The joys of fulfilling a promise...

Yesterday I started an ultra with an amazing canine athlete and training partner.

Yesterday I finished an ultra in awe of what is achievable when human and dog are connected.

He protected me on the treacherous terrain, saving me on numerous occasions from falling down.  He kept me going when I wanted to quit.  He stuck by my side on the very dangerous descents and he followed the correct path when I missed the signs….

He did most of this without me asking, he just knew what he needed to do.  My little guardian angel in so many ways…

Endurance Life Ultra, Dorset 8^th December was the event that I chose to run with Kez.  It was his reward for his help in me achieving my 5k dream.  He loves to run and loves to spend time with me, away from the pack.  As I huffed and puffed in the last mile of my 15:48 5k I had made a promise to him that we would run this event together.

Ian had warned me about the terrain and tried to advise me that running this event with a dog was not a good idea.  I had chosen to ignore him, but upon reflection, I totally agree with him!

Hills like this..

Upon arriving at the event it was really good to see familiar faces, especially Kirsty, Sam and Michelle.  Kirsty and Sam went on to have very good runs in the ultra and Michelle had a very inspirational run in the 10k.  One of the highlights of my day was seeing Michelle after the run.  She was so happy and glowing, even though she was freezing.  She is a star and an inspiration to all that know her. 

It was good getting pre-race feedback from Dave concerning our little lady husky and my blog/ facebook stories relating to her…. Thanks Dave!

The ultra-distance route officially consisted of a 10k lap, followed by a 32k lap and then the same 10k lap again.  According to Garmin, those distances were not quite accurate nor were the distances between checkpoint location….  All events (there was also a 10k, ½ marathon and marathon on the same day) started and finished in Lulworth Cove car park.  The course made use of the South West Coastal Path and some inland footpaths.  I knew after the first 10k lap that Kez and I would not run it again and I just hoped that the distance that we would cover on the larger lap would give me the ultra that I promised Kez, it only had to be longer than 26.2 miles…

Kez tries to work out how far it is to Lapland...

Today was all about Kez and I having fun together.  If I want to race an event further than 5k, I do not run with a dog.  I lose too much time – yesterday you could easily add a cumulative time of more than one hour, all related to running with a dog.  Running downhill is slower; we stay at watering stations for long periods of time; detours to ponds of water or streams; negotiating stiles; impromptu mouse hunting sessions; photograph and chit chat sessions; talking to husky admirers; etc…  However, I wouldn’t have it any other way as it is such a pleasure to share this time and experience with my daily training partner.

Not sure what Kez thinks of the view

Today was also about trialling my Rehband ankle support http://www.rehbandsport.co.uk/p/48/ankle-receptor and my Salomon XT Slab5 http://www.salomon.com/uk/product/xt-s-lab-5.html   It was our first ever run together….

Kez started the run very enthusiastically, but soon got frustrated at my lack of pace on the first ascent, plus all the runners on the trail.  We soon ended up running in the long grass, which I think we actually both preferred anyway!  The terrain on the first lap was mostly runnable with the exception of some very steep ascents, where walking was required.  At the first checkpoint five minutes was spent faffing around to remove Kez’s water bowl from my rucksack and then get him to drink some.  I had assumed that there would be cups on the water stations, thus the reason for his bowl not instantly being at hand.

In fact I had prepared for Kez’s run rather well, or rather thought that I had.  Due to the copious amounts of sausages that he consumed during our last ultra, I had cooked a large quantity of very special sausages all safely packed in my rucksack.  Every time I stopped to unwrap and offer him one, he refused.  I kept on trying, he kept on refusing.  Finally accepting that he was not going to eat anything, I started un-wrapping my own special Cadbury Boost bar…  Suddenly, ears pricked up, head turned round and then he stopped.  I tried to get him to keep moving forward, but he was having none of it. I painstakingly removed the chocolate and toffee sections and offered him my favourite bit, the middle biscuit section.  And yes, he was more than happy to eat all of it….  I had to make do with the chocolate and toffee…. 

"Follow me, I will help you..."

It was early on in the second lap that we encountered our first set of downhill steps.  Narrow and steep, they headed downwards at an alarming angle.  I suddenly felt very scared and stopped, fearing that I could not safely negotiate them.  Since I fell on the Irish Mountain and broke my elbow, I have become rather nervous of heights.  I had hoped that by attempting this event would help this fear – face it head on so to speak…. 

Looking back at "the steps"

So here I am at the top, scared and getting ready to turn around and go home.  Then the most amazing thing happened.  Sensing my fear, Kez reversed up the steps (he had wandered down a couple when I stopped) and stood beside me.  As he turned his head towards me I could sense what he was asking me to do.  As I edged down the steps he stuck to my side and placed his front paws on each step next to my tentatively placed feet.  I ignored my surroundings by concentrated on him, speaking to him and asking him to “stay close”.  He did not need to be asked as he was doing it by choice, but it felt reassuring to speak to him and to praise him for being such a good boy.Safely at the bottom, I was so much in awe of my little running buddy that I missed the right hand turn…. Thankfully once again Kez saved the day by suddenly stopping and turning around…  Whether he was following a scent or sight, I do not know, but he realised that the almost hidden path was the one that we should follow!

Tip toeing down a steep hill

Any steps or very steep descents that we encountered for the rest of the day were negotiated with the same tactic.  He stayed by my side, alert to my every footstep stopping instantly if I lost my footing or just needed to compose myself.  His behaviour on the down hills that were runnable was also very interesting…..  My preference is to run slowly as I can be a “scaredy cat” running downhill, always fearful of my ankle.  Kez refused to accept this and insists that I am capable of running faster than I believe – he has yet to be proven wrong.

Waiting for me to catch my breath..

On the steep ascents I would hesitate, thinking very negative thoughts and starting to believe that Ian is right about flat tarmac runs….  As I hesitated, Kez surged forward and chose the route for us to follow.  Frequently he took us away from the well-worn path.  The path was gravel and loose stones in places and I saw several other runners struggling to negotiate it.  A couple of times when I stumbled or lost secure footing, Kez surged forward to keep the line between us taught, saving me from falling.  He did this all automatically, without me having to say a word.

Paddling in the water grass...

After climbing a particularly steep hill, Kez became distracted and kept veering over to the right hand side of the wide grass track that were on, ignoring the flock of sheep on the left hand side….  I followed him to discover puddles hidden in the long grass, which he spent some time splashing around in, cooling his feet.  I walked slowly alongside allowing him to relax and have fun.  I can only imagine how stressful that it must be taking care of me during a run like this today!  Once the puddles ended he remained on the right hand side, very alert and suddenly he pounced in spectacular style.  He had found mouse village, even I saw several little mice dashing around in the long grass.  I let him be a proper husky for a little while……

"Really? You want to run on this..?"

Mice hunting over, we resumed running only to discover my hopes from earlier were about happen - a long stretch of flat tarmac.  Long was probably less than one mile, but I instantly regretted my wishful thoughts of earlier…

Thankfully we were soon back on softer ground and heading home.  Kez started picking up the pace and I fed off his enthusiasm and started running quicker as well.  We chatted to several other runners as we trotted along, enjoying the day.  The views were outstanding, the weather fabulous, although Kez would have preferred a few degrees colder.

Kez had gotten rather muddy throughout the run so when we spotted a nice water feature at the bottom of hill I thought that it would be a good idea to “help” him into the deep end.  Much to the delight of a group of walkers who happened to be watching, Kez realised my intentions… He “cat leapt” about 6’ into the air, and landed safely on the other side of the water, whereas I nearly ended up swimming!!

Mouse village is just over there..

I have not spoken much about the very muddy section, mostly because I have nothing nice to say about it….  I did stay upright, but I did swear and I very nearly threw a temper tantrum at one point!  Think thick mud soup on very narrow path for many, many miles and you will hopefully understand….

At the final checkpoint we met Rex (Sam’s dad) and it was really nice to see a familiar face.  I think that I might need to explain Rex that Kez is a very different dog when “working” rather than socialising….  Don’t worry Rex, he will resume normal service at the next parkrun that we see you at…

We also ran for a long section with Tim, who lives in London, originally from South Africa and designs computer games for a living!  I hope that he managed to visit Corfe Castle today.

Kez and I managed our normal speedy finish, flying past runners in the past few miles, glad to actually able to run and not have to walk or crawl.  We are ultra-runners, not ultra-walkers.  I accept that I will walk for some sections of a run beyond 62 miles, but I find it really hard to manage the enforced walking that an event like yesterday presented to me.

When we finally stopped, according to my Garmin we had covered 29.14 miles.  That constitutes an ultra, therefore it was not necessary to run around the car park to fulfil my promise to Kez….

One of the bits where we could run..

Finishing alongside Tamsyn and Maria who had been running the 1/2 (yeah right, I think it was a little bit longer than 13 miles...) and seeing the rest of the Lordshill team made the finish even more enjoyable.

The run was also a great success for my Salomon shoes and my Rehband ankle support.  The recent ankle injury was well protected throughout the run.  I experienced minimal post run pain and not much worse than what I normally experience with this ankle.  The shoes coped with everything apart from the mud soup and I don’t think many shoes would have coped with that!  I have definitely found myself some more training and racing partners J