The Thames Trot 2012 - Race Report

Well what a fantastic day for running! 2012 saw my return to the Thames Trot, the race I won back in 2010 (my first and only ultra victory).

Arriving at the start, the Prince of Wales pub in Iffley I felt somewhat excited and also a little nervous. I was running this event for training with my friend Alain Helfenstein, but still 50 miles is 50 miles and is a very long way to run. As usual I looked around for familiar faces at the start of the race, I bumped into Graham Bootey who I first met 4 years ago at the Thames Path Ultra, a nice chap called Paul Bennett who ran with Alain last year but not too many other faces I recognised.

We may look it, but we weren't happy...too bloody cold, let's get running!

We were aiming for a sub 7 hour finish and we had a lot going in our favour. Firstly the conditions were great. After a discussion about whether road shoes or trail shoes would be most suitable, we opted for road shoes. This proved to be the right choice as the paths were frozen solid for all but the last 6 miles or so, which also has a good mix of road and paved paths.

The start was leisurely and we tried to be as disciplined as possible. Sticking to a rigid 8 minute mile pace would give up a bit of time in the bank for the aid stations and a slight deteroiation in pace towards the back end...if only it was this easy....

The first checkpoint went by quite nicely, we chatted a lot and felt really relaxed. The scenery was great with everything we could see covered in a white frost. One runner joined me and Alain for a while, but he was breathing very heavily, which was a little annoying. He turned off in the wrong direction and we did try and call him back but his music was clearly too loud and he didn't hear us...we were kind of happy though (is that bad?). We both wondered how he would fair up over the course of the run, he was running at what seemed too high an intensity. He caught up and passed us a few miles later and we thought we would see him again at some point. We hit the first checkpoint averaging bang on 8 minute miles, and leave with an average pace of 8m05 per mile. My Mum and Step-Dad were on hand to help at the checkpoints and did a great job throughout the day, with the exception of this checkpoint where we were greeted only with our trail running shoes and no food. We laughed and it was okay really, we both still had plenty of food in our packs but I left them with clear instructions for the next checkpoint! Hopefully a good dress rehearsal for the Barry track race.

Alain fed up with gels already

Between the first and second checkpoint we met a chap called Leo. Running his first ultra he was aiming for sub 7 and therefore we formed a good group. He was clearly in good shape, and we all had a bit of common ground having all completed Ironman Zurich so this helped pass the time for a while as we chatted about the usual stuff. I did have to stress I was a retired triathlete though. Leo was running strong and shortly before the third checkpoint, I encouraged him to push on. We were hit with a little bit of wind and Alain was slowing a little and so I didn't want to hold Leo back. By checkpoint 3 we have slowed to an average of 8m17 per mile. Still happy with this and felt we were still on for the sub 7 at this point.

Between the third and fourth checkpoint things started to get very wobbly, Alain started to fade majorly. This is a very difficult point in the race as we have now got some serious distance in the legs and we hit the only hills in the course and it is difficult to keep the legs going. We were not helped by the sight of Sandra Bowers powering up the hills with a smile on her face. I had not met Sandra before and we ran together for a while. I was amazed by her positivity and at this point was almost certain she would finish first lady (which she did).

At this stage in the event, I had to make a call of what to do. I could have continued to run with Alain, but felt that it was more beneficial for both of us if I continued to run on my own. If I ran with him it would put too much pressure on him to run at a pace he could not sustain and that would have been unfair and unhelpful. At the end of the race Alain said he recovered really well after I left him, which made me realise I made the right decision.

I reached checkpoint 4 and purposefully stripped down a layer, probably too cold to do this, but it was a statement of intent. I decided I wanted to push on from here and see what kind of strength I had in the legs. This meant pushing on and running through the 40 mile marker. With the Barry 40 mile track race being a priority race for me I thought this would be an interesting experiment. Plus, the sub 7 hour run was still on the cards so I decided to push. It took me a few miles to get the legs open but I settled quite nicely into a 7m30 pace which given the me great confidence for Barry. This was mentally quite challenging. When I started pushing on I overtook a few people, Graham Bootey who looked a little worse for wear but he is a strong character and I knew he would finish ok, Leo who was plodding on and looking close to sub 7 and also Paul. I then didn't see anyone for 4 miles...this was tough I was expecting at the pace I was going I would be pulling in a number of casualties.



Chowing down at checkpoint 5

Checkpoint 5 arrived and I was starting to weaken, I had probably put 4 minutes into those behind me so no reason to worry about losing places (to be honest, this was training so it's a wonder that I really cared at all). I did however put my jacket back in my pack. Because Alain and I had split there was a chance that Mum and Step-Dad wouldn't be there when I finished and I was concerned that I was running hard and was still feeling the cold a little! A mouthful so jelly beans and I then made the conscious decision to keep on running hard, which I did. In the last leg, I took 4 more runners and was full of running into the finishing chute!



All smiles at the end

Then the fun bit started, seeing all the runners at the finish and the people I met along the way start to finish. The Go Beyond team did a fantastic job yet again. My thanks go to all the volunteers, they were out in the freezing cold for much longer than I was and appeared to be happy all day. I love the 'village' feel of this event and the friendly personalities you get to meet along the way. It was certainly more enjoyable than 2010 where I ran a 50 mile time trial!

The heavy breather at the start of the race, finished well.  I had chatted to him for a few minutes before checkpoint 4 and tried to give him some encouragement and words of advise as it was his first ultra. Unfortunately I do not remember his name, but a fantastic effort. Leo, was very unlucky to just miss out on the sub 7 (by less than a minute) and Graham, well Graham has had better days but he has big challenges coming up this year. Alain, finished well and positive, showing great mental fortitude in the face of adversity.

Alain and I enjoyed our Dominos pizza at the end and a beer. Both feeling a little worse for wear today, but pleased to have finished before the snow came in. I take a lot from this race, confidence for Barry and also signs my endurance is coming on well. Might mean I can run a little faster over the 100km event. Here's hoping.

Next up a half marathon in a few weeks will act as a reminder that I am still primarly a road runner and then Barry will be not too far away. Eek!