Wow! Just WOW! Many of you were reading the updates as they were posted and for those who don’t know this event, it is 4.1 miles within 1 hour and you have to be ready to go again on the hour every hour until 1 person finishes a loop more than anyone else, last person standing. Here’s my blog.
Finally the day was here, all of the anticipation was over and now it was time to get ready and ensure I had all of the running stuff I needed.
Lauren and I set off at 11am for London, we took a detour to Decathlon and grabbed a few bits and arrived around 3pm meeting James and Fran.
We got ourselves setup and before we knew it we were on the start line counting down from 10.
Due to coming into this event slightly under the weather I settled my mind on 4 loops of the 4.1 miles course (4hrs). But my crew had another plan for me.
The day loop:
The course was beautiful, I started slow for two loops coming in last just getting my body warmed up and reserving energy. In my 3rd loop James (our colleague) pointed out that I need to try getting back to get the calories in to prevent myself bonking and he was right, at the end of the 3rd loop I felt hungry which isn’t good as when you fell hungry or thirsty you’ve left it longer than advised.
The night loop:
Starting the 4th loop I had a bit of food and rehydrated. Lauren was sadly mere seconds from making it back to complete the 3rd loop, so I started this loop feeling a bit gutted. But as a positive, I was running this loop knowing I had another loop in me so I was going to beat the 4 loops that I expected to achieve. Loop 5 came and we lost Fran, he started this loop and didn’t finish, but what a fantastic effort.
Loop 6 I started, I was feeling ok but halfway through the wheels fell off and I started to worry a little bit as I felt exhausted. I now had Fran and Lauren crewing me and James constantly willing me on. I started the 7th, 8th, 9th loop wanting to pull out but these guys willed me on and I felt at the start of each loop I would get through in time. Heres my attempt to stretch out my calf, this is before loop 10 at 02:59am.
Loop 10, I was forced out and I started running. I had the words playing in my head from the crew "this is your PB loop, you have to get it" At this point I didn’t know if I’d make the cutoff time but I was determined to give it my best shot. I was in a bit of a danger zone for injuries due to poor conditioning and I just didn’t know what I had left. I finally rocked in with 3 minutes spare and GOT MY PB. I sat on my chair and I had mentally given up. The guys got me up, got me starting loop 11 but I was too slow and I knew I’d timeout so I settled for finishing at that point and walked back.
Some advice I can give is not to underestimate yourself, we are far stronger than we realise. I settled for 4, got myself to 6 and then was willed on and supported by my crew to finish 10 hours of running.
My plan is now to go back in October and at least double my performance and secure a minimum of 20 loops.
Thank you to VIM for financing this event for Fran, Lauren and I.
Thank you all for reading
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