Strathaven Striders "Run with the Wind" race report

Well I tried, I really did. Ever since we got back from Nepal I've been working on my endurance and speed. Indeed, I've even tried training every day with no rest days but it was all to no avail.

There was just no way that I could drink my two pints of beer fast enough to justify a third before Muriel (designated driver) had finished her one pint.

It's not that I really wanted three pints [1], but when you're drinking with a certain London fireman, it somehow seems the right thing to do. It seems to me that if he's prepared to travel the length of the country to run the race, it would be rude not to down at least three pints with him. Alas, that goal has eluded me yet again. :-(

As to the race, well, for a change, it was glorious weather, if a trifle chilly. I really had no idea how I'd do after so little running over the last couple of months but with no real expectations, I was free to run how I felt and not worry about my time too much.

The first 4km were great and if it had finished there I would have been a happy man. Unfortunately, this "downhill" race then runs uphill from 4 to 6km. Despite that, I made good progress on the uphill section catching and passing several runners. After 6km, I more or less held my position as we headed gently downhill again. Sadly, at 8km there was another uphill and it was here that I discovered that I had probably worked a wee bit too hard on those hills as I went rapidly backwards and lost 3 places very quickly.

At about 8.5km the route went more or less downhill and I held my position despite the accelerating pace of everyone. When I turned the corner to the finishing line and hit the last little hill, my legs almost crumpled beneath me until I reached the finishing straight. I tried to put on a last ditch sprint to see if I could regain a place but it was not to be. All that happend was that I crossed the line gasping like a fish out of water and retching my guts up.

I'm not sure of my time other than somewhere between 43:00 and 43:10. I guess a sub-40 will have to wait for another day. ;-)

[1] That's a lie.

Annapura 8K report

Loads of pics here.

I was going to do a really long write-up of our trip to Nepal to do the Annapurna base camp (aka sanctuary) trek but Muriel has already done that and it seems daft to do it all over again. Instead, I thought I'd write about the real reason I went to Nepal, to have a crack at Thomas's Machhapuchhare base camp (MBC )to Annapurna base camp (ABC) and back again record. ;-) You can read about it on his blog here.

The trek to Annapurna is a fantastic trip. I suspect it's no more than about 50km from where we started trekking to ABC but what a 50 km! Strongly recommended for any reasonably fit adult. Be prepared for stairs though, lots of them.

After 5 days of trekking we had arrived at MBC at 3,700m elevation in time for a spot of lunch.

Pretty stunning view from our dining table!

After lunch, the plan was to have a little stroll around, go look at a river and then walk a bit up towards Annapurna base camp to aid our altitude adjustment. Well I stuck with the group as we wandered over to see the river but when we got back to the teahouse I could contain myself no longer and took off towards ABC. Slow trekking does not come easily to a WHW runner!

At 3700m altitude, you very definitely know that the air is thin and the moment I hit the first hill I was reduced to puffing my way up all the climbs. As it's a 430m to climb to ABC this was a feeling I was going to have to get used to! That said, it was pretty much like any hill race, striding purposefully up the steeper bits and running all the flatter bits.

I started to pass a number of trekkers and porters. If they didn't hear me approaching a cheerful "Namaste!" usually had them making way for me. It didn't seem long before I reached a large rock with "ABC 1 hour" painted on it. (In the Himalayas, you never see signs with distances, it always done in walking time). This seemed a trifle pessimistic as I could clearly see ABC about a mile ahead but the times are based on wheezing trekkers, not WHW running supermen. ;-)

Those blues roofed buildings are ABC

As you can see, the land flattens out as you approach ABC so I was able to pick up a bit of speed on this stretch. As I neared ABC you pass a large "Welcome" sign.


I agonised for a few moments wondering whether this was Thomas's turn around point but decided that I really had to go the whole way to the camp rather than stop about 400m short. I pushed on until I reached the top of these steps (now looking back down) at 4130m.


I then did something I not particularly proud of, I defaced ABC. ;-)


I did look for "CG" and "TL" briefly but couldn't see any sign of his moniker. ;-) After that, it was a quick turn around and then racing like a loony back down the hill. This did cause a bit of consternation amongst the trekkers. One rather worriedly asked me why I was running to which I could only answer "For fun!" as I hurtled back down the trial. Although altitude makes ascents hard, the descent was easy although I did take a bit more care than normal as access to medical facilities is somewhat limited up there. I misjudged my route as I neared MBC and ended up running up a long flight of steps back to our teahouse, cheered on by a camping group of trekkers.

So, did I beat Thomas's 59 minutes for the round trip? Well, sad to say I didn't start my watch properly when I set off so I'll never know. I suspect I was over the hour though so until I go back and time myself properly, I guess Thomas's record will have to stand. ;-)

These next pics are just an illustration of what breathing air at only 60-65% of normal pressure does for you (and a bag of peanuts).

That top figure (a measure of how saturated my haemoglobin was with oxygen) would be reading 98 to 100 at sea level.


This was a floppy bag of nuts when we go it on the plane. Now it was as tight as a drum.

So apart from the generally amazing experience of trekking in the Himalayas, this little taster of what running at altitude is like has given me an appetite to do more of it. Can't wait for next year's CCC or UTMB!

A grand day out

Yesterday I ran my last really long run before this year's West Highland Way race and although it started off rather inauspiciously, it really couldn't have gone better.

I had hoped to meet up with Ian Beattie, Ellen McVey and a few other WHWers at Bridge of Orchy but as I planned to run further than BOO to Fort William I decided to start at Tyndrum and run the 43 miles from there. I've done very little training on the WHW this year and I've really missed the group runs so I was looking forward to running with old friends and acquaintances. I arrived at about 06:20 having driven through torrential rain (a rather big change in the weather from the day before which was scorching), the skies were still grey and it was drizzling steadily when I set off at 6:25.

I set off very gently, walking all the hills and took advantage of the portaloos that are by the side of the WHW about half a mile out of Tyndrum. I only mention them as I had a bit of a fright as I turned to lock on the door the whole portaloo wobbled alarmingly over towards the door! I had visions of being trapped inside the loo with the door at the bottom and getting covered in the unspeakable contents of the loo. I quickly shifted my weight to the back of the loo and fortunately it righted itself and I was able to complete my "business" without any further frights. Before I left I wedged a couple of rocks under the front so hopefully no one else will suffer the same fate. ;-)

As I carried on towards BOO the rain stopped but the skies stayed grey. To be honest, although I had been anticipating sun I was much happier with the prevailing conditions. As I approached BOO (about 7:40) I tried to contact Ian and Ellen on their mobiles with no luck. I checked in the hotel and then called out Ellen's name near a couple of the tents but again drew a blank. As I had originally expected to be leaving Tyndrum at 7:00 and arriving about 8:15 I wasn't sure what to do but in the end I decided to carry on alone in the hope that either I'd catch up with Ellen (who had aimed for an early start) of they'd catch up with me.

It turned out that Ian had sensibly decided to call it a day after one day's running when he got pretty dehydrated and the heavy rain and somewhat dampened Ellen's enthusiasm for an early start and her phone was off. I did manage to contact Ellen later on but I was well along the way by that point and decided that I'd just carry on alone rather than wait. As I said, a rather inauspicious start to my hoped for "group run".

As I carried on towards Victoria Bridge I was caught by Bob Steel and Lynn (I think) but they were clearly intent on going faster than I felt comfortable with so I bade them farewell and plodded on.

The run across the moor was pretty uneventful but I was enjoying running at my own pace with no pressures to run faster or slower than I wanted. As I approached Kingshouse I remembered something I'd long wanted to do but never quite got around to, namely wave to my wife via their web cam!


So there's me grinning like an idiot with my phone to my ear saying "Can you see me yet?" I think the chap at the picnic table behind me thought I was a right eejit. ;-)
I had been looking forward to a cup of coffee in the bar but had arrived too early and I felt too smelly to venture into the hotel so I carried on, but not before pausing to photograph a little slice of heaven.

A little slice of heaven

No, I'm not talking about the view or the Kingshouse hotel (which both have much to be said for them) but that half pork pie sitting on the wall there. I know there is much talk about nutrition for ultra racing just now but I think I have found the answer, namely pork pies.

I've tried lots of things over the years but yesterday the fourth bit of pork pie I had tasted every bit as delicious as the first (which was wonderful indeed) and as the day wore on my legs seemed to be filling up with energy rather than draining down.

The climb up the Devil's Staircase is always bit of a slog but once I got there I found myself running surefootedly down all the rocky hills, up many of the lesser hills and really stretching my legs out on the forest track all the way down into Kinlochleven. My quads were absolutely fine and apart for a niggle in one groin I had no real aches or pains.

Having run out of pork pies (I started with two snack sized ones each cut into two pieces) I decided to stop & buy some more but I was tempted by the coffee in the Ice Factory so I popped in there, dripping sweat all over the counter (at long last the sun had arrived during my descent) and ordered a pint of milk, a filter coffee and a plate of chips.

The milk and coffee went down really well and I nibbled at the chips until I couldn't eat any more. By now my craving for more pork pies had disappeared and I decided to carry on without. I'd got chatting to a group of mountain bikers who had ridden over from Fort William along the WHW and were setting off back shortly. As I left the Ice Factory they were sorting out their bike gear and I half expected them to pass me on the road before I started the climb out. As it happened I got there first and knowing how tough that climb was going to be for them, I decided to make it even harder for them to catch me by pushing on a bit harder.

I was now entering that wonderful "steady state" of distance running whereby one becomes a machine burning fuel and unconscious of fatigue. My legs felt better than they had done all day and I was really starting to motor across the moor. My niggles had all disappeared much to my surprise as I had been half expecting the wheels to fall off after my descent into Kinlochleven.

I've always found that surface on the Larig Mor tricky to run on but not yesterday. Again, like my descent into KLL, my feet were going exactly where I wanted them as I galloped down loose stony slopes, feeling like they had only run 3 miles, not 30.

Ultimately the bikers did catch me but it took them about an hour and a quarter and they commented on how hard they had had to work to catch me. It gave me a real buzz to have held them off for so long.

Even once they'd passed however I didn't lose impetus and I was even running uphill into the wind at times without being conscious of any fatigue. I really was on cloud 9!

The last section from Ludavra seemed to pass in no time at all. Before I knew it I was on the forest track and far from jogging down, I was stretching my legs out and flying past walkers with only the odd brief walking break. Even the road section into Fort William didn't feel too long or too bad!

I arrived in Fort William at 16:10, 9 hours & forty five minutes after starting. Not an earth shattering time by any means but if I can run half as well in 4 weeks time I'll be well pleased.

I love to say that I knew just why I ran so well yesterday and that I had found the "secret" to effortless distance running but I honestly believe that my strategy of eating a little something every hour to 90 minutes or so (especially pork pies) helped me enormously. I think because I was unsupported and not relying on drop bags etc., there wasn't the temptation to wait too long and then eat too much. It's probably no coincidence that my best Fling race (when I fluked my way into lifting the first male supervet prize) I was also unsupported and working without drop bags. To my mind this is pretty convincing evidence for the efficacy of the "little and often" approach.

I think starting slowly was also a big help and I'm convinced that the 25 minutes or so that I spent in Kinlochleven more than paid for itself in the energy that I had when running across the moor. I had also picked out a selection of my gear that was comfortable and was wearing my road shoes rather than my trail shoes and I can honestly say that at no point did I feel I was lacking any grip and my feet still felt good at the end.

After a night in my Skins tights my legs feel good today, certainly capable of another run and my feet are blister free. The only problem that I had all day was a failure of my hitch-hiking thumb to do its stuff and I ended up walking back through FW to catch the train back. Apart from the £15 I couldn't complain about that as I met up with Jamie Aarons in the station who was good company. I had to laugh at her nerves about doing the full WHW when she finished the Fling as 4th lady in 9:53. Of course I can understand her trepidation about the step into the unknown (this is her first attempt at this distance) with the full WHW race but somehow I think she'll do okay. ;-)

Between now and the race I'll do my usual panicking about taper strategies and probably do the Cairn table hill race next month for a bit of fun.

Finished the West Highland Way!

...by Concept 2 rowing machine that is. ;-)

I started out with the plan back in February of rowing 5km a day until I'd clocked up 153km (which is the approximate metric distance of the WHW) and then see how I felt.

I quickly realised that 5km 7 days a week was actually a pretty tough schedule and decided to cut back to 5 days a week. This worked well for the first 5 weeks and my 5km times came down from 25:24 to 20:26 and I even managed to beat a certain "crazy German"'s 2km time trial time of 8 minutes with a 7:46.

So far, so good. Then we went on holiday.

I think that steering a canal boat for a cold week at the end of March with no running (most tow paths boggy wet & slippery) and lots of drinking wasn't the ideal way to keep my training going and although I managed to jump back on the machine the day after we got back, the impetus was gone and it no longer felt like an enjoyable challenge, just a drudge. Consequently, I concentrated a bit more on my running (and enjoyed a couple of good back-to-back runs on the River Ayr Way) and left the rowing another week.

It seemed daft not to finish the 153km before the Fling though so I've cracked on this week and clocked up 155.2 km, comfortably past the "official" end to the WHW and on to the leisure centre that is used for the end of the race.

Whatever else all this rowing has done I'm sure it hasn't *harmed* my overall fitness, I'm just not sure if it's going to have any effect on my running fitness. Maybe I shall find out on Saturday at the Highland Fling Race. At least I can say that I've reached the start-line injury free this year which isn't to be sneezed at

Speaking of which, I'm just back from the supermarket after one of my "pre-ultrarace shopping sprees" where I end up buying way more than I'll ever need in the hope that I'll have something that I do want when and where I want it.

I know from experience that I won't eat a fraction of it but this is what I have.

8 raisin & lemon pancakes
4 tubs peaches in juice
1 loaf white bread (for jam butties)
3x1.25 litres of Coca-cola (opened & being de-fizzed at present)
4-pack mini Toblerones
2 snack sized pork pies
2 large bunches grapes
1 bag apricots
2x475ml bottles Yazoo chocolate milk
1 bag Jelly Babies
1 bag salted almonds
4 cans ersatz "Red Bull"
Bunch of Bananas.
1 large bag salted Doritos

The next job is to work out how to divvy some of that lot up into what I eat on the morning pre-race, what I carry, what goes in my drop bags and what I want waiting for me at the end. One thing's for sure, a lot of it won't get eaten.

As some may have noticed, I've rather gone off gels & sports drinks. Cola seems to keep me going well on my long runs and I'll have a bottle for water (from streams) for when I get tired of the taste of coke. I'll probably use my "Succeed" capsules for electrolyte replacement. I've tried Nuun tablets (which are reasonably palatable) but I find I prefer my salts and my drinks separate.

I'll just finish by wishing all other Fling participants the best of luck on Saturday!

Improvement, of a sort...

Well, my running may not be going as well as I'd like but my rowing is improving. ;-)

I've now rowed 120 km which takes me to Altnafeadh at the base of the Devil's Staircase. That only leaves me another 33 km to do before I'm finished the WHW. I did my first 2 km time trial today and was pleased to slip under the bar set for me by a certain crazy German of 8 minutes with a time of 7:46.0. I took 10 minutes for my arms to stop shaking afterwards though!

My legs do seem to be recovering well after the Hardmoors though. I returned to a favourite hill on Wednesday that for various reasons I haven't run up for a year. At 270m it isn't that high but the road swoops up and down on its way to the top and it's an excellent hill for giving your quads a good thrashing on the way down. I'm convinced that one has to train your quads to run downhill as well as up to survive the WHW race.

Away on holiday for a week next week (canal boating) so there won't be any rowing but hopefully I should be able to get in some easy miles along the towpath.

Hardmoors 42

42?? Well yes, it should have been 55 (or rather 54 due to a late course change) but as things turned out, I called it a day at 42 miles.

This race was one I had some trepidation about, knowing that I didn't have nearly as many long runs under my belt as I would have liked before tackling a race of this length this early in the year but I was keen to at least be at the start line of the first running of the Hardmoors 55. I'd missed the first Devil O' the Highlands, I'd missed the first Loch Ness Marathon and I'd missed the first Highland Fling race. I was darned it I was going to miss the first Hardmoors 55, a race that looked to have great "classic" potential.

I travelled down with John Kynaston & Sharon Law, both very accomplished ultra runners and we met up with Andy Cole and Brian MacIntosh at our hotel. A lot of talent in one room, with one exception. ;-) That said, I was still excited by the prospect of getting started. I expected it to hurt, I just didn't expect things to be quite as bad as they turned out.

As other bloggers have already recounted, the conditions on the day were little short of horrendous for an ultra race. The combination of low cloud, wind and exposure for such a long duration meant that something like a third of the field failed to finish the race, mostly down to hypothermia.

Hill and ultra runners often sail a bit "close to the wind" with regard to protective clothing, relying instead on fitness & the consequent generation of body heat to hold the elements at bay. Unfortunately for those of us who lacked fitness or experience of the prevailing conditions on the day, the prolonged exposure to the elements was very hard to deal with. I can honestly say that I've never experienced prolonged cold like that during a race, not even during the 2005 WHW race or during my winter WHW run.

I'd started off a bit overdressed, opting to wear my "walking" gortex jacket with hood and all the way to the first checkpoint I was planning to take it off and stow it my bag. Immediately after leaving the checkpoint though, we turned to face a north wind and I was only too happy to keep it on. In fact, without that jacket & hood I'm sure I would have withdrawn at 22 miles at the Osmotherly checkpoint. As it was, after a cup of tea I felt a lot better and headed out determined to make it to the next dropbag point at Kildale as 42 miles. I think if I had realised just how exposed that next section was I might have given up then. As it was I plodded on, grimly trudging my way up the hills and slipping and sliding through the mud.

Some of the time I "ran" with other runners but most of the time I was travelling alone. Because of the low cloud the views that should have been stunning were minimal to non-existent. All in all it was a very lonely and difficult run, not helped by mistaken decision to not study the route in detail before the race. I had no real navigation problems (apart from one brief moment when the low cloud was so thick it was hard to work out where the path continued across a car park) but not knowing how far it was to Kildale made the second section really drag on and on. I think if I had known just how long it was from the Bloworth Crossing to Kildale I might have coped better mentally. Instead, I was forever expecting to see a sign directing me off the moor at every corner and having my hopes dashed repeatedly.

By the time I reached Kildale I was destroyed mentally and physically completely unable to continue, my hands numbed to near uselessness and my energy almost totally spent in just trying to keep warm.

I think I arrived between 5:45 & 6:00 pm which, in the grand scheme of things and considering the conditions, I'm not unhappy with. Yes, I'm disappointed not to have finished but I have no regrets at stopping there. It's the only time I've been scared of dying during a race and I know that on the day it would have been madness for me to have continued.

Like many runners, my amnesia for the sheer unpleasantness of it all is already kicking in and having sworn "never ever again" many times on Saturday, I'm now thinking about next year's race and what I'll do differently.

I've learned more from this DNF than I think I have learned from numerous race finishes and whilst the experience probably won't make me a faster runner, I hope that I'll be a safer and better prepared runner.

I'm now much more appreciative of the benefits of hot drinks and the advantages of support crews & runners. Sure, when conditions are benign you can get away without these but when things turn nasty, they can make an enormous difference.

I'd just like to finish by extending my thanks to Jon Steele and all the marshals and everyone else who helped to make the race a reality and kept us all safe out there.

p.s. Just in case anyone is wondering, did all that rowing help (100 km in 4 weeks), the answer is "B*ggered if I know". ;-)

9 days, 50 km and...

...still not reached Inversnaid!

I realise that this is of almost certainly of no interest to anyone but myself, but hey, it's keeping me motivated to keep getting back on the rower. Another PB today although I must confess to having dropped the resistance to 4. As I've explained before, this doesn't make it easier to clock up my 5km, it just means I need to do more strokes/km. I've dropped the resistance as I'm finding that it's fatigue in my lower arm muscles that limiting me more than my aerobic fitness.

I ought to be enjoying rowing alongside Loch Lomond but there just aren't enough prominent landmarks to make me feel that I'm making any progress. Anyhow, that's the first 50km done and just another 103 to go. I'm getting there! ;-)

Another 7.5km

In an effort to do a bit of "catching up" I did an extra 2.5km last night before bed but it wasn't a good idea. Despite plans to "take it easy" I still ended up working harder than I would have liked and then didn't sleep well. I'm beginning to doubt that I'll be able to maintain an average of 5km/day, particularly as I have so many weekends when I won't be able to row. I suspect 25km/week will be more realistic.

Anyhow, another 5km today. I found it harder than yesterday but then I had been for my run first today rather than rowing first. Can't expect a PB every day I suppose.

That's 45km total now which places me somewhere due west of Ben Lomond's summit at a wee place called Toll a' Bhruic on my OS map. Guess it'll have to do for tonight.

Row, row, row your...Concept2

...gently up the WHW.

Back on board after a weekend off. I say "off" but in reality a busy weekend driving between Melrose, Oldham, Chester, Oldham again and then back home. We didn't get back until late Monday night and red wine seemed considerably more important than clocking up a few more km on the rower. That said, I'm going to see if I can catch up so that I can at least average 5km per day over the whole WHW.

After my first week of rowing I started to develop an unpleasant ache in my right wrist & hand and I suspect that I've got a touch of carpal tunnel syndrome. Consequently I've reduced the resistance from 10 to 5 which so far isn't troubling my wrist. Although it took me a while to get my head around the idea I can confirm that rowing 5km at "5" is just as hard as rowing 5km at "10". The resistance setting is equivalent to changing the size of oars that you might use in a real boat. Smaller oars mean an easier pull but you have to do more of them to cover the distance so I've pretty happy that I'm not "cheating" by dropping the resistance, I'm just using a better sized oar for someone of my physique.

Whether all this rowing is going to do me any good I don't know but I'm working on the basis that anything that leaves you collapsed on the floor in a puddle of sweat can't be all bad. ;-)

Elephants and sudden death in runners

I was very saddened to read of the death of another young man (i.e. younger than me) in John Kynaston's blog.

As John says, maybe running prolonged his life, but we'll never know. The question that really needs answering is did he ignore any warning signs that might have saved or prolonged his life?

There's been a very big "elephant in the room" about the death of Dario Melaragni, the previous organiser of the West Highland Way race who died suddenly whilst out running in the hills with friends. Why Dairo died is a question that must surely trouble any distance runner as we all hope to prolong our lives by participating in such a healthy sport.

Sometimes heart attacks (if that's what it was) do just strike out of the blue but one almost certainly anecdotal but believable figure I came across on the net was that over 80% of runners who had had a heart attack had had symptoms beforehand but had either ignored them or played them down.

There are many causes of sudden death in athletes and if anyone is feeling so inclined, have a look at this. http://www.sportsci.org/encyc/suddendeath/suddendeath.html


Whilst running probably doesn't make conditions predisposing to heart attacks worse, runners are inclined to ignore or play down symptoms because we're used to tolerating discomfort and expect running to hurt sometimes.

I want to go on enjoying my running without worrying about whether I'm going to leave my wife widowed and it would certainly put my mind at ease to know if Stephen or Dario had any symptoms beforehand that they might have mentioned in passing. Not just chest pain but things like episodes of racing pulse, irregular heart beat and aches in neck, shoulder or arms when running.

If you knew Stephen or Dario and know of any symptoms that they might have had but ignored, sharing that knowledge might help to prevent others from ignoring potentially serious warning signs.

You know you're obsessive when...

...you row an extra 2.5km just to finish at a "nice spot" on the West Highland Way. ;-)



After my normal 5km I knew that I would finish within sight of the top of Conic hill but wasn't sure whether I'd have the energy to do two and a half km more. Well after a bit of a rest, I jumped back on board my rower and I can now go away for the weekend happy in the knowledge that my "virtual me" will be enjoying the views.

That's 27,500 metres down, quite a few to go...

Other than the rowing, I'm pleased to have passed the 200 mile mark for running in February.

Well, I've reached High Wood just north of Drymen now and I'm wondering if I should push for the top of Conic Hill tomorrow (7.5km) or stick with my 5km sections. Be nice to stop where the view is good. ;-)

I must admit I find the 5km sections pretty draining as it is and I don't fancy doing more yet. Maybe when I'm a bit fitter. I am getting faster though so it must be doing something for me.

Rowing the West Highland Way

Well, I'm getting seriously worried about being fit for the Hardmoors 55 in under four weeks now. Past injuries have made me very wary of pushing my mileage in training and I've also started late with training this year. Consequently I've really not been able to get in as many long runs as I'd like and the ones I have done have been a struggle.

Interestingly enough, my January & February mileages are almost identical to my 2008 figures when I ran my best WHW race but I know that I was a lot stronger on the long runs back then.

Anyhow, I've decided to break the habit of a lifetime and try cross-training. To this end, I've hired a Concept 2 rowing machine for 12 weeks to try and boost my fitness without risking a running injury. If after 12 weeks I'm sold on it as a method of cross-training I might consider buying a similar (but cheaper!) machine. Perhaps foolishly, being a typical macho fool, I've cranked the difficulty up to maximum and am trying to get at least 5km in per day. If any experts want to call me a fool and offer sage advice, I'm all ears!

To keep me motivated and clocking up the distance every day I've decided to "row" up the West Highland Way and the picture above represents my progress on day 3. (I'm the little red spot).

Hopefully by doing this I'll keep at it although I've just realised that I'm going to be away from home on Sunday so I guess I'm just going to have to take a rest day. ;-)

Foot in mouth

I seem to be rather good at this lately. I'm referring to comments I made regarding the direction that the West Highland Way race is going, in particular about how the race has been "held back" by the organisers' past insistence on support crews.

Personally I've always been in favour of runners being given the opportunity to run unsupported and have always felt that whilst having support crews may save organisers some work on the one hand, it can create more problems on the other. Not a problem if you're happy keeping a race entry low but as has become vary apparent in the Highland Fling race and the WHW race latterly, support crews can become a very real headache for organises when the numbers grow.

The last thing in the world that I wanted to do is sully the memory of Dario, the previous race organiser who died so tragically young last year by suggesting that he had somehow "got it wrong" but I think the race has to move on and the new race committee is facing up to the problems and limitations imposed by the past insistence on runners having support crews.

That Dario isn't here to see these changes (and lead them himself) is very sad but I think he would understand and approve. He made many changes to the race in his time as organiser and I think it would have only been a matter of time before he would have introduced these changes himself if he was still with us.

My other "foot in mouth" moment was referring to the "Scottish ultra running community" that the WHW race has built. This is of course silly, the WHW race has drawn folk from all over the world and I've got to know many of them. The links between us all transcends nationality, it's ultra running and the WHW race that binds us all.

Anyway, time to stop digging before I upset any more folk. ;-)

SUMS update

As I mentioned yesterday, we've managed to secure the Ayr town hall for our post race ball. Here are a few pics I took today apart from the first which I *ahem* borrowed.

Blowing the dust off.

Well, it's been a absolute age since I last updated my blog, not because nothing much has been happening in my life but I'm aware that I spend too much time on my PC to be entirely healthy. Also, this is sort of supposed to be a running blog and there wasn't much of that happening at the end of last year.

Since my last post we've acquired a new dog. Our old collie cross mongrel Roger died at the end of last year after a very short illness. It took a while to get over his loss but at the end of December we took the plunge and took on a rescue dog from the SSPCA.
Here he is, he's called "Ringo" and as far as we can tell he's a full blooded border collie, about 9 months old now.

Like all border collies he's quite demanding of attention but he's also very rewarding to own. He loves running and is already pretty good on the lead and has run with me everywhere this year. Did his first 21 miler yesterday and celebrated by trying to scoff 3/4 of a dead rabbit on the way home.

Runningwise, after a pretty cr*p year last year I didn't do myself any favours by falling on the ice and cracking a couple of ribs about 3 weeks ago. I actually heard the "crunch" when I fell and it wasn't the ice. In some ways though, it's been a blessing in disguise as although painful, it actually hasn't stopped me running slowly and given my injury history, running slowly is working just fine for me. It's also meant that I've had more time to run with my wife Muriel who is training for her first half marathon (woohoo!) and my daughter (woohoo again!) who is just getting started. Off her own bat I should add, no pressure from me at all. The weekend before last Muriel, the dogs and I ran from Troon station to home and at 11.5 miles this was the furthest Muriel had ever run. She managed just fine and I'm really looking forward to running the Bath half marathon with her on the 7th of March.

I should be worrying about getting fit for the Highland Fling in April but I can't worry about that as I'm wetting myself worrying about the Hardmoors 55 on the 20 of March! I've got some serious endurance building to do between now and then.



Enough of my running, the other big news is of course the wonderful new Scottish Ultra Marathon Series as masterminded by Murdo MacDonald, the Highland Fling Race organiser. Once he got the idea he's been a human whirlwind creating two brand new scottish ultra races (or rather, asking folk in a way they couldn't refuse, to organise them) and resurrected one old one (The Speyside Way). It's just astonishing what he's achieved in so little time. What's more, today's big news is that he's secured Ayr Town Hall as the venue for the post race ball. This is going to be one brilliant do.

If you're an ultra runner but hadn't considered the series, have a look at the SUMS site. Don't forget to buy your ball tickets (only £5 a head!) as it's sure to be a sell out.