The Stour Valley Path 100k, was my race of choice. The Stour Valley Path is a 100km (62 mile) long footpath in England, which starts in Newmarket (Suffolk) and ends in Cattawade, a village near Manningtree (Essex). The SVP100 covers almost the entire length of the well marked trail, and is one of the longest point to point races in East Anglia.
The main lessons learnt from L2B were:
- More trail and cross country runs in training
- No long stops
- No shoe or sock changes if possible
Early start, with a drive from lowestoft to ipswich. I left my car at Steve Paul and Anita's house. I then grabbed a lift with them both to Newmarket to the start.
7am start in Newmarket
7 AM on a slightly chilly but sunny morning we started started the wrong with Steve Paul it was soon apparent to me that he was faster than me and I'm glad that before the race and I had said him ,not to stay with me and he was soon away in the distance.I didn't want to feel I was holding someone up and that way I could run my own race. I knew my back and hips wouldn't enjoy cross country however I was surprised how the pain came and went during the day.
8am - click for video
The course was 95% trail and 5% road. So upping the trail running in training paid off.
The weather remained dry and in the middle the day was quite hot. My pee was telling me I was dehydrated at about 1pm. Spent the next hour really concentrating on getting fluids in regularly.
I'm not the fastest runner or the slowest, so as a result I spent a lot of time on my own. However this wasn't a problem on this course as the scenery is fantastic, and having a sunny day to view it made it even better.
Navigation was pretty straight forward, following arrows pink ribbon and marker tape. One arrow even sprayed on a cow pat. I went slightly wrong in a village, but was soon back on track.
I tried to have a snapshot of how I was feeling every hour. I managed it except one. Can't remember what happened there, must have really been in the zone.
9am please click
10am - click to have a look
11am - press here
I stuck to my race plan and didn't spend to long in the checkpoints. Just the time it took to fill my bladder bag and grab some food, and then I was out again. The volunteers were fantastic. I've never experienced in a race, someone saying" take off your bag, i will fill your bladder bag whilst you grab some food" before. It was like having your own pit team, brilliant. I even had one lady say" it looks like your knees are getting sunburnt, do you want some sun cream "
12 noon
1pm. Click click click
2pm over half way
Paula asked me what I thought about during the 100km. I can honestly say I can't remember anything specifically. I guess it would be a mixture of the views around, how much longer to next checkpoint? When was the last time I drank? Wonder how Steve is doing? But I didn't feel the need to put my iPod on, which is a result.
3pm
3.30pm fantastic scenery
4pm 19 miles to go
6pm missed an hour sorry
7pm nearly
8pm nearly there
It was dark when I finished, so no video. 13.42 for 100km, 14.09 for the 64 mile course. Happy with that.
Quick change, Rego drink, then a short drive back to ipswich to pick up my car.
Steve and Anita kindly offered a bed for the night, but I figured as I felt pretty good, waking up in my own bed would be more preferable. Thank to you both for the lift and support during the run.
After an hour drive back to lowestoft, I jumped straight in a cold bath, followed by hot shower and stretch. Bit of food. In bed by about 1am.
Woke up feeling pretty good. Happy days
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