it's 22:30 on saturday evening, speakers are blaring out bluegrass, there's a giant swearing dutchman, i'm wearing my cow suit, standing in the middle of what is best described as 4x4 test ground and waiting for a woman i've only met twice before. yes, it was a very surreal weekend, welcome to caesars camp endurance run.
the course is 10m long, there are no big ups or downs, just many, many short, sharp, quad mashing ones. gaynor, the woman we barely know, had entered the 100m race. so, that's 10 laps of the uppy, downy, 4x4 churned up, twisty singletrack, stony fire road, flint scattered, hard packed trail running route. for some reason she thought jane and i would make a good support crew and for some reason, we thought, staying up all night watching strangers run themselves into the ground would be good fun too.
from the off gaynor was impressive, all we had to do was follow the plan and not miss her coming though the start/finish area-there would be no 'tyndrum incidents' on my watch! armed with a list of requests and a box of slimfast we happily slipped into a routine. having about 2 hours between laps gaynor had ensured that we wouldn't get bored. she'd left a little pressie for us to unwrap after each lap. this turned out to be a genius idea. not only keeping us amused but a number of people where impressed with my balloon cock hats. there was also a specially selected playlist. also genius, but it did lead to me doing a tina turner impression right in front of where gaynor was trying to run-sorry.
in amongst the balloon animal hilarity and the fake 'tashes, there were some seriously impressive performances going on. and i'm not talking about the tina turner thing... by the half way point gaynor was a lap ahead. it was now time to start thinking about course records. from 60m you're allowed to have pacers. jane and i took turns in keeping gaynor company. from looking at the stats jane actually 'paced' gaynor, think i concentrated more on 'entertainment'.
the course is tough, there's no real let up, no opportunity for resting. it's either up or down but at no point did we hear gaynor complain. she's blimin' tough. there were no diva moments, no demands for black forest gateaux (actually there was but we ignored it) and not even a whimper about stopping. she totally smashed the womens course record by over 3hours, finishing in 22:30hrs. she ran 100 miles in 22:30hrs, amazing, just amazing.
we had a top weekend. through the process of sleep deprivation, trail running and balloon animal making i feel like i've made a new friend. one that's pretty darn good at this ultra lark.
oh yeh, some scottish bloke also had a blinder with 18:41. that time is not a typo! well done richie, awesome running.
the course is 10m long, there are no big ups or downs, just many, many short, sharp, quad mashing ones. gaynor, the woman we barely know, had entered the 100m race. so, that's 10 laps of the uppy, downy, 4x4 churned up, twisty singletrack, stony fire road, flint scattered, hard packed trail running route. for some reason she thought jane and i would make a good support crew and for some reason, we thought, staying up all night watching strangers run themselves into the ground would be good fun too.
from the off gaynor was impressive, all we had to do was follow the plan and not miss her coming though the start/finish area-there would be no 'tyndrum incidents' on my watch! armed with a list of requests and a box of slimfast we happily slipped into a routine. having about 2 hours between laps gaynor had ensured that we wouldn't get bored. she'd left a little pressie for us to unwrap after each lap. this turned out to be a genius idea. not only keeping us amused but a number of people where impressed with my balloon cock hats. there was also a specially selected playlist. also genius, but it did lead to me doing a tina turner impression right in front of where gaynor was trying to run-sorry.
in amongst the balloon animal hilarity and the fake 'tashes, there were some seriously impressive performances going on. and i'm not talking about the tina turner thing... by the half way point gaynor was a lap ahead. it was now time to start thinking about course records. from 60m you're allowed to have pacers. jane and i took turns in keeping gaynor company. from looking at the stats jane actually 'paced' gaynor, think i concentrated more on 'entertainment'.
the course is tough, there's no real let up, no opportunity for resting. it's either up or down but at no point did we hear gaynor complain. she's blimin' tough. there were no diva moments, no demands for black forest gateaux (actually there was but we ignored it) and not even a whimper about stopping. she totally smashed the womens course record by over 3hours, finishing in 22:30hrs. she ran 100 miles in 22:30hrs, amazing, just amazing.
we had a top weekend. through the process of sleep deprivation, trail running and balloon animal making i feel like i've made a new friend. one that's pretty darn good at this ultra lark.
oh yeh, some scottish bloke also had a blinder with 18:41. that time is not a typo! well done richie, awesome running.
8 comments:
First of all,all that running just blows my mind! AWESOME job to all of ya's! =)
Secondly,glad you got out an dhad a, ace time,my friend,just reading about it put a cramp in my side,but a huge smile on my face =D
Steve
You do have some proper adventures Kate...I feel humbled and think I should rename my blog... heard about this race - you may have been spotted by M's dad who Tia Chi's (is that a verb?) around the vicinity.
He was bewildered by the scenes.
RB.
Gaynor had a fantastic time never mind the running thanks for looking after her and I hope to meet y'all soon.
All the best.
Dave Prior
Good on ya Kate
Tina Turner is becoming a bit of a motif ;) Sounds like a great event and well done to Gaynor!
Huge congratulations to Gaynor.
Loving your balloon animals, its very adorable and cute. Indeed an awesome running.
ss- glad to put a smile on your face :)
rb- ha, i guess it wasn't a particularly 'relaxing' atmosphere for Tia Chi that weekend ;) ...you'll be back to your adventures soon. hang in there rb :)
dave- it was an absolute pleasure, gaynor's a star! sorry for being a rubbish at giving you the facts ;) hope to meet you soon.
sbrt- cheers...supporting was a bit easier than navigating ;)
simon- soon, you might get to see it in person!
jumbly- will pass it on :)
five- thanks, they're called bert and ernie
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