Imagine a weekend on the southern coast at the Flete estate near Plymouth. Open fields, a bunch of endurance addicts, evening lectures, a camp fire, plenty of food, some sun, yes, some sun!

Endurancelife for the second year once again arranged a superb weekend. They even managed to secure some dry weather amidst a very wet April and early May. Ironic that parts of the UK are in a drought.

Based on the Flete estate, the surroundings are superb. Stunning coastline, sandy beaches, quiet inlets and of course the opportunity to camp on site. The weekend is a mix of events all geared at fulfilling new desires, testing new boundaries or fulfilling the needs of the dedicated.

I arrived on Friday via train with Niandi. Lacking a car at the moment made logistics a little awkward, so we managed to find some cheap accommodation in Plymouth and along with ELA ambassador James Adams we shared a hire car for the weekend. The plus side for us was that we had a warm bed for the evenings but I can’t help but think we missed out on some of the fun.

We arrived on Saturday at event HQ just in time to see the ‘Raid’ get underway. A multi discipline event that involves mountain biking, running and kayaking. Being the dedicated endurance athletes that we are, Niandi, James and myself got a Laver bread sandwich and coffee and relaxed on the grass. Laver bread was a new one on me, made from seaweed you wouldn’t expect it to be too tasty but it sure was. Especially when you add a fried egg, some mushrooms and spinach. Oh I do love sport as it does allow you to indulge in endurance eating too.

Neil Bryant arrived and asked if we had planned to take part in the Aquatrail. A swim, run, swim run and so on event. James did go through the comical process of trying a wet suit on but thought better of it and with the exception of Neil we decided that spectating would be the best option. Not before we had another Laver bread though first…

Late afternoon, what looked like a bunch of tall seals lined up on the beach ready to do battle with cold water and trail running. As they entered the water you could hear a few screams as the cold took the breath away. Out to a buoy and back to the beach they then ran off around the coastline taking in two more swims and run sections to eventually return back to the start point and repeat the process a couple more times. For nearly everyone this was an introduction to Aquatrail and although they had been told that it would involve 2k of swimming and 10k of running I don’t think many had anticipated how hard the event would be. Certainly as they came out of the water at the end of lap one the cold water was having an effect but many battled on with cold hands and feet to a successful completion of the first Aquatrail.

Back at camp we sat around the fire and listened to stories and music. A wonderfully chilled hour as the sun started to disappear on the horizon.

With darkness the first evening of Live More Lectures started. Stories of crossing Oceans rowing, climbing to the summit of Mt Everest and running the Bob Graham Round in the English Lakes. Stories to inspire and motivate. The three of us left the camp close to midnight not leaving much opportunity for sleep before the early Sunday start to take part in the Coastal Trail Series.

Niandi and myself ran the marathon and teammates Oliver Sinclair, Neil Bryant and James Adams ran the ultra. Having run nearly all the Coastal Series, Flete is the one race I hadn’t run so I was interested to see what lay in store. From the off, the eventual winner flew off at break neck pace and never eased up. We only saw him again at about 5k into the race when all the front runners missed a left turn due to a misplaced course marker (very unusual). The early miles had a couple of tough climbs but then the middle section had some great single track. At checkpoint 2 I dibbed in with my Sportident and ran straight off leaving my two running partners. Slowly opening up a gap I remained in 2nd place right to the end to take a very satisfying 2nd place. However, the top 3 place was not that easy to come by! the final 6-8 miles of the Flete course are pretty darn tough. The climbs are vertical and seriously hurt the calf muscles and hamstrings. Over the final climb and on the run in to the finish we had a river crossing which was just what the legs needed. All that cold water on tired muscles. Perfect. In the Ultra, Oli was second and Neil 3rd making a good haul of the top places for the Endurancelife Team.

The sun was out and recovery for the next few hours was paramount. Of course that meant some chill time by the fire, another laver bread and plenty of fluid… no, I was good, no alcohol. Well, not until later when I treated myself to a glass of red!

The evening lectures soon came around and we kicked off with tales of going to the North Pole. Our final talk of the evening was by Deborah Searle who had achieved stunning feats by rowing solo some 10 years ago. In the middle was me! Yes, me!

When I had been asked to talk I was left with a dilemma. I felt that in comparison to rowing the Atlanic, climbing Everest or going to the North Pole my achievements were insignificant. But I have one strength, I feel that I am an ordinary person who could inspire other ordinary people to also achieve and push boundaries in a simple way. Since the passing of my Dad in 2009 I had never spoken in public about my 8 marathons in 8 days that had become such a test at a very trying time. So, putting myself under the pressure of literally breaking down in tears in front of a packed room I put some demons to rest in my talk. I managed not to break down (just about) and I hope that I got across a simple story of running that anyone could undertake.

It was a brilliant weekend. Both Niandi and myself had a great time and it was such a pleasure to mix with some great friends, make new friends and soak up the south coast.

As per usual, the Endurancelife crew but on another super slick event with the whole team being so helpful. I would like to give some special thanks to Kate for all the help prior to the weekend and on the weekend.

See you all next year