White Rose Ultra Marathon

I thought a good time to start my blog would be just after my first ultra marathon, the White Rose Ultra 30 mile run. This was my 34th birthday present to myself, the best way to spend a birthday if you ask me.

In the run up to the race, I was pretty nervous. I'd attempted a marathon in September and had had to drop out due to problems with my IT band. Since then, training had been sporadic, and I wasn't at all prepared for what was about to come. However, on the morning of the race, I woke up full of energy and decided to go for it, and to just take it at my own pace. I planned to stop at every feeding station- there was one every 5 miles, to take a break and to stretch along the way. However, this is not how the race panned out.

I arrived at HQ at 7:15, registered, got my race number and then started to prepare myself. The atmosphere was quite tense, typical for the beginning of a long race, but also supportive. HQ was in an old mill, which was pretty cool apart from the toilets- no lights and flooded- just what you need at 7:15 in the morning! :)

We all set off at 8, welcoming in a glorious day in the Colne Valley- by lunch time it was 17 degrees and this was the 1st November!! For the first fifteen miles I stuck to the plan- took it steady, paced myself and had breaks at the feeding stations. However, by mile 15, I was feeling good and began to up my pace. In fact, after feeding station 3, I didn't stop again. My brain kept pushing me, telling me I could do better, as my legs slowly started to complain.

At mile 20, the highest point of the route, the rest of the route was mainly downhill, and this was where I really started to enjoy myself. This lasted until the last 3 miles, where the route began its final ascent. My legs started to scream but I kept pushing and suddenly there was the finish line. I'd called my fiancé (Jenna) while I was running at the 20 mile mark to say I'd be there in around two hours, but she was nowhere to be seen. To my surprise, I'd been much fasted than expected, and could not believe it when they told me I'd finished 6th after 4 hours 43 minutes! Typically, she arrived 5 minutes later!!

Ten minutes after finishing, I was sat in a beer garden with Jenna and two friends- Lisa and Gaz- and trust me, a beer never tasted so good!

This was a great experience, and the best way to properly start my training. The course was beautiful, the weather perfect and the results couldn't have been better. Bring on the next challenge- onwards and upwards!