Enduroman 100 and my Pro-am Speaking gig.

Good evening, everyone. I have been holding off writing this blog as I have been patiently waiting for some photos to arrive, but so far, they haven’t. Basically, last Monday, at Port Macquarie, for 25mins, I was on stage at the BetterHomes Pro-am sporting event. It was a lot of fun, I learnt a huge amount, but it left me wanting to do more and more of it, so that can only be a good thing, right? The pictures in this blog are from someone’s phone.

It was a fun evening. There were three of us due to talk, with me in the middle of the three. The room was split into two, there were no visual que’s and having spent a lot of time

condensing them and not missing out any of the key elements is harder than it seems. But we got there and by all accounts, everyone enjoyed it.

It didn’t get off to the best start. I left in the morning, only to have to turn around soon after as I had left my clothes at home. But I arrived safely, saw Tony, went to the venue, and did our thing. The people were lovely, the place was great, and the food was sensational. Although I was planning to stay up there, I ended up driving home and I think that was probably the best thing to do.

Since then, I have been following up more leads for more talks with the next one scheduled for Tuesday 2^nd September, in Medowie this time. It’s going to be a lot of fun, homing my skills further each time. I am long way off the finished product, but there is no doubt I am getting there.

Last week’s blog focused on the 100-mile race at Caeser’s Camp where I didn’t quite make it over the finish line. That summer I tried to do 3 100milers. Today’s blog is about the first one I did that summer, the main focus and the one I actually managed to complete. 160km of up and down, good weather and bad.

It was brought to my attention last week that my spelling wasn’t great on the race reviews. I made an effort at the time to keep the blogs as raw as I possibly could and turning off the spell check was a way of doing that. These blog reviews are simply cut and paste’s of the race blogs. So, to make it easier, I am going to make the race reviews in Blue, that way you will know when they are old or new.

I really hope you enjoy it. It’s all about momentum, and I can feel it coming together slowly but surely!

Have a great weekend/week and remaining time of this month. Next blog will be in the beginning of September.

See ya. R

Fri 10 Jun  - T minus 12 Hours

Hi guys and girls,

I wanted to send you all a quick email to tell you how im going right now. As i write this, it is currently 10.37pm on Friday night and i start the first of my 3 100 mile runs at 2pm tomorrow afternoon.

I arrived safely in Bournemouth earlier today and had a sneaky look at the course this afternoon. All i can say is WOOOWWWOOOWWW!!! It is very very very hilly, far worse than i thought and its going to make the race a very tough one if it wasn't tough enough already. On top of this, the weather forecast is rubbish as well. But, back to the course, its quite tight and through thick woodland for most of the way. This means it will be very dark during the night and also is filled with roots sticking up through the ground, trip hazards if ever i saw them. Not only that, most are near the lake, what are the chances i will go head first straight in????!

So, my race strategy is to run for 20min and then walk for 10min and continue this for the full route. I hope i can sustain this, but fear the hills might change this. As long as i can stay hydrated and warm, i think i should be ok. Of course my main goal is to just finish but ideally i would like to break 24 hours. I think i will be the youngest competitor (no surprises, most 29yr olds should be in the pub) and there are 9 men and 3 girls competing. There are also a number of other races this weekend, and if i take longer than 24 hours, i will get caught by the masses, and on the tight course, this wont make things easy. I will try my hardest and see what happens.

Have a great weekend, wherever you are, and i will see you all soon........if i survive!

Rich 

Thu 16 Jun

Hi Everybody,

So, it turned out that after 24 hours 22 minutes after the start of the Enduroman 100 mile running race, i crossed the finished line, tired, sore and alittle relieved that the ordeal was finished. Not only that, i had finished in 2nd place as well.  Do i need to go on???

Ah, the arrogance of me!

Of course i do.

After my last blog on Friday night, i have to confess i slept like a baby. For an event of this size, this is almost unheard of, but, sitting here, i am still alittle confused as to why that was. Maybe deep down i knew that my preparation had been almost perfect, maybe, being my first ultra event in the UK, i was just comfortable with the surroundings. I just don't know. However, once Hannah had arrived and we had set up, i found myself in my tent waiting the last few minutes before i would exit and enter the start/finish area of the course. I was focused, knew what had to be done and knew that inodrer for me to do well, i had to be honest with myself, and work within my limitations. If i left everything had on the race course, no one could take away from me the fact that i had tried my best. It may not have been good enough to win, but i knew i wouldn't be far off, as long as i finished.

The weather was fair for the first 12 to 15 hours as too was my race. I had decided to run 20 minutes, walk 10 minutes from the very beginning of the race. As silly as it looked walking after only 20minutes, i knew this was right for me. Even the steepest hills i would run, if i was "on" at that point and having slipped to 6th place out of 9 after the first 2 hours, it would only be a matter of time before i would slowly make my way up the field. After 6hours, i was well into my 2nd marathon and up to 2nd place. It was this second place, that to my knowledge, i never let go of. After 10hours and 12minutes, i passed the 50mile mark and within 10hr 30min i had passed my 2nd marathon. Delighted, i decided to consider taking a break. Naturally, Hannah told me to "take a hike" and i carried on knowing that dark would soon be upon us, but on a hilly course, anybody would take a sub 5hr 10min marathon, let alone 2 on the trott.

As night fell, so too did the temperature and the layers went on. With my head lamp blasting and for the first time, my iPod in, i changed to my night strategy of 20min run followed by 20min walk. I knew that from this, every other hour i would be running for only 20min but additionally, every other hour i would be running 40min. In this rotation, my overall pace would only drop slightly. At around 4am local time, whilst running up yet another hill, i completed my 3rd marathon. As far as i was concerned, i had broken the back of the race. I had covered 78.6miles in about 17 hours. What made this particularly sweet for me is that, i considered myself far fitter during the triple ironman and for that race i did one of the fasted run splits in the world that year or 21 hours 44min. This was far hillier and granted, i hadn't swam and cycled before, but to knock off the best part of 6 hours, was a great achievement for me.

At about 5/6am local time, after a cold night and with 80 odd miles in my legs, the heavens opened and we had around 4inches of rain in about 6 hours, People started to drop out, i for one threw more than my fair share of toys out of the pram only for Hannah to tell me to man up and get going again. Jos, who had also come down, forced me on and as the cold sapped my energy, what was becoming a slower and slower run became a pissed off walk. Hannah, being the saint that she is, force fed me, changed me a few times into dry cloths and pushed me on into the wet. In hindsight, she has told me how funny it was seeing me so depressed and negative, its what happens to me during long races. I defo had 2 two hour sections where i wanted to give up. We all have down times during these races but its made harder when your going round in circles!!!

At around 2pm on Sunday, soaking wet, i crossed the start/finish line for the final time. I turned around and did my last lap backwards (your meant to do that!) and was congratulated by the runners passing me. I even managed to run some of that last lap. Entering the final few bends, i figured out where i had to go as it was slightly different to normal. Through the rain and under the finish banner. I had made it, wet, sore and tired, but very satisfied. In the fastest medal awards ceremony ever, i rushed to the the tent, got into some dry cloths, picked up the final bag to be put in the car and went home. It was the hot shower where things became apparent.

I had run 100.6miles. Further than i had ever imagined i could. I had been pushed to my limits yet the race was a series of 2hour shifts. I never thought you really drew on past experiences, but maybe good did come from the rowing. 2 hours on and then start again. Sore and battered, we had dinner and bed. No tears, no after thoughts, just a job well done. Maybe this is because this isn't the final goal. Badwater next year is the target, all these are just ways to get there. Next up is the South Downs Way running race. In just 4 weeks time and i just hope my blisters have recovered. Its a different race as it from point A to B (Eastbourne to Winchester) and i wont have my trusty sidekick of Hannah besides me. This my well be my greatest test to date, but when im running, looking out to sea with the full moon above, i will be able to think that i am achieving something so few can do. So few infact, that when i say what im up to, it gets dismissed so quickly. I did get told by a client last week that they could walk 100miles in 24 hours. Good luck with that one. I like the mystery about doing things like this and after a year out after the rowing, quite simply, its nice to be back