DNF! 😂 At the RAT plague.
I wasn't good enough to deal with that. I was just too slow on the muddy sections on my bambi legs and so flirted too close to cut offs too early on for this one. 😭
Beautiful course (I was busy imagining how beautiful it would be in the daylight) and under other conditions maybe I would have survived longer but I basically couldn't move myself fast enough to do this. 😳
I lollopped through the first checkpoint with only 6 or 7 minutes to spare. They said that I had 66 minutes to complete 6 miles. I filled up with water and set off again. Luckily there was a section runnable stuff to get some time back in my favour.⏰ After some more steep climb and long descent in slick mud, and more up and down (there's a theme here!) and much skating ⛸ in mud, I came into what looked to be close to another checkpoint. I was off route though, and realised I had missed a turn and ended up traipsing down someone's rear access! I found my way into Mevagissey, and the back markers.☢️ They said, you've got 32 minutes to do 4 miles to the next checkpoint........ Its OK its rolling hills as opposed to the sharper up and downs.... My first reaction was "nope! No can do" then I thought about it and thought, no... I'm going to do what I can and if I get timed out then so be it.... So with some encouragement from those two, I set off at a fair crack down the harbour and then pushed on up some steps. ⬆️ The reality of it then stopped me in my tracks. So.... I'd have to do 4 miles @ 8 minute miles, at night, without making any nav errors, and on rolling terrain and more mud...... I was having none of it! And jogged back to the checkpoint and quit. 😔
A trip to the next checkpoint by car, a coffee ☕ and ill be quite honest, a feeling of happiness rather than disappointment, that I had no more to endure on this occasion (its a great race and great course mind you). 👌🏻 I'd like to think I could be better than that, but, I only managed 7.5 miles, with a punchy but not crazy 1,800 ft of gain, in 2h19 (it felt like I was out there for double that, I'll be honest! 😂 ) and muddy conditions, albeit it no wind 🍃, no rain ☔ it just wasn't happening this time.
