I am more than used to being the fat lad at the back of elite ultra-races, just ahead of, alongside and even once, after a nav error, behind the sweepers. I don’t take this personally, in a “normal” race I’m usually further up the rankings so being last in one of these events is a badge of honour for even having a crack – many runners much quicker than me say to me “I could never do what you do”, which amazes me as they are literally twice as quick as me over shorter distances!
Slowly but surely I’m starting to get my act together though; improved (but still not ideal!) diet, less sugar, more water, regular training (running and gym). And something magical is happening…
…well maybe not magical, but the never ending series of petit misery that is training is making me run further, faster.
Who knew training could do that!?
So going into the Meridian Ultra, a flat 50K road race with a cut-off of 11 hours, I was for once aiming to put in a good time, not marginally beat the cut-off. My 50K PB is 8hrs 40mins, but that was part of a longer race so knowing I could give it my all inside 50K I figured 8hrs seemed like a good target.
The race took place near the northern tip of the Humber Estuary in a hidden beauty spot of the East Coast, finding new places is another reason I love running at these less mainstream events. The race starts less than two kilometres from the Greenwich Meridian Line, the Prime Meridian of the World; Longitude 0º. Every place on earth is measured in terms of its distance east or west from this line.
Which I think is kinda cool. In a geeky way.
The actual start line is at Patrington Haven, unusually from a holiday home site but it did mean proper toilets rather than the standard portable blue “Thunderbox”! From here it was 4×12.5km laps along country road through beautiful countryside of rolling fields, 17th century homesteads stretching out as far as the eye could see with the industrial Humber a hazy backdrop in the heat. The place names were all very Pirates of the Caribbean to add a piratical theme, running across Sunk Island to the turn-around point near Stone Creek.
Although billed as an “all abilities” race, and reflected in the cut-off times, it was clear that the 27 other runners on the start line meant business and I was probably going to be propping up the back of the pack despite being hours ahead of cut off. And within a few miles, I’d zoomed into dominating the back of the field.
I made the first 12.5k in about 1hr 22mins which was bang on schedule to get the first 25Km put to bed in three hours, allowing me a more leisurely pace for the second 25Km. With aid stations every 5k it was easy to stay hydrated, although coming into the 15Km station I was alarmed my bottle had not made it here (probably down to my atrocious writing on the label) but there was plenty of other goodies on offer to keep me pepped up.
I could feel my pace slowing off and see the rest of the competitors breaking away from me. Fortunately at the same time there was a 100Km national championship race so I wasn’t entirely on my own, although it was slightly surreal to receive encouragement from someone doing twice my distance in a similar time wearing their countries colours! I kept following the below logic loop to maintain as fast a pace as possible, diagnosing of knee/back/ankle injuries would flare up more by accelerating.
I passed the 25Km mark in 3hrs 09mins, happy with the time but feeling a little glass half empty knowing every step of ground I’d have to re-cover. I’d started to hurt disproportionately but knew with some chia charge flap jack and the half litre of mountain fuel I’d picked up at the halfway aid station I’d be ready to pick up the pace again soon.
I decided to break the race down into 5 “sectors”, as that sounded more manageable than 5 more Park Runs! Covering off 30Km with just 4 sectors to go I started calculating. Maths is not my strong point but I started to work on aiming for 7hrs 45mins, which would be almost an hour off my PB and a huge result.
The weather was impossibly hot, even the national team athletes had white-grey salt stains on their uniforms and I’d been in the banking sun almost 4.5hrs by now. I was at a fast walk a lot of the time but still never exceeding a 15 minute mile, which meant by the time I was making the turn at 37.5 miles after only 5hrs 06mins I was starting to eye-up a 7hrs 30mins finish, which was a huge spur and kept me moving forward.
40Km. 2 sectors to go.
More calculations.
7hrs 15mins is a possibility…
45Km. 1 sector to go.
I was throwing flat coke down my throat and water over my head, grateful I’d not got it the wrong way round when I made one last calculation.
Get your skates on and you will beat seven hours!
I tried to set off at a decent running pace but was soon feeling sick, it became a fast mince and I contemplated a slower 5Km with a sprint finish but decided to try break its back now and have the time in the bag. My heart was pumping with more than just the exertion, I was picturing the finish line and comprehensively smashing my PB!
With 2 miles to go I spotted another runner down the long straight road, I felt sorry for her as she was obviously struggling after a great race but she was an even bigger lure to go faster. I almost felt guilty but I would also not be finishing dead last after sticking with the highest pace I could manage and saw this as a reward for my efforts.
I was picking landmarks to run between, getting a fair pace going before feeling like I’d be sick and fast walking to the next “feature” and running again. Until I made it back to Patrington Haven and I threw everything I had left and the some, putting on a final flourish to bag the best time I could – even setting off the speed limit warning sign!
And that time was 06hrs 55mins.
I rounded the last of the circuit, a small loop of a large…lake is over stating but pond is understating…to cross the line and immediately flop down into a little crumpled pile of broken Luke.
There were heartfelt congrats from the RD John Lloyd and his team on nailing my PB by over 1hr 45mins, a 20% improvement! A 100K finisher from the English National Ultra team thanked me for my support at various stages too which was more than unnecessary but a nice way to finish the day. I was 23/28 (including 4 DNF).
This, more than any failure or DNF has been a wake-up call that training can work, “even for me” despite not being naturally athletic or gifted etc. I’m still far off the speed I need to earn UTMB points or enter more extreme global races but this is a major milestone in moving toward that.
And I won’t lie, I’m actually proud of my time on this – and that never happens!
