Grim Reaper 40 Mile Ultra Marathon

So it's happened, though it still doesn't seem real. Although when I walk into my bathroom and the stench of my trainers hits me and I look at my brown bath I know it definitely was real!

The Grim Reaper started for me a good few months back when I saw it advertised on face book. I had never even ran a marathon before I entered but with nearly 6 months to train I honestly believed it was achievable. Friday morning when I woke up at 4am I began to wonder where the last 6 months had gone and it hit me that in 5 hours time I would be setting off on a 40 mile run.

Stamp card

Packing the car took my mind of the nerves, the course of that week had seen me write list after list of what I needed and double checking I had everything. Crates, bags and tent loaded into the car away we went at 5.40 a bit later than I planned to set off but Kev had a stinking cold and I felt bad for him. As soon as we set off the weather looked ominous, a completely grey sky which was all cloud and rain the whole way which made the journey there quite stressful. Add than on top of the sat nav (that had been on charge for 3 days) completely dying miles from the Castle! We finally pulled into the car park at 7.50am with 10 mins spare before the race briefing. Dumping the car we grabbed the tent and dashed to the main tent where I registered and was handed my stamp card. The concept is at the halfway point there is a flag pole with a stamper on it for you to punch the first section of your card, then another flag pole and stamper at the far end of the course to stamp again to show you have done the whole route and not cheated. This then gets checked and signed at the main tent before starting your next lap. The race briefing took place and I spotted a few people I have got to know from the Grimsthorpe group on facebook, keeping an eye out I thought I'd find them all at the start. We had around 15 minutes to put the tent up, me tape up my feet, sort my bumbag out with supplies, put my running glasses on and fill my camel bak.... but I'd left all my pre mixed water with High 5 4:1 in the car!!! Crikey so had to quickly grab one of the bottles from the main tent and slosh it all in. I had also left my safety pins in the car so had to run back to attach my race number. I had already ran 2 miles before the race had even started. The rain was a pain in the arse but came in handy for putting on my heart rate monitor as it works better with a bit of water I just rubbed some wet leaves on it. Thanks mother nature.

With seconds to spare and me feeling not very prepared at all as by this time my feet were already soaked from being in the long grass and my oxide tape not sticking to my feet we made the short walk to the starting line.

The Starting Line

I felt quite happy and not nervous at all at this point, I met some people from facebook, Ria, May and Steve whom I had sponsored for his 70 mile run which he was running for the charity SANDS.

A little countdown and we were off, running up towards the castle then round down by the big lake which was all on pavement I set off a bit quicker than I'd have liked but was chatting away to lots of people. I soon noticed a lot of people walking as the difference with an Ultra is you have to pace yourself, if you are running 70-100 miles you don't want to go out too quick. I decided to walk every hill to conserve energy. Around the 3 mile mark I had my first energy gel which went down quite well. I then noticed just how muddy the course was and it was still raining. After the limestone trail which went past some sheep behind an electric fence we took a left turn and it looked as though we were going to start going up a large hill on pavement but were soon diverted off to the left, this I realised was the figure of eight crossing where runners half a lap in front of you would be coming down the road in the opposite direction. Following the yellow arrows I turned left into what turned out to be an assault course. You had long grass in the middle with sloppy mud track either side which was very slippy as fifty plus runners had just gone up it before me. On the right side you had the electric fence, not something I fancied slipping into if I fell, and on the left side you had stinging nettles also not too appealing but the better option of the two. So left side it was, just around the corner from the below picture I was then faced with what I have called the Mud Hill of Death!! 

The Mud Hill of Death!!!!!!!

Assault Course

       It was maybe 300 yards at around 45 degree angle of pure sloppy mud, you could see footprints and sideways slide marks in it, only way to tackle it was to go up as quick as possible and not stop. My thoughts were already focusing on how grueling it was going to be on the second, third and fourth laps baring in mind the amount of people all going up it before me.

Shortly after conquering the Mud Hill of Death I had the Swamped Field of Slosh to battle, a good half mile of field with long grass and some bits of flat grass which was water logged. It wasn't too bad finding a clearish route around the puddles at this point. I met Stewart Griffiths a man who had only ran a 10k before this event and like me was doing the 40, my hat goes off to him and I thought he was as bonkers as me! We started a little run / walk together and if it wasn't for Stewart I would have walked straight past the second flag post with the stamper on so thanks for that Stewart :-). Rounding the corner after the field with the stamper in we came up along side the lake again and I was sure we were heading for the castle, sure enough there the castle was, we could see it.. nearly a lap done. But then a yellow arrow pointed us in the opposite direction... surely not. But we plodded on regardless my Garmin read 9.7 miles so I knew we had to be close. We came out onto pavement in the middle of the wood and I told Stewart I could see the castle behind the trees and we should be coming up the final straight.... then we were still plodding.... and again I thought I could see the castle but again we were still no where near. I think at this point Stewart wanted to throttle the girl that was playing spot the castle! But we got there in the end. Waiting for me was Kev camera at the ready.

End of 1st lap.

Stewart and I at the castle finishing 1st lap.

A quick pit stop at the tent which involved a very pointless exercise of drying my feet and trying to sort the Oxide tape out and putting wet trainers back on, filling my camel bak (which turned out was only half filling) a quick pep talk from Kev and I was off again. My first 10 mile loop took me near on 2 hours 40 minutes well over my half marathon time but conditions completely different. My second lap started of brilliant I was very cheery even though it was still raining. I got past the sheep and had to tackle the Mud Hill of Death again and did so with a little hop skip and a jump I even told the mud hill that it wouldn't beat me. I was feeling really good and kept chanting a mantra to myself saying I was powerful and strong. By the time I got to the first stamper my feet were wet through, I didn't have much water as didn't fill my camel bak enough and I had forgotten to bring energy gels or any food with me. I was cursing myself for making such silly mistakes as I had a 26 hour time limit why the rush? Around the second lap I met up with Stewart again who was complaining of tight quads. I also seemed to be suffering with my quad in my right leg and at this stage which was around 15 miles I had given up trying to run and my mood had taken a massive down turn. Stewart and I stayed close together and chatted every now and again which kept me going. I don't remember much more of the second lap except thinking when I got back to the tent there would be Kevin, chicken sandwiches, chocolate and a cup of tea with my name on. Also the fact I would be half way through felt quite good. On the straight run up to the castle I shouted at Kev that I wanted to quit, I didn't want to do it anymore it was well past 1pm I had been running in non stop rain since 9am and I realised all I had to eat since 4am was a bowl of porridge, a cereal bar and two energy gels. Hence my low ebb.

Still Smiling!

A quick chicken sandwich later, half a bar of fruit and nut and a cup off tea and another sock change I was feeling alot better. Though I made exactly the same mistake of not taking any food or energy gels with me again. Why oh why Sarah???? So 20 miles down only 20 miles to go. Back through the gate and down the side of the lake I went I had taken my phone on this lap so I could call my mom and fill her in on my progress and get a bit of a pep talk along the way. I decided as it had actually stopped raining I would take pictures of the course to show you people at home just how muddy it was! I also took a video of me running and talking to sheep!? Think this is when I began to loose it a little. During my wade through the Swamped Field of Slosh a man came along side me who I chatted to for quite some time before we realised we knew of each other from the Grimsthorpe group on facebook. My third lap companion was Rob Bateman we walked nearly the entire third lap together as neither of us felt we could run, the conditions were now dreadful it had stopped raining the whole way through for around 15 minutes but then poured down! We caught up with Ria and eventually David Neilson caught us up and we had a little Grimsthorpe Massive group going which was really nice, all sharing stories. I walked the whole third lap as everytime I tried even a little jog my right quad seized up. My ankles were also very sore from the constant rolling and sliding in the mud. Rob left me with around 1 mile to go and said he may catch me up on my last lap and that I will do it. Rob was also with me for my 'first marathon' checking my watch at the 26.2 mile marker I was at 7 hours 2 minutes. I'm hoping to knock around one and half hours of that time for my first proper marathon!

Getting back to the tent after 30 miles was tough, tough because I really didn't think I would go back out there and start my last lap. I was three quarters of the way through I just had to do it. Seeing Kev was fantastic and I told him next time he sees me I will have finished and we can go and get warm and dry. Kev said he would wait in the car and worked out I will finish around 9pm as my third lap had taken me nearly 3 hours!! I couldn't believe it.

I decided to swap my phone for my mp3 player, my phone was getting wet and a thought some music would help in my final moments.  I walked out the white gate and got along side the lake I tried to run but couldn't I was so cold and wet it had now been raining from 9am to 6pm my hands were swollen and red. I couldn't feel my hands and my hips had locked from being so cold, I thought about turning back and giving up but just couldn't bare it so set off with a quick stomp to the beat of my music. Eye of the Tiger came on and I was really going for it there was no one around for miles in front or behind me I was punching the air "With the distance now I'm not going to sleep, just a woman and her will to survive" Yeah!! I was feeling okish I knew I would be walking the whole 10 miles and it was not going to be fast. After my songs had played over twice they were grating on me so I turned it off. I really wanted to turn back and quit but thought if I could just get to the first stamper post it would make more sense to keep moving forward than turn back as it's pretty much the same distance. I was sure I knew the stamper post was just around the next corner..... it wasn't..... the next corner.... it wasn't... nor the 4 corners after that I was constantly being faced with straight roads.

I had lost any sense of where I was on the course which was silly as I knew it like the back of my hand after doing it three times over! Finally the stamper came into sight it then took me a good few minutes to bend down and pick the stamp up, stamp my card and go on my way. No turning back now I was pretty much 4 miles in with 6 miles to go so just keep moving forwards seemed the best option. I didn't recognize any of the route after the stamp and wondered why? I kept looking behind me but there were no runners at all, there was no one in front of me which was a bit unsettling. I carried on and came out on what the other runners call Heart Break Valley. It's along stretch of pavement that goes on for miles with no bends in it at all and seems never ending. My heart did break as I got to it and I felt completely deflated. By now I could barely put one foot in front of the other it was past 7pm and starting to get a bit darker and it was still raining. I was walking along and suddenly noticed out the corner of my eye a corgi dog running along side me. I stopped and turned my head and there was nothing there, this continued to happen and I knew then that I was in trouble. I already knew I hadn't managed my tent time well and rushed everything and hadn't eaten even a quarter of what I should have done for the distance and now I was hallucinating. At this point I burst out crying I continued to walk sobbing away even wailing at times asking myself why I had been so stupid to think I could run 40 miles and why I took up running in the first place. I kept looking behind me but no one was there. I carried on walking and out of no where saw the land rover that comes along every now and again to check on runners. I was so happy to see it I was tempted to run to get to it and speak to someone, maybe not give up but just speak to someone. The nearer I got to the 'land rover' I realised it wasn't the land rover it was in fact the car parked at a random house which I had already gone past three times so should have realised what I was looking at. I couldn't believe it!! I felt like someone out of a movie that's trapped somewhere maybe on a desert island and the ship doesn't see them and turns away. I burst into tears again and at this point I realised I wanted to quit I couldn't do it, I had got to 35 miles and could go no more. I told myself what ever happens first I will take, if the land rover finds me I will get in, if I happen to finish before the land rover finds me I have finished. At this point I wish I had taken my phone with me as I could have called Kev to get someone out to find me but I didn't have that choice. At this point I got near to the cross road part on the figure of eight and a man came running up behind me I was going to ask if he had a phone for me to borrow but he had headphones in and didn't hear me. Hence more crying. Then I noticed far in the distance a man stood still in the middle of the grass off the pavement...just stood there. I thought he was having a wee and as I couldn't run I would never catch him up for help. As I carried on watching him the most amazing sight ever appeared! The land rover!!! It pulled up along side the man and stopped and he got in the back... I quickly realised I had to be seen else they would go so I started jumping up and down waving my arms (It really was like something out of a film) and I'm not even joking. As I started waving frantically like a mad woman another runner came up from the opposite direction about to go up the Mud Hill of Death. He looked at me, looked at the land rover and asked how far I had left to go. In tears I told him only 5 miles (only 5 miles! which by the way would have taken me near on 2 hours to complete) He begged me not to get in the land rover he told me I must carry on I'm so close but I had to let him go I couldn't lose the safety of the land rover so I thanked him and made my way crying like a little girl to my saviors. I was helped into the back and greeted by the man who it turns out was not having a wee, he had the sense to carry a mobile on him and had called for help. There was a nice girl in the front who was helping out and the driver who practically had to pick me up to put me in the van.

The desperation I faced and the frantic thinking of should I give up should I not... it's only 5 more miles... think of the people you will be letting down... was over. I had given up I now had a DNF to face up to and knew I was going back the main tent where I wouldn't collect my T-shirt or certificate.  I cried most of the way back, it turns out a lot of people didn't finish due to the conditions and I had apparently lasted longer than some. Arriving back at the main tent I had to be carried out of the van and placed on the ground where I hobbled to my tent to find kev, he wasn't there. I made my way crying to the car and opened the car door.
Kev thought he had missed me finishing but my sudden outburst of wailing and catching my breathe told him all he needed to know. He had sat in a cold wet tent for 11 hours on his own, and I had ran 35 miles in non stop rain for nothing! I was inconsolable to say the least. We packed up the tent packed up the car I tried to get my trainers off and assess the damage which is a massive blister between my big toe and second toe, two blisters down the side of my left heel and funnily enough a blister on the inside of my groin from chaffing. Should have lubed up but I didn't utilize 90% of anything that I had bought with me which was part of the problem.

Returning to the hotel and checking facebook I had loads of people posting asking how I had got on and if anyone had heard from me and I felt like I'd let everyone down even people I had never even met before. Stewart who I spent most of the first two laps with had written a thankyou to me for my support. Turns out he pulled out after the second lap due to a knee injury which is such a shame. It was nice to know I had helped someone on their journey even though at the time I thought they were helping me.

I later found out that quite a few people didn't finish which made me feel a bit better. Looking back on it all now I am really pleased with what I achieved, at the end of the day I ran 35 miles in mud, waterlogged fields in non stop rain. Imagine what I could do on road in dry conditions. I have learnt a few things though... don't rush, take plenty of food and water out with you and if possible a mobile phone!

I may not have finished the race or got my t-shirt or certificate but I met some pretty amazing people that day and I did also receive a trophy. Admittedly I bought it myself but I will look at it and always remember Friday 13th July 2012.