Ultra X Nevada

 220km desert ultra marathon🌵

Firstly I forgot how mad this city is, who knew when I came for my 21st birthday back in 2013 with a west facing hotel room every morning I opened the curtains and looked at a baron mountain range i'm now running through and over them. 

Enter the room; Spring Mountains and Red Rock…

It is like running on another planet! Insane sunrise and sunsets, rolling hills, cacti, succulents, views for miles and miles with not another human except us maniacs who’ve paid to run 220km across the Nevada desert!

Day 0 (kit check & travel to camp) 

This was done at REI (Recreational Equipnent Inc) basically Go Outdoors on steroids which had a community/lecture room at the back. We found out from the US based RD this event was 18 months in the making so it was exciting to get to camp after a 45 minute coach ride (once every had a sample of the mandatory kit checked - water, gpx, waterproofs, survival bag and whistle) 

Arriving at camp, the views were breathtaking. Zero signal, and basic facilities meant it was going to be a rough & ready kind of week. I was in Tent 2 with my Tanzania buddy Rahil, and two awesome humans from the British Army raising money for charity.

Day 1 (27 miles 5400ft climbing)

A day of two halfs - the day that humbles everyone on a multi-day ultra. Got my fuelling on the money but the sun baked me. We had a long climb between CP3 & CP4 which was fully exposed. My head went on this section but got it finished in 7hrs (I predicted 6hrs) I haven’t come here to win so I took it on the chin and wondered what I could do different…

Between the start and CP2 the course was undulating but we had plenty of shade. I felt strong on the hills, and as per usual felt like Bambi on ice descending. I ran a lot of this section with my good friends Duncan and Kristian who I also met in Tanzania. 

After CP4 it was only 3 miles to the finish, and all on the road. I had zero energy to run… I called Jessica and unleashed lots of emotion (guilt and pride) and when she told me “Little Pea” loves me it gave me the second wind I needed to run the last 1.5miles home. 

Monday was a point-to-point route, with one medical drop-out. 

Day 2 (23 miles 3600ft elevation)

We left campsite for our 23 mile looped course at 6:30am after a solid night sleep with a 4:30am alarm to make our dehydrated breakfast. For context I took two sleeping bags, I wore jumper and joggers with a woolly hat for good measure but was still cold. (This was an improvement from zero degrees on night one!) 

The route was net downhill for the first 5 miles incorporating technical switchbacks (oh and more stunning views) arriving at CP2 for a restock of water. Running in the opposite direction from Monday there were glimpes of Sin City from the mountains when the sun was rising. Nevertheless it felt a whirlwind away. A slight incline before a fast technical downhill, finally reaching CP3 which we would pass through twice after completing a hilly loop around an abandoned golf course at the Foot of Mount Charleston (a vast Rocky peak that rises above the Majave desert, Southern Nevada's most prominent at11,916ft) 

After the second pass, it was all uphill from here. 1500ft over 5miles with almost 400ft covered in a short 500m section of scree (that was fun, honest!) I hiked the whole journey, jogging the very few undulations I came across until I reached CP4. One last water stop before more uphill hikes, and the final 3km of downhill on road. It was epic on both days to have Nevada Highway Patrol traffic cops for company with a one-way escort for any passing vehicles.

Being so high away from any civilisation was perfect stargazing territory and it was amazing to see a comet nobody will see for another 80,000 years.

Day 3 (38 miles 7000ft elevation)

Starting today a little different, with a 40 minute coach drive (oh and a full bag pack!) at 5:30am back towards Sin City before double-backing towards Red Rock Canyon visitor centre. Located at 4000ft not 8500ft above sea level it was a welcome relief to not feel short of breath doing anything (let alone running 50 miles with 9000ft elevation!) I see why it is called Red Rock, shortly after our 6:30am 'Grand Depart' the sun rose above the horizon and transformed these rock formations into a work of art. I could of happily not run 37 miles and stayed here all day.  

Some of the FrontRunners took a wrong turn, it put me and three other solid mid-pack runners almost at the front (a scary thought!) this combined with a poor sleep I had a hunger to get today done. I ran most of this morning (technical but flat) and found myself at CP2 (21K) in 8th position but I knew there where stronger runners behind me and I had a 1600ft climb over 4 miles to-do...

2 runners passed me on the downhill and my tent buddy John arrived at CP3 30 seconds behind me, we bunked up for the rest of the day spending another 3 hours slogging out the 22km left which we had both hit the wall. 

There was a gnarly out and back before the final 8km grind home, a couple of black jacks and fruit salads helped us shuffle home in 9hrs 58mins (I had planned to be out for 12 hours today!)

Day 4 (25 miles 3000ft elevation)

A gorgeous loop ending with 6 miles of flat road and a monsterous 2000ft climb right in the middle. My legs where heavy from the long stage yesterday so i had a very slow start, hiking all the way to CP1, the occasional jog to see if they had woken up. I wasn't in pain but they just wasn't firing. After CP1 it was power hike time to get the big hill out the way (the views where stunning from top just a shame everyone was out of water!) 

I ran downhill most of the way, jesting with fellow runner Dejan (who played football with Modric as a child!) and after refilling my soft flasks I was running home (all the way!) I felt so strong and was happy to return to camp smiling in 6hrs 12mins. Two protein shakes and some jerky I was ready to go again (this campsite was much warmer and nobody run off to bed straight after sunset!)

Day 5 (23 miles 2400ft elevation)

The home straight. Just 38km between me and that blue arch. Oh and another massive climb this time over a shorter distance and right at the start (dreamy!) CP1 was here in no time and I got my final daily selfie with Queen of the Checkpoint's Abi! (absolute god send this gal!)

A long hustle with Alex up the climb, with lots of fun on the decent before a very technical section in Ice Box Canyon. This was undulating and I progressed well on the climbs eventually reaching CP3 with only 9km left... 

I decided I would video call Jessica and my mum, to release any last emotions from the work and got to work straight after. There was a very sharp scree downhill which I wasn't expecting that slowed me down but it was in front of Mt.Wilson afterall, which just left the final 3 miles ("only a parkrun") all on tarmac and slighly downhill. If Carlsberg did route planning...

...and there it was the blue arch of glory. In the Spring Mountain Ranch, 220km across the Majave Nevada Desert ends here.