You know your getting old.....

You know your getting old when you notice chocolate and cereal bars getting smaller! I took some tracker bars out of there big box and put them in my rucksac ready for snacking on during today's run and when I cam to eat one they were tiny! Literally 'Fun size'! Why do manufacturers do this?! Just charge me more and give me a decent size bar! Please!

Ok rant over. Pretty good effort today, left at 5.20am and it was odd being in complete darkness for the first two hours. It kept trying to rain during those early hours but I got lucky again and it held off. The most remarkable thing about the weather was just how warm it was. I had my wooly hat off inside of 5 minutes and my windproof unzipped shortly after that. I had to keep reminding myself that it was nearly December. Not complaining but in a weird way I would of almost preferred it to be a bit cooler.

The sun rise was pretty spectacular this morning and stopping to get pictures did slow me down a bit. It was worth it. I actually looped past my house today at around the 13 mile mark and then carried on for the remainder of the distance. This gave me a chance to refill water bottles and put some decent sized snacks in my bag.

Now for the bad news, I did not do 35 miles. I estimate 33 but hate doing this because I know us humans tend to be generous in these kinds of estimates. My GPS gadget logged 31.8 but like an idiot I accidentally turned it off at around the 15.5 mile mark. I suspect that it was turned off for at least 1 mile and so I think 33 miles is a fair shout.

Like on previous runs my legs started to feel achey at around the 17/18 mile mark and at 22 miles when my direction turned once again for home I was in need of human conversation to take my mind off them. I had been running for over 4.5 hours and I needed a bit of company. Charlie in Australia was the obvious choice, so after a bit of a chin wag with el Stocko I got the iPod rocking and headed for home. My legs were severely weakened after after the Marathon mark and I was moving along very slowly, this frustration was compounded by a couple of very muddy/slippery sections towards the end where the effort to steady my self was monumental.

Although I would normally be annoyed with myself for not completing the goal of 35 miles I am not. I know I could of continued but time was really against me and I was feeling dehydrated. Earlier in the run my mind felt blunted and I felt oblivious to the winds. I was plodding along listening to music in a kind of nonchalant state. My mind had accepted the pain in my legs as normal and it was only when I stopped to pee, drink or eat that the pain could not be pushed into the back ground. I was knackered but able to continue. I love this body of ours, its so rediculously capable.

30 seconds after stopping I felt absolutely fine. Going and doing another 2 miles felt so plausible that I did not even feel the need to prove to my self I could do it. However after having a shower I had a bit of a power nap before getting on with some work and this did not not feel very nice, it reminded me of trying to sleep when you have a head full of stimulants. Slightly ill and cant really relax even though you are asleep...Weird. This is why I rarely drink Coke or coffee, but today was likely to be some kind of runners high that prevented me from feeling calm. Felt a bit rough when I woke up to.

30+ miles means that this really was my first Ultra!

Science bit:
Approx 4.5 liters of fluid were drunk
I was out for 6hrs 11 minutes
7 cereal bars (6 Kelloggs Nutri Grain and 1 tracker)

Its now nearly 6 hours since I finished and I feel in pretty good fluid balance but as ever will keep a close eye on thigs.

cant upload pics at the mo but will get them on asap.