Back in January 4 of us set off to Birmingham on a crazy adventure
to run home using the canal networks, with the support of a few friends
at regular intervals. This ended up being a great adventure and an
amazing bonding experience for all those involved, of which I am proud
to be part of. The number of club members that came together on the
Saturday to get us to the finishing line and the support that was given
was phenomenal.
As some people may be aware, only two of us actually made it to the
end, Stuart Maley-Jones and Philip Spencer-Gray. Bren had to drop out
at 40 miles as he hadn't done any preparation and was hoping to 'wing
it' and I had to pull out at around 96 miles due to knee problems.
This decision to pull out didn't sit well with me. I've only ever
done it once previously at the A100 in 2015, which I went back and
completed the following year. But, how do you go back and do a race that
isn't a race? You would either have to get all of those people to
support you again, or go and do it alone.....
So, after 6 months of having this in the back of my mind and a last
minute opportunity popping up in my calendar to squeeze it in, I
decided I was going to go it alone and get this think ticked off the
list. Only problem was, I was signed up to a 24hr solo run only 5 days
before!!
I honestly didn't plan to have any support at all throughout the
whole run, but just through mentioning to Phil that I was going to have
another try, the weekend before, I quickly found what my friends were
willing to do in order to keep me safe and help me reach my goals.
Within a couple of Days, Phil and his wife Anna had arranged for Phil to
pace me through the night from Market Drayton, and Carl Murray had
agreed to get me home from Arley Hall. I just needed to tell Claire
(whom I hadn't even told I was doing this yet) what was happening, this
was the Wednesday evening before a Friday morning start!!!
I won't say it went well, but she knows me well enough to not be
too shocked, and the knowledge that I had a small support crew gave her
peace of mind. I was good to go....
From Birmingham New St to Market Drayton is 50 miles and I was
aware that I would be running this section alone, with no support, on
the hottest day of the year. It didn't really phase me if i'm honest,
although when I almost concussed myself going under the first bridge I
had to take a moment (I reckon there are over 150 bridges on this
course, so I needed to start paying attention). I had food and water and
plans to refill at certain points along the way, so I wasn't too
bothered about this, I put my earphones in, checked my pace tables and
worked my way through the check points.
Things went really well for the first couple of sections, but I
made the vital error of leaving CP2 without filling all of my water
bottles assuming that there would be somewhere to fill locally, I was
wrong.
As I got to 25 miles and the hottest part of the day I reached the
Shropshire Union Canal, which I would be spending the next 10 or so
hours on and I had run out of water. 34C outdoors, 6 miles from the next
CP and with very little tree cover, I was in trouble!!
I decided to jog/walk as much as possible whilst managing my sweat
and cramp and luckily after 4 miles reached a pub where I was able to
have a quick pint of lager and top up my water supplies. It probably
took me another hour of walking,eating and drinking to recover enough to
get running again, I was very lucky!
Time was getting on and it had started to get dark as I was
approaching Market Drayton when a strange sight hit me. at first it was
like an auricle, a white light hanging in the distance, slowly drifting
towards me. Then I saw the tiny shorts, bright white legs and two Asda
bags attached to the bottom of it and realised it was Phil, coming to
meet me with our food and water supplies for the night, cheers mate.
A quick change of socks & t-shirt, and it was onto the night leg.
The night section was tough going under-foot, rutted dried muddy
sections as if 3-4 blokes kicked up a load of mud 6-months ago and it
dried in the same position. In all honesty, it's that remote out there
it is probably the case! There was very little running through the night
as we quickly realised that it wasn't worth the potential ankle damage
or wear & tare on my legs in general, this was about me getting to
the finish line, not how quickly it could be done. By 2am we reached
Nantwich, meaning that I had been on the canal for 38 miles and that it
was getting close to that time in the evening where we would need to
start thinking about sleeping if we were going to try and get an hours
rest before the sun came up.
I'm not sure what Phil was expecting, but I don't think it was curling up on a canal embankment after a quick dog-shit check!
Considering how the weather had been the previous day, I thought
the conditions would be fine. It turns out there was a biting wind
whistling down the canal which woke me up a little before 3am feeling
like I would never be warm again, tip for future rough-sleeps, find a
bridge or hedge!
Even though I only managed 10-15 mins sleep, it did the job enough
that after a quick feed we were able to walk until the sun came up and
be ready to get running again.
The one thing that I will take away from this excursion, over all
else, is that a good pacer and a strict strategy will get you there much
quicker and more efficiently that either running alone or running off
feel, particularly when you are tired.
For around 4 hours of the morning we stuck to a 2min Run / 2min
Walk strategy which got us from nearly an hour behind schedule to over
10mins ahead by Arley Hall, top tip!!
By the time we had arrived at Arley Hall my feet were extremely
sore, I have no doubts that this was due to doing Thunder Run the
previous weekend, but Anna was awaiting us with food and hot coffee,
what more could you wish for?!
Soon after us, Carl arrived on foot. He had run the 20 miles to
meet me in order to run back and complete around 40 miles, the longest
run he had ever done!!
There was an emotional goodbye and thanks for the amazing
commitment that Anna & Phil had given on their weekend, before Carl
and I set off for the last 18 miles of the journey.
It was soon apparent that I wasn't going to be able to run much of
the last sections, I tried a few times, but the pains in my feet were
bad enough to stop me walking, never mind running. My biggest gratitude
to Carl is for his patience, not once did he try to rush me. He knew
exactly what I needed, made sure I was fed, hydrated and safe and just
stuck with me all the way, keeping me talking to take my mind off the
task in hand. The Glazebrook trail section and the walk up the East
Lancs were the toughest sections, but as we got to Lowton Fire Station,
crossing the road into the Flash I finally felt that I had made it
home.
The rain was on and off for this final section, but it just made it
more interesting. As the final downpour of the day hit us, we took
cover under the catering stand at the Flash and got ourselves some
celebratory hotdogs, it was both of our first proper meals that day and
my first since the previous day's breakfast (it was 16:30 by this
point). We reached the canal and parted ways, Carl presenting me with a
T-Shirt that Phil had had made for me (It's not a real event if you
don't get a t-shirt, apparently), cheers mate. Carl was awesome and had
put up with me for nearly 7hrs!!!
Claire was there to walk me in for the last mile or so, and there
is where it gets a little fuzzy.... I was relieved, proud, could finally
wear my Peaky Blinder medal, but more than anything else, tired.
I managed to read some of the amazing social media posts from you
guys and reply to a couple of texts before passing out on the rug in the
lounge, still covered in sweat, dust and whatever else you care to
imagine, where I remained until 8am the following morning, a good 15hrs,
much needed!
This was a great experience, and proved to me what an amazing
support system we have at our club and what we are willing to do for
each other. It makes me proud to be a part of it and I see this
achievement as one of the clubs' as well as my own. 109.5miles
unsupported (half-solo) in a little under 30 hrs. I've got to be happy
with that.
So what's next?
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