Saturday, January 22, 2011

RUN 222 - Coastal Trail Series Stage 5; Anglesey North Wales

The challenge of the Endurancelife Coastal Trail Series is hard to describe; at its simplest its a marathon around the coast of the UK somewhere, but that doesn't tell the whole story.  First of all, you usually discover at mile 26 that the course is a couple miles longer! and technically then an ultra.  Secondly the terrain is intense, every single footfall requires complete concentration to prevent a twisted ankle or literally falling off a cliff, not to mention being knee deep in muddy bogs with soaking wet feet, and i haven't even got to the climbing or elevation change yet! seriously, who puts a mountain at the beginning and end of a marathon+!?  However, these are precisely the reasons that i love this series and continue to enter them, this was my 5th in a little over a year.  The scenery is stunning, and there is simply no other way to see these places in this amount of time.  I've always met the most interesting and inspiring people; a guy from Thailand flew in especially for this race, as did two brothers from France in their first ever marathon (they set a great pace, but fell back with some minor injuries) plus a girl in her 20's who stormed past me carrying a 30-40lb backpack and a smile, with kind words of encouragement, and there are always first timers at the pre-race briefing who become the butt of lighthearted jokes about early injury, but always seem to make it through.  The challenge is massive, and there is no hiding in the crowds, a 100 or so people strung out across 26+ miles is very different to a big city race with tens of thousands.

As for my own race, i was worried, i hadn't trained and id had back problems in the previous months, i had no idea how i'd cope, but i've succeed before when i thought i couldn't, and i know how to tap into that confidence which lets me succeed.  I have a loving wife at the finish line who i call during the race and who always says the right thing, and never tells me to stop!  my early pace was really steady, and fast considering the first few miles included the mountain ascent, which we would later face again.  Once into the the middle part of the race i paced myself well, the toughest parts being the short road sections which we occasionally took inland to bypass some impassible feature or cove.  There always seems to be a boggy wetland section around mile 20, just to make sure you're properly soaking wet, today was no exception, that's where i met our friend from Thailand who was also making his way through knee deep.  Pushing through to the 'finish' with the mountain in the distance, i started to realise the course was probably longer than 26.2 ... i arrived at the base of the mountain well before the safety cut off of 1530 after which they would divert runners around.  The guy at the bottom told me "just a mile to go" i had about 20 minutes to get to the finish and come in under 5hrs, doable! accept that mile to go was actually two; one up the mountain, and one down! ... literally climbing on hands and knees with burning thighs from already running a marathon distance, i crossed the line in 5hs 24mins and as always delighted to have finished, i came in 61st of 103 runners.

If you've red my other Coastal Trail Series blogs, or ever heard of 'Endurancelife', and you're a runner, sign up for any of their events, they're the most professionally organised i've ever run, and always really fun people to be around!


[Caught by surprise by one of the cameramen]


[A look back at the coastline i've just run]



[Beautiful and dangerous sections through the first half]


[Approaching the top of the mountain to complete mile 27 and begin the descent to the finish]

Monday, January 17, 2011

RUN 221 - A Bear window

Like most people who spend a few years at university followed by professional training, I've moved around a lot, between cities and within them. Renting and relocating is exciting as you get to reinvent yourself and explore new places, running is a constant but the places you run change every time, even the same routes vary with the weather, seasons and people.  I've struggled recently with my run/life balance, but I'm ready now to recommit to it and its documentation here.  2011 is about to kick off fast for me this weekend with my first marathon in anglesey north wales, its another of the endurance life coastal runs which I was running last year, this is a new course, level 3 (severe) which is the same as Portland, I'm apprehensive as I always am, but know I'm experienced enough to manage the race, I'm looking forward to meeting new people also crazy enough to run a marathon in north wales in january and to it kickstarting my 2011 season of running and blogging.


[Bear window display]

Sunday, January 16, 2011

RUN 220 - Setting goals

Setting a goal provides a challenge and establishes parameters for success, it mentally prepares me to settle into a pace and commit to the success of the run.  Its good practice for race day, I like to have a race plan which I memorize and visualize myself completing.


[Beautiful but stinky too]

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

RUN 219 - East/West city running

A to B is entirely different from B to A, city commute running can provide a much more varied running experience than weekend long runs which I typically head to the river trail for.  Dodging the pedestrians and watching out for cars requires a level of attention which more relaxed longer runs does not, it’s actually good experience for the coastal trail marathons which require very precise feet placement, acceleration, deceleration, navigating narrow paths and avoiding obstacles… there are plenty of 10-15 storey staircases in the Tube system too to mimic those hill climbs!


[street art in the east end]

Monday, January 10, 2011

RUN 218 - West/East regular route

This is now easily my most regular run route across the city, longer than my regular weekday runs used to be, it helps to keep my mileage up when I don’t have the time for longer weekend runs.


No idea what this arcade is on Picadilly, will probably never go in]

Monday, January 3, 2011

RUN 217 - Wintery London day

Something about the weather makes running so much more exciting, it’s a massive factor every time you step outside the door, figuring out what to wear can make a run great or terrible if you get it wrong.  That’s probably why I like days like today, I can tolerate the cold pretty well, the added challenge of rain or snow just makes it more exciting for me, the tougher a run and the more varied the experience the better equipped I feel to take on the next run.  Although I probably need to work on my warm weather running… that still causes me the most problems!



[a rare chance to run in snow in London]