Race 4

Race 4 - RUN RAMPAGE - 16th January

As you can see from the date not my greatest piece of planning!  Two races in a w/e was not ideal....  Being lazy will take the "sales pitch" off their website"A brand new 10k extreme cross country - multi terrain event.  The venue is the MOD's Bagshot army barracks on the D1 and D2 alpine sites [which are explained in Probabilistic evaluation of snow-slab stability on D1Mountain slopes -http://www.igsoc.org/annals/26/igs_annals_vol26_year1998_pg303-306.pdf  or in Hydraulic Jumps on Adverse Slope in Two Cases of Rough and Smooth Bed - http://maxwellsci.com/print/rjaset/v2-19-22.pdf - neither of which I understand except that they are STEEP! if anyone can explain please drop me a line or better still a picture] which are their vehicle testing tracks, and as the word alpine describes, expect some very, VERY steep hills! Uneven terrain, grade one and two hills, water, and thick muddy bogs you name it, at Run Rampage we have everything and we throw it at our competitors to test their skills to the extreme!

This event is only for the filthy minded as our runners will be tested, get messy and love every tough minute of it, so because of this, entrance is only open to people aged 16+. Come to run or walk to show your support for a more than worthy cause! How tough do you think you are? How much can your body take? Are you mentally going to be able to cope and are you mad enough?"  Among those mad enough was Iwan Thomas MBE who finished 20th (50mins 22 secs).  Cool guy - instead of doing all the prep like he'd normally do as a proper athlete - he posed for pictures and chatted with the runners.

Anyway back to the race.  I'd got there early as I as still feeling the effects from The Grim.  At this point I think I'll start name-dropping "kit" & "gear" - who knows product placement may result in sponsorship and freebies!  Normally after a race like The Grim, I'd spend the next couple of days with stiff legs walking like John Wayne (which a number of my so called friends - Bec in particular - never fail to laughingly point out).  However compression gear like Skins or CompresSport ('veino-muscular compression technology' no less!) coupled with an 'aromatic massage gel' called Jointace (you see it advertised on the back of London buses) - seem to lessen the agonies.  So I turned up with only stiff calves.  Spent half an hour jogging (mainly to the loo and back) without much success but as soon as the hooter went adrenaline takes over, pain is (briefly) forgotten - wait until those D1's & 2's! - and we're running down some pleasant forest trials, under the M3 motorway (unlit underpass - bit spooky) and the up a slope, down a slope, back under the motorway - you get the idea - just a nice, pleasant cross country run.  

Then at the 2k stage it all changed.  Some of the feedback on the race has already mentioned a sadist of a designer.  Well from 2k to 5k all we did was run up a D1/2 slope (straight up - none of the zig-zagging manoeuvres to lessen the slope) turn a corner then run back down - turn a corner and then run back up - then turn a corner and run back down - turn a corner then run back up - turn a  ....... you get the idea? One thing I'm really proud of is that i didn't stop running - though it often wasn't much faster than those walking  up.   To be honest i can't remember how many times we went up and down and even looking at the course map doesn't help.

After 5k it all changed and they introduced the water!  Well they couldn't do it any earlier to be fair, as it was all slopes. Wet, muddy, cold - we pounded the forest trail - there was four of us in a group - unable to quite catch the runners in front but adament that those behind wouldn't catch us.  Three more kilometers and then a long gentle slope down - giving lungs and legs a bit of relief.  Didn't give the mind any relief as what runs down ......yep, has to run back up!  Last 1000m was nearly all up hill - and yes there were chirpy marshals saying you're nearly there + a photographer at the top.  Just a sprint finish to the end (well a sprint jog more like) - couldn't catch the person in front but the person behind couldn't catch me - so result!

Over £4000k raised for Help the Heroes - amazing event, great people, wonderful support + more brutal than Brutal 10k, grimmer than The Grim - I'll definitely do it again!

Result - 31 out of 188 in time of 52:34