First of all, what a fabulous event!
I have never run at Book Farm (in Reculver, Kent) before, and it turns out to be the most wonderful place! I completely loved it there.
On Friday, I got the train down to village of Minster and walked to the Premier Inn there, passing three pubs on the way. What a place! Met up with Sarah, Jon and Katie for tea. Afterwards, I faffed a bit with my kit. I was feeling very underprepared to run 100 miles, truth be told. Not for any particular reason; just that I felt that my head hadn't really caught up with where we were, in terms of it being the next day. Anyway, I figured, just show up, try your best and have fun along the way.
The route was 8.7 miles long, so to do 100 miles, you had to do 11 loops, plus a half a loop. The route was made up of: hill mile, slug bridge, straight part, windy dog leg, Yumbelievable station, Christmas tree bridge, fairy wood, vermin control zone, beautifully clean farm road, the stony/windy/very bad bit, Riv, undulating bit, Yumbelievable station, straight bit, slug bridge, hill mile, and SVN barn.
Sarah and I ran the first 3 laps (marathon) far too quickly, then had a panic that that might not have been top strategy for getting round 100 miles, so we settled down a bit after that, and got into a good rhythm and routine for our laps, with the walking parts and running parts.
The weather was amazing! Apart from the wind!
The route was very dry underfoot, which was really lucky. It was very very dusty, and I thought I'd got a good tan, until I had a shower and it all washed off (apart from a small triangle of sunburn on my right leg, which must have been where there was a gap in the dust).
Turns out that Sarah was also feeling not prepared for the run either, so we spent the whole time in denial about what we were doing, that we weren't actually there, and where we were was actually in a parallel universe, and we would wake up in the morning, and all would be a dream. Which of course is completely understandable chat towards the latter parts of a 100 miles, and would all be fine and normal, aside from the fact that we started off along this train of thought from about mile 3. Anyway, turns out it might actually be a good ultra mind technique, as we both got round feeling fine about it in our heads, and not worrying about things.
Other chat topics included the obligatory work-bashing lap, UTS Repairs, Parma violets, and witches.
Wildlife: 2 bats, baby dinosaurs (probably they were birds, but who can be sure?), a few squashed slugs, street lights that looked like seagulls, crows.
The sunset and sunrise were beautiful, and I enjoyed the night section too - it really wasn't too cold at all with a few layers on, and it was a lovely night (no moon), starting out very clear so we turned off our torches and could see so many stars. And some distant fireworks! It clouded over a bit later on, but I love how completely different everything looks in the dark. Trees especially seem to take on new shapes and characters. Plus, we couldn't see how really flippin' long "stony/windy/very bad bit" path was in the dark, which made it slightly more bearable (very slightly, and even slightly more after a lot of swearing and shouting at it each time we got buffeted by the wind or kicked a rock).
There was such a nice crowd of runners out, and I loved how sociable it was and how many people we got to catch up with and spend miles with on the way round.
The aid stations were amazing! Ultras are strategic picnics, with some running thrown in. Top highlight = pink wafer biscuits at Jelly Baby Junction, and gooey flapjack at SVN Barn.
Sarah and I finished in 22:28. A really top notch event - thank you so much Rachel and Tills and Team SVN, and the Yumbelievable Team too. And thanks Jon for the lifts! Well done to all!
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