My Highest Running High - Winning Endure24 Part 3

As camp stirred awake I headed out for my first daytime lap of Day 2. I think I’d expected to feel upbeat in the daylight, but I had a real dip on this lap and my comment on our post lap handover sheet fully reflected my feelings at the time: “can’t be arsed”. I’d ranked how I was feeling as 5/10 so still not too bad all things considered. In my break I fuelled sensibly to make sure my low state was purely mental. As I was starting to feel down, Eleanor was starting to perk up again and I tried to hold on to some of her cheeriness. However, I think she’d been right and I think the double lap had taken it out of me. Miles 55-60 definitely included my low points in the race. I walked the whole lap. I had a few nice moments; bonding with other competitors with walking poles - we giggled about them being cheat sticks. I also drank the fizzy apple energy drink from the party bus that I was convinced was cider during the night laps! But overall, I was feeling pretty crap. My score was now 2/10 and my comment was “Sh*t, walked all the way. SO TIRED”.

Our table to track our progress:
Time of day, Lap number, Person, Shoes, Lap time, How did you feel.

As Eleanor was feeling good again, she set off on a double lap so I could try to sleep. Of course, the moment you tell your body it can sleep it wakes right back up. As it was now 8am I started thinking about having to pack up our tent and load our cars, and everything we’d have to do once we finished. As soon as I established that I had too much to do to be sleeping, I had a couple of paracetamol, some breakfast, and I started to pack up my gear. Once I was sorted, I stretched out in my awesome reclining camping chair and closed my eyes. About 3 seconds later Eleanor was back from her double lap. So much for getting some sleep!  

Eleanor had run that lap with a soloist we’d met (camping near us) and by their calculations Eleanor was done and she had completed her victory lap with him. As she handed over the wristband she burst into tears as she beamed “I can’t believe it’s over, we did it”. We’d won it. I just had to do my 1 lap and the race was ours. I wasn’t so sure...

It was 10:15am as I headed out for potentially my final lap. The paracetamol had worked their magic and I felt amazing! I ran past the awesome Bex Wheatley (who was running solo) and we shared some love and mutual respect which perked me up even more. The one thing that I hadn’t accounted for was the sun. It was getting pretty hot, pretty quickly, and because I’d last run at 7am then I wasn’t wearing sun cream. I did the calculations and reckoned that there was no way we could stop before the 24 hours was up if we wanted to be sure of the win. Going into the night we had a 2 lap lead but we had relaxed a bit, and walked some of the hills, and the gap was closing.

There was no way of knowing where on course your competitors were, so although we were a lap ahead, by my calculations we left ourselves vulnerable to them being able to start a lap at 11:59:59 and potentially beating us. That wasn’t something I was prepared to let happen. As I headed across the finish line I still felt great and so I dashed in to camp to tell Eleanor I was heading back out to ensure the win. It was around 11:15am and so I could walk a lap and secure the victory with no pressure to run. I told Eleanor to meet me at the finish in an hour (ish) so we could run across the finish line together and share the last few moments together. My error at this point was not grabbing a cap or putting on some sun cream.

I walk/jogged the last lap, which became just walking the further in to it I got. In the first mile I passed Matt Pinnock who had kept pushing and was on his final lap. If he got round, he would complete his 100 miles, but he looked how I was starting to feel: Tired, hot, and very low on energy. It was amazing how all of a sudden, when we were this close to the finish, it could all suddenly feel so far away. The paracetamol were wearing off and everything was starting to ache, especially my left knee. I’d never run further than around 35 miles and this lap would take me from 65 to 70 miles. No wonder I was struggling.

I also underestimated how dehydrated I was. I drunk a cup of water at the halfway water station but it was too little too late. As I passed the spot where the day before magical dust tornados had danced, lifting my spirits and enticing me on, I felt the oppressive heat of the sun and wanted to cry. Knowing there was little shade for the next mile I had to fight off tears. I realised how silly I was to be out for over 2 hours in the midday sun with no water, cap or sun cream after no sleep and running over 60 miles. I fought to the end of that lap but it almost broke me. As I came up the final hill I saw Eleanor looking happy and spritely as she skipped over to run in with me. We ran across the line, arms lifted in the air and this time we really had done it. We had won an endurance race!!! It was massive for both of us but we were pretty exhausted. I collapsed into the tent just as they were announcing that the prize giving was about to start.

Thank goodness we don't have to run any more! We did it!

Being given our trophies.

From this point on everything is a bit of a blur. I have faint memories of laying on the floor of the medical tent with ice on my very sore knee, as Matt Pinnock lay in a bed trying not to vomit. As all runners do, in the moments after pushing your body to the limit, we made quiet murmurings about how we’d never, ever, do it again (although we still figured it had been worth it). We were presented with our trophies, took some photos, packed up camp and headed home.

Happy but exhausted!

It was only a 20 minute drive but I was lucky to survive it. Driving home from that race is one of the most stupid decisions I have ever made. The car drifted across the white line to face oncoming traffic THREE times and each time I only just managed to regain enough control to avoid a crash. I’d run 70 miles, not slept and had heat stroke. It was definitely not safe to drive but I needed to get back to Poppy. I had massively misjudged the toll that the race had taken on me. Endurance races are not easy! Poor Matt even ended up spending the night in hospital! And he’s super-fast, super-fit and super-determined…he got his 100 mile T-shirt although I think he’s sticking to the ‘never again’.

Pain is temporary, winning is forever!

Eleanor and I never really had a full debrief! It’s funny how you can achieve something so amazing with somebody but see them so little. In the whole event we must have seen each other for the total of about an hour (that’s how slick our handovers were!).

The final results: Top 10 female pairs.

So would I do it again? You bet your life I would…I MAY have even signed up for next year as a soloist and I’m not even sure if I’m free that weekend!!! I’ve got my eye on Comrades really. I think I need to get all of the crazy out of my system so I can get back to running 5km and 10km where the risk of heat stroke, car crashes and hospitalisation is significantly reduced! Was it worth it? One hundred percent! That trophy will live on my shelf to remind me that I am stronger than I think and can achieve more than I think is possible. It also cements my friendship with one of the most incredible women I know. 

Breakdown of our laps. A huge 65 miles for Eleanor and 70 miles for me. ABSOLUTE MADNESS!!!