Happily Ever After
Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running
Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.
Lessons Learned
by Russell Turner - 10:43 on 16 July 2023
A week has passed; the Race to the Stones 2023 is already a fading memory. Yesterday I made my first post-race run: a cautious, flat 10k. All went well, although the legs still feel a little heavy. Otherwise, all is fine with no aches and the blistered little right toe is recovering.
Three weeks today I’ll be back in York for the 10k where a PB is definitely not a target; under an hour will be a perfectly acceptable result. Then Royal Parks HM training begins in earnest, when I’ll have to learn to run fast (for me) again after several months of ultra pace running.
The Stones may not have gone to plan – ie, I had my first DNF – but it was a good learning experience. I’ve much more idea about what is and isn’t needed to eat and drink, and when, and what gear I need to carry (preferably in a well fitting pack). If I’d spent less time at pit stops it’s probable that I’d have gone beyond 50k and lived to regret it, with only a light waterproof to protect me when night and rain fell. I’m sure I’d have been one of the hypothermic runners who pulled out at pit stop 6. Don’t believe the weather forecast.
One of the better race photos.
More tricky is choice of shoes. Road shoes are fine, many previous competitors opined, presumably because they’d run it on a dry weekend. Although how trail shoes would be any more use in liquid mud I’m not sure. So one road and one trail pair and a final decision on the morning makes sense. Having a support crew halfway would be even better.
If this sounds like I’ll try again next year, despite declaring even before I’d finished the 50k that I’d never attempt another 100k (because the training goes on forever), I’m committing to nothing. But you never know – although I’d need a pack I can rely on. Watch this space.
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