At last the months of waiting are over and I can write off one of the slam races! That might seem to be easily said, but it was much harder to achieve I can tell you. For now though I can breath a sigh of relief and rest. Do I need to be relived? Of course, there are certainly no guarantees in ultra running and despite all the preparations I always feel a little bit of hesitancy at the prospect of not being able to finish. In the normal course of events, to drop would just be one of those things, but this weekend my motivation to run the remaining three races depended on a successful conclusion to the Vermont 100.

We traveled up with a group of friends, some were running while others came to crewed. Of four runners, two were running a 100 for the first time. The plan was to arrive early, pitch our tents and relax and in that respect everything went to plan. The VT100 is centered in agricultural land a few miles from the nearest town, it is combined with a 100 mile horse race so the ‘race village’ buzzes with activity as competitors gather. This is my 4th 100 and 2nd VT, the atmosphere here compared to the other 100’s I’d rate as one of the best. Pre race, riders and runners gather to chat about their respective disciplines. During the race, the support from riders and their followers is a great motivator while we’re told riders appreciate the runners out on the course as our presence can provided encourage to tired mounts. Around 11 pm on Saturday I did just that to a rider from Florida.

In 2006 the conditions were described as one of the hottest in the races 20 year history, at this year’s pre race briefing we were warned to expect something similar. At the start a brief rain shower damped the dust and through the remain darkness and early morning it was humid and sticky. By mid morning the sun started to bake things up, good hydration became even more important than normal and combined with the constant downhills, my quads felt like they wanted to explode. Up to this point, I’d made good time, I was trying to control my pace while not wishing to be too slow, everything felt easy and comfortable. But that changed surprisingly fast and about half way through my quads stiffened to a degree that descents really hurt. As I tried to hold back to protect sore muscles, the soles of my feet began to blister. By mile 70 I was limited to a power walk and after that ran very little.

If I’m honest I contemplated not finishing but it was never a serious thought and the idea of ending my slam quest at the first race wasn’t something I desired. As I entered the aid station Camp 10 Bear for the second time a volunteer offered me a pacer, it seemed his son was keen to experience an ultra and was keen to join in. I declined and felt a little guilty at doing so. Using a pacer is to some a key element to finishing one of these events, my personal belief though is that depending on yourself to keep going is as much part of the race as the distance to be covered. Last year I read an article that compared ultra running in Europe and the USA. American running European races expressed frustration that some competitors appeared to take ’short cuts’ because they were navigating by line of sight. The Europeans on the other hand thought the use of pacers and the number of aid stations provided in American ultra races detracted from self sufficiency which they saw as a key element of the competition. Like many of these types of debate, neither is right or wrong. As pacers joined up with their runners there did seemed to be a renewed impetuous to their pace and as I made ground as best I could several bounded passed.

When the finish finally came into view, I was naturally ready to stop, my feet were throbbing and my legs ached. I was a little disappointed that I hadn’t been able to run more in the latter stages, the last person to overtake me was in my age group and crossed the line less than a minute ahead. But I was finished. I had set three goals for myself; to finish within the 30 hour limit (OK option), to finish inside 24 hours (acceptable option) or better still to finish inside 20 hours (best option). I’m OK with 21:15:18. When I think that my average pace was 12:45, the early part of the race was perhaps too fast but it also shows I was bale to maintain a good power walk for a significant distance despite discomfort. One of my friends didn’t finish after receiving medical advice for severely blistered feet, that could have so easily been me. No, with a little more time to reflect, you just have to look to the next one and for me that is now less than 4 weeks away!

As a footnote, the loudest cheer at Sunday’s award ceremony was for Karsten Solheim from Glendale, AZ; he squeezed under the 30 hour cutoff in 29:59:49. He was joined in the last few miles by another runner who had stopped hours earlier but on hearing about Karsten’s plight offered to pace him to the finish. Like me Karsten has signed up to run the Slam this year. But unlike me, Karsten is 71 years of age - now that is impressive, I wish him well!