Please find below directions to Farnham Runners' clubhouse for Round 3 of SXCL to be hosted on Sunday 7th December:


From Bordon, travelling North-East along A325 towards Farnham
1. After passing 'Bird World' on your left (and before reaching Wrecclesham) turn RIGHT into Echo Barn Lane
2. After approximately three quarters of a mile, turn RIGHT into Burnt Hill Road
3. Continue all the way to the end of this road to a crossroads with Frensham Road
4. Turn RIGHT (take care)
5. Immediately after the small parade of shops, turn LEFT into Old Frensham Road 
6. The Clubhouse is on the left at the end of the Green.

From Alton, travelling East along A31 towards Farnham
1. At the Coxbridge roundabout, turn RIGHT onto the A325  - Wrecclesham Road
2. Go under the bridge, past the pedestrian crossing and turn LEFT into School Hill ( just before the Cricketers Pub)
3. At the staggered crossroads at the end of School Hill Road turn LEFT onto the Ridgeway 
4. After approx 300 metres, turn RIGHT into Burnt Hill Road
5. Continue all the way to the end of this road to a crossroads with Frensham Road
6. Turn RIGHT (take care)
7. Immediately after the small parade of shops, turn LEFT into Old Frensham Road 
8. The Clubhouse is on the left at the bottom of the Green.

From Hindhead, travelling North on the A287 towards Farnham
1. At Lower Bourne, immediately before the small parade of shops, turn RIGHT into Old Frensham Road 
2. The Clubhouse is on the left at the end of the Green.

May 2013 -
Louise - 'Jo, would you ever do a marathon'
Jo - 'No, it's too far'
Louise - 'me neither, I mean if i did one, it would have to be massive, like New York'
Jo - 'owwww, now that would be good'
Louise - 'shall we do New York?'
Jo - 'yeah ok then'

So there or there abouts is how it happened... 18 months later we find ourselves boarding our flight to New York. 

Race week NYC. The marathon flags are out, the atmosphere is intense. You can spot the runners a mile off dressed in marathon merchandise and running shoes. Even the plane was filled with runners I myself was sitting next to A lovely group of 4 'will run for wine'  runners from Surrey. 

New Yorkers goes all out for the marathon, with restaurants and bars offering discounts to runners with bib numbers and medals and volenteering with the race and expo.

The expo was buzzing. This was held in the Jacob Javits centre on manhattens west side. Over the 3 days it was open, it would see all 52,000 runners come through to collect their race packs with their numbers and goodie bags. Including a technical t-shirt and some headphones. The expo had all the official merchandise and stands from all the big brands Asics, Brookes, Power Gel and The North Face. The smaller stands were equally as impressive for example the FDNY (Fire Department) and the NYPD had stands and running clubs involved. In short, a runners dream shop. 

Jo and I, picked up our numbers on the Saturday. Sat in the cab, heading back in the pouring down rain we said to each other 'I can't believe its tommorow'. We got to the apartment later that evening and checked the weather report for race day. Rumour had it, that is was to be very cold and gale force winds and they were right. We could only laugh and say 'surely it can be as bad as great south run last year'. After this we set out into the night for our pre-race carbathon.

The first 3 miles had no mile markers due to the poor weather. So at some point in that 3 miles we landed on Brooklyn with screams from the locals 'welcome to Brooklyn, welcome to Brooklyn'. When we hit the 3 mile marker I was shocked at how quickly the first three seemed to go. Then miles after seemed to fly by. The Brooklyn crowds where definatly my favourite crowds. Thousands lined the streets, young and old all wanting to high five. Every so often was a fire truck with a line of firemen eye candy to keep you amused and NYPD everywhere, joining in, clapping and cheering. Having my t-shirt printed was a massive help too, fairly often your would get 'come on Louise' 'you can do it Louise' from the side lines. Such a massive support. 

One part of Brooklyn really sticks in my memory was at a point when the crowds were more quiet, there was a small local lady and I have no idea what she was saying but was was screaming in Spanish at the top of her voice. Some reason this gave me a boost and something to smile about for a while. Brooklyn was massive, about 11-12 long, within it where different communties. We ran past a church who had the gospel singers out doing their thing in the streets and there was the less crowded Jewish quarter they earily quiet until we came across their band.

At mile 12-13 we entered queens via a fairly steep bridge connecting the two. It was the the top of this bridge I got my fisrt good look at the manhatten skyline. The Emipre State Building looked tall and iconic. So another quick photo stop had to be done. On the other side of the bridge we were greet by people yelling 'welcome to Queens'. At mile 15 we crossed the Queensboro bridge. This was the bridge that took us onto manhatten. The bridge was very quiet, the only sound that could be heard was trainers hitting the floor and the sound of people breathing. There were no spectators allowed on the bridges. On the bridge another photo op. This time the city was closer and only a runfie would do. 

Mile 16. Landing on manhatten. Loud really doesn't justify the noise. The crowds are 3-4 people deep right up until about 18-19 miles. All screaming and cheering. In the next two miles I would see some friends who live in New York and my family this really encouraged me and motivated me on. Mile 18 and I was feeling pretty good and quite strong and kept on plodding on up through Harlem and over the next bridge at the Bronx. The sounds of rappers and hip hop filled these streets. It was in the Bronx the race organisers started handing out fruit and by this they meant a little section of banana. I could help but think of all the cartoons when seeing hundreds of banana skins on the floor. This is just what u need get within 10k of the end and slip on a damn banana peel. Luckily I remained upright. Mile 21 back on manhatten. Having been having trouble with my knee for months, it decided to make a friendly race day appearance. I tryed to keep running but the pain felt as though my knee could snap, so I took a couple of mins out by the side to really stretch it out so I could power on through to the end. By this point I was really stating to tire and the knee pain was getting me down a bit, I was grateful of the heavy crowds forming again as we got closer to central park.

Mile 24 entering central park, knee seems to have loosened up slightly, then I saw my family again. ' only 2 miles, only 2 miles' I said to myself. Now even up until the 2 miles to go, the miles had really flown by. The last 1.2 was a killing but it was made easier by someone loudly moaning and me saying to them 'we haven't got far to go'. 

The finish line was in view, two big grandstand stood either side, roaring with noise. I didn't notice much as I only had the finish in sight. Crossed the line, stopped the Garmin, 'new quickest half' 'new quickest marathon'. 'YES! I've done it!' Next thing to do, locate medal and place round neck. Check! Grabbed a foil blanket and headed for the exit. although I was slowly moving I was just pleased I was moving. Was starting to get chilly though. it took 30 mins to fully exit the finish area. We where given About 20mins after finishing a (what felt like life saving) fleece lined poncho. I called my friend so I can arrange to meet her and Jo. 

'I haven't found Jo'... My first thought were oh God where the hell is she? did she finish? is she ok? By this point it would of been two hours since she crossed the line. She must be freezing. Called family to get them to head straight back to the apartment in case she went there. Walking down the exit I heard a 'LOUISE' and there she was. Don't think anyone has ever been quiet so happy to see me.  So snuggled together in our bright blue ponchos we head out the exit, met some others, hailed a cab back to the apartment and celebrated. 

This was all together a well organised run race. The people of New York really made it. The signs that they held up the whole way round kept me very amused. particular favourites were 'beer 20 miles this way' 'hurry up, Ryan Gosling is only 2mins ahead' and '26.2 because 26.3 would be crazy' I could only think they clearly haven't met Teirnan! 

It was cold, windy and fantastic. Would I do another? Hmmm, I'm not sure. Would I recommend New York? Definitely. Would I make sure Jo ran with a phone, money and an 'if lost please return to...' Sign? 100%.

Why and your crazy ? were the 1st things  most people said when I told them I was running 2 marathons in 2 days, the answer, well yes, but I have a 100 miler next  year and want to experience  racing fatigued.

Having set a pb 2 weeks ago at Abingdon of 3.37, I decided the target was to run both under 4hrs, that gives me enough of a drop off to get through 2 races without going so slow that I don’t suffer. (why would you want to suffer you may ask, well that’s what you have to learn to deal with running at your limits) 

I decided to run the 1st one under 3.50. I had toyed with aiming for sub 3.45 in the 1st one but decided that’s too fast to be in any state to go sub 4 on the 2nd race.

Saturday, Thames Meander Marathon, this was a solo day, no support, no familiar faces to run with, just me, this would be a challenge which I wanted.

We queued for the final loo break (of which I had lots due to the amount of food and drink I had consumed in the last 24hrs) and we were late for the start, I said to martin it doesn’t matter, its chip timing.

As we were jogging to the race start, I slipped on a path and went over on my ankle, (enter expletive here) was what I shouted, as I grabbed a fence and let the pain settle down, it was ok, just sore, no damage done, We crossed the start line 4 mins late, thankfully the timing mat beeped so we knew we would have a chip time, not a race time.

At about 3 miles the heavens opened and chucked it down on us for 30 mins, you could see peoples pace slow as soon as the rain came, I pointed it out to martin  as we weaved our way through the runners holding our pace steady.

By about 6 miles, I was really in trouble, I had no energy, my legs were heavy and not wanting to go any further, I was not much company for martin as I hardly said a word as I played the mental battle of shall I quit at the end of the 1st lap, shall I just do a half. Then I reminded myself, this is why I am here, why I am doing this, to feel like this and to beat it. I want to quit, well im not going to quit so shut up I would shout at myself in my head. 

We crossed the half way point in 1.59, we were 1 minute ahead of schedule, I said to martin we are in trouble here, we are only a minute up and we will be slower on the 2nd lap & probably have to walk some of the hills 2nd time round.  Martin said that’s ok, the course is not a sub 4 course in the conditions, I knew he was being positive for my sake.

We ran on and at about 15 miles we hit an aid station, martin ran through but I needed to walk, I took on 2 cups of water, I saw martin look back and slow, I waved him on, saying I will see you in a bit, I walked a bit then got going again, my hips really hurt now,  I slowly catch martin up and as I reach him he says hes stopping for a pee and that I should keep going, I grunted ok at him (sorry mate) 

I looked at my watch as I reached a rare flat and picked up the pace to between 7.50-8.30, this felt much more comfortable on my hips although by now It felt like I had lightening going off in my calves,  it seemed going slower was hurting more than faster, so here on I would walk the occasional hill and run hard on the flats and downs, I worked out I needed to run 9min miles to get in at under 4, the miles ticked away with a lot of grimacing on my face and as I got to 25 miles I had 11 mins left to get in under 4, its only 11 mins I said to myself,  go for it, so I gassed it in traditional sprint finish style, overtaking 5/6 people in the final mile, I crossed the line in 3.58. 12. Mission 3 accomplished !

It wasn’t long before martin turned the final corner and entered the straight with a massive smile on his face, I was so happy to see him smiling as we didn’t achieve what we set out to do and I felt I abandoned him, but being the true gent he said he was super happy, it was not a sub 4 course in those conditions having only just ran his 1st marathon 14 days ago. 

We hobbled back to the bag drop and got another massage, the chap who did me before the race pointed at me and said something to the lady working on my quads, she said you did a marathon yesterday too ? yes I replied, she then said your crazy ! I looked at her and said, I’ve heard that a lot recently!