I'm normally quite vocal about my races, but after the massive disappointment that was the Wild horse, I just wanted to slip away and go get it done.
I booked this pretty much straight away after my DNF at Wild horse just to give me a focus and hopefully a bit of a confidence boost to finish the year, I chose it because 1 it looked pretty tough, and 2 I wanted it to be coast path as worst case it would be training for Arc of Attrition in January.
In typical Smevs fashion though there's always something in the lead up 🙈🙈 last Saturday at work I got pretty bad pain in my face and just assumed it was a bit of tooth ache, but Sunday the pain had got so bad, it felt like a pressure behind the eye that actually felt like my eye was going to pop out of my head, my teeth were hurting, and my nose and ear were blocked all down the right side of my face. I was prepared to wait out till Monday to get hold of the doctor, but as the day went on it got worse and worse and I had to phone 111, they told me to go straight up to A&E and after 5 hours I was told I told blocked infected sinuses. So antibiotics and steroid nose spray for a week, which my last day is tomorrow. These eventually kicked in about Wednesday to make like a little bit more bearable.
Thursday I had a bit of a pamper, pre race haircut, a visit to the osteopath and a 2 hour sports massage and apart from some Dom's from Mrs Smevs Bootcamp on Wednesday night I was feeling confident that I could go do the business.
We travelled down to Devon to Combe Martin which is where the start was, went for food and parked up in the car park right at the start. We went for a walk of the start and walked the first 2.5km which was all up hill straight out of the car park, so I knew it was going to be a tough start so was always going to go off relatively easy. We were planning on staying in the camper in the Carpark but about 19.30 it turned in to Grand prix track for the little boy races in their shit little corsas thinking they were well hard. So a last minute google and we found a Campsite a few hundred metres down the road we could have a proper pitch at. So we set up for the night
Race Day
6am start and we drove straight over to the car park for the start to register and get my tracker all hooked up and ready for the off at 7.30am. At this point I started over thinking everything, looking at all the other runners thinking they looked better than me, and confidence was really starting to dip. We were then called down on to the beach for the pre race briefing and the off. A few start photos and we were off 🙌🙌
The Start to CP1
We were off, a little jog at most, was sat in 5th place, knew that it was tough going so took it nice and easy, a group of 3 friends who were foreign, later found out they were Italian, but the 3 of them led the field, we climbed a set of steps, and then there was a runnable climb so I slipped up into 4th and tried to stick with the Italians, the scenery was absolutely stunning, the sea to the left of us and some brilliant trails in front. There was some very slippy and muddy sections and I was starting to regret my shoe choice, I went with the old faithfuls the Inov8 trailfly ultra G270s, I love these trainers but aren't that great in wet mud, so I was slipping and sliding all over the place, but after 3km we reached the first climbed and a good 350m climbed, there was a nice down which I used to helped me get amongst the pack and I slipped into 2nd place, but soon after another mammoth climb and I slipped back into 4th, we were then up to 800m and only 7.5km done 😅😅, but a nice zig zag down section and I pulled away with one of the Italians, I wasn't with him for long as he shot off pretty hard, but I'd pulled a nice gap between the others and was sat comfortable in 2nd.
At the same time there was a 110km and a 110 mile version of the race on the go as well, so we were overtaking these at the same time, so I was always shouting encouragement to these guys as I knew how I was feeling and these guys were doing at least double 😳 I then saw Benetta who I know, and a little further on saw Becky and Hugo as well, at this point I still thought I was sat nicely in 2nd, 1st had long gone, but I would have been happy with 2nd, but out of nowhere one of the Italians just appeared behind me, he must have put a good shift in to catch me as I wasn't mincing it, but if I'm honest I could definitely have pushed harder, but I wasn't really going for a time it was just a case of do what needed to be done to get a decent position, and if I could of done that with minimal effort then I would have been well happy.
But this guy ran with me for a few minutes, we spoke about his mate who had just 2 weeks earlier win a mountain race 🙈 and he made a joke about him not being stupid enough to try and keep up with him, so I guess he was calling me stupid 🤣🤣
This section was only a half marathon and I wanted to get there in under 2 hours, I knew I had Mrs Smevs waiting for me but for once this wasted enough. As this guy seemed to just pull away from me further and further in to the distance my head just dropped along with what little confidence I had left and for the next 6/7 km I spent arguing with myself and being angry about my training leading up to the race and just my training in general. I was just looking for someone else to blame rather than just holding my hands up and admitting I wasn't good enough. About a km out from the 1st CP and a few hundred metres behind I could see 4th and 5th, both closing in on me, maybe I really had been mincing it after all.
I came into the CP, pretty angry still, 21km done about 1200m of Climb in 2.11. A quick pocket fill up, with some gels and some Tailwind, yep you read that right, I'm back on the Tailwind, some times you have to stick to what you know, and the GU energy gels and the Raspberry Tailwind helped me out big time. Knowing the boys were closing in though I forgot to give Mrs Smevs a kiss which is something I always do 😳 but I grabbed a chocolate brownie instead and I was off.
CP1 - CP2
This is where the wheels well and truley fell off, within 5 mins the 3rd Italian overtook me and I had no reply, all the excuses started and I was all up for sacking it off, I'd lost my head and 100% spat my dummy out. This wasn't a good place to be in, it was 19 km to the next CP and what had been absolutely stunning views from the first section turned into more inland trails, you could still see the sea but it wasn't as nice, some big climbs as well, but the biggest factor being the sun 🌞 where did it come from, it was meant to be raining ffs 🤣 Mrs Smevs pulled up along side me as we walked up a hill along the road and I managed to swap my beanie for my Cap but it was still red hot and I could feel I was overheating, but I only had shorts and tee on.
The 3rd Italian had gone, well so I thought, he'd actually took a wrong turn and appeared just in front of me again, there was a section of flat so I thought let's just tuck in behind him, which I did for a km or so, but soon came another hill and I had nothing, no energy, no get up and go, just no fight, I'd settled in my head for just finishing the race which isn't like me at all. I just wasn't ready for the race and it showed big time, but I kept moving, can't of been at any spped though as the next guy then came past, he had a set of poles and was powering up and down the hills, he was french so I was still first Brit 🤣🤣 but let's be honest that means nothing 😉
Now sat in 5th place, hating life, hating running and hating myself for even signing up to the race, I was so desperate for a good outing at Wild horse that maybe I just ploughed too much pressure on myself but I well and truly crumbled. The 2nd CP was approaching and I knew this section a bit as I'd ran another event overlapped this bit, I'd already decided I was going to have a good sit down at this one and hopefully a cup of tea 🤞🤞
Ran down into the village and just like Magic there was Tea 🙌🙌 and made for me by Liza who is a legend in the Ultra running world 🌎 with the most smiliest smile ever 😍 a top up of tailwind and some gels, cup of tea in my belly, and some jokes exchaned about Chaffe on my balls and who was going to rub some cream in and it was time for the last 15km all the way into minehead.
CP 2 - The Finish
Like I said I knew the first bit of this section, and we only had one more climb, but this climb was evil, it was that steep that people were hanggliding off the top of it 🤣🤣 but I had a stretch across a pebbled beach first, but as I hit the pebbled beach I bumped into 4th position who was unsure of what way to go, so I led him over the beach and you could tell he was starting to struggle a bit, he said he'd gone over on his ankle so we ran together for the next few km chatting away. He was French and called Jeffrey, instantly when he told me I thought of Dahmer because me and Smevs have been watching it on Netflix 🤣🙈 but we were good, he was a really nice guy. I'd actually perked up now at this point and knowing it was downhill after this next climb I was ready to go all out in the hope of catching 3rd down, but we got to a little climb and he was slightly in front, got to a gate, and waited for me to pass through, then the next gate I seemed to be in front and repaid the favour but then came the big climb, 2km with 300m of evilness it just seemed to go on for ever, Jeffrey was pulling away using his poles like a pro, and I was standing there hands on hips wondering what the fuck I was doing with my life 🤣🤣 lots of walkers walking down the hill, all making jokes, which I acknowledged with a little smirk at first then there was nothing apart from my best death stare, eventually got to the top and I started running it out again, caught up with Jeffrey and we got talking again, I knew that there was definitely no chance of a podium so I might as well at least try and enjoy the rest of the race.
I was running really comfortably again and could have gone off but I stuck with Jeffrey, we'd done all the hard work and it was a nice 5km downhill into minehead, I was pushing the pace a little as it felt nice but I'd then rain it in and Jeffrey catch up, we then hit the seafront and it was just 800m left I'd got carried away and gone, but 200m from the line I looked back to see id left Jeffrey behind, so I waited for him and we crossed the line in 4th and 5th position. Me 4th as I couldn't be beaten by 3 Italians and a french man 🤣🤣
So that was it, a really disappointing end to my 2022 race season. People will say 4th is a great position, but I know I have a lot more to offer and if I was offered 4th place at the beginning I would have said no thanks. Ultimately though it comes down to the fact that I just wasn't good enough, and it's highlighted all the work that needs to be done before January for Arc of Attrition.
Racing may be over, but the training is just about to go up another level. 2023 I'll be back with a bang.
Thanks for reading as always! 🙌🙌
Mr Smevs 👌