496.19 - 520.34KM: Ready for Salvation (Three Lakes Classic)

Last weekend I was set to run my 21st race of the year and reach the 500km milestone with the Humber Bridge 10k. Unfortunately these plans were scrapped when I had to take Jenny to hospital on Sunday after she was struck with her 7th bout of Eczema Herpeticum, she was later admitted. I am pleased to say that as of Friday she has been discharged from hospital and has returned home, a great relief after a horrible, horrible week. With Jenny slowly on the mend, and her mum taking care of her yesterday, I was free to have another attempt at breaking 500km with the Three Lakes Classic.

Important things first, Jenny has recovered well, although under doctor's orders she is pretty much housebound for the next couple of weeks, to prevent her health relapsing. She will be making a post on the whole ordeal over on her eczema blog (http://i-have-eczema.blogspot.co.uk/). If you haven't already done so, I ask you to please take a look and learn a little bit more about her condition and why I have been motivated to run so much this year.

Back to today's race, it was my second race so far this year around Rother Valley, with a third lined up next month with the Rother Valley 10k. I wouldn't be just running round Rother Valley though, the clue is in the name of the race, I would also be running around Treeton Dyke and Ulley Res. I had done a little bit of reading before the race of past runner's experience and learnt that a significant number of runners had got lost before, and saw many complaints about unclear markings and a lack of marshalling. I knew that I would be neither far enough at the front or towards the back for this to be too big of a concern, but I kept it in mind that I would always have to keep my eye on the runner in front.

Before the race began there was a mildly amusing case of mistaken identity, where someone approached me believing me to be a member of the Runner's World forum. I've since discovered who I was mistaken for and can kind of see how, even though I'm at least 20 years younger. As the race started I was some way towards the back of the group, so slowly worked my way towards the front. At the beginning of the race I was just 4km short of the 500km milestone and thinking back that would have been reached somewhere in between the point where I stopped to go for a wee and where I tripped up over a rock and flew head first towards a fence, which seems oddly fitting.

Stopping to go to the toilet so soon into the race cost me dearly with positioning. Significant sections of the race were down what were essential single file paths, making it difficult to pass people in front of me. It would take the best part of the next 10 miles until I started to see members of the group I was initially running with at the beginning of the race. 

The route was described as 80% off road and I was aware of a significant hill around the 8 mile mark. Reading comments from previous years runners also highlighted the need to keep sight of a runner in front of you during the woodland sections, which I did even if it meant at times pushing myself harder in these sections than I normally would. Some recent hill training had prepared me for the the beast at 8 1/2 miles and it felt great to overtake a lot of runners going up that hill. 

By the time I reached the finish my body was feeling the last 15 miles, so the famous cake selection at the end was a sight for sore eyes. The photo below shows just one of the four tables filled with cake. After I'd drank my cup of tea and eaten just one of the cakes, I had to go a run the remaining .34 miles my watch was short. It may have been a case that the signal was lost during the woodland sections of the race, but I'm making sure on races like this that I don't cut myself short and run the fully advertised distance, even if this means running nearly another half mile past the finish line.

At the end of a lot of my posts this year I have ended with saying that the events of the previous week have reminded me why I'm fundraising this year, and served as motivation throughout the race. In fact I seem to remember saying it enough times that it has almost become, an albeit long and not very catchy, catchphrase. That said, it has never been more true than this week.

So please visit http://www.justgiving.com/shanes1000km and donate what you can and please share news of what I am doing with others.

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Distance: 24.15km | 15.00 miles
Time: 02:01:25
Official Time: 02:00:24
Average Pace: 05:01 min/km | 08:05 min/mi
Playlist: Combichrist
Goody Bag: Mug, Crisps, Orange Juice, Chocolate, Lollipop and lots of cake

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View my run:

May Review (349.80 - 458.94km)

May saw me run three races in a weekend, run my second Marathon, set a new personal best for a Half Marathon and bake lots and lots of cake. In the 5th month of the year I ran five races, collected 4 medals and added over 100km to my total.

My first race saw me return home to Norfolk for the Grand East Anglia Run, a 10k around the streets of King's Lynn. Last year I set a PB on this course, so this year I was keen to give it another go and try and break sub 40. Unfortunately the heat and some tired legs put pay to this and I ended up pushing myself harder than I perhaps should have.

In the second weekend in May I had not one, not two but three races; the Skelly 6, Zombie Run and Sheffield Half Marathon. The first race, the Skelly 6, was a six mile trail race in Skellingthorpe, a nearby village, on the Friday evening. As one of three races in three days I opted to run at a steady pace, although at points the competitively element took over and I tried to overtake the other runners in sight.

Next up on Saturday afternoon was the Zombie Run, a 5km obstacle course with the added bonus (danger?) of running through hordes of zombies. When I laid out my plans for this 1000km late last year I made the decision to not include any 5km runs, simply because they would only account for 0.05% of my overall target. However when I was offered the opportunity to run this race and I knew I could fit it alongside another longer race, I grabbed the chance. Some minor (major) difficulties aside it was a fun race and one I'll look to do again, even if I may need to wear a cup next time.

Sunday's race, the Sheffield Half Marathon, was the longest of the three and my first time running the event. A week before my second marathon of the year should have meant that I spent the weekend resting, deep into my tapering phase. What I should not have been doing is running three races in three days and running a new personal best on my third of these races. But somehow this is what happened, I didn't start the race with the intention of running as fast as I did it just kind of happened.

 

My fourth race of the month and my second marathon of the year was the opportunity to gain some retribution. Last year I ran the inaugural North Norfolk Marathon but after 18 miles I withdrew due to a combination of injury and poor training. With one marathon already under my belt I was much better prepared for the the NNM this time round. When I crossed the line after 4 hours and 20 minutes my body was in pieces, but I had won a very personal battle and completed what would be the most difficult marathon of the year.

The final weekend in May was my first race free weekend in quite a while (about 6-7 weeks), but it was a date that I had marked in my calender for sometime. I had planned to hold a Bake Sale this year as an alternate means of raising money and early on I identified the last weekend in May as the date for this. The bake sale was a much bigger success than I could have possibly predicted, raising over £150 towards my £6,000 target. On the Sunday I added another 21km+ to my total with a Solo Run.

May Stats:

1000KM Challenge Distance: 109.14km
Time Running Total: 09:47:48
Total Running Distance: 177.59km
Bananas Eaten: 39
Times punched in the nuts by a zombie: 1
Medals: 4
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1000km Challenge Stats:

1000KM Challenge Distance: 458.94km 
Time Running Total: 39:21:18
Total Running Distance: 862.55km
Bananas Eaten: 228
Medals: 7

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A look ahead to June

Confirmed Races
02/06 - Woodhall Spa 10k
15/06 - Three Lakes Classic
21/06 - Summer Solstice 10k

Unconfirmed Races

09/06 - Humber Bridge 10k
30/06 - Humber Bridge Half Marathon

437.82 - 458.94KM: The Sweet Toothed Reverse Viking (Solo Run)

This weekend was my first 'race free' weekend in around a month and a half, yet it proved to be one of my busiest and most exhausting weekend so far this year. Yesterday I hosted a very successful Bake Sale at Asda Living in Lincoln and managed to raise over £150 for the National Eczema Society. Whilst today I added another 21km+ towards my 1000km target with a run in the midday sun.

I had this weekend marked in my calender for a while as the potential time to host a bake sale. Most weekends I am able to find several races to pick from to enter, but this weekend always remained empty in my calender as I was unable to find a close enough race. Whether or not this was down to today being the date of two major races in the Great Manchester Run and Edinburgh Marathon I'm not sure, but I had to unfortunately give those two races a miss as I couldn't justify (or afford) to pay the entry fee, travel and potential accommodation costs for one of these two alongside the 40+ other races I am running this year.

We were very gratefully joined this weekend by our friend Hannah, who had offered to help with the Bake Sale. If you've reached this blog through any eczema or chronic illness related means, or actually especially if you haven't, I ask you to check out her blog, The Retired Bridgeburner, where she offers support and aims to raise awareness of all kinds of chronic illnesses.

 

Many of Jenny's colleagues and my boss from work had offered to help bake for the sale, although we made sure to bake plenty of our own cakes too. With it being our first bake sale we had no idea what to expect or how many cakes we would need. We had advertised that we would be selling Dairy and Gluten free cakes, so on Thursday we grabbed some Gluten Free Flour and Vitalite Dairy Free butter, with little idea of what we were going to do with them.

I had taken the Friday off work as I had a day's worth of baking to do, although by 4pm I hadn't baked a single thing. I wasn't aware of what would or wouldn't sell and no idea of what others would be baking so I was very indecisive about what to bake. In the end I decided on Dairy Free Flapjacks, Dairy Free Banana & Raisin Muffins, Rocky Road and a Lemon Drizzle, whilst Jenny made some Chocolate Cornflake Cakes and some Marble Cupcakes. I woke up at half 6 on the Saturday to start making the Lemon Drizzle cake, and for some strange reason by the time we had to leave for the bake sale it still hadn't set so we had to leave it behind.

Throughout the day I was overwhelmed by people's generosity. We hadn't set a price for any of the cakes, opting instead to ask for any donations, with a suggested donation of 50p per cake. What we found was that many were willing to donate a lot more than that, and some were even donating without wanting any cake, a bizarre concept for this trio of cake fiends. 

Around October last year I made the decision to run for the National Eczema Society and do what I could to raise money for the charity. Jenny's health was spiralling downwards and we were both struggling to cope with it emotionally. I knew that there was little I could do on top of what I was already doing to make her any better, so I felt that I had to do what I could to raise as much money as possible in the hope that it will help towards the research for a cure. So whilst my reasons for all my fundraising this year are very much personal, it is heart warming to hear other sufferers personally thank me for helping raise awareness of their condition and helping to raise money.

By the end of the day we had just a handful of cakes left to sell, but with the numbers of customers coming through the shop dropping we were unable to convince anyone to buy these few remaining cakes. So instead, unfortunately they came home with us, well some did, a couple may have been eaten on the car on the way back. Before we returned home however we made a much promised visit to Bunty's, for some tea and cake. After a torturous day sat in front of cake we felt we very much deserved some of our own, and in doing so I think we made them a new customer for life in Hannah.

Today was all about the run and getting that little bit closer to my 1000km target. For the first time in around a month and a half I didn't have a race lined up, so instead I had another solo run. I was dressed and all ready to leave for my run when I realised that the Great Manchester Run was on TV, so I delayed it slightly to watch the majority of that. Once it had reached 12 O'Clock I decided I couldn't delay my run much longer, so stepped out to go for my run in the hottest part of the day. Which quite obviously would prove the be a big mistake. 

 

As for today's route, I opted to run along several parts of the Viking Way trail, a 147-mile footpath which starts at the Humber Bridge and ends at Oakham, Rutland. The route had come to my attention when I stumbled across the Viking Way Ultra, an ultra marathon which covers the entire 147 miles and just so happens to cut through my village. The run has since found it's way on my runner's Bucket List, a very very optimistic inclusion, but for me it currently represents the pinnacle of all races.

It didn't take long for my body to let me know that it has far from recovered from last weekend's Marathon, and in all likelihood it is still recovering from the London Marathon last month. My left quadricep was feeling very tight, and no amount of stretching or trying to 'run it off' seemed to work. I followed the 'Yellow Viking Way signs' for around three miles before breaking off and going my own separate way, running as wide a loop of Lincoln as I could.

With around a couple of miles to ago I began to realise that once again I had ran a route that would leave the climb up Cross O'Cliff hill in the last mile of my run, and by the time I reached it it was a very slow climb. I was very grateful for opting to run with my hydration pack on, but even sipping from it regularly struggled to keep me hydrated. At various points I was convinced that the bag/pipe was leaking as I kept seeing water dripping on the ground in front of me, but it was instead coming from my sweaty, sweaty face.

Leaving aside the difficulty I had in today's run, it was a great and very successful weekend that made me appreciate the power of cake. This year National Eczema Week takes place between the 14th - 22nd September and following the success of yesterday's bake sale I have the intention of running another Bake Sale, and maybe this time being a little bit more organised.

Once again please visit http://www.justgiving.com/shanes1000km and donate what you can, whilst I'm in the baking mood, generous donations may well be the recipient of cake.

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Distance: 21.12 km | 13.12 miles
Time: 01:56:27
Average Pace: 05:30 min/km | 08:52 min/mi

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View my run:

Breaking through the 20 mile barrier

So this morning I woke up at 4am, a time usually reserved for milkmen and repeats of Hollyoaks for the deaf, for a 20 mile run before work. With only a month (today) until the London Marathon I decided that I needed to fit in one final long run before the big day, so opted for a 20 mile run, which is to date the furthest I've ran so far. I thought that reaching 20 miles would be a massive physical and psychological boost before the 21st April as you know after that it is just a 10k and that's easy, I do them all the time ;).

The idea of getting up at 4am was daunting to say the least, however with working a 9 - 5(ish) job it meant that I would fit the run in either before or after work as the weekends were out of the question due to having a race (almost) every weekend. I very much relied on guilt and peer pressure to ensure I got out at bed at 4am. I told everyone I knew my plans for Thursday morning so I felt pressured into making sure I went through with them rather than dealing with the shame on bailing out at the last second. Despite this I still managed to ignore my first three alarms and wake up panicked at half 4.

Thankfully I had gathered together most of my things the previous night so after wolfing down a bowl of porridge I was on my bike and off to work to drop my things off. When I arrived I found some rather 'interesting' words of encouragement from my colleagues. As I was sorting out my things and getting ready to leave I realised that I had left my gels at home, thankfully I had a bag of Jelly Babies on me so it wasn't a complete disaster, but it was far from ideal.

The run itself was surprisingly comfortable given that I barely felt like I had really woken up. I have a crazy dream of running the London Marathon in under 3:30, which given that it will be my first marathon will be a big ask, so today I was aiming to keep my average pace around 8 minute miles. The first 10 miles of the run strangely felt less comfortable than the second 10 miles, whether it was down to my body slowly waking up or the fact that pretty much dead on 10 miles I had to stop for a toilet break I'm not sure. All I know is that my 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th mile were much slower than my 10th, 11th and 12th. For some strange reason I also found a burst of pace around miles 16 - 18. When I arrived back at work I checked my watch and saw that I had run 20.2 miles in 2:42, leaving 48 minutes to run the remaining 6 miles in hopefully better circumstances. My dream is still alive.

When I got back to my office I found the above waiting for me on my desk. One of the guys from work said that he would buy me a cake if I actually went out and ran 20 miles before work but I wasn't quite expecting one this big. Whilst it would have been an interesting way to get back the ~2700 calories I burnt off common sense took over and I only opted for two pieces before sharing it out.

Yesterday I found out that the Nottingham Marathon appears to be going a head thankfully after being cancelled last year and there being a lack of official information around whether it would return. So I now have the London Marathon, North Norfolk Marathon, Spires & Steeples Challenge (Marathon), Nottingham Marathon, Yorkshire Marathon and potentially the first day of the Liverbird Double Marathon lined up this year, meaning I have found the 6 marathons I need to run to reach my 1000km.

For this weekend though it is just the matter of the Rother Valley 10k.

For those interested here is the route from my run today.