We picked Sebby up from Aldershot train station on Friday night and went straight to registration. I say straight, however there was a big diversion and we ended up driving round like idiots trying to find the school where Centurion were giving out the bibs etc. We eventually parked at the train station ready to walk up to the school where registration was held and the heavens opened. By the time we got to the boot of the car to get our waterproof jackets we were soaked. By the time we got to the school our jeans were stuck to our legs!!! It didn't ease and was like this for the rest of the night. I even heard it hammering down it the early wee hours!
We all emerged from our rooms at 5am and got in the car to go to the start. The weather was promising to be favourable today but the threat of a backlash of "Hurricane Bertha" was always in our mind. It would be very wet, windy and a bit nasty from about midnight, so I had about 3 sets of waterproofs ready. As I have mentioned before, I'm crap if I'm cold and I didn't want to let Sebby down. Many people can't run in waterproof trousers. I can!
It all seemed a blur that morning, but as we were stood chatting at the entrance to a trail, we heard a horn sound and everyone was off! We waved goodbye to Sebby (who was understandably nervous) and made our way to the first point we would meet her. The first aid station at Puttenham was off limits to crew so we looked for a suitable place to meet her either just before or just after that. It wasn't long before we saw volunteers putting signs up for drivers saying "CAUTION, RUNNERS" and as usual, the course was marked excellently with red and white tape so it took no time at all for us to find a road and park up. Graeme made us a cup of coffee and we cheered on everyone passing the car. We saw Foxy Davy and he gave us a quick wave as he passed. I somehow had a good feeling about his race. We had chatted earlier and he said he was wearing road shoes and then quipped, "Go on... laugh!". I didn't laugh. Each to their own. I had to agree comfort is of utmost importance if you aren't confident with your trail shoes, and he wasn't.
Sebby came past and we gave her a cap to wear and she was off again, looking good. The next port of call was Newlands Corner where crew where allowed to go, so we drove there, parked up and went to a newly opened café for a cup of coffee. Runners were already coming through in dribs and drabs so we went along and cheered them on. We had a good laugh at one runner who asked for "exactly 1 litre of water and not a drop more". That's the sort of thing I would do. Who wants to waste energy carrying an extra 100ml :-) By the time Sebby got to us (at the top of the hill and as the heat was starting to rise) she still looked good but maybe a bit hot. I took her cap off her and the aid station helper covered it in cold water. She took a coconut water with her and a banana and we ushered her along before she had time to think about stopping for a chat.
The next aid station, again, was a no crew access and we had a bit of a nightmare trying to find somewhere to park where we would see her in plenty of time. We had bought her a Calypo lolly so needed to be fairly close to the car and the cool box so it didn't melt. We eventually parked directly opposite Box Hill aid station on the other side of the carriageway in a car park that was used for a football club. The owner drove up in a posh black jag and we asked if it was OK to stay for the next half hour. He said it was fine... phew. This turned out to be a useful spot for other runners as they would come out of a gate and look around in a daze not knowing where to go, and we were able to direct them along the road, down an underpass and along to the opposite side. By the time Sebby got to us she was looking and feeling good and was loving the Calypo lolly we had got her. We also gave her some ice to put in her Camelbak with her squash and directed her to where she needed to go.
Reigate was the next point of call and it took us a while to find a parking spot as it was packed with runners and supporters. We sat in the sunshine and had a salad and coffee and cheered in all of the runners as they had just tackled their most gruelling section up Box Hill. Foxy Davy came past at one point looking in very good nick and gibed us for sitting doing nowt but drink coffee. This was to be the last time we saw him as his race went from strength to strength and he powered on, always ahead of us reaching aid stations. Good on ya Foxy! By the time Sebby came through I was wearing a fleece... I always have been the type to get cold easily!!! She was hot and bothered but in considerably good spirits after climbing what an aid station worker had called, "A bloody massive hilly section". We gave her coconut water, a flapjack and she had a drink of coke at the aid station. There were 7 people behind her at this point with a number of others who had already pulled out of the race. I couldn't believe how good and strong she looked and was really pleased for her.
We could only get 3/4 of a mile in front of the next aid station so parked up at a crossroads. When Sebby came through here she was with a chap using poles. We had put water into small bottles by this point so the water was freezing cold and we gave them both water and ice. Sebby said it was gorgeous and cold and they continued on their way. We couldn't get anywhere near the next aid staion after that and when ringing to let her know she cheerfully said, "Ah no problem... it's only 16 miles until I see you". Wow, she really was in great spirits. I think I'd have cried if you'd said that to me! This gave us an opportunity to go and have something proper to eat and we found a lovely pub close to the 50 mile aid station where the staff made us a lovely vegan meal (totally off menu) and we sat and cuddled their 2 black Labrador dogs for an hour! I then got changed into my running gear. I will completely admit to feeling very nervous at this point. I have never crewed let alone pace anybody before and I was so worried I would let her down. I had spent the last 3 months or so learning how to run downhill because previous to this I was crap at it and Sebby is good at it, but until today, I didn't really know if the training had worked. I was about to find out!
She got to us after running for 13 hours. This was great timing and 2 hours above where she needed to be. She said she didn't want to sit down and then decided she would to eat her soup and bun we had made for her. She was there a total of 17 minutes and said she had been glad of the sit down and it had revived her. She was very chatty and cheery and things were looking really good. We started to run together and decided to stick to 3:3 but if there were downhills we would ignore the Gymboss beeping and run through it. To my amazement, her running was really very good considering she had already done 50 miles. We passed a couple of people and she mentioned that one bloke in a white top had got lost and it had slowed him down. We two-ed and fro-ed with this chap for a while and had a laugh with him as we would overtake him on our running sections and he would over take when we were walking. We were on a hilly bit fairly soon and this is when all of the trail sections started (for me). It was steep climb, up a number of steep steps, run downhill. We got to one part and the view was fantastic. It reminded me of a section of The Wall where you can see for miles after a biggish climb. We were now running downhill on flattened grass. It seemed to go on for a while and I crossed my fingers that my training had worked and I wasn't going to be in ITB hell during this 50 mile stint. I have to say though, we had a really good laugh and we coped with the terrain well between us. I'd tell her to run and she did... my Gymboss beeped to say walk and she would say, "No, carry on until the downhill is finished". I can't tell you how impressed I was with her fortitude. Every now and again we would overtake somebody else.
It suddenly became dark and we put our head torches on. As we were running through a wooded area I said, "Is that tape on the gate?", and then I said I was mistaken as we saw a glow stick further along the path we were on. We ran along chatting for a few minutes when the bloke in the white top stood looking bemused in front of us. "Which way?" he said as he pointed to two paths. "Oh shit", I replied to which he said, "Exactly!" To cut a long story short, we ended up clambering down a very steep hill until we reached a road. Sebby took out her map and couldn't work out where we were. A sign said 4 miles to Wrotham and Sebby said that was the next aid station. "Howay then, let's crack on", I said and the three of us ran along the road. I phoned Graeme and he said there were two parts to Pilgrims Way and we must be on the right one as he was parked on Pilgrims Way just before the aid station. The next sign said 4.5 miles to Wrotham which didn't exactly fill us with optimism, but as we ran along I suddenly said excitedly, "TAPE!!!!!" and there it was, the lovely red and white Centurion tape marking the way. A bloke we had overtaken was just ahead and as we overtook him again he asked where we had gone wrong. It seems we added half a mile on to the route. Half a mile is nowt though, is it?
So, into Wrotham and this is the last time we saw the bloke in the white top. Not sure if he left before or after us but we had a nice hot cup of coffee and I had 2 squares of dark mint chocolate. Yummy! We carried on, still feeling in good spirits. We had made a pact that if it even "drizzled" with rain, we would put our waterproof jacket on because the tail end of Hurricane Bertha was due to give us a good drenching. Again, we trudged along doing 3:3 run/walk until Sebby commented I was walking as fast as she was running. I quickly realised her walking pace was great but her running had slowed so suggested she do a bit of power walking to make up the time. Run/walking was giving us a 21.30mm pace, walking was bringing us closer to 19mm. She joked that she must look like a zombie and then retracted the comment by saying zombies move really quickly in films these days and she couldn't move that quick. I told her Graeme would be petrified if we were walking through dark misty woods like we were, talking about zombies. He'd freak out. This was the first time I had noticed the fog. It wasn't too bad though.
We got a phone call from Graeme saying he couldn't get to the next aid station at Holly Hill and he was a bit panicky. I told him not to worry as we were both OK and would get what we need from the aid station. Since changing my diet I'm a lot better during a long run so don't need to feed my face as often as I used to and Sebby still had plenty of supplies with her. We would see him 16 miles from the last point. I think the next aid station was the one that looked like Santas grotto (apologies if I have got this wrong, it all seems such a blur when it is hill after hill after hill). We were greeting with, "Merry Christmas" and given goodies. I only had a black coffee but there was proper Christmassy party food here (sausage rolls, twiglets and the like). There were a few people sat here wrapped in blankets too. I wondered if they had pulled out or were just having a break. I asked how far ahead of the cut off we were and was told almost a couple of hours. Great stuff... I yanked Sebby away from the sausage rolls (or whatever it was she was eating) and we were off again. We hadn't been gone long when the drizzle started. We went back under a tree and put our coats on. Three other people obviously had the same frame of mind and did the same. I'm glad we did... within a minute or two the heavens opened to a huge downpour! The hill went up and up and up and it got foggier and wetter. At one point my head torch was as useless as the main beam of a car in fog and I could barely see anything. Every time I looked back at Sebby she had a frown on her face (understandably). I kept asking if she was OK and got no answer. I would go ahead and turn my torch round to the ground and say, "Don't walk there... walk that way... Tree root... Slippy mud, walk round there instead... Watch that step... walk on that bit of grass". I was like a Sergeant Major and hoped I wasn't pissing her off. I constantly got no reply and realised how tired she must be feeling by now and that I would be exactly the same and not reply unless life depended on it. Who wants to waste energy speaking for Gods' sake? The rain was really teeming down now but it was an uncomfortably warm night. This is a new one on me as I normally get very cold during the night. The next section was across open fields and from what I could gather it looked like a burnt corn field. My obsession with thinking about scary films surfaced again and I talked about the film "The children of the corn" and in a spooky voice said, "Mahhhh-li-kiiiie" It was totally wasted on her... she hadn't seen the film! We trudged down this field, slipping on the sodden muddy trail and as we got to the bottom were off in the wrong direction as a woman got out of her car and said we needed to go up the hill. Another hill, oh gee whizz! We were totally flipping drenched by now and at some point along the way came to the Medway Bridge. It took us forever to cross this and the wind was bitingly cold by now and the rain was still relentless. It had been raining solidly for about 2 hours by now. We decided that once we were off the bridge we would put our waterproof trousers on in an attempt to warm up. Eventually reaching the underpass after the bridge we managed to stop where it was drier and put waterproof trousers and gloves on. We were frozen. Then there was a hill to climb... another soggy horrible wet slippy muddy hill. I was again pointing to sections she shouldn't walk on, asking if she was OK and getting no answer. We walked up that field for what seemed forever, then you would go off into a wooded area with steep steps or a steep hill. I would look and think, "Oh no" and then Sebby would see the next section and say, "Oh for fucks sake!!!" Every time I saw a downhill my heart sank as I knew we would just get to the bottom and it would be time to go back up again.
I rang Graeme when I thought we were close and said I wanted a change of clothing for my upper body. We got into Bluebell Hill aid station and was told that everyone had hated the last section but we were 1 hour and 25 minutes above the cut off. Whilst I got changed Sebby carried on and by the time I caught her up she had really powered along and got quite far. She started to feel worried about cut offs now so I said maybe we should run one minute and walk one. She agreed but as I ran ahead and looked back she had stopped to walk. It hadn't been a good idea as the mud just zapped you of energy and made it so difficult. It was still raining, getting a bit windier, colder, muddier and just generally miserable. I continued directing her to sections she shouldn't walk on whilst nursing a bad back. It had been aching since about 60 miles (10 for me!) which I knew was down to not visiting my physio to get it sorted for months. My own stupid fault! Luckily, although sore, it didn't slow us down at all and I was able to get to the top or bottom of a hill and wait and stretch while Sebby followed on. This section took us FOREVER All thoughts of trying to speed up in this part and make time up were out of the window. It was just impossible. The mud was so difficult to get across and the hills were ongoing. Sebby kept saying she wasn't going to make it at this speed and I kept ignoring her and got her to run whenever it was possible (although it genuinely wasn't possible too often).
Everything seems a blur to be honest... when it all just looks like the same terrain you get mixed up with where you were and at what point. I walked past a fallen tree and opposite had been a cluster of toadstools. Imagine my horror when after getting lost as a volunteer hadn't realised there were two trails instead of one with no marking of the course I saw what I thought was the same fallen tree and opposite the same toadstools. I must mention at this point that some total idiots had gone around certain points removing tape and leaving them on the floor. It later transpired we hadn't gone along the same track twice, but with all of the mud and messing about it was easy to feel disorientated. Eventually we came to a tarmac road and as we ran down and along it we saw Graeme at the end and it was a total relief. Unfortunately he told us we still had a footbridge to get over. Sebby wasn't impressed. As I wanted to eat something and change into a dry top I ran ahead while Sebby went in to the checkpoint. We had 25 minutes left to the cut off. I ate the bread quicker than I had eaten anything before and waited for Sebby to come out of the village hall. I told Graeme I was going to push her for the next section and he said I would have to as we were getting closer to cut offs. As soon as Sebby got to us we were off. 9 miles until the next aid station!
My plan of getting her to run went out of the window immediately. The terrain was awful and the mud was worse than ever. I didn't know what to do because it was impossible to speed up. I would get her to walk along grass verges instead of on slippy mud, I'd point out rocks and tree roots and hazards along the way, I'd go ahead and stop and stretch my back and not once did Sebby stop. She would get to the top of a hill and not even stop moving forward for a second. We both knew time was slipping away and unlike my race where we had been able to step up the pace, today you couldn't. There were sections where you had to hold onto trees and branches just to get safely past a muddy patch that would have you on your arse. She looked so down and there was nothing I could do to console her. I felt this was now completely out of her hands. At one point I thought we were about to hit the cut off, only to find we had another hour so we both cheered up a bit then, but after so long Sebby announced that we had to do 2 miles in 30 minutes. A steep drop down then a steep climb up, muddy bit, steps and now we were going into a narrow path which was covered with twigs, branches and nettles. There was a few "Ouch, ow" and despite all of the heart and soul she had put into this race, we knew she was on a losing battle. I told her she couldn't be disappointed with herself as I thought she had done an awesome job. I wasn't joking... I told her I couldn't have gone as far as she had gone and I meant that too. I told her she wasn't allowed to be disappointed in the result because she had fought the whole way.
We carried on, and as we overtook another 3 people (yes, she was still overtaking people even at this point) she said, "I've only got 1 minute to the cut off". I was surprised that Graeme hadn't rang, and just as the thought entered my head my mobile started to ring. I spoke to Graeme as Sebby rang and spoke to her husband Nick. Graeme would meet us at the aid station, which was officially about 91 miles. We hadn't been going long when Graeme phoned back and told us the mini bus was coming to pick us up about a mile from the aid station. I gave Sebby a hug and told her I thought she had a tile missing off her roof wanting to do a race like this, however if she ever wanted to do it again we would be there for her.
And do I ever think I'll have delusions of grandeur and do this myself? ... HELL NO! In the first 10 miles I'd have said yes, but not now. I always wondered if I would be one of those runners who liked splashing in mud and I now know I'm not. I'll leave those sort of trails for crazy people like Sebby to do, because on any other day with more favourable weather, she wouldn't have been timed out and would have finished no problem! Bravo to all of those who even attempted it... you're a mad bunch of people. :-)
Well done Sebby ... and well done pacer!! Sounds a really, really tough race. Sorry to hear about the awful conditions and I hope they're better next time!
ReplyDelete