Another day – another 50 miles.

There are a number of things you expect to find at 7:30am at the start of a 50 mile ultra marathon race, amongst them are: seriously intent looking individuals wrapped in varying degrees of neoprene and technical clothing, the odd wary glance from the first-timer, lots of energy bars and bananas, seemingly boundless nervous energy as the runners warm up (for me this is usually accomplished with a bit of light bouncing) and a faint to strong whiff of deep heat (depending on the time of year!). What you don’t expect to see are your parents striding through the crowd as you are about to register. After recovering from that shock and all round hugs I finished registering, bought a couple of coffees from the bar and decamped to the pub car park to catch up with the codgers.

After sympathising with their very early start and receiving some good last minute advice from my Father (the running guru), I did my final gear checks and at around 8:30am the 150 of us were given the nod to slowly amble out of the Prince of Wales car park and across the road to the start of the Thames Path.

Right away the underfoot conditions were slippery but thankfully not waterlogged, which I had feared, (we had been told this would be the case as the night before one of the competitors had run the course in the opposite direction to ensure it was ok!). So, while it was tough going it wasn’t too treacherous to begin with.

I settled into my sub 10 min/mile pace quite comfortably, knocking off the first 9 miles at a trot. After a very brief greeting from the family at the first CheckPoint – I was quickly on my way. The next ten miles between checkpoints passed without incident – although with a couple of minor map stops as the navigation got harder. Unfortunately, I missed the family at the second checkpoint as they were having some navigation problems of their own. As I exited the CP and carried on the conditions started to get a bit trickier underfoot and as a consequence I began to drop off the 10min/mile pace and the run became more of a struggle.

I was really beginning to find it hard going when I came across my ‘support crew’ at 22 miles in a gated turning just off the footpath. I took the opportunity to relax for a few moments with them and get some food (Oranges – the miracle fruit for distance running). Then I was off again. Feeling much better now I cruised into the 27 mile CP feeling pretty good (even more so as I had managed to navigate myself there without following several other runners who went off track just 800m from the CP).

As I said farewell to my folks at this CP (and they began their long journey home) I felt in good spirits and was running well. I got myself in a small group but this only lasted for a couple of miles as I pulled away on a tricky climb away from the river. After this I ran solo (without seeing another runner) for an hour, which was a great section. I enjoyed the feeling of isolation and true solo navigation, I finally caught up with another runner just before CP4 (36 miles).
I always knew that the final 13 miles would be the tricky bit – but when I arrived I actually felt ok – and on exiting the CP I once again settled into a fair comfortable pace. This section around Reading was mostly tarmac and I was astonished how much better my legs felt after a mile or so on a hard surface, it is amazing the difference running on soft trail makes to your effort and times. I seemed to bounce along to the next CP (44 miles) – and seeing that my support crew had gone AWOL again – I pushed straight on to the finish.

The final few miles twisted around a few houses and several roads/alleyways – but with a brief stop to attach my headtorch (as it was now getting towards dusk) - I set my sights on the finish.

The final mile seemed to whiz past and jogging into the finish as it started to get dark was a great experience, I officially finished in 8hrs 50mins, which represented a great time for me (I was hoping to finish in under 10hrs).

122 runners finished the event within the 12 hour cut off time (I scraped home in 49th place – first place finished in a course record of 6hrs 26mins!). Counting up the niggles during the run I worked out that at one time or other I had a ‘phantom problem’ with: My left hip, right kneecap, left knee (medial ligament), left ankle, right hamstring, and bottom of right calf. Not a bad list of injuries during 9 hours of running.

Reflecting on the race over the next few days, I realised that I wasn’t out of running at the end – I think I could have carried on for a while longer. This is of course easy to think from the safety of a sun lounger (I went straight from the run to Lanzarote for a weeks R&R) but I have started looking for a slightly longer race now to see if it is the case.

So, once I have shifted my cold I will be back on the roads/trails thinking about my next challenge – I’m not done yet…not by a long way!


UltraMarathon T