Race to the Stones '21 - The Last Return

Race to the Stones is a 100km ultra marathon along The Ridgeway, England’s oldest pathway. In 2015 I took my part as my first ever ultra marathon, done over two days with my friends Andy and Brian. It was full of ups and downs but overall a great experience.

Two years later my dear friend Caroline asked me if I would do it with her as her first ultra, I couldn’t say no. This time we did the 100km straight through and it was a blast from start to finish (bar a few questionable miles somewhere in the middle). I ran it so much stronger than the first time and I felt that my demons were put to bed. No need to ever do that particular event again…

…until I had a free weekend, fancied a race and it’s not too far from my doorstep, so I put in a last minute entry for 100km straight through with 10 days to taper and figure out a plan..

I’m still (yes, STILL) waiting for the Marathon Des Sables to go ahead and have managed to keep my training in a good place for over a year now. I knew what I was capable of and this race came at a good time to benchmark not only my current training but also my journey through ultra running since 2015.

I set myself four targets and I was hell bent on achieving at least one of them;

🥉 Top 25 ladies

🥈 Beat my 100km pb of 13.58

🥇 Finish in 12-13 hours

🌟The platinum prize was coming in under 12 hours🌟

All were doable but I knew I’d have to graft hard for the sub 12, keeping my average pace under 11.30 min/mi (7.10 min/km) which was a push over that distance and elevation (3700 feet / 1200 metres).

10th July, race day arrived and I was buzzing to get started. I had kept my plan fairly simple; stick to the pace, don’t talk to anyone (this is a big ask for me!) and run everything that was runnable. I knew exactly what time I needed to leave each checkpoint to stay on schedule and I’d factored in a fatigue buffer.

I was given a really late start time of 8:50am although managed to get going 30 minutes earlier. I started off well but I was annoyed to have taken 8 miles and a twisted ankle to clear the huge crowd that had set off before me. I basically just ran through the crowds shouting ‘on your left’ until it thinned out to a point that I could run comfortably.

My pace was good and steady, averaging 10 minute miles for the first 20 miles until the humidity started to kick in and after a few uncomfortable miles I knew I was in a spot of bother. I just couldn’t stomach anything, even Tailwind (my old faithful) was starting to lose it’s appeal and by the halfway point I was feeling really light headed and nauseous. My average pace was more like 10:30 minute miles, the numbers were creeping up so with 40 miles still to go I knew I had to push on if I wanted to hit my sub 12 hour target.

The week prior to the race, my hamstring had randomly tightened up, causing pain and swelling in my knee. Whilst this had miraculously stayed at bay, my hips and back started to complain - I even at one point checked my period app to see if I was ovulating because I couldn’t quite locate the source of pain. I still have no idea what was causing it but it did eventually ease off with some paracetamol.

Halfway basecamp was soup and a roll, quick loo stop, bottle refill and get going again. I still had time on my side but also had 31 miles ahead so no messing about! The extra calories had helped and until this point I didn’t ‘allow’ myself music, so moving into the second half with a belly full and some great tunes put me in a good place.

Now, I know that with England’s oldest pathway there is an innate respect for our forefathers but my goodness I didn’t remember it being so utterly boring in previous events. Perhaps that’s because I’d done RTTS with friends and never really ‘raced’ it on my own BUT for a good 12 miles, the terrain and scenery never changed. The nausea had set in again and with a good 17 miles still to go, I was feeling quite fed up. The second half of RTTS is a lot hillier than the first, so my average pace was starting to get pretty close to the knuckle but I was still feeling focused and determined to break 12 hours.

In ultra running, no two races are the same, some hurt and others don’t, but with the ones that do you can almost rely on the high probability that you get to a point where the pain doesn’t get any worse. You kind of just embrace it and accept that you make your own choices and sometimes the cost of that can be quite unpleasant. Down to the last 10 miles and I was fully immersed in the pain cave; my quads had blown (they always do on a big effort) and on a particularly steep and rocky downhill I’d realised that my toes were blistered.. once I’d noted the pain it was hard to ignore it.

Five miles to go and the lovely surprise of my husband and two children came unexpectedly - it was the boost I needed to get the final few miles done. My husband had kept a close eye on the leader board all day and at this point he told me the good news that if I could get in no later than 8pm then I would finish 10th lady! .. the bad news is that I’d have to pull off a 9 minute mile for 5 miles to stand a chance.

Realistically I knew that I didn’t have that pace in me at this stage and my Garmin watch was predicting a 8:06pm finish, but nonetheless it certainly gave me the rocket up my backside that I needed to get the job finished. I honestly pushed as hard as I could, overtaking everyone that I could. Annoyingly my watch battery died for a second time with 3 miles to go which ordinarily would annoy me, but at this point I had no time to faff about and I could literally see the finish line, so I just pushed as hard as I could.

Thankfully I knew that despite the name Race to the Stones, the Avebury stone circle wasn’t actually the finish line (they don’t tell you this on the website) that was another 1.2 miles (2km) further ahead. The first time I did this race, I hadn’t realised that and the penny drop moment induced a proper meltdown. So it was a quick visit to the stones and onto the finish line.

I tend not to get too emotional during races these days, but my journey to this point, not just for the last 61 miles but actually for the last 6 years of running ultra marathons, had come with many challenges, highs and lows. I felt so driven, focused and strong even with all of those miles in my legs. The final mile was very much a reflective 10 minutes and yes I did have a tear in my eye. I knew that I was about to bag a sub 12 hour 100km and I felt so incredibly proud of that.

The RTTS finishes at the end of what feels like the longest farm track in the world (it’s really not long at maybe 500m?) but when you finally get there it’s something quite special. I could see my family cheering and as always I wanted to do them proud so I gave it that little extra for a strong finish to what had been a tough day at the office!

I had started the day with 4 goals in mind and would have been happy with any one of them, as it happened I managed to hit all four.

Chip time: 11 hrs 51 mins

Female: 11 / 410

V40 female: 1 / 182

I wanted to benchmark my journey so far in the world of ultra marathons and I couldn’t be happier with the result.

2015 - 100km with overnight stop - 17 hours

2017 - 100km non stop - 17 hrs 10 mins

2021 - 100km non stop - 11 hrs 51 mins

Job done.

Massive thanks to Salomon for kitting me out, Tailwind Nutrition for the endurance fuel and recovery shake, and also Run Like a Girl for the unconditional support.