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| Sunshine in Seaton See that cliff; We ran up that! |
The Grizzly
It's March, therefore it must be Grizzly Time. The sun was shining and BATs were out in force. We were ready. We were psyched. Let's do this! Except I wasn't sure I was ready. I had been suffering [or at least everyone else had been suffering from me not running!] from a recurrence of of an old injury. I had been sidelined for a few weeks and although I had been told by Alen Sparrow I could run, I was nervous. I knew I could do the distance, as I had been doing 20+miles in training throughout January; I was nervous about how my ankle would hold up. Would I be OK or would my race year be over? If my ankle hadn't healed and I hobbled out of the Grizzly, it would need several weeks, if not months, more rest. I would miss Brighton Marathon and then would probably not have enough time to get miles in my legs for Race to the Stones. My mind was racing with all of these thoughts come race day morning and I babbled nervously and continuously in the car on the journey to Seaton. Sorry Rachel. But I had done all I could. I was rested, I
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| Arnica Salve Neil's Yard Organics |
had stretched my ankle, I had a few sports massages from Nathan at Kinetic Sports Therapy in Bere Alston and I had been using Arnica, supplied by the lovely Tracey from her holistic consultancy business in Teignmouth. All that was left now was to run on it!
Right, where were we? Seaton. Race day. And a colony of BATs. Our beloved coach and purveyor of fine
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| Selfie in Seaton |
cakes, Dotty King , had arranged for us to meet in the same place we always do. Spirits were high, the sun was shining and I had made some rather delicious fruit & nut fudge ,which went down a treat. Once photo'd and fed, 'twas time to head for the sea front for the start. There were thousands of runners at the start, both for the Cub and the full Grizzly. A traditional rousing speech was given by the town crier and then we were off.
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| Nervous smile at the start |
Shingle. That's all I can say. After a quick warm up along the shingle beach, it was a loop along the promenade and then up the first hill of many, many, many hills on route. Did I mention the hills? There was lots of running [or walking!] up hills. And down hills. And along beaches, through rivers, bogs, muddy fields and muddy hills. I'm not sure where we went, as I didn't track it or map it- but we did pass through Beer and Branscombe. The weather was great, the mud was deep [very deep; thigh deep!] and the shingle beach an energy sapper like no other. The marshals were, as always, friendly, helpful and encouraging. That's why we love the Grizzly.
I started the race slow, towards the back of the field and kept a steady pace. Walking up some of the earlier hills was not so much a race strategy as a necessity, due to the vast numbers of people on small narrow lanes. But today I didn't mind. By the time we hit the second stretch of beach and the obligatory river feature, I was warming to this run; quite literally really as the weather was hotting up. Bruce {a Greyhound} was there with his BATs vest, cheering us on, with his humans, Heather & Mike. But they didn't have cake this year. Oh well.
By about mile 7 I was feeling good. Very good. My ankle was not causing me pain. I decided I could do this, so I sped up. I started to overtake people. I stopped worrying. Well, stopped worrying about my ankle. I thought I was getting blisters. I wasn't- but I was breaking the cardinal sin of racing by wearing new trail shoes, so I kept worrying that I might get blisters!
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| New Shoes Very Good in the Mud! |
But I was beginning to enjoy this. Sure, it was wet & muddy underfoot, the hills were steep, my lungs were bursting and my thighs were aching; but I was feeling strong. The weather was good, the scenery spectacular, the marshals splendid and my fellow runners were an amicable bunch. I was genuinely surprised to catch Ken, a BAT, who thinks he is a Muskie [sorry, in joke], as he has been in such fine form this year having already run both the Anglesey Coastal Marathon, the South Devon Coastal Marathon {both raced in atrocious stormy weather} and the mud of the Steyning Stinger Marathon. But he was wearing his 'other' club vest and not a BATs vest, so I had no qualms about passing him.
So we battled through bogs, thigh deep in mud, worried we might drown and never be seen again until next March, perfectly preserved. But dead. Slightly melodramatic, but the mud was deep and extra slushy this year. Just how I like it. The haunting melodies from the piper at the edge of dawn could be heard, his tuneful bagpipes rebounding around the hills and valleys, keeping our spirits alive. Last rites were said at the Buddhist temple. A few more ups and downs and then it was back into civilisation with cheering crowds. Sorry Ruth, I was in the zone by then. I was focused, I was hurting. I didn't see you. Shame on me.
The beach. Oh the beach. The shingle beach. Oh how I love thee. After 16 gruelling miles, a few hundred metres along a shingle beach is just what I was looking forward to. I was hurting so much , that I was actually relieved to reach the Stairway to Heaven, a welcome reprieve to the shingle torment. Albeit an almost vertical climb up a cliff. But the end was nigh. It was only a few miles to the finish. I stopped at the top of the cliff to have a gel and admire the view. Simply stunning.
Back to the task in hand. A race. The finish was, quite literally, in sight. Only a few more miles. I could do this. But then I got cramp in my right foot. Never had cramp in a race before. It hurts. A shooting pain up my leg every time I put my foot down. I thought I would fall at every step. I gritted my teeth. I swore [silently as there were children about] and carried on. As I came down the last hill and along the promenade once more, the pain disappeared. The raucous crowd welcomed us runners in, and I sprinted for the line. BATs were massing at the finish and a rousing cheer was a very welcome end to the pain.
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| Grizzly 2014 T-Shirt |
Water, a banana, a finishing T-Shirt and then a dip in the sea to wash off the mud and cool down, and it was time to slip into something more comfortable. Full results here. BATs, overall , were fab. But that goes without saying. I had a 9mns P.B and was 100 places better placed from when I last ran the Grizzly in 2012. RESULT. Best of all for me though, was not the result, but the fact my ankle was OK. I can run again. Now that really made me happy.
BATs results are as follows:
BATs results are as follows:
Grizzly
Nathan Newton 03.10.22
Paul Williams 03.33.38
Steve Watson 03.33.41
Murray Turrner 03.40.07
Francis Dix 03.51.19
Tracey Oxborough 04.01.38
Derek Hicks 04.15.09
Matt Luckham 04.21.55
Emma James 04.32.51
Rachel Wood 04.48.04
Dotty King 04.48.06
Julian Setterington 04.48.56
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| BATs @ Finish |
Philip King 01.34.42
Toby Rankin 01.44.15
Grant Lawrence 01.44.36
Frances Morgan 02.00.16
Emma Dooney 02.15.12
Melanie Greaves 02.15.15
Donna Luckham 02.15.44
Paula Lawrence 02.15.47
Alysia Maciejowska 02.15.50
Hilary Head 02.41.24
Martin Head 02.41.59
Congratulations to Nathan for being 1st BAT home in the Grizzly and to Phil for leading the Cubs home. A special well done mention to our very own Sarah Morwood [albeit running for her sponsors, Mud Crew] was third women home overall. To be fair, the distance was a bit short for her!
Following a rather excellent day out in the sun [and mud / shingle / hills / valleys / bogs] of the South Devon Coast, after the last BAT was safely home, there was only one thing left to do- and that was to go to the pub!
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| BATs in the Pub |
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| BATs in the Pub |
CHEERS!
A Big thank you to Axe Valley Runners for , yet again, putting on a fantastic event.
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