Don't try this at home.

I was planning on doing the Viking way this Easter but a few things conspired against it. What they were is not important, so I came up with an alternative. A self supported 24hour run at home. The idea was to run 10km route as often as possible in 24hours without stopping. What I wanted to prove was that I could defeat my chimp.

The previous weekend to Easter I ran the route four times in a reasonable fours hours and so I was confident of my abilities. Over confident it turned out.

I made my own energy bars during the week before. I have a very simple recipe. One tub of peanut butter, six mars bars melted in a bowl and then stir in oats. I also had plenty of GU gels, viper bars with added caffeine, four rice puddings, SIS Go energy drink, S caps and magnesium granules.

My food table

I set off at mid day and was intending to complete the first fifty by five pm. It took me until six thirty. Why so long? The route starts with a two hundred meter climb in the first two kilometers and is quite exposed. The wind was up and tearing into me making me colder and colder. I added layers and fuel to the furnace in the form of lots of food. Nothing I did seemed to work.

After four rounds I was doubting my abilities and switched to a much shorter but flatter one kilometer route. Round and round I went and soon darkness fell and it got colder. At nine pm I had done 60km still well below target and getting slower. I changed into long leggings and added my Care Keep Warm top. At that time Mark Woolley called and told me not to worry about the distance but just to keep going.

Young Ross had come out a few times and cycling alongside side me. We talked about a load of crap but I was still moving.

At midnight I had a cup of tea and a dump but still only 80km in the bag

Around 2:00am I changed the route again to an even smaller one as I was going past a farmhouse and kept waking their dogs and disturbing them.

Around 4:30am I really had had enough and went for a rest in the warm. I snuck down to the cellar and crashed only to be abruptly woken up by Nick Papageorge, who told me it was only my chimp and I should get back out there.

As I walked up the stairs Chrissy came down and reiterated Nick's words and after a bowl of cereal and a cup of tea I went out again and managed two circuits of ten kilometers, watching the sunrise and chasing deer.

Sunrise over the Hoch Taunus

Then the wind started again and I swapped to the one kilometer route. Tom came out at 11:00am and cycled around the last few rounds with me and I even managed a final six minute km.

So in the end 140km done, pretty much on my own and fully recovered within a day or so. Not to bad I suppose. It didn't help that I didn't have intermediate targets like checkpoints or cut off times. Or anyone to run with for long periods of time.