Highland Fling Ultra - 2013 all over again :(

photo courtesy of Colin Knox (who doesn't know I pinched it!)

There are many quotes about how making it to the start line of the race is a triumph in it's own right - I just can't recall any of them at the moment :) 
On Saturday 25 April 2015, I did make it to the start line, just not much further!  This is progress when in 2013 I didn't make it to the start line and had to admit defeat on the Thursday before when my Dr told me I wouldn't be fit to run for a bus never mind 53 miles... I was absolutely heartbroken and still remember the lovely messages of support and condolence I got from a number of the experienced 'old guys' and their female counterparts - they helped so much!  History was to repeat itself this year in almost identical pattern - we returned home from a race by plane and John picked up a bug.  Cue a nasty sinus/chesty infection which caused him to take time off work - almost unheard of!!  I was doing really well, managed to keep healthy and keep up my circuits and had a good run at the weekend over Conic Hill.  Was even starting to feel positive about this year's Fling then Boom! Wednesday swollen glands and sore throat, feeling irrationally tearful :( Thursday felt a little bit better til night then back again :-( :-(  Friday, the cough started :-( :-( :-( and the temperature...
However we were packed up and ready to go so headed to Milngavie - I'd paid for the room after all!  Had our tea - eventually in the charming and enjoyable company of Rhona and Graeme McKinnon then headed down to registration.  Caught up with friends and made some new ones, one drink with Wim who'd flown over from Amsterdam that morning, and then back to hotel.  Quick catchup and nightcap with Amanda then bed - I had started feeling better after dinner so hadn't ruled out a DNS though the coughing when I laid down did make me think about it.  I had a really good sleep - perhaps cold n flu night time tablets and a wee Bunnahabhain ceobanach are a good combination!
Saturday morning 0430 alarm goes off, John has the kettle on and it's time to assess the situation... I actually felt really quite good, felt well slept and temperature seemed normal so organised and off to the station we went.  Lovely to catch up with lots of friends - who all later took the opportunity to tell me how shit I looked (you know who you are and I love you all!) and then it was time to line up for the start.  Off we went and all felt ok, legs were happy to be running gently and I was chatting to Mike Adams and David Egan as we trotted gently down the High Street, waited in the bottleneck at the ramp and then a wee wave from Ally and Ian and onto the path.  I waved and shouted 'morning' to Keith as he filmed from the bridge above and after half a mile my lungs packed up!  Literally!  I couldn't draw a breath.  No warning coughs no tightening in my chest just Wallop!  It wasn't a difficult decision to make - I can stumble along on duff legs but can't do much with duff lungs.  Garmin stopped and phone out to ring John - hoping I'd catch him in time.  I think he thought he was getting some sort of 'sex call' is that what you call them? You know the ones with the heavy breathing and you can't hear the words?  Anyway, he got the message and fortunately was only as far as the car so he came back to meet me and escort me back to the car.  We spent the rest of the day dotting about supporting and then spent a wee while at the ceilidh but were knackered so headed to bed (he's still not fully recovered either)  I woke early Sunday feeling really miserable and just wanted to be home in my own bed, so we got up and had a quick cuppa and a chat with Wee Fi then headed home.  We were back by 0900 and I spent the whole day doing nothing but feeling grotty and coughing and wheezing... Stayed in bed yesterday too then went to see Dr this morning.  I have my drugs, they're starting to work and already the world has a better perspective :)
So many friends had great races on Saturday and a few didn't get what they wanted from the day, the event was as always, 'some show'!  Johnny Fling, ably assisted by Noanie has made this bigger and better and it was great to be part of the day albeit not quite in the way I'd planned. 
In 2013 I was devastated, in 2015 I was disappointed and sad but not with the same sense of failure or trauma, my whole year is aimed at one thing and that is being back in the station car park at 0100 on 20th June and I am comfortable that I made the right decision not to try to push on - it's all about the bigger picture - my eyes are firmly on the goal!

Thanks all for the kind words and good wishes they mean a lot!

A wee (mis)Adventure :-)

This is a little bit out of order but as I watch the Fling hysteria building on facebook, I thought I'd write about my last long run on the 'Way'.
Saturday 21 March, John dropped me at Balmaha, my goal? To make it to Tyndrum in one piece.  It was a cracking morning, probably the first of the warm, sunny days , we've been blessed with this Spring.  I trotted along quite happily and surprised myself by climbing strongly up the hill away from the road and before long was plodding along comfortably enjoying the morning.  I had a goal time in mind to get to Rowardennan, and I beat it by about 10minutes so was quite chuffed with that, I stopped to use the loo and then ate a sandwich and topped up my water before heading off again.  The next 20 mins or so were awful and it was only when I realised that I was overheating and stopped to take my long sleeve shirt off that I settled again.  This was a march up the hills run down them section, the shade and cool of this forested bits was very welcome and the downhills even more so.  I tootled along only meeting a couple of runners coming in the opposite direction to Inversnaid where I had another sandwich and some water.  A bloke came into the carpark shortly after me asking 'which way to the West Highland Way?'  I didn't ask if he was serious but instead, politely directed him out the other side of the car park - he was going as far as The Drovers.  I had texted John to let him know how I was doing, and he rang me as I was leaving and I walked along enjoying the sunshine and the views, discussing with him whether he should keep running out to meet me or turn back and get the car (he'd driven up to Tyndrum) and meet me at Drovers, but I really didn't want to cut my run short as I was enjoying my own company, the weather, the challenge and feeling ok.  The next section is as most of you know, the 'technical bit' I've not been here since 2013 so I hadn't seen the fallen trees/collapsed path - they certainly added a new dimension, but I managed not to get lost or hurt and before long was back on the path proper and on my way towards Beinglas.  Here is where I made MY only navigational error, as I approached Doune Bothy, I followed a walked path to go above the bog - I should have just gone through it and ended up, a little bit further up the hill than the field the bothy is in.  John had reached the bothy and was tracking me so he knew I wasn't far away and when he rang me - after I'd realised my error and waded down the burn! he could actually see me a couple of hundred yards away so I was quickly downhill, over the wall and met up.  We then headed off to Beinglas and onwards.
Although my times were still within the limits he'd set for me (I wasn't aware of this) it was still the weekend before the clocks changed so we were aware that it would perhaps be dark before we got back and neither of us had a headtorch! (yes stupid error we know)
On we continued and long story short we got to 'The Big Gate' without mishap.  A quick comfort break and jackets on as it was starting to get cool and off we headed up onto the 'rollercoaster' I love this part of the course, it is so pretty and although it wasn't dark, the big trees cut out what light there was however we made it safely if slowly down to the road at Ewich and across to Auchtertyre.  By now it was properly dark and the sky was ablaze with stars - they looked as if you could reach up and touch them - spectacular!  This is where we had our second navigational mishap but this time it wasn't ME!  I am lucky that I have a pretty good visual memory and when we left St Fillan's ruins on our left I wanted to go straight on on the black tar but was convinced to bear right, however John did concede at this point that perhaps he was wrong so we went back to the gate and then along the black tar :-)
(it only added an extra half mile or so)
Past the wigwams at Auchtertyre where we did get some odd looks from folk damping down their BBQs under the road and then it was the last 2 miles to Tyndrum.  There's a wee stream about half a mile down the track that you have to ford, and as I went through the water and John went straight on face first into a tree, I turned right on the 'right' path and WHACK! tripped over a BIG rock! Down I went with a thump, it was a bit sore but nothing broken so up on my feet and off we trotted again - it would have been awesome if there'd been a full moon but unfortunately it was only a sliver but you could actually see quite well as there was no light pollution.  On the last climb before the last gate another boulder jumped out and tripped me up :( worst injury was that the landing paused my Garmin - I restarted it and carried on - my right hand felt a bit sticky and when I licked my thumb I tasted blood :-( never mind, nearly there... We made it safely to Tyndrum, we didn't fall out and the bleeding hand wasn't so bad once wiped with a babywipe.  Quick clean-down in the car park, dry clothes on and up to the pub for some coke and salt and vinegar crisps.  Mission accomplished, I made it in one piece (the bruising appeared over the next 3 days and took a fortnight to disappear!)
OK so it took a bit longer to do the last section as it was dark, however the rest of the sections were all within John's limits - I didn't know this until the next day and although the last section was much slower,as John said, it was good practice for being out at night, (particularly the second night) head down and just keep slogging it out - and to be honest, I REALLY, REALLY enjoyed the adventure! :)
No pictures in this entry - well it was dark remember?

ps 34.75miles!

Hardlopen!

No, it was (bloody) hard!  However it was another one on the Bucket List and a good long training run.  It was also very sunny and hot and WINDY!!  (It has to be pretty hot for me to burn and my neck/shoulders got sunburnt.)  This was another race that was on my bucket list and another which was entered before WHW was on the horizon.  John has run it twice before and I did the 10km on those occasions.
This race has a very strict 5h30 cutoff and when I entered I was hopeful that I should be ok with that having got my 5:0:01 at Loch Ness in Sept 2013 and add to that there are no hills in Rotterdam.  The person who finishes on or just before 5:30 becomes a celebrity as the TV camera bikes follow them for the last 2km and they get presented their medal by the race winner... I wasn't sure if I fancied that part of things but decided even though plans were changed for 2015, that I'd take a chance. 
As it was, I finished behind the official clock so at the moment don't have a recorded time, however along with the other folks who were behind me, and there were a few, we were told at about the 20mile mark, that we would be ok to finish and that would still get our medals.  I was ok with this, as my goals had changed, if as originally planned I had trained for this as my 'A' race of the year I would have hopefully not been in this position.
This is a superbly organised race, a very flat, fast course and definitely one for those of you who are PB hunting.  The support on the course is awesome, and I was blown away by the number of people still at the finish all cheering and shouting my name - I may at some point come back and do it again with a proper marathon training plan and taper behind me.  Like I said when I posted about Berlin, I am in no way being disrespectful by running and not being 'properly prepared' I most certainly don't go out with the attitude that I can 'wing it' but I went out to do a 26mile (26.52) training run and I managed that.  I'm disappointed that I didn't get under 5:30 but not downhearted, I know where things went wrong, where I got bored and where I should have fuelled (but that would mean remembering to take stuff with me...) my legs were less problematic than in Berlin and we had a fine long weekend away topped off by hitting the 6kg weightloss mark today :-)

ps Hardlopen means to run/race

Love a Long Weekend!

3 Training Runs
3 Great Days Out
31.5 Miles covered
2134 Metres of Climbing!
We are heading off to Rotterdam this weekend for the marathon, another training run(!)  As I said before Berlin and Rotterdam were entered before I was one of the lucky few who got a place in the WHW Race.  Subsequently my training focus has definitely not been on road racing but this mileage is double that of 2 weeks ago in Berlin and half the distance I need to complete the Fling 2 weeks later... so in theory it's a good training run and in 'just the right place'...
Bearing all of the above in mind, John decided that I should 'take it a little bit easier' and do 30miles but over 3 days - as he said to someone the other night 'talk about altered reality'  I had had a really sore leg since Berlin, it's an ongoing issue with my hamstring but dry-needling seems to ease it and I was really lucky to get a last minute appointment at Life Fit on Thursday at lunchtime and the needles started to work their magic while I was still on the treatment table!
We were off for the Easter weekend which gave us plenty of scope and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.

Friday: alarm off at 6am, porridge eaten, bag packed and off to Milngavie - I was running Milngavie to Drymen and I had a time target - I had done this section a month ago and it was awful, freezing cold, crampy legs, and lots of ice!  This time it was damp and dull but still and not too cold, with no ice!  However i was ready to chuck it after 2km as I got horrendous cramp again in my calves :-(  I don't know if I was starting off 'too fast' it didn't feel fast to me, but it's all relative I guess and although I felt I was going really slowly, maybe I wasn't - hence the excruciating pain!  I walked for a full 5 minutes til I left Mugdock and once I got onto the trail proper, things started to thankfully ease off.  In the end, I did ok, I got to Drymen 40 minutes quicker than last time and a full 15minutes under my target!  #jobdone Day1
Nice lunch at the Drymen Inn, a wee afternoon nap and kit washed and sorted for tomorrow.

Saturday: alarm off at 6am, just some toast and coffee this time as a second breakfast was planned.  We picked Amanda up in Bridge of Allan at 0720 and headed off to Glencoe where she was meeting up with some others for a Glee Club run.  There were runners doing various distances, Minty, Sean, James and Spiderman (AKA Ross) were heading down from Tyndrum & Bridge of Orchy and Amanda was joining them to run to Fort William.  After our second breakfast at the ski centre, John and I headed to Kinlochleven where I got changed, bade him farewell and headed off on my own, he was going to run back to meet me from Braveheart car park.  It's a long climb up from Kinlochleven but I enjoyed it this time, I am feeling much stronger than ever before and although I'll never be an uphill runner like John, I climbed up 'strong and steady'.  Once I got to the top, I really enjoyed the trip across the Lairig Mhor, I ran much more of it than ever before, even managing to run some of the Ups!  There weren't many folk out on the Lairig but the few walkers I passed all said hello and then I had a wee blether with Derek Cassels (superspeedy) who passed me on his way out and then slowed down to chat with me for a few minutes on his way back. 
This picture of my favourite place on the Lairig is included because I love it so much. 
I was super chuffed to get to Lundavra and John wasn't there - not because I didn't want to see him, but because I'd beaten him there - he was surprised to meet me a little bit further towards him than he'd expected and silly though it might seem it's a wee lift that he's pleasantly surprised :)  heading back to Braveheart I had a real slump on the 'elephant's graveyard' I don't know what it's really called but it's a pretty desolate de-forested uphill slog before you get to the fire road and it's one of those places that gets me every time.  Once on the fire road however I picked up again and really enjoyed the 2mile downhill run that comes next.  By this time, he'd flown off ahead of me and I concentrated on running properly not just letting myself go and losing control and trashing my quads.  Back safely to Braveheart - 5minutes under my target time this time :-) and we waited for Amanda and Minty who we were taking back with us.
Great runs had by all and chips and cheese at the Real Food Cafe to top off another grand day out on the hills. #jobdone Day2

Sunday: alarm off at 6am, scrambled eggs for breakfast.  Today is John's long run as to hit my 30miles I only needed to do 4.3 miles :)  He wanted to recce a bit of the Cateran that he will be running in the dark come race day, so I dropped him off at Glen Isla.  Sunday was a beautiful day once the fog burned off, so we took the wee car and it was great to drive around with the roof down getting the sun on my face :-)
I drove to Spittal of Glenshee, where he'd finish, parked the car and headed up the hill for my 'run'.  It's a steep climb and for the first time ever I climbed all the way to the Lairig Gate without stopping - yeehah!  I love the run back down and was looking forward to it, but it was really really muddy and quite slippy for the first third, however I did enjoy the next 2/3rds and the sun was roasting on my shoulders and legs and it was just fine :-)  I was only 3.5miles at the bottom so tootled about a wee bit on the other side of the main road on the start of the race route until i had 5.5miles in the end - a mile more than I needed but who's counting ;-)
John finished his run (grumbling) and we had a wee paddle in the river to clean off our mucky shoes before heading to Blairgowrie for something to eat.  #jobdone Day3.

Monday:  alarm off at 7.30am (rest day and still a holiday!) Trip to Edinburgh to Run & Become, John wanted to change his recently purchased shoes for a bigger size, and I bought a new pair too.  Lovely lunch and wander in the sunshine then home. #jobdone Day4.


I do Love a Long Weekend!

One more off the bucket list!

The 35th Vatenfall Berliner Halbmarathon, Sunday 29 March 2015.
In 2008 when John had progressed to half marathon distance, we went to Berlin for him to take part in the Half Marathon.  I remember the excitement of the event - it was about 20000 runners that year - a lot for a Half!  There were crowds out supporting along the route and the start and finish area was great with stalls selling bier, bratwurst, brezels etc.  He thoroughly enjoyed this race and I remember the excitement and emotion of watching him power down the finishing strait.  I said then that I'd like to come back and run this myself one day.  In 2011 we planned to go back and both entered, but I was ill with 3 chest infections at the start of this year so we didn't make it... Last Autumn, the race opened and we decided to try again, both getting places in what is now a Huge Half! 35000 places!
This was before I knew I'd got a place in the West Highland Way race.  As a result, my training has been focused on the WHW race, not on racing (?) Half Marathon or even Marathon distance.  My taper consisted of a 34.7 mile race on the WHW, a 4 miler midweek, and 3 hard circuit sessions, not the most conventional :)  We arrived Saturday evening to our first 'mishap' arrived at our hotel to be told that they'd had a problem with their booking system and had overbooked so we didn't have a room.  Before I had a chance to draw breathe to complain, the charming receptionist told us he had already booked us a room in a sister hotel and they would pay for a taxi to take us there.  True to his word, the taxi arrived and took us across the city to our new abode, ironically a lot closer to the race start than the one we'd chosen.  We spent the next three nights in the Park Plaza Wall Street and it was very nice.  Being closer to the start meant we'd time for breakfast before we left, bonus!  There were a few other runners and an Italian gentleman met John at the buffet and asked if he was ready :)
It was raining as we jogged the mile to the start, got heavier as we picked up our numbers, however there was plenty of shelter and the rain went off after about half an hour.  Like a big city marathon, there were baggage trucks, and an abundance of porta loos.  Half an hour to go, we dropped off the bags with our clothes for after, said our cheerios and went to our start corrals.  Second 'mishap' there was a problem with the chip timing system which meant the start was delayed.  John was 10mins late but I had to wait 40mins until I started and my left leg started seizing up and getting quite crampy and sore :-(  Eventually and after a quick exit from the corral to the porta loo, a fast jog up the pavement and hop back into the start corrals and it was time to go.
Off we went out to Charlottenburg and back, I enjoyed the route as I'm familiar with the city landmarks and having done the Marathon the second half of the route was well known.  We'd a bit of a headwind on the way out and a couple of large puddles to contend with if following the race line - yes there was a racing line in a Half!! On the way back it was cool to see the green lines for the race alongside the blue ones from last year's Marathon.  There were crowds most of the way and at least 7 bands to keep us going.  I am used to being in a fair bit of open space as I'm often near the back, I'd to run with elbows out a fair bit, this time there were 10,000 people who finished after me!
Ticking off the landmarks in my peripheral vision I was concentrating on trying to keep my pace consistent and to keep the work rate up, at the same time telling myself that I could keep going even though my left leg was killing me - nothing that can't be fixed when I go to physio on Tuesday, but really sore all the same.  300m from the finish I heard John shout my name and I waved as I kept on going and worked hard to overtake as many people as I could in the last 250m, I honestly think I managed to overtake about 20 people just by keeping going.  Job done, ticked off the list!  Medal, space blanket, water, banana, beer, met John, picked up bag from luggage truck, passed the showers and changing rooms (yep seriously!!) then walked back to the hotel (the long way...)
We spent the next two days being tourists, cocktails, cake & wine in KaDeWe, La Boheme at the Deutsche Oper, running in the snow to the East Side Gallery, pizza at 12 Apostel then the third 'mishap' our train to the airport was delayed!  (it didn't matter as we'd plenty of time) they say that things happen in threes :-)

We'd a great wee break, a decent run and more training miles in the bank.  I thought about including photos of some traditional landmarks, but decided to share these instead as they made me smile