My First Backyard, but it wasn’t about me
On the 23rd of May I toed the line on my first backyard ultra - I wrote before about the plan, just 10 laps. This race wasn’t really for me, it was for Basil. He’s been wanting to do an “official” race for ages, but at 13yrs old its hard to find something of any distance that he can enter. Most races fall under UK Athletics where strict age limits apply - so you can’t enter when you are fit and 13 but you can be obese and 30?
The race was at Basil’s old school, racing parts of his cross country route - he was so excited to be racing.
Lap 1 was under way, it was warm already at 1000 and I looked a bit odd wearing a long sleeved thermal top - but it was training for Badwater for me and for 7 laps I was the water boy for Basil.
Lap 2 we found ourselves at the front, Basil was skipping along so we just went for it a bit - not smart if you in it for the long haul, but we weren’t. I was conscious of keeping Basil hydrated and fuelled. He’s run 30km before but his ambition was further today.
Lap 3 and foot was off the gas, taking it a bit easier, but still a good pace. It was heating up, could tell that the Basil was feeling the heat a bit - kids don’t sweat as much as adults, so they overheat more quickly. A couple of Basil’s mates had arrived, they were cheering him on - he was giving them his characteristic fist pumping wave.
Lap 4 pushing the fluids now, but Basil was struggling to drink and slowing down a bit, he wanted to complete 3 more laps and I could see he was thinking too much. I talked to him, explained about the “now”, stay in the moment.. don’t think how far you’ve gone, and definitely don’t think how far is ahead of you. He heard it, but once the voices are there you have to work hard to expel them - he was trying, but he was worried. We finished lap 4, he sat in the chair and was silent. He cooled himself off, but I could see he was hurting.
Just one more lap, let’s start it Basil.
We set out on lap 5, got to the end of the first straight - in the front section of the pack as we had been each lap. You can run faster and rest more, or slowly to time your lap closer to the hour - we were going for the former.
We turned the corner, Basil said to me “I think I might be sick”.. we took two more strides.. “I’m going to be sick”. He then emptied the contents of his stomach in the car park, the entire field ran past him. Another wave.. surely there’s no more space in this little boy!
A smile beamed across his face “I feel better”.
We ran off, at the back of the field now. Wasn’t long before we started to pick up the tail enders and found ourselves moving through the field. We got the end of the long grassy first field - “I feel so much better, I’m loving it again”. Some 750m before he was hurling up in his old school car park.
We came down the hill, he say his mates on the corner and gave them the news - like a badge of honour.
Lap 6 came and went, this took him into striking distance of his goal.
Lap 7 and we were off, Basil was pushing and with nothing left to do could see he was happy to empty the tank. The end of the first lap and we turn onto the pitches, he’s powering along. Couple of km to go now and he’s pushing at every turn. The finish line (for him) is in sight and he goes, the little sod sprinted for the line and dropped me. To put on that turn of speed at 46km as a 13yr old was something else, especially given the pace he had set for the lap. I was so unbelievably proud of him. It was the way he did it, the way he bounced back - quite a remarkable run.
Lap 8 - I had three to go. Let’s go. I dropped a 34min lap, pushing quite hard and enjoying it. Laps 9 and 10 came and went, I did feel lap 8 in my legs a bit, I’d pushed hard and cooked myself - but that was the point.
Done. What a great event this was.
We came back the next day to watch the final few runners battling it out, the eventual winner Tai, was dominant in the last lap. A serious athlete, he’s got LEJOG record breaking plans for later this year.
We went to congratulate him, he congratulated Basil on his run - said he wasn’t expecting to see him after lap 5, but was pleased he did.
It was a fantastic event, the guys at PWR Endure did such a good job. So much positivity around, great family feel and wonderful to see so many people getting a taste for what Ultra running it all about.
