Country to Capital Race results, report and photos

The offical race results and report are now available on the Go Beyond website please see the link below.

http://gobeyondultra.co.uk/go_beyond/results_and_Race_Reports

From the results it appears that I finished 103rd out of 256 competitors.

There are also a number of official photos of me on the run at the following web address -

http://richersea.co.uk/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=10310

There are hundreds of photos from the event in the albums which were taken at different stages of the event. 

To make it easy I have added the link to the album and page below and I have listed the photo number(s).

Start - Page 3 - Photo number 2789
http://richersea.co.uk/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=10311#page=3

CP1 - Page 10 - Photo Numbers 360-365
http://richersea.co.uk/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=10312#page=10

Visitor Centre - Page 6 - Photo Number 3232
http://richersea.co.uk/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=10314#page=6

CP4 - Page 5 - Photo Numbers 1123-1125
http://richersea.co.uk/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=10315#page=5

I must warn you they ain't pretty!!

Challenge 1 - DONE

Well I'm happy to say that after 7 hours and 49 minutes I completed the Country to Capital ultra marathon.

When I got up on them morning of the race I didn't feel great as my cold was starting to take a grip on me. We all got up from a pretty good nights sleep and went and had breakfast, and whilst I was eating 3 weetabix followed by a bowl of porridge my supporters were tucking into bacon and eggs!

Following breakfast I went and registered, as I walked up to the start the wind started to whip up and the rain started which turned in to snow, I was starting to think what had I let myself in for.

After I registered I went back and got changed into my gear and made sure I vaselined up. Then with the support team in toe we headed up to the start. Here I got to see the other competitors for the first time and they looked pretty serious.

Just after 8.30 we set off on the 45 mile trek. The first 5 miles or so were very stop start and it was very hard to get in to any rythmn. Although it was a bit frustrating it did mean that I didn't set of too quickly and peak to soon!

The first check point came in no time at all and I was feeling ok. I topped up on a bit of go beyond cake and some jelly babies. My support team were waiting so with a quick hello and kisses for everyone I was off again for the next leg. It was at this point I started running with a guy called Steve who was training to do the marathon des sables. We got talking and stayed together for most of the second stage which was just under 10 miles, I left Steve just before the next checkpoint where again I had some of the nice cake and a handful of some more jelly babies. The support team were doing well too and were at the pub which the checkpoint was at.

So with 17.5 miles completed I set off again for check point 3 and the lunch station. This was probably the toughest leg for me and I felt like I was starting to struggle. My head was starting to feel blocked and I felt like I was hitting the wall which wasn't great as I was not even are half way.

The first 22 miles were pretty much off road and my feet were caked in mud, as you will see from the picture of my feet the mud had gone through my trainers and socks.

After 22 miles we reached the grand union canel, which meant no more muddy fields and on to toepaths.

I reached them 25 mile checkpoint which was a relief, I grabbed some food and took some sinus tablets said my goodbyes again to everyone and set off again.

It was here that I met up with Steve again and he got me into a steady rythem again, at times he left me but I always had him in signt. Then we saw a signpost which said Paddinton 13.5 miles which was a welcome sight to us, it was at this point we were talking about finishing in under 9 hours.

We reached checkpoint 4 feeling strong but unfortunately my support team weren't there, I had thoughts of them being sat in a warm pub eating lunch.

I couldn't wait to see if they turned up so we set off again for the last checkpoint before the end. We had been really lucky with the weather as it had stayed dry but the wind was very cold and against us. As we set off the end was in touching distance and now we were talking the impossible of finishing under 8 hours.

The last checkpoint came around a lot quicker than I had anticipated and again no sign of the support team so I thought they had gone straight to the finish. Steve was a great motivation and really encouraged me to keep moving, so we set off for the last 10k.

I'm not sure where it came from but I was feeling great and strong as we started to pick off runners in front of us. Someone on a bike cycled past us and told us we had under 2 miles to go which gave us another lift.

With the end actually in sight now we picked it up again for the final push and then it was all over as we crossed the finish line together. A well earned cup of tea was had while I admired my medal.

What about my supporters? Well I must have gone quicker than expected as unfortunately they weren't there and sounded a bit surprised when I called them and told them I had finished.

As you will see from the picture a reward of pizza and beer awaited my return home.

So how am I feeling today the day after? Well pretty good really my legs aren't too sore but I plan a week of rest before I start training for challenge 2 the London Ultra on 17 February.

Pre race nerves part 2

So we have arrived in Wendover and I'm currently lying on my bed listening to my kids settling to go to sleep.

Thankfully at this point my cold has been kept at bay so I hope that continues into the morning.

When the kids finally drift off I will get my bag ready and lay my kit out for the off in the morning.

My support team (wife, Martyn and Viv) are having a well earned drink in the bar which is one of those frustrations as I just fancy a pint right now!

Today has been amazing and I have been blown away again by the generosity of people a they have helped get the sponsorship total over £1000! This is awesome considering its only January and only the first challenge.

Well the nerves are ok at the minute and I hope I can get some sleep.

Hopefully I can keep people updated of my progress via Facebook, but for now good night and let the average joe challenge 2013 begin!!

Pre race nerves part 1

So at this time tomorrow (8.10am) I will doing the final checks on my kit and warming up ahead of the 8.30 start of the Country to Capital 44 mile ultra marathon. At this point I'm not sure what to expect with the weather and the beast from the east but I have packed plenty of clothes to layer up.

As I've mentioned via Facebook this week I'm fighting off a cold at the minute and although I haven't gone down with full on man flu I do feel a bit snotty so all being well it holds off for another day.

I've been asked if I'm nervous about it and in all honesty I haven't really thought about it too much until yesterday when I was packing my kit. With the last few weeks being focused on Christmas and the new year and the fact that I returned to work on Monday it's sort of snook up on me to the point that it is now only 24 hours away.

What is going through my head is have I done enough training and I guess only tomorrow will tell. I starting tracking my mileage from 22nd October and to date I have completed 500 miles so I guess I must be in a reasonable state of fitness?!

But could I have done more? I'm sure I could have done things slightly different but at the end of the day I'm not a professional athlete and I have to juggle a family and job so to cover this amount of mileage as training is pretty good going.

My strategy for tomorrow remains the same and that's minimum 5 miles an hour which should see me through in at least 9 hours bearing in mind there is a 12 hour cut off with time limits for each check point.

At this point only 2 things could effect that and that's my cold situation and the weather. Fortunately I have ran 26 miles before with a heavy cold and survived and I have ran in the snow and minus temperatures before so it's not going to be alien to me.

My sponsorship total is just under £800 which is a great motivation considering its only the first challenge and I've had some great messages of support from friends and colleagues although I'm sure people will be sick of me going on about it by the summer!

I've called this part 1 as I plan to do and update later tonight when I'm at the Red lion pub in Wendover getting set for my final preparations.

As for now it time to hydrate and carb load.

5 days and counting.....

So with only 5 days until I take part in my first challenge to raise money for Springboard Opportunity Group and I was feeling pretty confident, that was until I looked at last years results for the Country to Capital Event.

This event does not attract big numbers presumably down to the fact that it is 44 miles and has a cut off of 12 hours. So unlike the 34,000 people taking part in the London Marathon there will be around 200 of us attempting this, many of who are seasoned ultra runners. But it's not the number of people that has got me nervous but the winning time for the event last year which was around 5 and a half hours!!!

I think I've trained pretty hard to get into some sort of shape to even contemplate doing such an event and have completed 485 miles since the end of October but 5 and a half hours! Really!!

I have a strategy outlined in my head but it is nowhere near the pace of the front runners and will see me at the back of the group. I plan to make sure my pace is no slower than 15miles in 3 hours, something that I think I can do providing everything goes to plan.

Having looked at the checkpoints today they are roughly every 7 miles which is quite a nice way to break the race up. So a quick refuel and possible change in to dry clothes.

I wouldn't really class myself as a novice runner but the clearly ultra runners are a different breed which I'm sure I will update you on after the race on Saturday.

I'm pleased to say that I have a support party for the race and all I can say is I'm sorry for being so slow!! Also having looked at the weather report I think thermals maybe in order!!

So my support team are my wonderful wife and kids and Viv and Martyn Hodges the proud grandparents of Eva, my inspiration for this challenge who has benefitted from the great work at the Springboard Opportunity Group.

This challenge has also taken me to a place I last saw at university and that is a library! This was not to read up on how to run properly but I actually thought I would be a little more prepared than the London to Brighton event and get an OS map to check out the route. The fact that the first part of the race is across fields I thought I'd better check it out as I'm bound to have to dust off my map reading skills as well as learning to breathe out my arse!

My running this week sees me doing very little just some short runs to keep ticking over but nothing more and then from about wednesday I will start to carb load.

That's it for now but I will post a couple of updates this week ahead of the start when the nerves really kick in!

New year brings the start of the challenge!

So today is the start of the 2013, happy New year to everyone!

The start of the New year  brings the start of the average joe challenge and raising money for Springboard Opportunity Group.

With the first event being less than 2 weeks away I couldn't really afford to have too much of a hangover this morning. I still enjoyed a few cheeky drinks and felt a bit fuzzy this morning but was still able to get out and do 10 miles.

It was a beautiful morning for a run with the sunshining (the first time its done that whilst I've been running for a long time).

Whilst out this morning I thought I'd wear my new charity running vest with the the Springboard Opportunity Group logo on.

As you will see it looks great, maybe not on me but it looks great all the same and will definitely stand out in a crowded race.

So last month was a good training month and the stats were 200 miles with 11 rest days (average 10 miles per run) with an average pace of 8.48 minute per mile.

The donation page is live so if anyone wants to make a donation please visit https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/averagejoe