Hot, hot, hot! Not me, I look like a sack of potatoes, the weather

Last week my maths was off when I said I had 16 to go. That was clearly a brain fart brought on by not being able to count to more than 3 after running a marathon! Now there are only 16 left to do.

Last week I thought I only had 16 to go, so a week later being back at the same figure is a bit disheartening. I mean, I could have been saying ‘only 15 more to go’ which is a much nicer figure. I guess I shall save that little party for next week.

Luckily I have Caroline to mark my work, so she picked up on my bad arithmetic.

So this weeks marathon was without a name until my friend Guy came up with the perfect suggestion, but more of that later.

I was originally booked in to run the Hellstone Marathon. This is a sister race to The Dorset Ooser. Sadly both races, organised by Badger Trail Events, got postponed until later in the year on dates that I’m already booked for something else. I was weirdly looking forward to them, but I think the names suggest that they may have been quite tough!

As usual I was stuck for ideas of routes for this week, and being in denial about the whole challenge right now didn’t help. Luckily Guy stepped forward once again with a suggestion for a route. So there was my plan.

The weather is really nice at the moment, but very hot, so not ideal for marathon running. When I was planning this challenge I assumed the winter months would be the hardest, and they were, but running on a hot day poses its own problems. I decided it would be wise to set off early, to avoid the hottest part of the day. So off I trotted at 7 am from my house and on towards the ever faithful and very familiar Cycle Track to Newport.

A welcome running partner

Beyond there once again I continued along the Red Squirrel Trail from Shide. As I was running I was listening to the Marathon Talk podcast, but I could hear someone approaching behind. I turned to see a friend called Steve Powell with a big grin on his face. He’s currently training for a marathon that may not go ahead, but having committed the time to the training is still going to run it regardless.

Steve was on his big run for the week, so we ran together for a while, keeping a safe distance of course. I’d forgotten how nice it is to run with someone else. When you’re on your own it’s easy to get into a bit of a plod, but running with someone else means you run a better pace and while chatting you don’t even notice the miles.

I had intended to take a turn that goes towards Godshill but yet again I missed it. I really must figure that out because it’s not the first time. Steve was going a different way, so we parted company and I headed what I thought was the right way, only to realise it wasn’t, so I turned around and continued the same way as Steve, but he was gone. In hind sight I think it was the right way to go because I spent the next few miles trying to wind my way towards Godshill. Trouble is, I found a nice Woodland trail called Martins reserve, or something like that. Never been there before and it was such a nice trail to run on that I just went with it.

Of course that put me right off track, but I eventually found my way onto the road to Godshill. You’d think having lived on the Island for the years I have that I would know it like the back of my hand. Apparently not!

There’s a lovely trail from Godshill called the Worsley Trail. It heads out around the back of Appledurcomb House. Rather hilly, in fact it’s all up hill. But it’s pretty and there are llamas, so worth the effort. I headed up onto the downs, I’d like to say I was running all the way, but that would be a lie.

Once at the top there’s the Worsley monument standing proud over the most beautiful view looking out across the patchwork of the Isle of Wight. From here I headed on with the intention of running towards Stenbury down and on towards Ventnor. But a quick check of my distance showed that I was over 19 miles in. All my earlier meandering had added up the miles. Caroline was originally supposed to pick me up at Carisbrooke, if I went any further that would be wrong. So I turned the other way down what can only be described as a death trap of a hill. Super steep. Very uneven and dry so easy to slip, surrounded on both sides by barbed wire, thorns and bastard nettles. Perfect choice of route.

Lost again!

By now I was once again well off track. I was just running in directions that I thought looked ok. I decided that I should head towards Chillerton and get picked up there. I could see the mast in the distance so I headed that way, but even with that great big thing to guide me I got lost a couple more times. At one point I was running around a fishing lake for what seemed like ages. No exit to be seen!

I finished in the middle of nowhere on a dirt track that I dare say I will never find again. I was about a mile from Chillerton where I was going to be picked up. I was spinning out, my legs were in agony and I felt sick, but had to trudge on to the pick up point. I’m not a great promotion for marathon running am I?

The best goody bag ever!

Once home, several cold drinks later, Caroline handed me a lovely case. It was very heavy. Inside it was a whole care package. There was a certificate that said congratulations on finishing the inaugural massive anchor marathon. There was food, beer, a book called ‘the loneliness of the long distance runner, vegan jerkie, all sorts. There was even a Milli Vanilli single called Keep on Running! Must have been from Guys personal collection. Of course there was a big heavy anchor with a chain to hang around my neck and to go with it, a hat with an anchor on it and a t shirt with a massive anchor on it. I’ll ignore the insinuation because it really was an extra ordinary treat from my friend Guy Boorman. You may remember him from the South Wight Ballbreaker marathon early in the year.

Guy has been behind organising all of the amazing hand made medals and trophies that I’ve received whilst doing these homegrown marathons. I am so unbelievably grateful for his support, and of course everyone that has taken the time to make me a medal.

Next week I should have been Running the River Meon Valley marathon, but guess what? postponed 🙁

If anyone has any suggestions of a route that I can run, I would be massively grateful.

The cancellations continue and my lockdown hair is going rogue!

This weekend should have been spent exploring Edinburgh and then taking part in the Edinburgh Marathon. I’ve never done this one before and was looking forward to it. It has been postponed to later in the year, so there is still a bit of hope that I’ll get to do it. that being said, I heard that the Dublin marathon has now been cancelled and that should have been October, that now puts the rest of the marathons in this 50 marathon challenge in the firing line!

All of the marathons that have been put back to next year leaves me with a predicament. I’ve paid for the event and in some cases pre-booked travel and accommodation. It comes to a chunk of money. In a few cases I’ve been able to get a refund or partial refund. But in most cases they don’t give refunds, only a place for the new date or the following year.

I won’t lie, really don’t want to do any marathons next year. After this challenge I want to sit and rest, eat pie, take up surfing again, anything but run! So I either lose the money or bite the bullet and run them. Neither are appealing to me.

I do however understand the problem faced by race organisers. The big marathons will bounce back, but I do fear for the smaller races. These are the guys that will suffer and possibly not rebound next year. I hope they do, because they keep a thriving community of runners going throughout the year.

This challenge has included big marathons with thousands of entrants, such as the Athens Marathon, races of a mid range with several hundred entrants, such as Beachy Head. And then there’s the really low key ones that may only have about 50 runners. The Brett Owler Marathon only had about 30 people! They will all be feeling the pinch. I dare say next year’s calendar will be massively reduced.

So asking for my entry fee to be refunded is an ethical dilemma. It’s no one’s fault that we’re in this situation, but someone will lose out. In most cases it has been me, but there have been some who have kindly given me a refund.

Anyway, wasn’t I supposed to be talking about marathon 33, rather than banging on about cancelled races?

Todays route

Yesterday was really windy, so I opted to run today. Still windy, but better. I had been given a route suggestion by a friend that seemed ok so that became my plan.

I started from home and yet again headed down the cycle track to Newport. I felt pretty good and was able to keep a steady 8:30 pace. My Achilles were killing me, but generally I felt strong.

From Newport I continued on to Shide to join the Red Squirrel Trail all the way to Sandown. I had previously run this route on marathon 29. It’s a nice flat route that offers some shade and by now it was hot.

The Coastal Path

It works out about 14 miles into Sandown and I intended to keep my pace at least until I got there. That’s when it all started to go pear shaped.

At Sandown beach I headed west, straight into a strong head wind. It wasn’t long before my pace really started to drop.

Running along the seafront all the way into Shanklin was all flat and, apart from the wind, quite pleasant. There was a lot of people around enjoying the sun and being allowed back to the beach. Generally speaking everyone was observing the safe distance rule. All apart from older people, they seem quite blasé about it! But I won’t go there.

At the end of the seafront the good time’s ended and the hills really kicked in. Firstly up by Shanklin Chine and then once through the old village the beast that is Cowleaze hill looms.

The nemesis!

Cowleaze Hill is not for the feint hearted. I’d previously tackled it on marathon 24 and I didn’t like it then, so why I was back to do it again one can only wonder? There was a lady struggling up the hill on her bike, she spurred me on. I had to beat her! Anyone that competes knows that situation. No matter what level you’re at you will always have a nemesis that needs to be crushed.

I always remember a friend of mine telling me about his nemesis the first time we did the London Triathlon. For him it was a fat lad on a mountain bike. My friend had a skinny vest and a pair of Speedos on, and a nice speedy road bike. So there was no way he would be beaten by a fat lad on a mountain bike. I think he was, but I’m not 100% sure on the facts.

So for me, this little old lady struggling up Cowleaze Hill on her sit up and beg bike with a basket on the front suddenly became my mortal enemy and I vowed to leave her in my dust as I shuffled with my tongue hanging out up the beast.

At several points we were neck and neck, which was awkward, we resorted to shrugging our shoulders and giggling uncomfortably at each other. She told me that I was very good at running up hills and that was what I needed to surge past her. I got to the top triumphant only to realise it wasn’t the top, beyond the brow of the hill it continued. My last surge had taken everything I had, which wasn’t much. I had to watch in horror as she instantly passed me with a friendly wave!

Finally at the top I started the descent into Ventnor. But I decided to go down through the Bonchurch Landslip.

For anyone that wants a nice walk, this one is a beauty, it’s like stepping back into prehistoric Ventnor. It is a very steep downhill route, with loads of things to trip up on, so I took it carefully. By now my legs were in pain and weren’t responding as I’d have liked. I took several wrong turns and at points just ended up on a cliff edge looking out to sea, having to backtrack up the hill was no fun.

Bloody hills!

Eventually I negotiated my way out at Bonchurch seafront and back into the howling wind all the way along the coastal path, through Ventnor and on towards Steephill Cove.

I love this place, it reminds of something out of The Goonies. Normally this would be a great place to walk to and have a Coffee from one of the little cafes. Not today, the place was deserted. As the name suggests, there is a very steep hill in and a steep one out. This route seemed like a great idea at the time, but I was suffering.

Beyond Ventnor I followed the under cliff road through St Lawrence. There was a land slide here a while ago, making it impossible to drive all the way through, but good for walking, running and Cycling. The road was empty and shaded. Only the sound of the birds twittering away to keep you company. Under different circumstances this would be lovely, but I was shuffling along so slowly. My legs had long since given up and the familiar spinney feeling was taking over. My legs and fingers were tingling as the blood was going to vital organs. Luckily I was on the final mile.

Where’s a good pub when you need one?

I finished in Niton at the White Lion pub. Craving a drink but everything was closed. Luckily I wasn’t there long before Caroline came to the rescue with a bottle of Lucozade.

So that’s 33 down, only 17 more to go. Will I get to run anywhere else but the Isle of Wight? Who knows. I’m lucky because it is a lovely place to be locked down in, if only it wasn’t so bloody hilly.

Once home Caroline handed me a bag. This is my favourite part of these marathons. The friends that have stepped in with home made medals is such a brilliant boost. Inside the bag was a record sleeve of an album by Santana called Marathon. I pondered over it for a while trying to guess who it was from. I guessed correctly at my friend Wayne Cranwell. His wife Nicola made last weeks amazing medal.

Inside the record sleeve was the record cut into the shape of a 33, to be played at 33 RPM of course. Inspired! Another treasure to the collection of wonderful medals. I owe a lot of beers when we finally come out of this.

Not the Richmond Park Marathon

Today I should have been running around Richmond Park, for the Richmond Park Marathon. But as lockdown continues, so does the cancellation of all mass gatherings. This one has been rescheduled to a date in September that I can’t make, so instead, I ran around the Island for a bit… again!

I feel a bit like a broken record, but there is no movement in the possibility of any races taking place, even the small low key ones. I’d like to think that there may be some of the races that I’ve booked going ahead before this challenge is over, but it’s looking unlikely. The one I really don’t want to miss is the Bruges marathon, it’s not till October so keeping my fingers firmly crossed. Berlin has been canceled and that’s September so October is now very much in the firing line.

So into today’s shuffle about. I’ve called it Infinity loop purely because the route takes on a figure of eight sort of shape, like the infinity symbol (vaguely). Quite appropriate as every one of these marathons feels like it’s taking forever now.

On route

I left my house at about 8 am. Felt ok. Stuck on the Marathon Talk podcast. For anyone who is keen on running, it’s well worth a listen, especially on long run days. It covers a vast amount of topics around the running/marathon world. I find it keeps my mind off of the pains of running, so it’s a nice distraction and quite inspirational. I keep on thinking about entering myself into #rateyourrun, but I fear I’d just rate it crap and most of the ones they post seem to be 10/10. Never-the-less I do enjoy it.

I was about a mile in when I realised I hadn’t turned on run keeper. Not a problem if you’re just training but if you’re trying to hit a specific distance then it’s a bit of a bugger as no one believes you when you say, “yeah, I just ran a marathon”, but your runkeeper/Strava record says differently. I’m forever pausing it during a run, or just forgetting to put it on in the first place.

The seafront route to Gurnard is always a nice start to a run, nice and flat, and scenic to get those first few warm-up miles. The weather was perfect, hazy sunshine, and slightly cooler than yesterday so I wasn’t going to get sunstroke.

From Gurnard, I ran up Cockleton Lane and joined the main road towards Newport. I wasn’t going to go along the cycle track again but did a last-minute divert down a lane I’ve never been down. I Ended up in somebody’s back yard and then lost in fields of solar panels that I didn’t know were there. I could see the cycle track, but couldn’t get to it. I’m sure I looked like a pheasant darting around a field worried I was going to be shot by an angry farmer!

The long and winding road

I finally got myself back on track, berated myself for going off track in the first place, and continued through to Newport. From here I went up through Staplers and onto Havenstreet. The first loop went through Firestone Copse. I always love taking the dog for a walk here, it’s nice and peaceful and I figured that it would offer a bit of shade if needed. It wasn’t that sunny, but still nice.

Once through Firestone, I was back onto the main road through Wootton and on to Newport, so exactly the same as last week’s marathon I was about 17 miles in and my pace was dropping rapidly. I remember when I could run a sub 3.30 marathon, so these 4.5 – 5-hour plods are slightly disconcerting. Just being on your feet for so long is a killer.

Once through Newport I headed down Forest Road for the second loop. I was about 20 miles in and just wanted to head back home but it wouldn’t give me the full distance. I continued down Forest road and finally turned back in towards Cowes at Whitehouse Road.

Another one bites the dust (apologies for the song title sub-headings. I’ve run a marathon, I can’t think)

I always tend to forget how long this last bit is into Cowes, it’s quite windy and hilly. The full distance took me to the bottom end of Rew Street where Caroline and our dog Winnie were waiting for me with a nice cold drink.

The thing that’s really keeping me going is the support from friends, I’m literally bowled over by the messages of support and the amazing medals that people are taking the time to make. This week’s medal was made and beautifully presented, by Nicola Cranwell. Caroline handed me a box tied in ribbon. Inside were layers of pink tissue paper. I thought I was unwrapping lingerie! Inside was a beautiful hand made medal with 32/50 on it, encrusted in shells she’d collected from Thorness bay before we went into lockdown.

Runners do tend to love a bit of bling at the end of an event, but once home they just get thrown into a sock drawer and generally never see the light of day again. These hand made ones will be treasured though and will forever be a memento of this strange time that we find ourselves in.

Who knows when we’ll come out the other side of this? Perhaps we may never get back to what we know as normal. In some ways, I don’t want it to just slide back into the old routine because that was broken anyway. Now we have an opportunity to make a new normal. One that is better and kinder to the world we inhabit.

Running along today and seeing the number of cars on the road again and rubbish thrown on the floor by a park bench after eating a KFC rather than putting it in a bin, I worry that we are just going to fall into our old ways and all of the positive stuff that has actually come out of this period of lockdown will just become a distant memory!

Here we go again!

In a parallel universe where Coronavirus wasn’t a thing, I would have been taking part in a marathon called The Ox of Two Halves, but instead I did another run around the Isle of Wight.

As with a lot of the marathons I’d booked in, I was actually looking forward to the Ox of Two Halves. This would’ve been the second White Star Running event. The first being the Larmer Tree Marathon. Today’s marathon would have been on the same course as Larmer Tree, but there was the promise of some surprises along the way! I will never know what those surprises are, unless I run it next year, and I genuinely don’t want to run a marathon next year. Truth be told, I don’t want to run another marathon for as long as I live!

31 marathons in feels a bit like the 16 mile mark in a marathon. Let me clarify that. When you run a marathon you start off, full of energy and an eagerness to get going. You set off and it all feels OK for the first few miles, easy even. 6 miles in and you pass the first quarter still feeling strong. 10 miles and your pace is possibly starting to waiver a bit, getting a few niggles but generally Ok. Halfway and you start to feel it, but the elation of being half way spurs you on. By 16 miles you really are feeling the earlier miles. The excitement you felt at the start has been completely drained out of you, everything is starting to hurt and your brain is playing tricks on you, telling you to stop. But you’ve come this far, only another ten miles to go!

My mind is screaming at me to give it up, tell people you’ve got an injury. Heck, I’ve even considered putting it out there that I have Coronavirus so then I couldn’t possibly continue! The period between 16 miles and the finish, really aren’t much fun. If it were a proper marathon, before all this lockdown happened, I’d be at the stage where the sound of the crowd cheering would start to become irritating. My face would be in a permanent grimace and you die a little when you pass yet another samba band.

Now I must stress, this is my own personal view. I do love the support from the crowd, but the noise is too jarring. I’m sure there are people out there that love all the noise and commotion, keeps them going. But for me, well I struggle and I just want to throttle the kids that are banging those noisy inflatable sausage things together!

So that’s about where I am at the moment, on a scale of 1-10, I’m at ‘meh!’

Todays plan

I didn’t plan anything for this week, I think I was in denial. My last marathon was on Monday and I’m still feeling that. My Achilles is not feeling great. I really didn’t want to get up this morning. But I did. Got my stuff on, chose something to listen too and shoved myself out the door. Yesterday was a blistering hot day, thankfully today was much cooler.

I’m running out of possible routes now to keep it interesting, but a friend had  suggested a route out to Ryde. So that’s what I did. I followed the main road out to Ryde, but between Wootton and Binstead there’s a lane that goes to Quarr Abbey. Here you can join a cycle track that goes all the way in to Ryde, quite a pleasant route.

Once in Ryde I continued running along Appley beach. There’s an old tower/fort that was the half way point, then it was all the way back the way I came.

While running back through the back roads of Wootton I heard a beep behind me. At first I thought it was a work van trying to pass, but then I realised it was the Boorman’s. they had tracked me down to cheer me on. Lovely to see them, I was about 17 miles in and I really appreciated the support. Now that sort of support I like, but had they got out of their van and started performing samba music, that may have been irritating.

I staggered on. I saw them again at the mid point of Wootton hill. Had they not been there I would have walked, but instead I had to run to make it look like I wasn’t crumbling too much. As soon as they were out of sight I walked a bit.

The run/walk stage

When I get to the point of walking/running, I know I’m not in a good place. This generally comes at the 20 mile mark. That’s the point when my mind is really shouting at me to stop and I have to play mind games to get through it, this generally involves me agreeing with myself on a point that I must run to before I can walk for a short distance.

The last 6 miles took me down to Island Harbour and along the path towards Newport Quay. From the quay it’s 4 miles back to my house. The cycle track is familiar territory. I don’t know how many times I’ve run up and down this path. I’ve even been known to run back home this way from Newport after a night of drinking . Sure I could get a taxi, but nothing beats the thrill of running drunkenly down a pitch black cycle track and an owl swoops down low enough to make you scream just a little bit!

This day however I wasn’t drunk and there were no owls, just me and my own mind games. The finish was along Arctic Road. I do miss crossing a proper finish line and being handed the medal. I really hope that I get a few more official marathons before this challenge is out, I guess we’ll wait and see what happens.

When I got home and once I’d managed to stop the aching in my legs, Caroline handed me a bag with a message from Julie Boorman. ‘A little something to make you smile and lots to boost your sugar’. Inside there were bags of jelly sweets (all vegan) and a lovely medal that said ‘bee happy’. Such a lovely treat to finish on 😊

May the fourth be with you

Today’s marathon is the I ran solo marathon. I’ve saved this especially for the 4th of May. May the Fourth will forever be Star Wars day, so for all those geeks out there like me who delight in anything Star Wars related, hope you’re having a great day?

Since the lockdown was first put in place, the marathon season has been cancelled. But out of the ashes there have been numerous virtual runs popping up. This enables the people who have put all the time and energy into training to run a marathon, the opportunity to still run and receive a nice medal at the end. It’s also become a bit of a lifeline to the people who organise the events. After seeing the entire season wiped out, this at least gives them an opportunity to recover some of the money they’ve lost.

I’ve been so lucky to have amazing friends who have been making me medals for each of my runs, so I haven’t needed to do these virtual runs to get my bling fix and what I’ve received is so much more special. All that being said, when I saw a post about a virtual marathon called ‘I ran solo’ and the accompanying medal is Han Solo in carbonite, I was straight onto booking it. This virtual marathon is organised by Phoenix Running. Early in the Challenge I did one of their actual marathons ‘the Phoenix Riverside Marathon’. I’ve been holding on to this medal for an appropriate time and I think May the Fourth is that time.

Originally I was booked in to do the Three Forts Challenge, yesterday. This has obviously been cancelled, expected to take place again on the 2nd May 2021. My place has been carried forward to next year. I held back a day so I could run today. But I wanted to still give a nod to the Three Forts Challenge. Once again I consulted Google Maps and Map my Run to come up with a route that would include me visiting 3 forts along the way. As luck would have it, the Isle of Wight is literally full of forts, so it wasn’t tricky.

I set out at about 8:30am. The weather was a bit damp and grey, which is actually perfect for running, not too warm like the previous few weeks. I headed out along Newport Road out of Cowes and then along Forest Road and down Gunville Road into Carisbrooke. My first fort would be the ultimate Isle of Wight fort, Carisbrooke Castle. Carisbrooke Castle has been standing guard over Carisbrooke for over 1000 years. Please note, I failed History at school so this may not be accurate, but it’s close enough.

The Tennyson Trail

I didn’t hang around at Carisbrooke Castle for long, quick selfie and then onwards to my next fort. For this I would need to be in Freshwater (again). I’m not particularly good at finding my way around the footpaths and bridleways of the Island so there was a bit of running around aimlessly in fields for a while before I found a bridle way towards Bowcombe. I knew this was vaguely in the right direction so I trotted on quite happily. This was actually a really nice route. At one point I needed to cross a road before going up a nasty hill that I remember well from the Abominable Snowman at the end of last year.

By now I was onto the Tennyson Trail. Familiar territory, but always quite a pleasant route. Not great if you like your marathons flat though. But the stunning views along the coastline make the effort worthwhile.

The Tennyson trail eventually comes out at a golf course in Freshwater. Luckily no one was playing golf so no need to dodge low flying golf balls.

Once into Freshwater I needed to find my next fort. Never actually been to this one before so finding it would be interesting.

Fort Albert

Fort Albert was built in the 19th Century to defend against the possibility of a French attack from Napoleon III. It is now privately owned and converted into apartments. It stands opposite Hurst Castle. I remember it well from a previous challenge, when I swam from Hurst Castle to Colwell Bay. I always wondered what it was. I managed to get close enough to take a sneaky picture, but it is private so couldn’t get too close.

From here it was a short stagger to my final fort. I took the coastal path from Fort Albert. It wasn’t too long before I found myself in the Fort Victoria Country Park. This was such a nice area to ramble around. The sun was out and the birds were singing. I was about 20 miles in so was feeling pretty rubbish, but still enjoyed running through the woods.

Fort Victoria

Fort Victoria was built in the 1850s. It remained in use until 1962. Parts of the fort were subsequently demolished, and what remains has become part of Fort Victoria Country Park. I remember going there as a kid to eat ice cream.

Now all was left was to run the final few miles to get picked up by Caroline somewhere between Yarmouth and Shalfleet. I’d done my usual trick and paused my running app somewhere along the line so wasn’t really sure of the exact distance, but i already had an idea of where I needed to stop, plus it really felt like a marathon. Happy as always to stop 😊

Once home, not only did I finally get my I ran solo medal, but also a brilliant hand made medal from Nerys, Adam and Pru Provis. It followed a theme that Comes from their comments to my runs, Wonder Woman. Love it. In fact it has inspired an idea. I will run my 40th marathon dressed as Wonder Woman if I can get to beyond £1500 in donations (£2000 if possible). It may also work if enough people donate so that I don’t run in Wonder Woman costume. Either way, your donations are appreciated. Just comment if you want me to run as Wonder Woman, or if you’d rather not and I will do whatever the consensus is on the 40th.

Only 20 more to go, piece of cake 😐