My legs hurt. This was my first race for some time, and the longest I’ve raced since the Lakeland Trails Marathon in July!  After the apocalyptic weather we’ve been having lately, I was keeping my eye on the website just in case the event was cancelled.  But there’s no wimping out for trail runners. Just before the start, the organiser shouted into his megaphone, “You’re the hardest of the hardcore!”...

So what’s a Challenge Distance Triathlon?  In this case it was an 800m swim, 40k bike ride, and a 10k run.  So almost an Olympic distance.  Almost… Because of my still-not-quite-there swimming I predicted a 22+ minute swim time, so I was in the first wave.  At 7:30 in the morning.  Shite.  So after getting up at 4:30, eating porridge and a banana, driving to Bath, stopping for a leak beside the road at 6am and seeing a...