Lessons learned

A random selection of things learned and items to remember for next time*:

Hotels

Hotel breakfasts are served too late especially on a weekend.  You need to take food you can eat for breakfast.  That is take don't expect to have time or the energy to go out and buy it the night before.  

Hotel room air conditioning is never adjustable enough.  If you are too hot don't worry about pulling the duvet out of it's cover and sleeping under the empty duvet cover.

The free internet connection is very slow but unless you want to start streaming video it's usable.

Food

Rice pudding makes an acceptable substitute for porridge even though you'll be eating it cold.  You can pour it into a freezer bag to eat on the run.

The hotel menu won't tell you which dish has 1000 calories.  Just avoid the ones marked less than 500 calories - you need the energy.

Your support crew need a means of producing boiling water fast.  Either a thermos flask or something like a jet boil.  There are times when runners need something hot even if it's just a cup of soup, a pot noodle or a mug shot.

Instant meals - especially for the longest day, being able to supply someone with 700 calories worth of hot food would be a huge moral booster around tea time on the longest day.  And budget hotels can stop serving food surprisingly early.

You will get sick of eating sweet stuff, so have plenty of savoury snacks as well - crisps, cheesy biscuits, pepperoni were all popular.  Tinned potatoes rule.  As does coke (even though it's sweet).

Tape a list of what food you have to the outside of your grab bag.  After hours of running you won't be able to remember what you packed and the stuff on the top won't look appealing.

Jaffa cakes turn to crumbs in your pocket leaving a slice of jelly and chocolate 😋

An emergency gel put in a pocket will leak after 3 days.  Sticky is not an adequate description of the mess.

Shoes and clothes

You can't take too many pairs of socks and trainers.  There isn't time to wash and dry stuff overnight unless you are a very fast runner and you probably won't have the energy.  Be prepared to just bundle all your wet kit into a bag and worry about it when you get home.

Change wet shoes and socks at the earliest opportunity - the moral boost is huge.  As is the moral boost from picking up a clean, dry hanky whenever you can.

Microfibre clothes are useful for drying out wet trainers.  Simply stuff into the shoe for an hour while you eat then hang them to dry overnight ready to re-use.  Much more convenient than using newspaper.

Merino wool t-shirts rule - one t-shirt lasted four days without becoming unpleasant.

Pack everything you are carrying in freezer bags.  Even if it doesn't rain your spare warm top will get wet from sweat.

Hat, gloves and a buff are essential - early mornings are pretty cold.  Check you can operate your phone wearing gloves, some touch screens (mine!) don't work without special gloves.

Body Glide - bliss.  Apply a thin layer anywhere that clothing can rub.  That includes your feet!  

Have warm clothes ready to grab as soon as you finish.  It's almost as if the body goes into shock so expect to feel very cold and shivery even in a warm room.

Dog poop bags - you never know how far you're going to have to carry that sticky wrapper before you find a bin.  If it's raining you can pop them over your gloves to keep your hands dry and warm.  And when you need to use the bushes ....

You will need more layers of clothes than you expect to, especially on days 3 and 4 as you are running a serious calorie deficit at that stage.

A good head torch is essential as at this time of the year you will be running in the dark some of the time.  I used a Silva Trail Runner 3X

Maps

It is possible to download maps to some runners watches but I prefer to carry a paper map.  A subscription to the Ordnance Survey maps on-line lets you print off exactly which bit of the map you need on A4 paper.  Printed double sided at 1:25000 a typical days maps weighed less than 25 grams.  Compared to the maps on a watch there is so much more detail to help you keep on track, or if the worst happens, to find your way to the nearest road or direct the emergency services to your location.  

*the team are meeting tomorrow to start planning next year's run