Highland Fling 2012

28th April 2012
Milngavie to Tyndrum
53 miles
Not flat.

So that I write a blog on last Saturday's race, I'll going to aim for a bullet-pointed summary. For the last couple of years I've done EPIC blogs on this race, so don't want to just repeat that. I'll try to just capture the key points of the race and a few reflections. It'll probably still go on a bit. Hope you're ok with that.

With a race as big as this, there are so, so many variables that play a part in how the day goes. Weather, kit, support, training (now that's a big part), injury, luck (don't underestimate that one), psychology, nutrition, and more. So many of these came good on the day. I feel that I've had my cake and eaten it, with extra icing too. 16th place and 5th MV40, in a field that was so strong is a pretty good day at the office.

It's called the Highland Fling

Here's what I'd sent to my support crew (Marino and Julian) before the race in terms of targets for the day:

1. Don't get injured
2. Enjoy the experience (my version of 'enjoy' is not the same as most peoples, please note)
3. Finish the race
Then the goals are about time. I'll be upset if I'm not quicker than last year - races in the past 12 months have all been positive and I'm in good shape as well as having a lot of confidence this year. At the same time, I have the experience to be patient and not do anything silly in the first half of the race (I keep telling myself this!) So the time goals are:
1. To get a PB - 9.23 will do just fine
2. Get a good PB - 9.10
3. Beat nine hours

To cut to the chase, I hit every target that I had, not only getting a 31 minute PB from last year, but breaking the nine hours target that I had lined up. In fact the splits I had pencilled in were pretty close to how things went (all rounded to the nearest minute, since no-one should care about a few seconds here or there in a race like this):

Time of day/where/target/range/ ACTUAL TIME
7.00am Race starts, Milgavnie
8.05am Drymen 1:35 (1:33 - 1:37) [ACTUAL=1:33]
9.40am Balmaha 2:40
10:55am Rowardennan 3:55 (3:50 - 4:00) [ACTUAL = 3:51]
1.30pm BeinGlas 6:30 (6:20 - 6:40) [ACTUAL = 6:35]
2.25pm Carmyle Cottage 7:25 (?)
3.10pm A82 crossing 8:10
3.25pm Auchtertyre 8:25
3.50pm Finish 8:50 (8:45 - 8:59) [ACTUAL = 8:53]

I don't have the times for the intermediate points, since I had other things going on in my head. But the targets were pretty much spot on, give or take a few minutes, so that's a major plus.

RACE PREPARATION


So here's how serious runners get ready for this sort of thing. First week in April - skiing in the Alps (6/7 hours a day), good training for the quads. Didn't take my running shorts since I reckoned this would quite tiring enough. Ended up running early on 6 of the days (in linen tourist shorts) - what is it they say about obsession/dedication. Week two - ill. 7 days of no running. Some viral vomiting things, much rest. Week three - eased back into it with a 22 mile run (12 flat, 10 hill run) a couple of weeks ago. That was fine so squeezed another 5 hill runs plus a trail run into that week just to make sure. Week four - taper, so just 10 miles last Tuesday. Ate lots of carbs during the week; have no idea if it helps, but any excuse...

SUMMARY


Missed the start of the race. Never done that before. Was all set to line up at the front and ended up getting caught out by the race starting a minute after race-briefing ended. I was still in the carpark speaking to Marino and I noticed a small cheer and that everyone in the underpass was moving forwards. Oops. Based on my watch time afterwards, that took six seconds but I was at the back of the field.

Dodge through the underpass, up the muddy slope to the right of all the runners (all walking up the steps since it was so crowded) and cut to the right through Milngavie precinct. By the time we'd cut to the right and across that random car-park, I was almost at the front, and was soon running in a group of four, with just one figure speeding off ahead. Please note, this is not a wise way to start a 53 mile race.

Chatted to Gerry in the group of four, asked who was up ahead - it was Thomas, who had been meant to have an 8am championship start (he's running for Scotland in the Celtic plate in the summer). So I sped up a bit (and only Gerry came with me) and closed the gap. At the first incline I caught up with Thomas and ran with him for much of the next 10 miles. I told him at one point that I was just a fun runner and that I was NOT racing him (his PB was just over 8 hours, so a different league from what I was aiming for). Right enough he soon sped off after Drymen (for 8:02!) and I ran at my own pace.

We ended up as group of four through the endless gates (actually there are 20 - I counted them back in January) and I had a good chat with Mark Caldwell who hard flown down the Dumgoyne slope earlier; great to catch up with him and congratulate him on his third place in the Spine Race (an epic multi-day but continuous race along the Penine Way back in January - i.e. six back-to-back Flings!)

Drymen in 1:33 was ok, the key thing was that I ran with no concious effort. Was it too fast? Time would tell (and another twenty miles). A quick change of bottle and on up the hill, now on my own but soon caught up with Mark after crossing the road in the Garabhan forest (ex-forest these days) - he seemed to be working a bit too hard. Loved this section since I kept passing other runners (chatting, the odd hug) - lots of amazing people that I'd have loved to spend more time with if I'd not been in a bit of a hurry.

I'm sure I pushed too hard up Conic Hill. I ran it all, except for the very steep bit at the top where it switchbacks. I was still trying not to push too hard, but I should have put on the sensible head, lost a couple of minutes and had a couple of walk breaks. I'm sure I paid for this later. Loved the descent and zipping through the Balmaha checkpoint and crowds was one of the race highlights for me (6:30 min/mile pace across the car-park - it just happened...)

Sallochy Bay.

Julian, who had come along to see a bit of Scotland and join in the adventure for the day then ran with me for the next mile (since he could then jump in the car at Millorchy) and Marco came zipping past - he was supporting Thomas that day. I told him that he'd have to race fast to catch up since Thomas was flying, so he sped up the hill at the edge of Balmaha. Boy, does the next section undulate a bit. Passed Sandra on the beach (quick hug, but she wasn't having a great day of it) and then kept on bouncing along. Ate a rice pudding just before Rowardenan and complained that none of the hills were long or steep enough for that - there's no pleasing some. Marathon distance came and went in 3:42.

Ignored the marshals' instructions at Rowardenan since I needed a good sit down. Luckily the cubicle was free and that's enough details for that - two minutes lost and had to detour round the new fence at the end of the car-park to hit the chip timing mat for 3:51.

Still felt good and ran up both of the two big hills on the way to Inversnaid. Should have walked some of that, since soon after 30 miles I felt very nauseous - and genuinely thought I might throw up for qite a while. For the first time of the day, the little voice in my head was saying that I could walk some of the uphill sections and my legs went and colluded with that idea.

Spot the path - it's there somewhere

Comparing my splits to last year, every mile was quicker (until miles 39 to 41, and the last six miles of the race) so it wasn;t that bad and I tried to convince myself it was just the switch to fat-burning. In the past I've had the ketonic (pear drops) taste/smell as *bad stuff* happens to the body and it starts to consume itself (hell, that sounds so scary!) but never had that today.

George Cairns passed me along here (the only MV40 to do so all day). He has a reputation for perfect pacing and his slightly slower start (he was 3:53 at Rowardenan and probably hadn't done anything stupid during the first mile) must have helped him. Actually, he's just a phenomenal runner and his pace is inspirational. He finished in 10th place in 8:27, with a two hour split for the final section. Hmm, I want to be able to do that!

I actually stopped at Inversnaid. For fully a minute or a little more. I'd struggled with the steps going up just before there (had to walk them for goodness' sake) and when the lovely marshals offered a cup of water I just crumbled and said yes please. Also knocked back most of a bottle of flat coke before asking if they could fill the empty bottle with water and then headed off... walking. Oh, the shame of it - it was slightly downhill too. It was only when I got across the crazing weird paving beyond the carpark that I managed a good HTFU and started running again. Pain is only weakness leaving the body and all that.

That special place

Runing was now trotting and walking to the crazy rock steps that plummet down above Rob Roy's cave. Reader, please note that this is an unwise place to read texts on your phone on a sunny day. I'd had the camera out to take a picture of the two runners ahead and noticed there was a text or two. Good luck from the in-laws (watch your footing, idiot! Don't trip), which was nice, then another from the support crew (*look* at where your feet are going!). Just a wee note about the car, and something abolut writing a joke.

The path flattened out at the bottom and it's slightly easier running (only slightly, most would still refer to it as a complete nightmare). Time to try to read the text again, my brain is starting to think something is amiss. I quote, "Andy I've smashed the car. Total write off. Noone hurt but no joke either. I'm really soory mate. We are just past glen douglas"

Oops

That's exactly what I sent back, since it's easy to text (6677) and I could do it without looking at the phone. Holy shit! And where is glen douglas? I still have no idea. But I've got lots of supplies (I always put too much in the Inversnaid drop-bag because it's such a remote spot) and have some High5 Zero tablets so can add that to water from the BG checkpoint to see me home. No-one hurt, thank goodness for that.

I eventually overtook the runners in front, but my splits were fairly similar to last year for this section, as I now paid for pushing the pace earlier on. I love the last mile before Bein Glas Farm which is very runnable in comparison to what has gone before. I also had another text to say that Julian had got a lift with another support crew and would meet me there. Emotional blancmange time now - I was thinking about not having any kit at the finish line and wondered how to get home afterwards and hoped that Julian would be ok for adding 12 miles of steep running to his day.

(Photo: Keith Hughes - he started *really* early)

Straight through BG Farm and tried to run as much of the final section as possible. Got passed by two relay teams and the four leading men in this section. Ran for a bit with Scott Bradley before my legs said no, but that was just for a wee chat. Tried to run the uphills as much as possible, but had to speed walk the steeper ones. And there were plenty of these.

Highland cows, cow-poop alley, the big gate, three more climbs and then the roller-coaster in the woods. But what goes up must come down and I could run the downhills pretty fast still, so that was great. Actually, I ended up dropping Julian (sorry, mate!) since he'd run 8 miles earlier in the day and hadn't been expecting add another 12 later on. But Marino appeared just before the A82 road-crossing and that was great - he'd hitched a lift (with three big bags) from a passing car along the west side of Loch Lomond. I asked him to tell me all about the smash to give me something to listen to.

Final 12 miles ened up just under 2:18, so over a minute quicker than last year, although I was struggling to keep it to 10 min/miles at the end. But the sub-nine hour target became more and more secure with every footstep and it was soon a case of telling myself that every second counted for a good 8:xx time. I'm pleased I kept pushing, since there was no-one just in front of me in the final results (6 minutes up to Grantmac - great run there mate!) and I ended up just 14 seconds in front of the next runner (8am start) so I'm lucky that I could keep on going.

Once the final half mile is hit and the flatter trail is below your feet, you know that the job is just about done and it's time to enjoy it. George and Karen were just before the piper, great to see them and then it was time to soak it all up for the final sprint. And sprint I did. At least it felt pretty much flat out. No-one has a video of it anyway to show me how it really looked, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Hung around at the finish for a while, enjoying the beer and swapping stories. Had a shower and then a brilliant massage. And found I could run again after that, which is a bit cheeky. Double cheeseburger, more beer and chips in the Real Food Cafe was followed with getting cold at the finish line waiting for the presentation. And asking for lift home, which eventually saw us hitching a ride back (thanks Mel!)

Would I do it all again? Of course! Would I go a *wee* bit slower at the start? Just a little bit. And I'll give that theory a go in a couple of weeks, when it's Cateran 55 weekend. Looking forward to that one.

A Run in with the Devil 2011

I ran 43 miles yesterday, and broke most of the rules about doing that sort of daft thing. I went off much too fast, I ran up every hill I could, and when I did walk, it was fast, with bits of running every now and then. I didn’t stop at all, even at the checkpoints. I didn’t even put sun-cream on (and boy do I burn well) so when the heat-wave sunshine hit after four hours, I cooked nicely.

But I did have the best run of my life, no question about that. They say you’ve got to be in it to win it, and although it’s not really sunk in, the trophy for “third Male” sitting in front of me on the table looks real, although I have to keep checking in case it’s not actually there and it was all a dream. This is something I’ve never experienced before – I’m no athlete, just a big bloke that likes to run. I have no regular training plan – four small children at home and a busy job see to that, so I just run on opportunity, any spare hour during the week gets filled with a run, and if things are too busy I just have a quiet week. I don’t have a huge base mileage that ultra runners are meant to have. So I’m not sure how all this has happened.

It’s starting to sink in, slowly. I just listened to this - (go on, it’ll be good background music as you read the rest of this, even if you think it's a bit cheesy) – and the whole enormity of yesterday came flooding home in a wave of emotion (I think there must be something in my eye) and these lines just hit the spot:

“So I step out of the ordinary,
I can feel my soul ascending,
I’m on my way – can’t stop me now,
And you can do the same”

That means something today that it didn’t yesterday. Running 43 miles through big mountains isn’t *ordinary* and it’s an experience that I genuinely struggle to put into words. That positive vibe of the day will stay with me forever – so many wonderful people to share the whole experience – far more than the hurty bits during the last couple of hours.

Here’s an odd thing – the race went by so quickly for me. Breaking it (mentally) down into several short sections maybe helped (Tyndrum – Bridge of Orchy – Inveroran Hotel – Glencoe – Devil’s Staircase – Kinlochleven – Lundavra – Fort William) but I’d only based my plan around split times for the three checkpoints, and knew my support crew would fill in the gaps if I was faster or slower. Actually, I couldn’t find that bit of paper at 5am before the race so ended up giving them last year’s times instead...


The first 29 miles were great. I relaxed, didn’t push too hard (so why is my third mile split 6:35?), settled into 7th/8th place and tortured myself with thoughts of a large number of excellent runners just behind me, who would chase me down and head off into the distance if I slowed down at any stage. After Glencoe, Gerry who’d been good company over Rannoch Moor, disappeared – I think he stopped for a couple of minutes at the checkpoint, and Ian in front seemed to be coming back towards me . Before the devil’s Staircase I caught up with him and we ran together a bit but I was soon pulling away and after giving a couple of gates a good push so that he could get through too, I let the third one close since the gap had opened up. Hmm, sixth place and no-one in sight behind.


The Devil’s staircase starts halfway into the race at 21 miles – in my head this was the end of the warm-up and the start of the race proper. I could see the amazing Lucy Colquhon high up ahead several switchback up and she had passed one of the leading group of four. A quick time check and he was only a couple of minutes ahead. I walked for the first time during the race, and ran whenever I could, and was pleased that my two mile splits that covered the lower and upper parts of the climb were 12 and 14 minutes respectively (although latter includes a sharp downhill afterwards).

The gap closed to 90s, then 70s, then 40s and I just concentrated on running over the very rough trail after kicking a stone. The descent to Kinlochleven was great and I was soon chatting to Craig Cunningham who was great company for a couple of miles – he’s an outstanding athlete but wasn’t quite 100% today after his 10th place finish in the recent West Highland Way Race. He said that he was hoping for a top ten place today and knew he’d be slowing (I never quite believe people when they say this, but he was right and finished 13 minutes behind me to take the 1st Male vet trophy).

Kinlochleven soon came and went (3:52 was ahead of my best estimate of four hours), with a no-stop strategy again. I grabbed a couple of bottles (water and coke this time), a couple more gels and a banana to eat on the next climb (1000ft in a mile). Jules told me that Paul Hart had dropped out from the leading group so I was now in fourth place – and third male. Hadn’t seen that one coming.

Cue heat-wave conditions for the rest of the race (and this is Scotland!) I think I’d forgotten how rough and uphill the next five miles were. The Lairig Mor path stretches out ahead of you, gradually climbing for mile after mile, with extra ‘undulations’ all the time. I re-filled my water-bottle a few times from streams and drank lots and poured plenty of water over my head. I felt that I was crawling along and wondered what all the walkers on the path would make of my laboured running. That might sound odd considering where I was in the race, but this was a real low point in my race. After cruising along to this point the abruptness of the change in effort was enormous.

My head started fighting my body and encouraging it to walk on easy ascents, and when I did run, it was a slow trot instead. Dark times under blazing skies.

There are a couple of downhill miles before Lundavra, but the trail is very rocky for these so the pace is again hit hard for this section. My early pace was now being paid for and I was only a couple of minutes faster than last year for this section, and wondering if I was going to fade and be enveloped by the chasing pack.

The climb out of Lundavra was tough, but little goals like ‘run to the next corner then walk’ helped get me through here. As did the big goal of a podium finish. After this things improved a bit and seeing Karen and Helen (who were running the route in the opposite direction as UTMB training) was a massive lift. The two miles to the edge of the forest soon passed, I promptly took a flier after kicking a rock here, but managed to land ok on my knee and side. After a good shout at myself I headed off and quite enjoyed the next couple of miles through the woods, which are now less spooky since half of the trees have been cut down. I must confess to spending a lot of time looking back down the trail during the final climb out of the woods, even more than Andy Schleck in the Tour de France. Not sure that I could have worked any harder if someone had appeared out of the woods behind me, but I wanted to know if anyone was there.

The last three miles were great, with some very runnable downhill sections on good trail and Ben Nevis looming above to the right. Relax, concentrate on good running form, don’t trip up, hit 7 min-miles on the downhill sections – just what I’d dreamt of for this section. The flat trail to the Braveheart car-park went on longer than I’d remembered, but I knew that it was less than a mile to the end from here and I almost stopped worrying about losing my lifetime chance to get a podium spot.

The final five minutes along the road was still hard (as it maybe should be after 41+ miles) but being so close to the finish this hardly mattered. My legs still worked and I could run to the finish with a big smile on my face. Result: 6:21:22, which was quicker than even my most ambitious dream target.

As for the question of ‘what next?’ the simple answer is that I’m just going to enjoy the moment and not worry about that sort of thing. Not yet anyway.



Dave Morrow took this amazing picture, which deserves a full page spread in runners world, it brilliantly captures a bit of the *why* that makes us do these crazy races. Thanks Dave.

My biggest thanks of all has to be to the three amigos, Steve, Scott and Jules (plus Steve's son) who made all this possible – I really had a great support crew and I’m sorry that you didn’t get to run any of the sections guys. The old cliché of “you can’t do it without support” has never been truer.