The highlight of the last couple of weeks was doing the Salisbury 54321 50km ultra with my friend Zoe Norman. It was to be her first ultra – and I kept reassuring her that she would not turn into a pumpkin as her Garmin ticked over 26.2miles.
In fact, we missed that point because we were too busy chattering away, but I did get a great photo of her at 26.6miles. Zoe looked ecstatic, and it was so lovely to see another runner so chuffed at having lost their Ultra-Cherry.
We finished it in 6h31m. It was blinking hot (understatement!) and well organised (I chose to run naked – ok ok – without any packs etc – so was entirely reliant on the drinks stations). Living life on the edge – that’s what ultras are all about.
My wife also did the 13 mile walk as part of the same event. She loved it – and did it in just over 4 hours. She was well pleased.
What I learned……
- it takes more than 2 months to recover from a 100 mile race…… (or I might be really unfit).
- Always take some water on a race…. and some extra goodies – for fuel.
- Heat is a nightmare to run in!
- My Desert hat from Decathlon is amazing – it has a neck cover too!
The Untraining Ultrarunner 