Hamster – part one

That was night to remember… For the first time I have run during night. Start was scheduled exact for midnight… Hard to work out when to eat last time and how to fight tiredness after early start in work that day. Again new experience. Lately have plenty of these. And last but not least that was marathon run on the track… 95 laps on the lane number 7 or 8 (measurements were taken on the inside on lane 7). And I think that was the biggest challenge. Get the head around that…

Cezary was staying with us for a night. And both of us decided to go through the challenge of running midnight marathon on the track followed by trail marathon at 1 PM same day. As usual with new type of run I didn’t know how to adjust my tactics. I knew that track will be more bouncy to run than usual road race and cause of that probably much faster. And definitely I could feel that for the first couple of laps. Track is faster, that’s for sure. But because it is flat you need to work all the way. No downhills where you can rest. So, work hard, all the 95 laps. And that what I did. I went all the way trying to remember to stay relaxed as long as I can. Relaxed hands and arms. Arms going swinging just straight up and down (no Dino moves). I could feel that my pace was good. Below 2 minutes per lap. I knew that probably on some stage I will slow down. But at least on the beginning I wasn’t concerned with that. All I wanted to do was to run on my max. With loop being about 445 m I was passing runners all the time. I felt really strong. Was leading the pack for 35 laps. After that I was passed by three runners in the matter of two laps. Mind tricks at this stage. When three of them overtook me I started to loose focus. Slowed down waiting for next runners to get in front of me. At lap number 40 I could see that my pace wend down really bad. Each lap took me more than minutes. Quick calculations made and it was clear that I won’t be able to keep average 2 minutes per lap pace for whole distance. But I kept going. Still passing by runners and trying not to be passed. At some stage I could see Don, who was third, walking. I know that he is participating in 24 h race in Belfast and would like to go strong. That was reason for him going easy on that night run. Anyways, that has worked in my advantage that day. Stayed third. Still, both runners in front double me couple of times. Towards end I was tired but happy. When heard annoucment that I have just one suddenly strength came back. My last lap was really fast.

Got my best result this year 3:14. Was glad. Was supprised that running in circles on the track wasn’t so bad. Hamster yes, but cause it was dark during run I haven’t got the feeling that I have been passing the same place 95 times. Good preparation for 12 hours run in Belfast… After run little bit rest. Wait for Cezary, small chat will rest of the runners. Drive home 4.5 hours sleep and back on the running path with 1 PM trail marathon on the canal.

Pictures by Cezary and Mary Toomney. Last one is mine.