Country to Capital 45

This was my first race in a while, the last time I had raced was Vermont in July last year. Leading up to this race I hadn't been training much with going out a lot and a new job. I wasn't that confident in putting in a good performance. I have run this race the last 2 years, it was my first ultra, I like it as it's in January - straight after Xmas and you're never in your best shape but it's just nice to get out there. On Friday night I stayed at Elson's in Harpenden in his new cottage which was very nice, had a nice pasta dish and chilled out. We left at 7am and drove to the race in about 45 mins, so that left us plenty of time before the race started at 8.30am. The train up from Marylebone was a little late so the race didn't start until 8.45ish. We started in a pub in Wendover and ran down a hill to get into the countryside - Elson, I and a few others sprinted down the hill as a joke to see who could get to the bridge first. We then started weaving through the woodland, after a couple of miles we got to the first hill which I walked, Elson ran up it... I caught him up but was getting hot with my jacket on so I stopped to take my jacket off and put it in my bag and that was the last I saw of Elson all day. The first 20 miles was beautifull scenery weaving through forests and fields, I went wrong a few times which was annoying but that is to be expected in map reading. When I got to 26 miles on the canal path I was feeling okay, it was very hot and I was losing a lot of salt. I took a lot of water down, sugar and salts, I then carried on for another 5 or 6 miles to the check point, again stopped and took on lots of Jelly babies, I was taking on gels as well. My pack was annoying, was quite heavy...next time I won't be taking a pack, just a water bottle. I took a couple of pain killers at 38 miles as wasn't feeling the best, I then ran in strong to the finish and finished in 6.43. The results haven't been posted yet, Elson did very well in 6 hours flat. That was a p.b for me - 25 mins of last years time. I ran with a few interesting people yesterday, it's always good to meet new people and chat about what they have done running wise,etc. A couple of people were doing the first ultra which is always good to see. When I finished, apparently I Iooked rather pale so they sat me down and gave me loads of sugar. I didn't pee in 9 hours yesterday which was quite dangerous. Last night I went out for a few beers and a curry, I am feeling okay today, the weather is beuttifull so I am going to go out for a jog- not sure how far but just to warm the legs down. The UTMB Mont Blanc draw is on the 21st Jan so I am waiting to see if I get into that which is at the end of August which will be amazing and very tough, 51% of people drop out of that race. In the short term I have got the Benfleet 15 next Sunday, I am going to do a few halves and have a marathon in April where I am trying to break 3 hours.