50km races are a bit like buses

You don’t do one in ages then two come along together! Well, a fortnight apart to be precise and two very different races, the first one, the Self Transcendence 50km covered twenty-one laps of a flat tarmac loop of 1.47miles at Perth’s North Inches and the second one, a hilly trail with the only real flat bit being the length of Kielder Dam!

I did have a bit of a dilemma when I realised Perth clashed with the beautiful Loch Katrine Marathon, I love that race and was sorry to miss it, but with the Anglo-Celtic Plate coming to Scotland once every three or four years incorporating an open 100km and 50km I wouldn’t get to run round the Inches again for a good few years.  It might sound a bit boring running round and round but it’s a lovely loop that flows nicely and having done two 24 hour races on it and the open 100km the last time the Anglo-Celtic Plate was in Perth I was looking forward to just doing the “wee” one this time! Plus there was plenty going on, watching the youngsters rugby training in the morning and matches in the afternoon, shouting encouragement to the home nations battling out the Anglo- Celtic Plate when they lapped me, and having a few wee blethers when I was side by side with runners.  

It was brilliant to see so many friends volunteering at the event and even more pop up throughout the day and shout support. There was a good contingent of Carnegie Harriers, four of us running the 50km, Jonathan, David, Jane and myself, Jo representing Scotland in the Anglo-Celtic Plate with Val, Ken, Sue and Gillian supporting the Scottish team and Jennifer helping in the food tent.
It’s been ten years since I last ran a flat 50km on tarmac (Glenrothes 50km) so I was just hoping for a good strong steady run not aiming for a specific time. There was quite a fierce wind so no point wasting energy fighting it,  I just kept an equal effort round the loop and tried not to get blown into the river when it was blowing me sideways, I locked into my cruise control, knocking out pretty consistent laps only pausing at my table twice during the race to swap my water bottle and pick up a tube of Squeezy Carnation Milk and a gel that I’d laid out ready, never losing my rhythm, staying strong to the finish. I checked back my diary I was pleased to see I finished just a few minutes adrift from the aforementioned 50km ten years ago.

photo from Steve Adams

I’m maybe making it sound like running 31 miles isn’t arduous but I held Ian in my heart, keeping me strong, he should’ve been celebrating his thirty-third birthday this weekend, he will forever remain twenty-two, mouth cancer took him from his family.  No matter how tired or sore I felt during the race I was alive and well, I was here to do him proud, it was a pleasure and a privilege to run in his memory.

I’d persuaded Pauline to join me for the Kielder Ultra, it would be a grand day out in beautiful scenery with no pressure, just time on feet and perfect timing being three weeks before the Fling. So after an early start, just over a two hour drive we were sitting in the Kielder Castle Cafe in front of a real fire having a pot of tea with Susan before the start.

Kielder Water is the biggest man-made lake in Northern Europe and the forest built round about it is pretty impressive too. The weather was a bit grey and misty, nothing extreme, no rain, pretty perfect really. In just over half a mile you start to climb, it’s fairly steep and goes on for ages then undulates with views over the water.

The route is a cracker with over 3000 feet of climbing, forest track, narrow tree rooted paths, mud, boggy spongy moss, heather and a smidge of road, the only real flat bit is the length of Kielder Dam.

Pauline has a strategy for the Great Glen Ultra we adopt, run for a hundred paces on every hill unless it’s of nosebleed gradient then decide whether to walk or keep running. We ran the race last year but couldn’t quite remember the route until we were on it, and with having done quite a few other off road ultras we kept saying stuff like this bit reminds me of the fire track down to Fort Bill, Dunoon 55km, John Muir Way 50km, even Devilla 15km! It was fun finding similarities to other great races we’d done. We’d forgotten about one bit, there’s a right bar-steward of a hill within the last few miles that climbs for around a mile, Pauline changed the run/walk ratio to 20/20 paces and call out every transition, it takes a bit of discipline to keep it going but it saves you getting locked into constant walking and easier to get back into running without feeling clunky once you reached the top, I had a wee cheer once we started to descend then we turned onto a narrow wooded trail along a river with short steep climbs and descents and a few steps (a bit like those heading down to Balmaha), over a bridge and ta-dah the finish!

photo from High Terrain Events

Being around an hour and half slower than Perth shows the difference the terrain makes but we were over ten minutes quicker than last year so happy with that.

Kielder profile and route 

Two variations of the same distance and I’m glad I’m pretty ambidextrous regards road and trail and enjoy doing both.   

While I’m waffling about 50km, it’s exactly twenty years since I first did the distance, the Speyside Way 50km organised by Don Ritchie, in those days the results didn’t appear the same evening or following day on the internet, you waited at least a week for them to arrive in the post. I still cherish Don’s personal post-it note, not all running treasures hang around your neck.