matt's big m60 run

In May last year I made an 80km walk on roads around the outside of the M60, Manchester’s orbital motorway. Since then I’ve thought about the repeating the journey, though this time in reverse, so that the closing stages aren’t a punishing three-hour walk on pavements at the end of a long day.

 

That vague intention has joined with an even more distant and idle notion of running the route to form a concrete plan to run the whole circuit counterclockwise. I’ve been running for more than 12 weeks now, and starting this week have begun a 16-week training programme that will see me attempt this ultramarathon on Saturday 14 May this year.

 

That means gradually increasing distances on four days each week until I run close to the full duration, before a week of shorter runs and recovery prior to attempting the full circuit. At present the distances are still relatively small.

 

Unlike the walk I’m far from certain I can actually complete this challenge, which makes it interesting. Especially as I intend this to be the first and only ultramarathon I attempt.

 

I should note there’s no intention to run this at anything close to competitive speeds, even if I were capable of such a thing (which I’m not). My present guess is that a good time for me will be in the 9-10 hour range, rather than the 6 hours plus that proper runners would be looking at.

 

There will be challenges. I think the long opening stretch on pavements should be manageable, but the climb from Ashton to Oldham/Chadderton will be tough. As will simply running for that amount of time.

 

Enough fact, here are some impressions.

 

This morning’s run was very enjoyable. From around 7 I was running comfortably and felt like I could carry on for a lot longer.

 

The conditions underfoot were mainly dry, and a lot drier than yesterday when I ran through rain. It was also a lot colder meaning that in place of yesterday’s t-shirt I wore my full-sleeved hoody, and was nowhere near as sweaty.

 

The route was a slight extension to the 10km circuit I’ve been running recently, and avoided the muddy areas that have been a minor annoyance.

 

The sun wasn’t due up until just after 8, but already the sky was lightening. In places it was lilac, though as there were no clouds mostly it was turquoise.

 

Alongside the Mersey I saw a fox low to the ground run up from the river, across the footpath, and up the further slope into woodland. There was a brief flash of one eye in the beam of my head-torch.

 

A little further on I noticed birds beginning to lift out of trees and circle, chattering, before setting back down. At home around half past seven the collared doves were still hunched in the bare trees overlooking the road.

 

Throughout the drone of traffic grew louder, objects on the horizon grew sharper, and the ground grew clearer.

 

An unfortunate effect of my training programme is that as I extend my runs they’ll have to move to the evening, since I won’t have enough time before work. My solitary morning runs as the day comes alive will be rarer. Though it’s a consolation that after May I can revert to my normal morning runs. Which for a few months will be in daylight with all the colour, life and busyness of summer.