Back for a second time.
Having learnt a lot from running the race in 2016 and my slew of errors during the Gower Ultra as well as actually deciding to up my running over the year the 2017 edition of the Race to the King went significantly better than I had hoped.
Deliberately starting slowly and not get drawn into 'racing' others around me, I decided to take more a tortoise than hare approach and got to the new half way point feeling a lot stronger than the previous year.
Not much can be said about the rest of the race other than I just enjoyed the running and chatting to people along the way. When I crossed the finish line it was clear that I had learnt the lessons of my previous races as I finished in a time of 10:42:16 and 95th out of 583 runners, a whole 2 hours 10 minutes quicker than in 2016. My mind was now starting to turn towards a sun 10 hours 50miler.
Although the race as a whole went well I pushed hard for the last 18 miles, initially to make sure I finished in under 11 hours then as I neared the end I pushed even harder to beat 10:45. Once the high of finishing the race was over I felt the effects of pushing hard towards the end and I was curled up on the floor, near the doors to Winchester Cathedral, in pain needing a sugar hit. Ever since this I have tried to make sure that I have a can of Coka Cola at hand after finishing.
Key kits and bits
Trainers: Salomon S/LAB ULTRA
Watch: Garmin Fenix 3
Pack: Ultimate Direction PB Adventure Vest 3.0
T-shirt: Kalenji
Shorts: Salomon S/Lab Sense
Socks: CEP run sock 2.0
Cap: Inov8 Race Ultra Running Peak Running Cap
Nutrition (carried by me)
Gels
SIS - Electrolyte tablets
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