Manxie(s) abroad (part one)

In April 2016, I supported Sam (Crazy Frog) in the annual Fireman's walk which is a 50km walking race from Peel to Ramsey fire station and is effectively on the Parish (PW) route. It's a good marker of fitness and I know a lot of people use it to try out things like new apparel or food and drink for the PW. A month or so before the race we had done a test run on the course. The aim was to cover 40km to see how he felt with the pacing he had set himself and what he was planning on taking calorie wise on the day. The winter months training had got him technically walking well, very fit and he was focussed on challenging for top spot on the day. For me, this was a whole different dimension and the pace he was talking about was certainly an eye opener. Although being battered by the wind and rain for nearly 4 hours he was happy with how he felt and I could tell his confidence was flowing.  The actual race day couldn't have been any different (weather wise) and glorious sunshine beamed down onto the island. Still a bit nippy but with his racing vest and paper shorts Sam was ready! It was the first time I had seen a walking race of this kind at the "sharper" end and although it was so much quieter on the roads the feeling of being part of it seemed that more intense. The time flew by and with Sam keeping controlled in 3rd place for the first 30km, he started to apply the pressure and got himself into 2nd behind Dave Walker. He then overtook Dave heading into Andreas and the lead was swapped a couple of times before they eventually agreed to finish together in a time of 5:02:47, which was over 6mph average for the whole walk. *

With the boost he had got from the Fireman's, Sam swept into that years PW with confidence of posting a pb but it would end at Hibernian (just beyond Maughold) after running out of steam. This setback made him even more determined for the rest of the year. He registered a 2nd place in the island's End to End race in September and earlier in that month had travelled to Guernsey to do the church to church race and won in style. It wouldn't be the only off island walking race the Manx would triumph in that year.....

Looking back, in addition to supporting Sam, going out with the experienced "southern" walking group each Saturday morning was having a profound effect on me. It was a source of knowledge that was there to be tapped into plus trying to keep up with them to ask questions was pushing me on to become quicker! 

The entry fee, flights and accommodation was booked for May's trip to Schiedam in the Netherlands for the Continental Centurions WandelWeekend. There was a variety of races from 24 hours, 100 miles, 100km, 50 miles and 50km which was held around a very picturesque Princess Beatrix Park. For support, I had my usual pairing of Hannah & Wendy plus the addition of Sean and Aunt Susie. They would take the opportunity to make it a short break and see some sights of Rotterdam which was just down the road on the Friday. Upon arriving on Thursday evening at the hotel, which was a stones throw from the park, we met a couple who introduced themselves to us after recognising our Manx accents! It was Simon and Maureen Cox and are undoubtedly one of the most warmest and encouraging couples in the walking scene. I spent the Friday afternoon chatting to them by the pool and was fascinated by their achievements in walking which spanned back to the early 90s. Maureen had won the women's race to Peel in the PW three years in a row, was the 11th woman in history to finish the whole PW, was a centurion, had taken part in the Roubaix 28 hour walk and finished with 112 miles. Simon who had been a fell & marathon runner was a multiple PW finisher plus after finishing the PW in 1998 continued up and down Douglas prom for a further 15 miles to gain centurion status - as the annual 100 mile event was incorporated into it that year. They did tell me their ages and I was taken aback. They looked 10 years younger than what they had said and told them. Simon was here in Schiedam to go for his continental centurion badge as well, while Maureen was here to support. Throughout Friday, more walkers turned up at the hotel and it felt like an old friends reunion. Myself? I didn't have a clue who the majority were. Robbie and the other "southerners" were in a different hotel down the road. There was one guy I had been looking out for and hoped he was staying in the same hotel - Richard McChesney. This Kiwi had produced a book on his ultra walking (Walk! Going the Distance) which I had downloaded via kindle a few months before. In short, he's the craziest Kiwi I know but to be fair to Richard he's the only Kiwi I know. Myself and Sam had our Epic walk but this guy is on a different level and has got a back catalogue of them. Click on this link for a taster of what he has achieved.... Richard McChesney walks 44 hours nonstop. So, in the Kiwi strolled with his mate from Australia, John Kilmartin. Was John your archetypal Aussie, weathered and hard as nails? You bet he was. John had gained his Australian centurion in April 2015 before heading to the Isle of Man and getting through the one I had done in Castletown in the August. He was now chasing his continental one. Doing some digging has unearthed this document on John which sums up his character.... John Kilmartin. John gave me the nickname "young Pete" as I was deemed a minor compared to the ones that were going to be walking the next day! 

I had a decent nights kip and was up early next day. At breakfast, there was an excited atmosphere and a few walkers were eating fry ups to carb load. I can remember I couldn't stomach anything like that and stuck to a bowl of corn flakes! I was still feeling full from a bowl of pasta from the previous night. In the foyer, before heading over to the course, I met Lee Corkill. Lee was originally from Sulby and had relocated to the UK with his wife Kerry. His cousin was Karen Lawrie who is an exceptionally good endurance walker and he had supported her throughout the years. Now he wanted to get involved on the walking side. He looked nervous and I could sense he was going through exactly what I had been back in August before the Castletown 100. It is difficult to know what to say to people even though you have been through it before. Everyone reacts different and its one reason people enter these events to test themselves not only physically but mentally also. Walking across to the course the sun was shining but there was a chill in the air. We had a small two man tent to set up so the support had somewhere to kip if need be. The organisers had set up an "international tent" that we could use for supplies as well. As was in the Isle of Man, there was the official feeding area along the finishing straight and a drinks station a mile into the 2.5 mile course. I remember feeling a sense of pride being here amongst other Manx (+ based) walkers and it was like a band of brothers and sisters similar to that in the PW.

There are some miles in all them legs! Amongst them is this years other blogger, Bernie Johnson #48. I am #57 sandwiched in between Suzannah Corkill and Richard McChesney.

And on the other side, the all important supporters....

The 100 miler started at midday local time and there was a slightly longer lap to begin with before settling down into an approximate 2.5 mile course. The Dutch recorded it in kilometres so it was 160.934km that was required to achieve centurion status. I started the walk with Suzannah Corkill and we had done a few training walks together before hand. She was another experienced walker who had completed the PW a number of times and also the Castletown 100. She was the 5mph queen to me and could go for miles and miles and miles at this pace. I walked with her for the first 4-5 hours before she started to struggle with hay fever. The anti-clockwise course was a good one. Starting in a park you went straight up past some large trees on either side and then came out and was exposed to some wind coming at you, over past the lake and onto the main road which had a big pavement plus cycle lanes. Then back into the park via an estate, down over a footbridge (then the pollen hit you which Suzannah had struggled with) and around past a school before going over another footbridge. This headed onto a long cycle lane which skirted a motorway before turning back onto the finishing straight where the supporters were.

Coming up the finishing straight there was a woman who I think was called Veronica. She would take your orders for what you required and boom this over a microphone. All very efficient & all very continental. Veronica was a no nonsense type of character with a wicked sense of humour. During the late afternoon I could hear people calling for bouillon and decided to try it. It was essentially a stock cube which contained vitamins and most importantly salt which helps keep cramping at bay. I would ask her "bouillon" and she would shout down the microphone "soup!" and the next lap I would ask for "soup" she would shout "bouillon!". I think it was her way of finding the fun in a not too glamourous role. Anyhow, as the event wore on I would be thinking of different things to ask for which I knew were on offer but a different way to say it. "Pepsi" vs "Cola" that sort of thing. During the evening when it was starting to get dark I thought I needed to re-apply some cream to avoid chaffing. So when I came up to Veronica I asked for "chub rub!". She didn't have a clue what I was on about and I mentioned to my support what I needed on the next lap. Coming back around, I shouted to Veronica "chub rub!" again to see her quizzical face but she fired back with "bollocks cream!". I don't know who told her but I burst into laughter.

As this was another true international event there were the obvious communication problems and add to that us English speakers have the tendency to speak loud and slow to our continental cousins to get our side through to them. There were Manx, English, Australian, New Zealander, Catalonian's, Danish, Belgium, French, South African and of course Dutch walkers. The pair of Catalonian walkers were good fun. I came up to them in the night and they had been singing songs to help keep them going.  I said "Hola!" and they replied "Hola amigo!" and in my best slow but loud speaking pointed at my chest and said "Isle of Man". "Si, si Barcelona" and they pointed to each other. The next thing I knew we were belting out Freddie Mercury's classic "Barcelona, it was the first time that we met, Barcelona, how can I forget, the moment you stepped into the room, You took my breath away! BarceloOona".

Another notable thing that sticks in my mind happened around 10pm as I was coming out of the estate and heading back into the park. It was well lit in the estate but the park was a little darker. As soon as I turned a corner 3 local kids jumped out on me. There's no other way to say this but I nearly shit a brick. Trying not to swear by gritting my teeth I could feel my nerves tingling as I carried on into the park - about a minute later I could hear another victim but heard a few shouted foreign words that could easily be interpreted.  

It wasn't all fun and games though, far from it. As midnight hit I just thought right lets bed in and get through this. It was getting colder (down to 8 degrees from 20s during the day) and we were exposed to the wind once you got out of the protection from the trees. Each time I hit the wind head on I thought I need to ask for a snood when I go past the support. But by the lower part of the course I had warmed up a bit and never remembered to ask! Then the rain kicked in which made it more miserable. At least I was on schedule and walking ok..... That was until about 3am when I started to feel my right ankle starting to swell. Uh oh what was this. Never had this before. I tried untying my shoe and then some anti-inflammatories but it wasn't getting any better. I had enough time in the bank to see if I could get through it. The next four hours was probably the toughest I had ever walked in. I had to keep a bit of pace up otherwise it would be curtains for the finish in 24 hours. At one stage I remember getting some soup/bouillon (!) and keeping hold of the plastic cup and then getting another one on the next lap. I used these cups to squeeze each step I was taking to take my mind of the pain I was in. As daybreak was coming we eventually found the solution in using deep freeze which had done the trick and settled down the swelling. I still wasn't walking particularly quick but was getting through it. As I turned onto the main road at around 5am I could see a figure in the distance I recognised and they were staggering about. I caught up to them and it turned out to be Andrew Titley who was aiming for his 10th 100 finish. I nudged him and he looked at me over his sunglasses and I asked him whether he was f*cked or just sleepy. He said he was sleepy and so I walked with him back to the supporters and asked Hannah to get the Vicks vapor rub out and he stuck it on his top lip to give him "a wake up call". We then carried on walking together and it took us the whole of the next lap to work out how fast he needed to go to finish. He was 2 laps down on me as he had walked with Suzannah for a bit when she had been struggling earlier in the race. We worked out the pace he needed to do and with the help of my watch we paced it for about half a mile. It was quicker than I had been walking and I wasn't comfortable and I told him I had to hold back. He carried on at that pace and got in before the deadline. That's what multiple centurions do I thought. Grind when they need to.

I was assured I was going to finish and at the start of my last lap I asked one of the judges if it was okay if Sean walked it with me. As we strolled the circuit for the last time I thanked the lap markers, marshals and feed station supporters around the course. I eventually crossed the line in 23:08:27 and was rewarded with the following pin.

During the two days, as mentioned previously, there were other races going on and local walker Matthew Haddock took the honours in the 50km. He was then supporting Stew Jones who had an exciting finish to his 50 miler which he ended up winning. The 100 miler was won by Vinny Lynch and first woman was Janette Morgan making it an extremely satisfying weekend abroad for the Manx based walkers.

Now there was just one more hurdle to get over, to get back through customs at Amsterdam Airport looking like I haven't smuggled anything inside me...…

Next month the PW was upon us and Hannah was attempting to get around on her third attempt. After dropping off Sam, after he bowed out at Hibernian, I went to find Hannah and her support Wendy, who were at Lezayre, where she had come unstuck in the two previous years. I rolled up with a cappuccino from McDonalds for her and when I drove up by the side of her she gave a thumbs up. It was obvious she was in a far better place physically and mentally this year. What was different this time around? She had walked a fair chunk of it with Pauline Clague who was adopting a few stops strategy. This could account for not seizing up like in previous years. As we got past Maughold and the 18 mile to go marker I spotted Lee Corkill standing with his hands on the back of his car with his wife Kerry next to him. Lee had completed around 55 miles in Schiedam before having to call it a day with an injury. I stopped and went over to them and Kerry came up to me and said "his head's going & he's not listening to me, can you have a word?". Lee was struggling and in a massive dip and was ready to call it a day. I simply said to him "do you want to finish the PW in the future?" to which he replied yes of course with a nod. "Well the next time you do it you will have to get all the way around to this point again and you might feel even worse. 18 miles is a training walk for you". I wished him good luck and went back to my car and drove on to find Wendy. We parked up and waited for Hannah at Glen Mona and just like a phoenix rising from the ashes along comes Lee with the bit between his teeth. He was back on it and it made me punch the air. He went onto finish and thanked me afterwards but had also explained Kerry just drove off from him! Thinking about it, that probably did more for him than my words of wisdom!

Hannah was slowing coming into Laxey and crawling up to Lonan. My stomach was twisted in knots thinking she wasn't going to make it. I got up to her at Lonan and reset her watch and told her to keep at 3.5mph average over the next 6 miles to the finish to get in.

Did she make it? Of course she did.....her finishing time was 23:33:25 and as Wendy says "never in doubt!" 😃

A pivotal moment occurred on 9th October 2016. There was an one hour challenge around the outer ring at the NSC sponsored by the Welbeck Hotel. This race is aimed at the newcomer or novice race walker and the challenge is to cover as many laps of the 800m loop within the hour. A gun goes off to mark the end and the part laps are counted up and the novice with the most distance covered is deemed the winner.

I was starting to know a couple of the walkers now and thought it would be good to get a taster of doing some of the shorter quicker walks. The gun went off and away we went. However, it wasn't long until I got shown a yellow paddle with an arrowhead ^ on it from one of the judges. This was for bent knees. In other words, I was being told to slow down as I wasn't walking properly for this type of race. I came back around for another lap and another judge made a slow down motion with her hand. I was like a duck out of water here and when I got around to where the bridge which leads to the bowl, Steve Taylor the chief judge, walked in front of me and raised a hand, stopped me dead and said "that's not walking!". I could hear a couple of sniggers from some walkers behind me. I just wanted the tarmac to open up and swallow me. I carried on but slowed as instructed and lots of things raced through my head for the next hour. Do I just stick to the long distance and sack the shorter quicker distances off? Do I look for some help throughout the winter and go to the coaching sessions Sam had so often talked about? I would think about it, but first....

100 milers were accomplished at home and in Europe, how about the inaugural one in a different continent.....South Africa, Cape Town on Robben Island in October 2016?

The Crazy Frog Chronicles

So where are we up to? I've dragged myself through the Parish (PW) in 2013 and the 100 in 2015. It hadn't been pretty but I got finishes and most importantly (to me) I was showing I could get through them. The thoughts of never walking again had left me in those last few laps down in Castletown and its never entered my mind since.

As my body recovered from the 100 miler, a strange and new experience was playing out in my mind. I was getting congratulated for becoming a Centurion and I found I was putting a positive face on when replying to the question that I must be over the moon. I certainly didn't feel it. I felt like I had fallen off a cliff edge and had an almost empty feeling. I done some digging on the internet and quickly realised a big goal gives us a powerful sense of direction and order. Having targets directed towards the goal gives us the feel good factor and a sense of purpose. So why didn't it happen after the PW? My guess was that given the 100's bigger miles, sense of occasion, the nerves I had shown before it & having to kick at the end to get in, I was completely spent emotionally. One question I like to ask people, that have done both the PW and 100 milers, is which is harder in their eyes. I am surprised when the majority opt for the PW with the answer mainly due to the hills. My own view is its "horses for courses". I get excited about the idea of attempting to walk around the whole of the Isle of Man on PW day. Walking around a loop 25/50/100 times doesn't ignite my imagination in the same way - but then again one did in October 2016....

So feeling empty and in need of something to kick start me again, Sam Fletcher and co arrives like a whirlwind into Ballabeg to live. I first met Sam when we were work colleagues a few years before and had kept in contact through our love of walking when he had left. He had previously lived 'down' north and we had sometimes gone on longer walks together. Sam was learning how to "race" walk and was becoming good technically and with that his pace was much quicker than mine. I was trying to think of a few words to describe Sam and have come up with; heart of gold, strong, fun, not ego driven, unpredictable and a bit mad. My nickname for him is Crazy Frog after the character in the mid 2000's ringtone adverts.

Sam would regularly pass on tips to me of how to walk more efficiently, but the only problem being he would tell me something different to contradict himself each week! Without fail, he would always say to me before heading out for a walk or run - "can you do this?" and with that he would put a leg out straight with his heel on the floor with toes pointing upwards. I would copy and he would flick me with his hand, point and say with a grin "you can race walk!". He would also say "come down to the NSC with me mate and we can learn to walk technically together". At that time, I wasn't interested in this type of walking. I was an ultra walker and the vast majority of people in the events I had been in didn't walk in the traditional "race" walking style. That's only for people doing the smaller distances is what I was led to believe by my own observations. 

So, once the body had recovered from the 100 in September 2015, we were going to push each other out training around the south of the island. One thing you would not be able to accuse us of is doing things by half measure. To build up our fitness we started with some running first. During the week we would leave at 6am and go up and around Cringle and would run/jog the whole way. Sam would then do some technical training down the NSC after work. One day Sam brought one of his pharaoh hounds (Mud) out with us with a lead that would be attached to his waist. The hound made light work of the run and I was asked if I fancied taking one out. I'd give it a go.

It was enjoyable running with Mud and I formed a good bond with him. While out on these runs we frequently thought of ways we could up the ante through the winter and the BBB was coming out in both of us. I had bought a 10kg weighted vest the year previously. The vest would certainly raise your heart rate and you would sleep well at night after using it believe me! Sam had invested in one and we had already used them to walk to Peel in 4 hours from Ballabeg via the Sloc back in January of that year. Yes, it does sound extreme but at the time I was thinking I had 3 of those weighted vests in body weight on me when I first started losing weight in 2013! We vowed to park the vests for a while after that walk as it took a few days to recover.... So now, the weighted vests cropped back up in conversation. Why don't we see if we can run the 10km up around Cringle in them. The goal was to not stop even if we were at snails pace we would still jog and keep each other going. So that Saturday I turned up at Sam's and he looked as nervous as I did. Laura, Sam's other half was pissing herself laughing - "enjoy!" as we gingerly trotted off. Just over an hour later we returned and crashed out on Sam's garden, started to laugh and vowed not to do that again in a hurry. 

We could feel the running (without vests) was getting us fitter and we continued to run or walk before work throughout the winter together in all kinds of weather. The fear of letting the other person down made us get out. I would be wrapped up with running tights and thermal kit including gloves. Sam would usually have his paper thin shorts on and moan that it was "pretty cold today isn't it mate?!". As we were running in the morning when it was dark we needed to have head torches. Mine was a Pretzl brand that I had got before the PW and was light weight. Sam bought his from ebay and it was shipped from Hong Kong. One morning he excitedly pointed out his new bit of kit and switched it on and the whole of Friary Park nearly lit up and this was on the lowest setting! I thought how big are the batteries as it won't last till the bottom of the road. There was a big battery pack on the back of his head - "it'll make my neck muscles stronger mate!". I can't tell you the amount of times I nearly fell over when we were out because when he talked he would look at me and I would be blinded. I was surprised planes didn't try to land in front of us! However, what was handy with this torch, if any cars or vans were heading towards us with full beam on, he would flick the switch to full power and they quickly dipped their headlights!

As Sam was in the Manx walking circles, coming into the new year (2016) he found out that a southern group of walkers would go out early on a Saturday morning. He asked whether we could go out with them and were welcomed along. I had sometimes seen the group out in the past year but knew they were a lot faster than me and hadn't even entertained on going out with them. In the group they were all good walkers; Andrew Titley, Janette Morgan, Werner Alberts, Suzannah Corkill and Robbie Callister. As we headed out the pace was pretty quick for me and I was thinking - this is them warming up! Soon enough the field was spread out and at certain points of the route the faster walkers waited for the others to catch up. This was all new to me. It was brilliant going out with these guys and I remembered thinking that they didn't make you feel inferior but encouraged you along the way. On one particular walk they had mentioned they were all going to Schiedam (in The Netherlands) in May to do the 100 miler in an attempt to get their Continental Centurion pin. I looked into it and decided that if I wanted to raise my game and prove to myself that these ultra's didn't have to be on my doorstep - then lets go abroad and do it. The PW would have to wait a year before getting back into it. I told Sam I would be available this one year to support him during the PW. Our targets were set and this would push our training on. I continued to train with the southern group on Saturday mornings and with Sam during the week before work. 

Some of the more memorable walks myself and Sam went on usually involved big miles and big hills. None more so than the one we dubbed The Epic. We still talk about it now and have a laugh when recalling it. I would always tell him about the Glen Maye old post office hill (GMOPOH) being very tough and possibly the toughest road to walk up on the island. He would say Injebreck. How do we decide? Why not do both of them.....on the same day. We started at 5am one cold Sunday morning from the Waterfall pub car park in Glen Maye. Baptism of fire to begin as we headed up GMOPOH and headed down to St Johns via the Slieau Whallian back road. Then over to The Hope and up the hill and past Archallagan plantation and took the left which headed down to the Garth. Down into Crosby via old school hill. Up the back of Crosby to get onto West Baldwin road and after that warm up (!) went up Injebreck. Once at the top we headed down Sartfeld road and cut down Little London and over to Cronk v Voddy which took us onto the Staarvey road till we got onto the Poortown road. Through St Johns and retraced our steps up the Slieau Whallian road and down GMOPOH. I'm knackered just typing that route! Some highlights of the walk; it turned out being a nice day to walk and other than that it was brutal. We had hid some drinks in hedges the day before but had run out of supplies with about 4 miles to go and boy did we feel it. Walking down GMOPOH towards the end a woman was walking up it with her little dog. As we could both feel the bottom of our knees and we were literally broken the woman started laughing saying "isn't it supposed to be harder walking up the hill?". I softly muttered that we had done a few miles. It was around 49km to be more precise. As we got back to the car, Sam being the ever professional had to round the distance up to the full 50km. So, as I was sat on the bonnet of the car drinking coffee I watched him do about 5 laps of the car park in his best race walking style albeit after the hills we had just conquered. We never did decide which was tougher GMOPOH or Injebreck. Maybe we should do the circuit again? Er no. 

In March 2016, we had decided the Cringle run in the morning was becoming a bit samey and we thought of something, yes wait for it, a little more extreme. For a month, each Wednesday we would head out with the hounds at 4:45am and run around 12 miles in total. That's big miles even if it was on the flat but this route wasn't flat. It took us from Ballabeg to Round Table via the PW route and back down Ronague. So this included Ballakillowey and the Sloc. We did it in all sorts of weather and the few cars or vans we did see up the sloc must have thought they were still in bed dreaming. On one particular Wednesday, Sam had brought one of his other dogs which was an Ibizan hound named Ice. It was like a small horse but wasn't particularly thrilled of being hauled up the hills at stupid o'clock. Myself and Mud waited at the top until Sam and his running partner finally caught up and he explained Ice wanted to run in the opposite direction!

I could go on and on about our experiences but one final walk that will always live with me was one I did by myself a couple of months before the Schiedam 100 miler. One Friday after work I had planned to go up and around Cringle 5 times in a row which was 30 miles. I drove the route first and dropped off bottles and food in hedges. At around 6:45pm I took a deep breath and set off from home. It was always going to be tough but I made good progress and was determined to get through it. At around 11:00pm a car drove up behind me and then went slowly to the side "hey boy! how you doing mate?". Sam had come up with Laura and the kids and told me he'd brought me some coffee. I stopped and thanked him and got the red hot black coffee down me. It was a brand called Rocket Fuel which states that it is an intense dark roast coffee with guarana in it to give an intense double energy hit. I poured the last remains on the ground after thinking I better keep moving - I had one last lap to do. I thanked Sam and he headed off home. I thought that it was good seeing some familiar faces and the coffee had certainly given me a boost. Half a mile down the road I could see Sam's car and when I got up to it he shouts through the window "mate, can you do us a favour? Can you give us a push?". He'd broken down. So here we were, me with around 20 odd miles done up in the sticks and I was pushing his full car to get it going again. It burst into life and off he went with a cheer from the occupants. I finally finished past midnight and couldn't get to sleep and put it down to the Rocket Fuel. I was back up Cringle the next week and could still see the coffee stain on the road. I thought what the hell had that done to my insides. 

Welcome to the world of Crazy Frog, never a dull moment...……