The Joust 2018 was a small scale friendly event with 72 participants. When I arrived on the Friday to pitch my tent there were no marshals to direct me so I phoned the race organiser who happened to be pitching tents about 50 yards from where I'd parked the car. Pre-race info stated that the distance for each loop was 4.95 miles. This was helpful and enabled me to produce detailed calculations for the number of laps I would need to complete compared to rest periods and average lap times. For example, at an average of 3.75mph (16 min miles) it would take me 21 hours to reach my target of 78 miles (16 laps). Unfortunately, on the day I discovered that the loops were 5.5 miles. This was unhelpful and I was only able to manage some last minute changes to my calculations. I was was slightly disoriented by this as I'd planned lap times ranging from about 1hr 15mins - 1hr 34mins for each 4.95 mile loop. It was also unhelpful to not have a map of the route prior to the event. Normally I check the route using mapometer.com which provides a satellite view and gives a hills profile.

The route was challenging in places. From the start we crossed a field that had hardened tractor marks and the slope included a precipitous drop as we approached the gate at the bottom of the field. Others seemed to manage this ok though I was reduced to about 1.5 mph on this section later in the race. About two thirds of the way round the loop there was a style to cross. My body was stiff all over so it was quite fun trying to get over the style. The route was well signposted though somehow I ran a mile and a half extra on one of the laps during the night. I even met another participant emerging from the graveyard about 1am who had also lost his way. Actually the route was well signposted so getting lost is really mysterious

Having put calculations to one side, I simply jogged and walked at an easy pace. When I eventually looked at my feet closely after the event there were several blisters on the toes that I hadn’t noticed. My feet were sore during the race but I didn’t think to check for blisters. I guess the sore feet might be one reason that I ended up walking almost exclusively. They certainly felt instantly better once I'd drained the blisters and and wrapped the toes with plasters! By 3am my pace was dropping below 3mph, a long way from my expected 4mph. Throughout the race I had the frequent feeling that I was about to ‘explode’ (very unusual so I thought to take notice of this and go slower until this feeling passed). Also, I had a feeling for a while that I was about to be sick (again very unusual). Actually, I thought feeling sick was related to the combination of food, gels and electrolyte so I started drinking more water and less electrolyte and gels but it was only mild and soon forgotten. Once I started moving slower than 3mph and continued to experience the strange feeling that I might explode, I decided to withdraw.

It gets very moist in my tent but I managed to sleep on and off until about 7am. My knees ached intensely during this time. All told, including the extra 1.5 miles I completed 9 laps and a distance of 51 miles. Actually I felt really bad about withdrawing while still receiving a medal considering I completed my final lap at about 3.40am with 8 hours still remaining. But anyway, that's two 24 trail races in a month and I'm looking forward to the Gower 35 mile trail on 6th October.

Link to The Joust homepage Joust 2018

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