"If you keep walking you can still finish inside 30 hours" Race director at mile 42, advising you might have 20-22 hours more hours in the aforementioned Hell. 😳
In a 10k race there isn't much time to think, or even chat. A marathon maybe a little. In an ultra, you can chat, eat, Drink, make lifelong friends and have enough time to be mentally in good shape, destroyed multiple times - and then seemingly reborn. No race proved this more than my first 100 miler and then some.
As an experienced marathon and ultra runner up to 50-60 miles plus 24 hour events, my first 100 miler was I thought well prepared and trained for. I was ready for the course having run the 50 mile version of the route a month before & two more fifties in the months before. I was flexible on kit with a good range of clothes and food with me plus more choices & shoes later on in drop bags at mile 50 & 72 waiting for me. New comfy shoes arrived Thursday were tested out for 4 miles. Also made decision to wear new compression shorts after one run. What could go wrong...
Good nights sleep with friday day off work and early morning Taxi to Liverpool all working to perfection. Realised no Vaseline on me.. You can tell the quality of your taxi driver by his knowledge of finding a garage with those little tubs. Not sure why he knows that. Arrived to find a few familiar faces waiting and many first timers worried.
A lovely minutes silence for an ultra runner who had passed away recently, with his family there then applause.. Sad, but lovely to see and very humbling. We are off.
L2M is Liverpool to Manchester 50 route and then coming back. Very flat, mostly Tarmac, canal and some very light paths. Road shoes fine. I'd broken the race down into 25 mile chunks to pace myself and knew the course having done the fifty mile version in 8 hrs 40 m. Steady pace, aiming to do 100 miles in sub 21 hours seemed possible.. Taking Miles 0-25 around 20 minutes slower than on the 50 mile version made sense - hold back as much as possible. I'm a big fan of run/ walk, 50 mile version had been 20 minutes run/ 2 minute walk which I've used successfully before. 100 mile version would half that run so 10 min run, 2 minute walk. Fresher legs and also to slow myself down to not burn out.
First 25 miles went by very quickly, after 12-13 miles of going past one runner Rob and I decided to pair up. He was in theory a sub 3 marathon runner but with a sore hamstring and not sure of the route. We made good progress. Had some food with me (tuna sandwiches, pork pies, malt loaf) plus the options at checkpoints.. but in all honesty first rule of ultras - eat more than you think you need - easy to under eat unless very careful, previous races no problems. Had munched through some sweet things and a few tuna sandwiches but less savoury sandwiches at the checkpoints than expected from the 50 miler.
First 25 miles in 4 hrs 15, very conservative, safe, plenty of energy and feeling good. Only funny in first 25 miles, one checkpoint had recorded my race number wrong so I'd been reported as missing, my wife had been called and everyone trying to ring me. Oops. By 10am temperature rapidly rising. Forecast had been for very warm weather, one rain shower. Combined with the food situation, also needed to keep drinking - and keeping cool... but when you feel good - so hard to spot warning signs. From now on, very dry mouth, like you hadn't cleaned your teeth. Not pleasant. Little rainfall briefly meant jackets on, and feet soaked for 20 minutes.
Mile 35 checkpoint and needed to eat. Limited none sweet choices at the checkpoint. Tried some fluid and although some emergency items on me, had some pineapple which is usually fine before sport. A few seconds later, started to feel ill and bent over vomiting. Painful, sore ribs after hurling. Panic thing but mentally just had to get out of there and walked out of the checkpoint. Allegedly I was very white faced. Pace dropping already, just tried to get through this, drink some cordial and try to eat a tiny bit of tuna Butty. Rob appeared and not in great shape either. Both very drained and affected by the heat too.
Not mentioned, I was running for the lovely hedgehogs and other animals at the Wirral Animal Sanctuary. The mental torture of feeling ill but knowing people were sponsoring me... you're feeling like you're in a sauna, about to collapse.. Kept going during this particular hell. Pace had dropped to 14-15 minute miles, 10/2 run walk was long gone.. occasional running now mostly walking. And all with a sore stomach and able to eat or drink very little.
Mile 42 was great race experience. Went into the checkpoint and grabbed by marshals, allegedly I was white as a sheet and not looking good. Honestly expected them to pull me over and finish my race. Lovely marshal Tony (who I later found out was very experienced at desert races) sat me down, gave me coke but only allowed me to sip not guzzle it every minute or so, getting rid of bubbles by running finger through it. Nothing in the lining of my stomach so little food / drink would stay down. I've drunk plenty of flat sugary coke before in ultras but never as Tony called it medicinal coke. Race director Wayne said hello and looked very worried at my state, even though I'd been there for 10 minutes already. Smiled but really was rough. Almost walked out the wrong direction, managed to smile, took his photo so brain vaguely working.
Pace wise still not much going, 14-15 minute miles but that last one, 28 minutes plus. The lure of hot food at mile 50 was calling. Cups of tea with sugar sounded like heaven. Solidered on. Another 8 miles to refuel and hopefully kickstart second wind and if not bail. Kept thinking of the hedgehogs. Never been stopped on a race before but very close to giving in. Very little strength, body running on nearly empty. I just couldn't give in though, especially with the hogs relying on me 😢. Hung in. Walk/ crawl.
If first 25 miles took 4:10-15, second 25 was 6 hours plus and 15 of those miles nearly 4 hours. Hell. We eventually arrived at the rugby club, silly laps around the field to make the distance up to 50 miles. Finally there, drop bag waiting with fresh top and other food, then had to walk upstairs.
Heaven it was not sadly. No hot food waiting. No pan of stew, scouse, soup.. All those foods I'd dreamed of. Nope.. Microwave with a big stack of meals you had to cook yourself. Tea & coffee but no sugar. Bar open but selling coke, luckily a fiver on me.
Waited for microwave to be free, stuck two meals in for me and Rob, all whilst feeling sick and queasy. Went to toilet, and still feeling sick, stuck head between my legs. Others had now caught us up, including friends John, Adam & Lainey. They had various foods with them, cuppa soups, cold pasta with pine nuts. FrustratingI still couldn't even drink the coke. They all left. Microwave finally pinged but meals were partially defrosted so now over cooked. Beef stew and dumplings was between cardboard and inedible. Finally looked at phone, messages from my wife. I had two friends planning to meet us at miles 65 and 72 to run with me up to mile 82, my wife driving them back to their cars but time wise we were 2 hours+ behind and might not even make it.
A few calls off my wife crying down the phone telling me to stop and not end up in hospital.. Told my wife, I'd try getting to the next checkpoint then decide on containing or not. I managed a few messages to the two friends coming and said how low I was. Like one of those old war movies, leave me behind, I can't make it. All whilst trying to eat something, anything. Both said, no, they would wait for me. Felt better from that, but still very much in a hole mentally and physically. Steve the first runner to meet us asked if any food needed. In drop bag, found some powdered hi 5 high carb drink, loaded up my bottles with that and gave some to Rob. We had to get moving after almost an hour in the checkpoint.
A few tentative attempts to run. I'd set my Garmin to beep those run walk alerts once 10 run 2 walk to the opposite 2/ 10 just to see how we felt. Big advantage with this, the feedback a mile later on knowing the pace per mile that ratio gave you. For very little running and power walk we were doing low 14 minute miles. Gradually we increased the run ratio to 3 and then 4 minutes. 13 minute miles easily - we still had 48 miles or so to go so no need to go mad.  Texted Steve and said we were feeling a bit better and more positive. He appeared from a path early as if by magic at mile 58 carrying an "ultra runners" picnic bag. Never have I been so happy to see someone. Was like an Enid Blyton story. Hot chocolate. Coffee. Pork Pies, porridge, protein shake, savoury snacks, iced water and more. It was amazing. Spirits lifted. Someone took a photo of me eating and sent it to my wife. Much Happier!
We moved off to re-meet him for a proper run at mile 65. Got lost by 0.5m but we finally met Steve for more picnic magic & then run, still light but night time coming. Portable battery pack now on the Garmin to give me enough power to do 24-30 hours. Using the run/ walk alerts, we were moving well now constant 4 /3 minute run walk ratio meant 12-13 minute miles and another friend running towards us soon. Brief stop to help Rob with blisters, Steve had tape with him. Fresh socks. Surprisingly I had zero problems in the new shoes so nothing changed for me.
Head torches on, into the long dark night. Paul's friendly face appeared and lifted our mood even more.
After my messages, I think both thought I was in a very bad state but now seemingly out of that hole. We cracked on and just kept this constant ratio going. Passing a few runners. John and his friend Adam appeared. We were making good pace to catch them up, maybe 30-40 minutes behind.
More food at checkpoint 72 miles with my now much happier wife waiting. I sat and ate simple porridge, fruit and loaded up some more of the hi5 carb powder. Still enough time to be sick drinking coke though. My wife drove the legendary Steve back to his car, we carried on with Paul.
Chatting, pushing when possible, the 10 miles and time chipping away. You find a true friend when it's 2am in the morning and they won't be in bed till 3am. Mile 82 checkpoint, we saw Lainey again, more easy food, changed layers, gloves on, long sleeved top and my famous yellow leggings.. Shivering, It was getting cold. Said goodbye to absolute gent Paul, my wife driving him to his car, then coming to find us later on, supporting me. More love from everyone.
Cold and windy now, but we carried on, 18 miles to go. Took some time to get Rob warmed up after stopping, needing to walk 2 miles nearly., hard to keep positive when you're feeling rough but he pushed on. My emergency bag of peanut m&ms was genius. Nuts and chocolate every mile. Rob has having to stop regularly, toilet wise was worrying about his kidneys he needed to wee so often, every 30 minutes..Time chipped away, and the almost impossible sub 24 hours seemed on. I'd been aiming for sub 20-21 hours, long since gone.. Just needed to keep going. About mile 88 we caught up with Lainey and a friend pacing. Was interesting how fast 3-4 minutes run/ 3 minutes walk was allowing us to move. Mile times 12-13 minutes and comfortable. Lainey was really having to push hard to run, and seemed dead stop walking, whilst we were able to power walk. That garmin pace & run walk feedback was so useful, just keep adjusting even 20-30secs extra running you could measure the difference easily. My wife tried to meet us with coffee but couldn't find the checkpoint, and maybe a little unsafe at 4am.
Sunrise came around 4:30am - that sub 24 hour time was doable but tight. Maybe 7 or 8 miles to go, but the maths wasn't accurate. Rob slowed with sore hip, Needing more and more rest. 3.5 miles to go he couldn't run anymore when needed, but time was so tight...maybe 1-2 minutes either way, we agreed to part. Tough call, we had worked well as a team but I was still fresh and could run. Sad to leave. Sub 11 minute miles now possible. No idea how, I was on a mission, beat that 6am clock and finish the event in sub 24 hours for the hedgehogs - with everyone's help. Texted ahead to my wife waiting that I was coming fast.
Ran the last section to finish at 5:55am - 23 hours 55. One very happy weepy and emotionally destroyed runner. So happy but impossible without wife and friends.
Lots of things learnt.
Always keep going - except when feeling ill. Take a breather, get food in.
Friends meeting and even better running with you - life saver.
Emergency food you forget about. Peanut M & Ms & wine gums with 20 miles to go - Awesome!
Run walk - vary that pace on the fly, but ideally set yourself from the start.. Better to be a consistent pace you can maintain. You will fly past others later in the race.
Oh and the new shoes, zero blisters.. (thank you Skechers).
Underwear, absolutely perfect Sub Sports.
Started well, terrible middle of the race but hung in there to come back strong. A lot of thinking. For first hundred, it was a great day by the end.
Most importantly, if you put your mind to it, anything is possible.
