Lap 1 (plus the two initial mini-laps)

I began slowly and in good spirits blissfully unaware of what lay ahead, and that it would take all of my mental and physical strength, tactical experience, and improvisational skills to defeat The Hammer Trail. Having missed the briefing I was unaware of the 2 mini-laps at the start of the course that came before the 6 main laps until another runner explained it to me shortly after starting. I was walking within the first few miles as was stuck behind the main pack of runners who were opting to walk up a steep section rather than try and run. I always try to run wherever possible so this was a little frustrating, but guessed that most of them had probably had a lot more ultra running experience than me, so decided it would probably be wise for me to walk too. At the end of the first lap we ran through the finish arch and looped back around to run the second mini-lap. Mini-lap 2 was the first lap in reverse, and it wasn't long before we were all onto the first of the 6 main laps. Initially it easy to stay on course as I just followed the runners ahead of me. The scenery was awesome - especially as the sea came into view, and lots of the runners were taking photos. This was a good way to approach the event, and enjoying the surroundings were a great way to distract us from the huge number of miles we still had to run. We stayed within view of the sea, making our way along a mixture of thin and wider trail paths with varied terrain (grass, mud/shingle, large rocks, sand and wooden steps) until Hammershus - a large and iconic Medieval castle. There were quite a few tourists around this area enjoying the architecture in the sun . Running away from here presented the first navigational issue - I was with another guy and we had run down a hill away from Hammershus. It wasn't long before we knew we were going the wrong way as we couldn't see any strips of the red/white tape marking the route (these were generally tied to trees or bushes and weren't too far apart). We then went back up to the top and were still unsure of where we should go. Some other runners then ran past us, and a few minutes later we saw them emerge at the bottom of the hill on the opposite side of the castle - they must have looped around somewhere. The guy I was with took a direct shortcut path to get to them. I on the other hand opted to try and find the proper route, so went back down the hill I'd run down before. This didn't work and I ended up just doing a loop ending up back where I was. I then took the shortcut path and was back on track. The terrain continued to vary. There was an extremely steep downhill (where I had little choice but to edge myself down the severe descent holding onto branches and logs). Very soon after the hill was a lovely section that led us along a pebbly/rocky beach. We then went past a small harbour/village and along a decent stretch of tarmac before an uphill section through a quarry - a tough but runnable climb. I was now the majority of the way through lap 1 - this was much harder than I'd anticipated, and there were still a few surprises yet to come. There was a small boggy section followed by a short but very steep uphill (where I like the downhill I used trees and logs to help assist my progress). This was shortly followed by the second navigational issue - I was running along the edge of a field having just come out of some woodland and there was there was the red and white tape forming a barrier ahead. I assumed that the path would lead back into the trees so spent a minute looking for a path in. It was all dense foliage, then I took a proper look and saw the red and white tape going up and directly across the middle of the field. 'Must look around properly from now on' I told myself. Then there was the huge flight of steps passing down a crevasse. When we got to the bottom we rang a bell, turned around and came back up. The shere number of stairs made this very tough. At the top there was a small feed station  (the first and only mid-lap feed station on the course). This was very small and only had water, coke and crisps. I didn't have a cup on me (all runners were supposed to have their 'own mug' according to the website). Thankfully the guy manning the feed station let me have a plastic cup, but said that I'd need to bring my own next time. This gave me something to think about for the remaining 10km or so of the first lap - how was I going to carry a cup? Towards the end of the lap I'd figured it out - take a spare sweatband that I had in my bag and safety-pin this to the side of my running belt thus acting as a cup holder for my Scandanavian Airlines plastic cup :) . I was welcomed back into the start/finish area with generous applause from the spectators. After sorting the cup out it was over to the food. There was a delightful array of chocolate, sandwiches, flapjacks, brownies, fruit etc. to choose from. The chocolate brownies were especially good. After 5 minutes of so of eating, rehydrating and filling my Camelbak it was through the finish arch and  looping back around to begin Lap 2.

The morning of the race (post-start)

I woke up rather confused. My phone was telling me it was 5am and it was light outside (whilst in the alps a week earlier it wasn't getting light until 6am). Google told me that it was in fact 5am Danish time - the difference in daylight hours was down to Denmark being further north than the alps. Quite obvious really - I put this lack of realization down to the half-asleep state that I was in. Anyway I was in no rush to get up - the race didn't start until 10am and I needed to rest as much as possible. After a good 30-minute snooze I got up and slowly started sorting stuff out. The hotel's breakfast started at 7.30 - I was mostly packed by this time (I tend faff when getting ready and it always takes me far longer than it should). I started off by going into the kitchen where I was given permission to use the toaster to toast my hot-x-buns that I'd brought with me from home (my tried and tested pre-race breakfast favourite). There was also a great selection of warm bread and condiments. I tactically opted for some delicious wholemeal bread with honey. During breakfast I met another guest/fellow Hammer Trail runner Jesper - a 54-yr old Danish man who lives in mainland Denmark. He was also a 100-mile virgin, although like me had done many marathons and some shorter ultra-distance events before. We talked about the day ahead. He mentioned that two-thirds of the competitors last year didn't complete the course. This made me even more nervous and apprehensive. As the long and plentiful breakfast drew to an end Jesper mentioned that his friend Michael was giving him a lift to the start and kindly offered to give me a lift too. I keenly accepted the lift and went back up to the room to finish packing. This turned into a rush due to toilet necessities. I threw the last bits in my bag and made my way down to Michael's car. It was a very short drive to the start (just over 5 minutes), and we arrived with 30 minutes to spare. Most-if-not-all of the other runners were there and many were around the rows of chairs setting out their kit. They were all looking like seasoned trail-runners with their expensive Salomon S-Lab dual hydration backpacks and carbon/titanium walking poles. I on the other hand had an old Camelbak backpack that I'd received as a free gift with a subscription to 'Runners World' magazine a couple of years ago, and didn't have any walking poles. Oh, and the t-shirt I was wearing was my free Brighton Marathon finishers' t-shirt that I'd brought with a view to wear casually rather than to run in. I wore this due to it being a hot and sunny day - the white short-sleeve design would be better in these conditions than the long-sleeve grey t-shirt I was intending to wear. I commandeered a couple of the end chairs and made sure everything was easily accessible for if/when I'd need it after each lap. I got my camera out to take some photos. This wasn't working - the dodgy micro-SD Card adapter that I'd found in-amongst a load of random crap before leaving had come partially unstuck so the connection was lost. After about 10 minutes I managed to get it working by wedging a small splinter of wood in the battery cover to keep the SD adapter pushed together. During this time I'd missed the race briefing and everyone was lined up behind the start line ready to go. I rushed over just getting there as the gun went off and joined the back of the pack. Certainly not the best start to the race.

The Week Beforehand/Getting to Bornholm

The week before the Hammer Trail was far from ideal. Firstly I was fatigued from having just completed a gruelling 5-day cycle tour of The Alps with my friends Chris and Tom. Then on the flight home I'd left my laptop on the plane. So I was juggling unpacking/repacking, going back to work, chasing up the airport lost property department and sorting out dirty washing whilst still trying to get a reasonable amount of  sleep so that I would be adequately-rested for race day.

My flight to Bornholm was early Thursday morning. I opted to go straight to the airport after work on Wednesday - firstly so that I could go to the airport lost property office to see if they'd found my laptop, and secondly to avoid unnecessary driving/stress of getting to the airport early Thursday morning. I arrived at the airport at around 6pm and went to the lost property office where they didn't have my laptop. I tried to put this to the back of my mind - worry about this after the race when back home. So with lots of time to kill and little to keep myself amused I found a quiet corner in the airport and lay down my sleeping mat for the night after a tupperware pasta dinner at approx. 10pm.

After a relatively poor night's sleep I woke up at 5am. I had just under 2 hours to pack up my sleeping stuff and go through security/board the flight. This all went smoothly until I was in the departure zone. I'd found a laptop in a shop that I was able to use so took full advantage of this - I ended up leaving myself just 20 minutes to run to my gate and board my flight. By the time I'd run to my gate everyone else had boarded and there was about 15 minutes to spare - far too close for comfort. I got on-board out of breath/sweaty and found my seat.

As there were no flights that went directly from London to Bornholm I had to transfer onto a connecting flight at Copenhagen. One big advantage of this was that I was able to see Peter and Melkorka (I had met these two friends last year whist completing a long distance triathlon in Iceland that Peter had organised himself (named Snaefellsnes Jankarl), and his wife Melkorka had helped with). As they lived in Copenhagen they'd agreed to meet me at the airport and show me around some of the city during the couple of hours I had available. It was great to see them both again and hear about Peter's plans for Snaefellsnes Jankarl 2016. They were great guides and showed me around Christiania before we sat by the river and enjoyed a sandwich. By this time I had to go back, so bid Peter and Melkorka farewell before catching the metro back to the airport.

The short flight to Bornholm was fine. It was on a small old plane that looked like it had been making the same trip for the last 30+ years. My first impressions of the island: very flat with lots of fields/wind turbines, and not dissimilar to the landscape back in England. Nothing special. After getting off the bus and walking a few kilometers to my hotel the scenery started improving with some lovely stretches of coastline. I found my hotel OK (after asking several locals). After checking in I made my way to the event start area to collect my race pack. There were only a few people around - I was expecting it to be at least moderately busy. There was the start/finish arch, the feed station marquee, chairs dotted around and the registration trailer. I collected my race pack and was told about what would happen between now and the race start in the morning. Then there was the short walk back to the hotel. The next thing to do was to get dinner. The people at the race start had recommended a restaurant just down the road from my hotel. I found this but there wasn't any pasta or pizza options on the menu. The search continued. My second port-of-call was a hotel buffet restaurant that had pictures of pasta outside - I went in and they didn't have any pasta or indeed any pizza. I'd clocked a takeaway pizza place on the walk from the bus to the hotel earlier so made a beeline for this. It was just over a kilometer away so I power-walked there now very hungry and conscious of the time getting later. Thankfully the pizza place was open and prepared me 2 Hawaiian pizzas (I wasn't sure that 1 average-sized pizza would be enough to fuel tomorrow's challenge). Pizza's in hand I power-walked back to the hotel room and got stuck in. I devoured the first pizza very easily and had half of the second one (could have eaten all of the second one too but didn't want to feel too bloated). After the feast I lay some of my kit out ready for the morning before going to bed.

Introduction

One of my goals at the start of 2016 was to run 100 miles in less than 24 hours. I'd completed a 100km running event (The Grand Union Challenge) along The Grand Union Canal between London and Milton Keynes 3 years earlier in under 11.5hrs. So the next challenge was to conquer the 100-miler.

So I Googled '100 mile Ultramarathons' at the start of 2016 and among the many events was The Hammer Trail. This fitted in with my schedule, looked like a well-organised event (judging by the website and the fact that it was sponsored by 'Salomon', and was on The Danish Island of Bornholm (somewhere that I'd never heard of yet alone visited before). With these three boxes ticked I signed up and forgot about it for a few months and focussed on another goal for 2016 - a sub-80 minute Half-Marathon. So I focussed all of my energy on road running/speed work in preparation for The Lisbon Half on 20th March. Lisbon came, and due to hot weather on race day wasn't able to hit my sub-80 target. The next challenge however awaited: The Salomon Hammer Trail.

It was a complete contrast from my 6-6.15 minute-mile fast training runs around the smooth tarmac of the Reading University Campus to suddenly running 9-minute-miles along The River Kennet canal path. I enjoyed the fact that I wasn't killing myself to hit mile-targets and was actually able to enjoy some of my surroundings and even listen to music whilst running. I ended up doing 20,30 and 40-mile training runs in successive weekends along The Kennet 5-8 weeks before The Hammer Trail. All of these were comfortably run at around 9-minute-mile average pace (meaning that if I were to run this pace, or even a fair bit slower in Bornholm I would complete the course in sub-20 hours). I also completed The Brighton Marathon twice one month prior to The Hammer Trail (starting at 4.30am at the finish line and running the course in reverse, before getting to the start by 9.15am where I ran the course with everyone else). This totalled 54.8 miles and was again well-within sub-20hr 100-mile pace. Based on these runs I set myself the goal of completing The Hammer Trail within 20 hours.