By the canal again

This weekend saw the start of the UK ULTRArace Championships. This is a series of, er, ultra races, which together form a championship. So, does what it says on the tin really. It's a pretty neat idea - you enter 5 or more in the series and your top 5 results count. I would have entered at least 5 of these anyway, but it might encourage people to enter more. Either way, it's great to see how rapidly ultra running is expanding in the UK. Rory and Jen do a fantastic job in organising such feel-good events.

Last year I plodded along the canal (46 miles each way: Northampton to Tring Saturday, the reverse on Sunday) and finished first lady, albeit very slowly. An hour quicker this year was only good enough for 5th place. That's fine with me - I'm not in it to compete, just to enjoy, but I do really like being surrounded by such talented runners, in a community that remains friendly and positive as it grows. I was very pleased that this year there was only 5 minutes difference between my times for the two days (8:41 and 8:46). Nicely consistent. And I'm still feeling that I'm very much taking things gently as I don't want my lungs to start complaining again. My shin got really painful though and has a lump on it. This happened at the 10in10 and they lasered and iced it for me. As a non-pampered-afleet now I'm doing the ice and ibuprofen thing instead. I even took a day off running this morning.

I found out this week that I didn't get a place at UTMB this year. A shame, but it can wait for another time. So, now I'm pondering whether or not I'm ready to tackle the Spartathlon. I feel slightly giddy just contemplating it...