GUCR 2019 musings
I didn’t get in GUCR
this year and I was gutted. I really fancied a go at my 10th finish
on the 25th anniversary race. Then, with only about 48hrs to go Keith
rings up with the offer of a place at the weekend!! I was sorely tempted. Leonie
was to run the London 10K on the Monday before Derby’s play-off final at
Wembley against Villa. It would make for a great weekend to fit it all in and
run down to Wembley to boot … just like I had when Leonie and I saw the rams
beat WBA all those years ago. But had I done enough training and were my legs
ok? I’d run the White Peak Marathon in an unremarkable 3.52 only a week ago and
my legs still felt tired. It could go badly wrong
Ok, well deciding to
do a 145m run to London on 48hrs notice less than 7 days after a tough marathon
with ageing knees and a sore hip is not the decision my head would have made
but my heart has trumped it again.
I suppose my head
will be saying ‘I told you so’ within just a few miles and at best it’ll be a
slow deathmarch into London and at worst my 1st GUCR DNF but I am
going to give it a try. It wasn’t the best idea to put it to Louise in the
first place and I proposed not doing it after my head had had a word with my
heart but she said I might as well. I’m not sure she really means that though.
So, with 48hrs to go
I have to get sorted. If I do finish it I’ll meet Leonie down there Monday
morning with the tickets and just hope it’ll be the same weekend that we had in
2007 when I did the race and then saw Derby beat WBA in the play-off final.
There’s not much time
for a plan or even to worry about it, but I’m sure I’ll manage it.
Over the last 24hrs I
have played over my 2018 race in my head. I did that low on fitness and it was
the hardest GUCR I have ever done. It is so difficult trudging those lonely
miles at walking pace and I do recall the despair, the boredom, the difficulty
and the thought that I would never do that to myself again … yet here I am. At
best I can only really hope to match my 2018 time and there is no point in
thinking that things might just be a little easier this year. I am undoubtedly
fitter than I was in 2018 but having run a marathon last week my legs (and more
importantly R hip) are still tired from the WPM. A 1½mile jog round Chad Park
Tuesday evening was fine but I’m going to have to do that x100. My WPM training
didn’t lie and neither will this. My WPM training said I was up to a 3.52
marathon and that’s just what I did. So, if I am fit enough and mentally strong
enough to finish it is going to be a slow one … again. My hip is already grumbling.
Feeling excited
and apprehensive. I think that with this weekend and Lon Las in October that
really ought to be it for longer than a day events this year, in which case I
really need to make this one count. I honestly don’t know what to expect. I am
fitter than last year but will still be affected by last weekends marathon. I
hope I can get in under 40hrs which should mean a finish of around 10pm. That
means I should finish before the hostel closes at around 11pm but I won’t be
able to hang around for too long.
I’ll also need to
get up about 6am to get to meet Leonie at the Ace for 7.30am-ish. A tube at
about 7am will get me there in time but it’ll be another early start.
Weather looks ok,
if perhaps a little hot. Hopefully there won’t be the torrential rain and
thunderstorms we had last year anyway. I hope I make it with so little
preparation time.
With 9 starts/9
finishers it’s easy to become a little blasé about a GUCR finish but you should
never forget that this is a long hard run and it took all of my mental strength
to get to the finish this year.
I started light
with just a handheld for the 1st 2 sections which worked well. I did
the 3rd like that too but it was a little longer at c.14m and it was
also very hot. I couldn’t find several water taps and as a result I struggled
to find water and had to rely on topping up from other crews. It was a slow,
hard section.
I was also slow
to HofE and although it got a little cooler to Navigation I got there in about
16hrs, a bit down on my usual times.
Overnight was
hard and I couldn’t run. By the time I’d got to Br 99 I was well and truly
knackered and deciding whether to throw up or not (not, but only just). I
managed to get down a hot dog and some soup and that helped. My watch also
packed in on this section so on the next I had it in my pocket attached to a
battery pack. Pete Johnson overtook me strongly at Br 99 but I couldn’t run so
had to let him go.
It got light
quite quickly but I was slow to GJA, walking the whole lot although the CP is
now a mile sooner. I got there in about 25.30, an hour down on my usual times
and 2¼hrs slower than 2016.
After that I
picked up to Springwell and ran well with my watch, doing 100 pace runs and
seeing if I could do a mile every 15mins – not easy when you start with a 20min
stop at the CP and soon after have to have another dump stop.
I caught Pete up
at Springwell and carried on steady to Hamborough at a good 4mph avg. After
that though I struggled and couldn’t run. Pete came past again and I couldn’t
rally, thinking it’s take me just under 4hrs at an avg pace of a little over
3mph. after a mile or so though I freed off a bit took some paracetomol and
S-caps and felt a lot better. I started to be able to run and picked up the
pace well, averaging over 4.1mph in the end. This was pretty amazing since for
the 1st couple of miles I was only at 3.1mph. As it was I overtook a
good half dozen runners on this section and caught Pete up too with less than a
mile to go and decided to run in with him.
I guess my
experience in realising what might be stopping me running after Hamborough paid
off and although 37.30 is by no means a fast time if I’d just slogged on after
GJA then I’d have been looking at 6hrs/4hrs/4hrs, as opposed to 5.45/3.27/2.46
so it did make a difference.
I was pleased
with the way I recovered on the 2nd day after a tough 1st
one but it might be a while before I go back for another go. I wouldn’t want to
have a marathon in my legs again and it did affect me - My legs were killing me
overnight. I’ve done 10/10 now and although I am now high up in the Hall of
Fame, it might now be time to retire. At least I’ll take a year or so off anyway.
The 1st
day also brought it home to me how lucky I might have been with the weather in
last years Spartathlon. I don’t run well in the heat and on another year would
have struggled. I was still running well, even after 145m but the heat on the 1st
day really did do me in.
As it was though
37.30 is 4hrs faster than I did last year but 3hrs slower than in 2016. Having
said that though my times on the 2nd day were pretty comparable. If
it’d not struggle don the 1st day and overnight I could have been a
lot more competitive.
Feeling tired and
sore still today (Wednesday after). I have blistered some toes (not too badly
though) which may be down to the fact that I had to wear 3 pairs of socks in my
Bondi’s. I usually wear calf guards rather than compression socks but couldn’t
find one of my guards after WPM so instead I wore injinjis, compression socks
and Sealskinz. The balls of my feet (esp R) are sore too and that may be down
to the orthotics which seem to have a ridge in them. I was still prob better
using them but I may need to look into that.
98 starters and
52 finishers is pretty much a 50% DNF rate, worse than Spartathlon!
p.s
after a night tossing
and turning in the hostel at Paddington I made opening time at the Ace. Leonies
10K in central London went well, the play-off final at Wembley not so. no
fairly tale ending this time like there had been in 2007, but it was still a
good day out.
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