Round Rotherham 50

[daz h]

well what a day
here is my report
arrived at the pub at 8.00 and had 2 shandies , emmi and calf rolled up late as usual , we dumped our gear at the centre then had 3 bottles of corona in the pub
i dragged them out and we bedded down in the changing rooms, emmi having the en suite shower of course.
thats when the problems started, now im not known for sleeping well and my insomnia kicked in " to be fair im blaming calf and emmi they kept laughing and joking and nipping to the loo every 5 mins"
at one point i asked calf for a drink and he passed his water holder plastic bladder to emmi to pass to me and she left it open and duly soaked me , this was 3.28am.
well morning soon came and we got kitted out , emmi being very very organised indeed.
numbers on and we was off, calf did a great job of holding us back , this being my first long long run the pace seemed weird, much to slow to anything id ever experienced. i blocked out much of the run , glad to get to the checkpoints in that awful weather, thanks to IAN for the food en route " Ian your a top man , giving up your time to hand out food to runners " all three of us had our low points, me and calf shouting our frustration at certain points, emmi plodding on in front keeping us going , then calf urging us on , me urging them on , real teamwork. thanks to the organisers and checkpoint guys. we got to the last checkpoint and i was in serious pain , id led the others over the last hill as i could see we was all getting to that breaking point, i didnt check the map as we left the checkpoint and led us wrongly down a road which added 2 miles onto our journey just at the time we didnt need it , sorry guys that was my fault. but we plodded on and recovered to come in well under 11 hours.
my thanks to calf and emmilou, i cannot thank you enough for the day, cheers guys.
i learnt many things yesterday about kit, food, route , maps etc etc and more importantly the camaradrie that happens on these things.
a bit of a twist as i headed home , after having 3 of emmis paracetamols for the pain i shoved the shepherds pie down me at the centre, i had to stop and throw up just before i got onto the M1 , as i was being sick the boys in blue pulled up and enquired what was wrong , id just ran 50miles i said , oh we thought you was drunk , after being offered an ambulance and help i said i will be okay , thanked them then drove home.
what a day.
whats next emm

[old un]

well done all who ran and and a big thanks to organisers and check point crews who did a sterling job. and thanks ian for the mince pie it was good too see you again mate esp on a day like that credit due. it was good meet you daz and calf also, good effot on your first long event.and cheers wolds ranger for carrying round me in 2nd half.

[Derby Tup]

Started off with two friends and met Jamie after an hour or two with his workmates - hope to see you in new year in Lakes or at the Hobble. Before 30mile check-point saw Ian - mate you're a star, thanks for the food and encouragement. Was very wet and cold by 30mile but my mate Dave sorted me soup and tea and felt better especially with another warm top and plenty of food. Last 20 miles hard and think might have chatted wth JohnK (Essex accent, Helm Hill?) about 7miles from finish. We too got lost with less than 5miles to go and that cost us 20mins or so and a sub-12 finish. Managed 12-17 and happy but sore today (stairs not easy - especially downward!). Think LDWA Yoredale 100 entries open in Jan !!

[Calf]

Lengthy report to follow!

All I'm saying is i'm f**kin sore in places i didn't know i could be or indeed had!



But glad its over.

Thanks to Daz and Emm for dragging me round and putting up with my moaning.
More to follow.....my fingers hurt too much at the moment!

[Calf]

oh just downloaded the garmin!

52 miles 8500ft of climbing

[daz h]

oh just downloaded the garmin!

52 miles 8500ft of climbing

told you it was up and down mate

[NotOnUrHelly]

Hi All,

Well that was bloody hard, I set off with the workmates with the plan to stick with them. We ran walked to 14 miles at that point we had started to catch walkers and my mates wanted to get round. So I agreed to start walking at that point. As we approached the 24mile doubt was starting to set in with my workmates and they realised it was going to be a long long day. Probably another 10 hours if we kept walknig. So I decided to start moving on, on my own from the 3rd checkpoint so started running again, I was already 6hours into it.

I ran most of the way until it started to go dark, then I caught a few runners and we decided to slog it together. It turned into a whole new world after dark. The Wainwright maps where not as much fun, it was pissing it down and to be honest, if I was not running with this group iof runners I would have been pretty scared out there on my own. Especially as the frequency of people and headtorches in the distance became less and less.

Anyhow, we all worked together and slogged it out, and that was great complete strangers each with the same goal working together. I think we got round in over 14hours. TBH by that time I was not really interested in what tiem I got round in.

Those fields where horrendous, I really did not think it would be that hard

I also saw the idiot without kit, namely a young lad with tracksuit and T shirt on and nothing else. At one point I was going to lend him a thermal, but then I thougght why should I he knows the score. At that point he was at the halfway point and luckily for him he decided to jack it. He'd probably still be out there.

My ankles have swollen up is that normal.

Thats my longest day out every, the hardest thing I've done.

Cheers
Jamie

[IainR]

Thats my longest day out every, the hardest thing I've done.

I find an 8 hour ultra harder than an 8 hr mountain running day, it's a different pain, but the continuous punding of the joints gets me more in the ultras.

It's hard to compare something like the BGR with the RR so don't be too put off and think it will be twice as hard. many are put of 100s after a 50 thinking its twice as hard, but in reality the pain doesn't get that much worse, just doesn't go away, so mentally its a long day out.

Mentally I find the ticking the peaks off, moving through the legs breaks a long round into sections making it easier, for me anyway.

[JohnK]

Well done Jamie a great introduction to ultra running it is the dark that catches folk out on that one,in all honesty i think being out on the fell after dark with map and compass is easier than trying to navigate round rotheram with a sketch map after dark (could be GPS could excel there).

As you found the camaraderie on these events is second to none we are all in it together and suffering the same highs and lows and generally more than happy to share them and help one another out.

The fields of mud took on a whole new dimension but just think of the training benefits, you covered 50mile with several pounds of weight attached to your running shoes.

So are you back next year to take a couple of hours or more out of your time?

Swollen ankles are pretty common place i think but if you continue with ultra distance running your body will adapt, after all you were probably on your feet for longer than you have ever been before.

Did your mates go on beyond woodsetts?

Derby Tup that was me , good to have meet you and i will no doubt see you on the yoredale 100.

All in all a great day out i reckon and well done all

[JohnK]

I have just read Ian`s post, and for me ultra running is more about mental prep and if you go out to run 50 miles then you are mentally prepared to do that, likewise a 100 mile and above, my approach is simple i just split the whole thing into everyday manageable sections i.e long training runs may be 20-30 miles and a comfortable everyday run may be 6-10 miles, so by thinking in terms of say 10 -15 mile sections everything seems to be manageable, but then we all have different approaches but i think it is fair to say that the pain happens afterwards.