Jurassic Day 1 - mud glorious mud!

That was a tough one!

We started with scrutineering to make sure we had all the kit we should have, including map, compass, waterproof top, energy bar, long trousers etc. Here's me being checked. We both passed.

We then had a delayed minibus ride to the start. Some problem with a wide load earlier.

Start therefore delayed to close to 12.00. We then had a very rare downhill start, but that just gave us a bit of a false sense of what was to come!

After the gentle start, we made our way along the coast (the coast seems to be a feature of the race, but that might have something to do with the race being 78 miles along the coast path). Our first landmark of the day was Golden Cap, the highest point on the Dorset coast, so the highest on this run too. We even looked happy!

Then we found the mud. And boy was it muddy. Miles and miles of it. Energy sapping, cloying, sticky mud. There was one particular patch around mile 23, where its gloopy consistency was like grease to stand on, but hung onto your shoes, making standing, let alone running, almost impossible.

Here's some more of the stuff, along with the other painful running surface, pebbles...

But we made it to the end at about 18.30, so 6.5 hours on our feet for 26 miles. But looking on the bright side, only 52.4 miles to go!

We made it:

...and so did we...but boy did those men (or they call themselves men) complain. Winging about the mud all day. It was lovely scenery. I don't know what they were complaining about. We bears love mud!