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Two weeks after Race to the Tower I took on the 53.5 mile Race to the
King, following the South Downs from Arundel in Sussex to Winchester in
Hampshire. It is a slightly less hilly route than the previous race, but still
with 5500ft of elevation it doesn’t feel any different! The sun was out too,
which was the biggest challenge.
My plan was to keep going at 5 miles an hour for as long as possible, which
when you include the hills, terrain, stopping at aid stations and carrying a
backpack, was right at the limit of my capability. There was a pretty rough
spell of nausea at 31 miles, but I got through that (I’ll spare you the details)
and some emergency rice pudding got me going again. I went through 50
miles just 40 seconds off target pace, and gave it everything I had left to the
finish, coming home in 10:35:15 for 82nd place out of many hundreds,
which is way better than I thought I could manage. Luck was on my side.
I had a bit of medical input after the finish as the heat and running had
really taken it out of me. I’m still learning to manage my wellbeing in these
long races.
I’ve got 20 days to recover in time for the final race of my fundraising
challenge - the Race to the Stones - and I’m only £120 away from my
£5000 target in aid of suicide prevention charity Papyrus. Thank you to
everyone who has donated so far, it is such a worthy cause.
Www.justgiving.com/fundraising/alexlangford |
