What a amazing weekend this turned out to be!!
Where do I start , well firstly I have been going on for the the last few years about me & my hubby getting a campervan/race van for my ultra events & finally 2 weeks ago Ben purchased a Mercedes vito van!! Ok this isn't a camper, but 2 weeks later with me & Ben working on it we now have Bertie the Buff Mobile, this been our home for the Thunder run weekend.
So on Friday 27th July me,Ben & my dad set of to Catton park the home of the Adidas tr24 thunder run, as always I like to be early & we were there just after lunch, to get a perfect pitch in the solo field by the start/finish line.
This was one of my first big events where Buff were present & it was great to meet two like minded down to earth sporting individuals who like me love the Buff products.
Thanks Heather & Harry your support was brilliant all weekend !!
The event this year was the biggest yet & since it is the Olympic year Adidas had arranged a giant screen for us all to watch the opening ceremony!! ( This was a great idea)
We lasted about 30 mins before we headed back to our camper for the night .( not that we didn't want to watch it , but I didn't want to be tired for the race the next day.
Race day.
Up nice & early for porridge & to sort Buff kit & make sure everything was ready for my race, once again I was very lucky to have a brilliant support team consisting of my hubby, sis in law Rosie, my soon to be Bruv in law Rob, running friends Nat & Tony & not forgetting my mom & mom in law who both came along through the day but didn't camp due to looking after my dog & not forgetting my doggy mascots Hendrix & Dexter .
12 o'clock Sat race start.
This year me & my dad both had a aim of how many laps we wanted to do & we both knew if we stuck to our plan then hopefully it would work ( & I would run over 100 miles )
So bang the gun went & off we all went nice & steady not to get dragged by some of the fast relay guys & girls.
The course had been changed this year due to heavy flooding etc , which was perfect for me with my love of hills & I felt great for the first few laps & I got myself into a nice relaxed pace.
I had told My hubby that I didn't want to know what position I was in as it was such a long race & anything could happen
Once again it was a very warm day & I was really hoping for it to cool downs bit, luckily around 4/5 ish it was starting to get cooler.
My hydration & eating was going great & I felt really good , this went on till about 2/3 in the morning & then I started to get tired & I honest thought I was going to fall asleep running , my lap times started to slow & luckily my hubby told me to stop & have a little rest , this comprised of me getting in the campervan for 45 mins with a hot water bottle on my legs.
This amazingly did the trick straight away & after my power nap I drank some For Goodness Shakes & I ate a homemade lemon curd flapjack & then Ben ( my hubby) dropped the bombshell that I was in about 4 th place ( thanks) & he told me not to worry & keep plugging away at the laps & to remember the Hare & the Tortoise.
So off I set out again & I felt not to bad at all, the marshalls & the crowds were brilliant with some lovely friendly comments I had its that solo Buff girl again, Go Buffy & u look good in the Buff lol that one did make me smile after running for hours.
The next few hours I just kept plugging away until Ben suddenly told me that I was in 3rd place & I was catching the 2nd place female with every lap!!
I think it was on my 16th lap that I passed the girl who was in 2nd place & she had started to walk, So I thought I was pretty safe with the next girl been a good lap behind & time was running out.
At the start my aim was to beat last years 16 laps where I finished 2nd female & I had always wanted to run over 100 miles ( as up until this race my dad was the champion in our family as he had already done 100miles in 24 hours when he was a bit younger ;)
& I had told Ben that my ultimate would be 18 laps, so when I came in after my 17 th lap, I just had to go out out again as I had enough time ( a massive thank u to Tony Wallbank for running my last lap with me) also it looked like the girl who was winning had stopped for some reason , but I wasn't 100 percent certain so I just went for it.
You really can't believe how adrenaline gets u & my last 10k was run in 1.11 not to bad after 23+ hours on your feet.
As I came down the finish line it was the most amazing feeling to see my family & friends tell me that I had actually won 1st solo female completing 18 laps (112miles).
A massive thank you to my support team for all the help u gave me this weekend, u are all amazing & I owe u all big time.
A massive thank you to Buff for supplying me with my amazing comfortable kit & it's great to be part of Team Buff Uk .
My Dad did amazing to complete 10 laps & a massive thank u for all those training runs which we have done in the early hours & it just goes to show if u put the effort in you get results !! ( next year 12 laps for u dad ;) x
The icing on the cake for me is that I have won both of Patricks races in the same year Tr24 & The Buff Lightning 12 & then too find out only 3 men beat me in the thunder run this year with the winning man doing 20 laps & the 2nd & 3rd both did 18.
So next year boys watch out as I'm coming to get u !!!