Jordan....with a wee 100K thrown in...

Jumping for joy in Wadi Rum

It's been rather a long time since I competed over 100K, so when it was suggested that I go and run the open race that was part of the Asia and Oceania 100K championships, I rather balked at the idea. Still, the race was being held in Jordan (and I have always wanted to visit Petra) so at least it wouldn't be a high profile, public race if I crashed and burned/DNFed. Jordan is an up and coming tourist destination so there were cheap flights to be had, I was told the temperature would be about 13-15 degrees (which sounded ideal), and the course consisted of 2 10K loops, each run 5 times, which sounded a lot less monotonous than some that I've run, so I decided to give it a go and see what happened. I didn't exactly focus and train for it (with a 4 week holiday in Australia just beforehand) but the races I'd just done (the Carcoar marathon and the TransNT 50) hadn't gone badly, so I hoped that I'd be able to get round, even if it was likely to be an all time PW (personal worst) time.

Sunset at Wadi Rum

It was rather a pleasant temperature shock to get off the plane in a warm desert sunset as we'd left a frosty/icy UK, and so it was rather nice to be able to spend a couple of days sightseeing with British running mates (and catching up with some overseas ones too). We went out for sunset in Wadi Rum and went for a swim/snorkel in the Red Sea but mainly just chilled and ate lots of pizza (as that was by far the cheapest food around).

Swimming in the Red Sea

Unfortunately the race organisation did leave a little room for improvement - the technical meeting (and hence registration etc) the evening before the race kept being delayed (and we would only find out about the delays by word of mouth from other runners we bumped into), the course was changed the night before the event (to become 10x identical 10K loops inside a golf resort), the race start itself wasn't on time, we had to find our own way there by taxi, the aid stations were rather non existant (there was water at points on the course, but none of the coke, electrolytes or fruit etc we'd been told about), we were asked to pay $100 15 minutes before we started etc etc.....

As most of the runners had come with their international support crews, we were lucky in that we found a "British table" - ie, we found a camping table and put our gels and bottles etc onto it for us to grab every time we passed the start/finish point. The Indian support crew had offered to help us out, but although I thanked them for their kind offer, I turned them down, as they needed to focus on their own athletes....and I didn't want to cause any problems if any of us came in at a similar time on a lap and no-one knew who was looking out for who.

Kit and number check

Dawn had only just broken as we stripped down to race kit and had our numbers and chips checked before entering the starting pen. We were all just desperate to start running, as there was a really cold wind blowing and we were huddled together shivering away (though it wouldn't be long before that temperature was just a distant memory!) as the planned start time came and went. We the had to line up with men one side of the gantry and women the other....and we were off! It is always a temptation to start these long races too fast, so my usual slow start is an advantage. Even so, I had to keep reminding myself that I'm nowhere near as fit or as fast as I used to be, and so I needed to hold my ego in check. 

The "border fence"

The first lap was really about learning the course, which admittedly I'd get to know fairly well over the next 9 loops! I knew that the Japanese ladies were speedy ( 1 had run sub 7:30 at the 100K champs in Croatia) and so I didn't mind seeing them disappear off into the distance, but I was surprised to see one of the Australian girls pulling away from me so much. I settled into what felt like a nice relaxed pace, and took the time to look around. The whole course was now on the roads of the golf resort, with the first few hundred metres along a tree lined avenue. As we then turned right at a small roundabout we seemed to be running very close to a fortified fence that marked the Jordan-Israeli border. This section was slightly uphill....not much but I was sure I would notice it later.

The map of each lap

A 90 degree right hand turn took us on the first loop off the main road, which was about 1.5K long - this was quite a steep section, both running up to the furthest point and then sharply back down to the where we'd left the road. Another 90 degree turn and I was going back along the road away from the start. Next came a gradual incline and then descent to another roundabout, but at this one we ran round it and turned left towards the exit from the complex. There was a water station and timing mat at the 5K point and from there it was only a short run to a turnaround point in the road by the entry gate. Another 90 degree turn to the right sent us up onto the second loop (about 1K long this time), which again consisted of a longer climb and then a steeper descent. Having returned to the main road, we turned right again to run all the way back to the start area on the other side of the road (so missing out the first loop). In order to complete each lap, we would pass the gantry and run a little section on dirt around some cones, bollards and tape, past a couple of portaloos, the national aid stations, the open aid station (oops, there wasn't one!), and our little trestle table before heading back over the start mat and past the clock for the next lap.

Aiming to grab a gel and water
on the dirt section/loop

Each lap had just shy of 80m gain and many sharp corners on it, but the two way sections of road meant that you could see runners coming the other way so you felt less alone, and at each end of the course, the 180 turnarounds allowed you to see who was ahead and behind you and how far away they were. The clock was useful at the start/finish, though possibly not in the way that you would imagine, as after the first lap it enabled me to see that even though I was a lot further down the field than I expected to be, running just ahead of a couple of Indian ladies and behind many of the men, I was a minute or two faster than I thought I could sustain for the distance - eek!! 

The next couple of laps passed by in a similar vein, ticking along, picking up a gel (from the pile I'd left) and a bottle of water as I passed our table and not stopping save to visit the portaloo. I saw that the Japanese girls were stretching out their lead on me, which was exactly as I'd expected, and my Welsh friend Daniel (also in the open race) was also moving away, but my pace remained about the same (yes, I know, slightly too fast) and I reeled in the Australian lady and a few guys. I could see my room-mate Ollie going really well at the front of the field - he was "just" running 50K but I'm not sure if the Japanese male 100K runners knew this as they were going with him. By the end of the 3rd lap Daniel seemed to be getting closer to me and by the 4th lap I knew this was definitely the case as I'd halved the deficit from 6mins to 3 mins. 

I'd been rather worried about the 5th lap, as the furthest I'd run nonstop in a couple of years was 42K (and even then, I'd taken walking breaks in one of the two marathons I'd done). I had done longer events, but they had involved significant portions of walking. However, I felt surprisingly strong and so just continued as I had been (after seeing Ollie fly through the line to record a new 50K PB), picking up gels, water and the occ bottle with electrolytes or red bull in. Daniel was clearly suffering a lot more than me, especially as the day just got hotter and hotter as I passed him at about the 47K mark.  I passed through the 50K mark much quicker than I thought I'd run and as I still felt good for the next lap I started to think that I might be able to run a half decent 100K, despite the increasing heat (the sun was v strong and there was no shade on the course).

Not a common outfit in Jordan!!

One interesting point was the corner where we turned to start and leave the first loop off the main road. I usually had my gel whilst on that loop and so detoured slightly off the road at that point every lap, in order to jettison my rubbish in a bin. The first time the marshals there looked like they were going to shout at me for going the wrong way, but I think they gradually got used to it and realised that I was only trying to be tidy. It did seem very strange to me that they took a selfie every time I was passing them....but it finally dawned on me that they were trying to secretly take pictures with me running in the background as I was running in a crop top and shorts....which they probably didn't see every day!

My next surprise was catching and overtaking the second Japanese lady - I knew I'd been running pretty steadily but I thought that she was probably not having a good day as although her team mate had come back to me slightly she was still a way ahead. 60K ticked by and I was very thankful for the water stations out on the course - it was really hot by now and so I would pick up 2 bottles whenever possible, pour one over me and to try drink most of the other. By about 70K I was feeling slightly "over it" and really didn't want to do another 3 laps (yup, those "slightly" too speedy early laps had come back to haunt me!!), but I knew that I just had to keep my legs moving. I could see that everyone was feeling the heat and the inclines as we were all starting to slow down. By 80K I felt that I was practically crawling, but I was lapping people that I knew and so I didn't think it was fair to moan as they clearly still had further to run than me so I tried to encourage them as best I could. I had closed right up to the Japanese lady who was leading the race and she was definitely looking a lot worse than she had earlier. It gave me a slight boost to pass her, but this didn't last for long as she soon came trotting past me again!

Hoping that the glasses hid
my pained expression

As I started my final lap, I couldn't think of anything I wanted to do less than run 1 more lap. The heat had (for once) affected my eating as I had been having to force myself to take on nutrition for the last couple of laps. I tried to keep running, albeit rather embarassingly slowly, as I know that once I start walking, my brain kind of folds and I have a lot of difficulty in remembering to start running again. One thing that did puzzle me was that the leading Japanese lady passed me about 3 or 4 times in the last 2 laps, but I only overtook her once....I still cannot quite work that out as the course was in full sun the whole way so it's not as if there were any trees to hide behind!

I managed to get past the 95K mark, turn and head on the last loop off the main road, but then I seemed to lose control of my body slightly. I could not get my legs to move properly as they felt like they were giving way underneath me, I was falling over my feet and seemed to have no ability to make myself go in a straight line. I slowed (well not much slowing was involved) to a walk as I thought (again, I "think" that it was a conscious thought) that if I carried on trying to run then I'd either trip or collapse and so not actually complete the race. It was only a short walk as I then managed to get myself jogging/shuffling on again, at least as far as the next incline. I had to walk up that one too as again, I was rather "all over the shop" but from there I knew that I only had 3K to go (albeit a long hot sunny 3K).

Sunset at Wadi Musa the day after

Ollie had come back out on the road to cheer me on, which did help, though I was probably a "bit" grumpy. I think that I even managed to pick up the pace for the final "glory" kilometre and rounded the final corners on the dirt to cross the line with an overwhelming sense of relief. I'd made it, and although my time was nothing to write home about in the end, it wasn't bad....and I was not far behind the Japanese lady who collapsed over the line and ended up being taken to the local hospital (whilst I recovered quickly - going out for a big dinner that evening and even managing a gentle recovery jog with Ollie the next day!).

The highest point in Petra

Looking down on the high monastery
(it took some effort to climb all the steps up there!)

First view of the famous
treasury from the Siq

The Royal Tombs

They say that "active recovery" is good - but I'm not sure that walking miles and miles round Petra, up and down endless hills and steps, is in the textbook but it was an amazing way to round off a fabulous trip. Petra is a place that has always been on my bucket list as somewhere to visit...and it certainly didn't disappoint.....what can I say but "wow"? If you add in hanging out with fellow 100K runners from India for celebratory beers and wine in such a place - it meant that I will definitely not forget the trip in a hurry!