The Hare(s) and the Tortoise

I have known of the Ultravasan race for several years now and it always looked rather appealing. It is a 90k trail race in Sweden along the route of a famous winter ski race (the Vasaloppet, which started in 1922). I knew that I wasn't fit enough to attempt the full event, but as my friend Jo was going out to race it, I decided to go along, support her and attempt the 45k version. 

Seeing what they'd said about me
at the press conference!!

It was a great excuse to get away, catch up with many overseas friends, and test my ongoing shin problem and see where my fitness was at. Thursday became a very long travel day....arriving after 11pm....and Friday was taken up with the press conference (for both of us), registration, technical meetings, race briefing etc, so all too soon it was time to prepare.

Jo's race started at 5am so it involved a 2am rise for breakfast and the bus ride there.....mine was more civilised in that I had to get the bus at 7am, but further sleep was still rather elusive. I made my way to find the buses in the pouring rain....which rather set the scene for the day. To be fair, the rain was lighter when I got to the start field at Oxberg, but it was still rather chilly. I tried to follow Jo's race as long as I could, but all too soon it was to strip off, hand in my bag, pick up a GPS tracker, and make my way to the start.

I knew that there were several faster women in the race, so my main aim was to make sure I didn't get drawn in to running with them, and just run my own race on feel. Luckily, there was no way I could have gone at their pace as I watched them sprint away from me as soon as we started (with a soggy, muddy run across some rough ground). I was glad not to be in a crush as, knowing my coordination skills, I would probably have tripped over the railway lines we had to hurdle before we entered the forest. 

I think there were about 10 ladies ahead of me after the first kilometre but over the next couple I gradually weaved round people until I was running alone, as third lady, with the first two (Fanni and Lisa) out of sight. I was happy with this, as I'd thought I'd be further down the field than that, and I figured that I'd never see the leaders again. I found out later that they ran together for the first 15k and then Fanni moved ahead of Lisa.

The route consisted of some single track through the forest, some grassy sections, and some forest roads with definite inclines and descents. The forest was very pretty and we were beside a lake for some of the early stages, but it was rather wet and muddy underfoot. The race director appeared at a road crossing about 10k in and told me that I was only 45seconds behind the second placed lady, but unfortunately didn't tell me what I was more interested in.....which was how far ahead of 4th I was!

I got the occasional view!!

After a while, the 45k runners swung round and joined onto the 90k route and so I expected it to be very busy from here on in, but I hardly saw a soul.....and so I wondered if I was way behind the main part of the field. I had been expecting to finish about half an hour after Jo finished the race, but I'd also thought that we would be running a faster pace than those going twice as far as us, so I'd kind of thought that I'd be joining their route in the thick of it. I was happy running along on my own, as it gave me a chance to look around...and look at my foot placement. It also meant that I really could just relax and run at my own pace, but the challenge was to keep reminding myself that I was actually in a race and not just out for a run through the forests.

The rain got lighter and heavier but never eased up and there was absolutely no point in trying to keep your feet dry, as puddles stretched across the whole path for some considerable distance at times.....which actually made me lift my feet higher than usual as I did try to clear them of the water each step. 



The route of the Ultravasan 45

With about 17k to go (the route markers counted down kilometres Comrades-style) I caught up with Jo. I nearly decided to just run along with her for company (having reassured her that her 3rd position was secure as I'd not passed another lady since our routes had converged) but just then I spotted Lisa away ahead in the distance through the trees. This spurred me to keep going my own speed in the "hope" that she might be tiring. However, she seemed to have spied me and picked up her pace as unfortunately I lost sight of her again. 

A bit further on, where we turned off onto a "sandy trail" (the rain was biblical as this point so it wasn't like any other sandy trail I've ever run on), I saw the race director again. He told me that I was "20 seconds off the podium" - I'm sure this was meant to encourage me, but it actually had almost the opposite effect as I thought I must have been in 4th place all this time without knowing it. 

I soon realised that he had meant that I was only 20s away from Fanni and Lisa who were now running together again, as I saw them ahead of me on a switchback through the trees. As I came into the last checkpoint (with about 9k to go) they had just left it, with Lisa now leading out the race. I skidded round the turnpoint and pushed on, having discovered from Graham (Fanni's boyfriend, who I knew prior to the race) that the 4th placed woman was a safe 5 minutes behind us.

When I caught Fanni, we had less that 8k still to run and I urged her to push on and work with me, but her early pace may have caught up to her and she waved me ahead. That last section of the race was definitely the hardest for me.....Lisa seems to be staying a constant distance ahead of me, I had to keep wiping the rain out of my eyes, and the terrain wasn't exactly the best for trying to get tired legs to move at any speed. The forest trail was wide, but the puddles were wider still, and though I did my best to pick a more solid foot placement, I rolled my ankles a few times when the water     came up to my shins and I couldn't see where I was putting my feet.

"Slowly, slowly, catchee monkey" as the saying goes, and I realised that I was gradually reeling Lisa in. I gained ground up every incline and she didn't run away on the descents. I knew she would have a faster finish than me so wondered how late I could leave it to pass her without her being able to come back to me. With 2k to go, I knew that I could maintain my pace to the finish.....I may not be fast, but I can keep going. I felt that although another few kilometres of race would mean I'd be home and dry as I could have carried on, but as it was I was going to run out of race.

1K to go....

I passed her and tried to make it look easy as she dropped back. Weirdly enough, an official bike passed me going the other way. I thought it was coming out from the finish to lead the first lady home so couldn't understand why it had passed me, but as it turns out, they wanted to film the gap to make it more exciting for people watching the big screen at the finish line. The bike then came up behind me.....I could hear is splashing through the puddles on the grass and I was convinced it was Lisa sitting on my shoulder ready to sprint past.

A surprised but happy winner :-)

The last kilometre seemed to go on forever, especially as it involved a steep bouncy wooden bridge to climb up over the railway line and down the other side. Turning into the final straight I heard them announce me....and only me, so I knew I had a gap....but I was still rather scared to accept a wreath and run in wearing it, as it would've been gutting if this had led to me being overtaken, but luckily I was safe as the final gap was about a minute.

The 45K podium (l-r, Lisa, myself and Fanni)

My C-goal for the race was just to finish it, without my shin flaring up too much, my B-goal was to try to run under 3.5 hours, and my A-goal was to try to make the podium. Never in my wildest imagination did I think that I might win in a time of 3:06.

Jo crossing the line...rather cold and wet!

To be fair I probably then became the finish marshal's biggest nightmare, as I wouldn't leave the area until I'd cheered Lisa and Fanni in......and then my antidoping chaperone had to stand out in the rain with me, as I wouldn't go off with her for testing until Jo had finished.....3rd lady in the 90k race - what an awesome effort! Double celebrations for our room! #GoTeamJo