Bristol Half

The day before was a bit of a rush trying to get the last of the gorilla suits ready. We had nearly everything, but one missing mask. David and I started the day 7:30 in the radio Bristol studio being interviewed by Ali Vowles. This was great fun and we also received £10 from her. It must cost them a fortune every time someone comes in raising money. Having said that, Ben Prater caught me for £10 for his London & Berlin marathons, so it looks like we’re even so far. I will have to try harder! However, it was also very humbling. The guests before us were an 11 year old girl and boy who were trying to get into a team to swim the English Channel. (I guess we should stop now, or find something extreme. Mucking about running kind of looks easy now, knowing what other people are up to.) There was one wonderful moment when Ali asked the boy what his chances were of making the final team. He said they were pretty good as the team manager was his mum! As they say, never work with children and animals! The animals were next on…

Anyway, back to the story. I left the studio and rushed to Clevedon to pick up a gorilla mask for Chris (oldest son). I was there by 9am, just to find they don’t open until 9:30. Oh well! 9:30 the shop opens: “One gorilla makes please.” “Sorry we stopped selling them last year.” “B*****.” Back to Bristol where I found a full gorilla hood in the shop in Kellaway Avenue. That took care of Saturday. Sunday: Chris and me are going to join the other 11,000 runners daft enough to pay £30 to run around Bristol. We arrived just in time for the photos with the fantastic St Peter’s Hospice team. Great fun and what a superb crowd. When I joined the queue for the loo, the others warmed up with Mr Motivator. He must be trying for the pantomime this year as he was dressed as one of the ugly sisters. We started the race near the back so we could go slowly and prise money out of the incredible crowds. We had great support all the way around the course, with people giving generously, with every penny counting. I must say, those that gave notes were particularly appreciated as the coins started to feel very heavy after the first mile! We were cheered all the way round the course from well-wishers, St Peter’s supporters (there were lots of them) and the course marshalls. The marshalls were brilliant, and it should never be forgotten that these kinds of events don’t happen without the time willingly given by these volunteers, so I would like to say a massive thanks to them.

David even said that one of the young lads helping at the drinks stations shouted to David that if he slowed down he would have put some money in David’s bucket. At this, David turned round and ran back to him to take him up on his offer. He gave a very generous £2, for which David was duly thankful.

Also a massive thank you to St Peter’s for all the support they gave to us and the other St Peter’s runners.

Sunday PM was easier. Shower, food, beer and then slept all the way through the rugby.

The Bristol crowds did us proud. We raised nearly £400 in loose change. The only problem was that when we finished we didn’t know what hurt more - arms or legs!

Mike

Running Gorillas

Mike and I are running the Bristol Half dressed as Gorillas. Mike has run the Bristol Half as a gorilla for the last couple of years when raising money for his Marathon des Sables challenge. We thought we would use this tactic again to help raise funds for St Peter's Hospice this year. We've had a lot of interest from the local press about our TransAlp challenge. So with us running the Bristol Half dressed as gorillas, we had a press photo call on Sunday. We met up with the photographer at Ashton Court at 10.00. We thought it might be quiet there, but we received quite a few strange looks from walkers (and their dogs). The two horses that went past didn't seem to bat an eyelid.

You can tell by the beard that it's Mike on the right here!

We had fun in the cafe at the Mansion a little later. It was the young children that didn't know what to make of these two hairy gorillas. One three year old boy approached us from the safety of a small pillar between us and him, but when we both grunted, he ran in a slightly terrified manner to his mummy. I blame Mike, since I was working on my computer at the time as you can see...

Now in the middle of a week's training running up to the Half, with a short 8 mile run around London in the pouring rain. The advantage of rain in London is that it keeps the tourists off the route, especially on the South Bank.

What are My Life doing for us?

My Life are a specialist personal training organisation run by a group of professional trainers trying to help many Bristolians get fitter. Here's their website: http://www.mylifept.com/

Mike and I were loking for help in training for the TransAlp and we came across MyLife helping out at one of the Nailsea Running Club events. We contacted Andy Wadsworth, who runs My Life and, after a little persuasion convincing him:

1. that we were mad enough to see this through the training for the next year,
2. that we needed his help to get through this (very easy given our levels of fitness)
3. that we were serious in raising £30,000 for St Peter's hospice

...he agreed to help us. This was fantastic for our motivation at an early stage of our training.

Then came the hard bit. He set up a meeting with a specialist to measure our fitness. This involved putting on a gas mask and jumping on a running machine:

We were then made to start walking and every minute the speed was increased to a fast running pace. Once running at 12 mph, the incline was increased 2% each minute. Here's Mike mid-test looking fresh as a daisy:

What then happens is you hit your anaerobic threshold. That's when your physiology changes completely, you stop being able to take in enough oxygen to run at the speed you have, lactic acid builds up and you suddenly feel terrible. Basically you collapse.

Here's Mike just after the test. He really looks like he enjoyed it! The problem is trying to get enough oxygen back into your lungs through the mask when you are completely shattered having just had your heart rate up to its maximum.

I have to say it was very hard work, but it will be fascinating to see how our fitness improves over the next year as our training increases and our bodies adapt to the mileage we have to put in.

We'll talk more about the results of the tests once we understand them!

What is the TransAlp?

The 2010 Gore-Tex TransAlpine Run is a footrace across the Alps. It commences in Germany and runs over the Alps through Austria into the Italian Dolomites. The 2010 event takes place over a week from 4 September to 11 September 2010. It will cover a total distance of 300km (185 miles) and will climb 14,300 metres (47,000 feet). This is equivalent to a marathon a day for a week with each marathon having 2,000 metres of ascent, or alternatively, just running up and down Mount Everest twice in one week! The first running of the race took place in 2004, the 2010 race being the sixth running of the TransAlp Run. All runners take part as teams of two, for safety reasons. Each team must pass through every checkpoint (including spot checks) within two minutes of each other. Failure to do this will result in either time penalties or disqualification. There are four different categories of teams: Men, Ladies, Masters and Mixed. We will be entering the Masters category, where the qualification is that the combined team age is over 80. With David aged 49 and Mike aged 50 at the time of the event, they (far too) easily meet this target. You can find out more on the Transalp website: http://www.transalpine-run.com/

Who are SPURT?

The St Peter's Ultra Running Team are David Smart and Mike Hutton. We are both members of Nailsea Running Club near Bristol. We have come together to try and achieve two major challenges:

• firstly to complete the Gore-Tex Transalpine Run in September 2010 and
• secondly to raise £30,000 for St Peter's Hospice.