300 Spartans? Paah....who needs Spartans when you have 300 'Tourists'

The Tour of Merseyside 6 stage 52 mile week funfest of good friends and fellow fun loving 'Tourists' Part 1 - Stages 1 - 3.

The pre story...

Well this is the 3rd 'Tour of Duty' for me at the best yet relatively unknown multi stage running event in the UK. If your not from the North West of the UK that is, as any 'local' runner from the North West of England who knows his salt (where does that expression come from?...) knows about this great event already.

The event started back in 2013 with roughly 75 runners, followed by roughly 150 in 2014 and then roughly 300 in 2015 and finally roughly 350 in 2016. I had already done 2014 and 2015 as part of my '14runs' charity campaigns in both years and have written extensive blogs about them on both years. This years event for me is purely for fun with no charity commitment attached to it as my charity commitments have progressed to running a charity running group called 'Run or Cake' and organizing a once yearly charity running event the 'Seaside24'. This takes some of the pressure of my running commitments although it appears I still have as many hard ones for fun to do as I do when I do them as charity challenges!

The foreword.....

I  planned on keeping this blog shorter than previous years although you all know I get carried away. I also did this blog daily as a work in progress and added daily to it. I did stages 1-3 as Part 1 of 2, and stages 4-6 as blog part 2 of 2 just in case the blogger application had a fit and I lost the lot later in the week.

You can read day by day by scrolling up or down the blog, or read all off Part 1in one go and read Part 2 later on, there is a link for Part 2 at the end of Part 1.Warning! it's going to be a book never mind a blog by the time the whole thing has had it's final edit and I've added bits after the event and added in and taken out various pictures as the weeks progress and I get my hands on them.

So off we go.....

Day one - Stage 1 - Southport Half Marathon 13.1 miles

Pre race...

As always it was a lousy nights sleep for me as I can't sleep the night before, or the night before the night before as well apparently this time. Up at 6.30am showered and clothes selection was Injinji toe socks, twin layer running shorts and my trusty black 'Run or Cake' t-shirt as I thought it was going to be fairly cool. Shoe choice for the day was my brand spanking new Hoka One One Clifton 2's, a newer version of my previous Clifton's which I'd put 550+ miles on just on roads.

As always Southport threw in the usual cloudy and cool start (emphasis on the start) and after a 3 course breakfast that started with 2 rounds of toast with peanut butter, followed by a banana and a last resort Mars bar as I was strangely still hungry, and all washed down with the usual vital caffeine alarm call to ensure I was actually awake, I was good to go.

8am or so and I was down at Victoria Park where the event was taking place and I headed for the familiar Btr Liverpool hospitality tent and a vast amount of keen 'Tourists' who were there already. Last year for some strange reason I was almost last getting there as I arrived with only 10 mins to spare, no idea why as I only live half a mile away.

I was greeted by the ever friendly Keith Peacock at the entrance to the hospitality area as he was gate guardian for the day among other vital jobs he does. Then it was hello time as I tried to say hello to as many of my cakers group (run or cakers) and people I knew in general from previous Tours and various running forums etc.

It was tourist group photo time next and the photographer from Btr (name to follow) started to try and round up 300+ tourists for the picture (brave man) it was no mean feat as we have a tendency to wander off when left unattended, sometimes to porta loos...sometimes to bushes...and sometimes to pubs.

Group photo done (see top of page) and it was time to get to the start line.........

The start.....

Well what can I say about the start, 2000 odd runners consisting of several hundred 10k runners,  over a thousand half marathon runners and 350 odd tourists. No one really knew who was supposed to line up at the front or anywhere to be honest. There where the usual sneaky half marathoners and the odd tourist on the front line mingled with the 10k'ers who were supposed to be at the front as they would be going off faster.

Tannoy instructions where on hand but didn't really help, and I eventually queued right at the back of the field slightly disgruntled that my gun time was going to be crap as the Tour uses gun time over chip time as opposed to the other way round at the end of the Tour and final positions would go on that.

Anyway I wasn't going to be placing anywhere important position wise so I just went with the slow start over the line and behind a thousand odd runners.

So off we went eventually off through Victoria Park and winding around the paths with a sense of getting nowhere fast as we tried to settle into our own individual paces which isn't easy with so many runners in front of you.

Through the park and a quick 'hello' to Darren F as I passed and out the other end onto Rotten Row and some much welcomed space. Time to speed up now and a quick 'hello' to Catherine M and others as I passed and I tried to up the pace a little to play catch up a bit.

It was a right turn at the end of Rotten Row and eventually a left at the roundabout at the bottom of Lord St and off down the Lord St boulevard as we locals like to call it. This was the first time for a long time that a section of Lord St has been closed to traffic for an event and a credit to Vital Events for getting this sorted. It was a pleasure to run down it, something I have never done in my 47 years of living here.

Half way down Lord St and it was a photo op courtesy of Nick B and Cara B doing the shout outs.

End of Lord St roundabout and a familiar face in Graham Moreton aka Tarleton Photography and a quick shout to tell him I was there and a few photo's for the collection.

We continued beyond the Lord St roundabout up Albert Rd to Hesketh Park which is the latest addition to the park run family. In we went with a quick loop around it's duck infested waters and then out the other end and a welcome water stop for those that needed it, I also found fellow caker and Natterjack runner Robert Mc and started to run with him.

We exited the park and I spotted fellow Natterjack Run Club member Richard who had come down on his bike to support, then I saw Ciaran M supporting and taking pics as we continued on towards the furthest point out on the course at Stanley High School where the countries best 10k the 'Mad Dog 10k' is hosted every year in Feb.

I won't lie it became quite apparent at this point that I had left my running legs in bed this morning, as we were only at mile 3-4 and I could feel the drain in my legs. Hence why I ran as comfortable a slower pace I could, as it was going to be a long haul.

Past the school and the start of the Mad Dog route and out onto the Coast Rd. As ever the Southport Coast Rd welcomed us with a lovely cooling breeze in a 14mph crosswind/headwind. This seemed to slow a lot of people down, but I live here so this is what I run in most of the time, so it was head down, arms in, shortened stride and off I went. I left Robert as I moved past as many people as I could.

As we approached the section that goes to the pier we had a chance to see fellow runners ahead or behind as we ran a switchback section and a welcome chance to encourage friends as we passed either way. Too many to mention here as I passed.

Switchback done and we were off around the Marine Lake,another friendly 'hello' to Rachel R and then another water stop and for me a gel stop as well as we were pretty much approaching 9 miles now so I was going to need help for the final 3-4 miles as I was going to lag otherwise.

From now on I tried to slowly push the pace as I knew the gel would kick in and get me through. I passed Rachel R again much to her amusement as to how I passed twice in 5 minutes, and after getting to roughly 10 miles managed to slowly pass Clare W with a 'hello'.

Around the lake we continued and onto the narrow section of the lakeside path past the Lakeside Miniature Railway no less, and a speedy Bhanva was spotted ahead. Another polite 'hello speedy' as I passed and then a little further another photo op courtesy of Nick B again.

I bumped into an old work colleague at this point as well as she recognised my name as Nick shouted it out, so it was a quick slow down to chat and back off on the chase again to try and catch people i knew ahead.

Out from the lake we came and back under the Southport Pier and down the Coast Rd we continued and we fast approached the 11 mile mark as the legs really started to lag and in my case was going slightly light headed as I was pushing my pace to catch up with fellow 'tourists' at every opportunity and I was playing 'catch the caker' every time I saw a caker shirt ahead. 

I passed and said 'hello' to Sharon R who was coming back from injury and was doing well for a comeback, and sadly I passed Chemaine B who had been suffering a pre tour injury and it had taken it's toll and I sadly discovered later she had to drop from the tour. She will be missed by all the cakers.

Last mile.....

Last mile now and I had seen Claire D ahead for quite awhile, but I was only slowly catching and it was getting challenging. I finally passed with a 'hello' and 'well done' and I then spotted Ultan M, actually I spotted his socks and his bright red Salomon running shoes and his Btr Tunnel 10k top. The challenge was on again as he was running pretty much the same speed as me and catching up was hard. 

I finally caught him with about 400metres to go and settled in alongside to finish with him, but with about 100 metres to go a fellow 'tourist' sprinted past full pelt and I said to Ultan "trust a tourist to do a sprint finish" and before he could even acknowledge my comment I was off hot on the heels of fellow tourist 'Jim' down the red carpet we shot like speeding bullets (well it felt like it to us) and I just pipped him at the line and promptly applied the air brakes as I tried to avoid the other people in the finish area including the announcer and the photographers! 

A quick moment of 'I want to hurl' , a minute to compose myself, and then it was a few handshakes with fellow finishers and off to the Btr hospitality area. But not before clapping in as many cakers as I could. It was good to see Chemaine get in safely as I was now feeling a little guilty that I hadn't stopped when I saw her walking in, but you often make it more difficult for people if you stop and you can make them feel uncomfortable that you stopped just before the end of your race.

Finished....

So it was Btr hospitality time courtesy of Alan and Yvonne Rothwell and their trusty Btr crew, and time to pick up my number for the rest of the week. It was also time to say well done to everyone. Refreshments were a plenty as always at the Btr tent for the week of the Tour and I'd even brought my own nutrition products with me to try and recoup energy as quickly as possible. One of these being the new SIS 'Whey 20' protein product which is a ready to consume 'lemon' flavoured yogurt type texture product new to the market. Just for the record....they taste rank nasty! just ask Ian Raymond who saw my face as I tried them for the first and last time!

A few obligatory post run pictures in little groups with friends who were all returning thick and fast, including a small group of cakers, as it was impossible to get all 40 of them in one place at one time for a bigger group shot.

Post race prep.....

Next was the pub and a pre arranged reserved area in the Sandgrounder Pub on Lord Street for a few cheeky shandies a bit of food and some great cakers and tourist company.

The food there is decent for a pub and they have all the treats hungry runners crave after a hard run, and a vast drinks selection as well :)

Several plates of chips and sweet potato fries were consumed by the group including the odd pizza, chicken burgers, hot dogs, spare ribs etc and whatever else took our fancy.

We slowly parted company one by one and said our good byes's and see ya tomorrows, and then it was a short walk home after escorting an ice cream faced Erica to the train station.

My time for the day was a surprising 1hr 47 mins considering it felt like I'd run 1:50-1:55 with the slower start, but the playing 'catch the caker' in the later stages brought my time up again. I might try that through the week, it was fun.

So that's it for the day, to all those on the tour itself...see you all soon at the Thurstaston multi terrain 6 miler!

***

Day 2 - Stage 2 - Thurstaston multi terrain 6 miles.

Pre race...

So we were now on day two and after yet another lousy nights sleep of 3 x 1 hour sleep I decided to give up and get up at 6.30am. This did allow me to write the previous days run report/running blog i.e. the one  you are reading, and it gave me the spare time to put my feet up and type it all out. I was planning on adopting a European sleeping pattern and having an afternoon siesta, but it didn't happen.

After yesterdays blog entry I spent the rest of the morning and afternoon trying my best to rest and stay off my feet as much as possible to recover from the half marathon yesterday. This also involved a visit to my local Scoozi pizza & pasta shop for a lovely Chicken Carbonara to try and top up my carbs and my energy stores. I was also regretting my previous nights choice of 2 x 100% beef burgers with salad from the same said shop, as they repeated on me all morning and required multiple loo visits during the day, clearly lots of meat late at night is not a good call.

I spent the afternoon on Facebook and the likes catching up with everyone's run posts from the Tour and from my Run or Cake group and logging their runs from the previous day.

Finally the time came to pack my kit etc for the day and make my decision on what I was wearing for the event. After a mixed forecast that kept changing I think everyone had pretty much accepted that one way or the other we were going to get wet, whether it be from rain, the beach, the muddy puddles or just the humidity of the evening.

I went with a Run or Cake t-shirt, single layer running shorts, a waterproof pair of socks and the vital component my Hoka Challenger ATR's which are a trail based shoe which would be vital at points on this course having done it before.

The trip....

So my lift for the night was the ever reliable and helpful David Marsh who had offered me lifts for most of the week, and with his knowledge of the race locations it was a vital choice to ensure I got there with plenty of time each night.

5pm or so and we were off and we had a catch up chat as I'd not seen David for a fair while, or certainly not long enough to have a general chat about whatever has been going on, or about future runs etc.

We got there fairly promptly and the weather forecast looked like it was on our side as the earlier rain had passed and it looked like it was going to stay dry for the run.

We got parked up and it was off to the big green field for the start/finish area which was unexpected as I hadn't realised we had reverted back to the 2014 start/finish area. But it was a better choice and I was very happy we wouldn't have a cramped start like last year or get caught in a pinch point in the first 100 metres like last year where I personally lost a lot of time on certain competitors.

It was good to now get the chance to chat to fellow tourists and cakers from the Run or Cake charity group and it was incredibly handy having a fair few cakers wearing their cakers t-shirts, as it makes it easier to find each other for a chat pre and post race.


The start..... 

It was race brief time now and we all lined up to listen to our host Alan Rothwell to hear final instructions and to see the 1st, 2nd and 3rd position race vests awarded to the lead runners from yesterday.  It was the familiar Anthony for the men in 1st, and also familiar Jenny for the Women in 1st.

So now it was time for another group picture from our tour photographer Paul I think! thankfully I was already at the front so it was easier, and I didn't have to move and I might actually be able to spot myself this time with being on the front row for the first time.

So 7pm was here and it was line up, Garmin up and off we went across the tricky uneven green field and out through the gates towards the caravan park via its long entrance road.

This is the moment were everyone hare arses off to try and make up some places, and we often get carried away and run too fast and are soon puffed out. I know I went off too fast and I started to feel some real discomfort in my previously injured hamstring, and I was genuinely worried I may be in trouble if I'm not careful so I slowed a little.

At the end of the road was the slip road down to the beach and I saw a few familiar faces who I was conscious I wanted to be ahead off. Especially Chris W who beat me yesterday and Ultan M who finished in a similar time and for some reason unbeknown to him was wearing his tour Buff/Giraffe retro styli i.e. inside out! (see pic). I also passed the G man who performed well last year.

Off onto the beach and sand and pebbles and rocks we went as we tried to find a good line to run on. This is always a strange one as we tend to follow each other like ants as we curve along a suitable bit of beach route, but never in a straight line from point to point.

I decided to try my advantage as a beach and dunes runner wearing trail shoes and waterproof socks and went for a straighter route no matter what was in front of me. At times it was an advantage as it was still a decent firm terrain and only a little wet and as long as I was prepared to leap and jump the odd big pebble/rock then it was fine. It was at this point that I passed Chris W who shouted "spot the experienced beach runner" and hinted it may be an idea to follow me. I'm not sure if anyone did as I never looked back.

I was taking over people nicely taking a different route where possible and avoiding the softer sand that most were running on. I eventually caught Sarah G and then Ian R who are always good competition and way ahead of me at Southport yesterday, but I was aware I was running at my limit and would probably pay the price later as soon as we come off the beach.

2 miles later and we were now off the beach onto the trail path and then the long tarmac road section. This is where I always struggle after coming off a hard ran beach effort, especially as it a long slow gradual uphill and some people speed up here and you tend to try and follow them. I battled with myself to slow a little and recover ready for the proper hill (you know the one) as opposed to chase or keep up with those in front.

I settled down a little and decided to let anyone pass who was coming up behind me, I think only a couple went past anyway including Ian R as I think most people were in the same situation as me.

The road now started to steepen as we approached a friendly group of marshals and supporters including Lainey who took pics as people passed, yet again true to form as I was concentrating on the run I completely didn't recognise her.

Up over the bridge and straight into an oncoming Alan Rothwell on the lead bike closely followed by Terrence and then Anthony who were on their return journey already while we were merely approaching the hill and the 'steps of hell'.

I was already huffing and puffing and wondered how I was going to go up the steps without stopping and losing places. Thank fully the hill is interspersed with a few more level bits were you can attempt to get some breath back.

I managed to get up the steps OK but I was at my cardio fitness limit and wasn't far off having a little stop, and I swear they put more sets of steps in each year!

I saw Chimpy at the top and knew it was over and the downhill was just around the corner. A muddy corner at that as well, and where did the steps come from on the downhill? I don't remember them from previous years. I clomped down the steps trying to negate how many steps I had to do between each to not fall flat on my face!

I now had my chance to overtake Ian R again who had regained his place ahead of me earlier on the road stretch. He knows I wear cushioned Hoka's and he knows I like downhills so knew full well what was coming :)

I ran like a nutter down the hill to get as much time as i could on those behind me who were hopefully being a bit more careful. I went past Ian but figured he will probably catch me again on the road after the woods we where in.

Out onto the road and through the houses once more and into oncoming runners so we could at least say hellos and well dones etc as we passed familiar friends and runners.

Down the road and off to the right to the marshals who were now manning the water stop as well. Quick bottle of water over my running hat and a quick swig and then bottle in the marshals bin bag and I was off again after the group in front of me.

This was now the long and very straight cycle path and I knew full well from previous years that this damn thing never seems to end. I tried to maintain pace behind the group of at least 10 runners I could see strung out in front of me. No ones pace seemed to change, there was no slowing and no catching up and I was running scared that Ian would once more pass me on the flat section.

The 5 mile sign appeared and it was a welcome sight and I tried to speed up a little but to be fair I had nothing left, I was struggling to maintain my current position and pace and if I went any faster I would of gone too far and would blow up, so I settled with my pace at the time.

I was now within the last half mile or so and the turn off from the cycle path and passed several groups of supporters and then Keith Peacock who I swear was winding me up when he said earlier "when you see me, you have roughly a mile to go" I passed him at the car park and thought I swear it's only 500metres or so and maybe the route at the end is different. 

Thank fully it was a mere left down the road and then another left back to the field, and after a few swift shoulder checks to make sure another sprinting tourist didn't try and have me off again like Southport and I was over the finish line to a few welcome friendly faces.


Finished... 

So I was finished and it was a quick visit to the Btr refreshment section and a smiling Stan Cottier for a bottle of Lucozade and a banana and then back down the route a little to join some of the supporters in cheering in the rest of the runners as per tradition. It was nice to be able to cheer in cakers as well, especially now I'm finally learning everyone's names as I'm terrible with names.

Pretty much everyone was in and I was getting cold, so it was back to get my bag and my hoodie and then find David ready for a swift lift home.

It was a great night as always and a credit to the organization of Btr Liverpool events and Alan and Yvonne Rothwell and their dedicated and friendly crew and marshals, they are all a credit to the North West running scene.

I finished tonight in a respectable 46m 33secs which was 68th place and I'm pretty sure an improvement on my previous years, so I'm very happy with that. I will drop places again though on the upcoming Walton Sustrans Cycle trail 10 miler, it's a sufferfest for tired legs, but a friendly and social route with multiple out and backs so we can all encourage each other on.

See you there fellow tourists!

***

Day 3 - Stage 3 - Walton Sustrans 10 miler

Pre race....

Well it was now Day 3  Stage 3, and the day that I always dread as it is the one were the tiredness of the legs from the previous two days efforts usually rears its ugly head.

I woke up feeling fairly Ok and spent the day resting and writing the previous days blog and various bits and bobs on Facebook for my running group. It takes several hours a day to keep up with it all and to log every members runs and respond to them all personally, but I enjoy doing it and it fills my time.

I felt fairly rested, but struggled to eat a reasonable amount of food as I just didn't really feel that hungry as the day progressed, so I pretty much snacked. It was a gamble whether that would come back to bite me on the a** tonight.

Late afternoon I applied and massaged some Arnica massage oil/balm into my upper and lower legs, and was quite happy that nothing felt tender, tight or sore. Although my previously injured hamstring was slightly delicate, which to be honest is the norm if I've been doing any kind of sprinting.

The trip....

My lift for the day was fellow Run or Caker and Natterjack Run Club member Barry Rimmer and we got there promptly for 6pm and parked up in the ample car park.

Today was unofficially cakers day for the members of my Run or Cake group as we had roughly 40 members of the group participating in the Tour this week, and today was the day we decided to try and all wear our 'cakers' tops as a show of support for each other on what would be a long and tiring run.

Walton was the ideal choice for cakers day as we would see each other on a regular basis on the two out and backs and switch backs of the course and the plan was to shout  out support to each other or HI5 each other.

Two of our members Sal and Jay took to the spirit of the night and dressed with a Minions theme which was cool. Long story short as host and leader of the group I am personally known as 'Gru' as opposed to Les ( aka 'Running with Gru' ). The name came about as I realised the similarity of my role as a protective leader of a group of friendly and ever helpful running Minions/cakers and the role of keeping everyone in check. It also was a fun way of adding a fun element to the group. Myself and the Adminions ( Do you get it??) look after our little groups of runners, and take personal responsibility for them.

We all congregated as per normal near the Btr hospitality tents and when we got a decent amount of us together did our best to get a couple of group shots, as most of us usually have a club vest or personal fav running top on at runs daily at the Tour. Quite a few members were missing as they were either stuck in traffic, in porta loos, or generally elsewhere chatting away oblivious. We did our best though and got a few decent group shots.We also had a random photo bomber as well, such was the draw of our friendly group :)

The start.....

7am rapidly approached and we made our way to the usual metal and rusted bridge over the main road and our official start/finish and mid run point for tonight. Alan did his best to give us race instructions and various other info but it was pretty wasted due to being obviously above a busy main road and having the odd chatty people in the crowd who made it difficult for the attentive people among us to hear. Some of us obviously know this event like the back of our hands and the routes, but the newbies really need to be able to hear the vital info.

After a cramped line up we were off and down the cycle path for 2.5 miles in a North north west direction, although for some reason it always feels like South to me. I took it easy to start as it is a very narrow path to start, especially with 300+ runners all starting at the same time, and it was fairly hard not to trip over peoples feet or to feel congested or hindered for a fair while.

The field very slowly spread out and I personally was waiting for a wider section which I thought was at mile 1.5 to 2.5, but my memory had failed me totally as it never came, so I just sat back and ran a slow comfortable pace and decided I would use it to warm up my legs and my hamstring in particular before I could possibly speed up at the 2,5 mile turnaround.

As always approaching the 2.5 mile turnaround was part of the fun as you could see people coming in the opposite direction who you knew and in our case i.e. cakers we could HI5 a few fellow cakers and shout support to the others we knew.

After the 2.5 mile turnaround and water station I started HI5's again as a string of cakers behind me came in thick and fast and after that I tried to up the pace a little. It did become apparent that my legs although Ok did not seem very energetic and my cardio fitness was off as well tonight.

I pushed a bit from mile 4 to 5 and the halfway point and steadily but very slowly started to pass a relatively strung out field, but I wasn't feeling good at all and knew it was going to be a long tough haul to 10 miles.

Passing the half way point at 5 miles on the bridge is always a highlight as you get support as you pass and you can smile and pretend to everyone that you are in fact feeling as fresh as a daisy, whereas in reality you are often feeling a little lightheaded, drained and huffing and puffing a bit, pretty much like some of the dubious weed smoking locals that seemed to congregate along the path and strangely in the bushes as I kept getting a whiff of weed yet couldn't see anyone.

I carried on trying to up the pace a little and tried to slowly one by one chase the person in front of me. This proved hard as most were moving quite nicely pace wise and it took me a fair while to start to catch up with a few familiar faces.

I eventually managed to catch up with Chris  who had trounced me on Stage 1 so I was happy to crawl back a bit of time on him. Next was Ultan and took me a long time to catch him. We were fast approaching the 7.5 mile turnaround point and I started to see people I knew coming in the opposite direction. The various leaders went past first, closely followed by the next fastest group of fast runners and the next group which contained a couple of fast running cakers, first being Keith R and then a little later Trevor C who were all doing well.

A bit nearer the turnaround point now and I started to see a few faces that I really should of been chasing down a little earlier as they were quite a way ahead. Ian R was first to go past and I pretty much knew already that he was too far ahead for me to make up the distance. He was closely followed shortly after by Sarah R who again I felt was running too strong for me to catch up. 

My plan was to stop at the 7.5 mile turnaround have a breather and consume a GU gel to guarantee my legs didn't fail me on the return leg to the finish. I saw a few faces that I knew were near enough to chase on that last section so I put the plan into action, much to the amusement or puzzlement of the marshals and volunteers manning the water station at the turn around as I promptly stepped to the side and stood with them while I had a drink, a gel and a breather, and then said "Thank you" and sped off on the chase.

The first couple of hundred yards felt great as I had a new lease of life, but that obviously waned as I realised I needed to be a little more conservative with the pace until at least the last mile. I continued slowly overtaking and catching the few faces I knew I probably could catch up with on a good day.

Again as we were now on the return leg it was time to cheer, HI5 and generally support our fellow running friends old and new, including my cakers. I really enjoyed this element of the run and it made it a lot more runnable as it took your mind off the effort level you were on trying to get through 10 miles after two hard days running.

The last mile eventually came and I upped my pace again in a last bid to catch a few more little groups which I did, and I finally managed to catch a very competitive David Marsh who was ahead of me again.

The finish line approached and I did not have anyone to try and sprint with as the gaps between runners at this point was quite big, so it was a fastish finish but nothing drastic or dramatic as I crossed the line in 1:18:19 which I was very happy with. It wasn't a course PB but it was better than last years run when I was injured.

Finished....

As per normal it was shake hands time with those who had beaten me fair and square and congratulations and well done to anyone who had already finished at that point. A quick visit down to the refreshment point back at the Btr tents, and then it was back to the finish line to cheer in fellow tourists, friends, competitors and of course fellow cakers...

 

So that was it for another day, everyone was eventually in safe and well, and the usual rounds of post race photo's were taken  at every opportunity so we would all have some mementos of the day etc.

We eventually all dispersed in our various homeward directions whilst pondering just what exactly we would be doing with ourselves the next night which was a day off. 

This depended on your plan for the week though, and had been quite a topic of conversation among runners and newbies in particular trying to get tips on what to do, as some were going to run on their alleged 'day off' in a bid to stay loose and not seize up, while others like myself use it as a complete rest and recovery day, and in my case as a mental flip and reset to my brain and body that a mere 3 days runs are behind me, and after a 48 hour break would only have another 3 days running ahead of me. This was a tactic that serves a lot of people well.

 Part 2 and stages 4-6 will now be in a separate blog post. I will leave a link to it here for your convenience....

 http://fitnesswithgru.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/300-spartans-paahwho-needs-spartans_8.html