Thunder Run
26th July
2015

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Official Results

  Lap1 Lap 2 Lap3 Lap 4  
Dean Newman         11 Laps - 110k
Fiona Emmingham         8 laps  - 80k
Sarah Wanden 58.34 57.23 1.08.00 1.05.00  

 

Last year i ran this 24 hour endurance event in a pair with my good friend  Larrissa Clarke, This year i decided to give it a miss....until i saw posts  about this years event appearing on my timeline - i had Thunder Envy. It  wasnt long before i found myself posting on the Thunder Run Facebook page  asking if anyone was short of a team member and offering up my totally  untrained legs. Soon i was contacted by a lady from Sheffield called Mel,  shes was happy for me to make up her team of five mixed ability runners.  Soon it was Friday and i was making the 2.5 hour journey up to Derby in the
pouring rain. Its quite unnerving not knowing anyone but i was soon  welcomed and had help putting up my tent. In our section there were two  teams of 8 and one of five. Beers wine and BBQs were in full swing despite  the rain and we had a fun night, perhaps a little too fun!

Saturday morning arrived, after a cold night it was good to see the  sunshine, the rain had stopped and a group of us made plans to plod around  the local Conkers Parkrun. With such a huge number of runners in the area  Conkers was inundated - almost 600 parkrunners arrived on the site. The plan was to plod and thats what we did, laughing and chatting in the  sunshine.

Back at camp later we made a loose plan of who ran when - with a view to being flexible. My first run was at 2pm and this went off hitch free, i  recalled the course from the last two years and there were some fond and  not so fond memories i can tell you! The weather was glorious and the
ground although muddy was beginning to dry out and my trail shoes served me  well. Handing over the baton i recorded a decent course time, faster than  any id done before at this event.

With a four hour break ahead of me i wandered around the site, had a beer  and chatted to friends old and new.  Lap two was at 8pm and it was beginning to turn dusky, i took my headtorch  and ran again. My feet took off at a good rate and almost 'remembered' the  previous run, i felt comfortable and finished in an ever faster time than  previously, strange as it seems. Lap 3 was planned around 2 am so i tried  to get some sleep but found myself chilly and ended up just trying to  relax. In hindsight i need a better sleeping bag and maybe i should take  some trackpants along - i only had shorts! . The 2 am lap was quite alot  more challenging, running on such uneven ground in the dark really  concentrates the mind! I tripped and fell once but no damage sustained.  This lap was a good ten minutes slower. Its eerie arriving at the  changeover point in the dark and hearing the bleep of the timing mat and  the runners calling teammates names as they search for each other to hand  over the baton.. I tried again to retire to my tent but sleep was not  forthcoming. I lay there going over the course, wondering how my team  mates were doing and constantly checking the time. Soon daylight appeared  and the campsite began to come alive once more.  My final lap was at 6 am and strangely my legs felt fine, i ran carefully  and not too fast as there wasnt a hurry - wed calculated we would finish  almost exactly at noon. I think this was the most enjoyable lap. I handed  over to our super speedy team mate Helen and went back to camp. After a  shower and change of clothes i took my tent down as rain was forecast.  The last lap was run by our team manager Mel, we all met her for the final  run across the line in the rain and then went and collected our medals.

I can safely say that Thunder Run is one of the best endurance type event  on the race calendar, you dont need to run fast or lots of laps, you can  run in a mixed team - some of our runners did two laps and some more. All  you need is a tent, a few beers and a some running shoes!