"Arse Biscuits!" and My Saviour Steve

"Arse Biscuits"

If you have read the previous posts, you will know that I have been checking a website claiming to be "the official MDS website for the UK, Ireland and Israel" and that information for the 2013 MDS was forthcoming and forthcoming and forthcoming. Was it forthcoming? No.

By the time I had phoned them for the 10th time and finally got through to some random women wondering what the craic was, she didn't have a clue. Her response to my "false advertising" claim was that she didn't know anything. The following day, the website had changed.

So as it turns out that there's a new website, as a different company had taken over the registration for the MDS. "Arse biscuits" (courtesy of Fr. Jack Hackett pictured above) was how I summed up my disappointment very loudly when I realised that all of their 2013 places were sold out and I was 14 days too late, arse biscuits indeed. To make me feel even worse, they had started a registration list for 2014, compounding the guilt I had for not being more thorough in my research. Woe is me.

And so as I went home on the Friday, I threw all the toys out of my pram and I sulked, sulked at home, sulked my way through dinner with my wife Yvonne and friends of ours that night and then sulked my way through the weekend.

Yvonne told me that if I really wanted to get in, then I should get on with contacting charities etc. I sulked at that too.

On the Monday I thought it might be worth sending a "woe is me" email to the new website (http://www.runningsahara.com/ - RS) and to any charitable organisation that had ever anything to do with the MDS. One charity came back to me to offer me a potential place based on a proposal I was to submit around how I would raise money for them. Just as I was thinking how I was going to raise the money, RS came back and said it was no harm going on the waiting list and if that didn't work they said I could have a charity place with the official MDS charity - Solidarite - for 2013. Thank you to my saviour Steve at RS. Goodbye arse biscuits, hello smiley face. 



Giving it Galty...



Descending Galtymore with
Galtybeg in the Distance

Another month drifts by and still there’s no sign of the entry opening for the 2013 MDS. I’m getting a little worried now as I have contacted the Irish agent for the race and have had no response despite leaving messages and emailing. I might have to be charitable and go down that route. Either way, I want in!

In the meantime I’m continuing on with my strategy of run when I feel like it and run in Fivefingers as often as possible.



I felt like a challenge at the start of April and so I packed myself off to the Galty Mountains in Tipperary, minus the fingers. It had been at least 4 years since I last run up the mountain, so I had forgotten about the start, which is relentless, a long stony track with a nasty incline that never seems to end. About three quarters of the way up (the first hillock of the stony track, not the mountain) I was reduced to walking, breathing very heavily and thinking of the dunes in the desert. This did not bode well for my confidence/motivation/mental health.



The cross at the summit of Galtymore - taken just before my encounter with the hungry sheep



Once you get over the initial rise, it levels off and things felt good until I passed the air crash memorial and Galtymore comes into view. As one of Ireland’s six mountains over 3,000 ft it was rather imposing and the ground began to rise again quickly, as the stony road continued up toward Galtybeg. Onward and upward, skirting around the boggy bottom of Galtybeg and up what seemed like the near vertical rise to the top of Galtymore. It was a bit of a run/jog/walk at times, but I've been told that adding in some walking training is a good thing for the MDS. I was munching on a fig roll bar and a banana at the top and was freaked out when a sheep appeared in front of me and begged for food like a dog. 



After that it was down the hill and up the slightly less taxing Galtybeg, along its ridge and down a quick and uneven descent back to the car. An enjoyable couple of hours no doubt and as good tester for the body for future events.

Apparently the MDS dunes are far bigger than Ireland's highest mountains, so looking forward to that, should I get in. All in all, a worthwhile trip and a good base to train in for the future.

Running 3 Miles in Another Man's Shoes...

Ignoring all the advice that many (but not all) physiotherapists have given me throughout the years, I decided to try non-orthotic barefoot running. The decision came out of frustration from the return of some slight pain in my shins after two weeks of increased running and I have been here, done that. I know the only way to get rid of it involves rest and icing my shins using a large block of ice from an old butter container that I keep in the freezer and then starting again before I get more pain somewhere down the road (literally). This has been the cycle since I was 18, when I'm convinced that a mixture of the Mardyke's concrete astroturf, new hockey shoes, then end of my growth spurt and Asics first ever Kayanos (which were very heavy) caused my splints. As I always say "you can manage them, but never get rid of them".

With this decision and knowing I have no intention of running down a road with nothing on my feet, it meant only one thing...Five Fingers. So in I went to John Buckley's and tried to try on a pair. I felt sorry for the sales guy as it took me nearly 25 minutes to get one on and I couldn't even get the other one on. I told him to go for his lunch and come back to me, but he declined! Eventually I got them on (after 50 minutes) and walked around a bit and jogged in the shop. I bought them and left expecting to be clamped with a parking fine.

It took me only 20 minutes to get them on when I got back to the office and I kept them on for the day. To say that they feel weird is an understatement, like gloves that pull your toes apart. The first thing I noticed is how they force you to walk on the balls of your feet, as opposed to on the heels and when I jogged around a little, it was the same thing. Bizarre to say the least.


So on to my first run - I thought better of running more than 3 miles, as the advice is to build up slowly, maybe a mile at a time. I drove to the pitch in Glanmire and off I went. The difference in running style was immediate - no cushioning means you can't land on the heels and have to run more upright with a straighter back and there was no weight in them at all. I still had some pain in my shins, but it was a different pain, almost the sort of pain you get from trying something new, and it was the same for my calves. No pain in the soles of my feet and I felt I was running reasonably efficiently. The only other issue was a slight chaffing at the back of the ankles, but it's not a worry, I'm sure my ankles will get used to it.

Whether this will be the same in the longer term remains to be seen and I'm not sure will these solve the splint issues, but at this stage I'll try anything.   

The last thing I need is to find a method of training with them - do you run in them all the time?; alternate them with my normal runner?; wear my orthotics in my normal shoes?; do core exercises to help my running style? I'm not finding much online but I'll keep searching.

Was going to add in a crap joke here about giving my old runners the finger (get it? rubbish I know), but I can't see myself running over rocky ground in the fingers, let alone the desert. Will do a trial run in Youghal over the next week or so. Daycent ba!