Niranjan, thanks so much for your congrats and very useful advice and information.

I like your perspective on trail/ultra marathons being not so much a logical progression of road races, but more….different. This helps me to view them as less….intimidating in a way, which is good! Many thanks also for your insight regarding refuelling during an ultra vs during a road race. Again, this is good to know as one of my concerns during longer runs is not taking on enough energy.

You say you completed the Inferno HM??? This is one of the races that I have had my eye on for ages, but am too frightened as yet to even consider tackling it. Do you have any feedback, advice, tips on how to train for, and complete it?

As for my marathon? Well my predicted (and fairly generous) finish time was 4:30 hours to 4:40 hours. Unfortunately I hit the wall at around 27km and never recovered. I eventually hobbled home in 4:58 hours. I made the fatal beginner’s mistake of going out too quickly and completely under-estimating how long that final half marathon distance feels! But I will learn from that mistake, which is why I’m very keen to do another marathon as soon as I have recovered and completed some more training. I also want to mix up my running a bit, hence my interest in trail and ultra marathons.

Kate, thanks so much for your congrats too! Yes, I am still basking in post marathon glory, although sadly, I think I have become a complete marathon bore now!

I do receive the datasport email updates. So this is where I should be looking for information on events? And I will definitely check out the magazines and links you added. Thanks so much!

I am in awe of some of the races you have done. Did you manage to complete the agenda you set for yourself at the start of this thread?

K