Escape From Meriden 2021

November 12-13th 2021

50 miles road (/light trail)

The great escape! Escape from Meriden is a pretty unique race format, whereby competitors all start together, at midnight (in November!) in Meriden, one of the proposed "Centre of England" spots. They then have 24 hrs to get as far as possible ATCF (as the crow flies, ie straight-line distance) from this point. So, a nice little planning and logisitcal challenge on top of the general fitness required.

I originally entered this for 2020 (story of my life this year) with a group of girlfriends. However, we ended up deferred to 2021 due to the November lockdown, and various reasons such as moving house, having babies meant I was the only one of the four of us to be partaking in this year's version. This I didn't particularly mind apart from the personal safety element of potentially lone running through the likes of Coventry in the early hours.... I was very, very grateful therefore when my friend's husband Paul suggested he wouldn't be averse to having me tag along with him through the hours of darkness.

This helped me greatly as it also pretty much set my route, which I give Paul 100% credit for. He had designed and recce-d almost every section of this route, which took us towards Milton Keynes via Leamington, Southam and some smaller hamlets. It was impressively direct, particularly after the first 30 miles, loosely following the A5 from then on. Paul's target: 60 miles ATCF, whatever the pace. My target: 30 miles ATCF, in time to get back to reinstate childcare for my husband to go and play hockey (effectively, up to 14 hrs to get back home from the start).

The start was brilliantly odd, as everyone scurried off in different directions. A good percentage left Meriden via our route, but after only a few miles, we only had eyes on a couple of people. We took things very steady, knowing we had a long night ahead, walking up any hills and trotting along in between. Paul's recce-ing was an absolute god-send, as HS2 had cut through the route in multiple places, causing some very poorly signed diversions that we had already accounted for.

The route continued mainly on roads and tracks all the way to leamington. Oddly, night road running didn't bother me as much as I thought, as there weren't many cars and the headlights gave good warning of approach. Leamington was a strange mix of the young and drunk, and after a quick fluid top up from a fuel stations (the only way to shop at this hour), we carried on. After leamington was our only canal stretch - 3 miles of towpath and the first place I started to get a bit spooked. Boats loomed out of the darkness, as did the eyes of various creatures... I was glad to exit the canal and never get back on!

We were now in proper countryside, and it wasn't until Southam that we reached civilisation again. Here we bought food and water (although I should have procured more water here) and once again, continued en route. We met another competitor (now a rarity) at the petrol station, who seemed a bit lost and muddled, so we sent him on his way towards Reading. A field section then ensured, but whilst muddy, I was grateful as the tarmac was taking it's toll. Perhaps in hindsight speedcrosses weren't the best choice, but it was unseasonally dry underfoot for November, and the lugs were handy through ploughed fields.

The next stretch was very quiet, both in terms of chat and signs of life. Terrain was reasonably varied, with some undulations and the very gradual dawn. An hour later and it was light! The headtorches came off, which was a bit of a relief, but finding toilet stops became more of an issue... On the flipside, I realised by calculation that I was running out of water, and would run out well before my next stock (my car - which I had parked at 30 miles ATCF). I therefore pushed on, creating a gap to Paul knowing that he would catch up whilst I stopped at my car.

Once I reached the car I did an almost full change of clothes, changing into road trainers too and topping up my liquid stocks. Paul caught me up and topped up too, then we cracked on towards the A5. The road shoes were, at first, a huge relief for my feet, and I felt much fresher and more motivated, despite having already reached my target. I settled on a new target - 50 miles on foot (not ATCF), as I'd never run that far before. This took me onto the A5, which was much more linear and populated than previous route sections. I left Paul having a "good meal" as he had a much longer day to cater for, and jogged the final 5 miles to, well, the middle of nowhere.

A mile off my 50 mile target, I attempted to hail an Uber. Fail. I ended up going into a pub and getting the number for a local taxi firm, who said they would meet me in 25 minutes (this was life before Uber?). Meaning I ran for 10 minutes more, switched off the all important tracker, and then shuffled back to the pub. My taxi arrived very promptly and we drove the 10 or so miles back to my car. The driver seemed a little baffled by the whole idea of what I was doing, and I pretty much fell out of the car when we arrived, the stiffness already settling in.

This was a completely mad experience, and I loved the unique-ness of it. We were exceptionally lucky to have perfect run conditions, and even a tailwind for the majority. I think in previous years the experience may have been somewhat wetter and colder.... Paul was the perfect running companion and did incredibly well, completing his 60 miles ATCF (some 70+ real miles) taking him well past Milton Keynes to Dunstable. Other runners managed distances over 100 real miles (90 ATCF was the top target) and some really crazy people even undertook this whole experience physically chained together. I never quite worked out how their toileting scenario would work :/