Saturday, August 13, 2011

BACK TO BLACK

     When I asked Sue if this title meant anything to her I received a blank stare, I thought it was rather relevant....anyway in terms of myself it has no relation to Amy's demise and has a completely different conotation for me. I shall explain.
          Basically for some time now I had been toying with the idea of a night run.......yes I said a night run. Essentially you jog along in the wilderness all on your own with a torch on your head......and thats it. Now to be honest the idea scares the crap out of me, all alone in the darkness, coupled with the possibility of meeting some wild animal, an accident, a nutter, etc etc.WHY? I hear you cry. Well for three reasons, firstly, if I am ever to do serious ultra running then you have to be able to do this, secondly because I want to face my fears and finally because its completely Navajo, into the wild kind of stuff......and  just cool.  However I am not quite ready for that just yet.....................well I thought I wasn't.
       Part of training for endurance running entails something called Back to Back running, ( my title will now slowly make sense). Essentially you do a long run, stop for the night and the next day run again. The purpose is to train your body to run on tired legs whilst feeling fatigued. Why would anyone want to do this? I don't know I really don't, its awful but thats why its called endurance running....you learn to 'endure'.....Question - 'Is this fun?' Answer  - 'No, it isn't'. Anyway this was my task as I am considering doing my first full Ultra Run in September and though it may be too soon I just thought to hell with....I 'll just have a go.
         Yesterday I was feeling quite weird like I had a fever so I lay down for an hour. My arm still ached and I felt tired and listless but then  I decided that I was just looking for excuses not to run and so I did a quick Tony Robbins state change and 10 minutes later found myself jogging along the shoreline. After 45 minutes I headed inland and up into the mountains. It was beautful and reaffirmed my descision, the hours passed as I climbed but then very quickly as I descended into a valley it got dark, very dark. I now had to go up and down to get back to the sea and I knew I had a problem........I had no torch!.... this was ever so slightly scary and within 15 minutes it was pitch black. Luckily there was  moonlight and that made it a bit easier however when I noticed a baby wild boar cross my path I grew worried. Baby wild boars mean Mummy wild boars are close by.....and they are big and ferociously maternal!.......I continued on with some trepidation.
           Later on I called Sue as I knew she would be worried. 'Where are you?'.....'Still about an hour away'.........'Have you got your torch?'.........'No, I didn't bring it'.............'Dickhead!', she then promptly puts the phone down, clearly Sue considered my predicament well within my capabilities.........or perhaps was just busy watching telly.
          30 kilometres and 4 hours later I arrive home (with blood all over me from an earlier fall), Sue greeted this hero with a wave and a 'Don't get that blood on the carpet'.....told you she was a great support team.
           Fianlly getting to sleep at 11:30 pm knackered, I realised this was only Part 1 of the B2B and at 6:30 am my alarm went off......Part 2. I cannot express how hard this was as all my bones ached but somehow I got it together and off I went; Sue just thought I was mad. I did 10 kilometres and could have done more but I promised to meet Sue later. Its strange, everything hurts but as time goes on it all becomes a blur and you just keep going. I had done my Back to Back.
          Sometime later I told Jamie of my adventure to which he replied..... ..'Next time do it again.......but on the same day!'  And Sue thinks I'm nuts.



   

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