The race I didn't run

By all accounts the weekend's race in Steembergen, Netherlands was a hard one.  At one point there was a facebook post by the Aussie team which read:

"at the moment we're having four seasons worth of weather ... every 15 minutes."

No doubt about it that is the stuff that makes things very difficult in a 24 hour race and, I guess on average, performances will have been reduced by about 5 % and the winner's distance was probably not as far as expected in a World 24 hr Championship race.  Previous winning distances (men) are shown below and full results can be found on the DUV website.

2013 ... 269 km
2012 ... 277 km
2010 ... 273 km
2009 ... 257 km
2008 ... 273 km
2007 ... 263 km
2006 ... 272 km
2005 ... 268 km
2004 ... 269 km
2003 ... 270 km
2001 ... 275 km

Some of the UK performances seem to have been quite amazing in those circumstances ...

Steve Holyoak ... over 246 km and a new pb
Robbie Britton ... over 239 km and a new pb
Sharon Law ... over 226 km and a new pb
Karen Hathaway ... over 210 km and a new pb

Sharon set new Scottish records for 200 km and 24 hours (on the road).  Amazing.

Debbie Martin-Consani, Emily Gelder, Pat Robbins, John Pares, Matt Moroz and Lizzy Hawker had less successful races and, unfortunately, I wasn't there so I can't really comment as to the reasons for that.  Perhaps an injury or two.

Congratulations also to Torill Fonn who beat her personal best by almost 5 %.

Overall, as I'm a recovering injured ultra runner, I found it quite difficult mentally to keep up to date with all that was happening in Steenbergen ... I guess I'm just missing the racing a bit.  I'm glad I persevered though as it has given me some much needed motivation for racing next year and training in the second half of this year (with perhaps a race thrown in ...).

Full results here.

Keir and the World Championships

Woke up this morning to find lots of snow all around - I guess it must have been 10cm or so, everywhere.  I know that isn't particularly deep but for this part of the world, near the end of March, it's lots.

Apparently there are only two places in the whole country with so much snow at the moment - Yorkshire and Northern Ireland and the consequences are that Leeds Bradford Airport and Belfast City Airport were both closed.  They are open now ... but only just and with many flights cancelled or delayed.

Keir is coming home from university today for the Easter holiday.  He is at Ulster University and is flying from Belfast City to Leeds Bradford.  There are three flights today ... he's on the third but the first two have been cancelled.  I think it's fair to say we're a bit worried at the moment.

Apart from that, news has recently appeared from British Athletics [new name for UK Athletics ... not sure why] about the team for the World 24 hr Championships in Steenbergen in May.  On the men's team is John Pares, Pat Robbins, Matt Moroz, Robbie Britton and Steve Holyoak.  If John is fit he should do very well - he's is capable of a top 5 placing at his best.  Pat and Steve are both capable of over 240 km and I don't know too much about Robbie and Matt except that perhaps they prefer the trails.  I really do hope everyone has an outstanding race though.

The women are represented by Lizzy Hawker, Emily Gelder, Debbie Martin-Consani, Sharon Law and Karen Hathaway.  Lizzy broke the world 24 hr road record in her last race of this type (Llandudno - Sep 2010), Emily finished third in the last world championships and Debbie is the Scottish record holder.  An excellent team and, again, I wish them all every success.

My recovery seems to be going well at the moment too.  On Wednesday I had to forego my strength training and cycling though as I had to do some emergency DIY repairs in the bathroom.  Without going into great detail I had to replace the light fitting, pull cord and part of the ceiling.  Managed 20 minutes through the snow this morning with the same tomorrow and all in all everything seems OK.

too busy recently

After work and training I seem to have had too many other things to do recently which has left no time to update this blog ... apologies for that but things should be back to normal now.

Visiting far flung relatives ... being a volunteer postman with the local scouts ... having the gas fire repaired ... meeting Keir at the airport ... a couple of Christmas parties ... and attending an awards ceremony at which Keir received a shield for best overall year 12 student from his old school.

The ankle seems to be holding up well to increasing training loads and I'm hopeful of being able to actually enter a race next month.

Still keeping up with the rehab exercises three times a day (which are not detailed in the 'training' tab above) and remembering to ice the area at least twice per day - although I suspect that is not really so important anymore.

Interesting to read about last weekend's Barcelona 24 hour race.  Fantastic result from Matthew Moroz who finished third with 234.893 km and Robbie Britton in third with 231.392 km ... both have now qualified for the UK team at next year's World Championships in Steenbergen.  WELL DONE TO THEM BOTH.

I suspect John Pares may have learned the hard way that he wasn't quite as fit as he thought he was, despite immense training in October and November.  He was sixth with 222.638 km.  I have no doubt he'll be ready for a good one next May.  Also well done to (not so) new mum Vicky Hart who ran 164.125 km which is a new pb.

I'd like to end this post by saying that typing this hasn't really been easy after injuring my index finger this afternoon.  Doing some DIY for my mother in law.  She wasn't impressed to have my blood dripping all over her new carpet.  I wasn't impressed by her worn out tools and lack of first aid knowledge.

well, I made it (back home)

Just a brief race report for now ... more later, I'm sure.

The first ten hours went very well indeed and at that point I was still on my 245km schedule.  The eleventh hour was a struggle and my left shoulder began playing up so I went in for a massage which worked wonders.

The next few hours were also good and I managed to keep to my schedule well although it was inevitably getting harder by now.  Had another short shoulder massage at 15 hours before being told to get moving ... passed 100 miles a minute or two outside my pb but felt much stronger than when I set that time in 2010.

Towards the end of the 16th hour both my big toes began to feel badly bruised and within ten minutes or so I could barely put any weight on them.  So ... I asked the physio to sort me out.  And he worked a miracle here, both big toe nails had almost come off and both socks were quite badly blood stained.  At this point I was just on target for 245 km so I knew that a new pb was in the bag (my pb is 238.286 km).  I don't know what he did but within fifteen minutes of lying on his couch I went from having badly bruised feet to having feet that felt like new again.

Looking at the hourly splits now, it was obviously not quite as simple as that because I was slowly falling behind that schedule.  Then ... at 19 hours I suddenly had a feeling of pins and needles in the sole of my right foot - not a good sign I thought.  So, once again, physio Guy sorted me out (pointing out that the toe on my left foot was still bleeding).  For the next couple of hours I ran much as before but I was aware that it starting to become seriously hard work now.  I still expected to finish with more than 240k though.

But then, at 21 hours, tragedy struck.  My left ankle began to feel very weak and over the next lap or two got very bad indeed.  I knew this was serious so I had Guy sort me out again - lots of strapping and bruising.  And my toe was still bleeding.  When I mentioned that "I hope it isn't a stress fracture" he said:  "we'll worry about that after the race ... just get out there for three more hours."

And so I did.  The ankle was still weak but there wasn't much anyone could do about that but I decided to run for one minute then walk for one minutes, then two minutes of each, then three and so on until I reached the point which was most comfortable.  Within a couple of kilometres I had decided to go with four minutes running and two minutes walking.

Over the next hour or so I began to realise that 240k was now out or reach - I was walking two much.  I had no idea how far I had run but I didn't want to know either.  I was just trying to focus on blocking out those regular four minutes of pain.

After the race had finished Guy helped me hobble back to the crewing area where slowly everything was packed away.  For a few hours afterwards I simply didn't care about my final distance.  I knew I didn't have a pb and that was all I wanted to know.

Sleeping on Sunday night was not easy and when I finally got out of bed at 6.30am my ankle had swelled considerably and walking was difficult.  It only got worse as the day progressed.  During breakfast, the day after the race, Guy suggested I have an x-ray when I arrived home just in case ...

Getting home from Stansted was very difficult and painful and I'm deeply grateful to Eleanor Robinson for carrying my bag and physically helping me onto the Leeds train at Peterborough.

As I write this post I now know that my left ankle is just badly sprained and is probably a repetitive strain injury caused by the uneven surface on a 300m section of the circuit.  A tight left hand corner leading into that section didn't help either.  I'm not exactly happy though having to sit here with a crutch, an ice pack and some ibuprofen.

On a positive note ... I now know without doubt that I can run 150 miles (241.4 km) in 24 hours and I would have do so but for a sprained ankle.

The results for the UK runners were:

Pat Robbins ... 246.071 km
Steve Holyoak ... 240.377 km
Emily Gelder ... 238.875 km (3rd woman)
me ... 231.339 km
Debbie Martin-Consani ... 217.180 km
Sharon Law ... 210.404 km
John Pares ... 180.838 km
Karen Hathaway ... 179.956 km
Jen Salter ... 145.217 km

To finish I'd just like to thank EVERYONE who was there for Team UK (athletes and helpers) - they all made the weekend a memorable experience and I hope to get another chance next year at 150 miles.

Lots of photos here from Rory Coleman and from the IAU here.

from 5k to 24 hours

Apologies for not posting for a while but I've been a bit busy recently ... and Fay was ill at the start of last week which didn't help (but she seems OK now though).

Yesterday I ran in my first open race of the year.  It was only a local 5k but it was good for speedwork and after running to and from the venue provided another 20 miles or so (32 km) to my weekly total of over 90 (145 km).  I was very pleased to complete the three lap 5k in 9th position with a time of  19:58, especially as the 373 other runners caused a bit of blockage on the second and third laps.

Also pleased with that run because on 28 May last year I did the same race (and also ran to the start) with a time of 20:59 ... so that's an improvement of over a minute in twelve months which bodes well for the ULTRArace 100 which is less than 6 weeks away now.

I've also been experimenting with flapjack.  I've been using homemade flapjack to fuel my long runs for a few months now.  Recently I had a thought that perhaps I could fortify it with added electrolytes and/or extra vitamins and minerals, especially for long ultra races where electrolytes are very important.

Well, I made a batch yesterday afternoon and to the 1000g flapjack mixture I added 16g salt and also some extra B vitamins, vitamin C, iron, zinc, selenium, calcium and magnesium.  I added the quantities needed for my next ultra race after taking into account all the other stuff I plan to eat and drink.  I've had a small piece of the finished product to see if it is palatable ... and it's not too bad (very slightly salty) but I'll have more of an idea about whether it may be suitable after Tuesday's long run when it gets it's first road test.  More details later.

I'll have to get myself a digital camera.

On Friday Fay managed to find some coffee from Thailand.  I've never actually come across any Thailand coffee for sale so that was a big surprise - it's quite good too if a little mild for my taste.

And it's Keir's 18th birthday at the end of this month so that's something he's looking forward too.  Today we booked his accommodation in Belfast for when he starts university there in September.  Yes, I know he hasn't even taken his A levels yet but apparently they want accommodation to be booked first - and a £300 bond paid too !!!

This weekend has also seen the annual Basel 24 hr race in Switzerland in which several UK athletes were attempting to get World Championship qualifying distances before the end of May.  I'm not sure of any distances or results other than John Pares finished first.  Congratulations to him ... it's practically a home town race for John though   :)

World Championships qualification

UK Athletics have finally published their qualification criteria for this year's World 24 hr Championships.  It's near the bottom of this page on their website.

Basically athletes should achieve the required standard between 1 May 2010 and 31 May 2012 and those all important standards are:

Men - A standard ... 238 km (147.9 miles)
Men - team standard ... 230 km (142.9 miles)

Women - A standard ... 214 km (133.0 miles)
Women - team standard ... 204 km (126.8 miles)

Right, that's one less thing for me to worry about.  I ran further than 238 km when winning the race in Perth back in September 2010.

So, apart from relief, what are my initial thoughts ?

1 - the men's standards have risen quite a lot since last time.  They were 236 km and 225 km (146.6 and 139.8 miles).

2 - I don't have the figures to hand but I think the women's standards have fallen by a single kilometre.

3 - Runners without the necessary standard have only 34 days to make the grade.  I'm guessing that there will be about 8 or 9 European races in May in which to do that ... but how many have an IAU label ? [two I think].  And how many still have places available ?

4 - By way of contrast, the UK qualifying standard for the Olympic marathon was announced back in summer 2011 with the final date to achieve the standard being 22 April 2012.  That's about 8 or 9 months and probably quite a few marathons to choose from in which to do the business.

5 - Oh well ... I guess that until we have 24 hr races in the Olympic and/or Commonwealth Games they'll always be seen as not quite as important even though we train just as hard (if not harder) ... grumble, grumble, grumble.

6 - Four men and two women have the A standard.  In date order they are:  Lizzy Hawker, John Pares, myself, Emily Gelder, Richard Quennell and Jim Rogers.  Also, Jen Salter, Pat Robbins, Sharon Law, Marie Doke, Debbie Martin-Consani and Angie Sadler have the team standard.

There are seven women in that list and as there'll be a maximum of six men and six women going to Katowiche at least one of them will be staying at home unfortunately.

So, there it is.  A bit late I think but at least I have the necessary standard and now it's down to the selectors who meet at the beginning of June and announce the team on Tuesday the 19th.

As a final point it would appear that in order to get the A standard for the 2013 World Championships I would have to break my pb sometime this year.  I know I can do that.

only because I was asked ...

Recently I was asked about the UK team for this year's World 24 hr Championships.  I must admit that I hadn't given any thought as to who might be included in that team other than I hope I am ...

So, here are my thoughts:

UK Athletics usually have selection criteria along the lines of -

men ... A standard 236 km ... team standard ... 225 km
women ... A standard 215 km ... team standard ... 205 km

and, in theory, what happens is that anybody who has the A standard is automatically selected but if there aren't  enough to complete a team then those with the team standard are also considered - but only if there are enough to make a full team.

For example if one man has 240 km and two more men have 227 km each then only one man will be selected.

Of course there is a time frame in which runners are expected to reach the standards and this is usually in the 18 months before selection date.  For this year's World Championships I would expect that to be something like:

1 Jan 2011 to 30 June 2012

Between those dates the qualifying performances so far are:

John Pares ... 244 km
Pat Robbins ... 231 km
Steve Holyoak ... 226 km

Liz Hawker ... 247 km
Emily Gelder ... 220 km
Debbie Martin-Consani ... 208 km
Jen Salter ... 206 km
Marie Doke ... 206 km

Because there wasn't a World or European Championships last year it is possible that the qualifying period will be extended back to include the Perth race (Sep 2010) or even the last World Championships (May 2010), in which case the following should be added to the list:

Richard Quennell ... 246 km (May 2010)
Jim Rogers ... 244 km (May 2010)
Chris Carver ... 238 km (Sep 2010)
Paul Hart ... 228 km (Sep 2010)

Angie Sadler ... 205 km (Sep 2010)

As there has been no announcement yet about selection there is a possibility of a few more qualifying performances in the first half of this year.

And of course the selectors usually reserve the right to use other long ultras to help with their choices.  Overall then I would suggest that only John Pares and Liz Hawker have earned their place in Poland and as for other runners ... your guess is as good as mine at the moment.

I do know that the team management were hopeful of getting selection sorted by the end of last year but obviously the people at UK Athletics didn't like that idea - probably down to funding.

I also believe that we have some very good ultra runners in this country but very few road and/or track 24 hour races.  Only one at the last count.  In recent years we have lost races in Hull and Doncaster for example.  I know that Pam Storey is looking to stage some races but if we had a few more then the performances would only improve.

So ... who wants to organise a road or track 24 hr race in Britain ???  Count me in if you do.

one week after

Went for an 11 mile run this morning in glorious sunshine.  Left home at 7.30am and the temperature was already 13.25 Celsius (55.85 Fahrenheit).  Amazing for October.  The run itself went very well with no major problems ... recovering well it seems.

My shoulders are still painful though, especially the left one.  I guess I now know my weak spot ... and now I've got to learn what to do about it.

I found earlier today (thanks to John Pares) that footage from the recent Commonwealth Championships will be shown on British TV as follows:

Channel S4C on Sunday 9 October at 5.00pm
Channel 4 on Saturday 29 October at 7.00am

Should be good viewing.  The cameramen must have had far more footage than they could possibly hope to use.  I hope it's been edited and put together well.

Yes, I had a bad run.

Actually everyone except the debutants had bad runs.  The people who came closest to their pre race targets were those who revised their targets downwards because of the gale force winds - unfortunately I didn't (and paid the price).

The weather was exceptionally windy for about 20 hours and the 1026.7m loop was such that it was a headwind for about 500m and a tailwind for about 500m.

I ran exceptionally well for about seven and a half hours but then I suddenly began to overheat.  After a few cold drinks and a bottle of cold water over the head I continued but about an hour later I began to have hot flushes !!!

Talking to other runners, doctors, etc after the race I slowly put together the pieces of the jigsaw - and it appears that this is what happens when the body cannot maintain core temperature effectively any longer.  The temperature in the headwind was about three or four degrees cooler than when running with the tailwind and after 50 odd miles my body was struggling to cope with the constant changing.

My internal thermostat doesn't work properly anyway - a side effect of chemotherapy back in the 1990s.

Running into the gale force wind was also badly effecting my running form and my shoulders were becoming very tense and painful (my right shoulder is still painful - 74 hours after the end of the race).  At about ten hours I decided a shoulder/neck massage would help so when I approached the English handlers I slowed down - and almost collapsed.  The rules are such that handlers are allowed to help the athletes ONLY in their allotted segment ... well I still had about 5m to go.  I remember someone shouting "four more steps Chris, four more steps ..."  and then I was caught and led to a chair.

Again, talking to people later I learned that the tension in my shoulders and neck had most likely caused the arteries to constrict meaning that my brain was slowly being starved of oxygen and nutrition ... I was close to passing out completely.

About twenty or so minutes later, after lots of massage and other treatment, I was pushed onto the circuit again where I continued for five or six hours before having the confidence to gradually pick up the pace again.  Had to stop twice more for massage on my painful shoulders (16 hrs and 22 hrs) before eventually finishing in 7th position (6th man) with 220.719 km.

Although I had a bad run for medical reasons (?) I am particularly pleased that I was able to dig deep and get out there to help the team to a Gold medal.  Also pleased that I was running strongly at the end, even passing John Pares just before the end.  Should have been a 30 hour race !!!

220km isn't too bad in the circumstances either.

A proper report will appear later ... after I've recovered properly.

A big thanks you to everyone who showed their support - particularly John Kynaston who cheered me on relentlessly from the Scottish zone.

Perth Ultra Fest

Yesterday afternoon Norman Wilson from England Athletics phoned to confirm that I've been selected to represent England again.

Those of you who read this blog regularly will know that I've been expecting it for a few weeks now and planning/training accordingly.

The race is an international competition between Scotland, England, France, Ireland, Italy and Wales and will take place in Perth, Scotland on 4/5 September.

I don't want to put the names of the English runners on here yet (just in case they haven't been officially informed) but I do know that:

John Pares (Wales) cannot run due to work commitments,
William Sichel (Scotland) is running,
Jim Rogers (England) is not running.  In Brive earlier this year he spoke of his desire to compete in the Spartathlon, which is also in September.

UK Team - ready to roll

Things have been moving apace recently.

I now have full details of who's in the team for Brive and who the management will be.  There have also been discussions about travel to and from the event and also communications from UK Athletics about anti doping, code of conduct, kit, etc

The men's team is:

John Pares - third at the Commonwealth Champs

Stephen Mason - fourth at the Commonwealth Champs

Richard Quennell - winner of the Tooting Bec 24 hr race last year

myself - fifth at the Commonwealth Champs (and second team)

Jim Rogers - sixth at the Commonwealth Champs (and second team)

The women's team is:

Sharon Gayter - winner of the Commonwealth Champs (and first team)

Marie Doke - fourth at the Commonwealth Champs (and first team)

Pauline Walker - seventh at the Commonwealth Champs (and third team)

The management will be:

Richard Brown, Eleanor Robinson and Adrian Stott.  All highly experienced but I think we could do with a few more bodies manning the refreshment tables during the race.

Training going extremely well too.  Ran 22 miles on Tuesday including a lovely stretch of the Leeds Liverpool Canal (and Hollins Hill !!!).   Yesterday I completed a hilly 22 miles fartlek style [6 mins hard, 4 mins easy, repeat].

TV news coverage

Did anyone watch television last Sunday evening ... in particular the Sports Personality Of The Year on BBC 1. Here are my thoughts:

Let me begin by congratulating the BBC on a first class program.  As always it provided an excellent general review of the sporting year.

This year though I felt that something was missing.  As the program was essentially a review of the sporting year I feel that mention should have been made of a Commonwealth Championships which took place only three months ago.

The championships in question had 16 gold medals at stake which included men, women and teams.  British sports men and women won well over 50% of the medals on offer.  Yet no mention was made of their achievements either on sports programs or news reports at the time or on the Sports Personality Of The Year program.  A little unfair I believe.

What's more, these championships were not for a so-called minority sport such as darts, gymnastics or archery but for two branches of the mainstream sport of athletics known as ultra distance running and mountain/fell running.

In my event, the 24 hr running race, John Pares (Wales) claimed an individual bronze medal in the men's race. The England women's team were awarded the gold medal and the England men's team the silver medal. Sharon Gayter (England) won the women's race with Vicky Skelton (England) finishing second and the Scottish women claiming a team bronze medal to add to the team bronze medal their men had won.

Yet no mention of any of this on a national news or sports program when the event was held in September.

In May next year the 24 hr World Challenge will be held at Brive in France and many people have predicted that the UK runners have a good chance of bringing home some medals. Hopefully mention will be made on BBC news and/or sports programs of all their achievements.

As England's first finisher in the Commonwealth Championships (fifth overall) I know that ultra distance runners are just as dedicated and train equally as hard as athletes such as Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah - but without any lottery funding whatsoever.

The overall perception of ultra distance running with the public is not helped by commentators such as Brendan Foster who portray the marathon as the ultimate endurance race.  It isn't, for ultra distance runners such as myself 26 miles is just another training run - not a particularly long one either.

Hopefully things will change regarding media coverage of our events ... but I fear it will be almost as long as some of our races.

Tooting Bec ... update

I've just seen the official results from the Tooting Bec 24 hr race and it appears that Richard Quennell was just short of 235 km.  Still a very good result for him though.

This means that the UK still has only two men over the A standard for the 2009 World Championships.  And now three men over the B (team) standard of 225 km, ie myself, Jim Rogers and now Richard Quennell.

This means, in theory that, if the qualifying standards for the 2010 World Championships remain at 2009 levels then John Pares and Stephen Mason will be automatically selected based on their performances at the Commonwealth Championships.

Then, if UKA decide to send a full team, they can choose one or two or three from myself, Jim and Richard.

Now, having achieved a personal best in my first championship race is surely a point in my favour.

I know I can improve on that too - I just need a chance to prove it ... in Brive next May.

I feel a bit better than I did last night.

Tooting Bec 24 hr race

Congratulations to Richard Quennell who won this race with over 236 km (147 miles).

He's achieved a really good distance which relegates me to fourth in the UK this year ... and possibly means that I won't be selected for next year's World 24 hr Championships in Brive.

For this year's World Championships the qualifying standard was 235km and if it remains the same for 2010 the UK has three men ahead of that already - John Pares, Stephen Mason and now Richard Quennell.

Having the live updates on the website worked really well and it was good to be able to follow the race every few hours. It would have good if the Commonwealth Championships could have had something similar in place.

world 24 hr challenge 2010

I've just been looking at the IAU website on which are the up to date world rankings - thanks to Andy Smith.

Looking carefully at the statistics shows that if those were the finishing distances and positions in next year's World Championship then the UK men would finish as fourth team behind Australia, Germany and Russia.

That is a fantastic thought and surely on that basis John Pares, Stephen Mason, Jim Rogers and myself will be selected for the race which is on May 13/14 next year at Brive-la-Gaillarde in France

random thoughts from Keswick

I'm just starting to get a report together about the race but in the meantime here are a few random thoughts, in no particular order:

The camaraderie was absolutely fantastic, not just amongst English 24 hr runners, but amongst runners in all races from all participating countries.

Thanks to Wendy Lynas for making sure I didn't collapse/faint/pass out at the end of the race.

The staff at the youth hostel were amazing, particularly those in the restaurant who kept us fed and watered ... and laughed at the size of my appetite the evening before the race.

Learnt a lot from Chris Finill, at about 16 hours it became obvious that he was struggling and was having a bad time.  He still continued though and kept plugging away right to the end for the sake of the team.

An amazing new pb from Sharon Gayter - 226k

And from John Pares - 244k

A Commonwealth Record for Martin Fryer - 255k

The temperature dropped to about 7 degrees C overnight and the sight of Arun Kumar Bhardwaj (from India) in multiple layers of hats, gloves, tops, etc was a sight to behold.  At this time of year the night time temperature in India is about 24 degrees C.

Andy Eccles was a magnificent cheerleader.

Alan Young must have some stunning and amazing photos from all four days of competition and from the medal presentations too.

It was a pleasure to meet people whose careers I've followed in magazines for years, eg Bashir Hussain, Carolyn Hunter-Rowe.

Meeting an old friend in Keswick on Sunday afternoon.  I hadn't seen Sharon since 1986 and to see her again was great.

Lots of local people stayed awake all night to watch and cheer the runners.

The smell from the portaloos at the end of the race ...

The weather was fantastic during the race and good for the other races too.  Hardly any rain for four days in the Lake District - miraculous.

The Canadian mountain runner who, on Monday morning at 8.30am, realised he needed to be at Heathrow airport for a 12.05pm flight home.  He had no transport arranged and no money either.

The speed of the 100km runners - sprinters !!!

The thought of Pat Robbins and Andy Eccles carrying Don Ritchie back to his hotel from the pub at 1.00am on Monday morning [this is true - it actually happened].

My fifth position in my first championship race - with a pb too (231k). Also my team silver medal.

Wow ... all those memories. Enough to last a lifetime - or until next time.

bad weekend

Looks like John Pares had a bad run in Basel. I don't think he'll be happy with 133k. Ramona would, I think, be pleased with her 162k. Les Hill I think will be disappointed with 180k but where was Jim Rogers ...

My bad weekend has resulted in me having to take some drastic action to restore my sanity. More details another time.

The reasons for Sharon's bad run in Bergamo appear to have been of a medical/nutritional nature ... too much sodium.  Electrolyte imbalances over a long period of time when exercising can cause major problems.

chasing the distances

All the best to Les Hill, Jim Rogers and John Pares who are running the Basel 24 hr race this weekend no doubt in a bid to get a qualifying distance for the Commonwealth Championships.

As Les is Scottish and John is Welsh their performances won't effect my chances of being selected for England. Jim is English and although he had a bad run at Tooting Bec last October he is definitely capable of passing 225k to join Chris Finill, Ken Fancett and myself with the English qualifying standard.

I hope Les has a better time than his previous 24 hr race (Hull 2008) when he collapsed during the 22nd hour whilst in a good position - I don't think he ran again in that race.

Ramona Thevenet-Smith is also running ... hope she does well too.

Thanks to Nadeem Khan for posting the piece on the IAU website. I feel honoured to have my story on the site of the world governing body (I did find a small mistake when I read it but I think it's just a typo).

I certainly don't feel as if my life has been extra ordinary ... I'm just a lucky guy doing something he loves which he happens to be quite good at.

Nerves

Tapering going well - plan to do 40 miles this week and 20 next. No long runs and almost all the training is fast stuff.

Getting nervous now - but looking forward to the race. Hope the weather holds out.

John Pares - London 24 hr winner in 2006 and 2007 - isn't on the start list for this year's race. He pulled out of the Hull 24 hr race too. I hope he's OK. If you're reading this John, leave a message please.

Thanks for the comment on my previous post Simon. I don't plan to answer here [I don't want to give away my game plan !!!] ... I'll email you later. Interestingly, 6:53 per mile over the course of a marathon would bring you home in 3h 00:28. Three hours exactly divided by 26 miles 385 yards equals 6:51.92 per mile.

Sorry to spoil your fun in Amsterdam !!!

John Carr 5k (race 1) - Esholt

Last night's 5k race went very well. My kilometre splits were 3:50, 3:54, 4:04, 4:22 and 3:24. A downhill start and a downhill finish with an uphill fourth kilometre.

Pleased with my time of 19:36 in my first 5k race in almost 4 years. Ran home after the race too making a total of slightly over 9 miles including warm up.

Received an email today from the organiser of the Hull 24 hr race - basically a list of entries. It would appear that John Pares has entered. He won the London 24 hr race in 2006 and 2007 and has a best of 236k (147 miles) as opposed to my best of 205k (127 miles).

I think the best thing for me now would to just concentrate on my race and try not to be influenced by anything John does ... you never know, he may have a bad day. I'm confident of bettering my best too.