Carnegie’s West Highland Way Adventure
I really enjoyed the three days running with a bunch of runners new to ultra, they took on a huge challenge and did exceptionally well, even Colin who injured his knee and had to stop on day two and Stevie who struggled with cramp on the first day, he missed out Rannoch Moor to complete the rest of the Way, both still ran further than they’d ever gone before. But Allan, Colin, Pete, Pete, Kenny, Paul, Sue and Helena all completed the whole way impressively with great humour. Apart from Sue doing Lesley’s 40th birthday 40 miles none had ever gone over marathon distance. Pauline, Gail and myself made up the rest of the runners but we couldn’t have done it without Ken and Jim driving the bus and making the coffee, they also managed a bit of cycling. What was really brilliant about the weekend was that time was not an issue, if I wanted to stop to take a photo or just to take in the scenery I did. Pauline, Sue and I worked out that our total time took around 28 hours, but I didn’t pay attention to the time at all, only using my race splits as a guide so we’d have a rough idea of times for arrival at meeting points. I did have a bit of a struggle on the first day heading into Rowardennan (27 miles), where during the race I usually bounce along, but I’d only thought about how much fun this weekend was going to be and not thinking much about it still being a 95 mile run and I was going to have to put in a bit of effort. What was new to me was three long days together and I was wondering how I’d cope with it, apart from a bit of stiffness at the start of the second and third day the legs were good all the way, my favourite day was the last one, Kingshouse to Fort William, what a difference running Lairig Mor after a fish supper, three pints and a sleep! When we were approaching Fort William I felt sad that our adventure was nearly over and commented that it was a shame we didn’t have a fourth day, Pauline must be just as nuts, she agreed with me.
What will Carnegie’s next adventure be? We’ve got a year to plan it!