UPDATE: London2Brighton 100km (continuous) COMPLETED!!!

Hi. I’m Chris.

I’m 46, a husband, dad and a very, very average runner. 

In aid of Macmillan Cancer Support I’ve signed up to attempt Ultra Challenge’s London2Brighton 100k (continuous) run. 

Full details, inc. route, here:

https://ultrachallenge.com/london-2-brighton-challenge/

RACE REPORT

For posterity [and because I’ll probably forget a lot of this if I don’t write it down!]

Event: Action Challenge London2Brighton 100k (continuous)

Route: L2B-Fact-Sheet-2021.pdf (ultrachallenge.com)

Goal(s): A-Goal – Finish in ~17hours. B-Goal - Just Finish (see ‘Preparation’ below)

Background: I only started running in 2018 but managed to go from Couch to Lulworth 50k in 11 months. Since then I’ve run a few 50k and Trail Marathon events, and always wanted to complete a 100k.

Preparation: 7 months training – which was all going great – but culminated in the Winchester BigWayRound 50k four weeks ago when I injured my knee. Since then I’ve only been able to do light training and was really just hoping for the best for London2Brighton. Had to reconsider my A-Goal as a result and ultimately just wanted to finish the 100k.

The ‘Why?’: To raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support (and to see if I could run 100k)

The Day:

Start. Old Deer Park, Richmond to Rest Stop 1. Green Lane Rec. 12k (12k Total)

I was understandably nervous at the start, but reasonably calm too. We set off in waves and one-by-one – me at 06:45 – everyone’s lanyard being scanned as we went.

The first 12k was a picturesque section along the Thames and I concentrated on keeping my pace really nice and slow as planned. This meant looking at my watch a lot (which I normally avoid), but it gave me something to do to calm the early nerves, whilst enjoying the scenery alongside the Thames. The sun was shining and whilst it was still pretty cool at this time of the morning it also felt a little humid.

I felt like I was being overtaken by everybody, but didn’t really care and just stuck to my own pace.

The latter stages of this section involved quite a few road crossings as we headed into the south London suburbs. This meant a little bit of stop-and-start, but I was still cruising along comfortably ahead of my (SLOW) schedule.

No issues with the knee so far.

I arrived ahead of schedule and feeling completely comfortable – as you’d expect this early on.

I saw a friend from work, who was working as a medic for the race; said a quick hello (Hi Jess!), grabbed a banana and a chocolate bar, topped up my water bottle and set off without hanging around too much.

The weather was by now pretty sticky and humid.

Rest Stop 1. Green Lane Rec. to Rest Stop 2. Oaks Park, Croydon Lane, Carshalton 13k (25k Total)

This section was pretty much all through the south London suburbs. Again, through lots of residential areas and with quite a few road crossings.

I still felt like a slowcoach as loads of people passed me, but, as before, kept an eye on my watch (I was still ahead of schedule) and just did my own thing.

The approach to the rest stop was really pleasant with quite a few spectators around clapping and encouraging the runners.

Grabbed some food, topped up the water bottle with energy drink and off I went again without wasting too much time.

During this stage the knee started to hurt, so – having eaten my food pouch and a gel and some snacks (as I did routinely during each stage) – I took a painkiller. Rather than take 2 every four hours I decided to take one every two hours, for fear of overdoing it.

The knee started to demoralise me a little bit, since I’d hoped to get to 56k without any pain (and then hope for the best from there!).

I started to get mentally fixated on it, but tried my best to put it out of my mind.

However, this quickly turned into my first (ever) ‘low’. Realising this – and that it was happening at such an early stage - only fuelled the anxiety.

I called Meg and convinced her (i.e. myself!) that I was ok, despite being in a dark place, and that I was just going to walk through it for a while.

It was also getting quite warm by this point and I was feeling the heat. I made sure to drink more fluids, regularly but in small sips, but I was feeling a bit grim.

Rest Stop 2. Oaks Park, Croydon Lane, Carshalton to Rest Stop 3. New Henshaw Farm 15k (40k Total)

After a little more running through residential areas, we were finally out into the countryside. Until now we’d been running almost completely on tarmac and pavement.

After crossing a disused railway line, we finally ran south under the M25 motorway, which felt like a small milestone. Passing this point (that I’d seen on almost every YouTube video I’d watched of the race) felt quite good.

I’d chatted briefly to quite a few people, but I was still being passed regularly (which began to irrationally bother me more).

The pain in my knee was incessant now and constantly on my mind, but I tried to concentrate on the fact that everything else was fine and kept running through my mental inventory of things to check (backpack feels good, stretch hands to stop fingers swelling, aerobically ok, feet ok, everything else ok, etc).

But I was desperate (for the first time) to get to the rest stop, use the toilet and just chill out for a while and take stock.

It was getting really hot now, but hey, first marathon almost in the bag in about 6 hours and still pretty much on schedule (I was about 10 minutes behind, looking back).

After crossing some more railway tracks the marshal informed me it was ‘only 200 yards to the rest stop up a short hill’. The hill felt like it went on forever (it didn’t!) and I was relieved to arrive as I was out of fluids and really needed the loo!

Rest Stop 3. New Henshaw Farm to Rest Stop 4 – Halfway. Tulley’s Farm 16k (56k Total)

This section – looking back – felt like a lot of country lanes.

NB: The course is steadily, continuously uphill from 20k onwards up until 56k, so everything took a little more effort.

I stuck to my plan of jogging the hills I could, hiking quickly up the ones I couldn’t and running down the other side, still trying to keep my overall pace per km consistent.

However, the road running (not my thing) started to take its toll. The heat was getting to me and it was becoming harder to force food down.

The knee was still a constant pain (literally), but mild panic about not wanting food was setting in. So I resolved not to take any more painkillers from this point on for fear of aggravating my stomach – having one issue to deal with rather than two was my rationale.

I stopped to take a photo (doing a fake smile!) next to the 50k marker and plodded on towards the ‘half way’ rest stop at Tulley’s Farm, desperate to see Meg and my parents.

Mentally I was unravelling a bit and can’t recall much of the next 6k.

I trudged into Tulley’s Farm (another fake smile for the camera!) about 10 minutes behind schedule, which should have pleased me, but it seems in retrospect (and from speaking to Meg and my parents afterwards) that I was in a little bit of a bad way.

Even seeing Meg and my parents didn’t initially help much. Not because of them, but because I was too busy feeling sorry for myself and worrying about my food intake.

I got my lanyard scanned, checked in, replenished my fluids and grabbed a hot meal (a small portion of spaghetti bolognaise).

I sat in the shade for a while talking to Meg and my parents and probably seemed (to them) in not great shape at all. I couldn’t even bear to look at the SpagBol, let alone eat it!

I repacked my stuff for the second half of the race; Meg ticking things off the checklist I’d made to ensure I didn’t forget anything; and changed my clothes.

My feet and my knee strapping felt ok, so I left both well alone and decided not to change socks. I don’t really suffer from blisters, so felt it best not to ‘disturb’ my feet at this point.

After getting changed I started to ‘come round’ a little and felt a bit better. Not great, but better than I had when I arrived.

I spent a full 30 minutes at the halfway point as planned then set off for Ardingly School, where my parents were going to meet me again.

Rest Stop 4 – Halfway. Tulley’s Farm to Rest Stop 5. Ardingly College 11k (67k Total)

The first half of this stage passed pretty uneventfully, thankfully.

I was slowing down considerably and struggling to even run down some of the steeper hills; more like a shuffling jog with gravity doing the work.

I was now hiking up most hills.

About halfway through I realised I hadn’t packed any painkillers for my knee and panic set in again.

I didn’t need them, I just became fixated on not having them if I needed them.

I texted my parents, told them and asked if they’d be at the next rest stop – they confirmed they would be.

The hill from Ardingly Reservoir up into the town / village felt brutally steep and relentless (again, all road) and my stomach was reeling. I was subsisting on Twiglets, crisps and energy drink, which I knew wasn’t enough, but it was all I could stomach.

I had to stop at the top to take a moment and had a random encounter with a lovely lady and her husband. She asked me how far I was running and what for and was very kind and encouraging. Her husband (I presumed) mentioned how hot it was now. I probably looked a little desperate and it was nice to take a moment and have some human interaction.

Weirdly, I was convinced I knew her – both by sight and her voice – but thought that was just me going a bit doolally.

As I waddled off it bugged me for ages how familiar she was.

When I finally stopped thinking about it I realised she was Joanna Scanlon from the TV show The Thick of It! How random!

I finally arrived at Ardingly Public School and ran through the cricket pitches down to the marquee / rest stop in the distance to meet my parents with my painkillers (just in case).

I’d also realised I needed my charger pack as my phone and watch were running out of charge.

I was now exhausted, getting further behind schedule and feeling pretty ill. I decided I’d stay longer than planned here to have a rest and recharge my devices.

At each rest stop I began to notice the medics were dealing with increasing numbers of ‘casualties’ with varying issues, some just mentally in a bad way and needing encouragement.

Rest Stop 5. Ardingly College to Rest Stop 6. Wivelsfield Primary School 13k (80k Total)

Had a slight mishap at Ardingly, in that my parents were at the exit from the rest stop whilst I was waiting for them at the entrance, so a little time was wasted (aka an excuse for a rest!) but once resolved, and with my battery pack to charge my phone and watch and emergency painkillers (just in case) I was on my way again.

This leg of the race was notable for two things: a swamp through the woods…and puking.

The path through the woods was basically ‘unrunnable’ (is that a word?). It was impossible to even walk through. It required hopping or jumping carefully from slightly less waterlogged patch to slightly less underwater patch. Anything else would result in a lost trainer or at best ankle high, over-the-top-of-the-running-shoe mud (and I didn’t fancy that with 30k to go).

Holding on to trees on the side of the trail and swinging out and round over the mud to the next dry patch became my method of choice.

Unbelievably, up until this point, I was still on course for my predicted ~16 hour finish.

The mud was the beginning of the end of that goal.

I later found out the course was re-routed before nightfall due to safety concerns, but it was too late for me.

So after making my way through a couple of kilometres of uphill swamp and onto drier woodland trails I stopped due to feeling sick. So I just let myself be sick. And I was sick. A lot!

Feeling better I trotted on towards Wivelsfield School where Meg and my parents were waiting to meet me.

Running up the hill through the final field before the school I looked down to check my watch, which was charging while strapped onto my backpack – my timing lanyard was gone!

I stopped dead and let out some panicked expletives loud enough for the lad 50 metres in front of me to hear. He asked what was wrong and I told him I’d lost my timing lanyard. He looked like he was having issues of his own and didn’t seem too interested in mine (which was completely fair enough!).

After more swearing I realised I’d tucked it in between my race t-shirt and my base-layer, so that when I was being sick earlier I didn’t puke all over it! Panic over.

That said, I was losing time and slowing down constantly now; subsisting on Twiglets, sweets, Lucozade Sport tablets and plain water (my puke earlier tasted of, and generally consisted of, energy drink, so I literally couldn’t stomach any more of that).

Rest Stop 6. Wivelsfield Primary School to Rest Stop 7. Plumptons College 8k (88k Total)

With 12k to go I topped up on water and snacks, did some more puking, put on my head torch and said goodbye to Meg and my parents until the end.

Just 12 more kilometres to go…the hardest 12km…including ‘that hill’, Ditchling Beacon, which could be seen in the distance beyond the next rest stop.

I can remember very little of this leg, other than it was now pitch dark.

The only things I can remember were a few hallucinations, quite mild at this point. I noticed a chap sat on the ground kneeling up against a wall with his head on his knees. I stopped and doubled back to see if he was ok, but he was a plant growing up the wall!

I later thought I saw a guy wearing a hi-viz vest moving about up ahead, which meant I was at the rest stop quicker than expected, but he turned out to be a glow stick attached to a branch blowing about in the wind. A bloody mirage…at night time!

I also ran past StickMan from the Julia Donaldson children’s books, who was helpfully holding a glow stick course marker. I had to double back to check it wasn’t him, but he still definitely looked like StickMan! We stared at each other for a bit, then I laughed out loud, said ‘bye’ and carried on!

So yeah, that sort of stuff. I was running on fumes now, but it was mildly entertaining!

Also, other than about 4 other runners, I basically spent the last 20km on my own. I barely saw another living soul apart from at the check points.

Rest Stop 7. Plumptons College to Rest Stop 8 – [Water Stop Only] Park Street 6k (94k Total)

When I arrived at Plumptons College, I took my running poles out of my bag, chatted briefly to the marshals / rest stop crew and set off up Ditchling Beacon.

It went on. And up. And on. And up, seemingly forever. The green glow sticks marking the course just seemed to get ever higher into the sky.

When I got to the top I was ruined, but told myself, “that’s it; that’s the last hard part done! It’s just a case of bringing it home now!”

Wrong.

The descent from Ditchling was rubbly and hard to run in the dark, even letting gravity do the work. I scuffed and hobbled my way down, kicking large stones as I went, carefully trying to avoid twisting my ankle with so little distance left to travel.

I later found myself crossing endless fields and tripping out slightly as the grass and plants either side of the track leaned in towards me before I passed. I stopped and crouched down to see if they really were doing that, but they weren’t.

It was on this leg that I crossed my final stile.

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that there must have been somewhere in the region of 40 stiles / gates to negotiate on the 100k route, but I could be wrong.

Then there was another hill and a long, long road downhill to the last rest stop and I found myself closing my eyes occasionally and swerving about on the road in the darkness.

I felt like I was running slower than I usually walk at this point…and I probably was.

6k to go.

Rest Stop 8 - Park Street to Finish. Brighton Racecourse 6k (100k Total)

I sat down at the water stop and chatted to the marshals as I packed away my running poles. They informed me there was ‘only one small hill left’ so I wouldn’t need them.

Lie!

After running down to what felt like sea level, I passed over the road into Brighton and – if I recall correctly – up and over a railway footbridge and into a housing estate.

The glow sticks and course markings then directed me into a thin alleyway / path about one metre across…all uphill, sometimes with steps.

It felt like it went on forever and I continued uphill and into some fields, on my own, in the pitch dark, trudging onwards like a zombie.

On and on it went until, when I turned ‘round, I could see all the lights of Brighton below me again.

And then I was at the entrance to Brighton racecourse – I could see the bright lights of the grandstand below me.

The moment I began running around the perimeter of the race track – and after being on my own for HOURS – a guy appeared, out of nowhere, behind me! Bizarre! We exchanged a few words and I asked him if he was going to run it in to the finish line. “F*** that!”, he replied. So I informed I was going to and set off for the finish.

Horse racing tracks are long! And the grass is long!

This was the moment I’d imagined on every training run for the last 7 months and I was elated and overwhelmed at the same time.

I nearly tripped up as I approached the finish line, but didn’t, and somehow remembered to turn my headtorch off so it wouldn’t ruin any photos!

The finish line at the that time of night (morning?!) was deserted apart from a few marshals, Meg and my parents, but I could hear them cheering as I approached. Incredible!

I crossed the line, collected my medal, t-shirt and a glass of bubbly (downed it) and hugged everyone.

I’d done it!

I got a bit emotional at the end and nearly cracked completely, but somehow held it together for a few photos.

We didn’t hang around too long as it was cold and everyone was tired.

I freaked Meg out a couple of times on the drive back to the hotel by hallucinating that I could see things in the road that weren’t really there, and I was shivering uncontrollably (which indicated I’d probably got mild heat stroke). After a shower back at the hotel I was asleep in seconds.

Thanks:

Massive incredible thanks to Meg for her support, travelling from rest stop to rest stop and putting up with all the hours of training; my parents (and Pam, foster sister) for spending all day out on the course travelling from rest stop to rest stop; to Jess Keeble for her invaluable advice; my training partner these last few months, Wojtek Majka, without whom I’d’ve probably got a bit lazy and not trained as hard (he has to run this race next year though!); to everyone who sent me messages on the way round to just keep going; and to everyone who supported me, sponsored me and donated to Macmillan Cancer Support – I couldn’t have done it without any of you.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this. 

If you can spare even a small donation to this terrific cause it’d be much appreciated.

Chris

A bit about Macmillan and the amazing work they do:

Macmillan Cancer Support is here to help everyone with cancer live life as fully as they can, providing physical, financial and emotional support. So whatever cancer throws your way, we’re right right there with you. Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs.