Long Expected

I had often lain awake at night wondering what on Earth had happened to the earth extracted from the Channel Tunnel.  Initially I suspected that an enormous hole must have been dug nearby in order to accommodate the excess soil before realising that this would not work as the hole would simply fill with seawater at next high tide.  In the absence of an easily accessible source of information to consult I had to check on the internet and was interested to find that the chalk marl scooped from under the sea had been used to create Samphire Hoe Country Park at the foot of the famous White Cliffs.  'Wouldn't it be fantastic' I then thought 'if some sort of six hour endurance running event was held there'.  Imagine my unbridled delight when I noticed this little gem was open for entries!

The course was in the shape of an elongated J starting at the tip of the curly end and turning at the top.  The first half mile or so was an undulating drop down to the flat sea wall which constituted the remainder of the out-and-back lap measuring 3.45 miles.  The plan was straightforward; simply keep going for the full six hours then see how far I had travelled.  I wanted to run without music again in order to have to confront any difficult moments encountered without recourse to external assistance, relying only on myself to get through them, and in the back of my mind was the Ranscombe Challenge a couple of months earlier in which I surprised myself by unexpectedly finishing after completing marathon distance without even checking whether I agreed or not.

Initially I had decided to follow a rigid 'run for 4 minutes 30 seconds, walk for 30 seconds' policy with the aim of reaching the latter stages with some degree of freshness in my legs.  It immediately became clear that the course was slightly less flat than I was expecting and so I altered the strategy to apply only to the flat section on which the majority of the day's running would take place.  A further adaptation became necessary when I realised that the out portion of the flat section benefited from a good deal of wind assistance whereas the return, into the wind, was far more demanding.  The strategy soon became 'run the downhills, take it easy uphill, keep running when the wind is at my back, walk when I feel like it into the wind.  But never walk for more than 30 seconds at a time.  Until I get tired then re-assess'.  Not a snappy name for a strategy but it worked for me.

The weather altered throughout the day from drizzle, to cloudy, then sunny, rain and finally patchy sun but with the strong breeze remaining fairly constant.  I followed my strategy, the walks gradually becoming more extended, and there were the aches and discomforts which are entirely normal at these distances but no dramas.  As usual in events of this format it was great to have the opportunity to see so many friends from 'the circuit' so frequently throughout, the support and encouragement, as ever, was excellent.  Having completed the eighth lap, and so recorded a marathon for 100 Club purposes, I was pleased that there was no hint of wanting to stop and I headed straight back out to go for the 50k distance.  I calculated that I did not have enough time to get back prior to the 5:45 cut-off for commencing the final lap and so relaxed.  Three friends, however, encouraged me to have a go and against my better judgement and with the wind at my back I tried to step up the pace but it was always a losing battle and I didn't have the necessary energy to draw upon.

I find it slightly puzzling that given a completely flat course and a bit of luck I can grind out a marathon in about 4 hours with even or slightly negative splits feeling relatively strong until the end.  Throw a few hills into the equation, however, and no matter how easy I take things I cannot maintain consistency.  I am aware that this, at least partly, has to be mental, but there must also be a physical conditioning element which I have tried to address by running quite a few hilly marathons but there seems to be no improvement.  Keep grinding away I suppose...

I have sung the praises of Traviss and Rachel's events previously; relaxed, fun, inclusive and with bling and goodie bag I have heard described as 'to die for'.  Personally I wouldn't go quite that far but I would definitely risk a smack to the head in order to get hold of one.  The medal is a chunky, purpose-made thing of beauty, redolent of the finest Dwarvish metalwork in Middle-earth.  To cap an excellent day, Mandy recorded her longest ever run of 17.25 miles which is a fantastic achievement.

24th September 2014  The Tolkien Run  31.05 miles  5:49:00  #47