With 5 miles to go I thought I’d blown it.
I had a goal time in my mind for the South Downs Way 50 but at the bottom of the final hill I just couldn’t see how I was going to do it. I was tired, my knees were in agony, my stomach was churning with every faltering movement. Every step was a painful effort & I still had what seemed like a mountain to climb. Continue reading
In a grump mid-race I decided I wasn’t going to write about the North Downs Way 50 this year. It wasn’t going to plan, I saw no reason to remember it or to prolong the suffering. On reflection my run writing has always been about preserving my memories & there are definitely things from this race I want to remember, so here we go…
I’m sitting here a few days later, wearing the t-shirt, the massive shiny medal in front of me, looking at the happy, smiley, official race photos telling myself it was a good day, it wasn’t that bad, was it?
No, really, it was.
I started writing this post on Saturday evening, lying in bed drinking pink gin in a tin & eating crisps (don’t judge, I had just run 50 miles…!). Those words were very different to the words I write here. Sometimes a few days of reflection are needed to rationalise thoughts, feelings & emotions. I write for myself, no one else, & as much to remember my adventures as anything else. So here goes my South Downs Way 50 story, mark II… Continue reading
I *totally* get the irony of calling a 50km race a training run, but that is exactly what the XNRG Humanity Direct Ultra was. On the 10th March, four weeks before the SDW50, I lined up on the start line ready for my longest ‘training’ run & what would hopefully become my second longest run ever. Oh, it was also my ‘birthday’ run… What better way to celebrate turning 38 the next day than to run 50km! Continue reading
Photo Girl Runs 