GO33 – Ups and downs around Glen Ogle

I’d run the Glen Ogle 33 back in 2011, the first time the race took place. It had been a great end of season event and I’d managed a decent time, including learning that I could push a little harder than I had thought possible at the end of the race when things got competitive.  That first year of the race had been a little exaggerated in terms of distance, since 30.6 miles needs a fair bit of rounding up to claim 33 miles.

 



Bling.

 



Having entered in 2012, I then found that the race date fell on my daughter’s birthday, and even though I promised to run fast and get back home by 2pm, I had to defer my entry to the following year. But in 2013, a trapped nerve a week or two before the race meant that walking, let alone running was difficult. 2014’s race was entered in the rush of internet clicking on the night that entries opened and when I found that the race clashed with a 16 hour weekend first-aid refresher course, I negotiated carefully to try to squeeze both into a very hectic weekend. It was worth it.

 

Due to the race start/finish moving to Killin I took up the generous offer of heading up the night before to stay with Ian and Julia Minty in order to avoid a 5am start. Wandering through Killin to register on the Saturday morning reminded me of getting an early morning flight, which I used to do regularly from Edinburgh Airport. The roads would be completely empty for mile after mile and then you’d get to the airport and there were a zillion people all there. Race registration was busy by the time I got there, but there was still plenty of time to get sorted and still wander round the crowds for a chat.

 

The crowds gather

 

There was bad news from my Garmin – I know it read “fully charged” when I lifted it off the cradle the previous evening, but it was now giving a “battery low” warning, so I popped it into my jumper and left it behind. Then I decided that I’d better put the jumper into the registration building until later, which is probably the point where I missed some vital route information given in the race briefing.

 

We wandered to the start of the race and I chatted to Peter Buchanan who has been winning ultras this year, so we moved towards the front since the initial trail was fairly narrow.  A brief pause, a few words and then Donnie Campbell blew the silent air-horn and off we went. A few of the front runners shot off at a truly fast pace (five-minute-miles anyone?) and there was the usual movement of running swapping positions, both forwards and backwards, as the race settled down.

 

Before long, we were through Killin and onto the forest tracks that I recognised from three years ago.  I didn’t have much of a race plan to be honest, except that I knew that I would need to use the long downhill sections to get some decent pace in order to compensate for the equally long uphill sections.  I soon fell in with Steve Peters (who won the last race I did and has a good pedigree as a hill runner) and the fast-improving Elaine Omand, but halfway up the first climb, they slowed a little and I was left on my own – which pretty much remained the case for the next 30 miles, although there is a bit more to report than just that.

 

And we're off - chatting all the way. It's a way of controlling the pace, honest.

 

The uphill start was easy enough – unlike the reverse of the route when it hits between 14 and 16 miles and needs more concentration. I let the legs go on the fast descent to the Glen Ogle car-park with Julie’s snack-van, enjoyed the great support there (and fine music too), before dashing across the road and grabbing my drop-bag.

 

5miles and Smiles. Great weather for racing.

I’m pretty sure that three years earlier, I just filled up my water bottle at about halfway and that was it in terms of drop-bags (I don’t recall there being any). But with the option of replenishing supplies throughout the morning, I made up four bags the night before – each with one bottle (of High5 energy drink), a couple of gels and a “something-else” – muesli bar/snickers/jelly babies/banana. Which meant that my bum-bag got steadily heavier through the race as I loaded it up at each checkpoint, without eating the contents. I think it’s a fear of running out of food on the course and getting stuck that makes us over-cater like this.

 

I left checkpoint one after an unknown distance in an unknown time (no watch as well as no Garmin) and enjoyed the long descent down to Lochearnhead. Wait, that’s not true. I should have enjoyed the long, gradual descent, but instead my insides started aching and complaining and eventually I headed down a side-track and then behind a tree to sort things out. Hey, it’s what ultra-runners do.  I maybe lost a minute, but a group of three runners that had been half a minute behind were now half a minute in front.  No worries: that gave me something to focus on.

 

What goes down, must come up - heading down Glen Ogle

We hit the zig-zags down to Lochearnhead and the group in front split – black t-shirt descending slightly faster than blue, with red dropping off the pace. I had closed on the group slightly and all felt good at this point.  The meandering trail to Balquidder junction was great fun, lots of twists and turns, and plenty to see. Ahead, red had now overtaken blue, and black seemed to be coming back to me; it is strange how everyone has their different paces at different times.

 

Coming into checkpoint two, we had almost come together as a group again. I grabbed my bag and sorted the contents out on the move. Unlike red t-shirt, who actually stopped to sort out his drink bottle. He soon caught up and moved ahead, with a strong pace, as we rolled along the road to Balquidder village.  The next change was because I needed to pause behind a hedge due to too much drink (breakfast juice and coffee to blame no doubt) and the group ahead was now a steady minute in front, with about the same to a couple of runners behind (probably Steve and Elaine again). So I was on my own all the way to Starthyre.

 

The straight bit of road before the couple of miles of climbing to Strathyre meant I could see four, maybe five runners within barely a minute of me, so that proved to be an incentive to push on those long uphills. The downhills were fun, the shoogly bridge in Strathyre meant that there were lots of people and support (great), with friendly faces helping with the road crossing. Norrie, John (best hi-viz of the day) and Karen all said good things. Karen told me I was in 13^th, and in return I gave her my gloves with a snickers bar and muesli bar stuffed in them, having decided that I had way too much food for the return journey (she left them hidden behind a tree and I got them back when I drove home later – thanks, Karen!)

 

Overtaking move after the shoogly bridge

 

Another runner was pausing for water here and I could see black t-shirt just ahead so I picked up the pace and ran as much of the steep uphill into the woods above Strathyre as I could. I’d done well to avoid any thoughts of places until now, but since 12^th quickly became 11^th, with 10^th place (red t-shirt) now walking in front of me, I reckoned it was time to push a bit and see what I could do. On the long uphill climb I could even see blue t-shirt and a white t-shirt which I reckoned was Joanne Thom, who must have been tired after winning the 38 mile Jedburgh ultra the previous weekend.

 

It took until the pace picked up on the downhill to catch up with red, who then went faster on the flat, so that he was just in front when we hit checkpoint 3 (which had been checkpoint 2 earlier). I grabbed my bag and ran on, now in 10^th place, and got some encouraging words from Hugh McInnes, who has set three blistering times on this route.

 

Approaching checkpoint 3 - rubbish at the ready

 

22 miles and it's still all ok. Not for much longer.

 

 

Again, I had no idea of time and was guessing the distance from memory, not that it mattered – I had a good feel for what was coming up. Just a long uphill to the top of Glen Ogle and then a fast descent down the other side.  Just before the zig-zags, I lost a place to a flying Perth Road Runner (Ian Rowland) who was setting a pace that I just couldn’t match – as shown by him taking 12 minutes out of me over the next few miles.

 

As I climbed the zig-zags, I could see red behind, so ran as much as I could, except for a couple of the steeper corners and then settled in for the crux of the race – the three continuously uphill miles of Glen Ogle. 


This was really tough.


I did what I could to maintain a steady rhythm, but my pace felt terrible. I am sure that the eight minute miles became nines and tens over those miles – without doubt the hardest part of my race. I knew that once I was over the top of the climb, it would be plain sailing (of a sorts that is).

 

Ian had disappeared into the distance and I could barely see him even on the longest straight. I could make out a white top moving ahead – it would have been Jo, perhaps a kilometre ahead, and too far to pull back at the pace I was moving at. I also looked behind and there was movement a minute a more back there. That was a reasonable cushion, but only if I could maintain a half-decent pace.


Which I couldn’t.

 

The final climb is much steeper than this, really.

At the top of the glen, red shirt was now right behind me at the checkpoint. I struggled along the undulating pavement to the crowd (thanks, very positive support) in the car-park and started the descent. This was great and I did enjoy it, despite the previous 29 miles. I pushed hard on bouncing as fast as possible down the trail but did slow a little when the path rose again a couple of times. I felt I was going pretty fast, but red shirt pulled alongside, with a pink top (third lady, Julie Oswald) joining us.

 

So that was 11^th place dropping to 12^th and then 13^th, right? Because if someone catches up with you from a long way back, they must be going better than you and there’s no way you could somehow get that place back, right?


I do like racing psychology, especially when things get a bit desperate near the end of a race. There can be a downwards mental spiral which is easy to get stuck in when you are actually capable of a more. It was time to put that to the test.

 

We rounded the corner at the end of the descent with two miles to go. In my head the route turns from north to east here, but a look at the map shows it actually turns from NW to NE – still a right-angle and still a change from downhill to a very flat section.  And I pushed hard.  No point in holding back at all now.

 

At my running club in Kinross, we often do a two-mile time-trial and I got my head into treating this the same. My breathing became louder and I focused on the pattern of breaths – four paces for in and two out, then three in and two out. My fingers started tingling, which is a sign that I’m really pushing and my body is struggling to match what it’s being asked to do. I tried to sneak a look back and was aware that I had opened a gap, but there was a pink t-shirt not too far back – I’d have to keep working hard all the way to the line.

 

Back in Killin, I made my one mistake of the day. When I’d been putting my jumper away just before the race start, I must have missed the information about staying on the main road through Killin to get to the finish. Or maybe not – I had kind of assumed that this would be the route and the assurance that it would be marked had stopped me from worrying about it. But there were no markings at the narrow road-bridge and I made a snap decision to follow the outward route back to the start. The (bad) logic at the time was that it was the route we had followed earlier so I wouldn’t get lost.  Actually, I got lost as soon we got back to the tarmac beyond the race start.

A feeling of relief at having found the finish

 

Not a big mistake, but maybe 10 seconds was lost as I turned left instead of right and couldn’t believe that I’d been so stupid – Julie was right on my heels now (but not in front). I then made the correct left turn to the main road which was, thankfully, clear and through the car-park, shouting, “where’s the finish?” before spotting the arch behind all the cars. As I rounded a wee building on the grass I knew that I had held onto that 11^th place, and was relieved that the detour hadn’t lost it for me, since another runner was heading across the grass, having gone the more direct route. Full marks to Mike Adams who immediately headed off to stick some fluorescent arrows at the bridge.

 

Phew.

Depending on which Garmin trace you believe, the route was somewhere between 32.2 and 32.6 miles long. Plus my extra 0.15, which would have added just over a minute at 7 min/mile pace which is probably what the finishing pace was. And I’m pretty pleased with that, since the next eleven runners all arrived within five minutes, so I was lucky to have not lost more time heading back up Glen Ogle. The final couple of miles were great – a reminder of how hard the body can be pushed if there is the right motivation.

The numbers I never had during the race

 

For the record, the red shirt that I ran with from time to time (or chased, or ran away from!) was Stephen Welsh, who ran very strongly despite telling me that he’d not run further than 12 miles since the VLM back in April. Blue shirt was the winning lady, Rachael Miller (now Campbell), who maintained a strong pace on the return to back up Glen Ogle for the win.  My time was 4:26:24, which equates to close to 8 minute-miles: I’m disappointed about not being to push harder on that final uphill, but have no complaints about the race outcome.

 

As ever, we all need to remember that we only get to go out and play because of the huge amount of hard work done by so many in making the race happen, so thanks to all the BaM team, every marshal who gave up their time and effort to be there and the race sponsors, goody-bag packers, etc., etc., etc.  P.S. Photos stolen from Facebook, etc. I struggle to remember who took which one, so many thanks for sharing (BaM racing, Ross Lawrie, Richard O-Grady, Clark Hamilton)

 

When do get to sign up for next year?

 

 

 

Highland Fling 2014 - Undertrained but Optimistic

Best. Race. Ever.

I really do love the Highland Fling Ultra-marathon.  I’ve been lucky enough to run five of these in a row now and each one has been very special. At the same time, I had a rubbish race last Saturday in terms of achieving a time to be proud of, but it’s all about perspective isn’t it? I know other runners who have been gutted to miss out on sub-8, sub-10 and sub-12 hour finishes (that’s Paul Giblin, Dave Simpson and Colin Knox respectively), so I shouldn’t grumble too much about a top-100 time.

Working Hard after 53 miles

If you just dropped by from clicking on a link somewhere and are in a hurry, here’s the speed-reading version of what’s about to follow: I ran 53 miles last Saturday, the weather was far better than expected, I was slower than hoped, but injuries over winter have a part in that, I was quicker than 10 hours, I had the hardest race finish ever (and that includes the 24 other ultras I’ve run, oh, except maybe the Perth 100k a year ago, must have blanked that from my memory), the whole day was epic, and the people and finish area were absolutely magic – best race finish experience ever.

Thought for the day: it’s a whole lot easier being able to run the Fling an hour quicker.

They say that you run 50% of an ultra with your legs, 40% with your head, and the other 50% with your heart (I like the maths there). For me, none of these was where it should have been for this race and I was quite surprised at the effect this had on me over the final, very dark, mile.

For the serious nuts and bolts of a blog, I’d better fill you in getting to the start line, since I’m aware that with the growth of the race there are lots of folks out there who are relatively new to ultras or the Highland Fling (*waves to the Ultra-lupers from Norway*). I started running just eight years ago – seven weeks of training for a half-marathon, over 16 stone (100kg) to start with. Survived, got hooked, swore not to run a marathon until I was ready (still waiting), met some crazy, wonderful people who sold long distances to me and after a few long runs (up to 40 miles) on the West Highland Way, I signed up to the Fling in 2010. A couple of years later and I was fortunate to find that I was not bad at this sort of thing and got some good places and times in races. Pretty outrageous to be honest – many other runners have a much better build for this and train far harder – but I’ve come to set some high expectations of what I should be able to do.  I have been told that I have encouraged other runners that it is possible to achieve good times without being stick-thin and running 80 miles in training each week.

After my last big races of 2013 (the Speyside Way followed a fortnight later by the Glenmore 12 hour race), things hadn’t gone so well. I’d bounced back from that 72-mile outing but had a bad Achilles strain from uphill sprints three days after Glenmore. Running was cut back to an experimental outing once a week before realising that I still needed to rest. This would mean that I’d not be 100% for Glen Ogle at the start of November, but disaster struck a week before that when my shoulder stopped working at the end of October. It was that sudden – I woke up one morning and it just wouldn’t work – I was advised that it was a trapped nerve, and it felt similar when I had dislocated it 23 years previously (surf-kayaking in Cornwall, oops). That meant no running for almost a month and the effects told. Combined with some nasty hamstring problems (I even invested in a grid foam roller), my winter mileage took a hit and so did the bathroom scales (over 13½ stone).  I lined up for the Highland Fling with only 600 miles recorded for the previous six months, less than two thirds of the similar distance for the previous couple of winters.

The alarm was set early (four hours sleep) and I got to Milngavie for 5:20am - popped a couple of drop-bags into the right cars and even remembered to register. I joined the longest queue in northern Europe at that time of the day (excluding airports) and visited a portaloo before John started his race briefing. Unfortunately, I didn’t remember to start my Garmin before the Milngavie underpass and it only noticed there were satellites in the sky after I’d been running for over two miles.

After a quick word with Allan, who had offered to do support duties for the day (thank you!) and act as chauffeur, there was just enough time to squeeze past the throng who had already congregated in the car-park and get towards the front of the crowd in the underpass to where the pace should be about right for me.

The early miles have to be easy, no matter whether you run them at 6 min/mile pace or 10+ min/mile pace. Lots of conversations were had with various runners at various points and I did have a feeling that a lot of runners were going quite fast since I was drifting back through the field even including stopping for a minute since something had got into my shoe – one ignores these things at ones’ peril.  The views were poor due to the low cloud, but the fiddle at Carbeth was brilliant – thank you!  Split times fit with this – I made it to Drymen (12.6 miles) at 1:40 (just inder 8 min/mile pace) and that felt quite different from the last couple of years (1:33 and 1:37). With the Garmin failure earlier I gave up on trying to use that to determine pace or distance and ran purely by feel – it had to be comfortable at this stage and it was.

The crowd at Drymen (before and at the checkpoint) gave a flavour for the race support even at this early stage – it was superb. Thank you to anyone who was there shouting and cheering; it makes such a difference and that feeling stays with you for miles after the checkpoint.  Temperature-wise I was now getting too hot with a base layer and a vest, so went for just the vest from here, although did faff about on Conic Hill with this since it was colder up there.



Through the clag and watermarks of Conic Hill (photo: Graeme Hewitson)

Nothing much happened between Drymen and Conic Hill except for chatting to a few runners as they overtook me. Before the leaving the Garadhban forest, I did have to collect a large handful of moss and disappear discretely behind a tree – maybe a couple of minutes lost and a different crowd to run with now. Before long, the climb to Conic Hill was begun and I started going past several runners who were now walking. I mostly ran this slowly, with bits of walking if I ever felt that I was pushing at all.

Banana power after the Balmahahaha checkpoint (photo: Carolyn Kiddell)

I ran from Balmaha with Duncan MacGougan, who was great company – his best Fling time is just 30 seconds quicker than mine but we were both well off this pace today. At some point we drifted apart – this happens in ultras and it is always a lucky thing if you are able to run with someone else since there are so many factors that affect your pace at any time. Most of the undulations to Rowardennan were on my own, with the occasional relay-runner sprinting past – the first team had a huge advantage, even at this early stage.

Allan was able to swap bottles and food just before the check-point so I didn’t need to pause for a drop-bag and went straight through the well-supported checkpoint (Rowardennan, 27 miles, 4h16). Again, all the cheers and shouts of encouragement are worth so much.  Probably the banana and pot of custard combination led to me feeling a bit queasy, grabbing more handfuls of moss a mile or two later and then finding a hidden spot where no-one else would ever dream of going. Seven runners went past and only the last two noticed me as I made my way back to the path.

Life is a beach (photo: Edinburgh Sports Photography)

 By now the dip of glycogen to fat-burning had passed and this was a very positive part of my race.  I ran almost all of the way up the (almost) two mile hill beyond Rowardennan Lodge and felt really strong. After a chat with Dave Simpson who was running well, I ended up with Kevin du Plessis and we chatted about how we had run much of this section together a year ago (but faster).

The wide road through the forest isn’t the original West Highland Way route – there is a far better path near the loch side which has fallen into complete disrepair. I once tried to run it five years ago and even then it was a nightmare. The good news is that it is now being rebuilt and I do hope that the Fling and full WHWrace will use it. I doubt it will save any time since the long hills will be replaced by an undulating, twisting and turning narrow path instead – but aesthetically it will be a far better route – if slightly longer and more technical.

A small disaster struck somewhere beyond 31 miles at the start of the narrower path to Inversnaid. Actually, it was the other way round – I struck the disaster, in the form of a rock in the path and clattered my foot hard into it. This will cost me the toe-nails from my two largest toes on my right foot, which are currently black. At the time I managed to avoid crashing down but my left foot hit the ground with a great force and I was aware of my left hamstring and left upper chest muscle tensing unbelievably hard. I may have twisted badly too since the worse after-effect of the race has been an aching pain to the right of my upper-body, which probably affected my breathing later in the race. Still, it could have been worse. I made enough noise for Kevin to look back and even stop and wait for a moment, before I urged him to keep going: I’d either be able to catch up or I would slow down, either way I didn’t want him to lose time.

Into Inversnaid (photo: Sandra Macdougall)

After that, I felt that I slowed a bit towards Inversnaid – the miles in the legs here really start to make life hurt a bit more. The checkpoint itself was great – brilliant marshals (some legends of ultra-running) and I even paused for longer than usual for a bit of singing and then eating a pot of rice-pudding, washed down with a bottle of (almost) flat coke.  That slowed me down as I toddled off, feeling decidedly full, but I knew it was worth it and would pass before long.

"Dropbag for prisoner 24601" - "My name is Jean Valjean!"

And so it did – the next sectional was maybe the best of my race. Just before “Rob Roy’s cave” I fell in with a Belfast runner, Gerry Kingston who was great company for this ‘technical’ section to the top of the loch. He set a perfect pace that I was very happy to follow – it made me work that bit harder than if I was on my own. I was pleased that my legs were in good working order and that helps so much in this section. If you are able to leap and jump over rocks and roots, it is so much faster and easier than painfully steeping up, down and over all the time.

After a while we got stuck in a convoy – there were eight of us now and I had to be patient to wait for the trail to allow a place to pass. I was reminded of Dave Troman bounding past last year as the reverse happened and he was flying along this section.

At the top of the loch (for the first time, the bit with a rise uphill and then a muddy bog to cross before dropping down to the Doune bothy) I was still feeling good and kept the pace up, running as much as I could, but accepting a walk when it steepened and I sorted some food out. I took an age to eat a half-wrap (soft cheese and marmite) but swallowing was proving tough.

After the tough section north of Inversnaid it’s easy to relax and thin the hard work is done. Which it’s not of course. The next three miles to Beinn Glas Farm a much easier, but still involve a lot of proper trail running. I almost caught up with Craig Mackay at one climb to a big stile but he turned and saw me, so I made like a bear (no, not with moss and woods this time) and gave a huge growl with arms raised. I’m coming to get you! This ended up back-firing for me since he then shot off and finished well ahead of me. He says the thought of the bear kept him going and even came over the line impersonating a bear. Note to self: don’t scare other competitors in future races.



Proper Trail running after 40 miles (photo: Stuart MacFarlane)

Frozen in time - zen rock-balancing moment

At Beinglas (a.k.a. Being last) checkpoint with the clock at 7h15, I did something that I have avoided in every ultramarathon prior to this one– I sat down. On a chair! For six minutes! I’d got to that stage of just wanting to finish, knew that I would end up below 10 hours barring complete disaster, and that 9h30 was not quite on. So what did a few minutes matter? I have felt guilty about this all week.

My usual method for checkpoints is grab-and-go, shout thanks at the marshals, sort food/drink out on the move. If needs must, I might pause for a few seconds to down water and/or fill up a bottle. But a comfy chair? Careless mistake – the gain is never worth it. And I sat in the chair – cheered loudly as the first ladies team came in and handed over (go Kinross!) - ate a banana and a pot of custard and drank a bottle of lucozade-mango-death-by-sugar drink. No more excuses now, so off I headed, feeling a bit queasy for all that.

Things started fine up Glen Falloch – the first mile wasn’t fast, but seemed ok and I passed Duncan and another runner who were walking. But they soon came by me again as my body suddenly decided it was time for a bit of cramp (inside left quad) and I know better than to ignore that sort of thing. After a mile or two, a couple of faster runners came past and I decided to at least try to hang on to them – which worked quite well until beyond the cattle creep and tunnel under the road where they moved away from me.

Cow Poo Alley was not nice at all this year – the Way almost completely blocked at one point by a cattle feeder. It would be great if some sort of deal could be struck to deal with the farmer who clearly has issues with one of the World’s premier long-distance paths going behind his farm. At least there were no cows to dodge, but the mess to splash through wasn’t nice. I was slowing here and kept getting overtaken from time to time – the lack of training volume really starting to bite now.

Eventually the big gate arrived and it was good to see Louise there, waiting for Stuart (top runner on his first Fling). Six miles to go and now a bit of walking. I can tell if things are being pushed to the extreme because I look forward to the hills. Really! It’s because I feel I can justify walking up them – on a good year I’ll try to run all bar the steepest uphills – which helped for a final leg split of 2:12 last year. But not in 2014.

A couple of runners caught up on the long series of climbs from the big gate and I recognised Robert Osfield (but had to ask for a name anyway), who ran exactly the sort of final leg that I had the previous year.  Great pacing there. Once we started descending he absolutely flew down the steep sections and although I felt that I was running well here, he quickly disappeared from sight. A few ups and downs but these days I know every one of them so there was nothing unexpected.  The viaduct at the end of this section was a welcome sight and Allan was there with some water, which was great. A quick chat before he drove off to the finish and then it was three miles to go.

The flat section to Auchtertyre Farm isn’t flat at all – it’s a steady uphill climb, but I ran all of it and did look behind – no-one was close so I hoped to at least maintain where I was in the race. But thoughts of this being a race were long gone. That competitive instinct of previous years was replaced with a feeling of just wanting to get to the end without anything bad (cramp, collapsing) happening. And that was the case until the final mile.

There’s a final uphill around Dalry until the well-marked path that takes you to the edge of Tyndrum and I struggled up this. Hey, no-one was even close behind, so maybe walking this would mean I could run the final mile better – it’s funny what you’ll believe at this stage. But things really weren’t right and my fingers and toes were tingling (hmm, maybe a circulation issue) and that sore bit on my right side just wasn’t quite right. 

I tuned right from the track to the final wee path that heads to the edge of Tyndrum (nice to have a shout from Bryan from my club) and lost a place or two to fast runners (maybe relay runners) who were accelerating to the finish.  Then I glanced back and saw a whole cluster of runners bearing down on me – half a dozen, maybe eight. I really had slowed so much that were closing fast, like the tide sweeping in.

And I couldn’t respond, even when Kevin and Duncan and Colin (Meek) came by and I was desperate to finish with them. Duncan was a star and said that we would finish together (since we’d been playing leap-frog all day) but I just couldn’t run. Not even a slight hobble, plod or shuffle. Completely empty.

As the crowd moved ahead and pipers came into view, I felt really miserable. Again, a bit of perspective with hindsight – having a miserable mile here shouldn’t overshadow the day, and losing ten places isn’t a big deal – some runners had far worse days. But I wasn’t a happy bunny and resigned myself to walking along the path past the bridge, pipers and onto the massive climb round the corner into the finish area.

Then it was time for a wonderful finish – from the depths of struggling to run at all, to the magic of just relaxing, milking the final 100 yards and the truly amazing red carpet to the finish.  Lots of shouts from friends and strangers and the photographs do some justice to the emotion of those moments.

Thankfully there’s no-one trying to sprint up *my* bit of red carpet, so I don’t have to rush too much, and instead enjoy lots of high-fives, cowbells, cheers. I’m still milking right now, and giving a whole extra paragraph to those precious moments, which I hope you’ll indulge me with, having read this far through.

 

Enjoying the moment - a very special finish (photo: Edinburgh Sports Photography)

And that sense of relief in crossing the line and not moving anymore. It just cannot be explained to anyone – you have to experience it to know what it’s like. Someone cut my timing chip off (thank you) – I have no idea who and it was a bit like emergency services looking after you when you’re not quite aware what’s going on but still very grateful.

 

Then it was a couple of the best hours ever, with beer, soup, roll, hugs, and a baked potato eaten in the (long) queue for the showers.  Had a complete range of comments on my race: “what happened to you?”, “you must be disappointed”, “wow, sub-ten hours” and even “did you run today?”  After the 5pm prize-ceremony, I had to head since my lift was off I was back home by 8pm, feeling suitably tired.

Technical bits and lessons learned – ‘cos we’re meant to include these things. Kitwise, everything was fine, as it should be after enough of these races. A vest was perfect for most of the day, and the new Montane minimus jacket came in useful for the final hour when the rain was on. Skins (plus shorts) were worn for anti-chafing and the silly long compression socks meant there were no calf issues (no cramp or muscle fatigue more than was expected). Inov8 X-talon 212s work for me, apart from kicking rocks. Inov8 4-litre bumbag was just fine, although I need to get something with easier bottle access, so suggestions would be well received.

At the start of the day, wild optimism aside, I’d hoped to get inside 9h30. Maybe if I was a little closer at Beinglas I’d have had a go at this, but really ten or twenty minutes beyond didn’t seem like a big deal at the time. Maybe now, sitting at a computer, it’s easy to wish I’d been able to go for it, but I can’t complain too much. The biggest lesson worth repeating is that there is simply no substitute for training miles. 2014 longest runs have been 30, 18, 33, 18 miles each month and 25 miles a week simply isn’t going to get top twenty results. Bearing that in mind, I’ll hope to stay injury free and be able to really go for it next year to get under nine hours again. Time will tell.

For now, two weeks from now I’ll be on the next adventure with Gavin and some excellent sailors off the west coast of Scotland. 160 miles of sailing and 60 miles of steep hill running. Can’t wait!

 

Scottish Islands Peaks Race - not for the faint-hearted

A Fling with a Difference

Saturday morning, Milngavie; there is the sound of high-pitched beeping in the air.  I walk slowly from a courtyard of Portaloos, worried that this is a mistake.  The crowded car-park is now strangely deserted as 500 distinctly-clad ultrarunners have recently vacated it to begin a strange ritual migration to distant Tyndrum, some 53 miles to the north.  I move slowly through the darkness of the now empty underpass, trying not to do more than walk, but start to run slowly in spite of myself.  There is a beep as I pass over the starting mat and the journey begins.

Four Flings

So what made me change my strategy for this year’s Highland Fling, apart from the Tesco toilets not being open quite so early this year?  For my last few races, I’ve tried the other end of the spectrum, heading off fast and then gritting my teeth later on to keep moving as fast as possible: this has worked pretty well, but I needed to find that balance point: just what is the right pace to get the best result for the day?



For those in a hurry, I’ll cut to the chase.  For a PB time where I squeeze every possible second out of my race, starting at the front and running in a relaxed yet still pretty fast manner is the answer.  For me that means seven minute miles until Drymen, with a gradual fall-off over the more undulating and technical stuff later.  Maybe if I’d done this I’d have had a quicker time in the race.  But maybe not. Perhaps the pacing I followed was almost perfect for me on that day, but I just don’t realise it yet.  It’s all part of the game we play.

Here’s my reasoning for a slower start for the 2013 Fling:

·    Four weeks earlier I’d beaten myself up at the Perth 100k.  Flat, tarmac and 42 laps.  Not my cup of tea.  But I’d wanted to have a go at something different and had convinced myself that it would be good psychological training.  It’s the only ultra I’ve raced where I’ve ended up clear in my mind that it’s not my idea of fun.  I had a happy 50k in 4 hours and then an horrific time for the second half, struggling to run properly and wondering what damage I’d done to myself – but I had toughed it out to the bitter end;

·   Ten days after that I’d had my ever DNF with a sprained ankle during a hill race.  A nasty experience that didn’t do much for my confidence and meant a week of zero running before careful steps to recovery afterwards;

·   Compared to a year earlier I’m maybe half a stone heavier, at 13½ stone and 20% body fat (yeah, really!).  If someone knows how I can run fast ultras with numbers like those, please let me know.  I do subscribe to some study that once found that each pound of excess weight equated to about two seconds per mile difference in pace.  That’s just over twelve minutes for me compared to last year if you were wondering.  Oh, and this year’s route was 0.4 miles longer, so that’s almost four minutes extra at my expected pace for that section.

·   Longest training run of 2013 so far was 20 miles; no back-to-backs managed.  That doesn’t look too good does it?

So my confidence wasn’t high going into the race and I had given some serious thought to the DNF situation on account of the ankle.  Once that sort of thing happens to you once, you start to appreciate being able to finish a race that little bit more than you used to.  I was genuinely worried that I might not make it to Tyndrum today.

Back to Saturday morning and the butterflies in the stomach excitement that I still felt for this race, undiminished by the previous times I had run it.  With hindsight, I’ll admit that starting at the back was a mistake.  Admittedly, half of the field went off too fast, but I should have started halfway down the field so as to avoid the crowding and congestion of the first mile.  If I went past you during that mile I do apologise: I’m wondering how many runners watched me head past and thought I was some rookie making a huge mistake by going too fast too soon.

Even so, that first mile passed in a little over nine minutes and I did enjoy the chance to speak to so many friends and wish them well for the day, adding that I was trying an alternative pacing strategy when they raised their eyebrows in surprise that I wasn’t up at the front, where the Ferraris were speeding away.  After three miles of this, there were some gaps in the field and I soon found myself running with Bob Steel, Ross Lawrie and Norry Mcneill for the fabulous Dumgoyne downhill section.  The views were stunning and there was a tangible excitement about what lay ahead.  I was careful with the pace since I wanted to preserve my legs for when it really mattered – it’s all too easy to fly down this bit and cause early damage to the quads.

Once we hit the flat section of the old railway line, I pushed on and ran as relaxed as I could manage past the Beech Tree Inn and all those gates.  Memories include encouraging words (as ever) from Adrian Stott, chatting to a minimalist-shoe, ultra-bearded-dude from Bolton, pushing a little to catch up with two groups of 4 and 5 runners in front in order to make the gate opening a bit easier, but as I caught up, three of them has a simultaneous ‘just watching the view’ stop and I ended up just going past the others – did they slow or did I not?  So I found myself on my own for the first mile on the road to Drymen, one of the few parts of the day without company.

A mile before Drymen, I was met by Marinos who had agreed to come out for the day and throw food and water at me.  I’d made up drop bags anyway, but had given them to him so he could hand me things on the move at each checkpoint rather than add to the huge number of drop-bags the marshals had to organise. M had been a bit worried about whether things were going wrong for me, but seemed pleased when I told him everything was just fine and I was taking it easy today.  He also told me I was in 42^nd place which surprised me since I hadn’t thought I’d passed quite so many runners.  In any case, that sort of thing is pretty irrelevant so early in the race.

 

Heading out of Drymen, after 13 miles (photo: tzruns.com)



And so to Drymen, with an extra detour to the right around the evil bog in that field just before the checkpoint – it claimed a few victims on Saturday – over the road, bleep over the mat and then the diversion through the village.  Impressive support indeed, and I was fresh enough to appreciate it.  Heading up the hill I finished my banana and fell in with Jude Boulton and Matt Moroz, who proved to be great company for many miles.

Fast-forward through the woods, the amazing views over Loch Lomond and the great new path over Conic Hill.  Again, my focus was to run relaxed and not push at all.  Sometimes we walked the steep bits, mostly we ran and I tried to not worry about times and just enjoy the day.  As we climbed Conic Hill I looked at the runners spread out ahead and could already see who had gone off too fast and who looked comfortable with their pace – there was quite a mixture.  The piper at the high point was brilliant (thank you, whoever you were) and the descent was much easier than previously, with careful, light steps all the way down.  M had wanted to climb to the top of the hill (he’s a hill runner by trade) and gave a report about the leaders coming through.



Balmaha ahead - with Marinos (photo: Ronnie Cairns)

Balmaha had the same awesome buzz as ever, since everyone goes there.  A three minute pit-stop at the toilets was not as fast as the red-bull team manage these days, but was essential.  It also meant that at the end of Balmaha I came across Matt swapping notes about the imminent 24-hour World Championships with Antonia who was directing runners up Craigie Fort (no sneaking around the bottom and missing the view). This was a great stroke of luck since it meant we ran together all the way to Rowardennan – thanks for the company Matt.  He was stopping there since this was a short training run for him, what with a GB vest to carry at the World Champs in Holland in a fortnight.

The Balmaha to Rowardennan section really isn’t very flat is it?  But it certainly was beautiful.  My aim was still to keep things moving steadily but not overcooking the pace, and I was targeting the long climb up from the University Research Centre at 25 miles as a place to not run too much (as I had last year).  The chip-timing mat was 0.2 miles early this year – wisely placed so as not to miss runners who might take varying routes through the Rowardennan car-park – but the earlier detour meant that it was 0.2 miles of extra running into the race.  So a direct comparison of split times with previous years should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Floating through Rowardenan after 27 miles (photo: tzruns.com)



Speaking of which, I was now 13 minutes slower than last year (hey, only 30 seconds a mile) but feeling good because of this easier pace.  Well, not perfect – since I ended up walking a bit next to the Youth Hostel as I finished off a pot of custard and said goodbye to M as he headed off for the long drive round Loch Lomond.  I had told him that I reckoned my finish time was now in the 8:50 to 9:30 region, depending on how things went.  There’s always a real sense of entering the next chapter of the race here, of leaving behind the excited hustle and bustle of friendly marshals, relay runners and supporters and heading off into the wilds for a LONG journey up the wild side of the loch.

As I reached the start of the long, long uphill climb, a relay runner came flying by.  Or maybe not – it was Ryan Mackenzie who was putting on a burst of speed.  We ran together for a bit and although my steady running proved a little faster than his walking uphill, he vanished on the later downhill and ended up finishing in a great time of 8:54.

Towards the top of the climb I ran with Gerry Craig who not only claimed Scottish Championship medals at the Perth 50k four weeks earlier, but had run an impressive 2:51 just six days earlier at some other race in London – inevitably he was starting to feel this in his legs.  I pushed on and ended up with Fraser Scott, who had generously handed me 4^th place at last Octobers’ Jedburgh 38 mile mud-bath race by virtue of getting lost near the end of the race.  I couldn’t hang onto him on the downhill either and he had a blinder along the lochside to finish in 8:46.  We also ran with Tracy Dean, who was suffering badly with a leg injury, yet still able to move forwards with an impressive turn of speed.  She had a great Inversnaid moment where she never broke stride at the check-point and just grabbed a bag from her support crew, who had driven all the way round to meet her: by such margins are UK Championship races won or lost.

Beyond Inversnaid it was time to push, although my three 15 minute miles that followed seemed to drag on a bit.  I do like this section and certainly had the legs to move over the terrain. I’d have liked to be able to push a little harder here, like Dave Troman who came steaming past towards the end of the section, but the limited training mileage meant that there were signs of fatigue in my legs and the wriggling maggots of cramp threatening just below the surface.  Eventually the top of the loch was reached, which always seems to happen twice – once when the technical section finishes and there’s a lovely bit of flat grass, and then again just after Doune bothy.  I know what’s going on really, but the sense of relief at finishing the tricky section fools my brain into thinking that Beinglas is closer than it really is.  Much of this was run with Kevin du Plessis until I paused behind a rock for a minute (to “enjoy the view”), and it took me until Dario’s post to catch up with him and Tracy.



Beinglas Check-point and still feeling good, 41 miles (photo: John Pickard)



Is it me, or do the mile or two to Beinglas always take longer than anticipated?  I felt good and was running comfortably still.  M had come back down the trail here and was a very welcome sight, so I didn’t have to stop at all at the checkpoint, but did take a walk break just afterwards on the climb so I could eat another pot of custard which, along with a few gels later on, I hoped would get me to the end.  It didn’t, but more on that later.

I felt so much better on the climb up Glen Falloch than during previous years.  However, I had come through the Beinglas checkpoint at 6:50 compared to 6:35 last year, so would need a massively improved final section for a PB this year.  Although I’m a natural optimist and was feeling good, I was also realistic about my chances of hitting 10 minute miles for the next two hours.  Still, no point in holding back now, might as well go for it.

M headed off to the car near the Falloch falls and I ran with Kevin until some way beyond Carmyle Cottage.  On the uphills I would drift away, but he would then reel me in.  I apologised at one point to say that I wasn’t trying to drop him or anything like that – I was simply running whenever I could – I hoped the target of running together was helping to spur him on.

Trying to catch a PB in Glen Falloch after 45 miles (photo: tzruns.com)

We closed on a runner ahead and at the last minute I realised that it was Peter Buchanan.  He asked me how I was and I gave an honest reply of feeling great – to which he gave a most appropriate response, indicating that he wasn’t quite 100%.  My arrival seemed to flick a switch in his head and he raced off with me on his heels, until the steep climb after the cattle creep and road tunnel where cramp slowed him down momentarily.

 

Time to Focus - race face on after 45 miles (photo: tzruns)



Again, unlike last year, my legs felt much stronger, in spite of those bullet points you read way back at the top of this tale.  I ran everything from here to the big gate, with Peter working hard to stay in touch and then push the pace even more towards the end.  We ran the whole of the section to the road crossing together and it was fantastic.  He had a little more running on the uphills, but I could just about keep up with some quick walking, and we seemed to fly the downhills of the roller-coaster – it was everything I could have hoped for. 

M had taken the car to Tyndrum and then headed back to the road crossing to meet up with us and was full of encouragement.  We rushed along the path next to the road at what seemed like a great pace, although it was only ten minute miles.  Alas, it wasn’t to last.  We crossed the bridge approaching Auchtertyre farm and somehow I just couldn’t stay with Peter – he eased ahead and my legs wouldn’t respond, even with a manual override from my brain telling me not to lose contact.  It wasn’t a disaster, but it was annoying not to be able to run together, which I’d expected we would do.

 

Having to dig deep and not appreciating the scenery at 50 miles (photo: Mary Hunter)



Now I was pushing hard, giving it 100%, trying everything I knew to keep on moving, but the legs weren’t having it.  The last three miles were slower than comparable times for my last two Flings and it was so frustrating.  The nine hour target had looked very achievable, but suddenly that was starting drift away and I just couldn’t get it back no matter how hard I tried. 

That final mile wasn’t good.  I struggled to run up that nasty incline at Dalrigh, and then had an intense spasm of cramp in my left quad over the final rough section.  And to add insult to injury, I was passed just before the woods by a relay runner from our club (great run – they came 6^th overall and took the 2^nd mixed team prize).  By now I knew that the sub-nine hours target was gone and eased off so I’d have something for the finish straight, which didn’t disappoint.

(photo: Thomas Leondorf)

Thank the pipers, turn the corner, reeeelaaxxxxxx into a bit of a sprint, soak up the atmosphere and hit the line, with a cheeky heel kick to finish (although I was relieved to land it without the cramp coming back).  That feeling of stopping running at the end of an ultra is a pretty unique thing and should always be savoured.



Hurdling the timing mat, but it still went beep (photo: Christine Myerscough)





 

The Eagle has landed (photo: Muriel Downie/HF Race)



Massage, soup, beer, shower, more soup, another beer, all mixed with lots of chat with the awesome ultra family at the finish line.  That atmosphere for the next five hours was as good as it gets.  As a side-note, I found out that I’d finished 24^th in a chip-time of 9:02:22 and the back-of-the-grid start had only put me two minutes behind the leaders from the starting gun.

And would I race it this way again? Starting so much slower than I might have?  Well, yes and no.  The slower start made the whole day a far more memorable experience, but my hopes of a faster time, 8:50 or 8:45 (or quicker) will only come if I have a bit more pace early on.  If everything goes well next year, maybe I’ll shoot for a lifetime best time, not have such an enjoyable race, but be over the moon with a faster time.  But only if all the other factors pull together and I’m ready for it.  As for my 2013 Fling, I see it as a much more mature race in terms of how I approached it – the scenery, terrain and people were much more of a focus this year and the memories I’m left with will stay with me for a very long time.

Scottish Athletics Bling with Adrian Stott (photo: Muriel Downie/Highland Fling Race)

And for an unexpected bonus Adrian told me that I was in line for 3rd Veteran medal in the Scottish Athletics Ultra Trail Championships - which really put the icing on the cake, since it was quite unexpected.  I'll take that over being a few minutes quicker any day. 

I couldn’t really finish this without a wee roll-call for so many people who made the race happen, but to save you time, I’ll wrap it up quickly, since you’ve spent a while reading this far down and probably have something else you should be doing right now.  Hats off to John Duncan for making the race so totally epic.  There were just so many detailed touches in the organisation of the day that I could write a couple of pages on that alone.  The team of 80 marshals were fantastic. Marinos was an inspirational support: thanks for agreeing to come along again and thanks so much for not crashing my car this year.  That was a real bonus.

When do entries open for 2014?