Wasting electrolytes (The Joust 24 hour 2014)

Some races you're really pleased with your pre race prep. You train hard, you give up alcohol, you never miss a long run and you sleep and eat well in the run up to it. This was not the case for me this time. Graeme and I had shared far too many bottles of wine over the preceeding weeks, I had what you could only describe as a "party season" with lots of social events planned (and attended) in the 6 weeks or so before the race, I hadn't trained... in fact I believe my longest run prior to the race was about 3 miles and the only saving grace had been the pacing I had done for Sebby in which I had managed about 41 miles 6 weeks earlier. Prior to this I had only done an 18 and a 20 mile long run 3 or 4 weeks before Sebbys' event and that was purely for her benefit as I didn't want to let her down. Then I had heard for this race there were numerous gates to climb over as they couldn't be opened (definitely something I hadn't trained for) and just to put the lid on it all, a wedding party was very loud in the hotel we stayed in the night before the race and I only got 3 hours sleep. And I wasn't even slightly nervous. That was probably a bad sign too!

We arrived at the camp site and Graeme pitched the tent. We chatted to a few other runners and I thought a lot of people looked very fit and very well prepared.

I pottered about and got my feet sorted, ate a few bits and bobs and watched other peoples pre race prep. It seemed no time at all when we were being called to the pre race briefing at 11am. I can't really remember much of that, only that they were saying some parts were possibly difficult to navigate at night but by then you would be so used to the course as you'd ran it many times in the light. The weather was already sunny and nice, but I had a long sleeved thin top on at this point as I thought the first loop might still be a bit chilly. Race briefing over we were called upon to pose for a very large group photo. The atmosphere was really good and there was lots of banter between the teams which made me chuckle.

Photo done and it wasn't long before we were ready for the off. As we started, we were running across a field when suddenly heads in front disappeared from view and you came across a fairly steep downhill. I was shocked. The description of "Relatively flat" did not have me envisaging a massive downhill. People around me were saying how this was going to be a total killer after a few loops and I agreed. Thank GOD I had trained downhill reps for Sebbys' race, otherwise I'd have been knackered after 2 loops!
You went into a corn field after this and as I started to walk a girl named Alix asked me about my strategy. I told her in these early stages I was running 3 minutes and walking 1 and a half minutes. She asked if she could join me as she had never done anything more than a marathon. I took my long sleeved top off because I was already sweating and said it was fine. My breathing was all over the place by this point, it always is this early in a race. I seem to take 4 or 5 miles to get myself put right and often chatting to other runners is something I find very difficult as I can't get my breathing right. I probably sounded as completely unfit as I was feeling and Alix and I stayed together for a while. I would often have ran on ahead and while I was on a walk break she would catch me for the last minute and we would have a quick chat (mostly about the route and how hot it already was). We came across our first field, which was OK. The gate to it was open and as you ran through it was quite noticeable how the hardened mud didn't feel quite so smooth. The further you got on the rougher the mud got. As you went through another opened gate the terrain got much more difficult. The ground was very uneven, almost as though a tractor had gone through mud when it was very soft then 4 million cows had hooved it up and then the weather had become hot and dry and had dried the newly formed surface into an ankle breaking stretch that was covered with long grass so your eyes couldn't even give you the heads up as to where to put your feet. After a few twists turns and "ouches" I decided I'd walk this field. Better to be slow through it than break my neck! At the end of this field was the first gate to climb. I found it easier than I expected although declined the suggestion made by someone to "Gate surf" by putting one hand on the top of the gate and one hand halfway down the other side and fling my body over. My body was going to be in enough pain tomorrow without doing more damage to it by doing a trick I'd never practiced. I actually didn't see anybody gate surf... but that doesn't mean to say nobody did it.

The next part of the route was very pretty indeed. A lovely windy path surrounded by trees which gave a little bit of shelter in the hot sun. Alix had just caught up to me again at this point and I'm afraid my breathing was still all over and I found it tough to hold a conversation. My apologies Alix, you must have thought me either very rude or about to have an asthma attack! As we got around the corner Graeme was waiting there and directed us to the beer garden of the Wagon Wheel pub where we were to check in. Alix said she was glad he had shown us otherwise she would have ran straight past it. It was pretty good though as you just shouted your number and ran off. Then it was up a few small steep steps into a church/graveyard and after a small windy path there was a kissing gate to get through and then suddenly it was as if you were on a tightrope and you had to keep your balance as the footing was a bit tricky getting into the next field. This next field wasn't too bad but it wasn't ideal either and was hard compacted mud that wasn't exactly smooth and flat. It was runnable though and as you got to the end of it there was a stile to climb. It was a bit like a short gate in that you had to step on one side and bring your leg over to step onto the other side. Then it was a gravel path that went one for a while and was a very welcome surface. It was really good to run on and I think I ignored my walk beep at this point just to get a nice decent run in. Alix was now only walking with me for 20 or 30 seconds and I wondered how Ria was. I had passed Ria in the first corn field. She said she had been very tired from running a lot over previous weeks and didn't hold out much hope for how far she would get today. I had looked for her after the horrible churned up field but she hadn't been anywhere in sight.

At the end of the gravel path there was another stile, a bit like the other one so was not dissimilar to climbing over a gate. And then another sharp downhill. I really wasn't expecting another downhill! The first part was a bit rough and then you met up with a track which meant it was a little easier. At the bottom of the downhill was another big metal gate to climb over, then there was a set of metal steps that took you up and over a conveyor belt and into a sort of industrial section with piles of gravel. It was flat however and had a number of very noisy slammable yellow gates to push through. It felt very hot going through this bit as there wasn't much air and it was like a suntrap. A little foresty section came up next and it was lovely, apart from a bridge you had to climb up onto and then climb back off. I did like this section though as it was very pretty. Another stile at the end (if my memory serves me correctly) and a lovely runnable gravel road to follow.

This is where my memory begins to fail me, and all I can tell you is there was a tarmac road to run up, next to Top Barn shop (and it was at the end of this road I would phone Graeme to tell him I was about 2 miles away), another field to run across with a tunnel and another one of those "can't be opened" gates at the end, another long gravel road to run, another metal gate to climb, more gravel road then a bloody horrible stile to get over which seemed to be made wrong and I struggled right from the first climbing of it. Then my favourite bit of the course was a corn field which led up to some lovely houses and a big church (where a wedding was going on) and then after a fairly steep gravel path up, you were back in the camp and there was about 100 metres or so before you went through the finish banner for that loop. I was glad to get that first loop out of the way and know exactly what I was up against for the next 20 odd hours! My breathing was finally sorting itself out now and I was actually able to run and chat at the same time, although I have to say I didn't see Alix again after this point, so we must have always been on separate parts of the course for the rest of the race.

The second loop was far more comfortable for me and I got myself into the swing of it. I would see Amanda (the race photographer) now and again and we would have a quick chat and I would chat to a lot of other runners along the way. People would go flying past you and it was amazing to watch people speeding along (even on the tough sections). Other solo runners would give a consoling nod and say "Team runners" as you looked at them dumbfounded. I have to say the one thing that really DID annoy me however were the people who cheated. The first field before what lovingly became known as "The cow field" had to be ran from one end to a corner and then back down to the open gate. The amount of times I saw people cutting this corner off was unreal and I was quick to voice my opinion. Nobody seemed to give a shit though. I'd like to say they were only cheating themselves, but they were cheating against other runners too. It's a shame they weren't caught and disqualified (which was threatened at the race briefing if you were caught cheating!).
The one thing I was struggling with was the heat though, and I did for the next couple of loops...but I know it's a weakness I have and I know how to deal with it.... I walk. I walk until I feel better and then I run. I used to get stressed over this, but now I know just to wait it out and I'll be able to pick it up again as it gets darker. I was overtaken by the female race leader (Sarah) as I was going though the quarry section on the fourth loop and she was astounded when I told her she had lapped me. She was very nice and stopped and chatted for a while about how she had gone to college in Teeside so knew exactly where I was from and had recognised my accent. Getting back to Graeme after the fourth loop I stopped and had something to eat and finished off a bottle of Gatorade I had opened earlier. I was feeling really really hungry which is very unlike me while running. I normally can only have soft mushy foods that go down easily but I was wanting something much more substantial. I ate a salad and avocado and salt and vinegar crisps before going off again. I also took marzipan and kendal mint cake with me in case I still felt hungry on the next section. It was still warm so I was still walking more than running.

As I walked along I saw a runner up ahead and we chatted for a while as I passed him. No sooner had I got past him I tripped on a very large rock sticking out of the path and did all I could to avoid falling, but alas, I went headlong into a ditch. The other runner (who I later found out was called Ben) seemed very shocked as I lay in a bracken type covered ditch yelling out because my right calf had gone into cramp. He didn't seem to know what to do but offered his hand and he pulled me out of the ditch. I was in agony. My toes had smashed against the rock and were throbbing and I could barely walk as my calf was killing. The whole of my right side felt smashed up, although didn't look it thankfully and I had got away with a few tiny scratches. Ben eventually went on ahead as I tried to pull myself together. I had a pain on my right side which felt like a piriformis sort of pain and I wondered if I had stretched in a strange way and caused some damage. I hobbled along for a while trying to ignore the pain in my toes. I knew if I just carried on this would be OK though as I have done something similar before and my toes were fine after a while. I was right and after only 15 minutes or so I felt fine and as it was starting to get dusky and cooler, I was able to run again.

I have to say I loved the camaraderie between runners. The team runners would say how much they respected you as a solo runner as they flew past (when it was clearly them who were due the respect for how fast they were) and other solo runners would stop and talk to you for ages... often a decent amount of a loop. I saw Ben up ahead and he seemed to be walking fairly slowly so I caught him up and thanked him again for pulling me out of the ditch. We ended up walking the whole of this loop together and he told me how he was getting married later in the year and his fiancee and friends had only stayed to watch him do the first loop as they were all out tonight in Birmingham for his best friends 30th birthday. I looked at him like he had a screw loose and checked I had got the story right.... He had binned off his best friends 30th birthday celebrations to run around a field? Yes, that's what he had done. Mind you, I'd probably have done the same and actually have done in the past. I didn't go to my nephews 21st birthday because I was doing a 100 mile race. Who was I to talk? This was a very good loop which totally flew over as we chatted about anything and everything. At the end of the loop Ben thanked me as he said he had upped his walking pace to keep up with mine and there was no way he would have done it as quick. This was his first ultra and he wanted to get to 50 miles. I told him he would definitely do it as we were already around 38ish miles. He was going for chicken pasta and I was going to have some 3 bean chilli so we said our goodbyes for now.

I took my head torch for the next section and as I was going down the horrible steep hill at the beginning spoke to a Scottish woman (who was running in pairs).

Sorry, I didn't catch your name! This was the first time she had ran further than a marathon and she was running great. The hill was killing my toes. If you ran it your toes smashed against the front of your shoes and if you tried to walk it your body tried to brake too much and it hurt anyway. There seemed no happy medium. Just into the cornfield and the Scottish lady ran off and the mens race leader Ian joined me for a brief chat along with another solo runner. We were all walking but they were walking much faster than me so I let them go. I was absolutely starving and wanted a proper cooked meal. Graeme said he would make me some soup for next time and put it in a cup for me so I didn't have to stop. Only thing is, by the end of the loop I was wanting coffee too, so I sat down for a cup of coffee and took the soup with me. It was a downward spiral for me at this point and the loops and hours merged to the point I can't really remember much. I remember talking to a team runner that said it felt nice to run in the dark because it made it look like a different course and I remember Sarah passing me again saying she really should invest in a better head torch next time. She ran across that cow field like it was a tarmac road and seemed unfaltered in the fact her torch really was a bit shit. It was obvious she was going to win this hands down! Good on her.

The loops got harder and harder to embark upon and as I finished the 12th loop at somewhere around 3.40 in the morning I felt like I had nothing left in me. I was very depressed and demotivated and I was starving. I would have given anything to sit down to a 3 course meal right then and the thought of going down that bloody hill again was filling me with dread... and I didn't want to go across the cow field... and I didn't want to climb any more gates. I didn't want to go! I had soup and black coffee and if I wasn't totally silent I just sat there and whinged. Graeme pointed to the sleeping bag and suggested I get in for 20 minutes. I looked at it longingly, chucked the rest of my coffee away, stood up, and walked away with a bag of crisps in my hand. Graeme gave me my iPhone and said maybe I should listen to some music to cheer myself up so I switched it on as I walked through the finish banner. I had put on warm clothing because I knew I was going to have to walk a lot of the next loop and I tried to gee myself up. As I walked down the first big hill my toes smashed against the front of my shoes and I felt like loads of blisters were on the verge of popping. The skin in between two of my toes felt like hot needles were being pressed in and I knew that was probably another blister and I felt like crying I was so miserable. I have always joked in the past that I never cry during a race because it is a waste of electrolytes, but as the next song came on my iPhone I started to sob as Emeli Sande kindly voiced my inner thoughts... "Cause when you've given up, When no matter what you do it's never good enough, When you never thought it could get this tough, That's when you'll feel my kinda love. And when you're crying out, When you fall and then can't pick your happy off the ground...." I sobbed from the top to the bottom of the hill until the song changed to The Eagles, Hotel California. This song reminds me of race weekends as Graeme, my brother in law Paul and myself sang this at the top of our voices one race weekend. It also reminds me of a friend who was killed in a car accident when we were 17 as The Eagles were his favourite group. I had just decided to pull myself together when someone ran behind me and stopped to talk. I wiped my tears away and chatted to a man called Duncan. You don't know this Duncan, but you saved me from a very miserable state of mind and probably saved my race for me, so thank you!

Duncan and I had a good laugh and he told me he had taken his chip off and was just doing a loop for the hell of it. I thought he was crazy for doing that... especially at 4 o'clock in the morning! We walked together for about half a loop and as I checked in at the Wagon Wheel he carried on for a run. I put my headphones back in and had to laugh as the song now on was Sylvesters' "Do ya wanna funk". This song reminds me of the other 17 year old killed in the same car accident as it was his favourite song and it just seemed very funny that I was listening to it whilst going through a graveyard! It is also one of husbands favourite songs and I felt like someone was saying, "C'mon Claire... get your shit together". I was smiling and started to run and promptly fell over in the next field. That just made things funnier though. At the usual point I phoned Graeme and told him I wouldn't be stopping and would be running straight through and could he find out where I placed as Ria had said she thought I might be second lady. When I got to the camp again he passed me a bag of crisps and said I was indeed second lady but he didn't know who was third. Neither did I. I was going to stop once Graeme had been to the shop and have something decent to eat but I asked could he get me something I could run with instead.

The next loop was good and quite strong and I ran 1 minute and walked 1 minute despite the fact every part of my body knacked. Going through the last field another runner said to me, "God, look at her cheating" and I watched in disbelief as yet another runner who was quite a way behind us completely cut the whole corner of the field off (just before the corn field leading up to the church) and got in front of all of us. I looked at her in her turquoise vest and was astounded as she cheerily said, "Morning". One of the men I was with said maybe it wasn't obvious where the road was and she had made a genuine mistake. I wasn't convinced but I would certainly notice on the next loop.

Getting into camp I felt good and the horrible patch I had gone through earlier was well behind me. Graeme said he would meet me at the Wagon Wheel and try and get me some food. I asked for coffee too. I spent the next two miles very excited at the prospect of eating something and it spurred me on even more. I walked quite a bit of this part with the mens solo race leader Ian. What a nice bloke. I know I have said this earlier, but the people were so lovely. People were starting to fly past me again on their first loop of the morning and said they couldn't believe I'd gone through the night without sleeping. Someone even called me "Smiler". He may have been mistaking a grimace however! When I got to the Wagon Wheel Graeme had a black coffee and a spicy vegetable samosa for me. I was so delighted. I have to admit, despite being a big spicy food fan, the samosa was maybe a tad too spicy to be eating after being on my feet for 21 hours and so early on a morning, but I ate it all the same and enjoyed every mouthful. It was towards the end of this loop that I took particular notice of the field the girl had cheated on to see if the route was obvious, and the route was obvious, as you had to run over mud to avoid the proper path. Grrrrr!!!!

I can't remember much of the next loop, only that I ran more than I expected to. Getting over gates and stiles were much more painful now and it definitely slowed me down somewhat! But, what do you expect if you don't put the training in? I had no clue how far up the table I was as I didn't know who the third placed female was, so I just got on with it. As I went through the camp again I told Graeme I was doing my very last loop as I wouldn't get 2 more in. If you had told me at 4am after 12 loops that I would do the next 5 loops without a break or a sit down at all I think I'd have packed up the car and gone home, but here I was, still putting one foot in front of the other. The last loop was walked almost entirely with a chap named Gary. Every gate or stile we had to climb was greeted with huge groans and moans by us both but we had a good chat and it made the loop much more bearable. When it came to being close to getting back to camp I told him we had to run the last 100 metres or so into camp and he sighed painfully and said, "Yeah, I know!" As we got to the top of the hill we started to sprint with another runner (well, I say sprint... it felt like sprinting but whether or not it was fast remains to be seen!). We got in with an hour and a few seconds to spare before the 24 hour cut off and my back was instantly in agony.

The next hour was a lot of fun watching the really high competitiveness of the team members. They were totally amazing... one member even leaving with only 23 minutes left to the cut off saying they knew they could do it! Wow, that's just awesome!
And when the medal presentations came I found I had won 3rd placed female with 81.6 miles. I'm not sure what second placed female did but I know Sarah the winner did around 88 miles as she put a comment about it on Facebook. And I believe they both had time to sleep too... Respect!

I was in agony with my back afterwards and the next day was terrible but by Tuesday I had no back pain at all. However the arch of my left foot is swollen and bruised which I think was done in the cow field. Maybe I'll try a smaller loop next time with no gates and maybe I should actually train for the next one eh? God, I'm an idiot sometimes!