I love it when a race *feels* good. That's why I train, it feels awful if your body is sluggish and your muscles are undertrained and you're in pain on the way round. I used to feel that for a 6 mile cross country race 13 years ago, I've come a long way since then! Not that all the prep went well for this. I badly sprained my ankle at the end of January, taking me out of full training for 12 weeks which left 5 weeks to train and 2 weeks to taper, and I picked up another 3 calf strains in that time. Then the night before the race I was in a strange town packed full of football supporters making queues outside each eatery and I couldn't find anywhere to get a substantial meal, I eventually had to go for a tandoori (which I'd been trying to avoid). I also couldn't sleep that night - my usually comfortable car was roasting hot and seemed shorter than usual and at a funny angle. On race day morning I couldn't poop, and in running round the registration field to try to expedite that I found I'd wrenched my knee from an uncomfortable sleeping position. Thankfully a combination of ibuprofen and light wiggles on the race bus to the start line sorted that out, and the poo would have to wait!!
In anticipating the race, I knew I could do the distance, but there were four cutoffs which worried me, especially the first - 11 miles to Clovelly in 3.5 hours. It doesn't sound too bad, but this a notoriously hilly route, 7,800 feet of ascent over the whole thing, and over a long run without even that much ascent I am often close to that speed so I felt like it would be a tight thing. I also heard that it may be closer to 12 miles to Clovelly in reality, which threw my calculated needed-pace out of the window so I did a quick recalculation. I set off trying to maintain 16 minute miles and settled at about 15:30 which gave me a good buffer against any steep hills. I was actually running to heart rate - with a cap of 158... if it went over this (which was anything above a light uphill) I switched to speed-hiking until it came down again. This cap stopped me going crazy at the start on the flats, as my legs felt full of beans for the first few miles.
The route to Clovelly was mostly in woodland and it was so pretty with the dappled lights and the foxgloves nicely complementing the pink PureTrail route marking flags. A couple of other runners commented how you could see the town of Clovelly in the distance round the sweep of the bay but it never seemed to get any closer, but that didn't bother me, I wasn't think of the race as a series of points that I needed to reach, just an amazing stretch of coast path to enjoy along the way. The first few miles were up and down and then it levelled off after about 8 miles. I reached Clovelly after 2:37, 38 minutes before the cutoff, and the panic was over then. In fact, I felt really good so I carried on at the same pace.
I started to get a rub on my left heel - I was wearing Injinji socks with the individual toe compartments to try and stop my toes running together which usually causes me big problems with blisters, but I haven't used these socks much and it turns out there is a ridge where the material goes from thin to thick, which sat right where the back of the shoe meets my heel. Thankfully I had brought a change of socks, my beloved low cut balegas, so I changed the left one which felt great so a couple of miles later I changed the other one. Thankfully that did the job and the blister that had already been appearing settled down and I had very few other foot problems, they started rubbing towards the end but much less than I am used to - that's down to a recent change to 361 Taroki 2 shoes which are very soft.
Once I'd found my rhythm I used my usual motivational tactic - to spot the next runner ahead of me and try to slowly catch up with them. In a race I usually start slow and gradually speed up once I get an idea of how I'm feeling (I don't find I get caught up in the vibe too much and start too fast), but I thought that wouldn't happen this time with the faster start due to the harder first cutoff, however I still managed to find a bit of extra oomph and actually I was feeling thankful of that faster start to get me going as obviously I was capable of it after all.
All the other runners I met before the race were talking about the hills - there are certainly a lot of hills, with steep ups and steep downs, but I've got to admit I didn't mind them one bit. I spend a lot of time on the South West Coast path, and I have now completed 70% of it, and hills are just par for the course. There was no one hill where I started to think 'blimey this one goes on a bit', unlike when hiking up mountains in Scotland, I guess the time I have spent ticking relentless mountain summits has helped me here.
The second aid stop came at 21 miles at Hartland Quay, there were lots of marathon runners here which was a shock after the quiet trails so far, they'd even drunk all the coke 😉 The aid stations after this came more frequently, every 4-5 miles instead of every 10-11, which was really great as it was a warm day and I could have coke in one bottle and squash in the other without having to worry about running out. The aid stop staff were all wonderful too, all making you feel like you were doing great. All the snacks were individually wrapped due to covid regulations, so after I'd filled up my bottles I pocketed a pack of crisps and two sweet items and ate on the move. I was so hungry around lunchtime I was craving sandwiches (and beer and gin!) but between aid stations and my own snacks I managed to get enough down me to stave off the hunger. Speaking of food.. and thinking of the tandoori the night before... I still hadn't had my morning poo! At some point I squatted down for my third wee and I realised that it was ready, but I was in an exposed spot so couldn't go there. I ran on trying to find somewhere to stop but it was a narrow path fully all hemmed in by prickly undergrowth. Finally at 26.6 miles we ran past a quarry and just after there was the perfect spot to be out of sight and go. Ooh that was a relief!
The views kept coming and were all amazing. I have't run any of this stretch previously as I was saving it for this race, but I had been rock climbing at a few points along the coast in 2006, and there were certainly a few areas that looked familar - Backchurch rock, Vicarage cliff and Dyers Lookout among them. I took lots of photos but my phone was easy to get in and out and each only required a split second pause for the photo itself.
One of the other runners doing the ultra is somebody I know from wednesday night runs - they were near to me for the first few miles, then went ahead at Clovelly. For motivation, I had been trying to catch back up with them since then, but as I came into each aid station they were just leaving - I finally managed it at Morwenstow but was sad to hear they were having knee pain, it's always a struggle completing a race if you're suffering in pain. I was thankful that my own legs were still feeling amazingly good - three years ago I had done as similar length hilly ultra and a series of stiles near the end had nearly killed me, here there were stiles too but although my muscles were tight everything was still working. So just before Morwenstow I hatched a new plan. At some point my average pace has slipped from 17:30 to 17:45 to 16:20 minutes per mile. I worked out that if I picked things up a bit back to 16 minute miles I could finish in 10 hours. I tried my best to keep pushing, not being too strict on my heart rate cap now I had just 7 miles to go. But there was then a series of steep hills and my average pace slipped further, to 16:29. I was still running the flats and the downhills and now the light uphills, but with the steeper uphills only a plodding hike was possible. There was a glimmer of hope though - the Morwenstow aid station was listed as being at 30.5 miles but on my watch it had appeared at 28.5. That could mean that my watch gps had gone a little strange and maybe I didn't have as far to go as I thought. I checked the map track I had saved, and sure enough it said I had 1.3 miles less to go than I thought, which meant I only needed an average of 16:29 minute miles, so I was dead on! I just had to push on and hope. Nearer to Bude, there were more downhills and some flat bits, then suddenly I could see all the way to the finish line. My pace came down and down until I had 20 minutes to travel 1.2 miles, I would definitely do it now unless I hurt something. I picked up as much as I could, trying to spot the flags through the town, and was reassured to spot some marshalls in high vis waving me on towards the line. I crossed the line in 9:47:32, I couldn't believe it! What a race, I was jumping with joy!
I really, genuinely, loved the whole day. The course was perfect, the setup was great, and we were incredibly lucky with the weather - dry and warm with mixed sunshine and cloud just when you needed it. I am writing this the next day - I am very stiff, particularly glutes, lower back and abs, but no injuries and only one blister, I'd say that was a success.
Official results - 30th place out of 52 (including 4 DNF). 6th woman out of 7.
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