JOGLE Ultra (Trans England) from John O'Groats to Lands End in 16 days 864 miles, England

10. stage at 04/29/2012 from Tarporley to Ludlow, (day: 59.2miles / overall.: 584.3miles)

When I got up this morning it rained heavy. It was quiet late. Normally I got up half an hour earlier.

Tom F. already left. He war running again with David Miles. David stayed the night at the bus and wanted to bring Tom F. again through the day. Today was definitely no day for photos. At 4°C and rain I preferred to move on and not to stop for a long time. At the first aid station Gemma and James waited again to cheer me. The next part brought us through Whitchurch. It was hard to figure out which way to go according to the maps. Because of the rain I did not take much time to study the map and try to decipher it. After I called Rory and asked some locales I got through it. At the second aid station David was sitting in the car. First I thought it was Tom F. Rory told me that he also was sitting in the car and they hardly got him out again. He had problems with his hamstring and it did not look very good for him. Already yesterday Rory had his concerns.

I continued after I had strength myself and had a well tasting Muffin from Gemma. Next on the list was Shrewsbury. This time the navigation was a bit better, even the maps are absolutely soaked. Luckily there were no more turns today. Just before the third aid station I caught up with Tim E, David M. and Mark Cockbain. David dropped out of the car again to walk together with Tim F. again. Also Mark joined them. Both had finished the course during the first year. They belonged to the very small group of finishers. Already when I passed Tom F. he seemed not to be very positive. He could not run anymore and walking was just possible on pain killers. So it was no big surprise that he dropped out at the next aid station.

So I was alone on the road. Rory already told me that it will be a very beautiful course today. Well it was nice so far. At least what you can see with all the rain. Water was standing all over the road. It seemed that there was already a lot of rain during the last days. The rivers and streams were above their banks. Gemma and James said good bye at the last aid station. They had to go back to London and it was a long way to get there.

Today’s stage finished was just before Ludlow. Ludlow was also a stage finish during the TransAm (Trans America (LANY11)). So it brought back some memories. In the end my Garmin showed again above 100 km (62 Miles). The bus was parked in Craven Arms. So we passed it about 8 km (5 Miles) before the end. When I was on my last kilometres it started again to rain a bit. Luckily we had warm showers after the run. I went to bed just after I finished dinner. From tomorrow on I was also allowed to start early. But it was not a nice thing to think about, especially because of the preconditions.

Results:

Fotos of the day: