Tag: run

The North Downs Way 50, mk II. How not to run 50 miles.

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In a grump mid-race I decided I wasn’t going to write about the North Downs Way 50 this year. It wasn’t going to plan, I saw no reason to remember it or to prolong the suffering. On reflection my run writing has always been about preserving my memories & there are definitely things from this race I want to remember, so here we go…

I’m sitting here a few days later, wearing the t-shirt, the massive shiny medal in front of me, looking at the happy, smiley, official race photos telling myself it was a good day, it wasn’t that bad, was it?

No, really, it was.

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The XNRG Humanity Direct Ultra, aka the 50km training run

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I *totally* get the irony of calling a 50km race a training run, but that is exactly what the XNRG Humanity Direct Ultra was. On the 10th March, four weeks before the SDW50, I lined up on the start line ready for my longest ‘training’ run & what would hopefully become my second longest run ever. Oh, it was also my ‘birthday’ run… What better way to celebrate turning 38 the next day than to run 50km! Continue reading →

NDW50 Wk 20: Back in the Game! (wc 27.03.17)

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Chasing sunset not sunrise

9 miles, 1:23:21, 9:16 min/mile, 272ft elevation gain

I did not want to run.

Sunday’s long-run had not quite gone to plan due to tiredness. I was still tired, I was worried about my knee & I had serious DOMS. I had been dreading it all day to the extent that I delayed running for 12 hours & rather than my usual 6am run time, I didn’t hit the pavements until 6pm.

This is most unlike me.

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NDW50 Wk 19: Thames Path Twenty (wc 20.03.17)

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AKA Insomnia stole my sleep

20 miles, 3:01:09, 9:03 min/mile, 95ft elevation gain

The start of British summer time, the clocks go forward an hour so we loose an hour’s sleep & insomnia stole the rest… I remembered this about mid-way through when this run started to feel really, really hard. Note to self, a long run after less than two hours sleep is not going to be easy!

Having been lying awake for hours, I jumped on the first London bound train out of Norwood Junction on Sunday morning to find somewhere more exciting than the streets of Croydon for my long-run. I don’t know how I managed to train for a marathon in previous years doing the same old loops round Croydon for almost every session. Continue reading →

NDW50 Wk 17: Thames Meander Marathon (wc 06.03.17)

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The most spectacular positive split…

26.2 miles, 4:17:34, 9:49 min/mile, 0ft elevation gain (ha ha ha ha ha!)

When you discover a London based marathon organised by the excellent Hermes Races that is on your actual birthday the temptation to enter is just too great… Originally I entered telling myself that it would be a good training run, albeit one with aid stations & a medal at the end! Continue reading →