The Serpie Army at the start

I was really pleased just to make it to the start line. 4 weeks ago I stubbed my toe at the Pilgrims Challenge and the whole thing inflamed and was very painful. I could not tell whether it was just badly bruised and inflamed or whether it was broken. Dr Google suggested icing and that even if it was broken there is nothing to be done apart from resting for 6 weeks. I was very worried about my birthday race not even starting but in the last week I could at least run (though I still could not walk properly on it). I had taken a day off work to go to A&E to get it checked out but that was the morning I found out I got into Badwater. I was too excited that I forgot. On Wednesday the toenail fell off and my foot has felt perfect ever since. It was such a relief, my plan was to hobble as much as possible until the pain got too much, now I could run the whole thing. Perfect.

The usual Ultra running pre race shenanigans were taking place. Jumping up and down, doing a few hill strints, strapping feet, queuing for the one toilet and taking "before" photos. Mark Braley was still in his corduroys. Jen Bradley decided to test some 12 hour lipstick and sported the shiniest red lips I have ever seen at the start of a 50 odd mile race. I wonder if running an ultramarathon is covered in the "reasonable use" caveat on the 12 hour guarantee? 

Two things are odd here. Firstly I am ahead of Claire and secondly, she appears to be smiling.I started out too fast, which is inevitable when you try to keep up with Claire Imrie and Nick Copas. Setting quite a fast pace for the first few miles and getting very warm. It was about 10 degrees C and I felt really warm, this does not bode well for when I have to run much further in 55 degrees. My body felt a bit creaky from not doing much running in the past month. I was gutted to have missed a few more races in Feb and a lot of commuting running but was just happy to be out there. I had suffered shin splits and sore ankles like a new runner for the past few runs as I tried to get back into it, none of that was a problem though I suspected that this one was going to hurt more than a 55 miler normally does.

There is often a silly debate as to how far an ultra should be before it can be called an ultra. The point is moot to me since the "marathon" distance itself is based on a combination of fiction and the laziness of our King to stand and watch the finish of a 25 mile race. 50 miles is often regarded as where ultras start proper, they become very different from 26.2 mile races at that point. Claire, Nick and Jen were running further than they had done before today. All were making pretty easy work of it.

The first checkpoint was at 13 miles which we covered in around 1.40. 4 years ago on my birthday I ran the Berkhamstead half marathon in about 1.45 which was a pb at that time. I love remembering these times when I was even slower than I am now. That was before I had even heard about ultras. I feel like such an idiot, wasting a Birthday on a half marathon. I was however feeling a bit hungry and sick. I needed food but there was none at the checkpoints. It was later pointed out to me that this was made clear in the instructions, I really should start reading those some time. With only energy drink I was in for a struggle as I usually do these things on solid food. 

The TunnelI have been reading a lot more of the sciency stuff about eating and hydration recently. Articles that kind of suck the fun our of running my saying nasty things like you shouldn't stuff your face full of pizza and chips the day before the race. I normally give such articles a miss and head to the chip shop. Since reading more about Badwater, hydration and renal failure I have decided that I need to be a bit more textbook about eating and drinking if I am to get through the tough summer I have planned. That didn't stop my huge consumption of pizza and chips the night before though, making the 10th biggest mistake here, and now I was feeling both sick, hungry and very sleepy. I would have killed a red bull.

After about 18 miles I let Claire and Nick steam on ahead. I was already starting to crash a bit and the prospect of finishing this in daylight seemed distant. I strolled into checkpoint 2 which was 24ish miles and briefly chatted to Graeme who was wearing a Fetch top. I didn't even ask his name, I just knew it because he said he was running the Western States 100 this year and I knew the name of the only Irish person on that roster. I said my name and he immediately shouted "Spartathlon". Funny how we all know each other through our races.

This checkpoint was next to Falkirk Wheel. There is a visitors centre next to this weird looking metal thing that cartwheels boats vertically for 30 meters. I had not seen many locks on the canal up until now and it seems here they just make do with one big massive lock rather than lots of small ones. I stopped for quite a while at this point and stretched as my groin was very tight. This is a recurring problem that I need to deal with and will do through yoga in the coming months. I was suprised to see Nick jump out of the visitors centre after I had stopped for so long but he looked like he was slowing down a bit too. I was happy to run with him for a bit while I took some photos of some interesting parts of the canal.

Soon after that checkpoint there was a long tunnel which made quite an eery running experience. It was very dark and the floor didn't appear to be all there. It was cobbled and wet all along as water would come gushing down from the ceiling but sometimes I'd think I was about to step into the canal. It lasted about half a mile as was oddly pleasant. 

The path was really good to run on and there were only a few puddled sections, road shoes were a good choice. I was a little disappointed by the lack of activity on the canal. There were very few boats and I only saw one actually moving. The Grand Union Canal "back home" is usually more alive with people on barges and pubs located on the waterfront. There weren't even any ducks or geese, not that I care about the latter. Maybe it's the recession, when times are hard the duck feeding is always the first to go.

Around 30 miles I had caught up with Nick who wanted to keep moving and left me behind to take photos. Mark Cockbain also jogged past me and also complained about the lack of food. It seems that the more ultras you do the less you read the instructions and sometimes it can be costly. I was still feeling quite weak and Nick told me that he was going to call it a day at the next checkpoint. It was sad to hear but had silver lining, he donated all of his food to me. He read the instructions and carried a load of cliff bars with him. I was more than happy to take them off him and stuffed one down like a fat man would who'd been stuck in a lift for 4 hours. The next checkpoint was at 34 miles. I was running for about a mile at a time and then stopping to stretch and empty my shoes. I had lots of stones in my shoes but could not get rid of the uncomfortable feeling on my feet. It turns out I was going to be visited by some old friends again.

Falkirk WheelAt the third checkpoint I sat down for a while again and stretched. It was here I met Phil Owen who was looking out for some runners behind me. It was nice to chat and talk about some other races coming up. I felt a bit better for having eaten something and was ready to get moving again. I carried on with the intention of running for a couple of miles or so and then stretching. Until this point I was being a slave to my garmin, or rather it was reminding me of just how much slower I was getting. I had the display set on average pace which crept up from 7.40 early on in the race and was now heading towards 9. I knew I was now going much slower than that and was getting a bit frustrated with it going up all the time so I solved the problem the easiest way, I just switched it off. I felt a weight off as now all that was displayed was distance and the time of day. I was now only determined to finish not long after 6 so that I can get in before dark. I'm going to stop bothering with the garmin, it just spoils a good run, and writing about it makes for fucking boring reading. 

I hit 40 miles feeling so much better than at 30. I felt in good form again and could run without feeling the need to stop much. There was no way I could fail to finish my Birthday race and I knew that it was only a matter of time before I would feel better again. 20 miles is a long time to feel shit though. Still, I was just happy that I could even do the race and made quicker progress. Not long after the 4th checkpoint and a conversation with a random jogger about the highland fling which he and I are doing I was caught up by Jen Bradley. I was in two minds about whether to wait and run with her or carry on while I was on a roll. I decided to carry on, I had not stopped for about 8 miles and was hoping to keep it that way. I was curious about whether the lipstick was still working. Nice Canal

50 miles seemed to pass in no time and there were signs that I was heading into Edinburgh. I (think) I could see the castle and some buildings in the distance. I could also see more objects in the canal, such as a pink baby push cart thing. The people of Edinburgh obviously have too much and need to throw these things away. I also saw the start of the city's night life as the under age kids started assuming their drinking positions along the benches of the now tarmacked canal path. It was just before sunset and it was time to get the race finished.

I finished in 8.52, about an hour slower than I was hoping for but pleased for being able to run at all. 3 weeks off certainly makes you appreciate it more when your are running and the last 15 miles of today. Jen finished just behind me with lipstick and mascara in perfect condition. Diane was not far behind and managed to not even get lost once, amazing stuff. Ian, Claire, Oli and Mark C had been at the finish quite a while. Long enough to get stuck into the Guinness in the pub right at the end.

Overall I was pleased with how the race went. I had a rough patch in the middle third but managed to get through it and did much better than I feared at the beginning of the week when I was still not able to walk properly. I was really pleased to see so many people up there singing happy birthday as I finished. Thanks to all who showed up.

The book covers 24 of the worlds extreme races that are difficult in a variety of ways. There are a few marathons in there such as the Pikes Peak Marathon which is the venue of this years world mountain long distance championships this year, a simple sounding "up and down" marathon that involves running up to a sickly altitude. The Inca Trail and Everest Marathons also get a mention, the latter involving a 7 day trek to the starting line. The Lake Baikal Marathon also looked appealing, 26 miles across a frozen Russian lake where 20% of the earth's fresh water resides. 

Many of the well know events are in there. The "must do" Marathon Des Sables gets more pages that I would give it, UTMB, Transalpine Run, Yukon Ultra and the Gobi March get good coverage, The Kepler Challenge is in there to remind us that New Zealand still exists and of course the obligatory Comrades Marathon gets a mention. 

There were a few that were already on my list and consolidated their place such as the Trans 333 - a non-stop 333km run through a different desert each year with only checkpoints at every 20k and navigation involved. Also the infamous Jungle Marathon gets a large spread, the only race I know of that actually sounds dangerous beyond the competitors control with the scorpions, jaguars and piranhas. The Atacama Crossing is now a must do for me, the scenery looks like it does not belong on this planet and the high altitude and dryness make it sound like a really challenging multi-day event. I think I will do many more multi-days in 2011. 

A few more I had not heard of have been added to my must dos. The Verdon Canyon Challenge sounds like an amazing run with enormous elevation along ridges and caves in southern France. When I become very rich (or someone is willing to pay me to do races) I will also run the Antarctic Ice Marathon and 100k (yes both on the same trip). 

I have only done 2 of the races so far, the MDS and the Spartathlon, which gets a brief mention and says little more than it being a very difficult race that not a lot of starters finish. 

It includes a wide variety of races of different extremities and different levels of difficulty. Any ultra-runner would have come up with a different 24 based on the same brief. The only US 100 miler that gets in is the Wasatch 100 miler, the last race in the "Grand Slam" that includes the Western States 100, Vermont and Leadville - the "race across the sky". Any of these and the Hardrock 100 would have merited inclusion too. 

Perhaps the most lavish spread for a race is for the one I have to do in 4 months time. A huge deal is made of the conditions and others experience of the Badwater race. I read the words over and over as it breaks this race into the 4 parts, the 40 mile flat cauldron, the first pass, the second pass and long descent and then the final push to the Whitney portal. Very useful and something for me to think about as I prepare for this race as well as this paragraph which I can't get out of my head.

"The truth is that the human body is not designed to run in 55C temperatures. By the time the atmosphere reaches 35C the body will lose it's capacity to release heat into the air. Activity accelerates this process. The maximum core temperature measured in a conscious long distance  runner has been 41C. At 42.7 body temperature the runner will collapse. At this stage, the body has begun to pump blood out of the body's outermost layers in an effort to radiate heat. In the meantime, the internal organs are thus deprived of their blood supply, and the thermoregulatory system starts to shut down. The first physical sign of this process is when, despite the searing heat and apparent full hydration, the body simply ceases to sweat. From that stage, if the body goes untreated, serious inflammation and cell damage may ensure and affect the central nervous system. At that point, death can be sudden. 

Perhaps I should have just looked at the pictures.

I stayed up till about 2am last night waiting for an email. I was like some loved up teenager waiting for a call. I guess with this kind of thing I am still a teenager, I don't really have the experience. In the few hours of sleep I got last night I had a strange dream that I got to the start late because my flight was delayed. I did not miss the start but I arrived 2 hours early having already been awake for more than 24 hours. Not the best preparation for a race like this though I suspect that I won't sleep that much in the days leading up to it.

Around 7am I woke up and picked up my phone. An email from "Badwater Race Office" that started with the word "Congratulations!" made me feel a bit sick. I thought about catching up on the sleep that I had missed (I took a day off work today) but I clearly was not going to get back to sleep. Plus there was some urgency to the email. I have a week to sign and send forms, pay for the race and book hotels. I don't really like having to move quickly, which is why I enter these races.

There was a competitive element to getting into this race in the first place. I like to avoid competing against others but in this case I had to just to get to the start line. I only had my past ultra running experiences to put on the form and I had no idea whether this was enough. I read into the reasons why runners get turned away and worried. Not that there was anything I could have done about it. Part of the battle of the big and hard ultras nowadays is getting onto the start line.

• In preparing your application, keep in mind the standard reasons that generally lead to some applicants not being invited:
  • The applicant only just met the minimum standards.
  • The applicant’s credentials are only recent, i.e., not a seasoned ultra endurance athlete with a breadth of experience.
  • The applicant’s credentials are only old, i.e. all or most of the credentials are from too long ago and may not reflect current ability.
  • The applicant has no experience in extreme heat or on the Badwater course as a pacer.
  • The applicant didn't "prove" his or her claims (i.e., they said they paced at Badwater, but no letter of recommendation was received, or they claimed they finished or won any number of major races, but didn't provide any proof of that).
  • The applicant submitted a “thin” application - not only few qualifications were listed, but not much time was put into the preparation of the application itself. (Sometimes the applicant assumed "we've already heard of him/her" and therefore didn't provide the necessary details. Applicants should never assume we’ve heard of them or have heard of the events they mention in their application.)
  • There are always A LOT of applicants, all "qualified," and thus some applicants must inevitably be turned away.

I worried about my experience only being recent, and the lack of heat experience.

I discovered that Mark Wooley had made it in too, as did a couple of other Brits I have made email contact with. 

My sick feeling has given way to a nervous excitement. I have a LOT of work to do, planning a crew, flights and hotels. And of course the training. I can't do that today as my toe is still (probably not) broken. I also have to sign a form that says this;

I'll be ready.

This was what I put in the application form.

Why do you want to run the Badwater Ultramarathon?

It was hearing about this race 4 years ago that got me into ultra running. I have been thinking about this race since I first got sent a link to it what seems like an age ago. I was still a young runner who was concerned with plotting my next attempt to run 26.2 miles on a flat road in a temperate climate faster than I had done previously. I did this successfully a few times and the satisfaction was small and short lived. Getting marathon PB's and not really caring about them made me wonder whether I was in the right sport. The variety and challenges of ultra-running answered that question unequivocally. Ultra-running has liberated me from judging my running on what a man at the end with a stop-watch might say. I no longer let that guy decide whether I've had a good run or not, I do it myself. Ultra-running has put the fun back into the thing that I love and has given me personal experiences that I would not trade for the world. And like I said, it was this race that inspired the start of that journey.

The last three years have been an amazing journey, from my first ultra (45 miles in 2007) through to the Grand Union Canal Race (145 miles in 2008) and more recently the Spartathlon last year. What I love most about these races (though it usually is some time after when I fully appreciate it) is the way they try to break you down and stop you finishing. Whether it is the mountains and hills, the sun or the rain or just the sheer distance of it there is always something there that is trying to stop you getting to the finish. The greatest of victories is when you are smashed to pieces and on the floor in a race and it seems all but over. Then you hold onto yourself just enough to carry on moving. When you do things seem a little easier and you remember more why you are there in the first place. These are the experiences I want to take to the grave with me.

I have written about my running in my blog for the past 3 years. I write more to preserve the memories than for anyone else but hope that you get a chance to read it.

So back to the original question in why I want to run Badwater. Aside from my 4 year obsession mentioned above I feel that this is the only "step up" for me. Having finished the Spartathlon last year I don't believe there are many more races out there that are harder to finish and hence will give me those physical and emotional breakdowns which I crave.

I am now confident that I will finish this race but am fully aware of the fact that it will take more that I have had to give before. Races like the GUCR and Spartathlon have taught me that I can rely on things that I don't even know I have at the start line. I love starting a race feeling "ready" but not entirely sure how I'm going to get through it.

People keep asking me "how will you train for something like that". Fact is I don't know. I know I can run for 40+ hours, I know I can run well over 100 miles in one go, into night and day and night and through pain. However I'm not entirely sure, after 35 miles of Death Valley when my body and brain are fried from the heat and I am struggling to remember who I am and why I am stood at the side of a molten road with 100 miles to go, how I will deal with that. But I know I'll think of something.

Part 1/4. I had to do all sorts of interweb trickery to get this onto the blog but here it is. In 4 parts. I can be seen at around 8.27 with my silly hat on running into a checkpoint. 

 Part 2/4 . I am around 5.30 walking into the checkpoint at Corinth.

Sparta 2/4
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Part 3/4 I am around 5 minutes in, sat down. BEWARE OF THE CHAIR.

Part 4/4

The signs were not always this easy to spot.After the huge success of the Druid Challenge last November I was really looking forward to the Pilgrims Challenge. The organisers XNRG popped up on the race organising scene a little while ago and have immediately won plaudits for great organisation and value for money. I think that it's great to have such a variety of things to chose from nowadays (I wish I could have also run the Thames Trot 50 miler but that was on the same day) and that there are guys out there willing to put themselves on the line to stage such events.

The format was simple. We start in Farnam and run 33 miles along the North Downs way until we get to Mertsam. Then on the second day we run back. 66 miles of hilly mud over 2 days, seems like a very British thing to do.

1st Claire - I had to run up a hill to get that photo, I was knackered.

I was pleased with how many Serpies turned out for this and are doing so in greater numbers for all events like this. We are starting to take over these things.

The start was from a farm just outside Farnham. There were 3 waves, walkers, runners and super super fast runners. I started with the latter only because I wanted an extra hour in bed.

The first few meters involved a section where we were up to our knees in water and mud. There was no real way of avoiding it so right from the start we had soaking wet feet. At least it wasn't as cold as the Country to Capital. 

I ran with a group of about 6 who were sort of "middle pack" of the fast runners. I felt good and the trails were great to run on. There was quite a bit of mud in places but most of it was the glorious trail that I love to run on in the UK. The first 20 miles or so were fairly easy, with a few hills bit nothing of note. There were a lot of downhill sections that we knew we'd have to come back up the next day. 

The great thing about staggered starts (aside from the extra sleep you get if you can go faster) is that you are always catching up with people along the way. Events such as this were designed and used for those who are training for the Marathon Des Sables later this year. I think it's great that all the Brits train for the MDS by running miles and miles in the mud in the cold. It works though, better than all the gimmicky things you can do like heat chamber training. What most people struggle with at the MDS is the distance, running this kind of thing certainly helps with that.

I had managed to avoid any schoolboy errors in races so far this year and was pleased with the effects of losing a little weight (around 4kg in Jan) as I felt the hills easier than 3 weeks ago. I did however forget to cut my toenails and only remember when I kicked a tree root and the nail went right in my foot. Fortunately most of the proper running had been done in the first 20 miles, then came the bastard hills.

I was surprised to see the Picnic steps in this race (I don't know why). I have run up and down these 8 times before in 2 races but somehow they feel harder each time. What follows are more hills and then a really long hill which I recognise but can't for the life of me remember from what. I started to struggle breathing up some of them and have only recently started to use my inhaler on hilly runs. It does help to expand my lungs when working hard but I always use it too late. The sun came out and I still was enjoying the run but was finding it hard work. After what seemed like endless uphills I arrived alone at the last checkpoint (having lost Claire and the group at the steps) and was told that it was all down hill from there and only about 4 miles. 

Oli and his clothes

The 4 miles went quite quickly via a conversation with a chap as to whether I was still on the North Downs way or not. I never really got lost but I did spend a lot of time stood still and scratching my head trying to decide which way was best. We were told as a rule of thumb to always go straight on and keep the hills on our left. Not so easy to decide when you are up them.

The finish was at an all Boys School in Mertsam. I was glad I didn't have to ask for directions to a boys school while looking quite worse for wear, the markings were very good. On finishing I met up with those who had finished before me (Oli, Claire I, Claire S, Allan) and had some coffee while I waited for the rest to come in. There is a nice warm atmosphere in between runs at these kind of events. Everyone makes their way into the sports hall and does their own thing. Many just sit down and drink tea, others head straight for the showers. Some take advantage of the massage services which I always try to do but didn't this time, some start contorting themselves into odd shapes to iron out all the damage from the day. Most of us were just keen to get into the pub, I was anyway. We faffed around a bit and headed over back through the streets we finished in and to a nice pub called "The Feathers". A few pints of Guinness are as good as any recovery drink.

The experience of sleeping in a sports hall is relative. If you are used to nice hotels and B&B's before and after each race then you are probably going to find it hard. If however you are a veteran of multi-day races then a flat surface indoors compares favourably to a tent or bivouac where you are sometimes freezing and sometimes roasting in your sleeping bag. Ear plugs are a must in these situations. There are people who snore like tractors and people will always get up all night to go to the toilet, and stomp like elephants as they do so. I was a bit worried about Claire Shelley, she had had 2 pints of coke and was bouncing off the walls. I zipped my sleeping bag up to my neck...

I slept quite well and was reminded in the morning that I snored (I am certain I don't). There were 3 starts again, the latest at 9 for those in the top 25 from yesterday of which I, Claire I, Claire S and Oli were part of. We ate breakfast as provided by the organisers and then messed around for a couple of hours while everyone else had started running. I demonstrated how bad I am at basketball while everyone had left the hall and then started to get ready. My toe was still hurting a lot and it was a struggle to put my shoes on. Everyone else was doing their own preparation. Oli was putting on his womens clothing and eating flapjack, Claire I was filing her nails and Claire S was putting on face cream. Apparently a girl has to look her best when wading through the mud. I couldn't imagine either of them pulling along the way, not at the bloody speed they go at anyway.

At the start only about 12 of the 25 were there, most had snuck into an earlier start. We all marched off and my legs felt quite good, it was just my feet that were hurting and I was not really looking forward to a day of running flat footed.

2nd Claire. I had to tell her to stop bouncing for a second while I took the photo.

The first 15 miles or so I ran with Claire S and Allan, the latter being a veteran of this kind of thing but the former making her first attempt at it. I have been amazed in the last couple of months how so many people have just dived right into the ultra scene. When I started 3 years ago I hesitantly stepped in and did one in January and then not another one till June. Now the approach seems to be "I'll do my first this week and then another next week, or better still - tomorrow". I have been really impressed with how at least half a dozen people I know have done this and it makes me feel a bit soft for being a bit cautious in my early days. Luckily I have outgrown such cautionary behaviour and these people have helped inspired me to think that doing Badwater, UTMB and Spartathlon within 10 weeks of each other could (and should) be done. 

Claire was bouncing like Tigger for the entire 33 miles, looking really happy but saying she was tired. She did not look it at all. The other Claire was long gone. It was slightly less muddy than the previous day, the long downhills didn't really seem as long as they were up hill. I managed not to fall over though. The checkpoints were in different places and were more welcome than yesterday, I really gorged on them, eating the sausages, sausage rolls and lumps of cheese. 

As I was running slower there was more time to chat to Claire and others in the race. There was a guy who from behind looked like Cyril and we yelled at him only to realise that it was not him but someone else training for the MDS. We chatted to him anyway and continued to call him Cyril. 

You have no idea how hard it was to get back up from that. I could have just slept.

The second half of the day felt quite hard as I just felt quite tired. Walking became too easy and it was Claire who was pulling me along, bouncing off into the distance. We got lost about 8 miles from the end and ran uphill into a village and then back down again and saw an obvious sign for the NDW that we missed. It didn't feel like too long till we were back running through the sludge next to the golf course that we started near. I don't normally look forward to sludge but it was quite welcome as it signalled the end. By the time I finished everyone I knew was already there drinking tea. There were great performances all round, Oli winning by miles, Claire I winning for the girls and Claire S coming second. Serpies are starting to take over this kind of thing in the results too. I am very pleased to see it, anything to prevent them obsessing about boring road races.

It proved to be another great success for Neil and the guys at XNRG. Everyone had a great run, Cyril put yet more miles into his legs for the MDS as looks a different man from the one I met 3 months earlier on the Druid Challenge. Jo Proudlove and Toby Melville had great performances (Toby running 54020 steps on Saturday and only 54010 on Sunday, maybe that was one less piss?). Dan De Belder also finished both days in good shape. 

I was looking forward to the pub afterwards but the offer of a lift home from Dan Ashfar (who was 2nd I think) was too good to turn down. I was looking forward to getting off my feet and eating a lot of meat. 

 Worlds sexiest man competition. Guess who won?

This list is growing all the time. Every time I learn something new or think of a new way to describe something. There is little in here about training or nutrition, it is just a list of things that I have used to help me through some tough races and have used some examples of my own experiences to illustrate. It is in no particular order and there maybe some repeats and overlaps. Any comments or more suggestions are most welcome.

• DON'T PANIC
• Try not to extrapolate, i.e. thinking "I feel this bad after X miles so I'm going to feel this more worse after Y miles". Long distance running is a roller coaster of ups and downs and the longer you go the bigger the ups and the bigger the downs. You may feel shit now but your body is an amazing thing and a combination of positive thinking, progress and all the chemicals your body will produce may mean you feel ecstatic a few miles later. My first GUCR I could barely walk just after before 100 miles. Later on I ran miles 120-130 like I was gunning a 10k. I can't really explain it but I knowing it could happen helps me through the rough patches.
• Don't take every little set back personally. When you are exhausted it is common to feel paranoid that things are happening because the world is conspiring against you. If a gate is stuck or a stile is wonky or a dog gets in your way. These things will happen and it is important to just shrug or even laugh them off. In the MDS while I was close to collapse and walking over the rocky terrain I kept tripping on the rocks. At some point I got so angry I picked up one of the offending rocks, shouted at it and threw it away. Anger like this is counter-productive. Remember "Mind like Water" - How does the water react when you throw a stone in? With an exactly proportional response to the size of the stone, soon all evidence is gone. Don't make a tidal wave over a little stone.
• Similarly, celebrate a little when these little things go right. Like when someone holds a gate open for you or people spot you and get out of the way, or when a part of the path is not muddy or when the sun goes behind a cloud on a hot day. The more reasons you find to smile the more you will smile and the better you will feel.
• EAT. In my experience the biggest reason for dropping out of ultras because of not eating. It really doesn't matter (within reason) what you eat just make sure you eat. 
• On the subject of food I find that eating more "normal" food is beneficial. I will load on mashed potato and pork chops with gravy. During a run I will eat cake, crisps, biscuits, sweets, sausage rolls, sandwiches, pepparamis and even a Subway. Eat whatever the hell you like, JUST EAT.
• Derive pleasure from eating. Worrying about absorption rates and so on if for those who are right at the front. Take food with you that you know you'll look forward to eating and reward yourself with it whenever you need it. I think one of the key reasons why I've managed to finish some tough races is because of my ability to eat in any circumstance. A trait which leads to weight gain when I am not running.
• 100 miles is a long long way. I don't believe anyone can really get their head around how far that is to run, not even the world class runners who win those kinds of things. Don't panic if it all feels a bit big and overwhelming, it fells big and overwhelming because it IS big and overwhelming. Everyone else feels the same.
• No one is going to judge you for squatting in the bushes. If you need to go then go, don't suffer too long holding it in. Everyone does it.
• Try not to stress about the distance that you are covering or what your garmin may be saying. Particularly the really long runs. Sometimes you feel like you have run for miles yet you have barely covered one, sometimes your view of time is distorted by the tiredness, sometimes the distances advertised in the race are wrong. 
• BEWARE OF THE CHAIR - The most common warning I see in the really long ultras. Don't sit down at the checkpoints if you can avoid it, you get cold, stiff and sleepy. It can be a real effort to get up and waste energy (not to mention time) getting going again, time and energy you could have spent doing another mile. I sat in a lot of chairs in the GUCR and Spartathlon, believe me you never feel rested more for sitting in a chair for 10 minutes.
• Organise fresh clothes if at all possible. They feel great when put on and the smell of freshly laundered clothes can be uplifting when you have spent hours smelling of sweat, piss and dirt.
• Try to pay attention to your running form at regular intervals. I used to use mile markers in marathons to remind me to check that my head is up and shoulders relaxed etc. Perhaps do it every half an hour or so or every time you see a bridge or regular feature.
• Be respectful to other runners feelings. There will be times when you overtake another who looks a mess, try not to look too smug or comfortable as you do. No one likes getting flown past by a runner who looks like they are not even making an effort. It's funny how you can occupy the same part of space and time yet be in completely different places.
• Similarly don't contaminate someone else's race with your own suffering. When you are on a roll you don't want to hear someone moaning about how bad their race is going. Remember you could be having the worst race of your life but be right next to someone who is having their best.
• Geese are the spawn of the devil. Don't go near them especially in spring when they have young. 
• Think OUTSIDE of yourself. When going through a rough patch then stop thinking in the 1st person and start thinking in the 3rd. Imagine that you are one of your friends and talking about your race as they see it. Say only nice things obviously
• Play games with the above. When I thought I was going to die in the desert I decided to stage my own funeral in my head, imagining who would turn up and what they would say. Who would get the most pissed? Who would miss you the most. Starting writing your biography (sic) or the speech given about you when you win the Nobel Prize for Ultrarunning. Remember, keep it all in the third person. Go nuts, go on a complete ego trip. No one will ever find out what you dreamed up, if it gets you through then who cares? 
• Ignore the cancerous voices that may pop into your head that may talk of disappointment. I get this sometimes, the frowning of letting someone down. You are only doing this for yourself.
• Think back to times when you were suffering as much as you may be now and remember how you got through them. Key moments like this for me were; Jurassic Coast challenge in 2008 - on the third day I could barely walk before the start but managed to run the hilly 30 miles of that day, Rotherham 2008 - The weather was Baltic, everyone around me was suffering from hypothermia and the checkpoints were indoors. It was the hardest thing in the world stepping out of those checkpoints and into the rain. I knew that in 5 minutes time it would be fine again. 
• SUPPORTERS BEWARE - of asking too many questions. A question is a request for information from someone's head, when that head feels tired and battered a question can feel like someone delving their hand into their brain and pulling things out. You wouldn't want that done to you would you?
• Also, think back to the times when you were not nearly the runner you are now. Everyone started somewhere, perhaps a 4 mile run on a treadmill seemed like an effort a few years back. Keep in mind just how far you have come over the years. I remember when 4 miles on a treadmill would make me weak at the knees, I remember the fear of my first marathon. In Greece I passed the marathon stage of the Spartathlon in 3.47, that was my marathon pb in Berlin just 4 years earlier. The glowing feeling of progress propelled me all the way to 50 miles
• Don't freak out when you hallucinate. It is normal for the brain when tired to see things that are not there. Your brain "sees" not by seeing everything but by looking at only a small area and "filling in" the rest itself. It's how optical illusions work. It is easy for the tired brain to "fill in" your surroundings wrongly, like when I thought a pile of branches were a giraffe or some flowers in the dark were actually small faces with hats or when I thought the canal by night was a huge quarry.
• And don't worry too much about the King of the Mushroom people. He ain't that tough.
• My marathon PB is still from a race I did the day after a 24 mile fell race. The point here being that sometimes things just don't make any sense.
• DRINK lots and drink early. If you don't drink early you will reach a point where you can't catch up. Don't be fooled into thinking that you don't need water on the cold days.
• Beware of the dangers of over-thinking. You are a long distance runner and hence are likely to be much brighter than the population at large. Hopefully this has worked out well for you in other aspects of your life but it could actually work against you here. Relying on your brain too much can be hazardous. You have probably heard the old cliché of "it's all in the mind" a million times and this has a lot of truth in it, however relying on your brain to make calculations and objective decisions can be futile sometimes. Don't waste considerable energy thinking too much, try to switch off.  Forrest Gump never looked in trouble did he?
• Many people will never understand why you would do a thing like this. Don't waste too much effort trying to explain what they will never understand, even in your head. I will never understand why people sit in their living rooms and get excited by z-list celebrities cooking for other z-list celebrities. I admit that I make absolutely no effort trying to discover why this is exciting to them.
• BE NICE to the marshals and the organisers. It can't be much fun standing in the rain for hours only to get abused by a grumpy sweaty beast as he starts crying that there are not enough green jelly babies at the checkpoint. Also, give some slack to the race organisers. I think it's great how many people out there are willing to put themselves on the line and organise these events. They have made my life so much better over the years. Organisers and race directors will make mistakes too, don't beat them up about it. 
• Do not underestimate the slow sapping power that the sun has. I got spanked on both days of the GUCR last year and really suffered. Wear a good hat and sun cream, have some on you if you are doing a very long run. If you are run/walking then run in the sun and walk in the shade, spending as little time as possible exposed and giving you longer to recover where it's cool.
• When you get really tired concentrate on moving forward rather than your exact position and distance. Ineviably you will slow down but the effort seems the same so t can get frustrating when you feel like you are not moving as fast as you think you are. Then the paranoia kicks in; "The distance markers are wrong", "The course is long", "I'm lost" etc etc. My first GUCR I thought I was at the 100 mile stage and only when I ran on another half a mile I realised that I was only then at 100 miles. What was half a mile out of 145? Well at the time it was massive and started me on a downward spiral that nearly cost me a finish.
• Learn to love the 30 minute mile for you may meet a lot of these. It is still a mile just like any other.
• Don't waste too much energy avoiding water and mud in the wet times. If it rains you are going to get wet, accept in, embrace it, love it.
• If you are being supported remember that your support crews are learning too and may make mistakes. Remember that the fact they are here with you means 
• Write about your experiences, if only for yourself. I love reading back about races I've almost forgotten. I love looking back at how different I was when I started out running distance, when a marathon would terrify me. Put it on a blog and allow others to learn about what you have done, it does not matter if only your Mum reads it.
• Planning isn't for everyone. You'll get told by any running magazine you pick up (which I recently heard described as cooking mags with porn on the front) that planning is the key to success and those that do not plan are consigned to failure. This simply isn't so. I am not saying you should not try and think ahead but too much worrying about every detail in advanced can be counter-productive. There are a million things that can happen, you are much better just accepting that stuff is going to happen and you'll have to deal with it. Worrying is another symptom of the high IQ's that runners suffer, switch it off, think like Gump.
• Having a phone with a list of numbers you can send updates to can help. The return messages can be uplifting.
• PROTECT YOUR HEAD. Sun hat when it's hot, fleecy hat when it's cold, hood when it rains. Your head will be going through enough without you beating it up more with the elements.
• For some reason I find miles 16-22 quite hard in any race, marathon or 150 miles. I don't know why but I've learnt to ignore it.
• Take on PROTEIN. Not normally required for shorter races but it is needed for long distance. 
• When you are scrambling along some trail in the middle of the night, soaking wet, cold, exhausted and in need of sleep think of those people sat at home by a warm fire, watching TV and eating pizza. You may think you are suffering but they are suffering even more, the advantage you have is that at least you know it. 
• There are experiences that make us who we are and how we behave. Falling off bikes, having our hearts broken or losing a job, they have all made you what you are. DNFing is just the same, it hurts like hell, it WILL happen at some stage and will make you feel small and worthless. Take it on the chin and learn from it for it will make you stronger. Remember DNF beats DNS.
• Realistically there is a point where the sensible thing is to drop out. It depends on how far you have to go, how bad a shape you are in and how much the race means to you. "Finishing at any cost" is a silly thing to say if the "cost" is that you can't walk for 6 months. Similarly a race may mean so much that you are willing to rule yourself out of action for a few weeks just to get to the finish. This all gets blurred in the long and drawn out mess of an ultra. Be careful, but don't sell yourself short, the worst thing is sitting around the next day thinking "you know what? I could have finished that".
• Don't compare yourself to others in terms of time/volume etc. You will meet all sorts of people at these events all with different backgrounds, different motivations and different levels of ability. Some will have not been running for long and maybe have families and are short on time to do running. Others may have been running for years and get all the time in the world to train. Some are here to win, most are here to finish and enjoy. Have your own measures of success that are completely independent of the performance of others.
• Think of the stories you'll tell. There is nothing more boring than listening to someone saying "I entered a race, trained really hard and then got a pb, then I entered another race, trained really hard and got a pb, then I entered another race and I trained really hard and I ... *SLAP*". Remember that you are creating your own stories as you go. The more stuff that is going wrong and the harder you find it the more captivating your story will be in the pub. Try and remember everything so that you can re-tell it when you are nice and dry and warm and full of food with your feet up. Others will appreciate it.
• One of the most important things I have learned is that my mind can become useless at any objective thought or decision making. It is hard for someone to admit that they are mentally losing control but it does happen and can be hazardous if you try to "think" your way out of it. This is the point to go with what "feels" right. To quote Homer Simpson - "Shut up brain before I stab you with an ice-pick".
  Sometimes it's the right decision to "Give Up".
• I spend a lot of my time in races thinking about even longer and harder races that I want to do. It sounds like a bad idea to be taking yourself into an even harder place when you really should be thinking about fluffy kittens and pillows and candy floss but it seems to get me through it. I spent most of my time in my first ultras thinking about finishing the GUCR. I spent a lot of my time in least years GUCR thinking about the Spartathlon. I spent some of my time in the Spartathlon thinking about Badwater. I don't know. Perhaps the point here is to always have a "next step" to think about.
• BEWARE of how addictive this all is. I entered my first ultra with the intention of doing more but never thought I'd be looking to do them every week. It takes over, you are always looking for different things to do. Longer, hillier, hotter, more navigation, less sleep or whatever.
• Imagine a life where every race you did went to plan, where every race was a PB. Where everyone you loved loved you back, where every job you applied for you got, where your football team win every game and the sun always shines. Every test is an A+ and you never once got the flu. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Really? No. I'd kill myself. That would be a miserable existence. The best life experiences are when everything fucks up, when everything falls to pieces but you just about manage to hold onto yourself enough to get through it. 
• The crippling lows and euphoric highs are why I do this. You have to go a long way to feel at your lowest but in the same race and after that you can feel the greatest you ever have. Every low point you have you can use as a learning experience, a reference point to help you deal with it when it happens again
• As I grow old I'll forget things. I'll forget the least important things first, like what my pin number is or the name of my grand-daughters boyfriend, I'll then forget the unimportant things like how fast I could ever run 26.2 miles on a road or how I felt when running some 80% wava race or whatever. But I'll never forget the time I was running through the Canadian forests when 3 hours elapsed in 10 minutes because I was having so much fun. I'll never forget the top of that sand dune in the night in the Sahara when I looked around and could see nothing but stars, that moment I was the only person on Earth. I'll never forget staggering through a crowded street in Sparta to the adulation of runners and people of the town who had no idea who I was but know what I did. And the last thing I'll forget will be the turnaround I enjoyed in my first GUCR, I went from crawling to running, then from running to running quite fast. Then from running quite fast to being all of a sudden overwhelmed and having to hold onto some railings while I burst into tears. I thought at the time that the emotion was due to me realising that I was going to finish the race, but it was more than that. It was the moment in my life where I realised that I could finish anything. Anything is what I intend to do.

The Badwater application forms came out on the 1st Feb. I have printed it off and looked through the questions. Most of my answers are "no - not done anything like that". There is a question asking me for my shoe size, not sure why. Perhaps they are obliged to fully represent people of all shoe sizes? Sillier things have happened.

Having known my chances in the other 2 lotteries I have entered recently, Western States was about a 20% chance and UTMB about 75% I really have no idea what my chances are here. The application process is more like a job interview with CV's and an assessment committee. I know that there are 40 places for "rookies" - those that have not run Badwater before and a further 40 for "veterans". It is never revealed how many apply for each of the positions and there is no lottery, each application is judged on it's individual merits. I have no idea what my chances are;

The form makes for intimidating reading. Once I confirm my name, nationality, shoes size, shirt size and confirm that I can speak English it gets straight into the detail. 

• How many continuous races of 50-99 miles have you run? 3
• How many continuous races of 100+ miles have you run? 3
• How many times have you completed the Badwater ultra? 0
• How many times have you crewed at Badwater? 0 

It then asks for a predicted race time and then evidence to support this prediction. It is really like an appraisal or a job interview.

It then suggests "other stuff" you may have done which does not count towards qualification but that you may want to add to support your application. This is like getting marks for showing your working out in an exam, even if you don't have the right answer you can get some sympathy points. Some suggestions for what counts as scribbles are "multiple" multi-days in one year (so one MDS is not enough), 500 mile cycle races, double, triple Ironman or further, the grand slam (6 really tough 100 mile races in the US within 3 months of each other). 

Reading the whole form leaves me feeling a bit inadequate. I have the minimum qualifying races (2 100 milers) but then so do many more people who I know will be applying for this race. I know I'll be up against people who have been running ultras since before I was doing cross country at school. My 3 races may well get my application on the table, but how far it goes depends on others. 

"Why do you want to run Badwater"? is a question I'm going to have to give a lot of thought to, since it may be my only chance of competing against the other entries. It seems strange that I should feel competitive about getting into a race. If they let me get to the start line then all thought of competition will depart and I can do what I love doing again, running my own race.

 302.47 miles ran in 43 hours 53 minutes. 31 days of running. Started off with a nasty cough and didn't get out as much as I would have liked but managed my third highest month ever. I plan to run about 4000 miles this year so need to get out even more.

Ealing Common at 7am

 I can't figure out how to get a table to look good in this blog. Sorry. 

The Ultra Race 90 was going to be tough. Only in non-stop runs have I done more than 90 in a weekend. Having felt a longer hangover from my 45 miles the previous week I was a little worried about how I'd cope on the second day, or even the first. Still, at least its all along a canal. What can go wrong on a canal?

Jon Hoo (one of many new recruits to the Serpie Ultra Running Team) and I got the train at stupid O'clock from Euston and headed for Northampton. Jono was clearly starting to lose his mind before he'd even started. "You wouldn't believe what I have gone and done?" he despaired.

Road over the Blissworth Tunnel

"What?" I replied.

"Look, I've gone and bought a return ticket to Northampton?" 

"Yeah? And....."

"But aren't we going to Tring?"

"Yes, but we are running there, FROM Northampton which is where we are going now".

"Oh - Phew that's a relief. I wondered why I bought tickets to Northampton".

With that kind of stupidity he may well become a great ultra-runner.

At Northampton station we had an interesting conversation with your typical Midlander. On asking where the Park Inn hotel was a girl pointed at a building and said, It's just there, you can see it, it's about half a mile away. Then, on our departure she looked confused. "You are not walking are you? Get a taxi". We walked there in 10 minutes and I was looking forward to a day of getting asked along the way "where are you running to? Where did you start". It's true that Ultra-Running does cause heart attacks, but only to those simpletons stood at the side asking the runner what they are doing.

The registration was well set up and I bumped into Rory for the first time since the MDS last year. I immediately asked him next time to put the start back in Brentford. I had been up nearly 4 hours already and was knackered. I was ready for lunch.

There were 2 starting waves, one at 8 which we just caught leaving and then one at 9. We were given clear instructions on how to get from the hotel to the canal just out of town but Jono managed to send everyone the wrong way within 50 meters. 

Luckily someone was listening to the instructions and we were on our way to the Canal, the Northampton arm of the Grand Union Canal.

View ULTRArace.45/90 in a larger mapI jogged along with Nick Copas who seems to be my ultra running buddy nowadays. Mark Cockbain and Jackson Griffith were close by too. We saw Jono running off ahead in pursuit of the lead guy who seemed to be building a huge gap. None of the rest of us were really in the mood to make a race of it, not that I would have been able to anyway. The Northants part of the canal is very muddy and the canal was almost empty. Soon we hit the "left turn" and headed towards London. I remember taking this as a right turn when coming from Birmingham and initially led people in the wrong direction and was accused of sending people up to Birmingham. 

With that embarrassing turn out of the way we headed in the right direction towards London. This is about the 55 mile point of the GUCR and there is a sign that says 77.5 miles to Brentford. Fortunately we were not going that far today. There are mile markers that signal the distance to Braunston Locks, a place where the GUC meets the Oxford canal. I worked out that we were 11 behind, so that when a marker said 20 it meant we had run 9 miles. This was very useful since my Garmin was about to run out of battery.

Nick and I ran all of it together while I bored him with tales of what these places look like in May when it is a bit darker and I am suffering from hallucinations. First off was the road section while the canal goes under a hill. Last time I was here I was suffering sun stroke and wanting to fall asleep in someone's garden, now it was quite damp and cold I had no such desire to do so. At the end of the road and at 9 miles was the first checkpoint. Here we caught up with Jackson and I exposed him as the bastard who told me about the Spartathlon 3 years ago. As we ran down the path to join the canal again I spoke about the time I ran down here then back up again because I thought I was lost and then I bumped into Pat Robbins (guy who keeps breaking the GUCR record) who assured me it was the right way. Jesus Nick must have been bored of all this banging on about the canal race, as I'm sure you are reading this. Fuck it, it's my blog anyway.

There were only about 60 or so in this race and they all space out pretty far. I don't normally like running with people but found Nick quite good company. Jackson was experimenting with a run/walk race which explained why he was overtaking me every 5 minutes. Soon he shot off and left Nick and I to plod on.

The third checkpoint seemed to take a long time coming and was after about 28 miles. There was soup, tea and coffee and malt loaf and cake.  We faffed in the checkpoints getting fed for longer than was necessary and stiffned up quite a bit, which happens much faster in the cold. Getting moving again was hard and Nick was keen to keep moving whereas I was happier to stroll along stuffing my face. In an attempt to catch up with him I did a comedy stumble, tripping then charging about 10 yards before rolling over like an arse and cutting my knee and hand. 

I was enjoying a real run of nostalgia and boring Nick with it all. I remembered vividly the Navigation Bridge at 70 miles (15 here) where I fell asleep, then the small station at about 84 miles (29 here) where I tried to fall asleep but Henk wouldn't let me and then the pub bench a few miles on where I did fall asleep for a few minutes before being woken up my Nick Morrison-Smith who thought I was a tramp. At this point I had to stop and take a photo of the very bench I committed this crime on and as we stopped Nick seized up and struggled to move on. 

There were only about 60 or so in this race and they all space out pretty far. I don't normally like running with people but found Nick quite good company. Jackson was experimenting with a run/walk race which explained why he was overtaking me every 5 minutes. Soon he shot off and left Nick and I to plod on. 

The third checkpoint seemed to take a long time coming and was after about 28 miles. There was soup, tea and coffee and malt loaf and cake.  We faffed in the checkpoints getting fed for longer than was necessary and stiffned up quite a bit, which happens much faster in the cold. Getting moving again was hard and Nick was keen to keep moving whereas I was happier to stroll along stuffing my face. In an attempt to catch up with him I did a comedy stumble, tripping then charging about 10 yards before rolling over like an arse and cutting my knee and hand. 

That Bench

The last miles felt quite tough as we were slowing down quite a lot. I was hoping to get it done in about 7 hours and still thought that was realistic at the last checkpoint but we ended up taking 7.32. In the last quarter we ran a bit with a Fetchie "Mile Muncher" who was looking in very good form. My Garmin had given up and hers reported the last checkpoint being 37.5 miles. 7.5 to go, excellent.

It was a bit longer than that though. I was still looking around at the views I had hitherto missed by running this section in the dark. I remember the pub after 99.5 miles and how I flipped when I realised it was not 100. With this in mind we carried on and eventually took the exit onto the road into Pendley Manor. 

ouch

We went inside to find Jono had already had a massage and got changed and was waiting around. He had come second and only a minute off the lead. Not bad, for a guy who nearly forgot he was going to Northampton. I decided to stay in the hotel and rest and looked forward to the next day. After a massage my legs felt rather good. A couple of beers (breaking my vow not to drink before my birthday) and pasta and I was feeling sleepy enough to go to bed.

Then the most annoying thing happened, I got a hideous headache. I had no pills to deal with it so I downed water and hoped it would go away but it wouldn't. I worried about not getting to sleep which made it worse, it wasn't even a bad headache it was just really badly timed and hard to get rid of without drugs. I went downstairs to reception and met a guy who was trying to be helpful but actually making things worse. Constrained by the H&S Nazi's and threats of litigation that stifle many economies nowadays he said he could not give me any pills. When I asked where I could get some he mentioned an "easy" 3 mile drive somewhere. I said I had no car which didn't seem to stop him confirming to me once more that if I did have a car then it would be an easy drive. 

I decided at about 2am that I was not going to run the next day. I could have done it and I reckon I would have finished faster on the Sunday but I could not afford to be wrecked for the Monday. That could be the first time that work has taken priority over running. A slippery slope indeed. 

I got up the next day in time to see the early start leave and then the later one. I took some well deserved digs from Mark and Drew about not starting but stood by it. Plenty more times in the year to smash myself. I watched the start I should have been in and saw the runners run off through the trees. It wasn't a pleasant site but I still had hours of sleep to catch up on. If I am going to do a race sleep deprived it will be because it's part of the race, not because of some stupid headache. 

one of many pointless lock crossings