Big day out on Sunday at the Self Transcendence 100km ultra in Perth, Scotland, which formed the British 100km champs. Absolute pleasure & humbling experience to run with the national teams: 18 male & 11 female runners in Eng/Scot/Wales & N.Ireland vests, and 25 other club runners (like me) taking on the distance.
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A pretty windy day made the 42 laps testing and the relentless tarmac absolutely trashed my legs! •
@g.h.brown was an awesome crew and sorted me out with all my nutrition so I only had to stop for 30s the entire race (to pee...).
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Pleased and frustrated in equal measures to come in at 7hrs 49 minutes, 11th overall & the first club runner. I would love to one day run sub 7:40 (a national level/qualifier time), but I clearly have some work to do, and that race provided plenty of motivation...
Slowly, slowly, catching the monkey. •
An easy week ahead to recover then we’ll look to London Marathon & then Centurion Running’s NDW50 - a race I bloody love and happily returning to the trails!
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#humbled #run #race #ultra #roadrunning #acp #britishchamps #runningmotivation #raceweekend #ukrunchat #fitnessjourney #fitnessmotivation #clubrunner #ultrarunning #perth #northinch
Reviewing an academic paper today about the metabolic demands of our SPEAR17 expedition & the Ice Maidens expedition. It has brought back floods of memories of firstly how awesome the expedition was, and how bloody hard work it was! Going from being a runner to hauling 120kg over unpredictable and difficult terrain was quite the test, mentally and physically. I went into it pretty fit & robust, ate 6,500 kCals a day and still got pretty beat up. .
It’s a good reminder pre-race (T-2 days to a 100K) that I’ve been through difficult times before, to keep my head down, keep working, be patient and smile no matter how much it hurts. Fortunately I won’t have a pulk being tipped over by sastrugi during the 100k! The benefits of a running race.
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There is a certain serenity from applying yourself wholeheartedly to something hard; finding peace in discomfort. .
Here’s to everyone pushing beyond their comfort zone this weekend 👊. I’ll be suffering with you. •
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#expedition #antarctica #getoutside #beyondlimits #exploremore #runningmotivation #race #discomfort #ultrarunning #exploringhumanpotential #fitness #fitnessmotivation #letsgetphysical #motivation #landscapephotography #igdaily #igers #iphoneonly
