Quite pleased

On 7th and 8th November I started an ultra with one goal in mind. Keep going as long as possible. My previous attempts in the past five years have all been disasterous. I go off too fast and stop within ten hours. This time I stayed on the track for 18 hours and covered more distance than at any time since 2020.

So what was the story? Well I had no intention of entering.  in fact I had no idea the race was on. 

Graeme Boxell,  an ever present crewing at Spartathlon told me  about it while we were in Greece. 

"Go on Rob, just come along,  it can't be that far from where you live"

He was right it was a few hours from  home on thre trains. Chrissy said it was fine for me  to do  as she plans she had plan for that weekend anyway . The only issue was engineering work on the local lines, but she took me to the Frankfurt airport from which I got a train the Mannheim and then a local traing from there to the local station in Ubstadt-Weiher. 

The race started at 18:00 on the Friday evening and I got there in plenty of time and made my way by foot to the start .  I met Graeme & Pete Johnson at the start.  These guys have a fine predigree of Ultras

Graeme here DUV Ultra Marathon Statistics

Pete here DUV Ultra Marathon Statistics and here DUV Ultra Marathon Statistics Yeah Pete has two enteries for some reason

I met Graeme while crewing multiple times ar Sparatatlon, and I have always enjoyed my interactions with him,  although they tend to brief as he crew the likes of Daysey who is always way ahead of the people I crew.

 

I first met Pete back in 2012 on my first Spartalong attempt in 2012 and then on my first successful GUCR.   Pete is a well known face on  the British Ultra scene and it was a please to meet  after so long

I traveled down in my running kit plus a pair of jeans and a hoody. When the race started, as I had decide to walk the race I didin't both removing the outer clotheing and just walked. Thew course was a simply mile loop that was well lit. 

Walking while everyone else was running is a bit odd and you have to make sure you are out of the way of the fast people.  one such was a new friend, Matthias Gall who I met at the Spartathlon Beer Mile(SPM).  He made laugh there was he was concenrd about the SBM entry requirements.  These ar only to bring five beers,  four for the race and one for me. heh I provide the trophy together with Matt Blacburn and my son...

At tenish I was,  for the first time  looking at my motivation book, which although I take  it to every race I forget to look at it.

This really kept me  going. Also I was using watered down Maurten powder, sharing a third of one packet per 500ml bottle per hour.  Does that make sense? Each pack is 83 grams and I put roughly 30g into a 500ml bottle.  I found that putting the water in first and then adding the powder after works better.  In  the past I put the power in and the add the water.  This results in the powder turning into a congealed  mess at the bottom of the bottle.  I also availed myself of the food on the refreshment table and had a few energy bars.

By threeish the number of people thinned out.  I was sending voice notes to Chrissy overnight just to report on how I was going and listening to them back I sound ok.

At 5:30 I was a tad cold and found Graeme "resting" This is normally where I am after eleven hours so  pleased with myself that I was still going. I had decide to take a cat nap like Graeme.  Surprisingly I notice now that I sat down at 05:33 and got up at 5:49.   Power nap or what?

At 07:20 it was daylight and my vision was a bit off.  I thought I saw a rotating windsock, that turned out to be a flag. I was cold but just flapped my arms about and soon warmed up.  

I kept going having the odd chat with people as they slowed for a walking break. At one  stage Pete walked for several laps and we had a good old mans chat about the start of the world.  

By mid day and eithgeighteen hours on the course I was still strong, but felt I had proved myself for this attempt.  Graeme and Pete said they would be getting a cab to the station so I made a decision to go with them. In the end that was a mistake  s the cab didn't arrive and the train journey was full of cancellations and delays. As Chrissy said, why stop at that time, keep going to 18:00.  My wife is rather irritating at times as she is always right.

I got home  and I had a very nice collection  of blisters.  three on one  foot,  two on the other.  personally I blame  Richard Fish, as I used some Drymax socks he gifted me  and if you look carefully the bastard gave me  two lefts.

I’ve always believed Ultras are not about beating someone else — it’s about being a little stronger, a little steadier, a little more resilient than I was before. Every ultra is a reminder that progress isn’t always dramatic. Sometimes it’s just showing up, logging the miles, and trusting that tomorrow you’ll be stronger for it. This run was one more brick in the wall of endurance I’ve been rebuilding for years after breaking bones in my lower limbs in the last few years. This run was exactly that: proof that consistency builds endurance, and endurance builds character.