A test of endurance

This morning at 10am my brother set off on his biggest ultra adventure yet TR250. The full name is the Thames Ring 250 mile ultra race running the perimeter of the Thames river starting and finishing at Goring just North West of Reading in Berkshire.

The race has a limit of 100 hours finish time but my brother being the ultra nutter he is has set himself a personal target of sub-65 hours with the aim of finishing in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The event is a logistical operation behind the scenes with volunteer checkpoint (CP) crew every marathon distance, a luggage van delivering the runners' kit bags between CPs as well as race organisers and a medic vehicle.

Equipment requirements mean all runners must carry compasses, minimum water, head torch, first aid kit and route maps and personal race support crews are not permitted making it doubly hard for both runners and their loved ones not being able to attend. This event is about mental endurance as much as physical. It takes place bi-annually and has a finish rate of 30-40% despite a high calibre of starting runners.

It's midnight now and my bro has been running an average pace of 10 min miles for 14 hours and covered a distance of almost 80 miles. He's run through Oxford, passed Windsor Castle, Hampton Court and is now just passing the Royal Botanical Kew Gardens in Richmond.

2015 is the sixth year of my brother running since his first half marathon at Hastings. He's competed in ultra races for four years and regularly finishes in the top ten, more often top three and sometimes even wins!

Two weeks ago he came second in the South Downs Way 100 mile ultra and with gruelling shift work at Gatwick Airport in between races he is often fatigued and not recovered fully before the next race.

As his big sister (by 21 months) I do worry about my lil' bro's wellbeing and potential for injury and accident but with careful race planning, training and a clean 'no sugar, no grains' NSNG way of eating he is lean, conditioned and well prepared.

Sometimes quality time off is squeezed so it's the job of big sis to have pep talks now and again to remind lil' bro that scheduling family chill time is just as important as training (hope you're listening Bruv)!

I'm off to call my bro now for a midnight chat before I try and get some sleep (always hard during races). For family and friends the finish line cannot come soon enough as it's hard not to worry. Our ultra running loved one out in the dark at night is not easy for us. I'm so proud of all he has achieved and I look forward to a non-race weekend soon for chill time together!

If you're interested in tracking the runners see this link. My bro is race number 37. http://bit.ly/ultralukeTR250