Written by Paul Corderoy - http://ultrahippy.blogspot.co.uk
I awoke to heavy rain, at 5:40. Twenty minutes before my alarm was set. After a breakfast of cereal bars and a banana, I checked out of the hotel and made the short walk to the K2 leisure centre with my rucksack. On arrival I found the track and registered. I left my rucksack at the top of the bleachers where there was some cover to keep my spare clothes dry. I then placed a water bottle and a bag of food at the outside of the track near the start line.
The race is run in aid of a charity that is building a school in Uganda, in a small fishing village. Timing was a manual affair and we were introduced to a lap counter who would write the time down every couple of minutes, as we past the start line. I had a friend coming later to help out with this. We were introduced to James Zarei, who is a 2 time winner of the Spartathlon. A race I plan to do in 2016 as a 50th birthday present to myself. The race was started by James at 7 minutes past 7. Nothing significant in the time, it was just that we weren’t ready until then.
So we are running around a 400 meter track for 12 hours. It went a bit like this. I ran for 2 minutes. Looked across to see my lap counter had seen me and then…. I ran for 2 minutes. I nodded at my lap counter. I ran for 2 minutes…12 hours later a whistle (or horn, I don’t remember now) went and we stopped. That’s the short version!
So I ran my first lap. I looked at the clock and saw I had managed 1:50 ish. I felt good so I carried on at this pace. so I started at 7:20 minutes per mile. Way to fast! I was flying around the track and enjoying it. After about an hour I thought I should try to slow to 2 minute laps. Ideally I wanted to run at about 2:15 to 2:20 to start with. Knowing I would slow later, but I couldn’t get myself to slow down. I am waiting for the lap sheet, which is being posted to me, so I can do some analysing. I think I had PB’s for a Marathon, 50 miles and 100km.
As the rain stopped I removed my raincoat and chucked it on the track side where my food was. Then off came my long sleeve shirt. After a couple of hours Mike turned up and took over my lap counting. At about 4 hours I went to my rucksack and changed shirts. For some reason around this time I got bloody nipples. This was pointed out by the Consani crew who offered to find me some plasters. I hadn’t noticed! I turned down the offer of plasters and then it started to hurt, so the next lap I slapped some Sudocrem on and that sorted it for the rest of the race.
At 6 hours we completed the lap we were on and as we crossed the start line we turned around and finished the race running the wrong way around the track. 8 hours in I changed shirt again. My 3rd Centurion 100 mile finishers t-shirt. Marco Consani decided to call me Mr Centurion from then on.
At about 10 hours Mike said I was 1.5 miles behind 4th place. I could see he was running faster than me so knew I couldn’t catch him. All I had to do was stay in front of 6th, who was 3 miles behind and walking, although he did pick it up and cracked off a few fast laps near the end. That just meant I had to run a bit, again. Just before 12 hours we were given a stick with our race number on it. At 12 hours you stop and put the stick in the ground where your back heal is.
During the whole event I talked to all the 12 hour runners and this took away any potential boredom. Not that I can get bored running. I like to switch off and zone out. Running is my relaxation and unwinding tool.
A great event and an honour to run with some excellent athletes.
Lessons learnt: Pacing and pacing!
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Finishers
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19
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Distance
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111.642 km
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Position
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5th (3rd Male)
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