At least my alarm clock was set and I could relax into going back to sleep, which I did. Despite an awful nights sleep, by the time my alarm went (at 6:30). Still, I didn't want to miss the start, and I thought I would finally get to go to the toilet. I got up and went to breakfast in my pyjamas. Despite being quite hungry, there wasn't much there I could stomach, so I opted for some cereal and tea and coffee. Again I was quite disappointed by the lack of fruit, not even fruit juice available at breakfast. I definitely couldn't face the eggs, mushrooms and beans that were available and there seemed to be a permanent queue for toast, so didn't bother with that.
Sarah and Kevin joined me for breakfast which was helpful as I didn't realise we needed to check in for day 2 and we were fast approaching the deadline with 45 minutes to go. I then went to get into my running kit, and retrieve Sarah's race number from our car. By the time I had done this the race briefing was starting and I wondered where Sarah was. She appeared and then disappeared, so I went to find her.... Her tent was still up! And it was 5 to 8!! Eeeeek. She was really stressing, and we had to remember that with 37 miles to go a few minutes wouldn't matter. However when the race briefing had stopped I started to worry. We ended up asking David to finish taking her tent down, as she would be staying with us later anyway. Then Sarah and I rushed out to join the rest of the field. We started behind the walkers.
We were of course in the wrong spot and spent a lot of time overtaking, but we felt it was worth it as we didn't want to get too stuck at the first style. The scenery from this morning was far more beautiful than day 1, and there was even frost on the field! It had been a cold night. Stage 7 was just 3 miles from steeple to Mayland. Just enough to get warmed up, and apparently lost. We bunched up with a couple of other runners and took a wrong turn which had the fortuitous result of us seeing a few peacocks wondering around, however, this was not the right way. A few switch backs got us back on track only there was a huge puddle. Sarah and the others went the long way, I tried to skirt the puddle, which Resulted in several puncture wounds to my left thigh from the bramble. Luckily they were superficial and my first injury of the day. I wondered if they would bleed more though since I was exercising to make me look hardcore, but they didn't.
At CP 7 we had quite a long stop as we needed to do all those things we didn't do before the race start, like fill our water bladders, empty our actual bladders, put on plasters, ask embarrassingly for Vaseline (those last 3 weren't me... Just sayin'). I text David for Vaseline as I didn't want to listen to Sarah moaning about her chaffing all day! Karma got me back, and after a few more miles I started to feel pain in my right Achilles. The uneven rutted ground of the sea wall between Mayland and Maldon was relentless, plus this was a part I had run before and really not enjoyed. Sarah was enjoying seeing other runners snaking the sea wall in the distance both ahead and behind us, but I just wanted to keep my eyes on the ground so I didn't take a stumble. I was wanting to walk more and more and was going to text David to bring some K tape to the next checkpoint. Luckily, Sarah had some on her, so cue me, taking my shoe and sock off to try and tape my Achilles. It didn't make the pain go away, but it reduced it significantly, so it was bearable to run. After a couple more miles it was in both sides though. My speed really struggled, and by the next check point i wasn't a happy bunny. It had been 8 miles to Maldon, officially hitting the 50 mile mark for the weekend, but I could have stopped there.
Laura and Soraya had come out to see me, and ran me into the CP, to David and elephant. I was far less happy than on day 1 when the same had happened with Lorraine and rob in sideways rain, and had a long cuddle with David. Everything hurt. I really appreciated Laura and Soraya coming and they took a few photos of us. Laura said she wanted to see me at the finish so I better be on time because she had other things to do. This was so sweet for her to come all the way to Maldon, and then to come out again later in the day. I better run well for her!
The next section was apparently all concrete and I wasn't looking forward to this. Having gotten used to off road running in training for this, I dread running on harder surfaces as I feel the impact effects. Still it was only 3 miles, and we did most of it with or in sight of a chap called Mark from Tiptree road runners who often runs these parts, so we relied on him for navigation. It was also on this section that I started using an eating schedule again. This actually helped dramatically with my state of mind and is a stark reminder of why I use the nutritional strategy I do. The carb load and race fuel, whilst partly about fuelling working muscles, is mainly about fuelling the brain with glucose. When brain sees access to glucose go down it sends all sorts of signals to stop you running. I felt a million times better once I started eating, and was full of beans again by the next checkpoint. Here we met Lucy, who Sarah recognised as second lady at the Stour valley marathon. We spent most of stages 9 and 10 of day 2 over taking each other, and another female runner, and given Lucy had been so high at SVM, I did start wondering how high up the field we may be.
The weather and the scenery of stage 10 was beautiful, and Sarah and I were both quite enjoying the running. I was also quite excited as I knew that getting to CP10 meant I was finishing this thing! There was no way I would give up with only a couple of stages to go, and we had about 9 hours left to cover 18 miles. But we both needed the toilet and I wanted a coffee too. We took our toilet break and I had my coffee, although when Sarah sipped it she realised it was just black tea. And here we met Lucy again. She didn't look happy and said she was seriously considering pulling out here. I told her that Sarah and I were taking a decent break here and were definitely run/walking the next section, and would she come with us. I really didn't want her to finish here when she had come so far, especially as there was no apparent injury. I knew if it were me, I would have felt incredibly disappointed to have gotten so far and not finished.
We sat down here for quite a while taking in some salty snacks and I was having a cuddle with my elephant. Eventually we got ourselves up, and the 3 of us, the 3 musketeers. (Ok, I'll think of a better name) started running for 12 minutes and walking for 3. As I had a functioning garmin I was doing both mileage check and telling the others when to run and walk. This was quite a mental challenge for somebody who had run in the region of 60 miles the last two days, plus the temperature was starting to soar. The stiles along this section were evil, and sometimes forced us to take a walk break a bit too soon, but none the less, each 12/3 section equated to about a mile covered. Halfway through this 10 mile section from Goldhanger to Tollesbury, I had picked up a little stone in my shoe, so sat down to take it out, and also asked that we walk for 5 rather than 3 minutes this time. All seemed to agree on that, and it broke up that section nicely. By the end of this section I was struggling again but it was fatigue in my muscles, as quite frankly, having never done a 75 mile ultra before, they were going to reach a point where it got very tough.
We arrived at CP 11- Sarah and Lucy ran ahead to it as they both needed the toilet and I walked into it and refuelled and got lots more water, and was happy to see Laura again! How lovely of her to come see me here, but she wouldn't be coming to the finish as I was taking too long ;). David was there too and he seemed very happy with his pint of ale. I could have downed that for him. The heat of the day was getting high and definitely thirst was rising. Luckily Sarah had a spare hydration tablet, as I had run out. She had to be the one to get us going again. We know the other lady that we had passed during the previous stage wasn't very far behind. I asked the girls if they minded us switching the ratio to 10 run / 3 walk, and they agreed. Sarah said it was extraordinary that we were still talking about running at 68 miles into a 75 mile ultra, and she had a point. Most people we had passed in the last section had been mainly walking.
Stage 12 was really remote, like seriously really remote. There was quite a severe warning on the instructions not to start the stage if you had any doubt of finishing it, such was the remoteness that they didn't think they would be able to rescue you. That said, there was a water drop a couple of miles out from the last CP. There were more stiles on this section and they were REALLY evil. About half way through this section we passed Kevin. He later said how he was surprised it had taken us so long to pass him but we were going at a really good pace. When I could be bothered to look at the garmin during a running section we were probably doing somewhere between 9:30-10mm pace, although obviously averaged dramatically slower due to the walking. My dream of finishing day 2 in 8 hours as well was long gone though. Eventually when we thought we had about 2 miles to go, Lucy saw some people in the distance she thought were her children. We decided if they were that Sarah and I would go off ahead and leave her to run in with them. They were, together with her husband who had started day 1. I asked him how much further and he said about a mile. Phew, I've got this. I was feeling really grumpy when Sarah didn't want us to have our last walk break with so little left to go, and I think that is because I stopped taking on food a bit early- in a marathon I don't take on any more if I figure there is less than 30 minutes to go, but here, I should have kept eating regardless, just in case. Still, the sea wall became a muddy field, which became a road with some lovely people telling us 'not far to go now' and other such things. Sarah sprinted for the finish and I saw my car in the car park so knew it wasn't too far away. The emotions were already welling up and when I saw David at the finish I ran to him, threw my arms around him and cried and cried. Overwhelmed with the emotion of completing it, but also because of what I was doing it for, in memory of my dad, who would have loved to walk some of the parts we ran.
Lucy wasn't far behind us and we all exchanged hugs and congratulations. Next was food. David had brought me chocolate milk, and there was also jacket potatos being served. The three of us ate and exchanged contact details, and were generally chatting away. I think I was quite shocked by the whole experience. After about 45 minutes, we decided to get on our way home- Sarah still had to retrieve her car from the start but was promised a meal when she got back to mine.
In the car, David presented me with a gift from Laura, a new elephant called Saltmarsh Nelly. How fun, and way better than a medal:
In the following few days I received another elephant from my mum together with a beautiful card that reminded me of one of my favourite poems. The gifts:
And the poem; Footprints in the Sand- please look it up and have a read. As I was struggling through day 2 of SM75 with Sarah, one of my best friends whom I've only known a relatively short time, I was thinking how lucky I was to have a friend like her who would say yes to all these crazy challenges. And I really felt like she was carrying me on day two. How lucky I am as well to have all those people come out and support me, and a special mention must also go to Sarah Attwood who took me on some lovely long runs around York in training for this, and Rob and Lorraine who said yes to another hairbrained crazy idea of running from Colchester to Harwich, again to help me with my training.
Thanks to mum and Laura for the lovely elephantine presents, and lastly thanks to the wonderful husband who gave up his entire weekend to be support crew for Sarah and I! When we got home he was the first one to crawl in to bed!
On Monday evening, I saw a missed call from Sarah and picked up the voicemail. Not only had we completed this epic challenge, but we were 3rd and 4th lady! 4th lady in my first ever ultra, which was actually two back to back. Wow! (Maybe I will do another one but don't tell David)
And, a week later the celebrations with fizz, the pin and the medal:
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