Yesterday morning I found myself standing in a field near Dorking, in the rain, singing the first verse of Jerusalem with 150 other hardy souls.
This was the start of the Trionium Greensand Marathon; my second marathon of 2013 (and of my life!) and my first attempt at a trail marathon.
The route starts with the climb of The Nower in Dorking before taking in Westcott, Coldharbour, Leith Hill (the highest point in South East England), Somerset Hill, Holmbury Hill, Pitch Hill, Reyards Hill and Winterfold Hill.
After 13.1 miles of relentless hills, mud and puddles, this is the halfway point.
In a fairly remote woodland car park, we ran round a marshal and began the run back to the start/finish line.
I spent three months training as well as I could for this race. Many of my runs took place up on the Greensand Way itself, so I could get used to the terrain.
What I hadn’t been prepared for was the monsoon like conditions, deep mud and every path turned into a stream. Only a couple of the 26.2 miles yesterday didn’t involve running through ankle deep water.
Despite the terrible conditions – and despite taking a wrong turn with about three miles to go and adding a ‘bonus mile’ to the race – I managed to cross the finish line in 4 hours 48 minutes and 7 seconds.
Running a marathon make you realise that anything is possible with the right determination and motivation.
The Greensand Marathon yesterday didn’t go exactly to plan, but I’m pleased to have finished it and feel it brought me a step closer to achieving my goal of becoming an ultra marathon runner in 2014.
