It's Here!

It's finally here!

It seems to have been a long time in the planning, but today is the day... well it's the very early hours of tomorrow really - 1am - but because of registration etc beforehand, in my head the race starts Friday night.  All the past months of training, planning and worrying are hopefully stored in the bank and it's now into relentless forward motion mode for the next 2 days!

I am working this morning, John has the day off and will hopefully catch some extra sleep, I've been awake since 0430 so will try to get  a nap this afternoon, our kitchen floor is covered in boxes of food, first aid kit, clothes, shoes, drugs, (all of which are readily available over the counter!) the only thing I haven't got organised is my own stuff, but that's minimal in comparison so should only take half an hour this evening...

We have hired a small camper for the weekend and our friends James, Sarah and George will be travelling with me at various stages of the journey, I am not going into any detail, John has it all planned - he's good at logistics :-) and I'm sure it will come into some of his future blogs so I won't duplicate stuff.  Everybody knows their role and also thanks to the goodwill (and commercial savvy?) there will be early morning rolls on offer too in the wee sma' hours - thank you to the Beech Tree Inn and the Oak Tree Inn, it really is appreciated.
Just in case you've missed the excitement and hype of the past few months in friends' blogs or on facebook, this is what it's all about http://www.westhighlandwayrace.org/

I think the expectation is that about 180 starters will head under the famous underpass and up the steps at 1am on 22 June and all hopefully arrive in Fort William, 96miles and anything up to 35 hours later.
I wish them all a safe, and injury free race, can't wait to see you all pick up your crystal goblets at Sunday's prizegiving!

I guess I should go now and try and get my day into some sort of semblance of normal as I'm working til lunchtime but think will find it very, very hard to concentrate...

Back Running - at last! Hoorah!!

It seems like it was ages - ok it was ages it was 3 weeks...
However, Saturday 2nd May I managed to run/walk 2.5miles - up the Devil's Staircase in Kinlochleven - John was doing a long run that day - Bridge of Orchy to Kinlochleven, so I drove to the end to pick him up and decided to try a wee run while I was waiting.  It took me 20minutes to get up to meet him with 4 cough-stops, but only 9:30 to fly back down the hill, in my element, with no coughing :-)
Then on Sunday 3rd May we popped through to Chatelherault for the Sunday Social, a mottley crew who meet at random, run round the trails in various social or anti-social groups depending on your speed then all meet for coffee, cake, soup, breakfast etc and a good old blether.  I did 8km that day and ran on the hills which pleased me - less coughing though still had a rattle.  Best laugh of the day was the cakes hanging in the trees - One of our crew had been round the course earlier to hang cakes in the trees every half mile, to motivate another of our crew to make it round the course - not that she can't make it round but it added an incentive with a difference!  Only problem is that she is about 5'4" and he is about 6'4" (all measurements are approximate!) so I untied the cakes for her but when I got to the last one I had found a conveniently long stick to which I tied the last cake and ran home with it over my shoulder - to add a further incentive...
Another 5miles in my legs with lots of laughs!  Monday 4th May was our local holiday so we headed up to the West Highland Way again as John wanted to do another long run.  This time he did a cracking run from Tyndrum to Lundavra (ryhmes with wunder bra...)  I drove to Lundavra - that is an interesting exercise in itself, then I ran 4miles out to meet him and 4 miles back with him - it was ACE!! It had p'd down with rain all weekend and the path was running like a river, I crowned myself Queen of the Burn Runners lol!  It was fab, my cough was pretty much away and my legs were happy to be running again, it's tough terrain up there, but even on a dreich day, the views are still spectacular.  John posted some photos on his blog which will give you an idea of the day :-)
I didn't do any more running that week, I was saving myself for the weekend - Kintyre Way Ultra Relay - 67 miles from Tarbert to Campbeltown.
Friday night we finished work sharp and drove down, met our friends for dinner, lovely food if terribly slow service... again John has beaten me to it and written a great blog so pop back over for a look :-) if you follow the link above just read the Wee Ultra Run post...
Saturday morning bright and early, 5am(!) up to get John organised then head down to see our friend David set off on the first leg.  The weather wasn't bright it was p'ing down (again) but the smiles of the runners brightened up the morning gloom.  Alastair had unfortunately picked up an injury during the week so was unable to run so David did the second leg as well.  He arrived at the checkpoint like a drowned rat but with a grin of a cheshire cat!  His first experience of the ultra world and he had had an absolute ball!
Margaret took over to run leg 3 and she got lucky, the rain stopped!  9.5miles later she came storming up the hill to Tayinloan with an equally large grin and tales of water "up to here"!!  James set off up the hill towards the windfarm and over the top to the other side of the peninsula, he ran 15miles then Sheela took over.  6 scrambly miles later - and the rain had started again when she was about half an hour away - she also arrived smiling - at least I think it was a smile not a grimace!  Then at last 10 hours after I got up, it was my turn!  Up the farm road in the torrential rain and through the lovely mucky puddles, the wind battering the rain into my face, and loving it!  After about 1km I came to a big gate, and nearly burst into tears, I couldn't open it!  My gloves were sodden already and the bolt on the gate was really stiff, I couldn't get a grip on the bolt that would slide it open... at last I got it open and remembered to close it behind me.  Up and up and up and up and so it went for 4km - it was a bit more sheltered as we got into the forest, but still torrential rain.
Crested the top of the hill and time for the first downhill - the bits I like best, guess what?  A headwind that felt like someone was holding me still by putting their hand on my head and holding me in the one place - it was tough!  It's a lovely run down to Loch Lussa and at this point the rain had eased a little so the next couple of kilometres were almost pleasant.
Round the loch and then on the other side - and I quote from the race instructions.. you are now on an undulating tarmac road - tarmac yes, undulating? Eh naw.... bloody hilly!! Oh and also torrential rain and hail and winds again - but I was loving it :-)
I had anticipated it would have taken me 3h20-3h30 to finish the leg so I was absolutely delighted to get to the finish in 3h04 - and the rain stopped!  It was great to see Margaret and Alastair, David and John waiting for me at the start of the town, really gave me a wee boost to push for the finish.  This was a great race, fab people, lots of laughs, and a free feed in the hall at the end.  Best of all, my legs were tired but my lungs were in good nick. 
I got back to fitcamp on Monday evening for the first in 5 weeks, tired legs, but happy to be back in the zone, I had intended going Wednesday too but unfortunately work got in the way :-(  Last night I went to a 10k race, 63min, not my fastest but definitely not my slowest, and given how tired my legs still were I'm fairly happy with the result.  Made it along to fitcamp at 6:15 this morning so now my quads are NOT speaking to me!  Tomorrow we're heading off to Glenshee to support friends running the Cateran Ultra, so more later...

The Fling...

 

Saturday 27 April 2013 6am

This date has been indelibly stamped on my brain since one evening last September, the eve of the Toronto waterfront marathon to be exact.  I was sitting in our rented apartment in Toronto, idly browsing facebook and keeping up with friends back here at home when up popped the notification that "The Fling" was open...
The Fling or to give it it's Sunday name, the Hoka Highland Fling 53 Mile Ultra Race is a well respected ultra race held on the last Saturday in April, following the first 'half' of the West Highland Way.  John was meant to run this in 2011 but got injured and so we were asked to help out marshalling at one of the checkpoints, we had a great day and I got the ultra bug that day.  Even though I never really believed that I was capable of running those sorts of distances on that kind of terrain, a wee fire had been kindled deep down inside.
2012 John entered again and had a great race finishing in just over 12hrs, I took part in the relay race with my fellow Runtime Error friends and then spent the next few months wondering if, just if, just maybe, I could do it.  I hadn't actually got round to thinking about it seriously until that night in Toronto and then it was all done in seconds.  Went something like this:  Me - "John do you think I could do The Fling?"
John - "Yes"

Me - "are you sure"

John - "Yes don't see why not"

then the curse that is Entry Central - akin to Amazon one-click shopping, the deed was done, the entry is processed before you have time to change your mind!

The rest as they say is history - most of you will know of the runs we did in training some good, some not so good, some awesome, but all completed, good hard, tough training miles into our legs, our lungs, and most importantly for me, our heads.
By the time we left for Boston 2 weeks ago, I was ready for my biggest challenge to date, I was confident I could do the miles, my only concern was that I might not be fast enough to make the cutoff at Beinglas Farm in time to be allowed to continue.  However I was determined I was going to give it my all and I was going to get to that gate on time.

It was unfortunately not to be :-(

John has blogged about his race in Boston and how he didn't get the time he was after and indeed didn't feel 100%, it now seems that he was brewing the lurgy, some kind soul passed on their bugs to us and by the Wednesday after Boston he had a horrid cough which then developed into a full blown sinus/chest thing :-(  I started feeling grotty on the Friday we got home but put it down to jetlag and travelling and getting over the trauma of the bombings, however by Tuesday afternoon I knew it was the same thing and subsequently have been off work since Wednesday.
Ever hopeful John kept trying to hold on to the tenuous hope that he might be better by Saturday, by Thursday evening I knew that my race was scuppered and yes I was devastated, I went to bed feeling very sorry for myself and just wanting to cry and moan that it was SO UNFAIR!!  The biggest race of my life to date, all the hard work I'd put in to get fit for it and now it wasn't going to happen!  All because somebody gave us a bug :-(   As I said in a recent post - I know that in the light of the atrocities we witnessed in Boston, this is not really a big deal, but yes at that moment in time and to me it was the biggest deal and it hurt like hell!
Friday morning John conceded that nope he wasn't well enough either and so the decision was made we would both be a DNS.
I really wanted to go through to registration on Friday evening to say hi to friends and to pick up my car pass which you pay for over and above your entry and which allows entry to the Beinglas checkpoint.  I wanted to go out on Saturday and support our friends and it's a good place to see people, so we went through to Milngavie on Friday evening, caught up with some friends, got some much appreciated hugs and words of sympathy then came home to get ready for an early start.

Saturday dawned bright and fair, yet again it was perfect Fling weather, bright and sunny, not too warm, and not too windy.  A quick coffee and pack some stuff and we were ready to head out, first stop Balmaha.  We got to Balmaha just as the first runners were passing through, as always, the checkpoints run like clockwork, runners arrive, get their drop bags, get their water topped up if required, some stop for a chat with their support crews, others just fly on through.  Our friend Sarah was in full flow calling out the runner's numbers to the bag crew, so much so that she didn't even see us there :-)  We waited for our friends to all get through then headed to the Oak Tree inn for breakfast.  After our own refuelling stop it was on up the road to Rowardennan, this is the end of the road and also the busiest checkpoint in terms of traffic as it's a relay changeover point as well.  Another friend Alan was working the bag crew here under the experienced and watchful eye of Mrs Mac :-)
Caught up with 'our team' again, saw them all through, and then we drove up to Beinglas.  This is a really interesting place to see the runners as it's after the most technical and demanding stage of the course, it's 40miles in and it's the toughest clamberiest (I know I made it up) part of the route, but what a sense of achievement when you do it!  Listening to the comments of runners coming in was at times highly amusing as there are many who run this race who have no idea of the route, and there were a lot of folk who seemed to be at the end of their reserves and were mentally fatigued by what they'd just been through.  Again there's an opportunity for runners to rest, feed, or pick up and go whatever suits them, the team who mans this checkpoint is great, they are all very experienced and they know to watch for wobbly runners or those who are a bit green around the edges, making sure they sit down, get a drink, food etc.  Here too the guys from the Wilderness Response Team offer their assistance.

Next stop for John and I was Tyndrum - the end of the line, we knew when we were at Beinglas that the leaders had finished and that new course records had been set - perhaps in some part due to the new paths that have been laid this Spring, perhaps just due to faster runners...
We got the last parking spot in the carpark at the Real Food Cafe, wandered down to the finish line - it wasn't there??? Spotted a sign and followed it round and there was a fantastic finish chute and marquees for runners to get massages, hot soup, shelter, warm showers - Wow!  The old finish was ace but this was Awesome!  It was busy and we caught up with Sarah and David Ross who had been bag man at Inversnaid and was now at finish helping out.  More welcome hugs :-)  All of 'our team' finished with spectacular times, all smiling and it was great to be there to cheer them in.  

There is no denying that it was the absolute pits not being able to run yesterday but being there and seeing our friends achieve the dream we had all shared and trained hard for over the winter helped to ease the pain a little.  I'm not going to list them all here, they  know who they are, and if you follow us on facebook there's a fair chance you know who they are too - suffice to say they are all Awesome!! Absolutely amazing and each with their own stories to tell.  There will be other Flings and we will run them, but 2013 wasn't to be for us but I am so happy for those it happened for.

Lastly, events like this don't happen by magic, Johnny Fling puts in a power of work organising this event every year, ably assisted by a great team of 80 volunteers.  To all of them thank you xxx

The other side of the hill...

Today was a day off for us and the sun was shining this morning, the hills were white with snow, and the thought of housework was just unbearable.  I'd a real notion to be outside and suggested we go and do a bit of a people watching - now this normally entails a visit to a coffee shop or wine bar where you sit, enjoy the wares, and watch your fellow men/women going about their day.  We both enjoy people watching so it seemed like a good use of a nice day off...
What did we do?  We went for a run :-)  We saw next to no-one, in fact I think we saw more wild goats than we did people.  We had no coffee and no wine, (but we did have some electrolyte drink), and I had a blast!  There are many, many reasons why today's run was very important, and why to complete it in a fit and healthy state means such a lot to me, and I won't try too hard to analyse it and write it all down, you'll just have to believe me when I say that it is very important... I mentioned last night that last week I'd had a wee bit of a psychological wobble when I had a recurrence of the leg pain which has plagued me for the last couple of years.  It hasn't stopped me doing the things I've wanted to do, and thanks to a great physio and my strength work at fitcamp, I'm not having the same chronic problems, never the less, last week gave me a fright and kicked off all the 'doubt demons' you know those little buggers that nip at your conscience and ask you if "perhaps you've bitten off more than you can chew", and "do you really think you can do this?"  You know the sort of conversations that go on in your head... anyway, today they have scurried back into the darkest corners, where they will hopefully stay for a very long time :-)
Today we ran 10miles - 10 very slow miles - in 3 and a half hours, but before you raise your eyebrows in horror at the time, you need to appreciate the terrain and that for any other than the racing snakes, this is a pretty normal time to do that distance on that terrain.  We did some more Highland Fling training, we ran North from Inversnaid to Dario's post and then back again, this is the 'scrambly' bit of the West Highland Way, there is little good running trail, and unless you weigh less than 9 stones and can fly through the air with the greatest of ease, you have to scramble up and down the rocks, this is what eats up the time, but what a challenge!  I was worried about this bit of the Way, as everyone talks about how awful it is and goodness only knows how I'll feel about scrambling after 35 miles but at least I know now what to expect.
The other really big thing for me about today's run was that it was tough, and I did it back to back with my 26miles yesterday, so in terms of distance training this was good.  I have run 40miles in the past 3 days and I am feeling great, healthy and happy and looking forward to the next challenge...
p.s. the hill in the title is a reference to the dark place I was but have come to the other side of :-) though there is something really special about being on the other side of a hill that you can't get to unless you work hard, there is no road in and out :-)

And so it's begun...

That's my training for the Highland Fling underway!

I kicked it off with a good run last Sunday on the West Highland Way, a couple of decent sessions during the week, and another awesome run on the West Highland Way yesterday then a wee recovery run today to finish the week.
Yesterday I ran 30km from Dumgoyne to the end of the Garadhban forest and back again.  We joined the WHW at the back of the bonded warehouses belonging to Glengoyne Distillery, this meant a lovely wee trudge through a very boggy (boggy in this case means a mix of sheep, cow, and other unidentified muck!!) field of sheep then onto the Way itself about 1km before the Beech Tree Inn.  This is a great spot for spectators watching the race as they open their outside 'hut' early and serve teas/coffees and rolls with sausage etc... Once across the road, off you go along an old railway embankment, towards Drymen.  I counted at least 4 different styles of gate on this section, and John said you should get a certificate in gate-opening just for completing this section :-)  I agree!
The path runs out after about 3miles and there's a couple of miles on a rather 'undulating' road - which is fortunately almost traffic free, through a wee hamlet called Gartness up another great big hill and then back into a field - also very muddy and with the biggest molehills I've ever seen!  It's a fair climb up through the field to the first relay changeover point which is just outside Drymen.  A wee trot up the road and you're back onto the Way again and heading up into the forest on an old brick road.  I don't really like this wee bit as it's one of those deceptive uphills that doesn't look like much of a climb, but saps your legs as you run along it.  It's about 1km and then you're up onto the forest road and that is a climb!  However, compared to last year it's a decent enough surface to run on, especially at the moment as there's been a lot of logging going on which means there's been a lot of heavy traffic on the road which has tamped down the surface (and left a lot of distinctive red mud!)  This time last year, which was the first time I'd ever been here, they had just laid new stones and it was hellish to run on, like really huge gravel!
There's quite a climb on this section but the view as you crest the hill makes it worthwhile, you can see down to Loch Lomond and have a perfect view of the islands in the loch which form part of the Highland Boundary Fault Line.  They reach out from Conic Hill right into the water like a wee 'Nessie'...
As always, what goes up has to come back down (to some extent) so there are some good downhill runs to reward the hard work of climbing.  I was getting a bit tired and a wee bit down at this point til it crossed my mind I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast which had been almost 3 hours ago so I nibbled on a nakd bar and felt much better almost immediately!  I'm not good at eating and drinking on a run even though I carry a drink with me in my backpack, so I do have to remind myself  to fuel, and this is going to be very very important on the Fling proper so I need to practice and get better at it.

Not the prettiest half way point but a significant marker ...

The Gate with Conic Hill in distance

When I reached the gate at the end of the forest -15km, I was quite pleased to note that it had taken 1hr 50 to get there, this time last year I couldn't run 15km on the flat in that time and that was when I was trying hard!  Yesterday I'd been trotting along quite happily just enjoying the day, the views and the lovely weather, no attention whatsoever to the time, and this was the uphill half of the route!
Some friends were also running from Drymen to Balmaha and back, and I had tentatively arranged to meet up, but we were a bit later starting than we'd planned, so we didn't meet up with them until afterwards.  John had run ahead of me on the brick road and just as I had reached the gate, he texted to say he was at the bottom of Conic hill and couldn't see them.  He then proceeded to climb the hill then turn and head back,  I thought he'd have caught up with me on the last section of the route, but he didn't so when I got back to the car I told him to stop at the Beech Tree Inn I changed into clean shoes* and drove along to wait for him.
I was really pleased with how good I felt when I finished yesterday, I am usually absolutely shattered after a long run, but yesterday was different, I don't know why, but I felt strong and quite elated :-)
I got to the pub, got changed into dry, clean clothes, downed a can of full fat coke - I only ever drink this after a long run - then John arrived, he got changed and we ordered lunch.  We both had the daily special which was Bison steak and it was delicious - they say that you should refuel as quickly as you can on completion of a long run, and should have some protein, so this fine slab of bison fitted the bill perfectly :-) 
As we were finishing, our friends turned up at the pub so we swapped tales as they ate their soup.  One of the group Emma, unfortunately went over on her ankle at the top of the hill, but still managed to run back!  She has since been to A&E and is heavily strapped with a query over a break :-(  I hope she's ok as she's a keen athlete and has a snowboard holiday coming up soon...

Today I went out and did a gentle 5mile recovery run - found it really hard not to keep trying to push on and could hear the voice of my mentor reminding me 'when you feel like you're motoring on' pull it back a bit... I didn't do that very well today, but will keep practising!
So, all in all it's been a good first 'proper week's training' and for what it's worth I don't feel any older since my birthday on Friday than I did before it :-)

* shoes after coming back through the field!   

Glaur!

Back in the Groove

And loving it!
I can't believe that's us at Thursday again...  The week has flown by, it will soon be the weekend and long run time :-)  It's funny but I find we reach a point where the LSR is the pivotal point in the week and everything else is worked round about it, I'm sure some of my colleagues/friends find this a little bit strange but it makes perfect sense to me and in a strange way I find myself looking forward to it.  I thoroughly enjoyed doing marcothon2012 and I think I have benefited from it already in that I feel that my running is stronger and more consistent - and we managed to get all the way through December without any of the snuffles or lurgy that seemed to strike so many people down.  Last Sunday I did my first 'proper' LSR of the Highland Fling training program and I loved it!  We ran from Rowardennan to Inversnaid on the West Highland Way, 14.7miles with some cracking hills en route - 148m climb on one of them and we did it twice.
John is very fortunate in that he can run up these hills nowadays, I can't, I am getting better and can do some of them but I have adopted a run/walk strategy which works for me - I walk smartly up the hills and then fly down them!  The average pace that I get is better than if I was to try and run albeit slowly up the hills as I would stress and be exhausted and not be up for the downhill.  Running fast downhill is not as easy as you might think, there is a skill to it and it takes a lot of confidence - I know it has taken me a few years to be confident enough - but now I really enjoy it and I think I'm pretty good at it :-)  It struck me on Sunday though just how much brain processing you do, as you are running you are constantly assessing the ground in front of you and making split second decisions as to where to put your foot next, whether the wet/muddy tyre track at the side of the road is safer than the drier but rockier middle of the track or the other side of the track where there are clear puddles but the camber is harsh..... all of this information is being processed by that superfast computer we all carry about in our heads and often don't give it the credit it's due - our brain :-)  I sometimes think of it like watching a film on fast forward and when it gets to the blurry stage I know that I need to slow down because it's too fast for me to process the amount of data coming in!
I really enjoyed this run, even the scary bits, and finished it off with a nice paddle in Loch Lomond which wasn't nearly as cold as I'd thought it would be, but which did the job in terms of helping the legs recover.
It was back to normal with pinpoint-fitness on Monday too so that's 5 days running and 2 fitcamps already this week, pilates tonight and we're back in the groove :-)
Soon be the weekend and the next LSR - have a nice weekend friends, whatever you get up to!