So, South Downs Way 100 day finally arrived.  After 6 months of basing our lives around this race (over 1,200k of training, 2 x 50 milers, 1 x 44 miler, 4 x marathons later), we were on the start line.

James starts the race briefing right on time, commenting on how the forecast poor weather hadn’t materialised and that the conditions were near perfect.  The usual questions are asked.  Who’s running their first Centurion race?  Lots of hands go up.  Who’s doing their first 100 miler?  Again, lots of hands go up.  Who’s running their 64th 100 miler?  Yes, 64.  Amazing.  And after the final message telling us to look after each other, we set off on the longest of adventures so far.

The start of the race is lap of the park and it’s lovely to chat with the lovely Rachel Hessom, whose video from the TP100 really gave us an incite into the different stages of a 100 mile race.

Before I go any further, there was a plan.  Get to half way in 12 hours and then we have the ‘luxury’ of being able to walk the second half if need be and still get in under cut off.  More than ever before, it was important to follow the plan.  You can wing a 10k, half marathon and maybe even a marathon by setting off a bit to quickly.  That’s not going to work with 100 miles.

The first section in my plan is from Winchester to Queen Elizabeth Country Park.  A total of 22.6 miles punctuated with 1 aid station at just under 10 miles.  It sets the tone for the whole race.  Constant hills, not much flat.  Difficult to get into any rhythm and increasingly warm.  It is also beautiful.  Neither Nick nor I had running any of the first 46 miles, which made it even more lovely.

We entered QECP with just 20 miles on the watches and it became apparent that something wasn’t quite right.  We had put the Suunto’s on the 100 hour battery setting, but this has the inevitable negative effect on accuracy.  The battery life was incredible.  Only 30% used over the duration of the race, but it only measured under 96 miles.  The result is that we got to QECP too quickly.  The pace was correct according to the watches, but we had travelled further than expected.

We took time at the aid station to sit down, eat some food, check that the feet were OK, have a chat with the crew and then set off.

The second section of my race plan was QECP to Chantry Post at 51 miles.

2 things were obvious.  We were too quick and had to slow down and it was getting hot.  The section out of QECP was wooded and really warm.  We walked the whole section and successfully got the plan back on track.  A lot of people were struggling in the heat, but we managed to deal with it, hydrating well and strangling the pace back, adapting to the watch showing the wrong distance travelled.

The countryside was still amazing and we seemed to be going along pretty well.  The aid stations and crew points are more frequent in this section and they prove to be a great morale boost.  We took on plenty of food, water and sun block.  We were still pretty close together, which helped as well.  I always worry about Nick on races.  I want her to do well and I couldn’t bare the thought of me bringing home the buckle and her not.  As long as she was in front of me or with me, I knew everything was OK.

Nick had the word ‘Smile’ written down her arm and we promised to each other that we’d enjoy this as much as we could for as long as we could.  These 2 photos are of me leaving the Cocking aid/crew station at 35 miles.  These are not forced smiles for the camera.  I truly loved it.

From Cocking to Chantry Post there was another 15 miles to go.  The weather was still really hot, but we were comfortable and in control.  Nick’s crew saw us for the first time before the total bitch of a hill just after Amberley, which was a timely boost as well.

Not long until half way, we’re back on familiar territory, we’re bang on schedule and we bump into Jon Lavis just before the aid station at Kithurst Hill.  He was, of course, armed with his camera.