A round up of 2022 and grand plans for this year

As 2023 is settling in I’m looking forward to my plans for this year with the same thought as

usual at the beginning of January.  

All roads lead to Milngavie. 

Any race I run before June is part of my training for the West Highland Way Race. 

Before I start my endeavour it’s nice to look back on last year and wasn’t it lovely to get back to meeting

pals at races, either running or marshalling. 

I started 2022 with a steady plod round the Falkirk 33 mile Trail Ultra at the beginning of February, a

four mile loop with a perfect mix of mud and hills. 

Cameron Wright Photography

Quite a contrast to my next race, my 28th Smokies 10, the only race I run with the tactic of go-hard-and-hang-on. Having honed my running style to a minimal effort short stride to suit ultra (aka a shuffling sack o’ tatties) I don’t have the ability for short fast stuff but this Ladies Only 10 miler is great fun. 

Next up was the Gathering of Awesomeness on the Inches at Perth. I was sucked along by

inspirational athletes performing wonderful  achievements in the Anglo-Celtic Plate and the open races,

finishing the 50 km around half an hour sooner than I expected. 

photo from Steve Adam

In May, Sue and I headed North East for the inaugural Formartine and Buchan 12 hour Ultra, starting at the Maud Station beside the Railway Museum and running 4 miles to Auchnagatt, a pretty trail on an old railway then turning round and coming back the same route. With it being continuously out and back I loved being able to see the faces of everyone running. 

I thoroughly enjoyed it, working on pace management so I got back to Maud after 7 out and backs with around 15 minutes left to round up my distance to 61 miles, going round the wee loop at the station. I’ll look forward to doing it again some time. 

Next up was my 24th Isle of Skye Half Marathon, a drookit  and blowy run with Pauline but fun to catch up with friends in the pub afterwards, the Tongadale was warm and dry. 

A week later, Sue and I were side by side in Milngavie for the West Highland Way Race, we stayed

more or less together until Auchtertyre,

Sue left the checkpoint before me and I never saw her again until the finish in Fort William, she had a wonderful run picking up her second Goblet. The weather deteriorated late afternoon but after stressing the earlier cut off I now had plenty of time, so I just relaxed and enjoyed being back on the West Highland Way regardless of the wet and windy conditions. It was just wonderful to be there, it never stops being special. 

photo from Adrian Stott

The plan after the West Highland Way was just to rest and recover, ticking over nicely until Glenmore 24 but three weeks before the race Covid caught up with me, I felt quite rough, typical flu symptoms for around three days then I did improve to feeling more like a right nasty cold, I rested and slept and rested some more before finally testing negative after ten days, I went out for an easy 3 miler five days away from the race, I didn’t cough up a lung so I hoped I’d be fine to run at Glenmore, I did consider moving to the 12 hour but if all went well, I wanted to cover 53 miles so that would give me 1000 Glenmore miles since the first race in 2011 and sticking with the 24 hour I’d have plenty of time to do that… if I felt ok. I took it really easy after the first couple of laps fuelled by the excitement and joy of being there, and actually sat down to eat for the first time during a 24 hour race, I’ve always just eaten on the hoof before but with a steady approach and a lot of walking when it was dark I finished with a surprising 82.75 miles, I did not expect that! 

photo from Donna Wallace

After that effort, I was giving my body the rest and recovery it deserved. I didn’t run for two weeks then another two weeks of gentle tick over leg stretches before joining Lucy and Kenneth celebrating the 20th Loch Ness Marathon, we’re the only three that have completed them all, we were generously given free entry and a huge hamper of goodies. 

photo from Loch Ness Marathon

After Glenmore I felt I just lurched from race to rest and recovery with no time for training. My legs felt

heavy running the Coigach Half Marathon the week after Loch Ness, a beautiful route with Pauline with

stunning views of the Summer Isles and Stac Pollaidh. 

photo from Dave Cross

Next up was the Glen Ogle 33, another enjoyable plod round a bonny route in soggy but not cold conditions. 

Michael Philp Photos

Lucky for me, I’m not motivated by the time on my watch but the scenery and the camaraderie of those I’m with, just as well, as the week after I was running the Dava Way! Although I’ve never been daft enough to run two ultras a week apart before, I wasn’t too worried.  Being an auld warhorse with donkeys years of experience I know how to run tired, so I engaged perma-shuffle (good posture and minimum effort) and enjoyed another new race to me, a beautiful route starting in Grantown-on-Spey and finishing in Forres, mostly downhill with a fun wee climb just before the end, an excellent choice for a first ultra and I met loads of new buddies doing just that. 

photo from Iain Young

There was time to sneak in another new race to me before the end of the year, the Shale Trail 50km, a small field, low key race just a half an hours drive from home on the 11th December, Sue and I ran together, a lovely route from Winchburgh to West Calder and back the same way, another race where at some point you got to say “Hi” face to face with to everyone running.

With a December race the weather could play a big part and it did, a touch of snow on the route for starters, but it stayed dry, I wouldn’t say it warmed up much, there was a wee skim of water on the ice on the return, mainly along the canal which meant I was channelling my inner penguin, little steps and lots of them, a bit of mincing and a belief that as long as you don’t change speed or direction and your feet keep up with your body running on ice is perfectly fine. Both Sue and I finished together without any mishap. 

photo from Lothian Running club

I don’t usually run as many races as that a year but after the past few years of race famine I was happy to go for a feast! Also sneaking in a couple of ultras at the end of the year put me in a position to plan for something special this year. I have now entered the races I’m aiming to do to make my goal happen. 

I hope I will be successful in finishing the Falkirk 7 hour, the John Muir 50km and the Moray Coastal

Trail 50 mile in my build up to my 17th West Highland Way Race. I have entered one more race,

Glenmore 24, with a bit of luck and health, this will be my 100th Ultra and wouldn’t it be wonderful if I

clocked 100 miles. None of this is guaranteed and just being able to run is a luxury and a privilege

denied to so many, but it’s a thought that makes me smile and a grand goal to aim for.