Yesterday morning, Carla Molinaro arrived at John O’Groats, having just run her way into the record books. The Team GB ultrarunner, 36, is now the fastest female to run the length of Britain, completing the 874-mile distance in 12 days, 30 minutes and 14 seconds. This was some 10 hours quicker than the previous record, set by Sharon Gayter in 2019. RW Advertisement - Continue Reading Below.
Why did you want to attempt to break the Land’s End to John O’Groats record?
I read [one-time record holder] Mimi Anderson’s book, Beyond Impossible, a few years ago and I guess the seed was sown. But I hadn’t thought much more about it until lockdown. And then I was looking at maps and thought, “That could work.”
When you were planning the schedule, did you have to take into account how hilly a certain section would be?
No, I pretty much took the total distance and divided it by 12, which is roughly 70 miles a day. There was nothing particularly scientific about it. In hindsight, there probably should have been. Ending near somewhere I could sleep would have been a good one, for example. We had a camper van, but it wasn’t comfortable. So I changed plans and said, “If there’s a B&B within a 10-minute drive [of where we finish that day], let’s go there. If it’s longer than that, I’ll stay in the van, because I didn’t want to waste time.”
How much sleep did you manage to get each night?
I finished at 10pm each day and started again at 5am. But I probably got to bed at 11pm and woke up at 4am. Not that I was sleeping much, though – I was too sore.
Running such a long way must takes its toll on the body. Any injuries?
In the beginning, it was just that DOMS feeling. I smashed my quads up during the first two days running over the hills in Cornwall and Devon. I really didn’t realise how hilly it was going to be – I think people don’t think of Cornwall and Devon as being that hilly, but it was brutal. Then my shin started to really hurt, which I initially thought was the tendon in my shin. Luckily, we had a doctor friend of mine, Andy, with us who consulted with his doctor friends, one of whom was an ultrarunner. She thought it was cellulitis, a skin infection, and Andy put me on antibiotics. It turns out, it was a skin infection – if we hadn’t have caught that so early, I’m not sure what would have happened.
You’re no stranger to long-distance challenges. How hard was this?
It was harder than I thought it would be, and the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I’ve done some multi-day challenges before, but this was just stupid! It was really, really hard.
What was your nutrition strategy?
Actually, my eating plan was spot on. I never ran out of energy. I ate every 30 minutes throughout the day – I actually ended up getting little ulcers on my tongue from eating too much. I would swap between Clif Bars, cocktail sausages, cake, sandwiches, yoghurt. Basically, I went on a picnic the length of Britain.
What did you wear on your feet?
I used the Hoka Clifton 7, which were awesome. I started off using the normal ones, and then went to the wide fit, after my feet started swelling. A lot of people say, “You need to have shoes one or two size up [to compensate for swollen feet].” I didn’t. I just used the normal fit for the first two days, and then the wide fit.
What was the running highlight?
Going over the Pentlands. It was magic. It was the only real off-road bit I had. There was a cyclist at the bottom who said, “There’s no way you’re going to get up there – the hill is too steep for you.” That made me want to prove him wrong. When I got to the top, I could see the whole of Edinburgh. The ground was like a spongy marsh, and it was the first time I could run when my legs didn’t hurt. I flew down those hills; I felt free. Doing Land’s End to John O’Groats entirely off-road would be incredible, but you’d have to do it slower so that you could climb over stiles. I couldn’t even get my feet up over the kerb at some points.
What advice would you have for anyone looking to run their own multi-day challenge?
Pick a little one. For example, run around the Isle of Wight. You’ll have run around a whole island, but you could potentially do it over a long weekend, running or walking 20 miles a day. Or something like London to Brighton, a well-known route that you could do over two or three days.
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