16 May - Stage 3 'Lava, lava everywhere': 28.0m (45.3km) 3005ft (916mtr) of ascent

It is whispered quietly but we believe it has stopped raining!! A glance out of the tent door confirms this to be the case, although the sky is still a bit foreboding. No matter, this morning we wash and dine without the need for ponchos or dashes during gaps in the downpour. It is not all good news as the ground is still boggy and we are not yet at the point where we can walk barefoot.

In spite of the improvement in weather, admin routines have not changed and we all dutifully go through our own processes. The course today is a full loop back to this very camp so there is no danger of arriving to find the camp not ready this time. There is a mere 916mtrs of ascent to deal with

Lava, lava everywhere

today but the downer is that it is all in the first half of the course!! The course book tells us that the second downhill part is mainly asphalt road, which potentially has its own sharp teeth as tired shins pound into the hard ground. Part of the uphill phase has views of the lava flow from the 1984 eruption of Mauna Loa and climbs the 1852 flow to CP3. Whilst it will not be easy going it will certainly be terrain that very few if us have even seen, never mind ran across.

Keen for the off

As we move to the start line, I remember that today is my Mum's birthday. With UK being 11 hours ahead of us the day will almost be over and by the time she sees what I have just thought about doing it will be past. No matter, I hunt down Stefanie to see if she will let me send a birthday message via Facebook Live. She has no problem with this and the dutiful son manages to send his Mummy a birthday message from 7,000 miles revealing the squalor of a location that I currently call home. Maybe everyone will now realise I am not on holiday!

We line up on the start line and this time I move away from the front of the pack. I have no desire to repeat my heroics from yesterday and am content to trot along with my peer group today. Colin tells us cheerfully that there is only a 30% chance of rain today and receives an ironic cheer.

We set off and after a couple of miles, I find myself catching up Sarah. If only it were athletic prowess and not the fact that she has pulled over at the side to remove her rain jacket. She hadn't trusted the weather at the start and kept it in just in case. After a quick exchange of well wishes she sets off again but, before she has disappeared in the distance, I holler her to stop and let me catch up. Her jacket has slipped from its pouch and I recognise it immediately as the one she has just removed. She is, naturally, extremely grateful as, besides the potential of being without an important piece of kit for the duration of the stage, there are possibly penalties to be had, which would affect her placing.  Karma is promised to me and she skips off again.

The climb is not as bad as it appears on the roadbook profile. The climb is not too much higher than Snowdon up the Llanberis path but with 2 and a half times the distance to make it so it is actually a manageable, pleasant ascent. I am surprised about half way up as I catch up with Sandy from Australia. She is another racing snake but has suffered a toe injury which is hampering her progress on the climbs. She is apparently relatively OK on the flat and downhill but is struggling on the ups. I wish her well and carry on my journey to checkpoint 3 and the start of the descent.

CP3 Posse

CP3 is where we are told we must switch on our red flashing lights as we will now be running on the highway so need to be as visible as possible. The impact of the hard road is everything I thought it might be and I am immediately wishing I was still on a trail. I resist upping the pace and settle in to a leisurely plod that reduces the effect of the impact. The road winds on in the distance and soon becomes tiresome. Sandy has found a downhill rhythm that doesn't affect her foot and stroll effortlessly past me.

The long and winding road

As I near the foot of the descent and the main highway looms into view, I relax a little as the stage is now over bar the shouting. Lars, Richelle and Kylie go past me as we near the road junction and I make a mental challenge to myself to catch them up on the road into camp. Within the next hour, all of these seemingly simple goals are annihilated. It starts to rain again.

The rain is unrelenting, it is cold and it is exacerbated by spray from oncoming vehicles. We have been banned from running on the shoulder and are mandated to run on the gravel trail alongside. What I thought was going to be a nice trot to the finish is turning into a tortuous mini stage. I fail to make up any ground on the 3 amigos that passed me earlier but I gain a small crumb of comfort in that no-one else is catching me up. After what seems like an age, I am diverted from the highway into the bush. The roadbook says that the point we crossed the highway to camp is less than a mile but I have counted 4 mile markers by the time I move into the bush.

Weary but pleased

I cross the finish line weary but pleased that the stage is behind me. I have endured some level of suffering but I later hear many tales of woe and some people have really been up against it. Soon enough I am dry and happy inside my sleeping bag having my now traditional post race nap.

I have had a number of emails from a number of different people today, which is nice. I expected I would get tons of encouragement from Claire and she has not let me down but it is great to get words from others, especially from people you wouldn't expect. Gary from G2G2014 has sent one on behalf of him and Brett. I never really got to know them that well on G2G but Facebook allows people to keep up so we have maintained a level of contact since then and it is nice to hear from them, even if there is a dig at me flying the Welsh flag! Arnie from MdS2012 is keeping me up to date with happenings in the Premier League and tells me that Liverpool have managed to cling on to 4th place so Champions League football will return to Anfield!!

My notes for today don't highlight any tent scandalous behaviour for today and neither does my memory so I can only surmise that we conducted ourselves as we have throughout the race thus far. People are starting to open up a bit more so chats are more prolonged. Ian and Cecile generally interact in French, despite Cecile saying she wanted to improve her English! The rest of us try to catch what their conversations are about but usually fail so have our own. Young Chris and I are usually next to each other and our conversations are usually of a military nature. We have brought Melanie into some of them when we discover that she is a former US Marine. Not quite GI Jane but Corps nonetheless.

An early night beckons as tomorrow is the dreaded long stage and we have to be up an hour earlier to travel to the start. It is an ominous route but for fretting about now; now is the time to rest and recover.