Thames Path 50 Mile Ultra

A year ago Ben and I took part in the Thames Path Ultra, for the first time. At that point our only experience of "ultras" was the Trailwalker event but they always seemed to have a fun feeling to them. During the build up on forums, the TPU had a much more serious feel to it, with the majority of people being serious runners. I think it is safe to say we felt a bit out of our depth.

However as we began knocking off the miles it became apparent we could run the event in a pretty reasonable time, even though our preparation and game plan was probably not ideal! Our plan was to run as far as we could and then alternate between walking and running the rest. Surprisingly this worked really well for us and we ran for nearly 4.5hrs and covered at least 25 miles. We managed to walk/run the remainder in 6 hours and completed the event in 10hrs 30mins, which we were very happy with.

So this year, rather than banzai the event we are going to be strict with ourselves and run/walk from the start. We will probably start with a 1hr run and then alternate 1/2hr run, 1/2hr walk. We are hoping this should get us round in a similar time, with the added benefit of not being completely exhausted at the end of it. After all on the MdS we will need to get up the next day and cover more miles!

Last year we both took far too much kit/food, so this year we will be carrying weight (not decided how much yet!) but not nearly as much food! I must have had at least 3 picnic's worth in my bag last year! It will also be the first outing for my Raidlight packback I am taking on the MdS, so fingers crossed it's a pain free experience tomorrow!

Perhaps the biggest concern for tomorrow is the extent of the flooding along the route. Last year rainfall during Dec/early Jan wasn't anything like this years and a section of the route had to be re-routed, so I am intrigued as to what the conditions are going to be like. I remember in particular a flooded rugby pitch we had to run/paddle through after no more than 7 miles! I may well be saying farewell to another pair of trainers this weekend!

I've marked out the checkpoints/waypoints below from my GPS. If everything goes to plan I will upload our actual route taken on Sunday.


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