The 2010 Adidas Thunder Run 24

I’m going to start this post with what would normally be a conclusion but I wanted to ensure you all got the point before getting bored and leaving! The Adidas Thunder Run 24 is a team relay lasting 24 hours with laps of 10km. This weekend was possibly one of the most enjoyable running experiences I have had since starting back in 2008. It’s not down to personal bests or any of the usual highs associated with running but instead it’s due to being able to join forces with a bunch of lovely people and have good fun. Sure, I may not have been as good as 75% of the team but by the end of the final lap it didn’t seem to matter. The run itself was incredibly well organised and perhaps because it was still a relatively small event the atmosphere was buzzing from 11am Saturday, when we arrived, until 3pm the following day when we said our goodbyes. The small group of spectators who lined the course, most likely fellow team mates or friends and families, cheered on everyone no matter what speed or size because after lap 2 or 3 it was impossible to know what lap they were on! Fat, thin, fast, slow, male, female it genuinely didn’t matter on this event, if you were prepared to stick at it you could be admired by the hundreds of people who were at the event. As the tag line of the event says ‘Impossible is nothing’.

Anyway now it’s time to go back to how I ended up getting involved in this event. About 2 weeks ago I got contacted by a Digital Agency working for Adidas asking if I’d like to be involved in an event and test out some of their kit. I said I’d do some research and also asked if I could invite some other runners. I got an affirmative to the later question so on top of asking my colleagues who were all busy I contacted my running partner Rich from the Serps who gave the answer ‘why not’. I confirmed and double checked we would be entering a FULL team of 8 and said to go for it. I know I can run 12 miles with my training how it is at the moment and in my calculations we would end up doing about 24 laps or 18miles tops…

Setting off bright and early on Saturday morning we made our way to Catton Park in Staffordshire. Rich and I had both looked on the website a little but as neither of us had considered training there was little point getting too worried about what we had signed up for. As we turned down the final road to the entrance of the park I clocked a running path that swung left into a forest up a pretty sharp hill. This was the moment I wondered whether it was such a good idea!

Other than a few emails a couple of days before the event I had no idea of who would be on our team. We had been put together through the agency based on being previous triallists or bloggers. For some unknown reason I had been nominated as captain and the agency chose to call us the Lock and Loaders. About 30 mins after Rich and I arrived most of the team was formed and after a brief introduction we started putting up our tents and pulling on our ‘test team’ kits.

I’m going to be fairly blunt here and say that at a normal running event or running club I don’t think any of our team mates would have talked to us. They were all much faster runners with very impressive PB’s to match. Rich and I have chatted before about the better/best runners all sticking together, which to be honest is perfectly acceptable – afterall they have no reason to run with us! But here we now were with a group of runners who win events or if they don’t they are close runners up. Not like mid-pack Rich and I! Within the first 20 minutes of meeting I made a rather big slip up in their eyes by saying “we are here to enjoy this, not to win it” – the looks that greeted this from some of the team were priceless and I suddenly realised that I was in company that ran to win.

After a shakey start we had constructed our initial list of runs. For some reason, I don’t no why, we wrote a plan based on 1hour laps. After the third runner had gone out we realised we were way off, sub 40,sub 40,sub 40 I think it was!? It was about now I realised how incredible the runners on my team were. Our expected 60mins per person was thrown out of the window and by 8pm we were back to the pad reorganising things, not before my first run though….

The run itself was unlike anything I have ever done before. For a start it wasnt on a road! Starting off on a nice little bit of green path it didn’t take long before a sharp right up and into the forest! Weaving through the trees on uneven surfaces and narrow trails – this was no PB territory. After 5 or so minutes of sharp turns and bends I exited the forest onto a wider trail and back past part of the campsite. From this point on I can remember bits and bobs and patch things together, a couple more inclines, one lasting a fair while some more between the tree running, one short but very sharp drop etc etc. About 46 mins from the start I found myself almost at the finish line with one more incline to go. My team mates, Laura and her firend Megan were there to cheer me on. From this point on it was down hill and time to hand over our “relay batton” to Atheer and away he went!

My first 10km was over and with only 2 more runners in our group left to run it wouldn’t be long before people started their second laps. It was now time for me to eat and refuel and get off my feet before I was scheduled to go out again about 6 hours later…

It was clear after our 8th runner that our schedule was massively out of sync. We decided to adjust the timings a bit and also add extra time for the night runs although even that we couldn’t be to sure about. Afterall, how quickly can you run in the dark?! My second 10km was scheduled in for 11:30ish so at about 11pm I made my way back to the handover pen and waited, with my head torch on, for Des to come in with the batton.

The Night Run

After waiting what seemed an age I set off, about 50 meters from the lit start area the path turned dark and i couldnt see a thing. I was about to embark on something I had never done before and my heart rate rocketed and im sure my breathing became deeper. It was pretty apparent fairly soon that, like with driving, in the dark, I can’t see very far without glasses – This was going to be ‘fun’! At about 3km in I fell over, picking myself up and brushing my leg down it didn’t feel like I had any cuts so onwards I continued. More potholes, ditches and protruding tree trunks caught my footing, but fortunately didn’t contribute to another fall. 52 minutes later I crossed the finish line. I hated it and loved it, never wanted to do it again but wanted to see if I could do better. A whole new bunch of senses were used and it was very, very different!

After a quick shower I headed to bed in preparation for my next run that according to the pad would be at about 6am. I barely slept, anxious about how the next run would go. At 5am I got up for a breakfast of sausage bap and a cup of tea, hardly the best running breakfast but at that time in the morning it seemed a good idea. At 6:15 I set off again for my third 10km. This seemed much tougher, unlike the previous runs my heart rate didn’t fall in the later sections when I descended. I felt like I was lacking all energy and it was tough. I was nervous about having a recurrence of what happened in the Marathon so also held back slightly. After 53 minutes I crossed the line of what I thought and hoped to be my last run…

Was 3 enough for me…?

As I rounded the final bend I can’t deny I was slightly worried that I may have to go out again but fortunately what played out over night as well as the competitiveness of the team was soon about to prove otherwise….

The night laps only had one real hitch, however that one was a corker…Mel returned to the handover pen to find nobody to take the batton and start the next lap. Where was Des…!? He had been woken up, I had heard that whilst laying awake in my tent, however he headed to the start without either a number or a timing chip…He panicked and then headed back to the tent to try to find it, whilst Mel was just approaching. After a while he took Rich’s chip and went to the start but this cost us 6 mins and left Mel very unhappy…

Des seemed to realise, perhaps through Mel’s reaction, that he had really messed up and he spent the rest of the morning apologising to the team and promising he would make it up. He did this by taking on a 5th lap right at the end. To be honest, Des was perfectly capable of it. A fine runner, and even in his fifth lap he bettered my time by 5 minutes! He pulled out all the stops and showed what a super athlete he was and proved that his training could see him through any event – even an adhoc 30mile 24 hour session.

Ben was our strongest runner of the day, his first run came in at 37 minutes putting him in the top 10 runners for the whole event. Much like with Des, whilst he had completed 4 laps to our 3 he would still be able to manage a faster leg than either Rich, Atheer or I. As our team had now decided that 4th place was achievable, the faster runs were critical, so Ben ran a 5th and I took the opportunity to eat a bacon cheese burger and relax – doing my bit for the team…

About the Team

I think I could double the size of this post writing about the team. However, for most I think that would be a bit of a dull read so I will just take the opportunity to say what a great bunch of people they all were. They all helped contribute to a very memorable occasion and I hope we stick to our word and keep in touch. I’d love a reunion of sorts as whilst we all had different personalities we all had one major thing in common our love for running…

Top Row: Des, Ben, Justin, Mel. Bottom Row: Rich, Neil, Atheer, Josie

Position: 4/79
No Of Laps: 31
Total Time: 23:55:11