Oxon 40 miler

Day 126 Saturday 5th May 39.3 miles : miles to date 854.2
Driving down to the run today, I passed a blue van on a quiet duel carriageway. As soon as I did, it started to speed up on my inside, so I went a little quicker. The van speed up, I went faster and my new found nemesis road warrior began hammering after me, following all the way into Henley when I found out it was James Handley trying to catch up to wave hello!! I knew then that the lad was going to be all about speed, so Richard Jones and I resolved to let him run fast on his tod and we would plod. We started off nearly last and worked hard to keep that position. I thought the rules said runners went off at 9.30am, so we waited until then. The rules in fact said to go off by 9.30am, but of course me and satnav didn't bother reading them properly, or unlike James, study the maps intently making notes of route changes. That's why the place was empty as everyone had left. James clearly wasn't bothered as he had designs on a quick time and cut off's were not going to be an issue for him. The lad was fresh and hadn't got any racing miles in his legs, unlike the two old blokes starting with him. There four lady flyers doing the 20 mile version and it was nice to see them at the start. After the first checkpoint, we pushed James out the door and sat back down for another cup of tea. Given in the last few weeks I ran a x-c 29 miler and came third in not much past 4 hours (did I mention that?) and a marathon with a new PB (did I mention that?) and satnav has also run two quicker marathons, we just wanted time on our feet, which we got. Coming in last at the second checkpoint, the helper mentioned we had only just made it by 10 minutes. We didn't have a clue, having stopped at the top of one hill to take in the magnificent views and have a chat with some locals! We then made the next two checkpoints by the same margin, hardly seeing a sole as we did. We eventually caught a women carrying a tyre. 26 miles into a hilly, totally self navigating and cross country ultra and all we could do was catch someone with a tyre tied to their waste with a rope and traffic cone jammed in the middle. No, we had no idea why and we didn't stop to ask. The second half was a lot hillier and muddier than the first and the tired ultra boys catch phrase of walk the hills, was put to good use. Almost the entire route was off road and totally different to the last two years events. It was also very quiet, partly due to the 20 mile option going an entirely separate route which was a bit of a shame. We did catch a few towards the end, but the last few weeks running took its toll. We meandered to the finish in 9 hours 23 mins, a full 1 hour 22 mins behind James who did a sterling job in his first ultra. We certainly wanted time on our feet and boy did we get it. The route was a tad short due to flooding, so we didn't duck out at any point. Honest. Steve James has been chuntering on about rest, which is a word used by idyll, good for nothing, devil worshipping non runners, otherwise known as cyclists and triathletes. We all know the phrase rest is for the wicked, so I for one wont be resting tonight in bed, snoring loudly and dreaming of beer. I also wont be resting until noon in bed on Sunday, oh no not me. I'll just be keeping the mattress warm to help with global warming. Somehow. Right, I'm off to rest, err I mean save the planet....