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December
2009
2009 was yet another
amazing year, a fantastic new pb for 24 hours with 226km that kept
my GB ranking secure for another year and saw me rise up the World
Rankings to finish with a brilliant 4th best in the world on the
IAU rankings. A double gold medallist at the Commonwealth 24 Hours
on home soil and a run around the Badwater Ultramarathon ticked
the box that was left blank in 2008. A visit to the Grand Canyon
and the book finally got written, to be released shortly. There
was only one major injury for the year that was both frustrating
and annoying as it dashed my hopes of the World 6 Day Record and
scuppered plans for extremely long races for another year to strengthen
my bones. The recovery from that saw another record set –
a jigsaw puzzle record called “Life” which will be ratified
shortly and will give the link when this arrives.
I have now started a
20 week training program to lead me through to the World 24 hours
in May, 5 blocks of 4 weeks of training and racing every weekend.
The last few races of this year went to pot, not by me but the weather,
the Loftus Poultry run had no choice but to postpone with -7 temperatures
and thick snow and ice but was surprised by the cancelation of the
Witham 5 on Boxing Day, the weather near Cambridge was clear and
Boxing Day felt mild at 6 degrees as we went for our usual Christmas
visit. Back home the snow and ice still cover the pavements and
gardens and the North York Moors are white, so training is on the
treadmill in the garage at present.
I managed a run around
the Albert Park Santa Run, in full Santa dress with snow and ice
and enjoyed the wine and mince pies after, even got a photo in the
Gazette. That was the night of the big snow fall and just about
made it to the party that night. There are a few plans for 2010,
nothing too big for the first half, but hopefully something bigger
for the second half. I did have one surprise envelope dropped through
my door while away for Christmas, a very nice cheque from the Rotary
Club of Guisborough and Great Ayton. I did a talk for them a few
weeks ago, along with being spoilt with an excellent meal and their
members kindly donated a cheque which is enough to fully fund my
first outing abroad to Slovenia this year. This was a very kind
gesture and will help enormously to achieving some of my goals this
year. Best wishes for a happy, healthy and successful 2010.
November
2009
After working hard to get the book completed I have finally admitted
defeat and relaxed the pressure and this will finally be published
and ready for sale in February next year. The final bits and pieces
are taking time to complete and a few more people are involved with
this and as usual with me it has to be as perfect as I can get it.
The last two months have been very hectic for many reasons but I
have finally got back to some running again and feel much better
for it. The main problem is going through checking numbers and captial
letters, does World Record have captials, does Gold medal want a
capital or little letters, numbers are a great issue, coming first
or 1st, finishing in 3 hour 30 minutes or three hours thrity minutes
and with 20 or twenty miles left are all creating issues. I have
ready many sporting autobiographies who all detail these issues
differently, so for me it's just a case of deciding what I think
looks best and being consistent throughout. Then deciding what needs
putting in the appendix, with over 900 races I am sure this is far
too much, so may be just the major races acheived for each of my
international racing year (all 16 years of them). And then it is
picture time, how many photos to put in as these all cost extra.
I have settled into working at Teesside University now, finally
got a locker so that I can run to work and home several days a week
(approximately 11 miles each way) which easily adds up the miles.
I have continued racing every weekend to maintain fitness but will
not begin another serious program until the new year. I have had
a mixture of races, some good, some disastrous such as Thirsk 10,
running really well but the cold, damp wet weather got to me and
the Asthma took control and ended the race shortly after 7 miles
unable to breathe properly and continue (thanks to the marshalls
there that were extremely efficient in keeping me warm and getting
me back to the finish safely without the need for an ambulance).
Back onto medication twice a day and have performed well since then.
I had a great run around the Halloween Park Run 5km at the end of
October, just an excuse for a slow run really but won the fancy
dress prize dressed as a skeleton, Bill was dressed as a demon,
hopefully I may get a photo on this page soon, Bill lost the camera
along with his wallet, but thankfully a kind yound lad found them
and they were returned intact. I have done several more talks this
month, I even had a trip to Solihull for the 10th Anniversary for
the Mannatech European Convention, the surprise here being put in
a hotel for the weekend where the athletes were staying for the
Vets Cross Country and had a pleasant run out with the Welsh runners
on the Sunday. Also it was a privilege to be at the Tees Active
Awards inducting the young athletes with great potential for the
future.
October
2009
Training had
been quiet this month, I am not in any program at all due to other
commitments, just running short races at weekends and a couple of
off-road events done so far. The big races are all done for the
year so will probably be good to take a break from hard running
and racing. I am now working on the Foundation Degree for Middlesbrough
College but all my lessons are at Teesside University. It will be
a while before I plan next years races, the next probable big event
may be the World 24 Hour Challenge in May in France, depending on
UKA selection and funding of course. Also on the cards is being
part of a relay team called JOGLER, that's John O'Groats to Lands
End Relay. It will be good to see it the "other way around"
and not have to run the whole way.
I have been doing a few more talks, I got invited back to Sedgefiled
Harriers and quite liked some of the stats based on what I had done
in the last 12 months. From 1st October last year to 30th September
this year I had run 83 races, done around 1490 miles of racing,
averaging 18 miles per race, but the one I liked the most was dividing
miles races by number of weeks in a year. That figure came out over
28 miles of racing per week and that's not including time out for
an injury!! I always do end of year stats which will come out different
but this is the average miles that Bill now runs per week.
It has been a busy time as the Commonwealth 24 Hours was the finishing
chapter in my book, being proof read to be at the publishers shortly
and so hopefully out before Christmas. Next month I should have
a clearer date and will hopefully have a page on my website so that
you can purchase it directly from me. It will of course be available
on Amazon too and selected book shops.
September
2009
Well
it’s 15th September today as I write this, Bill’s Birthday and three
years to the day since I set that LEJOG record and some very interesting
news came through today about this record, but more on that next
month. This month, or more precisely, this week is the Inaugural
Commonwealth 24 Hours where I am representing England. There have
been a few interviews concerning this and as you can see on the
IAU website (www.iau.org.tw)
it lists the current top athletes in both the 100km and the 24 hours
and England looks set to bring home a few medals. There is a team
event as well as individual medals for these events – the top 3
to count for the team, in 24 hours it is the top 3 distances that
will be added together, not places.
The official website is at www.cumbriacommonwealthchampionships.org
but although the event is chipped I have not been informed if the
website will update on the race as it progresses. The 24 hours starts
at mid-day on Thursday 17th September and is on a 1005m loop around
Fitz Park. We went to Keswick just over a week ago to look at the
course and it is a very pleasant one alongside the river on one
side, somewhat weaving path and a little narrow in places but as
there are only 44 athletes (22 men and 22 women) this should not
create too many problems. I am in fit and confident mood, my last
month of training has gone exceptionally well, three marathons in
4 weeks, lots of shorter races, my last marathon for training was
the Wolverhampton Marathon on 6th September, the goal was just a
steady 3hours 30 minutes and did just this, reaching half way in
1 hr 44 minutes and finishing with 3 hrs 29 minutes, so spot on
and didn’t even feel like I ran a marathon. The taper has worked
well and managed to knock over 30 seconds off the regular Albert
Park 5km event last weekend on wonderful fresh legs, haven’t felt
this good in ages so really looking forward to an excellent performance
that should retain my status at GB No 1 for another year.
The Spira Striker has been reserved for this race, one of the heavier
shoes in the range but a really good solid shoe and wore this in
the Wolverhampton Marathon, I also have the Stinger lined up for
the last few hours if needed, these are my racing shoes and will
give the edge if needed. I have several goals, gold obviously the
No 1 goal but I feel I am condition to break my pb of 219km.
Commonwealth 24hr race report:
The event at the Commonwealth was a
great success, both the ultra distance events of the 100km and 24
hours and the two mountain events. The weather was very kind to
us all and am sure the spectators that turned out in force enjoyed
every aspect of the whole festival of running. As for me, it was
just as successful, a gold medal, a fantastic new pb, ranked no
3 in the world at present and GB no 1 for the 13th year. Nothing
to grumble about here, more details as to how the event went are
in the report. England also took the team gold medal along with
new pb's for Vicky Skelton and Marie Doke, full results are on the
Commonwealth website. The men did pretty good too, Chris Carver
leading the men home to a silver medal with his new pb in 5th place,
closely followed by Jim Rogers and Pat Robbins on his first event.
Commonwealth
24 hours - full report (Download 720kb)

Above:
Sharon takes individual gold and team gold at the Commonwealth 24hrs
Below: The medal ceremony

Below: Sharon with the two gold medals

August
2009
A good solid month, some long races at weekends, lots of short races during the week. Although the tenderness in the feet is fully recovered the skin still continues to peel off like sunburn. I can only assume the feet got so hot that the skin was actually killed off - I did also wreck two pairs of shoes running the Badwater Ultramarathon. I can't say that they actually melted but parts of the soles came away from the rest of the shoes. I just don't think trainers are designed to run across tarmac with road temperatures around the 200 degree mark.
Just one last long run to do now and its off to Keswick for the Commonwealth 24 hour event that starts at midday on Thursday 17th September around Fitz Park. The loop is just a fraction over 1km, very little information has been forthcoming about the event and very limited kit for the race too, there is still no information on what cover will be provided and some draconion rules insisting that we stay in bunk beds in a 5 and 6 bed dormitory the night before the race. This is just not conducive to getting a good nights sleep the night before and challenge any of the 24 hour runners to get in the top bunk after the race, stairs are more than enough to cope with!! Apparently we are not even allowed to book our own accommodation at our own expense before the race, although we are allowed move out of the Youth Hostel and find our own accommodation after the race. I am guessing most of the females are bringing their partners so I can only assume a few rules will be broken.
July
2009
Well
as you can see below I finished the race in fantastic style, it
really was a most extreme race, far hotter than I can put into words
and really just a phenomenal experience that the body really can
cope with such conditions that the environment throws at us. There
is a long and short report but for those for whom this is just too
much reading the event was 135 miles long, had around 12000ft of
climbing and is run in the hottest climate ever at the hottest time
of year. The only suffering I had was about four blisters –
but they were big ones, the worst covering the entire bottom of
the heel on my foot, downhill running was extremely painful and
that was after just 40 miles.
I had just the most excellent crew ever, my wonderful husband Bill
and my three new Canadian superstars Barb, Isabelle and Mary, all
great runners/cyclists and adventure racers, Isabelle and Mary will
both have their entries ready for that two week window next January,
I didn’t put them off!!
Back home and although the feet are still a bit tender – that
soft new skin underneath the blisters now needs toughening up, the
rest of the legs are doing fine and within two weeks have already
clocked up another 3 short races in 4 days. So one more easy week
and then the serious training begins for the Commonwealth 24 hours
in mid-September. Four women were selected for England shortly before
I left for America.
We did have a bit of a holiday as it was such a long way to travel,
we had a few days in Las Vegas, some days camping and acclimatising
in the Grand Canyon – including a walk to the Colorado River
and back in a day, and finally the Death Valley experience, memories
of which will live with me for some time.
The only not so good news is that Darlington Building Society are
having to make cutbacks and the end of a great financial sponsor,
so anyone out there that wants to be associated with a success story
going into the Commonwealth 24 hours ranked as No 1 – now
is your chance to step on board.
June
2009
Surgeres came and went and not the best of performances yet again
- but a lot of lessons learnt. It was again very hot and managed
my salt intake much better this time and no problems with that side
of things - I was trying a few new nutritional strategies and my
pacing was slightly different. It was a huge learning curve and
although the outcome was not great I came away very tired, a few
niggles but nothing major. Getting used to the heat on the track
was good and found some very useful new strategies here that I can
take forward to Badwater, which is now only a couple of weeks away.
Thanks to Sue Bruce (and husband) for sending though some useful
journals on salt intake.
The heat wave at the end of June has been great, lots of hot training
in the conservatory with all the doors and windows shut and temperatures
up to 49 degrees, have been drinking gallons but looks like I just
tip the drinks all over the floor such is the sweat rate. Have done
a few off-road marathons this month and a few shorter mid-week races
and been happy with all my performances. At the end of the month
there was one last hard race before Badwater where I wanted to run
hard and hoped for a hot day, the mist turned up and made navigation
very difficult. The event was the Durham Dales 30 miles starting
in Wolsingham - first news I heard was of the 30 vehicles in 3 accidents
in the thick fog. The run itself is a hilly one and by half way
was up to second overall and that is where I stayed, I pulled away
from the second man but the first man pulled away from me as I struggled
to find the path in the mist. So content I came home knowing that
I was fit and injury free and ready for my next challenge.
Darlington Building Society are supporting me for this one last
event - courtesy of honouring a pledge from Peter Rowley, it is
great that thay have supported me so much despite the grim news
surrounding financial businesses and have been very fortunate for
their wonderful support these last few years. Spira have given me
quite a few new shoes to try out in various sizes for Badwater -
from white walking shoes, trail shoes and more of the super light
Stinger. From my heat training it is actually the Stinger that came
out trumps for keeping my feet the most comfortable but a bit wary
as they are so light that the cushioning will be good enough for
135 miles of pounding the tarmac, so am taking the Striker and a
few others just in case. And as usual will have my faithful Glycoslim
from Mannatech as my main energy source during the race.
I also have to thank my wonderful Canadian crew who will support
me in the Badwater Race - Barb, Mary and Isabelle, they are incredible
adventure racers, cyclists, runners - you name it they can do it
- and it sounds like they can perform in the heat too, couldn't
wish for more. They have a great contact on Ferg, a great Canadian
runner that has come second in this "must do" race. Poor
Bill hates the heat so have hired him an air conditioned jeep -
so guess that should keep him happy. I am treating him to a couple
of days in Las Vegas too and a few days in the Grand Canyon - so
we will have a bit of a holiday while out there - a rarity for us
but will be his last one for some time.
No big goals for Badwater - the first goal is to finish, there are
just so many new challenges this race will throw up - goal 2 is
to finish in half the allocated time - so hopefully in 30 hours
and not the 60 hours given, and lastly to hopefully bag a top 5
finish in the female race - there are some tough American's out
there that have run this race before in amazing times. I have run
135 miles in 24 hours but not in the heat and not with the hills
- if you haven't heard of the race as a comparison a couple of weeks
ago I ran the Swaledale Marathon - this had 4000ft of climbing -
now imagine running 122 miles in the heat and then running a half
marathon with 4000ft of climbing - that is what the last 13 miles
is like!!!
You can follow my progress on the race website
at www.badwater.com
and there are three waves of starters - I am on the last start at
10am and it starts on Monday 13th July - Death Valley is 8 hours
behind us on time so by the time is is 10am here on that Monday
I will already have run the first 8 hours and hopefully be approaching
Stovepipe Wells.
Link
to latest race updates (scroll down past search facility):
http://dbase.adventurecorps.com/results.php?bw_eid=49&bwr=Go
Sharon
has finished the tough Badwater Ultramarathon in a fantastic time
of 31 hours 12 mins and 32 seconds in the position of 4th lady and
14th overall out of the 86 competitors.
Race
Reports:
Short:
badwater_ultramarathon2009-s.doc
Full: badwater_ultramarathon2009.doc
Race
photos (Copyright AdventureCORPS.com 2009):


Photo above:
Sharon preparing for the Badwater Ultramarathon
May
2009
Well
the World and European 24 hours didn't quite go according to plan
- the full report exlpains more, the weather was hot and looks like
I had a fraction too much salt this time and also a bit of a virus
with swollen glands and began to suffer around the half way mark
and made a visit to the medical tent. The knock on effect from this
was that I could take on little energy and food and a second visit
to the medical tent just after 20 hours saw my championchip removed
(saline and glucose drips administered) and it was the end of the
race for me - so 172km after 20 hours of running. Although there
were high hopes of a team medal I can't say the rest of the team
performed fantastic either, so not bringing a medal home was not
just my fault!! All of us were well below our 2008 performances
and none of the women made the 200km mark and the only male represented
also struggled and was well below his 2008 performance.
But as I did only run for 20 hours and didn't battle through that
last hard 4 hours the recovery has gone well. It needed to as my
next big race was just under 3 weeks after this one!! The Surgeres
48 Hour race starts at 4pm (French time) on 22nd May -24th May and
you can again follow my progress with the hourly splits the website
gives at www.48heures-surgeres.net.
Download
full report: bergamo2009.doc
I have done a few short 5km races since the 24 hours in Italy, got
good times in all of them - was even first lady in some of them,
my lymph glands are slowly retreating and the schedule is written.
The plan is to take just 2 x 1 hour breaks in the full 48 hours
and guess these breaks will come some time into the second day,
I do hope to hit the 200km mark by 24 hours to top the GB rankings
for the time being. Bill will be with me for this one, a great stabilising
factor and comfort for me (but he will get much more sleep than
me). He has been granted time off from work for this one - but beginning
to wonder how much longer his new job will last, Corus is shutting
down with massive job losses, much of Bill's work is on the Corus
site. So fingers crossed for that one.
I have been doing quite a bit of "ambassador" work recently,
last week was fantatic to be the official starter for the new mid-week
series 5km park runs at Stewart's Park to support Women and Domestic
Violence, along with Boro goalie Ross Turnbull, next it was club
presentation night at Scarborough AC and wonderful to see all the
juniors doing so well, along with a lot of familiar senior faces,
I think their long runs just won't seem so long after what I told
them!! And just before travelling to Surgeres their is one last
honour - presenting an award as a VIP guest at the Evening Gazette
Awards, great to be the "other side" of this event.
Hopefully I will soon add a nutrition page to the website - there
is never week that goes by without an interested party making contact
- various questions on daily diet, pre and post race diet and racing
strategy - and how I get away with doing so many races!! (Don't
ask me about salt intake is all I ask!!). Having done a project
on nutrition while studying MSc at the University of Teesside and
done many 7 days diet analysis this is a subject I love. Salt is
a curious issue though - it appears I need far less than an average
runner by the looks of things.
April
2009
The first bit of news to start the
month was that selection finally took place and I head a strong
women’s team (Sharon Gayter 219km, Vicky Skelton 211km, Pauline
Walker 209km and Lynne Kuz 201km). Stephen Mason was the only man
selected. If the women all perform to the standards achieved in
2008 there is every chance we will bring home a medal. Individually
I am hoping for a top 10 position and improvement of the 219km achieved
last December, which is currently being ratified as a World Best
Performance for 24 hours indoor age group 45.
The last few
weeks have seen much higher mileage and lots of short, sharp races.
My 5km time has improved significantly since before Bislett and
now down to 20 mins and 12 secs. In the last 23 days I have completed
11 races, in one 7 day period from Sunday 5th April to Saturday
11th April I ran over 120 miles of training for that period that
included over 70 miles of racing, the last of this being the Compton
40. Having just completed a 25 miles off-road event in 4 hrs 4 mins,
an average of around 10 minutes per mile I continued heavy training
to keep tiredness in my legs, ran a 10km race in just over 44 minutes
five days later and then the Compton 40 the day after this.
My goal was to run at a stable pace and the tiredness from the week
should make this feel like the second half of a 12 hour race. I
estimated a reasonable pace to be the same as the 25 miles –
that was 10 minutes per mile for this slightly undulating trail
event; that would mean a finishing time of 6 hours 40 minutes. In
that event I started steadily and wasn’t feeling particularly
great but going steady until 17 miles when I “tweaked”
my right ankle that I had sprained nearly two weeks earlier. It
was still heavily strapped and came very close to calling it a day
at the 19 mile point where you could cut off to run the Compton
20, but Bill was supporting me and took a couple of Ibuprofen to
prevent too much swelling and continued on my way, I had reached
this point at 2 hrs 58 minutes so was still inside my 6 hrs 40 minutes
goal. I then made a couple of minor navigational errors and got
overtaken by a group of runners that I caught at the next checkpoint
at 25 miles. I was feeling very low at this point and began to doubt
my ability but that was all it was, a bad spell, onwards and upwards
and by 30 miles the group of runners were out of sight behind me
and “firing on all cylinders”, I was back and in confident
mood and thoroughly enjoyed the final 15 miles of the event and
finished quicker than my target time in 6 hrs 17 minutes. So I am
now tapering and ready to take on the World in Bergamo, Italy as
part of the Great Britain team, the event will have live updates
on the IAU website www.iau.org.tw
should you wish to follow our progress.
The Commonwealth
Demonstration event is gathering pace, there is now a website with
interviews of some of the potential athletes for this event ready
for reading, as No 1 in the Commonwealth at 24 Hours I have been
added – the website is www.cumbriacommonwealthchampionships.org
Other news to report is that Bill now has a job,
he is working locally and home every night, far less hours than
previous, less wages but he has a life again and is back running
and racing and improving all the time. His two new hips are great
and give him no trouble (apart from at Airport security!!) but has
been having problems with his ankles and knees which now seem to
be settling down. The good news about this is that I now get more
massages too!!
March
2009
After
pulling out of Croft I completed the World's Biggest Jig-saw puzzle
of 24000 pieces in record time (4 weeks and 13 hours with all pieces
mixed together) which took up my entire conservatory but is a very
colourful picture titled "life". By the time I finished
in between lots of cross training, aqua-jogging, cycling and eventually
elliptical trainer I was able to start running again.
Initially only
short distances to ensure the bone could take the impact. I did
a few short races by the end of the month while hearing whispers
that Great Britain may send a women's team to the World 24 Hours
in May, but selection has been left very late - now just 5 weeks
until the event. The next big planned event is the Surgeres 48 hours
- the one where I sustained my stress fracture last year that put
me out for 3 months, so hopefully can have a good performance here
this year.
Although it appears the shin has mended well the rest of my body
has been rebelling, initially I came down with a cold that restricted
all training and fast running and saw a dip in my times, then to
finish the month off I cleverly sprained my ankle doing a recce
of a route for an off-road 25 miler, I was at 11 miles into the
route, running along admiring the view to Bolton Abbey and relaxed
a bit too much. I then had to nurse it and hobble the remaining
14 miles back to the van and spent the next 3 days doing RICE, but
the swelling is now 90% down and only slight discolouration and
back running again.
Looks like my first run in February broke the club record and so
now hold all the club records for the V40 category (barring 5 miles
which has not been set yet), so 5km, 10km, 10 miles, half marathon
and marathon. Not that the club website has been updated yet. The
only distance not run this year is the 10 miles, so have set the
5km, 10km, half marathon and marathon club records all wearing the
Spira Shoes. I now have the complete set of shoes to play with and
its a hard decision which to wear for the impending 24/48 hours.
The Elite is a racing flat so dare not chance that for 24 hours,
I wore the Del Sol in the Gloucester Marathon and the Volare at
the Croft 6 Days, the heaviest shoe is the Striker, but this is
a good, solid, hard working trainer that may be best for the cushioning
needed in 24 hours, so may do some of my longer runs in this shoe
to prepare.
February
2009
The big month
has arrived and the snow along with it. Hopefully all the snow will
be gone in time for the race. The forecast is for a couple of wet/rainy
days, never above 5 degrees during the day and a couple of frosty
nights. So every long sleeve top I own has been packed, I will probably
be wearing two pairs of tights and even have a mountain down jacket
just in case.
The shopping has been done, schedule checked and re-checked, permits
and labels in place, officials, first aiders and everything required
has been achieved. The press has been busy this week with reports
going out on BBC and ITV, the local newspapers have done excellent,
and even got one last interview on Radio Tees at 7:20 in the morning
on race day!!
I am the fittest I have been in a long time, my last two short races
I managed to shave another few seconds off my 5km time and took
3 miuntes of my best 10km time for 2008, so can't do anymore. I
am ready, confident and as they say in Formula 1 - go, go, go.........
Link:
Latest news on Croft 6 Day race
January
2009
I don’t
know where to start this month as so much has happened in such a
short space of time. 2008 finished as it started, with a new record
for the event. Although an up-and-down year with a big chunk out
due to injury it was still a very successful year. I am still thoroughly
enjoying every step of being out running and got bigger and better
plans for the future. 2008 started with a course record in Libya,
then a mediocre performance in the Marathon des Sables, a major
injury in the Surgeres 48 hour races which resulted in missing the
big event for the year at Badwater. Plenty of time to reflect and
correct the cause of the problem to come back stronger and more
determined than ever to break the British Indoor Record with a new
24 hour pb at the Bislett Stadium 24 hour event, what more can I
say about 2008.
Roll on 2009
and this year will be starting with another big bang – straight
into a massive event for me on my doorstep and a challenge at the
long standing 6 day records. Croft Circuit
6 Days is taking place near Darlington from 9th – 15th
February 2009 and I will be aiming at an excess of 820km (approx
510 miles). The weather may be poor but I know this and just got
to get on with the job of focussing on the goal, it will be a long
lonely run with very few runners taking part but a dedicated crew
of officials to back up the attempt. Darlington Building Society
are generously sponsoring the event, sponsors
are hard to come by in these tough times but they are standing by
me with great confidence and am really grateful for their assistance,
without it this event would not be taking place and have been with
me since the initial stages of planning back in June last year.
LEJOG gave me
a few lessons in real distance events and have adjusted the nutrition
and running schedule from this to gain a few more miles. Mannatech
products supplied most of my nutritional needs and will again be
taking the products for this event. The other issue with LEJOG was
my poor, sore feet, but this year started with a surprise new sponsor
and some fantastic new innovative shoes from Spira. I have only
been running in these shoes for a few weeks, I would like to think
my training has played a part in this but considering it is nearing
the end of January and barely 6 weeks since Bislett and I have already
bettered my 5km and half marathon times set in 2008 and my marathon
time has bettered even 2007 performances. These shoes are just incredibly
comfortable, no rough seams, generous toe boxes that are excellent
for me and spring technology not seen in other shoes – just
take a look at the website and try a pair (www.spirafootwear.co.uk).
The first outings in the Del Sol and Striker shoes I ran over 3
hours on consecutive days with no problems and even dared wear the
Stinger Elite racing shoe for a half marathon, whereas before I
would never exceed the 10km distance in racing flats. I have really
taken to these shoes already and the real test will come at Croft
Circuit. Being a high mileage runner cushioning is very important
to me and so far these shoes have not let me down.
News is that I could
possibly be taking part in two races for my country this year –
UKA looks like it may have the funding to send teams to the World
24 Hours to be held in Italy in May and Norman Wilson has been beavering
away at the Commonwealth Demonstration events to be held in September
in Keswick, of which 24 hours is one of the planned events and I
am number 1 in the Commonwealth.
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