2012 report cards.

Since I have clearly ran my last major event of the year, I am going to hand in my report card for the year early.  In the year of our lord 2012, I have participated in the following races:

Thames Path 100 (100 miles)

Viking Way Ultra (147 miles)

Woodhouse Challenge (13.5 miles)

Dukeries Ultra (40 miles)

Rothley 10k (6.1 miles)

The Wall (69 miles)

Lakeland100 (105 miles)

Hardmoors 60 (60 miles)

Leicester Marathon (26.2 miles)

Stort 30 (30 miles)

Rutland Water Marathon (26.2 miles)

Winter 100 (100 miles)

Got my first DNF in the Viking Way Ultra, but all over events were completed.  Anyhow, that is what I have to try to better in 2013. 

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Comments

  • Not anywhere near as impressive as yours Ben but mines



    Keilder Marathon (Nemc members event)

    Dukeries 40

    The Wall



    Also got my first DNS this year



    Windermere marathon (logistical problems)

    Winter 100 (injury)

    Hadrians wall (relentless series) race cancelled



    Must do better next year!!
  • Well I'm sure you'll forgive me for saying so but that seems a little, how shall I put this delicately, ostentatious, to me. It screams 'look at me, look at me'

    Some races have gone well for me, some haven't. I've enjoyed and learnt from them all but they were all personal to me, ran for my own reasons
  • I wouldn't want to be seen as being ostentatious Lirish.  There are plenty of ultra runners out there who run an event every week, against who my resume would look very humble indeed.  What I want to do here, is give people a chance to display their year for constructive criticism, and perhaps show off a bit to boot.

  • How are we to criticise someone's races Ben? I would never dream of criticising someone's races no matter how badly it went for them, as for showing off well that's fair enough, each to their own I guess.

    And inevitably in threads like this what people do is measure their list against others to see if it stacks up and that's not what I want out of ultra, it's one of the things that attracted me about it, the fact that times and splits didn't mean half as much as it does in the non ultra world, the whole 'well I've ran x race, so I must be a better ultra runner than you'

    Or maybe it's just me reading too much into things, who knows
  • By criticism, I mean suggestions about how to do better next year.  For example in my case, you might think that I took on too many events in the latter part of the year. 

  • But that's not entirely personal to you, as in only you know your own body and what works for you, and assuming the purpose of your racing is to complete each race as quickly as possible.

    I'm not sure I've ever actually 'raced' a race at all, as in given it my all to place as highly as I could. It just doesn't float my boat, I'm there to enjoy myself and my enjoyment comes from my surroundings and my passage through them.

    As I said maybe I'm reading too much into things
  • Okay, here it is:

    London Ultra 50 K (31 (actually 32) miles (Feb)
    Croydon HM (13.1 miles) 1st April
    Greater Manchester Marathon (26.2 miles) 28th April
    Sutton 10K (6.2 miles) May
    North Downs Run 30 K (18.75 miles) June
    Croydon Ultra (30 miles) July)
    North Downs Way 50 (August)
    Dunstable Downs Challenge (20 miles) September
    Jog Shop Jog 20 (20 miles) October
    Croydon 10K (6.2 miles) October
    Beachy Head Marathon (26.2 miles?) October

    (and some parkruns)

    Completed all. This was my first year to do anything over HM, so I'm pretty pleased with that list. Aiming for 5 x 50-miles in 2013 (Thames Trot, SDW, NDW, Lakeland, Ladybower), plus a couple of 30-milers as training runs, and no doubt some shorter stuff here and there.

    Ben, your list looks great - think it's going to take me a ocuple more years to think about a 100-miler.

    Andy, good luck for next year. I suppose the good thing about being at the start of our ultra journey is that there are still loads of events to try for the first time!

  • im with Lirish on this .......

  • You have had one hell of a year Debra, and it looks like you have big plans for 2013!

    Based on your results in the NDW50, you are going to be a terror over the 50 mile distance! 

  • Is this going to turn into a thread about who ran the most and who's best?



    Sounds to me like someone likes to gloat a bit!!
  • Ben - Nice thread, very interesting to see the mix of races completed and also a good reference guide of who to ask about what race as we plan next year.

    My report card unchanged from school: "Must try harder".

  • ALISTAIR STEWART 4 wrote (see)

    Ben - Nice thread, very interesting to see the mix of races completed and also a good reference guide of who to ask about what race as we plan next year.

    My report card unchanged from school: "Must try harder".

    ali, i think in general most of us have in the back of our minds 'must try harder' for every event.image

    not sure tht we need ANOTHER ref guide to whos doing what-dont we have that already on 'whats next' and 'wannabe'?........................image

  • My report card reads must not try so hard on the early part of 50 mile plus races, or it taxes me physically and DESTROYED me mentally image 

  • Without joining in the 'is this willy waving?'  element of this thread, this year I have completed the following:

    1x 5m (one lap of a 24hr race)

    1x 10k

    1x 12k

    3x hm (one of these should have been full, but conditions were such that I had to drop to the half - same day as TP100 but down on the coast)

    1x 20 mile

    5x marathon

    1x 30m

    1x 48m

    And a dnf @ 49 miles of the Winter100  (running well but hypothermic)

    dns: Moonlight Challenge, NDW 50 and a few shorter distances.

    With 2 bouts of injury I'm quite happy with how the year panned out, and have identified where I need to work harder - mostly estimating gear requirements to cope in bad weather, and learning to rest when the body demands it.

    Still have a few more races to finish out the year and plenty lined up for next year - let's hope it's a better one image

  • mr fmr f ✭✭✭
    Good work Ben, and others. some excellent performances! If my years calendar looked like that is be proud.
  • I can see both sides of this LI & BD. it's the people that write these long rambly blogs that I find a bit OTT. I showed a friend of mine recently who thought they were just trying to big themselves up. Maybe it's related to the whole ' loneliness of a long-distance run' thingie, I dunno. image



    On the plus side, it lets others know what you've done so they can ask questions in the future so they can spread the joy if asked. Tbh, I find it quite useful seeing whose done the same things as me, comparing notes, adventures etc image It makes no diff to me if someone has done two or twenty, as long as they enjoyed it!
  • Ran my first 100 miler this year and loved every minute of it (sort of).

    Did the Cardiff ultra as well for the second time image

    Plan to run two 100 milers next year the TP100 again and Ultrarace100

  • pmo: Looks good, really. Interesting re. hypothermia - I learned that at M'cr - by the time I realised I should have been wearing my waterproof coat (which I'd stupidly taken off at the start to avoid overheating), my hands were too cold (despite gloves) to get it out of my backpack and put it on. Even sub-3 hour runners were finding their hands getting too cold to take/squeeze drinks bottles.

    Ben: Given that Alice Hector went through the 50-mile point in 90 mins less than my finish time, on her way to the 100, I know my time at NDW50 was nothing special. What I -am- pleased about is the fact that I went up from 40th at half way to 18th by the end, and I still had energy to run (rather than shuffle) in the last miles, when the terrain allowed. That indicates I paced myself well. Perhaps even slightly conservatively (which I think is sensible on my first try at the distance). Considering whether I should try a 25+5 run/walk strategy for Thames Trot, given that most of it is flat so there aren't natural uphill walking breaks?

    And I -really- want to get faster for Lakeland 50, to minimise the amount I have to do in darkness. Must work on uphill, downhill and navigation!

    slaneuk - I agree it should make it easier to ask people specifically about particular events. And yes, enjoying it is the main thing (even if most people who are not ultra runners think we're quite mad)!

    louismaxy: Congrats on your first 100 miler!

  • I tend to stay away from the wannabe and what's next threads, as they descend into nonsense on a regular basis (OK, all the timeimage).

    Nice to have a thread where that hasn't happened... yet.

  • Interesting thread. I've done a few marathons and a couple of ironmans. Hats off to Ben. Really interests me how far / much people do and I'm sure as you say Ben people do a lot more. I love reading about what people have done, it definitely inspires me.



    Furthest I've ever run is 52 miles but next year I'm planning to do the Centurion grand slam of 4 x 100,s. Probably very unwise but you only live once.



    I obviously won't post here as LLB,Lirish and cragchick will get terribly upset, lol, hilarious replies above IMO
  • I can't imagine any of us getting upset bj, I have an opinion and the regulars here know I have a habit of voicing it. Sometimes people agree and sometimes people don't, that's the Internet for you.
  • DazDaz ✭✭✭

    Nice list Ben.  How many of those have you won?  

    Endurance Coach @ DazCarterFitness.com
    Elite Ironman, Ultra Trail Runner
  • pmo wrote (see)

    I tend to stay away from the wannabe and what's next threads, as they descend into nonsense on a regular basis (OK, all the timeimage).

    Nice to have a thread where that hasn't happened... yet.

    well all i have to say to that is........................yah boo sucks *sticks tongue out and waggles fingers behind ears* image

  • Maybe you start a thread called lookatme, to list everything image

  • WiBWiB ✭✭✭
    Tim Bateson wrote (see)

    Maybe you start a thread called lookatme, to list everything image

    I would but my list isn't too long and would soon be overshadowed! image

    Lirish, are you sure you are not upset? Always thought you were a sensitive little chapimage


     

  • So is the problem that people are listing their acheivements for the year, or that you guys don't want to? Is it wrong to be proud of what you've done, or must we all be too cool to talk about that kind of thing?

    There are plenty of threads under the Ultra/Adventure if this one offends, why not try another? Or start one called 'I'm so hip I can't see past my pelvis' and discuss - well nothing....

    Anyway back to it - Ben do you think you did too much, substituting quantity for quality? Was there enough time to recover properly between events, and did you factor in any training between events, or were you just rolling from one to another? And finally do you feel you've improved over the busy year?

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