Great Ocean Floor Ultra sponsorship/funding news.

Well what another brilliant week, Amanda & I have both been busy emailing, facebooking, chatting, blogging to as many people as possible telling them about our race next Feb.

My amazing hubby Ben has been brilliant telling all his friends & work friends about the event & we are really pleased to announce that Wayne from J & M electrical Wholesalers in Burntwood, Staffordshire has agreed to help part fund our trip with a lovely donation of £900 towards the cost of our entry fees.  We both really can not thank J & M Electrical enough for doing this & we will be running with his company logo on our kit.

So to any of my friends who live in or around Burntwood please visit J & M at Unit 2 Morley road to buy your electrical bits.

I have also been very lucky to have been emailed by Mimi Anderson the amazing ultra runner & guinness book of records holder, she has offered me loads of tips & advice which im really gratefull for, she may regret offering this help as I may drive her mad asking questions.

I also feel really lucky to have loads of brilliant running friends who are really supportive & helpfull & I cant thank u all enough for helping me & offering to help.

My training has been going well & i'm getting the miles in with my training partner (my dad) .As my training increases i'm so pleased that ive been running to & from work with my back pack on for the last 5 years or more & I feel that this will give me a advantage in the desert. (hopefully)

Also I have tested the for goodness shakes nectar in Blackcurrant flavour on Saturday's long run & yep i'm very impressed, a lovely flavour not too over powering & I had no stomach issues which I sometimes have with other brands. 10 out of 10, my dad also liked it so its thumbs up from the both of us.

Keep a eye out for more exciting news this week .

Today's new sponsor

A new sponsor - Advance performance
I am pleased to announce that we have a new sponsor in the form of Advance Performance of Peterborough and Cambridge.

Sam Hale owner of Advance Performance has kindly offered to give myself and Amanda a free V02 Max test which I am sure will be a massive benefit with regards to training efficiently in preparation for the race so THANK YOU SAM.

She will also be writing a press release or two on us which will be excellent advertising for the event and for our chosen charity MacMillan cancer support.

For those of you who have never been to advance performance - what are you waiting for !!! it is like heaven in a shop; you can find them either in Peterborough or Cambridge for those who don't live nearby they also have a website which I have linked below so get shopping.

Exciting Ocean floor race news.

Well how quick does a week go when you are busy !! It just goes to show how quick the ocean floor race will come around lol .
Well we have both been very busy with running , planning & working & contacting companies for help with sponsorship.
Today we had some good news & a massive parcel delivered to both of our houses from the lovely people at www.forgoodnesshakes.com
They have agreed to help us by supplying us with sports drinks & recovery shakes.
I absolutely swear by there recovery shakes & I used them doing my 24 hour thunder run win this year.
I can not recommend them enough!!!
I look forward to trying there new nectar fuel in the next few weeks & I will be trying out there new race gels too.
I will keep you updated to how I get on with them.
Keep your eyes peeled for some more very exciting news over the next few days.
Oh I nearly forgot I have entered the hereward ultra today & this will be my first race where I get to run with Amanda , I'm really looking forward to seeing how we get along on this & I will post a blog to let you all know.

Ocean Floor Race

So the Journey Begins !!

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.So throw off the bowlines,Sail away from the the safe harbour.Catch the trade winds in your sails.

EXPLORE,DREAM,DISCOVER.

(Mark Twain 1835-1910)

Well this is how it all started.

On the weekend of the 6/7th October I was contacted by my running friend Amanda Boldy who emailed me to tell me that she had won a competition on Facebook the fat feet competition to win £700 off race entry into the Ocean Floor race ( my first initial thoughts was damn I had entered that!!! ) straight away I offered my help & advice if she needed it ( I'm no expert but I do love ultra running ) & thought no more of it.

Then off I went to work , while there I was telling my dad about it & he said yep u do realise Amanda has won 2 entries don't u ??

I hadn't & it wasn't till later in the day when I contacted Amanda again that yep she had won 2 & she was actually sounding me out to see if I was interested in the other place !!

Well this was a opportunity not to be missed especially as the entry fee is £1695 pounds so £700 pounds of the entry was a once in a lifetime chance.

Luckily my hubby & mom & Dad agreed & I told Amanda yep I would love to run it. We also decided to run the race together as we have both never done anything of this magnitude & we could help each other.

So this is how it all started & now we are writing , emailing & generally bugging everybody we know for advice , help & funding for the trip as we still have the balance to pay & flights , kit etc etc to buy.

Luckily we have some wonderful friends & contacts & the lovely people of Talk ultra are giving us a spot on there show before & after the event !! Which is brilliant & running free mag is going to be following us.

The lovely people from Buff have also agreed to help with kit & we should have some very interesting news in a few days about a big sponsor fingers crossed .

Red Bull steeplechase challenge Oct 2012

Me & my dad entered this race months ago thinking we wouldnt get selected to compete & to our surprise we both did :)
Now to people who have not heard of this race i will explain how it works ,
Competitors are split into 2 categories male & female, all runners in each category are set off together making it a head to head race,forget time as its place which is important!
There are 4 steeples to reach & at each of the first 3 the slowest section of the field get eliminated.
With only 40 runners in total running the full 21 miles ( 10 women) & 30 men.

So off we head to the peak district ( a massive thank u to my mom for driving us) as my hubby was working at the chester marathon .
A very foggy morning greated us on our travels & I was hoping that this would lift or the race would be a nightmare.
We got to the start up at Castleton & looked at the surrounding scenery (gulp) it was hilly , gorgeous & beautiful also but very hilly, ( good job i like hills ) yes i know im strange lol
Race briefing done & off the men went, they were starting 15 mins before us women.
My dad was in this & he looked concerned as most of the men in the field looked either elite & at least 20 / 30 years younger!! (he wont mind me mentioning this) tough as hell my dad!!
The race was started by the local town crier which was a nice touch & the men were off!!
Straight up a massive hill!! Men were on there hands & knees & afterwards I heard by my dad that 2 chaps had actually threw up at the top.(nice)
Then we were next & then we were off gulp im sure I have never done a race with such a short run up to a mega hill, legs were burning & heart pumping & up & up we went, the view from the top was amazing & it took your breath away if only i had time to take a photo!!
My aim for this race was to finish in the top 10 & run the full distance without been eliminated, which was a strange foremat for me as with my ultra running im stronger later into the race, with this one i had to go for it from the start,i tried to get myself into a nice rythym but with the terrain been so hilly,muddy & undulating this was quite a task, but me been me I gritted my teeth & went for it , the first steeple was at 8 miles & I needed to be in the top 25 at this point to make it through to the next stage, I went through the first stage in I think 7th place & there were about 5 women pretty close behind, so i knew i had to keep plugging away ,
The next stage was just as hard hilly , muddy & complete with stiles & gates to go through !! would this race get any easier the answer was no, its funny as I was more concerned about staying in the top 10 than the distance & i was feeling pretty good and more & more confident that I would make it & I was starting to pull away from some of the other women, I did get passed by 1 and I was quite pleased because at least for a little while I had someone to follow as I was scared of getting lost as some of the race arrows were very small & at some points u needed to have your wits about you to make sure u went the right way. ( this I will go into more details later !!)
So I got to the next stage in 8th position & now the women were down to 15 & I was in the clear by a good few mins from the next person ,
This stage was 5 miles long & I ran 90percent of this stage on my own with one women in the distance & I couldnt see anyone behind, quite a strange feeling with there not been many marshalls & the odd walker every now & then to pass,
This stage for me could have completely ruined my race if I hadn't come across a couple walking , I had been running for about 3 mile & was heading to edale yha & instead of turning right I went straight down the road & now as I was on my own I was getting a bit concerned as i hadnt seen a arrow for a while, luckily at the bottom of the road a came across a couple who I asked if they had seen any runners & there answer was no!!
Sh#t I had gone the wrong way, so I had to turn around & run back up the road re tracing my tracks & hoping that I hadn't lost to much time or more importantly places!!
Yep I looked at the top of the road & yes there was a arrow I had missed damn damn damn & another female was just heading towards me , at this point I was mad with myself for missing the arrow & I asked the lady what position she was in & to my horror she said I think 10 or 11!! Gulp now I had to do something quick & with less than a mile to go to the next elimination point I realised that I may have completely cocked up my race!!
Head down & off we both went I was really hoping that we werent going to outsprint each other to get the final spot, as we turned the corner the clock/counter signalled that 8 women had gone through before us , so luckily for me no sprint was needed & I was actually the 10 th female to get through by the skin of my teeth.
So now I had reached the final stage & had 3 miles left to go, as we turned the corner straight in front was another big hill, this was were I had to make my move . As the female in front looked like she was struggling & this would be my chance to catch her & catch her I did , I wasn't going to be the number 10 in this race .I could see I was slowly catching the lady in front, as we got the top of this hill I was told by the marshall that the last 2 miles was down hill ( I did tell him that he best not be lying ) & I would say this was the easiest bit of the course ( thanks guys)
With 500 metres to go I knew I was safe in 9th place & was running out of course to catch the lady in front as she had also sensed that the finish was near,
Around the next corner & I saw my mom & dad shouting me on , & at this point I had just a road to cross & there was the finish in Castleton village.
A big well done to my dad for running this race & you did well to beat some of the younger chaps in the race.
This has to be one of the hardest races I have ever done, but also one of the most enjoyable, scenic & best value for money events around, (ok they maybe could of done with a few extra marshalls, & bigger signs maybe ) but all in all for the 1st year I give it 10/10!!
We got a lovely medal , a red bull hoodie & 2bags , a red bull towel , free food at the pub at the end ( & even the chef did me some vegi food) & as much free drinks as u wanted.
All in all a brilliant event.
And after all is said & done as Buff say 's Flat is Boring!!

Look out for my next blog which will feature news etc etc on the biggest race I have ever entered The ocean floor ultra 2013 with Amanda Boldy 160 miles across the Eygpt desert.