Sunday 5 January 2014

Out with the old, in with the new

Happy new year to you all.

2013 was a year of firsts for me. First steps into earning money from photography, first marathon, first ultra.

At the end of that Ultra I apparently said "never again".  To be honest I don't remember saying this though I don't really remember much other than how much pain I was in that evening.  According to Hannah I was already talking about doing another ultra by the next day.

I keep trying to work out why I want to run another ultra and I don't really have a good answer. I ran a couple of half marathons in the Autumn and, really, these just might be the perfect distance. After all I can train for them without taking up hours of every weekend and causing friction in the family and I don't feel destroyed for days after running one.  So why oh why have I gone and signed up for three ultras in 2014??  I must be bloody mad.

Perhaps its the inspiration I got from seeing Andy Jukes and Jayne Angilly run the whole Cornish Coast Path in 10 days, or Steve Wyatt completing his and Loyd's crazy Non-stop North Coast Challenge; I was privileged to spend a few hours supporting both.

Or perhaps its because my friend Gareth, having trained for a few short weeks, beat me so convincingly at the Bournemouth half marathon (Gareth has no interest in running ultras!).

Or maybe I just like pain.

Whatever, I've paid my money so its to late too turn back now.

I'm doing the Endurance Life South Devon, AdventureHub Exmoor and MudCrew Plague.  Maybe after this I'll have an answer as to why I want to run this bloody far.

In preparation for these events, rather than training lots, I am concentrating on buying loads of funky new kit so I look the part and everyone knows I am an ultra runner.  I am the epitome of "all the gear and no idea".

I stopped writing this blog last year because, having achieved my dream of running an ultra, I had run out of things so say.  Now I have some new goals and a shit-load of new kit though I can talk bollox for a few more months.  Such fun!

Stayed tuned for the next exciting instalment...

2 comments:

  1. You'll be surprised, there are people out there who read trail-running blogs!

    I'll be doing my first ultra next summer - the Classic Quarter: nothing like throwing yourself in the deep end, but I figured if I can run the South Devon CTS Marathon - which is pretty much an ultra in itself at 29 miles (doing it again in Feb), then maybe I can make the step-up!. I have re-set my running goals and want to make the step into ultras and back-to-backs before doing a couple of 100's to get the qualifying points to make my assault on the UTMB in 2016 - got to aim high!

    I am also looking at revising my kit - I'll be investing in some compression calf sleeves in the next few days as I seem to have picked-up a recurring niggle on my right calf and I'm looking out for a new pair of trail shoes - I'm thinking about going the whole-hog and splashing out on either some Inov-8 or Salomons as they seem to be what all the pros (and hardcore ultras) wear!

    For your photography on the hoof, have you tried a waterproof/ shockproof point & click camera? You'll be surprised at some of the results you'll get, as half the battle of photography is having the eye for a good shot and composition which you either have (or don't in my case) so with you being a photographer you'll always have a usable record of sights where otherwise you wish you had your camera! Sorry if I sound patronising if you already do it, but I've been using one to record runs on my blog for the last 2 years and it works well for me - plus stopping to take a photo gives you an excuse to catch your breath!

    Speaking of catching breath, being fat and slow in my marathon pace, I tend to head-out with the ultra runners where allowed, so I may bump in to you at South Devon!

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    1. Hey there,
      I didn't notice your comment till just now which is pretty slack of me! Hope you got on OK at South Devon CTS - I ran the ultra. It was pretty wild eh? You've probably got all this sorted by now but I also had a lot of calf problems and have not really had any trouble since using calf guards.

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