The Way of Legends - Day One

Finally my ramblings are getting towards the point at which some actual running might occur. However before then there was the small matter of the Druids...

We ate breakfast, filled water bottles, packed up our camp bags and generally got ourselves ready for the start of the race. At sometime just past 7 we boarded buses which took us along progressively narrower and steeper roads until we arrived at the Celtic Hill Fort City of Ulaña. The reason the race is called The Way of Legends is that there is a legend associated with each stage. Rather than plagiarise the excellent accounts on the race website I'll simply include a link to the first legend. However a small explanation is needed to explain why we were about meet some Druids and be given some yew. Basically the hill fort was home to the Turmogi Clan, one of the last groups of Celtic warriors in Spain to resist the Romans. When defeat was inevitable, rather than be captured, they took their possessions and the bones of their ancestors and disappeared into the valleys and canyons where they committed suicide by eating yew berries. Enter one bunch of bewildered Romans who find that their enemy has apparently vanished off the face of the earth.

Back in the present as we get off the bus we can hear a drum and a conch shell being blown - yes, it's dark and someone is blowing a conch shell, have I stumbled into the Barkley Marathon by mistake? 

As we walk into the trees we see a couple of Druids with drums, and a conch shell obviously.

Druids!

The druids apparently only speak an ancient Iberian dialect, which is spoken by no-one else in the 21st century according to Manu anyway. Fortunately he had Google Translate on his mobile phone and so was able to provide a translation of their wise words.

Ancient wisdom being imparted and translated

Basically we are told that the Romans are coming and we should kill ourselves rather than be taken as slaves. We were then helpfully given pieces of yew to eat should capture become inevitable.

Photobombing Druids

Fortunately we have the option of running away with all due haste as, after this almost certainly unique ceremony, the race started and we were off!

I didn't make any attempt to be at the front of the pack as we had been told the first 400m were a steep technical descent down the side of the hill fort. My ability at steep technical descents is such that the quickest way down for me is usually to wait for the next Ice Age and ride down on a glacier and so I let those that shared some genetic material with mountain goats go first (or so I thought...)

Apparently I got down from up there - I have no idea how

Having gotten to the bottom of the technical section by using the technique of trying to only fall on bits of me that aren't easily damaged I got onto some runnable terrain and started running - I may even have overtaken some people.

Then the sun rose and the scenery just became stunning.

Breathtaking sunrise

The only downside to the sunrise was that as we were running east it made seeing the course markings more difficult. At least thats my excuse for running into a dead end and having to be shouted back by Stan and Pit who I'd overtaken about 10 minutes earlier.

The first half of the stage was predominantly downhill and passed over grassland and past field after field of sunflowers. The sunflowers were a little past their best but still made a colourful sight and certainly provided a different landscape to anything I had run through before.

Sunflowers in the morning sun

The profile for the second half of the stage resembled a roller coaster as we would be crossing a series of canyons. By now I was swapping positions on a regular basis with Stan and Pit. It wasn't that I didn't want to run with them, we just had different strengths and so as the course changed in gradient and technicality so did the order.

Approaching the final checkpoint - spot the course marker

I arrived at the last checkpoint with Pit. I knew Pit from Bhutan the year before and I knew he would provide strong competition for me. As we left the checkpoint together he told me he thought we were third and fourth - I told him I thought he was talking rubbish. I was sure at least a dozen people went off the hill fort in front of me and I only thought I'd overtaken five or six. Top ten certainly but third and fourth? No. Pit was convinced the only people in front of us were Rodrigo (he was so far in front I think he had finished by the time we got to CP3) and Tristan. At this point I hadn't yet met Tristan so I had no idea who he was but Pit reckoned he was a strong runner and ahead of us.

After we left CP3 Pit and myself continued to trade positions on the climb to the most glorious piece of forest running. I was in my element and pulled away slightly. Any time I may have gained was largely lost when I met Manu in his car at the end and had to tell him how great it was (he already knew, he runs there a lot).

By now it was getting hot and I was walking a fair bit. I had thought that if Pit and I really were third and fourth I would prefer fourth place as I didn't want the pressure of being on the podium after Day One - or ever really. At the race briefing the night before we had been told we would run a couple of kilometres above and around the village of Sedano where we were staying that night. This wasn't (we were told) simply in order to increase the distance but rather to give us some nice views of said settlement.

The church above the village

View from the top - the large building to the right of centre is were we would be staying

Pit was right behind me as I stopped to take a few photos. Any thoughts of finishing fourth went out of my head as I took off downhill ahead of him for the final loop round town to our overnight stop. I crossed the finish line, hot, exhausted and... second??? Pit had been absolutely right but didn't know that Tristan had taken a detour and added a couple of kilometres on to his day. This left me with a few questions as to what I did now. First was out of the question, Rodrigo was already around an hour and a half ahead of me after one day. However second to fifth were covered by only around 12 minutes. My hope had been for top 5, would I still be happy with that or was I going to try and keep second place? The main difference would be how many photos I took. Day One had quite a lot as I didn't feel under pressure and stopped when I liked. If I was going to race with such evenly matched people I might not have that luxury.

One thing I couldn't really train for in the UK was the long downhill stretches. These had really taken their toll on my quads, something which became evident when I went for my massage. The masseur didn't really speak English but seemed to be implying she was expecting my leg to fall off the next day and showed me some tape she could stick it back on with if I wanted. It seemed quite possible that I didn't need to worry about position as worst case I could win the one-legged category.

Sharon arrived not long after me, also with sore legs but at least no one was predicting hers would fall off. We had a very nice double en-suite room with an excellent shower to remove the grime of the day. After the evening meal Manu gave the briefing for the next day. The main point was that there would be three starts all half an hour apart, slower runners, quicker runners and Rodrigo. After dinner we went to bed. After a while the locals went to bed too and we could sleep.

So Day One had gone well, possibly too well, what would Day Two bring?...

The Way of Legends - Admin Day

The day before the start of the race dawned - this didn't happen terribly early as Burgos is actually further west than London and uses Central European Time so is an hour ahead. All this meant that dawn was around 8 am. This was good news as the race would start with a ceremony at sunrise - however before we would be allowed onto the start line we had to complete our administrative checks.

I was confident my kit would be OK as I had queried a few items with Manu after his pre-race emails had made the point that the waterproof jacket particularly had to be of a suitable standard. This was due to the fact it had rained a lot on the mountain stage in 2017 and some people kit was marginal to say the least. I had gone for a very lightweight jacket but it had the required hood and taped seams and had already been classified as 'great' by Manu.

Sure enough kit check was efficient and painless. Then there was a chat with Doctor Helen during which we discussed my penicillin allergy (it gives me a rash, if the alternative is dying I can live with the rash) and I promised not to take ibuprofen while running (it's very bad news for your kidneys if you are dehydrated). Then it was just sign the declaration (standard stuff, I understand this is dangerous and promise not to sue the organisers if I die doing it), pick up some numbers bibs (actually name bibs), three pairs of socks and other assorted free gifts and I was accepted into the race!

All the competitors were photographed by Manu 2 outside by a tree and some Way of Legends flags. Every member of the crew was so hardworking and supportive and Manu 2 was no exception. He also had the most loyal dog I have ever seen in Yume. Wherever Manu went, Yume was never far behind, in fact by the end of the week if I saw Manu my first thought was 'where's Yume?'

Official Race Dog (Photo Credit: Derek Kwik)

In keeping with the general spirit of the race we were told the photos didn't have to be too formal so Sharon and myself put on our Ridge Runners tops and went to be photographed together. I can't remember if we were 'formal' or not and I haven't seen the pictures yet but we took some selfies as well to post on Facebook so people at home would know we were still alive.

We won't be looking this fresh by the end of the race...

We used the rest of the day to introduce ourselves to some of the other competitors and have a lok round the local area - well the bit within 100m of the Basecamp anyway, no point getting too much exercise, there would be plenty of time for that later in the week.

2018 Legends! (Photo Credit: Sam Guo)

Basecamp was in a village called Trashaedo. It is unusual in that it has no bar - not a problem as Basecamp was well stocked with soft drinks, beers and the official race wine. There was also very little evidence of any inhabitants, although possibly they all wisely stayed indoors when the crazy runners were in town.

This is the only reason I know where Basecamp was

Trashaedo Church

After dinner we had the first race briefing. Manu told us some stuff about the race, the only bit of which that stuck in my mind was that there was only one possibly slightly wet bit on the course, on stage 3. This information would take on more importance later...

Manu doing the Race Director bit

We were also given our schedule for the following morning which involved getting on a bus at 7 am to go and see some Druids...

The Way of Legends - getting to the start...

I find out about races in many ways, on the web, Facebook groups, and of course from other runners. Last year I ran The Last Secret, an ultra race across Bhutan, which I was told about by Ed Chapman at an XNRG event in the UK. The Course Director for the Last Secret was Manu Pastor, who told me about a luxurious, gourmet food and wine sort of a race he put on in Burgos in Spain called 'The Way of Legends'. We would have beds, hot showers, and great food and wine during the event. This was enough for Sharon, after tents, cold taps, and rice in Bhutan she was ready to sign up. I did mention to her that forthe first 5 days we would be running an average of around 30 miles per day but 'food and wine' apparently rendered distance irrelevant so we paid our deposit, then the balance, then filled in some forms, booked some flights, all the usual stuff. we didn't book a bus...

So on Friday 21st of September 2018 we were out of bed at 3:45, in a taxi by 4 am and through security at Stansted Airport by 4:40. This even left time for breakfast before our 6:25 flight. Despite my trepidation at having trusted Ryanair to get us to Madrid the flight was on time and we had some hopes of getting the 10:15 bus to Burgos.

We wandered up and down the terminal several times, looked at a lot of buses that didn't go to Burgos and eventually asked someone where we might find a bus bound for said city. 'Terminal 4', 'Which terminal is this?', 'Terminal 1', 'How do we get to Terminal 4', 'Take a bus'.

So we got to terminal 4 at 10:20 in time to miss the bus to Burgos - or so we thought. In fact the bus was still there as was Joey Sharma who had a ticket for the previously mentioned bus. Joey is an XNRG regular who didn't have the best time in Bhutan but I was pleased to see she was her usual bubbly, happy self and she helpfully pointed out the driver of the bus. 'Can we buy a ticket?' 'No, full', so we said our goodbyes to Joey and another runner called Simon she had briefly introduced us to and told her to tell Manu we would be on the next bus...

We spent some time standing in a queue which seemed to consist mainly of people that wanted to shout out the poor woman selling tickets for reasons we were unable to translate, along with the occasional person that actually wanted a ticket. We finally reached the front where I confidently asked for 'Dos, Burgos', expecting to get two tickets for the 13:15 bus. What we didn't realise is that Burgos is a surprisingly popular destination and that the next bus with seats available was 19:15. If this blog makes you decide to do this race the first piece of advice is book flights and bus tickets well in advance.

By now it is around 11:30 so we have a few hours to kill. Landside of Madrid Airport Terminal 4 is of limited appeal so Sharon went to get tea and coffee while we decided our next move. A quick Google search revealed that there was a Left Luggage office in Terminal 4. It was in fact right behind where I was sitting. The fact it was behind me possibly explains why I walked the entire length of the terminal in the wrong direction before seeing it as I came back to our table...

Bags safely (we hoped) stored, we set off for the Metro. Apart from having no idea where we wanted to go or how to buy tickets a trip into Madrid seemed like a really good idea. After a bit of help we bought one ticket for two journeys and got onto the Metro to Avenida de Americas for no reason other than I thought I might have been there before, possibly in a different city... or country. Anyway it was a nice day so we got off and had a walk in the sunshine, some wine, some food, some more wine until we got back on the Metro (having put two more journeys on our card) at Atocha, the main railway station.

I didn't take many pictures in Madrid but I liked the bicycle covered in flowers

Back at the airport we had one last glass of wine before looking for our bus. Before we found the bus we were found by Börkur, the only Icelander in the race and someone who's dry sense of humour I would come to appreciate over the next week.

The bus journey was comfortable and uneventful apart from a helpful passenger pointing out that the first stop wasn't Burgos and that we should stay on until it was. We took his advice and soon found ourselves being greeted by Danny, the first member of the support crew we would meet.

The three of us got into Danny's vehicle and set off for base camp. Danny told us he was born in the area and that he had done four or five pick-ups already - facts which I think left all four of us slightly surprised when he left Burgos on the wrong road...

Race HQ - the picture was taken the day after arrived but as we arrived in the dark one on arrival wouldn't have been that exciting

Back on the right road we arrived at Casa Rural La Bernada. It was dark, it was past 11 'o' clock but we were still made welcome and food and wine was made available to us. We also met Stan Lee, a Way of Legends legend as he was the only person to have taken part in both previous editions of the race. We were shown to a very nice en-suite bedroom where the effects of a 3:45 am start (and several glasses of wine) caught up with us and we finally drifted off to sleep...

The Saltmarsh 75 - Five out of Five

I wasn't expecting to write a report for this race. It's one of my favourites, it was the first ultra I ever did and I've written about it before. This is why I wasn't planning to write about it this time, although every year is different I don't feel I have enough writing talent to make my reports different every year. So why have I changed my mind? Well there are a number of reasons but one is that it has been a few years since my last report and also this race did unfold somewhat differently to previous ones...

As is traditional with my race reports I'll ramble on a bit before actually getting to the race. There have been four previous Saltmarsh 75 events and I am part of a select group of seven that have completed all four. The only woman to have completed all four, Tracey Harrington,  was only doing the first day and Steve Gresham had usher duties at a wedding apparently so our little group would be reduced to five this year. As I've said this is one of my favourite races, so much so that I believe I was the first person to sign up for the 2017 event.

There were a number of entrants from my running club this year and one of these, Rob Haldane, gave me a lift to the start. The start was reassuringly familiar - which does beg the question as to why we headed towards the wrong building for registration. I was hoping this would be the only navigational mishap of the weekend but based on previous events this was likely to be a forlorn hope. Registration was the usual smooth process, the only difference being that I was given a coloured tag for my overnight bag. I never quite worked out what the purpose of the colour coding was, it also didn't help that I had two pieces of luggage (one was a tent) so one of my bags had a yellow tag and the other a standard brown label. Anyway my luggage was always where it was meant to be so I guess the process (whatever it was) worked. I also picked up a nice purple beanie hat and the 2017 Saltmarsh pin badge.

Badges and a hat - in case it isn't obvious

After some Little Baddow Ridge Runners team photos, some concentrated beetroot juice and the inevitable last minute toilet visit I was on the start line with my fellow competitors. Andy Layley is another of the 'ever presents' and it was his 50th birthday. I assume we sang 'Happy Birthday' but after having to do this on the start line of the MDS every day in 2014 and 2016 my mind now shuts out such events. At fairly much dead on 9 'o' clock we were released into the wilds of Essex.

What a handsome bunch (?)

I had, fairly accidentally, started very near the front. Damian was leading and I was following - partly because I wasn't expecting to be ahead of him but mainly because I wasn't totally sure of the route through the farm out to the sea wall...

Things fairly quickly settled and I found myself running with some very quick runners in a small group at the front. This is somewhere I usually try and avoid being as once there I'm always reluctant to do the smart thing and drop back to a more sensible pace, and sure enough I stayed with the pack. There was much friendly banter accompanied by comments from everyone about the pace being far too quick, however no one slowed down... I felt I was definitely running too quickly, however when I was training for my first marathon I remember being told that the way to avoid running too quickly was to keep my pace down to that at which I could hold a conversation. As I said there was a lot of general chat going on and I found I could join in without too much difficulty so I carried on at the front-running pace. At one point I even put a little spurt on just so I could say I had lead the Saltmarsh because obviously that would never happen again, would it?

Last year was the first year that Saltmarsh had used the Racetek timing system, each runner has a timing chip which is scanned at each checkpoint. Ian Brazier - 'tent man' at my first ever Saltmarsh and the first new friend I made ultra running - only seems to do odd number Saltmarshes and so hadn't used the timing system before. His concern was the first checkpoint as the runners can still be quite bunched up at this point and so it was possible there might be a bottle neck in the tag scanning department. My not-very-serious answer to his question as to how to avoid this was to get there first. Ian obviously took my advice seriously and raced off ahead of the rest of us to CP1 and beyond! The rest of us went through fairly quickly and set off after the orange dot in the distance that was Mr Ian Brazier. 

The pace didn't slacken even a little bit up to CP 2 and Ian still had a healthy lead at Burnham - a fact he has mentioned quite often since the event. It was at this point that the front group reduced in size as a some of the runners in it decided to take a short break at the checkpoint. By this time I appeared to have abandoned any sort of strategy or sensible race plan and set of with Damian and Peter, who was running his first two day ultra, in pursuit of Ian.

Gradually we started to catch Ian. I think Damian overtook him first, then Peter, them myself. I think Ian would appreciate me mentioning that he was first to Burnham though, in case anyone had forgotten. the section from Burnham (where Ian was first) to the Orthona Community at check point 3 (where he wasn't) goes round the Dengie Marshes and is the bleakest and longest stage of the race. Damian was suffering a little by now, not terribly surprising as he had completed a very hilly 100 mile race only two weeks before, and I found myself very much at the front with Peter. Peter is a 3 hour marathon runner and Damian is generally quicker than me so I was hopeful of a top three finish at least for Day One at this point.

One thing I've never had to contend with on the Dengie before was the flies. Not little midge like things either but huge black beasties that felt a bit like someone was pelting you with rice. They were also a protein supplement I was keen to avoid, something which I was almost completely successful at but I did ingest a couple of the critters.

Although the Dengie stage is officially over 13 miles long, it has always been punctuated by a water stop manned by the Dengie 100 Running club. This year was no exception and, having not really stopped at the first two checkpoints, I took the opportunity to restock my water supplies. As ever thanks to the guys that man this extra stop, its not the first time I've been grateful of it.

St Peter's Chapel is always a welcome sight as it means the longest, bleakest section is almost over!

Peter was adopting a run/walk strategy whereas I was going for my usual steady plod. The net result was that we variously ran together, I ran ahead, Peter caught up, we ran together for a bit, Peter went ahead, I caught up... you get the general idea I'm sure. This continued to checkpoint 4 until we reached the penultimate leg. For most of the race up until now the wind had been behind us or across. As we started up the Blackwater estuary we turned into the wind. This slowed us both down, Peter slightly more so than me. As a result Peter was a couple of minutes behind me at the last checkpoint. I knew I was only a few miles from the finish and got a new lease of life as I surged towards Steeple. 'Surged' is something of an exaggeration but in my head surging was definitely occurring. The last little amusement on Day One of Saltmarsh is supplied by the need to find a slightly hidden gap in a hedge to the final path into Steeple. I was so intent not missing it by following the GPS course on my watch that I overshot by about 10 metres and was called back by one of the relay runners who had caught me up. Well, it wouldn't be me if I managed an ultra with absolutely no errors would it?

I knew I was almost at the finish because I had been there before but even if I hadn't the massive shouts of encouragement from Sharon would have given it away. I arrived as the first solo runner into Steeple - something I would never have predicted at the start of the day. However Peter was only 5 minutes behind and Damian less than 10 minutes behind him so whilst it was obviously nice to be in first place I wasn't confident that I would still be there when it mattered, 37 miles further on in Salcott-cum-Virley.

I did make the most of finishing first by getting a massage and a shower before any queues developed. After waiting for a few more Ridge Runners to finish I took my bag and tent over to the camp site at the Star pub. I'd bought a pop-up tent specially for the event and was quite glad I had as it started to rain.

This seems like a good point for a short digression about those that walk the event. I've seen one or two comments, even from walkers themselves, that suggest that walking is somehow 'easier'. I will accept it is different but easier? The distance is the same, the calorie expenditure is about the same but walkers spend anything up to twice as long on their feet as me. Also for the last two years I've been in a warm dry pub while they have finished in heavy rain on the Saturday. Obviously runners take all the glory but I feel that everyone that completes the Saltmarsh 75 at whatever pace deserves equal credit. Runners exert themselves more but for less time and have a longer recovery at the end of the day. Walkers don't have the same level of exertion but the have it for longer, they have a shorter recovery and they have a greater chance of getting wet. Please note I don't want to put anyone off walking the event, if walking is your strength rather than running please join us next year, I just don't think there is an 'easy' way to do the Saltmarsh 75.

Anyway back to events. The evening was spent in the pub with shandy, beer and a glass of wine. Oh and I ate some stuff too, fish and chips and cheese cake I think - probably not together. Rob went all middle class and asked for cinnamon for his apple crumble. We kind of expected him to get abuse from a burly chef with a big knife but what he actually got was cinnamon - customer service par excellence on the part of the Star pub. Eventually we went to our slightly damp tents and, after the usual childish ribald banter you expect from a group of blokes on this sort of event, I went to sleep - and then realised the shandy and beer might not have been the best idea. Oh well, better than being dehydrated I suppose...

After night punctuated with toilet trips I got up, got dressed, got as organised as I get and went in search of breakfast. I usually have porridge but the lure of the bacon roll was too much so I had a couple of those instead. Everyone had to re-register so that the organisers knew who was still in the event and so there was a slight delay which meant the 8 'o' clock start became ten past eight. Not really an issue, and short enough a delay that I wasn't tempted by a third bacon roll.

Whilst I hadn't wanted to be in the lead group on Day One, as the overnight leader I felt I kind of had to be on Day Two. The race quickly settled with Peter and myself being pulled along at a fair old pace by the eventual first lady Jackie Stretton. Jackie had started with us on Day One and stayed with the lead group up until Burnham (where Ian was leading). Today her mission was to get to Maldon as quickly as possible to see her dog which would be waiting there with some humans. Checkpoint One was swiftly dispatched and we were speeding toward Checkpoint Two. This leg is always quite grassy and the overnight dew means wet feet are fairly inevitable. It also starts of with a lot of twists and turns which means it is quite a while before you feel you are getting anywhere.

We arrived at Maldon where my friends Marie and Steve had come to cheer me on as they had in several previous years. Unfortunately I couldn't stop and chat as with Jackie stopping to see her dog (and the accompanying humans I assume) it looked like it was a straight race between me and Peter. This is not a 100m race, it's not even 10km, we still had a marathon distance (literally) between us and the finish. Trying to 'race' at this point would have been stupid and possibly lead to neither of us finishing first - or possibly at all. We decided we would run together and see how things unfolded. Peter was potentially quicker but I had much more experience of multi-day racing, not difficult as this was Peter's first ever multi-day.

We navigated our way through Maldon with no issues and headed for the next checkpoint. This had moved a mile and half further along the course which meant it was followed by a  very short run to Goldhanger and the penultimate checkpoint. Although this is the penultimate checkpoint, there is still half the race to go in terms of distance. The Goldhanger to Tollesbury leg is the second longest and possibly my favourite. The sun usually shines on this leg and this year was no exception. This does make it slightly warm but with a nice bit of blue sky it is a great landscape to run through. 

OK so I was bit busy this year and this picture is from 2014 but it is a glorious landscape every year

At Tollesbury Peter and myself were still together and Peter had told me that he was more than happy with second place for his first two day event so it really was mine to lose now. By the time we entered the Old Hall Marshes we were both slowing. We seemed to have reasonable lead and as we were slowing down I suggested to Peter it was good time to look around and really enjoy the amazing scenery we were passing through. It's very easy on an ultra to see nothing but the ground in front of you but on many events and the Saltmarsh 75 in particular you are really missing out if you don't look up occasionally. As with Day One, Peter started to slow in the last few miles and I got a slight new lease of life so I ran ahead. I felt slightly guilty after we had run so far together but I knew he couldn't get lost so I turned off the sea wall, across the field on onto the road into Salcott-cum-Virley to be the first solo finisher of the 2017 Saltmarsh 75!

Winner! Thinking about smiling...

As I understand it the Saltmarsh 75 is not technically a race, it is a challenge event so although I was first to finish I didn't actually 'win' and there is no trophy. I was however presented with a truly excellent hoodie for being part of the 'Saltmarsh 75 5' as we are now. Rebecca, one of the Ridge Runners had also made a fantastic cake with the Saltmarsh logo on top, half of which was consumed by runners and half of which was apparently consumed by her dog later...

Cake!

Peter again finished about 5 minutes behind me, Damian arrived about 25 minutes later for third place, Jackie was next and Ian (who was first at Burnham) was fourth male.

All happy to have finished!

So was I happy with my first place? Of course I was, it was the first time I'd gone under 12 hours for the event so it was a PB as well. I'm under no illusions, if Damian hadn't done such a big race so recently I would be second. If some of the really fast guys that have run in previous years had been there I would have been even further back. However very, very, occasionally real life does go according to the Hollywood script and so the man that ran the first ever Saltmarsh 75 as his first ever ultra and has run them all since, is the man that finishes first on the fifth event.

Five Times Finisher Hoodie!

As always I have to thank everyone involved in making Saltmarsh 75 happen. Councils get a lot of stick so I think we should acknowledge when they get it very right so huge thanks to Maldon  District Council for conceiving and making this event happen. Thanks to Raynet, Essex Rover Rescue and the medical team for keeping us safe. I'm happy to say that so far I've never needed any of you but its good to know you are there if things ever do go wrong. Thanks too to all the volunteers that man the check points and do all the things that have to happen behind the scenes to make this event happen. Finally big thanks to everyone that takes part and also to my wife Sharon - who I'm hoping will be running it with me next year!

Finally to anyone considering entering in 2018 - do it! No, it isn't easy but that is kind of the point of a challenge event. However you will find a great atmosphere, loads of support and some great scenery. You will also find an old bloke in a Little Baddow Ridge Runners t-shirt trying to make it six out of six...

The T100 - or how I learned to stop worrying and love 100 miles

I’ve always said I like multi-day ultras, 30-35 miles a day over 2 or 3 days. So why was I on the start line of the T100, a 100 mile, single stage, self-supported ultra, running along the Thames path? A fair point and one that I can only partially explain. I had previously signed up for the TP100 a couple of years ago, a 100 mile race which runs along the Thames path and allows support crew and pacers after 50 miles. The T100 is also 100 miles along the Thames Path but has only 3 checkpoints (and a water stop) at which only water is available, no food, no crews no pacers. However in 2015 when I signed up for the TP100 I had a major back problem which meant I had to withdraw and I hadn’t really thought too much about 100 mile events since.

Facebook is a terrible thing. Some of my friends were looking at a 250 mile race the length of Wales. I wasn’t really interested but it wouldn’t have mattered if I was as completion of a 100 mile race was a requirement to enter. This made me think, I’ve done a few ultras and had moderate success in some but wasn’t the lack of a 100 miler a bit of a gap in my running CV? The Centurion events (of which the TP100 is one) tend to sell out quite quickly so I did a bit of Googling (Google is almost as terrible as Facebook) and found the T100, which had a nice looking website, was reasonably priced and had spaces. Best of all I would finally get to use the map I bought for the TP100! I am fully aware that having a map of the Thames Path qualifies me to run on it about as much as having a hat with ‘Lion Tamer’ on it in neon letters qualifies me to tame lions but it was a start.

Anyway after I had entered I thought I’d better read the rules. The compulsory kit list was about right, enough kit required to keep me safe but not an excessive burden. There was also a good explanation of the purpose and requirements for each item. The only item I would quibble about slightly was the map case as my map was waterproof. However my abilities with a map are such that the only likely use for a map was if I decided to fold it into a novelty hat or, in extremis, it might work as toilet paper - although it’s waterproofness might have restricted its usefulness in that regard. I do accept that if I had needed to use it a case might have been useful.

The requirement to be able to carry at least 2 litres of water wasn’t unreasonable given the distance between checkpoints but my hydration vest only had two 600ml bottles. I personally don’t like bladders, the water gets warm against your back and I find them a pain to fill, so I bought a waist belt with two 350ml bottles. This still wasn’t quite 2 litres although if I filled all the bottles right up they would hold 2 litres. I thought of asking if this would be OK but decided that actually it would make more sense to have more water capacity so I added a 500ml soft bottle to the collection with a hand strap. I could carry this and once I’d emptied it, it would fit in a pocket.

As the event drew nearer I read the instructions properly and started to realise what I was taking on. In addition to the check points a list of locks which had toilets and water was provided. I didn’t think this was terribly useful a first as it only went as far as Teddington. After a while I realised I would be running up river (uphill!) and so the source was at the other end. A list of locks from the source to Teddington then made a whole lot more sense… I mentioned this to a work colleague that spends a lot of his holidays on inland waterways. He said ‘You have got a British Waterways key haven’t you?’ Apparently these taps can sometimes be locked. Also they are not very easy to find if you don’t know where to look. Start to the first water stop about 13 miles - no problem on 2 litres of water. Similarly water stop to CP1, 13 miles. At CP1 fill up the additional 500ml bottle and hope to find the odd tap or drinking fountain as it will (hopefully) be daylight for much of this leg. CP2 to CP3 is 28 miles and going to be overnight. I didn’t really fancy trying to find taps I probably wouldn’t be able to find in daylight in the dark so I decided to take a 1 litre collapsible bottle which I would fill at CP2 along with the 500ml bottle. This would give me 3.5 litres and hopefully enough to see me through to CP3. I didn’t think too much about how to carry all this…

Water was very important. Water is always important but as I was planning on using Tailwind for most of my ‘food’ not having enough could hit me twice. For those not into endurance sport Tailwind is a powder that dissolves in water and provides calories and electrolytes. I had used it in Bhutan and on the Stour Valley Path 100km race and knew it worked very well for me. I packed some peanuts, bars and Pepperami too but was really only planning on using the Tailwind.

I’ll spare you a detailed breakdown of kit and how I packed it. Basically everything else was compulsory and I packed it according to how likely I thought it was I would need it (map at the bottom of the most inaccessible pocket on the pack naturally). I added a small pocket I bought ages ago to the waist strap of my waist pack to hold my headtorch and spare batteries so I could get them easily when it got dark.

By far the smartest afterthought I have ever had was to take my hand help GPS. I had the route and maps on it, it also has replaceable batteries. The plan was to use my GPS watch as the main navigation aid and the GPS as a back-up if the watch failed. If the watch and the GPS failed it was the phone, then I would try dumb luck, guesswork, astrology, and, eventually, the map.

So kit was sorted and I had everything I would need to run 100 miles - maybe. As the race started somewhere fairly easy to get to (for me) and not too early I was able to take a train to the start. Fortunately the journey was very smooth, I got a seat on all the trains and arrived in plenty of time. As I walked along Charlton station I saw that one of the houses nearby had strings of Buddhist prayer flags flying. After running The Last Secret Ultra in Bhutan and seeing a lot of Buddhist culture I have a lot of time for Buddhists so I took this as a good omen.

As I had done precisely no course recce I thought that it would be a good idea to walk to the start along the Thames path. That way I would at least know what the first half a mile held in store. To be honest it wasn’t that interesting - hopefully the other 99.5 would be better. However the Thames Barrier did look like a very impressive ‘starting line’.

Even I couldn't miss this 'start line'

I got to the Race HQ (café) to see a large number of runners all looking fitter, faster and much better prepared than me. This happens at every race though so I’ve stopped worrying about it. I may have caused slight confusion by saying hello and then walking straight past everyone but I was terribly well hydrated and had more pressing needs. Once that was sorted I registered, signed the waiver (‘If this race kills me I promise not to moan about it’ sort of thing) and was given number 16 and some safety pins.

I found a space on a table with some other runners and sorted out my number and awaited my kit check. The kit check was exactly as I like it - thorough but not excessively fussy. For instance the fact that my pack was positively bulging at the seams with Tailwind was taken as evidence of enough calories, I wasn’t asked to get it all out and count them. I passed the next hour by talking to other runners and having a nap using my pack as a pillow.

Poised, alert, ready to go - these were just some of the things I wasn't at the start

I don’t entirely remember what was said at the run briefing - other than there was absolutely no necessity to actually enter the Thames at any point on the race, not even for those doing the far more brutal T184, which was basically the T100 plus another 84 miles all the way to the source of the Thames. When I found out the T184 started at the same time as the T100 I started (ironically) referring to the T100 as the ‘fun run’. We were walked down to a slightly arbitrary point on the Thames Path (a few yards here and there are really quite irrelevant in a 100 mile race) and at 10:30 unleashed into London!

The first half mile was familiar but then things started to become less so although the O2 Arena (which will always be the Millennium Dome to me) wasn’t hard to spot. Fortunately I was running with someone that actually knew what the entrance to the Greenwich foot tunnel looked like and stopped me from bowling along straight past it. Unfortunately he was less sure of which way to turn at the other end and so we did a small bonus loop around some flats before returning to the foot tunnel exit and heading in the right direction. It was at this point I turned my handheld GPS unit on. As I said earlier I had originally brought it as a backup but it quickly became obvious that the ‘breadcrumb trail’ route I had downloaded to my running watch was hopelessly inadequate for navigating through London, especially as the watch was running in a battery saving mode which made the GPS less accurate anyway. Every time the watch thought I had gone off course or returned to the course it buzzed. This would almost certainly flatten the battery way before the end of the race so I switched the navigation feature off and relied on the handheld unit.

Just some old bloke running - nothing to see here

Fairly early on I realised that just ‘running alongside the Thames’ wasn’t quite as easy as I might hope. There is still a fair amount of development going on along the riverbank which leads to a few sudden unannounced path closures. Fortunately my handheld GPS shows a map as well as your location so it wasn’t too difficult to navigate round the path closures.

My best side

London wasn’t quite as crowded as I feared and if I’m completely honest the various road crossings provided some welcome short breaks as I progressed past Tower Bridge, London Bridge, and some other bridges until I left the Thames to run round the Houses of Parliament. I did notice I attracted the attention of at least one policeman there but I tried to look as non-threatening as possible and he left me alone. I continued to Pimlico where there was a water stop. It was quite a hot day so I took the opportunity to refill my bottles and drink some water before continuing on my journey along the Thames.

As I went further west the streets became a little less crowded. There was still the odd diversion from the Thames but generally progress was good and navigation easy. The biggest detour was around the Hurlingham Club, ‘a green oasis of tradition and international renown’ - it says on its website. From my perspective the most interesting part about the detour was that I got to run through another ‘green oasis’, Hurlingham Park. Just over eighteen miles in and I finally got to run ‘off road’! Shortly after, another turn ‘inland’ was required to go around Craven Cottage, the home of Fulham Football Club. This not only took me off-road again but a section of mud announced the presence of a water tap. As I said it was hot so I took the opportunity to use my collapsible cup to have a drink.

By now I was getting used to navigating with the GPS, besides which the route wasn’t difficult to follow in fact it was almost too easy. The first checkpoint was slightly off the route I had on the GPS and as a result I was only just stopped from disappearing down a side street twenty yards before the checkpoint. Once I had been yelled at, stopped and actually looked up I crossed the road and was greeted by Ian Chappell. Ian is part of the XNRG team and has provided me with all sorts of food, drink and general help and encouragement at many of their events. I think he found it quite hard to only be allowed to give out water and encouragement at this event, usually he would be plying me with soft drinks, crisps, pork scratchings and whatever other goodies were at his checkpoint. However the T100 is an unsupported race so I filled my water bottles, filled my extra half litre soft bottle and bade him farewell. I was advised to follow the main road to Isleworth rather than return to the side street I had previously tried to disappear down as there were a number of diversions along that section of the path which would make it almost impossible to follow.

Drink!

Things were going quite well. I was jogging along at a steady pace, I passed Hampton Court and whilst I never found an actual British Waterways tap at a lock I did refill my bottles from the toilets at Moseley Lock. The taps didn’t say the water wasn’t suitable for drinking so I thought it was worth taking the chance. The only slight downside was that by now it was heading towards late afternoon/early evening on Friday and the pubs looked so inviting… However I resisted the temptation and continued on. My hope was to reach the second checkpoint before dark. I only had one mishap on the way, the trail was now not so consistently paved, which was good but I did manage to trip over on one of the non-paved grassy sections. Fortunately the only damage was to my pride, my number and a grass stain on my t-shirt. 

There are some benefits to running at sunset...

A few miles out from the checkpoint I drank the last of my water. As it had cooled down and my pack was now at its lightest I pushed hard and almost made it to the checkpoint before dark. Once again I nearly missed it as I was running along the footpath by the side of the imaginatively named ‘Straight Road’ whereas the checkpoint was about 10 feet nearer the Thames on the Thames Path itself. Fortunately the checkpoint crew had been tracking me as I ran towards them and shouted at me before I 'sped' past. At this point I had no idea how the race was unfolding. I hadn’t seen another runner for hours so I assumed  that I was somewhere down the field and that several runners had already been through the checkpoint. ‘No’, I was told, ‘You are the first’. My first ever 100 mile race and I was leading! I didn’t get too excited however as there was a long way to go and the next leg was not only the longest at 28 miles but would  - unless things went badly wrong - be run entirely in darkness. I filled all my bottles including the additional 1 litre collapsible bottle, which I strapped onto my pack with the bungee cord on the back of it. It stayed there for nearly 10 yards before falling off. I picked it up and shoved it under my waist belt where it sort of stayed.

Probably going to need my head torch soon...

As I’d posted a brief status update after CP1 I thought I’d the same at CP2. Disaster! The pocket that my mobile phone lived in was open and empty! I turned round and headed back to CP2 and explained my predicament. It wasn’t anywhere around CP2. Then I remembered my fall, it must have dropped out then - panic started to set in. One of the marshals (I’m sorry, I got practically no-ones name in this race) said he would call it just to see if it was around where we were or if anyone might have picked it up. I gave him my number, he rang it, the black phone shaped thing in my hand under my half litre soft bottle started to vibrate… My face was so red I could easily have run the next half a mile by the light of it alone, the headtorch was entirely superfluous.

By now it was properly dark and whilst I don’t exactly hallucinate, everything looks like people when I run in the dark. At one point I was convinced a large group of people were standing very closely together wearing dinner jackets and looking down the road at me. That was a very large rose bush with big pink flowers. A man walking down steps was actually a litter bin and I don’t want to talk about the people that turned into giraffes that were really some very tall flowers. It may be the running that does it or maybe I just need my eyes testing… Hearing voices was more easily explained as I did annoy quite a lot of geese that had settled down to roost.

I had no worry about being in the countryside at night as the chances of meeting anyone in the middle of nowhere that wanted to do me harm were quite slim. I was more worried about passing through towns as my usual reaction to trouble - run away quickly - was by now no longer an option. Fortunately everyone I passed was completely disinterested in me and I encountered no trouble of a potentially violent nature during the entire race. I did have a small detour due to the closure of a park that caused me to have to retrace my steps and improvise across a wet field but otherwise navigation was going well. The only slight issues I was having were largely down to Mother Nature. The grass was getting wet with dew and so my feet were getting wet on the grassy sections. This didn’t bother me too much as I had run with wet feet with same shoe/sock combination before without any problems. Admittedly not for 100 miles but I was optimistic. Speaking of optimistic the next nature induced problem was a misty optic. Quite a few patches of mist were developing which meant I could only really see much looking downwards and not so much forwards. At least that’s my excuse for almost running into so many trees. The final nature problem was quite minor but intensely irritating - spiders. Or rather spider webs, the spiders obviously felt everyone should be in bed and so they could weave their webs across the path. They were probably as annoyed as I was when I came running along and it all wrapped around me.

All in all the section from CP2 to CP3 passed with little incident after the mobile phone mishap and I arrived at checkpoint 3 at twenty to three on Saturday morning in good spirits. I assumed I was still first as no-one had passed me and I hadn’t made any significant navigational errors. The marshal checked the tracker and told me I was at least an hour ahead of my nearest rival. I had 20 miles to go and a lead of an hour or more, at this point it looked like the race was mine to lose. However I wasn’t taking anything for granted as anyone that has run any distance will know, the wheels can come off very suddenly with very little warning.

I was also told I should pass the Reading Festival early enough that I shouldn’t have any problems negotiating festival go-ers. This was more or less true, festival go-ers themselves wouldn’t be a problem, however the festival itself would be a different story…

The next 10 miles were quite uneventful and I mostly spent them trying to work out how I would explain to Sharon why I was about three hours ahead of schedule when I had to phone her at around 5 in the morning to ask her to drive to the finish to pick me up. However as I was contemplating making that call my journey along the Thames Path was abruptly cut short by a large metal barrier across it with a man in a chair sitting in front of it. ‘Can I go past?’, ‘No, it’s closed for the festival’, ‘But I’m in a race, I’ve run 90 miles, I’m 10 miles from the end and I’m winning’. Man shrugs shoulders. Looking back at this I have no idea why I didn’t throw man and said chair in the Thames and climb past his barrier. Apparently that section of path is closed at night to prevent festival go-ers jumping in the Thames - because obviously they wouldn’t think of jumping in along the section before the barrier… As there were a large number of people putting out barriers I asked their advice. ‘You’ll have to go round’, ‘How far is that?’, ’About 10-12 miles’. By now I am getting slightly stressed and not really wanting to run an additional 12 miles - or even the optimistic 10. I phoned Gareth the Race Director and explained the position. A few minutes later he phoned me back and between his instructions and my trusty GPS I had an alternative route which had only actually added the couple of miles I had run to and from the blockade plus the time spent on the phone. I picked up the Thames Path again just past Tilehurst Station and phoned Sharon. Less than 10 miles to go and the sun would soon be rising - I was finally allowing myself to believe I might actually win this thing.

There is a slight sting in the tail of this race in that at Whitchurch-on-Thames the path arbitrarily turns away from the Thames just so it can go up and down a couple of hills but eventually I was literally out of the woods and back beside the Thames. With the various diversions I now had little idea exactly how far it is to the finish. From the GPS I had estimated about 5 miles when I passed an early morning dog walker. ‘Excuse me, how far is it to Streatley?’. ‘Not far, a mile and a half, two at most’. Admittedly it was early and so the competition for ‘Best news I’ve had today ‘ was small but I could have kissed her. However being arrested at this point would almost certainly lose me the race and so I settled for profuse thanks and ran on until I saw a familiar bridge in Streatley. I had crossed this bridge several times before from the opposite direction on the Druid’s Challenge and knew the finish was just the other side of it. I crossed the bridge headed for the hotel (fittingly a slight diversion to the back of the hotel was involved) and ran to a small gazebo and the finish of the 2017 T100 race. I was first in a time of 20 hour and 50 minutes, smashing my target of a sub-24 hour finish!

Nearly there...

A few more yards...

'Is this the finish?' (I really did ask that)

Sharon arrived to pick me up shortly afterwards and I celebrated with a cup of Earl Grey. My first 100 mile race completed and a nice little glass trophy as a reward for my first place. The attrition rate is so high (only 6 of 17 starters finished the race) that t-shirts aren’t ordered until after the race but hopefully in the next couple of weeks I will be able to display my achievement across my chest.

Still don't believe this

My podium moment

Generally the very few people that manage to get to the end of one of my unbelievably wordy race reports have a few questions so I will answer the more common ones. However just before I do I must thank Ben Lumley (benlumleyphoto.co.uk) for taking the fantastic photos that have hopefully made this long ramble a little more bearable.   

Did I enjoy it? Yes, I was possibly slightly lucky in that the weather was good - too good for some in fact. Friday afternoon was very warm but I think I cope reasonably well with heat and so I suffered less than many. I also had no injuries - although my back was rubbed raw by the end by my pack. My fault I think, where I had stuffed all the kit in the back of it had rounded out and so moved around. Over the course of nearly 21 hours that can remove a lot of skin. However whilst I knew it was a bit sore I only found out how bad it was in the bath later. I was pleased with the way I coped mentally, even the ‘Reading Incident’ didn’t cause me to have a melt down. The ‘Phone Incident’ was embarrassing but I know that my brain functions (even) less well after many miles of running.

Would I do anything different? I’d make sure my pack didn’t rub certainly. I might consider a course recce through London just because of all the diversions. I would take extra water capacity again but I might give some thought as to how to carry it. I would use the hand held GPS for navigation from the start - the batteries lasted all through the race and into the following day after I forgot to turn it off. If I was considering getting water from locks I would decide which ones and go and find the taps and make sure they were accessible in advance, however carrying enough water seems a less stressful strategy.

Would I do it again? Possibly, I have no reason not to but I am now wondering whether next year I should go the whole hog and enter the T184 race, 184 miles from the Thames Barrier all the way to the source of the Thames. Could I do it? Only one way to find out I guess…