Event 20 - London to Brighton 100km Ultra Challenge

This was the one - the one that made all the events before it seem possible. This was the biggy that overshadowed any fear I’d had about any of the other events so far and it levelled any fear or angst, so it served its purpose. But this weekend, it was upon me. And strangely I didn’t have any nerves, I was just excited about the journey I was about to experience (thank god i was in blissful ignorance!). 

I had one hour of panic, the hour before I left home on the Friday night to journey to Teddington for the overnight stay before the 7:15am wave start in Richmond. Did I have everything? was I prepared? had I packed too much ? did my mid point bag have what I’d need?, did I have enough supplies to last unit meeting my supporter, Erin at the second checkpoint? aaaaggghhhh all too much! 

Once I’d left the house and the taxi had crashed into a lamppost along the way, I was fine 😂his day was much worse than mine.

The first part of the race went without hitch, it was of course an easy distance that I’m used to. I walked the first 4km as I was determined not to make the rookie mistake of burning out too quickly and the Richmond/Kingston river front was all familiar territory from my childhood. I then started to need the toilet and my plan to walk further, dissipated, knowing the next stop was 8km away, I had to jog. Rest stop, porta loo (yay, not), Coca Cola....perfect, all swell so far. The plan for the next part of the event was jogging and walking up the hills. Who would have thought there could be so much thought over whether or not something is a hill! Even the slightest gradient and it was like my mind was in a frenzy. Even funnier was that another runner helped me decide by telling me to look at the front garden walls and by their design you could tell if we were actually on a hill - oh my goodness all so technical lol! 

I met so many lovely people who shared their experiences with me. Many were trying this challenge again after a failed attempt. I’d never really considered failure but as the event went on I realised what a high drop out rate the London to Brighton has. The route was a surprise. I think I was expecting to run along roads or paths most of the time but once you are past south London, it’s cross country. Glad I wore arm compressors (that’s for my hand swelling issue when I run) as I used them to push the branches and plants away from my face! I had to be careful not to be stung with stinging nettles. I climbed over tree trunks, through forests, over streams and over fields. The styles (that let you cross from field to field) seemed a welcome distraction until you hit about 60km and then they become your nemesis. At some points I actually used my arms to lift my legs to get over them - yes it got that bad. But I did give myself hysterics many times, what else can you do when parts of your body no longer work, it is a comedy right?  

I hit 22km, just longer than a half marathon and the furthest I’ve ever travelled on foot in one go. What an achievement?! Got to 30km and I started to hurt. No specific pain, just pain. But other than that I thought it was going pretty well. At the next rest stop I gave some of my provisions to Erin as the rest stops had been so well stocked I didn’t see the point in carrying them - and that was a mistake. I got to the 40km rest stop, no supporters were allowed there. And there were no salted crisps (essential as I sweat  buckets of salt and suffer with cramp) and no cola? Wtf?! This is the marathon distance stop point and I didn’t get what I needed. I hit a wall. Coke and crisps doesn’t seem serious in your every day setting but at the time I was gutted. And that affected my mental positivity. I walked the next 10km but the pain was unbearable. 

The only thing that helped my pain was to jog, if I walked or stopped I was in agony. I took paracetamol and soldiered on. I met Erin at the 50km point, The Curious Pig. A glorious pub and I was definitely going to take my dad’s advise and drink beer! Knowing I had only 6km till the mid way point I knew it was ok to indulge - I just felt sorry for my fellow joggers who were going the distance with no sleep. Yes that’s it, 100km straight - I thought they were crazy, they thought I was crazy for having an overnight break. Well that was the best pint ever. I finally was free of pain and in my euphoric state I ran the last 6km of the first day with thoughts of the crisps and coke at the finish, I could already taste them. No one else was running at that stage, I was the only one but with the thought of the gruelling day coming to an end, I pushed on. I got to the 56km checkpoint and my elation turned very quickly to dismay and then anger that my precious Coca Cola had again, run out. Seriously? How is that possible, how difficult can it be to keep that stocked? I was literally about to throw my toys out the pram and a fellow participant handed me a bottle of coke - he’d gone and bought me a coke from a van. I was so touched that someone who’d just gone through what I had, had done that for me and I felt very silly for getting that emotional over it! 

Due to a longer than expected walk between 40 and 50km during the first day I’d finished about an hour later than expected so I felt bad for Erin who had been waiting around for me all day. She drove me to my hotel and I had a super fast shower to change into the following days clothes so she could make her way home. I iced my very painful legs, ate some food with my salt 😂and collapsed into a sleep oblivion. 

I woke a few times in the night in agony with the first truly negative thoughts I’d had about the event, thinking I may not be able to complete this challenge as my legs were in agony and just felt like they weren’t working anymore. I woke before my 4:30am alarm and was glad the morning was here, I just wanted to get on with it. I met some lovely ladies at the starting checkpoint of the second day who had camped overnight and I was so glad I’d gone for the soft option of a hotel! One of them joked she thought that one day/night had ruined a 35yr friendship... oh dear. We were all going through a very difficult journey! We were all feeling buoyant but physically, terrible! 

The second day started the same as the first had finished - constant agony in my legs. The only respite being a jog but knowing that jogging was just making the lactic acid build up even worse, I was in constant turmoil with what to do. The need to be free of pain won, and I jogged most of the time even though it may have served me better to walk. 

The way I was running/jogging at this point was like nothing I’ve ever done before. I decided to call it “my shuffle run”. Its where you can no longer lift your knees up properly to take the next stride so your feet shuffle/slide along the ground.  This new running style of mine is fine when you are moving along a road or path but I came to realise it’s not so good when travelling through a forest as I stumped my big toe on a tree root at about the 75km mark - ouch. I’m sitting here writing this a few days later and it’s still painful. As a side note you’ll be glad to hear that at day four after L2B I can walk again, I don’t think there’s any lasting damage, I did wonder for a few days! 

The difficulty with the L2B in particular is that the difficulty of the terrain gets steadily harder as the event goes on. More uneven surfaces and gradient increases as the kms go by. Oh the gradients.... this was a big surprise for me but where I usually hate inclines/hills, during this challenge they were a welcome relief. They enabled me to stretch the back of my legs and going up meant I wasn’t going down. Going down the hills was the worst - awkward, unsteady and very very painful. 

The second day of the challenge felt robotic to me. My feelings had switched from fun, curiosity and soaking up my surroundings, to just getting the job done. I felt a very different event vibe on the second day and it wasn’t a particularly fun one. I was also very jealous of the “bouncy” 2nd day only challengers who I knew had no bloody pain - I hated them 😂

I passed many of the 100km walking challengers and really felt for them as they’d had no sleep whatsoever. I’m sure delirium must have been present in some. Many were sitting on the side of the trail looking despondent and weary and the shocking state of feet/blisters on some was like a horror movie. Talking of delirium.... I had a few moments of hallucination on this challenge! First rest stop of the second day at Ardingly College and I used a portaloo as usual and I looked at the floor and it was moving! This can’t be right? So I looked at the walls and they were moving too - panic....am I dehydrated? am I having a hypo? (I’m not a diabetic btw) and I knew neither of those was possible. What the #$>* was going on? In my strange state of hallucination I pulled myself together and decided to get my butt out the portaloo (excuse the punn). And then I was suddenly fine. It wasn’t until it had happened again later in the day I started to work out what was happening. The monotony of travelling through woods and greenery meant my eyes were looking at a tunnel-like space at a constant speed for really long periods of time and when I stopped and used the portaloo, the green sides of the portaloo was a bit like my surroundings and my brain was telling me I was still moving - such a weird sensation. I wish I could have enjoyed it more haha but sadly I was trying to keep my sh*t together to complete the challenge and that was proving harder than I had expected. Many times between checkpoints in the latter stages of the second day I almost broke down in tears, but I didn’t allow myself because I knew if I started, that would be the floodgates open and I needed to survive this....any form of weakness would be enough to possibly fail and that wasn’t going to happen - I’d come this far. 

I necked painkillers all day but it’s a bit like taking a paracetamol when you’re in labour - pointless. The pain was just too extreme to touch the sides. 

The second checkpoint at 80km on the second day, Wivelsfield school was great. Lots of yummy food and I stuffed myself, I was ravenous! I’d just done quite a few kms jogging alongside a guy from the Army - our paces were quite similar at that stage and it was really good to have a comrade, even if just for a short period. I’d say I did most of the challenge alongside someone or other -     very little completely on my own. I couldn’t really move at 80km and I just stumbled into the checkpoint and had to use various parts of my body even to just sit down! It was lovely to have Erin there to have a chat and a giggle with, as although my body was broken, my mind was still ok. Erin was very positive and her belief in me was unwavering. Every time I mentioned not being able to continue or finish she just talked about how I could do it and she reinforced my resolve and never once did she suggest I retire (thank goodness cos I would have most likely taken up the suggestion!). At 88km, Plumpton College, another competitor heard me saying to Erin I might not make it and she jumped in to spur me on with encouraging words and 2 minutes later she was in tears herself not thinking she could continue. Bless all the other competitors  - such comradery, friendliness and solidarity that they all showed. I feel tearful now thinking of how supportive everyone was to each other. And I guess this is a big part of why many people fall in love with the events put on by Action Challenge or any ultra distance event, it really brings out the best in humankind. 

At this checkpoint Erin changed the original plan and decided to meet me and walk the final 5km together rather than just the last 2km. She definitely sensed I needed that. From 88km onwards I had slowed to a walk and a slow walk at that. From the 95km final checkpoint onwards things had changed. Both the weather, and my mind. The weather had closed in and a rolling mist from the sea had brought with it high winds and cold temperatures. I was freezing despite having a jacket on. And that, broke my mind.  Broken body, broken mind.... I could no longer even speak. Poor Erin got stuck with a mute cripple for a tedious 5km crawl/walk in pissy cold English weather on an uphill slog from the Falmer Farm shop to the finish on Brighton Racecourse. For all those runners out there who always say during long runs/races.... “it’s just a Parkrun to go!”....well that was not going to work this time. It was the longest 5km of my life. Sadly Strava didn’t record my second day properly so I don’t know exactly how slow I was walking but trust me it was epicly slow! 

All the flags and supporters at the racecourse finish was such a welcome sight and when I finally went over the finish line I couldn’t wait to get my medal. And by goodness I had definitely earned this one. Erin took a few pics of me but I couldn’t even smile as the wind had dried my face out so much my lips were like sandpaper hence why my video diary was done once I’d got home. I thought I’d feel euphoric and amazing when I’d finished but I didn’t feel anything like that. I really felt nothing - I had nothing left! I didn’t even feel relieved? I just wanted to get home and sit down. All I could think in my mind was that I’m never ever running again, never (Note: 4 days on - I’m planning on a short jog tomorrow morning so those thoughts were temporary thank goodness!). 

100km London to Brighton, Event 20. I’m glad I did it. I’m half way through Raquels40racechallenge and I’ve raised over £1,000 so I have a sense of achievement. But you won’t catch me doing this type of event again! It’s just not my distance. I was aware that I get major lactic acid build up in my legs from doing the half marathons but dealing with the consequences of this over a much longer distance is painfully crippling. I have never been in such severe pain for such a long period of time in my life. I had no injuries. My body, amazingly held together. No hip problems, knees problems etc etc thank you body. Thank you mind for not letting me quit and thank you Erin for being there for me. 

My next event is the London to Brighton Bike ride on 16th June and I will be so thankful for doing is on two wheels rather than on my two feet lol. Until then...... x x x