Hello everyone.
First, a huge thank you to everyone for your interest. I have been overwhelmed by the support I have received, and this has been reflected in the extraordinary amount that has been donated to my JustGiving page for the Thames Valley Air Ambulance. Thank you. I struggle to understand why so many people are keen to follow my madness!
In summary, I completed the seven marathons in Miami in the early hours of Friday morning, in under seven days. I completed all seven marathons in reasonable time (for an old fella), well inside the cut-off time and overall finished 33rd out of the 50 who finished. My aim was to finish, so was pleased to be able to hold my own amongst a much younger field. I had trained at about five hour marathon pace and hoped to stay inside six hours on average over the seven marathons. I managed this, with a few minutes to spare! The hardest marathon was Antarctica, It was cold, windy and hilly. Frostbite got the better of one of my toes which could have been a problem for the rest of the event, but wasn’t too much of a worry in the end. My slowest time was in Dubai. A stomach bug swept through the competitors and hit me then. It wasn’t as problematic as it was for some, but I struggled with motivation.
The start was chaotic, because, in the end, there was only a small window to get us in and out of Antarctica. We flew down from Cape Town on an old Soviet era cargo jet. It was very noisy and cramped. At the end of the marathon we were rushed back onto the plane to get off the ice before the weather made an exit impossible. A couple of people didn’t manage to complete the marathon in time – and one person was pulled out altogether after collapsing on the plane on the way down. The marathon itself was difficult. It was a triangular course – 10 4.2km loops. From the start, we ran for 2km into a strong wind, blowing straight from the South Pole. The loop ended with a steep climb for about a kilometre. After the first lap, the snow was all churned up and it was like running through sand. My knee and ankle started to complain and I’m sure that the work that Tom from Elite Physical Medicine had done on them helped me through. That said, I finished well inside the cut-off and had a bit of time to grab a bite to eat.
Back to Cape Town. The Cape Town marathon was my best – close to five hours. It was hot, but a lovely flat run along the sea front starting at 6 in the morning. Six laps. An old friend from the Rugby Club who now lives in Cape Town came to see me – it was great to see John Talbot! Thanks John. We were ahead of schedule, and so there was an opportunity for a bit of a rest before getting the twelve hour flight to Perth.
We had a chartered plane from Cape Town to Perth, and this stayed with us for the rest of the event. “Guns n Roses” a 767 set up semi-business class with nearly lie flat seats. In truth, they weren’t great; not even long enough for me; and narrow. There wasn’t a lot of sleep to be had on the flights! The food on each flight was OK – reasonable quality airline food.
The Perth marathon was along the Swan River – beginning at Nedlands Rugby Club. It was a beautiful setting starting in the early evening (very hot) but finishing a bit cooler in the dark. Four laps. It took me a while to get going on this one. I wasn’t feeling great at the start and one of the other runners, Tracy, predicted that I was lacking salt. She had some salt tablets and these made a remarkable difference. I finished strong; well under my six hour target.
Back on the plane for an eleven hour flight to Dubai. I slept OK, but my stomach was starting to play up and I didn’t eat much. With around sixty people in a confined space, the bugs spread quickly. Some people got very ill. Tracy couldn’t hold anything down and had constant diarrhoea – think Paula Radcliffe; only worse. Tony, a US fitness legend, also suffered badly, and survived only on his huge reserves of determination and strength. I was fortunate by comparison, but struggled in Dubai. It was a boring complicated eight lap course starting in the early afternoon and my motivation left me a bit. I walked for more than I should have and looking back, I needed to give myself a good talking to. But I got through it and while it was my slowest, I held my place in the “table”.
Then Madrid. A short flight – seven hours, so not much time for sleep. It was cold and wet in Madrid. The course was interesting – the Jarama racing circuit – an old F1 course. Eleven laps with a couple of very steep climbs starting mid-morning. My knee did not like the hills – especially going down. So a bit of walking on this one towards the end. Still, I finished well under six hours, and I started gaining a place or two from here on in.
Another shortish flight to Brazil (around eight hours) with a lot of messing around in both Madrid and Fortaleza at immigration and customs. Sleep deprivation was starting to be a problem for everyone, although the stomach bug had just about run its course. Fortaleza was brutally humid to start with, then we had a violent thunderstorm with torrential rain; before it got hot and humid again. This pattern repeated throughout the eight laps along the Atlantic Coast. We started at 3 in the morning – Thursday the 5th (although we were all staring to lose track of time by then). Again, I did OK, and although I was not quite under six hours, I finished ahead of a few of the runners I had been chasing on previous days.
Wet through, we packed up for the final flight to Miami. Another very short flight (seven hours) but with a lot of messing around getting out of Brazil. The Miami marathon started at 11pm on the Thursday night. So we ran through the night along South Beach. My problem here, was that I had only packed shorts and a t-shirt for the run. It was bitterly cold. Some say, it was the coldest it has ever been recorded in Miami. There were newspaper reports of Iguanas falling frozen out of the trees. All my cold weather gear was wet – but I dug out a winter top I had used in the Madrid rain which was the best I could do. Once I got going, it wasn’t too bad. It was a flat four lap course. Once I got warm, I felt OK – and finished in under six hours, again making up a place or two.
Overall, I finished 33rd out of 50. 48 of whom were many years my junior. So, I’ll take that!
I found this probably harder than Marathon des Sables and can’t really compare it with the Atlantic Row. Seven days running is very different from forty days rowing!
A huge vote of thanks to you all. Your words of encouragement and support were a massive source of motivation, and I know TVAA are hugely grateful for your generosity. Thanks again to the team at Elite – they have helped me out on all my various lunacies, and I am really grateful for their expertise and support. Of course, I must pay tribute to my long-suffering wife. Sally continues to support and help me get through these things. She was in Cape Town for the start before flying to Miami (where she froze like one of those iguanas) to see me finish.
I am in the US now for a couple of weeks visiting family and friends and will return to the UK at the end of the month. I hope to catch up with some of you then. There is talk of a talk at the Rugby Club, so if you are around and want (for some reason I can’t understand) to hear me say, “I went for a few runs”, then look out for that.
Thanks again.
Regards,
Derek
