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| British Championship gold medal |
I’m
absolutely delighted to be able to say that I’m the 2017 British 100km
Champion. To have won my first national
title at the age of 45 is an amazing feeling and something I’m very proud of,
especially after all the injury heartache of the last few years. It was a huge honour, too, to be part of the
England team contesting the Anglo Celtic Plate (ACP) – a home countries
international which was also being held within the race.
I have to say, though, the build-up to the
race wasn’t all plain sailing and there were times I wondered if I’d even make
it to the start line!
My
three weeks warm-weather training in Portugal went really well (see my last
blog post), apart from the fact that I developed some nasty blisters of the
balls of both feet. Although my toes are
prone to blisters it’s quite unusual for me to get them elsewhere on my feet
and I tried various combinations of Compeed and different socks to try and
alleviate the pain. On my return from
Portugal I had two or three days’ rest to try and give them chance to heal,
though they never did heal completely.
Then, not long after that, I developed a calf / Achilles tendon
strain. Luckily it wasn’t a full-blown
tear, but on the advice of my brilliant physio, Mark Buckingham, I had several
days with no running whatsoever. With
both of my local swimming pools currently closed for refurbishment I was unable
to aqua-run and ended up cycling to try and maintain some sort of fitness. Thank goodness for the brilliant facilities in
the health club at The Warwickshire, where I could go and do quality sessions
on the gym bikes with a fantastic outlook over the golf course, with its lake
and trees. It’s almost like cycling
outdoors – and I even spotted a pair of Oystercatchers as well as a Great
Crested Grebe! I’m hugely grateful to
The Warwickshire for their support – their gym facilities are fantastic and so
beneficial to my training. I did a few
rides out on the roads too, plugging away on my mountain bike on the lanes that
I should have been running on. Les, my
amazing coach, kept telling me not to panic, but I did anyway, stressing about
how much training I was missing! Luckily
my calf / tendon responded well to treatment from Mark and Dan Barrett at Witty
Pask and Buckingham and I’m indebted to them for getting me to the start
line. I was soon able to resume running
again, but I’d missed almost all of my quality sessions in the last six weeks
prior to the race. However, I at least
managed to get in a couple more long steady runs to give me the confidence
boost I needed before the 100km.
The
last two weeks of tapering before a big race is always a stressful time. It feels like I’m losing all my fitness and
putting on weight; every little ache and pain seems like a full-blown injury
and I’m paranoid about catching a ‘lurgy’!
When I tripped up my stairs and banged my knee five days before the race
I thought it was the end of the world!
It did seem, however, that all the cycling I’d done in my keenness to
retain my fitness was perhaps, in hindsight, not such a great thing after
all. My quads, IT bands and hip flexors
were incredibly tight and despite massage, stretching and foam rolling, never fully
recovered in time for the race.
Sometimes what appears to be the right thing to do isn’t necessarily
so! Despite all the minor setbacks in my
preparation, and all my ‘mini-panics’, I never lost focus and deep down always
believed that I would be there and run well.
In those final two weeks, knowing that I’d prepared my body as best as I
could, I worked on preparing everything else – my food / drinks and kit. I tried out my new England kit and broke in a
new pair of my all-time favourite Mizuno Wave Rider shoes to make sure they
were comfortable for race day. I’ve worn
Mizuno shoes for many years and I am so grateful to them for their continued
support with shoes and kit.
The
final week seemed like an eternity and all I wanted to do was get out there and
race. Eventually the day came for Les
and me to drive up to Patrington Haven, near Hull, and check into the caravan
park which was to be our home for the next few days. The race HQ and the start / finish were all
based at the caravan park and the England team were all accommodated in
caravans on the site, which was really convenient. This also meant that I could ‘do my own thing’
regarding meals prior to the race and not be restricted to whatever was on
offer at a hotel, which is so often the case when I go away to race.
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| Which way to the Meridian Ultra?! |
As
well as incorporating the ACP and British Champs. the race was also an open
race – the Meridian Ultra – so called because the Greenwich Meridian line passes
just outside the village of Patrington, near to the course. So, of course, we had to make a quick stop
for a photo opportunity! And I must also say a big thank you here to John Lloyd from Cannonball Events for putting on such a well organised race.
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| My race 'picnic'! |
The
day before the race Les and I drove the course to remind ourselves of the
route. We’d been up there last October
to do a recce with the race director, but it was good to refresh my memory
again. Most of the day was taken up with
preparing my ‘picnic’ for the race! My
bottles were all labelled, including motivational messages to keep me going,
then filled with the appropriate drinks and gels / food attached. And, of course, my ‘trademark’ silver stars
attached to make my bottles easy to spot!
Saturday evening we had a team meeting, then it was time to eat, get my
kit ready and go to bed – not that I slept much (or at all!).
Sunday
morning was an early start for me as I like to eat my breakfast 3 hours before
I race, so I was up at 4.30am! With the
start only a stone’s throw from the caravan I had a fair bit of time to kill
before I made my way over to join the other runners. It was a bright sunny morning, but a bit
chilly due to the windy conditions. There
were about 50 runners gathered for the start, including the international teams
and open race runners, both men and women.
It was a pretty low key start – the race organiser shouted “go” and we
were off out of the caravan park and on our way!
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| And we're on our way! |
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| The route was flat with little in the way of shelter. |
The course consisted of four laps of an
out-and-back route, each of 25km. It was
all on long, straight, quiet country lanes through open arable farmland between
Patrington and Sunk Island. The route
was as flat as a pancake and, being devoid of much in the way of hedgerows or
trees, very exposed. At one point I
looked across to my right and saw two huge ships in the field, before realising
they were actually sailing up the Humber estuary towards Hull! Each lap ended with a loop round a small lake
on the caravan site, before heading back out for the next lap.
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| In a group early on in the race. |
I
had a planned pacing strategy that Les and I had discussed beforehand, which
was aimed at achieving the 7hrs 56min qualifying time for the Great Britain
team for next year’s World Championships.
I was also aiming to be the first female to win the ACP in under 8
hours. If everything went really well I
also knew I could have a shot at the W45 age group World Record of
7:43:55. So I set off at my own pace and
ignored some of the other girls who had started faster than me. I think I was in about 6th
position in the women’s race after the first lap, with three of my England
team-mates and two Scots in front of me.
My split at the halfway (50km) point was 3hrs 49mins 35secs, which was fractionally
up on my target, but still felt very comfortable. As the race unfolded I gradually moved up,
passing the other girls one by one and still on track for my pace
schedule. Just before 65km I moved into
the lead in the women’s race and, at that point, was still feeling strong.
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| Still feeling strong and enjoying myself. |
It wasn’t long, however, before the
relentlessly long stretches of road, which were totally exposed to the windy
conditions, began to take their toll. By
the end of my third lap (75km) I was starting to hurt, both physically and
mentally. My quads, which had been tight
before the race, were beginning to protest and the blisters that hadn’t fully
healed since Portugal were feeling really sore.
I think the fact that the course was so flat didn’t help as it meant I
was using the same muscle groups the whole time, with no respite to use
slightly different muscles to go up or down hills. The thought of running that last lap really
didn’t enthral me, but all my family had made the journey there to support me
and there was no way I was going to let them down.
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| My sister and brother-in-law cheering me on - they gave me a huge boost. |
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| One of the drinks stations out on the course. |
At
this point I should say a massive thank you to the England team management –
Walter Hill, Michelle Maxwell, Darren Reevell and Anne and Norman Wilson – as
well as Les, who all did a magnificent job in supporting me and making sure I
got all my drinks without any problem.
I’m totally indebted to them for standing out there all day to support
me and, of course, the rest of the team.
It was a hugely welcoming sight to see them, especially at the two
drinks stations out on the course where, after several kilometres of lonely,
windswept, monotonous roads, their encouraging words were really uplifting.
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| Message on a bottle - reading one of my motivational quotes. |
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| Into the caravan park for the last time - those speed bumps felt like mountains! |
I’ll
be honest – that last lap was tough, both physically and mentally. I had to use all the mental strength I could
muster and thanks must go to Stuart Chambers at Athletic Mind for all his help
in this area in the past. My legs were
screaming at me to stop, but I had to keep telling them that I was still
physically capable of running (just!) and I wouldn’t let them give up. I thought about all my family there
supporting me, my friends back home who were tracking me online and, of course,
Les and how much he had given to prepare me for the race. I was forcing myself to eat and drink as I
knew I needed every ounce of strength I could get. I was still on my target pace until about 85
/ 90km, but the last 10km was, sadly, painfully slow as I struggled to move my
legs!
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| So proud to be waving that England flag. |
As I came into the caravan site
for my last lap round the lake everyone was cheering for me and an
England flag was thrust into my hands. I had to dodge a few dog
walkers round the lake, which wasn’t great, but I eventually crossed the finish
line with a mixture of relief that I could finally stop running and elation at
having won!
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| The relief and elation after 8 hours of running. |
It
was wonderful to have all my family there to celebrate with me – it’s the first
time most of them have seen me run for my Country and the first time any of
them have watched me run in an ultra.
They’ve been so supportive throughout my 30-year competitive career and
I was extra happy to be able to thank them by winning. It was also fantastic to be able to share the
moment with Les and repay him for everything he does for me. I quite simply could not have achieved what I
have over the years without his guidance, support and friendship.
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| A special moment with Mum, Dad, sister Jenny, brother-in-law Martyn and nieces Charlotte & Ellen |
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| Receiving my medal and trophy from Hilary Walker and Walter Hill from the IAU / British Athletics |
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| The women's Anglo Celtic Plate |
My
finishing time was 8hrs 01min 22secs which, now I’ve had time to reflect on it,
I am quite disappointed with. I don’t
feel it does justice to all the training and hard work I put in during the
months leading up to the race. Having
said that, it’s still the second fastest time in the world by a female so far
this year! It was the best I could do on
the day, on that course and in those conditions.
I was extremely proud to lead the England
women’s team to victory in the Anglo Celtic Plate competition too (a result
which the England men’s team also achieved with brilliant runs by all five of
them). I was sorry to learn that two of
my England team mates had been unable to finish and I wish them both well in
their recovery and future races. But I
was well backed-up by Sophie Carter, who had an excellent run to take the
silver medal, and Mel Venables who showed huge determination to take the
British Champs. bronze. That was
especially pleasing for me as she is also coached by Les!
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| The England women's Anglo Celtic Plate winners |
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| British 100km Champion! |
So,
it’s now a week after the race and I’m still on a high, showing my gold medal
to all my friends, work colleagues and training partners at Leamington C&AC
to acknowledge all the support that they all give me. I’m still incredibly frustrated at just
missing that 8-hour target and keep questioning whether I could have done more;
but I know that at the time I gave it everything I had. My legs were in bits for a couple of days
after the race, but they appear to have recovered quite quickly, thanks in no
small part to the magic berries of CurraNZ.
I’ve had a week with absolutely no running whatsoever – apart from the
fact that I was unable to walk for a couple of days, I also needed a complete
break mentally and time to recharge my batteries. I’ll probably resume light jogging again soon
and take it from there. But for the time
being I’m just enjoying the fact that I’m British Champion!
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| Where am I going to display all of this? |
