Daniel Nettle
Hitting the Wall
It’s been a long time coming, my attempt at The Wall. I wanted to do it in 2020, for my 50th birthday. I had plateaued in terms of getting faster so I thought: perhaps I could test myself by going further. Anyway, the pandemic had other ideas, and last summer was not good, so at 6:30am on 18th June 2022 I found myself, along with 800 other runners, milling around on the front lawn of Carlisle castle. None of your jokey DJs and dynamic warm-ups here: everyone knows it is going to be a long day, and they mainly seem lost in their own thoughts.
The Wall is basically an easy marathon, on road and cycleway, from Carlisle to Walltown; followed by a really hard and largely unrunnable fell section along the spine of Hadrian’s Wall to The Sill; followed by a very long but largely flat 40 miles down the Tyne Valley through Hexham, Corbridge, Ovingham, Prudhoe, Wylam and Newburn to Newcastle. It’s a bit of a shock to the system changing gears, from flat 10-minute miles to slogging up rocky steps, and then back again. However, it’s probably a good thing: 70 miles pounding along the flat at the same rhythm would destroy the legs.
The real challenge of The Wall is to get running again consistently after the hills are over. You are so tired by this point that it becomes easy and tempting to walk much of it. But you are still 40 miles from home. The hours can easily slip away, sitting in aid stations or ambling along. Indeed, when I awoke the next morning, the tracking still shows a few brave souls picking their way along the Quayside, 23 hours in. The challenge is to make yourself run. Fortunately, I felt pretty strong after the Sill, and even after Hexham, and managed to run a lot more than I walked, including my fastest miles of all. I was helped in this stretch by Ian Soulsby, Simon Allen, Lee Coulson and Melissa Bateson, who came out to run a little way or just to say hello (and by Dave Armstrong who was staffing the Newburn pitstop). My main problem was nausea. My plans to eat real food and plenty of it only lasted about the first six hours. After that, all I could really manage was sports drink, some salty crisps, and finally a caffeine gel.
Knowing how to train for an ultra is difficult, and there seems to be a lack of clear guidance. For my part, I did large volumes of easy running, but I did them by running often (6 days a week) rather than running far (rarely more than about 11 miles, with just one 26 mile full-kit trial). Then, for some unfathomable reason, I ran two 800m on the track in the final ten days, making me worry I had tweaked my quads. But I was extremely pleased with how I held up. At Hexham, I put on clean socks, the swizzy Nike shoes, and the club vest; and I crossed the Millennium Bridge at 21:32, 6 minutes before sunset, a shade over fourteen and a half hours after setting off.
Those of you who have been running all your lives may not realize how transformational Harriers can be. In my case, a non-sporty kid turned into an adult who did no real exercise apart from walking and odd game of social tennis, and suddenly found himself middle-aged. In 2013 Melissa started running along to Elswick park and back in the mornings before work, a loop of three kilometres—three! Parkrun followed, and then membership of the Harriers, but if you had suggested I could be running a 70-mile ultramarathon at the age of 51, and finishing towards the front of the field, I would have said you were mad. It’s been a great source of confidence, perspective, and memories. It shows you what can be done by building up steadily and consistently, with the mutual support and good fellowship that the club provides. So, here’s thanks to all the Elswick family, and especially those who turn out to coach and blow their whistles evening after evening, whatever the season.
Micky Shore
I loved every step I took on this race even where I had 7 blisters on one foot. I had the best support crew ever they were better than the AA they kept me going if we needed it. They were there from blister plasters to McDonald’s and ice cream. I would recommend this race to anyone just beware of the climb to the sill it was great to just see friendly faces popping up from nowhere (Lee Coulson)
