22 weeks, 13 miles and onto my 2nd day of volunteering at the Dragon’s Back Race

I knew last week’s back to back ultra distance training runs would have taken a lot out of me but didn’t expect it to be as much as it was! I did 3 laps of Post Hill Woods on Wednesday and ran up the motorcycle track on lap 2, mainly just to prove to myself I could still run up it after last week’s walking efforts. This was a great feeling having my legs power up the last section where it is steepest.

I didn’t run Thursday or Friday as I had to travel to Darlington with work during the day on Thursday then finished later than expected on Friday so prioritised packing everything for the 8 day spell where I would be away from home

The Dragon’s Back Race is a 5 day race covering 315km with 15,500m of climb. This runs from Monday to Friday but with registrations, team building and volunteer briefings it was 9am on Saturday until around 10am Saturday morning as an overall commitment and I decided to travel down to camp on Friday night rather than risk traffic getting there yesterday morning.

There were definitely some of the team building tasks I think I will steal in my work role and I enjoyed having 3 square meals provided yesterday (read into that what you will!) I also got some free gear of waterproof jacket, mid layer and a t-shirt.

I managed to sneak out for an hour yesterday and covered 7 miles running along the coast which was great fun, I forgot how sodding hard it was running on sand though!

One of the main things that appeal about volunteering at this race is that it will be a genuine test for all of the runners taking part. Only 1 runner has completed all 4 editions and around 50% finish every time it runs. Hopefully being able to see that sense of achievement for them on Friday will make the week worthwhile