Running and Life Lessons

I have been running for in excess of 16 years from that first three mile run on 2nd May 2009 until last nights brutal interval session.  I should hit 10,000 miles of running in early 2026.  In that time I have learnt somethings, and I thought I would share them with you now.

Know yourself

I live with myself and my thoughts 24/7, 365, I know what rev's my engine, I know the buttons to push, the good and the bad ones.  This is the real you, not the parts you show to the outside world, not the work persona you exhibit to others.  It is the real, unvarnished you when you're in bed alone with your thoughts.

Once you are dialled into that you can tailor your goals, your strategy, your motivation around what works for you.  There is no one size fits all, it has to work for you and there has to be buy in from you.  Once you have that deep understanding of yourself, the rest follows.  

Your Why

This is the foundation on which the rest is built.  If your why is small or weak this thing collapses fast.  My biggest why is a sub three hour marathon.  That is a big scary goal, and one that may eventually prove unobtainable so I've got smaller backup whys.  I get out to run to aid in weight loss/ allowing me to eat bad food.  I do it to push myself.  I do it for some time by myself, to clear my head and think of nothing but propelling myself forward, particularly on those full effort sessions.

Try and make your why a positive one.  Negative whys aren't nearly as much fun or as effective.  I hate my body I want to workout so it changes, doesn't have you leaping out of bed.  Make your why I love my life and I want to live it fully, exercise will allow me to do that.

Your why can change.  If I ever achieve my sub 3 hour marathon dream I have the next goal lined up.  I can revisit the Ironman distance and do myself justice, I can tackle LEJOG on the bike in a week.  If I miss my sub 3 hour goal and age means it is no longer realistic I can pivot to another running goal if I need to.

Enjoy What You Do

You don't like running? Don't run.  Your exercise time is taking precious time out of your leisure and life budget.  A budget that is already tight given work, family and life commitments.  Ideally find a sport/fitness/wellness thing that you have a passion for, but if not a passion at least some enjoyment.  When working out is a chore find a different kind of workout.

Goal Setting

I enjoy listening to motivational speeches on my run and have a near 20 hour playlist, they warrant a blog of their own.  It isn't all gold, I'm too cynical to swallow everything they try to sell me.  Here are a couple that get my goat.

Impossible is nothing - It definitely is something.  No man or woman will run 100m in under 5 seconds without a jet pack or other cheat in my lifetime.  Oh don't be silly, that's not realistic.  Ok, so we agree that there is impossible, we just disagree on where to draw the line.

If just one person has done it, it proves it's possible for you - No it doesn't, you can't tell a 50 year old man that he is going to run the 100m in under 10 seconds.  Maybe in his prime he may have achieved it if he'd dedicated his life to it, but that ship has sailed.

Those two examples aren't designed to depress you, but just to focus your goal setting.  the SMART guy had it right.  Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.  Emphasis on achievable, sure we want to stretch ourselves but telling everyone they can be winners is setting people up for disappointment and failure, and what follows that is often quitting.

This blog is just a collection of my thoughts, but if I was aiming this at anyone it would be the ever day person just looking to get fit and challenge themselves whilst remaining engaged and motivated.  Realistic goal setting is a big part of making that work.

Take Responsibility 

We are all a product of our circumstances.  I have been fortunate in a lot of ways, living in the country that I do, in a loving middle class family, only experiencing loss when those I loved had enjoyed long well lived lives.  Others endure much more testing lives, whilst some have enjoyed privilege and opportunities I can only dream of.

Whatever your circumstances use those as your fire.   You've had nothing, use that as your drive to get out of there and never come back.  You've had opportunities and support, people will say you've had it handed to you, use that as your fuel to prove to them that you can reach higher than they ever believed.

You also need to put your circumstances in a box and concentrate on those things that you can control.  If we bring it back to fitness I'm in my early forties, have I lost my peak, is my maximum potential already in the rearview mirror? Perhaps, but I've made the choices I've made.  I still believe I can turn back the clock and beat all of my previous PB's.  Maybe I do hit my A goal of a sub 3 hour marathon and run a 2:58, if I had found this drive and motivation a decade earlier could I have gone sub 2:50? No good can come of that thinking, accept where you are right now and take responsibility for taking yourself to where you want to be.

The Race is Long

"The race is long and in the end it's only with yourself."Baz Luhrmann had it right in a lot of ways with Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen) but that lyric is the best of the lot.  Comparing yourself to others is tiring and in the end is futile.  You'll chase down that one person and soon find another to pursue.  Focus on you and your progress.  

Specific goals are great, be that my sub 3 hour marathon.  I achieve it, you won't find a happier person on this planet than me.  Fail, but having given my total focus to it for a block of 12 months, two years, five years.  You can feel the satisfaction that you gave your all.

Conclusion

Apologies if this comes across as preachy.  It was just a collection of my thoughts.  I believe we are all individuals, there is no definitive way of doing things that works for everyone but this blog covers the things that work for me.

• Know yourself
• Have a massive why.
• Enjoy what you do.
• Set goals that stretch you but aren't insane.
• Take responsibility.
• You only get one go at this.
• Concentrate on yourself, not how you compare to others.

Totally Addicted to Race

 I fear I have gone a little overboard with entering races.  I now have the next 12 months pretty much mapped out.  I have a double booking on the weekend of the HARP 24 race and so that will have to be pushed back until 2027.  Here is the current plan for the remainder of 2025 and through to autumn 2026.

Chase the Moon Olympic Park Halloween 10k - 29th October 2025

My next race is a midweek 10k at the Olympic Park, it is a course I did in the summer of 2017. Then I did it in the daylight, this time the four laps will be done in the dark which should be an interesting challenge.  I'm a little unsure on targets for this one, I did 56:29 on an undulating course in Newmarket in June and I should comfortably beat that time.  Last week's 22:25 5k is predicting 46:30 which is far too ambitious.  I think I'll aim for sub 50 and just look to empty the tank in the second half if I have more to give.

Southend Rudolph Run - 14th December 2025

I have only run the 5 mile distance once in a race at this event in 2016.  Then I ran it in 35:08.  Even with the most optimistic of eyes I can't see me getting close to that.  Quicker than 40 minutes, maybe 38 minutes? 

Post Christmas parkrun - 27th December 2025

We are heading up north for some of the holidays and I'd like to sneak in a parkrun on the Saturday after the big day.  Either at Albert Park or I may check out Stewart parkrun.  I'd like to go sub 22 minutes to round off my racing year.

BurjtoBurj - 8th February 2026

A half marathon in the Dubai sun with my friend Amy to start my 2026 racing year, yes please.  It will be great to run with her and see the fruits of our Runna plan.  There was talk of a sub 2 hour target, but we can finesse that closer to the time.

Middlesbrough Half Marathon - 1st March 2026

From Dubai to Middlesbrough, that is a gear change.  I will be looking to give it everything here.  What does that look like? I'm dreaming of 1:35 but we have four months of hard graft from now until then.  Plenty can go right, or wrong in that time.

Essex 20 - 15th March 2026

I have done the Essex 20 on four occasions but only once on the current course.  A grinding effort of over 4 hours in 2023.  My PB of 2:36:24 was set in March 2017, the last PB I ran before seven years of rust and neglect.  I'm not sure that will be under threat.

London Marathon - 26th April 2026

With that ballot place secured I will finally make it to the start line of the London Marathon after 16 years of running, injuries permitting.  I can try and downplay it, but I want a block of marathon training like none I've ever done and to set a new PB, 3:34:28 from Chester in 2011 is the target.

Those seven races are all booked and paid for and are in all the relevant diaries.   If I have got a PB or two in the process that will set me up beautifully for the second half of 2026, which is a little more fluid currently.

Southend Half Marathon - 14th June 2026

This is the first race that isn't booked, entries are yet to open.  I have finished this event eight times and it has been a hot one on each occasion.  It is super flat if a little boring, but it's local and I will hope to enjoy the benefits of the six months of base that I have built.

Basildon Half Marathon - 13th September 2026

I so enjoyed the 2025 Basildon half marathon that I promptly signed up for the 2026 edition.  I ran 1:57 this year and will hope to take a big chunk off of that in 2026.

Berlin Marathon - 27th September 2026

Have entered the ballot for this one, so no guarantee that I get in.  205 Euros entry is obscene.  I was looking for an autumn marathon in case London didn't go quite to plan.  If I get in, excellent, a family trip to Berlin in the autumn, if not I can find other races to test myself at.

Great South Run - 18th October 2026

I ran this in 2010, my first 10 mile race and the one where I nearly met Ben Fogle if only I had been braver.  If you were wondering I ran 1:12:05 to Ben Fogle's 1:13:22.  I enjoyed the race and it might tie in nicely with a visit to Bournemouth for my nephew's birthday.  I entered this the day after the 2025 edition, so keen was I to enter. 

By my count that is 10 races, plus a parkrun over the next 12 months.  Only the Southend HM and the Berlin Marathon aren't paid for and booked in.  I am currently race free in November, January, May, July and August but I am sure I can find a parkrun or two for a tune up in those fallow periods.  

My body is currently starting to creak so I don't want to overdo it, but I also want to ride this wave of improved fitness and heightened motivation to push myself on.  I'm trying to reverse the ageing process and get my times back to those of a decade plus ago.  It is a challenge, but it's one I am fully invested in.

Basildon HM Race Report - 14th September 2025

 The half marathon I ran in Basildon this morning couldn't have gone any better.  I am still buzzing now and will be for some weeks to come.  My official time was 1:57:17, what's the big deal you might ask?  I have run 32 half marathons and today's one ranked as only the 22nd fastest.  

It isn't just the result in isolation that sets the mood, but the result in relation to your pre-race expectations.  I ran 2:14 at the Shakespeare HM in April and had run well for 10km before my lack of training showed and the second half was littered with walk breaks.  I felt better heading into this race but thought that 6 minute km's so 2:06 was about my limit.  To finish 9 minutes faster, which works out at better than 25 seconds per km has left me ecstatic.

What made the result all the more satisfying was the negative split.  I won't give you all 21.1km worth of splits but if we divide the race into 4 quarters with the last 1.1km tagged on the end they look like this:

First 5k - 28:30

Second 5k - 28:15

Third 5k - 27:51

Fourth 5k - 26:55

Last 1.1k - 5:46

Faster and faster quarter by quarter.  I'm not sure I have done that in any of my previous 31 half marathons.  I have looked back over those half marathons to see if any could match the nearly 17 minutes I took off from my previous HM in late April to now.  

There really aren't many options.  When I started out running the time was falling off fast but I was building a base and taking my training seriously.  I had to work for it, but there was plenty of free time to be gained for a 25 year-old fresh to running.  I took off nearly 18 minutes from my second ever HM at Bristol (2:08:50) to my third every HM at Cardiff (1:50:58).  Another possibility was in 2014-15 when I suffered a very disappointing Southend HM in June 2014 (1:52:40) and next ran a HM at Great Bentley in February 2015 (1:35:18) an improvement of over 17 minutes, but there was 8 months between those races.

In terms of the negative splitting and feeling strong at the end, the race that came to mind was the Bristol HM in 2010 when I ran a PB of 1:36:21.  I met up with Pete after a couple of miles and he pushed me along to a really strong performance.  We hammered the last half mile and I was disappointed to see the race end as I still felt I had more to give.

Another thing to note for this race was that it was my first sub 2 hour half-marathon since May 2017 when I ran 1:52:30, so pre-children.  Since then I have run 4 ugly HM, 2:24, 2:44, 2:39 and 2:14.  Going comfortably sub 2 hours gives me hope that with sustained effort the good times can return.

It's sometimes difficult to objectively assess a race, when your good or bad performance so strongly impacts on how you felt about the race.  Today's race went fantastically, but I still think the Basildon HM is a terrific race and will be one I revisit.  It is super local to me and so all of the logistics are that much more simple.  The start and finish at the track worked really well, the course might not have been that exciting but it was closed roads and quiet which I like.  It wasn't flat, there were lots of gradual inclines, particularly the drag up the hill for a mile around the 10 mile mark but nothing too arduous.  I definitely ran my race, even paced not even effort.  Where there were inclines I worked harder and maintained the pace, whilst on the downhills I kept the pace consistent and just allowed myself a little rest.

Despite having run as many races as I have, I still see and hear new things each time and today's race was no exception.  Before the start I saw a young woman in a vest over her running top, inside which she had a vape and an asthma pump, which was an interesting choice.  I did see her finish a little while after me, I'm unable to confirm if she used either during the race.  I also heard a spectator, with the best of intentions cheer a fellow runner "Keep going you have the cutiest running style." The male runner in question was beside me, and it was definitely distinctive, but whatever the intention, nobody wants to hear that.

I think that is all I have to report on today's half marathon.  I will head to bed now with the warm glow of someone who has given it their all and is ready to go again.  My watch told me I needed 72 hours recovery, but I have a run on the plan for Tuesday and I intend to hit it.

Newmarket 10k - 2025 - Race Report

 Hot on the heels of last week's 24 hour race came another race, this time in the shape of the Newmarket 10k.  This has been a regular in my race calendar since 2017.  It has added significance as this was the race that was previously run in the name of my friend Sophie's brother Marcus, who passed away in February 2016.  Despite the name reverting back to the Newmarket 10k it will always be the Marcus Gynn 10k to me.

As well as the connection to the race, it is a brilliant race in its own right.  If you are looking for a flat, fast, 10k for a PB you are out of luck.  It is a challenging, undulating test.  This year was my 6th time doing the event and so I had no excuse for not knowing every inch of the course.  

The first half is all about trying to slow yourself down.  The course is predominantly downhill in this section, the occasional bump up but definitely with a net downhill.  The race finishes back where it starts and so what goes down must go up and boy does it go up in the run in.

I tried to run this race by feel but was keeping an eye on my heart rate, when it hit 170 BPM I really made an effort to dial back the pace.  I think I made a pretty decent effort at measuring my efforts but despite that my first 4km splits got progressively slower.

1km - 4:59

2km - 5:26

3km - 5:34

4km - 5:43

I did manage to arrest that decline in the 5th km and ran 5:29 to go through halfway in 27:11.  

I was struggling to find an appropriate target for this race, I knew I should run quicker than an hour but how much quicker? I had done a 10k in 54:28 the weekend before the girls were born in 2017 and I felt that was too quick for me, despite my recent 5k time of 24 minutes indicating I should run a 10k in about 50 minutes flat.  My training had me running ok at 5k, but my performance worsens the longer the distance and I thought even 55 minutes was ambitious.

The downhill kept coming into the second half and allowed me to sustain the pace with km's 6 and 7 being 5:38 and 5:32.  The fun stopped in km's 8 and 9 though with the two significant climbs on the course.  The first coming immediately after the final water stop, when fit I think I will refuse the water and just hit the hill and push on.  As it was I took the water, decided to walk briefly to drink, with the plan to then get back to running.  The plan failed and I took some short walk breaks.

I got talking to a Haverhill runner at this point, and he was miffed and swore never to do this race again.  I assured him we were over the worst of it, which technically we were, but in the haze of exhaustion I had forgotten the second hill we would have to tackle prior to the finish.

He went ahead, I tackled that second hill as best I could with some further walk breaks.  Once over it though I managed to catch up Haverhill and he said he might as well have stuck with me.  He got slightly ahead of me and I was calling out 500m to go, 400m to go, for him but also to gee myself up for the run in to the finish.  However well or badly the race has gone I can always find a kick for the final run to the finish on the grass and this year was no different.  I took over a couple of runners on the run to the line.  Haverhill and I got in a good sprint but he pipped me to the line.  I finished in 56:29 in 135th place out of 206 runners.  It is always a strong field, given it is very much a club run and so decent finish positions are always hard to come by.

Post race it is all a bit of a confused picture.  I had a lovely weekend, I thoroughly enjoyed the race and have been buzzing ever since.   Yet I am disappointed to have walked for almost 3 minutes and to have not run 1.5 - 2 minutes faster.  The progress I am making should still be enjoyed though as these Newmarket 10k times show:

2017 - 50:15

2019 - 1:01:26

2022 - 1:09:07

2023 - 1:00:51

2024 - 1:00:04

2025 - 56:29

There is still plenty of work for me to do across all race distances but a start has been made and to have gone significantly under the hour mark despite having walked for 3 minutes that should be cause for celebration.  

The heart rate data indicates I probably didn't have a whole lot more to give.  An average HR of 168 with a high of 190.   10 minutes of tempo, 40 minutes of threshold and 5 minutes of anaerobic.

I am hoping next year I can return to Newmarket and get myself under 50 minutes and a course best.  2026 is shaping up to be a good and busy year of racing.

HARP 24 - The 2025 Edition - The Numbers Heavy Conclusion

 Thanks for having stuck with me through the three HARP 24 blogs covering my 2025 journey to 65 miles in 24 hours.  In this final blog I want to dig a little deeper into the numbers and try and look at how we get from there to the ultimate goal, 100 miles in a day.

I don't have perfect information on this, but from the data I have from my Garmin plus the official splits I think we can piece it together pretty well.  If we look at what I did across the 24 hours it looks something like this:

Running - 2 hours 40 minutes at 11:15 min miles covering 14 miles.

Walking - 15 hours at 17:30 min mules covering 51 miles.

Still - 30 minutes.

Off course - 4 hours 40 minutes.

Early finish - 1 hour 10 minutes.

Total time 24 hours.

Put into km's that is 11 min/km walking pace and 7min/km running.  The walking I am happy with, the running looks a little slow but it is in the ball park of what I would have been doing.  Maybe 6:40's when fresh and a little slower as I tired.  My short runs as the race progressed will have been hard for the Garmin to pick up accurately. 

The 30 minutes of still would have included some of the off course stuff in those early laps when I went for supplies etc, and would also include brief pauses at water stops for a refill.  Later on I had some unscheduled rest stops as I pulled off the course to allow horse riders or faster runners to pass.

Off the course was in the main my two sleep stops.  I have lap 8 at nearly 3 hours 10 minutes and lap 9 at 4 hours 20.  7 and a half hours for 2 laps, which would probably have been 3 hours on course so you've got something like 4.5 hours off course during the night.

I then bunked off early at 10:52 in the morning and so lost over an hour of move time there.

If we are looking for easy wins in our quest for greater distance than the 4 hours 40 minutes off course and 1 hour 10 minute early finish would be the first to go, throw in 10 minutes less still time and we have a nice even 6 hours.  Even if I just walked all 6 of those hours we are covering an additional 20 miles as a minimum, taking our distance up to 85 miles.

85 miles feels pretty close to that 100 mile target, but 15 miles, over a half marathon is still a sizeable gap.  The thing working in our favour is just how little time I spent running.  Even with some generous rounding and bringing in some slow undetected shuffling we are struggling to get up to three hours.

As I said in my previous blogs I'm just not endurance ready at the minute.  If I can change my marathon shape from 5 hours to 4 hours or even something better, that makes life so much easier, and would allow me to stretch out that run time further.  But it needs to go out a decent amount.  Changing sleeping to walking has a big impact, shifting 17:30 minute miles walking to 11:15 minute running much less so.

We are effectively adding 2 miles an hour for each hour of walking upgraded to an hour of running.

Just to show that 85 miles again, our new look 24 hours would look something like this:

2 hours 40 minutes at 11:15 min/miles - 14 miles

21 hours 50 minutes at 17:30 min/miles - 71 miles

30 minutes still/off course.

Total 85 miles.

At 2 miles an hour extra we are going to need to convert 7 hours of walking into 7 hours of running and our final 24 hour split to get to 100 would shake out like so:

10 hours running at 11:15 min/miles - 54 miles

13.5 hours walking at 17:30 min/miles - 46 miles

30 mins still/off course.

That final push to get over the top is a significant one.  I can see a way to get to 16 laps and 80 miles just by losing the sleep completely and really being super efficient, it is that last 20% which is going to require me to get myself fit enough to be a runner, not a hiker/adventurer/explorer.

I'm struggling to wait a year to put this right, and have silly ideas of creating my own 24 hour event later this summer.  I must be patient and wait to do it where it counts at HARP 24 in 2026.  

HARP 24 - The 2025 Edition - Part 3

 Now 20 hours into the challenge and with the end in sight I had the time to think and contemplate the size of it all.  I had been on my own for almost the entirety of the event, there were occasional interactions with the volunteers at the aid stations. or with fellow runners/walkers, but these were fleeting.  I enjoyed the time and didn't use my headphones for the first 10 hours, chosing to listen to the sounds of the wood  and in an effort to preserve my phone battery.  With the challenge of the night loops I decided to bring in some assistance and so listened to lots of Parenting Hell podcasts, my motivational playlist and some Nelly throughout much of the rest of the event.

Given that I was walking I was able to be on my phone alot, messaging friends and family, keeping my spirits up and letting them know how I was getting on.  My brothers Luke and Joe in particular were checking in on me and geeing me up.  Having completed lap 12 they both messaged within 10 minutes of each other to urge me out for one more lap to get the distance over 100km.  Given the exhaustion and me concentrating on miles I hadn't quite put that together and so it was good to give me that final nudge out of the tent to complete that 13th and final loop.  

I was now taking over an hour and a half for each lap and could see that a 14th lap wasn't possible.  Joe did ask if I could squeeze one in but I completed lap 13 at 10:52 and there was no way I was churning out a 1:07 lap to get in before the cut-off.  At some 24 hour events they allow you to complete the lap you are on as long as you start it before the end of the 24 hours.  That is tough on the organisers who are almost as tired as the competitors and rightly want to get themselves home, and so HARP say all laps need to be finished by 12 midday.  Rocking up at 12:02 thinking you've bagged another lap must be brutal.

I also had places to be and so immediately set about getting myself packed up ready to depart.  The girls had a show at half 2 and I needed to get myself home and showered asap.  That was easier said than done.  My body which seemed able to churn out 11 minute kms walking seemingly indefinitely, decided to creak on that last lap and there were 12:31 and 12:07 km's on the run in.  

The body shutting down continued after I crossed the line, the only way I could get myself on the ground was to get as close as I could to the target area and then just drop.  A quick crawl around and I could empty the tent of it's contents before a big effort to get myself vertical again.  I managed to find a Mark One Hire provided wheelbarrow to transport the food and clothing back to my car, before returning to deconstruct the tent.  Taking the tent down proved even more challenging than putting it up, but I finally managed to do it without it blowing away or breaking.

Another slow trudge back to the car and my HARP 24 experience was over for another year.  A final total of 65 miles spread over 13 idyllic loops of Cherry Orchard Country Park.  10 miles more than last year, 10 miles less than I was probably capable of, given my current level of fitness.  But a warm satisfied glow all the same.  I don't know why I do ultras, they aren't really my thing, but there is something that really hooks me about the 24 hour format, how far can you transport yourself under your own steam in the course of a day? 

The support from my wife, and friends and family was incredible and so appreciated, it made the whole thing so much better .  As was the support of my fellow runners and walkers taking on this crazy challenge, the ultra vibe is just so different from any other race you will do.  I was keeping an eye on my catagory, but I wasn't really in a race.  We were just 300 or so people that decided to battle against the course and the elements in a shared challenge.  A final thanks to all the volunteers at HARP who make the whole thing tick, those on the course helping us through it, and those back at base and behind the scenes.  It is such a slick operation for what is a small, local charity event.  I will look to keep coming back, I have challenges left unmet as a solo runner, but maybe in a few years I will explore the team aspect as well.

That completes my HARP 24 2025 story, but there will be a 4th blog with a nerdy stats deep dive on this year, and my future 24 hour plans for those who have the stamina for it.

HARP 24 - The 2025 Edition - Part 2

Having completed lap one I went to grab some supplies from the tent and had a quick stop at the loo then back to the start for lap two.  I hadn't mucked about and yet I found myself looking at my watch and seeing that I had lost four or five minutes.  I knew I had to cut back on those stops, and so over the course of the 24 hours I did a number of back to back laps.  Through the finish line arch, round the corner and through the start line arch.  It perked me up to know I had saved myself that time.  At 11 minutes a kilometre I could be 500 metres up the road in the time I was spending back at base.

Lap two was 1:13 on the official splits, lose 5 minutes for the stop it was more a 1:08.  It is difficult to differentiate each lap, they all merge into one long summery walk.  I was still running for good amounts of those first laps.  The time off the course makes proper split comparisons difficult but they do show that the running was becoming less frequent.

Lap 1 - 56:28

Lap 2 - 01:13:44

Lap 3 - 01:17:14

Lap 4 - 01:26.08

That gradual slowing had to be halted and I managed to do so on lap 5 with a 01:13:56.

I have managed to piece this all together with the official split timings which were great, and almost instanteous in getting updated, along with my Garmin Forerunner 255 that i got for Christmas.  It is a lovely looking thing and capable of triathlon if that is your bag.  The thing that attracted me to it was the long battery life, 24 hours as advertised if used as a running watch.  It can last a week as a conventional watch and step counter.  I wasn't totally convinced it would last the entire event and prior to the race Roman and I were trying to turn off the phone alerts that appear on the watch in an effort to save battery.  Alas, we failed and so that along with me wanting to have splits every km meant that at some stage we were going to need to have a recharge plan.

My Garmin and I made it through 7 laps, 35 miles and a little over 9 hours when I opted to have a break.  I had really hoped I could grab some free laps by not sleeping at all but after working hard through the heat of the day I started to crave a stop.  I had made it through till 11pm last year and did a lap with the headtorch before hitting the hay.  This time it was 9pm and I had completed 7 laps in the daylight.

I had been so adament that I wouldn't sleep that I hadn't bothered to pack a sleeping bag, so I lay in my touch too small tent, fully clothed, socks and shoes remaining on with my head on my bag attempting to sleep.  Why did you keep your shoes and socks on I hear you ask? I was really fortunate not to suffer with blisters the entire event and so I didn't want to upset the applecart by changing anything.  My three pairs of spare trainers remained untouched, as did my post race flip flops.

I got some sleep I think, then spoke to the girls and Lauren after they had finished their show.  Sending them off to bed, I crawled out of my tent with headtorch on ready for my first night lap.  The garmin has me starting it at a little before 11pm and taking 1:27 for my five mile loop.  My tent was calling me again and so I headed back after the one lap.

It all gets a little fuzzy at this point.  40 miles into a race, in the middle of the night, with the heat, my brain is far from it's best.  I set my alarm for 3am and attempted a second block of sleep.  My alarm went off, or what I thought was my alarm at 1:40, I think it must have been someone in a neighbouring tent.  I was all ready to head out when I saw the time and decided to grab a little more shut eye.  I eventually roused myself a little before 3am and was on the trails ready to move on through to the end.

The night laps were very much walked.  Even at that pace I managed to give a tree root a good kick.  But once the sun came up about 5am I was able to run parts of the course.  My garmin has me doing 15 miles and 3 loops in 4 1/2 hours between 3 and 7:30 in the morning.  Getting me up to 11 laps and equalling last years total.  That was a really nice boost to reach breakfast time having matched last year.  4.5 hours to go, 1 lap to beat it, 2 laps to go over 100km and 3 laps looking just out of reach.

Come back for the final instalment to find out how many I did.