Before we begin to be #allin24

So the Thunder Run. Wow, what an event. Approximately 4000 idiots fools crazies runners all got together for 24 hours of madness. I say 24 hours of madness but actually some of us went to parkrun that morning for an extra 5k of running goodness. Yep...draw your own conclusions as to our sanity.

The photo is of the briefing to give a little bit of an idea as to the scale of people involved. But is isn't everyone, people stretch out in all directions even further and many didn't make the briefing. It was massive and awesome.

So to the actual run. I had the honour and good fortune of the first lap for team parkrun fresh (Gav, Michaela, Ben, Neil and Katie being the other team members) and so I got to run off in the sweltering sunshine with all the other starters. About half a kilometre in was the first hill, quite a steep, woody, uneven climb and from that moment onwards it was fairly damn undulating. There was woodland and twists and turns and fun. It was a good course, not one for speed really but a lovely one to enjoy.

As the afternoon wore on all of the team got to have the pleasure of the lap. We all tried to cheer each other on, having a spot at the bottom of a hill about 8.5k into the lap where we gave a little cheery push on to the end of the lap. The day remained very warm and humid, it was difficult to cool down and we were generally sweating the whole way through. But we tried to stretch and eat and drink and do what we could. As soon as someone got back to the tents we gave them a cheer before shouting 'Stretch! Sugar! Salt! Water!' to get the recovery process going.

About 6ish everyone had completed there first lap and I got to experience the waiting area for a changeover. I didn't have to wait long but was struck even then how happy everyone was, people wishing strangers good luck, little chats breaking out about their previous laps and helping those who had just finished to find the next member of their team. Katie passed the wrist strap baton on and I started my double lap.

The first lap was great, smooth running, enjoyable times and feeling fresh as a daisy. I was passed a fresh bottle of water and a gel from Neil at the start/finish line and bounded off to continue my run. I reached the big hill and it started - I felt a twinge of cramp in my calf. I made the decision there and then. Walk run. I decided that to recover in time for my next lap I could not the the twinge turn into a twang and the twang to turn into an explosion of pain that I have known before. The lap was slow, walking up hills, walking down hills, stretching if I felt it and jogging the rest. I made it back as light rain started and thunder could be heard rolling in the distance. I passed the baton onto Gav and made my way back to the tent.

The rain was still falling now and everyone had moved into the reception/living room/porch area of my tent to keep dry. Michaela helped my recovery by holding my legs and letting the lactic acid drain, it was cooler and so the liquid was doing wonders, and confidence was being restored to me. Then the heavens opened and we all started to feel for Gav.

The rain lashed down horrendously and we could only imagine what was happening to the course. Thunder rolled, lightning shattered down, it seemed as though the perfect storm had settled overhead such was its ferocity. We tried to count the difference, praying the storm was passing over but there was no rhyme or reason to it all. We were being played by the weather Gods like a finely tuned banjo and it was sweet sweet music that was being made.

Award for gutsiest moment goes to Michaela. In all of this she was up next. We offered her the chance to wait and see if it would lighten, or at least the lightning would stop, but she decided to go for it and brave the elements. Massive amounts of respect and admiration for the mental strength of that girl - many teams did not bother to continue at this point.

I used this as an opportunity to see her to the start line, get some food from the food tent in me and have a sports massage to continue the recovery. As I got back to the tent we were all talking about the conditions, how bad they are, but how much everyone who had done a lap had seemed to enjoy themselves. As midnight approached I sat there watching the torch lights slowly move across the distance from another part of the course looking forward(ish) to my next lap and then trying to get a few hours kip....