Run 300km in December

01/01/2021

I did it!

I haven't posted since that gush about my mum, sorry about that.

On the 23rd I laid and hared a trail for Isca Hash House Harriers. Wet. Very wet, lots of shiggy and a surprisingly good turnout with minced pies and mulled wine at the Safety Stop.

Christmas Eve I banged out 19km up to Topsham and back on the railway track, meeting up with Minibar on the way. On the way back I got a call to say my dad had fallen, but was being helped. That was a turning point, but I didn't yet know it.

Christmas Day I got a call in the morning from my dad's monitoring service to say he'd fallen a second time on the evening of Christmas Eve, but refused to let them inform me. Then again on Christmas morning, when an ambulance was called to help him up again. I was planning to go and see him on Boxing day anyway so I ate and drank and played D&D with my son James, ex-wife Karen and her partner Pete. I can proudly say that I think we're a model of how to divorce well. We still care for each other, and never say anything negative about each other.

As planned I tootled down to Totnes to see my dad on Boxing Day, but not before squeezing in a 13km run around Exmouth, bringing the 300km into clear sight. My dad has a tiny kitchen and no cooker. I bought him a "camping gaz bistro" single burner camp hob a while back. On Boxing Day I used that, the kettle and the microwave to follow our smoked salmon starter with fillet steaks with porcini and chestnut mushroom sauce, buttery mash with caramelised onions, fried tomatoes and broccoli. All followed by Chrismas pud & brandy cream. Dad bought a lot of very expensive booze.

I made sure he was looked after, and toddled off back to Exmouth on 27th. Late that evening I received another call saying he'd fallen again, this time spending a couple of hours on the kitchen floor waiting for an ambulance.

Monday 28th I got up, raced around doing my chores, and packed for an extended stay in Totnes. I'm still here with my dad, camping in my van in his car-park because his flat is one-bedroomed. I've coordinated responses from DSS, OT, Physio, found a new place for him to stay, although there's a waiting list, worked through the finances, cooked, cleaned and cared for him. But I haven't written a Run300k post, till now.

I snuck out yesterday afternoon armed with a random Strava route and did a lovely but mostly road 26km loop to comfortable secure my 300k, If my dad had really needed me I'd have binned it off, but his condition no longer seemed urgent and my challenge was calling. No dramas on my return, job done.

I wasn't straightforward - but it was a challenge, so what was I to expect? I'm so glad I piled in the kilometres early on as I've consistently kept a buffer the whole way through, and did I need it!

Thank you all for your support! It's been a lovely experience. I won't do it too often, but if, as planned, I find myself on a long-distance hike, I'll put up a new page to make sure my posts don't spam friends who aren't interested in detailed accounts of my challenges.

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

Check out my run on Strava.

23/12/2020

Yesterday was a big day for me. I ran 7 km, which was just enough to stop my R value from increasing. But this day it wasn’t about the running.

I bunked off work to drive to Exeter Crematorium in the afternoon. I’ve been there a few times in the last twenty years or so: the remains of friends, relatives and colleagues have passed though Exeter Crematorium on their way to a final resting place. I’m not religious, but I do have a heart and I understand our strong links to history and geography. These are not just dull subjects at school; knowing where the remains of a dead friend or relative lie makes a space for remembrance. As a society we’ve striven to abstract ourselves away from place, we’ve given it a diminished role as we drive everywhere, pave over countryside, move house with ease, fly thousands of miles on holiday, and immerse ourselves in cyberspace. But place matters: it’s part of being human to connect emotion to place. School. Haunted houses. Where we first met.

I got the coordinates on 11th December in response to an email a couple of days earlier. BB/011. It’s like some prescient bureaucrat foresaw Excel and in some twisted simile of a pirate’s treasure map decided to use column AX as the origin on the X axis and work from there. So from AX it goes AY, AZ, BA, BB, so that’s four paces. That would be to the left, just to defy convention. Except those are paces of only of one leg (of course!) so double it if you have two legs. That’s 8 paces left. And same for /011, so that’s 22 paces away from the marker. And that’s where she is. Roughly. Obviously, it doesn’t really matter. It could be fu***ng Kazakhstan. It doesn’t make any difference. And yet it does, because place matters. That’s why I cried. For the first time in very nearly 50 years I was with my mum.

I miss her so much. I didn’t really know that I did, but I do. I’ve needed guidance, and she’s not been able to be with me. I’ve done things I was proud of, but she wasn’t there to congratulate me. I remember her, but only just. My dad just didn’t have the emotional connection to fulfil that role. I had a step mum, and she tried her best to be there for me, but she was very poorly suited to my dad, so she had to leave. Like the housekeepers before and my mum before that, it wasn’t their fault, they just couldn’t stay.

I don’t blame anyone, and I know worse s**t has happened to others, but this is mine, and today it hurts. I’ve been seeing a psychotherapist since August, working through the abandonment stuff, learning about attachment styles, and trying to understand and fix myself. This is me dealing with it instead of brushing it under the carpet. I’m not done just yet, but I feel like I’m moving forwards. Thanks for bearing with me.

22/12/2020

I guess I didn't do nothing this year...

This is Strava's summary of my 2020...

22/12/2020

I ran twice today, but was not feeling it at all this morning, my legs felt like wood. And then this evening again they weren't feeling good at first but after a gentle warm up i cranked up the pace with Will to near bursting point in the rain, but now the ni**le in my left calf has developed into a proper pain. That's ungood. However, the numbers are looking good, and I have only 61.4 km left to complete the challenge.

I really hope this doesn't become a battle against injury now, but that is looking like one possible way it could play out over the next ten days.

Wet in the middle, and strong Westerly wind. Got going with Will and pushed each other. Fun but not wise. I now have a significant pain mid-calf in my left leg. But with only 6.1k/day left I can ease up a little.

19/12/2020

This was our Virtual GWC10k (https://www.facebook.com/GWC10K/) ... so 25+km in the bag today.🤣

Thank you Fiona for the gentle pacing. That coupled with the completely horizontal canal towpath made the whole outing easy-peasy. Shame it rained on us the last mile or so, but we jumped in the van at the end, put the heater on high and brewed up some Itsu Noodles before heading home - bloody delicious!

After a day off yesterday I feel re-energised and I'm looking at the remaining 76km with a renewed enthusiasm - like maybe I could do that before Christmas? Probably not sensible, I have other stuff to do still, like wrap some presents 🤣

Next time I might go for the whole 11.25 mile length out and back so 22.5 miles, and with a four mile loop tacked on somewhere that'll be a flat marathon in Devon 😉.

https://www.itsu.com/grocery/products/healthy-noodles/katsu-rice-noodles/

https://www.strava.com/activities/4491613645

18/12/2020

Binned it off today. The weather is vile and my bum hurts 🤣.

20k tomorrow.

17/12/2020

I was chatting to Lisa, running backwards, being a show-off, and collided with a buttress on a brick wall as I turned back around. Ouch! Now my left bum cheek is really quite achy, which is funny, but also a bit of a bu**er. The fascia on my right thigh was already giving trouble from last night. Feeling a bit battered now.

The plan: Woodbury Common trail tomorrow night..., Tivvy Canal 10k + 10k Saturday, merciful relief of planned rest day Sunday 🛌💤

Check out my run on Strava.

17/12/2020

An instant award-nominee for the wettest and shiggiest trail of the year. Well done Wide Receiver!

You know the water is deep when the shortest girl needs to be carried over it and the splashes soak you up to the waist and you worry about the waterproofing of the phone on your waistbelt!

Check out my run on Strava.

16/12/2020

I am quite pleased with my body's ability to put up with this nonsense. I have been trying to be sensible, keep the pace under control, keep it steady, and it's mostly working. Mostly.

I went with the Tri-Hards last night, it was a mixed ability group aiming to do about 7.5k at 5:30/km to 6:00/km, so I knew I'd have a low-impact run and just pop a loop in afterwards. We set off and the differences were apparent at once and we soon found ourselves split into two groups with Stuart, Lisa and me in the front group. But it was still fine. I dropped back slightly and ran with Derek for a while and chatted about kitesurfing "back in the day". Then I pushed off from the dockside cafe to hunt down Lisa and Stuart and we cruised down the seafront together towards Ocean. We were coming up to Channel View, maybe 400m from the finish when Stuart started to pull ahead.

Stuart looks young and tall and muscular and I though he'd probably be effortlessly quick. I matched him. He nudged it up again. I matched it. Then we were smoothly accelerating towards the aerobic limit, and through it and still piling on speed and distress until it's was a full sprint to the end or death, whichever came first!

Why? Why do I feel a need to try to prove something? Why can't I stick to the plan? Plans? Schplans! Luckily nothing gave way and I feel OK today, but will I learn? I fear not till I break something... Denial is a powerful thing.

Here's a nerdy afterthought: Strava says that at full pelt I was doing 2:58/km - if I could keep that up for over 2 hours that would be a 2:05:05 marathon. Elites run a marathon at my peak sprint pace!

https://www.strava.com/activities/4476693221

14/12/2020

Over half-way done!!!