I've done the same event a year or a couple of years apart, and been horrendously slower. And on others I've seen a marked improvement, I guess you could have had an off day.

What I've noticed over the past four years since starting Long Distance Events is that I'm not a quick walker, and it can be a war of attrition to get round.

I guess you will win on some and lose on others.

Just a few thoughts... this year I've been timed out of two events (although in one of those I didn't help myself by going several miles off course). On two others I've exceeded the published time limit and relied on the goodwill of the organisers in allowing me to finish anyway (thanks to Kent and Thames Valley groups for being so accommodating!). There have been a couple of others which I'd have liked to enter, but couldn't do so because I knew perfectly well I wouldn't be able to finish within the stated time, and now I'm looking at the two events I'm entered for in the next month and wondering whether I'll be able to finish those in time (Birmingham Canal Canter 40 in 14, White Cliffs Challenge 52 in 22).

While events are generally supposed to be challenges to finish rather than races to do so in a given time, I appreciate that on the other hand halls are booked for fixed lengths of time, and even where a checkpoint isn't at a hired venue there's a limit to how long marshals can reasonably be expected to hang around waiting for one or two stragglers. So how slow is too slow? I generally reckon on doing 2.5-3mph under 'normal' conditions (whatever those might be), but on a muddy hillside at night when I've already done 40+ miles I'll be down to nearer 2.