Winnings

I was delighted this week to realise my 6th place in the recent ultra won me some money, as I was third male. 20 whole pounds cash*! Woot! I shall be the Endurance Life spending it as soon as I have decided what event to do next.

A busy week but managed some running. The hill out the back of the Farringdon Travelodge proved useful for hills reps. Having half an hour free early in the morning on Thursday I decided to see how many times I could run up and down it. Turns out, 12. The day before I had a pleasant trot through the city, checking out some old haunts. Quite a lot of new buildings, but good to see one of the worlds greatest cafes is still going - the Peoples Choice.

Today I tried a new run route. Out through Shurdington, up on to Crickley Hill, then along the Cotswold Way to Leckhampton Hill, and then Cleeve hill and home. 30km with nearly 900m of ascent, in three hours. Was quite pleased with the 10km average speed over that terrain.

A recovery baguette with four 'not bacon' strips and two fried eggs perked me up at the end, as did a trip to Go Outdoors. I love that place. The one in Gloucester is big! It's like a playground. I came back with a Osprey Raptor pack, a 10 litre water container (which means we can now have running water in the van - tested and it works!) and a Power bar (which I had eaten before I crossed the car park.

In other news - no rapture. Probably for the best, I've got stuff to do tomorrow.



* Not actual cash.

Mudrunner

The Mud Runner was fun, if a bit.. damp. 100m in and we were in a river.  It was cold, dank and frankly, very smelly.  Coming out of it it took some effort to level the heart rate off - the combination of the sprint from the start to the water, followed by the shock of the cold, and the effort to stay upright in the water left me nearly breathless.

The rest of the course was hard.  A mix of very hilly terrain and, as the name suggests, mud. It was biased enough towards proper running to be good, with the occasional wading and sliding a break from the hills.  I could feel Saturdays run in my legs on the hills, though I noticed towards the end I was still running up hills thats lots of people were walking on.  I suppose the thing about ultra running is that you might not start fast, but don't slow down much.  It was actually quite a challenge to override the desire to pace myself.  This year I have been carefully building distance, and focussing on making sure I start a run at a pace I know means I'll get to the end.  I found myself wanting to do the same today, despite the fact that for the distance I could have cheerfully gone full (or close to) throttle.  I have always quite enjoyed short, hard races.  The sensation of finding a level that is only just bearable, and than holding that pace for the duration and being utterly spent when you cross the line is, in a masochistic kind of a way, a good one.

Today took me 1 hour 7 minutes, which shows it was a hard 10km.  Ali reckoned I was about 40th across the line, from a 1000, though the race was started in waves (based on your estimated time).  There were lots of photographers out on the course too, so I am sure there will be plenty of photographs of filthy wet people.

The day was rounded off with a trip to Cotswold Outdoor. Mmmmm new season ski gear...