Virtual Race to the Stones

I thought my Ultra dreams of 2020 were now just pipe dreams when the C-bomb dropped and our worlds changed back in March 2020. My goal of running an ultra before I hit forty, was delayed and I had resigned to the fact that it would be something that’ll occur in 2021.

That was until a glimmer of hope appeared on the horizon. Towards the end of June, my good friend Charlotte (@dancinginspikes) contacted me with the news that the ‘Race to the Stones‘ ultra, by Threshold Trail Series, had gone virtual. You had an entire week to cover the 100km however you wanted, making the event incredibly accessible to all.

Charlotte knew of my goals for 2020, and how I really wanted to complete my first ultra before my birthday, so suggested we do Virtual Race to the Stones together. There was no pondering, not even a second went by before I replied “Yes!” Question now was, how do we approach the 100km challenge; Charlotte suggested 2 days. I suggested 1! We choose to complete it all in one!

We had about about 2 weeks to plan our route, get support lined up, and just generally, get ready to do it. I booked 2 days off work (just because) and we targeted Friday 10th July to go out and complete the run.

As this was my first Ultra, and comfort was to hand, I also decided to VLOG it, so captured it and pulled together the highs and lows in a short 15 min video, which you’ll find at the bottom of this blog.

Race Day

The 10th July soon rolled around, and we were good to go. Weather forecast looked like it was going to be a bit changeable to start with, but wouldn’t be cold, and it no major rain either. In fact, they looked like really good running conditions.

I never sleep well the night before a race, and certainly for challenges I’ve never attempted before. Think overall, I got about 3 hours sleep before my alarm went off at 4:30am, to start getting food into me. We had a target start time was 5:30am, and we managed to get started at 5:45am!

The first 10km flew by and we were into our first checkpoint. We positioned CPs every 10km so if we did end up with a super hot day, we had access to water a regular intervals. This also really helped break up the run, as you would only ever really be focusing on the next 10k.

We were making really good progress, everything felt good, we were ahead of schedule. The route we picked was working out well and quickly clicked into a good hydration and fueling strategy. Still haven’t got used to eating on the go, so my main fuel intake was Tailwind, and I top up with other little snacks as I feel like.

As we approached marathon distance, this was the first little milestone for me, this was the point where the run went from leading up to the furthest distance I’ve ever run, and moved into now every step is a new furthest run. What would happen, how would my body cope, will it give in at some point, I had no idea!

The halfway point had a surprise waiting for me. My aunt and grandfather were there waiting for me. I hadn’t seen my grandfather since around February time, just before lockdown. I was also offered a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, usually a favourite treat for me too!
Now I don’t know what ultras do to your palette, but I had heard about this change, and now I lived it – this sandwich was the most un-interesting and difficult thing I had ever eaten. It was weird, usually I inhale this, now, each mouthful was a chore. What is going on?!

It was great to see some family and quickly catch up. We had given crew instructions to ensure that we didn’t stay in checkpoints any longer than 10 minutes. Aim was to get in, refill water bottles, eat some food and get moving again. So far this tactic was working.

Onwards we went, and somewhere around 55km, something changed in me, I could hear my inner monologue changing, it had moved from a positive tone, and some negative thoughts were creeping in. Over time, I’ve been able to identify that this is where I have to start talking myself around, as if I let those negative words continue, I start to spiral down quickly. This is where I return to my mantras and my reason to run. I’ll remind myself that I am strong, I can do difficult things, and that I choose to do this because I will achieve it.

Sometimes, you can’t fight the feelings, so I threw in my earbuds and hoped a little music will see me through this little dark patch. It wasn’t long before I was tearing up behind my sunglasses. Just let it go James, just work through this.

The other thing I have learnt with long runs and dark patches, they don’t last, you come out the other side, and before long you wonder what the hell that was all about. We had the 60km checkpoint next, and the biggest chunk of the challenge was now complete, it was just under a marathon to go. I’ve done a few marathons before, I know I can do another one!

As we approached checkpoint 8, things were really starting to hurt now. My ITB was really quite tight causing pain in my right knee, everything just felt really really fatigued, and it seemed like there was more walking than running now. The plan was to run to feel, but we were also conscious to keep moving, and run for a bit, walk for a bit, then be strict with picking up the pace again.

Coming out of checkpoint 8, knowing there was just 1 check point to go, then we were done, this was actually happening and regardless of what happens in the next 20km, I was incredibly proud, and whichever way you looked at it, I still had done an ultra!

The final 10km was on very familiar territory. These were running routes we train on all the time. We knew where we were, we knew each turn, each step. We knew where the finish was! This really helped us pick up the pace. This was the final push. We were so focused on getting this done, I completely forgot to get my phone out and film. We were cruising. I don’t care what pace we were actually doing, but as far as I was concerned, we were motoring towards that finish line!

We could now see it, within view, the silver footbridge across the river, on the other side of that bridge is the finish line, the point where at 5:45am we started from, to cover a 100km loop bringing us back to where we started. On the other side of that bridge were friends, was pizza, and beer!

This was perfect, who needs massive finish gantries, who needs inflatable arches, we had a bridge and as we came off the other side of the bridge, the watch ticked over to 100km. Job Done!

I still don’t know if I would have preferred my first Ultra to be an official race, but what I do know, is that I got to run 100km with a friend, supported by friends, on a route we plotted. Either way, I made a dream come true, I achieved my goal I had set out to do, in fact I surpassed it, I ran 100km in a single run! I just ran my first ultra!

VLOG

Here’s the 15min VLOG I put together of the experience. My first attempt at vlogging and first ultra, all rolled into one! Enjoy!