I woke early in anticipation for my second ultramarathon, the first was shadowed by horrendous gut issues. At 6am I managed to do a poo, I don’t think I’d ever been happier to squeeze one out. The day was looking up. I shoved my pre prepared bags in the car after a slice of toast and made my way down the Mortimer Road, which I must say is quite scary in the dark. The queue to get onto the car park was just boring, I listened to some tunes wishing I hadn’t put my bags in the boot with my water, already dying of thirst and the race hadn’t even started
I found Nick in the queue for the GPS trackers, looking rather dashing in his Stocksbridge Running Club Hoody. He was fully branded out in club gear, feeling envious I did a pre race pee before listening to the race briefing. Subtly they dropped in that it wasn’t a 52km race but more like 54km, their uncertainty worried the crowd.
We queued up on the start line, I quickly took off the rain jacket, it was getting quite warm. I bumped into an old colleague, secretly hoping that I can beat him. He has far more experience than me at ultras and it’s the whole nurse doctor rivalry.
The start was slow, 800 runners going through went from a slow walk to a jog and I then said goodbye to Nick so I could elbow some people out of the way and set off. Running down the main road in hope was quite something, everyone was in high spirits, it took about 5km of steady running before we hit any trail. Win Hill was the first challenge, most people walked up it enthusiastically despite the mud, the half marathon runners were in for a treat after we churned it up nicely for them. The descent from Win Hill was lovely, I had lots of chats with fellow runners, and it turned out this was a lot of runners first ultra. Made a few friends I think but in my mind frenemies determined to pip to the line.
The first aid station was at the bottom of the descent, I filled up one bottle and faffed around trying to open a Tailwind sachet whilst holding on to a floppy bottle. I had to ask for help but the amazing crew were happy to help. The next section was a flat section back to Heatherdene, not much to report here, got into a nice rhythm. The second checkpoint was 5km after the first so I didn’t stop but started the loop around Ladybower which felt like it went on forever. Feeling good I was starting to catch some runners starting to struggle and pushed on. I began to regret not filling up my water at the last station as a could feel my bottles getting empty and for some reason didn’t check the distances between aid stations before the race. I made it though with about 10mls left. This time I looked like a pro refuelling, not quite Western States style but I put my powder in first whilst walking in and swiftly topped up.
The next challenge was the climb to Derwent Edge, we were about 30km in now so people were starting to hurt, I felt Ok in that moment so walked up pretty swiftly until it kept going and going. By the time we were at the top my legs were nackered. Wishing I’d done more vert leading up to the race but injuries and life got in the way. Never mind I thought, less than a half marathon to go, oh hang on its not a 50km race its 54km.
Derwent edge was quite technical, my legs were about to blow so it was a case of walk some jog some, hope I don’t fall. People were running past looking fresh. I told myself more strength training next time and waddled on. Another runner I passed earlier caught me up and asked if there’s toilets at the next aid station, he was ecstatic to find out there is. I feel your pain, been there. The last descent was death defying, I will proudly say I walked that, my legs were tired and there was no way I was going to run down it the way I was feeling.
Back to Heatherdene and some coca cola picked me up before the last stretch. We rejoined the half marathon runners soon after looking fresh and swiftly passing us. I don’t think I’ve disliked a group of runners for no reason at all before but I was jealous of their freshness and enthusiasm. Almost back and I took a quick look behind and that ex colleague wasn’t far behind me. I painfully ran on, taking the occasional walk to clear some lactic acid. He was close enough I thought I’d better say hello and be polite and all that. I heard he was suffering too so carried on. The finish was a nice grassy hill to run down.
I made it, no gut issues, an OK time, I hadn’t lost anything, and I just about beat the ex-colleague. I’m not sure if he let me but I’ll take the win. My mantra moving forwards is ‘progress not perfection’ and it felt like progress. A free bottle of shower gel (trying to say something?) a lovely wooden medal and supposedly a free meal and drink at the end. I was not going to queue for a meal and went to find my car, it took some time, walking like an Oompa Loompa through an enormous car park and in a haze.