Every day is a learning day

What an amazing weekend of training.  It’s been a hard week of training and on Saturday ATHelite had 3 teams in the John Lucas Ultra Relay race.  This was the inaugural race and it started  2 minutes from my house so I had to do it.  It was an exciting day with lots of banter between the teams as we wound each other up.
I was running the second leg and ran the leg last weekend to make sure I knew it.  I’m so glad I did as you can easily mistake a building 3.5km from the end as the finish, and that would be a “ball breaker” in the race as it turned out to be for some of the runners.  My team runner Dan smashed the first leg.  Fortunately I’d turned up 2 minutes before he did, which should have been a warning for what was to come.  This meant I could chase down Michael Martin who had a 2 min head start.  I knew he was aiming for a 1 hr 28 mins which was faster than my estimate.  I also knew he was strong on the hills and there are plenty of them so I had my work cut out.  But I felt strong and before I knew it I was right behind him.  I ran past him, gave him a high 5 and never looked back - I just pressed on.
I dug really deep and finished in 1 hr 24 mins which was 8 mins ahead of my estimate and 5 mins ahead of my coaches earimate.  I was bust but happy.
Our next runner Stuart smashed his leg and this is where the learning started.  His team weren’t there as we’d screwed up on our timetable and were 20minutes late! Unforgivable.  Geoff who ran next did an amazing time, absolutely incredible, but got lost!  You couldn’t make it up.  He was gutted.  Beth took on the last leg knowing we were possibly disqualified but put in a great effort.  In the end we all had a good laugh about it but lessons were learned.
Today Stuart and I headed out on a long hill run.  It was a new one to both of us and unsurprisingly we got lost! We managed 85% of the route and it was a toughie.  Stuart ran out of water and that wasn’t a good position to be in, but another valuable lesson.
I felt strong throughout the run and after the last week of hard training, I was pleased.  I’ve just received a note from my coach telling me just how fit I currently am which is a real boost to my confidence.  The hard work is paying off.
I’ve 60 days left till Tahoe.  There’s a lot of hard work to be done between now and them and I’m going to build on this fitness because Tahoe is a “ whole new rodeo”.  15-20 hours a day with 3 hours sleep a day is going to be brutal - but that’s what will make it worthwhile.
I’m doing this for a reason and it’s personal. A year ago today my wife and I was celebrating in Philadelphia with our great friends, Carol and John.  It was the wedding of their daughter and it was a fantastic day.  Sadly Carol was diagnosed with cancer, stage 4,  when she returned home.  She’s no longer with us but I know she’ll be with me, pushing me every step of the way in Tahoe.  I’m raising funds in her honour for Maggies Cancer Caring Centres and if you’d like to support me then please visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/derek-stewart8 .