Written by Sarah Sawyer - http://sarahstravelsandraces.blogspot.fr
The A100 was my third Centurion race of the year. The first, the SDW50, I loved every single minute of and don’t think I stopped smiling from the moment I left Worthing to when I crossed the finish line in Eastbourne. The second, the TP100, was a completely different ballgame. Some of it I quite liked, and some of it I downright hated (that would be pretty much every mile from mile 75 – 95!), and even when I crossed the finish line, there was no sense of euphoria, I was just so relieved that it was over, and I never had to run 100 miles ever ever again.
Which doesn't really explain why, within 36 hours of crossing the finish line in Oxford, I’d somehow signed up for the A100. This was mainly Tom’s doing, you only have to look at our finish line photo to see that he enjoyed his first 100 mile experience a LOT more than I did – I looked like I needed putting on a life support machine, Tom looked like he couldn’t wait to do it all again! I also felt I needed to get my 'revenge' on the TP100. With a bit of perspective, I realised that I hadn’t had ‘that’ bad a race – nothing had really gone ‘wrong’ for me (nutrition was pretty much spot on, I suffered no injuries of note (just a few normal war wounds you’d expect from a 100 miler) and I was pleased with my finish time for my first 100), yet I still felt like the TP had beaten me. I wasn’t prepared for the mental side of it and I hated feeling like the miserable old cow that I became from mile 75 onwards. Therefore, for 100 miles round 2, I was determined to be better prepared mentally as I kind of knew (the hell) that was to come!
I’d run the TP100 with Tom as it was both our first 100 mile race, but was doing it on my own this time – Tom wanted to see what he was capable of running 100 miles in, and I wanted to prove to myself that I could run 100 miles on my own (without Tom to open gates for me/change my head torch battery/navigate for me/stop me feeling sorry for myself/make me eat etc etc etc!). From the offset I had 2 simple aims for the A100:
1) To make it less awful than the TP100
2) To go under 24:00 and get another One Day buckle to match my TP100 one
We stayed over in Goring at the Miller of Mansfield the night before the race with the plan to have a good night's sleep and not have to get up ridiculously early to get to the start from Brighton. The reality was I woke every hour and finally gave up on sleep at 4:30am, so we went to registration and kit-check when it opened at 7:30am, then went back to the hotel for breakfast, before spending the hour before the race started catching up with lots of friends and trying to take my mind off the impending horror of the task in hand.
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| Tom looking a lot happier pre-race than me |
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| Frankly quite petrified at the race start |
The day was absolute perfect weather wise and there'd been no rain in the week of the race. It wasn't actually that cold but I'd decided to start in leggings as I remembered time I wasted at the TP putting leggings on for the night section and trying to squeeze my Hokas back on my already fat feet. I figured I'd gain approximately 5 minutes 37 seconds here by starting in leggings, and when you're trying to take 3:30 hours off your only 100 mile time, every second counts!
Leg 1 (Thames Path : Goring - Little Wittenham - Goring) - 'Plan A arrive back at Goring in 4:15 feeling like it was easy'
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| How could I have ever not loved running along the TP?! (Photo Stuart March) |
I didn't bother going into aid station 1 as I had snacks on me, was in and out of checkpoint 2 in less than a minute and pretty much the same for aid station 3. Like I said, every second was going to count!
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| Arriving at checkpoint 2 for a quick pitstop (thanks to Mandy Carden for the photo) |
I arrived back in Goring in 3:57, so slightly ahead of schedule, but I'd kept religiously to pace, I just hadn't needed to go into my buffer time. More importantly I felt really good and dare I say it, I was really enjoying this 100 mile running lark!
Leg 2 (The Ridgeway : Goring - Swyncombe - Goring) - 'Plan A arrive back at Goring in 9:00 feeling like you've got lots of running left in your legs and your race is going to start at mile 50'
Plan A gave me 4:45 to cover leg 2 on the Ridgeway - the Thames Path had been completely flat whereas the Ridgeway was a bit hillier, but I was surprised to find how runnable the majority of it was. The spur started off flat along the river again and Grim's Ditch was the first hilly bit of note of the whole race. It was really runnable hills though and this section, both out to Swyncombe and on the return, was one of my favourites of the whole race.
One of my favourite bits about the race was that the out and back nature of the course meant you were always seeing other runners in different parts of the field, which led to a lovely atmosphere of high fiving, hugs and encouragement. My pace still felt really easy and I absolutely loved this entire 25 miles - have I said how much I was enjoying this running 100 miles game?!
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| Just loving running on The Ridgeway (Photo Stuart March) |
One of the things I was really nervous about before the race was getting lost - I'm known for being so navigationally challenged I can get lost walking to the shops, and I certainly didn't have any time to waste by going off track! That said the markings were excellent, and it actually did me good to focus on my surroundings instead of drifting off in my own little world. I did miss a turning after checkpoint 7 (my own fault for following the runner ahead) but quickly realised there were no markings so only added a few hundred metres.
I got back to Goring in 8:25, again up on schedule but this was mainly due to the fact that I was literally in and out of each aid station - you could describe me as a woman on a mission! My pace had felt really steady and controlled though, so rather than panicking that I'd just just ran my fastest ever 50 mile time (by over 40 minutes), I focused on how good I felt. My legs certainly didn't feel like they had 50 miles of running them, I couldn't stop smiling and I was telling anyone who would listen to me how much I was loving running 100 miles!
The organisation at Goring HQ was nothing short of superb - within seconds of entering the hall I was given my drop bag and my every need was tended to! I quickly got my head torch, long sleeved top and warm hat on, felt relieved that I didn't have to waste 5 minutes 37 seconds putting leggings and Hokas back on, grabbed some food and was back out for leg 3 in under 10 minutes.
Leg 3 (The Ridgeway : Goring - Chain Hill - Goring) - 'Plan A arrive back at Goring in 13:45 as you move up the places'
As I set off on leg 3, the first thing I noticed was how strong I felt as I was running. The out spur is 12.5 miles of mainly gradual ascent but I was still running it all, granted I wasn't going to win any prizes for speed, but was still feeling comfortable running sub 11 minute miles. I also noticed that I was overtaking quite a few people (I finished the first leg in 69th position, moved up to 41st by the end of leg 2, and this leg would see me move up another 8 places).
I was seeing Tom on every leg, quite a significant way ahead of me - however his day wasn't really going to plan like mine was - he was still feeling the Downslink Ultra in his legs, he'd somehow managed to get lost on leg 3, and was feeling a bit sick. I gave him approximately 30 seconds of wifely concern, but he knew I was a woman on a mission so didn't have time for anymore!
Up until now my nutrition had been pretty much spot-on, basically I was using my tried and tested ultra method of ramming as much as I could inside me, however after checkpoint 11 I started to feel a bit sick, nothing major, just a little wobble, but rather than panic, I just slowed down to a walk and found it passed pretty quickly. Even when I was feeling a bit sick, I couldn't stop smiling and thinking 'isn't running 100 miles the best thing ever, even if you feel a bit sick?!'.
I got back to Goring in 13:37, the walking breaks had slowed me down a bit but I was still on for plan A pace. However, I knew from painful first hand experience, that mile 75 was when my race really fell apart at the TP, so I was a long way from thinking sub 20:00 was a given.
I gave myself a few minutes back in Goring to sort myself out for anything I thought I'd need in advance of the final leg (changed my head torch battery, got a hot drink, sat down on a toilet for the first time all day - all those little kind of luxuries!).
Leg 4 (Thames Path : Goring - Reading - Goring) - 'Plan A 6 hours to get back to Goring and get that sub 20:00'
I left Goring for the final time, still feeling like I had lots of running in my legs. One of the things I hated about the TP100 was that I essentially death marched (and moaned!) from miles 75 - 95, but here I was actually still running (and smiling!). When I look back over the course of the race, I probably ran about 95% of it, so it was a completely different experience for me to the TP100.
Back on the Thames Path, I managed to 'lose' the markings a few times (one time ending up in the middle of a nettle bed!), but I quickly realised when I had so wasn't racking up too much extra mileage, but I did find the start of this section the most difficult to navigate, however that is probably more due to my brain fuddled state, rather than the TP being particularly difficult to navigate.
I knew I didn't have a lot of time to play with to go sub 20:00 so knew I was going to have to work hard for it and that there was going to be no time for walking, so I got my race head on and decided I was going to put everything I had on the line to get it. So apart from 'allowing' myself a 3 minute walking break where I drank a tea after checkpoint 13, I was determined to run the whole of this leg.
After Whitchurch, I found this section all really runnable and navigation essentially came down to 'follow the river' which even I'd struggle to get wrong. I'd also already been warned that the 'Welcome to Reading' sign was very far from a 'welcome to Reading' but again this section out to the Reading aid station passed quickly.
Even with 85+ miles in my legs I felt like I was running 'strongly' (ok this is very much relatively speaking!) and I even 'bounded up' the stairs at Reading (ok 'bounded up' is again very much relatively speaking!) with a big smile on my face telling anyone and everyone how much I was loving running 100 miles!
With about 6 mles to go I caught Tom up, who had been throwing up since mile 78 and told me he was just going to walk it out to the end. I offered (admittedly quite half heartedly!) to walk in with him, but he told me under no circumstances and how proud of me he was, so I ran off into the distance with barely a look backwards - talk about merciless, but needs must when you're after a sub 20:00 time!
I was keeping a very close eye on mileage and time but still felt I was going to sneak under 20:00. Then I realised I hadn't factored in the extra mileage when I'd gone a little bit of track - it wasn't a massive amount but I was probably looking at a good half a mile, and when you're up against it, there's no room for extra mileage!
Then my Garmin battery died at checkpoint 15 so I had no idea of how far I had to go or what pace I was running. I knew I was going to have to run like I didn't think I was capable of to make sure I snagged that sub 20:00, so what followed were my fastest miles of the race. Up until 2 weeks ago I'd never have thought I was capable of running a sub 20:00 100 miles EVER, but now I'd got so close it, I didn't want to let it escape me, so I ran the last few miles like a crazed mad woman and I apologise to all the runners starting out on leg 4 who had this demented looking woman hurtling past them! I saw lights and a bridge ahead and thought 'could this possibly be Goring?!'. It was and I literally threw myself over the finish line in the hall....and then Natasha and Nikki proceeded to tell me I'd crossed the line in 19:47:33. How I laughed, I felt I'd nearly killed myself over those last few miles but in hindsight it could have been a much more relaxed affair!
So there it was 19:47:33, a time I wouldn't have ever dreamt of, 5th female and 32nd overall out of 204 starters. Without doubt the race result I am most proud of.
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| Quite possibly the happiest runner in the whole of the South of England! (Photo Stuart March) |
My brain was a bit tired then, so I had a conversation with Nici which came across a lot more heartless than it was intended:
Nici - 'Where's Tom?'
Me - 'Oh I caught him up and he's being really sick, so I left him as he was going too slow for me.'
I think the moral of this story is that I'm a better runner, than wife!
Tom arrived back about half an hour after me looking like he needed putting on a life support machine (oh what a reversal of roles from the TP!) and I could now be slightly less merciless and go on proper wifely duties before we headed on the long journey home to Brighton, (which involved a bus replacement service (could anything be more cruel after running 100 miles?!) and two trains which stopped at every stop imaginable), but nothing could wipe the inane grin off my face.
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| Trying to show a bit of wifely concern! (Thanks to Nici for the photo) |
This weekend I learnt that:
- I should listen to those wiser than me who know what they're talking about!
- I LOVE 100 milers
- 100 milers don't have to be awful and horrific
- I'm getting quite tempted by the Grand Slam in the future
Thank you to James for being a superb coach and for helping me achieve the impossible (not only a time I still can hardly believe and have to keep looking at the results to check it really is true, but getting me to enjoy (read LOVE) running 100 miles) - I'm sorry for ever doubting you!
As always thank you to Nici, all the staff and volunteers - there's not enough words in the English dictionary to describe how amazing you all are!
And to all the runners I spent some time with, the ones I ran with, who high fived me, hugged me and gave me so much encouragement, it was an absolute privilege to be running in the same race as you.
I woke up on Monday morning feeling remarkably sprightly, and apart from a couple of bruised toenails, have no war wounds to speak of. This is in complete contrast to the morning after the TP where I felt that three double decker buses had run me over in the night. The morning after the TP100 when Tom mentioned he wanted to run the A100, I did think divorcing him would be an easier option to running another 100 miles! The morning after the A100, the only thing I'm feeling is a teeny bit of regret that I have to wait until June to run my next 100, the SDW100!