Recovery

A whole load more thank-yous:  David, Darren, Joe, Helen, Ian, Lorna, John & Rosy, Katie, Tom, Les, Charles, Geoff, Rosemary, John, Michelle, Keith and Liz.  Including Gift Aid we have raised over £1,500.  It is not too late to donate; the Just Giving page stays open for a few months yet.   Thanks too for all the messages of support I received including a flurry of tweets from Article 25 supporters and to all those who have enquired after my wellbeing (physical and mental) since.

I think the legs have stopped aching now, I have caught up with my sleep and my forehead has stopped peeling from the sun.  I have not been out running again yet, mainly due to being so busy.

The race results are now published and huge respect must go to Matt Giles of Stourbridge who broke through the five hour barrier to set a new men’s record and Lisa Barry from Cambridgeshire who set a new women’s record at just under six and a half hours.  These superhuman efforts certainly put my nine hours and seven minutes, back in 69^th place into perspective.   I had hoped to do a bit better but in the middle sections between Wolston and Bedworth I faded badly in the heat and must have been doing 50% walking.  The additional drink stations between Brinklow and Bedworth were most welcome but only served to delay me further.  By the time I reached Corley Moor I had abandoned all thoughts of achieving a good time and I even walked back 100m to the pub to see Mary and Ella who had come up to cheer me on.  My Garmin ran out of memory so I lack the ability to geekily analyse my split times; probably just as well, it would be too depressing.

I met some great people along the way including fans of this blog, someone who enquired whether I had any pliers on me (to remove a thorn from another runner’s shoes) and a runner for whom this was merely a training run for a latter 100 mile effort.

The biggest thank you must go to all the Coventry Way volunteers. They had clearly worked hard to get the route into a reasonable condition and they worked tirelessly on the day to put on a great event, which by all accounts is one of the best organised long-distance run/walks in the land.

Afterwards Jan, my wife, said, “you won’t do it again will you?”  I can spot an order wrapped in a question, but I think the answer is a genuine yes, although I might walk the Coventry Way Challenge another year.  It was a great, if gruelling experience but I will keep the countryside for walking and do my running in cities or at the very least, down proper lanes.

NIne hours!

9 hours; more or less my slowest predicted time.  I started well, faded under the midday heat and got a second wind on the last couple of legs. But as I have never done this distance before it is a personal best. 
A big thank you to my wonderful support team and to Crispin, Fiona, Mary and Ella who came out to cheer me on. Oooh I hurt now! More later.

Charlie and I are back off to London now. Well done Dad, good luck for
the home straight!

Sent from my iPhone

Bryn: We're sitting in the beer garden of the Red Lion in Corley.
We're expecting Dad about 4.30ish, but obviously it must be really
tough now as Dave's been running since 8.15.

Bryn: Dad arrived at the Bedworth Check Point at 14.35. He's slowing
now but this is the furthest he's run in one go.

Sent from my iPhone

Bryn: Bedworth doesn't quite compare with the chocolate box beauty of
the Warwickshire villages we've been to today, but this Magnolia tree
next to the check is very pretty. Mum commented that it's probably
alot more fragrant than Dad right now, but we'll let him off; we're
just awaiting his arrival but he's run 48k already! Only 16k to go!

Below, Pops arriving at Brinklow at 12.40. Looked like he was beginning to get a touch weary by this point, ah bless. We've gone home to eat sandwiches and crisps and watch a bit of telly.

Boom! Wolston! We're back onto Dad's original times. He still seems to
be in good spirits at the half way point. Wolston was pleasing, there
was this scruffy dog lapping up water from a plastic cup which was
super cute. They also put on a lovely spread at the village hall,
sarnies and rice pudding and custard and hot drinks. Dad just had
water though, boring.

Dad arrived at Common Lane, Kenilworth, his first check point. He was
really sweaty and muddy so I didn't hug him on account of him being so
gross.

I meant to say earlier, he started 15 minutes early today and is
running at the faster of the two possible times he gave (minus the 15
minutes.)

Before Dad got running he would have had to sign in, very much like
this young chap is doing here. The man in the green jumper oversees
the whole operation. I guess you could describe him as the nucleus of
the run, if you felt the need to describe him.

The BIG run started at Meridan village hall. Meridan is normal for a
village, it has a hotel and I also noticed it had a dog.

Sent from my iPhone

Sent from my iPhone

Sunday Times

For those mad enough to want to come out on Sunday and cheer me on or laugh at me (and support the 100 odd other runners and walkers on the Coventry Way Challenge) the table below gives estimates as to when I should pass each of the checkpoints on the Challenge. There are two times given for each checkpoint: an earlier time which I will pass if I am running at my fastest (6:30mins/k) and a later time for if I am running at my slowest (8:30mins/k). My actual time will be somewhere in between. All this assumes I start as planned at 8.30am. 

Coventry Way	Fastest	Slowest
Start - Meriden village hall	08:30
Kenilworth - southern end of Common Lane	09:53	10:18
Bubbenhall - village hall	10:56	11:40
Wolston - village hall	11:38	12:34
Brinklow - main street	12:30	13:42
Bedworth - Arden House, Saunders Avenue	13:43	15:18
Breach Oak Lane	14:15	15:58
Coreley Moor - Hill House, Windmill Lane	14:57	16:53
Meriden Village Hall	15:28	17:33

 

That’s grand

Thank you to Daniel, Mike, Allison, Peter, Scott, Larry, Peter, Annie, Sabine, Adrian, Stephen and an especially big hug for Lesley who got me to the £1,000 target. With Gift Aid that is over £1250.  So thanks to everyone who got us there. But that is no excuse not to donate if you have not already done so. Follow this link and do your bit.

Live blogging!

This is a test to see if I can post blogs by email. By this means I hope my support team will be able to live-blog from the Coventry Way Challenge on Sunday. Come back on Sunday and follow my progress.
Sent from my iPhone

Thank you sponsors

Thanks to Terry, Ralph, Kath, Paul, Anthony and Keith who donated at the Coventry Society tonight, adding £80 to the total.  I have just sent a final email to many colleagues and friends in an effort to get the total over the £1,000 target.  If you are reading this and have not yet donated, please do so now.  Thanks.

Week 20 – nearly there

My final long training run is not so long as I am now officially ‘tapering’.  With 10 miles to do I thought I would go back to the Coventry Way and test how fast I could go.  With my Garmin foot pod double-wrapped in cling film I charged through the mud and water instead of my usual pussy-footing around it. This is how I propose to approach the Challenge next Sunday. 

I run the fourth quadrant of the Coventry Way, from Bed’th to Meriden in spring sunshine.  The first quadrant is all about railways, the second rivers and the third canals, but I do not know how to characterise this one, there is a bit of everything; lanes, fields, horse paddocks, woods, motorway crossings, suburban estates, and of course mud and water.  With the sun of the past week in some places the countryside has totally dried up and is even looking slightly parched, but in others the water still lies stubbornly on the ground, particularly at Corley Moor.

The speed is not bad. I manage to stay under six minutes per kilometre on the lanes and seven minutes per kilometre across the fields.  But next Sunday I will have four times as far to run.  So who knows what speed I will manage.

16.6k at 6:37mins/K

Week 19 – my legs hurt

My legs hurt.  Going up stairs requires lots of swearing (one swear word per step – just think of Father Jack and you will get the picture).  Coming down is worse.  I hope Jan will buy me a Stannah Stairlift for my birthday.

Today I ran further than I have ever ran.  Last week I ran further than I had ever run, but only by a bit. 47.5k (29½ miles) out beyond the familiar Wall Hill Road to Corley Moor, way north of the M6, almost to Filongley.  I went down Didgly Lane which appears on street maps but not on Ordnance Survey maps. No wonder; it is collapsed and inundated with water and mud. Down Newtown Lane to the back of Daw Mill Colliery, where most of the coal mined in Britain comes from. To Shustoke; down past Maxstoke Castle; visible from the road and the end of a long straight drive; almost to the River Blythe.  The rivers out here flow north into the Trent and eventually the North Sea, unlike our Coventry rivers which join the Avon, then the Severn and flow into the Bristol Channel.  New lanes; Arnolds Lane goes on for 2k but eventually brings me to Maxstoke with its Abbey and Church.  Down Packington Lane past the Forest of Arden Hotel and Country Club to Butlers End.  Someone has stolen the grills from the storm drains along this road.  I am told they have been gone for a month. They are replaced by traffic cones with signs on telling everyone what has happened.  I join Kinwalsey Lane at its start and find it is 4k long, snaking up to what must be one of the highest points in North Warwickshire where there are two enormous communications masts.  Then back to familiar territory: Harvest Hill Lane. 

That is the last big training run before the big one. 

Next week I am tapering my training so will just do about 16k.  On April 18^th I must do a third as much again as I did today. Then my legs will really hurt.

47.5k at 6:29 mins/k

Haiti news

Thanks to Catherine for her generous donation.  I received an update this week about Article 25's activities in Haiti.  I will email it to all my donors.  You can read what they are doing here.
Below I am modeling their T-shirt.