Mud, hills, rain and some sun along the Jurassic Coast

It has been a while since my last update so there is plenty to fill you in on. After the Pilgrim Challenge I headed abroad for a few weeks to some winter warmth to have a bit of time out after a fairly grim start to 2010 and it did the trick, I returned feeling rejuvenated and ready to put into action things I have been thinking about doing for a while. Firstly, I have turned down 2 permanent jobs in the legal team at Deutsche Bank to finally make the move out of law and into something I actually enjoy! Unfortunately, this means that come the 16th of April I will be out of a job unless I find something before then! There are a couple of things on the horizon either on the business side at Deutsche or in a business intelligence company so I am hoping one of them comes up with an attractive offer before mid April!

Secondly, it was time to knuckle down with the UTMB training a couple of 15 and 20k runs in the last 6 weeks were not going to cut it, and so, thanks to a recommendation by Steph, I signed up to the Jurassic Coast challenge; 3 marathons in 3 days along some of the UK's most dramatic and scenic coastline (not that I would either see much of it or appreciate much of it as I later found out!). One thing I have noticed about doing these runs is that you never believe the distances they tell you, they are always longer - may not be by much but that extra mile or so per day makes a difference! The JCC was no different coming in at just over 80 miles a few more than the advertised 78.

In the end Steph couldn't make it due to injury but hooked me up with fellow Racing the Planet: Namibia vets Mark and Jenna as well as Alex and Ric who also happened to be my caravan buddies for the weekend. Everyone is always super friendly at these events and the slowest and the fastest will all have a chat on the way round.

Day 1 from Charmouth to Chesil Beach was a brutal day of hills, rain and mud which practically came up to my knees! A good two thirds of the day was spent in this stuff which while I am assured is good for your complexion it is not good for your energy levels or your motivation when you know you have got another 2 days to get through! Needless to say I spent most of the day sliding around the path which is particularly interesting when it is at the edge of a cliff top! At one point I lost my balance and to stop myself lurching towards the edge I grabbed the fence to my left - that would be the barbed wire fence! Having chastised myself out loud a few times I managed to find a bit of rhythm and finished pretty well after a gruelling start. A hot shower (after which I had to drip dry because I hadn't read the 20 pages of guidance notes - only the daily kit list so I missed the bit saying you needed to bring towels!) and a curry I felt a good deal better and hoped that day 2 might involve a little less sliding around on my ass and a bit more running!

Day 2 from Chesil Beach to Lulworth Cove was a much better day with a good solid 10 miles of relatively easy (after day 1 that is!) running terrain and a noticeable absence of mud! The sun even made an appearance for most of the day which gave me a real lift and I even managed to take stock of the amazing scenery especially the run by Durdle Door and down into Lulworth Cove which looked stunning in the late afternoon light. Typically there were some killer hills to finish the day but the good weather and the absence of mud had made it far more enjoyable which translated to a move up the field of 30 places from the end of day 1. That night Mark, Jenna, Alex, Ric and I headed into Weymouth for a good pub supper and a nice couple of pints of local ale to dull the aching in our legs. I do like the fact you have all these super fit people who can run flat out during the day and then will drink, eat crap and smoke in the evening before doing it all again the next day - that has to be the ideal pain/pleasure balance!

Day 3 from Lulworth Cove to Studland was the toughest of the lot. I reckon we did Mont Blanc in terms of elevation before we reached checkpoint 1!!! It was an absolute killer! I suddenly had my first real doubts about my ability to finish, my knees were causing me no end of grief from the previous days steep downhills and I was really struggling to keep going. Somehow I staggered through to CP2 and got my second wind I had an inkling that there weren't too many people in front of me and I wanted to keep it that way. Have grabbed a handful of harribo and a jelly snake (perfect running food!) I set off map in hand feeling better than I had all day and when we descended down onto Studland beach happy memories of Namibia and the sand came flooding back and I decided it was time to use up whatever was left in the legs. On day 1 you try and keep you feet dry and avoid obstacles by day 3 you run the shortest distance and if that means straight through knee high mud or thigh high water then that's the way to go! So having reached the "end" on the beach and been told there was just another "800" metres to the finish of the beach I stormed through the mud and puddles to the finish and to that indescribably good feeling of knowing you've done it and it's over!

Or at least it's over for this week...

Pilgrim Challenge - North Downs Ultra

On Saturday Carl and I took part in the Pilgrim Challenge a 33 mile run across the North Downs Way from Farnham to Merstham. This was to be the first real test of my running fitness and an opportunity to try out my new Raidlight waist belt which I think I'll be using on the UTMB. I had fairly big reservations about this run as Carl and I had not done anywhere near enough running - a few 9 mile runs home, a couple of 8 mile runs along the river and only one 10 mile run each did not look nearly enough for 33miles of trail running! Having not run over 15 miles in one go since Namibia last May this looked like it may have been a step too far too soon! Anyway we started well and found a good rhythm, conditions were pretty muddy which made the downhills and uphills a little bit more exciting!

There were loads of people on the race training for the MDS and a few for Atacama - you can spot the MDS lot from a mile away as they all use the Raidlight back pack! As always on these things people who pass you will chat and discuss what you're training for and encourage you and we were also doing the same with those we passed. I gave the Atacama lot the benefit of my Racing the Planet experience!! Ha ha - not sure if that helped them or not though I did see them all finish as a group later in the day so clearly didn't put them off completely! I told them to look out for the girls of Team Good Sport.

It turned out that trying new kit out over long distances for the first time is not the best idea! By the time we reached checkpoint 2 my powders had exploded in my bag covering everything and my back was being rubbed raw and I could feel a little blood on my hips from where the waist belt was rubbing. I kind of felt this made it a better test as I am absolutely sure I'll be in a whole world of pain for most of the UTMB!

Despite going off the North Downs Way twice (!!) and giving ourselves and extra couple of miles to run for our troubles we actually did much better than expected, the legs kept going even through the thigh burning climb up Boxhill and the thought of being done and dusted in time for England vs Wales in the 6 Nations helped us fly through the last 6 miles. We ended up completing the course in under 7hrs putting us 34th out of 90 odd starters. Given that I honestly thought our legs would go and we might not finish at all this was pretty pleasing and sets up my training for the UTMB quite nicely!

More importantly we made it home, picking up GBK burgers on on the way, and were in front of the tv in time to see the English beat the Welsh all washed down with a couple of cold beers! Perfect day!

Next event is the Jurassic Coast challenge, 3 marathons in 3 days on the coastal path (more hills!).

Sponsors and ramping up the training

Having come to terms with the fact that I am now signed up for one of the world's toughest ultras (re-reading Frank Fumich's experience did give me a few substantial doubts!) I am now back into looking for new kit. In Namibia I used trainers made by UK Gear who work with the physical training corps of the British Army. I figured kit tested in Afghanistan and Iraq should be up to the Namib desert and I wasn't disappointed - no sand in my shoes and no blisters all week! As good as an endorsement as I can give a pair of trainers! I lost a fair few toenails but you can't have everything. I contacted UK Gear to see about a trail running shoe I can use for the UTMB and thought I may as well ask if they would consider sponsoring me. The result was yes they would and I am meeting up with one of their guys to discuss sponsorship and also get my hands on a new pair of trainers.

I wrote them a review of the desert shoe which you can read below if you are in need of a shoe that is good in sand, rocks and temperatures up to about 50 degrees!

http://www.ukgear.com/Pages/Media-Centre/Product-Reviews/Consumer-Reviews/251-PT-03-DESERT-Alex-Howarth,-Namibia-2009.html

Next up is a cheeky 50k dash across the north downs - suspect it might actually be easier than the hour and half 5-a-side footy I played on Saturday - first outing in over a year and still feeling it!

How I got into the crazy world of adventure racing

I'm sitting in London in the middle of January having just received the news this week that I have got a place in the 2010 North Face Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc. I am absolutely chuffed to bits but as recently as 18 months ago I had not even heard of the UTMB nor would I ever have considered entering it!






In the summer of 2008 I had a bit of a think about what I had achieved since leaving university back in 2000 and fairly swiftly reached the conclusion that not a lot was probably the right answer. I didn't enjoy my job and was treading water as life went by. I decided that I needed a challenge that would be totally different to anything I had done before and preferably not something that any of my mates had done either. I had heard of the Marathon des Sables and had a look at that and saw that there was a 2 year waiting list and figured I needed something I could get stuck into immediately. Surfing the net I came across Racing the Planet and looked at their 4 Deserts series and Racing the Planet series and saw that they had a race in May 2009 in Namibia. I liked the idea of trying an event that hadn't been done before and thought that 9 months would be long enough to go from gym fit to desert fit (a painful transition!) so I signed up and went to buy a pair of trainers!


I am not a what you would call a natural runner, I had done the London Marathon back in 2004 but that was for the experience and 4hrs 20minutes is not exactly express! I had a lot to learn. Having to go from running 5ks on a treadmill and playing 5 a side football to doing cross country back to back marathons carrying a 10kgs pack was hard to say the least. Discovering the hard way about shin splints and chaffing were the low points of the next 9 months. Completing my first ultra (50 mile Thames Trot) and realising I could run from London to Brighton over a weekend and not feel totally destroyed after made me think I might just be able to complete this thing. Luckily I had a Saffa mate, Carl, who has done marathons (including the OMM) and knows all about kit and training and he was an invaluable in helping me choose kit and manage my training as unsurprisingly there is no beginners guide to how you train for a 7 day 250k self supported run in a desert in deepest Africa!


When it came to it I was pretty nervous knocking about the hotel in Windhoek the night before we were to be bussed to start down in the Fish River Canyon - I felt like I was totally out of place the bio's of my tent mates that I had read on the plane read like some sort of who's who of Racing the Planet legends and serious endurance athletes. I had visions of finishing hours after them each day if I managed to finish at all! Needless to say they were awesome tent mates to have and there is no way I would have got through the week without their advice and the banter we had each day which invariably had me laughing as I dragged my aching body into my sleeping bag at the end of each stage. Rowley's coffee was a great change from the increasingly sickly energy and recovery drinks, and his chili flakes made my re hydrated bolognese really quite tasty! Lucy and Frank (the couple in the tent) were brilliant in particular on the long stage where without them I would never have made it through the last 40ks in the middle of the night. Frank's stories of past events and very English dry sense of humour (unusual for an American!)
was very entertaining and his ability to find some duct tape when my gaiter broke on the morning of the "dunes" day was a total life saver! The fact I am in touch with them all almost a year later is testament to the bonds you build in these things which was definitely a factor in wanting to do another!

In the end I managed to finish 56th out of almost 220 starters which exceeded all my expectations. But the result was I had the bug and having not got myself organised to join up with some of the people I met in Namibia for the Sahara race last autumn I realised I needed to pick a new race. Frank had told me about the UTMB out in Namibia and had completed it last August. You need to have done qualifying events to apply for a place and I figured I probably wouldn't be doing these events every year so it was time to use my events of 2009 to see if I could get a place. Which brings me to where I am now - had the news this week that I am in and the 50k run over the north downs with Carl in a few weeks now marks the start of some serious training! Am signing up to do a charity run up Tower 42 (one of the tallest buildings in London) in Feb and that should give the thighs a good taste of things to come! I have lots of advice coming in from Frank and Stephanie both 2009 UTMB veterans (and proper endurance runners!) which is awesome and I am hoping that I can join the 51% of those who actually finish the event! Guess 103 miles in 46 hours taken into account the height of Everest in elevation is not going to be easy....!