Those of you that have been reading my blog for a while will know all about the St Albans Stampede already as I`ve done it twice before. For those who have not, welcome to my blog and thanks for reading!
The St Albans Stampede is a future classic in my humble opinion. I believe this year was its fifth year and my third time. The format is pretty simple, 12 hours, 4 mile laps and the option of solo or teams. You can run as much or as little as you want within the time frame but must be done within the 12 hours.
Today I am joined by Jo, Simon and of coarse the ever present Mummysaurus. We had been discussing our aims for the day over the last few weeks when we saw each other at parkrun. Simon, our Event Director at aldenham was planning on a marathon, perhaps a little more depending on how he felt. Jo had her eye on 50km and I hoped to go for 100km. Some big plans in there, love it!
31st August 2019
I rolled out of bed, did all my pre race bits and headed outside for a 7am pickup from Mummysaurus. Of late this is becoming known as "the usual drill" with this being my 4th event in 4 months. I seem to have got it in my head after seeing a "12 marathons in 12 months" T-shirt back in May, that that was now what I was doing. No idea why other than, why not?! Somewhere in the back of my head a little voice whispered "you've already done 12 ultras and 7 marathons.......that`s nearly 20 marathons or more.....that`s basically the same as 25......which is almost 50.............why not make it 100?!"
 |
| Why not make it 100?! |
Whoa boy, lets not get too carried away, one at a time!
Where was I? Oh yes......
7am - I bundle my gear into the car and we head off to pick up Jo. We chat along the way about the plans of the day ahead and Jo is already talking about maybe revising her plan from 50km to 50 miles if she feels good. Now for some of you reading this, this seems like an absolutely bonkers idea. Who in their right mind decides to just throw another 19 miles on top of their intended plan?!? Ultra runners, that`s who!
Fortunately St Albans is pretty close to where we live so we pull into the car park of Heartwood Forrest in no time at all. The moment we stopped a car pulled up next to us, lo and behold its Simon, excellent timing! He introduces us to his son who has reluctantly left the warmth of his bed on a Saturday morning to come and watch a bunch of headcases run around in circles. We grab all our gear and head over to the scout hut to try and get a good spot for the tents.
We quickly nab "the perfect spot" and start setting up. With the tents up and all the gear in we pop inside the scout hut to registration.
Numbers collected and pinned on we still had bags of time before kick off. We sat around and chatted, faffed about with gear, all the normal pre-race shenanigans.
The call goes out for the pre-race briefing and everyone piles into the scout hut......well I say everyone, there are so many people this year that the bundle of people continued out of the door! It`s great to see the popularity of this event grow.
With the briefing out of the way its time to head to the start line! You can feel the nervous excitement in the air as we make our way there and bundle onto the path.
3...2...1...GO!
So here we go, off on the first lap of many! Having done this event twice before I know the route really well with the exception of the very last bit as the route has changed a little to keep us off of the main driveway into the park. I`m actually looking forward to seeing this bit as I`ve not done it before. I`m sure the novelty will wear off pretty quick but hey, its the little things right?
It`s a little chilly but I can feel that it`s already starting to warm up pretty quickly as I pass around 2 miles. Now nearly at the new (for me) turn off point and we head through a kissing gate and up a little hill into very pretty little pathway. "This is much nicer than the driveway!" I said to myself as I bopped between the very spiky bushes on either side, catching my elbows on a few as I went. The pathway wound its way through them and came out next to the overflow car park where we were parked. On to the main path where we started and that`s lap 1 done......waaaaaay to quickly!
I look at the timing clock and had just done the first lap in under 34 minutes......ooops! Oh well we all know it happens, relax and get going.
Lap 2 was much of the same, pretty easy going and the miles just ticked by. By lap 3 I could feel I was really hot and sweating buckets already. About halfway through lap 4 something just felt wrong. I had slowed down a little but just couldn't seem to shake the heat, in the scheme of things it wasn't even really that hot but I felt like I was roasting! I came into the start/finish at the end of that lap now having only done 16 miles and I felt horrible. My sweat was really, really salty and I was already thinking of bailing at a marathon. This was NOT the plan!
Just keep moving, it will probably pass. It didn't.
Lap after lap I just felt like I had been put through a grinder. I drank water and felt worse, I tried stopping at the end of one lap to eat a rice pudding that I bought with me, it made me feel worse! What was going on?!
Any thoughts I had of completing 100km today were well and truly gone. My thoughts instead were firmly focused on the rabbit hole of horror, not being able to fix what was going on. I just wanted to drop. As I passed marathon distance all I could think was "hold out to 50km". I came into the end of that lap and saw Mummysaurus and Jo, who had just come in. Jo said she was basically ready to go when I was. I could have dropped right then and there. Somewhere from the fog in the back of my mind a little voice reminded me that I had entered the Thames Path 100 next year and I needed a 50 mile finish to qualify. The idea of trying to grind out ANOTHER 50 mile finish before next May stabbed something in my brain to make me blurt out "I need to do 50" Jo`s reaction was just a shrug, a smile and a "lets go then!" so.......off we went! Jo said she was struggling as well but you never would have noticed. She was looking calm and smiling away like it was a parkrun. I on the other hand was having one of the worse races I have had in a long time. I was knackered, hot and miserable. The most frustrating part was, I couldn't work out why and that just sent me further down the rabbit hole.
At the end of the 50km lap I said to Jo that I need to get a coffee and she was more than happy to tag along. I grabbed another rice pudding on the way past from the tent and we headed inside. I sat on the floor feeling utterly defeated. Jo grabbed us a couple of coffees and we sat there, sipping away. I force fed myself half of the rice pudding but just couldn't face the other half. I offered Jo the other half and she happily tucked into it. She was saying how she normally only drinks tea at ultras but the coffee was going down really well and she was starting to feel a little better. I was not. Maybe it just needs some time to kick in. We left the scout hut and I popped to the loo, maybe I just needed to go, maybe that was the problem. By this point I was just clutching at straws.
Out we go onto the next lap and Jo is now supercharged. She pushes on ahead while I walk/run as much as I can to keep up. I just can`t, I`ve still got nothing and she easily leaves me in the dust as she breezes away down the hill.
The previous issue of being stupidly hot has now turned into me being freezing cold every time the wind blew, great. Fortunately I had packed a long sleeve tech top back at the tent so I`ll switch once I have finished this lap. Eons later I`m back at the tent and switch over my tops. I actually feel a little better for it but still really low. I decide its time for a change of approach, no more Mr relaxed guy! I change my playlist on my phone to "Business time!" a bunch of albums I threw in for when its time to attack. The music kicks in and I say to Mummysaurus "right that`s it, this course is starting to piss me off now!" I figure if I cant shift my mood I`m going to bloody well use it!
Slipknot, The Berzerker, Cannibal Corpse, Slayer, Sikth, Animals as Leaders.....just your average runners playlist.
I run/walk/grunt myself round a few more laps before having a small moment of clarity and the penny finally drops. With the exception of a rice pudding and a half, a handful of sweets and an ice lolly (thank you marshals!!) I haven't actually eaten anything!! I had been so focused on my target distance and how rubbish I was feeling that I had completely neglected my food. ABSOLUTE NOOB!
 |
| "Wow you have so much experience!"............nope.....not me! |
I walked into the scout hut at the end of that lap, grabbed some fizzy drink, made a cheese roll and left, trying to make as little eye contact with people as I could. What an idiot.
It was difficult to eat but I finished the cheese roll. The damage was well any truly already done but I figured if I could just get enough in me I could just about get my 50 mile target.
The rest of the lap was just as tough as the other ones only with more burping.
Another roller-coaster of a lap done, 1 more to do then I could finally stop!
So this was it, my last lap, just keep moving! I did everything I could to keep the pace up. I was run/walking at 5 seconds at a time in places just to keep going. I was so far beyond done it wasn't even funny, then I laughed out loud. It WAS funny, in fact, it was ridiculous! I was half laughing, half crying at how the hell I was still moving after such a monumental screw up.
Maybe it was delirium, maybe it was relief that it was nearly over, who knows? Who cares? I was so close. I made a point of trying to keep myself together as I thanked every marshal I saw on that last lap and each time I did I felt like I traded that for a little bit more energy.
There it was, the finish. I dug deep and found enough to run up the path and over the line.
11 hours, 2 minutes and 39 seconds - 52 agonising miles complete.
Mummysaurus said "you still have 58 minutes to do another lap if you leave now!" I threw my arms around her and simply said "I`m done" I had nothing left to give and I just wanted the madness to stop!! She then told me that Jo had just come in to also finish 52 miles and felt so good she was just going to change and then go out on another lap! BEAST! She also then told me that Simon was still going!! WHAT?! He was aiming for maybe a marathon and he was now on for finishing 48 miles! AWESOME!!
I was just happy to get into my dryrobe and crash into a chair with a beer! As much as I thought I wanted it, the beer was not going down well. I sipped at it just to try and get something in me as I waited for Simon and Jo to finish their last laps. Even with my dryrobe on I was shivering, not a great sign. I mean it was now pretty chilly but this was not good.
Jo and Simon came across the line and the day was done. Simon finishing an amazing 48 miles, the last 12 of which where in his Luna sandals, his longest sandal run to date and AFTER already running 36 miles?! GET IN!
Jo smashed out an incredible 58 miles and still looked just as collected as she had after 50km!! Unlike me both Simon and Jo had actually eaten properly, Simon even took a 1 hour lunch break....think I`m missing a trick here!
We pack up all our gear, I throw a hoodie on under my dryrobe but I`m still shuddering. We head back to the car with all the stuff and head home, happy to just not be running anymore.
I`m feeling pretty sick in the car on the way back but just want to get home. We drop Jo off and then finally I`m home. I waddle through the door and say hi to my wife. She says hi but looks at me a little odd for a moment. I then headed off to the toilet where I proceeded to throw up the can of beer.
I wander back into the living room and my wife says "you're looking a bit emaciated?!" (she actually put it another way which is much, much funnier but not appropriate for the blog) to which I had a little chuckle and then headed off for a shower so I could finally just go to bed.
 |
I had lost 7.5lbs!!!
I uploaded my watch data and took a look at my pacing and that`s when I noticed the rough calculation on the calories burnt - over 5600 calories!! I probably only put in 800 and that is grossly high balling it.
Well with all that it was time to piece together the positives from the day before.
- I had actually somehow managed to get my qualifier for the Thames Path 100
- That was the furthest I had ever gone in my sandals without having to add socks
- Only one very small blister!
- I could still walk really well
- I was still alive after cannibalising myself
The other positive is actually just how well all of us did in the over results. There were 87 people in the solo category. Simon came in a very respectable 26th, I somehow bagged 15th and Jo? Jo came 10th overall and was 4th lady!! A truly amazing effort!
As always a MASSIVE thank you to Mummysaurus for crewing and general amazingness, thank you to Jo and Simon for putting up with my moaning and grumbling and thank you to all the marshals, you guys were ace!
Last but not least, thank you reader for bearing with the ramblings of a sandal monkey!
That`s 4 events down in 4 months (3 marathons, 1 ultra) next one is on Saturday.....lets do this!
Till next time folks!
Love and high fives
Cardiosaurus
