So, this weekend gone was the first big test in the training for Iceland...my first Ultra marathon. The route took me from just east of nottingham to grantham along the old canal, for a total distance of 29.3 miles. The weather in the morining was pretty much perfect, about 6 degrees, calm and sunny. I set off steadily and fealt pretty good for the first half of the race. After about 18 miles I began to tire quite seriously, although strangely the pain in my arms was far worse than in my legs. I kept pressing on, refuelling with energy gels at the 4th and final checkpoint. At this point my brain was going a bit foggy and I couldn't remember if there was 4 or 5 checkpoints. I knew the last one was at 9 miles to go. I remember thinking that i'd never finish if there was more than that to do, but thankfully a quick glance at the route map told me I had about 6 miles left. My now the pain in my shoulders was excruciating, and I had resorted to running with my arms crossed in front of me to ease the pain. This atracted the attention of a couple of the passing runners, and I chatted to a couple of them for a while, which helped pass a few miles. Turns out that these guys are reeally insane! One guy had already run 80 miles that week, and was training for a non-stop race between birmingham and London in May, a total of 145 miles!! Another girl was doing 10 marathons in 10 days, these guys are mad I was thinking!
Finally the buzz of traffic told me I was getting close to the main road and the finish line. I came off the canal and finished the last half a mile in agony! I crossed the line in 25th place out of about 100 in a time of 4hrs 40mins, pretty good for a first effort, although most of them were running back the next day, which at that moment I thought was beyond me. Suprisingly within a couple of hours I fealt fine again, but by then we were on our way home. Maybe i'll do both days next year!
At least now I know that I can run a good distance, although iceland is 5 miles longer and significantly more mountainous!
Time to start on the hill training soon i think.