Liverpool to Leeds - 130 Mile Race

I started writing this a number of weeks ago, but I thought it was right to finish, even though these memories are sweet and painful (for various reasons...)

Update: Looking back at this blog, it wasn't the best that I could have written about such an epic, eventful and scenic race experience. After the race, It took me quite a while to write this blog and then my race partner/ actual boyfriend decided to - without warning - end things, so it wasn't a happy time. Anyway, there's always next year...

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I never did end up writing a blog for this. It was all too tiring at the time and I just wanted to savour the feeling of lying down in a comfy cosy bed. This was what I dreamt of and promised myself and George for approximately almost all of the 127+ miles.  This dream then turned into some sort of mantra/ chant: ‘Big fluffy pillow, big fluffy pillow’. This later evolved into the words, ‘Big soft, king-size mattress’. It’s true what they say, you always do forget the pain that you go through at the time. You forget the tears, the psychological torment, the throbbing feet, the sweatiness, the cold, the ‘almost falling in a canal whilst falling asleep’! 

Prior to this Northern Canal adventure, we had promised that we wouldn’t run this one too. My third GUCR had been tough. I actually got the best time I have ever gotten, but it was mentally tough going and it rained a lot. Me and George promised ourselves at the time that GUCR was our big adventure for the year and that there would be no more long canal adventures in 2014, if ever. But we HAD to do it. Something told us we had to do it.

We had already signed up and it felt wrong not to do it. I’m so happy we did decide to do it, because it felt like such an amazing achievement at the end. It was so tough battling poorly tummies, feelings of not being able to move forward, rain, a freezing cold night section and me falling asleep on my feet. That bed waiting for us at the Hilton in Leeds seemed like an impossible goal, but it wasn’t. If you just keep moving and keep motivated and want it, you can do it. It’s tough, but you overcome the struggles and you get there. When you get there you forget about the problems you overcame, they don’t mean anything anymore, because you’ve achieved success and that was the goal all along.

The night before

I know a really good Argentinian steak house in Liverpool called ‘Meet’. It’s super tasty and a good change from having pasta the night before a big race.  It was an excellent decision. We ate rib-eye steak and ribs and drank some tasty beer. So, protein and carb-loaded up, we found a Sainsbury’s express and bought lots of ultra-munchies. I find that buying multiple meal deals does the trick. I also love Coke when I’m running an ultra and it really perks me up and the fizz is satisfying, so I bought lots of coke with my meal deals. I also bought lots of crisps, a big variety of Pringles and things that were easy to eat. I also had a few choccie raisins, which I put in cute children’s’ sandwich bags with animals on them (although I almost always crave savoury over sweet on an ultra, so not too much chocolate). After this shopping extravaganza it was back to our Travelodge for some final preparations and sleep. We set our alarms for 4.30am. The race started at 6am.

Scenery

The Leeds and Liverpool Canal main line is 127 miles (204 km), although I think we ended up running about 135 miles. My main impressions of this canal were that it is much prettier than the Grand Union and much ‘hillier’! It crosses the Pennines and even visits Skipton and Shipley, in Yorkshire.  I think scenically, Skipton was one of my favourite bits. I’ve done marathons up in those hills before and it’s a very picturesque area. However, it was quite a long stretch in very quiet countryside and because I felt very tired at the time, some bits dragged on a lot here. I needed the mental stimulation of people and civilisation and things going on. I think my least favourite bits were around Blackburn. There were some dodgy bits near Leigh and then up to Blackburn and some weird people. There was also a scary dog at one point – some sort of angry Staffordshire bull terrier, that I literally thought was going to bite us.

The night section

The night section was very tough. I’m so glad I was not alone. The temperature plummeted considerably and I felt so cold. This was bad for a number of reasons.  The colder it got, the more tired I felt. It also meant that there was no place for tiredness. Being tired was bad because it made me slower, but we needed to keep on moving in order to keep warm. It was a bit of a vicious circle.  I also seem to remember it raining pretty badly. When we found a toilet during this section, we actually barricaded ourselves inside it for about 10 minutes, to gain some warmth and composure back.

We got lost

I think it was around Foulridge Tunnel and it was during the night section. We read and re-read the navigational instructions, but we couldn’t find the right path or the right gate. During situations like this, where you’re just not sure of the way to go, your mind tends to ‘make sense’ of the directions before you. Sure, that could be a bridge, why not? I can’t see a path, oh maybe they think this road is a path? That sort of thing. In the end we must have taken approximately a 3 mile diversion down some country roads and we followed road signs to the town we were headed for on the map. Amazingly, this worked and we were able to find the canal and re-join it. It was slightly stressful. It was so dark out there, we were worried that we would struggle to find and re-join the canal. There was a check point not too long after this. A positive outcome of getting lost was that it made me alert. My sleepiness just disappeared and I was so concerned that we were lost that I became more aware and awake.

The dream

The last 20 miles or so really dragged. Our feet hurt, our legs hurt, and we were knackered. And the miles went so slowly, so we’d run to a barge and walk, run to another boat and walk. However, some nice things also happened during this section. At 113 miles, we stopped at a pub and had half a pint of pale ale. I freshened up a bit in the pub toilets. The drink really hit the spot. At 6 miles to go, a lovely man who was supporting another runner bought us an ice cream. We were about to buy one anyway, but he insisted on buying it for us. I thought it was so kind. I think things like that put a big smile on your face and that feeling is amplified at this stage in a race.

Little by little, that finish line got closer. Before we knew it, we could see what looked like a city and tall buildings. Knowing that we were nearly in Leeds was the best feeling ever. The last few miles were a bit of a tease, because there were mile markers by the canal and it was pretty slow going. There were also a few twists and turns and we’d think, ‘Oh it must be there...ahhh, it’s not’!

Running over the line, I was so sleepy, but so relieved. We had made it. We got our medals and our bags and we hobbled to our hotel, which was conveniently situated just around the corner. It was such a relief to get clean and be in the cosy warm. It was definitely a lot harder than I had anticipated and tougher. We were also slower than we thought we might be, completing it in just less than 37 hours (36hrs 57mins to be precise). It was worth it. We got there in the end.

‘It's crazy... but other than that, it's kind of fun’...GUCR 145 miler, a huge mish-mashed ramble

 

Note: This blog has taken me so long to write & I’m still not happy with it. There are just too many emotions, too many feelings, too much which happened during this race for me to sum it all up in writing and narrow down into a ramble.  Some of what is written will be accurate, such as the flavour of my pot noodle or something along those lines, but for a lot of it, it really is so hard to sum up in words, so I guess you’ll just have to give this race a go yourself…. ;-)

"If you have to ask, you'll never understand"

I’m not sure when or how I decided that running/ walking /crawling (if I had to) 145 miles non-stop seemed like a good thing to do. I think it was during the Compton Downland Challenge 40 miler in 2010 when I got speaking to a man in his GUCR t-shirt. I think this convinced me that it was a great idea & I vowed that I would definitely have a go at entering when the time felt right. What we will do for a good bit of bling and a t-shirt eh…? ;-)

Funnily enough, for the last few years I have had this weird notion about the GUCR; I have wanted nothing more than to be a part of it and yet, at the same time ideas of being next to a canal for THAT long have filled me with dread. I have reasoned with myself that although I may find the canal network so damn frustrating that somehow this would equate to an even greater challenge for myself.  I have reassured those who have looked at me like I am mad by saying ‘Oh, don’t worry, I doubt I’ll enjoy it…after all I’m next to a canal for 145 miles…I know I am going to find this tough, so don’t worry I KNOW…it’s a silly thing to want to do but the challenge would be amazing.’ So,  I have downplayed all enthusiasm for this event and hyped up the difficulties I may face, because I guess as some sort of defence mechanism I was setting myself up for failure…I liked letting people know  how bad I’d probably find it which equates to how bad I might do which equates to a good excuse strategy…right?



Yup, my psychology has been pretty messed up over this event. So why did I want to do it if I was dreading aspects of it, i.e. the canal network? After all, I’ve done plenty of marathons with canal sections in them and even take part in ULTRA race’s double 45 miler in January from Northampton to Tring 3 years in a row which covers a good bit of this GUCR route and I have to say, it’s not always exciting…I’ve done a lot more hillier events and off-road adventures and enjoyed parts of them much more than any flat surface. But something has always drawn me in about this one. When I entered the ballot I truly did hope my name got pulled out and yet I was terrified by the prospect that this would now be set in stone. I think it was one of the best decisions I have ever made entering the ballot. And I got in. And then I tried to get my head around the prospect of running 145 miles non-stop and I still don’t think I’ve got my head around that prospect and it’s almost two months after the actual race!

Where to begin?

I roped in two lovely and amazing fellow runners who had very kindly offered to be my support crew, Sarah and Jon Aston. They were absolutely amazing. I stayed at theirs in Telford the night before where I ate a lot of pizza and garlic bread and we were up at 3ish am on the Saturday morning to drive across to Birmingham for the 6am race start.  Now, the weeks leading up to the race had been immersed in sunshine. The British weather had been phenomenal and very sunny. As Sod’s Law would have it this was not the case on race weekend. In fact that weather couldn’t have been more different. It was pouring down. I was very nervous with the impending distance to run, but the rain was creating new tension and I didn’t like it.  Normally I have my very trusty OMM Kamleika jacket which never fails me in wet and windy conditions. I have worn it up in the hills, in horrendous conditions on the Yorkshire moors and basically, whenever it rains. The water just runs off it and it doesn’t take up much space when not needed. It’s a very useful piece of kit. So it obviously came as a HUGE annoyance when packing for the GUCR that I could not find it ANYWHERE. I literally turned the house upside down and I couldn’t find it anywhere.  Just my luck. 

I was so angry and I kept looking but I never did find it in time. Friends tried to reassure me and get rid of my nerves by telling me that the weather would likely be fine and dry. This was far from the case. In the end I did my best with borrowed windbreaker-style jackets and extra layers from my crew. In the end everyone was soaked through…but obviously it would have been better with my OMM. I think the lack of kit definitely affected my mindset from the beginning. It made me more nervous and looking around at the fellow runners on the start line I felt like a child on a school trip who had rubbish clothes and the other kids were all in the designer labels. The dropout rate for this event is high and the last thing I wanted was for the weather conditions and my lack of cover to contribute to a DNF. I am still carrying with me the emotional scars of the Thames Path 100 which I guess was on similar terrain, wherein the weather suddenly turned and became icy and windy and torrential. During the Thames Path I had my good kit and still the race got pulled 5 miles from the finish and I failed to reach that finish line, with so many runners out there suffering from the elements. I didn’t want a similar scenario during this event. I guess I just forced myself to push it to the back of my mind. There was nothing I could do about it. Time to focus. And before I knew it, Dick Kearn the race director had done his speech and we were off. It all seemed so surreal.

The First Bit

“There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth...not going all the way, and not starting.”

The first 10 miles went by pretty fast. I was chatting to another runner for most of that bit and it was really nice to meet some new people. I barely noticed the canal. I needn’t have worried; there was plenty of time to take it in later on… Before I knew it I had come upon Jon and Sarah and their crewing skills were excellent from the outset. They had a bag of goodies with them and I took a few handfuls of salted popcorn. As it turns out, salted popcorn was a really good fuel choice and very easy to eat. I needed to make sure I was eating early. After all, I had awoken at 3ish am and eaten breakfast early. I thoroughly believe that eating often and early was a really excellent decision. Talking of eating and refuelling: throughout the day and the next day there were two really nice guys called Stuart and Jim I believe who would meet their crew and pull up a chair and take time to eat and then bolt off again. It seemed like a most excellent strategy and always made me giggle because they really took it in their stride and had a little picnic and they were really friendly too.

Clocking up the miles

“Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, old Time is still a-flying. And this same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will be dying.” – Robert Herrick

Although it doesn’t always seem like it at the time…well mainly it doesn’t seem like time is going all that fast in the latter stages when you sometimes want it to end faster because of any discomfort you may be feeling, BUT time does indeed fly by. Before I knew it I had lopped off the 45 miles added to that 100 miles and had a mere 100 miles to go. Now, that sounds like a much rounder number! Actually this is a very scary realisation. It’s odd when you get to the 45 mile mark, because this is a reasonably challenging ultra distance normally, I guess, but not in this instance. It is still the beginning and who knows what will transpire later on? Still, I was comforted by the prospect of having company to run with after the 65ish mile mark.

Feeeeed me Seymour

“He who goes to bed hungry dreams of pancakes.”

In no particular order, the following things were eaten or sort of eaten/ drunk: Salted popcorn, trail mix, Bevita breakfast biscuits, monster munch, chunky chicken soup, noodles, pot noodle, coffee, coca cola, cheese and ham sandwiches, MacDonald’s cheese burger and fries, tuna sandwich, more monster munch, sausage roll, more coke, chocolate bar….I think this is the majority of the feast that was eaten, but I bet there’s some that was left out. Anyway, it definitely helped and I never once felt ill like I have before on ultras where I haven’t fuelled properly…so there you go; a successful experiment indeed. Just treat it like a huge eating contest, ‘Runner vs. Food’ and all will be well.

Familiar

"Right now I'm having amnesia and déjà vu at the same time." – Steven Wright

I was quite familiar with some parts of the route, mainly owing to the fact that I have done Ultra Race’s double 45 miler which takes place each January for 3 years in a row. I guess I don’t really dislike canals. I am really grateful for being familiar with parts such as the bit by Blisworth Tunnel. At this point you have to head onto the road, as the towpath disappears and so you head up though a forested track and up onto the road. It can seem like quite a long time on the road and it is over a mile I believe; so you can get a bit paranoid that you’re going off-track. Fortunately, I knew this bit well and my paranoia was non-existent. It was nice to be on a slightly undulating bit of road for a bit, it breaks the monotony of the canal up nicely. It was comforting. And yet the experience of covering this section this time around was so different to the last time I had been there. Last time, the race mileage was nearly over, this time there was a long way to go.

Sleepy eyelids, dreaming awake & getting drenched

"Tonight I'm tangled in my blanket of clouds, dreaming aloud" – Foo Fighters

On the Saturday night, the rain got so bad. It was really bad. I don’t mind rain, but the implications of such torrential freezing rain whilst having to stay awake and responsive and active for so long whilst getting absolutely drenched are not good. Your mind doesn’t want to go there and even worse than that, you don’t want to have to go there literally. It is a frightening and annoying thought that a little bit of water falling from the sky might derail a dream that you have had for so long. It was certainly made all the worse by the fact that I was minus my very treasured waterproof OMM jacket. It made me cold and sleepy and forgetting the rain for a moment, the darkness and magnitude of the distance that had to be covered made me downright sleepy. My eyes began to lull and my eyelids got heavy. I was doing my lazy, stumbling, falling-asleep run. I literally had to screw my face up, talk to myself, and jolt myself back to reality and to the here and now.

I had to stay awake. But it was so miserable and the temperature had dropped so much. I saw so many people around me being affected by this darn weather. Some looked particularly miserable and they were far more kitted out than me and it worried me somewhat. But you have to push these fears to the back of your head and keep moving forwards. Most importantly, you have to keep moving. I think this was some peoples undoing during the night section. It was just so chilly and the weather was so awful, it was so tempting and easier to slow down, but you had no choice but to keep up as good of a pace as you could manage to ward off the weather and the sleepiness. It was particularly nice to sit under a bridge out of the rain for a little bit and have a nice cup of hot coffee; a massive thank you to my crew. It gave me some much needed warmth and caffeine kick, as well as a little mental boost. 

Into the light

"Gotta kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight." – Bare Naked Ladies

As morning breaks, it brings with it the most optimistic feeling in the world. It’s great to make it through the night and into the daylight. You can begin to look forward to the day ahead and ultimately – although still a long way off – that finish line. In the morning I had a cup of noodles, another hot drink and some nibbles. We had also managed to run through Milton Keynes during the middle of the night, which was a really good thing for me. Normally, when I have run this bit of the canal, it attracts quite a lot of dog walkers, but because it was the middle of the night, not one was about. As such, I was able to get on with the task at hand without feeling my usual anxious self around dogs. Phew! We ran quite well during this night section if I do say so myself. Earlier in the race I had talked to other runners about how they intended to tackle bits and a lot said they would run as much as possible in the daylight and then just walk a lot and wind down during the night section. However, because the weather was so horrendous, this was a bad idea. You really needed to keep as much body warmth as possible and those who slowed down too much during the night section really seemed to suffer. I was really glad of my crew.

I think during this event I learnt the true meaning of what it feels like to do whatever it takes to make it to that finish line. I would have done anything. I mean, I donned a bin bag and it wasn’t for the fashion statement haha ;-)

Much later on and nearing the end

'Sometimes we need to stop analyzing the past, stop planning the future, stop figuring out precisely how we feel, stop deciding exactly what we want, and just see what happens’.

I had slowed down considerably because my feet were killing me. They had been pretty wet for over 40 hours and pretty shrivelled. All this slow moving was really eating up my time and I don’t know how but soon enough I was worrying about making that 45 hour cut-off. Anything really can go wrong during these things, but there was no way I had battled through everything I had to not make that finish line. From somewhere I managed to leggit ad I really picked up the pace. I was pretty surprised with myself. It was so exciting running the last bit. There were bigger, modern buildings starting to emerge and there was a great anticipation and then in the distance I saw the lights.

There were orange lights set up and I just knew they were ours; there had been identical lights at one of the check points the previous night. Nothing else mattered and I sprinted towards them and past the 3 other last runners who were also on the home straight. I didn’t barge past them, but I definitely wanted to cross that finish line with a bit of a jog-on. And after just over 44 hours, I was done. It was all over and suddenly the tiredness was gone. It did come back a few hours later, but I just couldn’t believe I finished it. And that is precisely one of the things I love about ultra running: accomplishing something that seems downright crazy on paper and all on your own two feet. You can’t buy the feeling of satisfaction, it can only be earned, but it sure helps to have a little help from your friends. I cannot thank my lovely crew Sarah and Jon Aston enough and I don’t think I ever will be able to tell them just how much they helped me.

Going into this event there is no doubt that I could have trained more, being the disorganised person that I am. However, this time around I just wanted to be amongst the finishers. And there will be a next time, because I absolutely loved this event. The funny thing is I never thought I truly would thoroughly enjoy it. After all, 145 miles is bloody hard work. But I really loved it. My impulsive decision to enter this wonderful event paid off and I can’t wait for the next adventure.

A week later I went back to Brum and the start line. This time was more of a relaxing night out...tWas a surreal experience....

"To those who know, no explanation is necessary.... To those who do not know, no explanation will suffice."

Gin Pit double marathonage :)

Gin Pit Marathon –Day 1: Sat 23^rd March

I stayed up mega late on Friday night as I decided to take a peek at the Sports Relief programmes on catch-up. Luckily my running destination on Saturday and Sunday were only a short way up the motorway and only 39miles away…this is really close for me, because normally I’m travelling here there and everywhere and I’ve been known to get in the car at 3am before and drive to an event and then drive back home afterwards. It can be a bit tiring. So, I was feeling immense relief at the closeness of these marathons.

Saturday was a scorcher from the moment I got in the car at 7.30ish am. 

I’m not the best in the heat, it has to be said. I’m more arctic ultra-wannabe rather than MDS Desert dreamer. Yep, I love the summer and I don’t mind wandering around in the sun or relaxing in it, but put me and exercise and the sun together and it’s not an amazingly happy combination. That being said, I have a strange urge to tackle some of the ‘crazy American races’ in the future when I’m faster and wealthier haha… Anyway, it was a lovely day though.

The route started off on trails and after around 8miles made its way onto the canal which was really very pretty to begin with, with lovely olde-worlde Tudor buildings and posh houses. However, the canals inevitably made its way into Salford and the industrial north. I think this was the least pleasant bit. It’s not the runs fault though; it’s just the place and the dogs. I need to get over it, but I fear I never will. I’ve been petrified of ‘scary looking’ dogs since I was little. I’m ok with some dogs. I don’t love any dog jumping up at me or running towards me, but as long as they look remotely ‘cute’ in a broad sense then I’m not too scared of them. However, unfortunately for the unfortunate looking dogs, there are certain breeds and stereotypes that I just can’t shift from my mind. For all I know and I suspect more often than not, the dogs in question are just fine and well mannered, but it’s just the way they look. ‘Status dogs’ really frighten me and they seem to be rife right now in more urban areas. 

Anyway, there were lots around this bit of the canal…it always seem to be along canals where I see the most scary dogs. And they often seem to be just left to wander around and not on a leash. I had one of my usual panics and got a bit scared. I was all alone, feeling a bit flustered in the warmth and then I had to pass a scary looking dog that wasn’t on a lead and its owner just looked at me blankly as I passed. I probably was looking like a right idiot, because I was actually really scared. So, my running was practically nonexistent for quite a few miles whilst I tiptoed down canal paths away from fearsome looking dogs. I felt a bit low. And I very nearly contemplated not doing day 2.

All was ok in the end as I caught up with some familiar faces in the last 4 miles. It was lovely to not be alone and talk to somebody. The canal paths ended, we got onto some roads and eventually back onto the trail and were homeward bound. 

I had a lovely cold glass of fizzy apple juice at the finish with lots of ice. I was frazzled.

Gin Pit Marathon –Day 2: Sun 24th March

I made sure to put my clock forward the night before and got into bed early….well I suppose I didn’t get into bed too early really because the time was changing, so hmmmm….complicated. I was awoken at 10.30pm ‘real time’ by friends asking if I wanted to go for a drink in the pub down the road, to which I replied I was in bed. So I had to explain that I was now on ‘future fake’ time in order to get up early. That lost hour really does make a difference though! Gosh I was knackered when I woke up on Sunday morning. I just wanted to go back to bed. I had to stop myself from climbing back into my pit. I reasoned that I would really not sleep much later anyway because soon the sun would be shining in through the window and it'd be warming up. I was definitely glad I decided not to be lazy and got into my car and drove up that motorway. It was a slower, but happier day on Sunday. I wasn’t running alone and there weren’t as many scary dogs around and about. Yey. 

However, we did encounter something that I have never before encountered on a run. We ran past a crime scene. A body had been found in a field and a full-blown murder investigation was in full swing. There was forensics on the scene in full body cover, multiple police vehicles, support officers, cordoned-off footpaths, and police keeping guard of the footpaths. It was all very surreal and interesting, yet obviously sad. So after we ran away from the scene of the crime (literally) we just had to tackle the last bit. And I nearly forgot, we even encountered a chicken. How could I forget the chicken that crossed the road to get to the other side? We never got to find out why exactly the chicken decided to play chicken, but it sure was funny watching Davey trying to shoo it back onto the pavement and behind a fence. Classic.

I liked the last bit a lot. There were some nice trails and evidence of countryside again. There was also the big puddle, but I didn’t mind. Overall I think it’s fair to say that a good weekend was had by all.

Garmin Update: On the Saturday it worked. It worked all day pretty much. I think it started to go a bit mental after around 22 miles, but overall its performance was ok. On Sunday, my Garmin was crappy. The screen was flickering and well before the 20mile mark, the screen had become utterly unreadable. The pixels had splattered into random flickering dots. I still managed to get satellite connection and hooked it up to my computer afterwards to view my route. However, it’s not really too great that you can’t use it whilst you’re actually running and it was only really chance that I managed to record the run, because I couldn’t read the screen in the slightest for it to tell me what it was actually doing. So this = bad. I simply can’t afford another. And I rely on it so much. So for now I’ll just have to struggle on with my unpredictable dying Garmin 310xt :(

I love back-to back marathons. They’re great training runs really. Realistically, I’m not going to get myself out of the door and run a massive run on my own. I could if I was motivated and organised enough to do so, but realistically I know I’m rubbish at planning a route and sticking to a plan of going out for a lengthy lonesome run. Therefore, these races are great for putting in some extra miles.

  

There will come a day when I focus on races again. I had only just started out running events when I hastily seemed to ditch the idea of actually racing something and bettering my time and just as I was on the up time-wise, I discovered the madness of multiple marathons and ultra’s and time seemed to take a backseat and I look upon events more as fun social training runs now. I’d be lying if I didn’t confess that it upsets and annoys me sometimes when people just presume to call me a slow runner; not that there’s anything wrong with going at your own preferred pace. I don’t know, it just gets to me how others can perceive my pace and how people can judge you. That’s not important though, I just thought I’d rant. It has been one of those weeks.

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us” – Ralph Waldo Emerson