Ran my first ultramarathon yesterday

Yesterday morning I found myself stood at the start of the Relish Running Races Two Tunnels course in Brickfields Park. Over the course of the day it would see some 1500 runners cross that line covering various distances from 5k upwards, but for now at 8.30 on a Sunday it was reserved for the 50 or so of us mad enough to tackle five laps of the 10km route ultra styley.

A post shared by Dan (@thedancoleman) on Aug 19, 2017 at 11:54pm PDT

And what a great event it was. Of the 50km route 20km was underground in converted railway tunnels. The out and back 10km laps meant that we'd cross the other ultra runners at various points, which was a great morale boost in the later laps as we offered words of encouragement and the odd high five.

Mentally it was pretty tough at times in the long tunnel as in the later stages it seemed to go on forever and the piped classical music took on a bit of a horror film edge

Imagine running a mile through a tunnel with this coming at you from the walls. Now imagine you've already run so far that you are in that nightmare feels like running through treacle scenario. And there is a kid on a rattly scooter gaining on you all the time and laughing like a sinister little demon. That was fun.

A post shared by Dan (@thedancoleman) on Aug 20, 2017 at 8:22am PDT

Although being able to break the race into 5k trots between the feed stations really helped, and oh my were they well stocked - bananas, oranges, cakes, at least 3 different drink options, gels, jelly beans, flapjacks...everything you could want to refuel and then some. The marshals were great too, offering personal encouragement as they saw you running/trotting/hobbling towards them sporting your ultra bib.

All in all such a great, friendly, well-organised event - definitely a good pick for my first ultra and one that I'd certainly consider running again in the future.

Anyway here are the stats...