RACE REPORT – The D33 Ultra Marathon 2016

15/03/2016 / Iona / Leave a comment

D33 ULTRA MARATHON 2016

TIME: 4 Hours 39 Minutes and 19 Seconds

OVERALL : 84th/335 finishers

GENDER: 9th/98 females

CATEGORY: 6th/35 senior females

The D33 was my first proper race of the season last year after coming back from illness and I’d had such a great time that I was one of many chomping at the bit, waiting for the race entries to open on New Years eve. Fair enough I’d had the cold and wasn’t out partying with all my friends, but when I was presented with number 29 come race day, it showed just how keen I’d been to run this race again!

My race was nearly over before it started. I’d had a terribly sore back all week, to the point where putting my socks on really hurt and I panicked. My training had gone so well up until now, I’d been careful when out running in the hills (apart from one epic face plant in the Pentlands, but at least the fall was broken by mud!) and had been lucky not to pick up any injuries but now, out of the blue my back was in agony! I did very little from Tuesday evening onwards, made sure I’d pre-warned the kids not to climb on me during their swimming lessons (most listened, some just think I’m a tree!) and went for a massage after I finished work on Friday and kept my fingers crossed I wasn’t going to get home and have to send that dreaded email to Karen saying I couldn’t make it….

I don’t know if something had been trapped and during the massage it popped back into place, or if the rest had done me good but the walk home on Friday was totally pain-free as if nothing had ever been wrong! Hoorah! Still not counting my chickens, I decided I’d go up anyway and if I was still sore on Saturday at least I’d be there to help out and cheer on my team mates. My in-laws have just bought a shiny new motor home and had very kindly offered to take me up to Aberdeen for the weekend and combine it with a trip to Inverurie to see my brother and sister in-law. So at 4:30pm with all my kit packed and food packed for drop bags to be made up on the journey North, I bundled in to the back of the motor home and we were off.

After a few stops, we reached Inverurie sometime after 8pm and settled down with my pre-race choice of pizza and juice, and then soon it was time to think about getting to bed ready for my super early start. I was feeling good, my legs felt strong and I was well rested and now pain-free. What could I pull out the bag on race day? I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but I’d used the online race calculator to look at splits for a 4 hour 50 minute finish and I hoped to stick to the splits through the check points as closely as I could. It would be fast, but it would be a good test to see how my winter training was going and even if things didn’t go to plan, it was all just a build up to the long-term goal of the West Highland Way race in June. Priorities for this race would be: 1)Finish pain and injury free 2) finish with a smile 3) finish under 5 hours. As I drifted off to sleep in the motorhome I felt strangely calm. Probably because I’d told myself if anything hurt I would pull out and there was absolutely no pressure on me.

Desperate to get going! Photo - Karen Donoghue — Desperate to get going! Photo – Karen Donoghue

After some crazy dreams about pirates (?!) I woke up at 6:30am and hopped out the van to the shower block to go and get ready and noticed that I wasn’t sore, bigger hoorah! I quickly got dressed, fixed my hair and then once again (as always) struggled to eat breakfast as I was still full from the pizza! I’d decided to travel very light and just run with a hand-held bottle as I found over longer distances my waist belt could hurt my back and my Salomon back pack sometimes rubbed my shoulders. I wasn’t intending to eat much anyway so put everything I needed (shot bloks, a gel and a bit of flapjack) in the little pouch on my new Nathan bottle and had drop bags with Powerade, Haribo and more gels to pick up if needed on the way.

I got dropped off at the park just before 8am and went about registering, saying hello and catching up with people I haven’t seen in ages and then went to join the toilet queue, once again to come out just in time to finish faffing about with my kit choices, drop off my bag and get to the start line for the pre race briefing. I finally caught up with all the other Wee County Harriers who were running and after a quick race briefing from Karen, a few more hugs and well wishes, the hooter sounded and we were off. Here we go again!!

As always, the first few miles flew by. I was running on my own for a wee while and then David Scott caught up with me and we ran and chatted together all the way until the tarmac track turns into a muddy path at around the 7 mile mark. I’d been keeping an eye on my splits and every time I checked they had said 7:xx Probably a wee bit too fast, but I was still chatting and not feeling like I was pushing to keep up in the slightest, so I just kept it going. We fell into single file as the tarmac track turned to mud and I dropped back a bit and brought the pace down to climb the small hill back up to the road just before the first check point. I’d already had a shot blok and a bit of my juice, but didn’t really need to stop for anything so slowed to take a gel and bin the wrapper then got back on my merry way on the downhill section of road, passing through in 1 hour and 3 minutes. 5 minutes ahead of schedule. Whoops! I started running with a Carnegie Harrier at this point (I think your name was Paul? Sorry I never asked!) who said he’d run behind me before and almost didn’t recognise me because I wasn’t wearing my usual stripy club socks! Sorry, they got binned after the mud bath at Devilla! Don’t worry, new ones are on the way 🙂 Soon after, Paul zoomed off and I ran along on my own for a while, still feeling good and still managing to keep my splits at just over 8 minute mile pace. The rest of the first half is a bit of a blur. I just remember trying to keep my pace steady, passing the lead runner just as I turned off the main road near Crathes and he was flying!! Seriously inspiring stuff! Coming into the car park near the steam and diesel heritage railway starts, I got the most AMAZING cheers from some kids. Thanks guys, you were awesome and pushed me on to the check point at halfway. Seeing the runners coming back towards you is always a fantastic sight and most people are so lovely and cheer you on. Spotting the check point ahead, I picked up my pace getting ready to refuel with juice and Haribo and charged into the check point in 2 hours and 11 minutes. Still way ahead of schedule, but I felt brilliant so was soon on my way back, cheering on everyone as they came towards they check point and smiling as much as I could.

And the road goes on and on and on... Photo Chen Chee Kong/Running In Scotland — And the road goes on and on and on…
Photo Chen Chee Kong/Running In Scotland

Photo - Fiona Rennie — Photo – Fiona Rennie

Things were still feeling good. 20 miles ticked by and I suddenly started to feel a bit tired. Nothing hurt, but I could feel myself hunching forward and shuffling a bit more than I had been. I decided to push on and see if I could keep my pace to a run, all the way back through and down the hill at Drumoak and then if I still felt tired I could walk for a bit. A few people I had been passing and being passed by were doing the same and suddenly a few super fast people flew by us. Don’t know if they were running incredible negative splits or were part of the relay teams, but they were fairly moving! I reached the bottom of the hill at around 24 miles and slowed my pace to put my headphones in. I didn’t want to walk and still didn’t feel like I REALLY needed to, but I was still nearly 10 miles from the finish and didn’t want to blow up before I got there so resorted to a run/shuffle up the hill to the beat of the music. Coming in to the last check point I suddenly started to feel slightly ropey. My body was still moving forward, but I was probably wiggling all over the road in doing so. I stopped briefly at the check point to fill up my bottle, stuff a Jaffa cake in my mouth and carried on, zigzagging out of the check point. I looked at my watch; I was still ahead of schedule with less than 8 miles to go, I wasn’t going to let this go now! I carried on my shuffle for a while and then decide to walk briefly to eat some Haribo properly. I was probably wiggling down the side of the path when Mike Raffan and Jeni Rees-Jenkins passed me, looking SO comfortable and steady and asked if I was OK. I muttered some garbage about being well within my time goal and had a bit to spare, which was met with a swift reply to get a move on from Mike! It definitely helped though. I watched them run off into the distance I questioned why I actually was walking. Did something hurt? No. Was I totally shattered and struggling to keep moving? No. Was I making excuses to myself and doubting my capabilities again? Yes, most probably.

Photo Chen Chee Kong/Running in Scotland

I was on the move again with less than 6 miles to go. I passed through marathon distance comfortably and remembered back to how I’d struggled at this point last year. It wasn’t until I looked at my splits yesterday that I realised I’ve actually managed to set a new marathon personal best by 3 minutes. That’s not supposed to happen in the middle of an ultra!! Finally I reached the road crossing and met with a cheering Noanie who guided me across and on to the last section. I passed the old platforms about 4 miles out, the green bridges about 3 miles out and finally I could hear the build in the noise of the traffic as we got further into the city. My mile splits were coming down again but I was pretty much done in and slowed to a shuffle with little over half a mile to go. 2 guys slowed as they passed me and said “we’re not happy about passing you with about 500m to go!”, which both confused and delighted me as I was still waiting to see the greenhouses of the Winter Gardens and was convinced I was still over a mile away! The pace quickened as I came down the zigzags back into the park, I could hear the cowbells and the cheers and I trotted over the line with a delirious look on my face finishing 25 minutes faster than last year in 4 hours, 39 minutes and 19 seconds.

Sandra came over to give me a hug and my medal and I stumbled over to Anne and Brian who were right at the finish line cheering for me. How did that just happen? Whose legs are these?!

Possibly about to fall over, but job done!

I shuffled into the tent, didn’t fancy any food so shuffled back out and down to find the van to get changed and warm. As soon as I’d heated up a bit and my post race queasiness had subsided, I was back up in the tent hoovering up the salt and vinegar crisps and waiting for my team mates to come in. Everyone ran SO well!

Another epic journey completed which brings me another step closer to the WHW race. Just over 3 months to go and I’m still quite a bit away from my target fitness level but I’m definitely getting stronger both physically and mentally as time goes on. With the London marathon in 5 weeks and the Fling in 6 weeks, it’s definitely time to stop with the excuses. Time to put down the cake and get back out there!!

Home, washed and delighted. Show me the fizz!

RACE REPORT – The D33 Ultra Marathon

16/03/2015 / Iona / 3 Comments

D33 ULTRA MARATHON 2015

TIME:5 Hours 4 Minutes and 54 Seconds

OVERALL :132nd/338 finishers

GENDER: 21st/110 females

CATEGORY: 10th/39 senior females

The awesomely funky jam jar lid medal. Definitely the most random medal on the rack so far!

It was finally here! The weekend of the first ultra of the season and I was more than ready for it. I’d recovered well, all the miles of training were banked and I was chomping at the bit and ready to race and see what my legs were capable of. The D33 is a fast ultra along the old Deeside railway line to Banchory and back and apart from a few undulations going through villages on the way, it’s pretty much entirely flat. My plan was to give it everything I had and see how my legs coped with being asked to run 33 miles with hopefully very few walking breaks. I hoped that if I treated it like a marathon in terms of pace and fuelling and then pushed to keep my legs ticking over past marathon distance,my next marathon race would be a doddle. Well, we can always hope!!

I had travelled up to Stonehaven on the Friday night to stay at Rhona’s with Jemma and my little brother Duncan who had come down to support/marashal/be tea bitch for the day. Soon after arriving we were sitting down to eat a huge meal of tortellini and garlic bread. After getting my pre-race fuelling so wrong before the Loch Ness Marathon and suffering badly about 20 miles in, I am now careful to not only get the race fuelling right, but also looking at what I eat the few days leading up to the race as well. After eating as much as was comfortable I lay out my kit, checked my drop bags were all good to go and then after a good gossip with everyone, took my nervous mind to bed to try and get a good sleep.

Race morning arrived and I was awake before my alarm. Pre race routine of getting dressed, drinking strong coffee and trying to force in breakfast when I wasn’t that hungry was run through without much thought and then just as we were leaving to get the bus up to Aberdeen, the nerves started to kick in. This wasn’t a race where I could take plenty of walking breaks on the hills. There were no hills! This was going to be an entirely new experience and I had no idea how my body was going to react to what I was about to ask it to do. The only way to find out is to go for it and see what the outcome was. Fingers crossed for a positive one!

We hopped off the bus right beside Duthie Park and as we walked around to the start area the air of nervous excitement among us began to grow. We were quite early so got registered quickly, nipped to the loo before the queues began and then trotted about saying hello to people. As this is the first Ultra of the season there is a huge buzz surrounding everyone. I caught up with my club mates who had driven up that morning, said hello to Angela and her super cute dog Brin and then trotted back to the toilet queue, which was now pretty huge, to pass some time! Just as I came out the loo we were all summoned to the start line for the race briefing, so I quickly put my bag in the van and jogged up the start line to find my friends and then remember how to breath! We had a quick briefing from race director George and then with a count down from 10, we were off!! Trainers slapped on the tarmac as the stream of runners made their way out of the park and up onto the old railway line. I kept an eye on my watch and made sure I wasn’t setting off too quickly as I jogged out of the park between Jemma and Rhona, but soon the pack spread out and after a couple of miles and some chatting with 3 or 4 other runners, I was on my own and jogging along to the sound of my breathing and the birdsong around me.

The Wee County Harriers taking a welfie!

The route follows the old railway line on tarmac out to Peterculter when it then moved to a few miles on trail and country roads through the village of Drumoak before rejoining the former railway line out to Crathes. The miles were slipping by easily and just before 7 miles I was joined by Ruth Howie from the Strathearn Harriers and we ran together until the first check point. I had already taken a gel but still had plenty of food and gels on me, so I didn’t stop and passed quite a few people at this stage. Most of them caught back up again over the next few miles, but it felt good to be moving up the field at such an early stage in the race. The route took us down a slight hill and then wiggled through some fields before spitting us on at the side of a road and onto an incline up to Drumoak. I pushed up the hill feeling strong and still happily running on my own and then as the route wiggled back onto the Deeside Way, I was caught up by a few of my club mates and continued to run with them for the next few miles. I passed by half marathon distance in 1 hour 54 minutes, and while thinking that was possibly just slightly too fast, I was still feeling so strong that I didn’t want to pull back just now in case I couldn’t pick up the pace again! Just after 14 miles the lead runner, Ross Houston of Commonwealth games fame, flew by us – ahead of the lead bike! Saying this guy was flying doesn’t even describe how fast he was moving, he was travelling at an astounding speed! This meant that at this stage in the race, the lead runner was nearly 5 miles ahead of me already. Just amazing!! I continued say well done and high five my friends as they passed me on their way back feeling good as soon it would be me going that way.

Photo fail! Whoops... Photo - brianbatphotography.co.uk — Photo fail! Whoops…
Photo – brianbatphotography.co.uk

Half way sneaked up on me and before I knew it I could see the roof of the marquee at the check point! People were cheering my name and I cruised in to pick up my drop bag grinning from ear to ear. I wasn’t planning to hang around for long so I kept moving while refilling my waist pack with gels and haribo and guzzled as much powerade as I could while still moving. A quick watch check showed I was there in 2 hours and 23 minutes which meant if I could do the same on the way back I could finish somewhere around the 5 hour mark. Things were looking good!! I was in and out the check point within 2 minutes and now it was time to retrace my footsteps back to Aberdeen. I loved how up beat everyone was as they ran passed you and said well done to most people who looked in my direction. I high fived Rhona who wasn’t far behind me at all and then ran towards Jemma, who was looking delighted with her race so far, for a double (and rather painful!) high five. Heading back the way we came wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be and as the miles continued to slip by I started to worry that things had gone too smoothly so far and I was bound to crash soon. Back through Drumoak, down the hill and along through the fields, I continued to pass people who had slowed down quite a bit and then I started to feel ridiculously thirsty. I decided I’d walk the bottom section of the hill and have a good drink and then try and pass some more people who had slowed to walk. By the time I’d reached the top of the hill I had passed another 8 or 9 runners and I was still feeling pretty strong. My watch beeped and I realised I only had another mile until the final check point and then it was 8 miles of flat running towards the finish line.

Pushing up a hill about 10 miles in and feeling strong! Photo - Ray Woods — Pushing up a hill about 10 miles in and feeling strong!
Photo – Ray Woods

I was still running comfortably and passed by marathon distance in 4 hours and 1 minute. Only 7 minutes slower than my PB and I still had another 7 miles to go. I started to feel tired at this point and slowed my pace right down to take another gel and have a drink. I could see a line of people ahead of me and most of them were walking so getting a sudden rush of energy and competitiveness, I made it my mission to pass as many of them as possible. I must have gained another 10 or so places up the field and suddenly I was back at the bridge where I had previously made a mental note to remember that from there I only had 3 miles to go. Less than half an hour… and the race was once again on!

The last few miles ticked by pretty painlessly, except when I hit any type of incline – my legs definitely knew about that when it happened! My feet were still pretty happy and my only real niggle was a sharp pain between my shoulder blades; a pain I’ve had a few times before during long distance races but still can’t quite figure out what’s causing it. I tired not to look at my watch as the very last few miles were starting to hurt. Suddenly, the Winter Garden at Duthie Park came into view and I realised I was there! I had a less that half a mile to go and my watch had just ticked by the 5 hour mark!! Just as I entered the park, 2 guys who had been passing me and dropping back, over and over for the last few miles sprinted past and barrelled along to the finish line. I wasn’t fancying that, I wanted to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the finish that I had worked so hard for. People cheered my name and my team mates who had already finished yelled and congratulated me loudly, and I couldn’t help but grin like a Cheshire cat. I stumbled across the line, got my medal and proceeded to hug everyone in sight before shuffling into the marquee to find some water and somewhere to sit down.

Finish line after 5 hours of strong running. Photo - Gordon McNeil — Finish line after 5 hours of strong running.
Photo – Gordon McNeil

After a few sandwiches and cakes, I piled on as many layers as I could and made my poor little brother run off to find me tea as my Raynauds had kicked in badly and I couldn’t feel the tips of my fingers. I stood hugging my cup and cheered in as many people as possible, yelling loudly when Rhona finished with a massive 10 minute PB and when Jemma came running into the park, grinning widely and coming in well under her estimated time. We then hopped back on the bus and headed back to Stonehaven for an afternoon of beer, gin, pizza and rugby watching followed by an evening of partying.

Awesome weekend and job done! I can’t wait until next year!

A job well done and we're ready to party! — A job well done and we’re ready to party!

It’s almost D33 Day!

12/03/2015 / Iona / Leave a comment

My first ultra of the season is fast approaching! My mind is buzzing with how I plan to run it, how I think my body will react, what/when to eat and drink and very importantly… what to wear!! I’ve been keeping a close eye on the 5 day weather forecast and so far so good – but then again, no weather report told me we were getting 3 inches of snow last week, so I definitely won’t hold my breath and will prepare to expect a medley of four seasons in one day.

My training is all done, my legs are feeling good and I completed my final pre-race run on Tuesday at training feeling positive and ever so slightly competitive. How will race day pan out for me? Will my little legs carry me the distance? So far I have planned the following;

FOOD – During my ultras and training runs up until now, I have always craved sweet stuff early on and then more savoury stuff later in the race, so with this in mind I will pack a bit of everything in my drops bags and also carry some stuff with me. I wasn’t sure if I was going to run with a race belt or not, so I think I’ll run with my one bottle belt instead of my Camelbak and then I can refill it at the checkpoints if need be. Better safe than sorry! I will definitely have my pockets crammed with sour haribo sweets – A saviour late in a race for me on more than one occasion!

CLOTHES – I’m hoping it’ll be dry, but as this is North East Scotland in early March, I can only cross my fingers and hope for the best. My shoes (brooks adrenaline gts), socks (long stripy mega bright club socks), calf sleeves, buff, gloves and running skirt are all definite, but the number of layers on my top half could vary from 1 to 4 or 5, so again I’ll judge it on the morning of the race. I’ll only take my jacket if it’s tipping it down, but that decision I may live to regret…

RACE STRATEGY – No idea yet! I’ll be treating it as a long training run for both the London marathon in April and the Cateran 55 in May. If I can run all 33 miles comfortably then I might be able to pick up the pace at London. If things start to hurt, I’ll know I went out too fast and will know to start the Cateran much, much slower. Either way it’ll be faster than Glen Ogle as there are no hills. I’ll keep my goal times to myself just now and I’ll let you know whether or not I made them when I write my race report in a few days time!

GOALS –
1) Don’t get injured!!! Too many big races in the next few months and I’d be devastated if I had to pull out of anything!
2) Finish with a smile. This won’t be hard – it’s hard to wipe the smile off my face recently. I’m lucky to be back running so quickly so I take nothing for granted now!
3) Run the majority of the route. It’s only 7 miles more than a marathon and if I can do that at a fair pace then I can hopefully do 33 if I dial it back ever so slightly… I hope!
4) Remain positive!!! Your mind plays a big part in running and finishing big races. I will NOT give in to negative thoughts this weekend. I’ve got this!

So that’s about it! As soon as I finish work tomorrow I’ll be on the road North to prepare for ultra number 3. Ultra runner extraordinaire Rhona is very kindly letting us stay with her for the weekend so I’ll no doubt be picking her brain from the moment I arrive tomorrow for hints and tips on how to approach this race as she’s running it for the 4th time this year!

See you on the flip side!

3 weeks to go….

25/02/2015 / Iona / 1 Comment

As I watched the rain batter off the windows and pavements on Sunday afternoon, I started to regret that I hadn’t leapt out of bed at the crack of dawn and got my long run miles in before the worst of the weather had arrived. After having a lazy morning, I was dressed and ready to go by 12.30pm kitted out for the elements in an outfit that included 2 long sleeved layers over a vest, gloves, waterproof jacket and 2 buffs… And then I sat back down on the couch. I put off heading out for another half hour or so and then when I eventually did head out, the heavens opened and I couldn’t see the road ahead for fat drops of rain bouncing everywhere. So I promptly turned on my heel and went home. 0.2 miles later.

As I stepped back into the house, my husband Craig just burst out laughing. “You clearly don’t want to do this today, so why are you making yourself suffer?” he asked. I mumbled something about long miles and big races, but I knew I wasn’t really in the right frame of mind to head out just then, so I had a cup of tea and waited for the worst of the weather to pass – however long that would take.

I’d been feeling pretty miserable all week. I don’t know if it was a combination of high mileage, back to back weekend runs, not being as social as I normally am or just the rubbish weather but most of my runs that week had felt like a chore which is odd for me. Usually if I don’t feel in the mood for a training run, I won’t go. However with so many big races ahead in the next few months and the fact I’m still trying to get back to full fitness means I have been pushing myself a bit more than normal over the last month or so. I promised myself if my training ever got to this stage I would stop and take a break, but with a mere 3 weeks until the D33 I’ve now opted for the grin and bear it option. There’s no winging it in these races!

Training last week consisted of some yoga on Monday, a speed session of 8×4 minute sprints on Tuesday with a few miles before and after training, a 3 mile lunch run and a 4 mile steady evening run on Wednesday, a ridiculously cold hill run on Friday (see elevation below!) and a 15 mile slog in the rain on Sunday.

A 'wee daunder' up the hills apparently. It nearly broke me! — A ‘wee daunder’ up the hills apparently. It nearly broke me!

Most of the training was enjoyable, but when I got to Friday I was exhausted but had already agreed to go running in the hills with some club mates. By Friday afternoon on a normal week I’m usually pretty tired but today I had pretty much no motivation and just about mustered a smile or two on the way there. I had stupidly asked if there was still snow on hills, only to be told “not much!” which to me meant shorts weather. Oh how wrong I was! Luckily I had long socks and calf sleeves on so it was only really my thighs and knees that were exposed to the elements, but it was cold. SO COLD! And it snowed. Not just normal soft snow that lands gently around you and muffles your footsteps but horizontal snow. Snow that went across the way… and straight into my ear!!! I was so glad to get off the hills that day…

I've just seen what we're about to scale... — I’ve just seen what we’re about to scale…

This is apparently part of a race route. Screw ever doing that race!!

Gordon bounded to the top and got photos of us all trying to remember how to walk and breath at the same time.

I think that's a feeble attempt at a thumbs up. — I think that’s a feeble attempt at a thumbs up.

The views from the first climb were pretty nice. That's the river Forth and Edinburgh in the distance. — The views from the first climb were pretty nice. That’s the river Forth and Edinburgh in the distance.

And then we got to this... — And then we got to this…

My legs were pretty heavy the next day and I’m sure the weather at the summit had something to do with how I’m feeling this week, but I’m glad I went as it just proves to me how much my strength is improving. This time last year I would never have made it up the first incline, never mind the scramble up the side of the hill. However I’d definitely rethink my wardrobe choices for the next one…

So, along came Sunday which usually I look forward to as it means catching up with friends and bagging my big miles for the week. However this week I couldn’t make the early run with everyone so I set out to clock the miles alone. And I really did feel lonely!! My ear was still sore and my legs were heavy but I eventually gave it a second attempt at heading out and luckily a few miles in the rain started to ease off and I could actually take my hood down. I had planned to do 20 miles but not feeling 100% I scaled it back and headed home after 15 with just a slight niggle in my hip. This wee I have developed yet another cold so my weekly mileage so far in a big fat 0, but fingers crossed it has clears soon as I’m hoping to get one last long run in at the weekend and then the tapering begins. Hoorah!

Hope you’re all feeling a bit brighter than me!

Devilla 15k Race Report and updated training blurb…

16/02/2015 / Iona / Leave a comment

I seem to be quite behind with everything so far this year. I think I left my brain in the hospital!

Official Time: 1 hour 15 minutes 47 seconds
Overall: 228 out of 508
Gender: 40 out of 204

Following the epic start to the racing season which was the Devil’s Burden hill race, the next event on the calendar was the Devilla 15k – a trail race around Devilla forest which is an amazing setting for a race and just 10 minutes up the road from us. Race day had an electric atmosphere, the weather was crisp, cold and beautiful and we had a 30 strong team of Wee County Harriers through to support our neighbouring club’s fantastic event.

Biggest club turn out we've ever had at an event I think! — Biggest club turn out we’ve ever had at an event I think!

This year the course had been meticulously checked and was extremely well marshalled after last years mishap of the course being “sabotaged” and ending up being nearly 2 miles short. Just before the race started we found as many WCH runners as possible and gathered together for a pre-race snap. This shows just how much our wee club has expanded recently and it only continues to grow!

I hadn’t yet decided how I was going to run this race. My legs were feeling slightly heavy from a hard week of training and the 30 mile training run we had done the previous weekend but mentally I was feeling strong and ready to take on whatever this race had to throw at me. This was another of my fail races from last year and I was determined to beat my abysmal time, even though I had an extra 2 or so miles to run. Last year I was running with practically no iron in my blood and my legs had pretty much no oxygen and every step had been a chore, but this year was different. This year I was determined to enjoy every step and finish with everything I had still had left in my legs and a smile on my face. Luckily it was much drier this year so the smiling wasn’t a problem! There were a few hair raising moments with icy patches and frozen mud which caused me to almost go over on my ankle more than once, but I somehow got round injury free!

I managed to keep quite an even pace for the first few miles, only slowing right down on the narrow sections where we shuffled along in single file until the path opened up again. Even the nasty hill at the half way point didn’t slow me down and I was pushing to get up to the top as quickly as I could for 2 main reasons. 1 being I could see two guys from the club up ahead and I was making up time on the hills and getting closer and closer to them and 2, there was a guy running beside me who would not stop burping!! Almost as off-putting as the guy who ran beside me and kept talking to himself in the 3rd person at a marathon a few months ago! Nearing the top of the hill I passed another 3 men (always a good feeling!) and rounding the corner and going on to the downhill I let my legs freewheel and got past another 2. Still gaining on, but not quite catching my team mates and knowing there was another narrow section ahead, I decided to hold back through this section and save my energy for the last 5k back through the forest. Once again this section was totally different from last year – it had been a total mud bath then and even trail shoes made no difference! This year it was still frozen over and although a bit technical, much easier to run on! The path eventually opened up and suddenly out of nowhere, 2 of my team mates flew by me! Nooooo, I had been doing so well not to let anyone catch me so far! The 2 I had gained on were still in my sight though and in the last 2k I was running side by side with them. But then they saw me and took off again. Damn, so close!

The last few kilometres are mostly downhill, but by now my hamstrings had tightened up and I couldn’t widen my stride so I just plodded as fast as I could round to the finish line. Job done, and 4 minutes faster than my previous attempt. That’ll do for now!

Last few kilometres and the focus face is on... — Last few kilometres and the focus face is on…

Onto the training side of things – I have been having SO much fun on my training runs recently. Weekend expeditions out to the West Highland Way with my running club friends have provided hours of crucial training for my upcoming ultras – The D33 in March,The Cateran 55 in May and the Devil of the Highlands in August. Along with a couple of marathons in the middle (London in April and Strathearn in June) and my brother and Jemma’s wedding in July, it’s one hell of a busy year!

But when weekends look like this, there’s no time to feel tired…

Even when you fall over and scrape your knee off a rock, there’s no reason to stop smiling!

Happy training everyone.

Photo thanks to Gordon McNeil, Derek Fish and David Neill.

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Iona Running Blog

Tag: d33

RACE REPORT – The D33 Ultra Marathon 2016

RACE REPORT – The D33 Ultra Marathon

It’s almost D33 Day!

3 weeks to go….

Devilla 15k Race Report and updated training blurb…