Scotland Outdoors

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Five Sleeps to go!

Not long now to the main event, the highlight of the year; the excitement heading into the unknown, the unpredictability that is the West Highland Way Race.  No matter my previous experience or how well training has gone, the weather is the only thing that can scupper my goal of swinging the doors off their hinges at the Leisure Centre.  I’m not afraid of a bit of weather, I’ve got seven rain jackets to choose from, an Inov8, a Goretex, three Montane, an Aldi’s tenner special and another that I can’t remember what it is! I commend my friends when they have used common sense and aborted runs and races in the face of life threatening conditions, I doubt I’ll ever be that sensible; I’ve been lucky that all the miserable conditions I’ve encountered haven’t done me in, I completed the Marcothon in 2010 outside in over a foot of snow, (treadmills are unnatural), my 5 mile route was taking an hour and a half but I never gave in, once my hat was blown off the top of West Kip in the Pentlands, except it was firmly attached to my head at the time but I regained my feet. During Hurricane Bawbag I recorded a sub six minute mile and also a fifteen minute mile, (we did modify our run that day from Conic Hill to a route with no trees round Preston Island on the Fife coast, and that six minute mile was scary, I thought I was going to smash my face in, my legs struggled to keep up with my body!)   Rain? Pah, it’s only water; as long as you’re warm you’re fine. But the Scottish Highland weather is not to taken lightly, the race has been stopped for safety a few times before, the last time in 2005,  if Sean decides to stop the race, I will respect his decision and I hope I can handle my devastation with a bit of stoicism.

In one of the early podcasts Lee was giving very good advice and I totally agreed with her every word until she said “It is only a race!” I took a sharp intake of disagreement, of course she is right, there is nothing worth an early grave but if it wasn’t for the WHW race I doubt I would be who I am today or had found the strength to face what life has thrown my way. 

Running 95 miles in the most scenic part of the country is a luxury only the fit and healthy have the privilege to choose to experience.

My training has gone well this year, I predict a finish!  Ok I’ll narrow it down a bit, somewhere between 26.14.47 (a PB by one second) and 34.59.59 (just inside the time limit) but hopefully sub 30 hours.

There are only two things that will get you into Fort William, well I suppose three really, your body, that’s the thing most folk spend ages training and getting into shape but that is the least important part of the trilogy, and it can take a lot of abuse, niggling injuries, blisters, dodgy guts, concrete quads, broken bones  (Mark Hamilton) these things only slow you down but do not stop you. Your body just holds what will get you beyond Kingshouse.  No matter if your training has gone well and covered mega miles or you’ve hurpled along on a handful. No matter if your rain jacket is a high price, high tech, state of the art, hundred pounder, or a plastic poncho from the pound shop.  No matter if your shoes are the expensive, new, all the rage ones or thirty quid in the sale. Two things and two things only will get you to Fort William… HEART and SOUL!  Your body will suffer some collateral damage and only to be expected but as long as your heart can roar like a lion and your soul sings you will get your goblet.

Here’s a song that the last verse never fails to bring my emotion to the surface, I’ve ran naked before and by that I mean stripped to the core, heart and soul carrying my bag of bones, and I’ll do it again as long as my body draws breath.  

Hold my soul, let it carry me!

Isle of Skye Half Marathon

I picked up Pauline Friday morning, we decided to go up the A9 and turn left at Dalwhinnie, I prefer the Tyndrum, Glencoe road with glimpses of the West Highland Way but with the World Cup being on in Fort William (the mountain bike one) there would probably be delays going that way.  

After our traditional stop for a picnic at Eilean Donan Castle (wondering how many millions of photos are taken there every day) we tootled our way up to Portree, we called into the big Co-op before going to our B&B, they were only accepting cash due to a technical problem, we later heard that the whole of Skye’s broadband was wiped out because thieving numpties cut the fibre optic cable around Lochcarron or Kyle of Lochalsh thinking they were stealing copper cable, so it was good old fashioned cash for Friday night.

We picked up our numbers and laughed at “being at sixes and sevens” after a bite to eat we headed into the Tongadale, we promised Ozzie, Karen and Sarah from Sheffield that we’d have a pint for them since they weren’t going to manage up to Skye this year, I think they’ve been coming  nearly as long as we have, our first Skye half was in 1993, we’ve missed a few years here and there but glad to see Davie Aitken keeping his record going, he’s now ran all 29!

Saturday morning was absolutely beautiful, warm, and sunny with hardly a cloud in the sky and a bit of a wee breeze to keep the midgies away. Perfect!  Also for the first time this year I didn’t have a t-shirt under my vest! I haven’t “raced” the Skye half for quite a few years since it’s usually the week before the West Highland Way race so Pauline and I run together enjoying a last leg stretch before the big adventure, this year there was two weeks between the races but I still didn’t want to work hard and wasn’t concerned what time we’d do, Pauline has standards and as the Pipe Band was leading us to the start line she said, “Right, if we’re over two hours you’re buying the ice-creams, if we’re under I’ll buy them!”  I thought Aw naw, pressure! But I accepted the challenge. 

The first few miles are undulating up hills and folk were settling into their pace, it was quite warm as the breeze, if any, was behind us, but that’s how I like it. The route has wide open scenery all the way and the Pipe Band appeared again around 5 miles.  My legs felt really good and strong, I was relaxed and comfortable keeping the pace under cruise control, and we were steadily passing people. At the Borve drink station, I could hear Fiona (Chief Wee Grumpy) before I saw her, but it’s great having friends in high places, with Vicki’s help we were handed a Capri-Sun instead of water. (photo from Vicki MacLean)

It was a lovely wee boost just before the big hill at 9 miles, I had to breathe a bit more near the top but the legs still felt good and strong, after going over the top it is just over 2 miles to the finish and all downhill, with gravity assistance (checked my watch for the first time) we were sub 8 minute mile-ing, (steep downhill) AND Pauline was on the ice-creams! We finished in 1.52.54, which was a lovely surprise and proved to me that I'm in great shape and ready for the WHW.

I’m afraid we were a wee bit anti-social and didn’t stay for the prize giving, it was too nice a day to stay in a school hall and our time on Skye is short so we took our race mementos and a picnic up to the coral beach near Dunvegan, it had clouded over a bit and breezy at the top end of the island, perfect hat wearing weather! Debbie gave us a lovely surprise, a wee while ago I’d commented on a facebook photo she’d posted of the HBT hats she’s been busy knitting. 

We rounded of the evening with a lovely meal, a couple of pints and a couple of malts.

For quite a few years, we’ve come away saying we’ll need to do the Heb 3 Challenge, and for next year we really mean it! 

The West Island Way

Ages ago Vicky invited me through facebook to an event, The West Island Way on the Isle of Bute.  I said to Pauline, do you think running 29 miles three weeks before the WHW race is too much? She said no, so I asked her if she’d like to come as well, and we accepted the invitation.

So yesterday I picked up Pauline at the back of 6.00am and never got home until the back of 10.00pm and the time in between was absolutely brilliant!

We met Silke at Wymess Bay for the 8.45am ferry; Vicky met us off the boat and drove us to the start of the West Island Way, we didn’t have long to wait until the rest of gang arrived, Ada, John, Terry, Sue and Drew.  There was a bit of a cool breeze but it was a bright sunny day, the weather was going to be good.

Customary photo and we were under way; I tried not to stop too often to take photos but I was clicking away, sticking in a bit of fartek to keep up.  I was in a new place making new footprints and I didn’t want to miss anything.   The West Island Way might be short in comparison to other long distance footpaths but it is super concentrated in terrain and scenery, rough shore path (with a notice to prove it!)

 tarmac road, farm track, rolling hills, forest track, open moor, beach, and even a golf course.

(love this photie)

A big thanks to Tommy (Mr Vicky) and their lovey assistant, Arran, for meeting us at Loch Fad with bottles of water and bars of chocolate. We had another stop at the Ettrick Bay Café where I have never seen such huge cakes, the size of the lemon meringue should be checked by the Guinness Book of Records and I had the biggest slice of carrot cake I’ve ever seen!  

The last few miles of the route have recently been changed. There are marker posts but no beaten track so with a bit of bog hopping and a lot of heather bashing

we made our way up the hill before dropping down and round into Rothesay and the finish.  Tommy and Arran were there with bananas, cans of juice and certificates for our achievements. 

Silke, Pauline and I will have to get better organised for next year, the others stayed overnight. There is talk of a winter run, count me in, this was my first visit to Bute and it won’t be my last.

Vicky, thank you and your family for your hospitality and showing us your island. A brilliant day out with great company, a day that’s going to keep me smiling through the dreaded taperitis of the next three weeks!

The Happy Highland Fling

Ok, technically it was The Hoka Highland Fling but this is my race report and I'll call it what I like. 

3.00am alarm!  I groaned and smiled at the same time,  an absurd time of day to get up but with the promise of an adventure the rude awakening would be well worth it.  At 4.00am Ken and Sue were outside my door, they had already picked up Pauline and we were in Milngavie at the back of 5.00am.  It was freezing cold but the weather looked promisingly dry, and speaking to George, Karen and Mike, (they'd just ran down from Tyndrum), apart from a couple of places, the going under foot wasn't too bad at all considering all the rain there's been.  I was sorry to hear that George had a duff knee and it scuppered their plans to do a double and run back up.  Ken was able to give them a lift back up to Tyndrum as he was heading up to Bridge of Orchy for a bit of Cally Challenge practice before picking us up at the finish.

My plan was to run WHW race pace until coming off the rollercoaster above Crianlarich then give it some welly for the last few miles.  I took my fastest WHW race splits as a rough guide which was the 2008 WHW race, in that year I got to Tyndrum in 13hrs 37mins, and Fort William 27hrs 11mins it was my fastest to Tyndrum in recent years but not my WHW PB, that was in 2007 and I reached Tyndrum  in slower time of 13hrs 50mins and Fort William in 26hrs 14mins. (As John K says "Slow and steady wins the race.") I always run to my body and don't pay any attention to time although I was wearing a watch and carried a piece of paper with  the times I expected to go through the checkpoints, purely for peace of mind of getting to Beinglas before the cut off.   

Consistent should be my middle name.

	WHW2008 Splits	Fling 2012 Splits
Drymen	2.19hrs	2.16hrs
Balmaha	4.06hrs	4.04hrs
Rowardennan	6.00hrs	5.59hrs
Beinglas	10.08hrs	9.56hrs
Tyndrum	13.37hrs	13.03hrs

Rightio, that's the boring numbers blurb out of the way, back to the important part of having fun.

After a short race briefing from John, us old gits and girlies were off at 6.00am, I shouldn't have been surprised to see some patches of white frost on the path, it took a good few miles until feeling had returned to my fingers and that was wearing gloves!  The sun was rising and bringing a bit of warmth with it, the sky was clear blue with a few wee fluffy clouds, it was never going to get as lovely and warm as last year, I kept my arm warmers on all day but we were quite lucky weather wise after how horrible it's been lately.

Pauline, Sue, Robin and myself stayed together after the start although there was no plan or pressure to do this, we were just happy running the same pace,  there were others around the same pace and nice to blether with friends old and new.  (Pauline's back had been a bit stiff and sore after gardening , she did say she might just run with me, I did cheekily warn her that I wouldn't wait)  Going through the Garadhban stumps Robin got a bit of ribbing, he was the only bloke in a group of about fifteen woman.   Thomas aka Crazy German from the 7.00am start whooshed past.  That was the start of the faster runners coming by, the Fling is a unique event where  every runner respects and encourages everyone else whether they are doing the ultra or the relay, apart from two ignorant gits that went by around Rowardennan without a word or a nod of existence with their ears plugged into music. "Oi! Get back on the treadmill you soulless numpties, you don't deserve the WHW!" is what I would've shouted if they could've heard me.  I don't think they realised what they were missing,  the Red Squirrel in what was left of Garadhban, the cheery  bird song and the distinctive Cuckoo and Woodpecker  are just a few of things that make it special for me.

I carried my camera and made them stop on Conic hill, with a view like that you can't just watch your feet!  

Thanks Helen for taking this one for me

Balmaha was busy with marshals working their socks off finding drop bags, after getting mine, I didn't stop but walked on shovelling in a rice pudding, I wanted to finish it before passing the bucket at the side of the road before going up the hill so I didn't have to carry a sticky plastic spoon and carton to Rowardennan.   Pauline and Sue were soon back with me but we'd lost Robin, he takes  a bit longer at checkpoints.  (Robin, learn to walk and faff!)

Dawn joined us along to Rowardennan, and was happy to stop for a photo on one of the wee steep  hills, I am very persuasive though. "Do you lot want a butt shot or do you want to turn round and smile!"  I did take a few butt shots but no close ups! more photos here

As we approached Rowardennen we were warned there was a fallen runner  just ahead, I envisaged someone sitting  tending to a bloody knee or the like but it was a shock to see Ellen lying on the path covered in survival blankets, we stopped to see if there was anything we could do, she had a paramedic and friends with her so there was nothing else we could do but it felt wrong to leave her.  (Ellen, wishing you a speedy recovery, hope the broken arm/shoulder heals quickly xx)

At Rowardennen I was again the first of us out of the checkpoint, I stuffed my drop bag goodies into my backpack and walked up the wide track glugging down my Yazzo banana milkshake, Pauline and Sue took a little longer topping up on some water.  It wasn't long until Dawn was back with us too, maybe I shouldn't have been so quick, I think I left my bag of Mini Cheddars lying on the ground, but Sue being the generous soul she is shared hers when I was disappointed I didn't have mine.

Once the path narrows I love the way it flows with all the ups and downs,  running with the flow I always feel good here, I think the constant change of stride and pace keep the legs fresh, I dropped behind the others a bit after stopping for a pee, kinda tricky to find a secluded spot without climbing the hill or dropping into the loch also timing it without the youngsters in the 8.00am start and the relay at the 9.00am start hurtling past! Luckily I managed without being caught with my bahooky hanging out, also wearing a wee kilt does offer a little modesty if I was.

After the Inversnaid checkpoint we were back together, I don't eat or drink much after Inversnaid with having to hang on to the trees and boulders, my short stekky legs and creaky knees  were going cautiously along , I think there has been a lot of erosion since the last time I was along it.  I was pleased to see the flat grassy bit and celebrated with my dinky 150ml can of coke. 

We stopped at Dario's post, my racing hip flask was shared among us and as we left the sun blinked through the clouds and shone brighter than before.

At the Beinglas checkpoint I was pleased to see we were well within the cut off and after picking up my goodies from my drop bag I walked up the path drinking my Slimfast milkshake, another runner was looking at his sandwich and said he couldn't face it and it was going to be bird food, I offered him the rest of my Slimfast but he didn't fancy that either, he was still travelling well though and disappeared over the hill

.

It was just after Beinglas, Pauline, Sue and I had decided that since we've come this far together we might as well finish together.  Next thing I knew I'd caught my toe and down I went with quite a clump, my first thought was "Mick Jagger!" I instantly felt a fat lip! I started to get up, Pauline encouraged me to stay down until I gathered myself but I felt ok, apart from spitting mud, "yuk!", I was crunching grit between my  teeth, then thought actually that's a good sign, my front teeth are still there.  I looked at Pauline and asked "Am I bleeding?"  The smidgen of laugher in Pauline's voice spoke louder than her words " Yeah, try not to drip on your white t-shirt."  I can't be that bad then.  Sue handed me a wee pack of anti-septic wet wipes, (sorry Sue, I used them all), I found quite a few stingy bits on my nose, lip and chin.  But apart from that nothing else was damaged, legs fine and no holes in my Skins, camera pouch was a bit dusty and my hip flask which was clipped to the chest strap has a few scratches but luckily nothing to stop me running.  It didn't take too long until I was back in my stride.  I was still moving well, my legs felt supple and strong. 

We picking a careful path through coo poo alley, and moved well on the rollercoaster.  After crossing the road Pauline put her race head on, looked at her watch, and said it's close but we might finish under 13 hours.  She was pulling away, Sue and I followed putting in a good effort, it was the plan but I had a wee conspiratorial whisper to Sue "I don't think we're going to get under 13 hours, are you worried?"   She wasn't, that's a relief, but we weren't slacking,  Pauline was feeding us chocolate coated coffee beans, and I was breathing hard.  I heard the piper, we were nearly there.  

photo from Muriel Downie

We finished together in a row of grinning Cheshire cats in 13hrs 3mins.  Pauline was happy to lay the blame of failing to finish under 13 hours on me stopping for a lie down, that's ok, I can live with that, it was a brilliant day and mashing my moosh wasn't going to take the shine off.  

Training and thoughts for this year’s WHW

January 1^st is the date I usually start to focus and train for the WHW but this year has been a wee bit different. Clearing Mum’s house was a tough job, and all my running was without real purpose other than comfort and I managed to clock up 155 miles for the month with my longest run being just short of 16 miles going from Balmaha to Rowardennan and back the weekend hordes of WHW family were there doing various distances. It was good to be there, enjoying the route, the company, and camaraderie in the pub afterwards; this was the weekend we should’ve been celebrating Mum’s birthday.

February started with a cracking comfort run from Crianlarich to Doune Bothy and back, my monthly mileage was 198 miles, again with nothing big but with some quality tempos giving it big wellies. The club organised a new race, Devilla 15km on the 26th, I usually just help out at Carnegie races but I thought I’d have a run at this one especially as there was a bottle of Schiehallion for doing it, so after sitting at registration handing out numbers until 10 minutes before the start, I just had time to nip to the loo before heading to the start line, not what you’d call a warm up but since I was only here for the beer that was fine.  I worked quite hard once I got into my stride, really enjoying my first race of the year (and my beer).

March 3^rd saw me on the start line for Smokies 10, a ladies only 10 miler in its 24^th year and for the first time in a couple of years I stood there without nursing illness or injury so the race plan was to go out hard and hang on, not technically the best race plan but one in the TTFU don’t let go category. I ran my third best for the race; I was well pleased considering this is around my 19^th or 20th times of running this race.  On Sunday 11^th Ken dropped Sue and I at Derrydarroch, he was Munro bagging with his friend and would meet us later at Bridge of Orchy, we had a lovely 19 miles to “Murdo’s Mount” then back down to Bridge of Orchy,

photos perfectly timed to meet Ken, we had the best of the weather, the cloud was low and Ken and Paul only saw mist and rain. The following week Pauline and I did just over 22 miles going from Balmaha to near the Beech Tree and back, she groaned when I whipped out my camera within 5 minutes of heading up Conic hill. “Are you here for a training run or a picnic?”  I answered “I’ve brought food!” She did relax a bit later to say “I think I feel a photie coming on!” when we were in remnants of Garadhban Forest. more photos

Although I hadn’t done any big runs I wasn’t worried, my training has been consistent, knocking out a weekly mileage between 50 and 60 miles feeling healthy and strong. Last week I unexpectedly went over 70 miles, on Tuesday 27^th I did surprise myself with a 32 mile run from Milngavie up past Garadhban Forest and back purely because it was a lovely warm day, even more photos

I only planned to run about marathon distance. I dropped Erin and her pal at the SECC at around lunch time and didn’t need to be back until the back of 10.00pm. So I was happy to use as much of the day as possible, I did need my head torch going back through Mugdock Park not so much to see my footing but to make sure I was heading the right way, I can do Mugdock in the dark but heading the wrong direction it looked quite different.  I had a brilliant day out on Sunday with a group run organised by Mike Raffan, an 18 miler up Lochnagar, it was a bonus to find out we did 5 Munros and a couple of Corbetts thrown in for good measure.  Placing a stone on the wee cairn in tribute to Dario was something I’ve wanted to do for a long time and there was a fair selection of miniatures and hip flasks raised in his name. and here's even more photos

I remember a few years ago Chris Robison (a Scotland Endurance Coach and Scottish representative in the 10,000 metres in the 1994 Commonwealth Games) once said “A farmer doesn’t dig up his tatties to see how well they’re growing!” and with that analogy I don’t feel the need to run myself into the ground during training.  With eight WHW races and four 24 hour races I think I kinda know how to run tired and sore and I don’t have to practice it too often. Except I will be doing the Highland Fling but at WHW race pace until I come off the rollercoaster, then I’ll push on to the finish.

So for this year’s race I don’t know if I’ll be running close to a PB of around 26 hours or if I’ll have “bonus” challenges that’ll slow me down to 34hrs 59mins. But whatever happens I’d be doing the best I can and without a doubt I’ll bash the Leisure Centre doors off their hinges again with a big daft grin on my face!

A wee run with an Angel... or two.

I left the car parked at Crianlarich just at the back of 11.00am, I didn’t get back until around 6.00pm  I covered around 18 mile, heading down the way on the WHW to the Doune Bothy and back.  7 hours to cover 18 miles, and what a brilliant 7 hours it was, ok it wasn’t a hard paced training run but I wasn't there for that, I had a day purely for pleasure with plenty pauses to take photos (I did take around 120 but have whittled them down to around 70) I sat at Dario’s post for a while in the warm sunshine, I smiled at a very comforting thought, with Dario’s experience at welcoming folk after a long hard journey he is now job sharing with Peter at the pearly gates, my Mum would've got such a warm welcome and a huge hug.

At this time of year I wasn’t sure if I’d meet many folk, the first was Martin, near Carmyle Cottage, he was going from the Drovers Inn to Tyndrum and back, training for the Marathon De Sables, then a couple of guys near Beinn Glas , then two young girls wearing their festival wellies, sitting in the sun.  There was going to be a party in the Doune Bothy, I met a handful of guys when I was heading back, they were hefting big rucksacks full of beer and a dart board, I smiled at the last two blokes who were straggling behind, they asked me how far away they were, they had already cracked open their carry oot, one had a can in hand, the other offered me some of his Buckie for my drinks bladder, I thanked him but said I’d just stick to what I’ve already got.  

I met Martin again as he was nearing the end of his run, we blethered a bit and both of us wondered if I’d get back to Crianlarich before dark but it was a goal to aim for and I nearly made it, the moon was rising, the light was dimming and flattening the path, I put in a bit of effort before coo poo junction but was cautious on the stony path afterwards.  I saw a couple of runners heading towards me; I thought “What kind of nutters runs at this time of night at this time of year?” Obviously... it was Jim and Jim!  Mr Robertson was celebrating his 71^st year with running 71 miles, heading down the Way with Mr Drummond from Kingshouse.  It was the icing on the cake to my day to meet them but Jim D can talk the hind legs of a donkey and all feeling from the finger tips on a freezing evening, as I found out when I left them, I struggled with my head torch but I only had the descent through the woods from the deer fence to go and my flask of coffee was waiting... that and my wine and pizza when I got home.

Pace is not relevant when you have the company of Angels.