Random Thoughts

I had so many ideas for things to write about, but one by one they've fled from my memory...

I could wax lyrical about the amazing experience that was crewing for Sam Robson on the Grand Union Canal Race for 32 hours straight, including being his buddy runner from around 1am Sunday morning until well past sunrise.
I could talk about the laughs Miss G. and I had along the way with our friend Tim Lambert who joined us at around 2pm Saturday and was with us until the end, including taking over the buddy runner role from me.

To be honest, both Sam and Tim have excellent blogs of their own, much more focused on running, and will no doubt be in the middle of writing their own memories, in their own style - when they make them public I'll post the link here, so you can understand just what we did as a team.


I'd rather talk about snapshots, fragments of memory and emotion from the day...

Watching Sam run into meeting points in first place - somewhere I doubt I'll ever be, but, second hand, through someone else's eyes - it's still an amazing feeling.

Seeing him start to struggle as injury made things harder, first one person passing him, then another.

The cameraderie between runners and crews for the whole 145+ miles

Standing in the cold, waiting for Sam to hit the 100mi checkpoint, where I joined him as his "buddy runner". I was dressed ready to run, and shivering - when the official aid station crew at that point asked if we'd like a coffee. Just another example of everyone being there for everyone.

Running and walking through the cold, the mud, and the rain, Sam really tired, struggling to stay awake, sitting on a park bench for a nap for 10 minutes. Standing there beside him, unable to offer anything but empty words of encouragement.

How hard it is to see a mate struggling through, when he just wants to run and run and run...

The amazing lift every time we got to a meeting point and saw the headtorches of Miss G. and Tim waiting for us.

Hearing dawn chorus starting before we could see any change in the sky, then watching the sky grow lighter and lighter.

The sheer low of a long gap between meeting points, going more and more slowly, getting colder and colder, until finally seeing them in the distance.

Escorting Sam to the car for a nap, thinking that was it, the end, or at least the end of any chance of a decent finish

The truly amazing turn around that the nap brought. I let Sam continue from the car, I was cold, tired and disheartened, but still determined to help. I stayed behind to discuss with the other two how it looked like we would be walking it in from there, just making the finish... I caught up with Sam really quickly, only to hear him say that he felt a lot better, and that he thought we ought to make a bit of an effort and get a move on! From there we ran, and ran, and ran - 13min/mile, 12min/mile, 11min/mile!! On a short walk break to eat and drink I could ring Tim, sheer joy in my voice, making sure they were ready because we were coming, and we were having a ball! That section of running will stay in my memory for a long time.

The rest of the day was a blur - Tim took over buddying, Miss G. and I continued the driving - eventually we ended up in Little Venice, standing at the finish line, Sam's wife and daughter with us, cheering as our friend crossed the line...in tenth place!

One final memory - the heron that didn't want to relinquish his position on the bridge handrail, so he stayed in place until we could have touched him, as he left his wings nearly brushed our faces.

So today is about rest, and recovery, and eating. and memories, and music...