Written by Sonny Burrows - http://www.ultramarathonfit.com
I decided after running my first ultra in October 2013 (Rowbothams Round Rotherham 50) that it would be interesting to see just how far it would be possible to run before my body shut down leaving me in a mess at the side of the trail. With this rather sadistic and strange aim in mind cue a brief internet search and a stumble across the GUCR website. After a quick scan through the notes section it became obvious that this race would give me my biggest challenge to date. What appealed more than the distance was the sense of community and the ethos of the race which is what I really enjoy about these kinds of events.
As the deadline for entries approached I managed to talk a good friend (Iain) into having a bash at the race. As well as Iain two good friends (Jamie/ Owen) volunteered to crew for me, including the key responsibility of buddy running with me at certain points. As luck would have it both my friend and I were drawn in the ballot and were over joyed to be allocated a place in this year’s 20th anniversary GUCR.
Step 1 – Training
Having completed the RRR50 I had an idea of where I was physically and mentally but was still daunted by the amount of training I would have to do in order to bring myself up to the required standard for GUCR. I booked myself onto the Country to Capital 45 in order to give myself an intermediate goal. This was a great event itself, including the last 20 miles or so of the GUCR route into London. I completed this event in 07hrs 25mins with plenty of energy left so in the short term I felt I was moving in the right direction. With around four months left to race day I spent most of my time running 20 mile back to back runs with a few double days thrown in for good measure. Living around 30 mins outside the peak district I managed to get plenty of long runs out in the hills done which really helped my legs get stronger. Two weeks before GUCR Iain and I ran the first 28 miles of the course down to Leamington Spa; this was to be our final long run and a bit of a confidence building recce.
A great view from one of my favourite training routes around Kinder Scout
Step 2 – Race day (days?)
As race day approached I ensured I was as organised as it is possible to be, everything was packed and ready to go by the Wednesday before; living during the week approximately 600m from the start line I relaxed into the last few days. Completing race registration on Friday evening a lot of runners were milling around early, this was a very experienced crowd. Suddenly having run a 50 miler and a 45 miler I started to wonder whether I should have built up to this race a little more and tried tackling it the following year; oh well too late now!!!
Start to CP1 (Catherine de Barnes bridge) – 11 miles
With a 6AM start and a first leg of approximately 11 miles it was a steady warm up into the weekend’s event. With the rain seemingly holding off for the first hour it was a really enjoyable early morning run. I had decided to try and maintain 10 min/mile pace for as long as possible as this is about 2 min/mile slower than I normally train at. Even with the little experience I had I realised that slow and steady was the order of the day. Just aiming for a finish with no desire of a particular place took a lot of pressure off early on allowing me to really enjoy these first few hours before fatigue slowly started to creep in. Every hour I would run for 50 mins then walk for ten mins, the main reasoning behind this was just to eat a little every hour and allow for a bit of digestion time. There was plenty of time for stomach problems later on.
CP1 to CP2 (Hatton Locks) – 22.5 miles
On arriving at CP1 it struck me how many people were sat down ‘chilling’ at this early stage. My mantra is to stay stood up for as long as possible as once I sat down I was certain I wouldn’t stand up again especially during the later stages. This next stage up to the 22 mile point was fairly uneventful. A few miles are in the bag, however there is still an awful long way to go. I met Jamie and Owen for the first time on this leg and seeing them was a great bit of morale, especially as they handed me a Fajita wrap filled with Nutella and banana as I passed through. At this stage of the race meeting the support crew was a good psychological boost however I didn’t realise just how important to your mental fitness it is to see your crew at regular intervals; I would later. This part of the race saw my feet get soaked however good foot admin, facilitated by a fantastic crew kept any problems at bay.
CP2 to CP3 (Birdingbury Bridge) – 36 miles
This leg was very similar to the last leg. Heavy rain, Boggy ground and the long wet grass that really soaks you through. Arriving at CP3 at 35.9 miles I felt great, all my muscles had really warmed up and having avoided any twists or slips, running at a much slower pace than usual was really paying off.
CP3 to CP4 (Heart of England pub) – 53 miles
During this leg it was decided (by the crew, apparently they were in charge and I was little more than feet, legs and a pair of lungs) that I would meet Jamie and Owen roughly every 10 miles. This was a good call as at CP4 (53 miles) I was now into the realms of running further than I ever had before. With this came an increasing need for hydration and a decreasing appetite. Jamie and Owen really took ownership at times from here on in with regards to my nutrition plan. I wasn’t hungry and didn’t feel a lack of energy however it was getting harder and harder to eat anything. I wanted to stay off of gels and on real food for as long as possible and sometimes they gave me that bit of motivation to eat something that I needed. I had hit 50 miles at just over 10 hours which was what I had hoped for beforehand. The rest of my tactics for the race would be to hit 100 miles somewhere between 22 and 23 hours and then just hold on for the finish.
CP4 to CP5 (Navigation Bridge) – 70.5 miles
Very similar to the previous leg it was a case of head up and work hard to the ‘almost halfway’ checkpoint.
CP5 to CP6 (Bridge 99) – 85 miles
I was scheduled to meet Jamie and Owen just after Navigation Bridge. My thinking here was that it would give me a psychological boost to run through CP5 at 70.5 miles and just push on past for a quieter water refill. With the overcast weather it was starting to get dark a lot earlier than usual and shortly after this meeting with the crew Jamie took on the first stint as my buddy runner. He did a great job of keeping me going and talking to me about allsorts not even appearing annoyed when all I could manage was a grunt in reply. I was slipping into the ‘twilight zone’ at this point but believe it was about 9pm, roughly 15 hours into the race. Jamie did a brilliant job keeping my mind active from here up to CP 6 at mile 85. Miles 70 to 90 were the worst of the race for me physically. I had no specific injuries or trouble with my feet but after having been wet and cold most of the day the extra energy my body had burned to keep me warm was really starting to show. Running on the dull blue light of a head torch also does nothing to help you stay awake. At this point I decided to take a 15-20 minute break at CP6.
CP6 to CP7 (Grand Junction Arms) – 99.8 miles
At CP6 I had a complete change of clothes, put on some warmer kit for the night and had a good bit of hot food. After 5 minutes this really perked me up and put me in the right frame of mind for the night leg. On leaving the check point the guys thrust a hot coffee in my hands that had so much coffee in it was like treacle. I had to cover 5 miles alone up to the 90 mile point where Owen would join me as my buddy runner for the early hours of the morning into the next day. Running on my own was quite enjoyable at this stage. For all I could see there were no runners either in front or behind me. This was one of the reasons I was doing the race; asking myself the question could I stick it out when it got tough and there was no-one there to help me through it. Meeting Owen at mile 90 was a morale boost. By this time I had really picked up over the last 5 miles and I like to think I was in better shape at this point than he expected me to be, even managing a conversation and a bit of banter. CP7 was a welcome site at mile 100.
CP7 to CP8 (Springwell lock) – 120 miles
Having arrived at 100 miles in 23 hrs I was really pleased that I was roughly on target. Crossing the 100 mile point gave me a lift and I sensed that I was really starting to achieve something a little bit epic. Having run the Country to Capital in January followed by the Jurassic Coast Challenge Owen was up for a long shift as my buddy runner so he continued to accompany me for quite a while. Approaching Springwell lock was a good feeling. Even though the leg was around 20 miles in length getting south of Hemel Hempstead and Watford almost felt like we were nearly in London. Meeting Jamie at roughly the 119 mile point I changed back into my first choice of footwear (Salomon Sense Pro). These had been drying out in the transport over-night and as the weather had taken a turn for the better it was time to treat my feet to dry shoes and socks. I hadn’t noticed any pain in my feet till after the 100 mile point which was really pleasing as the race is almost finished then. Owen left me here after a 30 mile session which really helped keep my morale up through the difficult early morning hours. Arriving at Springwell lock I took a minute to rest on my knees and gather some strength for the last 25ish miles.
Photo courtesy of Andy Nuttall
CP8 to CP9 (Hamborough Tavern) – 133 miles
My next meeting with the crew would be at mile 130 so I had 10 miles on my own to get my head into the right state of mind for finishing. I had actually started to feel really upbeat after a surprise throwing up incident around the 115 mile point and in the spirit of going while the goings good I pressed on hard. I felt like I was flying over this ten miles although I was in fact probably only running at about 9 min/mile pace. I think because I had been striding short for the previous 30+ hours I had not used some of the muscles I would normally use when running. This allowed me to pick my knees up and really go for it. Jamie and Owen commentated that this new found energy coupled with the building City traffic made keeping up with me difficult. This led to me beating them to the 130 mile point, this was a great boost as they had a 2000cc engine to get them there. Reflecting back they may have done this on purpose using a bit of reverse psychology to keep me in the race. Arriving at CP9 at 133 miles it was a relief to be at the final checkpoint. It would have been welcome relief to sit down and have a break for ten minutes but I just pushed on; only a half marathon to go.
CP9 to Finish (Little Venice, London) 145.5 miles
There’s not much to say about the last 13 miles of the race except that it was the hardest and slowest 13 miles of my life. My body seemed to understand that the end was in sight and it was reminding me more and more about all the stresses I had put it through for the previous day and a half. About a mile and a half from the end the last few bridges were a lot taller than I remember them on Country to Capital. Bystanders must have been wondering what I had been doing to warrant such a method of getting up and over them. The route is particularly hard on runners psychologically at this point as the finish could be just around the next corner. Unfortunately you have to round what seems to be an endless amount of corners before the finish line comes into sight. Crossing the finish line in 35hrs 03mins was one of the most satisfying things I have ever done in my life and it was an absolute pleasure to shake Dicks (GUCR Race Director) hand before collapsing into a chair at the finish for a chat with Jamie and Owen who were already there.
Placing 21st I was over the moon as a finish was the only real goal when setting out from Birmingham the day before.
Photo courtesy of Iain Rodger
A perfect end to a great race was seeing Iain cross the line ten minutes after me. Having started together it was fantastic to finish together. Seeing a friend complete GUCR is just as good as completing the event for yourself.
Step 3 – Recovery
I found the key to recovery is a good crew. After all it was Jamie and Owen that carried me from Little Venice to the van, drove back to Birmingham then carried me from the Van into my bed. Crewing was hard work for the guys and I am sure that without their immense efforts I would not have completed the race, they really were a 6 star crew. If I’m not running GUCR next year I am sure I will be crewing Owen or Jamie as I think they may just have caught the bug. After all returning the favour is probably the only way I can really say thank you.
A big thank you is also due for Dick and his team for running a superb event; brilliantly organised and with a great atmosphere and underlying ethos. I will definitely be back next year as a runner, crew or volunteer.
What next is the big question? Having inadvertently got myself a Spartathalon qualifier I am going to have to have a go. Whether that is next year or the year after I will have to have a real think. With very little experience I may spend more time getting into the sport before attempting this event. In the immediate future training switches focus ready for the Lakeland 100 in July. This is a shorter race but much more demanding in the vertical sense. With only 7 months of running ultras under my belt and having never run further than 10 miles before that I think it is safe to say that this type of thing is very, very addictive.
Lessons learnt
One of the main points I drew from this race is that foot admin is one of the most important elements in getting you to the finish. It became apparent as people dropped out that the primary reason was due to wet and sore feet. After all the preparation for an event like this it would have been a shame to miss out on finishing for something that is so easy to avoid. My crew helped take the lead in this and it is as simple as regular sock changes (shoe changes if possible) drying off your feet and taping up any hotspots as soon as they appear.
One of my biggest struggles through the race was not eating enough. It became hard to eat from about 60 miles onwards and I really should have tried to eat more. One bonus I found from eating real food is that when it became necessary to switch to gels for the last 25 miles I didn’t suffer any direct stomach problems as a result. The only way to improve this will be to eat on as many training runs as possible to get my body used to this.
My final lesson learnt was the importance of keeping a positive mental attitude. Towards the end of the race it became noticeable how many people were continuing on with heads down and in their own little world, switched off from the outside world. I assume that this is many peoples way of dealing with the turmoil they are in by this stage. I found it much better to run with a smile, chat to other runners, crew, passers by and try and enjoy the event as much as possible.