Running My First Ultramarathon…Twice
It was a late night discussion somewhere in mid-2020 that prompted me to sign up for my first ultramarathon.
Chatting with a friend, the topic of ultramarathons came up. Within 30 mins of hanging up the call, I’d found an upcoming 75km Ultra from Aldershot to Portsmouth. The ‘Race to Remember’ happens yearly to raise money for army vets suffering from stress disorders. Good cause, good chance to test myself, I’m in!
A Spanner in the works
2020 wasn’t exactly a ‘normal’ year and as a result of covid restrictions throughout the year there was always the risk that the race might not go ahead. However, I continued my training and fundraising under the assumption things would go ahead.
With a few weeks to go the fateful call came from the organisers to advise that due to restrictions preventing going across county lines the ultra was unable to go ahead as planned.
Despite being quite deflating it also left me a bit in limbo with regards to fundraising and specifically sponsorship payments that had already come in. There were two options:
1. Accept the waived fee for the next years race and carry over the sponsorships
2. Complete a ‘virtual’ Race to Remember by completing the distance on my own accord
Two options may have existed by really there was only ever one…North London was about to be the location of a running man’s attempt to carve out 75km of running routes on an autumn Saturday morning.
Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Man
The 7th November was finally upon us! I’d already purchased all the mandatory gear including lightweight bag, trail shoes etc so made sense to put it to use. As far as possible I want to at least try and mimic some of the course terrain and minimise pitstops. I found a trail path from Highgate to Finsbury Park which along with a loop of the park itself made up a 4-5 mile loop. This ended up becoming the core of my route for the day.
Back and forth, back and forth on the trail, round and round, round and round through the park. The miles racked up and the hours did too but surely enough I was working my way towards the target. I set off around 09:00am and by 14:00am I was at around the 45-50km mark.
As I closed in on the last 15kms I briefly dropped into my flat, shed my compression tights as the temperature had picked up and continued on my local daily run circuit. I thought given it was the same run I do all the time this would be the easy part but overlooked how when you’re reaching the end it can feel both so near yet so far away at the same time!
After 6hrs and 52 minutes I finally had the distance cleared on both Strava and Garmin to a safe margin I felt I could finish and wasn’t at risk of a tracking error. I stopped in front of the local Tesco’s squatted down to my knees to take in the moment. Looking up and down the street which was relatively low on foot fall my first thought was ‘no one has a clue what I just did!’ which was a bit of a surreal feeling.
I got back to my feet, grabbed a water from Tesco and strolled back home…that was that, first ultra down!
My First Ultra – Take Two!
Roll forward the calendar 12 months and of course I was going to take on the actual route. I’d cracked the ‘ultra’ distance but it still didn’t feel like I’d run an ultramarathon without an actual start and finish line.
To maximise the window for all to complete the race started at 6am from a sports stadium in the centre of Aldershot. It wasn’t a race in the typical sense given the focus was more on charity but nonetheless I was focused on running it and completing it in a decent time.
I set off at a pretty decent pace and within a few miles we diverged from the town to the countryside. It became apparent pretty quickly that this was going to be a very lonely 75km! For miles and miles, you’re running in pure isolation. Aside from refreshment stops and some congratulatory applause the only life you see is cows and horses!
The terrain was as expected a lot more challenge than the makeshift local route I’d done a year prior. There were some considerable ascents as well as muddy sludge fields all of which added to the compounding tiredness on the legs.
There’s a strange feeling that I’m now more familiar with when you cross a marathon distance and realise, you’re only just over halfway. No time to dwell on your sorrows though, head down and let’s crack on!
Finishing Strong
As I descended on Portsmouth, you’re all of a sudden hit with a return to society with the general public and cars going about their business. At this point the mental hurdle sets in of knowing you’re near to the end but still not quite there. I leaned heavily on my playlist and mental resilience to crack on at this point and at around the last 3-4 miles ‘Going the distance’ came on. Game over – 14th round Rocky cameos in my mind and I was flying towards the finish line!
As I came toward the finish line one of the organiser team rushed out to applaud and congratulate me. Finishers came in so sporadically and I was around 20 mins or so beyond the guy who came in first that they had to keep coming out and going back in. It was a nice feeling to have some acknowledgement of completing this accolade especially after such an anticlimactic end to the distance the year prior.
There was a slight underestimation by the organisers on the fastest finish times as our gear from the start wasn’t scheduled to arrive for another 45 minutes which made for a bit of a tedious wait. I tried to keep moving and stretching but at that point could really have done with a sports massage!
Just shy of 45 minutes later my bags arrived. I quickly changed and worked my way down the mile or so to the train station to come home.
A Celebratory Night Out
A few friends were out for the evening. Jokingly (I think?!) they challenged me to try and make it, I assume thinking that all banter aside I wouldn’t.
The journey back home was far from fun…It’s 90 mins or so back into London after which I had to make my way across to North London on the tube with another couple of miles walk at the other end. By the time I arrived home my legs were battered to put it lightly.
Never one to be defeated. I went to the local shop and grabbed 5 bags of ice. ‘Are you having a party?’ came the question from behind the counter ‘No, I’m having a bath!’ A 20-minute ice bath and 30 mins or so to recover later I was getting ready to head out.
I triumphantly walked through the door at the bar the guys were into some surprised faces. It was a good night and a reward that felt more than deserved. Come 4am I got in the Uber to come home and was KO’d within minutes to be awoken at my apartment block.
And so, the curtain came down on my first ultramarathon at the ‘second’ time of asking.