Hello,

If you’re reading this now then I’ve at least caught your interest for a moment. Thank you for taking the time to visit!
I hope you make it to the end….

So. I always wanted to write a blog post race, and I have blogged in the past but with one thing and another and excuse after excuse I never bothered to carry it on.
I hope this is the spark to start the fire again. Please comment somehow, on Facebook etc what you think of it after you’ve read it.

With the recent increase in race reports being written and shared on the social media site I thought it was my turn to do the same. Blogs are of course useful in many ways and a couple of my reasons are to thank people and keep some log of how I felt before, during and after the event.

Enough waffling already!!

Saturday 04th April 2015
The SDW50 and the Centurion Running season opener.

Having been injured at the very begining of the year after doing too much too soon, February and March should of been the worst for me as couldn’t run I watched other people train and prepare for the Green Man Ultra in Bristol, an ultra I won last year. The last two months in fact were probably the best.

Why? Well, Cupid took aim with his bow and arrow this year on Valentines day and he’s a pretty good shot! Having received an invitation to join Roz Glover for a run on the 14th February after my parkrun run director duties I accepted and the rest as they say is history. It’s her I really have to thank for getting me to the start line, along with my family and friends supporting me both on and off Facebook and off course Strava!  It’s all about the Kudos!! :-)

So with all that great love and support behind me I got myself back up and running more and more and longer and longer. I have been doing at least a mile since 01st January and the distance has got faster and faster as I grew stronger and fitter.

Below you can see the distance increase week after week. I’m not happy about the blip at the start of March??  It would of been a lovely steady incline to look at apart from that. (Bloody OCD!)

With the Green Man not happening for me this year and the Fling Race at the end of April I really needed something to give me a test before it. Enter the SDW50. I’ve never done a Centurion event before and having witnessed many of my friends doing so this seemed the perfect one to do. The date seemed to fit perfectly and I’ve never really ran along the South downs way before so it was a no brainer.

Three of us travelled from Bristol in the morning. The Garmin didn’t seem to want to take us on the motorway so the last half of a 3 hour journey was very twisty and lumpy as we travelled through the leafy villages surrounding West Sussex.  I’ll leave Glover to explain that she doesn’t travel well!

We arrived in good time though and after going through the kit check got ourselves registered.
Thankfully there wasn’t too much time before to hang around before the off. I met up with fellow team mate Sarah who was were with Bridget and Roger from Cornwall along with Becky and (can’t remember his name) The one who took this photo! Thank you.

My new girlfriend hasn’t stopped doing all she can for me to help me and put the route on her Garmin so I could use it. I didn’t need the course but it was a back up to Strava which I would have going on my phone through out the run.

(Captions welcome!)

I saw some familier faces in the starting field and it was great to see Christopher Wadey to have a quick chat too. The brief was done by James and then we were off. For me bring on the next 7+ hours of running.

Now, the idea was to run within myself because I was coming back from injury but to also put in a respectable time. That was the argument I was having with myself pretty much the whole way. Give it all here and set myself back again before the Fling or pace it right, take it steady and use it as a building block to the 25th April.

I think you can work out which way it went after I spotted Sarah Burns-Morewood not too far ahead of me!

We ran together for a while but when the hills came she soon disappeared into the distance. We arrived at the first check point together but off she went up the hill again. I could reign her and the guys she was running with back in a bit on the downs and flats but when the hills came…. Pah.

I must of been in the top ten through the early stages and most of race. I didn’t find out to about 44 miles that I was in fact in twelth position!

I am always too critical of my placing in a race and sometimes put too much pressure on myself too perform well. Always over thinking and worrying what others will think of me if I do badly. I guess I need this though to keep me motivated and push me on when the times are tough.
I love racing for the Mud Crew Ultra Team and hope to stay with them for a while.

Any way, I wasn’t being over taken too much and I did get a lot of opportunity to take in the stunning area I was running/walking) in. I remember loads of people being out and about either on horse, bike or foot at a much gentler pace. I sometimes thought, what the hell am I doing here. I can’t run this far today! Am I ready? I hope I really don’t suffer too much today. These thoughts are all normal of course.
I just had doubts today and by 31 miles must of felt exhausted as I started to cry. I didn’t know if I could carry on for nearly another 2 hours.

This emotion started because I was here and this was happening right now. I’m running again and however tired I am I’ve just gotta keep going. Do it for the Mud Crew and for Roz. Keep running and keep putting one foot in front of the other. Everybody goes through tough times.

I kept looking at my Garmin from about 31 miles and wanted to get to 40 so mentally I could count down the distance.

I asked one of the lovely helpers at the Alfriston checkpoint  (41miles) what sort of postion I was and he said “you guys are about 11th and 12th with 10th not far away if you’re up for it?” This made me come over a little tearful again.

I went out of the checkpoint knowing that there was another in about 4.5 miles with a little bit of a push after that one too finish this off.

I arrived at Jevington, the last checkpoint and I don’t know why but I got my bladder topped up again. Silly mistake as trying to run up the last hill was a real struggle because of the weight. I tried to empty it a little bit via the tube to make it lighter.

I got to the top and saw Tim Lambert, another friendly face who I first met on the Cotswold Way 50 km social ultra in February. He encouraged me to the finish and said “you can see the stadium from here” :-) It was all down hill from there and thankfully I was on my own. Don’t think I could of upped the pace anymore should another competitor come up behind me.

It was all pavement now and stride by stride I was edging my way to the finish. Would I get under my target time of 8 hours?? It was looking like it…. I ran past a bus stop and two bemused people looked at me so I read out fairly loudly “that’s 48 miles running done” not only did this make me feel proud I hoped it had made them feel pretty impressed too. We were all aiming to run 50 miles today. Fair play to us mind!

As I turned the corner to enter the stadium ground I fumbled with my phone to put on Conquest of Paradise by Vangelis. Those of you in the know will know what this is the soundtrack to!! Think #TNF

This was it, the final lap of the track. I’ve done it, I’ve arrived in Eastbourne. The noise of spectators faded as I ran round the top bend but then grew louder as I reached the line.
I don’t know what I was doing but I wanted to take off my pack and raise it abovd my head as I crossed the line.
n.b Don’t try this when you are connected with headphones and a power monkey! Haha. What a sight. Need to practice that bit a bit more I think.

Ahhhh, there was Mimi to present me with my medal. We laughed as I explained I was trying to do the Jornet pose….  It’s easy with a lighter pack and no wires :-)

RD James E. Said well done to me and that it was a great run, that meant a lot to me and will always do. I’m always inspired by the company I find myself in. Today there were some awesome achievements.

I could really write and write about my day but I think I’ve summed it up enough here.

Basically. I’m so bloody happy I did it, the whole Centrion community and family is AWESOME, the route was epic in every way, the checkpoints were bursting with flavour and enthusiasm, the support was totally smashing, or was great to see Mr Britton on route a few times and have a bit of banter with. The logistics were spot on and I hope this feeling of pride and achievement lasts with everyone at least until your next event.

The Centurion cp folk are awesome, I heard how great they were and in fact they all surpassed expectation.

Hope you’ve enjoyed reading the report from my point of view.

The next stop for me is the Hoka Highland Fling on the 25th and then I’m volunteering at the TP100 so I hope to see many of you there in some capacity or another.

Thank you again to my girlfriend Roz. You got me ready and have cared for me from day 1. Love you loads.

Best wishes to you all

Stu. X

Cheers Drive! @no1blakester