing it for me. I figured I would have to go to sleep at some stage but wanted to get as much as I could do in the daylight as possible.
My mind was playing tricks on me with the rocks. I was looking out now for a building and every single rock seemed to look like a nice building with a welcoming door and smoke coming out of the chimney. This was like the ascent up the Whitney Portal in Badwater where all the rocks were coming alive and threatening to eat me, only these rocks looked like welcoming homes, except when I got right up close and they just looked like rocks.
About 2.30 later I thought that the Brewery must be just aroung the next corner. I then saw Gemma walking the other way with what looked like a large bottle of coke. She then walked behind another rock and took ages to come back out which made me wonder whether I had actually seen her in the first place. Indeed she did appear back around the rock with lots of coke. I necked a load of it and was informed that "Brewery" was just around the corner and somewhat heartbreakingly that "Brewery" was just the name of a creek and there was no beer making place at all.
I got over it though. I felt more awake as soon as the Coke hit my insides. The chap in the car told me that it was 10k to go and this was the 10k he and many others around that weekend do as an "easy 10". He pointed out a penninsula in the distance as said that is the point I am aiming for. It didn't look far at all and I was quite pleased. Unfortunately I forgot that the Romans never made it as far as New Zealand. Bloody Romans.
If you want to know what Kiwis mean by an "easy 10" there is a race in the UK that is quite similar, it's called the Knacker Cracker. Though there were no more mountains it was still up and down and side to side. I kept that penninsula in my sight apart from times when I seemed to be moving in the opposite direction to it. These farm tracks winded in and out and all about. I kept the two guys ahead in sight (one was a pacer which I didn't find out till later). Gemma came out to see me again just before it got dark. I didn't manage to finish before the sun came down but I was close.
This was the first race I had run into two sun rises and two sun sets. That was pretty awesome. After 97 miles I saw a familiar thing for the first time, a stile. Here we could not open the gates we had to climb over them, they are about a meter high. After climbing over about 50 of these and worrying about whether I'd get cramp while wedged on one and having to go through the embarassement of getting rescued while straddling a gate I wondered why there were not more of these. It seems that the race organisers have an evil sense of humour putting one of these after 97 miles.
I walked at the end, my feet were mashed. I felt blisters everywhere. Gemma told me about a sandwich that my new mother in law had made me. It's got steak, butter, mayo, mustard and onions. I salivated at the thought as was looking forward to getting in down my neck at the end. I was just looking forward to the end now. It was almost the longest I have ever spend on my feet in a race, finishing in just over 39 hours it was only 20 minutes short of what I did at Badwater. I ran though the line and lay down, describing the race as "wonderfully horrible".
It was not over though, as soon as I entered the tent I was told by the medic that I had to stay on my feet for another 15 minutes to reduce the risk of post exercise exhaustion. I felt pretty good by that point but did what he said and after 100 miles of mountains I was doing a few laps of the gazebo. Tom my father in law came up with a beer and the medic frowned, "not until you have drank at least twice that in water or electrolytes). In the end I only had one sip shortly before crashin in bed.
We were told that this was going to be the hardest thing we had done. It was not far off. I am not good at going up or down, particularly down. I think the finishing time of 22 hours was remarkable (he is a 7h 100k runner). I know I could have gone hours faster if I was able to run down hill, and carried about 10kg less belly. 
If this race were a 4 hour flight from the UK I'd be here every year, it was incredible. The support was amazing, there was never any chance of getting lost, the organisers push so hard for a safe but really tough race and that is what they got. The people who helped out were amazing. Rachel and Emma manned the comms for 40 hours without sleep. A chap went up for a 4 hour shift at TW and came back 28 hours later. Virginia Winstone finished in just under the cut off, showing a level of determination that most don't have. I really really loved this race and hope to be back in NZ soon to do this again.
Thank you everyone for putting on this gruesome race. Hope to see you next year...
How this compares to others in terms of time.
Badwater 2010 - 153 miles - 39.5 hours
Northburn 2013 - 100 miles - 39 hours
GUCR 2009 - 145 miles - 37.5 hours
Spartathlon 2009 - 153 miles - 35 hours
Spartathlon 2012 - 153 miles - 34 hours
Spartathlon 2010 - 153 miles - 33.5 hours
GUCR 2008 - 145 miles - 30.5 hours
Trans Gran Canaria 2011 - 80 miles - 23.5 hours
The heat of the day kicked in as we marched up the long climb. We were quite lucky with having some cloud cover for most of the day, protecting us from the 30c glare that we have been having here over the summer. I thought about the many friends I had who will be starting the Thames Path 100 in the UK soon. The UK has been hit by snow and blizzards and all involved were going to have a hard time. I felt a little guilt as I splashed my face in a nice cold creek, wet my hat and looked out on the ground for little lizards basking in the sun.
On the way up I spoke to Campbell who I met at the start and had been reading my blog. He said I should have no problem doing this though he and others easily cruised past me on the ascents. The path was much better than in the first loop but it was still hard work. The first climb here was to get to the top of "TW", the mountain top that was the major aid station for the whole race. On the way we were introduced to gale, a furious high speed wind that would be a permanent obstacle in the race. I don't think the video does it justice. I have not felt air rushing at my face this fast since, well erm yesterday. That was when I was in freefall, dropping out of the sky at 200km per hour.
I cowered behind a huge rock, sheltering from the wind to put my jacket back on. I felt a bit silly taking such a big windproof and waterproof jacket with me but now I was very pleased with the choice. The jacket stopped the wind from sucking the heat right out of me but my ability to stay on my feet was rather like Gareth Bale's. I stopped (or was stopped) a few times to regain my balance, looked back and saw other runners behind the same rock putting more clothes on.
It took about 4 hours to finally reach this place and it was a very welcome sight. There were two vans and 4 horse carts. My drop bag was in one of the carts and we were encouraged to spend some time in there getting warm before heading out on the "loop of dispair". I ate some soup and got out of there fairly quicky To try to get as much of the loop done in daylight. The loop of despair was only 13k but it involved a gnarly descent off the mountain and then coming right back up the other side.
The down felt ok. The blisters that I got two days ago from climbing a couple of mountains were starting to burn. Every rock kicked felt like my foot was bleeding. After an hour of descent it leveled out but started to get dark. I tried as best I could to hold out without putting on my torch but with clouds in the sky and the sun quickly disappearing behind the mountains it gets dark suddenly. And it gets proper dark too. I was on my own for this whole loop and with no other torches around if I turned mine off I was in pitch black darkness. Exhilirating but also quite scary.
At the bottom I saw a marshall who reasurred me that I was only 5k from being back at the top. I knew he meant 5k horizontally and that pythagoras would have something to say about it. Realistically I knew I was 2 hours from getting back up there. I slowly wound up the valleys to the top. I had no idea now how to idenfify the top as it was dark. The course was marked with posts and reflective tape, every 50 meters there was another glowing marker to aim for. It was impossible to get lost, they had marked it so well. I was zooming my light in to see further ahead to try and get the shape of the land. Sometimes I thought I saw another headtorch and would get excited that there were others in the race but it never was, just a reflection. I had not seen another runner for hours.
As I crested the mountain I flashed my torch near some rocks and saw a flurry of activity, lots of torches lit and moving side to side. I felt great as the checkpoint had come sooner that I expected. I walked up the switchbacks and headed around to the light but something felt odd. There was no sound. Now I was close to the lights but could not hear anything. I shone the torch at full beam directly at the area and it took a few seconds for me to realise that I was stood about 5 meters from about 12 cows all just staring at me.
We were told in the briefing that we might get freaked out by cows, these big white eyes lighting up randomly in the dark. I have seen how fast cows can run and was very careful about my sheepish exit. Apparently cows magnify things with their eyes and so they think we are bigger than them. That did not enter my mind at the time. I carried on, up a few more switchbacks and looked back, the cows were in the same spot, still watching me climb the hill. I looked up, unable to seperate the mountains from the clouds and sky. Every reflective flash in the distance was another place I had to get to and it looked so high. I saw a dim light way up. It did not disappear wheni took my light off it so it must be a runner. It was so high though and only after many turns and this light not moving did I finally twig, thats Venus. I don't have to go that far.
I was exposed to the wind again near the top as I tried to remember where this checkpoint was. It might be just behind the next rock I kept telling myself. Finally it came and by that time the wind was furious. Blasting me to standstill at regular intervals. As soon as I stopped I froze and had to duck into a horsebox where my drop bag was. I was shivering in three layers. I added my fleece to my layers, put on the thermal tights that I thought were a silly thing to carry. Put on a balaclava that I only put in the drop bag as a joke. I was now wearing all the clothes I had and I was still cold. I had as much hot food as I could manage as I sat in this little wooden box that was rocking in the wind. It was hard to leave but it had to be done. It was only about 11pm and it was only going to get colder.
I headed out of the horsebox and onto the ridge where the wind battered me further. There were 8 types of wind. Headwind, tailwind, side wind (into mountain) and sidewind (down mountain). Each of these can happen when you are heading uphill or downhill. Headwind is the worst, it slows the descents and makes uphill impossible, I was contorting myself into all sorts of shapes to try to get up some of those. Sidewinds are rubbish whether up or down too, most dangerous when pushing you into a ravine. The tailwind going down hill is the worst though, I had to lean back to stop myself getting blown away. The ground is rocky and I could not see very well. I thought I might take off. So 7 of the 8 winds are bad, the wind was 87.5% evil, there was that sweet 12.5% that was glorious, gerting blown up a hill by a gale. Sometimes it was perfect, I could just spread my arms out and use my jacket as a windsail and glide up the hill. Did not happen that often though.
I remained high and exposed for quite a while. After about an hour I came to a junction with a marshall who asked me "have you been here before?" I was not sure how to respond. How does he mean? I think emotionally I have been here before, paranoid that I am never going to get this finished. Metaphorically I have definitely been here before, getting bashed around in all directions by a random force while I try to achieve some goal that I am no longer sure is worth bothering with. Existentially I am only "here" in the sense that you are seeing me here. I could well be over there, or anywhere. But in actual fact he was asking as to whether I have physically been "here", stood by these rocks and looking at this car in the dark. I had not and so had to turn left down another craggy ridge where the wind was 100% evil.
I was a bit confused as to why I had to go in a different direction. I later discovered that we hit the same point on the third loop. He was not 100% certain that I wasn't winning. Awwwww, people almost think the nicest things.
Gemma was in bed now in Wanaka and had put a call out on facebook for people back at home to send me messages. Most of the messages said "I hear you are wearing tights like a girl". I got a lot of positive messages that brought a smile to my face, well the wind didnt let me do that. I did a big circle in the sky and then it was time for the descent, the same one as in loop one though much harder in the dark. I was tired and looking forward to a little sleep once I got to the end of the second loop. I started rattling through the calculations in my head. If I get back at 3, stay till 4 then I have 26 hours to do 60k, that should be easy. However there were sections that I was going slower than that pace. But I was still up high. I figured that it is net downhill from here to the end and though I am only about half way I could say I have already done the hardest bit. I have used this logic many times before and it has always been wrong. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, thats the definition of insanity isn't it?
It seemed harder the second time even without the additional loop with the other hill.On the way a quad bike passed me and said it's only about 2k to the end. I thought that there was no way this was true, I have not covered that distance. Then there was a car with a marshall who said "you'll be pleased to know it's only 6k to the end". Well I would have been pleased for it to be only 2k but I was even more pleased that my brain was still working and could guess distances.
I finally saw the lights of the camp and staggered in at about 330am. I saw Campbell again who said he had called it a day. 100k over that terrain is pretty good going but I was determined to do the whole lot, after a little nap though. The medic team sat me down and asked a few questions before weighing me. I had dropped 3kg since the start and they suggested I ate and drank if I was heading back out. I lay down on the nice soft warm grass and closed my eyes.
Gemma and I were about to go sky diving.
I said to Gemma "we should... You know... Before we jump out of a plane. Just in case we die".
"Nah, don't be silly" she reassured. "We are not going to die skydiving. We'll definitely do it before your race though".
Shit.
It was Gemma who told me about this race. Only an hours drive from where we will be staying. Perfect, I signed up without looking at the details. I mean, how hard can it be if I have never heard of it? The details were quite sobering though, 100 miles and over 8000m of climbing. I had accidentally signed up to the UTMB, and I discovered this about 3 weeks beforehand.
I didn't know many things about New Zealand before I went.
I knew;
It has two main islands
Lord of the Rings was filmed there
There are 17 sheep for every person
They don't like getting confused with Australians
Rolf Harris is their most famous person
Some things I wish I had known before going out there.
New Zealand has more mountains than London has bus stops
Kiwis love mountains
All sport in NZ involves mountains
The mountains are much bigger than any in the UK
The Northburn 100 is the first 100 mile race in NZ and is hardly a gentle introduction to 100 mile running, unless of course you are a Kiwi and your breakfast includes a mountain. I was expecting a hard race.
The registration the day before was an event in itself. There was a huge camp of runners and organisers at Northburn station. I rolled in after my skydive (where I didn't die), picked up my number, got weighed (marriage adds 5kg at least). I then heard the presentations. The race director was Terry Davis. He was clear that we were taking on a massive challenge and also warned us about "fraternising with the herbage". He retold his one running of the course and said he will never do it again. "don't think that when you are 10k from the end that you are close, you are still hours from the finish".
You may have heard of Lisa Tamati. She is the major sponsor of the race and was helping to register us. She has done a lots of crazy races in her time including Badwater, running across the Lybian Sahara unsupported and the length of New Zealand. She told us to expect the hardest thing we have ever attempted.
We then heard from the owner of the station; Tom. Unlike any landowner in the UK he seemed thrilled to have 100 people destroying themselves on his land. He gave us some advice on how to deal with the animals. This guy has more mountains than we have dinner mats. Can you imagine how popular he would be. "fancy coming round mine to play with my mountains?". Though apparently some girls from Invacargil use the same line with similar success.
And for good measure the medic came to talk to us about the dangers we would face. Hypothermia and Hyponytremia being the biggest risks. I had never had to carry so many layers as compulsary kit before and thought it was a bit over the top. Then he said last year 6 people got lost in an unforecast blizzard. We should be ok this year though as no blizzards were forecasted.
I woke up at 4am on saturday having slept little. However with these kind of things it is the night becore the night before that is most important and that went well. I was very sleepy though as I sat in the car to the start. I woke up a bit when Jon flattened a rabbit that was dazzled by the headlights. I think here I terms of erradicating pests you get 1 point for a rabbit, two for a possum and 5 for a kitten.
The start was sedate. 100 or so runners assembled ina tent, most running the 100 miles, some 100k and some 50k. Lisa was with the camera crew doing interviews. Gemma and I explained that this was my honeymoon race. In fact I just shut up and let Gemma do all the talking.
It was not a crowded start, the 100 runners set off on an easy 5k loop of some farm tracks before getting stick into some of the climbing. This race consists of three loops, a 50k followed by another 50k and then a 60k. It was going to be nice to break it down like that but I imagined it would be hard to set out on that last 60k loop knowing you could call it a day at a nice round 100k.
The loop was in the dark. There was no unnatural light around other than our torches. It didn't really get light until 730 by which time we were out of the vineyards and starting on the first climbs. The first climb was tough, up to the top of Mount Kinaki at about 1000m having started at 200m. This was in the first 20k. There were more climbs on rugged path littered with tussocks (a minor inconvenience) and Spaniards (a plant with leaves like shards of glass, very painful to brush upon).
As we got higher more and more clothes went on. I put a long sleeved top on but in an exposed area I was told by a medic near the top to put more clothes on as I was showing early signs of hypothermia, slurring speech and staggering. I was about to enter into a John Cleese tirade with something like "well of course I am staggering, I've just climbed 1000m through a minefield of pointy spaniards, what do you expect? Me to come strutting up here like Kate Moss? And if I could do this without slurring my speech I'll be winning". But I refrained, put on the clothes and then headed up further.
It was a good job I did put the clothes on as the wind set in and blew all the heat off my body in seconds. This was quite different from any mountain races I have done before such as the UTMB, The Lakes 10 peaks, Trans Gran Canaria. In those you go up and then down, spending little time up high and exposed. Here you get up high and then spend hours up there exposed to the elements. It took about 5 hours to get to 24k where a marshall directed us onto a path. This was the first bit of path we had seen for a while and we all started running along. I think I even managed to bang out some ten minute mileing. Sonic boooom.
Now my layers were an annoyance and took them off. The descent on the first loop was quite manageable and also quite beautiful, I felt like I was running in valleys in Arizona again. It got warm and the summer gear came out. I can see why there was a requirement for so much kit now, I was having more wardrobe changes than Lady Gaga.
I enjoyed the heat and the prospect of finishing a loop but not long before the end we were diverted onto another climb right before the end of the lap. I was hoping to get the first one done in about 8 hours but it worked out at around 830 which was not a big deal, still plenty to go. Gemma and my new in laws were there helping me with a Ferrari style pit stop. Bottles refilled, noodles cooked, sweets and nuts refilled and lots of "you are doing really well". I did not hang around too long and got up and left for the second loop. I despaired as I left at the sight of a burger van right outside the tent.
Why did Gemma not get me a burger? Lousy wife.
There are many ways in which I thought I might screw up my wedding day. Forgetting the rings perhaps? Forgetting my suit? Luckily all things I could possibly forget were arranged for me. The suit, the rings, clean socks and pants were all waiting for me at the venue, all I had to do was to run there, get changed and say I do.
It was Gemma's idea that i run to the start of the wedding. What could go wrong? 4 of us set out for a nice little jog along lake Wanaka and then onto the river Clutha. It was a gloriously warm and sunny day, surrounded by trees, water and hills. I thought about how amazing it would be to live out here. I didn't see the tree root. I went right over, at least managing to avoid landing on my face but catching my hand and knee quite badly.I was a bloody mess as I staggered to my own wedding.
The wedding was awesome though. Gemma forgot to bring the music so that made us even. It was an amazing reception with only a few people. It was a blazing hot day and after the I dos Gemma and I went on a helicopter ride into the mountains. In my speech I mentioned some of the reasons why I married Gemma. Obviously not all of them, no speech or blog is big enough to list all that. I did mention the time when I finally admitted to myself and to her that I needed her. It should not have taken a hospitalisation in New Mexico for that to happen.
This week I took in yet more breathtaking sites of this country. There are trails everywhere. I think the hardest job in the world would be a treadmill salesman in New Zealand. Why on earth would you exercise indoors when there is all this around? In fact I don't think I have seen a gym since I have been here, perhaps they don't exist here. I stayed a night in Te Anau and ran a short section of the Kepler trail. This is famous for the Kepler challenge, a 64k ultra which sells out in minutes each time and now I really want to do it.
From the 10k section I ran I can see why this is a popular trail. I call this Goldilocks trail, not to hard, not to soft but juuuust right. It felt like carpet, there were some short sharp hills that were the perfect attack slant. Even when I stacked it I just rolled onto this carpet and hardly cut myself at all. This was wonderful. When I got to the end of where I was running I let out aa awwww sound of a kid who had an ice cream taken off him. I will definitely sign up to the Kepler challenge one day. Its easy enough to do solo.
Today I ran, well walked mostly thenWanaka skyline with Gemma. This was amazing too but my head was hurting from caffiene withdrawal. I try to not drink coffee for at least a few days before a 24 hour or more race. I probably should be less addicted in the first place. We climbed two mountains, mount alpha and mount roy. Both around 1600 meters and both are the kind of mountains i'll be climbing in the Northburn 100. They were bloody hard to say the least. The tracks are quite good but it is hard climbing 1200m at a time. We didnt take enough water and didn't find a stream until after we had climed both.
The views were amazing though, you could see hundreds of other mountains from the top. Lake Wanaka looked so small. Photos to follow. Anyhoo tomorrow I will be relaxing before the big race. Well first thing in the morning i'll be jumping out of a plane. Then i'll relax.
Another dreadful day in paradise.
It was an early start, at 530 we were up before sunrise and getting our stuff together for the short drive to the middle of nowhere a few miles out of Wanaka. The start of the race was at Motatapu Station, well actually most of the race was within the same huge sheep farm. There was a delay in the start as one of the buses was late so we got an extra hour to enjoy the crisp warm morning and the insect bites.
Amongst the anouncements before the start were the call outs to the runners who had run all 8 previous Motatapu marathons as well as a mention of Gemma Greenwood who is getting married next week. He mentioned her website runningandstuff. It's not hers, yet. I guess she will get half of it next weekend. This is probably the most valuable thing I own and am a bit worried about handing half of it over. Will probably be made up by getting half her house.
Anyhoo, they also told the story of when Gemma was out here 3 years ago, not long after we started going out. She was running along the Wanaka skyline in her Serpie vest and a guy came up to her and said "Serpies, Serpentine from London right? Do you know James Adams?" One to tell the grandkids.
I was going to run with Gemma for this who has been having some ankle problems since a long run she did (and I did half off due to terrible man flu). Ben Cope was here to run the marathon really fast and Amy Cope was starting later in another race, the miners trail which was about 15k. The path was narrow at the start and we were run-walking the first few kilometers in the crowds. This was good as the terrain was hard going, tussocks and grass. Soon we spilled onto a dirt path and all started to seperate.
I really needed a wee early on and was not sure about the etiquette of doing so here. I know in the uk you just head off the track a little, in the USA you have to head miles off the track to avoid being seen. I know in Paris you stand at the side and piss in towards the crowd of runners. I just found an isolated bush.
The weather was kind, it was well over 30c yesterday and I stayed out in it too long and was feeling it today. It was cloudy to start but still warm and the sun came out eventually. We kept up a reasonable jogging pace throughout and Gemmas ankle was holding up well. There were at least 20 creek crossings.ni laughed at those who tried to tip toe over the early ones without getting wet, the later ones were knee deep however you went. In the heat they were really refreshing.
Around half way we started to get pased by the bikes, there was a mountian bike race too starting after us and they came flying past at great speed. We had to be careful about overtaking other runners as these guys were coming up behind us fast. They looked like they were working much harder going up the hills and through the rivers. We saw one biker fall over properly in the water, that was quite funny.
The secenery was amazing, not the rocky mountains that I have run inview of so far but really deep valleys. It could be somewhere in England or Ireland except all these peaks were twice as high. The sun came out and started to do its work and luckily I found a hat on the floor that I could use. We slowed to a walk later on and I suggested to Gemma we had a game of "pants, thong or commando". She wasn't up for it suprisingly. We got chatting to an old acquaintance of Gemma's who asked us whether this was our first marathon. Gemma said it was her 26th and that I had done over 100. He said wow, not the kind of "wow thats amazing" but more a "wow you look too fat to be even just doing this one".
The last 12k were pretty much all downhill which was great except that the bikes were coming thick and fast. We eventually crossed the line in around 520 which was great considering we feared we'd be walking most of it. Ben came 10th in 340 and Amy came 5th in her race.
The goody bag was quite good. A t shirt, water bottle, aftershave sample (wedding smell sorted) and a token for a free beer. Gemma could not drink hers so I had it for her. Thats the kind of awesome husband to be I am.
So that is my last race as a single man. My next race in 2 weeks I'll be carrying a ring around 100 miles of mountains. The Northburn 100 gets harder every time I look at it. It has a 48 hour cut off. The only 100 miler I know with that long is Hardrock. Shit.
It isn't my first time out of the Shire but it is the first time I have been south of the equator. My nose did not bleed although my luggage made a different journey and was not with me for a few days. Landing in Queenstown on the south island of New Zealand was pretty epic. This place has more mountains than England has chip shops. Big ones too, while out for a pre breakfast run this morning I took a detour up a slope only to find that the top was higher than Snowdon. You really can have mountains for breakfast here (and bacon).
I am in New Zealand to get married to Gemma. She is from around here and is showing me around her wonderful homeland. There are snow capped mountains everywhere and all joined up by wonderful trails. You could run or cycle anywhere here. The lakes are so blue, like copper sulphate, caused by rock flour. The coffee could actually be the best in the world. The sun has not stopped shining, the lakes are warm. Last night was the first time I ever saw the milky way "form" in the sky, I lay on the ground and watched dots of light appear in the black sky while at the same time a fine band of starlight flour swept across it. Yes I like it here.
I hope Gemma got a similar feeling when I showed her my home town. Here on the left is the pork pie library and on the right is the infamous welcoming sign "You are now entering Leicester -nobbers "
While I am here though it would be rude not to squeeze in a run or two. Yesterday I ran around glaciers at the base of mount Cook, the highest peak in New Zealand. I felt a bit breathless, it may have been the altitude or the air or because I have not run on hills for a while. Today at lake pukaki I ran along the lake and then up Mount John, a peak of around 1000m. Within 20 minutes you can be at the top of a rolling Lord of the Rings set, cooled by a refreshing breezeas you catch your breath. At home I am about a 20 minute run from willesdon junction cooled by an industrial smog that I am trying not to breathe.
While I am here I will be doing two races. On Saturday I will run the motatapu marathon, a local race to Wanaka where I am staying. I have had my kit check (it is sneaky making you go to a sports store to get a kit check 2 days before a race, trying to get you to buy more stuff you dont need. I guess all big city marathons do the same with their expos). I managed to forget to put the foil blanket it. Not quite as bad as bringing two left running shoes. This is a hazard when you buy 6 pairs of the same shoe. It is also a hazard if you are an idiot.
In two weeks I'll be running the Northburn Station 100 mile race, it looks amazing and has 8000m of climbing. Check out some of the photos on this site. http://northburn100.co.nz/100miler/ "you don't race it, you survive it". I hope to survive it.
Anyhoo gotta go. There are loads of different beers here I need to try out before the wedding. Hard life.
OK. The anxiety is over. No more waiting for my Spartathlon number. I got an email last night that confirms that I will be number 65 this year. I can't believe 64 people got in before me, I was up at 3am entering my details. Anyhoo, stress over for me and many others, now is the time to get on and think about running the race. 
I first toed the start line of the Spartathlon in 2009, I was a boy amongst men. I listened in awe of some of the running achievements that my fellow runners had completed. It was a magical but humbling experience that I will never forget.
I also remember looking around at the truly international field that was present. It really is. I looked at the beautiful kit of the Korean team, the Japanese, the Croatian, Hungarian, German and Brazillian. They all looked amazing in preparation for this wonderful event.
I looked back at us Brits. We had guts and experience and resilience and speed. However we looked like the cast from Shameless.
And so I thought, why don't we have our own kit? This happened first in 2011 when Peter Leslie Foxall designed a brilliant T-Shirt with the slogan on the back "What have the Spartans ever done for US?"
Last year Stu Shipperly created an amazing T-Shirt which I wore for the who race (and bled on). Suddenly The Brits were looking like a smart outfit. 
SHAMELESS???
This year I want to take this further. I want to create a real "team" atmosphere. I think I have done well in my own personal objective of convincing others how magical this race is and take some pride in knowing that I have at least helped convince some people to attempt the worlds greatest race.
But as we all know, starting the race and finishing the race are very different things. This is one of the few races I know where finishing is not a given. I want more Brits (or anyone really) to kiss that foot because I can never put into words just how amazing it feels.
And so I have created website (with great help from Mimi Anderson, Matt Mahoney and Mark Woolley) for the British Spartathlon team which I hope will serve as a resource for all those heading out to Greece this year. I am hoping it is something that all Brits will find useful and will want to contribute to. I want this to be a longer term project too, not just for 2013 so if you have any designs on running the Spartathlon then this is for you.
Hopefully we will get some sponsors on board that will help our athletes on their journey to the feet on Leonidas. Also we are hoping to organise a "Spartathlon Boot Camp" in Spain to get us pasty Brits in the sunshine.
I am quite excited by all of this and hope you are too. If you are a Brit who has been accepted for the Spartathlon then please let me know. Any feedback, suggestions, contributions are most welcome. The site is in it's infancy right now as I collect content and figure out wordpress. In the meantime enjoy :)
British Spartathlon Team Website
Ultra runners can be girls sometimes. Well actually some ultra runners ARE real girls, but that's not my point. What I mean is that ultra runners like carrying around lots of crap and like buying bags of all different shapes and sizes to put things in. Am I wrong? I probably own about 10 running bags. This is probably around half the amount owned by an average girl for various special occasions, first date, second date, third date (likely to put out), third date (still deciding), birthday party, work casual, work formal, gym bag, shopping bag, wedding bag (usually needs a new bag), holiday bag etc.
I am not sure what girls fill these bags with. Phones, lipsticks, three different lip balms, tissues, umbrellas, those little sweets that seem to get spilled out all over the table in busy office environments, at least according to some TV adverts I've seen.
With guys its a bit easier, we have jeans with pockets. These pockets were designed to carry a phone, a wallet, some keys and there is this little tiny pocket for a condom.
Now when the first running short was invented someone decided that the only things now required for a man while running were keys and a condom, judging by the pockets. Whose idea was this? It's crazy. I always leave my front door unlocked anyway.
So for years we have been struggling to run without either carrying a bag/belt or by not taking stuff we need (usually for me - toilet paper).
So I was quite pleased when Race Ready shorts became available in the UK. I had known a couple of people who got them from the States but never really saw an equivalent here. Now I can carry lots of things, keys, phone, money, food, gels, condom, spare change to buy some lovely flowers for Gemma if I pass a florist.
Basically they are very lightweight running shorts that have two secure pockets on the front and 5 mesh pockets at the back. On first inspection it looks too much. How would your shorts not fall down? Doesn't everything bounce about too much?
I was pleasantly suprised on both counts.
First let me tell you about the phone pocket. Well there are two of them but you can use one for cards, money, travelpass etc. I have a Samsung Galaxy S II, its a big chunky phone that allows me to facebook on the run. I slid it in and went for a jog. It was fine (except that I forgot to lock it and I kept calling my sister and speaking to her with my left testicle). So far so good.
I then decided to really give it a test, I ran a parkrun with it. 5k as fast as I could (which is not too slow actually under 20 minutes). I put the phone in and then started to bounce around a muddy trail course at 6.30 minute miles and was really suprised that I could not even feel the phone, it was pressed right against me so that it didn't feel like it was there. In fact I kept having to check, sure it had fallen out. It hadn't. A great start, you can run quite fast with quite a big phone in these and not feel any discomfort or annoyance.
But obviously I didn't buy these for parkruns. I bought these for the longer stuff and gave them another test in the country to captial ultra in Jan. 45 miles of trial and canal, hills, mud, rain and cold. I had a few things to carry, phone, food, electrolytes, toilet paper, lube and emergency cash. I had a backpack on too but this was a test to see if these things would hold.
Again they performed brilliantly, nothing fell out, everything was easy to access and you generally feel more comfortable knowing that you have all these things to hand in case you need them.
Aside from the obvious huge benefits of what they can carry they function very well as shorts too. They are light and comfortable and are showing no signs of deterioration yet despite my heavy use of them. They are quick drying (not waterproof so be careful with your phone if it does rain).
These are now my shorts of choice and I'll be wearing them for all races where I need quick access to a few items. In the upcoming Northburn 100 miler I'll be taking my phone, compass, food/gels and lube in these. In the Spartathlon at the end of the year (a race I like to run carrying as little as possible and only a bottle belt max) I'll be using these to carry my electrolyte, tissue, sun block, phone and a small light.
These shorts are exclusively available (in the UK) from the UltramarathonRunningStore who I also recommend for great service and are the first confirmed supporters of the British Spartathlon Team.
I essentially blog because I am an attention seeking loser with no actual running talent and hence will never be able to impress people my race results and so I just write a load of nonsense instead. I feel like Robbie Savage who had to constantly listen to his boss Martin O'Neill say in public "He's not the best footballer in the world, but he's the most enthusiastic".
I have no chance ever of being the best runner in the world but as my Mother always says "It's the taking part that counts".
I originally got into blogging when I heard that chicks dig guys with big blogs. I may have mis heard that. It was about 6 years ago when I started running ultra marathons, I would write a report of each race, put it online and waiting for the hits to rack up. I realised after about a week that waiting for hits on a running blog is rather like waiting for Emile Heskey to score a hat trick. As Captain Scott famously said
"I'm going out to check the hits on my blog, I may be some time".
Now we may think that some runners really are "natural" runners. Well actually we all are natural runners, see "Born to Run" and "Survival of the Fittest". The fact that some are much better than others is largely due to being given the opportunities to get these many hours of practice in at an early age. It is well known that Kenyan runners have dominated Marathon running for a number of years. This is not genetic, there is no difference in their genes than in Europeans. The simple fact is that they may in their early life run 20k a day at altitude and by their 16th Birthday would have amassed 6000 hours for purposeful practice. Killian Jornet climbed his first mountain when he was two years old. He wasn't "born" to do it he has just had much more practice than the rest of us.
Lastly but certainly not leastly was may favourite crazy ultra running Grandma - Mimi Anderson. I am sure she needs no introduction here and she is to be my partner in crime for a couple of silly runs later in the year. It is always great to hear her talk about some of the amazing stuff that she has done, tought races, world records, wins and the occasional tantrum :) She has done it all and more. In this presentation she focused on her record breaking John O'Groats to Lands End run, covering nearly 900 miles in just over 12 days. Next was the Yukon 6633 race in the Arctic Circle which she won in a hitherto unbeaten time and finally she spoke about the Jungle Marathon that she completed last year.
What is The World Relay?
The World Relay is a record breaking 28,000 mile continuous running relay around the world. It will be completed entirely on foot, fuelled only by positive energy, hope and enthusiasm.
5,000 runners will pass The World Relay baton through more than 30 countries and 6 continents, running day and night, over desert and mountain, come rain or shine.
The mission is to bring The World Relay baton home within 180 days.
Photo - Kris Duffy
A paradox. Sam Robson would like this. There is a queue of 10 runners climbing over a stile. They each take two seconds to climb over. If there is a stile just 50 meters later then why does another queue form? Should they not all be 2 seconds apart?
Anyhoo, my head was starting to hurt as the hangover kicked in and I felt low on energy and two small packs of pork scratchings didn't really cut it. I was intending to continue my no sugar experiment for this race but decided to have a GU gel shortly after joining the canal at about 25 miles. Ahhhhhhh canal.
Let's face it, this is what this book is. It probably should come in a plastic grey sleeve. The pages are quite glossy and would wipe clean quite easily.
Sorry, I don't mean to lower the tone. I'll start again.
I was really looking forward to this book and it didn't disappoint. I was looking forward to it even more when I discovered that it includes some quotes from me in there. That's not the best bit of the book obviously.
I weigh 86kg. It's been a long time since I pushed the scales that high. It means I am much faster at falling down hills and harder to stop when I run into people but other than that it is way higher than I want to be.
I am starting the new year with new hope of things being awesome, unlike the start of 2012. I am going to approach this year very differently to previous years in terms of health and training. Did I really just say the "T" word?
I have set myself two massive running challenges this year which I am calling my A races. I have one B race and then a few fun runs. I am still deciding on a few things but the difference this year is that I am doing a lot less events.
My two "A" races are;
Double Grand Union Canal Run - May (290 miles)
I have never run more than 153 miles non-stop before. I know I can run all day and all night and then all day again. The most I've ever been on my feet was 39 hours in Badwater. I have run races where I have been on my feet for more than 24 hours 6 times now. I know I can do a day and a half of running without falling apart. I wonder what would happen to me if I extended that to two days, two and a half days, three days, more?
This will be the "new territory" I will be treading when I attempt to keep myself going for more than twice as long as I ever have before. I know I can do the GUCR or the Spartathlon or Badwater. I don't know I can run nearly 300 miles in one go.
When I say "one go" I will obviously rest and sleep at some point (probably). The clock is always ticking though and to give me motivation to keep going at a reasonable pace I am actually going to run the GUCR in reverse before the start of the actual race and then run the race. Starting approx 42 hours before the GUCR I intend to run from Little Venice to Birmingham in about 38 hours, have a rest and then join the other runners on the way back to London and hope to finish the second leg in the cut off of 45 hours.
I thought of doing this about a year ago and mentioned it to Mimi Anderson whose eyes lit up at the prospect and she is doing it with me. Now we are both committed. I thought long and hard about whether it was right to do this, we in no way want to undermine the race or deny anyone a place. It was a tough call but in the end we decided it was a good thing to do.
Double Spartathlon - September (306 miles)
There are many versions of the story that unfolded 2500 years ago. Some say that a messenger ran 26 miles from Marathon to Athens and died. Some say he ran from Athens to Sparta to summon the Spartan army to help in battle. Some say he ran from Athens to Sparta, was turned down and then ran back. I've run from Marathon to Athens before, I've run from Athens to Sparta three times now. I've not yet completed all possible versions of the story and run back from Sparta to Athens.
I may have mentioned before that this is my favourite race. I didn't think it would be when I signed up the first time, I just regarded it as a "must do". But many things about this race just force me back year after year and next year I want to make it even more special.
I am in no doubt that this will be the hardest thing I have ever attempted. Yes I am including LA-NY in that. In contrast to the GUCR I intend to complete the race first and then head back to Athens. I know too well just how hard it is to finish this one way and this year as I was nearing the end, staggering in the heat I said there is absolutely no way I am going to be able to do this twice next year.
But there was a time when I thought there was absolutley no way I'd be able to run 153 miles non-stop. I am again running this with Mimi who said that it's different when you go in knowing that you have to run 306 miles rather than 153. I will have to take her word for it and see.
The hardest thing I will ever have to do will be turning away from that statue after 153 miles of blistering running and then heading back to do it all again. That will suck.
And now you have to run back....
The "B" race
My "B" race is the Northburn 100 in March in New Zealand. 100 miles and 8000m of climbing in Mordor wilderness, this looks incredible. "You don't race it, you survive it". It will be a week after I get married to Gemma and it was her idea to do it. What a lovely wife she is going to be, it's as if she has taken inspiration directly from the "Don't for Wives" book published in 1913 that I got her for Christmas. "Don't object to your husband spending Saturday afternoons playing cricket just because you can't play, you can watch and derive pleasure in him enjoying his outdoor sport". Thankfully times and attitudes have changed in the past 100 years, cricket is no longer regarded as a sport.
But this race looks awesome and will be really hard. I am really looking forward to it. Check out these awesome photos.
Other races
There are a few things I am doing for fun. The start of the year will not be right without running the Country to Capital ultra in January. I love that race, seeing everyone looking fat after Christmas and making various comical attempts to leg it for 43 miles. I may puke this year.
The only other two races I have planned are in the middle of the Summer. The Mont Blanc 80k looks like it will be slow. 50 miles and 6000m of elevation and a 24 hour cut off shows how long they are planning on having people out there. A week after that (if I can somehow figure out how to get to Greece from Chamonix without spending a fortune) is the Olympus Mythical Trail 100k in Greece. It looks stunning. 100k, 7000m of elevation and probably very hot. Should keep the Barkley training ticking over..
Oh and at the end of April I am running the Shakespeare Marathon, more about that it a bit.
Right now I am torn between two events in August. There are now just 6 days left to register for the UTMB, 100 miles around Mont Blanc. I tried this race a few years ago and only completed 2/3 of it as there were landslides. I don't really have too much desire to do it but it does look like a fun weekend away with friends. If I did it I would not try to go for a decent time, I would just go to eat the cheese. I will have to practice avoiding getting my eyes jabbed out by twats with walking sticks.
The other event I am drawn to is the 48 hour track race at the Ultrafest. I have never done a 24/48hour race before and reckon 48 hours would be the limit I could go for without needing to sleep. However the risk for this would be that unlike the UTMB I would feel like I had to run as far as I could (I reckon I could do over 200 miles) and hence screw myself for the main event in Greece a month later.
Decisions decisions.
Oh dear, I just used that filthy word again. I don't think I have done anything you would call "training" for years. I run events for fun and that gives me the base to do bigger events. When I ran across the States I was told that the first two weeks were the training and they were right. I have not been to a track for years, done any "fartlek" or tempo or whatever. I've just been clocking up miles. I feel like right now if I had to I could run 150 miles or across a country. How do I train for running 300 miles?
I don't think there is a way I can "train" for running 300 miles that I can do in the next 5 months. In the last 5 years I have run about 16000 miles, run 100+ marathons and ultras and 6 times run over 135 miles in one go. I don't think there is much I can do that will make me better prepared for running 300 miles than I am now and so I am going to do something a bit different and potentially a bit risky, I am going to train for a sub 3 hour marathon.
I plan on training 60-80 miles a week as if I were going for a sub three hour marathon in April. Apart from the minor digression of a 45 miler in Jan and a 100 miler in March I do not plan on running any long distances in the next 4 months. I may do marathons as training but my intention is to run as many 5k, 10k and general fast running as possible. In the Shakespeare marathon in April I will see whether I can run a sub 3. I will find out a month later whether it worked.
My favourite subject. I like to eat. There is something quite satisfying about running all day and then eating a load of food. However to complete these runs (and to fit into my wedding costume) I need to lose a few pounds. Actually I hope to get down to 75kg by March, that's about 1kg per week. I am saying this all out loud on a blog so that I get badgered into doing it.
I had an idea about making this fun, or at least interesting. I am going to pick various foods and cut them out of my diet for one month. This I hope will do two things, one it will see whether I can live without a certain type of food for a month and two it will give me a chance to explore food in the way I did when I tried veganism for a while a few years ago.
First up is sugar. In Jan I am going to give up adding sugar to things and eating sweets, the hardest part of this will be not having it in coffee.
Other things I will give up in the course of the year are - Gluten/wheat, caffeine, dairy, meat, all animal products (so be vegan for a month), eating out/takeaways, modern food (so eating paleo for a month), processed food (so cooking everything from scratch). I still have three more to find. Gemma has suggested one that begins with "A" but there is no way I am giving up aubergines. The month after the double Spartathlon I suggested to Gemma that I might have to give up something beginning with "S". She was not having it though, I still have to have a shower every day.
I hope to have a book published early next year. I am more likely to self publish it as publishing does not really pay for itself. I don't anticipate making big money on it but it would be nice to buy some time to do more writing and running.
I have plans for another two books as it stands, one will be an online book that will be available on this blog for free, another is more of a creative idea. I hope to have all of this done by the end of the year.
I want to blog more. I read a hell of a lot of books and should review things more. I have yet to do product reviews or too many advice articles and want to do more writing for magazines ro websites and plan on pushing that more.
I also want to speak more, I enjoyed every time I spoke this year and want to do more of that. I like preparing the presentations and trying to think up funny things to say and then panicking that no one would get them. That's usually gone OK.
This year was a first for me. I (sort of) organised a race. Well I came up with the idea of the Piece of String race and overall it went well despite the horrific weather. It will be repeated again next year, possibly with a larger field. Who knows whether the miles they ran this year was on the "short" or "long" end of the scale. Who knows whether we'll use the same scale again next year? I certainly don't.
Oh an I have another idea. Will have to convince James Elson that it is a good idea....
OK, I am not planning on "coaching" as such but I have recently taken a run leaders course and plan on helping out at Serpentine running club sessions. I am going to see how it goes. I'm not sure whether I am the person to coach people but am open to it.
And finally..
I am going to take personal responsibility for getting more UK runners running the Spartathlon next year and also helping more to finish. I want to try and organise a proper "team" with a website, videos, kit, sponsors and all that. Am not sure how to do this as yet but just putting the idea out there in case someone has any thoughts. Sponsors, media, website techy people and of course runners.
I have just bought 10 new pairs of running shoes, lets smash them.
OK as everyone else is doing it.....
I mentioned in an interview recently about feeling like Brooks in the Shawshank Redemption. If you don't know the story Brooks spend 50 years in prison from around 1910 to 1960, when he got out the world had changed so much he could not cope and he killed himself. OK it was not at all like that but I did have a weird depression with running that I don't think I had felt before. Certainly not for so long. The post race blues are a common thing for any runner who has just achieved something they were obsessed about achieving, as I was with the GUCR, Badwater and the Spartathlon when I completed those. However this one was different.
I had nothing else next. Well nothing nearly as big as as running across the USA. From the day I started running I always had something "big" to aim for whether that was a marathon, my first ultra or some much bigger ultra. I was always comforted by the thought that at some point in the future I will be presented with another unique challenge. It was easy to keep going.
A few friends hinted that the year after would be difficult. The few weeks after arriving in New York were very difficult but made much better by being reunited with my friends and normal life and being given the opportunity to talk about it at length, as if I were able to re-live it all.
The year started well enough, the great ultra running social reunion that is the Country to Capital in Jan. James Elson made us all run too fast in the first half and it was hard work hanging on but managed to finish in reasonably good time. I then did my first Endurance Life event for the first time in years and really remembered why I love them so much. I was given the opportunity to talk about my American Adventure with them and also I became an ambassador for them. A great start to the year, see the video of me saying ummm a record amount of times here.
I spoke at some more events and ran my first Centurion Running race, the Thames Path 100 miler. It was actually my first 100 miler. The weather was horrid and I was not really putting in much but I finished in a little under 24 hours.
In April I started something that really was impossible. I said earlier that I had nothing "big" to look forward to but in reality I had something much bigger than anything to look forward to. This was going to be by far the hardest thing I had ever attempted. There it is, "attempted". I never said "I am going to attempt to run across america or run Badwater". I always said I am going to run across America or I am going to run Badwater. The continual use of the word "attempted" before I even flew out there.
Now realistically a race where 10 people out of 200+ attempts means that any effort I put in was unlikely to succeed but I have never gone into anything before where my expectation was failure. I just wanted to go and see what it was like and see how far I might get. I realised in retrospect that this was a mistake, I should have gone "out there" without at least hope that I might do it, however unlikely. I actually had no chance, the finishers of this run have 4 things going for them, they are insanely fit, they are very well trained, they are at the top of their game and they get a bit of luck. It takes more than just some stubborness to get through this, stubborness that will get you through most things. I gave up too easiliy but was out of my depth and I do one day want to return but will make sure that when I do my chances of finishing are at least better than zero.
On returning from the USA I decided that I was not going to be able to give the Grand Union Canal Run my all and decided to withdraw. It was a hard choice but thought that someone should have the place who was not just doing it for the sake of it. While that race was running I got engaged to Gemma, that more than made up for it. She has been so wonderful and understanding of my ultra running obsession since she started seeing me about 3.5 years ago. I never forget her first words to me "GET THOSE HIDEOUS BLISTERS OFF OF FACEBOOK".
The next big thing I tried was the Ultra Tour South West (UTSW), a 100 mile really hilly run on the Cornish Coast organised by Endurance Life. I should have been able to do this but my mind wasn't in it from the start and I bailed after just 20 miles. Nothing wrong at all I just really didn't want to be there. This was a low point for the year, wondering whether I could ever be bothered with it all again.
This continued into the 10 peaks challenge; a brutally hard fell run that will take most the best part of 24 hours to finish. This time I bailed right near the end, with 19 hours run and one more peak to complete I just went back to the hotel. This was another low point.
This indifference to running got me reading about motivation and sports psychology and gave me a lot to think about. Why could I not be arsed with anything anymore? So many times I would have normally have gone for a run but instead I stayed in, ultimately feeling worse. There were a lot of things bothering me, stress and anxiety and a general feeling of there being no point to it. It was a pretty miserable time.
Heading towards the end of the year and for what has been the "main event" for me in 3 of the last 4 years I feared my own surrender again. I gave in too easily in Barkley, in the UTSW and in the 10 peaks. I worried that I would contrive a set of circumstances where I would justify quitting. When you go into a race without a committment to give it everything to finish you have a much lower threshold for the pain, the tiredness, the boredon, the point. It's so much easier to say "well I've done enought for today, well done me, I'll just head back to the hotel now, I don't need to finish this".
Fortunately for me I underestimated the power the Spartathlon has over me and over others. This race has gone from something I was merely going to "tick off" a few years ago to one where I feel compelled to go every year and recruit an army of UK runners to race too. This is the main event of the year, of every year. I can't imagine every being away from Greece when it is happening.
I finished the Spartathlon, or the Spartathlon made me finish it, it's hard to tell. This year was amazing, brutal heat forcing the most retirements ever. I immediately felt like the year had been a good one, that's what this race means to me. I feel like it's miy job to make others feel the same. Listen to me banging on about it in the Economist. I can't believe I said that at the end...
And though the big races were over for me I still had a couple of things to occupy me. First off is an idea I had about a year ago for an evil race. It actually happened, the Piece of String race was a success of sorts, the weather was terrible and 2 out of 10 runners finished. I was amazed and humbled by the determination and attitude of everyone who took part, doing a race with no defined finishing line in such hard conditions. I really enjoyed planning the race, looking for routes, thinking of more evil things and then staying up for 48 hours watching the whole thing unfold. It will definitely happen again next year. Thanks again to James Elson for staging it and for all who were involved.
Lastly I finished my book. I still have lots of speeling mistakes to correct but it looks like how I want it to look like now and I am looking at publshing and self publishing options. Pros and cons of each. Hopefully it will be released soon in the New Year.
And that's it basically. I've decided what 2013 will look like, long runs, weight loss, more writing, more speaking, more race directing, new race obsessions and of course a trip to New Zealand to wed the lovely Gemma. More detail to follow.
Things I learned in 2012
Roll on 2013.
At least my monthly mileage is more consistent?
Some Excellent photos of the Spartathlon from my friend Jon who flew all the way to Greece to watch my nipple explode.
So this might not be on all endurance runners "must read" list but I recommend you do. The author Steve Peters has spent the last few years as the head psychologist for the British Cycling team (who apparently have been doing pretty well recently). He has now been put in charge of the minds of the Athletics team for Rio in 2016.
The book is not specifically about mind management for endurance atheltes but some parts of it will resonate with you in your training and racing as an ultra runner.
The book is very simple and fun to read. Steve Peters simplified what goes on in our heads as a battle between a Human and a Chimp. Sounds silly but it is quite a fun and useful way of thinking about what happens inside your head, particularly when you have run 60 odd miles, it's cold, wet and dark, you are exhausted and grumpy and feel like the whole world is conspiring against you. And you still have 40 miles left to run.
The premise of the book is that we are made up of a Human, a Chimp and a Computer (and some other stuff). The Human is the part of us that is measured and rational, it needs purpose and meaning. It is this part of us that sets ourselves goals and gets pleasure from achieving something that is not part of basic survival (such as finishing an ultra marathon or winning an Olympic medal).
However whilst trying to achieve these goals we are often hijacked by the chimp. The chimp is the part of us that is obsessed with basic survival. It is much stronger that the Human part of us and will have a tantrum whenever it feels threatened (such as there being the wrong coloured jelly babies at a checkpoint or a downpour of rain during a race). It will usually recommend quitting to safety. There is no point fighting it head on, it is too strong and is the result of millions of years of evolution that has made the Human race so successful. The only way to deal with it is to manage it.
This book gives great advice as to how to do that. I read this just before I ran the Spartathlon this year and glad I did as I feared (like with other events I have quit this year) that I would quit too easily. I didn't and I think part of the reason was the way this book allowed me to think.
I would definitely add this to my shortlist of essential reading for ultra runners (and any sport that requires a huge amount of commitment through tough times).
