Across The Years 72/48/24hr

Motivational signs - always useful. Translation from American to British English:  If you are literate then you're a jolly spiffing chap.

After the Desert Solstice 100 mile/24hr race was cut short at 70 miles by my inability to accept that Phoenix, AZ, can be stormy, windy and cold, I was looking forward to down time at the end of the season. However, the Coury brothers also have a second 24hr-style event called Across The Years so I decided on Christmas Eve that I didn't want my training to go to waste and I entered it.

It's an interesting concept - 72/48/24hr races that straddled 2012 and 2013, hence the name. And instead of a 400m track like at Desert Solstice, it uses a flat 1.05-mile loop near Phoenix on a gravelly path with some paved sections. That sounded more interesting, plus it has a lot more people than the 20 runners round the track.

In fact, at least five of the runners returned after varying degrees of success at Desert Solstice - Joe Fejes won the 24hr race 2 weeks ago and smashed Yiannis Kouros' old 72hr course record this time with 329 miles (six more than Yiannis); Charlotte Vasarhelyi won the 24hr race before then broke the Canadian 72hr record with almost 251 miles and I returned with Mike Arnstein (12:57 in the 100 with a ridiculously fast final three hours followed by 100 miles this time in the 24), Dave James (about 23 miles at Desert Solstice then 50 miles on day one and 50 more on day three of ATY). Full preliminary results are here.

I turned up a day early to spectate and crew for Bret Sarnquist as he did the 24 over the middle day of the event since there were three separate 24hr races with the winner being whoever ran the most out of all three days. Compared to a trail race there were a lot more marathon T-shirts, especially from Boston. But as with any ultra everyone was as friendly as can be and it was good to make new friends. Plus my old running club in London had a representative in the 72hr event in my friend, Jen Bradley. She jumped in at the deep end of ultras this year by running her first 100 (I think) then running across the US over the summer. Then she had a really solid race at ATY with over 200 miles and third woman. I can't fathom doing that loop for three straight days...

Jen Bradley and Anastasia Supergirl Rolek in the 72hr race

Running 70 miles at a pace that was on track to go under the American Record for 100 miles two weeks ago left me more tired than I realized so within an hour or so my legs were sore, even at 30 secs/mile slower than the pace in that previous effort. Not a good sign, but this time I was in for the full 24hrs so it looked like being a long day with a 3:18 marathon split feeling more like a 2:40 effort. Mike Arnstein found the same and Dave James wasn't feeling it either, so we all hit 50 miles between about 7:20 and 7:40, way off the pace I'd hoped for. Dave stopped, but Mike and I grumbled along, epitomized by us both frequently mentioning we couldn't see the point of running/walking a relatively poor distance. We also definitely questioned why the hell we do this sport when the tough days can be so unnecessarily nasty.

It was a beautiful, warm and sunny day and the aid station had a full kitchen where they took orders for meals and had a wide variety available. It's certainly a great set-up, but the gravel paths were tougher on the feet than expected. Most runners were in road shoes or racing flats, but those who switched to trail shoes seemed to avoid some of the (unexpected) foot bruising that 24-72hrs of running on that surface caused.

Things weren't going to plan but we'd made the effort to fly out, me from Oregon, Mike from New York. Dave had only driven up the road from the same metropolis as the race was held in, so he probably had less incentive to keep going. However, once I told Mike that there's a buckle for breaking 100 miles, he put his head down and we set about checking off slow miles, with me doing little else but walk after the first five hours. However, there was a bright spot when I decided to reinvigorate my legs by trying a fast lap and aiming to go under Sean Meissner's best lap time from the previous day of 6:09 (5:51/mile pace). I squeezed out a painful 5:41 (5:24/mile) then went back to walking as it didn't do anything other than brighten up my outlook for half an hour. 

Sean Meissner leading the way on the 24hr race on the middle day.

Tents - where people hid in the middle of the night to reduce the number of people out there from about 170 to more like 20. Bastards!

The one thing I'm happy about is that I chose to grind out a full 24hrs even though there was no hope of getting anywhere near my goal of the 24hr British record of 170 miles. Given I've got the Grand Slam (four 100s over the summer) in 2013, I thought it was worth sucking it up and proving to myself that I can force out a semi-respectable result even when things go bad. But this was the most miserable and painful race of my life, as well as the longest in terms of time and distance. I've never had to dig really deep in an ultra before about half way so this was an emotional experience with a lot of time walking through the sub-freezing night to contemplate about many things and to work out how to avoid this happening to me again.

In the end Mike stopped at 100 miles after about 17hrs while I went through 100 in just over 20hrs after hitting 70 at 12hrs and managed 109 in total (a mere 39 from the second 12hrs), with around 65 of that as a power-walk. Not fun, but satisfying to have not given up, despite the final 19hrs (longer than I've ever run) being a painful, slow and difficult death march. 

Without a doubt it was a fun idea to bring in the New Year while doing something that I love, but I was in a world of misery at that point and was struggling to get my head around the idea of there still being nine hours left, even as we toasted with champagne at the aid station. But there are much worse ways to celebrate the New Year, although I'd have struggled to name them at the time.

The other positive to take away (apart from proving to myself I can dig in even on a bad day) was that I somehow won since nobody else did more than 106 miles and many who could have gone farther stopped at 100. I don't blame them. But that's overshadowed by the fact that several of the 72hr runners did more miles on day one (and maybe day two) than me - Joe ran around 140 miles on his first day!

So, lessons have been learnt. Firstly, fixed time races are mentally tougher than fixed distance trail races and very boring once things go wrong. Secondly, 70 miles at a reasonably hard effort tires me out more than I can tell from one test run. Thirdly, I should end my season when I originally plan to and not add on extra races, especially very tough ones. And finally, the Coury brothers put on excellent races via Aravaipa Running and I should probably turn up to one giving it more respect than just assuming it's relatively easy because it's flat.

Time for the off season, trips to Bend's brew-pubs plus a lot of sleep. Happy New Year everyone!

Additional write-up:

I wrote the above while on the plane out of Phoenix. However, I then got stuck at Portland airport overnight after no sleep for two days. It wasn't just a delayed flight but a flight that started at PDX, flew for 25 mins to Bend, circled for 40 mins then decided the freezing fog was too dangerous and we went back to PDX to arrive after 11pm. Since it was a weather delay Alaska Airlines wouldn't pay for anything and I ended up 'sleeping' in the airport. I got home by 2pm on Jan 2nd and am now looking forward to a year that can only improve and with a lot of fun stuff lined up.

PCTR Tilden Trail 50k

Lake Anza and the reservoir, Tilden Park

SF and the Bay Bridge

Mt Diablo

SF and the GG Bridge

After dropping out of the last three PCTR ultras I've entered for various reasons on the theme of injury or lack of  recovery, I decided it'd be nice to finish one this time. And since I recently moved to the East Bay, it's convenient that the next available one was the brand new Tilden Trail 50k in Berkeley (only half an hour from home).

6,100ft of climbing on what I expected to be dry trails after a scorcher or a week with highs around 80+ degrees F. However, much of the lower trail network was shaded and the previous weeks of torrential rain had left it boggy and slippery.

That didn't make it any less fun, although I did lose both (road) shoes in one section on lap two of four (with the last loop being different) and had to walk through the mud to retrieve them. And once up to the highest section there were blue skies and perfect views of Mt Diablo as well as most of the Bay Area, with a great vista of SF.

After several months where I've been meaning to get my a@% in gear and run more trails uphill, I think I've finally got a start on the road to uphill fitness so the aim was to not walk too much. Oh, and to not pull either of my calves again. I think I managed it and probably had a running motion for maybe 4,500ft of the total ascent and a decent power walk for the rest.

As always, Sarah and Michael of PCTR put on a great event and were kind enough to leave the hardest climb to the last 400ft of ascent. I didn't ache during the race, felt recovered from last weekend's race and seem to fine the following day too. So all in all it was a 'sensible' way to train and get in a long, hilly run. Plus the 50k was fairly small with just 25 entrants so I was able to win too, in 4h19m.

Next up is American River 50 miler in a week and it looks like the elite field has thinned slightly (Chikara Omine out with a broken foot and Anton K has, I think, opted to give himself more time to get ready for the bigger, longer races of the summer). However, there's still a lot of guys who would generally win anything they turn up to, so a famous race like this will bring out the best in them. Should be fun.

I also just found out that the official rock of California is Serpentinite, which is particularly apt given my London club is Serpentine RC.

Two marathons, three days - SLC/Boston

Start of the SLC marathon

View from the Prudential building in Boston at sunset

The 5k race using the Boston marathon finish

Looking strong a whole mile into Boston

The leaders at Boston - Hall and Meb lead the US charge

Still looking ok in Boston with my Fukuoka gloves on show

This last weekend could have gone badly. I'd run ultras or multidays for five consecutive weekends (including a very cool 60k of trails last weekend as I swept the course for the local Peterson Ridge Rumble course in Sisters, OR). I had the Salt Lake City marathon on Saturday then the Boston marathon on Monday. I booked it a long time ago before the preceding ultras with the intention of using it as a fitness test for Comrades. If I could run both under 2h45m then I'd feel that I could run Comrades at 2h50m marathon pace (i.e. sub six hours). It also has the benefit of being 'speed' work compared to the ultras.

However, being injured for almost two months meant I'd lost some speed even though the endurance seemed fine after the last few weeks. I really had no idea how it would go and wasn't even sure I could knock out one marathon at 2h45m (6m18s/mile), especially since SLC is at slight altitude (between 4,200ft and 4,800ft) and hilly.

I arrived in SLC on the Friday, went to the small expo and got an early night. I still felt sore from sweeping the previous week. Even though it was very slow being at the back of the race, bending down to pick up all the course markings had left me aching in new places.

The race had a an early start at 7am so the sun had only just risen over the university start-line when I warmed up. The athletes didn't seem too keen to push to the front so I knew there wouldn't be too many speedsters there. It also had a half marathon at the same time so most runners had bibs for that race, with around 1,000 in the full marathon. I started comfortably and decided to use my heart rate monitor to stop myself trying too hard, given the need to conserve some energy for Boston. However, after the first couple of downhill miles I felt like it would be a hard day.

The course isn't particularly pretty if you keep your head down, but when you look up you get great views of the surrounding mountains, which are very close. The first half had some nasty climbs, not that they were too steep, but some lasted a couple of miles and the combination of tired legs and altitude meant my heart rate was soon higher than it should be for a marathon. For me that means into the mid 160s. It was going to be a tough race.

The marathon added a loop around a park at five miles so the extra mile meant I started running through slower half marathoners when we joined them again. Then after under seven miles they headed off on a short-cut to the finish while the marathon went south to get in the extra miles. It got a lot lonelier from this point and a spectator shouted that I was in 10th.

I chatted to a couple of marathoners on the flatter sections but then pushed on to half way uphill knowing that there would be a gentle downhill soon after 13 miles. I was demoralised to hit halfway in 1h22m55s, just outside 2h45m pace. This was the first 13 miles of two marathons, so I basically accepted that I wouldn't be getting the times I wanted in the two races. How could I, when I'd run reasonably hard and still couldn't stay on pace?

My mindset quickly changed as I knocked out several faster miles over the downhill then flat and I was back on the average pace I needed. The second half was easier than the first, being much flatter. I constantly did calculations in my head, thinking that sub 2h50m was guaranteed and that if I could just keep close to the required 6m18s/miles then a fast last mile might get me there under my time.

I spent the rest of the race catching people and worked out I was in 4th, but that relied on the guy earlier correctly telling me my position and I find most people get it wrong, counting the wrong people (say, half runners) or just miscounting. I was on for 2h46m at worst with only a couple of miles to go, but was now weaving through the half runners/walkers who had joined the marathon course again, just 13 miles behind. Although I'd checked out the course profile, I hadn't noticed the 200ft hill in the 25th mile. This put me off pace again, but was a relief when I got to the top. It had heated up to almost 70 degrees F so I wanted to get off the course before the temperature sapped more energy.

I was tired and looking forward to the end, but at least there were great crowds now to pep me up. As the majority of people they were seeing were half marathon walkers, each marathoner got a loud cheer for running. At about a half mile to go I heard the thump of runner's steps behind me. I looked back to see a guy in a tri-suit flying up to me and my head snapped into (totally unnecessary) race mode and I flew off at a sprint, dropping down to under 5m/mile pace. He stuck behind me but as I went up the final straight I couldn't see him behind so knew I'd kept my position. In hindsight, this was completely pointless and potentially could ruin my Boston run. But I just don't like being overtaken and it's only happened in marathons where I've blown up and walked (luckily only about three times when I was learning how to do marathons).

Somehow I'd almost got back to my goal pace, but it was painful to run up to the finish and see the clock tick from 2h44m to 2h45m. The final time was 2h45m04s and I was indeed in 4th, so had positives and negatives to take away from the race. On the plus side, I'd basically hit the time I wanted, seen great mountain views, was uninjured, ran my fastest marathon with a backpack and had run a negative split. However, it had felt hard and I'd tired myself out way too much. I reassessed my chances of running a good Boston to being very low.

No time to rest, since I had a couple of hours until my indirect flights to Boston, so I squeezed in a quick shower then went to the airport where I spent a while stretching and with my legs up against a wall for recovery. The flights were on time and didn't feel too bad on the legs.

In Boston I got in late at night, just wanting a good rest. Sunday is fun due to the expo and short distance races each year, but it was also cold and raining constantly. A real contrast with the sunny weather in SLC. I watched Josh Cox win the 5k and the commentators mentioned he's training for Comrades. That means both the US 50k/100k champion, Michael Wardian, and the US 50k record holder, Josh Cox, would be running in South Africa. Always good to have more people to meet over there and they're both very accomplished pro/semi-pro athletes.

I'd hoped to meet up with a bunch of Serpies from London but the previous few days had involved numerous emails and ended with the conclusion that the Icelandic volcano had stopped all flights from London. None of my friends would make it. This was a shame, but at least Boston is such a fun race and all the runners and city get really into it. I'd picked the hostel near the finish on purpose because I knew I'd meet many, many runners there.

There were a few Americans who had lived in London and been a member of Serpentine RC, but I didn't know them already. I agreed to see the Red Sox baseball game on Sunday afternoon with them, so picked up my ticket by meeting them at the expo. The expo is great and I spent a long time there getting enough free food and drink to constitute a meal. I also bought a pair of Zoot compression tights as I needed a pair anyway, but particularly needed some help to be recovered for the next day. I've never used them before, but many people swear by the powers of compression tights, so I wanted to see if it would work.

The Red Sox game was a wet affair and not very entertaining with the locals losing badly, especially since the US Serpies told me when I got there that they'd decided to sell their tickets due to the weather. I've not been to a baseball game before and can't see me going again. It's just not that interesting. Now, I like cricket and people say the same thing, but I'll happily watch a five-day test match and it's just different, ok?.

Anyway, that evening the pasta party was excellent, as always. Plenty to eat and I went with some new-found friends from the hostel. That's one of my favourite things about the race - the openness of everybody there to meet new people. It really got the mood going for the race and I started to feel excited while chatting to people about how many times they'd run Boston before, where they qualified and all the interesting stories they had to tell. People who started late in life and spent years trying to get a place in Boston or those who come every year for the party atmosphere. Suddenly my confidence was back and I was thinking of going for 2h45m again.

Race morning started very early and I hadn't really adjusted from west coast time. But my legs felt almost normal, so I'm now a huge fan of the recovery tights. As with last year, I chatted to people while waiting for the buses at around 6:15am. Once again I met west coast ultra runner on the bus (Abi Stephens, who'd run the Rumble the previous weekend) and chatted for much of the time prior to the race start at 10am. Things seemed to be smoother than the previous year, not that I'd had any complaints. The bus wait was less, the toilet lines were shorter at the start and the weather was looking much better than expected with not a cloud in sight.

I just missed seeing the elite women's start at 9:32am but was raring to go at 10am when the first wave started. This time I made sure I didn't go off too quickly, as I'd done last year on the early downhills. I wanted to see if I could run just ahead of 2h45m pace given that the second half is harder with the famous Newton Hills. I just hoped to hang on as long as possible.

The crowds were great from the start and within a mile I'd been offered a beer. Next year I think I'll take them up on their offers and do it as more of a fun run. But this year I still had a target and it was increasingly easy to stay around a six min/mile pace, which kept surprising me every time I looked at my splits. Running past the Wellesley College girls at halfway was the usual soundblast and made everyone grin. I didn't see anyone stopping as they were all too focused on their running, but some did high fives. Still the best support I've ever seen, as ever, and something you hear well before you see.

Halfway was a decent 1h19m06s so I could afford to slow down a lot on the hills. Since they don't start until after 16 miles I decided to keep going as before until that far and bag a bit more time. The crowds were full of students, many with a few beers in them, so the cheering got rowdier every mile.

I remember that last year I'd been slowing down from five miles in and really struggled over the rest of the course, feeling bad for most of it but scraping through for 2h47m. I also remembered that the hills seemed small even as they slowed me right down. This year was different and I was trying to run in a group to avoid the light headwinds which kept popping up, but I found that each group kept slowing so I just kept pushing on and wondering when the tiredness would catch up with me.

By now I was enjoying myself thoroughly. I'd been waiting the whole time for my legs to fade but they were being very kind to me and even let me run up the hills at about the same pace as on the flat. The college kids certainly liked seeing someone running through the field on the hills so I had plenty of cries out for 'Serpentine', most even pronouncing it correctly.

Heartbreak Hill was more like a victory lap, although at 21 miles it wasn't a foregone conclusion, although 2h40m looked possible now. Somehow the best was still ahead for me. The last five miles are mainly down and flat but some people have tired their thighs so much that it's difficult to run them fast. However, I went into some new-found zone from this point which I've never reached before. I haven't done more than a couple of speed sessions in 2010 so even a six minute mile feels quick, but I started running quicker than that. As the supporters got thicker on the sidelines I was having the most enjoyable race in a long time (and I've had a lot of good ones recently).

As I looked at my watch I was amazed to see 5:40s for the miles and my aims shifted from 2h40m to see if I could break six minute miling (2h37m) for only the third time, something I didn't think I could have done if I'd tapered for this race and gone all out. I was going faster than marathon pace and finding it easy, even with a headwind for most of the last part. This is how running should always feel - hard but very sustainable. I wished the course was a 50k as I could comfortably have kept up the pace and smashed my best for that distance.

All good things come to an end and I got to the finish well before I'd planned, in 2h36m51s, good enough for 151st. The most important thing was that I'd hugely enjoyed it and also felt strong at the end, so this was a perfect milestone for Comrades. All my worries in advance had evaporated, about a lack of speed, sore legs and not being in shape for a good Comrades.

Thank you Boston for hosting a great race and creating such an incredible atmosphere the whole way through. I confirmed to myself that Boston far surpasses the other 70-ish road marathons I've done around the world. There's something about having hills in a race that means you have to use tactics much more and so when you nail it, it's more satisfying.

I'll be back next year to have fun on the streets of Boston again and it'd be nice to get a streak going until I can no longer run...maybe around 2099. I don't think I was the only one to have that much fun either, as even those who didn't hit their target time still loved everything else about the race. The elites put on a great show too, with a new men's course record in 2h05m52s (on Boston's course!) for Robert K Cheruiyot...but not the one who won Boston four times...a 21-year old with the same name, except the middle name, who has just made himself into a legend. The women's race went down to the wire too and was great to watch on TV, with Ethiopian Yeyba Erkesso of Ethiopia making a name for herself by just edging young Russian Tatyana Pushkareva - watch out for both of them in future too.

SLC could have been a disaster but ended up just about working out. But Boston went better. Why? Well, I think it's just one of those things where the science says one thing but reality turned out differently and can't quite be explained. Mind you, it probably helped to not wear the backpack and use my racing flats (Asics Hyperspeed 3s). I think it just shows that the human body can always do more than you expect, a useful thing to bear in mind during every ultra.

Glasgow to Edinburgh for many of the Serpie ultra runners

Pre-race Serpies

The Falkirk Wheel...well, part of it

What a nice tunnel for half a mile

This weekend was the second year of a new race from Glasgow to Edinburgh along canals and it went well for almost all concerned. 56 miles and navigation that basically involved one rule - keep the water on the right. Plus it's as flat as a squished badger, so the perfect ultra for a mass horde of Serpentine runners to attempt, many for their first (proper, i.e. 50 miles+) ultra. It also coincided with a 30th birthday for James Adams, so there were also many turning up in Edinburgh just for the food and drink without going to the bother of burning off the calories first.

12 Serpies had entered but with DNSs and DNFs, only six made it the whole way through. Looks like there's now a significant contingent of ultra runners at our London club, which is only fitting with a Club President, Hilary Walker, who still holds several ultra world records many years after breaking them.

After my couple of months out through injury and the DNF at Rocky Raccoon 100, this was meant to be a chance to have a hard run, without using too much effort. I've got a heavy race schedule over the next few weeks with the Eco Trail de Paris 80k, Jurassic Coast triple marathon and Two Oceans 56k all in quick succession, so I couldn't afford to wipe myself out. And the knee needed to hold up too or a lot of race entry fees would go to waste.

I stayed the night before with Casey in Glasgow, who had been part of the second-placed mixed team at Transalpine. I'd convinced him into running the double marathon but an achilles injury has knocked him out just as he was getting very quick and looked on for a sharp marathon in London. Instead we had a catch up and chatted about the race back in the Alps and about this year's event, which I sadly can't make.

On the morning of the race the forecast and starting conditions were very good, with the Scottish winter easing up so that the only snow was on the nearby mountains. It wasn't even raining and the whole day stayed dry except for a brief light shower mid-afternoon. This isn't the Scotland I'm used to, but it wasn't sunny either so at least one stereotype stood up.

I'd expected a newish race with only 100 entrants and no prize money to have an average field but there were three members of he Scottish 100k team, two male and one female. So my aim of cruising through for a comfy win seemed off the cards, especially when they shot off and really wanted to race it.

Canals aren't the most interesting routes normally, but the background of snowy hills was an improvement on the races I've done on the Grand Union Canal from Birmingham to London. There's also a sight along the way at just over 22 miles in - the Falkirk Wheel. This seems to be partly practical and partly for tourist boats and it lifts barges/boats up from the lower canal to a level 50 feet higher in a carousel-style motion. It was also the only remotely hilly part of the course and surprised me as I had no idea it was there or that a nasty hill would interrupt the easy, but muddy, terrain. Mind you, I think I'd have preferred more hills just to add variety to the course and give the leg muscles a chance to work in different ways instead of just keeping going on the flat. There was a half-mile very dark tunnel just after the Wheel which was a cool addition to the route and I really liked. The slipperiness wasn't great but it made for a memorable, if poorly lit, section. Wish I'd had my camera at that point.

I ran on my own after checkpoint two and was a little bored in third place. I had no inclination to go out hard after the first pair and my legs are only just getting the miles back in them anyway. After keeping up a very even pace to checkpoint four at 42 miles, I lost an incentive to push to the end and decided to jog it in and save my legs so that I could train well during the week. I wanted to know how far behind fourth place was, but reasoned that if he took long enough to catch me I might give him a race to the end as long as my knee and legs felt fine. A slight detour after that checkpoint avoided some scaffolding under a bridge but it was marked and about the only chance to get lost, but you'd have to try hard.

So I had a stretch for a few minutes then jogged a couple of 9-minute miles before working out how long it'd take to finish and decided it was worth going a little quicker just so I'd be on my feet less time. I'd run out of water by this point and the checkpoints only had water and very dilute SIS sports drink (no food). So I ate plenty from my backpack and decided to refill my 2L North Face bladder at the last checkpoint at 47.25 miles. I felt very relaxed and knew that it wasn't long til the end, but then a middle-aged guy zoomed by while I was at the checkpoint.

Suddenly a little spark ignited my competitive streak and I decided to see how fast he was and use his pace to get me to the end a bit earlier. He was clocking 7-minute miles and that was a little above the average pace to this point so I could tell he was just trying to look stronger and drop me so that he could slow down again. But I was feeling very comfy and just sat on his shoulder for a mile to see how he was doing and assess whether I could push past him easily. He did speed up slightly but it was coming up to the last six miles and I wanted to avoid a sprint finish (that's what I now reckon started off my injury in the first place at Fukuoka). So I accelerated and started to really get into the race mood for the first time that day. It's funny that it took his challenge to make me really enjoy the day as I'd have happily cruised into the end at a gentler pace if he hadn't come past me.

I kept the pace at 6:40/mile and stayed at that for a couple of miles to make sure I'd be out of sight and in the clear. I think he slowed down as soon as I overtook as he saw that his burst of pace hadn't dropped me, but I wanted to be sure now that I'd get third as I'd been running for hours and didn't want to have wasted the effort.

Then at just over a mile to go I saw Serpie, Andy Taylor, running the other way and he kept going. I assumed he was getting in a nice run and seeing how many other club members he could see en route after cycling the whole route on a mountain bike first. He told me it was a mile to go, so it looked like my Garmin would show it up as around a mile short, after every checkpoint being exactly the distances advertised. However, after I'd gone a mile and still couldn't see the finish I started to doubt him. He wasn't far out with his estimate and just after that he came up behind me on his way back. Luckily I wasn't struggling and it wasn't a longer race as even minor differences in distances to what's expected can be utterly demoralising in ultras. I finished in third in 6h51m09s and had left myself a comfortable four-minute cushion to fourth.

Overall there were smiles all round and the race went well for most people, apart from the few DNFers, obviously. It's almost exactly the same distance as Comrades at 56 miles (or estimates of 55.2-55.8 from the Garmins I've seen), compared to 55.5 for the down run or around 54.0 for the up run. So that ranks as my second fastest double marathon pace ever. Definitely a good day on my recent mileage. Hopefully the three remaining months to Comrades will mean I can get some pace back and build up to a perfect race. And, most importantly, the knee caused no issues during or after.

The evening's celebrations were chilled after the remaining Serpies came through, mainly before darkness. Serpie results and the winners are below:

Men's winner: Marcus Scotney - 6h22m56s (CR)
Women's winner: Lucy Colquhoun - 7h31m02s

Serpies:
3 - Ian Sharman - 6h51m09s
10 - Claire Imrie - 7h42m05s (2nd woman and her 1st longer ultra!)
11 - Oli Sinclair - 7h43m25s
26 - James Adams - 8h52m07s (birthday boy)
28 - Jen Bradley - 9h00m47s
37 - Diane Haywood - 9h37m55m

72 finishers

DNFs - Nick Copas, Mark Braley