The Sole of a New Runner: Sunrise to Sunset Holly Winter Challenge

This was it, my last race of 2013 and I wanted it to be a good one. The day before I had gone out into the sales and bought a nice purple thermal base layer long sleeve top and a buff and I had spent most of the evening trying to construct the buff into a pirate buff! oohh arrrrrrr! I had also purchased some Kendal Mint cake as I had forgotten to buy any jelly babies and my running stash was rather on the low side plus it was all 60 miles away in Worcester. I had a little nibble of the cake with some shots of Sambucca just before retiring to bed.. now I know why I slept so bad! I woke up the morning of the 27th December and the Sunrise to Sunset challenge with the worst butterflies in my stomach I think I've ever experienced before a race.

I hadn't raced since the start of October at the Bournemouth half marathon which I will admit I struggled with a little and this was a big event so how was I going to fair at a smaller one? It was also worrying that the furthest I had ran in one go since Bournemouth was 10 miles due to injury and illness. The wind sounded terrible as I sat in my sisters spare room getting all my gear together to be picked up at 7.30am by Anjie. Still at least it wasn't windy and raining. I could barely stomach the banana I had bought let alone the oat cereal and before I knew it my mom had arrived as she was my support for the day. Just after 7.30am we set off in the car to make the short 1.5 mile journey to Lightmoor in Telford where Anjie and I would spend the next few hours running as many laps of the 0.84 mile course as we could or indeed wanted to. I had been mulling over a few goals my main one being minimum of half marathon distance I knew I could do this, the next one being 20 miles then a marathon then 30 miles... but of course all of these were just numbers. As we parked the car we had a short walk up an incline it wasn't steep but did go on abit and it was very muddy with lots of slush and puddles. Arriving at the top of the incline we found the headquarters and what was also the checkpoint it was a little gazebo, god know how they got that up in the wind at 6am that morning!

Stamper card

We had to register and get our numbers, I was number 58 and Anjie number 4, we found out that 16 people had pulled out... wimps! We had to sign a disclaimer to say we were fit and well to race.. I signed it though as per previous blogs I have doubts on my current level of fitness! I needn't have worried about not having any jelly babies with me as the supply table soon got filled with goodies from jelly babies, jelly beans, crisps, jaffa cakes, coca cola, squash, water and even cups of mulled cider! At 8.17am we had the race briefing from Denzil who may I say puts on a fantastic event and looked after everyone really well. We were given a laminated card with numbers to represent the amount of laps we had done and had to get it punched at the end of every lap. Oh god I thought this doesn't bode well as everything about the race from the weather to the mud and now the stamper card reminded me of the Grim Reaper Ultra!!

At the start

Where I spent most my time eating and chatting

At 8.20am we had a little countdown and we were off! I started running with Anjie following the other runners I think in total there was less than 70 of us, we followed a little muddy path down a slight hill that then ended up with a big puddle to go through though you could at this point just about get around the edge of it. Then we came up to a steep hill made up of compacted stones and mud, we ran up this then there was a nice little descent still muddy which then bought us to a puddle the size of a lake that spread across the whole path..we followed suit and stepped cautiously across the side of the bank but still managed to get right in the puddle and suddenly my whole right foot was swamped with water and mud and it was cold..... Then the strangest thing happened.. normally I would have been cursing a race like this with these conditions, I don't particularly like races not on pavement and I certainly don't like hills or mud or water but I just started smiling and was thoroughly enjoying myself. We then came to where Anjie had parked her car and the rest of route we had already done on the way to the HQ, it was the long incline and before you knew it we had ran 0.84 miles and were already getting our cards stamped. We set off to go around again, I think we ran the first two laps together then Anjie said I could run on as I wanted to loosen up my legs a bit, we were going to run our own races so off I went I ran up the big hill and finished that mile at around 9.45 minutes but this I decided was too fast, I then decided I was going to go for distance, time was no object to me I could run until 4.01pm when the sunset. All the way around my Nike dri fit tights were falling down or felt like they were and I was constantly hoisting them back up this was really beginning to ruin my race experience. I decided to just have fun so I started walking up the big hill and it was sociable, all the other runners were walking this hill and we all chatted to each other along the way it was like we were out on a leisurely stroll! After a couple of laps I started just running straight through the middle of the big lake/puddle and enjoyed it every time as my feet soon dried out just before running through it again. With the checkpoint coming around so often I began to stop and chat to people, whether that be the organizer Denzil, Denzils mom who was looking after the supply table and who was also keeping my mom company and my mom. I was having a good time.. no a great time and I really didn't care when I was looking at my watch and it was telling me I was running (or eating and chatting) at 30.25 minute miles. Time was no object I was just having fun. My trousers were still falling down or was it my knickers? I thought it was more likely my knickers and rather than going through the palaver of taking my muddy trainers off then trousers I called upon my mom with her magic handbag that's got everything in it and went in the portaloo with a pair of scissors and cut them off! Just under mile 10 my mom wanted to stretch her legs so I took her on a walk down to the first little puddle she made it through that part then up the big hill and I warned her of the lake I had been running through and she could see the state of my old stinkers but she wanted to complete a lap with me so we strolled on down to the lake and spotted a runner clear the puddle using the bank on the right hand side. Mom made it over problem free whilst I was still continuing to run through the middle. That was probably my favorite lap of all. I had realised however my knickers were never the problem it was always my trousers as they were still falling down.

rarrrr!

finished!

We stopped at the checkpoint and mom had a mulled cider or two! After the 10 mile marker I felt like I had crossed a big step the next one was the 13.1 miles, the next two laps I ran without stopping at the supply table and was pleased that I had achieved my first goal. My glutes were hurting and I think they had been from around mile 8 but it wasn't a major concern to me. The next lap Anjie and I ran/walked together, there is something to be said for going slower and simply enjoying yourself, my time on this day for half marathon distance was.... drum roll please.....absolute personal worst of 3 hours 24 minutes to give you an idea that is over 1 hour over my average and 1 hour 16 minutes slower than my pb!!! but I was laughing and smiling without a care in the world the whole time and I told Anjie I felt like this race had set me in a positive mindset for the Grim, after all that has a 26 hour time limit I know knew what I had to do. I had to run/walk a lap and spend an hour at the supply table chatting. As I was coming up to the 15 mile marker and by now had ran 17 laps my sister and her partner Simon were on the phone saying they had arrived to support me and also give mom a lift home and possibly me if I was near finishing. I carried on with the next lap knowing they would all be at the checkpoint waiting for me and I had decided I wanted to do 20 miles at least, I would stop at 20 or would I? as I felt so good, I've never felt this good at a race and would I kick myself for stopping but then I am only in week 1 of marathon training after coming back from injury. Did I want to run a great race but risk ruining my training for the next 3-4 weeks. As I came through the checkpoint Anjie had finished with an amazing distance of 15 miles she did brilliant! I told my supporters I wanted to get to 20 miles and we loosely worked out it would be around 6

the old stinkers at the end

more laps, I was still taking 15 minutes to complete a mile even not stopping at the checkpoint but I told them I would be 30 minutes maximum and they were happy to stay. As I started my next lap I was kidding no one , it would be at least an hour to get me to 20 miles my glutes were hurting, my pirate buff had fallen out and I now looked like a running nun, a knickerless nun (or Knickerless Norah as my sister so lovingly named me) and I decided I had ran a brilliant race and had enjoyed it more than any race I think I have ever done so as I approached the checkpoint and had my final stamp on lap 20 I was just under 17 miles. I told the marshall I was going to double back on myself so I can come through the finish line at bang on 17 miles and that's what I did. My sister got the most amazing picture of me finishing with both feet of the ground and it just sums up my race that day.... I was absolutely flying! I then got presented with my medal and commemorative Sunrise to Sunset Challenge glass. This is by far my favorite race of my running history so far.