Like many runners I was attracted to the idea of stepping up my distances from half marathon, through marathon, to ultra marathon. The distance of an ultra-marathon is widely held as any event longer than 30 miles, or 50km, although some people class an ultra race as any distance longer than a marathon. My first ultra marathon was a hilly one, the Ochils Ultra, which took place in the range of hills between Stirlingshire and Perthshire in Scotland.
Here are nine things I wish I'd known before running my first ultra marathon.
