Trail Half Marathon: My first experience

Cheddar Gorge Challenge medal collection

Six weeks ago in my blog post 'Run light like...' I explained how my recent involvement in the Relish Running Races Cheddar Gorge Challenge had rekindled my passion for running and allowed me to discover the delights (and pains!) of trail running.

Well, I did it! 16th August marked my first trail half marathon and I picked up my last piece of metal to complete the Cheddar Gorge Challenge. Not only did I complete it but I came 10th overall!!! I am absolutely over the moon and ecstatic. I thoroughly enjoyed it and many thanks to Relish Running Races organisers for the fantastic job they did at all three races I attended.

Lindsay & I on the finish line

What can I tell you? It was bloody difficult! But then? That is what you want. That is what makes it interesting. I was doing ok but I got a great burst when I saw Hell's steps for the last time. I went bounding past four others as I was determined to give my all at this point in the race. As my friend Lindsay had told me in training, "Don't see them as hills. See them as mounds of opportunity!" By the end, as I approached the finish line, my legs were like jelly. I had definitely gone as hard and as far as I could. Great feeling.

Hills are mounds of opportunity

Everybody has their own demons. Everybody has their own challenges. This was mine and even if I missed the odd training session here or there, I know that in the end, I did the best I could during that trail half marathon. I had everything to be proud of and I was.

In the last 8 months I have given up smoking (-something I should have never started but I do - or did - enjoy it!). I have started running again at a respectable fitness level. I have achieved better than I could have imagined in the Cheddar Gorge Half Marathon and well... since I have got this far, after 2 years of saying it, I have finally committed to the Munich marathon on 11th October 2015. 

Champagne celebrations

Another great challenge, Munich is a city I hold close to my heart for a number of reasons and I felt a connection to this city long before I came to live here (for inexplicable reasons), so I have always wanted to earn THAT medal; that of the Munich Marathon. I ran the Phuket Marathon in 2011 and said, "I will never run another marathon again" but even then, I gave myself the exception that I would do another marathon if it was in a cooler climate such as that of Europe "just so I can compare my race time". So here I am.

Final weeks of training in progress. A fresh bottle of cava is awaiting in the fridge (thanks to a wonderful Cava Tasting evening I recently attended at Camino del Vino in Munich - worthy of another blog post!). And well, as always, watch this space..............!

Run light like...

First and Only Marathon (Phuket)

Running. I think since my first Marathon attempt in Phuket in 2011, a lot of people I know associate

me with running. It still surprises me when somebody calls me a 'Runner' because I don't feel like one!

Since my last blog post in January, I managed to give up smoking (which not many people knew I did but when you are alone in a different country, this time Uganda, it's very easy to hide being a smoker to those friends and family you left behind in other parts of the World). Even better, I started running more regularly and more recently, trail running. Totally new to me and totally loving it.

Now, I know I should be blogging about my time in Uganda but the fact is I should have blogged Uganda while I was still there. I didn't.

So at this point, rather than turn over old soil, I'd rather just move on to the things I have been enjoying recently and carry on from there. It's been kind of a tough year and mainly through pressure I put on myself - thinking moving country is easier than it is, not acknowledging I was not the 'expat' I thought I was having lived ten years in Thailand etc. so it is no wonder I stopped running. It just seemed too stressful!

10km Race in Uganda

Really, why did I stop running?

I don't know. Some would say I didn't but I definitely did in my mind. Once I moved to Uganda (July 2014) I struggled to settle and didn't know how to run there. Could I run there? Was it safe?

Funnily enough, after 6 months in Uganda I realised I certainly could run there and while it is hilly as hell, that is a good thing for training. Plus training at altitude sets you up for any race at lower altitudes. I even did a 10km race there in November 2014.

The hills were not such a good thing for my knees! Another setback for my running was a trip to the Doctor to be told that the cartilage behind my knee cap is disintegrating due to my knee cap not tracking properly. There is no way to properly fix this except keep my glutes and quads balanced and strong. Easier said than done. He offered me a series of injections to strengthen the cartilage behind the knee cap and allow me to run longer distances but I turned him down saying this was not necessary because I was done with running more than 10km distances. Erm.........................

Towards the end of my stay in Uganda, I had started to run again. I can't say I was enjoying it. However I did start some early morning Crossfit (think Military-Style bootcamp classes) and that really helped me get pumped for my running.

My face says it all!

For the running, it was more a case of  I felt I should be running because my colleagues and I had signed up to the Mallorca Ironman 70.3 relay again and I was doing the 21.1km run section! I did it. Somehow. 9th May 2015. It was a blistering hot day, I pulled my calf on the 4th kilometre and honestly, I didn't really enjoy it. It pained me and I burst into tears on the finish line. I had given it my all but in doing that, I had also completely over-exerted myself. Worse, while the conditions were tougher than the year before, I was disappointed to be slower than ever (or so it seemed).

What did I do? I made a promise to put the situation right. I must do a half marathon race in cooler climes (e.g. UK or Germany) before the summer is out. Train, give it my all and get a personal best (PB). But then I discovered something better than getting a PB on long, flat road races... TRAIL RUNNING!

Strangely, this all came about with a visit to UK. I was asked by my best friend while enjoying a pint in her local - "with your injuries, I didn't want to put pressure on you before you got here, but do you fancy a 5km race tomorrow at Cheddar Gorge"? I was already saying "yes" but then she told me the race was part of a challenge: 5km, 10km and half marathon in May, June & August respectively and wait for it... with interlocking medals! From this point, my "yes" could not mean only 5km - I needed the full set of medals and I wanted to do this together with my best friend.

Finally - a running partner for some races, some UK races and what I didn't know then, a new passion for running wildly in the countryside aka Trail Running.

And here it is, my passion for running returned thanks to my friend Lindsay and Relish Running Races - Cheddar Gorge Challenge. I can tell you now, it is not for the weak!

So far we did the 5km race on 24th May. Kept the running juices flowing with a 14th June Brazil Run race in Munich and then did the 10km race back on the Gorge on 28th June.

5km and ecstatically happy!

10km and just as happy!

The Brazil Run in between

As for whether I will try for that PB on a 'normal' half marathon in Germany or UK... only time will tell. First, the final medal in the collection needs to be earned at Cheddar Gorge on August 16th!!