Day 263/365 Uphill to Wells

Uphill to Wells
Stood at the start line on the sand at Uphill Beach 11am in the morning, 29 miles between me and Wells Cathedral. 4 weeks ago the furthest I had ran was The Big Cheese 15 miles around Cheddar.  In a moment of perhaps stupidity I entered the Uphill to Wells race as a solo runner, I ran 17, 20, & 23 miles training in the 3 consecutive weekends prior having an easy week last week. I would now have to find a further 6 miles in my legs another hour or more running, not knowing the route on this unmarshalled course mabe it was stupidity.
Teaming up with fellow 365'ers Frome running Clubs Martin Taylor and veteran ultra marathoner Somer AC's Judith Chubb Whittle we worked together, helping each other to cover the distance. Passing through the checkpoints at Loxton, Kingswood, Blackrock, Draycott and Priddy we steadily paced ourselves over the Mendips picking up another Frome runner Steve Carroll as we progressed.
Between Draycott and Priddy we lost Judith and started to push on towards Priddy we were overtaken by relay runners who were doing a leg each and we tried to keep with them to guide us the way, most of them having fresh legs were to strong for us to hold on to. In Priddy I had now ran further than I had ever before but had just over 5 miles left to Wells Cathedral. Champion runner  John Reynolds ran with us out of the village and set us on our way across the fields. 5 more miles, the run was now to become mentally challenging. My toes were hurting, my right ankle didnt feel like it was bending, my shoulders ached  and my legs were heavy I needed to push this out my mind. Martin had took over navigation I just had to follow him and not think of anything else but the finish. We had ran steady  at the begining and fuelled well it was paying off now as we ran through Wookey hole the miles  were decreasing. Into wells  about a mile to go through Wells Blue School, miles had become metres. The finish was around the corner under the archway and onto Wells Cathedral Green to rapturous applause.  I could see my family at the finish line cheering . Martin Myself and Steve linked hands and raised them high as we crossed the finish line altogether.
Uphill beach was just over 29 miles behind us taking just over 6 hours my first marathon/ ultra marathon distance. Another achievement in my 2014kx365 challenge.
 Uphill to Wells was not so much a race it was a challenge mentally and physically on completing the distance , working together to achieve it. We worked together Martin Taylor, Judith Chubb Whittle and Steve Carroll we made the distance.