Endurancelife Dorset half marathon, 2023

 

This was my first proper run since the Run Tatton half three weeks ago. I'd been missing running in wild open countryside and I couldn't resist the opportunity to run this event again. I'd previously done 10k and half marathon permutations of this event, albeit on different parts of the Purbeck coast, in 2019 and 2020.

After a wet few weeks and a very soggy night, the landscape was saturated as the lovely Mrs S and I drove to Dorset in the morning half-light. We arrived at Swanage where I got on a packed and excitedly noisy coach which took us along impossibly narrow roads to the start, somewhere near Kimmeridge.

Leaden sky at the start

The first section was inland over grassy fields and muddy tracks. I watched one guy (John) slip over in spectacular fashion. After 2km the field had spaced right out. There was a section of road which took us through Kingston where I missed a turn, losing about 30 seconds and a couple of places in the process - grrr.

After about 7km (one third done) I reached the coastline at the approach to Chapman's Pool. Up the hill and along a slippery ridge towards St Aldhem's Head; the clouds were now lifting but a crosswind was blasting me onto the barbed wire fence on my left and it was all I could do to keep my balance. I had John the Faller and another guy for company (having caught them up after the Kingston slip-up), and we intermittently passed each other along quite a long stretch of coastline.

What a technically challenging route! The risk of slipping on the mud was constant. Avoid the camber, stick to vegetation - two good rules, but often these rules conflict... trying to find the right line and stay upright was all-consuming for much of the course. Add in loose rocks and gravel, uneven steps and scratchy gorse, and it all made for terrific (if rather exhausting) fun. 

By now I had lost my two companions and I was on my own. My legs were smeared with a combination of peat (having waded through a thick sedge bog) and blood from running past the gorse. But the thick fog has lifted and the sun was just starting to poke through.

Lovely day for it

With around 6k to go, a man in a black t-shirt and hat (Tim) overtook me at a cracking pace. I couldn't understand why such a strong runner would have taken so long to get past me. He disappeared into the distance as I approached the lighthouse that signified that Durlston Head was close.

The drag up around Durlston Castle was not particularly steep or long, but I was reduced to a to a shuffle of a run, and I realised that I was weary. Through the woods alongside Durlston Bay, past some houses on the edge of Swanage and into an open section of green space... and things started getting weird.

I saw a little chevron sign pointing me off the gravel path and over a section of grass to a gap in some trees. I followed the sign, but shortly afterwards came across a fork in the path with no signage. I stopped and turned around. Two other guys were tearing towards me. 'Did I read the sign right?' I asked. Yes, they said, it's pointing us this way. On the other side of trees I could see Swanage beach and the finish gantry. Pragmatism ruled, and we carried on.

As I reached the road I found myself behind Tim. He looked bemused. 'I know', I said - 'I got lost and took an unexpected shortcut. I won't overtake you'. He had slowed down by now and the two of us trotted along the promenade. Just before the finish one of the guys who had made the shortcut with me tore past us both to the finish line. Tim was volubly furious.

The guy in blue (Mark) has just pipped man in black (Tim) to the line

 after taking a bit of a shortcut

Tim is jolly cross about this

  

The whole inadvertent shortcut business was a shame, as it took the shine off a wonderful experience. I comfort myself that I didn't gain any position as a result. I finished first M55 in 1:50:58; here are my stats.