The ON - 38 miles, 9.75 hours, 2 (sore) feet

I did it! There is some detail and pictures below, but in summary the positives and negatives are:

Positives:

• My previous longest run was 24 miles in 5 hours. Completing 38 miles in 9 3/4 hours is a big step in terms of miles and time on my feet (both important)
• I have no significant bad physical outcomes - a bit stiff if I sit for a long time, but no tendon or muscle injuries
• I handled the uphill parts of the course pretty well
  
• I learnt a lot about navigating the course, especially some of the route I will be covering in the dark, so hopefully no surprises
• I learnt more about nutrition on really long runs
  
• I have completed an ultra distance (50Km is the recognised starting distance for ultras, I completed 60Km)
• I hope (expect) that when I do the ER (2nd half of the course) I should handle the distance a bit easier
  

Negatives:

• I felt completely exhausted and my feet, legs and knees all hurt at the end. Although, this didn't last long, and by the time I got home, the residual hurt was fairly minor
• I'm not sure where the next 40 miles is going to come from (I felt pretty spent)
• The 1st half of the course was I think a lot easier than the hillier 2nd half will be
  
• I need to work on my quad strength as some of the steeper downhills were becoming quite difficult
• I'm a bit worried about navigating Portland in the dark, the route is quite complex and changes from coast path to footpath to road quite often
  

Anyway, here is a bit more detail and some photos of the day:

The day began at 04:00am, after a broken night's sleep (thanks to Felix). I drove to Weymouth and got the 06:15am bus to Lyme Regis.

Here I'm looking nervous on the bus ride:

At Lyme Regis I bought a coffee, and then struggled to find the start of the coast path which, once I had found it, immediately turned into the first of two diversions on route due to landslides.


Having got onto the coast path proper, things started to get pretty hilly, the climax being Golden Cap (shrouded in cloud):

After Golden Cap it was still quite hilly for a while, with lovely views, but flattened-off at about Burton Bradstock.



Everything was still going well as I swanned-around (sic) Abbotsbury:


After Abbotsbury, there was a long flat section alongside Chesil Beach, leading towards Moonfleet Manor, and then on to Ferrybridge (between Weymouth and Portland). There were a few sections here where prior knowledge of the course should hopefully help me during the race.

Somewhere after Moonfleet Manor I ran out of anything to drink which was a bit worrying, however around East Fleet I came across a campsite where I could refill my Camelback.

At East Fleet I reached the marathon point at 6hrs 30mins.

From East Fleet to Ferrybridge, I first began to feel quite fatigued. So before making my way out to Portland, I found a cafe and bought a Strawberry Split ice cream and a bottle of Coke. After wolfing these down I felt a lot better and continued on to Portland.

The trip around Portland was fairly demoralising - a dusty island mostly populated with quarries and a prison - I will be pleased that this section will be dark during the race.

Navigating around Portland was also difficult, and I was really starting to feel tired. However, having got back to the causway, I ran reasonably well back to Ferrybridge.

The journey from Ferrybridge back to Weymouth bay was another matter - I think I'd run low on nutrition, and this being combined with the last leg being 2.5 miles rather than the 0.5 miles I was expecting, made the going very hard.

Finally I made it back to Weymouth and dipped my sore feet into the lovely cool sea:


My nutrition for the day was:

• Approx. 1.5ltrs water with 3 x Nuun tablets
  
• 4 x Crunchy Granola bars
• Lunch of 1 x Marmite sandwich, 1 x Peanut butter and jam
• 1 x Strawberry Split, 1 x Coke (330ml)

Probably a bit light for 9 3/4 hours running.

Even though I feel pretty good, I've decided to rest for the next 3 days to give my endocrine system a chance to recover. Back to training on Monday.