Earlier this year Mike had hinted that he wanted to give a 100 miler a go. With his birthday looming I thought this would be a great birthday present…well I actually thought he might kill me but I entered him anyway. Mike started to train hard for the 100 miler entering 24hr races and getting in the zone. He then asked me if I would pace him
But I had no idea it was going to be that hard! Leading up to this years Comrades was a bumpy road, in March I got diagnosed with a stress fracture in my Fibula. This was frustrating as my training had been going so well and I was feeling super strong but hey these things happen. I knew it was a bit of a long shot but I had 3 months to race day!
Turns out I had signed myself up to something quite ridiculous. We were going to attempt to run 90km a day for 20 days and on the final day compete in the Comrades Ultra Marathon. I was so bloody scared of what I had signed up to do but also intrigued to see how far my body could go.
The Comrades Marathon is an ultra marathon of approximately 89 km which is run annually in between Pietermaritzburg and Durban in South Africa. It is the world’s largest and oldest ultra marathon race with 20,000 people entered into this years race. The direction of the race alternates each year between the ‘up’ and ‘down run.
Fancy darting through Sherwood Forest as fast as possible whilst trying to read a map, firing bow and arrows and climbing up castle turrets then this race is for you! Read my full write up of this adrenaline pumped and Red Bull infused orienteering race on Hard as Trail
After a summer of running around and up and down mountains in the Alps I got home and decided to look for an autumn marathon to run. Chester marathon caught my eye as a lovely marathon that started in a pretty historic town and then wound it’s way through scenic country lanes.
I first heard about the tour of Mont Blanc through a couple of friends that had taken part in the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc (UTMB) a crazy race that sees hardy individuals complete the 170km route through 3 countries dipping down into several valleys and raising up many cols to total 10,000m of climbing in one go.
Eight weeks ago I got picked to be part of Team Whole earth and to take on Man V Horse on the 13 June in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales. I was really excited to be chosen as one of the 6 members of the team and I was looking forward to what the next 8 weeks of training.
Yesterday morning I made my way to London for the Bupa London 10,000. As I got to London I made my way down The Mall in search for the Championship Tent. I eventually found it and automatically felt like I didn’t belong in there. I took a seat between Beth Potter and Jo Pavey and to say I felt slightly out of my depth.
Yesterday morning my alarm started to beep at a very early 05.30am to wake me up for the Highland Fling Relay! I wasn’t entirely sure what I was about to embark on, needless to say this was completely my own fault as I decided to keep my leg a ‘surprise’. All I knew was that I was going to run on trails for around 14miles.