After really enjoying the Compton 20 at the beginning of April I’d inevitably (for me) started contemplating a trail ultra marathon. The contrastingly miserable Milton Keynes marathon, for which it rained most of the time, turned contemplation into serious investigation – I needed an antidote. A look on the Runners World calender unearthed something called the Northants Ultra 35 – Shires and Spires which was not too far from home and promised rolling countryside so I entered.
I promised myself that I would not start if the weather looked at all nasty or if I didn’t feel up to it or if I was even vaguely injured come the day. The MK Marathon would have to do as my longest run – after all I’d had a fair amount of walking practice during it. I ran walked a hilly trail 22 miler leaving myself just a 2 week taper during which I fussed about what kit I’d need and watched the weather get gradually hotter. I concentrated on serious carbo-loading and pre-hydration the 2 days before and was actually weighing 2kg over average by the night before.
The start was bustling with music and early sunshine. I picked up my number and my map book, ate and drunk some more, and used the loo round the side of the stately Lamport Hall whose grounds we were in. We were asked to gather at the start for a briefing then 8:30 am and we were off – no rushing about just a gentle jog along the front of the hall and out onto the road.
The result of my inquiry regarding whether any vegan food would be available at checkpoints – fruit for instance – hadn’t been very reassuring so I was prepared to fuel myself on energy gels and sweeties with a couple of other items in case I could face any more sweet and sticky. To this end I’d discovered late that I could carry 4 extra gels by wedging them behind the already jammed full pouches on my bottle belt. They say never try anything new on the day and sure enough a few hundred metres down the road I had to stop and recover 2 I’d dropped, I held them in my hand along with the other 2 which were also trying to jump ship. In my other hand was the waterproofed map book with it’s red line on extracts from the OS map which I couldn’t make any sense of while on the move. I don’t like running with stuff in my hands so this wasn’t a good start, particularly as it was already warm enough for my hands to be getting slippery with sweat.
Within a mile we were descending a long hill which we knew we’d be climbing back up in 34 miles – it was a great start though and a bit of chatting and jogging and not as much walking as I’d promised myself and we were at the first checkpoint at Cottesbrooke, about 4 miles in. I ate my second gel and dumped the map, I had my Garmin to navigate by with backup map and compass so this seemed dead weight. With only 600ml of water capacity on a hot day I made sure to drink all my water before each checkpoint then drink at least 500ml as well as refilling the bottles.
A couple of minutes and I was off again, a chap with local knowledge had already confirmed an imminent long climb after which most of the run would be undulating, Tracklogs reckoned about 750m total climb for the 35 mile course. Despite running what felt very slowly my Garmin suggested I’d gone off too fast so I made a point of taking it extra easy and walking most of the hill then jogging along the ridge listening to my iPod while taking in some fine views and generally enjoying the sun which was to reach 27 degrees C later in the day. Checkpoint 2 at Naseby, almost 9 miles in, arrived soon enough and I refilled my water and set off alone munching a Nak’d bar which didn’t go down very well in the heat.
The field had spread out somewhat by now and for a while there were no other runners in sight. After a couple of miles we were off the road and back on the paths again, I found a runner at a field edge trying to work out which way to go so we ran together for a while. Soon after I made the mistake of following him along a short path across a cropped field as my Garmin route didn’t look very obvious. We ended up wandering through a tall meadow to regain the Garmin route where I reassuringly saw some runners up ahead in the distance to confirm – it had only cost a few minutes so not a problem. We met another confused runner on the outskirts of West Haddon who had run before and seemed to think we should go through the village rather than round, she joined us on the correct route.
Soon enough we were at the Silsworth Riding School control at 16 miles. I refilled my water and drunk lots while eating a few crisps and wasting valuable time trying to get my Zero hydration tablets out of my bag. I felt fine and my pace was still ok but I could tell I was getting a bit muddled and clumsy and the endurance part of the day was really going to start!
Somewhere or another in Northamptonshire
I left with a small group, soon it was just 2 of us, then just me after my companion went shopping for water in one of the villages having failed to meet-up with his support team. Onwards, enjoying the music, walking the hills and occasionally the not hills, the halfway point came and went then the 20 miles. By checkpoint 4, Althorp, at 23 miles I was increasingly feeling the heat and was getting slower but not severely so. The time limit for the event was 9 hours and I held out some hope for an 8 hour finish but knew better than to force the pace just as I was about to go into that unknown territory after 26.2 miles.
The pace really started dropping after the 26th mile, the Garmin download suggests I was averaging only 16 minute miles now. I still felt good though which rather surprised me and it was reassuring seeing others with apparently more experience walking just as much and seeming happy and confident. I was eating my way through my supply of gels and sweets while continuing to drink, once getting a bonus fill-up from someone’s support vehicle.
I got slightly lost a couple of times, one pleasant diversion where I led a couple of chaps through what I think were the private grounds of yet another stately home, a less pleasant detour on a golf course where the Garmin wanted me to go straight through a hedge and only the appearance of other runners who headed straight for a partly hidden stile just 20 metres away made the route clear. Sometimes a map is better than a Garmin. (I’m not sure I’m getting events in the right order now – you know how it is.)
Yet another hill up to the 5th checkpoint at Teeton – which had become ‘tea-time’ in my now comfortably cooked brain – lots more water including half a bottle over my head then I continued upwards leaving behind the small party on the green including a cheerful young lady whose feet seemed to be held together with sticking plasters.
8 hours wasn’t going to happen now but I was going to finish in plenty of time so just plodded on run-walking and not thinking about that huge hill right near the end. I gradually caught up with a couple of ladies who were walking while I jogged. They left me behind quick enough when I slowed to walk a hill. Similarly I seemed to be running more often than a couple of cheerful chaps who still left me behind as I slowed to walk. I chatted with them briefly and commented that it was my walking speed I needed to work on if I wanted to gain time.
We gently climbed some cycleway for a bit which offered a welcome bit of shade then rejoined the outward route for that last hill. I walked up happily, now alone, then jogged a little along the road into Lamport crossing carefully when I remembered it was in fact the A508. I walked to the gate we had been told we would finish through (‘NOT the one you start out of as that will be locked’). A couple of hundred metres before the finish, before it came into sight, I ran without restraint for the first time in a good few miles and crossed the line to be awarded a medal to go with my technical shirt. Sitting in the shade drinking yet more more water I looked back on the day and chatted to a chap who it turned out came from Wheatley just 4 miles the other side of Shotover from me – we’d been training for this event over much the same trails.
Results show 8 hour 13 minutes – 119th of 132 finishers (138 starters). I thoroughly enjoyed the event and will have to restrain myself from entering any more this year, I could easily get sucked into this ultra thing and spend all my weekends getting slower and knackereder which would be just a bit too much like audax. Very tired with extremely wobbly legs the following day so was glad to have booked it off work. The only actual injury I seem to have gained is a blister on my right foot which is annoying and uncomfortable to walk on but all in all I think I got away with it lightly!
