Somewhere between Maidenhead and Cookham I felt the wheels
becoming a bit wobbly on the Reece machine.
The glances at my watch were becoming a little desperate and I found
myself willing the GPS data to show the miles ticking over quicker and getting
me close to the next break station. Occasionally I pressed a hand into my
abdominal area, grimacing at the stitch pain beginning to emanate.
I’d assessed in advance that I’d find this the toughest part
of the Thames Path Challenge. The
stretch from the Eton Wick rest station (62.5 KM/39 miles) to the Cookham rest
station (78 KM/48.5 miles) was taking me not just beyond the longest distance
I’d covered in training but further than I had ever covered within a single
day. Reaching the 100KM finish line at
all was suddenly in question, let alone my aim of finishing in under 14 hours. No doubt I was getting weaker and I knew
things would come down to how I responded to the rest break I would be taking
at Cookham. Could the rest make me stronger or would I continue to weaken?
Until those moments the day could hardly have gone
better. A cab shared with fellow
challengers, Caitlin and Anne-Marie, had dropped me near the start area at
Bishop’s Park, Fulham in good time and I’d completed registration the day
before so had no worries about timing.
Okay, I had a bit of “morning head”, having set the alarm to get up at
4am, but the adrenalin was beginning to compensate nicely and, as I did a short
warm up jog, I noted with sheer delight that I was moving fluidly and
comfortably, there were no worrying niggles nor stiffness. I knew I was as well prepared as I could
reasonably have expected to be and it would have been greedy to have expected
better of the weather, set to be dry, not too bright, not hot and not much more
than a breeze.
Incredibly, like much of the rest of the day that was to
follow, time disappeared in a blink and there we were being called to the start
line. Caitlin and Anne-Marie were going
to be walking the 50KM challenge so with parting wishes of good luck we
separated at the start as I pushed on, looking to get up to my intended running
pace. As I had practiced throughout my
long runs in training, I settled into a run/walk strategy – 15 minutes of
running followed by 3 minutes of walking during which I would have a nibble of
an energy bar and a few swigs of water or electrolyte drink. Within two iterations of the run/walk cycle
the field of runners had thinned out considerably leaving the path ahead clear. I was nicely in my “long run zone” with tunes
running through my mind at a beat consistent with my running pace.
I was happy to cross off bridges from my mental list –
Hammersmith, Barnes, Chiswick, Kew Rail, Kew – somewhere in this stretch I just about had
awareness to recognize and call out to a group of Bearcat runners, led by
Romit, heading in the opposite direction.
A mile or two later and suddenly there was another familiar Bearcat face
– Sally – running alongside me and bringing me to the realization that the
first break station at Old Deer Park, Richmond, was just ahead.
And then absolute joy as there was a bigger
group of Bearcats cheering me into the rest station. Among them Jess, extraordinary Ultra-runner
herself who had given me so much great advice, and now taking charge of getting
me tea and a croissant and filling my water bottles.
Photos taken, tea slurped and croissant munched, while I
could happily have spent more time with my mates, I knew I had a schedule to
keep and off I strode but now joined by Jon from the Bearcats who with amazing
kindness had offered to run with me for the next 20 miles.
This has become something of a tradition for
Jon who has run this stretch three years in a row to support different Bearcats
competing in the Thames Path Challenge. Even before we reached Richmond Bridge, there
was Bernie, another Bearcat, who ran with us for the next 5 minutes and then a
little further along, around Ham, yet another Bearcat, Lee came running towards
us and slapped hands as we crossed.
We were now on a stretch that we had both run doing the
Green Belt Relay in May and it was great to be enjoying the views at the more
relaxed pace of the Thames Path Challenge.
As we passed a rowing club we were cheered by the sight of another Bearcat,
Rob. Having crossed the River again at
Walton Bridge we were soon at the third rest station in Manor Park, Shepperton
but this was little more than an in/out stop managed in less than 10 minutes.
It was great to be met at Runnymede, by yet another Bearcat,
Susan, who was there as an official volunteer and scanned me in. I reached the 50KM point at 12.39pm in a time
of 5h49m which was 10 minutes ahead of the time I’d planned for.
I had planned on having a meal during this break, but this
was one thing that had been difficult to model in training and I wasn’t too
sure how I was going to cope with the generous mound of pasta that was handed
to me. Nevertheless, once I got started,
I found myself munching steadily enough through it, washed down with more tea –
a welcome break from energy bars and electrolyte drink.
One of the key things to remember at the halfway break was
to collect my “main bag” that I’d had transported from the start. I was glad that one of the things I’d done in
my preparations was to have written a list of all the things I needed to do in
this break. Key things included changing
shirt and socks and squeezing into my Ultra-vest a base layer, light fleece and
headtorch. With things swapped over, I
dropped off my main bag again to be transported onwards – I was already looking
forward to seeing it again at Henley!
Overall, I took about 10 minutes more than I’d planned at
the halfway break, but I felt well set as I moved off once more, well and truly
focussed on reaching the next rest stop at Eton Wick, about 8 miles away. I saw this as a crucial stage in the event
but one that, at that moment, I was very confident of tackling. I was running with a confidence born on the
back of the recces I’d done that made this next stage of the course
recognisable and the fact that my longest training, run just four weeks
previously, had gone a couple of miles beyond the 39 mile mark that I would be
reaching at Eton Wick. Nevertheless, I
didn’t want to reach Eton Wick feeling as tired as I had felt at the end of
that longest training run.
Due to a mixture of the distance I’d already run, a bit of
rustiness creeping in because of the near 40-minute break I’d taken and also
from an awareness of the need to carefully control my efforts, my pace was a
few notches down. Nevertheless, I was still
hovering around the 9m30s per mile pace in my running phases and I was
continuing to strictly apply the 15/3 run/walk strategy. There were moments when I had some doubts that
I was sustaining the pace but, on checking my watch, I had the satisfaction of
finding my pace was consistent. And in
this section of the course I had to tackle an awkward bridge (Albert Bridge –
with a pretty steep run of steps to scale), followed by a tricky section of
path (inches wide, laced with tree roots and sandwiched between nettles and
thorns), a busy main road to get across twice, another tricky path (not quite
so bad), another set of steps to scale a bridge (Victoria Bridge) and then a
spell of more relaxed running as I headed towards and then past Windsor, crossing Windsor Bridge in the
process. From there it was only about 3
miles to the Eton Wick break station and with my strength still intact, I
maintained the pace on this far easier section of the course.
My arrival at Eton Wick was officially 2.39pm, over 5
minutes ahead of the time I’d planned for.
However, as with the stop at Runnymede, I didn’t have any particular
focus on the time that was elapsing during the break and I dawdled my way
through drinking tea, eating crisps, filling water bottles and sending progress
update messages on social media.
Overall, I took 23 minutes compared with the 15 minutes that had been in
my plan.
Once again, I found setting off after the break a bit more
difficult than it had been earlier but after a few minutes I felt comfortable
enough. However, I did find my pace
notably dropping, reduced to 10 minutes per mile. This did seem strange as in the early miles
of this stage I still felt strong and without the evidence of my watch I would
not have realised my pace was in decline.
While I’d marked the section from Runnymede to Eton Wick as
crucial, the section I was now on, from Eton Wick to Cookham, was going to be
critical. This was now taking me beyond
the distance I’d run in training and it was also the longest individual section
of the course.
Something I haven’t mentioned yet is how quiet the paths
were and how infrequently it was that I would see others who were doing the event. In the 9 mile stretch between Eton Wick and
Cookham I doubt I saw more than 10 fellow ‘challengers’. Near enough everyone I saw appeared to be as
equally fatigued or even more so than I felt, something I was able to take some
reassurance from!
Maidenhead Bridge was a notable landmark on this stage –
another crossing of the river but also a slightly frustrating wait for traffic
lights to change in order to get back to the river path. About 3 miles into this stretch, while still
keeping the 15/3 cycle going, the data on my watch showed my running pace notably
dropping and this continued over the following miles. As well as this, I also started to feel a
stitch pain building up. The last couple
of run/walk cycles in the lead up to the rest stop at Cookham were tough going
and I started to have nagging doubts about whether I would be able to muster
anything more than a walk for much of the remaining 14 miles ahead of me. I come back to the question from my opening
paragraphs - could I get stronger with the break or would I continue to weaken?
All the messages of support were brilliant to read and two
in particular stood out. My daughter Carmella
had forwarded me a video message that at the time I couldn’t hear but I could see
well enough came from The Gambia – it was the two young sons of Lamin Kinteh
(who I mentioned in my last post). While
I didn’t hear properly what they said until later, it gave me a real lift
knowing that I was in their thoughts.
The second message arrived literally as I was sitting there seeking
inspiration. This was another video
message – with great delight I watched my daughter Chloe, her husband Darren
and their three children, Harry, Lila and Evie, all yelling their support…
“Come on Grandad… Run Reece Run!”
Feeling lifted, I got on with the chore of refilling water
bottles and getting ready to set off. For the first time I felt it necessary to
wear the microfleece top I’d been carrying in my Ultra-vest as there was an
increasing chill in the early evening (5.25pm) air.
After all my earlier stops I’d set off immediately with a run but this time I felt the need to build up momentum more gradually. I walked for a minute or two and then, having broken into a very stiff run (‘run’ perhaps being an exaggeration), I came to a very slight detour to go around where a funfair was being set up. This unfortunately took me into an area with very long grass and I quickly decided there was little point in trying to run through this. This wasn’t for long but then, having just got back to the path again and resumed running, I reached another bridge crossing and again my running was interrupted. The rest of that 15-minute spell of running was far from smooth and then, with the sun emerging again and the wind dropping, I decided the fleece had to be taken off which elongated the ensuing 3-minute walking spell. The answer to the question ‘stronger or weaker’ was definitely still in the balance!
Finally, with the fleece stowed away again, I decided I
really had to knuckle down. This time I
had a proper 15-minute running stint and got myself to a slightly better and
sustained pace. Nevertheless, it was
still a little slower than the 12 minutes per mile pace I’d set as a benchmark
in my planning of this stage. My next cycle
of running was better – now faster than the benchmark pace. I calculated that the next break station was
about 2 miles away and this spurred me on.
In my next phase of running my pace was even better, at about 11m30s per
mile. I saw out the full 15 minutes of
running and then took just a minute for the following walk phase that took me
over Temple Footbridge. On crossing the
bridge, I picked up the running again for the last half mile to Hurleyford Farm
– the rest stop at 88KM (c. 55 miles) – arriving at 6.45pm (11h55m).
Taking on crisps, Jaffa Cakes and two cups of tea and
sending a few messages led to a longer stop than the 15 minutes I’d planned but
this was nevertheless shorter than my previous stop at Cookham. Now past 7pm, it was definitely cool enough
to warrant the fleece going on. As I
readied myself to set off I checked my timings. I was about 15 minutes behind my
planned schedule but I knew that if I could keep the 15/3 run/walk strategy
going with a run pace of 12 minutes per mile I would be comfortably inside the
14 hour target time I’d set myself. Stronger
or weaker? I was about to find out!
Off I went, now in the diminishing light of the
early evening. The initial part of the stage once again involved a couple of
bridge crossings which inevitably slowed my running pace. I tried to compensate by taking less than 3
minutes in the following walk part of the cycle.
Now I was at a more straight forward section of the course
and I looked down at my legs… “Stronger or weaker?” Their response with every stride, “Stronger!
Stronger! Stronger!”
I could feel a renewed energy and I was travelling at
comfortably faster than the required 12 minutes per mile pace. For the first time in 3 hours my predominant
feeling was one of energy rather than of just hanging in or worse. It was quite weird as it felt like I was
running again at the pace I’d set at the start of the day although in reality I
was actually much slower at around 11 mins per mile compared with the 9m15s per
mile that I’d sustained through most of the first half.
Again, I decided to cut the amount of time on the next
walking phase to less than three minutes.
On the following run phase I maintained my pace through the full 15
minutes, though it was now getting very dark.
With the last hint of daylight disappearing, in the next walk phase I
had to take extra time, rummaging through my Ultra-vest to find my head torch.
With the headtorch in place and about to set off for the
next cycle of running, I checked my watch – now at nearly 96KM (59.6 miles) –
less than a Parkrun to go! Setting off
again, I soon reached the final stretch of path that I knew would eventually
reach Henley Bridge!
Step by step brought the Bridge into clearer definition and
there it was! As I reached the Bridge, I
passed what appeared to be a newly married couple and I yelled out a call of
“Congratulations!” I bet they had
absolutely no idea that the passing stranger calling out to them had just run
almost 100KM!
Nevertheless, there was still a bit to go and, after making
the crossing, I left the welcome light of the bridge and plunged back into
darkness as I picked up the river path again and headed in the direction of the
finish at Mill Meadows. This area really
was dark and I began to worry that I was on a parallel path taking me away from
the finish. With great relief, suddenly
there, unmistakably, was the finish area – quite weirdly only coming into view
when I was almost upon it.
A chorus of
cheers called me towards the finish archway and there was Lesley waving from
the side and a marshal recording my finish time and another placing a medal
round my neck and pressing a glass of bubbly in my hand. And there was Lesley and Carmella hugging me
and Martyn (Lesley’s brother) shaking my hand. 100KM completed amidst a heady mix of relief, satisfaction and love! Furthermore, in reaching the finish at 8.39pm, my official finish time was 13h49m, a safe 10 minutes inside the target I'd set myself.
No doubt about it, I was now in an excellent mood but, as I often find, the deepest emotion took about 36 hours to set in. When it did, I could have almost floated on the sensation of “runner’s high” which seemed to last for weeks!
Some words of credit to the Challenge Events
organisers. I have nothing but
admiration for how well the Thames Path Challenge was organised! Considering the 100KM distance that had to be
covered, the course was superbly signed – there were just two points in the
dark where I might have wished for one or two more flags or glowsticks but
overall it must have been an incredible effort to have put out the number of
signs that there were. The rest stations
were well resourced and the marshals in attendance were helpful and
enthusiastic.
Will I do another 100KM Ultra? One thing’s for sure – it won’t be in
2020! The main issue being the amount of
time I felt was necessary to dedicate to training. Nevertheless, it was certainly an amazing experience
and I found (like a good few running mates had said) that the overall physical
impact was less than I generally have had with Marathons.
And that’s where I am
now - preparing for the last two elements of Challenge 2019. Amsterdam Marathon
on 20th October and my third Thames Meander Marathon of the year on
2nd November. I was delighted
to find that any residue stiffness from the Ultra had disappeared after 36
hours (thanks to foam roller and stretching exercises). One of my toes was a bit swollen but by the
end of the week it seemed okay (apart from another lost nail!) and I re-started
training one week after the Ultra and with 5 weeks to prepare for Amsterdam.
A final word of heartfelt thanks for all the support on my
Ultra day. It was fantastic seeing so
many friends come out to wish me well, particularly Caitlin being there at the start, Jon’s 20-mile stint and Lesley,
Carmella and Martyn being there at the end.
Then there were the many social media messages of support that lifted me
so much when I read them at the rest stations.
Finally, the donations to my fundraising which took off exponentially
and enabled me to reach the £1,000 target I’d aimed for.
Nevertheless, while I continue Challenge 2019 the
fundraising is ongoing via virginmoneygiving.com/JohnReece. As
ever, all donations are hugely appreciated!
Many thanks again!
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