12 November 2017
It’s the first time I’ve run an event of this distance (28 miles), but also the first time I’ve felt somewhat of a fraud whilst doing it. I’d been booked to run the Snowdonia Marathon two weeks previously, but for the second year running didn’t get to the start because of illness. So I looked around for something else to do and found this. The full Druid’s Challenge is to run 84 miles of The Ridgeway over 3 days – 28 miles per day. I didn’t do the whole challenge, but instead signed up for Day 3. Hence, whatever I did, I was only competing against people who had already just done 2 marathons.
It was a cold (6c), windy (15-20mph) day when Catherine dropped me off for the 8am start above East Hendred, with the wind generally coming from the wrong direction. It had been raining for the previous 24 hours but then held off for the race itself. Despite this benefit, the Ridgeway was wet and slippery, so care was needed with the ruts and chalk surface but I managed to stay upright for the duration – this mostly being due to my extreme caution at any sign of difficulty.
The run itself was well organised with refuelling checkpoints every 7 miles or so, with an excellent choice of biscuits, sandwiches, chocolates, crisps, sweets, sausage rolls, …
Those walking had set off an hour earlier so I did start overtaking many later on – always a psychological boost. The elite runners started an hour later than us, so after a couple of hours they in their turn came past before the finish – not such a boost
The one thing I’ve learnt is that in races such as these, only the elite runners run up the hills – not the vast majority. But the effect is that for numpties like me you never really strain the body. Perhaps for this reason, this was the first marathon distance I’ve ever done without being pulled up by cramp at some point. Whilst my legs were sore at the end I was not particularly shattered at the end. The proof of this is that the following morning I was able to run my normal 6.5 mile route around Littlecote at my typical pace (10 mins / mile).
On the day itself I covered the half-marathon distance in 2hr 35, the marathon distance in 5hr 09 and reached the finish in 5hr 35. Probably the most consistent pace I’ve ever done something this long – going slowly probably helped a lot.