Tag: Race to the Stones

173: and a bit

Or, things we know now that we didn’t know last week, by Gwrachod Ar Daith (witches on tour). Faithful readers will know that earlier this year we all signed up to do an ultramarathon to raise money for Parkinsons UK. The event was Race to the Stones, 100km along the Ridgeway from Lewknor in Oxfordshire to Avebury in Wiltshire.

We all finished it – not together, but I was only a few minutes behind the others – and over breakfast this morning we put together this handy guide for anyone else signing up to an event like this.

Before the event

  1. Do the training.
  2. No, really. Do all the training, no matter how often you run/do classes/other things. DO THE TRAINING.
  3. Test your shoes and socks. Find what works for you. Your feet will thank you.
  4. Train in the kit you’re wearing on the day. Test your fuelling. Race Day is not the day to experiment.

Three days to go:

  1. No, you’re not coming down with Covid/flu/Bubonic Plague/the screaming lurgy. This is pre-race hypochondria.
  2. Pack early so you can repack at least five times in consultation with your race buddies
  3. A whole bag for your snacks is perfectly reasonable.
  4. Carb load. Pasta or rice every day for a week? FINE.
  5. You will question your life choices. A lot.

The day before:

  1. Eat well. Hydrate. This is not the time for an Indian takeaway and a few pints of Cobra.
  2. Get an early night, because you’re going to be awake very early.
  3. Not all glamping sites are created equal. When they say ‘cooking facilities in each tent’ ask for details, because you don’t want to be messing with a fire pit at 5am. Also ask if ‘complete luxury’ includes bedding. Thank heavens we had our sleeping bags and pillows for the following night.

On the day:

  1. Have that last wee. You won’t regret it.
  2. Start with your team even if you know you won’t finish with them. Have a plan, find your pace and don’t feel you have to keep up. Enjoy it!
  3. Even if you haven’t had a single blister in training you’ll get one on the day.
  4. Use the walking poles and you won’t get sausage fingers.
  5. Small children proffering Haribo are angels in disguise.
  6. Weather happens. Slather on the suncream and bug spray, have the waterproof.
  7. Talk to people. I had some great conversations, and it takes your mind off the distance.
  8. Check in with people, say hi, make sure they’re ‘re ok. It’s an ultra and it’s hard mentally as well as physically.
  9. Use all the pitstops, especially if there are piglets.
  10. Eat ALL the snacks. Fill your bottles. See the medics if you need to but don’t sit down too long.
  11. At some point everyone and (almost) everything will smell better than you.
  12. Look up sometimes and see the scenery!
  13. Just make it to the next stop: bite sized chunks!

Basecamp:

  1. Shower, eat, sleep. Do not be tempted to party into the night, there’s another 50k tomorrow.
  2. Earplugs are your friend. We used Loop ones. .
  3. Eat breakfast.
  4. Rehydrate. Keep warm.

Post-race:

  1. Book a hotel.
  2. Don’t sign up to next year on that wave of post-event euphoria.
  3. Be really bloody proud of what you’ve achieved.
  4. Eat ALL THE FOOD.

And now I need some food!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Alexandria/Nemesis – Lindsey Davies

Amongst Our Weapons/Rivers of London – Ben Aaronovitch (Audible)

Overboard – Sara Paretsky

171: swearing at the shrubbery

Anyone eavesdropping on the Essex Way yesterday afternoon would mostly have been listening to a stream of curses raining down on nettles, people who don’t maintain their footpaths (and in one case actually excavate it with no alternative route posted, although hopefully this is temporary and will reinforce the bank of the River Roding), spiky things that work their way into your socks, farmers who don’t pick up their hay after mowing, the humidity, brambles, cobwebs and more nettles.

Yes, it was our last long training walk before the big event in two weeks’ time, and in our slightly adapted training plan this meant 40k. For both sets of sisters – each with one marathon runner – this translated naturally to a nice round 26.2 miles (42.16k for those of us working in metric). The majority of the Essex Way between North Weald and Pepper’s Green near Chelmsford, where we turned round, is shadeless and cut through crop fields. The ground is so dry, as we’ve had virtually no rain for the best part of five weeks, that the the clay is more like crazy paving with chasms opening up and trapping unwary walking poles.

[brief interlude while I eat this amazing breakfast Tan has just handed me…]

The bits that aren’t cut through crop field are unusually overgrown this year – I’m used to them being well-trodden by dog walkers, but perhaps the heat is keeping them indoors this summer.

Still, we made it – we were lucky enough to see a small group of deer bounding through a field, and heard a lot of skylarks. The River Roding was populated by gorgeous dragonflies, and we saw a cheeky buzzard being chased off by an irate crow. The Willingale Village Day was in full swing as we came through, so we took advantage of their toilets for a quick stop – the PA was audible for a fair way, so we were soundtracked on the outward stretch by the egg and spoon race!

The walk ended up in Co-op, for the now traditional fizzy pop and Calippo fix. Today we’re doing a stretch of the Thames Path in west London for a short 25k, and then we taper before the big event!

To remind you all of why we’re doing this insane amount of walking… check out our page. My big birthday is tomorrow and it would be AMAZING to hit my personal fundraising target as part of that – I’m only £86 short at the moment. Thank you to everyone who has supported us so far – the conversations I’ve been having as I’ve training for this show how devastating a disease Parkinsons can be, and the impact it has on families as well as the sufferer is enormous.

An evening out with Thing 1

On Monday I dragged Thing 1 off with me to see Peter Gabriel at the O2, as he was touring for the first time in 10 years. She likes live music although didn’t really know any of his stuff, but kindly came along with me anyway. He may be 73 but is still putting on a good show!

The show came in at about two hours, with a good mix of the old and new including several from So. Thing 1 liked the faster songs like Digging in the Dirt and the new Panopticom. The first half ended with a high energy Sledgehammer. The usual trio of Tony Levin, Manu Katche and David Rhodes were in place, ably backed by a new touring band including composer, cellist and vocalist Ayana Witter-Johnson who took the Kate Bush parts on Don’t Give Up and harmonies on the lovely In Your Eyes. We missed Biko at the end as we wanted to avoid the tube crush on the Jubilee Line.

There were lots of musings on AI and the connected world, and great visuals – Gabriel is known for his partnerships with other artists and for this tour he’d gone to visual artists including Ai WeiWei and Cornelia Parker to create videos for new material. These are also available as he releases them on his website and YouTube each month with the phases of the moon – including dark side and light side mixes).

We had dinner at Italian Kitchen, which served up an excellent calzone for me and pizza for madam.

Other things making me happy this week…

  • An evening at the Charterhouse summer event with the work team
  • An afternoon at Epping Forest District Museum, seeing the Tiger Who Came To Tea exhibition and talking all things museum learning
  • A morning at the Museum of the Order of St John, including the crypt and the garden
  • Coffee with Amanda after paddling through torrential rain!
  • Cuddles with the grandchildren
  • Carb-loading with a lot of pasta

Right, I’d better go and get ready for the day!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Scandal Takes A Holiday/See Delphi and Die – Lindsey Davis

Back When We Were Grown-ups – Anne Tyler

Carpe Jugulum – Terry Pratchett (Audible)

The Sandman – Neil Gaiman (Audible)

The Mercenary River – Nick Higham

151: if you go down to the woods today

February has landed at last – January was a very long year, wasn’t it? The sun is shining, daffodils and crocuses and suchlike are starting to show signs of life and, despite the Daily Express’s* constant and dire predictions of the RETURN OF THE BEAST FROM THE EAST and POLAR VORTEX bringing SNOWBOMBS and other such cheery weather, it all seems pretty optimistic and springy out there.

I have just returned from a rather nice ramble through the local woods this morning – just over 10k tagged, though I suspect it was more as my Strava app crashed somewhere in the forest. Soundtracked by some random stuff on Spotify, it was a fairly speedy romp on trails and tracks: everything from the 60s with Simon and Garfunkel, Dusty Springfield and Creedence Clearwater Revival right through to more recent stuff like the Beastie Boys, Zac Brown Band and The Offspring. Along with the many squirrels dashing about the place, I was lucky enough to spot a muntjac ahead of me on the rhododendron walk that borders Gaynes Park, ring-neck parakeets at Stonards Hill in Epping, and many people with their various hounds including one with only three paws and a very friendly face.

Today’s walk was a tried and tested route, which took me through ancient coppiced woodland in the old Ongar Park Wood, Gernon Bushes nature reserve and through to the sports fields in Epping where I looped back round to come home. There were some muddy patches, but the path was nothing like as impassable as it has been in previous years when it’s been a swamp until at least May. This probably says something about the weather over the last year or so, although the bog in our back garden would say otherwise

Essex, despite being ridiculously flat, does have some good walking – I still want to complete the Essex Way at some point, but it may be in stages! Hopefully in the course of training for the Race to the Stones I can cover a bit more of it – there’s a useful book which breaks it down into circular walks. The Stort Valley Way also starts near the village, heading up to Harlow and beyond, and there seem to be a few others in the area as well.

Now I just need to develop a sense of direction.

*please note, I do not read the Daily Express but Google and MSN like to show me the headlines on their homepages. I am cheered by the fact that in a couple of months the headlines will change to HOTTEST SUMMER ON RECORD and GLOBAL MELTDOWN and MORDOR RETURNS. It’s like getting out your summer wardrobe.

Other things making me happy this week…

  • Teaching the Think Small session at Chobham Academy – I love the ideas kids come up with to make animal homes
  • Thing 3 turned 12 yesterday.
  • Finishing January on the Temperature Supernova
  • Crocheting socks.

Less happy-making was having to cancel a long-awaited trip to Cardiff to see the Socially Distant Sports Bar live show with gigbuddy Jen – while I am completely behind all these strikers, they RUINED my weekend. Also, vet bills.

Anyway – next week I shall be broadcasting from France! I can’t wait…

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

The Last Remains – Elly Griffiths

Men At Arms/Feet of Clay – Terry Pratchett (Audible)

Death Masks – Jim Butcher

Cover image: Forest Track in Ongar Park Wood
cc-by-sa/2.0 – © Chris Heaton – geograph.org.uk/p/5931265