Back to back Ultras

As I sit with my feet up, icing my achilles tendons, having scrubbed the dirt of in a hot bath, treated the massive blister which I picked up at mile 12, and down my pain killers with a chilled glass of wine - I now reflect on the last 2 days doing back to back ultras. I broke the rules. In running you are not meant to increase your distance by more than 10%.. Last weekend I ran 15 miles. On Saturday I left Inverness with 9 pals (6 of them doing MdS - The Tartan Army) to run the 79 mile Great Glen. Snow lay on the ground as we ran 41 beautiful miles buy unfortunately after 12 miles I picked up a blister which I treated straight away. 1 mile later, protecting the blister, I went over on my ankle and took a heavy fall - close call as it could have finished me. We continued and passed the marathon 26.2 mile mark; I was now into new territory. The group worked well together as we tried to get the pace right. When we finished I realised I was chaffed under the arms and my rucksack had rubbed me raw on my lower back - ouch. Unfortunately my blister was now 4 times the size and by mistake I ripped it off - double ouch. I was surprised to be able to run the next day but 8 miles in the weather turned, cold rain so I has to run without glasses which wasn't easy. My blister, chaffed armpit and raw back continually remined me I was doing back to back ultras and it was good practise for MdS. We ground out the run as we were cold and wet. The route was reasonably flat compared to the 4,500 ft (I will verify this once I've downloaded my garmin) the following day but this meant more running and the cold made that difficult. We were surprised when we learned we only had 12 miles to go. 12 miles, piece of cake. That was fine till the weather turned, the wind picked up and the rain came down. My core body temperature dropped and I started to struggle. The wind was so strong you couldn't run. I lost all feeling in my fingers but we trugged on. When we got to the end we went to a pub with a real fire and that's when the shakes started. I ordered a hot chocolate and almost threw it over the barman! 2 cups later, a bowl of soup and a change of clothes and I started to recover. But when I went outside to pick up my car the shakes started again. The 79 miles, the wind, rain, sleet and sub zero temperature had taken their toll. This has been an incredible experience. I have gone beyond the rules of running, beyond whatever I imagined possible but for a reason. This has given me the experience and the confidence I require to complete MdS. I entered the "hurt locker". I went to some very dark places but always believed I come out the other side, which I did. You need to do this if you are going to push the boundaries and not only am I proud of my achievement but also that of my new found friends that I will spend 2 weeks in the desert with learning a lot about what is achievable if you really want it. Another glass of wine I think then off to bed!