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.