My GUCR attempt ended in a DNF.
The week leading into it was super stressful - I was doing job interviews, and my 6-month old puppy got hit by a car which meant I almost had to cancel the race so I could be at home with him, but thankfully surgery on his leg went well and he was allowed home on the Friday. I changed my plans last minute and got a train to Birmingham on the Friday. I hadn't slept for more than 4 hours a night all week!
I got to registration early, had a burger at O'Neils, scoped out the fastest route to the start from the Holiday Inn across the canal, then went back to the hotel and sorted out my bags. I was all set, I just need to get up at 5:15 and head out the door...
... I woke up at 1:30am and couldn't get back to sleep
The race itself is very well organised and as a new runner it felt like they were my personal crew looking after me. I can see the appeal of going back year after year.
Before the start I had a quick scout of the field to see if I recognised anyone. Tried to keep an eye out for Avon but he couldn't be seen. I thought I started from the back but then I looked behind and realised I was probably closer to the front. The first few miles out of Birmingham were slower than expected. All of the awkward cobbled paving and short pitch black tunnels do slow you down a little. Once we start seeing trees I settle into a 10 minute mile pace and am happy with my choice of road shoes. All feels good.
I can't remember if it was before or after CP1 but out of nowhere there some unavoidable puddles. My feet got soaking wet and so I planned to swap socks at CP2. A few miles before CP2 I could feel I was getting blisters and by this point a hip niggle I had in training had returned. Once at Hatton Locks I bought an ice cream from the little cafe and jogged into CP2. I sorted out my drinks, grabbed a prepacked bag of snacks out of my drop bag, and then headed back out. Oops I'd forgotten to sort my feet out!
At about 30 miles the blisters were becoming unbearable. I never get blisters so I'm pretty sure it was the wet feet that did it. I stopped a couple of times before CP3 to apply plasters and do my best at fixing my feet but it didn't help much. I knew already at this point that my hip wasn't going to let me do another 110+ miles and a finish was unlikely. Finally I reach CP3 and make a better job of fixing my feet but not that good as it continues to bother me for rest of the race.
After leaving CP3 I realise I forgot to apply sun cream. I had taken it out of my drop bag but forgotten to use it. The sun was blaring and there was little shade. I could feel I was already burning. Luckily I passed another runner's crew a few miles later and they gave me some sun cream. One disaster averted, gave me a five minute boost in motivation but my hip just wasn't letting me run well. I'm at about 40 miles at this point and I'm feeling much worse than usual at this distance. The tiredness is also kicking in already. Over the next hour I am just walking and considering whether to quit now or get to CP4 and quit. I know that I won't be able to stay awake during the night section and I can't really get a lift home in the night as my partner would need to find someone to keep an eye on the puppy that has a broken leg. So I didn't want to quit in the night and I knew I wasn't going to be able to run through the night. I made the phone call to race hq and called it a day at about 45 miles.
Not actually too disappointed. I felt I paced the start well and stuck to my plan. Things went wrong but I don't feel like it was anything I could have done differently. It just wasn't going to happen today. Huge respect for Avon for finishing eight times without a DNF. It's not as easy as he makes it seem!