epilogue

it's 11 Sept and with fundraising closing at the month end, we're about done.

We - you - raised £3004 against a target of £2000, so many, many thanks to all who have contributed support, advice & guidance, or money. It's greatly appreciated.

We all seem to have recovered from the experience, although there are a few ongoing niggles. My toenail gave up last night, coinciding with my daughter Lauren losing her first milk tooth, and prompting a family discussion - if there's a Tooth Fairy, is there also a Toenail Fairy, and if so, what's the going rate for a big toenail? Lauren and Mum went into a huddle so I suspect I'll soon find out......


So  that's it, job done.

But it's not really over of course, there will be a sequel.

We've all agreed to do the Lakeland 50 next year - "one the greatest ultra running and walking challenges in Europe, perhaps the world"
It's a slightly shorter distance than Trailwalker, but is over rougher terrain with mountain navigation and weather thrown in, and involves around 3,100 metres of ascent vs Trailwalker's  2,500.

Entries open on 1st Oct, and there's no guarantee we'll get a place, however that's the plan.
How hard can it be?

late breaking news

official results now through - we were 46th, based on complete teams of 4. well done us!

Trailwalker Top Gear Awards

In true Top Gear fashion, as team leader I feel it is my duty to award some (virtual) prizes to be placed on the mantlepiece beside our Trailwalker medals. I'm afraid I've taken the liberty of awarding myself a prize too :-)

The Sir Paul Stephenson PC Plod Award for perma-plodding through the pain barrier: James

The Mark Webber Award for setting a great pace before suffering minor mechanical issues: John

The Willie Carson Award for reining in the speedier of the team as others struggled to keep up: Martin

The F.Scott Fitzgerald Flapper Award for pointless nervous faffing about before the start: Michael

The Meryl Streep Supporting Cast Award for fantastic support en route and at Brighton Racecourse: the Hanscomb & Morris families

The Nedward Flanders Tolerance Award for putting up with idiotic training programmes ("I'm just popping out for a short run, dear"): the Hinchliffe & Woodham families

I can't add much to James and Martin's blog entries so I'd just like to thank everyone that has sponsored and supported us on this adventure.

Aftermath

Well, we did it - you'll have seen that from my earlier post - 20 hours 38, 61st team home, 10th vet team, job done.

James has written his usual superb account, do read it.

I'll try to live up to the event and commit to words my perspective - I will utterly fail to do it justice, of course, but if you really want to know what it's like, do it. Just train first, won't you? 

Low points

• My Blackberry not working. They don't like rain in the keyboard
• Wishing I'd brought a camera (not that it was photographic weather)
• Constantly stubbing my toes on flints down the narrow path from the gallops between CPs 8&9
• The last 5km feeling like 15....

That's about it

  

High points

• Heledd and hot soup at CP3 - taking a breather, nourishment and encouragement. The minestrone was worth a kmh on its own.
• Sam & Jack calling to say that in spite of being piss-wet through, they hadn't headed back to Hereford, as expected, but were waiting for us at CP5. Just getting that message was worth another kmh
• Oxfam cakes at CP4 - choc covered krispy cakes especially. and a hug from an Oxfam girl who must have spent all day standing in the rain, cheering.
• Sam & Jack at CP5 - surprise grub and motivation top-up
• Getting to the halfway point (CP5) in 9 hours - and the hope that we were on for a good time
• Sam & Jack again at CP7
• Emma & Bobby at CP8 with hot food and an enthusiasm injection
• The unexpected water stop between CPs 8&9 - a sudden tentful of Gurkhas in the middle of nowhere
• Smiling Gurkha faces everywhere
• The joys of a clean pair of socks - even if it does mean having to look your blisters in the eye
• Lightweight overtrousers - I am a convert
• Walking in pairs - one of us marking John to keep him in check, one of us chatting with James
• Calling Liz on James' phone, and her amazing enthusiasm 
• Being able to take the waterproofs off at last, late afternoon
• Just when the signage 'tailed off' coming out of Kingston (CP9) meeting 2 guys coming the other way who confirmed we were on the right route. phew
• Ditto between CPs 9&10 where signage stopped again and the path ran out - this time it was a team behind us who knew the way
• Gurkhas and Oxfam cheering us in at every CP - you can hear the team in front and know that you're getting close
• The Slaughter & May team - chatting about software IP and applications outsourcing passed the time!...
• ....and included "Hat Girl" who did the whole event in a Crocodile Dundee hat (and who completed the course just after us in spite of bad ankle damage - top effort!)
• T-shirt man, who did the entire event in a blue t-shirt. Neither wind nor rain could induce him to put a waterproof on, although we did see him later on with a sweatshirt on top, having slowed down. Perhaps the sweatshirt sapped his powers?
• Not stopping at CP10, but grabbing a cuppa in passing and bashing on
• Seeing the racecourse - oh you beautiful thing - rails, grass, furlong boards then floodlights and a funnel to the glorious end
• Running at the end - some nutter (James, who else?!) breaking into a run to goad us on, then the pain and miles slipping away as we realised that now, nothing, but nothing, would stop us
• Sam, Jack & Bobby at the finish, cheering along with the Gurkhas and Oxfam then the hugs and handshakes and tears and agonising climb onto a podium for medals and photos
• Curry and yet more hot, sweet tea
• Everyone being so, so gentle with us afterwards
• Getting a massage in a state of exhaustion

and then afterwards, finding out that we were 61st team home, 10th veterans team, and the only vets in front of us were serving soldiers. didn't expect that.

• Calling each other over the weekend and monday to compare injuries 
• James' blog in which he manages to nail it every time. Bastard.

There was one thing I really hadn't foreseen, let alone planned for. I've done similar distances before, usually wearing green, and they've all been about something other than the walk itself. In any case, completion was expected, a forgone conclusion. The task was the assault at the end, not the tab.

I did the Bogle Stroll, much the same distance, but my team jacked it in at the 40 mile point due to injury and I finished on my own. So I completely missed the thing that floored me at the racecourse.

I was totally unprepared for the overwhelming emotion that kicked in when we broke into a run. That simple act was, for me, the defining moment when we'd nailed it. All the way through, you think, you hope that you'll complete the task, and certainty increases with mileage, but it's never 100%. 

When James started to run, I knew, with absolute certainty, that we'd get there. That we'd get wherever we needed to get to. In that moment we were absolutely unstoppable, running together, pain left behind in the wind as the four machines crunched out the last six hundred metres or so to the end, to success and the joy and relief and, and, and

 

and sitting here on tuesday night, 60 hours later, I can just about recall the memory of that feeling without welling up. At the moment of victory, having beaten the weather and the distance and the sheer bloody hardness of the event, having accepted the pain for so long and beaten it too, why am I overcome by the simple act of walking a bloody long way?

 

It was more than a long sought-after objective achieved. No doubt a part was proving to myself that I am still the man I think I am - but I didn't have that reaction when I was on my own. 

 

It has to be the team - these three relative strangers I now call my friends, for whom I would now do anything. We'll get back to a state of healthy banter no doubt, but for these few post-op recovery days I'll take the risk of voicing my view of what's going on here. When we started running it wasn't the end I was celebrating. It was these three guys, and the bond of shared experience, shared pain and unbelievable respect I have for them, for us.  

Epilogue

What's next? Well probably not Trailwalker again - been there, done that, got the lower leg injuries to prove it. 

It seems a waste not to get the team together again though - good buddies are hard to come by - but maybe something with less impact - cycling has been mooted. 

 

Bike ride des sable anyone?

Trailwalker Stats

I was browsing around on the Trailwalker Facebook page and stumbled across the official Trailwalker 2011 stats....

• Number started: 2046
• Teams started: 521
• Complete teams of 4 finished: 276 (53%)
• Teams finished including incomplete: 482 (93%)
• Teams of four finished in 30 hours: 272 (52%)
• Teams retired: 43 (8%)
• Individual retirees: 392 (19%)

I'm still amazed and delighted at the performance of my daft team mates and their "never say ouch, my feet hurt" attitude. Fantastic to be part of the 52% that completed the event as a full team.

My blisters are mending so I'm seriously considering going for a short run tomorrow. By "short", I really do mean short - 5k, rather than 100k!

we did it!

20 hrs 38 according to the website, all hurting, all exhausted, all absolutely elated. Running the last km down Brighton racecourse side by side will live with me for a long time.

Full report to follow when I've got some energy...

you've done it!

well you've done your bit, for which many many thanks. ie raised £2,152 as at Tuesday morning, 12th July. You have no idea how good it feels to have hit one objective before we've even started.

now all that remains is for us to do our bit.....

where has all the time gone?

It seems only the day before yesterday that Michael was calling me to ask if I'd do Trailwalker with him, and did I know anyone else daft enough to make a team of 4?

Now it's only one week to go before we assemble at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park ready for a 6AM blast-off on Saturday 16th.

Just 100km then stands between us and our goal, and I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to the finish line at Brighton racecourse.

I don't doubt that there's a fair amount of pain to go through first, of course, although there are a few things that will keep us going:

• there's the 490 km that I've covered in training since mid-February (and I don't doubt that my team-mates have put in more!)

• we've got a great team - the 4 run/walkers plus our support crew -  who have bonded very well over recent months, in spite of limited time together

• And most importantly there's the support - both sponsorship and encouragement - that all of you have given. You've now raised  £1,922 with every chance of hitting the £2,000 target before we start.

So huge thanks to everyone, especially the anonymous givers who we haven't been able to thank personally.

I'm intending to tweet (battery and coverage permitting) so you can follow our progress. Updates will probably be about which checkpoint we're arriving at and of course a stream of updates on injuries sustained to date.
If you really want to follow us my twitter id is Martw00 - and of course encouragement via twitter in return will be much appreciated, especially in the small hours!

Thanks for reading, for support, for donations.

Post-event update to follow, meantime we've got some work to do....

Letting the side down

Before any of my team mates panic over the title of this post, I'm not dropping out of the walk with just a few weeks to go. Well, I'm not planning to. Just yet.

Regular followers (if there are any) will be aware we finally managed a 30k team training session a couple of weeks ago. I've been pondering some of the conversations and reactions from the team following that session. During the journey back to Balham from CP9, James commented that he was struggling to keep pace with John, whilst John had earlier observed he thought James had been pushing the pace quite aggressively. Martin has since said he needs to train a lot more to keep up with everyone else, and I'm primarily worried some part of my injury-prone lower limbs will give way before or during the walk itself. Heel, achilles, knee, calf, take your pick.

So despite the fact that we've only met and trained as a team once since we all foolishly volunteered to enter Trailwalker, I think we have the makings of a strong team. Nobody wants to let the side down, we all want to pull our (not insignificant, in some cases) weight, and I think we all have similar goals in terms of target completion time. The only slight concern I have is James still thinks we need to stop for food. What's all that about?

So, last one to a pub in Brighton that's still open at 4am on Sunday 17th July buys the first round!

training session 12 June

We had a good training session yesterday - we walked (and even ran some downhill bits...) from Checkpoint 6 (Botolph) to Checkpoint 9 (Kingston), 30.84 km by the GPS and covered in 5hr 25 - with virtually no stops. John set a blinding pace in the horizontal rain, and without allowing for a lost 10 mins or so reconciling the differences between the map and the route description, we were doing 5.7 km/h, comfortably quicker than our planning time. That should see us beating 20hrs for the event, and if the slowest member (ie me) manages to buck up a bit, 18hrs might be on.......

When the socks came off I discovered three toes glued together with blood, just little nick from a toenail, which I only felt as a slightly sticky pad to one of my toes. 10 mins in a hotel sauna last night, a bit stiff today then a slow 3km run tonight to loosen off and I feel remarkably well, considering.

A great day out though , in spite of the weather. I know we (I) can do it now. Bring it on. 

Team training day is looming...

I'm looking forward to Sunday, the first opportunity we'll have had to get together as a team and walk (note the word, Michael!) a part of the course.

Due to our geographic spread, we've not managed to get together so far, although we have had a couple of conference calls....
Clearly this won't be sufficient to sustain us through 20+ hours of shared pain, so the plan is to walk the route from checkpoint 6 (Botolphs) to checkpoint 9 (Kingston Hollow). This is around 30km, so a great chance to stretch our legs, with the bonus that these stages are the ones we're expecting to cover at night - having walked this part of the route in daylight should reduce the chance of getting geographically embarrassed, shouldn't it?

As to my friend and colleague now known as Imelda, all this talk of running shoes is making me nervous. Perhaps we can slip some lead insoles into the Merrell BodyGlove LightAsAFeather YouCanRunAllDayInThems......

The Imelda Marcos of Running Shoes

At times, I wonder whether I'm turning into the Imelda Marcos of the running shoe world. After a spate of minor niggles last year, culminating in a fractured left heel that prevented me from running for about 4 months, I keep experimenting with different footwear. At last count, I seem to have accumulated eight pairs of what my wife might class as "trainers", ranging from the sublime (Zoot Kanes) to the faintly ridiculous (Vibram Five Fingers Speeds). I have four pairs of fairly traditional running shoes (from Zoot, Newton, Brooks and Somnio), a couple of pairs of off road shoes (from Inov8 and Salomon) and a couple of "experiments" (the aforementioned Vibrams and a pair of Terra Plana Evos).

Over the last few months, I've been trying to transition from landing on my heels (heel striking) to a more "natural" running form where you tend to land on the ball or middle of your foot. It's a mental as well as physical challenge, but is starting to feel more comfortable. Some of the shoes really require this style of running, particularly the Newtons, Vibrams and Terra Planas, as they offer little if any heel cushioning. The thing is, it really does feel more natural to avoid landing on your heels. I can feel my feet and knees acting as springs, absorbing more of the impact when landing "naturally", whereas I feel a significant jolt through my spine if I land on my heels.

If you watch good distance runners, they appear to glide along, touching the ground for the bare minimum of time before lifting off again. If you watch most "joggers", myself included, they tend to spend far too long actually on the ground. I'm going to persevere with the "natural" running form, whilst resisting the urge to buy too many more running shoes. Although... I am tempted to pick up a pair of Merrell Trail Gloves - http://www.merrell.com/UK/en-GB/Product.mvc.aspx/23456M/52217/Mens/Barefoot-Trail-Glove

Whether we run any of the Trailwalker route is entirely down to my erstwhile team mates. I'd happily have a go but I think certain individuals on the team might tell me to be a bit more sensible. After all, 100km is quite a long way.

It's been a while too

Like Martin, it's been a while since I last updated our blog. I've been lurching from one minor niggle to another over the last few months. I think that running 50K in February did more damage than I acknowledged at the time. Chances of lasting 100K....? Um....

This last week has proved my most consistent and productive for some time. I've walked 29 miles and run 36.5 over the last 7 days:

Mon - walk 11 miles

Tue - walk 8 miles, run 5 miles

Wed - walk 10 miles

Thu - run 6.5 miles

Fri - run 10.5 miles

Sat - run 7.5 miles

Sun - run 7 miles

I think the training is the relatively "easy" bit of Trailwalker though. We have had fantastic support on the fundraising front recently, so thank you very much to everyone who has sponsored the team. We still have a number of logistical challenges to resolve, such as who is actually on the support team, when are we starting, where are we staying prior to the start, and just what time do the pubs close in Brighton on a Saturday night?

More to follow soon.... thanks again for all your support.

Michael

been a while since the last one...

Training has taken a slight back-seat during 3 weeks holiday, unless you count walking up Cumbrian hills with a 2 year old on your back, which I probably should.
Back in the gym/ running to the office from Kings Cross is back on the agenda now though, and I'm in the mid-20s miles a week at the moment.
Michael did a route recce last week and ran the first leg out and back, I do hope he's not expecting us to run when we've got a good 20/ 18 hours ahead of us...!

Many thanks to all who have sponsored us, we're up to £415 at the last count before gift aid, against a £2000 target. We're getting there!

Training update

rolling 7-day average 34 miles and climbing.
I've discovered/ been pointed at  Total Workout Running for music to run to - nice steady beat and continuous, easy to switch off to IYSWIM, and walkjogrun for running routes.

Innov8 roclites still fave trainers and taking the punishment well. I must do something about the blackberry as a music device - it works fine but the earphones don't work well when sweaty, and the plug is non-standard so iphone or other standard replacement earphones don't work.

training update

Rolling 7-day average now up to 30 miles, with 10km on the cross-trainer on Monday and a 12km run last night. I'm working away from home - ie in a hotel, with a gym - until 8th April so there's no excuse for not banging out 10km every night, is there?!

The people we're raising money for....

An astonishing story hit the news today as medals for service in Afghanistan were handed out.

Diprasad Pun, serving with 1GR received the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross after single-handedly repelling a Taleban attack in Helmand province earlier this year. When he ran out of ammunition, he used a sandbag and a machine gun tripod as improvised weapons, before firing a claymore mine to rout the enemy.

Such are the soldiers that the Gurkha Welfare Trust looks after - one of the charities, along with Oxfam, that the Trailwalker event raises funds for. 

Training update...

Still banging in 25 miles a week, device of choice is the cross-trainer on the grounds that
a) it's a whole-body workout
b) it doesn't have the impact and hence injury-risk of a treadmill and
c) I've really got into it

Switching off my brain whilst exercising is coming along nicely. Music helps, and I've found some 'top 10 tracks to run to' websites - improvement in time spent, if not in speed.

Blackberry standard earphones are a PITA though, get a sweat on and they fall out, and one of them got mashed by the machine yesterday. No-one seems to do a 'sports' alternative - don't they think the Blackberry business-geek demographic get any exercise?

(and ebay isn't much help - most sports headphones are advertised as both iphone and blackberry-suitable, but they have different plugs.......)

status update....and thanks!

First off - a great big THANK YOU! to everyone who has sponsored us so far, your contributions are going to two very worthy causes who address sickness and poverty with a dedication and commitment that us wannabe trailwalkers can only imagine. Thank you all.


I've settled into a reasonable training routine - 22-25 miles or so a week, all in the gym, and either on the cross-trainer or running machine.
Currently I'm working on my mental approach. When walking, even at tabbing speed, I can easily suspend my brain - switch off, listen to music, immerse myself in my own thoughts - and the miles flow past without my noticing them.
As soon as I start to run though, conscious brain is back with me, dreaming up every reason why I should slow down. So I'm practicing brain-suspension-whilst-running...and finding it very hard!

I'll let you know if it works...

Training update - spinning

I did a spinning class last night. 45 minutes of pretty intense effort, the standing up in the pedals must have done some good because it didn't half hurt!

I've no idea how 'far' we went, but a relentless pace and sweat dripping off must be good training mustn't it? At least I kept up with all the pace and effort changes, and didn't feel stressed at all as far as heart or lungs went, just big effort from the quads and my calves cramping up at the end.

I just hope it's relevant training for a little walk......

London Ultra 50K

In an attempt to kick-start my training for the Trailwalker, I figured a 50K trail race would be good preparation. With this in mind, I did the London Ultra 50K trail race a couple of weeks ago, which took a band of 226 brave runners from Streatham Common to Wembley, following London's Capital Ring.

As this was my first ultra-marathon, I was a bag of nerves on the morning of 20th Feb. It was interesting to look around the group waiting to start. There was probably about 10g of body-fat between them (myself excluded).

The route took us through some residential roads for the first 10K then into parks and along canal tow-paths for the bulk of the race. I didn't appreciate just how big Richmond Park is, nor how muddy it gets after rain. It stayed pretty chilly and overcast for the whole race, but didn't really rain, which was nice. However, there had been so much rain on Saturday that many of the parks and woods were incredibly muddy, slippery and treacherous. Running downhill through muddy woods was one of the more challenging aspects of the race, I have to admit. By running, I really mean slipping and sliding. I ran pretty consistently for the first 30K or so, but the last 20K proved more challenging.

There were a couple of brutal hills through woods that were particularly muddy, so there was nothing for it other than to walk. The worst hills were at about 40K and 48K, just to test your endurance. Needless to say, I walked both of those as did the few people around me. The last mile or so was pretty much downhill, which almost harder than running uphill due to the additional pressure on tired limbs. As I was heading to the finish line, I could hear someone close behind so put on as much of a sprint finish as I could muster and finished 4 seconds ahead of three guys just behind me. I didn't even know there were three people so close behind me until I checked the results! I finished in 5:09:36, which put me 72nd out of 212 finishers. I thought I'd be around 200th so I'm delighted. And I'll be back next year.... maybe.

our name change...

We decide the team name was a bit clunky, so we've become Feet First.
what do you think?

training update

Weekly training running at around 20-22 miles at the moment. A mix of gym work (mostly cross-trainer) and proper outside running.
The only side-effect to date is a general feeling of being knackered, luckily feet and joints are bearing up well at the moment.

Current faves are Inov8 roclite shoes - very light, it feels like you aren't wearing anything on your feet. Then you run through a puddle and are convinced you aren't wearing anything on your feet - instant wet socks! Worth it for the weight reduction though.
 
And a mention for another Inov8 product -the Race Elite 25 pack. I ran round Elterwater with it in constant drizzle, the sort of rain that gets everywhere. My spare fleece and trousers were bone dry.

training....

a week on and training's going better than expected. 3 miles run a day, bar saturday, and so far I'm feeling pretty fit.
Let's see how I'm feeling when I start upping the mileage....

why the Beatles?

ok, so we needed a team name to register.

Being of veteran status, with birth years ranging from 63-66, we went for The Beatles references - first greatest hits album covered 62-66.

It's better than the other suggestions, believe me.

at the start...

I think I've done a rather silly thing.

Michael called and asked if I'd consider doing a sponsored walk. 100km in 30 hours. That sounds ok, why not? I'm in. Trailwalker - to raise money for the Gurkha Welfare Trust and Oxfam.

Do I know anyone who might join a team of 4? Sure.
I made a couple of calls, and should have been on my guard straight away. Steve, who has done the event previously (both in HK and the UK), couldn't make it. John, who hadn't, could. See the connection?

A day later and we've got 4 of us together - James, John, Michael, and myself, Martin. As soon as we start comparing notes the reality dawns.
a) this is a pretty serious undertaking
b) the other three have serious provenance as runners

c) oh shit
closely followed by
d) I'd better get down the gym

It's nearly a week later, and my training mileage has just cracked 11.9.

To put this into context, Michael is competing in a 50km race next weekend, John is running daily from the look of him, and although James claims to be counting on idiocy and a high pain threshold, I'm still worried.

Why am I here, blogging? I need to be out pounding the pavement....