The Dorset 100.....finished!

Or, more accurately, the Dorset 101.7 miles. And I felt the last 1.7 miles, I can tell you.

It took me 30 hours and 1 minute (so annoyed by the 1 minute).

I genuinely enjoyed the first 70 miles and felt really strong. It was just the last 31.7 that gave me some troubles.....

I'm just rebuilding the energy to recount the experience. It's very funny to realise that it's all over (for now). And it was all quite surreal really. I mean, just a bit bonkers. I've been taking it all very seriously in training. And then at 2 am on Sunday morning, I realised I'd been running/ walking for 14 hours straight, and now I was running through a field of cow poo (more on that later) and mud, with a head torch on, peering at a map and looking at lots of tiny dots weaving their way up through the darkness like lots of glow worms. And then out of the darkness, I arrived at the next checkpoint, in a barn at the top of a hill in the middle of no-where, where a tonne of friendly marshals showered love and refreshments in my direction, and another heap of walkers/ runners were strewn about the barn, laying on haystacks in various states of disrepair and anguish.

And then I thought, not unlike my thoughts before the start, what am I doing??? Only this time, I really had no idea at all, because I was tired from running, tired from no sleep, and tired from feeling tired, and could't make head nor tail of it all. 

And I think I must still be tired, as I'm not sure where I was going with this. 

Anyway, for now I just wanted to say a big genuine thank you for all of your good wishes and kind words over the weekend. And thank you for following the updates of my progress online, on Facebook etc, I've now caught up with all the comments and good luck messages, and am just so honoured that you all took the time to wish them my way. When the going got tough, I was able to think of all these good thoughts, and they helped me through (plus some painkillers and a lot of sugar).

So, I made it round safely (I didn't get lost, not once!), am back on my feet (well parts of them, not the blistery parts), and have sustained only minor injuries, which are already starting to heal.

:

I will write more during the next few days, as 100 miles provided a lot of opportunities to collect material to write and bore you with. It was, I think, probably top of my list for most difficult things I've done in my life so far. But I'm pleased now, looking back, that I kept going and pushed myself through it, and achieved my aim. Plus, I really enjoyed 2/3 of it, which as Andrew pointed out, is probably more than you would enjoy of an average day at work, say. So there you go.