So this year it came around quite quickly, too quickly to do any training it seemed. I had great intentions to do some and actually be prepared for once, but I never got round to doing any! So when the time came and the enormity of the task was realised, i wasn't paticularly confident of finishing. But I have a strong will and great stubborness in these situations, so I had something going for me.
I flew down to Toulouse with a friend of mine on the Wednesday hoping that an extra rest day would be of some benefit to us (turned out it was time well spent!) and we picked up a famous Japanese runner on the way.
There were storms predicted on the morning of the race so the organisers decided to delay the start for two hours and cut the Pic du Midi climb out of the race entirely. Most of the competitors were quite uPset at the news but i was secretly celebrating, as last year it was one of my least favourite bits of the route. But this was the 160km ultra! And cutting a small bit like this wasn't going to make much difference.
I started quite strongly for the first few km's, keeping a steady pace with my friend. After the first big col i kept at my pace and he understandably bombed on ahead. A few moments later and all hell broke loose. It got cold. It got wet. It got very miserable. Going up the Col de Sencours, i lost all feeling in my hands and face and got soaked to the bone. When i got to the top, it looked like a medical tent in a war zone! There were runners with wool blankets and thousand yard stares, blue hands and a couple of poor guys with hbad hypothermia hooked up to drips.
For the rest of the way I felt very strong. I was amazed at how well I was going, considering I was so unfit! I got a bad pain in my knee around halfway round and had to put up with excrutiating pain for the rest of the run. But it was worth it. When i got to the finish line, all the pain, lack of sleep for 48 hours, dehydration and malnourishment didn't matter at all. I was so happy!
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| Look how tired and happy I am! |
If it wasn't for the knee, I definitely would have finished under 40 hours. My time of 44h55m is not to be sniffed at though, considering my complete lack of training. So one of my goals for this year can't be ticked off. I don't care! Just finishing was good enough for me. There is always next year of course. I don't see myself onsighting 7b or E6 anytime soon either, especially as I've missed a good few weeks of much needed climbing time. Now the bad weather has arrived, it doesn't even look like I'll be doing any cragging for a while. Maybe I'll just be weird and hang out in the cave of justice.
