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| Jolly Jade from the Women's Team, plus (from left) Stuart and Euan |
Day 105
It was too damn hot to set the world on fire with my 10km cross country times at the adidas 24-Hour Thunder Run. As participants on the Men's Running and Women's Running magazine teams, Lisa and I had motivational and media duties to perform, as well as athletic. We set up camp on our arrival at about 10am. I found my dual role a little stressful. The lack of shade, and not knowing whether to be chummiest with the women or the men, sapped my energy.
My place on the men's team was a challenge. I so did not want to be the slowest. Fortunately I wasn't. A couple of the blokes were slower than me, but even so, I could not get my lap times below 52mins. I did my first run at 1.30pm, when the heat was searing. At 4.30pm it was a little better. Undubtedly the worst lap of this gnarly, hill, tree rooty course, for me, was in the dead of night, when I could not cope with my poor night vision – blame old age and rubbish head torch. A bit spent by the end of the third, slower lap. By 12.30am I'd run three laps of the course, two at 52mins and one in 59 mins. Slow, I know, but is cross country.
The TR24 goes from strength to strength, a huge running festival just outside Tamworth in rural Staffs. It was brilliant to hear that this year's event sold out on 28 minutes. It is incredibly popular. The crowds around the concession tents and big refreshment/results marquee were noticeably more plentiful than I remember from 2011. After my third lap, I repaired to my tiny tent to eat popcorn, drink cappuccino and worry about heatstroke. It rained.
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