Christ on a stick!
5.52
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Well done FP 
Cracking work. 
Iām in bed. Will report later
9 Likes
Well done mate 
Nice work FP - enjoy the rest
Well done FP!
Good lad!
Well done FP
Right, managed to crawl out of bed. My stomach was doing somersaults earlier and I had the usual volcanic chunder which happens pretty much after every ultra for me.Got some fresh cold water into me and ate a cold pizza, that I bought from the van when I finished and then couldnāt face.
Not sure how many started the 50km at 8am, at a guess, about 100. The route takes you through town then out to The Meadows and toward St Catherines Hill and then out to the Sth Down Way. A lot of this is single track and about 8km in we were starting to get caught by the marathoners that started 5 mins behind us but all was cool and everyone was polite.
I skipped the first aid station at about 12km, the next one was at 24km. I felt like I was pacing ok but due to the first race of the year, then some narrow streets, I probably got caught up a bit going too fast in the first 5km or so but recognised it and backed off. I walked all the hills once out of town.
Somewhere between 12 and 24km, I caught a guy a I recognised called Paul Coates, he has an ultra YT channel and is pretty handy for a 59yr old. He was running with another guy called Chris. We ran and chatted for quite a bit, in fact a bit too long because it took me a good 8km or so to realise they were going just that bit too fast for me, so when we reached the 2nd aid station, I backed off and told them to go on.
My nutrition was going well, so only grabbed some Coke and Jaffa Cakes at the aid station. The didnāt have a cheese sandwich and I would have been totally up of one of those!
Next section was the trek to my own village and the route went up the middle of the village but avoided the houses as well. At 30km, the route went with 200mtrs of our house, so Mrs FP and LO had arranged to meet me there and then run about 1.5kms with me before the course went north. I was so far ahead of schedule and when I said Iād probably be there that I thought Iād miss them but a quick call and they were there.
We all ran for a while and I left them. Now I was about 33km and doing some dodgy mental maths, I realised I was going to easily make 6hr30, my original goal and I started to dare myself into trying for sub 6.00.
It was getting pretty humid now and Iād made the schoolboy error of forgetting to Vasoline above my eye brows. If itās sunny, I always wear a hat to avoid my bald head burning but in the cloud I donāt need one but use Vasoline to run the sweat away from my eyes. So I had to wear my hat and it was getting warm under it.
Quite a lot of walking and some main roads to cross. Everything was looking like a hill now! I had a bubble of about 4 runners around me but we were still spread out.
Spoke to one guy about sub 6.00 and we worked out that we had 1hr40 to do 15kms, easy on any other day! I knew it would be close. Picked up some stuff at aid station 3, some sausage rolls and salty biscuits (the rick of filling a bag and picking from it worked really well). Filled bottles etc.
It was getting frustrating now because I knew how close to town we were but we were heading away from town to make the distance and hook up with the Clarendon Way.
7km to go, rang Mrs FP so she could drive to the finish. By now I was pushing hard and determined for sub 6.00, I think I got the point where I had 28mins to do 4km so doable but the last 1.5kms annoyingly go through the cathedral grounds, so tourist dodging slowed things down but i knew I had it at this point.
Met Mrs FP and LO at the line, took LO across the line which is something Iām not a fan of but was quite emotional so why not.
Some observations. There is something very wrong with my feet, again I had that stabbing heel pain after about 45kms and that āglass feelingā that I get in both that make progress really hard.
Iām not sure I have the body for this kind of thing but weāll keep plugging away. I wish i hadnāt gone for sub 6.00, I could have relaxed more but you know, stupidity! 
Some pics
![image|375x500]
19 Likes
Cheers for the write up. Great running & what a fantastic fan club.
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Top bombing !
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Thanks all, really appreciate it. Looks I was 62/115 overall and 9/17 in MV50
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Excellent day out by the sound of it - nice work
Feet up and relax now
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Great running! If you hadnāt gone for sub 6 you know you would be saying you should have gone for it 
ā¦such is a runners dilemma.
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Great pics and write up. Sounds like you had a blast!
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I ran past one lady with about 10km to go, she passed me way earlier in the race. She said āyouāre crushing itā and I said. āsomethingās getting crushed but it aināt the courseā 
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