Also look at News for

• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004
• 2003
• 2002
  

April 08

It feels as though I have barely been home, I finished the Marathon des Sables but my feet had not really recovered from Libya and my back gave me a few problems carrying the extra weight. The good news though is that I only had 8 blisters on returning instead of 20+ and didn’t lose any extra toe nails as I only had two remaining at the start of the Marathon des Sables. It was a wonderful experience and nice to tick off one of the “classics” in the calendar, but doubt I will ever run it again. It was so desolate and monotonous compared to Libya and can’t say I really enjoy living in the camp conditions with absolutely everything being covered in sand and unable to shower for a whole week. Although the freeze-dried food had improved dramatically since I last had this it was not suitable for 7 days of hard running and needed to eat much more to have the energy to run at a competitive pace. Also I can’t say running with 800 competitors was great, I am so used to smaller events of around 100 people that it was hard to get used to having people constantly with me and never out of sight. I must say I really do enjoy the “loneliness of the long distance runner” and drifting off in my own thoughts. The hot temperatures of up to 46 degrees was good though as this showed how well I could cope with the heat with Badwater not too far off. The other bit of news was that I managed to sort out the “piles” translation from Libya – they had to be put into different disposal bags, piles being batteries and hence the problems with GPS.

As I did not run the hardest of races (and do not believe for one minute this is the “toughest race on earth” as billed) I have recovered well and after a couple of visits to the Osteopath the back is in order again and back to running lots of short races to get my running legs back. For most of the year I have been training with a back pack and really alters the running style and slows the pace considerably. Five short races (half marathon and below) in seven days has helped inject a little speed back and gain back a more normal style, but there is not a great deal of time for recover as my debut to the 48 hour race in Surgeres, France is only a couple of weeks into May. I am not targeting anything special as I really don’t know what to expect and how long I should sleep for, the best advice given is that I should not need any more than 2 hours and given that I ran 36 hours non-stop in Libya sounds like this should be adequate.

March 08

Well the Libyan Challenge report is written and is available for download:
Libyan Challenge 2008.doc (78.5KB)
What an absolutely wonderful event, I enjoyed every minute of it and can't wait to be out in the desert again after the cold, snowy spell since I have been home. My feet took a real bashing and took time (and anibiotics) to recover. But my legs are in fine shape and hoping that the Marathon des Sables will be another great experience to remember, two desert runs in one month. I have had little time in between to race with catching up with jobs at home and preparing my kit, food and more importantly shoes and gaiters for the next trip. First lady again, faster time on a tougher,longer course and 4th person overall, no complaints here and a race I think will definitely be on the cards again one year, but not next year. Certainly extreme in terms of underfoot conditions, running by GPS, no getting out of the sun and just the big distances betweeen checkpoints where so much fluid has to be carried, all part of the experience and fun of running on this planet.

February 08

Conditions for this month have been bitterly cold so far and although my underlying fitness has improved dramatically along with my speed, my performances in a couple of the longer runs have not shown my real fitness due to my asthma. The regular 5km time trials at Hyde Park have improved by 2 minutes and have a new pb for 3km on the track. I did long runs of 25 miles in the Rombalds Stride which was severly hampered by snow and ice and in the flat 54 miles of the Thames Meander the bittlerly cold weather hit my breathing by the first checkpoint and was taking my asthma pumps and walking quite a bit to keep the breathing under control, but was pleased to report that I managed to finish and do over 8 1/2 hours of running as this was my last chance for a long run before Libya, just two weeks later, where I should have no problems with cold weather!!!

I have had a little bit of trouble with my left knee due to training with a heavy pack that will be needed for both the Libyan Challlenge and Marathon des Sables, but the problem has been found and well on its way to recovery. It was caused by altering my running style and was landing on my heels far more putting the impact through my knees instead of being absorbed more by my feet. Darren Cooper at the Univesity of Teesside was extremely helpful as usual and as he is now used to seeing my style could instantly see the difference, a fat pad in my knee was swollen and pushing the tracking line of my knee cap out causing the problem - running faster and without the pack stopped the pain and ice and compression on the area is reducing the swelling so should get through the big events ok.

January 08

I started running again just before Christmas and am now well into my program preparing for the Libyan Challenge at the end of February. My distance work has been easy but the speed has suffered a lot by having time out. I am slowly progressing on this aspect but some way to go yet.

Winter is never my favourite time and can’t wait to get the warmer weather again. I have raced most weeks and most impressed at the new Hyde Park Time Trials that are held every Saturday morning in Leeds, just 5km runs but a good workout and easy to monitor progress. My 10 mile time at Ferriby was 75 minutes, around 5 minutes slower than expected on an average fitness level and this was done off the back of a 90 mile week and shows how much more I still have to claw back.

The World 24 Hours were finally announced for Korea in October and there is to be no European 24 Hours, the bad news at present is that it is unlikely that UKA are going to send any athletes to these championships. Will have to see how that progresses and whether I want to compete there as an individual. The statistics for the year have now been reported, GB number 1 at 24 hours again, this makes 11 consecutive years now and in the World Statistics for 24 hours I dropped from 8th last year to 11th this year, however I have done a 12 hour performance that would rank me 5th in the World.

My plans for the year are now finalised and have changed yet again. Although I desperately want to have another crack at running a 6 day race this may have to wait until 2009 now. I am back to my original plan for a very “HOT” year. The Libyan Challenge is first on the list, followed by the Marathon des Sables, in May is the Surgeres 48 hour race, with all these being hot races it just seemed appropriate to go back to my original plan for running in the World’s Hottest Race across Death Valley – the Badwater 135 miles in July. As my races prior to this event are all hot races I don’t think any other year would prepare me so well for the heat.