Report
112.4km. Anti-clockwise. HOT.
I set out yesterday to attempt the female self-supported FKT around the Isle of Wight. It still needs to be submitted and verified, but I finished in 15:52, so I think it’s mine, beating the previous record of 17:21.
I've had this idea in my head for a good few months, once I got back to longer runs and wanting a challenge with no specific date or much travel. The plan was to do it in September but last week I realised I was getting a bit sick of thinking about it, training for it and planning it. And with kids, sometimes life doesn't give you the perfect day to do something, you just have to look at the opportunity you've got and go for it. The flip side was that the opportunity happened to be on a day that was rather warm (understatement)!
And I was intrigued to see how I'd cope having spent the last couple of months unavoidably training in the heat and wanted to find out whether I'd actually learnt how to manage it when it mattered. That part went pretty well. I kept my heart rate below 150 throughout (watch alert was great) and was absolutely ruthless about cooling myself down: head under taps, water over me, stopping to cool down when I needed to. And I stayed disciplined to not rush that when you feel the inevitable pressure to keep running. I knew managing the heat was probably what would determine whether I finished.
It was also the most organised I've ever been for a run. I'd properly planned my fuel, hydration and electrolytes and had a very clear strategy that I'd worked through with Matt beforehand. Huge kudos to him for everything he's taught me through the times I've crewed for him- seeing first-hand how important the boring stuff is when you're running ridiculous distances. All the prep meant my mission yesterday was to just execute the plan, and on the whole it worked! Info on how I split the route up and when I got water/ coke/ other is in the images.
I felt good until around 70km, when getting enough fuel in started becoming a real struggle. As anyone who's done these sorts of distances knows, you can get away with that for a while... until suddenly you really can't. Around 80–90km was properly grim. I had a real energy dip but forced a gel down, hoped it stayed down, and for the final 10k adrenaline kicked in and I was so excited to see Becky and Susie and Eloise at the end.
There were also some excellent moments of complete ultrarunning ridiculousness. It was busy out so I shamelessly pushed to the front of every queue by announcing, "I'm trying to run around the Isle of Wight, can I go to the front?" People were confused. At one point I spotted a woman coming home from work and noticed she had an outdoor tap. I knocked on her door and asked if I could put my head under it. She looked very puzzled, said yes, and then immediately closed the door on me. Probably sensible. Later, when I was at my lowest, I was on the phone to Ian as I passed a pub. He told me to go in and get Coke and crisps. So I did. In hindsight I looked full deranged by that point, but a guy at the bar took pity on me and ended up buying my drink for me. So there we go. Even when I'm a sweaty, stinky, half-dead runner, apparently I can still get a drink bought for me. 😂
But honestly, the biggest reason I got round was my virtual crew via a whatsapp grou. I had Ian, Matt, Pete, Susie and Becky sending voice notes throughout the day. I'd given them notes beforehand about what I needed reminding of at different stages: when to slow down, when to eat, when I was likely to struggle and when I needed a kick up the arse. Their families got involved. And a total highlight were the actual raps they wrote and performed over voicenote. It was absolutely brilliant and kept me going when my own brain was becoming increasingly unhelpful.
And a huge shout-out to Susie. Anyone trying to fit running, life and kids together knows that you need a village. I absolutely felt like I had one yesterday. She slept over the night before because Aaron and Eloise were away, took Amelia to nursery so I could leave early, sorted everything, and then brought Eloise to the finish. Having Eloise there when I finished was incredibly special. She thinks I’m mental and never wants to run, and I am really quite proud of her for knowing her own mind! But hopefully it will have inspired her to do hard things when she is older.
I still don't completely know why I wanted to do this. It felt like an achievable goal, I got it into my head, and then I couldn't let it go. I'm very glad I finally did it.
Would I rave about the Isle of Wight Coastal Path as a running route? Probably not. 😂 There are some absolutely beautiful sections, but there are also a lot of diversions, roads, houses and fairly dull bits, and much more road running than I'm used to. I love a trail. But that's probably good for me too. Different challenges lead to different skills.
And now, after months of thinking about it, it’s done. ❤️🏃♀️🌊
Hmm… what next??