Legend at 37 miles

What an absolutely brilliant day!

An early start with a 4.30 alarm call so that some of the (morning) people could go and see Vic at the start of the race. Glad we did because it was so fascinating to see the start of an ultramarathon. The trail running community are a laid back breed, some of them arriving just a minute or two before they were due to start a 47 mile run.

After seeing her off, we went back for breakfast with the gang before setting out on a run of our own. We’d had matching T-shirts printed to surprise Vic and so ran up to where she was due to be at 17 miles. We ran a couple of miles in the opposite direction to the race and had a great time cheering everybody on! After we’d seen Vic and she’d seen the T-shirts, we headed back to shower and get ready for the next check point in Ambleside. At this point the runners were 27 miles in and looking much less fresh than the last time we’d seen them. We had a picnic and waited for Vic to come by. She was looking amazing!

From there we drove around the Lake, accidentally driving past Vic and beeping wildy at her and onto the final fuel station (and pub for us) which was about 37 miles (the photo above). Vic was looking incredible and at this point we were mostly just in awe of her.

Our final point was the finish line where 12 hours and 2 mins after she’d started, Vic crossed the line and turned into a weepy puddle. Once composed, she tucked into a beer and some nachos and quietly became our absolute hero. It takes more than just good running to complete an ultra, it takes a mindset that I think very few of us possess.

Back to the house for prosecco and pizza and video calls with some of the rest of the gang. An absolutely brilliant day that will remain with me for some time!