Marathon number 7 or Ultra number 1

What the hell was I doing. Some time back in late summer, I was feeling over confident about life and decided to enter a autumn/winter marathon. I was coming off the back of my Etape success and decided that a normal marathon wasn't challenging enough so went for a hilly, cross country event in Wales.

With my teacher training course, my running build-up had been patchy and I was shocked by how quick the race came around. On my drive to Wales on a wet and windy Friday night, I wondered what the hell I was thinking.

I arrived at my B&B at 10pm and went straight to bed. I got up a 6am, had my porridge and set off to the race. I was fairly casual about my gear compared with how I have been at previous marathons even though I had to carry lots more than usual - water, space blanket, whistle, first aid, gels and phone.

The other contestants where the usual set of skinny, tight wearing 'outdoors' people with buffs i.e not me. I always wonder why XC runners mostly wear tights but road runners mostly wear shorts. I did have my own buff for the first time as it was given away free with Cycling Plus this week which was a bit of luck.

It was cold and windy but not raining. It wasn't due to rain until the late afternoon but I still put on my raincoat as it was chilly. An announcement was made that because of flooding (it had been raining for 3 days solid), the course would take a detour and as a result, was now 28 miles. It was no longer a marathon but technically an ultra.

We set off at 9am and it was straight over a dune and on to the beach. It was wet but not too soft so progress was good. Then it was off the beach and through some fields to the first hill. It was big and everyone was walking. A couple tried to run for a bit but they weren't going any faster than the walkers.

After a short plateau at the top we came down the other side along a wooden path. It was slippy and I didn't feel very stable and it wasn't long before I fell on my back-side. I was ok, just a dirty knee and a thorn in my hand.

I reached the first checkpoint and used the dibber. The next 6 miles were fine. I had fallen into a good rhythm and was with a group of about 10 other runners. We climbed the second big hill before check point 2. I had another gel, some jelly babies and a biscuit. It was then over some really tough sand dunes before reaching the coast again at mile 11.5.

The beach was a killer. You could see for over a mile and the wind was right in your face. You could see about 30 runners all shuffling against the wind trying to get to the same point and no one looked like they were making any progress.

I eventually got to the end of the beach and felt ok, especially as I had passed quite a few people. However, feeling ok was short lived as we climbed 300 feet through a forest to get over the peninsular.

The war of attrition then began. The rain started, the wind got stronger and it was just putting one foot in front of the other for mile after mile. All I was focusing on was getting to mile 20. That felt like a real breakthrough. The terrain remained tough with lots of water, deep mud and rocks. Because my legs were getting tired, I was finding it increasingly hard to navigate over the rocks without walking which slowed me down.

We reached the last checkpoint at mile 21 but I knew we had 7 miles and a really big hill to go. It was at this point that my right knee started to hurt. Just a twinge at first but mile after miles, it got worse and worse. Up hills were ok, running on the flat was fine for about 3 or 4 minutes at a time but down hills were painful. I tried to take my 4th gel here but was nearly sick so didn't bother.

We got to the final hill and it was big. A thin stream of people were making their way to the top and into a cloud (yes, it was that big). We trudged up laughing at our pain. It went on and on. Once we got to the top, it was bleak. Visibility was bad and the rain was heavy.

After another 20 minutes of this, I finally saw the finish. It was down a very steep slope which made me want to cry. Whilst others skipped down in glee (or slid) knowing it was about to be over, I had to gingerly make it down using one leg. If I put any weight on my right leg my knee screamed at me.

I eventually made it home practically hoping over the line. I forgot to stop my watch and I can't find the result printout so I'm not totally sure of my time but it was around 5:50. It doesn't sound great but it was an extreme course. 30 minutes later, as I drove away, there were still people coming off the hill so I wasn't last. Hooray.

Food
Breakfast - Porridge, toast, coffee, High5 4:1 drink, water
Gels - SiS at 4 miles, 10 miles, 15 miles and half at 21 miles
Other - Biscuit and handful of jelly babies
Hydration - I carried and drank 1.5 litres of water, 1 bottle of Gatorade (yuk)
Hydration - 3 cups of water on route
After - For Goodness Shake and Burger King

Stats
Distance: 28 miles (45km)

Time: 5:50:00 ???
Elevation Gain: 3900 feet (1188 meters)
Weather: Nasty
Winner: 3:44:4
11st Female: 4:03:34
Me: 5:53:38
I finished 113th out of 169

Other Photos at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonlewis/sets/72157622943129638/