Postcards from a tired man

Not really quite sure why I came to enter this race but I do remember where. It was whilst sat on a rocky outcrop, clinging onto a 3G signal, about 200m above Torside reservoir whilst taking a break from one of my regular weekend running routes. It was the first day that entries opened, and I didn't want to miss out on a place. Simple as that. Bit of an impulse purchase in fact.  With no great plan or ambition, I felt quite comfortable completely forgetting about it until a month or two before which I duly did. I would almost certainly be ill, under trained or lacking in mojo in some combination or other in the lead up to the race anyway, so put off worrying about it for as long as possible. As I live in Glossop but work in Birmingham personal logistics are always a bit of a challenge, and I knew that getting down to Richmond ready to go on Saturday would need planning. As I enjoy planning much more than running I spent all of Sunday...

Postcards from a canal: The 2015 Grand Union Canal Race The Grand Union Canal Race is a 145 mile foot race from Gas Street Basin in Birmingham to Little Venice in London. It’s harder than Tough Mudder. Sunday 24th May, sometime near midnight Like distance doesn't equal rate and time no more -“The sweet part of the city”, The Hold Steady We are somewhere approaching Little Venice and everything is fcuked. The defining characteristics of how I usually gauge reality are letting me down: time, distance, place - nothing is stacking up. I'm not quite hallucinating but everything is fuzzy and indistinct. I'm desperate to look at my Garmin but I hold out, certain that my restraint will reward me. I decide that I will look once we reach whatever shape it is I can see up ahead: it must be at least 0.2 miles away I think. An eternity of strides are taken, slothful, resentful and imprecise. Rob nudges me away from the edge of the canal once again. Whatever ...

T184 is a new event on the ultra calendar that took place for the first time this year. It is a 184 mile foot race from the Thames Barrier in Woolwich to the stone marking the source of the river at Kemble. Unlike other ultras this race is completely self supported meaning that competitors need to carry everything that they require to complete the race ,including food and overnight kit. Water is the only thing that is provided at checkpoints. The race has an 80 hour time limit with intermediate time cut offs. I like to have an A race for the year and once I found out that I had been unsuccessful in the UTMB ballot, T184 quickly became it. I was challenged by the distance and intrigued by the self supported dimension, and the additional rigour that would require.It had all the ingredients for a bit of an epic and I began to quietly obsess about it as I usually do when I get the bit between my teeth. I joined the T184 Facebook group, and ramped my training into gear...