Snake-like

Running long distances has turned my feet into something resembling a snake. Well, not green and scaly, but the skin is definitely shedding like that of a snake. If I was squeamish, it'd actually be pretty gross. Instead, I have taken lots of pictures (see below). Actually, my mum did think it was pretty gross and promptly told me that maybe I should stop running so far. I told her that I had actually walked and staggered more than run on my last ultra ;-)


So, the hard skin on the upper sole of my foot has started shedding. I have had to cut bits away to make it feel more 'normal' and comfortable to walk on.

Everything feels okay, but my feet are killing me... - GUCR race ramble

Apologies in advance for excessive rambling, random thoughts and pictures of my manky feet...

Just when you think you have learnt all you can from this race, it teaches you something else. I wasn’t expecting that this year. I thought I had grown fairly comfortable in this race, in what it was and how it worked. But, I was wrong. I think I had grown confident after last year’s PB of 38 hours 25 mins. Well, not over-confident in an arrogant sense, that’s not really my style. However, I had developed an inner confidence and self-assurance. Still, I didn’t exactly feel in my comfort zone. I don’t really think you can ever get that comfy with the prospect of a 145 mile run. But, I would talk about this race with fondness to whoever happened to ask about it. Oh yes, Grand Union Canal, so many adventures to be had along this stretch of path.

Anyway, the long and short of it is that this year’s race kicked my bum – big time. I’ve written many blogs about GUCR over the years and I don’t want to be too repetitive, so here is a fragmented version of events:

The plan

The plan was for me to run my fastest GUCR and try my hardest to run as fast as I could for as long as I could. I was down as an unsupported runner, so I could access various refreshments and food at checkpoints along the route. However, I had roped my lovely boyfriend, Jonathan, into being my ‘moral support crew’ and he did a great job – he even walked out to the last checkpoint to meet me and run/walk/hobble the last bit of the race with me (I was the one hobbling). I also wanted to create new memories on this year’s race. Some of the plan was successful.

The night before

After fuelling up on Pizza Hut and doing a mad trolley dash around the supermarket, my lovely boyfriend drove us down to Birmingham and we stayed at a Jury’s Inn. Last year, I stayed at a Travelodge just a few doors down from here. However, the noise levels were immense. I knew I wouldn’t be sleeping for long, since I had to start running at 6am and had set my alarm for around 4ish-am, but I still wanted to dose a little. This hotel I booked was so much better. Maybe they have better noise insulation? Major happy points J J

Fast forward to... The night section

I always dread going through Milton Keynes, despite this bit of tow path being very runnable. However, there are cycle paths off to the left of the path and I always think there are going to be dodgy people lurking. The reality is that I think all of the dodgy people don’t tend to be hanging around this late into the night, fortunately. I always envisage scary ‘status dogs’ around these parts, but there was nothing during this night section. I didn’t see anyone. It actually got pretty lonely. And, even though I have run this race for the previous three years, I still kept worrying that I had gone wrong somewhere, that maybe I hadn’t crossed a particular bridge I was meant to. These were just paranoid mind games which were largely triggered by the fact that I hadn’t seen anyone for so long. 

I was seemingly all alone and I had no idea of my position in the field. I knew I wasn’t near the front, obviously, as so many people had passed me much earlier in the race. However, I didn’t feel as though I was right at the back either. I just kept on going. A big bonus was that I felt really wide awake, which almost never happens during the night section. I normally always feel as though I’m about to dose off. Not this year, I felt really alert. However, I was really missing a buddy runner. I have pretty much always run these night sections with somebody else for company. It’s nice to have a bit of company to keep you sane and feeling normal. I missed that and felt slightly and sadly envious of the others runners I had seen ‘collect’ their buddy runners to continue on their night-time adventure.

Everything feels okay, but my feet are killing me...

I wasn’t lying. Or exaggerating. I got to the 100 mile checkpoint and everything really did feel okay, except for the feet. My legs felt much better than they had the week before whilst running Windermere marathon (probably due to not pounding the tarmac and hills) and I didn’t feel sleepy. These were major bonuses. But, the MAJOR downside of having painfully sore feet faaaaar outweighed the positives. It is the most frustrating thing to have so much will and want to move forward, but hardly be able to. I was limping along. I had invested in some ‘inov8 Ultra Race 290s’, having found it hard to navigate the range of HOKAs available and what I should be trying. The HOKA website also didn’t have any Women’s Size 8.5s in the ones I wanted/ thought I needed. 

Now, I have suffered from sore feet quite regularly during longer ultras, so that isn’t something new (I have long but narrow and fairly fat-free feet...the fat seems to stick everywhere else!). And, I also don’t think it’s hugely abnormal either. You are going to hurt on a long ultra. It’s not ‘if’, but when. Of course you are, at least a little bit. It’s a long way in the car, so it’s even longer by foot. However, not only were my feet hot and itchy and throbbing, but I had huge blisters. Huge blisters. I tried not to drain the blisters for as long as possible, but it had to be done at around the 106 mile mark. Armed with a safety pin (not the most sanitary procedure, but had to be done), Germolene and plasters, I sat on a lock and squeezed. So thankful to my boyfriend for providing all of the above 'instruments'. 

I don’t regularly get blisters. Yes, I’ve had a blister or two on this race before, but not to this extent. On my left foot, I had a huge blister on my big toe and on the upper sole, extending from a blister between my big toe and second toe. My little toes had become blisters in their own right. I also had blisters on the sides of both heels and another huge blister on the upper sole of my right foot and numerous sore spots. I’m sure there is something I did wrong. I definitely could have worn the shoes in more, but I’m not sure why this contributed to me getting blistering where I did. My socks had been good before and I always put body glide/ foot stuff on my feet before I put my socks on. I even wore gaiters this year, to prevent any sharp little stones getting into my shoes and then I have the worst year I have ever had with my feet. 

Needless to say, the feet issue seriously got me down. I had gone from a comfortable pace to a hobble. I had built up comfortable little gaps between cut-offs and now I was struggling. I ended up doing about 2.5 miles per hour, approximately. It’s a good job I was hours ahead of the cut-offs earlier on, because if I hadn’t have been, there is no way I would have made it to Little Venice. Later on in the race I was running to the nearest narrow boat, whimpering, ‘airing me feet’, whimpering, hobbling, running to the next bridge, crying, trying to stay in the game. I was not going to not make it. No way were my feet beating me.

Swelling: the immediate aftermath...

The hardest to get to Checkpoint in the world ever... Also known as ‘The Unreachable’ and ‘Check Point that never gets any closer’

After leaving the 100mile checkpoint at 9ish-am, the sun was really beating down on us. It seemed like it as going to be a scorcher and it felt pretty warm for a while, but it eventually became a little overcast and rained a bit later on, thankfully. There is a twenty mile gap between two of the latter checkpoints, from mile 100 – 120. When you’re so far into such a long race, this seems unreachable and it’s such a slog to push through the eventual negativity that starts to creep in.  The towpath also seemed to be quite ‘rocky’ along this section and the sharp stony paths started to really exasperate my foot niggles. Past experience has made me really dread this 20 mile stretch between checkpoints and I think this feeling gets worse each year. However, the feeling of reaching this 120 mile checkpoint is a great one – only about a marathon left once you make it here!

Beware of local wildlife...

At this time of year there are always swans and their signets dotted around the Grand Union Canal. There are also lots of geese and they are always really angry. There were a few incidents along the course of the race where Angry Swans decided to camp out with their babies in the middle of the tow path. There was one point in particular on the way to Braunston where it was really hard to make it past a group of swans at all, as the mother swan started to stretch out her neck and was getting a bit feisty with any runner that attempted to make it past. In the end, a nice man on a barge got out a stick and distracted them. This was the only way I made it past, because I’m a scaredy cat. Beware of swans.

This is the friendliest race ever

I don’t know where to start, because there were so many acts of kindness that I encountered. I will try to give some examples. I had just left The Navigation Inn at Cosgrove and was roughly 70 miles into the race and had just embarked on the night section. Suddenly the back of my head felt warm and my head torch started to power off. For some reason, the battery pack on my head torch had overheated and my head torch had packed up and I didn’t have a backup. A few moments later, fellow runner, Mike Blamires, was running past with his buddy runner and was so kind to lend me his head torch. Without this extremely awesome act of kindness, I wouldn’t have been able to see a thing and would have really struggled during the night section.

Grand Union is like one big crazy ultra-running family. Crews stop and ask if you need anything, people help each other out and everyone really gets into the spirit of things. I got offered yummy chocolate brownie, various snacks and I even got bought half a pint of Guinness at 120-ish miles in – a major boost.

The End

The incredible kindness shown by all involved carried on into the early hours of Monday morning as I stumbled towards the finish line. Gosh, the finish line seemed so very far away this year. Normally, the paving slabs start to change underfoot and the landscape alters and you just know that you’re almost at Little Venice, but this year I continuously got confused and progress was so slow. Minutes turned into hours. Ultimately, in my last mile (and to think, I had convinced myself that the end was ‘just around the corner’) a little ‘search party’ consisting of checkpoint crew and legendary awesome runner-types wandered towards me to see me in safely, since I was now the only runner left out there. I have to say, in the last ten minutes of the race, the pain disappeared as it was replaced by the realisation that if I didn’t sprint and get a move on pronto, then I would run out of time and I would fail because the clock was almost up. So, arenaline replaced pain and I sprinted for all I was worth, because nothing else mattered right then. I legged it. In the end I finished 63^rd in my slowest ever time of 44 hours 55 mins – I made it with five minutes to spare...

Thank you to everyone who helped me during this race. A huge thank you to Dick – thank you for doing such a wonderful job for all these years. You made this race. We all looked forward to seeing you and your beard at the finish line! I have so many happy memories.

Afterthoughts

What was meant to be my fastest GUCR to date quickly became my slowest and most painful. It’s impossible not to beat myself up about it a little. What could I have done differently to change the outcome? Ultimately, the outcome was that I finished my 4^th consecutive race. But, to say it was disheartening looking at the list of finishers and realising how much slower I was than last year and everybody, is an understatement. 

I know I was capable of better and yet, in that much pain, I wasn’t. The thing is, me and pain get confused with each other. I don’t know my limits because I have never truly experienced a serious injury or – touch wood – been in hospital for anything. I don’t know what real pain is, so maybe my feet weren’t the worst. All I know is that I stumbled onwards through clenched teeth, contorted facial expressions, swearing and tears. This wasn’t my brightest moment. And all I can think now is what is next? I will run far again. I didn’t fail, but I didn’t do my absolute best.

Chafing's not just for blokes...

A tale of nasty chafing & running...I'm not sure what the moral of the story is, but I can testify that Vaseline doesn't always help :-(

I think I have a pretty strong mind where pain is concerned. However, I have never been in hospital for anything illness or injury related *touch wood*, so I never quite know whether I am indeed good with pain or if I just haven’t really experienced anything significant as of yet that I can clock up to experience or measure such niggles against. I have been lucky. But I’ve run 138 marathon events including 10 in 10 days, quite a few hilly off-road ultras, back-to-backs, GUCR twice and a few 100 milers, so I think I’ve clocked up some experience with running related ‘pain’ – a little bit. So, last weekend I decided to do Fairland’s Valley Challenge. I’ve done this event twice before and I knew it was a lovely friendly event with lots of familiar faces and lovely countryside. And George was doing it, so I had the best company. However – and how can I put this – I have been experiencing a fair bit of discomfort running-wise, with the humid weather, in a rather delicate area. But, I thought ‘what’s the worst that can happen, I’ve been through worse right?’ Wrong.

It’s fair to say that Fairland’s Valley challenge was a very challenging and emotional day.  It was an emotional and physical rollercoaster. Five minutes prior to the race starting, I was jumping up and down and I had lots of George hugs, as my speedy boyfriend decided that he wanted to take this one easy and would therefore be my running buddy for the day. I was super excited because we hadn’t run an entire race together yet and I knew he would be lovely company, like he always is and it’d be a beautiful day, following on from a wonderful Saturday. So, we set off and everything was going wonderful for the first 5 miles. We skipped down little grassy hills, jokingly ran hand in hand and had some little kisses at various kissing gates :-) So, the first 5 miles were great. However the discomfort started to set in :-( and I have never had such bad chafing/ soreness like it whilst running. It felt like I was being stung by nettles for around the next 20 miles. The really horrible thing was that I was running well when I wasn’t in so much pain with it. And the sun was shining, the countryside was beautiful and so was George. I was in the best company in such a lovely place, but this one thing was overriding all feelings of contentment.

I used Vaseline, had used some Sudocrem prior to the race and I tried my best to ignore it and grit my teeth, but it was horrendous. I moaned, I swore and I generally spoiled what would have been an awesome day. George was amazing just being there and gave my little hugs to spur me on, but in reality he couldn’t do anything and nor could I and I knew this frustrated him too. And then about 2 miles before the end, I cried. This lump just caught in my throat and I really felt myself starting to sob. I quickly made myself get a grip  and kept on going. I would not be defeated by this. It actually seems so silly writing about this now, but I can not highlight enough how awful it was at that moment in time. In the end, we were a lot slower than we would have been if it had not been for my ‘predicament’.

Honestly, out of all the races, all the events, even GUCR, I have never, NEVER had so much discomfort. And it made me scared. It has made me frightened of this coming weekend’s Thunder Run. I have my fingers crossed that everything will run smoothly. I think this goes to show that even something seemingly trivial or even silly and definitely embarrassing can have such a profound effect on you whilst running and I really hadn’t foreseen that it would be such a problem...

Somebody suggested using chamois cream as used by cyclists, so I did a google search & it seems Udderly Smooth do one. I think I might give it a try, since I already use their moisturiser sometimes & it does indeed make your skin smooth 

Mad June continued with Ultra Race 100 :)

~~* It has taken me a while to upload any new bloggage. And I still haven’t posted up my Grand Union Canal Race blog yet. Three weeks after the GUCR 145 miler, which I survived thankfully, I decided to have a go at Ultra Race 100, because I could. It went surprisingly well :) So, here’s that story…. *~~

 

I didn’t really tell many people I was doing the Ultra Race Cotswold 100 miler on Friday/ Saturday just gone. I normally plaster stuff all over facebook or twitter or the like, but I decided not to.  

I was aware that it has only been 3 weeks since the GUCR and my feet had taken quite a battering in those wet conditions. It’s very strange that I rarely get blisters, but that my feet are quite sensitive and after a while they really start to get very hot and itchy and sore…although I guess that’s more normal than I think after such a long time out on the course. So, I definitely wanted to give this my best shot, but in the ‘more likely than usual’ instance that I might not make it, I didn’t want to give lots of explanations via social media etc;

It wasn’t looking great Friday morning as I had to drive myself to the start, which took nearly an hour longer than planned due to traffic and surface spray. I arrived with 5 mins to spare…just enough time to rush to the loo and I didn’t get my number until Check Point No.1…luckily they know me; otherwise I would have been in trouble. My back ached from the driving, I felt flustered, my mouth was dry and I hurriedly gave my 50mile drop back to the Race Director and then we were off. Annoyingly I had put ALL of my savoury food into said’ drop bag, because I didn’t have time to sort through it and so I only had sweet ‘food’ for the first 25 miles…I was really hungry and knew I couldn’t continue not to fuel properly, especially during the crucial early stages. I felt pretty disorganised (my rucksack was also really quite heavy too, because I didn’t have time left to sort through that either, so it contained everything for all eventualities). 

Fortunately, some lovely and very kind man gave me a tuna sandwich :) and then at the 30 mile CP, the lovely lady manning that one gave me a salami and cheese roll and Snack a’ Jacks…I was saved! I felt mentally more alert and capable. The initial torrential downpours had stopped, my dad’s basic pack-away waterproof that I had had to borrow, because I still can’t find my OMM jacket nor afford another one had held up well and I was dry underneath and what’s more, no more rain was forecast…and although I didn’t quite believe that weather prediction at the time, it was very true. It didn’t rain again.

I was feeling pretty happy at 30 miles. Time was flying by really. I decided to txt a friend and hint at what I might have been up to at that very moment in time. Before I knew it I was at CP 4 and Mile 40 and another familiar face, TZ was manning that one. It was really lovely to see a familiar face and another runner at this point because I hadn’t seen anyone for quite some while and this CP was further away than I had anticipated. I fuelled up on cans of coke, which were a lifesaver…I had some peanuts; a packet of crisps…all was good. I was feeling happy and as darkness fell, I was ready to embrace the night section.

Surprisingly, my head torch was being good…it never normally feels too bright, but it felt much better this time. Even when I have replaced the batteries before it never seems bright enough…these must have been super batteries!

The night sections were quiet and not too eventful. I swore some sort of animal growled at me from a bush, which made me run faster. We ran past a few graveyards where I thought I saw a dark figure, but I think it was just a large gravestone. I saw lots of eyes, probably foxes, but I just flickered my torch at them. Before I knew it I was half way and could finally get to my massive feast/ drop bag! I ate most of my 600 Cal+ sandwich I had picked up in Tesco’s…Geeesh, imagine if you were just eating that in normal everyday life all of the time..?! I had a can of orange Lucozade and filled up my water and got on my way. I was pretty much cat and mouse with another runner at this point until the finish! It was nice to have someone in close proximity.

There were definitely some KILLER hills on this course…it may have been easier in some respects with it all being on road…but the hills!! In another respect I guess it wasn’t necessarily easier with the road surface, because it hurts your feet after a while and I guess the pounding can be harder on your joints. Anyway, it was a lovely area in which to run. So much wildlife and so many lovely houses. On the wildlife note, I saw a weasel, hedgehog, hares (they’re creepy…too long-legged) and a Bambi in the woods :) 

Ultimately I think it’s fair to say that I did get a bit complacent with the night section…in the end. I wanted daylight. Sometimes it feels like one of those horror movies where they’re all stuck in a scary house and they’re waiting for daylight to break and when it does it means they’ve made it!! I don’t mean that I hated the night section entirely, it was certainly no horror movie, it’s just nice when dawn breaks and you can look forward to that new day and eventually that finish line. It was indeed a lovely sunrise and a very sunny day. 

We were so lucky, when I hear that a lot of the rest of the country was waterlogged and torrential. We had a slight wind but it was actually quite refreshing. I got a bit toasty later on and after the race was over I realised that I was even sunburnt. All this nice and calm weather after my initial feeling that rain just follows me around these long ultras; on the Thames Path 100 and the GUCR. I guess it did for a time here, but then things brightened up for us.

I really thought that this course was well marked…there was one long road when I didn’t see and arrow for a while and got paranoid, but thankfully it was paranoia. That paranoia was mainly fuelled by the fact that it was a massively steep downward hill and the thought of going wrong here was unthinkable because it would have meant going all the way back up this really steep hill and that wouldn’t have been good. All the major signposts and lampposts had arrows and UR signs; you just had to keep your eyes peeled.

In the latter stages my feet really began to hurt…really hurt…in agony... I began the good old ‘Liz Remedy’ of taking off my steaming hot trainers and itching my hot tired feet. It is the only relief that seems to give my feet any sort of momentary physical/ psychological rest bite when they are hurting that much. I felt a bit teary, because other than this I felt fine. I also walked on some patches of grass by the side of the road barefoot for a couple of minutes at a time and perched myself on any bench or wall I could find at regular intervals. I also dreamed of dipping them in a freezing cold streams and finally I popped a few painkillers, gritted my teeth and got on with it! I put on the mp3 player and sang and ran and walked and then ran to another tree/ wall/ lamppost. The hills were still furious and unrelenting and my feet were sore and screaming but I had gotten so far, I knew I would never drop. It was just a case of getting this pain over with as quickly as possible. My legs were fine. Weirdly, my feet look fine. Again, absolutely no blisters or manky nails, just very tender feet. 

I was making good time for me. I could have gone even faster if it had not been for the feet, but that is the price I paid for doing two long ultras pretty close together and I could live with that. I had originally said I wanted to finish in 27 hours, but really, I didn’t care…I just wanted to finish! I started to get emotional and had the occasional sniffles trying to sneak through my ‘just get on with it’ attitude. I knew I looked a state as I passed members of the public and gave a little smile or hello’.

Ultimately we were on the last bit and the last mega hill. It was time to follow the final map instructions that would lead us into the finish. I overtook a lady in the latter stages…within the last mile. Suddenly, really as if by magic my feet didn’t hurt at all. They didn’t hurt one bit and I got a bit of a sprint on. Stratford was busy and I had to ask directions to the leisure centre. I had forgotten we had crossed a bridge. I eventually put my sensible head on and started picking up the Ultra Race arrows on lampposts again. This was it, the finish and I couldn’t believe it! Woooo!

I officially finished in 27:19:32 :) & 2nd lady (although there were only 3 of us, so doesn’t reaaalllly count, but still pretty happy). Obviously there were runners that were phenomenally faster than me, but I’m really pleased with how this adventure turned out! I think overall I must have drunk 8 cans of coke, a can of orange Lucozade and 2 teeny bottles of coke yesterday, no wonder I didn’t get my usual sleepy lull during the night…bouncing off the walls! So, not going to have loads of sugar or caffeine this coming week…I’m sure it’ll prob be the sugar I avoid most because I like my coffee!

Whilst walking back to my car, two members of the public shook my hand. The said they were marathon runners and knew how hard running could be. Then they said, ‘Not many people do what you all do.’ It made me feel quite teary and proud and put a little perspective on things. It can be easy to get too used to the craziness of this sport, but I guess we all are a little crazy when it comes down to it. It is something to be treasured. Sometimes I think I need to remind myself that all of this is pretty darn cool and embrace how amazing it feels to run so far. And as for all the craziness, well, I like that