Brathay Hall
I thought I would give you a different kind of blog post today and share my Brathay 10in10 stats I have accrued over the last 11 years. Obviously, they are changing by the day at the moment and I’ll have to update them again in 5 days time if all goes well. Just before I do that here is a little paragraph about today. Basically, it was very good day. My blister was still there but isn’t any worse and the weather was just how I like it with lots of pleasant sunshine and a good running temperature. Although it did get a little too warm towards the end but I’m not going to mown about that. As usual with this event I’m stiff to start and ran awkwardly and slowly for the first few miles, after that I really got into my stride and enjoyed the day. I got to halfway in 2 hours 4 minutes and finally finished in 4 hours 1 minute and 24 seconds, making it another negative split by 7 minutes.
I get the feeling that sometimes people think that because I have completed the Brathay 10 marathon in 10 days a record 7 times that the challenge comes easy to me. Little is further from the truth, I consider it to be my ultimate running challenge.
I’ll admit running is my passion but also something that I need to push and challenge me. In my younger days this consisted of concentrating on my speed to improve my PB’s over 5k and 10k and slowly my focus moved up to half marathon and marathon times. I have also dipped my toe in the Ultra scene. These days as I’m getting older and the possibility of getting shiny new PB’s are an unrealistic dream, unless I run a new distance. The challenges of Ultra’s don’t really flat my boat, I want to be running at a reasonable pace not jogging while managing my food and hydration over many hours. With all this in mind the marathon distance suits me the most as it is a very good long run and always presents a challenge but still a distance that can be run at a reasonable pace. I know I’m always capable of running a marathon but 10 on the bounce is in my eyes the ultimate running challenge. It also doesn’t go without saying I like supporting Brathay and raising them much needed funds.
I would like to share a few of my Brathay 10in10 statics with you. I might be the most prolific at the event but it has been hard and far from straight forward, there have been some incredible ups and downs which have pushed me to the limit both mentally and physically. I like to think I’m not an emotional person, quite calm and controlled but this event does bring emotions to the surface and it is hard to hide them sometimes which for me is probably a good thing, instead of just hiding things away like normally do.
So here goes the statistics so far…
7 Brathay 10in10’s completed.
1 Brathay 10in10 failed back in 2017.
Completed 4 days before having to pull out. Later that year I found out I had a meniscus tear in my left knee and need surgery to fix the problem. I did still manage to return on day 10 as the swelling around the knee had gone down and run in the main Windermere marathon. This was me just being bloody minded and not wanting the course to have beaten me. I often look at this event as if it is an individual battle against the course, with the course wanting you to fail and you desperate not to let this happen and complete the full 10 days.
Fastest individual day, 2015 Day 9, 3 hours 20 minutes 44 seconds.
Slowest individual day, 2019 Day 8, 6 hours 27 minutes 21 seconds.
Best daily average time for completing the 10in10 – 3 hours 31 minutes 56 seconds
Highest race position on a single day – 1st
Worst race position on a single day – last!
5 Runnings of the single Brathay Windermere marathon.
We have now completed day 5 of this year’s 10in10 so as of today I have run a total of 84 officially timed laps of the Windermere marathon course.
As you can see there is an incredible range between my best and worst performances which just shows why this event isn’t a given and anything can happen over 10 days and 262 miles. The one constant which keeps getting me around the lake is determination and a positive mental attitude.
Good luck to this year’s Brathay 10in10 team, we can all do it!
