https://malintomizenrun.blogspot.com/ On mobile broadband so no pictures this time but I have some crackers for you when I’m back in a proper base!
I think that we may have been the only people in Ireland hoping for a cool, damp weekend! Instead we got hot, humid and hotter. What didn’t help was the terrain which was consistently hilly – I had a bad feeling when the very first street sign we saw was for the “Longhill Road”! And it was…both long and hilly…
I think that we may have been the only people in Ireland hoping for a cool, damp weekend! Instead we got hot, humid and hotter. What didn’t help was the terrain which was consistently hilly – I had a bad feeling when the very first street sign we saw was for the "Longhill Road"! And it was…both long and hilly…
Anyway, there was a bit of a faff in the morning, we were about a 45 minute drive from the end point and because it was a spray painted marker on the road surface down a boreen it took longer to find than anticipated so we were late starting, probably 6:45ish. While it was cool early on the hills were savage and it took a lot out of Jo. As crew we were also having trouble with the navigation, narrow country lanes with unmarked junctions and roads that simply weren’t on maps meant that we were constantly scouting ahead and trying to double back in time to update Jo before she took a wrong turn.
Once we got onto a major road things got easier but of course by then it was hotter. And thats when I made my boo-boo (sorry Jo!) We were in the van sorting out the next feeds and planning when she ran by and I hadn’t spotted a junction a few hundred meters ahead. "Right or Left?" yells Jo. "Right" says I, then dashed off to verify on the maps… You know what happens next, don’t you?
Of course it should have been left so we caught up with Jo and yelled at her to stop. Now we have been living and breathing Guinness World Record rulebooks for a few weeks and the rules are pretty clear that a competitor can leave the course and if they do they can be driven back to it. My panic though was that if Jo’s Garmin (the GPS watch tracking her distance) was driven in the van it might go nuts, lose the signal or otherwise misbehave. Call it paranoia but I just didn’t want to take the risk. Additionally by running with it I could run to (and tell Jo when I was at) the correct spot for the hand-back when she was back where she should have been. It probably seems silly to someone reading this that we would drive her a few hundred meters rather than just let her run it but any wasted effort was too much as far as I was concerned.
So I got to run with the famous Malin to Mizen Garmin watch! Hurrah!
Steff drove Jo back to the correct point on the course and I handed over the GPS for her to carry on from there. I’m trying to make light of it now but at the time I was worried about Jo – there had been a few minor niggles but stuff like that can erode a runners confidence in the team and feeling stiff, sore, tired and with so far still to go I was concerned about the impact it might have on her state of mind. This kind of thing is as much mental as physical and I felt bad that I could have put more pressure on her than been a help.
That drama over we ploughed on, Jo running very conservatively with plenty of walk breaks to cool down. At this stage we also had an unexpected, but welcome guest – Thomas Maguire, one of Irelands finest Ultra Runners popped up at a junction and stopped for a chat. He had seen me with the Garmin so a big thank you to him for coming over and asking for an explanation rather than jumping to conclusions! After I had explained what happened I took the opportunity to pick his brains about coping stratagies for the heat and a huge thank you to him for some invaluable advice which we very much took on board. He was also good enough to fill out a witness statement which means we have Irelands fastest miler and the 100km national record holder as witness. Which is a nice set of bookends! And if record holders or current fastest at shorter or longer distances want to come out please do!
The rest of the day progressed with more and more walk breaks and a constant battle to manage Jo’s feet, which are swelling and blistering in the heat. Which is fustrating because her legs feel fine. The feed strategy (thanks Tony!) is working brilliantly and Jo has had no tummy trouble but obvioulsy the day was taking it’s toll on her mentally. Thankfully just as she was fading David arrived to run with her and he kept her in good spirits until Drumlish, County Longford (thanks to the pub patrons who gave very vocal support by the way!) where we called it a day. 96kms run day 2 with 221kms in total.
Keep an ear out on the radio news and an eye on the TV because we’re hoping for more press today and tonight (Sunday) we have a function in Long Charlies pub on Kenyon Street in Nenagh, so if you are there come along and give a shout hello!
What is this all about then?
How mad?
The Malin to Mizen Head route is approximately 350 miles. Joanne hopes to complete it in under six days which would set a Guinness World Record. That is 70 miles per day, each day – almost the equivalent of 3 marathons each day!
How can you help?
The Carers Association aims to raise much needed funds from this event. We will be holding bucket collections in some of the locations en route, we have a mycharity.ie account for people who want to sponsor Joanne per mile or overall. https://www.mycharity.ie/event/every_step_of_the_wayp
Some quick clarifications
Wow, talk about a media whirlwind! The support from the press has been great but unfortunately sometimes when sub editors get hold of things they can make small changes that can have unintended changes in meaning. It seems that has happened, in at least one press report we saw yesterday it was reported that Jo will be the first person to run Malin to Mizen
This is not the case!
M2M run has been completed by many people, several of whom either run / walked or ran. Jo is hopefully going to be the first person to set a Guinness World Record. This is a very, very important distinction. There have been any number of talented people who’s footsteps we are following in, the key difference with us is that we are documenting to the GWR verification standards, not least so that a consistent benchmark and measure can be laid down that others can compare and in time (but hopefully not too soon!) beat our marker.
Lastly it has been brought to my attention that a lady called Jane Porter has already run Malin to Mizen. This is information that didn’t turn up in our research for this project. If anyone has further details on Janes run it would be great if you could get in touch so that we can update all the press releases and make sure we are clear and accurate going forward. In fact if Jane herself could give us a shout it would be brilliant as we can make sure we have all the info direct, so if anyone knows her please let her know we are looking for her.
I think that we may have been the only people in Ireland hoping for a cool, damp weekend! Instead we got hot, humid and hotter. What didn’t help was the terrain which was consistently hilly – I had a bad feeling when the very first street sign we saw was for the "Longhill Road"! And it was…both long and hilly…
Anyway, there was a bit of a faff in the morning, we were about a 45 minute drive from the end point and because it was a spray painted marker on the road surface down a boreen it took longer to find than anticipated so we were late starting, probably 6:45ish. While it was cool early on the hills were savage and it took a lot out of Jo. As crew we were also having trouble with the navigation, narrow country lanes with unmarked junctions and roads that simply weren’t on maps meant that we were constantly scouting ahead and trying to double back in time to update Jo before she took a wrong turn.
Once we got onto a major road things got easier but of course by then it was hotter. And thats when I made my boo-boo (sorry Jo!) We were in the van sorting out the next feeds and planning when she ran by and I hadn’t spotted a junction a few hundred meters ahead. "Right or Left?" yells Jo. "Right" says I, then dashed off to verify on the maps… You know what happens next, don’t you?
Of course it should have been left so we caught up with Jo and yelled at her to stop. Now we have been living and breathing Guinness World Record rulebooks for a few weeks and the rules are pretty clear that a competitor can leave the course and if they do they can be driven back to it. My panic though was that if Jo’s Garmin (the GPS watch tracking her distance) was driven in the van it might go nuts, lose the signal or otherwise misbehave. Call it paranoia but I just didn’t want to take the risk. Additionally by running with it I could run to (and tell Jo when I was at) the correct spot for the hand-back when she was back where she should have been. It probably seems silly to someone reading this that we would drive her a few hundred meters rather than just let her run it but any wasted effort was too much as far as I was concerned.
So I got to run with the famous Malin to Mizen Garmin watch! Hurrah!
Steff drove Jo back to the correct point on the course and I handed over the GPS for her to carry on from there. I’m trying to make light of it now but at the time I was worried about Jo – there had been a few minor niggles but stuff like that can erode a runners confidence in the team and feeling stiff, sore, tired and with so far still to go I was concerned about the impact it might have on her state of mind. This kind of thing is as much mental as physical and I felt bad that I could have put more pressure on her than been a help.
That drama over we ploughed on, Jo running very conservatively with plenty of walk breaks to cool down. At this stage we also had an unexpected, but welcome guest – Thomas Maguire, one of Irelands finest Ultra Runners popped up at a junction and stopped for a chat. He had seen me with the Garmin so a big thank you to him for coming over and asking for an explanation rather than jumping to conclusions! After I had explained what happened I took the opportunity to pick his brains about coping stratagies for the heat and a huge thank you to him for some invaluable advice which we very much took on board. He was also good enough to fill out a witness statement which means we have Irelands fastest miler and the 100km national record holder as witness. Which is a nice set of bookends! And if record holders or current fastest at shorter or longer distances want to come out please do!
The rest of the day progressed with more and more walk breaks and a constant battle to manage Jo’s feet, which are swelling and blistering in the heat. Which is fustrating because her legs feel fine. The feed strategy (thanks Tony!) is working brilliantly and Jo has had no tummy trouble but obvioulsy the day was taking it’s toll on her mentally. Thankfully just as she was fading David arrived to run with her and he kept her in good spirits until Drumlish, County Longford (thanks to the pub patrons who gave very vocal support by the way!) where we called it a day. 96kms run day 2 with 221kms in total.
Keep an ear out on the radio news and an eye on the TV because we’re hoping for more press today and tonight (Sunday) we have a function in Long Charlies pub on Kenyon Street in Nenagh, so if you are there come along and give a shout hello!
What is this all about then?
How mad?
The Malin to Mizen Head route is approximately 350 miles. Joanne hopes to complete it in under six days which would set a Guinness World Record. That is 70 miles per day, each day – almost the equivalent of 3 marathons each day!
How can you help?
The Carers Association aims to raise much needed funds from this event. We will be holding bucket collections in some of the locations en route, we have a mycharity.ie account for people who want to sponsor Joanne per mile or overall. https://www.mycharity.ie/event/every_step_of_the_wayp
Some quick clarifications
Wow, talk about a media whirlwind! The support from the press has been great but unfortunately sometimes when sub editors get hold of things they can make small changes that can have unintended changes in meaning. It seems that has happened, in at least one press report we saw yesterday it was reported that Jo will be the first person to run Malin to Mizen
This is not the case!
M2M run has been completed by many people, several of whom either run / walked or ran. Jo is hopefully going to be the first person to set a Guinness World Record. This is a very, very important distinction. There have been any number of talented people who’s footsteps we are following in, the key difference with us is that we are documenting to the GWR verification standards, not least so that a consistent benchmark and measure can be laid down that others can compare and in time (but hopefully not too soon!) beat our marker.
Lastly it has been brought to my attention that a lady called Jane Porter has already run Malin to Mizen. This is information that didn’t turn up in our research for this project. If anyone has further details on Janes run it would be great if you could get in touch so that we can update all the press releases and make sure we are clear and accurate going forward. In fact if Jane herself could give us a shout it would be brilliant as we can make sure we have all the info direct, so if anyone knows her please let her know we are looking for her.