Run to Infinity

With Storm Ciara followed by snow, wind and even "thundersnow", and then Storm Dennis, outdoor events were being cancelled left, right and centre. The weekend of Storm Ciara had seen a closure of most parks and forests - often with no refunds of entry fees for events that were due to be held there, so I was rather expecting the Saturn Running Event I was going to participate in this weekend to have been called off due to "Dennis the Menace".

The Saturn Running crew were amazing - updating us regularly via their FB page as to weather forecasts, predicted river levels/flooding and potential reroutes of the course. They were doing their utmost to keep the event on, and eventually they decided that they would offer participants the option of an alternative date in 4 weeks or to participate on the Sunday as planned, but with a 30minute delay to the start and with a rather altered course. Saturn Running is so named as their events consist of loops (or "rings" as around the planet Saturn), but unfortunately they were rather restricted by Mother Nature on this occasion so each "lap" would have to be an out and back run, though they did manage to keep each lap the same planned distance of 3.2 miles.

The event was due to last for 7 hours (after which I had to drive back to Scotland, so the delay of the start wasn't the best thing for me, but at least the run was still happening) during which time you could run as much or as little as you liked. Unlike Falkirk a fortnight previously, you did not have to provide your own supplies as they had a fantastic aid station that you would pass every time you finished/started a lap. My mouth watered when I saw all that was on offer - cookies, flapjacks, cheese, crisps, nachos, sweets, fruit, falafels, sausage rolls, macaroons (well I'd be avoiding those) and drinks. Registration just consisted of you picking up a number (there was no chip timing, you would just be given a wrist band to put on at the end of every lap you completed) and buying/renting a collapsible cup. These cups were to go in racks by the aid station - the racks had slots numbered to correspond with race numbers, but unfortunately the numbering only went as high as 340 (and my race number was 350 as we were lisetd in alphabetical order) so I just had to put my cup on the edge of the table and hope....

I'd bumped into my friend Rachel at registration and as we huddled together trying to keep warm near the start line, we marvelled at a young girl who was there in the shortest of shorts, a running club vest and some arm warmers - for comparison I was wearing a thermal top, arm warmers, capris, a jacket, a buff and gloves - none of which I was going to shed before completing at least 1 lap! The bravery of Northerners (famed for going out to the pub in the snow wearing little more than a boob tube and hot pants)!!!

The short/flat/paved start/finish section
 towards the old swimming pool

The event started with an anticlimactic countdown from 10 to 1, and everyone trundled off....well everyone except a few faster guys, and said girl in the short shorts who shot off at some crazy pace (though maybe it was just to get warm!). We started off down the riverbank path away from the boathouses towards the old swimming pool, along the junior parkrun course (which had been cancelled due to the flooding) and by the time we'd gone a few hundred metres, she had already opened up a large gap ahead of the rest of the field. I guess that running such events is definitely a case of "each to their own" but it struck me as a trifle odd. I was at the other end of the scale, as within that first short section I was already asking myself exactly what I was doing there....as I had "nothing to prove" and was just not feeling up for it, either in my legs or my head.

The riverside path

We soon hairpinned back on ourselves and follwed the path up a short sharp slope to run along the top of the cricket pitches. This uphill section of path was tarmac, but many moons ago (over 20 years!!), it had been a rough grassy track that I'd walked along every day to school (and indeed, it was on this very section that I'd met a flasher one cold snowy January morning). The trail path along the top had a few overhanging trees to dodge and a narrow gateway to squeeze through, then some potholes and cars to dodge as we found ourselves back by the rowing club, but there was nothing too extreme. There was a marshal to guide us across the "road" into the rowing club, but his job was more to warn everyone about the slippery mud than oncoming vehicles, as all rowing had been canceled due to the height and speed of the river. We ran through the trees and back to the river but unfortunately could not continue on that path ( as it was underwater) so signposts directed us onto the rugby pitches. Running round the edges of the pitches was quite interesting as cross country spikes would have been the footwear of choice for this section....it was very "soft-going" and only became worse as the day progressed....though one of the slippiest bits was a tiny down and up onto the tarmac at the far side.

Having run back round the other edge of the pitches we rejoined the riverside path on a slightly undulating, very muddy section which ended with a kissing gate, through which you had to plodge in ankle deep brown water. Then it was over a slippery woooden slatted bridge and onto a firm trail the other side (the route of the adult parkrun). By this point I could see that the leading man had reeled in and overhauled the speedy starting girl, and I was almost on her, though I didn't feel as if I had increased my pace at all (in fact, I was still wearing all my layers of clothing). We had been told that the rest of the loop was flooded so we would have to turn around and retrace our steps, but I think I expected more than a random sign at the sign of the path saying "turn around" - there was not even a marshal there, but I guess if you turned early, then you were only cheating yourself out of distance!

The path (as would have been)
for the looped course

After turning I soon passed the young lass but the guy ahead of us was a long way away and so almost out of sight. In a way it was good to know the route back, as then the mud and puddles weren't so much of a surprise, but what I hadn't thought about was meeting all the other runners coming tghe other way. many of them were running 3 or so abreast, which made it rather difficult to pass on narrow sections of path. Some of them were very kind and seemed to hold back to let those going at a slightly greater speed dash through the gates ahead of them....but then again, maybe they were just wanting to take their time to avoid the splash from the puddles and mud!! I had started to warm up by now so was ready to shed my outer waterproof jacket and so I took it off as I ran back along the riverside bath towards the boathouses and put it down on the tarp with everyone's bag just after crossing the start/finish line. This line was also a bit vague as when you got back to about where you'd started, there were helpers standing by the aid station who (once they'd noticed you) handed you a band to put on your wrist to mark each completed lap. I didn't feel the need to eat or drink after 1 lap, as each lap was about 3.2miles, so after depositing my jacket, I just turned round and headed back out again.

Sporting mud tattoos...

To help me mentally (trying to overrule my legs which were telling me how nice it would be to just lounge around in front of the TV at my parents' house), I set myself little targets...such as trying to keep the guy ahead of me in sight...or making sure the gap opened up behind me to the aforementioned girl. It was also nice to see people at various times en route, so the out and back format greatly helped this, as Rachel and I encouraged each other every time we saw the other one...and after a few everyone was getting more and more familiar!! Another lady I know had come done to run a few laps with a friend of hers so I got to see her too....and on laps 3 and 4 I spotted my parents who'd come out for a morning walk to cheer me on (and take a couple of photos!!).

Various people on various laps

The ethos of the event was for participation rather than competition so as long as you completed at least 1 lap, you got a medal and goodie bag.....you just had to ring a "finisher's bell" rather than pick up a band at the end of whatever lap you finished on, and the marshals documented how long you'd been running for and how many bands you'd collected. People obviously had every different goals...some for a distance, some for a time, and others just to be there. I never saw the young lass after the thrid lap so presumed that she'd stopped then, and I caught up to the leading man at the end of our 5th lap, and then he rang the bell, but I was no longer running alone, as there were people on all sorts of different laps by this time, so noone really knew who was where. People often said to me "Last Lap" as I passed them, but I didn't really know what they meant, but I guess they probably thought I was aiming to run a set distance/number of laps (though I'd no idea what distance/number they thought it was).

My aim beforehand was just to have a long catered run and try to keep going for the whole 7 hours (as it was flatter and less time than the Falkirk event), but I soon realised that that would not be in my best interests. If I wasn't up for it mentally or physically, then I'd probably end up doing myself some mischief rather than good. My left hamstring had tightened up within the first 5 miles and never really loosened off at all, so I decided to curtail my run. To give myself a bit more of a mental challenge and not quit too easily, I decided to run at least a marathon....and then get to 50K....as long as it was just tight, rather than sore. Having passed both of these targets, I decided that 5 hours sounded like a nice round number and so I rang the bell at the end of my lap just before the clock hit 5 hours (I think it was something like 4:56 but I did pick up the pace for the last halfmile or so in order to make sure).

Medal, reclaimed cup and "ultra"pin

I didn't really need a medal or "ultra" pin, but the goodie bag was full of chocolate, crisps and a drink...all of which I needed (and consumed whilst walking abck to my parents' house). Although the aid station had been really well stocked with sweets, biscuits, cheese, crisps, fruit, sausage rolls (!), falafels (!) etc and I'd actually eaten way more than I'd run in miles....I was rather thirsty by the end. The fact that there had been no cup holder for me, meant that my cup probably blew off the table straight away, and so I actually didn't drink anything until I'd run beyond the marathon distance as by that time most people had finished and so there were spare cups lying around. The added bonus of finishing early was that I had time to wak back to my parents' house and luxuriate in a bubble bath with several mugs of hot tea, before getting into the car to drive home (and it was still daylight)...so not a bad day out...though soem R&R is definitely what both my body and head are calling for now!!!