On 16th Jan 2010 I attempted my first ultra marathon after running 2 marathons – 1st last May - Halstead Essex Marathon and 2nd in September - Kent Coastal Marathon. I was running with my friend James Elson who I ran the 2 marathons with, James being an experienced runner having run 15 x 50 mile races before, 2 x 100 mile races and 5 desert runs so this race to him was a stroll in the park. I woke up at his house at 4.50am as was nervous, went into his kitchen and made some toast and tea, sat down to watch sky sports news, then got changed, James came in the Kitchen later..Had a bit of toast and we were off to Marylebone station. I was nervous…. very nervous….the whole week at work I was quiet and this race was playing on my mind. We got the train from Marylebone to Aylesbury, the race started at a pub in Wendover and finished at little Venice on the canal in Paddington
We started the race in the pouring rain, running through muddy woods in my Asics gt2140s slipping everywhere, it was a bad decision wearing these instead of trail shoes but had a bad ankle and the trail shoes are very heavy. Was running through woods and puddles……..after about 16 miles my legs were hurting!!!!!Was thinking not even half way and my legs were hurting…..got to the 23 mile check point and topped up with water, had a wee and noticed my wee was yellow so put a stop to the salt tablets…after 23 miles I ran 10 miles very slowly just literally fast walking/slow jogging…. Got to mile 36 and was feeling sick, I had hit the wall so we walked for a mile and I was thinking I can’t finish this, after that I ran to about 40, walked for a bit then started running again…..then I saw the finish line in the distance, my eyes started watering and what a great feeling it was to finish a race of that size – time 8.06 – was very happy with that as was thinking 9-10 hours pre race or just to finish. It has definitely given me the taste to run more races of this size or even further. My next ultra will be the Jurassic Coastal Challenge in Dorset – 3 marathons in 3 days -http://www.votwo.co.uk/votwo2007/events-and-adventure/race_view.php?i=88 .
Here are some videos which James took from the race
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62R8OMcKllo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Oql3l6U1Qo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mNbgH2F7-w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ySkdRsgFPw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQEu93hcyUQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za9zjfTWWk8
Sunday 21 February 2010
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