Pilgrim Challenge - Day 1

My lasting impression of the 2014 Pilgrim Challenge on the North Downs Way will be of deep mud, toppled trees, flooded fields and more mud.

On Friday I drove the 140 miles to Winchester to spend the evening with my mum the night before the run. For the entire drive, which took a torturous 3 ½ hours, the roads and my windscreen were battered by driving rain. Clearly, the run was going to be muddy and wet. Thankfully, the weather for the rest of the weekend was fantastic.

When I woke Saturday morning it was as if I had been transported to a different continent. The scene of a clear blue sky and the green rolling countryside was such a contrast to the greyness that accompanied the Biblical rain I experienced the previous afternoon. The view outside my bedroom window was one of complete calm, and it filled me with optimism for the day ahead.

I left Winchester earlier than needed to drive the 30 miles to the race start in Farnham. The Pilgrim Challenge is organised by Extreme Energy and, if you didn’t already know, I love their events. They have a loyal following of fans like me, and to run one of their events is a way of making new friends. Whenever you go back for more you can guarantee you’ll meet people you know and make some new friends along the way. So I was keen to get to the start to find out who else would be running. I wasn’t early enough to see the 8am walkers leave, but I did arrive in time to see the large group of 9am runners set off. I was in the 10am group of so called “elite” runners, which consisted of about 30 runners out of a total of about 200. There were some very good runners in my group, including Robbie Britton the course record holder for the South Downs Way 100, and Danny Kendal the record holder for the Pilgrim Challenge and fastest Brit ever at the Marathon des Sables.

The start of the Pilgrim Challenge. That's me waving to the camera.

The first mile of the run was mostly on road to avoid a flooded section of the North Downs Way. First we had to run across a field from the start line. The field was so water logged that everyone had soaking wet running shoes by the time they reached tarmac. When we turned off the road onto the North Downs Way proper it wasn’t long before we encountered the first section of deep mud. Several runners ahead of me were slipping and sliding all over the place as I skipped on through the slippery mud in my Innov-8 trail shoes. Choice of running shoe was going to play a big part in how well people would do, or how difficult the run would be. I felt as if I’d made the right choice.

We encountered many trees lying across the path throughout the day, but one particular wood that we reached after about 3 miles had more downed trees than anywhere else.  One very large tree lay across the path at a junction with another footpath. Because of its size and how it was lying it obscured the view of the North Downs Way and sent me off along the wrong path. Fortunately, I was called back by another runner not far behind me who knew the route well. I later learnt that many runners made the same mistake and went much further off course. Forested sections of the run became a natural obstacle course as we scrambled over falling trees or took a detour through the thick forest undergrowth to circumnavigate the ones that were too big to climb over. Who needs Tough Mudder? This was the real deal.

About half way to the first checkpoint at 8.6 miles I found myself running in a group with three other runners (Joe, Andy & Guy). We ran along together and chatted as we went, which meant I didn’t pay too much attention to my pace.

My three running companions: Joe...

Andy...

..and Guy.

Just before reaching the first checkpoint we crossed a bridge over the River Wey and then headed across Shalford Park on the outskirts of Guildford. Part of the Park had a river running through it that shouldn’t have been there, so we found ourselves having an early ice bath as we waded through a knee deep stream of freezing water.

When we reached the first checkpoint I knew I had started too quickly. At that point I decided I needed to focus on my own run. We left the checkpoint together and Joe and Andy set off at a quick pace. I was then left running with Guy, who perhaps had also decided the pace had been too quick for him. The two of us then stayed together for several more miles before eventually going our separate ways.

Me on the climb up to St Martha on the Hill

We had about 10 miles to go between checkpoints 1 and 2. The first serious climb of the day came just after the first checkpoint as we climbed the steep hill to St Martha on the Hill, one of the many churches on the route of the North Downs Way. There are great views from the hill, but I didn’t hang around to admire them for long. 

A runner passing St Martha on the Hill

Dropping down and heading to White Down Lease

Shortly after St Martha we had a long steady climb up to White Down Lease, which has its south facing slope covered with WW2 Pill Boxes. This part of the route is gently undulating, but my legs were already starting to feel drained. At some point over this section Guy was a short distance ahead of me and I watched as he slipped in the mud and fell to the floor. I started to shout out, “are you ok?”, but before I had finished my sentence I also found myself rolling in the mud as I too slipped. I got to my feet with a streak of mud all down my back and one side. When I started to run I felt as if I’d banged my left knee quite hard. I limped on for a mile before it started to feel ok again. A short while later I was at checkpoint 2, which was a great relief after about 19 miles. The checkpoints then got closer together from here on, but the route also got harder with the two biggest climbs of the day ahead of us.

Mud, glorious mud.

After the second checkpoint we had about 2 miles of downhill running, past the impressive Denbies Wine Estate to our right. I suddenly found myself being joined by Andy again. He had taken a slight detour at some point and re-emerged on the North Downs Way just behind me. Once we'd finished running downhill we reached the busy A24, where we had strict instructions not to cross the road, but to use an underpass that lies 300m north of the North Downs Way. We had been told that if we were caught crossing the road we'd face disqualification. However, when we got to the underpass we found that it was flooded and at least waist deep in water. The first wave of runners had tried to wade through, but gave up and crossed the road. By the time I got to the underpass a marshal had been positioned there to officially instruct us to cross the dual carriageway. I was happy to take my chances with the fast moving traffic rather than wade through stinking cold water.

Once across the road we had the steep climb of Box Hill ahead of us. This had my speed dropping to a pace of about 18 minutes per mile. Clearly I need to work on my power walking. A photographer had been positioned at the top of Box Hill to capture the pain on everyone's faces. Once at the top I tried to run but my legs felt dead. It wasn’t helped by the mud being particularly sticky in parts. It was an effort just to pull each foot out of the mud to walk, never mind run. Thankfully, checkpoint 3 wasn’t far off at mile 24, and what goes up eventually must come down.

Andy and I on the climb of Box Hill

I wasn't too happy to see a photographer at this point

Other runners make the climb of Box Hill

I had a feed at the third checkpoint and prepared myself for the final climb of the day up Reigate Hill and the highest point of the run. Once at the top of Reigate Hill we had a two mile section of reasonably flat running with great views to the south. By now even running on the flat was hard and slow. I would jog a few hundred yards and then feel that I had to take a short walk break. I continued like this until reaching the final checkpoint at mile 28.5. I was then assured that the final 4 miles were all downhill. This was a slight exaggeration, it was mostly downhill. I was once again reduced to a walk on the one slight incline that I encountered on the final stretch to the finish. The last mile of the run was then on streets through the town of Merstham. This seemed like the longest mile of my life. The finish at St Nicholas School couldn’t arrive soon enough.

At the finish I sat for a few minutes in my muddy clothes whilst drinking tea, eating cake and chatting to a few other runners. We were all in general agreement that the run was probably the hardest and muddiest we’d ever done. I ran the North Downs Way 50 the previous May, and although it was 17 miles further than today’s run and over the same part of the North Downs Way, I found the 50 miles in May easier than the 33 miles we’d just run. The only difference was the amount of mud encountered.

Completing the day’s run felt like a massive achievement. It had taken me 5 hours 26 minute and I was in 17^th place overall. I was actually a little disappointed with this as I had hoped to be in the top 10. I did ask myself if I could have done better, and on reflection I felt that I need to work on increasing my leg strength so that I can deal with the thick, sticky mud better. So once I’m recovered I will be aiming to do more squats as part of my training.

The idea of repeating the same run in reverse the following day filled me with dread, and talking to other runners I knew I wasn’t alone. For now I would try to put that out of my mind and try to enjoy a relaxing evening with my fellow runners. So after my tea and cake I organised my sleeping space in the school gymnasium alongside a few hundred other runners, showered and booked an evening massage. I then had more tea and cake and settled down to watch England throw away a winnable game of rugby to France.

Food followed, and after listening to three inspirational speakers it was almost time for bed. One of our speakers was Andy Mouncey, who is also a running coach and someone who takes on big scary runs (http://bigandscaryrunning.com). Earlier this year he had a second attempt at the Spine Race – a 268 mile run along the length of the Pennine Way in January. Last year he made it to 100 miles before he had to abandon. This year he made it to 160 miles and had to pull out because he’d eaten all his food, was wearing every item of clothing he had with him and was still close to hypothermia. He intends to have another go next year and will prepare better by eating more pies! With us in the room was Ed who had completed the Spine Race and Alan who had made it to 265 miles and then had to abandon as his feet were too badly infected to make it the final 3 miles. I can’t imagine how disappointed he must have been to be in a position were he had to pull out so close to the finish. It seemed way too rude to ask.  I’m wishing him lots of luck for next year. I don’t think it is a run I will be undertaking. The idea of another 33 miles of North Downs Way seemed hard enough for now.

And with that in mind I tried to settle down for the night.

Just a little postscript on other performances. Robbie Britton won the day in a mind blowing 3 hours 54 minutes, Danny Kendal was second in 4:03. Of the three runners I briefly ran with in the early stages of the run, Joe finished 6th in a time of 4:46, Andy was 12th with a time of 5:16, and Guy just behind me in 19th place with a time of 5:30.