Approach to CP3;GB Country to Capital 45

Approach to CP3, originally uploaded by ultraBobban.

After 23 miles we hit the canal and I was stuck with what to do, about 3 mins behind me were the 3 amigos. I stopped for 10 mins for a chat with the organisers....well that is a lie, I stopped to stuff anything that I could down my face. Undettered by the crisp war on runnersworld.co.uk that had erupted, I signed UN resolution 49 and vowed never to mention spicy nik naks as long as I could have that packet of salt and vinegar discos. Jerry had spooked me with his "salt-warning" which was a crooping cough and I get a strange throat feeling when I feel salt low, so the crisps were like manna from heaven.

Unfortunately I got so cold at CP3 I had to set off and it was at a fast clip. The garmin shows a few miles of sub 8.00s between 26.00 and 31.00 miles. Crackin'! I got chatting to Claire from Serpentine and apart from a 7 hour LDWA winter tanners, this was her first ultra. Seen as it was my longest we were in good company. After CP4, I stretched the ITB and calves and ran on my own from 33.00 miles to the finish, occasionally stopping to will on the 17 fellow runners that I overtook in the process. After such a long time running there are many things to do to while away the time, talking to others was the part that made me feel the most sane. Singing to myself, shouting at ducks, moorhens, coots, magpies, cyclists; reading grafitti out loud in coloquial accents, counting up, counting down, calculating mileage and pace from my garmin.......and smiling, I think I did a lot of that.

So, arm Skins went on and Gore Windstopper came off as I attempted to get some serious arm swinging in the stage from CP5 to the finish, just 6 miles away. Just an orange glow of sodium street lamps and the warm feeling of iminent success bathed my vision ahead. Cat and mouse with 3 guys and a chat about a marathon in the Falklands and all of a sudden I hear a chap shout that the finish is around the corner.....it was my brilliant running buddy George who had come to suprise me at the finish, along with his wife Astrid. Unbeknown to me, they had been on the phone to Mrs UltraBobban and had come to see me. Great.

And how do I feel now? Great still. Read to tackle L2B and possibly (after a chat with Carlos at CP2) Lakeland 100 in the summer. No really?