The Pilgrims' Challenge - Day Two

At the end of my previous blog I had against all odds actually found the finish line and completed Day One successfully in a whisker under 7 hours, and a very small whisker at that - more of a gnat's eyebrow really. James, one of my tent mates for the MdS, was waiting for me at the finish. He had set off with the eight 'o' clock start group as he had a problem with his ankle and wanted to allow himself more time, unfortunately this wasn't enough to allow him to continue and he would be taking no further part in this years Pilgrims' Challenge. I had started Day One with my other two tent mates, Tom and Max, however we had separated at some point and, probably due to the fact I spent as much time going the wrong way as on the course, I didn't see them after the first few miles. Tom was having ITB problems and would, reluctantly but quite sensibly, also run no further.

The four of us grabbed a space in the school hall and set up camp. Having marked my pitch I went to try and wash the mud off me and my well splattered jacket and hat. I also went to find George, a fellow MdS competitor known to me via a friend's friend, who was the brother of the girlfriend of George. George had been on the elite start and calmly told me that his aspiration for the MdS was a top 40 place - I suspect he will get it. He also made me feel better about my navigation by recounting the story of a previous event where he was the certain winner until he confused a fete with the finish line...

I went back into the hall with my tent mates where we coveted various items of each others kit until it was time for dinner. After dinner I finally met Sue, another 2014 MdS entrant, with whom I had communicated on Facebook and even made her agree to teach me some of her dressage tricks (when Sue isn't running she makes horses walk sideways) on a camel to while away the long evenings in the desert.

Anyway the title of this blog entry is 'The Pilgrims' Challenge Day Two' so I'd better get on with it and move on to the said Day Two. The day started with porridge, packing and the pre-race briefing, where Neil assured us we weren't all disqualified despite the fact we had all crossed the A24. I planned to run Day Two with someone with a sense of direction and clock up a few less bonus miles. I was intending this person to be Max, at least to start with, although I suspected he would be somewhat quicker than me. Unfortunately he went back to put his bag on the van and so when we started I didn't know if he was in front or behind me. After a couple of miles I met up with Steve who was in the B&B on Friday night. He looked somewhat confused when I asked him how many times he'd gone wrong on Day One and replied 'none'. Perfect! We seemed well matched in pace and he also seemed to have an endless supply of glucose tablets which he kindly shared with me. At least that was what he told me they were - they certainly kept me moving.

My main impression of Day Two was that it all seemed to be 'up'. This was odd as Day One certainly hadn't all seemed to be all 'down', and from the route information there wasn't a whole lot of height difference between the two ends. Of course Box Hill appeared somewhat sooner from this direction and did contribute some significant 'down', however if anything going down the steep side was harder than going up it. When we arrived at the bottom we were told the underpass was no longer flooded and would be our route across the A24 today. The underpass betrayed no evidence of its previous role as a swimming pool, being barely damp. I'm still amazed that so much water can arrive and leave so quickly.

My left knee was putting in the odd formal complaint about the ridiculous angles it was being forced to traverse and left me limping ever so slightly as I came to Checkpoint Two. The medic spotted this and had a quiet word to make sure I was OK. After making sure I knew how far it was to the next checkpoint, that I had enough painkillers and that I was happy to continue, he wished me luck and let me carry on. I appreciated this approach and hence if I was ever told I should pull out of a future event by the XNRG medical team I would at least consider their advice before continuing. As I suspected the twinges were mainly caused by Box Hill and didn't cause me too many problems from there on.

As you might expect from a pilgrimage route there are numerous churches on the way. What might be less expected is the number of World War Two pill boxes on White Downs Lease, hulking brick structures on the hillside and in the woods. I would have liked to investigate them but whilst stopping for food and drink at checkpoints is an encouraged and indeed almost compulsory activity, I felt archaeological investigations  should wait for another day.

Although the River Mole had subsided, the River Wey definitely had not. On Day One you may remember I mentioned that the bridge no longer quite crossed the river, well by Day Two it wasn't even close. Once again the XNRG team had to quickly come up with a diversion and communicate it to the runners as we came through. The diversion took us further upstream (or possibly down, I'm not sure, it was definitely one of the two), across a bridge that actually spanned the river and back along the footpath on the opposite side. Even then the footpath was over ankle deep in water in places and some care was needed to avoid running straight into the river.

A few miles from the finish Steve started to fall slightly behind me and we gradually drifted apart. Its surprising how fast you can lose sight of all other runners on an ultra and so for significant parts of the final few miles I was alone and hence slightly worried as I really, really didn't want to go wrong at this point! Fortunately the organisers had put plenty of signs out and so I was able to finish strongly in 6 hours 46 minutes and 20 seconds, faster than Day One but also about two and a quarter miles less at 33.2 miles - and no bonus miles!

I met up with Max who had been behind me but had overtaken me at about half way, proving my theory that he was significantly faster than me. Fortunately it didn't go to his head and he very kindly took me to the station to get my train home.

All in all it was a very successful weekend from my point of view. Yes, I did cover more miles than probably anyone else but as the event was, for me, all about training for the MdS that didn't really matter, the important thing was I completed it in a reasonable time with no significant injuries. I have quite a few twinges - but I'm old, what do I expect? My mobile phone didn't do quite as well, it got a bit damp and now won't switch off, doesn't know which way up it is and goes flat rather quickly - but its old, what do I expect?

Once again Neil and his XNRG team triumphed. It can't have been easy, having to come up with two diversions after the race had started but they showed the level of professionalism I've come to expect and kept us safe and moving. I would give them nine and a half out of ten for the weekend. Why only nine and a half? Well after the Druids' Challenge I did point out that we needed cocktail sausages at every checkpoint. We had them at more on Pilgrims' but some checkpoints were still sausageless - if you want a perfect ten guys you know what to do!

I've now got a few weeks of what looks like very wet training before my final event before the big one, a 45 mile single day event along Saint Peters Way in Essex. I'm intending to use it to try out my strategies for the long day on the MdS - in which case I should stop writing and start developing a strategy or two.... 

The Pilgrims' Challenge - Day One

Everything about the MdS is getting very real now, of course its always been real but I now have my flight details and am starting to panic about gaiters, sleeping bag, food... Strangely the one thing I'm not panicking about is my fitness. Those of you that read this blog regularly really should get out more. You will also know my training runs rarely go to plan. However it doesn't matter because I accumulate the miles, usually more than I intended, and the results are really showing. I'm not fast, but that was never the plan, I can run for hours at a time, day after day and keep going, which is really what the MdS is all about, for me at least.

So why was my usual nervous self sat on a train to Farnham for the Pilgrims' Challenge? Well in my defence I wasn't as nervous as I was before the Druids' Challenge. I am now an ultra runner, I and I felt had every right to be on the start line for the Pilgrims' Challenge. I simply have a healthy respect for the unknown, and in the case of the Pilgrims' Challenge plenty of respect for the known. What I knew was that it hadn't stopped raining in any meaningful way since my last blog about two weeks ago, so mud was a certainty, and that the route profile would surely mean ropes and a harness would be compulsory kit. XNRG helpfully confirmed the mud and warned that a waterproof and warm extra layer may be required equipment. There was no mention in the email of climbing gear but then there was no mention of a snorkel and wetsuit either...

As it didn't appear feasible to get to Farnham early enough for a 9 'o' clock start I booked myself into a very nice and reasonably priced bed and breakfast. Should you wish to stay in Farnham at any time I can thoroughly recommend 1 Park Row if you are looking for a freindly value for money place to stay, just don't stay there on the Friday before the 2015 Pilgrims' Challenge in case I decide to run again next year. I'm sure Farnham is a lovely place but pouring rain and the Friday rush hour meant I didn't see it at its best, nor did I linger to appreciate its charms.

Many people like the thought of meeting new people at their accommodation, I'm afraid I'm just normally hoping they won't be noisy. However shortly after checking in and going to my room I heard some other guests arrive. The words 'run tomorrow' in the hall outside my room caused me to nosily stick my head out of the door where I was told 'I recognise you from Druids!'. Alison, Wendy and Steve had all run the Druids' Challenge and after a bit of thought I remembered seeing them too. This was good in a number of ways, first they kindly invited me to eat with them so I wouldn't be Billy No-mates in the local Italian Restaurant. Secondly they offered me a lift to the start so no hike back to the station for me and of course thirdly they would be going to bed early.

Saturday morning dawned and the big shock was... it had stopped raining! We set off to the start of the race and collected our numbers. I met up with a couple of my tent mates, Max and Tom, and we went outside to listen to the pre-race briefing and welcome from Neil. A dry day was forecast and so the only compulsory kit was the usual mobile phone, switched on, not on silent. We were also told that we were on no account to cross the A24 but to use the underpass. Anyone caught crossing the dual carriageway would be disqualified. We were also warned about fallen trees and mud, there was a lot of mud we were told.

Right from the start the rain had caused problems for the organisers. The first mile or so of the route was flooded so we had to detour along the road and pick up the North Downs Way further on. At least at this point I was going the right way and, once we had left the start, there was no mud. Mud arrived first, closely followed by the days first magical mystery tour just over 5 miles into the run. In my defence about 20 of us went the wrong way, including someone who had run the event 5 times before. One of the fallen trees caused us to miss a fork in the path and lead us to a point alongside the A3 instead of the underpass we were expecting. 

When we got to Guildford I found the bridge over the River Wey didn't exactly reach right over it any more and so had a little paddle to complete the crossing.  I managed to run in the right direction for almost 15 miles before getting it wrong again, fortunately it was only a short detour and I quickly righted myself.

Did I mention the mud? I think I did, so I suppose should mention my attempt at giving myself an impromptu full body mud pack. Not only were there a lot of fallen trees, there were, not surprisingly, a lot of fallen branches too. Some of these branches were submerged in thick mud. If you step on one end the other end pops up and catches your foot...

After that everything went swimmingly until the A24, where the only way to get through the underpass was to go swimmingly... The river Mole had burst its banks, flooded the underpass and cut off access to the North Downs Way. As usual XNRG had everything under control, marshals were at the dual carriageway to help us cross safely and then to point us to the detour. The next part of the route was the infamous Box Hill, which was used as part of the 2012 Olympic road cycle race course. If anything the detour was steeper and higher than the North Downs Way so no one felt in any way cheated.

I rejoined the North Downs Way on the other side of Box Hill and ran fairly directly to the days final checkpoint. By now I had run 31 miles and was flagging a bit which lead to my final navigational error. I used the time spent retracing my steps wisely and ate a couple of bars to rebuild my energy levels and finally found the golf course that lead into Merstham.

I had no idea where I was going in Merstham but was just following the signs. I realised that despite all the incidences of geographical challenge a time of under 7 hours might be possible. I used my final burst of energy to run faster and faster  until I was virtually sprinting up the school driveway to finish in 6 hours, 59 minutes and 22 seconds - oh yes!

And so I completed Day One, wet footed, mud coated but very satisfied to have still made a reasonable pace and in a reasonable condition for day Two. The evening of Day One and a complete description of the events of Day Two (those that I can remember, I'm fairly sure there will be mud - and more water) will form my next blog entry...