Well I've been promising a debrief so here goes. No photos of toenails this year - they've escaped unscathed!
Friday 25th July was an absolute scorcher here in Cumbria. The sort of day where you find yourself searching for shade, or loitering in a particular spot just because there's a bit of a breeze there. A day for staying indoors, or as Marc Laithwaite put it - "ideal marshalling weather!"
Those of us who weren't marshalling lined up at John Ruskin school as 18:00 approached, kit on and nerves slightly jangling, waiting in the searing heat for the off. After a stunning aria (what better way to start an ultra-marathon?!) the hooter sounded and we were on our way.
John and I had planned to walk the start - the temptation is to run along with the crowd, and then have to wait at the various pinch-points on the early sections. We walked up to the miners bridge, loitered to filter through the narrow gap onto the fell path, and then fell into a steady climb up to Walna Scar road, at which point I'm pretty sure we were in joint last place.
Only a Landrover could call this a road, but at least it's a chance to build the pace a bit on the flats, and we were soon overhauling the tail-enders, and then stomping up the climb (2162 feet on this leg) to Walna Scar Pass. The run down the other side was straightforward, with my weekly training running down Skiddaw paying off!
At this point I was steadily drinking, water only, and knocking back the occasional mini-mars or milky way bar. I know from experience that I generally hit a wall energy-wise, 3-4 hours in, if I haven't forced myself to eat. Forced, because at reasonably high exercise intensities, the last thing you want to do is eat, especially in the heat!
We were soon in the first checkpoint at Seathwaite, and the second leg into Boot was dispatched at our planned pace. As we got to Boot it started to get dark, so torches on for the steady climb up past Burnmoor Tarn before dropping into Wasdale Head.
At this point the steadily-building queasiness in my stomach started to grow, and I mentioned to John that a tactical lightening of the load might be required......it wasn't, and we pressed on to Wasdale, with my guts still feeling rough.
After Wasdale the route turns uphill, climbing gently at first, then steeply to Black Sail Pass. On the last section of this climb I paused for a breather, and was suddenly, violently, copiously sick. I must have lost a good 2-3 litres of very watery stomach contents (and apologies to all who were behind me.....).
With the load lightened, we pressed on, with only a pause to deal with cramp on the ascent to Scarth Gap. At this point I was feeling much better, and my only concern was that I was beginning to cramp up. I stopped for 10 minutes in the checkpoint at Buttermere, insisting that John press on, and stretched my quads off a bit. I then pressed on, seeing John again in the Braithwaite checkpoint; we'd maintained the same speed over the leg. Soon after the sun started to come up, and the heat began again. I topped up with food and drink at the Blencathra Centre, and caught John soon after reaching the coach road that contours round Clough Head.
The next couple of legs - into Dockray, then into Dalemain - were gruelling - high heat, virtually no shade, with the final section on roads that doubled the effect of the heat. I kept on drinking, and after every mouthful, felt immediately thirsty again.
As we came into Dalemain I felt bipolar - my legs were strong, maintaining a good pace and feeling much better than John's ankle and foot pain, but my core felt terrible. I hadn't pee'd for 3 hours, and just couldn't get enough to drink.
As we arrived in Dalemain I decided that I'd take 20 minutes trying to hydrate, and that if I didn't feel any better in that time I'd pull out - and so it turned out.
In spite of drinking continuously at Dalemain, and in the car on the way home, I was 3.5kg lighter once on the home scales, and I eventually pee'd after more than 4 hours. At peak I must have been best part of 5kg down, which is 6.5% or so of my body weight.
John continued, and after an hour spent at Howtown - the next checkpoint to Dalemain - he continued at a steady pace to finish 163rd of 192 finishers, with 308 starters, in 38 hours 56.
Apart from a very slight blister on my left heel, and a week of slightly-depressed blood pressure/ slightly-raised pulse rate, I'm completely unscathed. No leg pain, no muscle soreness, nothing.
So where did I go wrong?
I didn't previously know that the heat can depress digestion, and I think I must have started the event too hot, and with my guts already under pressure, my stomach not emptying.
I'd assumed a digestion problem, not a heat problem, so after vomiting my main concern became cramp, which I remedied with stretching. Perhaps if I'd correctly identified the problem as heat, I would have had a proper stop, and re-hydrated thoroughly with something like dioralyte. As it was, I carried that dehydration all the way to Dalemain before succumbing to the inevitable.
Ah well, next year's entries open on 1st Sept. I'll be better prepared next time!
