Day two of the Druids' Challenge started quite differently from Day One. For one thing I was already at the start and so didn't have a long train journey on which to ponder deep existential questions. It also started with breakfast, which was porridge and toast - a great improvement on the improvised cereal bar 'breakfast' I had eaten between Chelmsford and Tring on day one.
Another difference was that there would be no minibus trip to the start - this was possibly a good thing as XRNG apparently didn't have a lot of luck with minibuses that weekend, although this never appeared to cause any issues to those of us running. Sarah and me had decided to start together and see how it went - each of us convinced the other was faster. Neil pointed out that the sun was shining at the start - and then pointed out the large black cloud blowing in from the west, more of the same as yesterday was the weather forecast. He also told us there would be less mud. I'm not saying he was wrong but personally the difference between 'a hell of a lot' and just 'a lot' is lost on me so I couldn't honestly say I found the underfoot conditions any better on day two than on day one.
Anyway we retraced our steps for a little over a mile until we were back on the Ridgeway proper. Today's route was relatively flat for quite a long section as we would be following the Thames for around 6 miles of the days running. We would also run across a golf course and through a churchyard - both institutions were less than 5000 years old and could therefore have no complaints about us crossing 'their' land and to be fair neither did.
Long before I got the Thames I started to have some major chafing issues. If I didn't sort them out then it was fairly certain that I would be doing the 'John Wayne' run before very long. I had gone through the first checkpoint oblivious to the impending irritations and mentioned to Sarah that I would have to try and get some Vaseline at checkpoint 2. She told me that not only did she have Vaseline but she was happy for me to have some regardless of where I was going to put it. My discomfort significantly reduced we continued on.
I was becoming aware that, reduced chafing levels regardless, Sarah was in much better shape than me and once we got onto the flatter section by the Thames she started to pull away from me. I caught up with her briefly at checkpoint 2 but the attraction of the sausage rolls was such that I spent nearly 5 minutes stuffing my face by which time she was long gone.
Refuelled I carried on until I crossed the Thames and and turned away from the river and eventually back to the chalk (and mud) pathway that characterises much of the Ridgeway. I spent slightly less time at checkpoint 3 than I had at 2 but only because I filled my pockets with cocktail sausages to eat on the way to the finish rather than simply stopping and eating. Day 2 took me 5 hours and 25 minutes for 27 miles, a slower average pace than the first day, which was slightly disappointing but not unexpected - especially given the high level of consumption of sausage based products at the checkpoints.
Today's finish was actually on the Ridgeway and a minibus took us to our overnight halt at Wantage Leisure centre. Having learned from the first night I got my wet kit over a five-aside football goal to dry and grabbed a gym mat as soon as I arrived. Tonight we would be fed baked potato with chili and again apple pie was my pudding of choice. If anyone knows of a supplier of freeze dried apple pie please let me know as I'm convinced it would be perfect fuel for the MdS.
Saturday night was also the night we were to be entertained by a couple of speakers on the subject of the MdS. The first was Joey Sharma who entertained us with the story of her MdS, completed in the company of Cedric the Blister. The second was 10 times MdS finisher Rory Coleman. Apart from emphasising the importance of intervals and hills, and not being fat, Rory made the ludicrous suggestion that we should 'have a go' on the final day and stop walking up the hills. My plan was simply to complete day 3 and not to countenance anything as foolish as that which was being suggested...
I understand there may have been a party afterwards but after being up at ten to six, running 27 miles and having it all to do again the next day I retired to bed to rest ready for the final day of the 2013 Druids' Challenge...
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