So Many Experiences!
New post at The Running Bug, ‘So Many Experiences!‘.
Part 2 of Preparing For An Ultramarathon (Part 1) will follow shortly. In the meantime, I just wanted to share some of the following with you. It’s certainly been a busy couple of weeks as far as new experiences go!
So, the main news is that, as of last night, I am officially on the starters list for the 95 mile West Highland Way Race. I didn’t expect to hear until at least the middle of this week so it came as a surprise to get the email last night. After a day in which we had the first snow of the year, the first Christmas meal of the year, and put the Christmas tree up, it has to be said that Christmas did indeed come early! On top of my own good news, it appears that all of the friends that I have made over the past couple of years while running in Scottish Ultra Marathon Series events have also made it on to the official starters list. Great news!
I am also now on my 35th consecutive day of running, something I have never even come close to before, and other than a slight niggle in the right knee, all is well with the body (and mind!). I have probably just jinxed my efforts now but I will hopefully make it to the 31st December having successfully managed to run for 65 consecutive days. In case you are wondering, yes, that does include Christmas day!
Why am I doing this? After my final race of 2010, the Loch Ness Marathon, my running kind of lost direction and, as a result, much of the progress and race fitness that I had built up over the year was all but lost by the time the first ultra came around in March 2011. Determined not to repeat this, I decided to run every day in November as part of my Movember fundraising efforts and to run every day in December as part of the Marcothon.
(Talking of Movember, thanks to the sterling efforts of my work colleagues, our team looks set to make just short of £2000 to add to the amazing worldwide total of over £60 million! The moustache is now long gone and it is still weird not to have any facial hair - funny how used to something you can get in such a short space of time!)
It has certainly worked and I have to say that I am loving the challenge of a daily run. I did worry that I would dread the daily run, especially as I tend to run in the early evening when I return home from work, but this has thankfully not proved to be the case.
A couple of weeks ago I went on my first proper night run with the headtorch. After the confines of the treadmill, necessitated by a bout of ill health, it was great to get outdoors again. At least it was for all of 5 minutes when I went flying as I tripped on a tree root. Two weeks later and the bruising on my right leg, from the knee down to and around the back of the ankle is as yellow and as impressive as ever. It was perhaps a bit ambitious to head out the door, straight into the forest, on a pitch black night for my first outside run in weeks but hey, isn’t hindsight great lol!
Exactly a week later I went for a night run along the old railway line. The blackness of the night was something else and, stopping to turn off the head torch, I appreciated just how easily I could get out of town - not a light to be seen. My intended run was, however, cut short. As I ran along the track, trance music on, with nothing but the light from my headtorch to illuminate the way, I was totally oblivious to what was about to happen. From out of nowhere, I was suddenly aware of the underbelly of an owl flying right at my head. Illuminated by the head torch, the belly of the owl was amazingly white and dazzling. It was all I could do to duck out of the way in time. I ripped the headphones from my ears and stayed low. From the circling and swooping above my head it was obvious that my presence was not desired and, as such, I took ‘flight’ back along the track towards home. Safely back at home, looking at the Garmin, I was hardly surprised to see a considerable negative split on the nights run! It sounds daft looking back but, at the time, it was a scary situation. The owl seemed huge – perhaps just as a result of the total contrast between the feathers of the owl and the darkness that surrounded it. Suffice to say, when I next venture along the line at that time of night, I might just leave the headphones off so that I can hopefully avoid a repeat of the situation.
Last bit of news. Thanks to my Movember running efforts, I surpassed last years running mileage total of 1250 miles. 2,500 miles in 2 years. Who would have thought! Certainly not me and as little as 3 years ago I would have questioned the sanity of anyone running that many miles in a year – funny how things change! With 7 ultras planned for 2012, including the 95 mile West Highland Way Race, I can only wonder what my mileage will be this time next year!
Back soon with part 2 of Preparing For An Ultramarathon.