Category: Crazy thing to do!

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Broken

Broken: Well this was how I felt as I ran the last few miles to the finish line, knowing full well that not only was I going to miss my target time for the day, but that I was also going to be slower than my previous marathon time, by a full twelve minutes. And broken is also a good description for my Blackberry, which apparently objected to some combination of heat, humidity or movement, although I’m hopeful that it might sort itself out.

Overall though, it was a GREAT day!

Strangely, for such a beautifully warm spring morning, it started with Kim having to scrape the frost from the car… and me having to drive back from the top of the road to get my forgotten Blackberry.

The day proper got underway at Clive & Nat’s house, a stones throw from the start line, where Andy Adams & Cliff had stayed overnight. We then picked up Andy Pumphrey and Nikki from outside the pub at the end of the road, Andy sporting the Scooby Doo costume that someone had sponsored him to wear.  We met the rest of the ensemble in the park, our collective mood light and frivolous, like you would expect from a bunch of folk in their mid-forties.

Mark Johnson & I slotted into the starting queue and just after 9.15 we were off… for what turned out for me to be a race of two halves, although sadly not split in the normal 20/6.2 way.

The day was gorgeous, the crowds were out in force along the route and the early miles nearly flew by, certainly as far as Ovingdean where I got a welcome cheer from Caraline Marsh. Then my knees started to hurt and by the time we reached the marina again I was more than a few paces behind Mark. I managed to hold on to his shirt-tales and was not far behind at the half way mark, but then I started to fall apart.

By the dogleg into Hove, after I had stopped to stretch, he passed me going the other way around half a mile ahead, shouting words of encouragement.

Cliff, wearing his prosthetic kayak and resplendent with split paddles for waving at the crowd, caught up with me as we headed out onto Shoreham harbour, but despite his most valiant attempts to keep me going, I just couldn’t hold his pace.  This was all the more galling as he was tagging along behind the 4-hour pace-man.

Mark then passed me again, going the other way on the Shoreham harbour road, probably a good mile ahead, this time shouting more urgent words of encouragement, probably realising how much work I had to do to get under 4-hours.  But I was already a broken man, with legs that were just shy of cramping up and only enough time to get to the finish line before 4 hours if I were fresh and those were the only five miles I had to run today.

Despite the pain and the disappointment, the final three-mile drag was truly awesome, with the crowds that had been cheering all the way now being several deep.  I’ve lived in and around this city all my life and this was Brighton at it’s very best.  Beautiful sultry spring day, calm sea, true camaraderie.

Though I had covered the halfway distance in 1.51.26, which is as fast as I’ve ever run a half marathon, I crossed the finish line in 4.13.36 in 2514th place.  Disappointed, sure, but elated also, especially after a walk into the sea to cool my legs down!

Martlet Kayak Club hosted drinks & a barbecue, where Debbie helped me get out of the sea, physio Martina kindly massaged everyone’s legs and Chris plied me with beer.  Then we caught the bus back to the start and had Chili back at Clive & Nat’s, our thoughts with Pete & Jacqui, whose son Adam had been taken into hospital.

I know there are some great photos floating around, for example of Cliff demonstrating that he could actually paddle his kayak in the sea, and I’ll try to put some on the site over the coming days.

In the meantime, thank you for your support and kind words!

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The Blighty Grouse Grind

Inspired by Daren’s recent ascent of the Grouse Grind in Vancouver, which rises 933m in a distance of 2.9km, I [stupidly] decided to replicate his feat right here in Blighty.

I scoured the map for likely candidates and the only hill that I could find with that gradient was Wolstonbury, which I stormed back in April (archive post). Remembering how treacherous it was descending the grassy north face, I looked for an alternative, settling on the tank tracks that lead to the top of the hill above Jack & Jill.

The track is 1km long and rises about 140m, so I figured that if I did the climb 7 times, I would have a vaguely comparable height gain to challenge Daren with… he claims to have finished the Grouse Grind in less than one hour… and was going back with his trainers to try to beat that… so I had my work cut out!

I parked at Jack & Jill and warmed up on the gentle hill, giving me an initial 60m tally.  At the top I found some radio masts and a bunch of cars and a sign warning of vehicles using the track.

I ran down ‘the hill’ encountering one of the vehicles coming slowly up the incline… the driver kindly informed me that it was the Mid Sussex Amateur Radio Society who were camped out for an annual worldwide competition to see who can reach the furthest distance.  Apparently they had been talking to someone in Trinidad & Tobago last night, which is pretty impressive.

His eyes widened when I said what I was planning to do.

I ran on down to the gate at the bottom and turned round and started grinding up the hill myself.  Ten minutes later, I knew Daren had beaten me… I would have needed to have beaten 9 minutes to stand a chance.  I thought I would do a second loop before I headed for home and off I went.

The second climb was way harder than the first, but I managed it in about the same time.  Unfortunately, the guys at the top were now rooting for me, which meant that I couldn’t really give up after only two climbs.  The third was really painful, but I thought I had better do four… for some reason that completely escapes me now.  The guys said they would have a cup of tea waiting for me.

I had passed some youngsters who were doing a dry run for their Duke of Edinburgh Silver award a couple of times up and down the hill and I chatted to them while I supped my mug of tea.  They were really impressed with what I was doing and so I felt I had to complete at least one more circuit… by which time they would be gone and I could head for home.

As I neared the top so the MSARS guys cheered me and said only two more to go and I then I knew I was going to have to finish it, somehow.  Coming up for the 6th time, I was barely moving in places, although I was still (I think) technically running.  Going down for the last time, I took this video to show you the view and the path.  Alas it is once again very jerky… and worse still, it looks flat!  WAAAAAAH!

May I just say… it is NOT FLAT!

And then I was on to my 7th climb and I rather think it took me about 15 minutes, so slow and painful was it.  I even had to stop momentarily, twice, on the final hill… just because.  There was a big cheer from the guys at the top and I would like to say a hearty thank you to them, as I wouldn’t have made it without them.  Although I wouldn’t have had to have finished it if they hadn’t been there!

I stretched out as best I could back down the gentle hill to the windmills, getting back to the car at 2 hours 33 minutes.  980m plus the 60m to the top from the car park gives 1040m in total height gain (WAY more than Daren, you’ll note) and 16.7km / 10.5miles… well the gradient doesn’t compare either!

I estimate that the downhills were completed at an average speed of 6.1mph, while I managed only 3mph on the uphills.  At an average speed of less than 4.1mph though, it would take me about 6 and a half hours to complete a marathon… furrgeddit!

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“Hi. Thank you for calling the Brighton Marathon…

… enties will go live from the 23rd June, at 10am.  For any further information please go to brightonmarathon.co.uk.  If there are any futher questions, please leave a message after the tone.”

Blah blah blah…

So, after redialling about 120 times in about 40 frustrating minutes, I returned to the website which now had an Enter Now! button.

I feel a bit of a dullard for having wasted so much time, but maybe the email & website messaging from the organisers could have been a little clearer and the voicemail message could also direct people in a more forthright way… as in ‘to enter, please go to the race entry page on our website‘.

But here’s the real newsflash:  Kim and I have entered and are now officially in training!

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The Winter Runners Blues

Hey Dai, Nigel, Russell, d’ya got your guitars?

I fully intended to run this morning, but there was ice on the car outside and I wimped out.  Which was a real shame, as the ice had melted by the time the dawn broke and it really wasn’t that bad when I walked to work.  The upside was that It did get me thinking of some blues lyrics!

The Winter Runners Blues

Woke up this morning, planning to run, all there was outside, was a heavy frost and no sun

I’ve got the winter runners blues. it’s all those dingy winter hues, I am no winter runner fool, I’m hibernating ’til the spring.

The alarm lit up this morning, way before the dawn, looked outside to see it, cold and forlorn

I’ve got the winter runners blues, I’m on the winter runners booze, I’ve lost my winter runners balls, I’m meditating ’til the spring.

Walked to work this morning, wishing I had run, the muddy paths and puddles, really are such great fun

I’ve got the winter runners blues, but I have the winter runners shoes, and I have those gorgeous winter views, and I’m in training for the spring.

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There and back: a tale of crazy folk

Today was the day of the Extreme Running: London to Brighton race and I felt really sorry for the runners, including Cliff and Pete, who were tackling this 90km / 56 mile monster, especially as it was the wettest day since the day I ran with Cliff and Dai out from Lewes.  It was chucking it down for hours on end and I was very glad to be inside, looking out.

Alas, I had told Cliff that I would definitely venture out with some moral support as they would be passing within miles of the house on the way through.  Short of getting a heavy afternoon cold, there was no getting out of it!

So around 4.45pm Kim pushed me out of the car in Wivelsfield Green so that I could run a section with them.  The worst of the storm had actually blown away by then and it was quite a good temperature for running but oh boy, was it ever wet underfoot!

The first thing I realised was that Cliff had some hangers on… on account of the fact that he alone seemed to be able to read the map.  Shortly after this revelation, I came to the conclusion that whoever had decided the route must have been inhaling laughing gas.  The short section that I did was blithely labelled the ‘easiest part of the course’ but even now I cannot link up the points on a map that I know we passed.  It was convoluted in the extreme, to the point of torture, added to which sections were actually under water.

Mind you, I’m sure that’s not the main reason it took two hours to cover somewhere under 6 miles.  Ah yes, I feel I must mention my fellow runners, though prefacing whatever cheeky comments I’m about to make by reminding you that in the preceding nine plus hours, they had just run 45 miles: if you have run a marathon, some 20 miles shy of this distance, you can at least begin to understand how they were feeling.

The wusses!  Staggering along like they had zimmer frames!  Even I could keep up!  Although I too would have got hopelessly lost if it weren’t for Cliff’s map reading!  Even though even he managed to miss the correct path up the scarp slope to the Beacon, involving us in a slightly more, er, direct ascent!

Actually, Cliff looked in pretty good shape and Pete, who really wasn’t, had a genuine excuse: he ran in the barking mad Mont Blanc ultra marathon only a few short weeks ago.  In this company I appear decidedly sane for a change!

Anyway, we eventually reached the Beacon at 6.45pm with the light fast fading and I let the boys motor on while I turned gratefully for home.  And as I dropped off the Beacon, I finally picked up some speed.  But by the time I reached Ditchling it was dark and I had a stark choice:  Run back the normal way, which I know to be tricky even in daylight, run back on the road despite wearing a non-reflective black jacket, or call for reinforcements, which was very appealing under the circumstances.  

I’d like to say that I ran all the way back without stopping.  I would like to, and I did.  If Cliff and Pete, along with Dave and the other hangers-on, could run the last few miles to Brighton after a completely mental day, I could hardly wimp out now.  In fact, I managed the 5.15 miles in just 44 minutes, around 7mph.   Not at all bad considering I could hardly see a thing!  Note to self though: black jacket invisible to motorists at night: it was only fortunate that I was wearing shorts and they could see my legs!

Kim finally called to check I was okay when I was about five minutes from home… the advantage of which was that the remnants of Friday night’s Bolognese was already bubbling on the stove when I finally walked in.

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Foster walks!

As I headed out of the car park from Jack & Jill and up the hill, so my legs felt heavier than normal and the extreme heat of the day was really apparent. 

It is 31 degrees C or 83 degrees F in the cool of my study as I write this and when I put the thermometer on the window sill outside in the sun a little while ago, it registered -40 degrees (both C and F). On my small thermometer, which only goes up to 50 degrees C, this must be a staggering 70 degrees C, or 160 degrees F. 

So believe me when I say that it was WARM out there: especially as I hadn’t started at the said car park. 

The first fifteen minutes of my run, starting from the house, were leaden-legged, partially due to the fact that I didn’t run midweek.  That was due to a strained (what is less than strained?  Stressed?) muscle from last Sunday and generally being busy… neither particularly good excuses, but hey.  The muscle had healed well, but it was hard-going.

I started to get into the swing of it as I passed Oldlands Mill and dropped down into Keymer.  Favouring the shade, I ran along the high street and took the track along the side of the railway to Clayton.

The cricket pitch was full of cars and there were apparently two races being run.  In view of the weather, the 5.5 mile run starting at 11am seemed foolhardy, UNTIL I realised that the main event was already in progress.  The main event being the one that Mark J has entered and that Cliff ran a couple of years ago… a 30 miler starting with Clayton Hill and stretching right across to Southease, to the north of Newhaven. 

And back!

Oh boy!  Those guys must be HOT!

The hill out of Clayton was hard work, but I engaged a low gear and made Jack & Jill car park without stopping.  Here I walked & chatted to a Burgess Hill Runners marshall (who I think I’ve met before) before commencing my hot run up the hill again.

At the top I stopped to chat to Ray & Marian from Haywards Heath Harriers, marshalls for the short race.  Ray seemed to be sporting a rather fetching yellow skirt, but this turned out to be the marshalls plastic vest… he would almost certainly have expired if he had put it on normally!  I hope you guys had some water stashed somewhere… you’ll have fried up there otherwise!

As I ran on down the other side, so I passed a whole stream of Burgess Hill Runners out for their Sunday morning jaunt, including Kim’s friend Liz.  I hit the Beacon, exhausted, in one hour 20 minutes and then dropped down the path under the road and into the shade.

By the time I reached Ditchling, the gradient was once again against me and I capitulated, walking up Lodge Hill from the church to my favourite house.  I then ran along past the Mill again and across the the Keymer Road.  Here I HAD to walk, run, walk, run, walk, as far as Folders Lane.

From Folders Lane I ran the rest of the way back, noting that it was NOT my legs that were any more tired than normal, but rather my mind that was the challenge.  I had energy, but not the willpower to use it… although, to be fair, I had done pretty well considering the conditions.

It would normally take me 45 minutes to get back from the Beacon this route and today it took me and additional 6 minutes.  Two hours, 11 minutes overall, 12.45 miles or 19.95km, makes for a slow slow 5.7mph speed.  But if you take out the 5 or 6 minutes I stopped to chat to Marian & Ray, then it would make it 6mph.

And did I mention that it was warm out there today?

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Crazy folk!

When Kim & I were in Seattle in June, we met Nigel & Kristin’s friends Claudia & Russell.  All six of the aforementioned could be described as certifiably crazy to some extent, but I think, right at this moment, Russell takes the podium.

To see what I mean, keep an eye on the trip-site http://devon.irvacationtohell.com/ over the coming weeks.

There are not many people daft enough to paddle in the Arctic Circle where the sea at the get-in is currently still frozen, let alone a 60-mile open sea crossing, then portage their kayaks & gear across a frozen island for a week before paddling some more, including either another 40 mile open crossing or a 100-mile detour.  And all in a generally northerly direction.  The trip is expected to take six weeks out of an Arctic summer window of only 8-10 weeks.

See the madman & one of his compadriates talking about the trip at http://www.immersionresearch.com/2008/03/21/interviews-with-the-sweetwater-crew/#more-114 

If you still need persuading, further evidence, (along with the entry for next year’s competition if you’re completely crazy too), at http://www.irvacationtohell.com/

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Surprise! (a partial explanation of my recent absence)

Kim & I dashed out to Seattle the week before last to Surprise my brother Nigel and more particularly Kristin, who was 50. Raaaa raaaa!

Our very good friends Carolyn & Scott had agreed to put up with us for the week and really were the perfect hosts, to such an extent that they invited Kristin & Nigel and their two house guests Claudia & Russell (who runs Sweetwater Kayaks in Florida) to dinner.  SURPRISE!

It was just great being in Seattle again where the folk are so friendly and the scenery so magnificent.  Look one way up N&K’s street to see Mount Rainier & the Cascades and the other way to see the Olympic Mountains.

I can’t begin to do the trip justice in full here, but the highlights included the Sebring convertible hire car (thankyou Amex!), buying & preparing salad with Scott (a story in itself), the surprise dinner (food and company), the brilliant party (though I’m really sorry to all those folk whose names I forgot or mixed up… not my memory’s finest hour!), the waterfalls in the Cascades, paddling the Whisky 16 (Nigel’s latest kayak design) with Nigel & Russell, playing (a lot of) guitar with Russell, Nigel and John Marshall, burgers in the 74th Street Ale House, grown up food at Ray’s Boathouse, seeing the Kri-Kri studio again, the Olympic Sculpture Park at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), being re-aquainted with Alice & Richard’s amazing contemporary art collection, and the upgrade to flat-bed class on the return flight (thankyou NWA, whose Economy Class has way more room than the equivalent BA Cattle Class anyway!).

All in all, a fantastic trip, with special thanks again to Carolyn & Scott who made it all possible!

 Nigel & Kristin