Written by Sarah Sawyer - http://sarahstravelsandraces.blogspot.fr

The Plan

I was massively looking forward to the SDW50 for a number of reasons. I do most of my off-road running on the South Downs so it feels like a 'home fixture' to me. I'd run the whole course over four runs in the 2-3 weeks prior to the race so it was all fresh in my mind and I knew exactly in my mind where I could motor on and make up any 'slow' miles. I'd had a really good block of road marathon training at the start of the year and when I moved onto trail it was noticeable how much quicker and stronger I felt. And fortunately mine and James' targets were much more in sync than for the A100 when there was 4 hours difference between what he set me and what I thought I could run! James had set me a target of 7:50, and I felt that if I had the perfect race and the Running Gods were looking down on me, then I could run 8:00.

I knew that running a sub 8:00 SDW50 was going to be tough, and there would be no room for any mishaps (surely even I couldn't get lost on this one....lets gloss over the fact on one of my recces I ended up heading west instead of east along the SDW!) or time to spare (toilet stops, what are they?!), so I'd devised a race plan that looked like this:

• Hike the steep bits in the hills after Botolphs, Saddlescombe, Housedean, Southease, Alriston and Jevington and eat
• Run the rest
• Hammer the flat and downhills as much as I can
• Use Tom for crewing so I don't need to use the aid stations - he had instructions to give me 2 bottles of Tailwind, 1 Ultra Fuel Shake, 2 GU gels and 2 ZipVit bars at the three points we were going to meet (Devils Dyke, Ditchling Beacon and Bo Peep) and shove some Pringles and bits of cheese veggie rolls at me and tell me to eat them!

On paper it looked like a plan with no drawbacks, now I just needed to put it into practice!

The Reality

I'm always Little Miss Organised so we arrived at Worthing College for registration and kit check bright and early, meaning once that had been done I could spend the hour until the race started catching up with various ultra running friends who I'd not seen for a while as I'd been trying to turn myself into a road runner in the first months of the year. I love the 50 mile distance, so although I knew I had a tough target, and in the week leading up to the race a lot of people said they were expecting me to have a good race, I didn't feel any pressure and was just excited to get started and do what I love doing - running on the South Downs.

Tom taking his crewing duties very seriously from the word go! (thanks to Nici for the photo)

We'd woken up to torrential rain but the Weather Gods were looking down on us as it eased off by 8am and we were left with perfect weather conditions for running. James gave the race briefing just before 9am and we were off - just 50 miles between us and the finish line at Eastbourne. 

Race start

As soon as we hit the trails, my immediate reaction was 'mud....and LOTS of it'. In my previous recent recces of the course, the ground had really dried out from the mud bath it had been earlier in the year, and although there'd been a lot of rain in the week leading up to the race, I thought the ground would have soaked it up. Instead we were ankle deep in mud and deep puddles in places. I am AWFUL in mud at the best of times (basically when I was made, I got given Bambi legs!) and as I'm still running with a bit of a broken arm, it's made me nervous on mud as my physio warned me in no uncertain times that if I fell on my arm again, it would be game over for my running for a few months. Despite the mud slowing me down in places, I felt really strong and was averaging a decent pace of 8:30-45 minute miles which is where I wanted to be. After 5 miles on muddy trails, we hit the South Downs Way which is a lot more exposed in this section so was better underfoot. I love this section of the South Downs down to Botolphs and I defy anyone to run it without a huge grin on their face. I arrived at Botolphs and checkpoint 1, but knew as I was meeting Tom at the top of Devils Dyke, didn't need to stop for any food or drink. A few friends were here and told me I was currently 2nd lady (behind the amazingly talented and super lovely Jess Gray) but I knew it was very early days and just wanted to keep running my own race. Beeding Hill after Botolphs is the first of the tough climbs of the race, but I hiked up it strongly and hit 12.5 miles in 1:46, bang on target, and more importantly feeling brilliant. Sometimes you have races where the miles fly by, and sometimes you have races where each mile feels three times as long it as it should, this race was firmly in the former. 

'Flying' into Botolphs (thanks to Neil for the photo)

There were a lot of people at Devils Dyke and this was the first point where I was going to meet Tom, who like a military operation, gave me everything I'd requested. I've been using Tailwind this year and find it brilliant stuff, and in previous ultras I've always taken a couple of Ultra Fuel Shakes (which give you 500 calories of goodness in one hit) so I downed a bottle of that....and as soon as it hit my stomach, there was a massive clash with the Tailwind. Basically I'd made the ultimate schoolboy error of trying something in a race that I hadn't practiced in training (in hindsight, which is a wonderful thing, I should have realised that both products are essentially trying to do the same thing and wouldn't have worked together, but it was too late now and I felt sick immediately).

I really struggled with sickness from the moment I left Devils Dyke, and I really had to get my head down and grind out the miles. I've gone through enough low patches in ultras before to know that the majority of the time they pass, so although my pace slowed down here and I was aware that I was losing precious time I didn't have, I just focused on getting to Ditchling Beacon where I'd see Tom again. Tom thrust various bits of food at me, but I couldn't stomach anything, so just took a couple of gels off him and fortunately after leaving Ditchling Beacon, the sickness passed as quickly as it had started. My stomach still felt like it was doing somersaults, but I could put my foot down without feeling like I was going to be sick, and I had a brilliant section of running here, just the mud slowing me down in places. I hit 25 miles in 3:55 which was about 10 minutes slower than I wanted to be, and I knew I wouldn't make sub 8 at this point, as there would be some really muddy sections in the second half, but I was still really pleased with my progress. I hadn't used any aid stations up until now, but knew I'd need a quick stop-off at one to fill my water bottles up as it was 17 miles between Ditchling Beacon and Bo Peep where I'd see Tom again, so I quickly detoured into Housedean, as my friends Carol and Lesley were volunteering here, and said a quick hello and got water.

Quick detour into Housedean (thanks to James for the photo)

It's another tough climb after Housdean, and although I hadn't eaten anything since mile 15, I was still moving at a fairly decent pace. Just before I hit the 'yellow brick road', Amelia Watts caught me up, looking really strong so we ran together for a while discussing running skirts (don't all women?!) and then she motored on as I couldn't match her pace. Just before I arrived in Southease, I had a massive energy slump as I hadn't eaten for 18 miles, and forced a gel down me, but I really struggled from this point, and lost my 3rd place to Leanne Rive, who again passed me looking a lot stronger than I was at this point.

Struggling into Southease (thanks to Neil for the photo)

The 6 miles from Southease to Bo Peep were the lowest of my race, I was running on absolute empty and the course is very exposed at this point, and the wind which had been behind us for most of the race was in my face. Arriving at Bo Peep I saw the most welcome sight of Tom....and then proceeded to throw up, narrowly missing his trainers (I guess this is the '...for worse' in wedding vows!). He walked with me for about 5 minutes and forced some Pringles inside me, and I started to feel vaguely human again and like I could run. Whether it was Tom or the Pringles (my heart says the former, my head says the latter!), I had a brilliant section to Alfriston, running strongly again. There was more mud upon leaving Alfriston, but Jevington arrived surprisingly quickly, where there was an Angel outside the aid station with cups of Coke which I thought my stomach could just about tolerate, so I downed one of those ready for the final 5 miles to Eastbourne. 

I was still moving at a decent pace up to the Trig Point, but knew I'd struggle coming down through the gully - I'd ran (read as teetered) down it the previous weekend when it was a lot drier and today I resembled a drunk Bambi as I skidded and slid through the mud, and I lost a few places here, including my 4th female to Kit-Yi Greene, who fully deserved to overtake me as she descended like a speedy gazelle! The tarmac at the end of the gully was probably the most welcome sight I've ever seen, and as soon as I hit road, running wise I felt really strong, running the last mile and a half at sub 8 minute mile pace, which is all credit to James' coaching, as I certainly didn't feel like I had 48+ miles of tough muddy miles in my legs. I ran round the back of the hospital and towards the sport ground and hit the track, feeling like I was flying, and crossed the line in 8:23:37, 5th female and 38th overall, out of 339 finishers, a big 50 mile PB and 45 minutes faster than the previous year, in conditions which I'd found a lot tougher than last year.

VERY happy SDW50 finisher

Although my finish time was 30 minutes slower than James' target time, sometimes times go out the window in ultras, and it becomes more a battle of dealing with what the race throws at you. I take full responsibility for messing up my nutrition, which is an area I normally get right, but every ultra is a learning experience, and I'm glad I learnt today what didn't work and not at the SDW100 in June - I could slog out 34 miles feeling ropey, if it had happened at the same point in the 100, slogging out 84 miles would have been a much tougher ask. Even without my sickness, I didn't have sub 8 in me on the day, as the conditions underfoot just didn't suit me - I'm the first to admit I'm a tiptoeing fairy on tricky descents! So ultimately there's absolutely no regrets from me, I'm a bit disappointed with my time but I finished the race feeling like I'd given it my everything and I don't think you can ask to finish a race feeling more satisfied than that.

After receiving my medal from James, and hugs from Tom, James, Mimi, Eddie, Nici, Jon, Natasha, and anyone else who'd give a slightly ropy looking and smelling runner a hug, I forced a cup of black tea down me, which came straight back up as my stomach decided at this point, it was game well and truly over, making for quite an eventful journey back to Brighton!

There's always so many people to thank after these races - everyone at Centurion Running for putting on, what are without a doubt, THE best races in the world, all the volunteers (even though I didn't really use the aid stations the encouragement and support I received from them is truly humbling), all the runners who I shared time with pre/during/after the race, James for being an absolute superb coach in every way, and Tom for spending a day out on the course, tending to my every need and seeing me at my best and very worst!