And so another year draws to a close. For me it really has been the year of running so far. I hadn’t really thought about it until I started to think of ideas for this blog and then it dawned on me that this year I have:
– Smashed my half marathon time by 5 minutes
– Taken nearly 2 minutes off my 10k time
– Completed my first marathon
– Completed my first ultra marathon
– Finally got round to joining a running club
– Clocked up nearly 1150 miles in a year
– Met some of the most amazing and inspirational new friends
The list goes on and on. But if I listed everything there wouldn’t really be much point in the rest of this blog post!
I started the month with high hopes of completing my first Marcothon. All was going really well for the first 2 weeks with me managing to fit in lunchtime runs here and there, taking the dog out at the crack of dawn and even slipping in my daily 3 miles at 11pm after a trip to the cinema. But sods law had it that as soon as my last lesson had finished on the last day of term, I started burning up and was struck down with the dreaded winter lurgy. So that was me out of the game. I even attempted to get back into it after 2 days of bed rest, but my body quite firmly refused and I had to hang up my trainers for the next week. Once I felt better I got back out there, and I have clocked up my daily miles every day since, but I’ll need to wait until next year to give it another go. It’s a tough challenge and even though it’s only 3 miles (or 25 minutes of running, whichever comes first), it really takes its toll on your body. Some days I’ve really struggled and it has felt like such a chore to run the minimum of 3 miles, even though just a bit over a month ago I ran 33 miles! I think my body is trying to tell me it has clocked up enough miles for the year….
Marcothon aside, it has been a pretty quiet December. Term ended, Christmas came and went and now we’re a few days away from 2014. When I think back over the past 12 months, it amazes me to think how fast the year has passed. I’m looking at the race calender for next year and can’t believe entries are open for the 2014 version already. But what a year of running it was. One of the best things I could have done for my running happened this year – I finally joined a running club and what a difference it has made to both my running, my fitness and also my motivation. My new friends have both inspired and pushed me towards my goals and I don’t think you could find a nicer and more driven bunch of people, who not only want to improve their performances but want to push you along on the way as well. A few of my friends have now accompanied the WCH on our weekend adventures and they’ve all said the same thing – what a fantastic wee club!
I’ve already started entering some of my planned races for 2014 and so far my goals are as follows:
A 45min 10k. – Very achievable if I focus on my speed work and bring my distances back down. Hopefully by the summer I’ll achieve this one.
A 1 hour 45 minute half marathon. Also (possibly!) very achievable. This comes down to more mental rather than physical work. I know I can do it, I’m just scared of burning out so I pull back too early in the race. Hopefully achievable at the Alloa half in March which is where I knocked 5 minutes off my time this year.
To start going to Park runs on Saturdays. Now that I’m not working on Saturday mornings! I feel this will really benefit my speed work.
Run a sub 4 marathon. My ‘A’ goal for the year. If I can do this I will feel invincible. For a while.
Become a stronger Ultra runner. I’m hoping to run both the Clyde Stride and Glen Ogle this year as well and sweeping for the Highland Fling. Hopefully running all races very comfortably and not getting injured!
Get stronger. I get gym classes for free. I really have no excuse for not trying everything!!
My first race of 2014 will be the Devilla 15k at the end of February. This is also the first event of my club Grand Prix which I have high hopes to make my mark in next year. Got to be positive!!
So that leaves me just to round-up this years races and events. It’s been an awesome year of training and racing and I go into 2014 with high hopes and big plans.
March – First high of the year – a good 5 minutes off my half marathon time in Alloa.March – Next high – a minute and a bit off my 10k time. Woooo!April – The beautiful bling of the Edinburgh rock ‘n’ roll half. Only good thing about this wet and windy race!May – Meeting Rhona, Ali and Kate at the race the train event in Aviemore. Fabby people who I hope to run with again in the near future!May – Running up and down mountains!June -Black rock 5 – my first club event after meeting these awesome and inspiring people. Fantastic night!September – 2nd 10k pb of the year coming in at 48:17September – completing my first marathon with my friend Catriona and a couple of huge smiles!October – Neil McCover half marathon a week after Loch Ness, again with my awesome running club.October – My first attempt at cross country in over 15 years. Fun but drenched!October – training in the rain with these dafties!November – my first ultra marathon. Glen Ogle 33 in the POURING rain.November – Glen Ogle 33 with a smile!November – Last race of the year – the Hartley Cup relays.The reason I got faster this year!
Here’s to getting faster and loving running in 2014.
At some point last week I smashed through the 1000 miles for the year barrier. I don’t quite know when, as our laptop broke a few weeks ago and I hadn’t been able to upload my Garmin stats. I actually thought I was still a good 30 miles off it, but yesterday after the new laptop was unpacked and my Garmin was linked up again, I got the grand total to date – 1013 miles with 37 days of the year still to go. Hoorah!
Doesn’t get more beautiful that this – but where has my running mojo gone?
A few weeks ago, I took a trip North with Jemma, who is running her first Ultra (The Tigh Nam Bodach 50k) this Saturday. The race starts at the Loch Lyon Dam, follows a loop around the Loch before heading down through the hills, through some rivers (??!), back up the hill and back to the Dam. With the thought of beautiful scenery and free Merino wool socks from the sock station at the half way point – Jemma was persuaded. We went up one weekend to recce the second part of the course as she wasn’t quite sure what to expect underfoot. We got there after a good few hours of windy single track roads and Skye, my border collie, and I staggered out the back of the car to try and shake off our motion sickness. Once our legs were ready to go and we had eventually figured out which way to go (note: there is no phone reception up here and GPS struggled a bit!) and set off on the single track road for a few miles of ups and downs. Before long we were turning off the road and following a muddy path along the side of a mountain. The path was quite firm under foot for the first mile or so but it got wetter and muddier the further along we went. So after a few miles we decided to turn back as we’d got a fairly good idea of what the course consisted of. Plus it had taken us that long to get over, I was worried that it was going to get dark before we were off those horrible single track roads!
Jemma and Skye in the snowy hills. Beautiful yet cold!The worst cup of tea I have ever had. Who knows what had been lurking in my flask! :-/
Good luck to everyone running the race this weekend. I’m sure it’ll be beautiful and an awesome experience. I, however, am still struggling to get out of my post Ultra slump and most of my November miles since the race have felt like a chore. I’ve still managed to get out quite a bit, and club training is always awesome but I just don’t seem to be enjoying my longer runs as much just now. I’m hoping it’s just the lack of sunlight and that I always seem to be running in the dark, or chasing the sunlight, but I feel like my running mojo has definitely gone into hiding for a while. However, I most certainly have the club to thank for helping me get all those miles in, making me want to run in the rain and enjoy it and being able to run for more miles without stopping that I ever thought possible! I guess it can only get better and next year is another year full of challenges.
My first cross county event in about 15 years in a torrential downpour. Why not!
Wasn’t expecting a medal, so am very chuffed with this beauty!
Yesterday I became an ultra runner.
At 4:50am my alarm went off and I got up after a very broken nights sleep. Once again my mind had been racing right up until I fell into a running filled dream – mostly dreaming I had forgotten something very important for the race! I forced down breakfast, had a shower, double and triple checked my drop bags and then paced around the house waiting for Kirsty to pick me up at 6am. My drop bags had been a big source of worry for me as this was the first race I had taken part in where I needed them. I had read plenty of blogs where runners have taken various means of fuel from bananas and crisps to full on meals of wraps and cups of tea! I decided to stick with things I thought would go down easily enough on the run and this is what I came up with….
Various means of getting the calories back in. None of which really to appealed to me on the day!
6am came and Kirsty arrived with Andy and we began our 50 minute or so journey up to Strathyre. As the sun came up, we had various thoughts about the weather. The sky was bright but it was very cold and there was a low lying mist over the hills and fields. I thought it looked too nice to be true and then I started to worry about my choice of kit. I’m not a big fan of running in trousers so chose to wear shorts and calf sleeves. I knew that even though we’d be running for hours, it probably wouldn’t be at too fast a pace, so I thought layers were better to begin with and that I could lose them at check points if need be. So I decided to wear a t shirt under a long sleeved top with my club vest on top and then have my jacket attached to my bag, just in case it might rain (hah!) and then also my buff and gloves. Surely that lot would keep me warm enough?!
We arrived in Strathyre not long after 7am, met up with the rest of our friends from the club who were also running, registered, sorted out drop bags and went back and forth to the toilets for the next wee while. We were all summoned at about 7.50am for a pre-race briefing by Bill and Mike and then we walked en-masse across the main road to the starting point and the bottom of the trail. This was it. Definitely no turning back or pulling out now. I was about to venture past racing distances of 26.2 miles for the first time. I was about to become an ultra runner.
WCH (minus Andy) ready to enter the world of Ultra running! (Except George, he’s been there already!)Kirsty and Catriona. Clearly ready to battle whatever this course throws at them.
Before I knew it we were on our way. I had been too busy talking I hadn’t heard the race start! The first few miles go straight up a hill. I knew I’d have to pull back as I have a bad habit of setting off far too fast and burning out early, so we decided to stick to 10 minute miles for the first while and see how we got on. Before I knew it we had clocked up 2 miles and the first set of hills were over. I’d been concentrating so hard on what was going on around me and spotting various faces of bloggers/awesome ultra runners that I hadn’t been paying attention to my mileage. There was an awesome downhill section through the forest that went on for about 3 miles and we were again concious of pulling back and keeping our mile splits fairly even. We flew by the first drop point, not needing to pick anything up and I made sure I had a gel and a good amount of fluids as we plodded along the cycle track that runs alongside the main road down to Lochearnhead. Since the last time we had run this route, a lot of pine needles had fallen and the track was lovely and springy under foot. Just what we needed with so many miles still to cover and all the tarmac at the end! As we left Lochearnhead, the path took a very steep incline and Kirsty and I decided to power shuffle up it instead of running and Andy, looking strong powered on up it ahead. These zig-zags were steep and again I thought I didn’t want to burn out, so I held back until we reached the top of the hill and then it was a nice steady plod along the old railway which runs alongside the A85 and over the Glen Ogle viaduct. I had seen this countless time from the road when travelling north to tackle Munros, but running over it was a whole new experience!
The Glen Ogle Viaduct as seen from the road. Image courtesy of scotlandincolour.com
Coming in to check point 2. Photo – Fiona RennieOn the way back to check point 3. Soaked through already. Photo – Fiona Rennie
We stopped in the check point just to empty rubbish out our pockets and take another gel while standing still and after a minute or so we were on our way again, heading up to the forest loop. My club mates and I ran this loop last week just to see what it was like… but we ran it the wrong way around and so what we thought we the awesome downhill sections were actually the most horrific inclines. See elevation below – the big hill in the middle section was in the forest and yes, it was as tough as it looks!
Tough on weary legs that have already run 15 miles!
Once at the top we got our speed back up and enjoyed an undulating run through the top of the forest and through the eerie mist that was lingering around the trees. With the light dimming it looked pretty spectacular, but of course the light dimming could only mean one thing. The rain was on its way. Just as we came to the end of the forest trail we took the educated decision to get our jackets on, really just in time for the heavy, heavy rain to begin. This picture was taken just at the end of the forest and I think just before the photographer had to give up to protect his camera from drowning!
Favourite picture of me running to date. Cold, wet, tired and sore… but ready to take on the next section!
We came back out the forest and decided to stop properly at the check point to refill our bottles, get fluids in and try to eat something substantial. The rain had really come on hard and we were already starting to feel the cold, which really wasn’t great with so many miles still to cover. After a few minutes we were kindly prompted to get moving, so with crisps in hand and jackets zipped right up, we were off on the return section of our adventure.
The return leg down the Glen was when the rain really came on heavy. Luckily once we were over the viaduct we were protected slightly from the wind by trees, but nothing could stop the driving rain. My gloves were soaked through and my jacket was sticking to my skin. My buff was stuck to my head and my thighs and bum were numb with the cold. My trainers squelched and my eyes stung with the rain, but still we battled on along the track, agreeing we would walk the hills and save something for the last loop around Balquhidder, remembering how tough and hilly it had been a few weeks ago when it had been dry. If I hadn’t been so cold and wet, I would have loved this part of the race as here I was, 22 miles in and still running strong after all those hills. Something I couldn’t have even imagined doing not even a year ago! We knew the next and final check point wasn’t far ahead and the thought of a couple of jaffa cakes and some powerade pushed me on down the soggy, waterlogged path.
Once again the check points were manned by lovely, upbeat people who were standing in the pouring rain getting soaked, just to help us out and cheer us on. I found my bag and hoovered up a couple of jaffa cakes and the remains of a bag of hula hoops, washed down with half a bottle of undiluted powerade (which is what I had been running with in my camelbak – I still to this day have to find an electrolyte drink that doesn’t make me feel sick after 10 or so miles!) and then with the words “it’s only 5 and a half miles to go!” ringing in my ears, we were off on the final leg. This is where I really struggled and I was very, very glad I had my team mate Kirsty with me. I got so cold my top lip was that numb I felt like I’d been at the dentist! My legs wanted me to stop, my hands were stinging with cold as my Raynaud’s kicked in and I could have cried had my face not been so numb, but Kirsty kept me upbeat, reminding me we could see the finish in the distance and that we’d run it before so knew what to expect. We powered through puddles as there was no other way round and also we physically couldn’t get any wetter, and got our speed back up a little as the road evened out for a short while. The last mile or so is again nearly all up hill, so we walked while trying to keep warm and our spirits up, saving our legs for the last half a mile or so and of course the shoogly bridge. When we came back into the village and saw the sign pointing to the bridge we suddenly gained speed from an unknown place and galloped across the bridge to the finish line together. Totally soaked, physically shaking so hard from the cold and partially numb, it took me a good while to realise we’d finished! I had just run an Ultra marathon!
Goody bag in hand I was carefully pushed in the direction of a gazebo where they were making cups of tea and coffee. I have never drank black tea in my life, but it was the tastiest most delicious drink I have ever had and was that appreciated I just couldn’t stop grinning at the poor confused lady who had made it for me, as I just held it and sheltered from the rain.
It had taken me slightly longer than I had originally planned but taking the weather into consideration, I physically could not have done any more or gone any faster. I think a lot of people struggled due to the weather and the last few miles on tarmac, and it’s not an easy wee course! After I had inhaled up my tea I made my way back to Kirsty’s car to find my dry clothes and sit down and try and stop shivering. Craig called and said he was just coming over the road and I just couldn’t wait to see him for a big hug. He arrived with a flask of coffee in hand – my saviour, and we staggered over to the cafe to try and get some warm soup inside me. My stomach didn’t quite know what it wanted, but anything warm was being appreciated as I sat holding my bowl of soup for a good while before starting to eat it!
In the goody bag was a spectacular medal and a bottle of beer which has some of last years Glen Ogle finishers on the label. What a great idea! I don’t drink beer, but I’ll just have it as a keep sake.
A huge thanks goes to all to all involved in the running and organising of the Glen Ogle 33m Ultra Marathon. I’ll definitely be back next year. With a new jacket.
And now what’s next for me? Marathon – tick, 33m Ultra Marathon – tick. I know I have more to give and can go further and be stronger. Next year is a whole new challenge.
The very end. Soaked through to the bone, but still found a smile….Brew dog beer in an awesome bottle.
Medal : No, but another technical tshirt. Same design as last year but different colours.
The Neil McCover Memorial half marathon is one of my favourite races and routes for a number of reasons. Firstly, it’s right next to the village I grew up in, so it has a certain nostalgic element. It’s also a rather small event so I always feel more pressure on myself to do my best and try not to come last! And it’s also one of our club GP races, which means more points!! I’m not in the running for a prize this year, but next year… well, we’ll see!
The event unfortunately clashed with the Great Scottish run, so for a race that is already quite small this had quite a big impact on numbers. Not that it bothered any of us. We’d all much prefer to be running round the beautiful countryside compared to through the centre of Glasgow with thousands of others! And this route was challenging to say the least so I knew I’d really have to push myself to get round comfortably – it was exactly one week after the Loch Ness Marathon and my legs still hadn’t fully forgiven me. Taking this factor into consideration, along with the fact the course was quite undulating I decided to go out steady and hopefully return somewhere in the next 3 hours!! My only aim was to try for a course PB as I had run this race the previous year and it had been my first half marathon in over a year, so marathon pain and fatigue were put to one side and my one goal for this race had been set.
Race morning came and the weather looked promising. Slightly drizzly but not windy so by my standards, pretty much perfect. I dropped Craig off at work and made my way down to Kirkintilloch to check in for the race. I think I was one of the first to arrive as the helpers were still setting up their table and trying to separate safety pins. I collected my number and pins and looked around for my timing chip (which we had been issued with the previous year) but couldn’t see any. I assume that because race numbers were so low this year they decided just to go with gun time. My team mates started to arrive and when they time came, we braved the cold and left our layers behind to head over to the starting line.
Looking lost on our way to the start line. It was early! Photo – Susan Furmage
The race is in memory of Neil McCover who was a member and chairman of the Kirkintilloch Olympians, and is now in its 3rd year. It starts in the town of Kirkintilloch, follows the main road out to the East side of the town before heading into the hills, taking in the villages of Milton of Campsie, Lennoxtown, Torrance and Lenzie on its way back into Kirkintilloch again. We all congregated at the start line/area and a few words were had about the race and how it was a shame numbers were down this year. At least the race got to go ahead though as a few other small events around the country had unfortunately been cancelled through low interest. Such a shame when the giant corporate events take over. I’d much rather run a smaller, local, cheaper race any day! After posing for a few more photos, someone shouted 3-2-1… and we were off!
I think the WCH made up about 1/8 of the race numbers. Go us! Photo – Susan Furmage
The route is undulating throughout and my splits for the first few miles were as follows:
Mile 1 – 7:25
Mile 2 – 8:04
Mile 3 – 8:03
Mile 4 – 8:31
The roads out from Kirkintilloch take you up towards the Campsie hills and it is just stunning. My parents live just a bit further along the Campsies, so I told them I’d probably be passing through the nearest village to them at about 10am. I got the mile markers wrong in my head so actually passed through just before quarter to and unfortunately they weren’t there. Never mind, the marshals and local support the whole way around was fantastic! Even though we were well and truly into the hills I still felt pretty good. I kept reminding myself there was a nasty hill near 9 miles, so I had to keep something in the tank for then. I also kept thinking back to how I felt at this stage in the course last time round. What a difference a year makes, not just to fitness but also to my mental state of running. Last year I’d see a hill and convince myself there would be no way on earth I’d be able to run the whole thing, so I’d walk most of it instead. This year, even though my whole body was still drained from the week before, I wouldn’t let myself slow to a walk at all.
I was keeping a steady and comfortable race after setting off a bit too fast. I always seem to start way too quickly as I get swept along with the crowds and I need to learn to hold back for the first few miles. I knew from last year that this was a fast race for some, but I wasn’t letting that bother me or thinking that I’d have to keep up with anyone. This was just a race for myself and my enjoyment!
At 7 miles my mp3 player ran out of batteries. I knew I should have charged it the day before but I stupidly thought it’d have enough life left in it to last a couple of hours. From now until the finish line it was just my breathing and the sound of my feet hitting the tarmac that would get me round. That and the person who was running right behind me – I was determined not to let them overtake me!
As you reach the top of the hill, the road is long and flat and you have to cross over to the other side, but unfortunately it’s still open to traffic and quite busy. I kept looking back over my shoulder to try and see if it was clear, but it never was when I wanted to cross. I eventually had to slow down and cross in stages which made it hard to get going again. However, as I got to the end of the road and rounded the corner I almost ran straight into my parents who had driven up the road to try and find me at another point in the race. It was lovely to see them, even if for a split second and it made the next mile or so fly by. For some reason, I remember the road through Lenzie back into Kirkintilloch as flat and downhill. I used to run it all the time for school cross country and I do not remember it being so hilly in the middle! I struggled a lot at this point. I also nearly ran straight through and old woman as she walked right out in front of me at a bus stop and stopped in the middle of the pavement. I had the options of face planting into a bus stop, her or the back of the car she was walking over to. My arm caught the bus stop as I dodged round her at great speed and at this point I could have cried. I have no idea where the last of my energy had gone and I just wanted the race to be over. I came over the top of the last hill and caught sight of my coach Gordon who had sped round the race and got a P.B of 1:27 and was now coming back to cheer the rest of us in. All I could give back as he cheered me on was a feeble thumbs up and I trundled down the hill to the finish line.
Nearly……there….
I finished in a time of 1:50:36 which is just over 2 minutes outside my personal best and considering how tired I was and how hilly the course is, I’m pretty happy. I received my goody bag, which had a spot prize in it – a lovely aluminium drinking bottle. 2nd spot prize in 2 years. Not too shabby!
And now on to the Ultra. Which is in less than 3 weeks by the way……. :-/
A little delayed in writing this, but there has been a little bit of laptop hogging in the Mackay household of late… but here we go.
A week (and another half marathon!) later, I am still on a post marathon high. Mainly because a few years ago, after I completed my first half marathon, my knees were in so much pain I vowed I would never run anything more than a 10k again as I just wasn’t built to run. Well I guess something eventually clicked and I realised that with a little more effort, maybe I could run distances. And here I am, 6 half marathons and a few too many 10k’s later… and I have comfortably (I use the term VERY loosely!) completed a marathon.
Since I joined The Wee County Harriers, my training has really stepped up a gear. Long weekend runs used to be a tedious affair, on my own with my music. But since I joined the club, I get to talk nonsense at weekends and the miles fly by. What a difference it makes, and what a lovely bunch they are…. One Sunday morning, far too early, very tired, but this crazy lot help me through it every week 🙂
Anyway, I digress. Last Saturday we set off for Inverness mid afternoon, got to our B&B, checked in and then headed over to pick up our race numbers for the big event the next day. At this point the reality of it still hadn’t set in. I was about to push my body to do the biggest racing event of my life so far, I was going to have to run for hours and hours and hours, and here I was skipping about Bught Park not giving it a second thought.
And then we went out for dinner and almost every single pasta/carb based restaurant in Inverness was stowed out with runners, chatting about the upcoming event in the morning, and how they got on last year, and how the course was really hilly and THAT hill at 18 miles…
And that’s when it finally kicked in that I was about to run a marathon. Something I had laughed at the thought of a few years earlier and something I swore I would never do. Oh well, here goes nothing!
All checked in and ready to go, secretly wishing Nessie would emerge and tow me to the finish line!
After dinner we headed back to our B&B and I got all my kit ready for the next day, pinned on my race number and made sure I had everything I needed in my race belt. I’d had a look at the weather and thought although it looked dry I didn’t trust it, so decided to wear two vests – one as a base layer and also to stop my race belt chaffing, and then my club vest on top. My body was physically shattered, but I just couldnt switch my brain off and I was over thinking everything. As Craig dozed off into a relaxed slumber, I lay staring at the ceiling of our tiny B&B room and tried to fall asleep watching the T.V. I think I got a bit of sleep between 11pm and 1am and then from there until 5.30am it was a case of dozing for a bit on and off until I snapped fully awake, gave up and got out of bed just before my alarm. I was up way before the B&B started serving breakfast, but the land lady had said the previous day she would leave out cereal and fruit for us. I wasn’t sure at what point the milk had been left out, but the thought of room temperature milk did nothing for my already depleted appetite, so luckily I had brought along my own porridge pots and some flapjacks which I had along with a couple of coffees. By 6.45am I was ready to go, so I got my stuff together, put on my throw away top which I had bought the previous day and headed down to the buses to meet up with the rest of the crew.
The sun was just coming up as I walked over to the park and the roads were empty and quiet apart from a steady stream of runners, appearing from hotels all the way along the river. Jemma was already at the park and I met up with my brother in law Stuart (who was also running his first marathon), had a quick dash to the loos and made our way to one of the many coaches which would be our mode of transport down to the bottom of Loch Ness to our race start destination. The coaches starting moving bang on 7.15am, so we eventually found our way to a double decker and within a few minutes we were off! This was it, no other way back now!
The majority of the journey flew by, but once I realised how far we were actually going, nerves set in again and I was suddenly desperate for the loo. Unfortunately the last part of the bus journey is all up hill and the coaches slowed down to a crawl at this point. Getting to our destination was a very welcome sight!
Pre race. Nervous about what I am about to ask my body to do, but excited all the same!
The queues for the toilets were ridiculous. The queue was coming from both directions and people were skipping it all over the place. I guess there’s only so much you can do for 3000+ people who all the need the loo at the same time though! The countdown had now begun and we decided there was nothing left to do, no more we could do, but head to the start line and await our fate. This was finally it. What I had thought I would never manage. I saw a few club members, wished them luck and then bang on 10am we were off.
The first 5 miles or so were on a lovely down hill slope and very overcrowded. This caused me to go way too fast and I probably should have held back a bit for later in the race, but I just couldn’t stop my legs. A mixture of adrenaline and just getting swept along with the crowd made my first 5 mile splits all under 9 minutes. And then came the first wee climb…
The course elevation. Didn’t realise how high we had started until I looked at this!
That hill came out of nowhere and was steep! I pushed right to the top and then enjoyed the next few miles of gentle ups and downs and felt positive and strong as I fuelled myself with powerade and shot blocks. One of the things I really loved about this event was the amount of support. Not just from people standing along side the roads and through villages, but the runners themselves. Random people passed me and cheered me on, giving me a little boost every now and again and it was just fab!
Still running steady!
I felt great until about 16.5 miles (I think) coming into Dores. I took a bottle of water and realised it didn’t have a lid, so I walked to take a proper drink and then just couldn’t seem to get my speed back up. I knew the hill was coming up soon so I tried to push on a bit further, but something in my leg started to ache. I tried to ignore it and got chatting to a lady as we started the plod up the hill, but it just kept burning away. I decided not to push it with so far still to go and walk the hill thinking the downhill section at the other side would help the pain. But no, it hurt even more. So from there I saw my 4 hour goal time slip slowly out of sight (up til now I had been on course for a comfortable sub 4 time, but this hill had seen an end to that!). I hobbled on, half running-half walking and then was caught up by two runners from my club, Susan and Catriona. Susan was running really well and as she passed me she said Catriona wasn’t far behind. I ran with Catriona for a bit, hoping the pain would subside and I could get my focus back, but it was useless. I had to drop back to a hobble again and let them slip out of my sight over the hills. This stupid pain was not going to end my race though, I had worked too hard and for too long to give in. So after forcing down another gel and some water I pushed on for the final undulating stretch of the race. Sub 4:30 was still in sight and that was what I was aiming for – nothing left to do but move these legs for the final 5 miles.
Coming back into Inverness the crowds started to grow and grow. This was just awesome. Big groups of charity supporters were standing either side of the road with foam hands and plastic horns and they were cheering everyone on. It was just fantastic! I pushed on and on and suddenly a lady passed me who I had seen much earlier in the race. We had been playing a game of cat and mouse for 4 or 5 miles and eventually she got away from me in Dores, and she said “come on Wee County, not far to go!”. How lovely. That really helped at this stage and I knew I would be able to run the final few miles, no matter how much my body wanted to shut down. Coming down along beside the river, you can see and hear the finish line on the other side. I was tempted to jump in and swim across, but I knew that wasn’t an option so I kept plodding round only to spot Karen and Claire from the club who had earlier completed the 10k. Their cheers and support definitely helped in that last mile and a bit and before I knew it, I was on the other side of the river looking back at the other runners making their way around and probably thinking my exact thought not 10 minutes previous. I could see the finish line and hear all the names being shouted out as the crossed it and from somewhere, I have no idea where yet, managed a proper run once again. I spotted Catriona walking just before the park, hung back for her and together we managed not only a sprint finish, but a SMILING sprint finish!!
Where’d that smile come from?
And that was it. I had completed my first marathon! I felt a rush of pride, excitement and possibly slight nausea as I collected my beautiful medal and goodies, including Baxters soup (of course!), an awesome race t-shirt and lots of food!
It wasn’t quite the time I’d had in mind, but for my first marathon I was elated. I’d finished it smiling and that was enough for me! After a good stretch and some fluids, we were back in the car on our way home, sleepy, happy and a marathon runner.
And now for the Ultra…..
I even made Women’s Running magazine with my thumbs up pose en route. Famous!!
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