One week today!!! The race will have started!!!

Well as I type this it's only 7 days till the start of the Ocean floor race & only 4 days till me & Amanda fly out to Egypt & it can't come quick enough ( I want to see some sun).
So what have I been up to since my last blog, Well I had the opportunity to meet up with the lovely people from Buff (who sponsor my kit) & me & Ben met up with Sarah (Head of Marketing) & the rest of the Buff team at the N.E.C & it was great to finally meet them all in person instead of just through emails & Facebook .It was also great to see some of the exciting new range available later in the year.
I even got a nice posh goretex hoodie buff given to me which was very nice & unexpected.
A massive thank you once again to www.Buffwear.co.uk for all your help the last 12 months & I love running in your products, long may it continue.

Snow Training.
Well training has been mad the last week with us having snow, Its been rather hard work on the legs but I have really enjoyed it & I reckon its been rather beneficial & in a bizarre sort of way quite similar to running on sand, so thats got to be good hasn't it!!
I have not been impressed so much with trying to run when the snow started to thaw as Burntwood has been like a ice rink on the paths and way to dangerous to risk running on & getting a injury this close to the race, So I've resorted to training on my treadmill with full backpack & heater on to try and replicate the desert temperature.

New race gear.
So at long last I have finally got all my gear sorted for the Ocean floor race my latest bit of kit is amazing its the Klymit x lite sleeping pad which weighs only 173g & when folded away the same size as a can of pop, making it a perfect bit of kit for me to carry in the desert & its the first sleeping matt I have ever had which actually fits inside your sleeping bag not underneath it.

This was purchased from a amazing online company called www.racekit.co.uk which is run by Amanda & Andy Heading who are both ultra athletes & they are so helpful & knowledgable about there products , they also have vast experience of ultra events & desert races , I highly recommend visiting there website.


So all the training has been done now, kit has been got , food is ready to be packed , E.C.G tests done,
help & advice has been given by family & friends, So its down to me & Amanda to get the little task of running 160 miles together & helping & motivating each other to the finish line & I can't wait!!!!

Feeling nearly famous :)

As I write this blog it's actually just over 2 weeks till myself & Amanda fly out to the Ocean floor race.

A couple of days ago we were lucky to have been sent a picture from Fat Feet the race organisers showing us our pitched tent accommodation in the desert & this for me is building to the excitement of this epic adventure.

So what have we been doing since my last blog ?? well where do I start??

Last week we were lucky enough to be interviewed by Ian Corless for Talk Ultra's podcast 15 mins of fame slot.We were both pretty nervous about this & we didn't know what to expect as none of us were together & the interview was done via a 3 way phone call. ( first time I have ever had one of those )
I really can't believe how smooth the interview went & Ian was a great host, A massive thank you to Ian for giving us the opportunity to be on his show.  We also have a slot when we return from the desert so please keep following for more details.

Please check out the podcast by clicking here. our interview is 1hour 52mins into it, I do recommend listening to it all as its a great show.

Training has been going great, even in the cold weather.  I have been adding some extra treadmill runs into my training in the garage with heaters on full blast to get used to running in hot conditions ( much to the amusement of everyone I tell)

Also last weekend we had Amanda & Karl up at ours for a weekend of training, planning & GPS training.  I was really looking forward to this & was disappointed as our training went really well!! Planning was done down to a tee thanks to Amanda's spreadsheets & everything is now on track for the desert.

Which leaves us with GPS training!!

I defiantly speak for both of us when I say that we have not been the best at using a GPS in the past & we have muddled through it. But obviously with us having to run 160 miles across a desert using only GPS we needed to learn fast!!!!

A massive thanks to my hubby Ben for giving us both a crash course in setting them up on the morning of our training run & handing us 4 checkpoints to find & programme into our GPS units.

Then we were taken by our husbands & dropped on our run.

Sunday was a lovely sunny, but cold day & perfect for running across the beautiful countryside of Cannock Chase not to far away from where I live & Amanda was loving the terrain a bit different to what the southerners are used to !! lol !! I don't think Ben could of found us a hillier course but all the same we were enjoying it & our newly found GPS skills were put to the test.  Im pleased to say we had no problems at all, I said it was down to our newly acquired ninja skills but Ben reckons it was because he had taught us.

Pictures from our Sunday"s training session.

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER & DETERMINATION OF A FEMALE NINJA

Just in case you are wondering what all the Ninja references & pictures are when we first started training & arranging this ocean floor race adventure, Amanda came up with the Ninja name's and its stuck ever since. Even our sponsor  t shirts have Ninja 1 & Ninja 2 on them .

Our New printed sponsor t shirts.

Im also pleased to announce that we have both been supplied with a Inov-8 race pac 25 and a massive thank you to www.inov-8.com for supplying these.  I look forward to trialling this over the weekend, although initial thoughts are I could probably do with hiring a camel to carry my kit at the desert as my pac is rather heavy!!

Please look out for my next blog at the weekend with details of a new 24hour race called The Joust 24hr which Myself & Amanda are helping to promote & organise in conjunction with Steven Worrallo at www.ultrarunningltd.co.uk/thejoust24hr.html

1st Blog of 2013 & A Mimi adventure.

Well where do I start, Its January already & me & Amanda fly out to Egypt this month for the Ocean Floor Race!!! Its come around so quickly & to say we are both rather excited is a understatement (well I think its excited or scared to death!!)

We have both loved the planning & organising & friendship which has come with this race & I am very lucky that Amanda loves spreadsheets & everything is organised down to the last bit of kit needed.
So a massive thanks to Amanda for doing that!!

So this was a rather exciting prospect for both of us as we had the pleasure of meeting up with the Marvellous Mimi Anderson if you don't know who Mimi is where have you been!!!

Below is just a few of her amazing ultra running achievements, I have listed my favourite ones & the ones I would love to run in myself one day.

Sept 2012 (WORLD RECORD)
The fastest crossing on foot of Ireland 345 miles
in 3 days, 15hours, 36mins , 55 secs

Double Badwater 2011.
1st British female to compete the double.
To do the double you run a total distance of 292 miles  in temperatures of approx 130 degrees.
A awesome achievement.

Thames Path 100 2012.
This is a 100mile non stop race starting in Richmond London & finishing in Oxford .
1st Lady finishing in a amazing time of 18 hours & 50 mins.

I could literally keep listing all the brilliant races & performances but i would be here all day lol.
Check out Mimi's website www.marvellousmimi.com to see for yourself.

Well what else can I say Mimi is the queen of ultra running & one of the nicest friendliest person you could wish to meet & Im sure not many people can say they have had coffee & a bit of PINK wine with a world record holder.  So now you can see why both of us were rather excited about receiving help & advice from her.  I stayed at Amanda's the night before so we could meet up early & as I was coming down from the midlands on the train it was so much easier this way (it didn't run as smooth as I thought on the way back but I will go into this later)

So off we set into London & on the way we were trying to decide what questions to ask Mimi & in the end we just decided it would be better to just have a good old fashioned chat & that is what we did for a good 3 to 4 hours in a rather nice hotel.  It was so nice to hear about all the different races & experiances from another female & the advice she has given us we will be using in the desert especially the advice ref drop bags & blisters simply brilliant.  We were both also lucky enough to have been lent a anti venom pump each by Mimi & this could prove to be a very important piece of kit if the worst happened ( Amanda don't worry I have been practising with mine & I'm now a expert lol) It was also lovely to hear that Mimi will be following the race to see how we get on & we will be meeting up again afterwards so she can hear about our adventure & see our photos.

A great day was had by us all & all we had to do was to get something to eat before we got the train back to Amanda's before I got my train back home, this you would think would be quite straight forward unless you lose your train ticket!!!!!  I had it when I got on the train but it was nowhere to be seen when we got to Huntington. (I never lose anything) Amanda had told me not to worry as there will be no guards on!! Oh yes there were!!! So what do I do?
These were my options.
A: Cry
B: Panic
C: Panic & try & sweet talk the guard.

So panic & sweet talk the guard it was & luckily for me after a few mins of me trying to explain what had happened he let me off phew, or it would of been a rather expensive day, but it still would of been worth it for the inspirational chat & advice from such a amazing ultra athlete.

We both throughly enjoyed the day & a massive thank you once again to Mimi for been so Marvellous & for taking time out to meet up with us both.

I have borrowed this off Mimi's website & I think its perfect for mine & Amanda's Ocean Floor Race.

THE ONLY WAY OF FINDING THE LIMITS OF THE POSSIBLE IS BY GOING BEYOND THEM INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE.

Last post of the year !! Las vegas & Christmas

Well I thought I best writing my next blog as Ive been quiet for a few weeks with the busy time of Christmas & running.
So hear it goes since my last post I have been busy with running, more running & a holiday thrown in too.
Race wise I have competed in the Rock n roll Las vegas half marathon & had a holiday at the same time, This race is amazing & I recommend it to anyone, its a great well organised event & where else can you run with show girls, elvis, & even get married on the course!!!
The whole of the strip is shut down to traffic & you run the race at night which is a amazing sight.
I love this event & we were really lucky to have got the chance to meet u with two of our american running friends too :) & we had a lovely meal with them the next day so a big thank you to Robin & Hope & we look forward to seeing you both soon.
Race wise I was pleased with my time, I was hoping for a P.B but the very windy conditions put pay to this as it literally lifted me of the ground at one point on the course, I was still pleased to finish in 1:42 in 499 position out of 22,000.
My dad also ran in the half & he finished in 2:22, well done dad.
If any of my friends fancying doing this race in the future just send me a message & I will let you know the best places to stay & gamble at ;)

Since vegas I have been busy sorting more gear out for the Ocean floor race & sorting out my ECG as we have to send this to the organisers before they let you run.
This was becoming a problem for me as for some reason my doctors were not the most helpful & in the end luckily i have some good ultra running friends & one just happened to be a doctor & arranged one for me ( thank you so Much ) you know who you are.

Christmas time is also the perfect time to get some miles in & this year has been great especially as I got to run in the Sunrise to Sunset race organised by one of my running Denzil Martin.
The idea of this race is to just keep going from 8:30 in the morning to Sunset 4 ish.
The course is off road round a nature reserve in Lightmoor Telford & each lap is less than a mile & its hilly, muddy & wet!!!
I have been told since that this year was the wettest but the friendliest & the most fun.
I was lucky to have my brilliant hubby as my support & he had brought his camera with him (its great been married to a sports photographer) & soon enough he became the official photographer for the day & he stood for 8 hours + with all the other partners & helpers in the rain!!! u were all a great support & I'm sure we kept you all entertained.
I was using this race as a good training run for the Ocean floor race & set off at a nice steady pace & just kept going.
In the end I completed in 49 laps which worked out to 41.6 miles & yes looking back maybe I should of done 1 more lap to of evened it out to 50claps (thanks Ben & Dad for calling me a wimp lol) but I was happy with how I felt & I had no injuries to finish in 7 hours 21 mins in 3rd place overall (2nd female) a massive well done to Nivette Mullan who did 46.2 miles in her first ultra!! & I look forward to seeing you at the tr24.
The race was won by Justin Montague who had a amazing run to do 53.76 miles & a new course record.
Well done to my dad for doing the marathon in a time of 5:35 & helping Kate around.
A great event once again & me & my dad look forward to competing in some more of your races Denzil.

So as the end of 2012 gets nearer I must firstly say a massive thank you to Buff for all your support you have given me in 2012 & I'm sure all your help pushed me on to having one of my best running years to date & I'm hoping to have a even better 2013.

As for 2013 a massive thank you goes out to Amanda Boldy for giving me the chance to compete in the Ocean Floor Race with her , its going to be a epic adventure !!!

Aka Ninja 1 & Ninja 2

A busy few weeks !! Running & meeting friends.

Well what can I say, What a brilliant few weeks we have had !! Since I have been asked to compete in the Ocean floor race with Amanda I have been none stop with running, racing & planning
& literally driving everbody mad regarding this race & not had a moment to think or even get any Christmas shopping done! ( dont worry I will sort this ).

So where do I start well firstly I ran the Valencia Marathon on the weekend of the 18th November. Without a doubt this marathon has become one of my favourites, With a amazing friendly atmosphere brilliant location & the best finish to a race I have ever had the pleasure to run.
I completed it in 3:33 & I loved every minute of it especially running with the 3:30 pacers for the first half ( rather good looking spanish chaps too). What made it good for me as well was that my hubby was working at the event taking photos for marathon photos & my mom & dad were at the finish line to support me.
My dad ran in the 10k & he had a good run too but he wasnt to amused to only get a bag of oranges at the end lol !! no medal.  But he did get a dri fit tshirt beforehand & as it was only 10 euros to enter you cant really moan.
I highly recommend this race if anyone ever fancies doing this race let me know & I can point you in the right direction for a great hotel.

The following weekend we were away again, this time me & Ben travelled down to Amanda's & Karl's house for a weekend of raising funds for Macmillan/Ocean floor race, running & a little job of me doing a V02 test.
So where do I start on the Friday night we both finished work early to get down to the Macmillan fund raising pamper evening that Amanda had organised to help out.  As she had done all the planning arranging etc etc herself and I thought it was only fair to help out after all the hard work Amanda had put into organising this event. I was really impressed to see some lovely stalls there & lots of therapists offering treatments at great prices!!. I also got to meet some of Amanda's family which was nice & Im sure they all think im completey mad too!!
The evening went well & we raised £180 for Macmillan it wasnt as busy as we expected & I could see Amanda was a bit stressed about it been quiet, but hey we all had a good night & thats the main thing.
Saturday was a really nice day & I'm sure my hubby & Amanda enjoyed my V02 testing more than I did lol.  The V02 testing had been offered to me & Amanda free of charge by Advanced Performance
Cambridge & us been down for the weekend had given me a perfect opportunity to get mine done.
So a massive thank you to Advanced Performance for offering us this, even if I did look a sight in the mask in the middle of the store with people shopping lol.  Thanks to Ben & Amanda for taking photos of me doing this & videoing me too, I will get my own back on you both in the near future.
I was pleased with my end result & I was classed as exceptional which I was chuffed to bits with.  It will be interesting to see how Amanda gets on with hers in a few weeks time.
The rest of the day was made up of us visiting Cambridge which is a lovely place & somewhere that me & Ben had never visited before.
While wondering around we got a phone call informing us the Hereward way ultra relay that we had planned on running on Sunday had been cancelled due to flooding.  Which was a shame as we were both looking forward to it !! But hey you cant control the weather. 
When we got back to Amanda's I was asked if I wanted to have a go at INSANITY now if you dont know what this is check out youtube !! 
Amanda has been doing this for a while & I have been driving her mad about having a go at it and my god its hard work !! Give me long distance hard hilly muddy courses anyday compared to this!! But its really good & you can feel the benifits & hopefully in a few months I will see the benefits. I was so impressed with how good Amanda was at it & she put me to shame & I'm sure by doing this it will help us both with our core fitness & this must be good for carrying our backpacks for the ocean floor race in Feb.
After all the insanity madness we all went out for a lovely meal & a good old chat.  It was nice not to have to worry about getting up early the following morning now the race was cancelled.
Sunday now was going to be just a training run & we headed out early (not as early as I'm used too but early enough) one thing I have found out is Amanda is not a morning person & I am soo glad to have found this out now & not in the desert as she can be quite stroppy as we call it in the Midlands lol.  She snaps quite easily (she wont mind me putting this hopefully) where as im quite lively in the morning & chatty.  I reckon I need not worry about the snakes & foxes in the desert but I need to worry about Amanda strangling me instead to shut me up!!
So I have learned a early warning keep quiet first thing in the morning while in the desert!! lol
We ran a nice 13 mile run & had a good old chat.  I think this may have put both our minds at rest about some aspects of the desert race, it was a very enjoyable morning's run.
The rest of the day was then made up of more planning & making lists.
A really good weekend was had by us & once again me & Ben can't thank Amanda & Karl for the hospitality & welcoming us into there home again.  We look forward to seeing them both at our house for a weekend in January.

We have also picked up some more sponsors/supporters this week & I thank you all for helping us.

Firstly Chris Crabtree from Hope has arranged for us both to use there Hope head torches in the desert & Im sure Chris doesn't realise how brilliant this is for the both of us , but even more so for Amanda with her fear of the dark. ( I will do a full review on these amazing head torches a.s.a.p)

Another new sponsor it that of Bloc Sunglasses. Amanda wrote to them a few weeks ago in the hope that they may be able to help us with a pair of sunglasses each for the run to help protect our eyes from the sand & the sun.  Luckily for us Colin Pickering from the head office kindly sent us 3 pairs each which is amazing & really wasn't expected we are both extremely thankful.