Drove down on Thursday night and stayed the night in a Travelodge which was next to a lorry park. Bad idea as the lorries started moving before 5. Breakfast in the neighbouring Little Chef - porridge followed by pancakes and coffee. The day before had included three portions of pasta and lots of fluids.
Got to Grimsthorpe to find an attractive country house/castle with undulating countryside surrounding it. We had to take anything we wanted for the duration of the race out of our car and leave it in the organiser's tent which we would pass regularly. This involved me carrying loads of extra kit over to the tent, most of which I didn't use, but I was grateful for some of it.
The structure of the event was one lap of 3m which took in the beginning of the larger lap and the end of the larger lap, then seven large laps of 9.6m followed by a finish running up the drive to the lit up castle with glow sticks marking the finish line - a nice finish.
I now feel I know every blade of grass personally.The larger lap started downhill down a tarmaced estate road (only farm traffic)
down to the lake then a limestone track upwards (which I always walked), then a lovely gentle down hill on limestone trail then a gentle rise upwards which I walked more of after the second lap. Then a turn onto the estate road again and a steep climb up (at this point you had the chance to see some of the runners coming the other way who were further round the lap. Then turn into some lovely woods on an uneven grass trail with more climbing. At the top we then turned into a lightly wooded area with sheep and we ran through what I would call fairy grass, mid calf, not thick over uneven ground. This was one of my favourite bits as it was flat and lovely to run through. Back onto limestone tracks, down, then up, more limestone trail and then onto a grass track to the first self clip checkpoint. More grass track slightly down hill, lovely, then back to the estate road where we turned to head back. This was the killer section. Imagine those approach roads to country estates where they have rows of trees either side, they are dead straight, flat and in the distance you can see the castle. This particular section was just incredibly, mind sappingly dull and very, very long with just one bend. Although flat I found it very hard to run all of it, it felt like it was sucking the energy out of me. Then a descent where we met runners not so far round the lap.
Lovely descent into woods to the lake. Onto an ascending grass trail which I walked mostly to the second self clip checkpoint, then a lovely downhill on grass, more undulating limestone trail. More ascending grass trail up to a lovely flat section in woods which led to the organiser's tent. So a varied course, apart from the one very long section. Lots of wildlife - hares, rabbits, bats, some creature like a small dog I didn't even recognise!
The first small lap was fine and I ran round with someone I knew from Fetcheveryone. I lost him at the end of that lap as he stopped to pick up a drink. First big lap was fine just watching where we were going - it was well marked. Halfway round I realised my new bum bag had split where the bottle went in. Luckily I had brought a spare bum bag with me.
Second big lap, in a good groove. Gave some of my water to a runner who was suffering as he had used all of his water.
Third big lap. Wham, hit the wall big time, walking lots, very grim. Suddenly seemed to be drinking loads and I almost ran out soon after halfway. Luckily the organisers were patrolling and I managed to get some water off them, but I finished that by the end of lap. Realised that I hadn't taken on board anywhere near enough water on the first two laps so carried two bottles from the fourth lap on.
Fourth big lap, better than the third but still pretty grim.
Fifth big lap. Much better, running much more of the route.
Sixth lap. First half was fine. It got dark about halfway, but I was mainly on road so I was able to keep up a good pace. It was easier running the long straight bit in the dark as you couldn't see how long it lasted.
Didn't stay long at the checkpoint as I could see a chance of being sub 15 hours, but I had forgotten that for me running with a head torch on uneven ground is always slower, so I missed out by quite a margin, though I was still feeling very fresh at the end where I could see where I as putting my feet.
I finished 14th out of 30 finishers. Four people did not finish.
Nutrition - went well, Muller rice was just great and went down very easily. Philadelphia sandwiches become very dull and were replaced by cereal bars. Tescos pasta was brilliant. Started with stop blocks, but gave up on them. Used an Succeed S!cap every lap and Nunn for a couple of laps. One of the advantages of laps was that you got access to your food and kit every 9.6m. It seemed to work and I had no cramps at all and no blisters. I ran in road shoes. Changed socks and top after five big laps.
Perfect weather, hardly any wind, cloudy until the end of day. No rain.
Many people think I am bonkers to be running long distances. One of the participants was a jugglerunner, that is a runner who juggles as he runs. And yes I believe he juggled balls for all of the 70m (he had luminous ones for the night !). I am not in that league (yet).
After I finished I went to sleep for a few hours and woke again at 7 and went over to the main checkpoint. There were still five people out there on the course (the cut off was a very generous 27 hours). I really admire those people.
I got home and found it difficult to walk much for the following two days. Stairs were particularly hard!
Lessons learnt:
1) Give up with bum bags (my second one also split on the final lap) and take a backpack
2) Think more about how much water to take
3) Remember you will be slower with a head torch
4) Avoid lapped races with long straight sections
5) Do more runs on consecutive days - I only did one pair.
I can't see myself doing this again, it was good, but I just feel I know the route so well, the thought of doing that route again seven times would drive me crazy (or even more so than I am already).
I left home early on Saturday morning to support the 10 marathons in 10 days runners. They do the Windermere marathon route every day and the final day is the day of the race itself. I got to Brathay and registered and spoke to some of the runners and other friends from Fetch who had arrived to see them start. The 10 in 10 runners are an amazing group of people, I am very impressed and in awe of them all. Both the fastest male and female records were beaten this year.