It’s just past 8pm on Thursday 27^th October and I’ve found the meaning of life!

I’ve been walking around a track in the 6 jours de France (Privas 6 day race) in France for 100 hours but I don’t feel any pain or tiredness.  For the first time in the race I am not concerned with my placing in the race, how far I have walked, or whether I will meet my mileage target.  The world is so peaceful.

There is a steady stream of athletes in front of me, walking in single file down the back straight of the cinders track.  The majority of the people in front of me are entered in the race as runners, but at this moment everyone is walking, and the world feels like it is in perfect equilibrium.  After days of questioning my sanity, and the sanity of everyone around me, especially those people who have done this race before, I now understand.  I understand why we are doing this.  I understand why people keep coming back year after year, and why I will be back again next year.

6 jours de France:

But let’s go back to the beginning.  What is the 6 jours de France and why am I here?

I’ve been race-walking for a little over four years, and before that I dabbled in ultra-distance running for a few years after a return to running in 2006 following a ten year break during which time I had lost all my speed.

Ever since 2006 I have been pushing the boundaries further and further, trying to see how far I can go.  Unfortunately, as a runner I found my limits when my right ankle gave out on me, and whilst I persevered for a while, I eventually dropped running altogether in favour of race-walking which was low impact and didn’t cause my ankle any pain.

I continued to increase the distances and to find races that were longer and longer, and my sole focus for the whole of 2016 has been the 6 jours de France, a six day race in Privas, France – six days, or 144 hours, of walking around a 1,025 meter circuit with 29 other walkers and 125 runners.  My longest race prior to this was the 3 day version of the same event which I raced in August 2015, and in that race I gave up after 67 hours and watched the last 5 hours of the race from the grandstand.

My goal was to a) walk at least 700km, and b) win the race.  I had yet to win a walking race in Europe and I only managed 283km in last year’s 3 day race which was well short of the average pace I would need to walk 700km in six days, so why did I think I could do this?

The short answer is that I have belief in my ability to push myself harder than ever before.  In my training towards this race I had walked 36 hours without sitting down once during the 2016 edition of the Grand Union Canal Race, and I had walked 183km in 24 hours at the Continental Centurions Race in May.  Simple maths told me that this was over 50% further per day further than I would need to walk during each day of the 6 day race, so surely that meant 700km in 6 days (117km per day) would be easy, wouldn’t it?  I ignore the fact that only five people had walked 700km in six days before now, and that many walkers who are faster than me over the ‘shorter’ distances had tried and failed to achieve 700km.

I had the attitude of ‘shoot for the moon, and if I miss, I would at least land amongst the stars’.

The build up:

Privas is in the South East of France, 900km from Calais by road.  I know this because I decided that I wanted to take a mattress to sleep on during the short sleeping periods I had planned for the six days of the race, and to get a mattress to Privas I decided it would be easiest to drive from my home in London, down to Dover, catch the ferry to Calais, and then drive to Privas.  So I left home on the morning of Thursday 20^th October and spent Thursday and Friday driving to Privas with a car full of everything that we (our team consisted of Kathy Crilley, Suzanne Beardsmore, and myself who were all walking in the six day race, and Louise, Jim and Noel, who would be supporting us) would need – my mattress, a couple tents, our sleeping bags, food, clothing, etc.

The rest of the team travelled by train on the Friday and we all arrived in Privas in time for dinner on Friday evening.  Saturday was preparation day.  After breakfast we went down to the track, which would be our home for the next six days, to pitch our tents and meet some of the other competitors.  We had lunch at the tennis club beside the track and were overwhelmed when we went to pay, only to find that one of the French competitors had decided to shout us, and had already paid for our lunch.  Our next surprise was when another competitor came up to Suzanne and I with some photos of us from other races which he wanted us to sign for him.  We felt like celebrities 🙂

It was a beautiful day on Saturday but on Sunday morning we woke up to light rain and when we arrived at the track we found that the athletics track was under water.  The course was supposed to consist of a 400 meter inner loop around the athletics track, and a 600 meter outer loop that goes behind the grandstand and around the outside parameter of the athletics track with a small U shaped portion past the medical and food tents and back around towards the grandstand.  Because of the rain though, the organisers made a decision to start with just the outer loop meaning that 170 athletes would be running and walking their way around a short 600 meter lap which was probably an extra meter or two longer due to the need to dodge puddles along the way.  It would have been impossible to walk on the athletics track though, so this was definitely the best decision.

Day 1 – finding my feet:

Race start was scheduled for 4pm.  We arrived at the track late morning and unpacked clothes, first aid, supplies, food, etc, into our tents, and then I climbed in to my sleeping bag in an effort to keep warm and stay horizontal, keeping the weight off my legs until the last possible moment.

I had decided to document my race via a series of YouTube videos, recording one short video after each day of the race, and to fill in time I recorded this short video while waiting for the start:

Eventually it was time to put my race gear (my wet weather gear) on and walk the short distance from my tent over to the start area, have a quick chat with my support team and wish other competitors luck, and then we were off!

I felt comfortable in the early stages. For the first few hours I averaged slightly faster than 5 minutes per lap (8 minutes per kilometre) and right from the start I settled in to my eating plan – something small to eat every 30 minutes, averaging around 100 to 150 calories each time.  With a 4pm start it wasn’t too long before dark, and the first 12 hours went by reasonably quickly.  It was good to catch up with some competitors whom I hadn’t seen since last year’s race including Australian runner, Sarah Barnett, who had a small surprise for me.  About 8 hours in to the race she came up beside me with a present – a packet of Anzac biscuits – which I slowly ate my way through during the next few days.

The plan was to walk 150 to 160km in the first 24 hours with a short break to put my feet up at 12 hours, but by 21 hours I was already struggling with tiredness and decided to bring me first sleep forward.  I covered 138km in the first 21 ½ hours and then with the help of Louise, I popped some small blisters which were the result of walking in wet socks since the start of the race (it had rained on and off for almost all of the first day) and then slept for 3 ½ hours.

Day 2 – torrential rain:

When I woke up again I coated my feet with a fresh layer of 2Toms Anti-Blister powder and put on some fresh shoes and socks.  Because of the rain I had decided to wear both my Injinji toe socks and a second paid of thin socks whereas normally I just wear the Injinji socks.  I felt better now that I had had a sleep and quickly got back in to a routine although we were now walking 6 minutes per lap rather than the 5 minute laps of 24 hours earlier.

I passed 100 miles in almost exactly 30 hours and it was just before 37 ½ hours into the race when the 200km mark ticked by.  I rewarded myself with another short break but found that I couldn’t sleep due to the pain I was feeling, particularly in my hips, but it was good to have 30 minutes off my feet again.

This was when I first realised how sore my feet were.  Every time I stopped from now until the end of the race, it took me two laps of hobbling before the pain in my feet stopped and I could walk normally.  Further in to the race I also found that if I stopped, my upper leg muscles tightened up so much that it took two laps for them to loosen up after each rest stop, even if the rest was just for a few minutes.

I really struggled to get going again though and experienced my worst low of the race on Tuesday morning, just 40 hours in to the race.  I was in serious pain both physically and mentally.  Every part of me hurt, or so I thought.  I was close to tears, feeling absolutely miserable, and then Jim gave me some porridge for breakfast.  Incredibly, within a lap I was feeling great.  I had a second porridge and picked up the pace for a lap or two.  Unfortunately this was short-lived and 30 minutes later I was experiencing severe pain in my right glut and paid my first visit to the medical tent.  The physio found the source of the pain and had me in agony as he worked his magic.  But whatever he did, it worked, and I didn’t experience any more serious pain again during the race.  It is surprising how the body adapts.  Pains came and went through the remainder of the race.  At different times over the next 100 hours I experienced pain in almost every muscle and tendon in my legs.  Many times I thought the pain would require me to visit the physio again, and then before I knew it, the pain was a distant memory.

My goal for day 2 was to improve my New Zealand 48 hour record which I had set at 233km in last year’s three day race.  If I had had the race I planned I expected to get through to about 270km in the first 48 hours but for some reason I just wasn’t going as fast as I expected.

Shortly after 10:30 on Tuesday morning, 42 ½ hours into the race, it looked like any plans to improve my record were about to be washed away.  The heavens opened and within minutes we were all saturated and the majority of the course was underwater.  We were still walking on the outer loop only, but even that was ankle deep in water in places.  Louise advised that the forecast was for heavy rain for the next four hours, and I decided that trying to continue in these conditions would most likely result in irreversible blister damage to my feet which would jeopardise my 6 day race plans.  It would be better to rest now while it rained and potentially miss out on improving my 48 hour record, than to risk the whole race.  So I headed to my tent with the idea of getting some sleep, only to find that my tent was suffering in the rain.  It was threatening to collapse and was leaking in places.  I ended up spending much of the next hour keeping the tent standing whilst also eating and tending to my feet.

An hour after the rain started, it suddenly stopped, and just as quickly, the majority of the surface water on the outer loop of the course disappeared and we all started our race again.  At this stage I had completed 217km and was just 16km short of my minimum target for the day.

After covering just 138km on day one I was only able to add another 100km to this on day two, which extended my NZ record by 5km to 238km (exact distance still to be confirmed).

Day 3 – my worst day:

My second sleep of the race was just 2 ½ hours long but I was off the track for almost 4 hours in total.  I popped a couple more small blisters before sleeping and then after waking I coated my feet with 2Toms Anti-Blister powder and put on a fresh pair of Injinji toe socks for what turned out to be the last time – as the race progressed we made the decision not to touch my feet again unless absolutely necessary, and in the end I walked almost 400 more kilometers in the same shoes and socks.

It was 8:30pm now, going in to our third night, and I was still focused on the leaderboard and still hoped to win the race.  When I stopped for my sleep I was in 2^nd place, not far behind Christophe Biet who was leading, but by the time I started walking again four hours later I had slipped to 5^th.  It seemed that the race would be won by the person who had the least amount of sleep over the remaining four days, and I was aiming that that would be me!

I walked for almost 9 hours before my next short break and by 57 hours I had worked my way back up to 2^nd place.  It was now 5am and once again I was struggling with tiredness.  Jim was on duty in our support area and he suggested that if I had a 15 minute sleep he would stand outside my tent and would wake me when my 15 minutes was up.  By now I had moved in to Suzanne’s tent as she had had to withdraw from the race and my tent had flooded during the downpour the previous day.  The tent was set up so that I could sleep on my mattress with my feet slightly elevated and as soon as I lay down I noticed the pounding in my feet.  I could feel every heartbeat pulsating through my sore and swollen feet, but it was also like a comforting feeling and within seconds I was asleep.

Seconds later, or so it seemed, my 15 minutes was up and Jim was telling me that it was time to get moving again.  As I had found earlier, trying to walk after a break was a painful process.  My feet were sore and my leg muscles were tight.  It took a few laps to get moving again, and I was really struggling.

This race was a series of highs and lows.  I felt like a drug addict (not that I have any first hand experience of this) in that I was drifting through time going from one high to another.  The highs were great.  They were often way too short, and you never knew just when they would come – or go.  But worse, much worse, were the lows.  You could be walking along feeling great and then all of a sudden you would be in the depths of despair.  It got to the stage on day 3 when I didn’t want another high because I knew that the low after the high would be so painful.  I was in seriously bad shape, although looking back now as I write this, I know that it was almost all mental.  I was tired, but it wasn’t the tiredness that was causing the problems.  It was my inability to push myself mentally, and this is something I will be working on in the future.

Day 3 was the hardest day of the race for me but as the crowds started to build in preparation for the start of the 72 hour race, I finally started to come right again and at 71 hours I decided to push myself for the last hour before ‘half time’.  We were still on the 600 meter outer loop and I managed ten laps in the last 60 minutes to bring up 334km for the first 72 hours – although this was only 96km for day 3.

Day 4 – playing leap frog:

My high from the end of day 3 continued for another 4 hours before the inevitable low.  By 76 hours I was back in 2^nd place just 4km behind the leader, but I was struggling again.  My quads felt really heavy and I decided to have another sleep.  The problem was that I was so cold that I couldn’t sleep and after wasting about 30 minutes trying to sleep I decided I would be better off lying on the massage table than in my tent.  So I walked the half lap from my tent around to the medical tent and found that they were just about to close for the night.  Fortunately they took pity on me and the physio I had seen earlier gave my legs a massage – if you ever want to visit a physio or a masseuse without an appointment, just enter a six day race and use the resources in the medical tent 🙂 .  The massage worked wonders and I was back ‘racing’ again, but by this stage I was 14km behind the leader.

We were also now walking the full 1,025 meter course which perked me up a bit.  Firstly, the nature of the course meant that as you walked down the back straight of the inner loop, you got to see the other athletes who were walking towards you on the other side of the fence that separated the inner and outer loops.  For the first time since the race had started  we got to see the faces of the other competitors.  Secondly, the fact that the organisers had decided to open up the inner loop must mean that there was no more rain forecast for the remaining 55 hours of the race!

I struggled through the night and eventually decided that I needed another sleep at 4am, 84 hours into the race.  I asked Jim, who was now permanently rostered on to the graveyard shift within our support team, to wake me at 8am and went straight to sleep.  Before Jim came to wake me I found myself awake and needing to pee urgently.  The loos weren’t too far from the tent but the call of nature wasn’t going to wait for me to walk the 100 odd meters required so I climbed out behind the tent and watered the grass.  On checking my watch I realised that I had only been asleep 30 minutes so I decided to go back to sleep rather than re-join the race.  Another urgent call of nature awoke me an hour or so later, and again I decided to go back to sleep, eventually getting 3 ½ hours sleep to give me about ten hours sleep since the race began 88 hours earlier.

It was now daylight, 8am on Thursday morning, and when I resumed walking Jim offered me my morning porridge.  We had got in to a routine by now.  Around 8 or 9pm each evening Noel made my dinner which was pasta with a different sauce each night – not that my taste buds were working any longer – and then before she went back to the hotel each night, she would make me an omelette sometime between midnight and 1am. Jim would make porridge for breakfast at around 8’ish each morning, and during every other waking moment, Louise (day shift), Noel (evening shift), and Jim (graveyard shift) would feed me every 30 minutes.  As I completed the lap before I was due to be fed I would be asked what I wanted to eat.  Sometimes I couldn’t decide and would tell the team to “surprise me”.  Sometimes I would be specific and tell them I want half a bag of pork scratchings, or two biscuits and water, or half an apple, etc.  Other times, they would just hold out two sandwich bags containing food and I would grab one as I walked past.  Most times they would follow me so that I could have a quick drink and hand back the water bottle.  I remember at one stage sending Louise off to buy me a White Chocolate Magnum.  She came back with two!

I have no idea how many calories I ate during the six days, but food was one way that I could occasionally get out of a low.  It didn’t always work though and on the afternoon of day 4 I was going through another bad patch when I remembered that I had brought a small rubber frog with me which I was planning on using on day 5 (which I had expected to be the hardest day of the race) to entertain me.  Noel was walking a lap with me at the time and I asked her to find the rubber frog in my tent and when she gave it to me I placed it on the ground in the middle of the track.

The moment I put the frog down I had a fleeting thought that I hope the French don’t take this the wrong way and think I am insulting them with a frog (given that the English are known for referring to the French as ‘frogs’).  Fortunately they didn’t, and for the next 2 ½ days we played a game of ‘leap frog’ whereby myself and several other competitors would pick the frog up when they saw it and move it around the course.  After initially placing the frog on the track I didn’t see it again for about 3 ½ laps, but when I came upon the frog again I picked it up, carried it another 50 or 60 meters, and then placed it on the track for someone else to move.  Over the next two days the frog moved from place to place.  I remember seeing it sitting on top of a road cone for a while on Friday and on the Saturday morning I remember seeing someone accidentally kick it, stop and pick it up off its back, and put it back where it was.  They say that small things amuse small minds.  Next year I think I might take a gnome 🙂

By the end of day 4 I had completed 421km meaning that my day 4 total was only 87km and that if I was to achieve my goal of 622km (the NZ and Commonwealth 6 day record) I was going to have to walk 201km within the next 48 hours!

Day 5 – Now I understand:

The majority of the competitors in this year’s six day race were hardened veterans of multi-day races.  Of the top five in the walk I was the only novice (and only non-Frenchman), and in the run there were competitors such as Sarah Barnett from Australia who had already competed in, and won, the New York 10 day race earlier this year and was using the Privas 6 day race as a buildup to an 8 day race starting just 2 weeks after the finish of this race!  William Sichel from the Orkney Islands (north of Scotland) was competing in his 101^st ultra-marathon which includes numerous multi-day races, and American, Bill Heldenbrand was chasing yet another US age group record for the six day event, his second six day race of 2016.  During the first few days of the race I asked all three of them what it was that brought them back to races like this year after year (Sarah and Bill had both raced at Privas last year) and all three gave me answers that didn’t convince me that I would ever do a multi-day race again.

BUT…

At almost exactly 100 hours in to the race I understood.

I was walking down the back straight of the inner loop. There were about 20 people walking single file in front of me.  Most of them would have been runners, but no one was running.  Everyone was walking.  I wasn’t tired or fatigued from 100 hours of walking around this godforsaken track. I didn’t feel any pain.  It was the most beautiful night you could imagine walking under the floodlights without a breath of wind in the air. For the first time since the race began I didn’t care how what distance I had completed so far, or what my total distance would be at the finish, and I didn’t care what place I was in either.  It was at that moment that I understood why people do these races, and why I will be back next year!

It started a few hours earlier when one of the French competitors started chatting to me.  To be honest, I had avoided trying to communicate with anyone who didn’t speak English as I was having enough trouble concentrating on the race without trying to concentrate on a conversation that I couldn’t fully understand (any my French language skills are non-existent!), but this Frenchman, whose name I cannot remember, wanted to talk to me because I was an ‘All Black’.  He was a huge rugby fan and wanted to talk about New Zealand, the All Blacks, and much more.  I remember him telling me that he eats New Zealand lamb, and he was able to name the majority of the All Blacks.  He also told me that many years ago he set the French 100km record as a roller skater.

And it was having this long conversation, which probably lasted 2 or 3 laps, that got me out of my low and back to a ‘medium’ that I was able to hold for the majority of day 5.

New Zealand 500km record:

When Gerald Manderson set the New Zealand and Commonwealth 6 day record in the famous Colac 6 day race in Australia in 1999, he passed 500km in 4 days and 19 hours so I set this as a goal for day 5.  My original goal before the start of the race was to smash that time, and the 6 day record, and continue on to complete at least 700km, but it was now looking like the 622km six day record would barely be possible, and in order to reach that goal I needed the mental boost of breaking the 500km record.

Around 6am (108 hours in to the race) I decided that I needed another quick 15 minute sleep and as with my last 15 minute sleep two days earlier I asked Jim to stand outside my tent and wake me as soon as the 15 minutes was up.  I, again, lay on my mattress fully dressed and fell asleep within seconds using the throbbing of my feet as a distraction to help my mind settle.  Right on queue Jim woke me and I started the two lap shuffle that I needed to get my feet and legs working again.  Jim gave me a can of coke and a chocolate bar to boost my blood sugar levels, and before I knew it was feeling good again.  The fact that I only had 20km to go to get the 500km record helped.  It was going to be a beautiful day too, and then helped me mentally.

The problem with timed events like this is that interim records are only recorded at the completion of the lap in which they fall.  This meant that I actually had to walk an additional 500 meters to complete my 500km, but this didn’t matter as a couple hundred meters into the lap, Laurant, one of the race volunteers’ ran up to me with the New Zealand flag for me to carry for the remainder of my 500km lap, and the officials made some announcements over the loud speaker system in French which I assume were acknowledgments of my record achievement.

Officially I beat the previous record by about an hour with a time of 4 days, 18 hours, 3 minutes, and 5 seconds (still to be confirmed – read on further as it may be faster than that).

Having completed the lap I sat down at our support area for a few minutes and had a celebratory coke and chocolate bar.  Those few minutes became a few more minutes, and it was probably 20 minutes before I got started again.  Louise kept telling me that I still had a long way to go and to ‘stop wasting time’ but to be honest, I was spent.

I eventually got moving again but after two or three very slow laps I decided that I should have another sleep and headed for my tent again.  This time I had a much needed 2 ½ hour sleep bringing up a total of about 12 ½ hours sleep since the race began.  On waking up again at around 2pm (118 hours in to the race) I hoped that that would be my last sleep of the race.  I had 26 hours left and needed to walk another 117km to get the six day record.  I had also slipped to 4^th place and whilst I had long since given up on any idea of winning the race, I at least wanted to make the top 3.

Two hours later, at the end of day 5, I had completed 517km.  My day 5 total was 96km and I needed to walk another 105, preferably 106km, to secure the six day record.  I didn’t have time for any more sleep!

Day 6 – The final day:

Walking 106km in a day isn’t hard – unless you have already been walking for 5 days, that is.

The maths wasn’t so hard to calculate now – just take the distance to go and divide by the number of hours to go.  No need to take into account any more sleep breaks (hopefully).  Things weren’t looking good though.  I needed to average around 14 minutes per 1,025 meter lap for 24 hours.  Easy!

The problem was that I was struggling to walk 18 minute laps so I decided to pay a visit to the medical tent for another massage, justifying that if I spent 30 to 40 minutes getting a massage, not only would that get me back to sub 14 minute pace, but it might get me back to 10 or 12 minute pace, and if I could do that, then 622km would definitely be possible.  Maybe even 400 miles (644km) might be an option.

So I visited my favourite French physio, come masseur, but whilst the problem was partially physical, the bigger problem was in my head.  I just didn’t have the mental strength to keep pushing myself at the required pace.

I pushed through the night with Jim again feeding me every 30 minutes.  It was the coldest night of the race, and that didn’t help either.

I wanted to stop.  I was so tired.  But Jim did his best to keep me going.  At once stage I remember him telling me that whilst we still had a mathematical chance of beating the record, we had to keep going.  But at around 6am with just ten hours and 50km to go, I couldn’t do it anymore.  I needed some sleep and I headed off to my tent half a lap further around the track.

After less than 90 minutes sleep (giving me about 14 hours for the whole race) I was awake and walking again.  To be honest, by this stage I have a few memory blanks, but I remember seeing Suzanne and someone else (probably Louise) in the supporters area as I resumed walking.  I told them that my goal now was just to get past 600km.  I didn’t come all this way to not get what I considered to be an ‘acceptable’ distance.

Stripping my way up the world rankings:

I can’t remember how it happened, but by mid-morning it was starting to get hot and I was still wearing 2 pairs of long pants and at least 4 tops.  I was also now in to the top 25 on the world 6 day rankings and somehow someone suggested that I could take one item of clothing off each time I moved up a place on the world rankings.  Louise reassured me that it was only going to be a few more laps and I would move up three places on one lap, and sent me on my way.

I doubt that this new game made me walk any faster, but it helped pass the time, and within an hours or so I was back down to shorts and T Shirt – at which stage we stopped the game!

The finish!

Eventually I passed 600km and stopped briefly for a photo.

There was less than one hour to go so I kept plodding on.  Before the race I had thought that the last day would be the easiest day of the race as there would be an end in sight, but I hadn’t yet seen anything to confirm my expectations.  Today definitely wasn’t my worst day, but it wasn’t easy either.

With 36 minutes to go I finished the lap that took me past 602km and I thought to myself that if I speed up a little, I could probably complete 4 more laps and finish with a total distance of 606km.

I picked up the pace and walked exactly 9 minutes for the next lap – 3 laps to go I thought to myself.

Then another lap of slightly under 9 minutes.  I was feeling good and picked up the pace even further.

Six minutes for the next lap!  I was suddenly on fire!  I don’t know what happened but I was flying, passing runners and walkers alike.

Another six minute lap, and six minutes to go.

I flew around the last lap like it was a 5km race.  In fact my last 3km was at a pace only marginally slower than my 5km PB pace – and that was after six days of racing.

With one minute to go a horn sounded and I picked up the pace for the final sprint.  Most athletes were taking it easy and congratulating each other on their efforts.  I was passing them on the left, passing them on the right, going right through the middle.  I was passing people that I had passed just a lap or two earlier!

And then it was over.  The horn sounded.  We all stopped and put down the wooden stick we had been handed a few laps earlier containing our race number.  The officials would then measure how far we had walked during our last lap – which in my case was about 950 meters (I didn’t quite complete the last lap) – and add that to our total distance, but for the athletes it was time to relax.

I walked through the start/finish area and over to the area where our support team had based themselves for the last six days.  It was time for a coke and some chocolate.

We had about an hour until the awards ceremony and as I hadn’t had a shower for six days my support team seemed pretty keen that I should go back to the hotel for a shower before the presentation.  And that was when I had the strangest feeling; I have done hundreds of races over the years and for the huge majority of them you drive to the race in the morning, park the car, do the race, then drive home.  When I got in the car to drive back to the hotel for a shower it felt just like that.  For a few moments it felt to me like we had driven down to the race in the morning, I had done the race, and now, in the afternoon, we were driving home.  It was as if it had only been a few hours since I had got out of the car, not six days!

Final results:

Upon finishing I thought I had completed 607km. The results board showed 606.125km and I had walked about 950 meters of the finial 1,025 meter lap.  When we arrived back at the track for the awards ceremony the results were showing 612.003km.  From what I could understand, when we had the heavy rain on the first night of the race, the lap count for all athletes had been affected and these had now been corrected.

I started thinking back through the last 24 hours, and the mental stress I had gone through chasing the 622km New Zealand record, and eventually giving up on that chase when I had what I thought was 50km to go in 10 hours.  Would things have been different if I had known that it was only 45km that I needed to complete in the last 10 hours?  Too late to worry about that now though.  I had done the best I could based on the information I had and my physical and mental state during the race.  I had already decided during my ‘moment of peace’ on Thursday night that I would be back next year, so it didn’t matter what my final distance was, I would get the record next year!

In the end I finished in 3^rd place amongst the walkers and 24^th overall out of 155 competitors.  Depending on which world rankings list you look at (French or Spanish) I am either the 14^th or 17^th best six day race walker in history, and the second best in New Zealand and the Commonwealth.  I’m happy with that result.

NOTE, at the time of writing this my final result has been adjusted further to 614.192km because the short outer loop that we walked for the first 3 and a bit days has been remeasured.

Both adjustments will affect my 48 hour and 500km NZ records and I have requested a copy of my lap splits from the race organisers.  These should be available within the next week and I will update this race report with a note as to what the final results were, but in the meantime I am now almost two weeks in to a well-earned rest.

Incredibly my legs recovered within a day, two at the most.  I am a big fan of compression clothing and whilst I only remembered to put compression tights on for two of my sleeps during the race, I wore compression tights from the time I finished the race though until I woke up on Sunday morning.  And by Sunday afternoon I was walking almost normally, and without any pain or discomfort.

Suzanne, a nurse in a former life, attended to my feet on Saturday night after the race finished and after all my complaining during the race she was disappointed to find that I only had one big blister and two small blisters.  Not bad considering I had worn the same shoes and socks for the last 370km of the race!  Again, I am a big fan of 2Toms Anti-Blister powder combined with wearing Injini toe socks.  I recommend this combination to anyone who competes in any long distance running or walking events.

Some thank you’s:

I am extremely grateful to everyone that helped me in any way either during the race or in the lead-up.  I’m sure I won’t remember everyone but in particular:

• My wife, Ruth. I know that you have made many sacrifices over the last year to help me chase my dream.  Whether it be putting up with me waking up at 3am to go out training (I try to be as quiet as I can), collecting me from the end of a point to point race (Paddington on a Sunday night after the Grand Union Canal Race for example), putting up with me spending the last few pounds I have (until next payday) on race expenses or equipment, missing out on a family holiday this year because I needed to use three weeks annual leave for this race, having dinner ready for me when I get home from training, cheering me on via the phone during the race, the list goes on.  I appreciate everything you have done to help me achieve my goal.
• The rest of my family. At various stages during the race I spoke to both of my parents in NZ and all four of our children (Jacinda, Jarrad, Mathew and Zac) who are scattered around the world. It was great to talk to them, especially during my low periods.
• My incredible support team. Thanks Louise, Jim and Noel. Without everything you did for me during the race I am certain that I wouldn’t have reached 600km.
  Thanks so much.  And if you aren’t doing anything next year and want another trip to Privas …
• Suzanne and Kathy. Congratulations on your UK age group record Kathy (Kathy’s race report is here), and I’m sorry your race didn’t go to plan Suzanne.  Thanks both of you for your support before and during the race.
• All the other competitors who gave me encouraging comments during the race, particularly on day 4 when I was in so much destress. And also Alan, William Sichel’s support person, thanks for your encouraging comments.
• To all the people that posted and commented on facebook during the race. Thanks for your comments and support.  Reading those really helped when I was going through the many low periods of the race.  Modern technology is great!
• Beate Guenther (Osteopath). If it wasn’t for Beate I might not have made it to the start line. I was struggling with an injury in August but after just two visits to see Beate I was back training and by the time I started the race I was completely recovered.
• Shaun Lightman. Shaun, a former Olympic race-walker, coaches a small group in Bromley which I have been training with occasionally during the last six months.  He has given me plenty of pointers about my technique which hopefully are making me walk more efficiently – although that isn’t easy over six days!
• Fitbit UK & Ireland. I love my fitbit, and the support you have given me this year has really helped.
• Strictly Banners (UK and NZ).  Thanks for your support.
• And I am sure that there are many others, so please don’t be offended I haven’t mentioned you.

What’s next:

It’s now almost two weeks since the race finished.  I have recovered really well physically, but mentally I think I need a bit more time.  I’m not planning on racing again this year but I’m already looking for an excuse to resume light training.

Obviously I have to go back and do the race again.  I learnt a lot this year and still think that 700km is possible.  I want to have a few sessions with a sports phycologist as I need to work on the mental side of things.  I lost way too much distance by both mucking around and not walking fast enough during the low periods, and I think a sports phycologist could help me in this area.

So 2017 will be solely focused on this race again.  The race date will be announced before Christmas but is likely to be in July.  Once I know the date I will build a race plan for 2017 which is likely to include two or three races of 100 miles or further, possibly starting with the Bourges 24 hour race at the beginning of March, and if the race is in July then I will probably finish the summer with the Roubaix 28 hour race in September.  I would also like to have another attempt at a non-stop circumnavigation of the M25 during the summer, which will probably be my charity fundraising walk next year.

You probably won’t hear from me again until next year, so thanks for reading my blog and my race reports this year.

 

Richard

Some more photos:

 

There are also some great photos here: http://www.cybermarcheur.com/t8909-6-jours-de-france-categorie-marche-en-photos

Update:

Having received the detailed lap splits, my important split times/distances from the race are:

• 48 hours – 240.459km (149.45 miles) NZ Record
• 500km – 4 days, 16 hours, 55 minutes, 8 seconds – NZ Record
• 6 days – 614.192km (381.7 miles)

Also, in the lead-up to the 6 jours de France, during the race, and afterwards, Chris Desmond from the Uncomfortable Is OK Podcast interviewed me and then compiled this podcast: http://uncomfortableisok.libsyn.com/uiok-31-not-taking-your-socks-off-for-4-dayssuffering-is-ok-with-richard-mcchesney

 

The plan was to walk 70 miles on Friday from Leeds to Redcar, arrive in Redcar at about 3am, get 4 hours sleep, walk the Redcar parkrun at 9am, and then walk somewhere between 85 and 100 miles within 24 hours at the 2016 UK Centurions Race – The Redcar Blast.

That was the plan.

And if all had gone to plan I probably wouldn’t have learnt as much as I did last weekend.  They say that the only failure is the failure to learn from your mistakes, and whilst I wouldn’t call last weekend a ‘mistake’, it definitely didn’t go as well as I had expected.  It turns out that I am not invincible and don’t have the unlimited endurance that I was beginning to think I had 🙂

I arrived home from work on Wednesday night to find that someone had posted a message on the facebook page for the Redcar Blast race wishing me luck for my walk from Leeds to Redcar, and this had resulted in a few people commenting about the route I was planning on walking.  My plan had simply being to use the Google Maps app on my phone to guide me but that would have taken me along a busy duel carriageway, the A19, for about 7 miles which could have been dangerous.  So I used Google Maps on my computer to plot a new route which would avoid the A19.  This added about 3 miles (maybe 40 to 45 minutes) to the journey, but this wouldn’t be a problem.

I was intending to arrive in Leeds by train from London at 9:46am and hoped to be walking by 10am.  Even with the additional 3 miles I thought I could walk to Redcar in around 16 to 17 hours so would still arrive at about 3am’ish.  I would still get to sleep for 4 hours, do parkrun, and be in a reasonable condition to compete in the 100 mile race starting at 12 noon.

Walking from Leeds to Redcar:

It was a beautiful sunny day when I arrived in Leeds.  I took a ‘selfie’ outside the railway station and then sorted out my gear.  I had my camelback (without the bladder) and this was fill of stuff I might need if the weather deteriorated.  I wasn’t prepared to take a risk on the weather in an area of the country I didn’t know, so I had a lightweight rain jacket, a long sleeved top, a change of socks, two head torches (which I would need overnight), spare batteries and USB charging sticks for my phone and Garmin, and a few other bits and pieces in my camelbak.  And I had my waist belt that holds two 500 ml water bottles as well as two small waist belts to carry my food (chocolate, raisins, dates, and fruit) plus a small amount of money for purchasing replacement food as required, and my map (my cellphone).

Once I had all that sorted out I started walking at exactly 10:15am.

The first few hours were uneventful.  The pace was reasonable at a little under 8 minutes per kilometre (13 minutes per mile) and I was enjoying walking somewhere new and listening to podcasts interrupted every now and again by Google Maps telling me which way to go.

After a few hours I decided to save battery power and turned off Google Maps as most of the journey appeared to be on long roads with only the occasional need to change from one road to another, and I had a printed version of my Google Maps route which I could refer to when I needed to ensure I was going the right way.

Sometime around mid-afternoon I had run out of water and was looking forward to arriving in the next town where I thought I would both buy replacement water and also shout myself a Coke and a bag of crisps, but when I arrived in the next town there were only a few houses, some businesses that weren’t shops, and three pubs!  There were probably shops in another street but rather than going searching, I stopped at the third pub and had a quick Coke while the bartender filled my water bottles.

So far, so good.  I had been walking on footpaths since leaving Leeds about 25 miles earlier but now the roads became narrower and for the majority of the next 40 miles I walked on the right hand side of the road facing the traffic and being careful as I rounded hedges so as not to be hit by any oncoming vehicle.

It was around 5 or 6pm that I started to wonder if I was going the right way as I had expected to see the railway tracks on my right but they were on my left.  I was also running out of water again as it had been a hot afternoon and the litre of water I had collected at the pub was almost all gone.

I turned Google Maps back on and found that I had missed a turnoff but was only a couple miles off track and I managed to work out how to get back on track without having to go back the way I had just walked – I hate going back the way I have come and would prefer to walk extra distance that do that.  Anyway, it was a fortunate mistake to make as whilst making my way back on to the route I needed to follow I came across a small town that consisted of a church, a school, and a few houses, and within the school was a hose which I used to have a cold shower (fully clothed of course) and to refill my water bottles again.

Soon after that I arrived in Thirsk which had plenty of shops and I was able to replenish both my food supplies as well as buy Coke and water to get me through the final 30 odd miles to Redcar.

It was obvious by this stage that there was no way that I was going to get to Redcar by 3am, but I wasn’t concerned as I was enjoying the walk and had heaps of energy.

Ten miles later, though, and it was a different story.  It was now dark and I was on the detour to avoid the A19.  This meant walking through hills along often narrow country roads/lanes and I was struggling.  The bad patch only lasted about two hours as I seemed to come right again as soon as the hills finished which was some time after 1am.  I don’t know whether it was getting out of the hills and back on to a main road that made the difference or the scare I got when I looked up and saw two people standing in front of me about 100 meters before the main road – at 1am.  I know that my heart jumped when I saw these two people.  It was the middle of the night.  I hadn’t seen anyone for over two hours and I got a real fright.  Fortunately they were harmless.  Just two people out for a walk.  They probably got just as much of a shock as I did.

I was feeling good now and the last 17 or 18 miles was just a process of walking towards the coast.  I started thinking ‘this time tomorrow’ type thoughts, wondering how I would be getting on in the 100 mile race.  This was a big part of my weekend – getting my mind around the concept that all I will be doing for six days in October is walking.  Nothing else to look forward to other than walking.  In 24 hour’s time I will be doing exactly what I am doing now – walking.  And 24 hours after that …

The six day race in October is going to be as much, if not more, a mental challenge than a physical one.  Continuing to move forward (at a decent pace) when the body just wants to sit down, and doing that day and night for the best part of a week is going to be a huge challenge.  The only way I know how to prepare for that is to do what I am doing now, and walk for two days solid.

And as it happened, due to the detour to avoid the A19, my slower than anticipated average pace, and getting lost, the total distance I walked from Leeds to Redcar ended up being 79 miles (127km) and it wasn’t until 5:45am, 19 ½ hours after leaving Leeds, that I finally arrived at my destination.  This weekend really was going to be a test of my mental endurance.

My friend Sarah (who would be competing in the 100 mile race) and her husband, Leon, had set up their tent at the ‘race village’ and left some chocolate biscuits, water and Coke for me to consume when I arrived.  I didn’t actually feel hungry or thirsty but knew that I had a big day coming up so I ate half of the packet of biscuits and also rehydrated with water before trying to get some sleep.  For some reason however, I wasn’t tired even although I had been awake for over 25 hours, and after trying to get to sleep for 90 minutes I decided to get up and go to the local McDonalds for breakfast where I met Suzanne (who was also going to be starting the 100 mile race, and will be competing in the six day race as well) and her son, Jamie.

I had two breakfasts and then walked down to the local park to meet Leon at the start of the Redcar parkrun.  I figured that I was in a town that had a parkrun that I hadn’t done previously (today was my 108^th different parkrun) and I had three hours until the 100 mile race started, so why not walk an easy 5km.  Two years ago, before the start of the 2014 UK Centurions Race in Southend I had done the same, but on that day the parkrun was cancelled 5 minutes after we started as an unexploded bomb had been found near the course several minutes earlier!  So this was the first time I had attempted a parkrun/100 mile double, but it was all a part of my big weekend of walking.

I felt relatively good at parkrun given that I had just walked from Leeds and hadn’t slept since 4:30am the previous day, and ended up with a time of 38:45.

After parkrun I went back to McDonalds for a third breakfast, visited the local supermarket to buy some food for the race, and then walked back to the race village via the hotel that was being used for race registration.

The Redcar Blast (2016 UK Centurions Race):

It was at the hotel that I met Rob Robertson from the USA.  Rob is already a US and Australian centurion (C78 and C68 respectively) and was aiming to become a triple centurion at the UK event before heading to South Africa in October for the first South African centurion race.  Next year he intends to complete the set by also qualifying as a centurion (someone who has walked 100 miles in less than 24 hours) in Holland and New Zealand.  Centurionism is currently only recognised in those six countries although there also used to be a qualifying race in Malaysia.  I won’t tell you how Rob’s race went (because this report is all about me 🙂 ) but his race report is well worth reading.

There were a few other athletes that I met for the first time having only read about their achievements, as well as many other friends whom I really only get to see at events such as these.  The field for the race was very strong.  Rob has full detail in his race report.  In total there were 20 centurions racing in the 100 mile event plus another 11 walkers aiming to achieve the ‘centurion’ title, and there were another 10 centurions walking in shorter races and 9 centurions acting as race officials.  I don’t know how many 100 mile, or longer, events we had between us but Sandra Brown (C735) has completed the distance over 170 times herself!  I was attempting my 12^th walk of 100 miles or further, but I didn’t expect to complete the full distance due to my efforts of the previous day.

The race started at 12 noon in warm and sunny conditions.  The course was an out and back walk along the Redcar Esplanade which had its pros and cons.  The pros were that we got to see our fellow competitors regularly as we passed each other heading in the opposite direction every 15 minutes or so, and we got to go past both our own support crew as well as the official feeding station every two miles, and the drinks station twice per lap.  The downside was that on the Saturday afternoon we had to constantly dodge pedestrians and the top part of the course was extremely busy.  From my point of view this didn’t make a difference but if I had been chasing a PB I may not have been too happy with pedestrians getting in my way.

Right from the start I struggled.  Whilst I wasn’t expecting to walk 100 miles I can’t deny that it wasn’t something that I would have chased if I had felt better than I did, so it is probably better that I didn’t feel good.  Right from the start I was off the back of the field walking by myself, and it was many, many hours before I actually passed anyone.  Instead it wasn’t too long before I was being lapped by the walkers in the shorter races and then by the leading 100 mile competitors.

One of the lessons I have learnt recently is ‘don’t think about how far you have to go’.  If I had done that, given the way I felt, I would have dropped out of the race early on.  But this race was more about spending time on my feet and replicating what I will be putting myself through for six consultative days in October.

Another lesson I have learnt is that feeling bad is not permanent and eventually you come out of bad patches and have good patches.  Feeling good isn’t permanent either though 🙂

Anyway, I just took it one lap at a time.  I started off with a few laps of just under 30 minutes but gradually slowed down as the afternoon progressed.  I enjoyed seeing the other competitors and also watching what was going on around me.  Near the top of the course there was a boutique movie theatre and every few hours a queue would start to build outside and then would disappear inside the theatre. A couple hours later we would see them all come back out of the theatre after the movie finished.

At one stage I decided I wanted an iced lolly (ice block for overseas readers).  There were plenty of shops on the opposite side of the road but none other than the movie theatre on our side of the road so I stopped at the movie theatre but was told that their freezer wasn’t working.  I had already visited all the shops that might cell iced lollies but couldn’t find any.  I had seen some pedestrians eating them though but don’t know where they came from – probably a shop down one of the side streets.

There were also two fish and chip shops on the opposite side of the road near the top end of the course.  One of them had a big queue outside all day and the other was busy but nowhere near as busy, so I decided that when/if the queue diminished at the popular fish and chip shop I would go and buy their hot chips for my dinner.  Unfortunately both fish and chip shops closed at 7pm and I missed my opportunity.  Fortunately there was a third fish and chip shop down a side street and Suzanne and I decided to visit that sometime shortly after 7pm.  The chips were the best I had eaten in a long time but I still wasn’t feeling any better and decided that I would walk through to 10pm before taking a two hour break for a sleep.

Before the race I had planned on having a 1 ½ hour sleep at around 12 hours in to the race to test how much of a difference that would make as regular short sleeps may be a part of my strategy in the six day race.  Because I wasn’t having a good day I decided to bring that sleep forward, but I didn’t want it to be too early as, the way I was feeling, I didn’t want to have to walk for more than 12 hours after my sleep.

Unfortunately the wind started to get up at about the same time I stopped for a sleep, and the tent I slept in was getting a battering.  I also felt very sore around the hips and couldn’t get comfortable sleeping on my sides or back.  When my alarm went off I didn’t think I had slept at all so I turned the alarm off and the next thing I knew, Sarah was trying to wake me.  She had withdrawn from the race at 50 miles and I’m not sure, but I think Suzanne had also made the decision to withdraw by that stage too.

I wasn’t in any rush to get started again, but I put more 2Toms Anti-Blister powder on my feet, changed my shoes, and resumed the race shortly before 1am.

The Esplanade was now relatively quiet other than a few pedestrians and about 30 walkers spread across the course.

I still felt bad but figured that I would just walk up and down the Esplanade for 11 hours without pushing it.  Just time on my feet.

By now, a lot of the other walkers were struggling too.  This meant that I often had company for periods of time as there were many others walking at my pace, and I had some good conversations with a number of other competitors.  I had two long conversations with Richard Brown about his experiences racing six day races and he gave me some good advice which will help me both in my buildup as well as the race itself.  He convinced me, and I wasn’t hard to convince in my current state of mind, that my plan to repeat this weekend in three weeks time (when I was planning on walking 50 miles on two consecutive days followed by the 130 mile Liverpool to Leeds Canal Race) wasn’t a great idea.  I have since withdrawn from the race.

At some stage I remember hearing a lot of women screaming and looked up a side street to see a group of maybe 20 or more men fighting.  As I continued walking I could hear sirens and when I walked back past the side street a few minutes later there were a number of police cars trying to calm the crowd.  A lap or two later I saw police bringing a women on to the Esplanade from behind one of the shelters that were between the beach and the Esplanade.  I remember seeing the women handing her cellphone to one of the policeman and saying something like “…can you ring them … I’m not in trouble am I…”.  It looked like she had a broken jaw and her face was swollen.  A typical Saturday night in Redcar?

At 3am the predicted gale-force winds arrived.  The problem with walking beside a beach when it is windy is that you get sand-blasted.  It wasn’t daylight yet so I couldn’t put my sunglasses on to protect my eyes.  At times the wind was so strong that I thought I was back home in windy Wellington, New Zealand!

Again, I was thankful that I wasn’t chasing a PB and kept plodding on through the night.

Daylight eventually arrived and around 7am I finally started to feel reasonable.  It had only taken 19 hours!  But that proves my point that bad periods don’t last forever.  By this stage though, so many people (supporters, competitors, and officials) had told me that I wasn’t doing any favours to my body by pushing through the race and I had agreed to stop once I got to 100km.

Last week I was interviewed by a podcaster (more about that in a week or two) and at the end of the interview he asked me for a final comment.  My comment was “never give up” and I felt that if I completed 100km I wouldn’t be ‘giving up’.  I don’t know why I thought it had to be 100km.  50 miles would have been much easier 🙂

I eventually got to the end of my 31^st lap which meant I had completed 62 miles, 100km.  I told the timekeepers that I was stopping.  The only problem was that the start/finish of each lap was about 300 meters from the top of the course and the campsite/race village was at the bottom of the course.  So I decided to walk up to the top of the course and thank the two people that had manned the sponge station at the northern turn-around point for the previous 22 hours, and then walk down to the bottom of the course.  This gave me another 2km meaning that I had completed 102km in 22 ¼ hours, and in total I had completed 239km (149 miles) in exactly 48 hours from the time I left Leeds on Friday morning through to now.  This included my Leeds to Redcar walk, Redcar parkrun, plus my walks to/from parkrun and from the campsite up to the start of the 100 mile race.  Not a bad 48 hours.  6km further than my official best distance for 48 hours but hopefully about 30km less than my target for the first 48 hours of the six day race in October.

On Sunday afternoon I caught the train home, and whilst I am taking this week off training, I feel 100% recovered other than a sunburnt bottom lip.

The focus now is 100% on the six day race which starts in just 11 weeks.  I can’t wait!

A few more photos:

500 meters in to the 145 mile Grand Union Canal Race I looked behind me and found I was in last place.

36 ¾ hours, and 271,000 fitbit steps, later I finished the race in 27^th place out of a field of 98 starters – 97 of whom were runners with me being the sole walker.

That is the short story, but it was by no means as easy as it sounds.

For me, the 2016 edition of the Grand Union Canal Race was the toughest mental battle I have faced in the eleven events of 100 miles or further that I have done during the last three years.

The Start:

Unlike two weeks ago (before the Continental Centurions Race) I slept well each night in the lead-up to the race with the only exception being that I was awoken about an hour after going to bed on Friday night by a flashing light in my hotel room.  For some unknown reason my head torch had decided to short-circuit the night before the race and started turning itself on and off randomly. Fortunately I always travel with spare head torches when doing races of this type so I took the batteries out and used them as spares rather than changing head torches at the 85 mile checkpoint as planned.

Depending on who you listened to during the week leading up to the race, the weather was either going to be brilliant all weekend, or was going to rain on and off all weekend, so it wasn’t a surprise to wake up at 4:30 on Saturday morning to find that it was raining lightly outside.  By the time I had opened the curtains to check the weather, I had already showered and dressed for the race including putting on my trusty Brooks Adrenaline road shoes so I decided to start the race in these and packed my trail shoes in my kit bag so that I could change in to them at a checkpoint if necessary. The rain was extremely light – probably a typical Birmingham summers day 🙂 – and I prefer road shoes over trail shoes whenever possible.

I left the hotel shortly after 5am for the short 1 kilometre walk down to the start at the Gas Street Basin carrying my two kits bags that contained everything I would need for the race.  Bag 1 contained 9 plastic shopping bags (my food bags) which each contained all the food and coke that I expected to need at each of the 9 checkpoints between Birmingham and London.  Last year I lost too much time stopping at checkpoints and my two best long-distance races to date (the Roubaix 28 hour race last year and the Continental Centurion Race two weeks ago) were both races in which I didn’t stop at all during the duration of the race because I was able to collect food and drink from either my support crew or the official aid stations as I walked past.  My plan was to replicate this as much as possible by arriving at each checkpoint, grabbing the appropriate food bag (each one was numbered for the applicable checkpoint), refilling my water bottles and if necessary adding hot water to my porridge or Pot Noodles, and getting moving again as quickly as possible.  As the race progressed my intention was that my diet would change from mostly fruit and some biscuits to mostly chocolate and Coke and each food bag was therefore numbered so that I would get the food that I expected to need.

My second kit bag contained my spare trail shoes, spare clothes in case needed, my first aid kit, and a few other bits and pieces but the idea was that everything I would need for the next 40 hours was in the one bag and easily accessible.  Even my head torch was in the bag for checkpoint 4 (as it would be dark about 1 to 2 hours before arriving at checkpoint 5), spare batteries were in the bag for checkpoint 7, etc.  I don’t know that I have ever been this well prepared for a race.

I wouldn’t say that the start was an anti-climax but I wasn’t excited like I was at the start of last year’s race.  I was keen to get started though, as it was raining gently and as a walker we don’t burn as much energy as runners so if I got cold it would take me longer to warm up again.

This year was the 22^nd running of the Grand Union Canal Race but the first under the guidance of new race director, Keith Godden.  The previous run director, Dick Kearns said a few words, Keith said a few words, and then we were off.  I had positioned myself at the back of the field on purpose and started off with a very easy first kilometre of just under 9 minutes as the runners ahead sorted themselves out along the narrow path beside the canal and through the first tunnel about 300 meters from the start.  Once through the first tunnel I got myself into rhythm and spent the morning ticking off kilometre splits of around 7:45 to 7:55.  Slower than my normal race pace but this was going to be another adventure rather than a race as such.

My big goal for 2016 is the 6 jours de France (6 day race in Privas, France) in October and the Grand Union Canal Race was a part of my mental training towards October.  The 6 day race will require more mental strength than I have ever needed for anything I have done previously – mental strength that I don’t yet have.

Because I was backing up just two weeks after my 20:58 100 mile NZ record in Holland the GUCR would be much tougher both physically and mentally than if I was fresh.  And to make the 145 miles just that little bit harder I set myself a goal of not sitting down at any of the 9 checkpoints along the way – or at any other time during the race.  My previous best effort at staying on my feet was the 32 ½ hours I managed during the first 2/3^rd of my M25 circumnavigation in March and my goal was to beat that, and if I could beat 32 ½ hours, then perhaps I could go the whole journey without sitting down.

The first half:

It didn’t take long before I began passing runners as we headed along the canal out of Birmingham towards the first checkpoint at 10.7 miles (17km) which I reached in a shade under 2 hours and 20 minutes – the same time as last year.  It had stopped raining so I removed my jacket, grabbed my first food bag and kept walking.

It was shortly after that that we hit the first, and fortunately only, muddy part of the course.  For a moment I regretted making the decision to wear road shoes as I tenderly walked through the mud trying to keep my feet dry.  Mud in the shoes results in wet socks which results in blisters but as with my last few long races/walks, I was wearing Injinji toe socks as well as coating my feet with 2Toms Blister Shield and thankfully I didn’t suffer anywhere near as badly as I might have – only two small blisters on the inside of each heel later on in the race.

The first 36 miles (57km) through to the third checkpoint went perfectly, and almost exactly the same pace as last year.  I was averaging a little under 8 minutes per kilometre which wasn’t fast, but was fast enough to pass a runner every now and again.  I stopped at each checkpoint only long enough to collect my food bag and after each checkpoint I ate some of the food I had collected so as I wouldn’t need to carry it all, stuffed the rest of the food in to my pockets and waste belt, and posted a progress update on facebook and twitter.  I was enjoying the walk.  The sun had come out and it was a nice afternoon – possibly a little hot for running, but fine for race-walking.

Shortly after checkpoint 3 my average pace dropped by almost 1 minute per kilometre for no particular reason.  I wasn’t tired and wasn’t particularly concerned although at checkpoint 4 (53 miles/85km) I drank a Coke and had some dinner (Pot Noodles, Jelly and a Banana) to give me a pick-me-up.  Up until then I was consuming mainly fruit and biscuits.

It didn’t make a difference though and I continued plodding along through until just after 100km when we hit the only road section of the course – a 1 ¼ mile (2km) stretch that I walked in the dark last year.  But this year it was still daylight, meaning that I was well ahead of my pace from last year, and I decided to push the pace and make the most of the tarmac surface.  My Garmin split times show that I averaged a shade over 8 minutes/kilometre for the next 12km (8 miles) through to the half way checkpoint (actually 70 miles so just short of half way) at Navigation Bridge.  I felt really good even although it was dark for the last hour.  I passed a couple groups of 3 and 4 runners during this section and arrived at the 70 mile (112km) checkpoint in 16 hours and 14 minutes, and in 54^th place overall.

As with every checkpoint throughout the race, the volunteers were fantastic and told me to sit down while they got my kit bag.  But at every checkpoint I simply said that I was “on a roll” and didn’t want to stop.  I gave them my water bottles to refill and put my reflective long sleeved top on as well as a woollen hat to keep me warm overnight.  And then I was off again.

Walking through the night:

I love walking at night.  I had a bright head torch and was walking alongside the canal in solitude.  My pace slowed again as is expected at night – you have to be a bit more careful with foot placement during the dark, especially when on an uneven surface.

I continued to pass runners from time to time but most of the time I was alone and took the opportunity to do a bit of singing.  I can’t sing! I’m tone deaf. My wife won’t even let me sing ‘Happy Birthday’.  But no one could hear me and I was listening to some great music on my ipod while I walked so decided to sing a few duets with the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Queen, etc.

I was also eating and drinking heaps.  Perhaps too much, because by the time I arrived at the 85 mile (135km) checkpoint I felt nauseous.   I decided not to have anything more to eat, and to only drink water, until daylight.

Other than that I was still feeling good though, and it wasn’t long before it was light enough to turn off the head torch at around 4/4:30am and I realised that I was probably as much as two hours ahead of where I had been at the same time last year.  I worked out that I could possibly get through to 100 miles in under 24 hours – something I hadn’t previously managed to do outside of a proper walking race on a sealed surface.  Last year it took me 26:03 for the first 100 miles through to checkpoint 7.  This year, 23:52!

The mind is stronger than the body:

Last year, at 100 miles I spent over 15 minutes in checkpoint 7 and I believe that is what cost me my race.  I became a zombie and took almost 17 hours to cover the next 45 miles.

This year I was in and out of the checkpoint as quickly as possible, stopping just long enough to get my food bag plus a sausage roll, drop my head torch, and refill my water bottles.

I knew it was going to be a struggle to get through the next 45 miles – I was starting to feel a little tired and hadn’t sat down for over 24 hours – but I wasn’t going to let the same thing happen to me for a second year.

From daylight last year I was hallucinating.  Everything I saw looked like a person until I arrived at whatever object it was to realise that it was a bush or some other inanimate object.  This year I hadn’t suffered any hallucinations yet.  I think the big difference was that I was eating much more food than last year.

The biggest gap between checkpoints in the Grand Union Canal Race is between checkpoint 7 and 8 – 20 miles (32km) and I was struggling a little.  I wasn’t passing as many runners as I had on Saturday afternoon/evening, and my feet were starting to hurt.  I was also struggling a little with tiredness and wanted to sit down.

I had small stones and grit in the bottom of both shoes and decided to stop to empty my shoes.  This was probably around 115 miles and when I removed my feet from my shoes I found that they were both numb to touch, and whilst both heels were blistered I didn’t feel any of the expected pain sliding my feet out of, or back in to my shoes.  Although my feet were numb to the touch, they felt much better once I had removed the small stones and I powered through to checkpoint 8 which I reached just before 11:30am – 5 ½ hours after leaving checkpoint 7.

This was the last checkpoint where we would have access to our kit bags but I had plans for that.  We had 25 miles to go and I would need to carry enough food to get through that distance, although I could collect some food from the final checkpoint which was 13 miles away.  My plan though, was to fill my camalbak with food and cans of Coke so that all I would need to do at the final checkpoint would be to refill my water bottles.  I’m not particularly keen on carrying stuff on my back.  I normally carry my water bottles and food in a waste-belt – two actually, one on the front and one on the back.  But I didn’t want to risk running out of sugar during the last 25 miles so I decided that the backpack option was the best way to proceed.

The finish:

It was hard.  Possibly the hardest thing I have ever done.  The last 25 miles took me 7 ¼ hours.  But that is significantly faster than the almost 10 hours it took me last year!  Last year was comparatively easy though because I had become a zombie and was just going through the motions as opposed to trying to push the pace.  This time, it was a case of focusing on turning my feet over as quickly as possible, keeping my stride as long as possible, driving with my arms, staying awake – and repeat!  The fact that I hadn’t sat down since before 6am yesterday was really starting to cause problems.  I wasn’t hallucinating, but I was feeling motion sickness.  Every time I went past a canal boat moored beside the towpath I had to look the other way as otherwise, half way past the boat it would appear to jump forward.  At one stage I walked under a bridge and the reflection of the bridge on the water caused me to feel dizzy.  I really needed to stop, but I kept on pushing on.

I didn’t feel like eating or drinking, but I knew I had to.

The towpath seemed to drag on forever.  There weren’t any other runners around, and although I knew I was on the right course I kept wondering whether perhaps I had taken a wrong turn somewhere.

But eventually the signpost that all GUCR competitors dream about came in to sight.

13 ½ miles to go!  Just over a half marathon.

One mile further up the path I arrived at the final checkpoint.  The only checkpoint where the volunteers told me NOT to sit down.  Only 12 miles to go.  Their view was ‘feed and water the athlete and get them moving again as quickly as possible’.  And that is what I did.

Many hours ago, at around daylight, I thought I could get under 36 hours even if I slowed during the day.  Now I was thinking that I probably wouldn’t manage to break 37 hours.  There was nothing I could do about it other than continue to focus.  One step after another.  Keep the stride as long and as fast as possible.  Swing the arms.  And stay awake!

Ruth and Zac were going to meet me at the finish so I messaged them to tell them I was about 80 minutes away as I crossed the A406 at Wembley – completely oblivious to the fact that there was a major football match on just down the road.

A while later I saw a runner ahead of me.  You could tell which runners were in the race and which runners were just out for a Sunday jog.  The joggers were going significantly faster!

I knew that we were close to the finish but I didn’t know how close.  I also knew that if we were less than a mile away, maybe two miles, then we would get under 37 hours.  I didn’t want to pass another runner in the finishing straight, but what if we weren’t yet in the finishing straight and I slowed to let someone finish in front of me because I didn’t want to pass him on the line, and as a result we both missed going under 37 hours?

So I picked up the pace and passed the runner telling him that if we worked together we might break 37 hours.  He replied that he was stuffed and unable to speed up.  And about 3 minutes later the finish line was in sight!

36 hours and 42 minutes.   271,000 fitbit steps.  One fantastic race!

I finished in 27^th place overall.  6 hours and 20 minutes faster than last year!

Not a bad effort if I say so myself.

Other things:

• After the Continental Centurions Race two weeks ago I had serious back pain. It hurt constantly from the time I finished that race until about 7 or 8 hours in to this race.  I was reasonably certain it was just a muscle strain but I saw a chiropractor twice in the hope that he could resolve the problem.  He didn’t.  I only did three short walks between the two races and the back hurt each time but I figured that I could put up with the pain.  But it looks like it must have been a pinched nerve as I haven’t had any back pain since around 40 miles in to the race.
• My goal for the race wasn’t anything to do with the race itself. It was to build mental strength for my race in October.  There were many times during the weekend that I doubted my ability.  For the last 100km or more I was averaging only 10 minutes per kilometre and in October the goal is to walk no slower than 9 minutes per kilometre for up to 20 hours per day.  But in October I will be walking around a flat 1km circuit and will have a support crew that will be feeding and watering me and looking after my every need (take note Jim and Sarah 🙂 ).  They will also be keeping my mind focused and I am sure that I can do what I need to.  This race has helped build my confidence in many ways.
• I spent over 37 hours on my feet. I’m not planning on doing that again.  But I know I can do it if I have to.
• The Grand Union Canal Race is 145 miles (233km) in length. My official NZ 48 hour record is 233.075km.  I think I need to find a 48 hour race next year to see what I can really do in 48 hours.  200 miles perhaps?

My other GUCR’s

What to read more?

My 2015 GUCR report is here

And my 2017 race report is here