Downslink

Oct 2, 2016 · 5 minute read · Comments

Coming in to Downslink I was even more tired than at Chiltern Wonderland with that still in my legs from a couple of weeks ago plus a long trip to Dundee for Laura’s PhD viva. The only thing in my favour for this was it was going to be a reasonably short one and as it followed the old Downslink rail path into Shoreham should be about as flat a race as I’m ever likely to get.

The start of Downslink is at the top of St Martha’s Hill near Guildford and gave us all pretty amazing views for miles across Sussex as we waited nervously before the start. Once the race did kick off I was quickly lost into the mass of runners as we all tore down the hill through winding, narrow single track where I had to be constantly watching my footing as I ran some of the nervousness out of my legs, moving at a faster pace than I’d really have liked to be going considering how tired I was and how long I’d have to be out on my feet for the day. After a couple of miles we finished descending and came off the single track and gaps began to open in the field as people tried to work out what pace they wanted to be doing now they had a bit of room and weren’t just being caught up in the bustle of it all. Within a few minutes there were already large gaps forming between groups and I decided to pick the pace up a little while chasing down mini groups of runners until I was comfortable with my pace for the next hour or so.

The first checkpoint was supposedly around 8.5 miles in so by the time I got to 9-9.5 miles I started to worry that I’d somehow missed a turn off the railway line to the first checkpoint. At ~10 mile the checkpoint finally appeared and I took some time to gather myself and also to try and slow myself down because I realised I was moving much too fast at that point and still had a very long day ahead of myself.

Not long after leaving the first checkpoint my right knee began to feel tight and swollen, like when I’d had issues with my iliotibial band a while back. This worried me because I still had more than a marathon to run on it and remembered how much of a state I’d gotten into at SVP100 back in 2013 when I’d hurt my knee at about 35 miles and had another 27 miles to run on it, finally limping into the end in last place having done slower than 3 mph on flattish terrain for the last few hours.

At about 12.5 miles, running under a thick canopy of trees, my watch lost its lock on the GPS satellites and suddenly thought I was zooming off towards Alton at 30-70 mph. At the time I was running well in a small group and didn’t want to get dropped by them and end up by myself for a bit so decided to wait until the second checkpoint to fix. Unfortunately by that point my watch had me 21 miles up and my average pace for the “36 miles” was sub 4 minute miling!

After fiddling with my watch so it had a proper lock on the satellites again I set off by myself at a slower pace this time as I’d been pushing the pace a fair bit with the small group I was in - although not quite the 70 mph my watch had shown! From here I settled into a bit of a run walk pattern, running when I had the energy and dropping back to a brisk walk whenever my knee began to feel tight.

The weather was stunning and the course was absolutely beautiful as we rolled through the Sussex countryside but the compete flatness of the course left the day a bit of a blur on my mind, particularly through the middle miles.

Coming into Henfield for the penultimate checkpoint we finally came off the Downslink railway line and then on to slightly more varied terrain of farms and bridleways as we approached the South Downs. From here it was just 10 miles into Shoreham and while the tightness and pain in my knee was growing I knew I would be making it to the end in a not awful time, especially considering the lack of rest and recovery time I’ve had this year.

After 9 more miles across the South Downs we came out to the busy A27 and the estuary with the end nearly in sight. Running along the last section and crossing the bridge I caught a glimpse of the grand Lancing College standing imposingly against the sky.

After that it was just a gentle stroll into the end and then I could relax in the sun with a bowl of veggie chili knowing that I just had 2 more races to finish and my exhausting year would then be over.