Round Norfolk Relay - Stage 12 Scole to Thetford

Arrived at Bungay around 10pm, and I knew I wouldn't be running until well past 1am. I picked up my race number, and then spent as much time as possible in the warmth of the car. We drove to the start of the next stage (Scole) where I was starting my leg. Based on the latest event timing I was to be running around 1:45am so around 10 minutes before then, I stripped down into my racing gear, and headed over to the change over area.

Sure enough, bang on time our runner arrived. I was handed the baton and I headed off into the night. My plan was to run 3:44/km pace and I had the Garmin set to 1km auto-lap and every time I heard a beep I would count out loud the cumulative number of kms that had elapsed and would check my split. I probably started a little too quickly but after a couple of clicks I had settled into my running and I was feeling great.

The conditions were absolutely spot on. Very cold (around 7 or 8 degrees) with little or no breeze. If I could chose these conditions for running a marathon then I'd take them every time. I had my cyclist to my right hand side and the safety vehicle behind and nobody else for company. As I was approaching 5km I was closing in on my first competitor. Immediately the pace would lift, almost like an auto-pilot in an effort to pass them out swiftly.

Lots of the detail are missing - there is certainly very little chat going on between me and the cyclist. I'd ask for a gel (my strategy was one on 30, 60 and 90 minutes) - plus I'd ask for a few mouthfuls of water when needed. I aimed to get to the halfway point in decent shape and then assuming I felt okay I planned to push the pace in the second half. The course is basically flat - a few long uphill drags, but every section whereby you felt like you were working that bit harder, you'd have a nice downhill stretch to recover on. Running in the dark is strange in the fact that it's difficult to judge whether the upcoming road is uphill, flat or downhill. You almost have to rely on how it feels to run. Quite hard to portray unless you are there.

Anyway, nothing of note happened until I had just passed 15kms, and then I could spot another runner up in front. Again this was the trigger to lift the pace and as I passed my second runner I was greeted with another beep of the watch to indicate a total of 16kms. That was just over the halfway point and I still felt good.

I then made an effort to pick up the pace a little. I'd certainly attack the quicker sections of the course by increasing the leg speed, and I was running a little wider on the road to keep me away from the camber of the road. Once I got to 20kms the countdown was well and truly on. From here on in the memory fails me even more but I think I overtook a couple more runners - including one on a downhill section where I ran a ridiculously quick km split.

At 27kms I knew I would last until the end. The speed was still good and although my legs were becoming a little tight, especially the calves, I was still running strongly. Through 30kms and I wobbled a bit, but I think it was more so that the last mile was all uphill and in a sustained effort to keep it going I missed my 31km beep. That said I was soon rewarded with the lights up-front indicating the end of the stage. I handed over to the baton to our next runner and my stage was over in a time of 1:56:01 for 31.65kms (3:40/km pace).

I felt great at this point and could definitely have continued on. That feeling was short-lived though as my body began to cool down and I then had the washing machine/gel stomach and spent the next hour or so feeling in a state of near vomit...

I was very happy with my run. I never really dipped and I certainly lifted the pace and still felt relatively strong at the end. Incredible what you can do turning decent 10km shape into a good 20 mile run on the back of 3 x 2 hour long runs. Okay my time was 4 minutes slower than last year, but I had competed in this event on the back of half marathon training last time so I was more prepared for the longer stuff.

The rest of the night/morning was travelling in the support vehicle driving the remaining stages (13 to 17). By 8am we were at Kings Lynn watching the teams finish and our guy crossed the line a little before 8:30am in a time of 20 hours 22 minutes. That was a few minutes faster than last year and works out at just over 6 minute miles for the entire 197 mile route. Not bad when our club class team consisted of a mixture of male, female and masters runners. So not only did we win the club class comfortably, we also posted the quickest time of the day beating all of the open teams.

By 9:30am our club had re-grouped for breakfast. Then at 11am it was back to the sports ground for the presentations. I didn't pick up any awards - I posted the second quickest time on my stage beaten by one of the Ely runners who ran 4 minutes quicker. That was great going so hats off to them. All in all a great day and made all the more special by our club winning all 3 events that we entered - the club class that I was part of, plus the ladies event and also the masters one.

Back home by 2pm. Still no sleep by this point. Not to worry, no time to hang around. A quick visit to the pub for a few pints, then back on the train, plane and car for the 6 hour trip back to Galway. Home by 11pm absolutely cream crackered.

Loved every minute of it again this year (accept the bit where the gels played havoc with my stomach). Hopefully I get the nod to compete again next year! Thanks to RP for putting the teams together and to all the CoNAC runners and support crew who make this happen. The effort that goes into this event has to be seen to be believed.

I'll post a few photos over the coming days but before I finish, here are my km splits:

1km 3:36
2km 3:36
3km 3:40
4km 3:42
5km 3:41 (18:16)
6km 3:44
7km 3:48
8km 3:40
9km 3:47
10km 3:45 (18:43/36:59)
11km 3:45
12km 3:44
13km 3:53
14km 3:46
15km 3:40 (18:49)
16km 3:32
17km 3:42
18km 3:40
19km 3:35
20km 3:42 (18:10/36:59)
21km 3:34
22km 3:37
23km 3:41
24km 3:44
25km 3:36 (18:12)
26km 3:21
27km 3:37
28km 3:43
29km 3:28
30km 3:33 (17:42/35:54)
31km 3:47
31.65km 2:22

Total 1:56:01 (31.65kms)