Tag: Ultra running

New year, new you? Nah, more of the same please :)

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New year always seems to be about change. Whether is be changing yourself or changing things in your life, people always seem to use the new year to kick start these new habits. My New Year isn’t going to be so much about change, but more about focus. I had an amazing year last year; I got to go on adventures to places I’d never even heard of, I got to run some amazing races and go on plenty of wonderful training days out with awesome like minded people and I got to spend time with my loved ones, but I also wasted a lot of time. Be it through watching rubbish TV, looking at my phone at nothing in particular for too long (where does time actually go when you do that?!), or going to bed too late and feeling rubbish in the morning so not getting up early enough to do all the amazing thing I had planned…THAT is my weakness, and that’s why I need more focus. I am working on becoming qualified as a personal trainer and I have a lot of work to do in the build up to it, especially since it has been quite a while since I sat down with my books and highlighters. Social media, smart phones and wifi didn’t exist when I was at University, so switching my focus brain back on will be hard!!

It’s been a while since I last posted and I think I’m about 3 race reports behind, but I can recap that in the annual year round up below… 🙂
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RACE REPORT – The Cateran 55 Ultra marathon

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CATERAN 55 ULTRA MARATHON 2017

TIME:10 Hours 34 Minutes and 4 Seconds

OVERALL :27th/92 finishers (8 DNF)

GENDER: 4th/26 females

My first attempt at the Cateran in 2015 was the first time I’d ran further than 33 miles. I was nervous and probably a little under trained having just come back from injury but I had a great day out and finished in a not too shabby 11 hours 30 minutes. Heading up this year I had an idea of what time I wanted and sourced some splits from check point to check point from previous races. I noted these down with the plan to jot them on my hand the following morning as a rough guide.

After work on Friday I headed home, finished my packing and headed through to Stirling to pick up Lois who was marshalling and then head North to Glenshee. Once again I was staying in the Gulabin Lodge which is right on the start line and meant not too much stressing about time and getting things done before the race. Once we arrived I went about registering, picking up my lovely kit bag memento (an awesome light blue colour this year), saying hi to all my friends and finding my room. I was staying in a room with the lovely Stonehaven ladies: Claire, Jo and Lindsay and being the last to arrive was up on the top bunk of a seriously shoogly bed. Every time I moved the whole bed shook, so apologies to Jo if you felt like there was an earthquake during the night!!
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2016 – A year of adventure, thousands of miles and a million more smiles.

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I can’t actually believe I’m sitting writing yet another yearly review. They say that time goes by more quickly as you get older, and I don’t exactly class myself as old yet but that year seriously flew by and yet I managed to fit so much in. As has become customary, here’s a wee look back at another fantastic year.

JANUARY

The year started with the annual plod up the Ochil hills with some running club buddies on the 2nd of January. It was cold and misty but as an annual tradition to kick start the year, we braved the elements and had a great day out.


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Glen Ogle 33 2016 – RACE REPORT

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GLEN OGLE 33M ULTRA MARATHON 2016

TIME: 4 Hours 54 Minutes and 39 Seconds

Overall position 56th/349 finishers

11th/154 females

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Glen Ogle round 4. My last ultra/race of 2016 and a bee in my bonnet to finally push under 5 hours was the motivation I needed to get me round this race. I’d been ready for weeks, had felt good and confident when training and was ready for it until an almost race ending act of carelessness the weekend before race day. A round of Footgolf at Palacerigg with my friends had been a great experience, but as I’m the worst footballer in the world, 18 holes of toe punting the ball around lead to a ridiculously sore vastus medialis and lots of hobbling around in the lead up to race day. Not ideal, but I’m stubborn if not determined and nothing would see me pulling out of this race (within reason of course!).
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RACE REPORT – The Devil O’ The Highlands Ultra Marathon 2016

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The Devil O’The Highlands Footrace 2016

TIME: 7 Hours 47 Minutes and 10 Seconds

OVERALL : 55th/256 finishers (5 DNF)

GENDER: 9th/72 females

CATEGORY: 6th/29 senior females

It’s 2:45am on Saturday morning and my alarm is screeching at me. Already the dog is awake and has her nose up on the bed: clearly she thinks it’s time to get up and that of course means breakfast! I shoo her away and go back to sleep for a further 15 minutes.

The start. Photo - Kirsten Cowling
The start. Photo – Kirsten Cowling

3am – My second alarm bursts into life and I dragged myself out of bed to get ready. I can’t even open my eyes but I somehow manage to get all my kit on in the right order, tie my hair back tightly and finish packing my bags before force feeding myself porridge and coffee. The coffee does the trick and before I know it I’m ready to hit the road North and back to my favourite running spot of the year; the wonderful West Highland Way.
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