Thunder Run 24 - 31 July 2010...

Distance: 6 x 10km

In a time of...
hh:mm:ss
03:46:33 Personal Best!!!

Finishing Position: 1
Number of finishers: 72
Putting me in the top: 1.38%

I was roped into this one by runnersforum.co.uk member (named Nick) to make up numbers for his clubs diminishing team, no sooner had he recruited me, I was asking good friend Pete Matthews if he also wanted a slot on the team (due to yet more team vacancies). This was to be a 'fun' event - although of course I was going along with the intention of being competitive.

After meeting Nick for the first time, we found a spot for pitching tents and had the group introduction where I met the rest of the Plymouth Harrier team - Neil, Russ and Ami... (and supporters). We plodded along to the pre race briefing and prepared ourselves for the mammoth task that lay ahead.

The team decided we would each run two legs and then the team would break into two teams of 3, enabling one group of three get some rest during the hours of darkness, whilst the other group of 3 would run 2 legs (with shorter rest periods)... This tactic was brilliant... except that we should undoubtedly have ran three legs each before switching to 'night-shift' mode. Ah the benefits of hindsight. As it happened I finished my second leg just after 7pm and was then expected to go to bed and sleep. Basically we misjudged the timings (we didn't expect that we'd all be so bloomin' quick ;o)

The course was nice, challenging, although slightly tight in places which made it very difficult to overtake 'traffic'. Weather was brilliant, albeit a bit too warm during the Saturday afternoon... there was a very small amount of rain during the night - thankfully it was whilst I was trying (and failing miserably) to sleep.

Below are the details of a 6 laps that I did, as per my training blog:

Leg 12:38PM

35:53... Felt strong and legs had more to give, lungs/cardio seemed to struggle in the heat

Leg 2 - 6:24PM

36:07... Slightly cooler and felt much easier, though legs felt the effort a little more this time.

Leg 3 - 00:49AM

37:23... First night-time leg (in darkness) still felt strong though tightness in left calf becoming apparent. Hard work navigating past people in the dark through the forest sections and the lack of light had a noticeable effect on lap time. Hardly managed any sleep before this leg.

Leg 4 - 02:58AM

39:46... Second night leg... was starting to get a little concerned about my left calf which was getting progressively tighter. I latched onto another runner in the early stages and passed him at around 3km, running at a slower pace made navigating my way through the forest much easier. Glad to have squeezed in under 40mins but concerned about next leg.

Leg 5 - 07:18AM

40:23... Managed to get a couple of hours sleep before this leg, but my body REALLY didn't want to wake up. I got up at 6:30am feeling absolutely exhausted, mentally and physically. I felt worse than before I'd gone to sleep! Left calf very tight and I really had to focus on not using the muscle as best I could while running (i.e. not pushing off on 'toe-off'). Quite surprised my time wasn't slower.

Leg 6 - 11:30AM

36:57... Final leg! Woohoo! After leg 5 I iced, massaged, lightly stretched, didn everything I could to try and improve my whimpering left calf muscle... and it worked! Okay it wasn't perfect, but SOOOOooooo much better than the previous leg. Ran hard on very tired legs, but took comfort in the knowledge that it was the last time I would have to run.

The team took the overall title... running 35 laps (approx 350km) in 24hours 18mins. What a result!