(Photo courtesy of Ultra Running Ltd) The first inter-school contest I can recall taking part in was between my infant school and a couple of other infant schools in the locality. We travelled to the school holding the contest in a bus. It was very exciting to my 6 year old self. The contest was basically a junior sports contest, and I was chosen to represent my school in the sack race. I was always good at the sack race... this was going to be great... ... ... except when the horn went off for the race to start, I couldn't get my sack open. The rest of the field (all 3 of them!!) shot off up the course whilst I frantically tried to open my chunk of stubborn hessian. They had about 20 feet of lead on me by the time I sorted myself out. I came last. Despite my total lack of natural ability, and my insistence on pitting myself against bizarrely tough challenges, I can't ever recall coming last in a race again. Until last Sunday. Beyond the position at the back of the field, however, the two experiences could not have been more different. Last Sunday, you see, saw me accompanying my friends and fellow Ratracers, Mark and Rachel, around the Pendine Sands Ultra Race. It's a corker of a race (more detail to follow) run by Ultra Running Ltd taking in Pendine sands, Laugharne, and the hills a little way inland. It was to be Mark and Rachel's first official continuously run ultra-distance event. The furthest they had each previously run was broken down into 5 mile laps which they were completing as part of a 3 man relay team ina 24 hour race. Rachel had previously run marathon distance with me last April, but Mark's longest continuous run was around the 12 miles!!! It was time to step up to the plate and run a 'real' ultra. We hadn't planned this run into the schedule, it just kid-of felt like a good idea about a month or so ago! Consequently, we hadn't actually planned our training around it and knew we were going to get our backsides kicked at some point in the run. It didn't disappoint. The weather was almost perfect running conditions, with the exception of a headwind across the top road section. It was overcast, not too warm or too cool. Race start was at 9.30am. The Ultra sported a small field of a couple of dozen runners, but our numbers were boosted to begin with by more sensible folks opting for the half marathon and 10km races. Our run started along the beach. For the Ultra and half marathon option, we had 10km of beach to start us off (the half marathon then turned round and went back again, whereas we turned away from the beach to head inland). We had no delusions of grandeur, and kept ourselves towards the back of the pack, soon settling in behind the rest of the Ultra runners. It was when we headed inland that we made our only error of the day - we missed the turn-off and managed to detour inland, eventually opting to retrace our steps with an extra couple of bonus miles run. Damn! But never mind, eh... what's a couple of miles extra!!! We had kept a reasonable pace going along the firm sand up to this point but with the route starting to climb and take in slightly rougher terrain, this is where our pace dropped a little. Through the woods to Laugharne, then heading uphill on quiet country lanes for almost 4 miles of steady climbing, and a further 2-ish miles of downhill pounding before hitting the coast once more, climbing up over the headland and back onto Pendine Sands. First lap complete... another (slightly shorter) one to go!!! Oooh... I think this is the tough thing about this race - having to do it all over again (less the navigational cock-up!). That six miles of beach seemed to go on for ever and ever!!! And then we had the uphill section! We were so glad to hit the top of the hill and head down towards the beach again until the downhill pounding started to take a toll on our quads! Up over the headland once more, onto the beach and all finished in a little over 7 and a half hours. Medals round necks, food and drink... and loads of smiles! A huge thank you to Steve Worrallo, Henry and Ultra Running Ltd's team on the day, and a huge huge WELL DONE to Mark and Rachel who dug in and got it done it true style. Very definitely Ultra-Runners now!!! We stayed in the area for the whole of Easter weekend through to Tuesday and thoroughly enjoyed our visit. If you haven't visited Carmarthenshire then I can strongly recommend it! (Maybe for Easter next year, taking in one of the races? You know you want to!)
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