If you thought I was mad...

.. for doing my shortest day WHW run in 2006, it was a walk in the park compared to this winter Ramsay round by Shane Ohly.

http://www.runfurther.com/index.php?cPath=658_736

It's a great read and I think any WHW racer with empathise with a phrase that he uses once or twice towards the end - "I just want to f*cking finish!".

Even more amazingly, he's planning on having a crack at a sub-24hr round again this winter in aid of Cancer Research. http://www.justgiving.com/shaneohly



Think I might bung him a pound or two..

A couple of photos

Nothing great though, just done with my aging mobile.


Alasdair & Duncan arriving at Inversnaid


Very slippy point that caused quite a few tumbles.


Some of the many icicles that were hanging off of the rock faces.


The view heading south into the sun.

A fish back in water...

It's hard to express just how good it felt to be back running on the WHW this weekend when I ran with a group from the Drover's Inn at Inverarnan to Inversnaid and back.

It was a gorgeous cold day with snow on the hills, no wind, good company and lots of sunshine. And yet, even without any of those things I think it would have felt good to be back on the WHW running. Suddenly I felt back in my element again and I thoroughly enjoyed the day's running. A fish back in water if you will.

I'm afraid as ever I wasn't as sociable as I could have been but I did enjoy the chatting on the way down with Duncan and others. On the way back I wanted to push on and run at my own pace which meant that I ran most of it on my own. I started several minutes after the lead group and after a long time I eventually caught Caroline (Mrs Pacepusher) who was having a really great run herself. It was great to be running this section on relatively fresh legs and I really enjoy the hopping and skipping around that you need to do to maintain any pace on this section. I don't kid myself that I'll run like that in the race though. ;-)

I wimped out of the longer run and retired after 14 miles, not due to injury or anything but it's my longest run for a while and I didn't want to finish off the run dragging my feet and not enjoying it. One of the other runners (Mandy I think) commented on how important she felt it was to finish a run with positive feelings and I know how those memories help to lift your spirits when you're running the same section but on tired legs in the race. I'm convinced that the good runs I had over the last sections between Kinghouse and Fort William in training this year were a big help in the race. Of course a super-strong tailwind helped too. ;-)

Ankle seems completely recovered although the back still niggles with toothache like pain in my buttocks persisting. As long as it doesn't interfere with my running I can live with it though.

I've decided to have a go at the "100pushups" training plan to do something about my feeble upper body strength. Finished the first week (having started at a lowly "level 2") but flunked the final set of push-ups so I think it might take me longer than the 6 week plan to get fit enough to do my 100 pushups.

Mile reps

I say "mile" as I don't think anyone has accurately measured our mile course. Still, it's a good opportunity to measure performance and see how much I've slowed down. ;-) I wasn't expecting great things after my somewhat irregular training of late and my dickey back but things weren't as bad as I feared.

I was happy enough with a 6:14, a 6:09 and a 6:12. Certainly not as fast as I was earlier this year but perhaps more encouragingly, only a couple of seconds slower than I was this time last November when I was running more mileage.

My final interview for the Coast Guard job is this Friday but meanwhile, I've got a training session to go along to tonight on the Ballast Bank in Troon. If you see a bunch of nutters wearing helmets and head-torches tonight playing about with ropes, that'll be us. ;-)

Still improving & new job

At the weekend I ran in the Kilmarnock XC race, dragging my butt around in 40 something minutes. The time is pretty immaterial when it comes to XC, it's all about showing solidarity and freezing your arse off with everyone else from your club. ;-)

It's a good sticky & hilly course (one of the best local ones) and most importantly of all, didn't seem to bother my ankle & back. The ankle seems absolutely fine now and the back doesn't seem to affect my running too much.

Last night was our club's "hills" session. As I've probably mentioned before, the "hills" are actually just the bridges that cross the railway line in Troon - mostly no more than about 30 seconds sprinting each. Still, I love them to bits and I find it hard to understand anyone who *doesn't* love hill sprints.

What's not to like about that feeling of acceleration and speed, rising up on the toes, working your legs and arms faster and harder with every step until you reach the top of the hill? Of course it probably helps that I'm usually the first one to the top of the hill. ;-) I'm way too competitive for my own good sometime.

The new job is, I think, 90% definite. There was a feature in our local paper recently about the Coastguards looking for new volunteers. Well, I've always fancied guarding our coast and considering that no one has tried to attack it in all the time we've lived in Ayr, I reckon it must be a pretty cushy job. ;-)

I went along for an interviewette last week with about 25 other people and got a call at the weekend to say that I was one of the three people they were wanting. It seems there's another interview to go but given that they've shortlisted 3 people for three jobs it seems the last one must be a formality. Anyway, I'm going along tonight to get measured up for uniform & survival suit so I reckon it must be pretty certain.

The job is paid actually but as the Queen is only gracious enough to pay coastguards for 2 hours a month (for official training) + call outs, they don't make a big fuss over the pay. Just as well I'm not doing it for the money.

It seems that the major part of the job is conducting searches (missing persons, washed up ordinance etc.) with the very occasional cliff rescue thrown in for good measure. Apparently we don't get to keep the ordinance though. :-( A less attractive side of the job is recovering bodies from beaches & rivers.

Still, it'll get me out of the house more and combines my love of the seashore with a useful social service.

Really looking forward to my first run back on the WHW on the 30th. It seems like forever since I last ran on it and I'm just itching to get going. Lets just hope I can contain my enthusiasm/competitiveness enough to avoid another injury.

Making progress

Today, I managed to put my knickers on without dropping them to the floor. Woo hoo! You see, ever since I spent an afternoon crawling around my loft fitting insulation and emptying the loft of loose breeze blocks, my back has been giving me a lot of grief. For the last two weeks I've either had to sit down to get dressed or step into one leg hole, drop my knickers to the floor, step *into* the other leg hole and then somehow stoop to pull them up. So doing it without going through this palaver is definite progress.

My foot, or rather my left ankle, seems fine now. I've not risked road running on it (apart from a few miles to do the timing for our club 5K the other night) but it seems just fine. My memories of my last stress fracture mean that I'm not about to assume that everything really *is* fine until it's been pain free for a week or two more. I've withdrawn from the "Run with the Wind" race in Strathaven which is a disappointment as it's a great 10K but it is predominantly downhill and all on tarmac and I really do think I'd be foolish to race it.

Still, I'm enjoying the running I am doing at the moment and am looking forward to the first training run on the WHW at the end of this month. Today's run was especially rewarding as I was running along part of the river Ayr way and as anyone who has ever run with me along there will confirm, I'm *always* looking for Kingfishers. Well today that vigilance paid off as an electric blue blur of wings skimmed down the river next to me, thumbing it's nose to the convention of drabness that seems to define so many British birds.

In a way I'm almost glad the all the other British birds are so drab as it heightens the pleasure of spotting such an outrageously colourful bird.

Testing, testing...

Well it's been 11 days since my last run when things went pearshaped with my ankle.  Today was glorious weather and I couldn't resist trying out my ankle (and my back) with a gentle 6 miler on some local trails.   I'm happy to report that the running seemed to help my back and apart from a couple of niggles in my foot rather than my ankle, everything seemed to be behaving.

For those of you who heard about the weather during the OMM last weekend, here's a little video clip that gives some idea of the conditions. 

Fergie Memorial run

Our club organised a memorial run for one of our members who died last year whilst on a trip to France.  It was a huge shock to us all and his many friends and we felt it would be appropriate to organise at least one run in his memory.  This was held last Sunday which fortunately, wasn't anywhere near as horrid as the Saturday had been.

It was set up as a charity fun run with all proceeds going to York Hill hospital.  We set the entry fee at a nominal £2 but with just over 100 entrants, we still ended up collecting neary £1,000 as many folk made much larger voluntary donations.  A testament more to the respect and esteem that folk had for Fergie rather than the worthiness or otherwise of the particular charity chosen.

Anyway, as I'm still "hors de combat", I was on registration and photography duty.  It seemed a good opportunity to try out our camera's "burst" mode as I normally find it incredibly difficult to get decent pictures of runners.  I think I managed to capture the atmosphere of the event pretty well on the day although I have to admit that the first photograph *wasn't* taken by me but by Kenneth Phillips (a keen local retired runner and photograher of running events).  I took a similar shot but mine was rather spoiled by sunlight.

Here are a few of the better ones (click to view full sized) and all of them my be viewed here.  (Incidentally, the dress code was to "dress colourfully").

Regarding my running, not a lot of that happening at the moment.  I'm trying to stick to my resolution to give my ankle a couple of weeks' rest but as the pain has 90% resolved, I suspect I might try it out tomorrow.  I'm still unsure what the problem is but the pain feels bony which I know sounds rather vague but based on that feeling I'm still inclined to think it's probably a stress fracture.  I might go doctor bothering if it flares up again and see if it would be worth getting my bone density checked.

I'm still hopeful that I'll be able to join in a group training run on the 30th of November though.  There's a world of difference between pounding out a road marathon & jogging along the WHW so fingers crossed it won't set me back.

Food for thought

I came across this fundraising site on the net today.  Set up on the 21st of this month with a £5,500 target and reached over £100,000 pounds today.

http://www.justgiving.com/atheistbus

Seems like it struck a chord.

Ankle update

Well, I think I'm crocked again.  My ankle is still sore and gets worse with any weight bearing exercise (including walking) and from a reply on the Fell Runners forum, I'm inclined to believe that I might well have a stress fracture. 

My lack of consistent training but desire to do long races has almost certainly been the cause and if I had to pick one event, I think it would have to be Loch Ness that finally did for it.  My long run last Sunday was just the icing on the cake. ;-)

One good thing though is that I'm pretty philosophical about it and if I've got to take time off at any time of year, I'd far rather it was now when the weather's foul, the day's short, wet and windy and the cross country season beckoning. ;-)

If I had anything important in the offing I suppose I could do the old cross training bit but I'm not sure I could even cycle at the moment and swimming bores me silly.

The plan is to rest for a week or two and then try some very gentle off road runs.  If that goes okay then build up slowly from there.  If the pain comes back, leave it a couple more weeks and reapeat.

When self belief isn't enough

I've just finished reading Tom McNab's book Flanagan's Run, a novel based on a race that took part in 1928 across America.  The book is a bit corny put it's a real page turner and clearly the author knows his stuff about running, well he ought to given his background.

Anyway, after reading the book I felt all fired up and ready to run across a continent so within an hour of finishing it, I was lacing up my shoes and out the door, ready to run until I dropped at which point I'd phone the calvary (my wife) to pick me up from wherever I ended up.  The plan had been to run up the River Ayr Way from my home to Failford (at least -  maybe further), a distance of 21 miles.  Things started well but the moment I left the seafront where I'd had a following wind, I seemed to be going head-on into it.  It was spitting rain and all in all, conditions were not codusive to effortless running.

Of course the other thing not condusive to easy running was a more or less complete lack of any sort of training since the Loch Ness Marathon.  Still, I thought, never let a lack of training dent your self belief. ;-)

Anyway, to cut a boring story short, after about six miles I decided that a long open-ended run wasn't really on the cards and changed my route to take me back home in a 14.6 mile loop.  Not a bad run but somewhat short of my dreams.  Worse though was the way my ankle repeated its post Loch Ness marathon trick of being agonisingly painful for a period post run.   Last time it settled spontaneously after a day and hadn't bothered me since the LNM.  This time it seems to be fading again but by heck it was painful for a while.  I've no idea quite what's going on and I presume it's probably soft tissue but weirdly, the pain is much worse when I lift my weight OFF my foot.  It's not great on weight bearing either but ten times worse when I lift my foot off the ground.  There's nothing to see and now, 6 hours post run, barely any tenderness.  Any suggestions as to what this might be gratefully received.

I think I need to get back to some proper training and stop thinking I can run without doing my homework.

Ouch!

I didn't mention the way that my legs completely siezed up once I crossed the finish line yesterday.  One moment working like a well oiled machine, the next feeling like someone had thrown a bucket of sand in my gearbox.  It seemed to take me an age to hobble to the goody bag pick-up (about 10 yards) and then all the way to the de-chipping area (another 10 yrds!).  I then had to lift my foot on to a cruelly high bench for de-chipping (must have been getting on for 10" high).  After that is was a very slow hobble to collect my bag and off to the showers.

Fortunately, by the time I had finished my shower things had eased off a bit but I was still much much stiffer than I had been after my hill race last week and it was a strong reminder of just how much harder road marathons are on your body than trail races.

Anyway, I was feeling not too bad this morning and was seriously thinking of going on a gentle jog to loosen off after the dog walk.  I only made it about 300 yards along the beach when I became aware of a niggle behind one ankle.  In the space of 100 yards it went from niggle to agony and I could barely walk and had to cut short my walk.  After resting and waiting for my companions to bring the car back to me, I got fed up and started hobbling again slowly.  Weirdly, just before I got back to the car it started to ease off and is now just uncomfortable.

Goodness knows what's going on but I guess my body is trying to tell me something about my hopes of running next weekend.   Perhaps it's time to admit to myself that I'm not indestructable. ;-)

A friend in need...

... is a person who's prepared to reach down and help remove the sweaty sock from a marathon runner who has siezed up post race and hasn't got anywhere to sit down to undress. ;-)

Today that friend was Neal Gibson who made the mistake of sticking his head in the shower changing rooms in Inverness just as I was utterly failing to get my second sock off.  Thanks Neal, your help was much appreciated!

Of course, Neal wasn't the only friend I met today.  Most notably there was the lovely Ellen Thomson who I first spotted being interviewed for the TV before the race and who I so nearly planted a big soppy kiss on her cheek during the interview.  To my undying regret, I hesitated and missed the moment.  Darn, could have been famous for a moment. ;-)

As I said in my last blog, I planned to take it easy and deliberately made my way to the back of the field before the start and had a nice easy run for the first couple of miles before I caught up with Ellen.  We then ran together until the half way point, just enjoying the scenery, putting the world to rights and not worrying about our times.  By the halfway point though, I could feel that I still had plenty of gas in the tank so to speak and took off to see how much I could make up in the second half.  As we'd already taken 2 hours for the first half my sole aim was a sub 4 (and to try and enjoy it) and I'm glad to report that for the first time ever, I actually enjoyed the second half of a marathon!

Passed squillions of folk and caught up with a black South African who was as wide as he was tall.  Not fat but lots of muscle.  Sort of guy who looked like he could run through a brick wall as if it was wet tissue paper.  Anyway, we got chatting and he was telling me about running the Comrades marathon, Coast to Coast etc. and I spent my time boring him with the WHW & Highland Fling etc. so I think it was quits. ;-)  Anyway, a really nice guy and we helped each other through the second half.  He finished a bit ahead of me with a PB so he was well pleased.

I finished in 3:53:18 (a PW I think) but in so many ways it was a positive experience so I'm happy.  The weather was great, the company was great and it great to actually enjoy the second half of a road marathon.  That said, I don't think I plan to do it again for a while as it really does get in the way of some great hill races but I might well go up for the 10K as my wife enjoyed the trip up and it was great to meet up with so many of the WHW "family" again.

Fail to prepare and prepare to fail....

It trips off the tongue easily but I've come to realise recently that "failure" isn't as straightforward as one might think.

I have, without doubt, failed to prepare properly for the Loch Ness Marathon.  Curiously though, I find I'm looking forward to it with much less trepidation than normal and fully expect to enjoy it more than normal tomorrow.  I guess I've already given myself "permission to fail" tomorrow so I'm not worried about my time.  Also, my wife is running the 10K so it's not as if my trip to Inverness is wasted if I don't try my utmost tomorrow.  Lastly, I'm also toying with the idea of doing the Pentland Skyline next weekend so I don't particuarly want to trash my legs tomorrow in an all out attempt.  (Check out the course here)

So yes, I probably will "fail" tomorrow in the sense of no PB, possibly a PW, but I have enjoyed a great race last weekend, hope to have a good time this weekend and with luck, be fit for next weekend to do something that I love so all in all, perhaps not such a failure.

When you hear about friends who can't run because of injury it brings it home to you that no run that you enjoy is a failure.

Good luck to all those racing this weekend.  Just remember, it's not all just about the times.

I'm back!

Apologies to anyone who's been wondering what's happen with the running fool of late but suitably spurred on by JK, I'm going to try and get back to this blogging lark.

A lot's happened since my last post.  First there was the River Ayr Way Challenge which was great.  As some runners found, the signposting could have been better and local knowledge clearly helped.  I finished 6th overall (out of about 20) but missed out on a sub-7 time which I would have liked.  I hope it's going to be on again next year but whether I do it or not will depend on timing and the organisers aren't sure when it will be next year.  I've offered to put together an unofficial website for the council just to raise the profile of the event a bit more as I'm sure there would have been more interest if it had been better publicised.

I've also been up to Orkney (my first visit) since my last post.  Not the most dramatic of islands but an intriguing place nonetheless.  Did the touristy things like visiting the Italian Chapel, Skara Brae, Maes Howe etc., and did one gentle run around Stromness.  Stomach problems resulted in me "claiming" another island.  You probably didn't want to know that. ;-)

As I've mentioned before, I had been agonising over whether to do the Loch Ness Marathon or not as it clashed with other races I wanted to do.  The problem was, I had already entered the LNM before I remembered about them and as my wife is running the 10K in Inverness, I was pretty committed to going up.

In the end, I decided to run the Two Breweries race (report on the Troon forum here).  It was

 really tough, tougher than the Pentland Skyline I think (which is the week after the LNM) and that's saying something.  A lot of heather bashing and bog hopping and not as much running as I would have liked but a great race nonetheless.  Any race with free beer at the end can't be bad!

Unfortunately I couldn't stay for the beer! :-(  I had to rush back to Glasgow for a family meal so I reckon I'll just have to do the race again, preferably with a non-drinking companion. ;-)

I finished pretty well down the field (4:29 137/176) but it was just great to be out running (and staggering) through the hills again.  I have probably rubbished my legs for a road marathon but I don't care.  If I'm honest, I really don't enjoy road marathons and I think I'm going to spend more time on the hills and less on the roads in future.

Although it's probably madness, I hope to do the Pentland Skyline the week after.

Hearing about JK's foot problem has helped to remind me that I'm lucky to be running at any speed and that perhaps I should be worrying less about times and more about enjoyment.  I did the Two Breweries because I didn't want to let yet another year go by without having a bash at this race.  I'm really glad I did.

Gorillas in the mist...

... or 12 down, 272 to go.

Debbie et al walking along the Aonach Eagach ridge on Stob Ghabhar

There's absolutely nothing like being on top of a Scottish mountain enjoying sunlit views across the countryside, and this was nothing like that. ;-)

What had started out as a wistful remark to Thomas on Thursday about being jealous of his hillwalking trip with Debbie turned into an invitation on Friday from Marco & Debbie to join them on an outing up Stob a Choire Odhair and Stob Ghabhar.

Coming from Ayr meant an early but rather disorganised start. We were over 6 miles up the road when I spotted that my wife was wearing her trainers and I couldn't remember her putting her boots in the car. Oops! Frustratingly, we had to carry on another 2 miles before we could turn around so that was 16 miles going nowhere before we event started! Boots retrieved, we headed up north as fast as we dared and after a brief but essential pit stop at the Green Welly, we arrived at the Victoria Bridge car park at 9:30.

Marco & Debbie and Neal from the WHW family were there along with a collection of friends & dogs and we set off up towards the forest lodge and Allt Toaig burn that marks the way up.

Marco promised us glorious weather, well, perhaps not "promised" but the forecast was fair. To be fair, it was "fair" but low cloud meant that it wasn't a day for stunning views and I was very glad that I wasn't reliant on my own navigational skills up there.

Our route

It was really strange for me to be going up a hill without my muscles on fire with lactate, blood pounding in my ears and throat raw from gasping but as my wife is a relative novice at hill walking (who incidentally doubled the number of Munros that she's bagged in this one trip) I did my best to rein myself in. Not an easy task when every fibre in my body was just crying out to go galloping ahead. Still, it was good discipline and we're still talking so whilst I didn't entirely succeed, it wasn't a complete failure either. ;-)

What we hadn't realised when we set out was that this was going to be Debbie's 100th Munro and Marco had brought along a box of French chocolates to celebrate on the top of Stob Ghabhar.

Debbie the centemonronain

As we descended, the views opened up a bit and we had a stop for sandwiches and to enjoy the view. The descent by Sron a'Ghearrain & Mam nan Sac was easy if a bit squelchy. Certainly, it seemed preferable to the recommended descent by Coire na Muic which looked a bit scary from below.

On the last leg Marco made us pay for relying on him to navigate by leading us astray down to the Abhairn Shira river on to the Glen Etive footpath rather than the forest road. For "footpath" read, "2km of bog hopping". Muriel, bringing up the rear with her GPS sensibly took the forest track and arrived back at the car well before the rest of us but with no car keys and the air thick with midgies.

Still, despite the midgies and the low cloud, it was great to be out on the hills and we were very grateful for the invitation & opportunity to walk the hills. After a bit of rumaging around on this handy page on Munromagic I've discovered that I've now done a grand total of 12 Munros. Looks like I've got a few more to bag to catch up with Debbie!

The curse of Loch Ness

I know Loch Ness is supposed to have a monster rather than a curse but every year I seem to end up entering it and only later remembering good reasons for *not* doing it.

Once again I've just remembered why I shouldn't have entered. Namely, the Two Breweries Hill race on the 27th of September and the Pentland Skyline on the 12th of October. I've only ever done the Skyline but always wanted to do both of them but with the Loch Ness Marathon on the 6th of October, the timing couldn't be much worse.

I'm sure there are some intrepid souls who would tackle them all but I'm not one of those.

*NEXT* year hopefully I'll remember not to enter. :-(

Craigengower & long run

On Saturday I had to choose between the epic Ochil 2000s or our local hill race in Straiton. The Ochils race was something like 25km and Straiton was 3km. Honestly, I would have loved to have done the Ochils race but it would have meant a full day out and I don't think that would have been too popular at home. Instead, I opted to support the small local race.

It may be only 2 & a bit miles but it's a great wee race that's part of the village fete celebrations. There's always a great atmosphere and some years, there are even some serious runners! On Saturday, Prasad Prasad was there to take the course record down to 16:11. As you can see from his Scottish Hill Racing profile, he's quite a handy runner (very nice chap too). I finished in 22:02 which was a PB for me and put me 14th out of 49. If only I wasn't such a girly coming down the steep hills!

On Sunday I couldn't resist doing another long run up to Failford (21 miles from home) and although Saturday's race was just a short affair, I could feel that my legs were lacking a bit of bounce. Not unexpected of course and hopefully nothing that a bit of tapering between now and the RAW won't fix. I've decided that I'm definitely doing the Loch Ness Marathon and our accommodation is now booked. Don't suppose I'll be giving JK a run for his money but hopefully I won't disgrace myself either. ;-)

Woohoo!

Last night was the first time since the WHW race that I've felt that running the race might actually have done me some good rather than just tear up my body.

After my long 28 miler on Friday and an easy 7 miler on Sunday, I just felt different. The bounce was back in my legs and I just knew that I was back on form. It was like finding top gear in your car after months of being stuck in fourth. It was a club night last night and I just *had* to run the Smugglers Trail, a mix of road and trail that has some great hills for blasting up and down which is precisely what I did.

I don't think I can recall when I've last felt so strong on hills. It was one of those magical runs where the energy just seems to keep coming and you feel like you could run forever.

The only downside is a niggling worry that this is the sort of form I want in just over two weeks time, not *now* and I'll doubtless screw up between now and the RAW but I don't really care, last night's run was just so much fun. I find it hard to believe that one could get a greater buzz from illicit drugs. Last night my drug was SPEED.

Will I, won't I...

I've been blowing hot and cold over the Loch Ness Marathon for weeks now but since my long run on Friday, apart from a bit of post-run stiffness, I've been feeling like I've getting my "pre WHW" legs back.

Consequently, I'm feeling much more inclined *not* to throw in the towel just yet and wait until after the RAW. I'm still not keen on road marathons, which begs the question, "why did I enter?" which I think was down to a desire to have an autumn goal after the RAW. My biggest problem with road marathons is my feet! I've yet to run a marathon where I haven't been in severe pain for the last 8 miles or so which I put down to my high arched rather rigid feet.

I've tried running in both well cushioned shoes and racing flats and it seem to make little difference. This time, I'm going back to the "well cushioned" option perhaps with a new pair of Asics gel Nimbuses (?sp)and see how that works (assuming now that I do run it).

With no speed work or tempo runs for goodness knows how long I still don't expect to excel but hopefully I won't disgrace myself either.

Rationing places in oversubscibed events

This might sound like I'm trying to shoot myself in the foot but I'm coming round to the view that rationing places in popular oversubscibed events like the West Highland Way, Ben Nevis etc. might actually be good for the sport, good for the "old hands" race addicts, good for newcomers and good for race organisers.

I think that races like these have a very strong lure that brings folk back year after year. In recent years entering these races has become a real case of being "quick off the draw" and entering ASAP when the entry opens. This system tends to favour the race regulars who know the ropes and makes it hard for first timers to get a foot in the door. I think also that many race regulars would quite like to do something different some years but the lure of the race is too strong to resist and they end up doing the same race year after year without spreading their wings to attempt many of the other great races around.

I think I'd like to see repeat entries restricted to 2 entries every 3 or 4 years, with a withdrawal (that can be filled by someone else) not counting.

This would give race addicts a chance to have a year out and DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT! It would also free up a lot of race regulars for marshalling duties and give them a chance to give something back to a race that they may have run many times but not helped in the running of.
It would free up space for more first timers, which has got to be a good thing.

I can't think of a major downside at the moment but I'm sure others will come up with things I haven't thought of. ;-)

Knackered!

As part of my "panic training scheme" I went out with a club mate for what turned out to be a 28 mile run along the River Ayr Way. Having done my first long run since the WHW last Thursday (21 miles), a couple of 8 milers, a 5 mile trail race on Wednesday, I'm now ready to start tapering for the River Ayr Way race on the 6th of September. ;-)

I'd be the first to admit that this is no way to train for an event but that's never stopped me in the past and I don't suppose I change my ways now. When I say "taper" I really mean tapering my longest runs. I hope to try and put in a few more miles through the week than I've done till now but I think I've done enough long runs to get me through the race.

The run itself went well although the last 5 miles along Ayr seafront and home dragged a bit as I was on my own for that stretch but on the whole, I'm happy with the way I ran the hills and kept going without any major problems.

I am though seriously considering pulling out of the Loch Ness marathon. My heart just isn't in it at the moment. I remember how much road marathons hurt and I've not much enthusiasm for putting myself through that pain when a decent time let alone a PB seem out of the question at the moment. I guess I'll wait until after the RAW and see how I feel then but if I don't do the marathon I'll see if there are any 10k places left instead. Not that I'll run a 10K PB either but my wife will be running and I feel I ought to be up there to support her.

It's official, I'm in the 2009 race

A list has appeared of those whose entries have been accepted for the 2009 WHW race and I'm very relieved to see that my name has appeared there. Not that I had big doubts that it would, but I had some payment problems on-line and Dario (the race organiser) has had his mail system die on him right at busiest moment of the year. To lose your email access right at the start of entries for an event like this might be a race organiser's worst nightmare. Hopefully it'll get sorted soon but I dare say it's going to cause him some further anguish even when it is sorted if he has more entries than places (as seems very likely). Trying to allocate places on a "first come, first served" basis when all the entries arrive in one big lump may prove a real headache. It'll no doubt seem funny in hindsight (maybe not for a few years though) but right now I really feel for the poor guy.

Meanwhile, I'm delighted to see so many familiar faces amongst the race entries, particularly those who had unhappy experiences this year. I hope that they can put this year's experiences behind them and have a great race in 2009. I've just been having a peek at Vicky Little's blog who amazingly only started running in 2006 and is now looking for a place in the WHW race next year! She had a good run in the Devil O' the Highlands and has entered next year's Fling. I really hope she gets a place.

I suppose I did my first "WHW09" training run on Tuesday, an easy 8 miler. Last night I was running the Kilmarnock 5m trail race through Dean park. This was my first race since the WHW race and given my lack of any sort of training I wasn't too unhappy with my time (33:58/59). It's a hilly little course (although truth be told, probably nearer 4.7 than 5 miles) and suited my present preference for hills over flat running. I wore my "Skins" short tights which I think helped with my niggly hamstring. Certainly, it's not giving me any grief today and the race doesn't seem to have done me any harm. All being well, I'll be doing a 25ish mile run on the River Ayr Way tomorrow which will probably be my longest run before the River Ayr Way race in September.

We've all got them,...

...those friends who love to tell you that you'll end up crippled and in a wheelchair before you're 60 because you run.

Of course this used to be the prevelant "common sense" view of arthritis that it it was all "wear & tear" and that strenuous exercise would necessarily (indeed, could only) make it worse. Well, I think that theory has been well debunked by this study. (Full text below incase the link stops working - http://med.stanford.edu/news_releases/2008/august/running.html).

I don't suppose it'll change many people's minds as clearly a lot of folk *want* to believe that running is unhealthy to justify their inactivity. Still, I've a few friends who'll be receiving a copy in their inbox before the day is out. ;-)

STANFORD, Calif. — Regular running slows the effects of aging, according to a new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine that has tracked 500 older runners for more than 20 years. Elderly runners have fewer disabilities, a longer span of active life and are half as likely as aging nonrunners to die early deaths, the research found.“The study has a very pro-exercise message,” said James Fries, MD, an emeritus professor of medicine at the medical school and the study’s senior author. “If you had to pick one thing to make people healthier as they age, it would be aerobic exercise.” The new findings appear in the Aug. 11 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.When Fries and his team began this research in 1984, many scientists thought vigorous exercise would do older folks more harm than good. Some feared the long-term effect of the then-new jogging craze would be floods of orthopedic injuries, with older runners permanently hobbled by their exercise habit. Fries had a different hypothesis: he thought regular exercise would extend high-quality, disability-free life. Keeping the body moving, he speculated, wouldn’t necessarily extend longevity, but it would compress the period at the end of life when people couldn’t carry out daily tasks on their own. That idea came to be known as “the compression of morbidity theory.”Fries’ team began tracking 538 runners over age 50, comparing them to a similar group of nonrunners. The subjects, now in their 70s and 80s, have answered yearly questionnaires about their ability to perform everyday activities such as walking, dressing and grooming, getting out of a chair and gripping objects. The researchers have used national death records to learn which participants died, and why. Nineteen years into the study, 34 percent of the nonrunners had died, compared to only 15 percent of the runners. At the beginning of the study, the runners ran an average of about four hours a week. After 21 years, their running time declined to an average of 76 minutes per week, but they were still seeing health benefits from running.On average both groups in the study became more disabled after 21 years of aging, but for runners the onset of disability started later. “Runners’ initial disability was 16 years later than nonrunners,’” Fries said. “By and large, the runners have stayed healthy.”Not only did running delay disability, but the gap between runners’ and nonrunners’ abilities got bigger with time. “We did not expect this,” Fries said, noting that the increasing gap between the groups has been apparent for several years now. “The health benefits of exercise are greater than we thought.”Fries was surprised the gap between runners and nonrunners continues to widen even as his subjects entered their ninth decade of life. The effect was probably due to runners’ greater lean body mass and healthier habits in general, he said. “We don’t think this effect can go on forever,” Fries added. “We know that deaths come one to a customer. Eventually we will have a 100 percent mortality rate in both groups.”But so far, the effect of running on delaying death has also been more dramatic than the scientists expected. Not surprisingly, running has slowed cardiovascular deaths. However, it has also been associated with fewer early deaths from cancer, neurological disease, infections and other causes.And the dire injury predictions other scientists made for runners have fallen completely flat. Fries and his colleagues published a companion paper in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine showing running was not associated with greater rates of osteoarthritis in their elderly runners. Runners also do not require more total knee replacements than nonrunners, Fries said. “Running straight ahead without pain is not harmful,” he said, adding that running seems safer for the joints than high-impact sports such as football, or unnatural motions like standing en pointe in ballet.“When we first began, there was skepticism about our ideas,” Fries said. “Now, many other findings go in the same direction.”Fries, 69, takes his own advice on aging: he’s an accomplished runner, mountaineer and outdoor adventurer.

Like a moth to a flame...

...I can not resist entering the 2009 WHW race. My e-mail arrived last night and my money is winging its electronic way to Dario as I type.

One year, I'll resist the lure and do one of the many other mid year races that I'd like to do but somehow I can't summon up the willpower *not* to enter the WHW race. ;-)

Dare I even think about setting a goal so soon? There were so many inspiring performances this year that it's tempting to think that I could do better. I know I have plenty of room to improve with regards to my nutrition which I think can make a *big* difference to how one performs on the day. I'd love to shoot for sub-22 so unless injury or some other problem intervenes between now and next year's race, that's going to be my "gold" goal.

Britain's first gold

I was delighted to see Nicole Cooke gain her well deserved gold medal yesterday. She was unlucky in Athens not to get one then and I'll bet it made it all the sweeter this time when she crossed the line. To say that she was excited after crossing the line would be the understatement of the year. ;-)

I have to say though that I'm a bit confused by the award of an individual medal for what was, by her own admission, a team event. Of course the TDF winner doesn't get there without massive support from his team but that's a very different event to a one-off road race. I can't help feeling that a non-drafting long time trial would be a much fairer (& better) test of individual strength.

Anyway, well done that girl!

An easy 8 miler

After another few days off (not through choice but just lack of opportunity), I went out for an easy run today around my 8 mile loop. Thankfully, my achilles niggle seems to have disappeared although I still have a bit of discomfort in my hamstring. Still, it doesn't seem to be getting any worse and a couple of my other aches seem to have disappeared too so it seems that sometimes, the cure is running rather than rest.

I find since the WHW race and my holiday in Tenerife that I'm really relishing running up hills just now. I reversed the direction of my run today just so that I could get a good long plug up a hill and I found on holiday that I was always looking for the biggest hills. Not sure what any of this means though. I doubt it'll translate into speed in the short term and it may be that I'm just running up hills relatively less badly than I'm running on the level bits but at least I'm enjoying it. Feeling much more confident about finishing the RAW race now and hoping to do a couple more 8 milers this week before another long run next weekend.

Panic setting in...

With less than a month to go until the River Ayr Way, a race that I've done my best to plug, I realised that I'd done perhaps half a dozen runs, all no more than 6 miles since the WHW race.

A good rest was always part of my plan but I swear it's not done me any good. After my first 4 week layoff, I developed problems with one of my Achilles and hamstrings and they've never completely gone away. I suspect that some folk, if they don't run regularly, tighten up and then become more injury prone. Perhaps if I was more obsessive about stretching it might not have happened but it seems more than coincidental that I've had more problems this time after the WHW race than in previous years when I haven't tried a deliberated rest period.

Anyway, stuff resting, I've got a race to train for so in best "running fool" tradition, I went out and ran 21 miles yesterday from home to the Failford Inn on the River Ayr Way just to see if I could do it. I can't pretend it was easy but then I didn't make it easy for myself by not carrying enough fluid for the windy & muggy conditions. I also set off just before lunch which didn't help. Still, I feel considerably more confident about managing the RAW race *and* I spotted a Kingfisher flitting up the river which always gives me a buzz (hence the piccy up above).

My legs are a bit stiff today but not too bad. I'll try and get another good run on the RAW in before the race and maybe do some cycling as I don't think I've time to put in as many running miles as I'd like without risking injury.

¡Hola!

As you may have guessed from my salutation, I´m in Spain, or rather Tenerife at the moment. Not only am I on holiday, I´m running again. Woo hoo!

Not everything is perfect though. I still have a little achilles niggle but that goes away as I warm up so I´m not bothered by that. I´m also still bothered by some hamstring tightness, something that I´ve never suffered with before. Still, neither of them are stopping me going out for an enjoyable 6 or so miles every other morning, romping up and down the hills of Los Gigantes.

If you look at the link, you´ll see that the resort is build at the base of some gigantic cliffs. Most of the flatter bits of the town are built on a 30 degree slope. The rest is steeper. :-)

Whethere running up and down hills is good for a man in my condition I don´t know but I´m just loving it. It´s just so good to be running again and I´m forever on the lookout for ever steeper hills to attack in my morning runs. I doubt I´ll be as fit as I had hoped in time for the River Ayr Way race but at least the hills shouldn´t bother me. :-)

Adios!

B*gger it!

I went out for a gentle run on Sunday evening, two weeks after the WHW race. My legs felt full of bounce but I was aware of a little niggle in the bottom of my right calf muscle. I took it easy and it seemed to improve so I carried on for a couple of miles when I stopped and did a bit of gentle stretching which seemed to loosen things up slightly.

I carried on for another couple of mile (with another gentle stretch) but about a mile from home, whilst running up a small hill, I got a sudden stab of pain in my calf and I was forced to walk/limp the rest of the way home. B*gger, b*gger, b*gger!

I iced it as soon as I got home and went to see my physio on Monday who did the usual black magic with the ultrasound and massage but it's looking like it's going to another week before I'm running again. :-( I managed to borrow an ultrasound machine so at least I can repeat the treatments at home.

I think this is the last time I try resting after a big race! It's brought me nothing but grief, firstly in the form of a chest infection and now this.

Still not running, but cross training

That's if you call fence building cross training. ;-)
That's about 70 feet of ranch fencing on 4x4" posts concreted into the ground. I also had to dig out five Leylandii with trunk diameters of 5-7" so it's not been too easy. My upper body feels decidedly odd after all this intensive upper body workout. It's just not used to it!

Nothing happening on the running front although I might try a gentle jog this evening as I'm fed up with this cough. Resting doesn't seem to be helping it to resolve so I might as well go back to running, or at least wheezing and running. My wife and I have finished the first bottle of Cough Nurse and have now graduated to Night Nurse. It seems to do the trick in as far as it means that we are managing to sleep now, despite our coughs.

A bit better I think

Well, I did go doctor bothering yesterday and she reckoned she could hear a few crackles in my chest and I came away with a prescription for amoxycillin.

Of course I don't know whether it was about to start resolving or not but last night was much better and I only had a couple of minor bouts of coughing. Still feeling a bit wabbit but that might have something to do with wrestling with a leyllandi hedge I was grubbing out yesterday and the ranch fencing I'm erecting in its place. I suppose it counts as "cross training" so despite not having run a step wince the race, I don't feel too shortchanged in the exercise department.

Finally got around to putting in my entry for the River Ayr Way race. Having spent so much time encouraging others to enter, I thought I really ought to get a move on and make sure of my own place in the race! ;-)

Bah humbug...

Another horrible night despite copious quantities of real ale, a glass of port, some ibuprofen and a slug of "Cough Nurse". :-(

I had high hopes for the Cough Nurse working as it specifically warns that it may make one sleepy. Combined with the alcohol, I thought it couldn't fail. I think I might have drifted off briefly but I spent a good part of the night coughing and barking like a seal until Muriel forced another dose of Cough Nurse down my throat. This at last did the trick and I did in the end get some sleep.

Sorely tempted to go doctor bothering today and see if I can get some antibiotics. I really am fed up with this.

Blegh :-(

Don't you just hate those tickly coughs that keep you awake most of the night? The kind where you keep hoping that the next cough will clear your throat properly (but it never does) and you'll be able to drift off to sleep at last?

Ever since the WHW race my immune system has been at a low ebb. Sometimes I wonder whether I shouldn't just start running again as I've often thought that an easy run can stop a cold from developing into anything more. All I know is that rest doesn't seem to be curing it. If it's no better tonight it's getting the red wine treatment!

Oops!

Allybea's Blog!

(It was pointed out to me today that I had omitted a very important link). ;-)

Another report from the support team's point of view

My wife Muriel has written up her account of my race. I've added a permenant link at the side but you can go directly from here

Post race analysis

I hope you all like the new picture. I took it with my mobile phone whilst running the race. I shudder to think how much time I wasted taking photos and how easily it might have pushed me beyond 23 hours! Anyhow, I'm quite pleased with the result and I think it captures a little of the beauty that the bog cotton brought to Rannoch Moor.

Getting back to the race, firstly equipment (starting from the top).

Equipment
Head torch
I had to rush out and buy a new head torch the day before the race as I just couldn't lay my hands on my nice Princeton Apex head torch. It had served me very well during my mid-winter WHW run and I was in a panic about losing it. I went out to my local Blacks of Greenock and bought their most expensive Petzl tikka torch, the XP. This only uses 3 AAA batteries as opposed to the Princeton's 4 AA but I wasn't after a huge battery life, I just wanted a decent light. I had no chance to test it pre-race (as I kept hoping that my old one would turn up and I would be able to return the new one) but I needn't have worried, it was brilliant. Light and bright with a good "flood" diffuser. If I had a complaint, it would be that the two buttons are a little hard to work with cold fingers. I'd highly recommend it though. It provided plenty of light for running and navigating through the forest above Glen Nevis.

Contact lenses
I use soft daily disposables *very* occasionally. When I say "daily", that's what it says on the packet. I reuse the same pair many many times. ;-) Despite being only an occasional wearer, I had no trouble wearing my lenses for the full duration of the race and a few hours besides. Again, if you're a spectacle wearer and you've not tried them, I'd recommend giving them a go.

Neckwear
Gotta be a buff, hasn't it? ;-) So versatile and comforting when things get a bit cool. My buff had to become headwear after Rowadennan to stop the midges biting my ears. A real godsend.

Top
I bought a Salomon X-Static technical top that I wore throughout the race. I bought it because I has a high neckline (useful to reduce abrasion from hydration pack straps), short sleeves and a short zip. I found it really comfortable and the only change I made throughout the race was to put a long sleeve top on over the top of it towards the end. The best thing though was that I've usually suffered abrasions around my waist from my bottle belt on long runs but with this shirt material, I had no abrasions whatsoever. Of course the dry weather may have been a factor.

Hydration pack
A cheapie bought from Millets (a "Storm Shield" pack). It's sold with numerous different names but the basic pack is the same. The original bladder died on mine years ago and got replace with a Camelbac one. As a rucksack, it's been really comfortable and I see no need to change it.

Bottle belt
A Hilly Classic bottle belt. Mine came with a 400ml wide necked bottle that was easy to fill and more than adequate in size for a race where you're getting supplies along the way. The two pockets are just big enough for a very lightweight jacket and overtrousers. Again, wouldn't bother to change it next time.

Shorts (half tights)
I've been using Skins in training and the knee length ones have been very comfortable with no tendency to slip down at the crutch (unlike the full length ones). I wore the same pair throughout the race (although I changed my underwear in Kinlochleven) and was pleased to have no abrasions post race. None of the usual screaming in the shower.
;-) Whether it was down to better training (likely) or some help from the Skins (possible), my quads felt fine throughout the race. I had no problems running down the forest road at the end, a time when shot quads are usually screaming out.

Socks
Innov8 Smartwool Deris Socks. Just brilliant. No gravel in my shoes, comfortable throughout and not even a teeny blister. I was worried about the durability of the rubber bands that pass under the shoe but they held up well in several training runs. During the race, the first band broke at about Kings House, the second one after Kinlochleven. Despite this, they still functioned well at keeping the gravel out. Given that they weren't pristine pre-race, I can live with that. Better still, I phoned Innov8 and for the princely sum of £3.50, they posted out 3 new pairs of rubber bands. They're supposed to be available in the shops (for 50p a pair) but few shops seem to stock them. When the socks wear out, I'll just snip them off the gaiter and use ordinary socks so at £15 a pair, I reckon they're great value for what you get.

Shoes
I've been training in Innov8 Roclite 295s, not so much for their light weight but because the shape suits my foot much better that the 315s. I found them just fine in the Fling so was happy to wear them for the WHW. Again, up to Tyndrum and perhaps up to Kings House, I had no problem but my feet became increasingly tender after this and I felt I needed more cushioning. At KLL I changed into some old road shoes (my "old faithful" Asics Gel Landreth shoes) and my feet felt better for it. I'd probably use them again for the first half of the race but change inot road shoes at Tyndrum in future. I had no problems with my feet swelling and my sandals went unworn post-race.

Miscellany

Phone
I tried Vodaphone this year to see if the coverage was any better. As you might expect, I wasn't spending my time watching the signal strength so I don't know anything for sure. It *did* seem to have plenty of signal across Rannoch Moor which is where I've had trouble with Orange and O2. Still seemed poor above Crianlarich. Seems there's no one network that will work everywhere. What I did enjoy was (being an antisocial miserable bugger) the fact that only Dario, my wife and support runner knew my number. In the past I've come to really hate dealing with calls & texts when I'm running. I made sure that my support knew that I *didn't* want any unnecessary calls. Call me a miserable git if you like but I was a lot happier running without having to deal with calls and texts.

Anti-midge tactics.
Skin-so-soft may have an effect but I believe that it's anti-midge reputation was built on the "Woodland Fresh" scented variety, which isn't the one you see in most shops. I stuck with DEET. ;-) The other thing I did that really seemed to help when we visited the Everglades in Florida a few years ago, was to have Selenium tablets (which contain yeast) for a week pre-race. This doesn't stop you getting bitten but does seem to dramatically reduce the pain and itching. I had no visible bites post race.

Training
You know, I don't think I'd change anything very much. My 200 miles a month in 2008 seemed to work pretty well, concentrating on a lot of LSD and not too much speedwork. I think doing the odd hill race pre WHW helped quite a lot too, particularly the Carnethy 5 which really seemed to "kick start" my legs. I'd perhaps make more of an effort to do the full back to back long runs with JK et al as I think more miles on the trail can't hurt too much and would have given me more opportunity to fine tune my hydration and nutrition in as near race conditions as possible. I'd definitely do the Highland Fling race again (already entered for next year). I was worried before it that it might just be "too much" before the WHW race but I really enjoyed the race and my legs recovered well from it.
Still got some work to do on hydration and nutrition. I definitely felt that my pace suffered at times not from under-training but from swinging nutrition levels. I wasted too much time this year experimenting with "self sufficiency", which would be useful should I decide to run the WHW unsupported but not a good strategy when one has got a support crew. It definitely involves compromising you nutrition in favour of portability over quality.

Nutrition & Hydration
These two are, I think, absolutely key to doing well in this race and I know I've got some work to do. I thought I'd crave chocolate milk more than I and only drank one during the race. Small tubs of fruit salad were a hit and I knocked back quite a few of these. Had a couple of Muller Rices as well but I found during the race that I felt a bit intimidated by the size of them. "Little and often" seems to be the order of the day. I enjoyed half a baked potato at Auchtertyre and would have potato again. I might also experiment with John's baked beans. Maybe that's where all the wind came from after KLL? ;-) I think I'll have to work up to them though as I've never been wowed by the thought of cold beans. Still, if running like JK means eating like JK, I'm prepared to give it a go. ;-)

Fluidwise, I keep using a mix of water and probably Lucozade Sport with Caffeine boost. I don't know if it was *just* the Lucozade and caffeine that gave me the boost after KLL and it may just have been enough calories getting absorbed at the right time.

I did use some "Succeed" electrolyte capsules which I've had no trouble with. Unfortunately, the packaging is poor and my ziplock bag burst and then the capsules popped. :-(. Fortunately, I also had some Nuun tablets that you add to water. reasonably palatable but incline to leave a residual flavour in your water bottle which can be annoying. I think I'm going to harass the makers of "Succeed" into improving their packaging. They aim their product at runners and then only supply it on big bottles of capsules that you have to transfer to something else. Far better if they were in a bubble pack strip or in tablet form rather than capsule.

Golly, I think that's enough for now. ;-)....................

...............back again, now where was I?

Ah yes, SUPPORT! Where would we be without them?

I use a "one crew" support system. One car, one driver, one runner for the whole shebang.

I make a point of NOT stopping before Balmaha to give my crew a chance to rest and I'm really not sure why anyone would want to see their support crew sooner. I mean, if you can't run the 19 odd miles to Balmaha unsupported you shouldn't be starting! It really doesn't mean carrying much more. Being at night means that insensible losses tend to be low so you really don't need to carry much fluid for that distance (and there are always camelbac etc. if you want to carry a lot.

I try to phone ahead to give my crew some idea of what I want. I think it's a bit unfair to surprise them or expect them to be hopping from foot to foot in anticipation of your arrival. You're going to need them for a long time. No point in wearing them out with nervous exhaustion any more than necessary.

I was happy to have my support runner with me from Kingshouse onwards. I don't expect or want them to run in and out of checkpoints with me. I appreciate that it depends on a lot of factors but I feel having a support runner too early is not quite cricket. They're certainly not there to carry any of your kit! They're there for your safety, not to pace you to a faster time whether you're in the top 10 or the bottom 10. If you're injured or really struggling for other reasons, fair enough. I rather suspect that pacing and muling (carrying kit) happened on occasions is this year's race. Probably through ignorance rather than any intention to bend the rules.

Sorry, I digress. Getting on a hobby horse. ;-) Back to support.

I think something that my wife would do differently next year is keep more hot water in thermos flasks. We have a good stove but it still takes a little time and if I change my mind about wanting coffee and want a cupasoup instead, having hot water rather than coffee made up makes things simpler.

Another thing we found handy from the support point of view was for my wife to have two phones on different networks. At one point I couldn't contact her on O2 but could on Orange. If you have a spare handset it's easy enough to pick up a PAYG sim and you never know when it might come in useful. Of course it would have been handy if I'd had two phones but there are limits to how much clutter I'm prepared to carry. ;-)

Other than that, I don't think I'll change anything about my support for next year.

My 2008 West Highland Way race

After 2 failures to make this start line in the last two years, I was just desperate to make the start line this year, and if possible, put in the sub 24 hour time that I was sure I was capable of. I know that to some folk who knew how I was running in training, this might have seemed a fairly modest target, but I had suffered too many disappointments to risk setting my sights too high. My first goal was to get to the start line, my second goal was to finish and my third goal was to go sub 24. In 95 miles there is just so much that can go wrong, it's foolish to take anything for granted.


In the last few days before the race I had a panic attack when I realised that I couldn't find my trusty head torch that had seen me through my Way Highland West run in 2006. Despite turning the house upside down several times I just couldn't find it before the race and had to buy a new one on Thursday. As it turned out, the replacement one (a Petzl Tika XP) turned out to be an excellent little piece of kit, the only downside being rather small buttons that are a bit hard to feel with cold fingers!


Before leaving home, I had this picture taken which provides and interesting contrast to the one taken at the end. A bit scary huh? ;-)

Before

After

As you can probably tell from the after photograph, I was more than a bit pleased. ;-) I hadn't just gone sub 24 but had manage to go sub-23 with a full minute and 8 seconds in hand!

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. Back to the beginning. It was the first time I'd heard the pre-race briefing in the church hall which made a huge difference, I could actually hear it! The one downside of using the hall is that there isn't really room for all the support crews and I think some of them need a bit of pre-race instruction.

I personally feel that some runners are jeopardising the future of the race by having far too large a support team. Parking is at a premium up the WHW and no runner should need more than one vehicle or one runner supporting them at any time during the race. Whilst I accept that bigger vehicles are nice to have, on many parts of the WHW, there just isn't space for big motorhomes! That doesn't mean that runners can't have two teams of support crew to spread the load but having more than one support vehicle occupying precious parking space at a support point is just selfish in my opinion. Some runners had so much support that it could be construed as pacing and muling (carrying a runner's load for them), practices that I consider "unsporting" at the very least. I certainly saw runners being accompanied from Tyndrum carrying nothing at all (not even a water bottle) and I think this breaks the spirit of the race rules if not the letter.


Enough of that, time for my report

Milngavie to Balmaha

"Start slow and speed up later". How many times have I told folk that? Is that what I did? Nope. ;-) I'm an absolute sucker for getting dragged along by a group and as this first stretch never feels like the *real* WHW to me, I'm always keen to get it over with as soon as possible. The pace felt easy but I reached Drymen in 1:55 which was faster than I'd intended and it was only as I climbed Conic Hill and Murdo passed me, that I began to appreciate just how much too fast I might have set off. Still, it had been a glorious night for running with a near full moon, mist over the lochs at Carbeth and beautifully cool and windless. When I say "cool" I actually mean "near freezing". The car thermometer dropped to 3c on the way over to Balmaha and I swear I saw some ice near the top of the hill. I had a lightweight windproof top on though and didn't really suffer apart from slightly chilly fingers. What I did suffer from was an inconvenient call of nature and a surfeit of hill walkers at 4 in the morning! I *think* I was just about decent when they came around the bend up the hill. I think I reached Drymen in 3:14 and stopped briefly for some chocolate milk before heading off at 3:19. I was feeling pretty good but my tummy was bothering me.

Balmaha to Rowardennan

Things weren't right in the Downie guts department and I had to stop twice before Rowardennan to desecrate the countryside. One one occasion, I was forced to stop running and walk, or should I say "mince" with tightly clenched buttocks until I reached a suitable site. Not fun at all! My legs seemed to get heavier and achier as I neared Rowardennan and by the time I reached there, I was seriously beginning to doubt whether I wanted to carry on. Every step was hurting and the though of doing another 60 miles at that point was almost overwhelming. Rowardennan seems to be a real "make or break" point for lots of runners and I think the knowledge of what lies ahead weighs most heavily on you at that point.

Rowardennan to Inversnaid


The midges weren't bothering me when I stopped at Rowardennan and I made the mistake of *not* topping up my repellent. Good old DEET I'm afraid, none of your "Skin so Soft" rubbish. ;-). My motto is, "If it doesn't melt plastic, it can't possibly be any good". Anyway, I'd only put some rather weak DEET solution on the the beginning and the moment I left Rowardennan, I deeply regretted not slathering on more. Like everyone else, I chewed and blinked my way through clouds of the damned beasties, all the time hating every step of the way. My progress had slowed right down and runners were coming past me with distressing frequency. I was feeling really low at this point and wishing I'd picked up more snacks to sustain me to Beinglas. I couldn't run up any sort of hill and even gentle downslopes were causing me pain.


Just before the end of the forest road where the track narrows though, something came right in my body. I suspect it was just delayed absorption of what I'd eaten at Rowardennan but over a very short space of time, I found I could actually run down hills again, and then up hills too! What's more, the awful ache in my legs and feet disappeared. This association between energy levels and pain occurred several times during my run, something I've not read about before. For me, low energy = more pain. High energy = less pain. Quite why this should be so, I'm not sure but the relief of the pain and the pleasure of being able to run again lifted my spirits enormously and I proceeded to retake all the runners who's passed me before Inversnaid.

Inversnaid to Beinglas

At Invernaid, I filled my water bottle with water and midges before setting off on a section that I have mixed feelings about. I actually love the first part of it which is full of swoopy little hills that rise and fall for a few miles. After that though, you get into the snarly roots and rocks and there is so little of it that you can run, even if you want to. It just gets tedious and you just want it to be over as soon as possible. Before Beinglas I managed to overhaul another two runners which was good for morale although I was worrying about my pace.

I don't actually stop at Beinglas, but carry on to the point where the WHW diverts off to the right, At this point the WHW and the road are very briefly on the same side of the river so it's a handy support point that doesn't involve abusing anyone's hospitality. I'd arranged by phone for my wife to bring up some food and drink but before I arrived, I was overwhelmed by a craving for a Solero ice lolly. I don't know why, but it *had* to be a Solero. Dutifully, and amazingly, she got up to Crianlarich and back to the A82 crossing in time to hand over my hearts desire. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to remind myself how lucky I am. ;-)

A82 crossing to Auchtertyre

After my lolly, I was feeling pretty good all the way up to the checkpoint, certainly better than I had done during the Fling which encouraged me. Of course, this is exactly how it *should* have been but it was nice to feel that I didn't want to stop at Tyndrum. Auchtertyre though was the second point where things started to go wrong, for the stupidest of reasons.

Runners were getting weighed at this point (for very good reasons) and I'd put *on* a little weight (just 0.3 of a kilo). Now I was feeling fine but *knowing* that I'd put on weight (potentially very dangerous if you drink too much) made me way too cautious about drinking thereafter. There pre-race instructions were pretty clear that weights would only be treated seriously if there were other significant symptoms but that didn't stop me worrying. Consequently, I got dryer and dryer thereafter. I was here that I heard about Ian's withdrawal, a huge shock for us all I think. Ian is just so synonymous with the WHW that to hear of his withdrawal was almost like being told that the sun was going to rise in the west in the morning. I think Ian has given so much to the race over the years and shared his experience with so many runners that we've come to assume that he's not like ordinary mortals and forget that even he can have an off day. It was a blow for all of us I think but I was glad to hear that he'd decided to stay on. A WHW race without Ian is somehow almost unthinkable.

Auchtertyre to Kingshouse

I left Auchtertyre in pretty good shape but I found the stretch from Tyndrum to Bridge of orchy realy tough. It's just too flat! My feet and legs were beginning to ache again and I found myself increasingly having to grab myself figuratively by the scruff of my neck and give myself a talking to. I could see hopes of a sub 24 slipping away. I had reached Tyndrum in 11:30 and was basing my estimated finishing time on twice that but it was beginning to feel more and more unrealistic. I tried to put on a brave face for the camera at Tyndrum but I think the photograph shows my true feelings.

After Tyndrum I felt like I was crawling. The level bits hurt, the uphills hurt, the downhills hurt. I don't know how long I took but I ran with Rosie Bell for a bit which kept me going when I was feeling so low. Somehow I managed a slightly more convincing smile at BOO.
I had some to eat at Bridge of Orchy and crawled out up over the hill. Once at Inveroran though, I seemed to recover some strength again and the pain lessened once more and I began to start pushing more. I actually made quite good speed down towards Blackrock cottage and you can see I was actually enjoying being able to run again.



I was was again shocked to find another friend in trouble at Blackrock cottage though. This time it was Thomas who was in trouble and it hurt to find out that he too was withdrawing. I stopped for some coffee and food and Thomas donated his supply of grapes that he'd seen me lusting after.

After a slow jog to Kingshouse I was joined by my support runner, the wonderful Anne. She's not been in our club terribly long but has already proved her mettle at marathon and ultra-distance events. She never uttered a single negative word through the last stretches of the race, something that you really appreciate when you're having more than enough negative thoughts to sink a battleship.


Kingshouse to Kinlochleven

Anne and I made as much use of the level (ish) stretch to Altnafeadh as possible to claw back some time but by the time I reached the bottom of the Devil's Staircase, I felt utterly spent. The climb just seemed to go on forever and I'd slowed so much that I was getting cold for the first time in the race. Reaching the top didn't bring any relief either though and I felt as weak as a kitten. My descending legs had utterly deserted me. It wasn't until about half an hour into the descent that I regained the ability to run and from that point things improved (slightly).

At Kinlochleven, I got weighed again and found that I was now 4.7kg *underweight* and it was clear that I had swung too far in the wrong direction. I now had a craving for a sausage roll (the greasy flaky kind) but the best the chippy could manage was a sliced up sausage in a bun. Not exactly what I wanted buy full marks for trying! I can't remember what I drank at this point (other than quite a lot) but I set off with a bottle of Lucozade Sport with caffeine boost (following Thomas's recommendation in his blog) to drink on the climb. I was sufficiently pessimistic at this point to tell my wife that I could easily be two hours before I'd see her at Lundavra.


Kinlochleven to Fort William


The climb was horrible. In 2005 my right knee locked thirty miles into the race. I'd had no trouble with it before or since but now I was getting a stabbing pain in my right knee whenever it bent beyond a certain amount. I had to do virtually the whole climb leading with my left leg and each time being careful not to plant my right foot *higher* than my left, taking lopsided steps all the way up the hill. By now, all hope of a sub 24 seemed lost, a goal that I'd had in mind from my very first race back in 2005. A sub 27.19 PB would have been nice but it was the sub 24 that I wanted. Still, one small step at a time, I made my way up the hill, getting passed by runners yet again. Once at the top however and on to leveller ground, I found that I could jog on my knee without pain. The lucozade seemed also to be doing something as the pain and tiredness seemed to be leaving my body. Combined with the freakishly strong wind against our *backs* (when have you ever known the wind do you any favours in a race?), we were able to pick up the pace. Before long, we could see the runners who had passed us in the far distance. We could see that they were walking up the hills so I determinedly forced myself to run up every runnable hill or at least run further up each hill than they did. Little by little we reeled them in, our pace picking up all the time. By the time we reached Lundavra we were on a high, excited by the realisation that now, not only was sub 24 back on the cards, a sub 23 might be doable!

My wife wasn't expecting us so soon so we had to jog down the road to the car to fetch another bottle of "rocket fuel" as I was now calling the Lucozade. Of course I can't be sure that it was what made the difference, I ate and drank too many different things to be sure but by golly, I didn't think another bottle could hurt at that stage! Before leaving Linlochleven I had asked for some soup in Lundavra but we realised that there wasn't time for this now and we set straight off. The wind wasn't quite on our backs anymore, mostly from the side and sometimes head on but we were still making good time and keeping our head torches in reserve for as long as possible (I just wanted to see how far we could get without them). Eventually though, as we got deeper into the trees, we had to don them and our pace slowed considerably as the path narrowed and wound it's way through the woods. Still, we pressed on as best we could but we caught by a runner (Paul Tranter) and his support as we navigated our way through. I was glad that I had run the route relatively recently in daylight as it was *much* less clear where the path went in the dark and I reckon I probably helped Paul out there. ;-)

The moment we hit the forest road though, it was no holds barred and Paul and his support took off into the distance. Anne and I watched this for a while before realising the we *could* go faster, indeed, probably *had* to go faster if we were to get into Fort William in time for a sub 23. Somehow, we both found untapped reserves and slowly, oh so slowly, we clawed our way back. First we passed another runner (Neil MacRitchie I think) who Paul had already passed and gradually we caught up with, and passed, Paul and his support. After 92 miles we were racing!



We though we had him beat but not long after joining the road after the Braveheart carpark, Paul came steaming past at a speed I knew I couldn't match. A glance at my watch showed however that I was darned well going to have to try to match it though! From the 30 mph sign onwards, I swear I was nearing 6 minute mile pace. I ungraciously left Anne to fly past the roundabout and on towards the leisure centre. There was no time to look at my watch now and I sprinted across the car park at a billion miles an hour (slight exaggeration) and hit the doors so hard I thought I'd broken them for a moment.

This was me pretending to be tired.

And this was me about a minute later when the realisation that I'd managed 22:58:52 hit me.


I'm not given to blubbing but I think you can see just how pleased I was. It was wonderful to have my wife Muriel (on the left) there this time. Back in 2005, I was struggling and came in much later. She'd (quite justifiably) fallen asleep in the car and unfortunately found a mobile phone "dead spot" I couldn't warn her of my approach!

This time she was there though and much happier that I'd arrived over 4 hours earlier than last time. Both she and Anne (on the right) got a huge hug. After shaking hands with Paul (who probably inadvertently gave us the impetus to scape in under the 23 hours), we didn't hang around. We went straight to our B&B, into the shower and off to bed. Amazingly this year I actually slept, something I never normally manage to do after an ultra.

I'm going to stop now as it's coming up to 2 am and I'm making a bit of a bosh of this but I think John K's absolutely right that you need to get this stuff down as soon as possible. I'll do some polishing and additions tomorrow. Sleep well everyone.