The wash up

Firstly the final overall results:
Position, Name, Country, Age, Overall Time, Kilometres Per Hour

1 René Strosny* (GER), 35 94:04:40 12,18
2 Bruno Heubi*, 48 99:17:30 11,54
3 Trond Sjåvik*** (NOR), 50 103:00:27 11,13
4 Jan Nabuurs** (NED), 46 105:31:04 10,86
5 Hiroko Okiyama** (JAP), 46 108:49:34 10,53
6 Eric Derivaz**, 46 109:25:29 10,47
7 Eiolf Eivindsen* (NOR), 52 112:33:56 10,18
8 Sylvain Dessailly*, 27 112:37:26 10,18
9 Rudy Wedlarski*, 28 115:51:04 9,89
10 Robert Bertin*, 48 116:35:12 9,83
11 Patrick De Geyter*, 60 117:48:38 9,73
12 Fabrice Viaud****, 48 118:33:16 9,67
13 Seb. Ferreira da Guia** (BRA), 41 118:54:15 9,64
14 Hans Damm* (GER), 58 121:16:35 9,45
15 Kelvin Marshall** (AUS), 44 122:35:02 9,35
16 Chen Ching Hui** (TPE), 52 122:38:25 9,34
17 Shu Jung Lu Chiu* (TPE), 51 125:07:24 9,16
18 Andreas Falk* (SWE), 31 125:12:01 9,15
18 Matias Bramstång** (SWE), 33 125:12:01 9,15
20 Michel Robert* (BEL), 43 129:23:40 8,86
21 Jacky Ayrault*, 52 131:36:43 8,71
22 Tom Wolter-Roessler* (GER), 30 137:37:18 8,33
23 Daniel Muller*******, 59 140:40:49 8,15
24 Günter Meinhold** (GER), 58 142:24:18 8,05
25 Thierry Adeline*, 47 143:02:15 8,01
26 Carl Sommer* (GBR), 27 144:37:30 7,92
27 Jos Broersen** (NED), 57 149:16:43 7,68
28 Steven Battle* (GBR), 45 149:20:45 7,67
29 Frédéric Borel*, 33 152:08:00 7,53
30 Dietrich Eberle** (GER), 57 152:24:03 7,52
31 Jörg Koenig* (GER), 58 154:22:45 7,42
32 Jean-Luc Ridet**, 42 155:14:08 7,38
33 Didier Arpaillange*, 51 157:28:46 7,28
34 Richard Hofbauer* (GER), 73 158:26:14 7,23
35 Angela Ngamkam* (GER), 42 158:42:05 7,22
36 Laurent Martinie**, 35 161:07:41 7,11
37 Christian Marti* (SUI), 56 165:05:35 6,94
38 Sigi Eichner**** (GER), 67 166:27:35 6,88
39 Philippe Gallou*, 40 166:35:37 6,88
40 Marie-Jeanne Simons**, 50 167:23:48 6,85
41 Willem Mütze*** (NED), 52 169:56:43 6,74
42 Theo Kuijpers**, (NED), 62 174:44:03 6,56
43 Regina Van Geene** (NED), 53 175:24:52 6,53
44 Don Winkley******* (USA), 70 178:25:22 6,42

Abandons Hilaire Christophe, 44
Jäckel* Heinz (GER), 60
Rouiller Bruno, 55
Buiten* Ria (NED), 53
Thierry Degoulange, 55
Frédéric Morand*, 43
Ewald Komar(GER), 58

On the positive side i can say this was just under an 18 hour improvement of my 2006 time of 140:29:53 (8.1425 KPH), but really was not what i set out to do, certainly the early days were knocked about by back problems (by day three i was leaning distinctly to the left) and i would question whether i would have survived these early stages without massage by Monique & Lavigne ultimately these back/neck problems became sciatic nerve (piriformis - whatever ???) and that summed up my first week. Like many others i'd developed a sore throat by Day 8 and that appeared to be the beginning of my other problems. Partly i'm thankful i could only do short posts because really my problems were starting to sound like one long whinge. Looks like i can't find a race anywhere in Europe this weekend so i think it's rest time i've definitely got a problem with this never ending chest cold (seeing how the blog appears to have ended formatted by phone it's probably cut out the fact i simply ran out of breathe every time i tried to run uphill, the reason for some very slow starts.
As internet is thankfully cheap in Narbonne than it was yesterday down Gruissan Beach i wanted to add (from my emails) the parts that were cut off - ie long titles - as i usually did these at the end of my emails and gave a better idea of my thoughts but unfortunately it was Gmail cutting these off not Blogger so my thoughts are lost forever in Cyberspace, it's only a shame that my presence in a town only ever caused a internet cafes to either take holidays, shut early or close down completely.
I think i can sum up my early (first 2 days and then days 4 to 6 somehow i always enjoy the long day 3 i think it's simply i need longer stages to make up ground and run down people) as simply my mind being elsewhere was feeling unfit (not fully recovered from Badwater) as well as p*ssed off with the weather and simply unable to keep my mind on racing. Those days alot of singing was done by me as i went along simply to keep my mind off the pain, having virtually a photographic memory for many rock lyrics spent day 4 day incredibly frustrated as i simply could not remember
the part of "Me and Bobby McGee" where "a dirty red bandanna" is mentioned - probably the most appropriate line for me as any pictures during this run would have shown me in a rather grubby green bandanna - and ended up sending Shari an email so at least i could get the lyrics right !. Of course that next day i may have got those lyrics right but as the day went on i needed something stronger to sing and it my old Stones standbys of "Rocks Off" and probably their most offensive song "Star Star", quite seriously i'd be singing along purely so i could swear my head off in the chorus (i'll let the non easily offended look up the lyrics elsewhere quite possibly under the real title), as i needed to kill the sciatic nerve pain somehow.
Finally after this bad start i seemed to get my mind around racing rather than purely finishing, not sure where that clicked in but i suddenly had a different mindset and suddenly i was running aggressively which is how it should be, but the fact i could not run uphill still meant i was still only midfield as simply all my good work was done in the last half only.
Anyway these are random thoughts and i'm just looking to chill the next few days, took me the best part of an hour to remove my beard (if there are any race pictures floating about with beard and bandanna i look as though i should be going for a part in some pirate movie - contrary to popular belief it wasn't a deliberate attempt to look like Keith Richards in "Pirates of the Caribbeean 3") yesterday but i do still have the mo for now.
Anyway looks like 2010 will be my next shot at a faster run as there is no event in 2009 with Trans Europa, although i have also heard rumours of a Trans America in 2010.

Another thought i had regarding equipment used:
ASICS DS Trainer Shoes: Used 15 Days (all stages bar 4, 5 & 10)
New Balance 901 Shoes: Used 3 Days (stages 4, 5 & 10)
Nike FitDry Running Shorts: Used 15 Days (all stages bar 7, 8 & 10)
ASICS Bike Shorts: Used 3 Days (Stages 7, 8 & 10)
Coolrunning Tri Top: Used Day 1 (More to look Australian)
Lululemon Tri Top: Used all other days although often changed to Sydney Striders singlet at 30 to 40K's as weather got warmer (in the tri top pockets carried one GU, 2 bite size Clif Bars and road map, carrying Succeed Caps-used around 20 overall-and Energy Jelly Beans-used around 8 overall- in Shorts Pocket)
One Hand held bottle, filling with every water every aid station, whilst 2/3 filling and drinking cola at each of these.
Socks: Days 13 to 18: Injinji Toe Socks
Days 1 & 10: ALDI Coolmax Socks
Days 2 & 3: Drymax Trail Running Socks
Days 4 to 9, 11 & 12: Drymax Thin Running Socks (By end had almost worn these out)
As well as a number of days where started with Thermal top or Mountain Designs Goretex Jacket and many days in Moeben Sleeves
Throughout wore Mizuno Running Gloves (Sometimes taken off in last 20 to 30Ks) and Bandanna (replaced by headband when i ran in singlet).
So looking at this, whilst i had 20 odd KG of luggage all i needed was this and sleeping bag and blow up mattress.
Anyway folks now i need a holiday think it might have to be the South of France ?????