Cambridge to Oxford utlramarathon

Well, what can I say, on the 22nd of June I ran just over 135 km from Cambridge to Oxford in around 14 hrs 40 minutes to raise money for Macular Society. This blog post is a post run report (written the day after - so my brain is a bit fudge).

I woke up at 1:30 am on Saturday morning to get ready to leave Cambridge at 2 am. I left my college well-equipped for the next couple of hours in the dark, however, I soon pulled off my thermal as it was far too hot, even in the middle of the night! The first stretch went pretty smoothly, although I did need to navigate through a couple herds of cattle in some fields which was a little odd, given that all I could see were some bright dots from my torch reflecting off their eyes. Despite going smoothly, I did feel a little bit more sluggish than I would have liked, which was likely because of the lack of sleep that night and the nights leading up (as I was both so excited and nervous at the same time). I rolled into the first ‘checkpoint’ to meet my team at around 18 km where I was surprised by a cat called Eddie!

After leaving this checkpoint, it started to brighten up so I could now run without my headtorch. Running at dawn was really quite amazing and the sunrise over the rolling hills was so beautiful. I started feeling a little more awake and positive, although my hips were already feeling quite sore. This is when I decided that I would run a little slower than my planned pace. Therefore, instead of aiming to sustain 6:00/km for as long as I could before blowing up, I decided to slow it down ever so slightly by a few seconds per kilometer as this felt far more natural. This decision proved to pay off well in the end. Having ran through the rolling hills and fields, I then arrived at the lovely village of Ashwell. It felt amazing to be running down into the village at sunrise, with the church looking so impressive in the morning light. I met my crew for the second time to top up with water and bananas and then I was off, having ran around 32 km by this point.

Things were going well, but then things started to go a bit off track in my head. For some reason - that I don’t fully know - I started to get into a negative spiral of emotions for the next 20 miles. I texted my crew to say that I was already at a ‘low point’, having not even ran a marathon. My head was all over the place and I was telling myself all kinds of things to try to convince myself that if I stopped, it would be OK. Despite these negative thoughts, I ensured that I still hydrated and fuelled well during these kilometers and eventually I reached my third checkpoint. I think I remember telling my friends that “I need to get my head together” as I knew that if I stayed in this headspace, there was no way I would get to Oxford. Unfortunately, the next 10 miles only got worse and I was feeling a whole load of emotions that weren’t at all helpful in the moment. At this point, having gone through the 50 km mark, I was ready to quit. The fact that the route I had chosen to take decided to go over every small hill along the way also made things a little tough mentally. Ellie texted me to ask if I wanted her to tag along for the next stretch, to which I said yes. After running around Luton, I was joined by someone else for the first time during the run. Having ran for nearly 7 hours by myself, fighting various battles in my own head, I knew that having Ellie running with me would make a big difference.

We set off from Luton for the next stretch. Until now, I had managed to stay relatively unscathed, but we were very nearly involved in a head on collision with a bloke coming full pelt on an e-scooter on the narrowest woodland path he could have chosen. Luckily, his scooter handling skills were good enough for him to closely dodge both Ellie and I :D. During this next stretch, I was able to start vocalising some of my thoughts that I had previously had to contain in my own head. Some of these kilometers were very emotional and I even cried for quite some time, having no idea why I was so sad. I remember telling Ellie “I am just so sad, I don’t quite know why because my legs are still working OK”. After bouncing a few words back and forth, Ellie said something that seemed to completely shift my mindset for the remainder of the run. “Stay focused on the challenge” - those are the words that changed it all during this run. Before this point, I was not at all staying focused on the challenge and instead, I was overwhelmed by the enormity of the task at hand, which led me to spiral into a whirlwind of negative emotions. I’m not entirely sure if it was just this sentence that flipped things around, or perhaps the joy of being able to join with Ellie, both my best friend and amazing girlfriend. From here on, I felt a lot more positive. During this stretch, we encountered a slight obstacle. A drain had burst on the road, which meant that the entire width of the road was covered in water. As we had no choice but to run this way, my shoes and socks were now soaked through so I decided that I would change out both my shoes and socks at the next stop. I probably shouldn’t have even worn the first pair of shoes at all as my foot was effectively hanging out of one of them as if it were some sort of fashionable flip-flop. I think I may have taken the phrase ‘Don’t try anything new on race day’ a bit too seriously. Luckily, my spare pair of shoes were in a far better state. Having changed shoes and socks, my feet and legs now felt a lot fresher for some reason. This is where Mr Wilde stepped in to do his first leg with me. We left Ivinghoe Aston in good spirits, having already ran 78 km.

The next section to Aylesbury was really quite beautiful. Both because of the lovely canal that we followed for a good 10 km, but also because I was able to run with one of my best friends. Charlie and I met in my last year at Durham and we immediately clicked and became good friends. Although I have never told Charlie this explicitly, he is a big inspiration to me as he regularly undertakes tough challenges to explore his limits, and does so in such style. Because of this, I think just having Charlie by my side for the next 10 miles was a huge motivator and I knew that when he said that he believed I could finish, that he truly meant it. This stretch was pretty easy going for the most part and Charlie even managed to pick a wild Strawberry to snack on! We talked about some of our memories together and also talked far too much about David Goggins. Regardless of how crazy David Goggins is, for some reason, “Who’s gonna carry the boats, and the logs?” made these miles go by far quicker. Goggins’ words would come in useful later into the run too. Feeling good, with morale on a high, I rolled into Aylesbury having ran 96 km. Once more, I restocked on water and snacks and by now I had eaten 9 bananas and 9 fat bombs. Now, I would hope everyone knows what a banana is, but I wouldn’t at all expect anyone to understand what my ‘fat bombs’ are. In fact, I don’t think anyone wants to know. But if you want to make some yourself, then throw a can of chickpeas, some raisins, some ground almonds, peanut butter and honey into a blender to make a mush then try your best to form them into ‘balls’. There you go! We quite quickly realised that these balls became one big lump as they morphed in the strong heat. Because of this, I had to just claw some of the mush with my hand whilst running. This sounds horrible (it is), but they went down the hatch a lot better than the banana flapjacks that I had made to be nicer than these. I digress, I then left Aylesbury with Tom.

Morale was high at this point and I was buzzing to get through the 100 km mark. Having tried and failed to run 100 km in my first year of university, it felt pretty good to be cruising quite comfortably through the 100 km mark. Some of this next stretch was nice, but there was a good 4 km stint with hip height grass that felt like I was having to work twice as hard. The long grass also made navigating a little tricky at times, but I stayed positive and Tom and I were enjoying the English countryside. This is the point where it started to get really hot. Up to now, despite it being around 18-20 degrees, the clouds had been on our side and I hadn’t had much direct sunlight. However, from this point on, the sun was direct, which meant that it was even more important to stay on top of hydration and electrolyte levels. The amazing crew did a remarkable job of gauging how much salt I needed in my water bottles and everything was going well from the point of view of avoiding any cramps. Tom and I rocked into Cuddington, having now ran around 107 km. This was the first time I stopped standing. I decided that I would lie on my back and kick my legs up straight for exactly 60 seconds to try and flush out some of the crap from my legs. I then stood back up and Tom and I left the checkpoint, now accompanied again by Mr Wilde.

After leaving Cuddington, I was slightly regretting lying down on my back, but I soon started to feel really good and decided that it was in fact a great idea. The three of us kept a good pace for the next stretch, but the heat was getting serious. Charlie was quick to think of ideas to try and keep my core body temperature low, so he took off his t-shirt and then dunked it in the river. I then threw this over my head and pinned it down with my cap. In Tom’s words, I now looked like a real “wild man”. Somehow, this makeshift cooling mechanism seemed to give me another gear and I now found myself motoring quite quickly up the hills. Thankfully, Charlie reminded me that I shouldn’t get carried away, so I took his advice and proceeded to power hike anything that was slightly steep. This stretch was also where I reached my definition of ‘half way’. Before starting the run, I had decided to use a tactic that I had previously used for some of my longer runs - this being designating a certain distance as the half way point, not physically in terms of how many kilometers, but rather in terms of mental and physical exertion required. I had chosen the 110 km mark as my half way point for this run, so, although ecstatic to be so far into my run, I also knew that I had to stay conservative and focused as I was still very far away from Oxford. We then rolled into the next checkpoint in Ickford, where I had some of the delicious blueberry cake that Ellie had kindly made for me and kicked my legs up for another minute. Having ran around 118 km, I now started to believe that I could maybe finish.

The next stretch was a shorter one and Charlie stayed with me for this. Things were going pretty smoothly, but during this stretch I had my first blip in terms of fueling as I wasn’t quite able to swallow a fat bomb whilst on the run. Instead, I had to slow down to a walk and I probably took around 2 minutes to eat the ball. Despite this, I was still feeling good and my legs were still moving well. However, I was now starting to feel quite mentally exhausted, which showed in my attitude at times. Closing in on the last checkpoint, I managed to navigate in the wrong direction twice, which for some reason, made me want to nearly cry. It’s funny how your mind behaves after running 125 km and having not slept for 36 hours. Luckily, Charlie stayed calm and we found our way eventually. We then strolled into Wheatly, where I would meet my crew for the last time. To my surprise, my crew had managed to acquire some ice from a local pub and we created another makeshift cooling mechanism by filling my bandana with ice, tying a knot at the top, and then plonking it on my head. Looking very bizarre, I set off for the last 8 km with both Ellie and Charlie.

I was moving well at this point, but we soon encountered the longest hill of the route. Initially, I was running up the hill, but I decided that it would be silly to blow up so close to Oxford because I wanted to run up the last hill. Instead, I slowed down to a power hike until the brow of the hill, and then started to run again. We then reached the 5 km to go mark and I told myself “This is just a parkrun now, my mum can do a parkrun”, to which I then thought - “My mum is a very good runner now, so perhaps this comparison is not a great one”! Funnily, through these last 30 miles, I just kept on saying the words of Goggins - “They don’t know me son, they don’t know me son”, which seemed to do a good job at keeping me focused on the challenge (more on this later). After the hill, we then had a nice downhill before running the last few kilometers along the pretty streets of Oxford. My legs still felt pretty good, so I was able to turn them over a bit quicker towards the end. Just before the end, two of Ellie’s friends, Ava and Polina, were ready to cheer me on out of the window of their house in Oxford. This was really sweet and felt really good! Finally, I then arrived at the Radcliffe Camera in Oxford at around 4:40 pm, having been running for nearly 15 hours. The last few hundred meters were very emotional for me and I couldn’t contain myself. When I finished, with Ellie and Charlie by my side, I burst into tears for a good few minutes and sat on the floor with my head in my hands. So many emotions were going through my head. Having wanted to stop at 50 km, to getting my head back together and running another 85 km after this point, I was unable to comprehend what had just happened. More personally, the tears were related to far more than this.

I would like to say a huge thank you to all of my crew for helping out during the run. Thank you to George for being a legend and coming in as a driver last minute after I called him on Thursday night to say that our car plans had fallen through. You’re a great guy George and you managed to bring a smile to my face at each checkpoint and also were key to making sure I stayed well fuelled and hydrated and also topped up on suncream! Thank you to Tom for being a great friend all year in Cambridge and for helping me get through some of the tough times both this year and during the run. I really appreciate your support and it was great to see you put a good 25 km shift in to help me! Thank you to Charlie for being such a solid friend and for believing in me from the start. I could not have done it without you Charlie and I was unbelievably impressed by the marathon plus that you ran having just completed the Royal Marines endurance test the day before and running off little to no sleep. Charlie, you are a warrior! An lastly, thank you to Ellie. You are amazing and if it weren’t for you getting me out of the hole at around 50 km, I would not have been able to finish the run. Ellie worked tirelessly to ensure that everything went smoothly with the driving and all of the stops and even joined in for an impressive 24 km! You are all stars and I cannot express how thankful and appreciative I am for your support both during the run and in other aspects of my life. It was amazing to bring together some of my best friends to help piece together this challenge!

Ever since committing to try this run, I have made many sacrifices to be able to balance my training with studying my Nuclear Energy masters here at Cambridge. Every day apart from Mondays, I rolled out of bed to go running before getting on with my university work and other things. Unfortunately, this year has been one of the most challenging academic years yet and I have struggled a lot mentally during the year. Despite this, I have always tried to stay strong and just keep ticking along, trying MY best and focusing on MY OWN journey. Although not quite finished here at Cambridge, the end is now very near and I will continue to give my all to doing my best. The reason I mention this is because the whole run felt like a close mirror of this last academic year. Having contemplated quitting my course in the first term, I feel immensely proud to look back and to see that I chose to persevere with things. This run was no different. There were multiple times very early on when I wanted to throw the towel in but instead I just kept on putting one foot in front of the other. After a small shift of mindset, I managed to almost dissociate my legs from my brain and just put one foot in front of another, 142000 times. This is why I was so emotional at the end - just because someone seems to be succeeding and living their best life, this is only half of the story. More often than not, people only share the good parts of their lives. This is why I am sharing this. It has not all been plain sailing this year and I am sure there will still be some big hurdles over the next two months whilst I finish off my course. But just remember, if you continue to turn up every single day and remember the WHY, things will eventually improve. This is why the phrase “they don’t know me son” seemed to drive me towards the end of this run. Perhaps from an outsiders perspective, I seem to progress through life with ease, but this is far from true. As a person, the stresses of life often take their toll on me mentally, however, I know that if I just ride the wave of life, I will eventually come out of the other side stronger. What I am trying to get across is that my life is far from perfect but I always try to show grit and determination when times are tough as I know that things will eventually improve, just like during this run.

This run has taught me so much about myself and about how people work. We are all capable of far more than we think. Cliche I know, but even the toughest of hurdles can be tackled with enough time. Just like this run, life will throw you around in roundabouts and you will experience the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. This is why, going forward, I will continue to fully embrace both the highs and the lows, because without the lows, there is no way of learning about yourself so that you can come back stronger next time. One other key takeaway from this run is that if broken down into smaller chunks, any challenge is possible. Early on during the run, I was too fixated on the total distance that I had to run and became overwhelmed by the enormity of the challenge. However, when I decided to break it down into chucks - checkpoint by checkpoint, one foot in front of another - it became a lot easier to process in my head, and every time I met my crew, I felt a great sense of achievement. Following this run, I will continue to apply this philosophy to other areas of my life. By being persistent and consistently showing up to better oneself, each small step you take every day will eventually accumulate into something a lot bigger. Lastly, remember to talk to the people around you. Just like during this run, if you contain your emotions inside your own head, you will eventually spiral into a deep hole. By talking and sharing how you feel with the people closest to you, you can come out of the lows and then ride the highs surrounded by all of these amazing people.

If there is one message that I would like you to take from this post it’s this: Set goals that you think you can’t achieve. This is a quote that I wrote in the back of my diary at the start of the year and my decision to undertake this challenge was guided by this. At the start of the year, I told my friends that it would be cool to run to Oxford, which they were very apprehensive about. Despite feeling like this goal might not be possible, I decided that I would commit everything that I could to try and achieve it. By setting goals that scare us, I believe that we grow far quicker than we otherwise would as human beings. By immersing yourself in working towards a certain goal, just remember that it is the PROCESS that is most valuable and important. Yes, fulfilling the goal would be nice, but at the end of the day, the OUTCOME doesn’t matter all that much. Its the process of showing up every single day, even when times are tough, that makes us stronger. Just remember: process, not outcome.

And finally, most importantly, this run was for a far bigger cause than myself, this being to raise money for Macular Society. Unfortunately, my Taid lost most of his eyesight a few years ago due to age related macular degeneration. To try and help Taid an others suffering from macular disease, I decided to raise money for this amazing charity during this run. I have currently raised over £1.5 k and I am extremely grateful to every single person who has donated so far. Any further donations would mean the world to me and would bring a huge smile to my face despite all of the pain I experienced on Saturday. Here is the link to the JustGiving page: https://www.justgiving.com/page/elis-parry-oxford-to-cambridge. Diolch am bopeth Taid, gobeithio neith yr arian yma helpu ychydig <3.

I hope that you enjoyed reading this post. That’s all from me for now. I’m looking forward to what the future holds, this is only the beginning…