The Dorset Doddle

Mark Hines, the author of The Jungle Marathon book, told me that if I could tackle the hills on the South West Coastal path in Dorset, then nothing in the Jungle would be a surprise. As I was growing concerned about my lack of hill running experience and preparation, I decided that heading down to the coastal path was a must.

Unfortunately, my week's training had been less than ideal, as I was suffering after having lots of vaccinations ready for Brazil. With 2 dead arms and a weakened immune system, I had taken my week's training easy, but set myself the challenge of the coastal path at the weekend.

After a 3 hour train ride from London I arrived in the seaside town of Weymouth with the intention of running along the coast to Swanage. I chose one of the toughest sections of the coastal path to run along and I later discovered that the route I ran is actually the route of an ultra-marathon called the Dorset Doddle (a doddle it wasn't). 

There are so many hills along the course that it's the equivalent to going up and down Mount Snowdon and Ben Nevis (2 of the highest UK mountains) in 1 run. Thankfully it was a beautiful day and so it was ideal for heat training and the scenery was breathtaking! 

Despite running low on water a number of times, I finished the run in 6 hours 30 minutes. The winner of Dorset Doddle tends to take 5 hours 30 minutes and so my time didn't seem too bad considering I had a 10kg back pack to carry.