Ranger Ultras 2025 South & (North*)

I'd entered this race at fairly short notice, but despite this I managed to get a bad dose of gastroenteritis about four weeks before the event.  It took a couple of weeks to be over the worst of it, but I still did not really feel right until a few days before the start.  As a result I knew my fitness was already way down, but more so because of the illness.  The aim was to just enjoy the day out and to see what happens.  Day 1 was 50k and Day 2 is 42k.

Fifth from right (including the two standing side on) in all black.

I took a very conservative approach at the start and sat back in around 8th.  Over time people came together into small groups and at its height there were six of us, sometimes running together and at other times it was more fragmented.  To say the course was wet underfoot is a bit of an understatement, the amount of rain we have had over the last couple of months turned the paths and tracks into little more than a bog resulting in my slipping all over the place.

Even in the early stages I could feel my fitness just was not there and then the usual aches and pains in my back that I now have to live with started to creep in.  After a couple of hours I had to more or less move into shuffle pace as my endurance is just not there any more.  The pack moved away and from that point on I was mostly on my own.  About half way round the course the rain started to come in and with the cold wind it was very difficult to stay warm.  I was probably beyond the point which I should have put my mid-layer on, but my fingers had already gone numb despite wearing gloves and I knew that I would struggle to put the zip back together.  I promised myself to sort out clothing once in the valley where it was more sheltered, but when out of the wind the extra layers became unnecessary.  

About half way round the poles had to come out and it was just a case of trying to grind it out to the finish.  Whilst I still had lost some time and a few positions in the latter section I mostly held my own to the finish.  I'm not entirely sure of my finishing position but I know I was about 1hr 15 slower than two years ago, albeit on a slightly different course.  I decided there and then that I wouldn't start Day 2 as I just wasn't in the right condition - for example the recovery from gastroenteritis resulted in me not being particularly hungry at the finish.  As it turned out I had also pulled a muscle in my quad (another flaming injury!), so it was a good move not to push things further.

It was a nice day out, particularly as I have not done anything since early April (discounting the Tahoe 200).  Next up, the Winter Spine in January!

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