Body Combat Marathon

Body Combat 3 Hour Marathon !!

Fighting an invisible man for three hours is harder than it sounds (unless you think it sounds really hard, then you are right).

Saturday morning, 10 am, Havant leisure centre, and about 200 other people, all with one purpose - to raise money for Cancer Research by literally kicking the living crap out of absolutely no-body for 3 hours solid !!

Body Combat at the best of times is a high cardio, intense, full body workout where you are totally unleashed. Its a fiercely energetic program and is inspired by mixed martial arts drawing from disciplines such as karate, boxing, taekwondo, tai chi and muay thai.

So my friend Sam and I turn up with bags of enthusiasm but no change for the car park (sorry hon) and make our way to the hall. The stage is up, the balloons are about and the place is steadily getting fuller. I am strangely really looking forward to this. I casually mention the 3 hours part to Sam, who thought it was 2 hours, but hey whats an hour between friends, she should be fine anyway she teaches Zumba, I do marathons, this is gonna be a walk in the park right ??

Colin grabs a spot next to us and the mega fit and inspiring Master Trainers take their place on the stage, the music starts and off we go. 

Now anyone that has ever seen me dance is very much aware that I have no co-ordination, for me going wrong is just all part and parcel of the class. Colin is very much up there with me and we support each other in flailing arms and legs and misdirected kicks and punches, it takes a certain kind of brilliance to move 'out' of tune to the music.

Within 10 minutes I am wetter than an otters pocket.

The first hour comes and goes and is fine, in fact going into the second hour all is good, legs feel ok, arms are cool, shoulders are brill. A couple of Haribo fizzy cola bottles (good call by the way) and sip of drink and we are back on it. So hour two comes and goes, bit weary but still going good - Most of the people are still in and only a few have retired for the day. The instructors are still going strong and there is still a great sense of camaraderie between everyone.

Wahoo last hour, by the time 2.5 hours hits us I am spent, legs feel tired, arms feel tired, and my shoulders hate me. Just another half hour left. Shouts of 'HEY' on every other punch, and re-assurance there is only one song left motivates everyone to put in a final round of high intensity full on fighting, and then .... that's it .. everyone has done it. High Fives are dished out and a cheer hits the roof.

All different types of people took part in this event which raised a lot of money for an amazing charity. I left feeling heartened and bloody knackered.

Below is a link to a snippet of what everyone achieved. In the photo's my 'after' shot is pretty much what I looked like after 20 minutes.    

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New Forest Ultra Marathon 2013

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr - My first words as I left my house at 7am heading for the New Forest Festival of Running 50k Ultra Marathon. Layers was the key, alongside two pairs of gloves, 2 snoods, and 2 pairs of socks !!
Arrived at the venue nice and early and met with my brother Dave who was competing in the 10 miler, his first words were 'its a bit cold'.
Pre event chat at 8.30 came and went and before we knew it we were all lined up and ready to go. I was feeling pretty confident at this point, I was warm enough and had trained pretty hard, I was actually looking forward to the 31 miles of cross country running to come, what I wasn't so chipper about afterwards was the fact that it rained in the forest on Saturday which meant half of the course was a muddy squelchy messy slurry.
Ready, Steady, Go and we are off.
The first lap was great, I remembered the course from last year and the picturesque views of streams and hills was brilliant, every now and then wild horses ran across your path and even the mud and puddles were just part of the scenery, having a lot of energy at this stage meant that I was jumping and pirouetting over these like a jogging bottomed ballerina.
The first lap was 11 miles and as I passed the start/finish point I felt smashing, heading out to the second lap with a smile and enough puff to chat to my fellow runners.
 The drinks stops were frequent and friendly and every marshal on the course was full of encouragement and cheer, considering they would eventually be standing in the same place for about 10 hours in total in 0 degree's I think they deserved a medal too. I was still having a great time as I ran up the final hill of lap two and down to start lap 3, if it all carries on like this I am going to hit my 5 hours target. A quick look behind and no one to be seen for miles, I don't really care where I come but I kinda wanted to finish in front of the woman in the yellow who was behind me.
So mile 21 came and went and the legs were great, the mood was awesome, the scenery is beautiful, a handshake at the next water stop and well wishing from the marshal, everything was ace .. until ..... mile 22!! Now usually 22 is a good number for me, it means I only have another 4 miles of a marathon to run, I can convince my legs for one last push and before I know it I am over the line, however, at mile 22 of an ultra you still have another 9 miles to go. Psychologically I think my brain told my legs that this was a bloody long way still to go, and we hadn't even reached the bog of doom yet.
I spent the next few miles running down the hills and walking up the other side, sludgy heavy puddle splashing replaced any hint of a pirouette. Any good cheer was replaced with huffing and puffing and staring at my watch willing the miles to be lapped up. A squeeze of my arm as a lady run passed me and told me to keep going was enough to get the legs going again, fortunately this was not the a fore mentioned lady in yellow and a quick look behind confirmed she was still out of view. I was now longing for the final water stop, just two miles to the finish, where the promise of fresh water and a shot blok seemed like dinner at the Ivy. I was day dreaming about how good this would taste and how nice that after race pint is going to be, when, out of no-where a friendly (American) voice told me to' keep it up, there's not long to go', and with this she ran into the distance in a flash of yellow. My protesting legs tried to keep up but all that was left was a slow plod to the finish. I did however have three more defining glory moments before the race was over, the first was finding some left over mini cheddars on a gatepost, I know it sounds gross but at this stage I would have licked a cow for some nourishment, the second was running past a lady on mile 30 who was just finishing mile 20, she had been out there for neck on 5 hours running 20 miles, what an amazing achievement !! Up the last hill and its all downhill to the finish, and my third moment was seeing Justine, Jessica and my brother Dave for the final 100 yards, a quick thank you to the marshal and a shout of wahooo and the finish line was there.
31 miles, 5 hours 23 minutes ..... now where'e my pint !!