Anyway back to the small matter of 100k over the South Downs of England. Originally, I was going to go and support Steph and Lucy (my fellow avocet from Namibia) as they were putting together a formidable all girls team to run the event. However, they were struggling to get a fourth girl and then Steph had to pull out after her foot op. Lucy then texted me and asked me if I wanted to join the team. I knew of the other girl in the team, Jo, as she is a friend of Steph's, had been in Namibia and had recently done RTP Australia. Consequently, like Lucy and Steph, Jo is another very strong runner - unlike yours truly. The third member of the team was a friend of the girls from Hong Kong, Anthony, who they had run the HK Trailwalker with. Another former avocet, Rowley, sent me a message on facebook warning me to beware of AD. So I could assume he was also going to be a fairly accomplished runner too. Unfortunately, I had no excuse not to say yes and believe me I did try to think of a few! The run fell 5 weeks before UTMB and would be the perfect chance to get 100k into the legs as well as being a good physical and mental test. So I texted Lucy to say I was in and instantly regretted it!
Given that my team mates were all based in HK I would not meet Jo and Ant until the night before the race. So I spent the next few weeks getting increasingly nervous about being the slowest in the team and not being able to keep up! A couple of 25 mile runs round Richmond Park in 30 plus degrees did nothing to help my confidence as I melted in the very un-English summer weather!
On the Friday evening I met up with my team down at the registration centre in West Sussex and then Jo's parents cooked us the perfect pre-race meal. Though it was very hard not to pile into the red wine on offer sitting in the conservatory on a sunny summer's evening! Unfortunately, I had had a virus over the previous week or so and was not feeling on top condition but there was no turning back after our 5am porridge. As you can tell from the picture the girls were looking considerably perkier than me as we headed off to the start line!!
At the start the Gurkhas were playing bag pipes - a slightly incongruous image and to be honest not necessarily what I was after at 6.30am! But it made for a good atmosphere amongst the teams. We bumped into Team Gold's Jenna and Mark with support crew leader Steph which was really cool and definitely gave me a bit of a lift before setting off at 7am. Team Gold were to go on to have a great day and Steph's blog (http://ultrarunnergirl.com/) and video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_UzRRsAk7o) are well worth a look!
I won't lie the first 35k was hideous. I was white as a sheet and sweating profusely as my body and the virus had a little set-to about things. To make matters worse we were setting a 12hour pace rather than the 14hour pace I had been told we were aiming for! I was in serious trouble and luckily just as we came into CP 4 where Jo's parents were on hand with the first stint of their awesome support it seemed as if I had sweated the virus out of my system and for the first time I actually began to feel ok. Taking on amazing homemade brownies and fudge only improved things further and I can honestly say that 45k to 90k were actually pretty enjoyable. It helped that I was in great company and had Ant and Jo and Lucy to talk to during any of the low points.
Running with better runners definitely helped me raise my game and we kept up a pace which I never thought I would be capable of passing lots of teams who started at 6am.
In the end we arrived onto Brighton race course at just before 8pm and could see the finish line. A voice came over the loud speaker to say that we had 1 minute 30 seconds to cover the last few furlongs if we wanted to break 13 hours so we held hands and summoned one last effort from our legs to drag ourselves over the line with seconds to spare! Not so much a thoroughbred photo finish but unbelievably satisfying all the same! We ended up being the first fixed team over the line and only missed out on setting a new record time for a mixed team by less than 20 minutes! Massive thanks to my awesome team mates who encouraged me through out the day. I think this was the best confidence boost for UTMB and I hopefully can carry this forward for my last 4 weeks of training and into the main event!
If you are feeling generous the sponsorship page is now up and running and any donation towards Help 4 Heroes will be massively appreciated and will spur me on through the dark times out in the Alps http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/AlexHowarth
Finally, a word about my sponsors, UK Gear, they have been working on a new shoe, the PT 1000 and managed to get me out a prototype 3 weeks before this race. The shoe is super comfortable and even though I had only done 40 miles in it in training I did not blister at all and it was great for trail running and I am now very pleased that I have my shoe for Mont Blanc sorted. UK Gear work closely with the Physical Training Corps of the British Army and it is fitting for me to use their products when I am raising money and awareness for the brave service men and women who are battling to overcome horrific injuries sustained in the name of their country. If you are looking for new trail shoes they are worth a look!
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