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Outlaw 2014
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And on my goodness, things were hurting now. There was no blocking it out this time. So I embraced it, I relished in it. Bring it on, it would not stop me.
That said, the relief when my friend Dougal and his daughter Morgan walked towards me out of the gloom was palpable. The temporary distraction was enough to pull my head from going into complete meltdown. I don't think they are aware of how much that kind gesture helped me. And I thanked them by going on about how much I wanted a bloody cup of tea. As we approached the finish line once more I could see another tall figure stood in the distance. He was in silhouette but unmistakable. I said to Dougal 'Here's your relief' and I did it with the biggest smile on my face. I was so very glad to see him.
Dougal handed me over to Toucs and said he would see me at the finish line and Toucs took up the mantle of guiding me through the last 5k. I wanted to celebrate at the finish line, not cry and so at that moment I had to get rid of all of the pain I had been carrying with me. I sobbed for about two miles to let it all out before composing myself again.
I was going to be an Outlaw. As we approached the last 400 yards Toucs walked off to the finish line. It was testament to how slow I was moving that he was able to out walk me easily, even after his own endeavours. I had a horrid moment where I thought I was going to have to go down the finish chute to Agadoo, but fortunately I was slow enough for that to finish (although lord knows what was playing).
As I entered the finish funnel, the remaining supporters had gathered around and formed a funnel just wide enough for one person to get through. I saw masses and masses of pirates lining the chute and I was overwhelmed with positive energy and best wishes.
Well it was just fabulous. And underneath the finish line, stood Toucs, just as he had promised.
I had done it, I was an Outlaw.
Lovely report Happy chap - so pleased for you. It was great seeing you over the line
Brilliant report Happychap and all the other ones from everyone else, so gutted that I could not make it to support.
brilliant Happychap
Fantastic report and well done Happychap
You were amazing Happychap, did you get that cup if tea?
Superb write up HC!
Brought a tear to me eye!!
Woot! Fantastic reports everybody. Happychap you rock, I loved seeing you cross the finishing line and Ghost, great videos thanks for posting.
brilliant report Happychap................I have enjoyed reading about your journey this year and so pleased that you got the finish you deserved
Bloody hell Happychap i'm blubbing again.
Brilliant!
What a great report Happychap. Which race is next?!
I laughed at that - stop for a chat with ya mate why don't you?
Thank Goodness Jordy's shorts stayed up this time down the Finishers chute
Lovely to catch up with old pirate chums and meet new pirate chums. Just sad and shocked that we have lost someone that we called a chum
They know who they are and we never wanted it to be like this. That is all.
You're not the only one! So pleased we could welcome you home Happychap
Great reports everyone and now off to watch Ghost's videos.
great report Happychap
*sniff* awesome report Happychap
great report Happychap
anyone else having probs getting on the Outlaw site?
I've been following your bloggage all year Happychap and I'm so pleased for you. Well done.
Pre-race
If it could go wrong it went wrong
Arrived at campsite to discover the tent poles were missing, quick trip to Decathlon and £160 new tent sorted that. My bike that had been fine all year, suddenly had a horrendous grinding in the bearings on the headset, my left knee decided to give me grief for some unknown reason, and to top it all, My mother who was looking after my two girls fell on the saturday morning and broke her arm.
On top of this OSB had sent out an email banning mankinis, tankinis, and bikinis...did this mean the cricket thong was banned.....?
I started questioning if i was meant to do this race at all.
Race Day
Fuck all sleep due to the sound of the rave drifting over the campsite, got up at 0130 to go and find this source of the music and have a fight, was slightly annoyed to discover it was actually miles away for HPP.
Swim Target 1.15 actual 1.15
Swim went to plan, that is if the plan included the water being disgusting, the smell and taste of it really worried me for the later stages of the race.
Bike target 6 hrs actual 6.15
Fly round the southern loop, seeing Family Slag, Pirate feedstation and Horse and Razor.
The drag up to the north loop was a hear banger in that wind, oxton bank done and the 5km blast into Southwell went fine and then the fun back to the southern loop, again this went smoothly and i was heading back to HPP for the run, sad to see Running Postie with a flat just before the venue as she was flying up till then
The dirt track and trip passed Holme Pierre house gave way to a massive traffic jam on the access road and this caused me to stop and unclip about four times to get round cars trying to three point turn and park....this got to me and annoyed me when i shouldn't have let it..guess OSB were not expecting that many visitors.
Run target 4.30 actual 5.51
See this is where it went to rat shit. I can run, i know i can, in the build up i had run 3.50 at Brighton, 4.01 at Brighton and 4.30 at the National 50K in May, i had recovered and trained well up to the Outlaw and started on target at 10 min pace, fine for the first lap of the lake and fine up to the feedstation just the otherside of the bridge, then i got slower and slower. I tried 1 min run 1 min walk and it didn't make any difference, i ended up walking the last 7 miles and after watching the video ghost posted of my final lap of the lake i look like i'm 150 years old.
I don't have an answer as to why the run went wrong,I questioned wheter i had put enough training in, looking back i think i did, i think i kept to my nutrition strategy. My swim and bike have got stronger over the last four years but my run is getting worse.
Felt really grumpy at the finish, i couldn't work out why my run had gone so spectacularly wrong.
Of course this grumpy mood was kicked out of me by Raf, Mouse and few others and then i was so happy to see the stream of pirtate finishers, both relay and individuals, esp HC and Button Mushroom, i know what you guys have put in and deserve your medals.
Think i'll take next year off racing.
thanks for reading
happychap, fantastic report, glad I could be of help of help with the hug
FF, the wheels have come off for me on the run more times than I care to remember despite putting in lots of runs, can I ask how many brick sessions you did as I think that's where I go wrong by not doing enough, anyway see you at lanza in 2016 and we can walk the marathon together
Count me in.... we can start the ramblers association pirate branch....
FF, sorry to hear the run went so tit's up. Having been left in your wake at the National I can imagine how frustrated you feel. Is it worth having a change of tack rather than taking a time out from the racing? Concentrate on shorter races, sportives, duathlons or work on the running?
Loving all the race reports.
Gutted in a way to not have been racing, but very happy to have been some help on the course at the feed station.
Looking forward to Austria next year and I'll join the Lanza ramblers club for 2016
There might be 2016 Lanza talk in the HC household too
FF I'm always in awe of anyone who can run a decent time after 112 miles on the bike. Up until this weekend Toucs had never managed a sub 5 hour marathon despite a PB of 3.16.
Fantastic race reports everyone.
Happychap one word - inspirational!
Great reports, bloody onions again
.
First instalment of the Misfits relay report (I'm sure Raf and Scuba will be along shortly).
I was feeling fairly calm and confident about the swim, with a goal of going faster than last year.
Found it really hard to get my breathing sorted at the start and was beginning to hyperventilate and feel panicky. A good talking-to sorted that, but just as I was settling into a comfortable rhythm some kind fellow punched my goggles off my face. The up-side being that when I put then back on they stopped leaking. Happy days.
The water was fairly mingin' and pulling one's hand through great mats of weed does make for quite a challenging swim, but it was an incentive to get out as quickly as possible.
Approaching the turn buoy, I was aware that a couple of fingers on my right hand had started to go numb, and by the time I was on the homeward half my arm was numb from fingertips to mid-forearm. It was an interesting experience swimming with one arm which was definitely mine and one which I'm fairly sure was someone else's. Anyhoo, I made to the finish and handed the chip to Raf. Got the wettie off and the feeling came back into my arm - amputation not required.
Time 1:24:23, 7min 39sec quicker than last year
Thanks to Raf and Scuba for being luvverly team mates; Meldy for graciously allowing the use of her name for no fee; Fraggle (injured misfit - top class supporter) for being a great tent mate; Little Sister for erection duties; Trogs, Cougie & Mrs Cougie for taxi services; the feed station posse for a brilliant day; Seren for breakfast; and the Pirate collective for another marvellous weekend
Pirates rock