Can A Part-Time Ultrarunner Compete With The Pros At UTMB?
I've got unfinished business with CCC I think.
But yeah, I've just, I've taken that.
I want to be one of the best ultra runners in the world.
Quite simply.
My goal was to be one of the best in Britain
and I have achieved that now and I've got a great opportunity
now to, to test myself and to, you know,
pick myself up there and really see how I do compete with the best in the
world.
There was always a bit of me that just kind of had this gut feeling that
I, I had an athlete in me,
a high level athlete and, um, yeah, I've,
that's this whole journey is about seeing,
Yeah, I see where I can go with it.
I was really inspired first of all,
by good friends when I was living in Dubai. Friends, Heidi, and Rob,
they had gone out and done an ultra in Switzerland
and it just looked incredible.
And I don't think I actually really knew what it entailed,
but saw some pictures and yeah,
just thought I want to do that wherever it is I want to do it.
It just looked amazing.
That was in 2016.
And I signed up to do the race in
2017.
So it was about when I was turning 30 years old and I was quite
motivated around that time to be like the fittest I'd ever been.
And yeah,
I prepared by running a 50 kilometer race in Oman,
in the UAE, in the February before it,
so that gave me a bit of an insight,
although nowhere near as hilly is the Alps, the Swiss Alps.
And it was quite incredible.
I actually ran my first marathon and my
first ultra marathon on the same day. And then went out to,
to Switzerland and, and did the race and it took,
it took me forever.
It took like nine and a half hours for me to do the 50
50 kilometers. And, you know,
I've this year I've ran a 50 kilometer race in
four and a half hours. So I was really, you know, at the start,
I was a real beginner, um, with everything.
And it was the most, the biggest thing I'd ever done.
I'm a PE teacher. And I do that two days a week,
which is great because I like to train in the
mornings and in order to work really well with my
training, I have also set up my own business. So I,
I'm a health coach and I'm also a running coach. So,
you know, it's amazing.
I'm getting to work with people that want to improve their,
their health and their lifestyle.
So now I'm back in Scotland and I have been
for just about a year, to be honest, the training here,
obviously a lot cooler, but the hills are great. You know,
there's hills, there's so much variety, so I'm just, I'm loving it. I think it's,
it's really helping me to get a lot stronger and I'm
able to train on trails every day, which is what I love.
There was definitely a big turning point for me in my life,
um,
where I really felt I needed to change my lifestyle.
And it was when my friend, Sarah,
an amazing friend of mine, um,
who I met at university probably when I was about 17 years old.
And, um,
Sarah took her, took her life a few years ago.
And just from, from then,
I really was like, okay, like,
life's short and you need to go and make the most of it.
I did CCC in 2019. And, uh,
it was my first time running a hundred K. I finished
13th. Um, obviously in 2019,
that was just a year after my first race. So I was really,
really pleased with that result, but I finished,
I finished feeling fresh ish,
obviously as fresh as you can after a hundred K, but I really had more,
I had much more in the tank then COVID hit in,
obviously in 2020.
Didn't get the chance to race anything long then.
So I've got unfinished business with CCC. I think.
So for this race on all of my ultras,
my strategy is always to like really make sure I run my own race before I
came out here at the beginning of August,
I had a bit of a problem with my foot, cause it wasn't that long ago
that I did the Lakeland trails 100k.
And it's kind of been given me a bit of problems with my knee as well.
So I'm going to be, definitely in this race,
it's going to be a lot of management that I'm going to have to do to make sure I
can, you know, keep on top of it. And if it is causing any problems,
I know what I can do and to stretch it and to help keep the
movement in it. So I can run at my best.
So packing my kit is pretty important.
You know, you can't even get to race these races.
If you haven't got a lot of mandatory kit, obviously shoes
want to be wearing shoes that I've trained in a lot and find
to be really comfortable and have a really good grip on the terrain here,
the Rocky terrain,
it's also going to possibly be a bit wet and points. Race nutrition,
as I said, like is so important. And I've got,
this is all the stuff that I'm going to have in from the beginning.
So definitely quite a few kilos in there that I'll be carrying myself from the
start because we can't have any assistance until
about 55 kilometers in.
So in here I've got gels and for the early part of the course,
I've got quite a lot of solid food as well. So I've got some bars, um,
some like fruits bars, some almond bars, that's like kind of oat bars,
um, an energy drink as well.
So on the start line, a race like this,
I think I just, it's so exciting. Like it's,
I tend to just make sure I'm feeling just happy, which is normally very easy.
Cause you know, especially this race, I'll be standing in the pen with the,
with other elite, the elite runners,
a lot of who are friends who I really get on well with and I'll make sure my
watch is ready to go.
I've got the course on the watch just in case there's any bits where their
marking's not great or so I'll make sure I'll be making sure I've got that
just don't even enjoy the moment because it's quite an incredible start with the
music and the crowd.
I'm, pretty familiar with the course because I've raced it once before.
And I also did a full recky of it before I raced
it two years ago. And then this year I've been out on some of it I've,
I've seen the end of the course again, kind of the last 30 kilometres.
And because I wasn't able to go do the whole thing I've instead
done a lot of like looking at maps again and videos online and
been able to refamiliarize myself with it.
Being up against the world's best.
My strategy maybe is a little bit more, uh,
on the side of risk.
I want to put myself up there from the start and be in the race,
which is maybe a little bit different to how I would would
normally race, but it still is still going to be checking in really regularly,
like, is this sustainable for me?
Am I running my own race still within that small element of risk of putting
myself up there with the, with the world's best. Um,
but I think also like when you are racing the world's best,
this is why it's, you know,
I don't want to come here and just hobble around the course with an injury.
I want to come here and compete with the best.
So if I'm not able to compete, um,
because I get it with too much pain or my leg is particularly causing me going
to cause long term injury,
then I need to consider that in my strategy too.
It is important to get a good start.
But I think it's also really important not to go too hard.
I think I am quite good at keeping my emotions in check.
I wouldn't say I was two years ago. I had definitely had a really tough race,
but now I feel a lot better. at it, and actually, yeah,
probably one of my strengths, the way that we've worked,
the aid stations and no emotion being involved has, has been really,
really good in my last three races.
So just gonna get to keep doing what's working.
So in aid stations, I like to not waste any time.
I'll be carrying all my own food and gels for the first half until we
get to Switzerland and to Champex - Lac where I'll then have my crew,
but again at the aid stations, there's no talk.
It's just like just business.
Mel you're doing wesome. You're holding own ok. Back out that way, ok, see you at the next checkpoint.
I just get everything I need and I'm I, as quick as I can.
And I don't like to even let them know really how I'm feeling and I don't,
I don't really want them to ask me that. So I just kind of,
I don't like the emotion and any talk about pain or anything it's just about,
give me my food and my drinks. See you later.
I don't think I do really get lonely. I quite, I quite like the,
the moments when you're just completely on your own,
your own out there and there's no one around cause then again,
you it's a bit easier to then run your own race. Sometimes,
probably would say in that middle part,
it's nice to have some people to occasionally talk to.
I used to talk a lot during races. I used to probably talk too much though,
like tired myself out. So I've kind of brought that back,
reigned that in and I don't talk so much in races now, but I quite like it.
I quite like the you're quite often in a bit of a battle with your mind and
about seeing kind of what you can push through.
I think if I had easier distractions, it,
maybe you will be still rewarding at the end when you push through it and come
out the other side.
[Inaudible].
Really, really good. So strong.
Can you put that somewhere in the back. And head torch out.
To keep motivation going at the, in the later stages of the
race. Definitely. Yeah.
I kind of break it down into smaller milestones and that really helps.
Right you've got 9 gels. Coke.
You're doing amazing Meryl, and keep your barrier on your right.
I kind of have almost memorised how long.
I think it might take to get to the next point and,
I carry a little card. That's got all that information as well,
with the elevation profiles, so I'll know. Okay.
It's six K and it's this amount of elevation gain and loss.
I'm thinking it's going to take this time, um,
just to kind of keep focused on the moment really because as well,
I'm constantly like fueling,
I've got to just keep an eye on the time and making sure I'm eating when I
should be eating and certainly plenty to do to keep me keep me busy.
I am my last race. I really,
I was quite sore in the last 30 K and I just really thought about like just one
foot in front of the other one foot in front of the other, um,
