Ramblings

The goal of my blog is to inspire people and document my memories. In reality, I have achieved all I have by failing to finish a marathon. That for me was my moment - had I finished the Portsmouth Marathon, I wouldn’t have changed my diet, I wouldn’t have changed my outlook on running, I wouldn’t have lost the weight I have, and in all likelihood I wouldn’t have finished the Marathon des Sables.

 

Since then, people have messaged me wanting to make positive changes. I’ve helped a number of people change how they eat and how they look at food - some have lost more weight than I have lost. I try to support others in various ways, but the problem for me now is when people ask me for advice and it doesn’t work out for whatever reason.

 

I’ve said to many people that I prefer ultramarathons to marathons for one simple reason: pressure. You can finish an ultra in any time and you’ve finished. People don’t really ask. People don’t have an expectation. You do a marathon and most people who run know the world record is around 2 hours 3 minutes, and what a respectable time is. 4 hours and under is pretty quick and 3 is lightning - people have that preconception. Doing an ultra is different. The majority of ultras certainly that I do are trails - add a few hills and you can add time to that marathon time exponentially. The time of the year has a huge bearing on pace. Mud slows you down. 

 

So, ‘do an ultra’ may not be the silliest thing in the world to advise someone who likes a challenge. This was proven last year when I talked Sarah, a school friend, into doing day 2 of Race to the Stones. She finished it and she was buzzing, rightly so.

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However, I’ve mulled it over, and a few things have come to mind. Running or walking long distances - as I’m sure the LDWA will tell you - isn’t easy. It’s not something you can really blag. I would say walking over 20 miles or running probably a half marathon or more are the limits that you can hope to do ‘on a blag’. It takes effort, commitment and a mental strength to do anything that lasts over 4 hours. Of course, you also need to know how to fuel - what you can eat when you are hot, physically exerted and not wanting to eat. Feeling sick, possibly being sick. Endurance sport seems to be glamorous. It has a persona, built by the people that make it look easy: Susie Chan, Elisabet Barnes, Tom Evans, Tom Wake, James Elson. They are the big names that glam it up. Looking good on Insta, but it’s trial and error out when your friends and family are socialising they are the ones pounding the trails and pavements.

 

What you don’t see is the blood, sweat and tears. For instance, there are 4 or 5 people in my running club, some I know well, some by reputation, who can finish pretty much everything they start. These are the guys and girls that if you follow on Strava are out in every season. On the trails, on the roads, on the seafront in the howling gales. They’ve all experienced some level of failure in running. They’ve all decided they don’t like it. They put the effort in. They aren’t superhuman, but they are super driven, super dedicated and super inspirational.

 

In a recent race, a lady I knew from years ago had registered to do both days in one go. Day 1 was 23 miles; day 2, 28. I knew she hadn’t trained properly for it. Well, I knew she hadn’t trained at all for it. Seeing her Strava, I doubted she would make the start line. With 2 weeks to go, I messaged her, asking what her goal was. She was sure she would finish, even doing the whole thing at 3 mph. I tried to reset her expectations and guide her down the route of doing one day instead of both. Even walking, it’s a monumental achievement; arguably harder to walk than run that distance due to the time it would take, and she had never done anything like this before.

 

I’m not sure if I took the easy way out by not spelling it out to her that I didn’t think she would finish. Was it something you needed to find out for yourself? I didn’t want to shatter her before the event, and people are able to do the impossible at times. I didn’t want to ruin her confidence, but I know people will argue that I should have been blunt. Would I have taken their advice prior to Portsmouth? I don’t know.

 

On the first day of the race I ran the opposite way, hoping to see a few of the people I knew doing the event. I did. Some fellow ex-MDS’ers and people from my running club. They were all the ones I expected to see. I’d worked out that I wouldn’t see my old friend, but hoped for her sake she would have the mental and physical strength to make it across the hilly trails which I also knew were new to her. Unfortunately for her, she didn't finish. She DNF'd. I saw she posted it online shortly after. I have yet to speak to her though's on the reason why she did not finish. I hope she does look at her preparation and come to the conclusion that it wasn't due to the heat of the weekend or some other external  influence. 

 

The one thing that has been hammered home to me again and again is, ‘fail to prepare and prepare to fail’. My goal in this isn’t to be conceited. I don’t take this sport lightly - it isn’t cheap. People think all you need is a pair of trainers - well, add a watch (if it’s not on Strava it never happened); socks, which can be upwards of 30 pounds; hydration bag, add another 100. I remember standing by my bed and as my wife wished me luck in a run, she asked me how much I was wearing. I wasn’t joking when I said probably a grand’s worth of kit. Race entry for an ultra is easily 150, which covers the cost of staff, the hiring of farmland for the checkpoints, and stocking the check points as well as they need to be.

 

My goal of this ramble is to say you can probably do almost anything, if you put the effort in before the race. Race day should be the ‘easier’ bit. Dragging your ass outside in the pissing rain, that’s the hard bit. There is no bling at the end, no bragging rights. All you get from that is a bit of Strava kudos. Take that and use it.