Sri Chinmoy 24hr Track Race (8/9th October 2005)

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 25 October 2005 12:37:18

finally it had come to this, two years after my first attempt at this race i was back again, unloading all the kit and setting the tent up for the coming 24hours. plenty more miles in the legs since last time and hopefully a little wiser to all things ultra. a few weeks ago i was confident of getting to my 100miles, by which i mean it all looked very feasible in excel! a late cold in the week before made me wonder if i should even be starting but lets face it with an event that long and at such low intensity there's plenty of time to decide to pull out.

run around the 400m track in tooting (south london) the event starts at 12 midday saturday and runs through to midday on the sunday with lap counting, food & support ably supplied by the sri chinmoy team and the organisation this year ably headed by shankara (the regular organiser's daughter, and what a good job she did!).

my plan set out a schedule taking me up to 50miles in the first 10-11hours dropping to about 3mph through the night and hoping for a better pace from early morning through to the finish. looking to hit 90miles around 20hours leaving the final 4 hours to stagger to at least 100, maybe more. this time i'd also remembered to plan to eat throughout the night which i failed to do last time.

- the easy bit -

fresh legged, bright eyed and bushy tailed nearly 40 lined up for the start. early on there was a fairly obvious lead group with most other people lapping at a similar pace. a chance to try and get plenty of early miles in whilst trying not to completely kill your legs for later!

a pasta lunch came after 2 hours which saw me at 11miles and 19th/35, a nice pasta dish eaten whilst wandering round the track followed by some appley desert, at my (slow) pace its essential to get the food going in! meanwhile the speed demons at the front kept knocking out mile after mile. lunch meant i only manage 4miles that hour, but that was on plan so no problems.

whilst lisa, my parents, local friends & tritalkers came and said hi i carried on plodding round (as did everyone else of course).

the weather was surprisingly good and with the first marathon distance complete in 4hrs50 (ish) things were still on track, by this stage the leaders were up to 35miles or so.

a while later lisa's dad arrived for the night and supported for a while before disappearing off to find some dinner, and a pint.

not much to comment on this period really, as the title suggests, this is the easy bit.

- into the night -

the sun had sneaked behind the horizon and the floodlights came on. i put long sleeves on to keep the chill off.
at about 7pm it started to rain, gently at first, and continued raining to various degrees for the next 3 hours.
my spirits were still pretty high and the rain didnt seem to dampen anyone elses, fortunately at this stage i'm still moving fast enough to keep warm as it dripped off my cap.

just before dinner was provided by the organisers a saw a tray of soup go up to the counting tent as i approached, the counters all seemed to have their backs to me, including MY counter! so i called 'hey less soup more counting' as i went past, which entertained me anyway!

lisa and her dad popped off to find some dinner. when they returned i thought i'd better get my legs covered too and donned my tights.
by about 10pm when the rain had stopped, my pacing plan was out the window already and i was just aiming to keep going as long as possible.

over the next couple of hours my crew went to bed and i was left to my own devices again. the rain had dropped the temperature much quicker than the previous time i'd done this so i knew we were in for a cold night, not sure i could quite imagine how cold, psychologically as well as in terms of temperature!

- the small hours -

i seem to recall 1-2am being a surreal time last time i did this. the world is pretty much silent apart from the homecoming of a few clubbers, its still and dark save for what remains an electric atmoshpere under the floodlights; runners each pushing their own boundaries, helpers and crew busily ushering food and drink to the runners and the ever rowdy lap counting tent.

obviously you dont normally eat between dinner & breakfast but here i'd worked out there's ample opportunity (and need!) for two extra meals, i struggled to make myself eat through the night last time, and i struggled again here. the rice pudding left out for me just didnt appeal but on one of my increasingly regular '5 minute' breaks i forced down some cold roast potatoes i'd taken along and half a can of red bull to try and revive me a little. for the rest of that hour i felt sick as a dog, i felt worse not better.

fortunately after 3/4hour when the food & caffeine started to take effect i felt much better and with the mp3 player blaring a strange variety of music at me i was inspired once again to run

- a spiritual experience? -

i really hadn't a clue what music would inspire me to get going when i was loading the mp3 player, happy tunes? mindless trance? Christian music? rock? not a clue, so all the above made it on. the only thing i tried to avoid was anything slightly depressing (apart from garbage)!

what did get me going, and almost crying at one of my lowest points was the following delirous lyrics:

'thank you, for the, chance to, live again i will run, only for you
clouds have, gathered, all around my head but these hands, they lifted me
and i'll tell, of this love, that saved me

thank you, for the, chance to, live again i will run, always for you
walking, closer, you are, all i have in this world, only you
and i'll tell, of this love, that saved me

and i'll wait, for this love, to break
i'll come, to you
yes i'll run, to you
and i'll wait, for this love, to break
i'll run, to you
yes i'll come, to you
i'll be one with you
yeah yeah'

now when you're feeling all alone and in no mental or physical state to run, knowing there's more than how you're feeling and more than this race to deal with was a liberating realisation. knowing you're not alone whatever your brain tells you, whatever your legs tell you, whatever your feet tell you was an inspiration.

and with lines about running, and even walking how could i refuse to do the same! i looked up at the dark clouds blowing across a pitch black sky, and with tears in my eyes (fortunately going fast enough to evaporate before rolling down my face) ran on. i was on a high and every track that i'd selected to listen to made me smile with some memory, lyric or just the medatitive melody. even walking, the music forced me to stomp round, great stuff.

other surprise top tracks:
video killed the radio star - the presidents of the united states of america
every little thing she does is magic - the police
history repeating itself - propellorheads (feat. miss shirley bassey!)
everyday i write the book - elvis costello

- and after the high... -

so that took me to maybe 4am after which i found i could barely walk and in doing so, my tights weren't as warm as they could be, taking several laps for my thighs to warm up. in fact walking is an exaggeration... i felt and probably looked like fester adams, i felt wide, and short legged. my head lolled to the inside of the corners and it was as much as i could do to acknowledge my counter.

at one stage i creeped into the tent to get a warm hat and when i came back out i was confused! i was sure i had been going one direction but everyone was running the other. we hadnt had a turn had we? no it wasnt time, i queried with another runner, shrugged and carried on! the counter was amused at me trying to confuse him by changing hats and called out 'nice hat' as i waved at him. my presence of mind in this state surprised me at times as i got my own back a few hours later when he donned a rather interesting tassled hat, my cue to repay the compliment.

one of my socks had wrinkled up under the ball of my right foot and was causing increasing bother, could i hold out to the end with this? after a few laps i realised the end was in relative terms quite a long way away. i had the presence of mind to get a change of socks and a blister plaster and on the next pass staggered to the changing rooms to sort it out. where i found two people sleeping and andy eccles (since died from his blistering early pace) and his team laughing and joking!

a short while later i had a literal pain in the arse! never experienced anything like it, without going into too much detail, i was chafing. another dip into the first aid kit secured the vaseline and another trip to the changing rooms to administer. didn't seem to have any effect at first but gradually thankfully, it did.

all the people i'd stormed past lap after lap on my high seemed to be coming back past. hadnt seen tim or pam for some time and nor did i have the presence of mind to care! ken fancett (1st last year, 2nd this year) came past running respectably and suggested i sat out and got some food to see if i could get going again... i thanked him and hobbled on. taking his advice to an extent i got a mushroom soup and went inside to sit down and drink it, where i found tim having a massage.

what happened over the next couple of hours were a combination of depressed staggering round and diverting inside to warm up. in the end we had tim, pam, gil and i sat inside trying to motivate each other to get out there again.

- are we nearly there yet? -

out for another stagger, each time peering at the tent wishing for my crew to reappear. the only reason i hand't packed it all in was cos they weren't up yet, no point in stopping if i couldnt go home! chris & ivor arrived again and just about managed to recognise my disdhevelled form hobbling round in another world. it was good to see a friendly face, i was also pleased that ivor managed to wake my crew up! hurrah.

i stood in front of the tent when they were up. i wanted to stop, this is what i'd been waiting for. i couldn't make myself say it, and no one was going to suggest i gave up. i was at 75miles or so and hobbling at maybe 3mph + regular stops. 4 and a half to 5 hours still to go and i couldn't fathom making it to my previous distance, let alone any further. whats the point? i asked myself, if i dont make 100 i'm going to blooming well do another one anyway.

have you eaten? i mumbled that i tried. do you want anything? a grumpy no. (feeling quite emotional writing this, reliving the anguish and internal battles that were going on). eventually i was led inside and forced to eat some breakfast, an unappetising plate of beans, toast & veggy sausage (couldnt face an egg). a coffee sat virtually untouched as i looked out the window and saw finally blue skies and sun.

my crew told me 91miles would better last years distance, and required 4mph over the final 4hours, i sneered at the idea. last time i managed that was 6hours ago.
barely energised i saw the cone had gone out for the final turn, four hours to go. i dragged myself out and cursed as the temperature didnt seem to have budged, still freezing. the medic quipped perhaps i should run to warm up, and almost got the sharper end of my tongue in response. i waved to my counter and made the effort to get round the cone.

at least i was moving, i got a lap count from my counter and told the crew to do the maths.

- the final four -

i owe these last four hours to my crew, lisa and her dad providing logistical support and keeping a close eye on my lap times. even i could do the maths in my head, thats 3:30 a lap needed, seemed an impossible concept even for 10minutes let alone 4 full hours but after a dismal night i was ready to push myself again. i tried a run, over 4minutes, damn, faster, 3:56, damn going to have to walk a little, not good. the leader being pushed on by his crew passed me, looked to be struggling, i knew i had to push on again so i quipped 'i could do with a tow' and followed on behind expecting to be dropped quickly.

to my amazement i could stay with him which meant knocking out closer to 3minute laps. buouyed by this i passed him only to be caught on a short walking break, i stuck to my plan of walking to the end of the straight and went on to catch him up again.his handler was a bit annoyed i think and wanted to have words with me, he would have got a fairly sharp response! again i passed him and encouraged him to tag on, seemed only fair, but i left him again.

the rest of the 4 hours after this is a blur, i was quite relaxed and things seemed almost under control. i remembered to keep the fluid intake up and grabbed the odd jaffa cake to keep my energy up. i had to walk regularly but managed to limit it to 'just this straight' or 'just the bend' and whenever i was passed i tried my best to tag along for a lap or two. for a short period i think i was almost the fastest person out there! my crew would give me lap times but usually only when they were slower than target, which would be followed by a spurt by me to pick up the lost time.

a strange thing happens in the last few hours which i think happened last time, other peoples crews become alot more friendly. i guess previously they're too focussed on their own runners to pay you any attention. but toward the end as the sun comes out they seem to close in on the track more and more, even the guy who didnt like me tailing his runner earlier was applauding and encouraging. one lady encouraged me with 'well done, not many people running at this stage' which was appreciated but not acknowledged by me! all the runners are back on the track, even andy eccles made a reappearance, the mood changes slightly as the end comes into sight.

i shouldnt forget to mention the obligatory shirt change at an hour to go, like a cyclist winning the stage sitting back and zipping up the jersey for the photos, i like to make an effort for the end!

lisa's dad was counting down the laps to 90miles although my counter was saying one more. i didn't really care since i knew either way i could get there but lisa's dad went and clarified, of course 1 mile is slightly more than the 4 laps we'd been using. 90 miles came with 25minutes to go, i ran as best i could to get to 91 and despite my crews encouragement that was as far as my focus went, i was happy to walk round from now on.

a few minutes from the end and each runner is joined by a marker who follows them round to the final whistle, and this year lisa had been recruited to mark me! tim found a second wind just so he could make his sister run after him, shouldnt you have been doing that earlier tim?

even though i knew it was coming, the whistle surprised me, it was over!

i left lisa in place and went for a well deserved sit down. the winner had been given a seat where he stopped with friends and family crowded round, things didnt look good as he was helped into their campervan. last seen being taken away in an ambulance, sounds like he was running on adrenaline for a while and crashed as soon as he stopped. word was it would just be a routine treatment.

- post race -

faultess organsiation as per last time.... we all hobbled off for a much needed shower, having a shower is enough of a challenge but trying to get dressed without bending your legs is even more entertaining. i gave my feet some tlc an ut sandles on, ah, bliss!

as per the whole event we were well fed by the team and applauded the hobbling finishers at the presentations!

shortly afterwards i was shuttled back to the inlaws although i was surprised not to even see any of the motorway. i sloped off for a sleep before dinner which was scheduled to be in just an hour but they let me have two. after a nice roast i was ready to go back to bed but managed to stay awake long enough to hoble down to the pub, which was closed!! so we drove off for a quick half before heading back to bed.

with my crews extra experience we all think i could go a fair bit further, one of the other crews suggested if they monitored me 2hours on 2hours off it would have been worth an extra 20miles, well beyond my expectations. i'd settle for 100 and find i'd love to rush out and do another just for that purpose! sadly i know it will take a number of months to recover fully and i already have plenty of plans for next year (and the one after!) so i'll have to bide my time.

i'll put some pics and results links up later!