46. The One Where It Was the Last Day

4 October 2015

I woke up this morning with my right knee proper annoyed with me!  My quads and hip flexors were as tight as ever and my calves were sore too, but they were both pretty predictable.  What was less predictable was that as well as my right knee, the underside of my right foot and extensors at the front of my right leg were so tight as to be all but immobile.  I gave it some thought and threw as much voltarol gel on as I could, then kt taped the entire lot, as well as my left hip flexor.  One can never have too much kinesio tape right?!  I also pulled out my trusty cho-pat strap again and packed an excessive amount of paracetamol.  I'm sure there's no limit on the amount of that you can take ...!

At supper last night, we were warned over and over again by people who'd done the event before that the course was 29 miles / 47 kilometres long and that the first checkpoint was about 16.5km away.  This was also the day that both Flora and Michelle had warned me about, and everyone who'd done it before seemed to agree that it was far and away the hardest day, so I was more than a bit nervous setting off.


Luckily I didn't have much time to think about it because all the taping took so long that I flew into breakfast about five minutes before the start, and ate my normal porridge and hash browns during the briefing.  We studied the maps along with the briefing and although the checkpoint timings records it at 14.3km, the first checkpoint most definitely was at 16.5km like we'd been told the night before by the experienced people.  However, the course itself looked then pretty normal, with CheckPoint 2 at 22 kilometres, CheckPoint 3 at 33 kilometres, and the finish at 43 kilometres.  In light of this, we weren't sure what to expect in terms of distance because the course could have changed from the previous years, but we didn't want to take too much for granted so we prepared ourselves for the worst!

The run started at Lelant this morning, which is only about a ten-fifteen minute drive from the campsite.  We got out and the three of us all set off together.  Bernie wasn't feeling that well this morning and we were well aware that we had to pace ourselves, so we set off slow and steady but got to St Ives in relatively good time after having enjoyed the most amazing sunrise EVERRRR  The best bit was that while we waited for Bernie on one occasion, we got to see a seal hanging out in the water below!  I was gutted not to have seen them yesterday so seeing one today was fab.

St Ives itself is the cutest place!  It's exactly like what you think a Cornish village will be like - lots of lovely galleries and artisan shops, all contained within cobbled streets.


We got a little bit lost navigating through but that kind of came in good because Bernie finally got to use the compass.  Seeing as we'd lugged our compasses around for three days it was good to get some use out of them right?!

After we'd made our way out, it was straight up into the hills and far and away the most technical, difficult part of the entire three days.  The course is littered with boulders and rocks, streams and bogs, stones and mud ... and is built on the side of a cliff with a sheer drop to the sea on the right.  We could see people ahead of us and behind us which was nice as we knew that we were definitely on the right track - just as well because otherwise we might've wondered if it was in fact the path!  In all honesty though this was definitely my favorite part of the entire challenge - I loved it!  It was so beautiful and although it was definitely really technical (and there was no chance of getting into a rhythm in any way) it was so different, and so wild and really felt like no-one had ever been there ever before (apart, obviously, from the lycra lunatics each year on the Atlantic Coast Challenge).  This impression was heightened by the cows that we came across from time to time who gazed at us contemptuously as we scrambled past, breathing at them heavily.

 Eventually - and I do mean eventually; it took us nearly three hours! - we arrived at CheckPoint 1 for our mini-cheddars, crisps and jaffa cakes.  I also performed a bit of blister maintenance and then we were good to go!

The route between CheckPoint 1 (which was at Zennor) and CheckPoint 2 (which was in the middle of nowhere) was supposed only to be 7km.  However, I thought it would be more like 8 or 10 based on the length of the course overall and the additional distance we'd taken to get to CheckPoint 1.  Sure enough, we didn't get there until my Garmin and MapMyRun had recorded that we'd gotten to just over 25km.  Luckily the course between the two calmed down a bit - it was still big ups and downs over the cliffs, but it was far less technical going.  Bernie left us at this point as he was feeling stronger than we were, so we didn't see him again after that, but Elaine and I enjoyed ourselves taking loads of pictures as usual and making our way up to CheckPoint 2.  The weather was starting to close in, but it was still absolutely stunning on the coast, and it wasn't raining so we could still really enjoy it.


CheckPoint 2 is literally on the edge of the cliff!  It was something else - right on the point in amongst the rocks and scree.  Disaster struck for me when I discovered that all the marmite sandwiches had already gone - nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!  I filled up on the crusts from a couple of cheese and pickle sandwiches (I hate cheese and pickle and I wasn't sure my stomach would handle the whole pickle business, so I skirted round the outside), together with crisps, mini cheddars and the omnipresent jaffa cakes.  We also picked up some new buddies at CheckPoint 2 - Ben and Antony, who had signed up together, and Craig, who was like me in that he'd only done a half-marathon before, but who'd thought he'd do the challenge because he came from just outside Hayle where the event is headquartered.  Ben and Elaine were feeling really really strong at this point, but Antony, Craig and I were struggling quite a lot more, so it was nice for the five of us to stick together because Ben and Elaine could basically tow the rest of us along!  I was a bit worried at this point because I thought that there was a chance we might miss the cut-off for CheckPoint 3, since we only had a couple of hours to get another 12km.  If the terrain had been similar to the first part of the course there was a real risk we'd miss it, but in the event it was far more steady over the next few kilometres.

We got a bit lost again just after CheckPoint 2, but actually it massively worked in our favor because, as it turns out, the path splits into three just after that.  As we got back onto the path (having only diverted a mile or so), we ran into a couple who warned us to make sure that we took the middle fork, because the bottom fork (which looked like the better option) was impassable a few metres on.  Armed with this knowledge, we struck out through the tin mines over the next section and then down another steep cliff and up the other side where CheckPoint 3 was waiting for us.  Unfortunately by this time I was really really feeling it in my left hip flexor and my left leg wasn't picking up properly.  Combined with my dodgy right knee, moving my legs at all was a challenge at this point!  That meant that I was falling over every rock on the path, and eventually the inevitable happened and I stacked it straight onto my bad knee.  For a moment, I really thought that that was it and my challenge was over, but I thought I'd carry on for a bit and see what happened.  It was painful, but I managed to get up to CheckPoint 3 for more sugar (hurrah) and a bit of a sit-down while poor Antony had four of his toes drained of fluid and re-dressed.

After that, we were assured it was only another six miles / ten kilometres.  The CheckPoint staff are lovely, but they are skilled liars - it was in fact another 12 kilometres to the end!  This started inauspiciously by going straight down an incredibly steep hill (impossible for Craig, Antony and me because none of our knees would bend!) and then up the other side.  After that it was far more steady - up the more usual kind of path and around the next couple of headlands, before we hit the boulder ... THE BOULDER!

I'd been told about this by Flora and also by another couple of people and actually, in the event, it really wasn't as bad as it looked.  Just as well for those of us who had frozen legs haha!  After we'd navigated that I led for a bit - because I'm used to sprinting, my stride is far longer than marathon runners so it's actually a lot easier for me to lead because I can stretch out my stride and fore-foot strike.  However, leading also means that I go too fast and can't maintain the pace for any decent length of time.  It felt good for a while though!

We finally hit the beach at Sennen Cove for the final push, just as it started to rain and the winds that we'd been warned about picked up.  Cruelly, you can see the point ahead of you - just across the sand-dunes and then through the town and up one final hill.  However, the path leads away from it for a bit before diving back down - the unfairness!  As we were heading through town, we consoled ourselves with the fact that we could almost touch the finish line ... just up the hill ... we got up there and guess what?  It wasn't the finish line.  Oh no, for one final Machiavellian touch, we had to go up one more hill and then half-way down it again to the actual finish.

The finish itself was emosh - the five of us linked up and ran over it together, though by rights Elaine and Ben as our speedsters should've gone over first really (they did go first, but only by seconds!)

L-R:  Antony, Elaine, Craig, me, the medic (in front, the only one who had the energy to smile properly), another guy who finished around the same time but didn't run with us, and Ben!

 Luckily the minivan had exactly five places, so once we'd been given our medals, had a finish line picture (photobombed by the medic), been handed our Cornish pasties and grabbed our bags, we could jump straight on and get back to the campsite.  That was brilliant because it was freezing by then!

We had a bit of an emotional goodbye at the end - by that time I was so spent that I couldn't really do much except shiver at people, but it was nice to be able to say goodbye back at base before we all disappeared off to our various places (Elaine back to Newquay, Ben and Antony to their alternative accommodation, me to my caravan, and Craig to his home just up the road).  After I'd had a shower (which took me some time to get out of, I can tell you!) I headed back for the final cooktent supper with Francis and Penny.  Francis had also found it tough going but he was absolutely buzzing, and Penny was just glad to be inside rather than waiting outside in the storm for him!

After another lovely meal - curry this time with pineapple pudding for dessert - I finally hit bed.  I'll wrap it all up when I've had time to reflect on it properly since right now I can't process it at all!