TrackMafia, as previously mentioned, is where you push yourself to the limit with those around you, creating a special bond that I feel could not necessarily be achieved in other areas of my life.
These people have seen me sweat, yell, swear and many other unattractive qualities and still choose to be my friends, pushing me on towards my next goal.
Well, I believe this weekend we might have taken it to another level.
An idea that I saw last year, was of Ash attempting a marathon distance run, 26.2 miles, around the track. Now, a track is 400m long each lap, 4 laps and it makes a mile. You can do the maths. That's 105 laps.
I believe he got to 87 laps (by himself may I add, with the cheering of Track crew) and was told that the track is closing and he had to leave. That was a dream of his left unfinished.
Fast forward to 2015 January, well actually I have always had the thought about doing this ever since I saw Ash posted about it. I love a good mental challenge. I am always the one wanting to do repeats of the same thing. Some people will think that's crazy and that they need new scenery to keep their minds off things.
For me, I enjoy the repeats because I feel like I am then in control. I know what's coming, I am familiar with the route. So doing 105 laps on track didn't really faze me. Though doing it by myself did. I needed to find someone as crazy as me that would agree to this idea. Ash was out of the picture because he had an injury. So I asked Mark. We have always ran together and even though he is super fast now and has left me behind, I always enjoy his company.
'No, you are crazy' was his reply, or something similar to it. But who should I ask next? I was going through a struggle because I didn't want to ask too many people as I don't really want anyone knowing this. Because what if I failed and people asked about it afterwards? I would be mortified! Plus I didn't think I wanted that pressure of 'proving' to people I could do it.
So one thursday evening after TrackMafia, I mentioned this again with Ash and Warwick was present and I believed his ears might have perked up at the suggestion. He agreed. But I didn't know how committed he was to the idea.
Monday evening after RDC West, I asked him again. This time he was more certain with his 'yes' and thus began our 6 days mental preparation.
The last long distance run I did was back in September while I was still in Rome, 27km in mild summer weather, and I believe for Warwick it was around that time too, or a little later. Also, worth pointing out, in December when I was going through my runner's blue, I think I ran a total of 21 miles. What I am trying to say is, neither of us were really prepared.
I went into this thinking, it's on a track, when I feel tired I can just stop and all my things will be there. Water, food, phone. I won't be lost somewhere 13 miles away from central London.
I had a terrible dinner the night before and only managed to have a banana-filled vegetable and fruit smoothie with crunchy nuts in the morning. I have previously prepared this chocolate/peanut butter/oats balls as fuel. I have never been a big gel person. The last time I did a marathon distance run (again it was unofficial, I was doing the training runs with my friend) I had fruits pastilles with me.
On the day, we wanted to start at 10am, but then there was chances of snow so we postponed it to 11am, thinking it could help for the ice to thaw. Then when we did arrive, we were all late, the track was booked to be used until 12.30. I was beginning to worry that we wouldn't be able to do this challenge given all these obstacles! But nothing could stop us now.
Before Ash arrived (as the resident track photographer) Warwick and I already began our run. I didn't want to run super fast. If I could run a Boston Qualifying time (3hr35min for me) I would be happy, and after calculation that is 8 minutes/mile. In my mind I decided to break up the run at mile 10 and mile 20 so we could stop (for less than a minute) for water and fuel and back on the run again, so mentally it helped too. At mile 7 Ash arrived and made a comment that our pace was too fast (we were averaging 7.35-7.40 minutes/mile at this point). But we felt good. We were chatting, not taking it too seriously, sharing life stories, keeping our minds of the track, basically.
At mile 10 we stopped and I ate one of my chocolate balls. Had some water and we were back on our journey. We felt very fresh at that point. We were both still very familiar with this distance. Our legs were ok so we kept the pace. Conversations continue to flow and at this point, I was more aware about other people running around us, the hockey matches happening and all the dogs running around. Sun was coming out and I felt amazing.
I might have spoke too soon, around mile 17 I started to feel the muscles in my thighs. Also throughout the run my left foot had been having weird spasm where suddenly it would lose its sense and I might have limped a step. But as soon as I wriggle my toes a bit, it was ok. I am thinking this was down to the coldness. At this point Warwick kept mentioning 'Those chocolate balls.' And I just said, just think of this as a 10 mile run and that's it. We haven't ran before this and we are finishing in 3 miles. Weirdly, if I know it's 3 miles left and that equals to 12 laps, it calms me, some people might think that's the worst because you know exactly how long is left, but for me, it's comforting to know that.
At mile 20 we stopped again and this time I knew I had to have a few more calls. I ate only 1 at mile 10 and around mile 18 I could feel my stomach a little strange. I ate 3 this time round. As we took off again it took about 5 steps before my legs were moving like they should. This last 6 miles is really going to be hard. At this point we have been running for 2hr35 so the thought of possibly finishing this before 3hr35 was what fuelled me. In my head I kept doing all sorts of calculation in regards with speed, pace, finishing time, remaining time. I find that if I am focus on maths while running, it takes my mind of it a lot and it, again, calms me.
At mile 21, Ash who had been so sweet cheering us on while taking photos (I had joy trying to spot where Ash was every lap we ran) gave us the obligatory mile 21 cheer! High fives and cheers helped Warwick and I mentally, even if it's a one person crew. This is crunch time, pick up those legs and just go with it.
At mile 22 my legs felt like lead. My thighs were so heavy to pick up I really wanted to stop, so we did, for around 10 to 15 seconds, I wanted to quickly refresh my mind. On we go again and at mile 23, Warwick (finally) cracked a little and with his face in his hand, said 'I want to cry, this is why people cry when they run marathon.'
It's true, the mental and physical struggle that the distance puts you through will most definitely dig up some unfamiliar emotions, which you have no idea how to deal with but to burst it out. At one point there was a distance between myself and him but Ash reminded us to stick together and to finish strong together. So we did.
At mile 25, with 5 more laps to go, I kept a visual of a wheel and how my leg should move in a circular motion, I kept my arms up and used my core to support my now very tired lower body. I kept my breathing steady and at lap 4, I began my step counting method. Those that know me, know I am obsessed with counting my cadence at track. It helps me to remain constant and know how much and where I need to push myself to maintain my speed. 800m rep I usually get around 280 steps. 1 mile equals 560 steps. Now I am not going to be able to do that pace after just running 25 miles so I gave myself some lee way and said, 750 steps. So I counted, this kept my mind off thinking how many laps are left. I was now focused to not disappoint myself with going over my estimated steps.
Final lap, the end was so close. I sped up. Before this point we were running at 7.58-8.05 minutes/mile. But I looked at my watch and we were back on 7.32 minutes/mile. I kept going, knowing the end was near.
In fact, 26.2 miles was at a bend of the track and not the finish line, at that point, I jokingly said to Warwick 'we are now entering the ultra zone.' We kept smiling and pushing and managed to have a very strong sprint finish together.
Stopped my watch, looked at it and my heart leaped. 3 hour 24 minutes 56 seconds. We were 11 minutes faster than the intended pace and it proves to me that I am probably going to be able to run a BQ at an actual race.
It was a great day, we finished the 'race' and was immediately kicked out. The track was closing. I couldn't imagine how we would have felt if the park closed while we still had miles to go! Thinking back on this run, because it was a constant loop I lost concept of the distance we were going. The only way I felt anything was through my legs, but because we were running on track, it was much better received by our feet and knees (I am sure!) My feeling of dead at the end was definitely because of the distance and not the location. I feel I could most likely do this challenge again, or may be even step it up a notch.
All photos are taken by Ash Narod Photography
