Ultra_Tales_Issue_13

EVENT REPORTSTRATFORD GRAND UNION CANAL ULTRAaid stations were very well stocked with a greatselection of sweet and savoury snacks but I wantedto make sure that the Nathan vest I recently boughtwould work for Ladybower without any nastysurprises of the chafing kindPreston Baggot - there and back (Miles 10-20)As mentioned before, I tried mentally breaking therace into three parts and the second part wasprobably most social as at that point we startedcatching up with some of the runners who startedout earlier. Part of the course included an out-andbackloop with you could see runners eitherheading towards the turn-around point atRovington Bridge or returning from it. There was adrinks and food station at the main junction atKingswood/Lapworth with wonderful marshals whodidn't bat an eyelid when I asked for help retrievingsome snacks from a zipped pocket at the top of thevest as I didn’t want to faff around with taking it off(however, lesson learnt - put snacks where they canbe easily reached!).During that section, I also had a couple of briefconversations with other runners, including a reallynice chat with Jo Summers about the RomeMarathon which was her first event and will be herhundredth, too and she even managed to ensurethat this would be her race number. I am notactively planning to join the ranks of serialmarathoners yet but it is something on the bucketlist and hopefully one day that coveted vest will bemine, too. I just need to stick with the strategy ofincorporating marathons into the ultra trainingplan, seems to be working out great so far as youget a training run complete with aid stations,company of other runners, not to mention a medalat the end. I also initiated a rather naff exchangewith a group of runners I passed somewhere alongmile twenty and loudly warned them that there wasa fellow idiot running behind and proceeded toshare my favourite saying with them "any idiot canrun a marathon but it takes a special idiot to run anultra marathon". It seemed vaguely appropriate atthat point and it made all of us laugh.Somewhere on the Grand Union Canal - Stratford(Miles 11-31)The third part of the race was, in a weird way, mostengaging one even though I was on my own formost of the time. I was really grateful for not havingto deal with any complex navigation, because eventhough on the way back we were on the exact samebit of the canal as earlier in the morning, my slightlymuddled brain didn’t really recognise the route. As Igot past the Edstone Aqueduct I realised I wouldsoon be past the magic 26 mile mark which feltquite exciting and I was reassured by the fact thatI've been able to run pretty much for most of thetime and only stopped to walk very briefly for theaid stations. The final miles did seem to take forever,though - I didn’t have a Garmin on me so every nowand then I would ask people on the barges aboutthe distance to Stratford-upon-Avon. My legs feltreally heavy with two and a half miles to go but Istuck to the mantra of relentless forward progressand just carried on, very glad to see another runneras I was nearing towards the finish - or ratherhoping I was near the finish! Fortunately that wasthe case as Mike and I soon spotted John Turnerwith a stop watch and I learnt at that point I wassecond lady, with a finishing time of 4:22:02. Iwalked back to the Cricket Club with Mike andcalled my girlfriend with the happy news, shethought at first that the call was bad news as shewasn’t expecting me until at least a half an hourlater. We spent a very pleasant couple of hours atthe Cricket Club, refuelling and hanging out withthe runners who were steadily trickling in. I was oncloud nine for the rest of the day; I loved theatmosphere and the boost to my confidence for theupcoming 50 miler. The race director was hinting atwanting to organise a much longer event next year,if he does, I will definitely be at the starting line!STRATFORD GUC ULTRARace Organiser: Broadmeadow RunsWebsite Link: http://www.broadmeadowruns.co.ukDate of Event: 13th July 2014Event Type: Single StageDistance: 31milesLocation: Out and back course on towpaths along theGrand Union Canal.Race Results: http://www.broadmeadowruns.co.uk/results/results_130714.pdf26 ULTRA TALES | OCTOBER 2014Sponsored by thehttp://