I could not have done all that training on my own. Over 700 training miles done, I was travelling at about 11 minutes per mile on average, if not a little slower. That’s nearly 130 hours all told. Putting it like that doesn’t sound too many does it? Or maybe over 32 marathons sounds more like it? Yes, that’ll do, and over 5 months – that’s six each and every month – way more than a marathon a week – relentless. Time consuming. Sapping.
I think that if I’d had to spend so many hours running solo I’d have gone quite out of my mind. Many of them were alone, so I bought some headphones, downloaded music to my watch and plodded away to that. I still preferred to listen to what was going on around me, music was too dangerous – I could too easily lose myself in it and cars are very hard!
So for much of my running I was in silence, and for the rest I had some company. I was a member of a local Running Club at the time, and the Wednesday club runs became part of my schedule for a few weeks, but that couldn’t last. You see, I had a very specific training plan and if the club runs didn’t fit that, then I didn’t go. I felt bad, not going to my club, but this was a plan in which I had to be ruthlessly selfish, and so I was. Those few club runs did me the world of good, getting out and about on different routes, but another problem with them was that I was running too slow, at my 10 or 11 minutes mile pace, for any of the other runners.
This was where two of Northampton’s most awesome runners came to the rescue, and for this I cannot thank them enough. Step forward Geoff Bonnett and Sophy Humphreys. Both friends from my days as a member of British Military Fitness (BMF), it is without question that these two got me through most of my training, right from when I started with my first run, through to the last one before flying out to for the race itself.
Geoff is seriously quick. He’s the type who will go out and win races – seriously! He’s a great running coach too, and probably the kindest soul you’ll find. He’s also great at finding new routes, as well as getting partially lost in the countryside. Sophy is like a rock, totally dependable and will put herself through the mill for the benefit of others. Totally selfless, she’d be there every Wednesday for a long weekday run with me. Brilliantly, she and I run a very similar pace and so pacing was never a problem. Geoff had to hold himself back all the time (I know how horrible that is), it must have been doing his head in – and yet he never complained!
Most runs were with both, and for my mid-weekers I’d often run a few miles to meet them, run with them for a bit before then leaving them and heading home, alone again. Sometimes we’d spend the full evening after work together, out and about in the countryside or exploring the industrial and housing estates around town.
If you are thinking of an event that needs hours and hours of training … get a training buddy. I was so lucky to have two – one a better and much more experienced distance runner who was on hand to help and advise, and one of similar pedigree who provided great empathy. This balance worked so well. We talked and talked and talked. We covered pretty much every subject under the sun, and we didn’t fall out over politics or religion! We swapped book and film recommendations, and even ran some races together over the summer.
I even missed them whilst out in the mountains. We’d all done so much work together, and I was the only one truly benefitting. It seemed almost unfair. But hey, it’ll soon be payback time. You see, Sophy announced, almost as soon as I touched down at Heathrow, that she’d like to run her first marathon next summer.
She even suggested a race. But it had a problem – it was 40k long!! “That’s OK” she said, as if near enough would do.
NO!
The WhatsApp message I sent her read as follows “I know for a fact that you’d kick yourself at 40K, wishing you’d chosen a different event that was true marathon distance … just sayin’”, to which she replied “Point taken – I’ll do some more research” … too bloody right you will! And I’ll do some for you too.
It then became a pleasure helping Sophy to her first Marathon and, from a selfish point of view, gave me just what I needed to keep my own fitness on track for when I need to up the ante again, ready for November. Yes, I’d already (I had been back in the UK barely 2 weeks at that stage) signed up to another Ultra – this time in Morocco – but we’ll not go into that other than to say this:
After my single stage 100K Ultra, Race To The Stones, I never wanted to do anything like that again. After my first Multi-stage Ultra, I couldn’t wait to find another to do!
And it’s all to do with the atmosphere I found in Nepal. Competitive (with oneself) and supportive (of everyone else), it was the perfect combination, all set up by the best running buddies I could have wished for.
Thanks Geoff, thanks Sophy