Race Report: Three Shires 30/03/2012

Those people who are close to me know exactly when I'm about to run a marathon. Apart from the slightly tense atmosphere, they know my pre marathon rituals are always the same and have been for the last ten years. Breakfast is a baguette with banana and honey, drink is an SIS carbohydrate drink, tape is religiously applied to my nipples and body glide is spread in strategic areas to avoid chafing.

Jo climbing up towards the Roaches.

So, when I arrived at the start line of the Three Shires Event on saturday morning having
eaten no breakfast, had nothing to drink, applied no tape and spread no glide, I clearly had no intention of running the 28.5 miles I ended up running.

The problem started last weekend when I had the 20 mile training run from hell. Following such a demoralising run I decided I needed to get another (better) one in before London. I started to have a look for one of the always enjoyable LDWA (long distance walkers association) events. The Three Shires was local and of the four distances you could run, the 20 seemed perfect. The problem was they were full and I wasn't on the list. I telephoned the organiser to see if there was a waiting list. There was, but it too was full so I wasn't on that list either. I suggested to the very nice lady that Jo and I might come along on the morning anyway and if when the time came there were no places then we would head off in a different direction and do our own thing. 

Jason and Simon in training for Medoc 2012

We duly arrived in the village of Swythamley and met up with Mik (who had been organised enough to enter early) and my friend Simon (Team Moose) who had unexpectedly found himself at a loose end.

We waited until 8:50 when suddenly we were told we were 'in'. I was still filling in the entry forms and Simon was changing when the 2 minute warning was called so Jo and Mik headed out to the start. By the time Simon and I were ready they had all well and truly gone. This led to the first new experience of the day......not knowing whether to turn left or right from the start line.
 

Everyone's a critic.

We consulted our 'route description' and duly turned left to start our journey. It was seven miles to the first checkpoint which would involve furst climbing Gun Hill and then getting over the other side of the Roaches. The weather was slowly clearing, although the wind on the top of the Roaches was cold and required an extra layer of clothing.


Having enjoyed the snacks and drinks on offer at the checkpoint we continued our journey to the next checkpoint which would be at 13 miles (unless you were doing the 29 mile version which included a loop of Shutlingsloe)

And here lays the turning point for the day... Simon (a high ranking British Airways pilot whom I trusted with the navigation) mis-read the directions and suddenly we were faced with Shutlingsloe.

"sorry mate"

I may have passed a comment or two before we reviewed the route to see if we reduce the extra mileage. With little we could do we plotted our shortest route to the checkpoint at Wildboarclough.

The road up to the checkpoint had obviously been the scene of a mass amphibian kamikaze outing as I have never seen so many flat frogs in my life, I mean hundreds of them in the space of 50 metres... very odd.

Jo, Jason and Michael after the beer shopping trip race.

Anyway, the checkpoint was the best stocked checkpoint I have ever been to and compared to the ones on the Thames 100, it was utter heaven. I helped myself to some flapjack and peach slices while Simon went for the sausage rolls and Mars bars. We briefly pondered spending the rest of the day there but once we found out we would be back there for a second visit in a couple of hours we decided to carry on.

Back past the frogs and onto the Cheshire loop we continued on our journey, pausing briefly to chat with some walkers we had finally managed to catch and run for a while with a thirteen year old border collie who was running her 74th marathon!

The miles slowly ticked by and we finally found ourselves coming back up 'flat frog lane' to the checkpoint having covered 21.5 miles. The stocks had taken a bit of a hammering since our previous visit but I still enjoyed a warm cheese filled oatcake before we started our final 7 mile leg to the finish.

Some of the food available at one of the checkpoints.

Although our legs were definitely feeling the effort of running on such mixed terrain and from climbing so many stiles and I was well and truly 'chaffed', we were actually having a good time and continued trotting our way back towards Swythamley.

Little was I to know that in just a couple of miles time we would be brought to a complete standstill and our race would be temporarily halted.

An injured runner?? No. A rockslide?? No. A flood maybe?? No.

It was the sign outside the open doors of the Wincle Brewery offering free tasting of their wide selection of beers. Well that was it, we were in!

With the beer shopping done, our intrepid warriors finally remember they have a race to finish.

It was only us in there along with a selection of beers with names like Wincle Waller, Under Taker, Rambler, Wibbly Wallaby, Sir Philip and Old Hag.

In the interest of fairness we tested them all......twice.

Some of Wincle Brewery's product range which Jason and Simon kindly left them.

Having taken advantage of their kind hospitality and had a local history lesson thrown in it seemed only fair that we bought some of their produce. 

So, my 20 mile training run had turned into a 28.5 mile ultra with the added fun of carrying bottles of beer the last three miles!

Simon and I arrived back at the finish to be greeted by Jo and Mik who were about to send out the search parties. We relaxed in the village hall and feasted on the most wonderful buffet of salads, pies and desserts before heading off home to find the Savlon.

For more information on next year's event visit the Staffordshore LDWA website.

Jason