I played with a bit of ultra running over the years, and probably competed in a total of between 15 and 20 ultra distance races, but at no point did I ever consider myself an ultra runner. To earn that title you have to be tougher than I am.
In 1982 I took a gentle dip into the world of ultra running by entering the South London Harriers 30. Although at the very shortest end of the ultra distance spectrum, the SLH 30 was regarded as something of a classic, won in previous years by some great athletes. Still very much a minority sport back then, it had that really old school low key feel to it and became a favourite of mine for several years. As “classic” ultra’s go though, the London to Brighton is among the real greats, and I ran that twice – in 1985 it became my longest race to date – 54 miles in 7hr 01, and again in 1990 in 6hr 34 which probably stands as my best ultra performance. In 1986 I ran the long distance cross country footpath – The Wealdway – 80 miles end to end through Kent and Sussex from Gravesend to Eastbourne as a solo run for my own enjoyment in about 15 hours. I believe I was the first person to do that. I ran a few other 40 milers with some reasonably good results, but I did really very few ultras over the years until eventually in 2003 I felt in need of a real challenge and entered the Grand Union Canal Race. Along the canal from Birmingham to London, at 145 miles, this was in a different league from anything I’d tried before. It ended in painful failure at 85 miles. At the time I gave myself excuses to justify why I couldn’t keep going. And if I subsequently ever looked back on that run, I’d continued to believe those excuses. Until three months ago, when I read three books in quick succession which made me re-evaluate everything I thought I knew about ultra running, and helped me understand the real reason for my GUCR failure 17 years ago. I’m going to continue the ultra theme in my next post, and explain what it took me 17 years to realise.
next up: on the subject of ultras – part two
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