Great North run - Newcastle 2008 (September I think?)
- I believe I completed 5/6 training runs of 10 miles leading up to this event. Best time I had for those was 1hr 8mins.Turned out that when I ran the event my legs (hip flexors) ceased up on the 11.5 mile mark and had to hobble to the end!! To be fair I wasn't expecting this to happen and the photo's I had from this event were of me in agony holding onto railings..... I wanted to chase the photographer, yet could only muster a crouched over walk....good times!!
Great South Run - Portsmouth 2008 (October)
- I ran this with a friend called Kimberley. She had never done any running in her life before so I trained her up over a 7 week period and she done amazingly well. Finishing the race strongly...in fact we were going to cross the finish line together but she was a tad over excited by seeing the end she shot off like a bullet! I would've gone with her had I not been laughing!
Mont Blanc Marathon - Chamonix June 2009
- To date this is the only big challenge I have done. I will say now that I only trained through five 14-20 mile runs for this event.
Jamie (JK) had the best experience of me on one particular run during this time. Runners will appreciate the term 'hitting the wall'
OMG!!!! To this day I have never been in so much discomfort or pain on a run. I had cramp hitting me in places I had never had it before. All the while having to a chorus of JK's laughter.
If you were recording it, I'm sure it would've sounded like this;
aaahh, oooww, hahahahahaha, stop laughing! sh*t this hurts....I can't go on...vision has gone funny.....hahaha
After that fun experience I must say I never felt fitter and better whilst running.
The event itself was brilliant. The organisers and volunteers need to be commended for their organisation and skills for making the event such an enjoyable experience.
As we were in the mountains we thought it may not be that hot but as we didn't really check this it turned out to be 35 degree heat.........bring on the water!!!!
The sights, sounds, smells, chats and great people during the run made it special. I personally found it quite easy which was a surprise...not to say I didn't have a quiet moment here and there to reflect on that moment in time in which I was feeling knackered! Slurp down an energy gel and some grub and away I went again!........ no laughing this time JK!
Transalpine team members that I done this with
Me - in the black Skins Gear ( I LOVE SKINS)
JK - Red top, white shorts
Dave - Red top, blue shorts
We also had Neo the big Welsh guy with us on the Mont blanc....great guy.
All smiles.
