80 miles along the Grand
Union Canal towpath
Town to Tring
40 miles – 2nd February 2008
Another training race for
me in the build up to the Marathon des Sables. The race started in
Brentford, London and we all met up at a hotel for an 8.15 start.
Following registration we gathered in the street outside for the start.
Once off we ran for approximately a mile up Brentford High Street before
going down onto the Grand Union Canal towpath for the journey to Tring.
The weather was calm but icy cold although the sun later one would warm
us a bit. I had my pack on and loaded up with food and clothing for the
entire weekend so it felt a touch heavier than normal. The whole
distance is predominantly flat but generally uphill to Tring. Along the
way, as well as the houseboats, swans, locks etc we had to follow the
canal path which at times crossed back over the canal via one of the
many bridges which caught a few competitors by surprise. Having said
that the course is fairly easy to follow and very enjoyable. The paths
are flat and although muddy most of the way we had been lucky with the
rain and they were not difficult. There were checkpoints with water and
snacks every 10 miles or so with friendly faces and encouragement.
I took a long time to get
going, the first 10 miles felt like hard work. I’m not sure why but I
just felt out of sorts, maybe it was because I hadn’t tapered for this
and was just generally tired. Even so after about 10 miles I started to
feel better and instead of being overtaken by people I started to
overtake them which always helps to make you feel better. At about 25
miles I was starting to get tired again, lots of uphill on a hard packed
path was making me feel a bit battered so I plugged into my MP3 player
and soldiered on. The music helped me to focus until I got to a crowded
part of the path where I was having to weave in and out of walkers etc.
I will remember next time to check my MP3 before such a race because
following several uplifting tunes I was running in a crowd with the
Spongebob Squarepants theme tune blasting my ears! Unfortunately I could
not get to the “skip” button so I listened to it all, it was a while
before I stopped laughing though.
The last 10-15 miles were
not too bad, I was running on and off with another runner called James
until I left him with about 5 to go and pushed on to the end. The finish
was at a hotel in Tring where I collected my medal and room key and went
to shower. My roommate Harley was already in and sorted so I went to
have my shower only to find that all the hot water had gone due to the
influx of runners, I eventually had one 2 hours later by sneaking into
the on-site leisure centre. In between I unpacked my pack to sort all my
stuff out and found some heavy packages wrapped in socks in the bottom
of my pack. They were bags of coins which Harley had kindly sneaked
inside my pack early in the morning which I had just carried 40 miles up
the canal! I was too tired to be angry so could only laugh, he’ll have
to watch his back in the future though! The evening was spent with all
the other runners in a presentation which was informative and everyone
welcomed home the last runner in over 12 hours (she had been dragging a
tyre to highlight Global Warming).
I finished 54th
out of 121 finishers in 7 hours, 0 minutes and 50 seconds.
Tring to Town
40 miles – 3rd February 2008
This was to be a repeat of
the previous day but in the reverse direction. Getting out of bed this
morning was a major achievement and getting to the start line outside
the hotel was mentally very taxing. Not everyone from yesterday was
coming back and one or two who were supposed to, didn’t. There were new
people arriving just to run the Sunday as well so the field would be
slightly different.
After being up for an hour
or so the stiffness had gone from my legs but my brain was protesting
loudly. I managed to get into my smelly running gear and put my pack on
following a detailed inspection to make sure I wasn’t carrying more than
expected. The weather was slightly warmer but there was an icy headwind
which we would have to run into for the whole journey. My plan was to
start, and then see how it goes. I was prepared to walk long parts if
need be.
We kicked off at 8.15
again and ran down the road to the canal. Surprisingly I felt reasonably
good, those back to back training runs were paying off and I managed to
keep a reasonable pace to the first checkpoint at 11 miles. After that I
started to slow down a bit and decided to walk all the uphill bits. At
the second checkpoint at 20 miles I was starting to feel it again like
yesterday so started to incorporate some walk breaks which helped to
keep me going. I got to the checkpoint at about 28 miles and stopped for
5 minutes to refuel my bottles as I had run out a few miles back. I was
told that the canal path ahead was closed as a dead body had been found
on one of the bridges and we would be diverted. I plodded on for a few
miles before being directed off the path by the police and round some
side roads before rejoining the path further up. Apparently the lead
runners had found the body earlier and alerted the police.
By this time I was
starting to flag again but still managed to maintain a reasonable pace.
I saw my support crew for the first time at about 37 miles and jogged
along slowly for the last few miles. In Brentford High Street I managed
to put on a spurt to get through the traffic and crowds as quickly as I
could. I finished and collected my second medal of the weekend. The
last 25 miles I had run entirely on my own without even Spongebob. I had
not been overtaken by anyone in that time but had passed a few people
myself and realised that my legs didn’t feel any worse at the end than
they had mid-race which was a boost for future events. Meeting so many
drunks, beggars and youths along the canal path in London does help to
keep you going in these conditions though. Mentally it had been tough to
run 80 miles with a heavy pack, especially so much of it alone as people
were so spread out but I was pleased to finish in good order apart from
one small blister.
Today
I finished 65th out of 113 finishers in 7 hours 27 minutes.
Total for the 80 miles was 14 hours 28 minutes.
Over the
whole weekend there were ‘just under 100’ people who started both days
for the entire 80 miles and 50 finishers – of which I was 24th, total
time was 14 hours 27 minutes and 50 seconds.
Andy Horsley
