Serpent Trail 2022

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July 2nd 2022

50km - woodland trails and road

The Serpent Trail 50 km is the second of the three golden trail series races this summer, and after an enjoyable experience at Trail Marathon Wales, I was really looking forward to it! Staying with a friend who lives really nearby was a novelty, normally I travel to races alone, so it was great to see her soon after registering.

Saturday morning came soon enough, and after a poor night's sleep I set off for the finish. The start wasn't as early as I'm used to nor as I'd like, but the coach travel was well organise and soon I was being released into a field that was largely being used as a huge urinal....lovely.

Some familiar faces on the start line thanks to the series, and soon we were off! The first mile or so was perhaps the muddiest of the race, and I was glad of the grip of my shoes here. Despite its downhill nature though, I just wasn't in "the zone" right from the beginning, immediately feeling fatigue starting to creep in, a feeling compounded by every slight upward undulation. This was a real shame, as the course was reasonably pretty, with a variety of woodland, villages and common land.

I met some great people en route, most of whom were having a slightly better race day than I, but I really needed the distraction today of some conversation and other humans - even my normal audiobooks weren't doing it for me. After halfway, I gave myself a bit of a pep talk, and the head breeze that had persisted for the whole route lessened somewhat. Fresh fruit at the checkpoints was incredibly welcome, and somehow I got to 20 miles, from where I knew that, as crap as I felt, I could finish this thing. 

With 6 miles to go, I started catching up on the earlier wave starters, and (selfish as this sounds) this gave me the motivation to really push on to the finish - the last 10k being my best paced of the race!

Overall this was a nice course, with great organisation and a decent level of support. I'm not sure why it wasn't my day, possibly a lack of sleep thing, late start time, hormone thing, or maybe too close to my previous run, or too hot!? However, I'll definitely be back for more on this course, I feel I need to do it justice. Maybe the 100km next time to get that early start.....





Times
Total time:  05:18:26

Standings
Gender category:        21/174       12%
Age category                9/50         18%
Overall category:        84/480       17%

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