Hell on the Humber 2011

Mrs S can't get into the bedroom at the mo as I've taken it over with kit etc!

Off to find some elastic to attach number to

I suppose I'd better start thinking about getting my gear together.

Don't forget your I.D. folks, dug my passport out and stashed it in my bag earlier so's I don't forget it!

Can't think what to take food wise though. So far I've got about 3200 calories in the form of flapjack and that's about it.

Now all I need is some elastic. Knew I should've bought that number belt!

I've got some spare elastic if you can't find any.

I presume photocard driving licence will do also for id?

Can only find 12mm elastic Samson! Bit on the thin side. No chance of getting any wider (elastic not me! ) between now and then. Will bring it but may need your spare. Look out for the yellow and black 'Pirate'.

Forecast intermitent showers through the night.

I think any photo I.D will do.

No probs...have some white stuff about an inch thick...elastic that is.

Looking forward to reading reports on this one

More details to follow.......52 miles in total, more than happy considering very little training since May.

To top it all, completed the race, sat down in my tent and got stung by a bloody wasp!!

Very happy with 60miles but the price is high! Can not get up stairs and the smallest task seems to take forever. Would not have missed it though, hell of an experience!

Fabulous Disaster!!

The tendons coming off the top of my big toe and the next toe in, on my left foot, gave up on me at the 27 mile mark. Don't know if they had just reached their limit but it felt like someone had taken a hammer to the top of my foot! Any suggestions?

The tendons in my right foot followed suit on mile 29 and from then on I was reduced to a hobble.

Taste the Pain? I was drinking from the Well Of Agony from that point on.

Today I can walk about fairly reasonably though so I don't think the actual damage is too bad.

Only managed 40 miles (providing all my laps were counted, was in so much pain was finding it difficult to think straight and relied on the Toro team to call my number, which I think they did.)

Strung it out til the end though and got my tee.

Cheers Samson for the elastic! Gonna get me a number belt for next year though!

Training has been rather low-key since the canal race at the end of May.
Monthly mileage
May 75 (excl the 100m of the canal race!)
June 43
July 85
Aug 72 to date
I managed a couple of LSRs in July, but otherwise I’ve been mimbling a few lunchtimes a week.

I had a reserved spot held back for me on the “Hell on the Humber 12hr” race – it looked interesting a while ago, perhaps as a team event with a few colleagues or as individual. The advantage it has is that you can do as little or as much as you want, and still finish!
I decided late last week to do it, but not expecting much given the very low training and complete lack of focus.

It runs 7pm Sat to 7am Sun so little chance of overheating. Ideal for me.

Weather forecast was fab Sat & Sunday, and I only live 55 miles away from the bridge, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to cycle there, running kit in a backpack, and collect a few provisions from local supermarket near the event HQ. The ride home would be a good warm down and loosen off the muscles and lessen recovery woes. I wasn’t worried about the effect on race performance as I wasn’t expecting much.

I didn’t bother recce-ing the route: basically you start at one end of the bridge on an access sliproad, then run along the cyclepath/walkway to the other side, then turn around and repeat. And repeat. It’s quite hilly too.

There was muttering on the start line about GB ultra team members starting – I let the front guys hare off and settled into steady comfortable LSR type territory. It was difficult working out the relay runners from the solo ones – 150 spread over a 2 mile stretch meant lots of people to talk to but no sense of positioning.
I ran the first few hours with a lovely Serpentine ultra lady, just nattering and enjoying the sunset and glorious views (and not enjoying the warm and humid air). We gradually separated and I came across a strong runner so we settled in together and locked into a great rhythm. Walked up the steep access sliproad from the start of the lap for 200m odd; ran from where it flattened out; walked after the turn where the path was again quite steep for c400m then ran when it eased slightly.

That became the routine for several hours, punctuated by a couple of “emergency digestive issues” (if you’ve seen “Trainspotting”, you’ll need no further description). I blame the mid-race pizza.

I was idly pondering who was leading from the other runners we were seeing, and Matt told me he thought we were leading! Bizarre.

Stomach issues aside, I was feeling fine and steady, eating / drinking every time we went through the finish turn.

We were both pretty evenly matched, but became separated after one of the loo stops and so I found myself ahead. The marshals told me I was in front and I gradually stretched out the lead to about 0.5 then 0.7 miles (sneaky peek at the Garmin, every time I passed Matt as he was approaching a turn and I was heading away from it). That settled down so I figured I was up about 6 minutes or so. Not a comfortable lead; certainly not enough to relax at all. There didn’t seem to be anyone else running as steadily as us except for the Serpie lady, and we’d already lapped her for 4 miles.

That was the pattern for the last 4 or 5 hrs, as dawn finally broke. My “lead” hovered around the 0.6 to 0.7 mile mark, and we were both very consistent in grinding out the laps with metronomic pace.
And so it ended.

The rules were that final distance was calculated by the number of complete laps / half laps. In the case of a tie, then the first runner to finish the last complete lap was the winner. I bagged 19 laps in 11:49 – 11 minutes remaining was not sufficient to get another 2 miles done, so I stopped. Matt crossed the line 6 minutes later.

76 miles done. And a win!

1st mara was 3:40 - 2nd in around 4:10 or so.

I have to admit that the cycle home was, in hindsight, not a good idea.

Lap splits:
1 32:33 8:08/m
2 32:33 8:08/m
3 33:49 8:28/m
4 33:49 8:28/m
5 33:47 8:30/m
6 33:32 8:26/m
7 34:32 8:42/m
8 38:07 9:28/m
9 39:02 9:46/m
10 39:02 9:46/m
11 39:42 9:56/m
12 40:54 10:08/m
13 40:40 10:09/m
14 38:15 9:35/m
15 39:22 9:48/m
16 41:09 10:16/m
17 40:19 10:05/m

Sorry I haven't posted on hear before, didn't realise it was here (silly me).

Well done to everyone who finished this really tough event. The time factor and nightime running was not a big deal for me as I have done 6 or 12 hour night runs before and also 24 hours 15 times but- allways on a 400m flat athletic track! Boy was that a tough course. My friend Elaine and I have done loads of events together from Marathon upwards so she is used to me 'rabbiting' for hours! in 2009 we did LDWA 100 mile walk together through 2 nights so we knew what to expect.

Really enjoyed the race although I would have liked to have done a few more laps but it was good fun.

Would have liked to have seen another portaloo on the south side as we had to wait every time we needed to 'go' but I think that will be rectified for next year.

Special congratulations to Kevin, Matt, Jennifer and Hellen for a great performance.

If anyone is interested in my Crawley 6 & 12 hour track race entry forms can be downloaded from my website www.pamstorey.co.uk

I did thake some to the race but left them in our hotel  Doh! Hope to hear from some of you.

Sorry I forgot to come back and report back
Really enjoyed that and surprised myself by doing 60 miles, never done that before
Every time I saw you pam you were gassing, do you ever stop?!!!

Really want to do this again next hear but suspect it will clash/ be too close to your ultrafest

Might be interested in one of the track distances but won't have a lop counter. It depends on dates of other things and if I decided I want to target a marathon PB in the Spring

Hi Hellen,

Well, the Lord gave me a voice so I plan to use it!

Yes, I am still waiting for a meeting at Lingfield Park but, as you say the Ultrafest will probably clash with Hoth next year.

There are so many races on the calendar now (probably too many) it is hard to decide which ones to do.

Of course VLM is only one week before and Brighton a week before that.

Regarding Crawley, I would love to have you there so I would make sure I find you a good lap recorder if you decided to come. I managed to get 5 rooms at the Gatwick Travelodge last time for £9 a night for my helpers and a few of the  runners so I am waiting for them to have another sale to get rooms for next year.

See you at Boston on Sunday.