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The finish line - and beyond
By Patrick | February 18, 2008
It´s all over now. After months of preparations and a hard day on the Thames Path the Thames Meander is now behind me. Good, but also a bit sad.
I had a fine day overall. Freezing temperature at the start. It was a bit hard to run straight into the wind the first 10 to 15 miles. The muddy sections during the first half also took their toll. I got passed by quite a few during the first 4 to 5 hours. But later on I found my stride. I teamed up with Jan Soderqvist who is an excellent map-reader and he guided us through the tricky parts of the course.
During the late afternoon we ran along as smoothly as can be expected on an ultra. We got into some navigations problems after the last checkpoint, where the wind was absolutely freezing as well, and lost the chance of a sub 10 hour time.
The last 3-4 miles along the river were great. For the first time ever I managed to increase my speed during the last section of an ultra. I think I did the last 4 miles at about 8min45s per mile. It almost felt like flying.
My hat is off to all runners, the organizers and to all volunteers that stood outside in the cold most of the day waiting for us and passing on water and kind words.
Topics: Patrick |