Four years ago, Toby came up with the idea of running three laps of Woodhouse Moor (approximately 5k), every hour, for twelve hours. Some said he was crazy. Others said it was too easye because in a real backyard ultra, you would have to run 6.7k. Neither group were listened to.
2024 arrives and we’re doing it for the fourth time. Last year was glorious sunshine. This year was back to the rain-soaked day of 2021, and possibly the wettest it has ever been.
It’s a lovely format because you can change your pace and running partner on different laps which is great for catching up and having a chat. Thanks so much to Cat, Naomi, Robyn, Louise, Susie, Steve, Kevin, Kay and everyone else who provided some good banter on the way around. I’m sure Toby and Rich would have some good banter too but they’re in a different league. And a big thank you to Andy for looking after our stuff, providing insightful political commentary and buying ice lollies from Tesco.
I haven’t done any long runs since February, except for making it half way through Westport marathon, so I wasn’t sure how my ankle would hold up. The answer is that it held up fine: but I did get a pain in my hip after 10k. It was the same pain that forced me to retire at Endure24 2020 so I was concerned. I foam rolled between every lap and that got me through, but it was pretty sore for the rest of the week.
Early on, I felt quite a bit of panic, despite lapping a park I knew really well and being surrounded by friends. That was frustrating and scary. But I pushed on and made it through and I am glad I did because once I got onto the Red Bull for the final two hours, I felt great. By 8pm I was exhausted and keen to get home to check on Venla who was poorly at the time, so ended up skipping the pub.
It was absolutely lovely running with you all and I will see you soon! Thanks to Toby, Laura, Robyn and Andy for the photos.
Don't have time to check my blog? Get a weekly email with all the new posts. This is my personal blog, so obviously it is 100% spam free.
Tags: backyard ultra, running, ultramarathon
This entry was posted on Friday, May 31st, 2024 at 11:00 am and is filed under Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.