So the weekend of 24-26th Jan, I did something brutally satisfying – my first 100 mile run – the Arc of Attrition by UTMB. 100 miles of the south west coast path around the arc of Cornwall, beginning at Coverack and taking in Lizzard Point, Penzance, Lands End and St Ives before finishing above Porthtowan.
Before I booked it, Greg’s tip for good motivation was ‘pick something that truly terrifies and excites you, something you’re not sure you can do.’ After walking a rainy section of the path with friends last spring, a winter race here certainly ticked all the boxes. A reccee of one part showed just how rocky, wet and technical it could be and as race week approached it was touch and go whether it would happen at all. But in the southwest storm Eowyn came early and storm Herminia late, leaving just enough (relatively calm) time between for my little trot.
Starting at lunch time, the first 20 miles took the rest of the light and despite pushing hard, it was well after dark when I reached CP2 at Porthleven. The next leg to Penzance was mostly a blurr as the heavens opened and we were hit by a strong westerly squall and horizontal rain. After Penzance there were an easy few miles on the road and the weather cleared for the slog through the small hours – if only the boulders and hills had moved too. This section and well most of the next day too (all the way to St Ives in fact), was very definitely technical. There was the same sand, hills, water and slick mud as before but with added roots and boulder upon boulder, upon boulder to climb over too. Suffice to say my pace dropped and all too soon night wore into day.
I made the 8:45 cut-off with just 45 minutes to spare and though I was relieved, by 10 am I was convinced there was no chance I would make to St Ives before the next at 14:30. I slipped into the doldrums, but couldn’t bring myself to plod behind some rather dejected looking chaps for long. It’s not over till it’s over I said to myself, even if I (and all those lights I’d seen in the dark behind me) were going to miss the next cut-off, I could still enjoy being out here – no-one was going to stop me before St Ives – the sun was shining, I was tired, but it was a beautiful day.
As the miles ticked by, the same lady (I was recognising and chatting with her by now) waved from 3 or 4 different beauty spots and suddenly I realized I had just 10 kilometres to go to St Ives and 2 hours to get there. I could make this, even with the slippery boulders and deep running water between, I could just about do it. I perked up, redoubled my efforts and kept on pushing, even running as I passed the lady for the final time.
At last I rounded a headland, the town came into sight and the sun was still high in the sky. The next part of the run seemed to go on forever as Arc Angel after Arc Angel (that’s what they call the support crew) pointed me down or up a different narrow street towards the checkpoint but just after 2pm I got there, now all I had to do was eat, drink and leave fully serviced by 14:30. It started well, a very nice man brought me a bowl of casserole, but before he could say ‘be careful’ I had spilt it all over myself. I mopped up and ate what was left, gratefully downed a cup of coke and headed for the door.
That was the hard bit done they said, the last 20 miles or so would be easy. And it was relatively. Beautifully runable, I certainly envied those who had passed in the shorter races earlier that day. I even found myself running at times. Though now I’d picked up a couple of hot spots, so I can’t say that my form was great. Still my feet, though uncomfortable, didn’t seem to be getting worse and although it was dark again, I’d made it through the dunes at dusk to the penultimate check point.
This section did take its toll on my feet and as I came in to the final check point there was something very squelchy just behind my toes. Noooo. I looked down at my legs, I was caked in mud to the knees. I had made it this far, there was no way I was going to let a few measly little blisters stop me now. There was no way I was going to brave the mud to tend to them either! I had time now, with just 4 miles or so to go I could walk from here to the finish…. The finish, where Greg would be waiting with a chair and a long cold drink!
Phew – that was a pacy race, despite my final time:
Finish time – 34:39:37
Overall Position 228 of 515 starters and 253 finishers – Attrition 50.87%
Female Position 22 of 64 starters and 23 finishers – Attrition 64.06%
Category Position 1 of 9 starters and 1 finisher – Attrition 88.88%
