NDW100 2025

Three things went wrong that were within my control; a lot went right, even a greater number of things.  But the balance tends towards the errors as they magnify relentlessly through the course of a race of this length (100 miles).  Let's start with what went well on the North Downs Way 100 (2025):

1. My feet were happy and I had no blisters.  The Mafate X shoes are brilliant.  They have a carbon fibre plate in them, and they have a wide toebox with thick cushioning.  In combination with the Ultra Injinji toe socks there were no issues with rubbing or hot spots or pinching toes.  I also lubed my toes with Squirrel's Nut Butter and I do think this helped.  At one point I thought the big toe of my right foot might be rubbing a bit against the bottom of the shoe, but the Injinji design prevented it from being a problem and after 50 miles (when I pulled out) there was no redness at all.

2. I actually paced myself pretty well.  When people were dropping out all around me after Box and Reigate Hills, I felt really good.  At 31 miles when the crew told me 10 people were already out, I had no problem feeling energetic and stoked to keep going.  Mind you I was in last place (and people groan here and offer commiserations), and this fact was actually a point of pride since it meant I was still in the race and was keeping pace.  It was never really that close as I had 15-25 minutes to spare in these cases.

3. I had crew helping me and without my wife Diane showing up several times (I lost count, it was so many) I wouldn't have even gone 50 miles most likely. Or at least it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun.  A few times she popped up on some lonely sections of trail and we had a good little chat about this and that and it helped distract me from a sense of isolation or a long way to go. 

What went wrong:

1. I ran out of time. At Knockholt Pound I, technically, left with a few minutes to spare, meaning I made the cutoff at this, the seventh, aid station.  But the crew there told me I had three hours to make the 10 miles to the next aid station heading into the dark at Wrothom.  My pace up to this point was only just over 3 miles an hour anyway, and I was slowing down into the dark due to being cautious on tricky terrain.

2. Chafing.  This was a deal-breaker, to be honest, and it was an error on my part to wear the shirt that I did, and to fail to put on anti-chafing cream in my armpits.  It has never been a problem before, but the shirt made it a problem.  It is a shirt I have run in before, and it is very comfortable, but the armpits hang down just enough to allow for skin on skin rubbing and after 50 miles on trail with my poles the pain was excrutiating.  In addition, I'll add to chafing an issue I had with the top of my right foot.  I got a bit 'psyched' by one crew member who thought my toe rubbing must be an issue because I'd mentioned it to him (but it wasn't an issue as I intuited which is why I didn't take action).  Reacting to his concern I took the 'reasonable' step of tightening my right shoe laces a bit.  This led to some pain in that right foot, until I re-loosened the laces.  I had the beginnings of a bruise but it never actually developed into that, thankfully.

3. My pole broke at Knockholt Pound.  The button that holds the pole in the extended position failed and I can see that this is a design flaw in the Carbon Fibre Black Diamond Z poles.  There was just too much stress on that pinch point and in the end they let me down.  I've already run several races with these poles and they've been brilliant up until now.  I could have run with one pole (and in this sense only it was within my control) but with the other two factors above, felt it wasn't going to work. 

The last three 'wrongs' added up to a fatal situation for my race.  Still, I'm extremely happy with the day, and it was one of the most memorable, exciting and beautiful days I've ever had on the trails running.  

A few days later and I feel very good, and have completed a good track session.  

I had fun on the trail running with some others.  At the start I was with John who is a coached runner and chatted for a bit very early on in the race.  Eventually he put on a speed burst and disappeared.  Later I ran with Clement an American who chatted with me for over an hour.  We got lost together when some kids moved a couple of the signs around, sending us down an old mountain biking trail that Clement and I had to go up and down a couple of times before finding our way again. 

The whole day was brilliant fun and I think next time I'll just sign up for the NDW50 miler.  The cutoff for that one is 13 hours and it obviously had 6000 feet of elevation, but the course is just so brilliant it'll be hard pass up.