Friday
• Packing:Are you sure
we're going for 2.5 days? Or is it 2.5 weeks? Chris's large estate car was
rammed to the roof with tents and luggage!
• Journey:Convoy begins
setting off at 10am. Not a bad journey, just over 2 hours.
• Pitch:Shocked to
see that you cordoned off an area for your team. We arrived 1 hour after
opening and already running out of space. Still we got a pitch at a prime spot,
next to the course.
• Tent Making:The Ball brothers attempts at putting up their two man tent. Chuckle
Brothers!
• Team Arrives:By early evening the whole team has arrived, tents set, sun shining,
chilling out with a DoomBar and some good food (Chef Yewings)
• Pyjama Run:Our chief cheerleaders, Farah Lilly and Ethan, entered the junior 750m
race with about 100 participants. Ethan came 3rd overall, and Farah Lilly first
girl. Great running
• Tented Village:We cased out the tented village - the Adidas shop and collected the
prized sky blue, TR24 shirts.
• Lists:Chris - the
self appointed list maker, listed the runners with their expected start times.
We budgeted for an hour each.
• Sister Team:Frimley Lodge supplied a number of runners to the quick 'Run Eat And
Repeat' sister team. They supported and joined us in the FF gazebo. What a nice
set of people they were: Jen, Tom, Mark, David, Alex and Phil
• Lights out:We tried to get an early night. I think we were all in bed by 11:30pm.
Some getting virtually no sleep, some a good 7 hours!
Saturday
• Bonkers to do Conkers:Most of the team decided 40km was not enough, so went to the local
Conkers parkrun to run a slow one! Far from a training run, it was a tad hot, a
few hills on the course and we still managed a respectable 28 minutes. Then a
10 mile search for petroleum. We managed to catch a glimpse of the terrifying
course at 1km. Are we hill climbing?
• Race Briefing:At 11:30am we could see all the competitors at the race briefing. There
were the brave solo runners, fancy dress runners, casual runners, serious
running clubs and charity runners. The excitement and atmosphere were building.
• And There Off...:Captain Duncan was our lead off man. We rushed back to base, about 2km
into the circuit. We all cheered loudly and gave high fives as he ran past. 56
minutes later the snap band got passed to Richard to start leg 2. We all waited
anxiously for the course report. It was tough, bloody tough: Hills, ruts, tree
stumps, single paths and possibly the worst thing was the 28 degree heat!
Despite all that Dunc managed a sub 1 hour lap which was good.
• Team Support:We had a good process going, we cheered each runner as they passed us at
2km, we had a good hand over strategy and were one of the only teams to have
someone to meet and greet with a drink and a pat on the back for the runner
just finishing their lap.
• Everyone's Lap 1 completed:After Dunc we had coach Richard, speedy Chris who
hadn't ran 10km for months, super fit Lee, a nervous Martin who tried a 10km
the week before and broke down, then Nick who was secretly competing to do the
quickest time, James who also went out with all guns blazing and then finally
Sarah who had to wait an agonising 6.5 hours.
• Darkness Descends:The temperatures had finally cooled, but the next challenge to take it's
place was darkness. Not only that, we had a couple of showers to add to the
mix. Nervous laughter echoed around camp FF. Many of the team were running in
the dark for the first time. The head torches; a new toy. Most of us turned an
ankled at the wooded section at 7km or slipped along the grassy sections.
Another challenge, another bit of excitement. We all came through unscathed
thankfully.
Sunday
• Morning All:Many not getting a huge amount of sleep again. The times still remained
on average under the hour. The team had bought themselves 45 minutes. Good
work! We all ran 1 lap in the dark. The Solo-ists were still going around.
Amazing. We all made sure we gave a 'well done' as we passed them.
• 3rd Leg:The Sunday
morning legs were run in perfect conditions. The crowds came back to support
and cheer us on, it wasn't too hot, it was light and dry. Muscles still ached
but we were all fit to go again.
• Run Eat And Repeat:They had completed 2 laps more than us, but the wheels had come off.
Jen, Phil and Alex were crocked, Tom was exhausted having no sleep, Mark had
already ran 40km and the bionic man of David Peddle never knew when he was
beat! 20 minutes before his leg, he was cramping badly. How he managed 50km was
anyone's guess. They still managed 25 laps in total
• Lap 4:Everything
went to plan. The whole team came to greet Sarah in after her 3rd lap, an
exchange of banter, and as a team we were all off again, this time at walking
pace..... and carrying a clanging money bucket. James' inspired thought which
earned another 80 for the cause. TR24 competitors and spectators were so
supportive. As we trotted (at best) around we swapped stories of near misses,
worst hill, best view experiences. The final 1km was truly hair raising. The
supporting crowds cheered, the 'Run Eat' team joined us as sprinted up the last
hill which didn't seem so bad after all. We linked arms and crossed the finish
line, lap 25, as one. A very fitting and emotional finish.
• Medals and Photos:.... and more photos. We collected our well deserved medals and posed
for photos. James wanted every combination possible.... and of course the jump
shot!
Exhausted, but elated:We packed up, said our goodbyes, swapped details with
our new TR24 friends, struggled home then went our separate ways. Back to
normal life again. What a weekend.
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