OlymPicnic Ultra race report (Hannah)

When something describing itself as the toughest race in Britain is spitting distance from home then its begging to be taken down! Some might disagree that this constitutes enjoyment and so argue that it shouldn't be included on this blog. But bear with me...

The race I'm referring to is Trionium's Picnic Marathon - held on the same day as the gruelling Midsummer Munroe and covering twice that course. As the race organisers say... "its no picnic"!

The idea of the Midsummer Munroe is that it is (1) held as close to midsummer as possible (2) is equivalent to running a Scottish Munroe - 3000 feet of up and down and approximately 13 miles in length.

The first time we headed out to Box Hill to sample what was in store for us was the last weekend in May - a very hot and humid weekend when temperatures hit 28. Being South African, Brett comes alive in this sort of weather. Me being more of an English rose, my body turns heavy and lethargic - the last thing it wants to do is run, let alone do endless reps up and down steps! Experiencing half of the course that weekend (we 'just' did the half marathon course) had me feeling less than sad when the heat wave broke. I kept doing rain dances in the four weeks running up to the actual event!

The week before the event the organisers sent an email saying they'd decided to extend this year's race in honour of it being an Olympic year - the course would be 30 miles rather than 27 and we'd be climbing (and descending) 1000 foot more. I think it says something about the type of people who enter the race that the organisers can do this kind of thing!

So at 2pm on Saturday 23rd June, we found ourselves standing at the start of the only ever running of the OlymPicnic ultra...  There was a rousing rendition of the national anthem, after which 200 odd people (arguably 'odd' in more than one sense of the word!) started running up a very steep grass slope at the bottom of Box Hill. Only to turn around after about 100m and hurtle back down to the start again. Then we started the less extreme climb up Box Hill via the Zig Zag Road.

I won't describe every bit of the course in detail. Suffice to say that it involved a lot of steps and a lot of steep hills. Thankfully it also involved a lot of drinks stations, each with a plate of jelly babies and other delights. Energy boosts were definitely needed as we were out there for over 6 hours and the course doesn't really allow you to be particularly prescriptive about heart rate zones. I just run on feel these days rather than wearing a watch and that less scientific approach probably helped!

Something I've enjoyed about most of the off road events I've done is the real sense of camaraderie. This race was a great example. There was even a sense of 'tin hat syndrome' - we were all in it together! And we all knew we had something in common due to the fact that we'd been crazy enough to enter! Given that so few women enter these sorts of races (only 20 entered this race) I find the support I get from other racers (male and female), marshalls and supporters is even greater.

Throughout the race the marshalls commented that I had a smile on my face. So this got me thinking about why. And the truth is that I was really enjoying myself! Why?!

• I was running in a really beautiful part of the country.
• I enjoy pushing my body hard and seeing how it responds to the challenge. 
• By its definition an ultra goes on for a long time - you experience different weather, course conditions, physical and emotional ups and downs. The whole thing is an experience. And there are so many things that come together to decide how it goes. I honestly think that smiling and enjoying the experience helps me race better.
• The sense of camaraderie I've already mentioned.
• It was extremely satisfying seeing all of the hard training paying off especially as I moved up through the field in the second half and felt strong running into the finish.

3 months before this race I hadn't run an ultra. Now I've run three... And have realised that I really enjoy them! The Transalpine is starting to feel within reach...