It's been a very long time since I last posted anything on this particular blog page. To be honest I didn't think I would be posting here again, I created a different blog for my post-MDS exploits which sort of petered out as I felt it was getting a bit repetitive - did long race, got lost, didn't die, met some great people, thanks to the organisers, that kind of thing.
However as some of you already know I've signed up for the 2016 MDS, which is getting ever more imminent. I wasn't going to blog about this time but it would appear a couple of my friends are having trouble with insomnia as they asked me if I'd be blogging about it this time and actually seemed disappointed when I said I wasn't planning to. I suspect it will be quite a different blog to last time but we'll see how it goes...
OK so last time everything went quite well apart from slightly shredded feet and an inability to enjoy industrial quantities of granola every day. The granola thing looks quite easy to fix - I can now get beetroot cereal bars. Now I know that most of you wouldn't consider this any sort of improvement on the granola, however I'm only having one per day and they are only 60g as opposed to 150g of the aforementioned cereal. I wanted to take beetroot last time as I'm a firm believer in its ability to increase endurance, unfortunately it was only available in concentrated liquid form which would have been too heavy to take for every day. I had one at the start and took one for the long day, which - possibly coincidentally, possibly not - was my best day of the race. I did try the beetroot bars at the Pilgrims Challenge last weekend (of which more later...) and I do think it is vaguely feasible to eat one per day without actually being sick - although the bright red spit when I cleaned my teeth did worry me until I realised it wasn't blood, just beetroot. I will be taking some form of pleasant tasting, yet to be decided, cereal bar to make up the rest of my morning calories so hopefully the breakfast issue is sorted.
The shoe issue has taken a bit (lot) more time (and money) to try and resolve. I'm fairly certain my problems last time were largely due to my narrow feet sliding in the shoe. Problem is, wide toe boxes are currently very fashionable in the running world, manufacturers love to tell you how their shoes let your toes spread and increase your proprioception. Unfortunately in my world 'proprioception' translates to 'massive blister on the ball of my foot' and I certainly don't want to increase that! Salomon Sense Mantras turned out to have a plastic heel cup that tries to cut the knobbly bit off my ankle if I run more that 6 miles in them, Inov8 Terraclaws are wide and fold onto my toes in a way that promises all kinds of interesting blisters, Roclites are better, Saucony Zealots are lovely but probably still slightly too wide - as you can see I have a large collection of not very suitable trainers!
I bought a pair of Inov8 Xtalons while I was injured and, as they are very much a soft trail shoe, didn't wear them all summer. However I have used them since and they are amazing. The precision (narrow) fit is great for me and I really enjoyed running Pilgrims (which I will get onto) in them. However I'm not sure the sole is ideal for sand. I've also got a pair of Salomon Sense Ultras (which don't have the homicidal heel cup) which are also narrow - however concerns have been raised about their durability in the desert...
As you can see the shoe question is still open although the field is narrowing - much like my feet. I'm also not completely settled on my back pack yet but I'll leave that for another blog and finally talk about... the Pilgrims Challenge - but not before I take you back a bit further and recap a few significant events from last year...
Obviously the most significant event was me entering the MDS. Being injured is a terrible thing as it gives you a lot of time to sit at the computer and send inadvisable emails enquiring about the possibility of a place in the 2016 event because you got so swept up in following friends on it this year...
Anyway after some excellent work by my physio I was back on the trails and managed to complete the Stour Valley Path 100km event in August. hopefully it won't be the fastest I ever run 100km but the main thing was I finished and was an ultra runner again.
The next ultra was the Tolkien run - 6 hours to run as far as you can/like. I managed 10 laps for a total of 38.5 miles and to my amazement was told I'd won the event - apparently I was the only person stupid enough to do 10 laps... This was followed by a top 10 finish on the Saltmarsh 75 and a new personal best at the (much improved) Chelmsford Marathon. This was despite the fact that 12 hours before the start I was half way through my second bottle of wine... My string of improbable results concluded with an age group win on the Druids Challenge which saw me collect my first - and what will almost certainly be my only - actual trophy.
There were a few other events and I had (and still have a bit) a few problems with sciatica but that brings things more or less up to... the Pilgrims Challenge. However blogs are supposed to be fairly short and concise. I know mine never have been but I do seem to have rambled on a bit so I'll end this entry here and next time talk about... the Pilgrims Challenge.
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