*Gulp* so here I lay, 1 more sleep until I take on my biggest challenge to date, The Round Rotherham 50. I've been staring at the bedroom ceiling for an hour now, the plan of an early night has been scuppered by a mix of excitement & nerves. I woke this morning with sore throat & when I went to my usual shop to buy my gels I found it had shut down, not the best day in prep for the biggest run I've ever attempted, but there is no turning back now! When I started running "seriously" in January 2012 I set myself a personal goal to run a Marathon before the year was out & now here I lay, it's October & in the morning I'll be attempting my 1st 50 mile trail ultra marathon.
I'm really pleased with my progress this year, I've got stronger & faster, I've set new PB's in 5K, 10K, & Half Marathon, no Marathon PB but that's because I have not raced in a Marathon yet, to tell you the truth I can count in one hand how many times I've ever ran the 26.2 miles (or over) but here I lay about to take on 50 miles in a race that I feel totally out of my depth attempting. I was told that you train your body to run marathons but an ultra marathon need more than a conditioned body, they need a conditioned mind & the only way to condition your mind to run an ultra is... Well, to run ultras. I had a solid training plan set up but sadly due to a mix of work circumstances & my inability to say no to races most weekends that should have been my long runs normally ended up being filled with ParkRuns, 10K's, a couple of HM's & a the crazy Red Bull Steeple Chase that I blogged about earlier in the week. All these races were at speed with the intention of beating PB's or until I fell. I have however recced the race (well the 2nd 25 miles) of the race earlier in the year. I joined Laura @laurainglis1 on her recce & we ran the back half of the course. We ran at a steady pace of 10-11 min/miles right up to the last 5 miles when I slowed the pace down. I had discovered that day that I had "acquired" Hay Fever, never before had I had it but everyone we ran near or through a"Wheat-a-Bix" field did I wheeze & fight for breath. It was a mixture of this & acid build up in my legs that called for Laura to tell me to "man up & fight on". I won't lie to you I was very glad to reach the finish.
Laura will also be running the Round Rotherham 50 tomorrow & so will fellow Twitter friend Andrew @MrAFletch, I will be supported by my Dad & The Wife & fellow Runners & Twitter Friends Mike @Mikew40 Cat @CatkinTaylor have promised to be strategically placed along the course with home made delights containing copious amounts of sugar that will work like magic & regenerate my legs. Fingers crossed my long standing friend, best man & recently sworn in training buddy Russ @Rustyw5 can make the end of the race to run me into the finish. Preferably before dark.
So here I lay, falling to sleep, I'm starting to babble on now so I'll bid you all good night. My kit is packed & I'm up at silly o'clock (3:30) in the morning, we race at 7am, I will be tweeting throughout the race so please send your support & dig deep to help me raise the £500 I hope to raise for the children's charity Rainbow Trust. I'll have my phone set to read out all your tweets & donations so every one of them will help me through the challenge & provide the money needed for Rainbow Trust to continue supporting terminally ill children & their families.
A MASSIVE Thank you to my Wife, Sue for putting up with me this year while I have been training for this, she has been a dimond. Thank you to everyone that has Tweeted & FB'ed your support, & to everyone of you that has sponsored me or is about to sponsor me, lastley can I thank you all for taking the time to read this post & for your gereral support.
In May 2012 I ran with RelayGB, after that I felt I could call myself a Runner, this time tomorrow I hope to be able to proudly call myself an Ultra Runner.
Martin
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