The first day couldn’t have been better – I ran really hard from the off, though not quite the 7 min miling some of the front guys started with; but I thought I might see some of them again – and I did. The route takes you through a real mixture of forest, moorland, country lanes and even a sandy stretch. I was wearing my Brooks Cascadia trail shoes which have only been out on the Camel Teign when I did in my Achilles, so I thought I’d give them another go and I really like them – enough of a tread for soggy underfoot and cushioned enough for the (fairly short) road sections. The markings this year were very clear – with tape and arrows on the ground, I hardly had to look at the map.

We had set off in cloudy conditions and it looked like it might rain but later the sun came out – I decided not to run with water as the checkpoints are every 8 miles or so, though towards the end I was pretty dehydrated. The second day I took my bottle as it was sunny from the start (and this a Bank Holiday Weekend!).

[Remember to post a picture of me actually running; though whenever Richard from XNRG took a photo it was at a checkpoint and I'm sure I was eating Haribo everytime!]

Coming into the finish on the first day I knew I’d caught up with nearly all the guys who’d shot off in front of me – except Justin and Austin who were way ahead. I thought there would be some others too and was mightily surprised to find out I was 3rd overall for day 1! 4:16 was 29 minutes quicker than last year and I felt great.

The finish of Day 1 in Ringwood

That evening I was the entertainment – after a great dinner the XNRG weekends have a speaker and Neil had asked me to talk about my US Run, which I was more than happy to do (me, talk about myself and running? oh go on then!). It was an engaged audience and brought back some wonderful memories from last summer.

Day 2 dawned and was really bright and sunny, if a bit chilly. I’d brought my wetsuit to swim first thing in the lake nearby but wimped out as it was to cold – plus I wanted to give the run my all. Setting off with a few of the guys from day 1 I felt sluggish and it took me about 15 miles to warm up, I had forgotten how hilly the first stretch was. Thanks to Peter (the GP who I often run near and get talking to at this event) and George for keeping me going through the tough times. Also it was good to see John (who I’d met at the 12 hour track race last weekend – don’t ask, I did 8 hours/50miles and gave up going round in circles!) and his wife Kate. John had said he was ‘pacing the missus’ the second day; looked like she was pushing him round more like!  I just about managed to keep it together to drag myself around in what felt like a slow 4:47 (though was actually only a couple of minutes off last year – and with the speedy time the day before not bad at all, but room for improvement!). I managed to hold onto third place overall and first woman with a time of 9:03 for the weekend. Justin Montague flew round in under 4 hours the first day and just over on the second with Austin in between us – there was no way I was catching them two, despite the previous evening’s banter!

All in all a good two days running but also really great to catch up with some familiar faces and meet some super new runners. Amongst the new faces I was impressed by a woman called Rochelle who was running her first ultra on day one, and second on day two. She was so cheery whenever I saw her and kept her pace up well for her first event. Also Polly who is fundraising for the Southampton Young Carers Project and well on her way to completing 13 Challenges – having run her first marathon last week this was her first (and second) ultra, with her school colleague Mark for support.

Thanks again to the XNRG team for a great weekend, unfortunately I’m going to miss the ‘Round the Island’ Isle of Wight race as it’s only a week after GUCR but I’ll hopefully be back in the New Forest next year.

Sometimes it was clear when we were on the right path… sometimes not so clear!

Then a 10 day trip to Lanzarote with the running/Tri club. I could barely run so decided not to risk it and take advantage of the great cycling round the island. I swam a lot (at least once a day in the gorgeous 50m outside pool) and have kept this up a few times a week back home. If I was in London injured I’d have been pretty fed up but in the sunshine of Lanzarote I was able to cross train and enjoy the change.

If you have to recover from a dodgy Achilles La Santa is the best place!

I was still in a lot of pain when I got back, saw a physio and was told to stay off it for the foreseeable (though it turns out I have some myopia…!) With the London Marathon coming up I  decided to test it out at the National Road Relays and ran a pb 5k with no pain, which was a great feeling after nearly 6 weeks off! So I picked up my VLM number and ran a decent marathon, mainly off my endurance base – my pacing was pretty rubbish though. Still slightly surprised with only being 1 min over my pb; which has made me start to think I might train for next year’s London Marathon and see what I can do.

Getting the train from Waterloo on Saturday morning I bumped into Andrew who I’ve seen several times at these events and we caught up. Then a small group of us formed at Farham train station for the lift to the start. We arrived with just under an hour to go. As we walked into the tent Neil said ‘Ah I wondered when our fast runners were turning up’ which I think may have been because we’d been joined on the train by Robbie Britton (who recently qualified for the GB 24 hour team and is off to the World Champs in Holland in May).

About 40 set off on the 10am start  – with around 160 ahead on the 8 and 9am starts. It was a chilly but sunny day with little wind, perfect running conditions. I set off at a speed I knew I couldn’t maintain but having run this before I knew the first section out was flatter and the second half would be hillier and muddier, so wanted to get in some quick miles. Hitting the half marathon mark at 1:50 I felt great, loving the North Downs Way trail and running in a small line of guys with the first woman just ahead. Boxhill steps didn’t seem as bad as previous years and I hit the third check point and marathon point at 4 hours after slowing over Reigate hill. It had been a bit muddy in small stretches (especially near the start then near the river) but at about 28 miles it was ankle-deep thick sticky mud that could have doubled up as wet cement thanks to the chalky base. So far the Hokas I was wearing (Mafates) had coped well with the terrain but now I found I had about a kilo of mud on each enormous shoe and heavy legs were getting heavier by the second. I had several sense of humour failures (including a tantrum that any three year-old would be proud of!) but then I got going again for the 4 miles after the fourth checkpoint and had a strong finish in 5:13, 2nd woman by nearly 20 mins but pleased with top 20 overall.

Perfect mud-collecting footwear!

At the finish a very hot shower (with the piercing noise of the fire alarm as the steam was so great!) removed the mud and we all settled in for the night after watching England win the rugby. After dinner we were  entertained by a talk from Andy Mouncey on a variety of ultra-topics, including his three different approaches to the Lakeland 100 and some more general advice. In previous years I’ve taken the train home as it’s less than an hour door to door, but I had decided to stay this time to try out my new Thermorest Neolite mat; in Transe Gaule I’ll be sleeping on school hall floors etc so it was good to practice. I had a pretty broken night’s sleep but the mat was ok, sleeping in a room with 100 guys less ok – it seemed every five minutes someone was getting up to use the loo.

So day two and having seen off the 7 and 8am starts there were about 20 of us for the later, fast start. The front guys had been very quick on the first day with the leading man coming in just over the 4 hour mark, but anyone under 5:45 was in the later start (though some had moved to the 8am). The weather was a few degrees warmer with a little wind and showers forecast later so even more incentive to finish as early as possible.

NDW from the top at St Martha’s church                            – photo Noriko Sugiyama

River near Guildford – mud in left hand corner one of the drier spots…

Setting off my legs felt ok, quads a little sore from hammering the downhill but nothing too bad. In previous years day two has been more tortuous with injury issues the first year and snow last year so I couldn’t really complain but the mud made it tough going. I already knew the first woman was well away and I just wanted a decent run without too bad a time. Having resigned myself to 6 hours for day two I plodded on. I was surprised to see two familiar faces on the route – Paula R running towards us near the underpass at Boxhill and Andy G riding the surrey hills on his bike after Denbies vineyard, lovely to get a ‘Hey Jen – keep going!’ after a long climb.

I was caught up by Colin from Ranelagh Harriers and we shared whinges about the mud and heavy legs. We did get back into something of a rhythm and I felt like we were running again, he faded a little but I pushed on – realising that the positive split was going to be absolutely awful if I didn’t. With a mixture of 9bars and soreen to cheer my mood I actually felt ok for the last stretch and wished I hadn’t walked the muddy bits but I was delighted to be cheered into the finish by everyone and Neil greated his second placed woman of the weekend with ‘we’ve been waiting for you’, though a runners-up trophy, XNRG fleecy hat and some more delicious 9bars made up for it. 22nd out of 149 two-day finishers but I’ll be back next year  – determined to get that positive split below an hour!

There were some epic performances. The leaders this year were very fast in some very poor conditions. Danny Kendall broke the previous course record of 9 hours 17minutes by posting an unbelievable time of 8 hours 49 mins.

The women’s record also went – Annabelle Stearns clocked up a great time of 10 hours 23 mins breaking the previous course record (held by my friend Claire from 2010 who reckoned it wouldn’t last long) by nearly 10 minutes, I was a good hour behind her, great running!

This weekend isn’t just about the racing though – XNRG create a really inclusive, encouraging atmosphere for everyone and it was a lovely moment when Andy’s talk was halted about 8pm to cheer in Day one’s last three finishers (still smiling!) who must’ve been out there for 12 hours, that’s a pretty quick walk over those hills in that mud finishing in the dark!

Arrived home about half past six via the Indian takeaway – thanks to someone on the train mentioning curry I tucked into a lamb Rogan Josh to finish a superb weekend.

Of course I’ve got to stop by Waterloo Station on the way home from work tomorrow to collect my muddy Hokas which I left on the train from Farnham, I wonder if they’ll have cleaned them…

Having booked my flights pretty late I opted for flying in on the Friday night, starting running on the Saturday morning at 9am … running for 72 hours … finishing at 9am and flying out at 9pm on the Tuesday. This prevented me having to re-mortgage but may not (with hindsight) have been the best idea.

The week before Christmas I finally succumbed to the office cold and for the first time in a long time was confined to my bed – sinusitis had set in. Panic also followed that I really didn’t have long to get better! I was still sniffly and a bit snotty as I got the plane but had an ok flight and got to the pre-race hotel about 9pm… 12 hours to race start! Feeling massive deja-vu I headed to bed at the Comfort Suites, in a room that looked the same as nearly all my summer stays! Unfortunately I didn’t have a great night’s sleep – though I had already adjusted well to the time zone by having a very long day two days before and a big lie in on the Friday.

Breakfast was a little bizarre – a room filled with ultra runners I’d not met before but knew I’d be spending the next few days with, everyone looking rather apprehensive and most of them knowing each other. It felt a little like being in the room of a secret society that I was going to be joining. So I focussed on something I do well – eating, in answer to the question ‘what do you eat ahead of a 72 hour race’ I’d say muffins, bagels and some oatmeal. Having this race just after Christmas already helped the carbo-loading! Sitting waiting for the shuttle bus to the race venue about a mile away I met George Biondic and his wife who were lovely. I had 2 small bags, they had about 6 boxes and 3 enormous suitcases, so I asked it they were local – they’d flown from Canada and I was a little worried I hadn’t brought much gear. I later found out George won the 72 hour race in 2010 and he was using all his own food etc to prevent any stomach issues. Luckily I can eat nearly anything and so relying on the race aid station was not a problem – in fact when we got to the start the food and drinks available were incredible, I would not be lacking for anything!

I was not going to struggle for treats during the race!

I also met Tammy and Tristam Massie who wonderfully gave us a lift to the start rather than waiting for the bus – they ferried me to the airport after the race as well and are a really generous couple who helped me enormously, especially as I knew only a few people. Tammy ran the 48 hour race on the first 2 days (and placed 3rd) and Tristam ran the 24 hour race on the third day – a great tag team. Seeing Tammy on the third day helping out having run 130 miles was amazing, her energy is limitless.

We arrived at the Camelback Ranch – a large (140 acre) sports facility with 13 baseball fields, some with big stadia which is the spring training facility of the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers. I picked up my packet with number and found my already-pitched tent I’d hired for the event, this was just one of the things that attracted me to the race – enabling me to go from airport to hotel to event without having to shop for a tent. The sun was just coming up and there was frost on the ground – though by the time we started at 9am it felt less chilly. The temperature changes in this desert race are definitely a large feature – it went from near zero overnight to about 20 degrees in the day, which was pleasant in the sunshine. Thankfully my friend Cat who lives in Surprise, Az (very hard to say without an exclamation mark!) brought me a sleeping bag and blanket which was essential.

Dawn over the start/finish line, my tent was just on the left

At about 8:55am people gathered for the start, this was my first timed event over 12 hours and I’d not run for longer than 21 hours so felt nervous at the thought of running for so long. Though I like looped courses (can’t get lost, easy to get aid, always know how far you’ve gone) I was apprehensive about a one mile loop. It was clear most runners had run this event before – most seemed to have done the 24 or 48hours before if not the 72. I set off at my ‘I think I can run forever like this’ pace and completed the first marathon in 4:30, feeling comfortable. I knew I would struggle in the night section so putting in the miles in daylight seemed a sensible plan. Many were walking sections but I’m a rubbish walker so running as much as possible was also in my (rather sketchy) plan. One thing I hadn’t really decided on was my sleep plan – I was going to run as long as possible, then try to only get 45 mins sleep and go again. I got to 70 miles by 10pm and decided to take a break, it had been dark since about 6pm and I was starting to feel tired – I think the flight the day before took a little more out of me than I’d thought. Getting into the sleeping bag I just couldn’t get comfortable – my feet were sore from the gravel surface of the run route, it felt like a cheese grater had been used on them. This was to be a theme over the three days; I only had a couple of blisters but lots of runners suffered with some really nasty feet issues. I awoke just before 11pm and it was cold, really cold and I was even more tired so I decided to get more sleep and set the timer for 6 hours. With hindsight this was too much and I should have forced myself out at 11pm to put in a couple of more hours but that’s a lesson learned. So I got up very fresh at 5:30am and started running about 6am, running at a good pace and feeling great. I had gone to bed in 5th position overall, first woman but as nearly everyone else had run/walked through the night I was now 16th and 3rd woman. As I ran round a few people seemed surprised at my speed and I kept telling people I’d been asleep for a long time. I managed to climb back up to 10th position by 9am, and I’d made it up to 85 miles for the first 24 hours, down on my plan but not far off. Then day 2 started and we had lots of fresh-legged runners join for another 24 hour and 48 hour race. By now I’d run with a lot of the people on the course – my way to stave off boredom was to get chatting to everyone – and it was good to hear the various running histories of this group of very experienced ultra-runners. For example there was Ed in the jester suit who I’d thought was a bit of a joker, turns out he holds the record for the most marathons run in a year (135). Eoin Keith from Ireland was also good to chat to and we covered lots of European ultra events. Marie Boyd, an Australian living in California, was also great to pass the time with. I also chatted to many of the US runners – many who’d travelled far to get to Arizona too, and some who were fairly local. I spent some time with Paul Bennot, previous race director, and learnt a lot about the race. Also it was good to see Ed Furtaw (of the ‘Frozen Head Ed’ fame – he wrote a book about the Barkely marathons.) and chat about Barkley. Once again proving you can’t go anywhere without someone knowing James Adams…

The day passed fairly well though I slowed down a lot from my speedy start. Ian Sharman who I know from London turned up as well – to run the final day 24 hour race – so it was good to see him and catch up as he accompanied me on a couple of laps. As we got into nightfall the sky seemed to be getting cloudier and about 12pm it started to spit a little. For me that signaled my next big break. I’d taken a couple of 30 mins during the day to have my feet up but really needed sleep now. So I set the alarm for 45 mins and again struggled to get to sleep, in fact didn’t at all. So once again decided to sleep for longer and had a 5 hour rest; not much sleep but at least time off my feet. Again I got up well just before dawn at seven and by the 48 hour mark I was at 140 miles and not feeling any worse than at 24 hours (and as Ian commented I’d have won the 48 hour race with that).

So then the final day. It was again cold in the morning but the temperature got up and was about 20 degrees by 1pm. I ran ok though my feet felt beaten up. Early on I managed to trip over a tiny lip on the concrete – obviously not lifting my feet up very high! And I scraped my knees and hands with gravel. I was picked up by the group who were around me and with just my pride mainly hurt I went to clean up at the medical tent. So a change of clothes later and I was out again running, though mainly jog/walking now. The air was really dry and I felt a familiar dryness in my nose and throat. Whilst visiting a porta-loo I blew my nose and… yep started a heavy nose bleed. So back to the medical tent, where the kind medic commented that most people had come in with leg and foot-related issues but not me! He suggested I sit for 20 mins and he’d check on me again, I said I could walk a lap in 20 mins so off I was with gauze stuffed up my nostrils and a baffled medic shaking his head after me. I did a few laps like that changing the gauze every lap until it dried up. Then I remembered that Vaseline is great for stopping my nose drying out, a little late but still I applied some.

About this time as it was mid afternoon I started to re-evaluate my goal mileage. I had originally hoped to run 100 miles the first day and then over 50 the next two but it looked as though I was actually being more consistent – and sleeping a lot more than I’d hoped. With 85 the first 24hrs, 55 the next I had decided I would be content with 180. But I felt a lot fresher than I’d imagined on the third day and went to bed at 1am with 188 miles on the board. One of the reasons I managed so many miles on the last day (a total of 65 in the final 24 hours) was in part owing to staying up to see in the New Year at Midnight – which was great to toast the New Year (with non-alcohol cider though there was a Chamapagne option too!) and then do a lap with everyone. I went to bed at 1am and realised I could probably have done this the first night if I’d not been so tired from the flight. Though it’s hard to know if I’d had less sleep whet I could have done. I had 22 hours rest and sleep in the 72. Much more than everyone else – and ended up in 9th overall. A really good example was set by Martina Housman an 8-time participant at ATY and a formidable athlete. She can no longer run owing to bad knees so race-walks, and takes no sleeps just a couple of 20 min rest breaks in the whole event. She finished with just under 200 miles and it shows that if you carry on through the night you can rack up more miles going slower. I noticed that both Vikena and Charlotte who were second and third women spent a lot more time on the course than I did, getting probably less than 10 hours rest. As one runner, Ray K, said, ‘maybe if you slept less you’d run more…’ but as it was my first event of this type I’m glad I enjoyed it without feeling absolutely dead on my feet. Plus given how bored I get walking I’m not sure I could bear to walk through the whole night.

One of the great things about the race was that the loops meant you saw everyone a lot – and it was great to watch Joe Feyes and Eoin Keith battling it out and both getting over 300 miles, with Joe beating the course record (previously held by ultra-running legend Yiannis Kouros) and becoming the world record holder with 392 miles. Vikena Yutz beat the previous US record as well with 254 miles and Charlotte Vasarhelyi now holds the Canadian women’s record. Watching Vikena and Charlotte work together at the end to get them both over the their record marks was brilliant – I still can’t believe how cheerful and bright eyed they seemed on that last morning. Results here.

Thanks to Aravaipa Running for a great event – well organised and a really good atmosphere. My trophy and buckle are in pride of place on my mantel piece.

Pre-race goals:

- experience a long timed event (check)

- get better at walking and night running (er, tbc…)

- try to run over 200 miles (check – I did stop at 200 miles with 90 mins to go, then decided to call it a day. But I wanted to celebrate by visiting the proper inside toilet (which I’d only gone to twice as it was about 30m off the course!) about a quarter of the way round the course so though if I was going there I might as well complete the lap… then Joe, Ed and Ray were still going round and I joined in with them, enjoying the banter and knocking up another 3 laps.)

- figure out a sleep plan; as little sleep as possible without destroying me (check but needs more work!)

I learned a lot. Especially about myself as a runner. I am a pretty good multi-day runner; this isn’t surprising given the summer I’d had, but I was pleasantly surprised how my legs hardly suffered, though my feet took much of the toll. In fact I’m so recovered I’m off to run a 50 mile night run tonight with a couple of friends. I also learned that a 11 hour flight takes longer than I thought to get over. I was pretty dehydrated and tired from the flight so only having 12 hours between landing and starting running is not enough.

Would I do it again? Yes. If I’d been asked half way thorough the second day, No. There’s a 6 day event next year so I might go back for that, or I might do the 72 hours again. I was intending to try to get quicker this year and do less ultras but I really enjoyed this event and think there’s a lot more for me to do.

Results here.

My next long run is going to be similar in that it’s a looped race but hopefully a lot longer. I’ve booked into the Across The Years race in Phoenix, Arizona, starting on the 29th Dec and running into the New Year. There are 24, 48 and 72 hrs options – I have booked into the 72 hrs and am aiming to try to run 200 miles, so that’s 200 laps of a mile loop in 3 days, easy right?! It will be significantly longer than any run I’ve done so far, but as The Viking Way is rapidly looming in the calendar (end of March) I need the miles. It’s also going to be mentally taxing and the sleep strategy is one I’m toying with (either nap when about to drop or take regular 4 hours every 18/20 hours of running). I took today off work to train and have just run 30 times round a one mile park loop at the end of my road and I’m hoping the atmosphere of ATY will prevent me getting too bored. Several US friends have said it’s their favorite run so I’m really looking forward to it, what better way to see in the New Year!