Jedburgh Ultra 2013

On Sunday 27th October I was due to head to the Lake District for 'a bit' of hill running. This was the weekend of the big storm down South however and I didn't fancy a long drive to climb half a hill. So I postponed the trip and looked for alternative weekend adventures. The options were Run of the Mill hill race or Jedburgh running festival. Run of the Mill however didn't accept entry on the day... but Jedburgh did. I briefly considered the 10k or half marathon before deciding on the 38 mile ultra instead... a good option as I hadn't run any ultras in 2013. So with my pre race excuses already lined up (bit of a dodgy hip, manflu taking its hold and 3hrs of indoor climbing the day before) I lined up at the startline. The first few miles were pretty swift at around 7:30 pace and I settled in around sixth place from the 100 or so starters. The route passed through muddy forests, rolling hills and ran alongside the Tweed for the first half. The second section was the most interesting, climbing up and over the three Eildon peaks - very windy but it didn't last too long. Just before the first Eildon climb I passed several runners and was sitting comfortably in fourth, slowly catching second and third ahead. I kept gaining on them and my mind was running wild with visions of a (rare) podium spot, imagined Tour de France style podium girls and a champagne spray fight with first and third places :-) (I should note that first was way ahead and likely out of reach). Through the next twisty village I was planning my passing manoeuvre and (almost) victory speech when I suddenly realised second and third were no longer ahead. I'd taken a wrong turn and added an extra 6-7 minutes to the route. Doh. I'll be demanding that refund from the Gerry McCafferty school of navigation after his course I completed recently :-) I was now back in sixth place but managed to work my way back to fifth. With only ten miles to go however I didn't think I'd be catching anyone else so resolved to jog the rest of the course and see what happened. With four miles left I could see fourth place ahead. One of Edel's top racing tips is to pass people decisively and I remembered this shortly after catching him, chatting to him, saying how well he was doing and then having an energy slump of my own. Hmm... must refine my racing head. He visibly picked up and made maybe 20-30 metres on me quickly as I wrestled with an energy gel. It took a mile or so for energy to kick in and I sat behind him until two miles to go before 'passing decisively' this time. My short sprint (c. 8 minute miles!) of 200m was enough and I settled in to an easier pace afterwards jogging the rest of the race for fourth place overall in 5h51m. Third place was five minutes ahead, second thirteen and first twenty five ahead. You can never be sure but I think without the wrong turn I could have at least managed third place and might've been pulled along racing for second. Either way it was a good day out and fun to do something a little different to the other races I've completed this year. There were no super quick racing snakes in the race so it was a good feeling to be racing at the sharp end, rather than just trying to push myself.