Has My Fire Really Gone Out?

I sit here after a great weekend away in Dorset and competing in the Dorset CTS Ultra for the second time and racing on that amazingly beautiful yet brutal coastline for the fourth time. Its been a tiring but great weekend away, ten of us from Jersey took part in the varous distance race offered by Endurancelife from 10km right through to the Ultra and it was great to see everyone who took part enjoy their experiences.

I would love this post to be about how I have continued on this amazing trajectory of improvement in my running journey, how I ran the Ultra and improved on my time and race positioning from last year ( as was my goal as I lined up on Saturday morning at 8:15 at the bottom of Lulworth Hill Climb). However this post is more a cautionary tale I guess.. If you have read any of my posts from this year you will be aware of the year I have had in terms of running, I did the maths earlier today and the races I have done go something like this:

XNRG Pilgrims Challenge - 2 day x 34 miles each day
Marathon Des Sables - 5 days - 150 ish miles
ITEX Run/Walk - 48 miles
Run Jersey Trail Half Marathon
Round The Rock Ultra - 48 Miles
Cotswolds Way 100 miler (62 miles as DNF'ed)
Jersey Marathon Relay (7 mile leg)
Rowbothams Round Rotherham (50 miles)
Spartans Jersey Half Marathon

and the icing on the cake the Dorset Ultra - 34 miles 6,600 ft of ascent and a whole lot of pain! So my motivation was to come back to measure how I had done over the last year and whether I had improved and whether I could take on the Jurassic coast and find it easier (even a little?) than last December - a great yardstick in my opinion.

After Round Rotherham I had been quite conservative in terms of training, coach Bruno favouring intensity over distance, but I felt I had had alot of quality sessions bringing in plyometrics and some strength work on top. I have had a lingering knee problem since June time which I have been managing but not been able to shake as well as hip flexor problems and other assorted niggles.. Familiar to all who run regularly I am sure..

So lining up at the start I felt good; physically stronger, confident after some good results and lots of lessons learnt over the year. I stood at the front ready to go feeling that I belonged at the front and ready to do my best that day. The countdown began 10-9-8... And then we were off. Straight away a nice 350 feet climb to get the legs and lungs ticking over, my intention being to run to the top as if to set out my intention for the race. I got 3/4 of the way up was with another 4 or 5 people and we made our way to the top - first climb done and on to the first descent and to the bottom of the next 524 feet climb.. So this continued on, me talking to myself in my head "Relax, climb consistently, run your own race" (my running mantra) and just trying to get the initial few climbs done without using too much energy as I knew there was plenty to come through the coming 34 miles.

By the time I was 8 or 9 miles in to the run I was in 6th place, in a rhythm of sorts and feeling ok.. All going well until a little blip where I wasn't sure where to go as it wasn't very clearly signposted. I went off round a field and took about 8 people with me, we went about half a mile along this route without seeing any more signposting and slowly the others turned back to retrace their steps. 3 of us committed to this route and miraculously found our way back on to the course albeit a bit further down the standings - I was informed I was now in 22nd place coming the through the start line again to make our foray into the West side of the course taking in some truly massive climbs.

So things were going well, I was in the groove, I had dealt with a potential disaster well both by finding the course again and not letting it get to me too much. I felt good physically and was getting the climbs done, recovering well and chasing back the places I had lost. By checkpoint 2 I was told that I was between 10th and 15th place so I felt it was going ok..
This was when things started to go a little pear shaped.. I recall coming out of CP2 and straight into what must have been the 7th or 8th big climb of the day, it had been really quite warm earlier so I had taken my gloves off and stashed them in my rucksack, it was now getting cold however and I knew the gloves were wet so I had to put up with cold hands; the hands got colder, my persistent knee problem got worse and my hip flexor started to hurt quite badly as it usually does in the later stages of ultras.. I was climbing and then running but it felt like the running along the flat was getting tough all of a sudden, so I was cold, tired both physically and mentally, and in a bit of pain.

The voices in my head then started; you will know these voices if you have ever done a half marathon, marathon or ultra marathon; "You've had a great year this year Paul, you don't need to prove yourself by completing the ultra distance, why don't you when you get to the finish line of the marathon call it a day there? You'll still get a marathon time, its close enough 30 miles anyway and you can have a nice cup of tea, get warm and take the weight off those poor tired legs of yours.." as well as "look at all the races you've run this year, all the miles you've run, just call it a day.." Now I had never allowed the voices to be this clear before, to be fair my body was starting to seize up, and the thought of a cuppa was really alluring.. This was at about 23 miles, I knew I still had another 6 miles or so til I finished even the marathon route, but the way the ultra works is you have to go through the marathon finish and then do the initial 10km loop again, and I knew what was waiting for me out there and I knew I couldn't face it again that day!

What Lay In Store For Me Out There..

So I got the last few miles done and I did actually feel a little better by the time I got to the finish of the marathon I was actually contemplating carrying on, by this time the ultra course had combined with the half marathon course and I started to edge out of the 1/2 marathon pack towards the start of the second 10km loop when someone said to me "Its this way mate", thinking I was a half marathon runner and due to finish, so with my will of iron I capitulated and went through the finish and dropped the race at the marathon distance.

Now I must state here that I had mulled this decision to drop over in my head whilst running and was completely ok with it; I remember doing the same race last year, exactly the same scenario, having to run through the marathon finish and do the 10km loop to finish the ultra and there was no voices and no question of me not finishing. So what changed? This is a question I was asking myself yesterday and discussing over a few beers last night with some of the guys I was away with, and I think it comes down to this;

I have done alot of races this year! 

I know this may not sound like rocket science, but I think back to last year and I was so hungry and focused on just getting the job done regardless of what pain I had to go through and I think of the races I have done this year and my focus has become more on not whether I will finish but how well will I do. I think essentially I am running more with my ego at times than my heart, and I have started to expect more of myself in terms of times, results etc which puts pressure on a little and can to a certain extent take away the intrinsic enjoyment of running. I have done 10 races of any consequence this year meaning 10 times this year I have had to get mentally ready and to apply my will focus and motivation to run the race. Even the shorter distance stuff has been high intensity meaning that I gave 100% and left it all out there each time. I think back to last year and remember getting a little over running at a certain point in the year, taking some time off for a couple of weeks and getting back to it and that did the trick. This year has been  a busy year with an average of a race every 6 weeks or so and whilst I have loved it, looking back I now see that slowly the quality of my performances have been getting diluted. Between Aug and December I did a 100 miler, a 50 miler a month later, a half marathon 2 weeks after that which yielded a new PB of 1:26:32 and then I did the Dorset ultra. So thats quite a workload. Coach Bruno says that ideally an athlete should race every 6 months, and I think now looking back on this year I can see the logic. We discussed this yesterday also and have struck a deal where I will stick to racing once every 3 months to enable a bit more quality out of next year (hopefully!)

I have discussed motivation and positive self talk alot over the last few posts I have written as these are the lessons I have come up against particularly in the last 6 months, I think expectation (both from myself and from others) positive self talk, and motivation have been things that I have thought in great detail about, read about and have helped me discover alot more about myself as a person as well as a runner this year; I think my goal will be to go back to basics a little more next year, race less, save the peaks for the races that matter, do more quality session rather than quantity and reconnect with my love for running so that when the dark times hit as they did yesterday I have an arsenal of reasons why I should keep going rather than why I should stop. I sincerely hope that the main reason for not finishing the ultra yesterday is just down to a collective dwindling of motivation and willingness to endure pain due to the busy schedule and will be fixed by a lengthy period of rest rather than a change of state of mind in me that means I may not have the motivation inside me to endure anymore. Time will tell on that score I am sure, but nonetheless I have 2 weeks now of no weight bearing exercise at all, perhaps a little swimming and maybe some yoga to keep a routine going of some description. Then providing my knee is better I hope to have a couple of weeks of un regimented running to allow for some flexibility and to not be fulfilling a program, I might even... GASP... run without my Garmin now and again maybe??

So onto next year.. 2014, what do I want from next year? I was in the lottery for Western States but was not one of the lucky ones to be pulled out of the hat in the lottery yesterday, so my year is looking like this right now:

Feb - XNRG Pilgrims Challenge
May - Transvulcania
June - SDW 100
Aug - Round The Rock
After that who knows...?

I have signed up for the 2015 edition of the Marathon Des Sables so focus will naturally switch to that in the latter part of the year, with plenty of sand bashing, running with a rucksack, Bikram yoga and all the other lovely MDS prep that goes along with the race.

This might be the last post for me of 2013, so thanks for reading my blog on what has been an amazing year of self discovery and endeavour for me.. I hope 2013 has been as good for you and that 2014 fills you with as much hope and anticipation as it does me.

More as and when it happens

Rowbothams Round Rotherham 50 Mile Race

Round Rotherham.. Not the most inspiring sounding of races perhaps, and indeed when I first heard about this race a couple of years ago I wasn’t really tempted, but I also had heard that this was a qualifier race for the Western States 100, so a few months ago after a chat with my mate Leanne Rive a plan was put in place: We would do Round Rotherham a month after our first 100 miler to then get into the lottery for the 2014 Western States 100 miler in the US...

 

After my DNF at the Costwolds a month ago, alot of soul searching took place, mostly mulling over why my stomach issues occurred, why my head wasn’t maybe as in the game as it could have been and how I move forward with the multitude of lessons learnt. After the 61 miles in the Cotswolds one of my key objectives for October was to recover and walk the fine line of staying fit for Round Rotherham. I think over the 3 weeks leading up to the Rotherham race I did about 60 miles, but felt really good for it to be honest; legs felt rested, mind felt up for the challenge and as race day approached I had an “excess” of energy which felt good.

So on the Friday afternoon fellow Ultra Team Jersey members, Leanne Rive, Lee De St Croix and I made our way from sunny Jersey to Liverpool on an Easyjet flight, and picked up our hire car from the airport to make the trip across to Rotherham. We hit the rush hour traffic which meant the trip across to Rotherham felt more traumatic than the race even, but we eventually made it to our destination checked in and tried to locate the obligatory supermarket for the mass panic buying of items for the next day that we would not use in a million years!

 Luckily for us there was an Aldi directly across the road, so we filed across to this grotto of running related delight and proceeded to pick up necessary items for the following day including; fruit scones, baby food (?), baby food rice pudding, Clementines, Grapes and cycling arm warmers. I contemplated buying a car battery charger and a very warm looking onesie (I love a bargain me!!) but due to Easyjet’s generous hand luggage allowance couldn’t fit it in to my hand luggage.. :(

Panic Buying In Aldi...(!)

The next task was to get fuelled up for tomorrows race, luckily there was a pub across from the hotel as well, by this time some friends of mine from the MDS, Gordon and Tom, had joined us so we had a meal and a catch up there before each retiring to our rooms to get our gear ready, say our prayers, or whatever else people get up to the night before a race.

Tom, Me and Gordon

 

The next morning I woke up at 5:15 am well rested and ready to go. Over the last couple of years I have developed a bomb proof preparation routine for races away from home with checklists coming out of my ears so that i don’t forget anything. So I was feeling pretty smug in the knowledge that I had everything I needed that day to perform to the best of my ability.. “New UTJ Tshirt – check, base layer – check....” until I put on my trail shoes that I was going to wear.. A few weeks ago I had been to see a podiatrist about orthotic insoles and had take the generic insoles out, I hadn’t used the trainers since then and so when I put them on my foot was slopping around in the shoe and it wasn’t the usual snug fit I was used to.. Disaster!!  I hadn’t brought the insoles with me!! Luckily for me my MDS colleague Gordon had brought a spare pair of shoes so I was able to borrow a pair of his size 8 insoles for my size 12 shoes! I could feel the ridge of the end of the insole right underneath my toes, but being the soldier I am I took a deep breath and “On with the show!!”

So to the start of the race.. We arrived at the college on Manvers Way after seeing a few of the 6am starters making their way up the road as we were driving. The atmosphere seemed relaxed and friendly, Leanne had been put in touch with a few runners from Portsmouth, Martin, Mark and Mitch amongst others who we all said hi to and had a quick chat with. I also chatted with Kirsty Harvey wife of another MDS friend Graeme who was tackling her first ultra while Graeme was speaking at the MDS expo shamelessly plugging his new book on the MDS. ;) (Which incidentally is available at all good online book sellers starting with “A” and is entitled “Running The Highway to Hell: The 28th Marathon Des Sables”) We were called outside around 6:50 and we all lined up outside the sports centre, I with a little trepidation because of the insoles situation, the previous stomach issues I have had and general nerves due to the prospect of the unknown.

The Start Line - Just Before the Off!

However we were soon off and running and I had decided that today I would take it relatively easy.. Off I went at 8:15 min mile pace, feeling like I wasn’t particularly pushing hard but I still seemed to be overtaking people. I had really learnt from the lesson of going out quick at Round The Rock but also wanted to go out with intent in this race so went with it. Over the first ten miles we weaved our way through industrial estates, housing estates, via canals and some scenic parts and I settled into my pace. People were quite chatty along the way and I had a few brief conversations with people and settled into the day.

CP1(Grange) was soon upon me and I took this opportunity for a quick comfort break. I now felt ready to take on the world and celebrated by having a lemon curd sandwich at the checkpoint (not had one of these since I was 13!!) I had previously been running with a couple of guys who had gone on whilst I was in the loo, so it was just me against the world, I fired up my Ipod, got my Garmin GPSmap 78 out of my rucksack and got going again. As a quick aside this was the first time I had used the handheld GPS and I wasn’t completely sure how to use it but it was a lifesaver in this race, potentially there were many places where I could have gone wrong but the piece of mind this gave me to be able to check I was on the right track was amazing, a definite mandatory item for future races where getting lost is a possibility.

Onward to CP2 (Treeton) and I recall spending quite a bit of this with my ipod in and getting the miles done. The thing with this course and it was something I anticipated before the start is that the course is relatively flat so therefore even alot of the hills are runnable, which means a distinct lack of walk breaks which I am used to during ultras and allow the body a chance to do something different for a little while. I found during this leg and then from CP2 to CP3 (Harthill) that I maintained a decent pace and at the 26 mile stage I had been running for around 4 hours. 

 

This was when the game began to change.. I was feeling really good up until the 26 mile mark and even text my girlfriend Patrycja to tell her how good I was feeling at this point! I think at around 28 miles I started to have a bit of a low patch, my hip flexors were starting to feel it a little (a point for development I think!) and I was starting to run out of energy. Luckily enough I arrived at the 30 mile checkpoint and was greeted with warm soup, a cup of tea and paste sandwiches! (not had these since I was a kid either!) I got a bit of food into me, had a good ole stretch and was on my way again. I shuffled off down the road and within 20 mins or so the food kicked in and I was back on easy street for a while. I had a really good patch around this time and recall overtaking a few people who appeared to be suffering, I bumped in one of the Portsmouth runners Martin Bacon for a bit and we ran together for a while, passing the time chatting about this and that. Martin had taken part in the Spartathlon a few weeks ago but had to pull out due to Achilles problems and still wasn’t right so was doing the best he could. I remember being at about 43 miles and I just had to walk again so on went Martin and I plodded on for a little, experiencing another loss of energy and finding another runner to chat to for a bit who was having a bit of a tough day. I remembered I had  a pack of Skittles in my rucksack which I devoured and gave me enough energy to get me to the final checkpoint. Just 3 miles to go now and I knew I could just shuffle through this, dodgy feet, insoles, hip flexors and all, so i got my head down and got the job done.

The sun decided to show its face at this point, and actually the whole day was pretty good weather wise. We had been promised torrential rain and mud, and in fact it could be described as humid at some points and the mud was not as bad as I had anticipated.

I turned the corner into the sports centre where we had started and I saw the flags indicating the finish. My main goal was now to finish under 9 hours. I crossed the line in 8 hours 55 and in what I was told at the time was 31st place. I found out later that I was in fact 29th overall so I was pleased with a top 30 place. Not sure how many started but there were 236 finishers and I think alot of the people who finished above me were local runners who were familiar with the course. Leanne was next to cross the line in 9 hours 16 mins and Lee crossed the line in 9 hours 21, so a good day all in all for Ultra Team Jersey.

So in summary I really enjoyed the Round Rotherham 50, it was my 10th Ultra so far and my 6th Ultra this year. The entry fee was £15 and for that we got a commemorative T Shirt, a sew on patch, a certificate of completion, a meal at the end of shepherds pie and rice pudding as well as the food along the way at the checkpoints, where else do you get value like that nowadays? I found the race to be really well organised and the people running each checkpoint were helpful and encouraging. One of the things that struck me was the friendliness of the local runners taking part; they were really helpful in pointing you in the right direction along the course as well as the odd words of encouragement along the way which really helped when the going got tough!

Lee, Leanne and Myself at the finish line after a tough but satisfying day..

That day also happened to be my birthday so we made full use of the pub across the road that evening to have a few drinks and a hearty meal. We met up with the Portsmouth guys as well and had a nice fun evening :-)

Overall I was pleased with my performance in the race, I feel I gave my best in most of the
race, and I managed to avoid any stomach problems which were beginning to become a theme in my previous races. My body took a bit of a battering in this race, mainly due to dodgy insoles and the sheer amount of running, so I feel some hip flexor strengthening is in order for the winter months! I never did use any of the items bought in Aldi so if anyone needs any baby food please drop me an email :-)
I would recommend the race to anyone and I would be happy to go back and do it again. I remember reading a few blogs about the race before I took part and all who talked about the race did so in an affectionate manner, I can see why and am now one of the converted.
So I have a couple more races this year, in 4 weeks the Jersey half marathon, and then to finish off the year the Endurancelife CTS Dorset Ultra.  

You Couldnt Make This Up! - The Cotswolds Way 100 and my first DNF

The weekend just gone (21st Sep 2013) saw me take part in my first 100 mile race, the Cotswolds Way 100. The race totalling over 102 miles starts in Chipping Camden and finishes in the city of Bath, taking in beautiful villages, stunning vistas and some pretty tough terrain.

 I had earmarked the CW100 as my 100 mile debut from the early part of this year, it ticked the boxes: 4 UTMB points, not heavily oversubscribed so able to enter a bit later on in the year, and a "manageable" (or so I perceived!!) amount of elevation for a 100 miler - 10,000ft or so.

So since the MDS in April this year my roadmap has been to get fighting fit for 100 miles.. Training has gone well, some good races over the past few months and I was ready to go! Ultra Team Jersey consisting of Leanne Rive, Bryce Alford, Robbie Campbell, Neil Leonard, Simon Lester and myself made our way to Bath on the Friday eagerly anticipating the following days race.

Saturday morning arrived and I was up nice and early to hit Waitrose in Bath to get the necessary food bits for the day ahead. I was feeling nervous, excited, and just wanting to get on with the race. Kick off was at 12pm so the morning was spent getting gear ready and then making our connection to the coach for the start line in Chipping Camden.

We arrived at the carpark around the 9am mark and our support crew of Lenny and Simon were there smiling and full of anticipation of being our bitches for the next 24+ hours :-) They followed us up in the car and we boarded the coach with 20 or so other runners mad enough to take on the CW100.

This is where the story deviates from your standard race report.. Leanne, Robbie and I are sat on the coach gladly lost in our thoughts mentally getting ready in our own ways for the day ahead.. Myself and Leanne had not done a 100 mile race so were nervous and trying to reassure each other "it would be ok..." This is when my phone rang.. "Paul we've got a bit of a problem, the car has broken down on the M4, can you get the coach to come and pick up Bryce as we are probably going to have to get the RAC out to fix the car and he wont make the race if the coach cant get him.." Simon relaying the good news about our support vehicle for the next 24 hours plus Bryce's lift to the start line.. I asked the Cotswolds running rep if it was possible to stop and pick them up and he explained that legally they werent able to pick up people on the hard shoulder of a motorway.. I rang Simon back and explained this to him.. It was looking like poor old Bryce would probably not be able to start the race, to which the 3 of us on the coach were gutted about, knowing how much he had put into getting ready to do it.. As well as being gutted about Bryce we also had the issue that all of our drop bag related items were in that car, all food, spare clothes, and all the other necessary items needed for the race!

At this point I decided to just accept the situation, I could do nothing about it really, i just hoped that the checkpoints had enough food to keep us going and that the gels and limited equipment I had in my running pack would be sufficient.. This is when the coach broke down! Clutch problems.. By now I just had to laugh.. And I think we all felt this way, "What will be will be!" 1/2 an hour later the backup coach arrived and me got to the start town of Chipping Camden at aroun the 11:30am mark, the decision being made to delay the start to 12:30 or as soon as all coach dwellers were registered and briefed.

Chipping Camden was a beautiful town, built of the Georgian stone that is so frequent in this part of the country. We duly registered, got our race numbers and proceeded to get drop bags (with limited resources!) ready. Then some good news! The guys had been able to get a lift back to Lennys car in bath with all of our drop bag stuff so they would be joining us at some point in the race and also Bryce would be able to start the race, however he might a be a little late...

And so we were off.. Making our way through some of the most picturesque countryside and towns that I had been lucky to see in races. My whole ethos for this race was "no expectations and no thinking before 50 miles at least!" I set off from Chipping Camden and trotted at a really comfortable pace, concentrating on making my way to the next checkpoint only and not letting my mind think too much about the big picture.. this strategy really worked for me and I am amazed that the mind can almost trick oneself into running 100 miles! I was lucky enough to get chatting to a couple of guys on the way, initially a chap who I had met at the MDS which was a great distraction; reminiscing about the time in the desert and talking about how we had found it etc, conversations you cant really have with people unless they had been there that year. Around the 3 mile mark I had gate crashed a group of 3 guys 2 northern Irish guys and another guy Simon (the eventual winner no less!) I ended up running most of my race with the 2 Northern Irish guys Ricky and Ronnie and really enjoyed their company.

The first 12 miles to the first checkpoint were pretty uneventful, settling into the race, trying not to overcook it too quickly and chatting to the people I had met. We ascended some hills which on reflection and viewing the GPS  trace from my Garmin were pretty steep, HR felt good though and I hiked up these hills with ease which was a great confidence booster. Some of the descents were a little steep and I was a little concerned that my quads started to burn so soon on in the race!

Upon reaching CP1 our support guys Simon and Lenny were there, awesome to see them and they were able to give us the update that Robbie was doing well and that Bryce was plugging away to reverse his one hour deficit on starting late. I was so excited at seeing them that I forgot to fill up my water bottles (school boy error!) and trotted off catching up Ricky and Ronnie and getting back into the groove.. Simon had shot off and was not to be seen again. The course was marked by the Cotswolds Way Acorn markers and was sufficient in most case particularly in the daylight and although we potentially took a few wrong turns people behind us called us before we went too far down the wrong turns..

On to CP2 and again no real issues, great to see the guys and fill up with water. I had run out about 2 miles previously and it was a warm balmy day and I was sweating quite a bit so once at the checkpoint I drank a fair bit of water and Coke to counter balance. We were warned about a hornets nest about 3 miles down the road after the "Indian restaurant" we did not really have a clue where this was but was alerted to the location when a guy about 20 metres started hopping around and hitting the hornets with his map after being stung. We took a small diversion around that bit through an adjacent field, so thanks hornet boy for the heads up! :-)

By the time we reached CP3 it was dark. The headtorches were on and I was feeling good enjoying the night running on the trails, hiking up the hills and then running the downhills and flats. I stocked up on checkpoint food, had a gel and some Ibuprofen and felt invincible! We made good time from this point on to about 42 miles which is where the fog came in and things started to go a little pear shaped..

Because of the marking of the Cotswold Way acorn markings being our main guide there were some navigational decisions to be at various points around the course, particularly when the night arrived, The mist also came in and made the route hard to pick up when going across open ground. We got lost on numerous occasions and for me this is when the rot started to set in. Between CP3 and 4 we lost alot of time and I started to feel like my stomach wasnt doing so well, a recurring theme for me in long distance races. I ended up being sick and it actually helped, I felt like I had got rid of whatever was upsetting my stomach and carried on.. At one point we were a tantalising few miles away from CP4, hopelessly lost on a different pathway than the Cotswolds Way trying to apply logic and reason to a map where we werent particularly sure where we were. By some miracle we found the check point and were able to take stock; 54 miles into the race, the halfway point! Get some food in (a chilli that had been made, which I though was ropey but I think might have been down to my stomach situation) change into long sleeves, fill up with water, drink some coke and then get on our way. At the CP I saw Bryce who had decided to call it a day.. Unfortunately the hour he had to catch up had meant that he had run alone for alot of the first part of his race, which meant a few navigational errors and to be fair after the day he had had already I think he had just had enough!

So on we went.. Off into the night to try and break the back of this! Feeling good, and having seen some friendly faces I really felt ok considering.. We decided to keep a closer eye on the map to anticipate any directional issues, but again we ended up taking a few wrong turns.. For me this was the most disheartening thing and I felt my energy levels drop as well as my stomach not feeling too great again.. I felt the nausea creep in again and I was sick whilst trying to take 2 Immodium.. I sorted myself out and took some more Immodium and then marched on. I was really struggling by now, my legs felt like jelly and the hills seemed to get much steeper. Funnily enough looking back on the Garmin trace the hills were not really that steep but I guess the mind played tricks on me a little. I remember thinking "I cant do anymore hills!" and I think thats when I began to doubt if I was going to make this. I was halfway between the 2 checkpoints so I carried on thinking if I could get to the next CP I could sleep or just try and sort my act out a bit then crack on, but I was sick for the third time and I knew it was over.. I was aware I was holding the lads I was with back but I was also not confident in my ability to navigate alone. I decided to call it a day.. I thought I would be gutted at my first DNF, but as soon as I had spoken on the phone to Simon and I knew they were coming to get me in the car I felt nothing but relief.. I had no doubt I had the heart, and I had felt so good up til 42 miles or so and had indeed gone 61 miles in total, the longest I had ever gone! So alot of positives really..

I sat at a bus stop in my foil blanket in some chocolate box house filled village and waited for the support guys: About 15 mins later Leanne came through and I told her the news, she was looking strong, she was with another guy and they seemed to be trotting along well, I was glad to see she was with someone as I think doing that alone would be really hard going..

The guys came to get me and that was it my race was over.. I got a couple of hours kip in the back of Lennys car and felt almost human again. We were at CP5 at about 5am and seeing people coming in I knew I had made the right decision. Some people had spent 5 hours or so making it from CP4 to CP5 a distance of 10 miles or so, mainly due to navigational errors. I think if I had decided to keep going I would have become a crying wreck...

The rest of that day was spent tracking the runners we had out on the course: Robbie Campbell finished in joint 4th place in a time of 21 hours..... Leanne came in in 29 hours..... I hung out at the finish line for a few hours and saw some of the finishers. out of 59 starters only 25 finished which certainly tells its own story. I got to sleep about 4 pm that evening for a couple of hours which was amazing then went for some nice basic grub and a couple of beers with Simon and Adrian Colwill a fellow runner/Spine Challenger Competitor who I had met over the weekend.

So what do I take away from this race? 

Firstly the amount of support I/we received. I had my phone with me on the trail and I was regularly getting texts from people back in Jersey. It was amazingly motivating and people were texting me at 3 in the morning, so thanks for that everyone who did. There was also alot of activity on Twitter and Facebook due to Phil Taylor and Simon MacKenzie who, whilst unable to take part, were just as involved as us out there on the trail! Simon Lester and Neil Leonard were also amazing - they were our support crew for 29 whole hours and had to cater to the needs of 4 prima dona runners who were all spaced out over the course, my overriding mental picture of the weekend is of the two of them sat in one of the most notorious dogging carparks on the Cotswolds Way eating their Pie and Chips for their tea like an old married couple wondering why all the other cars were flashing their headlights at them :-) Thanks Simon and Lenny for your support, seeing your friendly faces and getting your encouragement at each CP was so motivating, I owe you both!

I was happy with the first 40 -50 miles, I feel like I have raised the distance bar psychologically and I was pleased with the way I got my head around the concept of running 100 miles (i.e. blank emptiness and complete denial!) Ronnie and I were talking along the way saying "I aint even thinking about this race til after the 50 mile mark!" and I think to stand a chance you have to go this way. I think the old saying about run the first third with your legs, the second this with your mind and the last with your heart certainly applies here: I witnessed first hand alot of people showing massive heart at the finish line and it was inspiring to see. Touching on the psychological aspect I was also happy with my approach to the race itself, after Round The Rock I have done alot of work on running my own race, not being concerned what others are up to in the race having little expectations and doing the best that I can do in each moment. I felt this paid off massively and I felt relaxed, positive and focussed for the parts of the race where I was in good nick stomach wise.

The biggest area of development for me now would be the nutritional aspect: I think being sick 3 times sabotaged my race, and I am unsure how this happened. I stuck to Torq gels and flapjacks for the race with the odd Pepperami which felt good. Due to it being hot right up til the 11pm mark though I did drink alot of water and I subsequently ran out of water frequently. As a result I recall getting into the CP's and quickly drinking alot of water quickly and some coke as well. I wonder if this played a part in my stomach upset. I think over this winter I intend to develop a watertight nutrition plan so that I know what works and when. Hopefully this will be a major part in the jigsaw and I can start to get the results I want.

Overall I would recommend the race. I felt that there were a few teething problems but the race was in it inaugural year so I think this has a potential to be a real classic. The only gripe I had were the markings; I think it is stressful enough running 100 miles without having to worry overtly about navigation. I appreciate we cant be hand held through the whole course and also that the fog was a little exceptional and probably unexpected. I will be back though at some point to conquer this race!

So next up is Round Rotherham 50 miler on October 19th - my 39th birthday as well, what greater way to celebrate than to run an ultra? Round Rotherham is a Western States 100 Qualifier race so am hoping to get an entry in for that for next June -  you got to be in to win it (or at least take part!) right?