A few months ago I signed up for the 20 mile Pink Ribbonwalk with my friend Pat, which is hosted by the charity Breast Cancer Care. We both wanted to do another charity walk, having done Shine, a night-time walking marathon for Cancer Research UK in 2011. We'd not been too impressed by our time for it (my first crack at the 26.2 mile distance!) and wanted to have another go. Unfortunately I couldn't make Shine in 2012 or 2013, nor the Moonwalk (a similar event in the spring) and all the marathons we found on suitable dates were for runners only. So we were quite pleased to find the Pink Ribbonwalk, at 20 miles (there was also an option for 10 miles).
The event started from the grounds of Petworth House, a grand old estate in Sussex. It was an early start for the drive down, but looked like it was going to be nice weather. I spent ages trying to decide what to wear and bring in the way of a bag/puch - being a walk, it was going to take much longer than a run, but there was more flexibility to wear a larger bag and take more supplies with me. Eventually I settled on a running tank top, with the charity event tee-shirt (unfortunately it was cotton and unisex cut, not wicking material!), running capri tights, old running trainers, cap and large bum bag.
We were off at 9.30am - a lovely, warm day but with a bit of a breeze and not too hot. There were several hundred people taking part - all ages but almost all women (we saw about 10 men!). Pat and i stayed together at the beginning, but she urged me to go off as unfortunately she has sustained an injury earlier that week and could not go at her fastest.
Walking was very strange compared to running. I was aiming for a time of under 5.5 hours but whenever I got into a pace walk I found it almost impossible not to break into a jog. Running wasn't permitted, as it was not a race and was not geared up for runners - I wouldn't have wanted to run this anyway but it was tough not to jog it. After a few miles though, i met up with another women, Denise (I think, if I can remember her name!) near the front who was doing a very slow jog, barely that, just short, bouncing strides instead of long walking strides. I caught up and di this as well, alternating with normal walking. I call it a "tab" or a "scout" but I'm not sure what the actual term is and I think a tab is something the military do with full bergens on (which we did not have!). We used to do Scout's Pace in the Guides which was walking for a minute then slow-jogging for a minute on/off so I'll call it that!
At 6 miles in I was actually the first person to reach the second check point! Although only because the 4 girls in front had stopped to use the portaloos! Here I had a drink and borrowed a pair of scissors to cut the sleeves off my tee-shirt and widen the neck. It was getting hot and i was wishing we'd been able to wear material better suited to exercise - no one wears cotton any more when we expect to get hot and sweaty!
We couldn't believe the pace the girls at the front (with the male guide/marshal) were going. They looked like they were walking along at a very casual pace, chatting and eating, but it was probably a good, steady 14 min/mile (people get round the the major marathons a lot slower than that). Most of the time I was either near them or less than half a mile behind. They walked faster than we jogged.
Denise and i stayed pretty close from about 10 miles onwards. We went through some gorgeous grounds, with great views over the countryside. Country estates, polo grounds, golf courses. Very nice. At 10 miles I stopped for the portaloo and filled up my water bottle. There was a huge range of sweets, fruit and snacks at the rest stops but I stuck almost entirely to water and energy gels but did have some orange at some stops (I discovered oranges at the Great North Run - very refreshing for endurance events!). We saw a few guys out on a cross country run and had a very quick chat - they saw our bibs and our "20 mile" tee-shirts and asked how we were getting on. I am not sure how far they were running but looked like they were in for the long haul as they had camelbak rucksacks and belts with gel loops.
The route was stunning but hilly. There were also some very narrow paths, a lot of mud, and un-even ground. If it was a run it certainly would have been a tough trail run. I started to wish i'd worn my trail shoes instead of trainers as some of the terrain was quite rough and muddy. The bum bag was also not that well suited to jogging (even the slow jog I was doing) - if worn on the back it bounced up and down, and it worn on the front it was a bit cumbersome. I probably could have done away with a lot of what I packed into it (e.g. keys, iPod, arm warmers, snacks) and used my normal running pouch instead and just taken phone and gels. The cap also felt too warm round my head, but then did a good job of keeping the sun out of my eyes so pros and cons there! I quite enjoyed the scouting, and am thinking about doing a long trail run/walking race at a the same sort of pace. There's something really appealing about being out for 5+ hours and covering long distances at a comfortable run-walk pace, without the pressure of running it as a full-on marathon.
At 16 miles we came back to the 2nd rest stop, having done a long loop. It was now almost to the finish! We met up with a lot of the 10 milers, who did the first part of the route. The final 4 miles were fine, I was not aching too much due to the very gentle pace, and by mixing up the walk and slow jogs I had spread the work over more muscles. I remember from Shine, in the last 6 miles of the marathon, my legs felt dead and the only way I could continue at a decent pace was to make a slight jogging movement as it used different muscles.
I don't think 20 miles was particularly accurate, as my Garmin had measured mile markers all over the place. It was certainly not an accurately measured road race, so 20 was really just a guide! The final mile seemed particularly long! My Garmin logged 20 miles early on knowing we still had to walk round the lake to get to the finish, and Denise's logged 20.5 near the finish. Mine logged 20.3 at the finish line. Came through the finish line in 5.24 so pretty pleased with that! If it was a run I would have aimed for 4 or 4.15 (as it was hilly) so was happy with this time for what was mainly a walk. Tempting just to sprint finish the last 200 meters though!
When we finished we were given a medal, goody bag full of drinks and good, and a voucher for a BBQ. I went and got a leg massage and had some tea and cake while waiting for Pat to arrive. Sadly Denise vanished - I didn't see her again after we collected our medals. Pat came through about an hour later doing really well! We went and had our BBQ before driving home - I was shattered and had a very early night!
I ached a lot more the next day though, which lasted 2 days until the Monday. Definitely up for a long trail run/walk though and have started looking at possible events. Even a marathon that does not have a time limit (or a limit of at least 7 hours) would be great. I did find one fairly local event (the Fairlands Valley Challenge - 12, 18, 26 and 30 mile cross country options for walking or running) but sadly I've already got a race planned that day.
No comments:
Post a Comment