Right, been busy either sleeping or working, but here's a full report.
The
http://tr24.co.uk was held at Catton Hall in lovely countryside and on a 10K course that I'd tried out previously in May. This time was going to be a bit different, as I was part of a team of six (meant to be seven, but someone had to drop out) and we'd have one runner on the course at all times for the 24-hours. That meant that if we were all running 45-50 minute laps, once any of us finished a lap we'd have about 4-hours until we were back out there again. This wouldn't give much time for rest, eating, sleeping, and anything else really.
When it was held the first time, the event got 120 runners. Last year there were 900. This year there were 1,900. The organiser is going to cap it at about 2,000 from now on to keep the event manageable and enjoyable for all. Last year the weather was wet, very wet. This meant the off-road course became very muddy, especially at certain points on the course. This year however the weather presented a different challenge. No rain at all, just lots of sunshine. It seems to follow me round whenever I enter a race. Maybe there is a god...?
Anyway, as it hadn't rained for a while, and wasn't going to on the day, everyone in the team was in agreement that road shoes were probably a better choice than off-road shoes for our first lap and then we could make a decision from there. As it stayed dry all weekend we all opted to run in our road shoes for every lap. At least the nice weather meant the campsite didn't resemble Glastonbury and it was easy to keep things clean and dry.
Graeme, the captain of our team, arrived early on the Friday to pitch his tent and mark out an area for the rest of us to set up camp. We got there about 5pm and set up our tent and lots of others started arriving soon after so it was definitely a good idea to get there early and mark our territory. We had something to eat and drink, sat around and chatted and then decided to get some sleep at about 10pm as we'd probably not get much until after the event on Sunday.
The rest of the team arrived Saturday morning, and then we were six. We went for this running order:
Sally: each team of 6-8 runners has to be mixed, and Sally was our sole female runner. Not the weak link though at all, not with a 2:57 PB for the marathon!
Andrew: Sally's husband and another good runner (3:35 PB for the marathon). Sells tanks for a living and is apparently the only civilian in the UK with a license to fire tank rounds (I have no idea if this is true or not)
Steve E: very good runner, came second in the 10K race on the course in May. Ex-SBS (so hard as nails)
Graeme: decent runner, has done a number of Ironman events and has a half-marathon PB of 1:34
Me: Average runner who struggles in the heat. Great.
Steve G: Oldest in the team, a fitness instructor but not a keen runner, and not run anything more than a half-marathon before and had no idea what sort of times he'd be doing
The way the race works is that each member wears a 'timing chip' on their ankle/shoe, and this times when they cross the finish line. There's a transition area where a baton (which is a green rubber wrist-band like those Jon mentioned earlier) is passed on to the next runner in your team who then goes off and does their lap). Each lap is 10K and so once the first few laps are underway, there are people strewn across the whole length of the course going at their own pace. Some people enter the event as solo runners, or in pairs, or in teams of 4, etc. The solo runners get a special camping spot directly next to the course, and they are allowed to leave the course to eat, sleep, etc. All the other teams must have someone on the course at all times. There was a complete mixture of abilities from those who could do 36-minute laps, to those who walked each lap.
We knew we weren't going to win anything, but everyone wanted to put in decent times for themselves more than anything, and of course, not to let the team down. Sally set off at noon on Saturday, and this meant I wouldn't actually start my running for a good 4 hours. So really it turned out to be a 20-hour event from when we all started running to when each of us finished individually.
Here are the times for our first laps:
Sally Baker 1 00:44:05
Andrew Baker 2 00:46:57
Steve Emanuelle 3 00:41:41
Graeme Lloyd 4 00:46:36
Daniel Phillips 5 00:46:31
Stephen Greenwood 6 00:50:43
Not a bad start at all! But we were all aware that the course is fairly demanding, and that it was VERY hot. We all expected the pace to drop off with the second laps...
Sally Baker 7 00:44:12
Andrew Baker 8 00:45:52
Steve Emanuelle 9 00:41:21
Graeme Lloyd 10 00:47:32
Daniel Phillips 11 00:46:45
Stephen Greenwood 12 00:52:46
That didn't really happen and our second laps were pretty good times. Towards the end of my first lap I thought that I might not enjoy the day and it would be a tough struggle. But once I got out for my second lap and felt good (even over-taking a lot of people and only being over-taken by some very good runners) I really did start to enjoy it. I don't I can ever say I've 'enjoyed' a run before, not really enjoyed it. I like the sense of achievement and the fitness it gives me, but this time I was actually enjoying being out there and running. I think my training had gone well and that definitely helped.
Out of the team it was my times that were the biggest surprise. We all knew that Sally and Steve E were very quick, and that Andrew and Graeme were very competent runners. But I was matching those two pretty much and still feeling good. Steve G was feeling it though, and a knee injury was plaguing him. But he was determined to go on, which we were all grateful for.
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Next up, running in the dark.
There's no ambient light round the course, other than stuff near the start-finish. So when night fell, it was dark on the course. We all had head-torches, and some of us ran with small hand torches too. But running in the dark, especially through the technical bits (wooded areas with roots and dips and other tripping hazards across the winding paths, as well as branches to avoid at head level), would be more difficult and this we knew would slow us down.
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I'd never run in the dark before, but absolutely loved it. It was a lot cooler for a start, and I was grateful for that. I also seemed to cope OK with the limited visibility and maybe even my running technique lends itself well to this situation, I don't know. The times for our next laps,
Lap 3:
Sally Baker 13 00:47:59
Andrew Baker 14 00:51:22
Steve Emanuelle 15 00:54:45
Graeme Lloyd 16 00:51:02
Daniel Phillips 17 00:50:56
Stephen Greenwood 18 01:11:55
Steve G's time is a little unfair on him. Part of the reason is because I got round a good few minutes before I was expected and he wasn't there in the transition area to take the baton from me!
In between runs, I mentioned that we all had about 4 hours to spare. This included getting back to our tents, getting drinks and food on-board, grabbing a shower, and then resting. I had a routine of having a protein/carb shake immediately after each run, then showering, then getting some food on board and trying to rest. I managed a few hours sleep on a couple of occasions, but probably no more than 3-4 hours in total during the race. Having Lyndsey there cooking rice and pasta for me really helped as I could focus on resting and getting kit ready, etc. During the day the weather was glorious for sub-bathing, but that's not ideal when you're trying to rest for the next lap. Sitting in the sun means you need even more fluids to be taken on-board, it's easy to burn, and also it makes you feel lethargic. So we tried to get shade where possible, but it was still well over 20° out of the glare of the sun.
Lap 4 was next, and for me this was just after dawn. So I didn't need the headtorch but was spared the baking sun and temperatures of the middle of the day.
Sally Baker 19 00:54:26
Andrew Baker 20 00:55:00
Steve Emanuelle 21 00:48:16
Graeme Lloyd 22 00:50:52
Daniel Phillips 23 00:49:09
Stephen Greenwood 24 01:03:07
At this point we were deciding on whether or not to call it a day (whilst Steve G was out on his 4th lap) or not. Graeme had a sore calf, Steve E was travelling to Wye for some kayaking thing on the Sunday afternoon so was happy to get away early. But we decided that it was a 24-hour race and that's what we'd set out to do. Me and Sally were the keenest to do a fifth lap, taking us from 24 miles to 30 miles each. Looking at the times, it would mean that Graeme would finish his lap sometime around 11:30, giving me time to start my lap and be the last run for our team before the 12:00 deadline. Like on Mastermind, if you've started you can finish. Steve G was happy to only do 4 laps, and his knee (his ITB was in pain, something I mentioned I struggled with years ago so I could sympathise with his pain).
By the time it got to Graeme's 5th lap the sun was up and the thermometer was showing 28°C in the shade! On the course there were a few bits of wooded areas where there was some shade, but probably less than 1K in total, with the other 9K in the sunshine. Graeme struggled, but soldiered on and got round for me to go out for my final lap. That was tough, very tough. I was tired anyway, but felt dehydrated. I carried a bottle with me on the runs, but had emptied that during the first 5K. There was one water station at about 5K, and I drank there too. But I was feeling bad and at about 9K as people (runners watching from the side an runners on the actual course as well) were all shouting encouragement to the other runners, knowing it was hot and the last laps of the race. I had to ask one runner who was sat watching the remaining runners go round if he could give me some of his water. He was more than happy, and it was very much needed. He also offered to pour some over me to help me cool down and I readily accepted. Without that water I'm not sure I would have got round, I felt that light-headed and disorientated. But I did, and Lyndsey thrust a can of Guinness into my hand as I went round a corner with about 300m to go. I cracked that open as I crossed the line for the final time, and boy did it taste good! Then I sank to the floor and sat there exhausted.
(Graeme's 2-year old, Finlay was a little worried about me at this point!)
Like I said, it was really enjoyable (except for that last lap), and we're definitely doing it again next year.
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