Lake Balaton - Day Three

As before the last blog ended with me on a coach. This time we were going to a different hotel, the Helikon in Keszthely. First impressions weren't great, bit of a concrete monolith again. However inside the hotel was much more up to date and well maintained. Absolutely no engineering ingenuity was required to have a bath - just as well as I hadn't picked up a plastic blanket this time. Some engineering figuring out was required to get on the balcony though. There was a balcony, a promising looking patio door type thing and a track for said door to run in that promised vast opening of said door. So why could I only open it about 15cm? (as I said before this blog will be conducted in metric (OK, 6 inches)). After reading the instructions on the aforementioned door I discovered a catch at the other end which, when released allowed the door to slide smoothly along the previously commented on track and open out onto the balcony. It only took me a few seconds after that to realise that the reason I was now fairly well pinned to the wall by the door was not because it was some sort of safety feature to prevent me falling from the balcony but because I had contrived to be on the wrong side as I opened it...

Anyway after finishing playing with baths and balconies I decided it was time for food. Whilst picking up some soup I met Nick, who told me he was sitting with a small contingent of Belgians, so I joined him. We had three Belgian companions, Ruth from the bus, Mieke - who was leading the ladies race and a gentleman whose name I never learned. I would like to point out I did learn the names of two other Belgian gentlemen - who I met on the last day and about more of later - so don't start thinking I only bother to find out the names of Belgian ladies. 

After a good night's sleep I awoke and found that the previous day's heroic finish (or just the day in general) had taken their toll. I used the foam roller just to loosen my legs up enough to get to breakfast. What was particularly odd was that the pain was in my right leg, all through training any leg/hip type pain had always been in my left leg. However debating which leg should be hurting wasn't going to help so I had breakfast, packed up my gear and got onto the bus.

Today's start wasn't at the same point as Day Two's finish, instead it was at Badacsony. In another first for me the start appeared to be at a petrol station. As some of you may know I had heroically fought off a sniffle in the lead up to the race. This had left me with a slightly runny nose which I had dealt with using the sleeve of my top on the first two days (nice). Tissue was available at checkpoints and the hotel rooms even had tissues but for some reason I was incapable of remembering to pick any up at any point. However today Ruth was organising her running accessories one of which was a packet of tissues. I did my best hopeless, begging face and she very kindly supplied me with a tissue which would make Day Three a little more civilised than the race so far. She also took a pre-race picture for me which was significantly better than the rather random 'selfies' I had been taking.

The start procedure was the same as Day Two. This was a little embarrassing as it means there is no crowd to hide in. I don't know how many of you have had that thing where your leg 'goes to sleep' and you don't quite have full control of it when you get up and start to walk, but those that have will know how I looked starting the race. Fortunately after a couple of kilometres it eased off and I was able to run at a similar pace to Day's One and Two.

I like races that have something unusual and today would be the first time I've ever run any race of any distance that included a railway station platform as part of the course. For those of you that know my navigational skills and hence are now a bit sceptical as to whether I was going the right way I will quote from the race itinerary: '...then turn right onto the platform of railway station Balatonrendes. Turn left from the platform towards road number 71...' Its little things like this that make me really love ultra running!

Today was the shortest day, only 43.6km, with six checkpoints. It was also probably the most undulating. The weather had been superb so far and today was no exception, if anything it was slighlty warm. This was good as the Marathonfüred followed the same course, starting 1.4km in to the course and 30 minutes earlier. As a result (and possibly because it was the weekend) there was more support and its always nicer for the spectators if the weather is good.

After my slightly dodgy start I had a fairly uneventful run, checking in at both relay points in good time and recording another sub-four hour marathon. The last kilometre was a little crowded as the finish was at Balatonfüred and involved running along quite a busy street towards the finish. I also overtook one of the marathon runners whose small child was racing daddy to the finish and who provided an 'interesting' obstacle until he was persuaded to leave the course and I could concentrate on finishing and not on avoiding a small trip hazard. I finished the day in 4 hours, 3 minutes and 36 seconds which meant I had maintained a nice consistent pace throughout the first three days.

The finish area was by far the busiest of the race so far, mainly because of the marathon runners and there was a really good atmosphere going on. However I picked up my free beer and went to find a bus to the finish. Mieke and Nick were already on the bus, Ruth had told me she wasn't going to rush and would wait for the next bus. Fortunately we were on a minibus and so it was soon full and taking us to the hotel and the last night of the event. For consistency's sake I will leave Day Three there and pick up the sometimes comical, sometimes painful event that was Day Four in the final part of this series of blogs...

Lake Balaton - Day Two

We left me sitting on a bus wrapped in a plastic sheet having fairly successfully completed Day One. Once I was back at the hotel I prepared Bath Mk II. The loose shower head holder was easily fixed using the screwdriver on my 'ultramarathon' Swiss Army knife. I didn't find an application for that blade in the Sahara so it was nice that I finally got some use from it. The palsitc sheet was to solve two problems. By smoothing in out over the bottom of the bath I could use it to make the plug fit a bit better and also to protect my skin from the effects of the anti-slip paint. 'Bath 2 - The Engineer Strikes Back' was most successful!

The evening concluded with food, beer and a short Hungarian lesson from the hotel barman. The 'goody bag' I was  given included fruit, cake, a packet of the straight pretzels... and a can of beer! There is much debate about whether you should drink alcohol between runs on multi-day races however as it was supplied I thought I'd better in case it was actually a mandatory requirement. As I said I don't speak Hungarian (although by now I knew three words, please, thank you and beer) and so as far as I knew the race briefing could have told us it was a condition of the race that you drank the supplied half litre of beer each day. One of the rehydration fluids available at the checkpoints was 0% beer so  I felt it was entirely possible that the post race can was compulsory.

The next morning was a slightly earlier start as we were to be bussed back to Fonyόd railway station for the start of Day Two. Day Two was the longest day and, according to the supplied race profile, concluded with a scramble up a cliff. As there was no mention of any requirement to bring crampons (although see previous comments regarding fluency in Hungarian) I assumed it would be significantly less steep than the elevation profile made it appear, however it was still bound to be challenging after 52.9km.

Whilst waiting at the start I met Nick, the only other person in the race I could find that admitted to being British - although he told me that there was at least one other Brit in the race who lived in Budapest.

According to the race guide today we would be starting in pairs at intervals of 2-3 seconds according to our race position. What this appeared to translate to was a man reading out a list of names very quickly, alternating between relay runners (who started on the left) and individual runners (on the right). I heard my name called, ran up and tapped my tag in the reader and was off into Day Two.

Today there were 9 checkpoints before the finish in Szigliget, again divided into three sections for the relay so I would get two split times at the end. The route was quite flat apart from a small hill at the last checkpoint and the previously mentioned cliff ascent at the end. Today would be notable for a number of things, the longest single day, passing the 100km point for the event and probably the most times I will ever cross a railway line in a single day - ten. The railway line also runs around the lake and the cycle path we were following doesn't seem to be able to decide if it wants to be between the railway line and the lake or have the railway line between it and the lake. Fortunately trains appeared to be few and far between and I didn't have to wait at a single railway crossing. There were also a few road crossings in the course of the event, all of which were well marshalled by the Hungarian Police. The locals also seemed to take the traffic queues caused by so many runners crossing the road in their stride, indeed I didn't come across any resentment from any of the locals about the disruption caused by the event.

Day Two spent the least amount of time of any day actually by the edge of the lake but still managed to be quite scenic and very pleasant. As on Day One the weather was perfect for running and again I managed to complete the marathon distance in slightly under four hours.

There was still over 10km to go which included both major climbs of the day. The first climb was dispatched and the final checkpoint reached. From there it was a downhill run and on to a long flat section which afforded me my first view of the climb to the finish. I could see the hill, my main concern was how far up would I have to run to get to the end? The answer was about half way. The first section was a short climb past a vineyard followed by  a right turn which led to the sting in the tail. It wasn't a long climb up the cobbled path to the church but it was enough to make me decide the best way to approach it was to shout at it and then power my way up as hard as I could. This not surprisingly attracted a fair amount of attention so it was with a certain amount of relief that I managed to cross the finish line and tap in before collapsing rather than endure the embarrassment of collapsing before the finish.

As before I collected my result and was delighted to find I'd completed the day in under 5 hours, 4:57:33 to be precise. I was even happier to be given an identical goody bag to Day One, i.e. one including beer. I was slightly less happy to discover the coach to take me to the next hotel was at the bottom of the slope I'd previously run up...

It was on the coach I first met Ruth, a Belgian runner who would be of great assistance to me at the start of Day Three - about which more will be revealed in the next blog instalment...

Lake Balaton - Arrival and Day One

The Lake Balton Supermarathon is significantly different to anything I've done previously. It's held over four days and covers around 194.2km. The longest day is 52.9km and the shortest 43.6km - the race was measured in kilometres so I'm afraid the blog entries for this event will be in metric. It is run almost entirely on paved and tarmac surfaces. It also has check points at approximately every 5km and I would get to spend each night in a hotel and eat real food. All things considered this was going to be the height of luxury compared to the MDS!

With such regularly spaced checkpoints I would be carrying very little, a camera, the 'bin liner' OMM windproof that I took across the desert, a packet of Shot-Bloks and a few painkillers. these all fitted in a waist belt so no need for the hydration vest or a rucksack. As the surface was good and my load was minimal I was expecting to run somewhat faster than I would on a trail ultra. My target was to try and complete the event in under 20 hours, not a pace that would trouble the timekeepers but one that I felt should be sustainable for 4 days and which would keep me comfortably within the cut-off times.

As I wasn't going to have to carry my own kit I could take lots of it, and I did. Clean tops and socks for every day whilst pairs of shoes and shorts were taken in the style of Noah's ark, two of each. I did repack slightly so that I was carrying a complete set of running kit in my hand luggage just in case my bag rebelled and decided it would rather spend a week in the Bahamas rather than travel on my flight. My other main item of running kit was my 'Run For Your Life' running vest. 'Run For Your Life' (RFYL) is a Facebook based running group that I'm very happy to be part of, consisting as it does of very supportive runners of a wide range of abilities. I think I'm allowed to be part of it for my curiosity value as I do tend to be the one participating in the slightly more unusual events, of which this was one. One of the slightly more unusual rules for this race was that numbers were to be worn front and back. My plan was to use my RFYL vest (with my name emblazoned across the chest) as a number bib so that if I needed to wear the 'bin liner' for instance I could slip the vest off, put the 'bin liner' on and put the vest back on over the top of it. As my regular readers will know usually I'm happy if I've managed to not stab myself with a safety pin so this was a significant improvement on my normal level of planning. A foam roller, various food items and a large pack of medical supplies completed my run-related packing.

The process of getting to the Magistern, the first hotel and race headquarters, passed off quite smoothly and I was given a pair of numbers, a guide to the stages, a bus timetable and a sponge - I didn't really find a use for the sponge...

The hotel was clean and friendly but desperately in need of some TLC. However my room did have fantastic view of the sunset across the lake and was perfectly fine, the only shortcomings being in the bathroom. I'll skip quickly over the toilet. It was clean, functional and a fine example of its type. Unfortunately 'it's type' was the European variety that require you to examine your 'output' before you can flush it away... The bathroom did have a bath. This was a good thing as hot baths were going to figure in my recovery strategy. The bath didn't have any taps, the plug was too small and it appeared to have been painted inside with a sort of sand textured non-slip paint. In practise, although it looked like a bath, it was intended as a very deep shower tray. however I am an engineer and this looked like an engineering problem. A quick experiment revealed that, although the plug was a bit small, the shower attachment (fed from the wash basin taps) could put water into the bath faster than it drained out. I fitted the shower head into the holder over the bath and left it to fill while I got undressed. About 30 seconds after I left the bathroom a loud wooshing sound indicated that the water was possibly not exactly all going into the bath any more. The shower head holder had come loose and the shower head had spun round to face the ceiling creating a sort of internal rain storm over the entire bathroom including a not very well waterproofed looking light on the bathroom cabinet. I managed to retrieve the shower head and dry up the bathroom without either electrocuting myself or fusing the hotel lights and  held the shower head to finish filling the bath. I found that if I sat perfectly still the non-slip paint would leave most of my skin intact and that some sort of bath should be possible.

Anyway, more about the bath later, onto the day of the race. I identified enough things at breakfast to suitably feed myself and went back to my room to get ready. The start was at the hotel so I felt going down at 10:30 would be more than early enough for an 11 'o' clock start. The sky was clear blue and the temperature around 10 degrees so I decided that shorts and t-shirt (with the RFYL vest of course) would be fine with the 'bin liner' in reserve if I did get cold. As it was sunny I also wore my cap so I didn't finish the day looking like a strawberry flavour lollipop. Many runners had chosen to wear rather more than me and, as most of them were Hungarian, I wondered what they knew that I didn't. One thing they definitely knew that I didn't was Hungarian and so they almost certainly understood rather more of the pre race announcements than I did. I have no idea why I was clapping at one point other than it seemed to be the thing to do.

After a slightly poorly attended warm-up we gathered on the path along the side of the lake and pretty much spot on eleven we were off. However due to the narrow nature of the path and the point I had started at I actually crossed the line slightly before 11:01 but I didn't think that was likely to make a huge difference over the next 121km, or even the 48.2km of Day One.

I had been told that although the race is around the lake, much of the lake shore is privately owned and so the course is somewhat 'inland' for much of the race. As a result I wasn't surprised when after less than 2km we turned a little away from the lake. The road was still almost completely traffic free and the one or two cars we did see treated us very courteously and caused no problems. Support was intermittent but generally quite enthusiastic, especially, I found, if you waved back - it helped having my name in big letters across my front too.

There were seven checkpoints on the course, two of which were relay changeover points. All the checkpoints were well stocked with all the food and drink in exactly the order given in the race guide. When I first read about the ordering of drinks and snacks in the race guide I thought it was a little over the top, however particularly as days went on it was quite handy to know exactly where to find my favourite foods and drink. Mainly I was powered by coke and some savoury snacks which I can only describe as straight pretzels.

The distances along the route are marked every 5km, the marathon point is also marked each day. I found the distances almost spot on to those recorded by my Garmin and passed the marathon marker in a few minutes under 4 hours. From there it was another 6km to the finish. I felt very good over the last 10km or so and overtook several runners that were struggling with the distance. I also had a bit of a sprint finish (well, I ran a bit quicker anyway) since - despite the extra 45 seconds at the start - I was on for a sub four and a half hour finish. The timing chips we carried meant that we could be given a print-out of our result and split times at the relay points instantly. The first leg, Siόfok to Fonyόd took 4 hours 29 minutes and 24 seconds. What was very pleasing also was that my pace had been fairly consistent across all three legs.

We had to get the bus back 48.2km to the Magistern Hotel for the night. I guess this was because the race is held completely out of season and many of the hotels around the lake are closed. I didn't mind though since I had been given a large polythene 'blanket' at the end of the race for which I had plans...

However since you probably need a break from reading my ramblings I will leave Day One with me on the coach heading back to the hotel and pick up the following events, and Day Two in the next blog entry...

The Frolic Marafun

In 2014 I entered 13 events - including the infamous Marathon Des Sables - and ran over 600 competitive miles. I'm not sure I'll manage quite as many miles in 2015 - a hundred and fifty in a week does tend to boost that figure somewhat - but so far I've entered 10 events with a total mileage of over 400 miles... There are at least two more I'm hoping to add to the list for almost 150 more so I'll probably get quite close!

Anyway the reason for this blog entry isn't to cast further doubt on my sanity but to report on my first event of 2015 - which in itself brings my sanity into doubt...

My first event of 2015 was quite low key and didn't come with a medal or t-shirt but then the entry fee was only a tenner and I did get a lot of jelly babies, custard creams and coke for that so I reckon it was pretty good value for money at 2.62 miles/pound. Of course as you might guess I was going to get much better value than that...

So to the event - those that followed my pre-MDS exploits might recall that at the end of 2013 I ran 20 miles or more for 5 consecutive days and that this started with a little navigational event called 'The Festive Frolic'. Well Ian (the organiser) was back with a new challenge, a navigational event which, if completed by the shortest route, would be a marathon. It had even been accepted as a qualifying event for the 100 marathon club.

Now as most of you know I consider it a success if I navigate to the end of my garden without getting lost (it's not a big garden) so you might ask why I would sign up for an event on which getting lost was a virtual certainty. Well there are a number of reasons which I will try and explain later...

It was for these reasons I found myself in a pub at 8:30 on a Saturday morning and not due to some terrible alcohol problem, honestly. I checked in and was given a card with half a dozen points to plot on it and a map. I had my own full colour map but I prefer to mark up the black and white copies Ian supplies as I find a full OS map a bit of a handful while running - also no rain was forecast so a repeat of the previous frolic where I stood and watched my map dissolve was unlikely. I marked my map and gave it to Ian for checking. I was very pleased that apparently I was the only person to have correctly located CP2 - this was somewhat tempered by my failure to correctly locate an entire car park which contained the first water stop.

Anyway shortly before 9 we all went out into the carpark for a pre-race briefing after which Katie - Ian's daughter - counted us down and we were off! As I said this was a navigational event so there was no 'right' or 'wrong' way (not strictly true in my case but you know what I mean) as everyone was free to decide how much trail and how much road they wanted to run and almost immediately the field split as some went for the possibly faster road route while I went with those taking the shorter trail route. I wondered how well the road runners got on as the section of road I had to run to the trail was slippery to say the least - it would turn into a crisp clear day, perfect for running, but at 9 'o' clock in the morning there was still a fair amount of black ice about.

I successfully located CP1 and CP2 and dutifully clipped my route card. CP3 was in a large car park on Danbury Common. In fact it was such a large car park I managed to sort of go into orbit around it before eventually successfully negotiating re-entry (well entry anyway) and met up with Ian again who supplied biscuits and water as well as another route card. The last point on the first card was at 'Ford' but we weren't going there, it was a red herring designed to confuse. This was a shame as the ford was one of the very few places I actually knew the location of - mainly from getting lost near it on the previous Frolic.

After some dithering about deciding whether to leave by the road - which went the wrong way but I was confident I could follow it - or a footpath - right direction, but could I keep on it? - I left the car park and went off to find the two grid references that would lead to a pub in Woodham Mortimer where Darren would be waiting with more biscuits and water and the all-important next route card. This all went very smoothly apart from trying to decide which telegraph pole number I was meant to write down. Ian had more checkpoints than clippers and so at some points there was the answer to a question rather than a clipper. As the idea is to prove you have visited the point and not to catch you out I wasn't too worried about getting it 'wrong' and took a photograph anyway to prove I was there just in case.

It was at Woodham Mortimer I started running with Pete, a much quicker runner than me who had twisted his ankle earlier and so was down to my pace for a while. We had a very pleasant conversation while hunting down dates on obelisks, clippers, brewery names and completely missing a footpath. Chatting is great and passes the time nicely but you do need to keep an eye on where you are going!

The route took us back to the very first checkpoint of the day and on to the pub we had started at. Frolic half completed - I thought...

It was at this point that Pete - after marking his map up with the next set of checkpoints - decided to do the sensible thing and drop out. We had finished the leg with Dave and Glynn, couple of real ultra runners with several 100 milers under their belts. We would run together for the rest of the Frolic and after several miles Dave and I would realise we had run the end of the Saffron Trail together too!

The next leg turned out to be an 'out and back' to the car park I had such trouble finding in the morning... However the only navigational error we made was on the way out where we missed a fork in a footpath and added around half a mile to our route - annoying but not disastrous as we quickly worked out where we had gone wrong and got back on track. Dave and I were also amused to realise that some real Saffron Trail deja vu was occurring as part of the route was along a section of the Saffron Trail we had previously run together.

We reached the car park without any further mishaps and started plotting the route back when we quickly realised it was the route there in reverse. At least we would get the right footpath this time. I had managed to stop my watch at some point in the day and so wasn't reading quite the right mileage, however I was confident enough that about a mile from the pub and the finish I called Sharon to come and pick me up. Fortunately - for reasons that will soon become clear - she was already on her way...

We triumphantly handed our route cards in - and were given another one! There were still just over four miles to go, were we going back out we were asked? Too right we were, I was still fit and wasn't going to get a DNF for the sake of 4ish miles - even if Sharon wasn't going to be amused... As it turned out she found it very amusing and chatted to people that really had finished in the pub while the three of us completed our last lap of the Little Baddow countryside.

We arrived in a joint eighth and last place, right on the cut-off time but out of 25 entrants, 21 started and only 10 completed the whole course so I prefer to think of it as a top ten finish rather than last place.

So there was no medal, no t-shirt, I knew I'd get lost and I was expecting to finish last anyway so why did I do it? Oh, and it was very cold, wet and muddy. There are a number of reasons. Firstly it isn't always about the bling. The Event cost £10 and you got two of that back when you finished towards a drink at the bar so expecting a medal and/or t-shirt would be optimistic to say the least. Second, plotting your own route, running and navigating is hard. You may not believe this but actually I'm quite good with a map, it's navigating and running I find a challenge so events like this help my navigational skills which in turn helps me on the events where I have to follow a route. Thirdly, I get to try out new routes I can run after the event. Finally Ian and his team put a lot of effort into the event and they make it different and enjoyable so I want to support it and encourage them to continue the Frolic into 2016.

So there you have it, a 'Personal Worst' for a 'marathon' - actually around 31 miles, wet and muddy, no medal and last place - where do I sign up for next year's event?

The Druid Challenge - Day Three

I was looking forward to the final day of the Druid Challenge. I thought I would be looking forward to it after Day One, just because it then would be almost over but in fact my reasons for looking forward were much more positive.

The most important thing was it had stopped raining and was shaping up to be a really nice day. Also Day Three is in some ways the easiest day as it has no tricky navigation and a fairly good running surface for most of its length. The down sides are the slightly unpleasant road section around Wansborough Plain and the literally down side of the hill from Barbary Castle where we leave the Ridgeway to the finish. After 82+ miles a steep descent on tarmac does nothing to ease the legs!

Anyway, I was approaching Day Three in a very positive manner, I felt good and was determined to continue my tradition (started the year before) of running the whole of the stage, no walking up the hills for me today. We were taken back to our finish point from the previous day and observed a minutes silence for Remembrance Day before setting off for the last time.

The first 16.5 miles is a wide chalky path and very easy to follow. There are many and varied paths adjoining it, but its fairly hard to go wrong and - as I fancied an easy day rather than a hard one - I didn't. The first checkpoint was after 8 miles and I arrived feeling good so after a quick drink and a few nibbles I was off again.

The remaining 8.5 miles of the 16.5 to Checkpoint Two were also relatively straightforward. I say relatively because, for those that have never been along it, the characteristic surface of the Ridgeway is chalk. Some sections are more obviously chalk than others but the typical wide chalk path is what constitutes most of the first two sections of Day Three. Running on it is fine until it slopes downwards when it becomes a tricky balancing act - literally - between free-wheeling down the hill and being very aware of the wet chalk/wet leaves combination underfoot and trying to make sure verticality is maintained at all times. As I have hinted Day Three was going very well, slips and trips were avoided and base and apex were kept in the correct alignment at all times.

Directly after CP2 came the 'very DANGEROUS ROAD SECTION' as it said on the route card. It isn't a very major road but the traffic along it does move very fast. I don't usually like to use my blog to moan but there is room on the verge for a footway, it's a national trail which undoubtedly brings people to the area so why doesn't the council invest some money in a footpath? Anyway rant over, on with the run...

After the road section the news doesn't get much better as on leaving the road the path almost immediately starts to climb up to the top of Liddington Hill. However we are not at home to Mr. Walk today so I carry on running - albeit at little more than walking pace but I'm still running nonetheless. However there are no more major gradients until the drop into the valley of the River Og and CP3. A few miles before CP3 I was overtaken by Nathan. This is good as it's almost a mile later than the point he overtook me on Day Two. Obviously I'm never going to be able to actually race Nathan but its nice to have a bit of a benchmark for my progress. He is his usual friendly self and we pass with each of us enthusiastically congratulating the other.

After crossing the A346 its a climb out of the river valley back onto the ridge - Smeathe's Ridge in fact - to Barbary Castle. At Barbary Castle we say farewell to the Ridgeway and drop down a very steep hill for the final two miles along the road to the finish line at Overtown.

I crossed the finish line and collected my medal and congratulations from Neil, the race director, head of Extreme Energy and all-round top bloke. Then I looked at my watch - under five hours! 4 hours 54 minutes was the official time, over 35 minutes faster than 2013 and easily my fastest time all weekend. Sarah crossed the line a few minutes later to complete a good weekend for her too.

So what did I learn from the weekend? Well although I was disappointed at the time I think Day One did me good. To be honest this last year of running has generally gone well and so it was probably about time I was reminded that ultra-running has its lows as well as its high points and that actually I've been very lucky to have had mainly highs. It also reiterated what I always tell people, on any run it's not where you are at the start it's where you finish that counts. Although I finished a few places lower than last year I did take 46 minutes off my total time so overall I think it was a positive result. I also learned that perhaps three ultras and a marathon - 216.5 miles of competitive running - is perhaps too much in 6 weeks, although I was lucky enough to meet Robert Young - Marathon Man UK - who ran marathons 224 and 225 of his 367 marathons in 365 days challenge. Also Sir Ranulph Fiennes ran Day Two and he's 70 so perhaps I shouldn't try and use 'too many miles' as an excuse.

The least surprising thing about the weekend was that once again the event was superbly organised and all the Extreme Energy crew made me feel very welcome. Food, encouragement and a real happiness about the event seem to be standard for Neil and his team and so after thoroughly enjoying myself at Druids I'm looking forward to meeting them again at the end of January for the Pilgrim Challenge!

The Druid Challenge - Day Two

So Day One didn't go as well as I would have liked but it was time to forget that and try and have a good Day Two. I felt OK in the morning, even better after a couple of Weetabix and so was prepared to get out there and go for it.

'Going for it' didn't mean setting off at stupid miles per hour and falling apart after a dozen miles or so a la Day One, it meant starting steadily and keeping a steady pace to the end. Day Two starts with a short road section back to the Ridgeway so I used this to establish my pace and settle into my running before it all got uppy and downy again.

The seven and a half miles to Checkpoint One passed fairly uneventfully, the golf course crossing was accomplished without any need to dodge errant golf balls and everything was generally going well. I had a few cocktail sausages and cups of squash, more sausages, and continued on.

My Day One blog was fairly introverted and concentrated quite a lot on what went wrong and as a result did miss a couple of important good things that happened every day, so this seems a good point to rectify that error and mention one of those good points. The Druid Challenge has three start times each day, each one an hour later than the previous one. The first start is for the walkers, the second for the average paced runners and the third for the faster runners. I always start in the middle group. This means I start to pass the walkers from about mile 7 onwards. The walkers are always a very cheerful supportive bunch and none more so than Su, one of my fellow 2014 MDSers. On Day One I caught up with Su at CP1 and she tried very hard to motivate me, which was appreciated and did work for a short while but by then I was already in trouble. Today I passed Su somewhere along the Thames and once again she urged me on and today I made a bit more of an effort and pushed on to Checkpoint Two.

After CP2 the route continues along the Thames path to Streatley where it crosses the Thames and starts to climb away from the river. I mentioned earlier that I generally caught up with the walkers at about seven miles in but about ten to twelve miles after that it's my turn to be caught by the fast runners. I mentioned how supportive the walkers were, well so are the top guys too. Nathan, last years winner and an absolutely awe inspiring runner, was unfailing every day with words of encouragement which I naturally returned. I'm OK at this ultra running stuff, I don't exactly trouble the record keepers but generally my times are reasonable. However when someone like Nathan comes storming past me I can only admire his speed and technique and wish him well as he rapidly disappears into the distance.

I got to the final checkpoint of the day, CP3, in fair time and was feeling quite good. I had a chat with the marshal who had encouraged me at CP3 on Day One, explained I was feeling much better today and he wished me luck as set off on the last leg...just as the heavens opened. Fortunately the last section of Day Two requires no navigation and so it was just a head down charge to the finish. It actually reminded me of the Saltmarsh 75 as it was a similar sort of wind driven rain and was even hitting me from the same side. About half a mile from the finish another of the fast runners caught me up and I was aware that some of my start group were not far behind either. As a result I picked up the pace and flew into the finish some 20 minutes faster than I had been the previous year. One of the runners 'chasing the poppy' as she put it was Sarah who finished no more than minute behind me. In case anyone is now thinking that Sarah was snorting heroin to help her along I should mention that as the final day of Druids was on Remembrance Sunday  I had attached a large poppy to the back of my hydration vest for the event.

Day Two finishes on the Ridgeway so a minibus took us to the Wantage leisure centre where the lucky ones (me) got a warm shower and no-one slept on the crash mats, honestly Mr. Leisure Centre Manager, if you happen to read this. A good day was rounded off with a very pleasant chat with Colin and Elisabet of Racekit who had come over at the last minute to give an excellent lecture on the MDS, assisted by Stig, their huge and very affectionate Great Dane.

What a difference a day makes. 24 hours previously I was just hoping to survive Druids and not DNF. Now I was re-energised and planning a really storming finish. Was this going to happen or would I lapse into Day One territory? All will be revealed in the final instalment...

The Druid Challenge - Day One

After my success on the Saltmarsh 75, I was hoping for a reasonable placing at the Druid Challenge. I wasn't expecting to take three hours off my time again but perhaps 20 minutes a day faster was possible. Of course last year I went from Saltmarsh to Druids without a marathon and an ultra in between. I'd been resting quite a lot after the Stort 30 as I was aware that my epic year of running was starting to take its toll on my body - however I was still hopeful.

Day One of Druids doesn't start until eleven 'o' clock  and so it can be easily travelled to on the Friday morning. I didn't even have to get up much earlier than usual, an extra 20 minutes to eat porridge and Austrian honey was fine. As I knew I'd arrive in plenty of time I decided I didn't need to travel in my running kit as there would be plenty of time to change...

I arrived at Euston at around eight and was trying to decide whether to get the 8:07 and arrive really early or hang around for the 8:34 which was the train I'd planned on getting. While I was debating a very muffled announcement informed me that the choice had been made for me  as the 8:07 had been cancelled due to signalling problems. OK the 8:34 is fine, it was a bit late leaving but that's fine. It's got two extra stops due to the 8:07 being cancelled but this is still all fine. I should be at Tring well before ten, plenty of time to get the mini bus to registration, register, change, put my number on, fill my bottles, drink my beetroot, hear the briefing and get on the mini bus to the start. Everything was still fine - until we got to Queen's Park...

At Queen's Park we stopped - not a scheduled stop, one of those soul destroying, journey ruining, red light type stops. After a few minutes we are told the reason for our stop - the train ahead has failed and is blocking the line. 'Fine' was getting a bit less certain by now. A bit over 45 minutes later when said failed train pulled itself together and got out of the way 'fine' was history. The fallback would be the 12 'o' clock elite start - however this would involve me finishing in the dark and having to watch around 50 proper runners disappearing over the horizon about 200 yards from Ivinghoe Beacon. As it was XNRG were as always brilliant and told us not to worry there was plenty of time (not 100% true but there was enough) and I listened to about 30 seconds of the briefing (sorry Neil, but I did pay attention last year), got changed and pinned my number on, guzzled the beetroot, filled my bottles and got on the bus.

Whilst walking up the Beacon to the start - one of the peculiarities of Druids is that you walk up to the top of Ivinghoe Beacon to run back down it again - things finally started to look up. I found Sarah, my MDS tent mate. We met at Druids in 2013 and were doing 2014 as our mini-reunion. I had a very quick chat with her, took a selfie of us at the start and waited for the signal.

We were off! I was off way too fast trying to keep up with people that could either run much faster than me or who were going to have a really bad time later. As I obviously can't run much faster than me it doesn't take much to work out which camp I was headed for...

Day One is the longest and possibly hardest day of Druids. It starts of with some fairly lethal wet chalk slopes, goes through Tring, through some quite nice woods and after around 11 miles I reached Checkpoint One. I'd made it to CP1 in about an hour and fifty minutes, which would have been great if I had felt even slightly like I could maintain anywhere near that pace for another 18 miles - even 18 kilometres were out of the question, maybe 18 yards, possibly metres if I pushed really hard.

One thing I tell everyone is that when things get tough you can sit and cry if you like but after sitting and crying you'll be exactly where you were and it will be a bit nearer to getting dark - so you might as well just get on with it. Occasionally I take my own advice and this is one piece I do try and stick to so I left CP1 And headed through Wendover and on up to the Coombe Hill Monument. The monument was erected in 1904, by public subscription, in memory of 148 men from Buckinghamshire who died during the Second Boer War. It was almost totally destroyed by lightning in 1938 and was rebuilt in the same year. The original bronze plaque and decorations were stolen in 1972 and replaced with a stone plaque and iron flag. The new stone plaque was also inscribed with the additional names of nine men believed to have been missing on the original. The monument was again badly damaged by a lightning strike in the early 1990s and spent several months in repair. It is now equipped with conductors to prevent the mishap happening again (thanks Wikipedia).

After Coombe Hill its down through the woods, past Chequers and finally to Checkpoint Two. To be honest my memory of CP2 is a bit hazy. Things weren't going well, I was seriously doubting whether I would be able to finish all three days and there was still 12 miles to go.

However, I've started so I'll finish, Day One at least. All I remember of the run to Checkpoint Three is crossing the railway line. One thing that it is terribly important to emphasise about all the XNRG volunteers, marshals and staff is that they are all brilliant. I had a short chat with a marshal who's name I unfortunately don't know but he was definitely giving me some encouragement when an angel appeared. Well, technically it was Sarah but as far as I was concerned it was a 24 carat, 100% genuine, fully fledged angel. I've mentioned 'ultra karma' before, it's the things we do where you help and encourage others, even if it adds a bit to your time, because you hope someone will be there for you when you need it. I felt very guilty about Sarah dragging me the last seven miles to the finish because I knew she was in better shape than me and was sacrificing her time to make sure I finished. However I didn't feel as bad as I could have done because I would probably have done the same for anyone I met if I was in her position - and obviously absolutely so for her, MDS tent mates and all that.

With Sarah dragging me on and it being the final leg, I bucked my ideas up and whilst I wasn't running as fast as I would have liked I was averaging a full minute a mile faster than the previous two legs. With a strange sense of deja vu we finished Day One of 2014 exactly as we had finished Day One of 2013, hurtling into Icknield College at Watlington side by side, albeit 12 minutes later.

So why was Day One so bad? I don't like to blame things which in truth have no direct bearing on events but the train delays didn't help. I wasn't rushed in terms of time to get myself ready but I hadn't had time to relax and take a few deep breaths and plan my race before I started. I think I was too near the front and so got a false impression of how fast people were running but I knew my heart rate was too high and so I should have taken responsibility for myself and slowed down. Interestingly by the time I did slow down at CP1 the damage was done, my heart rate didn't drop back to a sensible sustained level for the rest of the day. However the winner of the day was 11 minutes slower than his previous years time so maybe my performance wasn't quite as bad as I judged it to be, although there is no doubt I didn't run a good race regardless.

I went and showered and got changed. Whilst changing I discovered I had been a bit more rushed at the start than I thought as I'd pinned my number through my shorts and to my underpants. After that I set up my bed, crashed out for a while and received a few kind words from Sharon and some of my Facebook friends.  Time to put Day One behind me and prepare for a better Day Two...