I Ran the Entire Length of Stansted Express

Taking over four months of training and planning, I Ran the Entire Length of Stansted Express in One Day!

This challenge was easily one of the most difficult I’ve executed and one of the toughest by far. Battling the 50 mile journey in very tough conditions set out by Storm Babet, from the busiest railway station in the UK, London Liverpool Street, to one of the busiest airports in London, Stansted Airport.

In an attempt to push myself physically and mentally, I wanted to take this on to prove that I could do it. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and after a gruelling 2023 in my personal and professional life, I needed something to focus my time and attention on, and something to get my back on track to what makes me happiest – running and creating YouTube videos.

This was so much fun putting together and thank you for taking the time to be a part of the journey with me, and thank you@stanstedexpress @greateranglia for making this video possible.

Strava Activity:
https://www.strava.com/activities/10069907155

Insta: https://instagram.com/itsmattnelson

Music:
https://www.epidemicsound.com/

Sub Count:
5334

#stanstedexpress #stanstedairport #greateranglia

stanard Express operating between the third busiest airport in London and the busiest railway station in the United Kingdom with around 53% of Travelers using public transport to arrive at stanstead stanstead Express has an average Journey time of 48 minutes along its 40m route every 15 minutes using a new Fleet of class 745s and reaching speeds of up to 100 mph [Music] in a goal to explore more of the UK’s Veil Network I set myself the challenge to run the entire length of the stanard express Network in one day clocking in as my longest run ever at almost 50 m with over 4 months of training that was tough battling one of the wetest storms in over 130 years and taking over a grueling 15 hours to complete my Garin has just died I don’t know where it is that I’m going I’m in a bit of a scary situation almost there almost there this is my journey running the entire length of staned Express in one day today is the first day of training for the big half Mar with a sub 1 hour 30 in mind because I do a load of longdistance running I just tend to wing it on the day or for the best for the next 3 months um I want to take it seriously the training commence 3 2 1 let’s do [Music] this as well as training for my stanard Express ultramarathon I was also training for the big half and the aen half with a sub 90minut goal in mind my training block lasted a total of 13 weeks involving base runs interval training and a not so fun peat training where you run in hot weather so your body can acclimate to adverse conditions as well as increasing V2 Max and develop your psychological endurance heat training that was tough and before I knew it it was time to put all the training to the test [Music] you I barely got any sleep last night just overthinking about this race today whether I’ve done enough training whether you know if all of this has been worth it or if I’ve just wasted my time there’s going to be a tough wanted day I can just feel it regardless of the outcom today we’re just going to enjoy it if you’re not running and enjoying it at the same time then something’s going wrong regardless if if I don’t get my time or any of that stuff it shouldn’t matter it’s about just enjoying the journey that ruins that whole sincere Thing by then being flipping at the end right let’s do this see at the start line [Applause] [Music] 2 one let’s [Music] go so it’s just gone 5K 3 miles for 5K 23 minutes 38 just recently across the halfway point back on 45 minutes so it’s going to be very very close indeed back left par remain in final push now I’m not going to talk keep going keep [Music] [Music] going would you stop it f another F red or white yes that’s the third one oh my God so so close so I got it in a time of 1 hour 2940 which overall is my fastest alltime uh half Mar in PB previously it stood about an hour 34 just to scrape it as sub 90 I’m incredibly proud I finished the eing half marathon a couple weeks later in an even faster time of 1 hour 28 minutes and 33 seconds these achievements put me in the exact frame of mind ready to tackle the 50m staned express [Music] ultramarathon the thing that I’m thinking about the most is that I just want to enjoy the journey I’m not expecting to have everything work in my favor I know I’ve got the weather definitely against me stor the nation is battered by storm babet throughout the whole day I just want to enjoy myself the entire day so running an ultramarathon with the potential for Stormy Weather what do you even pack or wear so I settled on a breathable t-shirt and shorts compression socks to reduce lactic acid buildup a waterproof and win prooof jacket running socks and also some spares my Garmin to track my run and the most important my cat you never know now of course my trail shoes to handle the mostly gravel and Trail terrain I’ll be wearing the evict xt8 and in terms of what’s a pack I have two hydration flasks using Tailwind nutrition snacks gels and granola bars and a first aid kit a power bank power adapter and charging cables a head torch snood a spare fleece and breathable shirt and my camera equipment now I’m aware that it’s an exhaustive list however I needed to cover as many bases as possible as I’m doing this completely solo no running support Crews no one to meet me a different points along the way no one this entire Endeavor is one one huge solo effort bring it [Music] on so just arrived at London Liverpool Street I’m about to get started with this 46 mile run over to stord airport do I have any last words um [Music] um let’s just see what happens all right SED Express let’s [Music] go counting down in 3 2 1 all right let’s go [Music] so I’m about 4 km into this run so far I’ve been taking my Pace super steady at the minute where I’m doing about 8 minutes per kilometer to really Pace myself for this long distance ahead we’re not too far away from the first station of the day which may actually surprise quite a few of you but before we arrive at the first station we need to take a moment to establish what is sted Express staned Express first began in 1991 after a new stanard airport station was constructed a triangle Junction was built off of the West Anglia Mainline allowing services from London and Cambridge it’s a sub brand of Greater Anglia and it’s also one of four express rail services that exist within London now what makes stanard Express unique compared to the others is that it’s the only express service that stops at intermediate stations between its London Terminus and the airport services regularly stop at Tottenham Hill hallow town and Bishop stor stford before arriving into stanstead with more IR regular calls at stations along the Route such as chesen rockborn Sal bridgeworth and staned mount fites at time of recording there are only two truly Express real Services between London and stanstead however they often take the same amount of time if not longer than its average 47 minute trip oh and it’s the only London Airport with an Express rail service that doesn’t accept contactless or Royster card payments yet it’s about 9.7 km later I’m at Seven Sisters station you might be thinking Seven Sisters when did Stans Express stop here it’s actually technically in the very late evening Services when Tottenham Hill station closes trains to diver is over to Seven Sisters then they to call into London Liverpool Street so technically Seven Sisters is a part of the stanard express Network let’s get over to one of the proper stations Tottenham Hill so 10.8 km later I’m at the first proper station of the day here at Tottenham hail station but so far feeling not too shabby knees are hurting just a little bit but I think it’s from running all the time acing them on trail shoes thankfully for this next section pretty much until I get to in the vicinity of stances um along the canal SL waterer w/ riverly lead navigation whatever you want to call it it is really lovely from here on out I’m going to keep it moving because the weather is starting to turn on me a little bit so it’s recently gone over 20 km and I’ve still got about 52 K left even though I’ve been running next to or it feels like forever running next to the uh lead navigation I think I’ve seen maybe two people along this path just felt really quiet really isolating that up ahead there is the M25 so once we cross that we’re officially out of the London boundary means we’re making progress see you London 26.5 km into running stet Express I’m here at chant station got uh 45.8 km [Music] remaining still got a long way to go 32 km I’m here at brbor station not going to lie my legs are beginning to give me a little bit of jit particularly in my hip flexes that just feel really tight at the minute but not not too far off from the halfway mark I think it’s about 36 37 km yeah I’m not going to get to stance it till it’s like later in the evening what a long [Applause] day so got caught out in another downpour but what I wanted to very quickly show you was this right here this is right Gate House I believe White House gate house it looks incredibly dramatic given the Rainy backdrop that we’ve got right now the nearest station is actually a r house station it’s not on the same line as sted Express but it is served by greater Anglia if you do ever want to check it out however on the line between Brock Bond and the next station served by stanstead Express also lies reyen where stanstead Services pass straight through during my brief visit I spotted some old gate houses nearby which appear my curiosity not having the time nor energy to explore any further at the time so I returned a few months later to check it out I see the house I know one of the rooms like the size of that flat this is Brian’s house a gr two listed building first opening in 1719 it operated as a private home until 1979 when it was converted into a Hotel and Conference Center apply named The brigin House Hotel the land surrounding the house was also used as a 9-hole golf course in 2010 brig’s house opened as a wedding venue which closed down almost immediately due to a lack of planning permission the one Discovery I found that was fascinating about Brian’s house is that it was caught one of the most important of the establishments requisitioned by the Special Operations executive during the second world war there’s a book written by Dez Turner that details the operations underwent at brin’s house which is also available for purchase on Amazon the grounds have remained disused since 2019 with alleged speculation that it’s purposely fallen into disrepair so it can be demolished and converted to houses [Music] oh my God jeez it is so deep yeah all of the foot paths around here have completely flooded out you have no choice but to Trail through the water I’m so glad that I’m doing this during a warmer day where it’s like 16° cuz if I was doing this when it was like 3° I would be Absol absolutely beside [Music] myself 4 4.4 km into this run and I’m here at harow town I’ve got 29.8 km remaining I am so tired this NightLight at the minute is giving blur witch Vibes I have almost run out completely of water I don’t have any more snacks so at this next station which I think is sawbridge with I really need to find like a cafe or I don’t know like a Tesco s p whatever if I don’t then we’re going to be in trouble but so far we’re still all good right I need to see where I’m going 52.4 km and I’m at sawbridge station now I’ve still got Bishop stford stanard Mount fit and stord airport so only three stations left and I’ve got 21.8 K remaining oh God almost there almost there when running an ultramarathon it’s recommended every hour to consume 200 to 300 calories 90 G of carbohydrates and drink up to 800 mL of water so running out of all consumables while running in the dark in areas like dorau with over a half marathon remaining and still battling the effects of stor and bet this was a disaster so I recently arrived at Bishop stford station it’s just around the corner here I’ve just po by the Aldi to uh get some supplies got about 15 km remaining I definitely am Greatful to have got the refuel that I needed if there wasn’t a shop or anything that was next door to the station I would have P out I don’t feel safe in not having any water nor food nor snacks completely R out of everything so I’m going to sit and rest my legs for a bit have um some nutrition my nutrition name Skittles and then we’re going to take from there Orit to stard BR F and then stard airport once I set off running again I thought that was the last of my issues but things were about to take another turn for the worst so it’s official my Garmin has just died so I don’t know where it is that I’m going um I’m in a bit of a scary [Music] situation except it’s not I’ve actually got a backup route on my phone so that if there’s ever a circumstance of my watch running out of battery then I know that I’ve always got a route that I can trust and follow on so always thinking ahead that’s why I’d always recommend if you are running any Ultras or anything please please please get a backup of your route as well all right I keep on going to check my [Music] watch there 65.8 kilm at staned Mount fet which means I have one station left Ed airport I canot believe it I am so close I wish I could just take this train that’s pulling in now cuz that is going straight into sted airport but alas I’m running there all right St to the airport one more station Bring It On nice we are where we need to be so it’s recently gone just after quter past 11: and the last train leaves at 11:45 I have to do everything I can to get this train there’s no way that I can’t get it I’m going to can there is also National Express bed but it would be really nice to get Santa Express back home there’s 1 kilm remaining 1 kilm remaining until I get to the end of running St for the express almost there almost there and just like [Music] that this has been one of the most physically and mentally challenging runs I’ve ever completed with the grueling months of training and overcoming personal setbacks throughout the year I’ve learned from doing this that putting in the time hard work and patience have helped me with achieving my goals and I really hope this inspires you to achieve yours thank you so much for watching and thank you sanset express for making this video possible