Race Recap: Tyne Bridges to Boundaries Ultra

An all-day adventure!

I was up at 4:20am for this one (couldn’t sleep) and was parked at the race start soon after 6am, mainly because I was more nervous about getting a parking space than about the run itself. I’m glad I went so early because it meant I had an hour or two in the car to decompress with a magazine.

Tyne Bridges to Boundaries Ultra
Milling about at the start. Photo from Greener Miles Running Facebook page.

I got myself set up and warmed up and found my friend Ed at the start, and soon we were off along the banks of the Tyne. It was fairly busy for the first few miles of the run, and it mostly seemed to be locals – lots of people using it as a training run for The Wall ultra in the summer. The first few miles ticked along fairly quickly, and I was glad I knew this bit of the route from doing my recces during the last couple of months of marathon training. It didn’t feel like long before we reached the first checkpoint at Wylam, 11 miles in (though the race guide had listed this as 8 miles in – there were quite a few last-minute route changes!).

Tyne Bridges to Boundaries Ultra
Setting off! Photo from Greener Miles Running Facebook page.
Tyne Bridges to Boundaries Ultra
Crossing the Scotswood Bridge… only to recross it on the other side almost immediately! Photo from Greener Miles Running Facebook page.
Tyne Bridges to Boundaries Ultra
The bridge just past checkpoint 1 at Wylam.

The next section felt a bit lonelier as people started to spread out, and Ed and I started taking the odd walk break as the route became trailier. I hadn’t done this bit in training, which meant that it felt longer as I didn’t really know where I was. The race guide was slightly off in distance again for the halfway checkpoint at Stocksfield – advertised as 16 miles but it was 17.5 miles in. It felt like it took a while to get there! I was really grateful for the banana and cola on arrival, but we made sure to get going again quickly.

Tyne Bridges to Boundaries Ultra
Halfway checkpoint selfie.

More wooded trail sections awaited us on the south side of the river for the next stretch, including a few muddy paths that were fairly unrunnable! Again, I didn’t know this section at all and had now adjusted my mental schedule so that the checkpoints were approximately a mile behind their advertised position and the total distance was 33 miles rather than the advertised 32. In addition to the checkpoints (where we had our ‘brevet cards’ stamped) there were also pieces of information we had to find along the route and note down. By this point these were about a mile behind schedule too. At the end of this section, we briefly crossed back to the north side of the river to visit the Wylam checkpoint a second time at 23 miles in.

Tyne Bridges to Boundaries Ultra
You can’t run this bit! Photo from Ed.
Tyne Bridges to Boundaries Ultra
Still smiling at 23 miles!
Tyne Bridges to Boundaries Ultra
Emerging from checkpoint 3. Photo from Andy.

I knew that the east end of the Ryton golf course marked 9 miles to go, as I had recced that section on an out-and-back 18-miler a couple of weeks previously. It seemed like it took a long time to get there (the golf course is massive!) and by the time we did, it was clear that the total distance was going to be about 34 miles. I found this a bit of a challenge as I had mentally prepared for 32 – and you wouldn’t think 2 miles would make much of a difference for an ultra, but it really does in the mind. I just started counting down the miles instead of counting up, and I really appreciated having scoped out this bit of the course as I knew exactly how far it was back to the Quayside.

Ed and I did a lot of walking in the last few miles as it was getting very tiring! We picked it up again in the last couple of miles as we were approaching the Quayside bridges and knew we didn’t have far to go. Geth was waiting for us at the finish and filmed us as we came in – 34.2 miles, just over 8 hours. It had been a very long day but a good adventure, and I’m so proud that I did it and can call myself an ultra runner.

Tyne Bridges to Boundaries Ultra
The final few yards! Screenshot from video by Geth.
Tyne Bridges to Boundaries Ultra
Finished! Screenshot from video by Geth.

While there were some very hard parts of the run, I know from experience never to say never again when it comes to running, and I expect I will do more ultras (and probably repeat this one next year!). However, there are a few things I’ll know for next time:

  • Ultra distances are not necessarily as advertised! In future, I’ll be mentally prepared to do a few more miles than expected.
  • I need to add walk breaks in from the start so that my overall pace can be a bit steadier. We weren’t deathmarching in the final sections – we were still doing a good walking pace – but I would have liked my run/walk splits to be a bit more even.
  • Next time, I’ll train specifically for the distance. I’ve been training for Manchester Marathon (my spring A race) and thought that adding in an extra weekly medium long run of 10 miles in addition to my weekly long run and other sessions would be enough for the ultra, especially as I’d got up to 20 miles on the long run and everyone says you don’t need to do anywhere near the actual race distance when training for an ultra. However, the extra miles felt like a lot (especially when it transpired during the run that the extra 12 were an extra 14!) and I think I would prefer to have at least run a recent marathon before tackling this distance again.

Geth asked me the minute I finished the race whether I’d do it next year. I gave a lot of ‘ifs’ similar to the above list, but I didn’t say no, so I think the likelihood is that I will.

In the meantime, though, I’ll be glad to be able to give Manchester my full attention for the next four weeks! I managed a marathon PB within the ultra (my existing marathon PB is 6:26:47 from London 2021, and I hit marathon distance in under 6 hours yesterday) but I have much bigger plans for that PB as my training has been so good lately. Fingers crossed.

The last first

After I started running in June 2015, my first attempts at race distances arrived pretty quickly, as I think they do for most people:

  • First 5k: Great North 5k, September 2015
  • First 10k: Sunderland 10k, May 2016
  • First half marathon: Great North Run, September 2016
  • First marathon: London Marathon, April 2019

I’ve done a few other random race distances too: 10 mile, 5.8 mile, 25k. But it’s the standard distances that feel properly like ‘firsts’, and tomorrow I have another:

  • First ultra: Tyne Bridges to Boundaries Ultra, March 2024

An ultra isn’t a standard distance, of course. This one is advertised as 32 miles (51.5 km), but it could measure a bit more or less than that depending on GPS and whether I get lost. (I shouldn’t get lost. It’s meant to be very beginner-friendly.)

But it does feel like the last ‘first’. Maybe I’ll be mad enough to do longer ultras in the future (there are certainly a few on my bucket list), but I don’t think I’ll have this feeling again.

Anyway, thinking about all of this is helping to distract from the fact that I’ve spent the whole week swinging back and forth between ‘terrified’ and ‘sort of excited’. I know it’ll be a tough challenge, but it’s a generous cutoff (10 hours; I expect some people will walk the whole thing) and I ran a strong 20-miler last week so I don’t have any worries about finishing, barring disaster. As tends to be the case with races these days, I’m far more worried about the logistics than the run itself. I just want to get going so I can stop overthinking things!

I’ll also be quite glad to get back to my regularly scheduled marathon training once the ultra is done. Just over four weeks to Manchester (my A race for this spring) and feeling strong.

parkrundays: Town Moor #613 and Blyth Links #175

Catching up with the last couple of weeks.

A week and a half ago I went to a very muddy Town Moor for my 200th overall parkrun and 100th Town Moor parkrun. Sadly the course PB streak came to an end, but I was only two seconds slower than my previous attempt at Town Moor a fortnight previously, which I think is pretty consistent! It was all about my double milestone that day, and about some quiet reflection.

This last weekend I went to Blyth Links for the first time! It’s always nice to try a new parkrun, and I intend to do so a lot more often this year. It was a very windy day, but the Blyth Links course is very flat and fast, and so I managed a big overall PB despite the wind – 24:05. Geth and I are planning to return in the summer to see if we can do it faster in better weather!

No parkrun this weekend as I’ve got a Saturday race (more details in the next blog). It should be the only parkrun I miss this year assuming I don’t get scuppered by weather, illness or any other unexpected events!

parkrundays: Town Moor #611 and Rising Sun #317

Catching up with the last couple of weeks…

I didn’t think I’d manage to keep the course PB streak going at Town Moor a week and a half ago, as I’d done an 18-miler on the Thursday and I was still feeling it in my legs. But somehow I pulled it out of the bag again! 24:25 – not just a course PB but also an all-time PB. Lovely to share the PB celebrations with my friend Clare as well, who hit sub-26 for the first time.

Town Moor parkrun
Ringing the PB bell! Photo by Clare at TMBR.

I then went to Rising Sun this last Saturday. They have developed an impressive muddy puddle along the path on mile two and appear to be quite proud of it! Trail shoes pretty much obligatory at this event during the winter, but despite the puddles, I managed course PB number 13 in a row, taking 44 seconds off my time from four weeks previously – 25:18.

Rising Sun parkrun
Puddle splashing! Photo from Rising Sun parkrun Facebook page.

I will be celebrating a double milestone at Town Moor this weekend – 200th parkrun overall, 100th Town Moor parkrun – and dedicating it to someone we lost over on FetchEveryone this week, who was always hugely supportive and encouraging during my bad days with my spondylitis.

I might run a 14th course PB in a row and I might not – but, whatever happens, I will be deliberately breaking the streak the following week by going to a parkrun I’ve not done before (you don’t get a PB in the results if it’s your first time at an event), because maintaining it every week is starting to get a bit stressful – especially now I’m into the sharp end of marathon training. Looking forward to a bit of touring 🙂

Race Recap: Valentine Half Marathon 2024

Roughly this time last year, I had an absolute nightmare race at the Winter Warmer Half Marathon on the Town Moor. It was the last in a series of absolute nightmare races that led me back to the local hospital to request a different treatment for my 2022-diagnosed ankylosing spondylitis, and so I had demons to slay on the Moor. However, I didn’t want to run the Winter Warmer itself this year – it’s a Saturday race and I’m working towards a numerical parkrun nicety that means I can’t miss parkrun until March – so I instead opted for the Run Nation Valentine event, which takes place on the Sunday closest to Valentine’s Day.

I’ve done lapped events held by many different race companies on the Moor (as well as both the old and new courses of Town Moor parkrun, obviously) and it never fails to amuse me how many different routes can be invented to run exactly 5k on the Moor! Half marathons are always four laps plus a weird extra bit. Today’s route was similar to the old pre-COVID parkrun course, but not identical.

Having greeted the friends doing the event (plus the Benchies who came to wish us good luck at the start towards the end of their Sunday run), then shivered on the start line for a while during the ten-minute delay, we were off. I started at roughly nine-minute mile pace, which felt comfortable-ish; I decided to hold it for as long as possible, but expected I would slow by the second half if not before. I knew sub-2 was a possibility (my existing PB was 2:14:52, set at the GNR last September, but I’ve improved a lot in the intervening five months), but would have been happy with a PB of any stripe given that today wasn’t an A race.

Most of my mile splits ended up about 8:50ish. I felt strong, but for some reason couldn’t face fuel or water and so didn’t eat or drink for the whole race (this is something that I think is specific to long distances at race pace, and so I really need to solve it before the marathon itself). I only really started to slow in the last three or four miles, and not by much, going down to about 9:20 minute miles. 11 miles in, I finally allowed myself to do the maths. Sub-2 was on… if I stayed strong, and if (big if!) my watch wasn’t measuring the course too short.

I rallied in mile 12 for a 9 minute mile split, giving me 11 and a half minutes to finish the final 1 point something miles. I still had no idea how big the ‘something’ was going to be by my watch, so I didn’t know how close it was going to be! I pushed hard again for mile 13, but the split came in at 9:20 again, and though I could see the finish line, it still looked a very long way away… so I had to give it everything I had left for the last few hundred yards, still not sure if I was going to be able to hit that magic number. Geth was waiting near the finish and ran in with me, but I hardly knew where I was at that point.

I finished in 1:59:31. I am a sub-2 half marathoner. There were so many years when I thought this would NEVER happen, and it hasn’t really sunk in yet.

I am so happy today.

parkrundays: Leazes #142 and Jesmond Dene #145

Catchup of last weekend and this weekend! No photos as I keep forgetting.

I said last time that I really didn’t expect to continue with the course PBs last weekend at Leazes. I’d already run my second fastest ever parkrun there a fortnight previously, and I was really starting to feel the Thursday long runs from marathon training in my legs, so I was sure the streak was over. But I was wrong – and somehow I managed another big all-time PB! 24:32 – 39 seconds off my 25:11 at Town Moor in early January. The course PB streak survives… 11 and counting now. We’ll see what happens next weekend.

Yesterday, though, I took a break from the running and volunteered at Jesmond Dene instead. Timekeeping for the first time in ages, which was nice – and thankfully the rain held off, unlike during the rest of this weekend!

Back to Town Moor next week.

parkrunday: Rising Sun #313

The course PBs continue 🙂 My previous best at Rising Sun was 32:35 last July so I was fairly hopeful due to the way things have been going recently.

Rising Sun parkrun
It was a muddy one so I wore my trail shoes – which meant it was a trail shoes PB too! Photo from Rising Sun parkrun Facebook page.

I started at the front with the fast laddies, which felt scary at the time but meant I avoided the usual bottleneck (it’s a wide start that quickly narrows). As has been the case for most parkruns recently, it turned into a bit of a progression run – I need to be brave enough to start faster. Or possibly do more of a warmup.

I finished in 26:02 – six and a half minutes off the course PB, which is not bad!

That’s 10 course PBs in a row! But the streak is absolutely not guaranteed to continue, as I’m back at Leazes this weekend. I was only there a week and a half ago and already did a fairly blistering time (for me), so we’ll have to see. I will give it a good go though.

parkrundays: Town Moor #606, Jesmond Dene #141 and Leazes #140

Catching up with the last few parkrundays!

6th January saw me back at Town Moor, this time in shorts and fast shoes with my serious face on (the theme for this month’s parkruns). This was a successful strategy and helped me take over a minute off December’s all-time PB! New all-time PB 25:11.

Back to Jesmond Dene for the first time in a couple of months on 13th January. Pleased to take more than a minute off my course PB here as well – 27:26.

parkrun
Photo from Jesmond Dene parkrun Facebook page. (I look awful here haha but you can tell how hard I was pushing on the final sprint!)

Finally, this last Saturday, I completed the set of Newcastle city parkruns with Leazes. Another week, another minute-plus off a course PB – 25:17! I was hoping in the latter stages it would be another all-time PB, but I couldn’t quite beat my Town Moor time from a couple of weeks previously. Soon I hope.

Post-parkrun
Warm layers on afterwards for the walk back to the car!

Assuming it’s on, I’m planning to do another local one this weekend. I’ve not visited in a while, and my course PB there is in the low 30s – so hopefully I’ll be able to take a decent chunk off that one too, even if I take it slightly easier this week (it’s a cutdown week on my marathon training plan so probably best to cool it a little!).

Race Recap: Leeds Abbey Dash 2023

I am extremely late with this race recap. The autumn got away from me a bit. Never mind – at least I’m getting it posted now before my 2024 race season begins.

Geth and I both wanted one final crack at the 10k distance in 2023 after the Great North Run was out of the way. I hadn’t yet broken sub-hour and I was sure I could, while Geth hadn’t yet properly tackled a 10k race in 2023 due to his spring injury. We settled on Leeds Abbey Dash because it was said to be fast and because we both always enjoy a trip to Leeds – one of our favourite cities.

Leeds Abbey Dash
Start line selfie!

Following a nice Saturday evening in Leeds and a good night’s sleep at our favourite city centre hotel, we made our way to the start line. It was fairly cold now that we were well into October, especially as I have now made the decision to brave races in shorts and vest all year round.

As such, I felt a bit frozen solid when I started! But I soon warmed up and de-stiffened, and quickly caught the one-hour pacers, which was a good sign. The course is largely an out and back, which meant that once I was a couple of miles in and the leaders were coming back the other way, I had lots of people to focus on as I ran, and I was able to look out for Geth.

I felt really strong at the turnaround and after that it was just a case of hanging onto the pace, especially as I was mostly overtaking people rather than the other way round. I had to talk to myself quite hard during the last couple of miles, but I did manage to stay focused, and in the end I crossed the line in 54:23. Not just the sub-hour I’d been chasing for eight years, but also a sub-55!

I wasn’t really able to find the words at the time (part of the reason I’ve taken so long to get round to this blog), and even three months later my self-perception still hasn’t caught up with the paces I’ve been doing, especially as I’m still improving. I still find it a bit hard to believe that I was able to take such a big chunk off my 10k PB (previously 1:01:21) as I had had a few good cracks at it in the late spring and early summer. Three and a half months made such a difference!

I’m not really thinking about 10ks at the moment as I’m in the depths of marathon training. But I do have a few booked in 2024 so it’d be lovely to continue along this trajectory 🙂

parkrundays: Oriam #131 and Portobello #365

Oriam was not the plan for the 30th of December!

The plan was Edinburgh (Cramond) for the first time in four years – a nice sprint up and/or down the promenade, depending on which direction the wind was blowing. I was confident I would beat my course PB of 29:50 and perhaps even sneak another all-time PB if the conditions were right.

However, the conditions were not right. The conditions were in fact so wrong that Edinburgh, along with many other parkruns in the area, cancelled on the morning. Too icy!

As such, it was a last-minute dash to Oriam instead. I had also not been to Oriam in four years, and I was also confident of a course PB – though I couldn’t actually remember what my existing course PB was! I only remembered being fairly slow on the one previous occasion I had visited (for my 100th parkrun in December 2019), largely due to the insane mud on the course.

It’s a shame that I couldn’t finish 2023’s parkrunning with a fast parkrun, but as far as traily/hilly courses are concerned, I kept up with my very respectable recent efforts. To my Jesmond Dene 28:41 and Pendle 28:42, I added an Oriam 28:30 – which was an 8 minute 7 second course PB, following a 36:37 back in 2019. Not bad after a slightly manic morning with the change of plan!

No photo for Oriam as I was too distracted (and wanted to get home and out of the -2°C weather – brrr).

Thankfully Portobello went ahead as planned on New Year’s Day after cancelling on the 30th. Geth and I have been doing our NYD parkrun there ever since we started NYD parkrunning! It was even more rammed than usual – like sardines at the start – and I wasn’t at all surprised to hear later that they’d broken their attendance record (with 521). Hats off to the run director, who did a superb job with the briefing after the megaphone failed, and to the crowd, who maintained a respectful silence while this was going on.

It took me about two minutes to get through the Portobello bottleneck but I still got a really decent time – 26:52, which was a course PB of about 7 and a half minutes! About as good a start to 2024 as I could have wished for.

parkrun
Not the best picture but I was having a lovely parkrun! Photo from Portobello parkrun Facebook page.