tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-296688772024-03-13T21:28:19.318+00:00WHW RunnerTales of running and other trivia (as featured in The Independent on Sunday, 27 May 2007)ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.comBlogger268125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-83873286055988020862015-12-30T14:01:00.001+00:002015-12-30T14:01:39.588+00:00Quick review of 2015It's been a much better year for me running wise. I lost more than 2 stone between January and the end of March, which, along with the benefit of some new medication to control my asthma, made a great difference to my running. Race highlights of the year were 3 successful ultra marathons (Fling, Clyde Stride and Devil), and a sub 20 5k for the first time for quite a few years. I didn't achieve the other targets of a sub 1.30 half marathon or a sub 40 minute 10k, but at least a got a lot closer than the last few years, with 3 half marathons in the 1.32 to 1.33 range and a 41.27 10k.<br />
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Of course the overall highlight of the year was our wedding at Norton House in November. We had a wonderful day shared with many of our friends and family, and then enjoyed a stunning honeymoon in St Lucia.<br />
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The West Highland Way Race in June went really well. Weather was kind, we didn't experience any particular problems from an organisational perspective, and Sandra ran a superb 21.57 to smash her PB by well over an hour and achieve her target. Paul Giblin continued to astound us all as to what was possible with another course record; this time he ran 14.14.44 (on his own for the full 95 miles!) to take 6 minutes off his course record from 2014.<br />
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With 2 days to go I've run 1,761 miles for the year. That's higher than the last few years but I'd hoped to get a bit closer to 2,000. However a couple of marathons, the wedding, and an niggly back injury in the last quarter of the year slowed me down a bit. It takes me to over 45,000 miles since I started running; I'm eyeing up my 50,000th mile towards the back end of 2018, all going well.<br />
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So, we've almost arrived at 2016. Entries for the WHW Race are just about finalised and a lot of the marshals are already signed up. I'm going to be 50 in January (I know, hard to believe..) and to mark this special year I've decided to run my longest ultra marathon ever - I've entered the Cateran 110 in May. I'll do other races in the build up, such as the Alloa half marathon in March, but the Cateran will be my main running focus for the next few months.<br />
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For those interested in such things, a full list of my 2015 races and times is set out below. All the best to you all for a successful 2016.<br />
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Jan-2015 5K Parkrun Edinburgh 22.36 <br />
Mar-2015 6.7 miles Lindsays Borders Marathon relay, leg 2 47.38 <br />
Mar-2015 Half marathon Loch Katrine 1.32.56 <br />
Apr-2015 5K Parkrun Falkirk 21.28 <br />
Apr-2015 10K Round The Houses, Grangemouth 42.23 <br />
Apr-2015 53 miles Highland Fling Milngavie to Tyndrum 10.49.33 <br />
May-2015 10K Antonine Trail 46.14 <br />
May-2015 Half marathon Edinburgh 1.32.35 <br />
Jun-2015 8.5 miles Milngavie Trail Race (Mugdock Park) 1.03.35 <br />
Jun-2015 5K Sri Chinmoy Race (The Meadows) 19.58 <br />
Jun-2015 6 miles Mabie Trail Race 44.09 <br />
Jul-2015 5K Sri Chinmoy Race (The Meadows) 20.06 <br />
Jul-2015 2 miles Sri Chinmoy Race (The Meadows) 12.23 <br />
Jul-2015 38 miles Clyde Stride 6.19.00 <br />
Aug-2015 42 miles Devil O' The Highlands Tyndrum to Fort William 8.14.46 <br />
Aug-2015 10K Irvine 41.27 <br />
Aug-2015 3K Glasgow Green 11.48 <br />
Aug-2015 6.5 miles Harmeny Handicap Balerno to Harrison Pk 42.33 <br />
Sep-2015 2 miles Sri Chinmoy Race (The Meadows) 12.36 <br />
Sep-2015 Half marathon Scottish, East Lothian 1.33.33 <br />
Oct-2015 Marathon Kielder 3.43.22 <br />
Oct-2015 Marathon Loch Rannoch 3.41.35 <br />
Nov-2015 5.5 miles East League Cross Country (Alloa) 42.32 <br />
Nov-2015 13.5 miles Water of Leith Handicap Race 1.34.41 <br />
ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-60248611297436276142014-07-15T13:59:00.000+01:002014-07-15T14:10:11.835+01:00My 100 marathons - numbers 1 to 10In 2014 I hope to complete my 100th marathon and my 100th half marathon. To mark the occasion I am raising funds for SAMH, the Scottish Association for Mental Health, a charity of which I am a Trustee. If you wish to make a donation please visit my Justgiving page at the following link:<br />
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http://www.justgiving.com/ians100<br />
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I thought it would be interesting (for me if no-one else) to look back on my memories of each marathon. It may take a while to pull together, but here are my thoughts on the first 10.<br />
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Number 1 - Glasgow, September 1984 – 3 hours 35 mins<br />
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I had watched the Glasgow marathon in 1983 and decided it was something I wanted to do the following year, once I had turned 18. I followed the ‘Glasgow Herald’ training plan religiously from April to September, ran well on the day and a bit to my surprise found it a fairly easy run. I was a marathon runner.<br />
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Number 2 – Glasgow, September 1985 – 4 hours 23 mins<br />
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This was so different from the previous year. I ‘forgot’ to do any training until the Monday before the race. An 8 mile easy run convinced me, somewhat foolishly, that my natural fitness (!) would see me through the full race. Dressed up as Robin (running with my friend Gordon who was Batman), we set off into the rain at as easy a pace as possible. I managed to keep running for 23 miles before the wheels fell off big style. I struggled to the finish, then struggled to get back to the car, and couldn’t walk up or down stairs for the next fortnight. This marathon running wasn’t as easy as I had thought… a bit of training made it a lot easier. Who would have thought?<br />
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Number 3 – Dundee, May 1991 – 3 hours 17 mins<br />
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In the four and a half years from September 1985 to April 1990 I had put on a lot of weight and lost all my fitness. That changed when I moved to Troon and started running, first of all simply to get fit and then, as I was enjoying it, to try and get faster. In October I joined the local club, Troon Tortoises, and saw my times come down and down. I trained hard all winter towards the Lochaber marathon in April 1991, and believed I was in shape for a sub 3 hour finish. The inevitable happened. I went off too fast, fell apart just after the half way point, and needed a lift back in a police car from 18 miles. I was totally devastated about my failure and decided to do Dundee a few weeks afterwards as my way of getting ‘back on the horse’, without wearing a watch and simply running to finish. I have 2 distinct memories of this race. The first was seeing the lead car come back down the course with its clock when I was about 15 miles, and realise quite how slowly I was running. I gave myself a good talking to and pushed on over the last 11 miles, passing well over 100 people. The second was reaching the finish, going in to the Caird Hall to get changed, and being offered a drink of lager by a runner beside me. When I said no thanks – my stomach was in bits – he asked me if I was driving. It didn’t occur to him that it was probably the last thing on earth I wanted to drink at that particular moment.<br />
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Number 4 – Loch Rannoch, June 1991 – 3 hours 18 mins<br />
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I loved the Loch Rannoch marathon but don’t remember a great deal about this particular race, maybe because I did it (and the half) quite a few times, and the years sort of merge in to one another. It was a loop round the village (3 miles) the 23 miles round the loch, going through the grounds of Rannoch School at about 20 miles. The route was hilly, particularly at the far end of the loch, and normally hot. I’m fairly sure I just set out to run – a bit like Dundee – and not worry too much about my time, but to be honest I don’t remember too much about it.<br />
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Number 5 – Inverclyde, August 1991 – 2 hours 59 mins<br />
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While I didn’t remember much about LR, I remember almost everything about Inverclyde. The race started on the prom, headed up to Port Glasgow, turned and came back through Greenock, along through Gourock and out to the Cloch lighthouse, then turned and came back in to the prom. I thought sub 3 hours was on and went for it, running at a steady and very consistent 6.45 pace. Things started to hurt around 21 / 22 miles, but by then I knew I was on for sub 3 and dug in. I still remember seeing the 25 mile sign as I came back in to the prom – I was really hurting by this stage, but determined to keep it going. The prom is on a bit of a curve, so I didn’t see the finish line until there was less than half a mile to go, and it was a wonderful feeling when I crossed the line in 2.59.00. That was it – I was a sub 3 hour marathon runner. At the time I really thought that all my marathons would be sub 3 from then on… if only I had known….<br />
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Number 6 – London, April 1992 – 3 hours 22 mins<br />
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I picked up a frustrating shin splint injury in October 1991, and despite some good physiotherapy from Hugh Hunter at Crosshouse Hospital, didn’t really get in to any serious running until late January 1992. I had a place in the London marathon and was keen to do it, so tried to ease up my mileage in the hope I would be able to finish, although clearly not at the same pace as my last marathon at Inverclyde. That was effectively what happened – I had enough to get round, but found the last 6 miles hard going and slowed quite a bit over the second half of the course. Still, it was good to experience the London marathon for the first time – in those days the race finished on Westminster Bridge and you came up the Mall in the opposite direction.<br />
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Number 7 – Black Isle, October 1992 – 3 hours 7 mins<br />
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This marathon came highly recommended from a couple of the more experienced runners in the club. It was a horrendous drive up the A9 in terrible rain on the Friday night – the marathon was on the Saturday – and the people in the B&B I was staying were actually out looking for me as I reached Fortrose. My knee had been giving me problems for the few months before, and I was going in for an operation the Friday after the marathon which was going to keep me out of running for at least 6 weeks. I took the view that my knee was going to get fixed anyway, so there was no point in worrying about any pain from it during the race. We were bussed across the Black Isle to the marathon start, and ran all the way round the Isle and back to the finish at Fortrose. I ran fairly well throughout. It was a cold day with a biting wind, and there was a long 2 mile climb around 17 miles coming out of Cromarty. I had hoped that the run down the other side of the hill would be better, but the wind was so strong that it made the last 6 miles very hard. I was pleased to finish, pleased with my time, and the post race shower in Fortrose Academy was one of the best I have ever had.<br />
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Number 8 – London, April 2003 – 3 hours 38 mins<br />
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This still ranks as one of the worst marathons I have ever run. I had my knee operation, recovered well, and felt really good when I did a 20 mile warm up race at Hereford in 2.12 at the end of February 1993. Maybe I just came back to quickly. I knew as soon as I started the marathon that things weren’t right – my legs felt like lead – and it just got worse as the race went on. The only consolation I could take was that I finished. With the benefit of hindsight I think I had a virus, and it didn’t go away for a couple of months.<br />
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Number 9 – Taunton, April 1994 – 3 hours 4 mins<br />
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I didn’t do another marathon in 1993, and targeted Taunton as my spring marathon for 1994. I drove down to London on the Friday, then across to Taunton on the Saturday. It was a 2 lap event – I was under 3 hour pace at the end of the first lap, but felt things slip around 17 miles and slowed considerably over the last 8 miles or so to finish in a slightly disappointing 3.04. It was a long drive home, and a huge struggle to get out the car at a service station.<br />
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Number 10 – Belfast, May 1994 – 3 hours 7 mins<br />
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This remains one of the most memorable marathons I have ever done, not because it was a particularly good performance but because it was the first time I had been to Belfast, and in 1994 Belfast was still in the middle of the troubles. I flew in and out of Belfast for the day and the level of security at the airport was something I had not seen before, particularly when flying between 2 British airports. The marathon route took us on an incredible tour of Belfast: through the Protestant Shankill area, along the Catholic Falls Road, round the affluent university area, through the shipyards, before finishing in the centre of Belfast. It was a wonderful way to see so many different parts of the city. I had a mixed run; by 12 miles I was really struggling, but seemed to rally in the latter stages to finish fairly strongly. My overriding memory is looking across at a soldier in the Falls Road, with his gun pointing towards the runners, and seeing a child playing around him, running under his legs, and not even noticing he was there. The soldiers had become such a part of daily life, they were barely noticed.<br />
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Numbers 11 to 20 to follow in due course……<br />
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ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-89329045843270728312014-07-01T18:06:00.002+01:002014-07-01T18:06:25.511+01:00West Highland Way Race 2014 – A Race Director’s PerspectiveNow that the dust has settled on the 2014 race, I thought it was a good time for me to do my annual blog posting and stick down my thoughts on the race, while it is still relatively fresh in my mind. So here goes…..<br />
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I knew I had a hectic week coming up at work in the lead up to the race (of which more below), so I went in to the office on Sunday afternoon to get various bits and pieces sorted out, such as allocating the numbers to each runner, collating the support and medical details in a format they could be easily printed and accessed, chasing the few runners still needing to provide bits of information, and so on. I was there for 4 hours, but it was time well spent and I felt better when it was all finished. Everything felt under control with only a few days to go.<br />
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As expected it was a busy week, both at work and with some of the other things I am involved with. Monday was a busy day of meetings, then I had a Scottish Athletics board meeting at night where the board met the management team who will support and look after the Scottish athletes at the Commonwealth Games. It was great to see how well advanced the planning was, how enthusiastic everyone was, and I came home totally inspired. On Tuesday morning I attended at a sports law conference – not sure it was the best time to be hearing about various cases where event organisers were held liable for problems with their events – and then back to a number of meetings in the afternoon. At night I headed round to Run and Become to help with the packing of the goody bags, but by the time I arrived around 7pm it was just about finished thanks to some excellent work from Adrian, Murdo, Norman, Julie and Scott. Wednesday morning saw an early start: a taxi picked me up at 5.30am to take me to Waverley Station, and I headed through to Glasgow on the first train. I was chairing a series of question and answer sessions with Eilish McColgan, Nigel Holl (CEO of Scottish Athletics) and Stephen Maguire (Director of Coaching of Scottish Athletics): Glasgow on Wednesday morning, Dundee on Wednesday evening and Edinburgh on Thursday morning. Each of the three seminars lasted for around an hour and a half, with audiences of between 45 and 85 people, and after a train delay I didn’t get back home from Dundee until after 11pm on Wednesday evening. It was a long day, and possibly not the best preparation for the busy weekend to come. After the Eilish seminar on Thursday morning we had our weekly board meeting, then I had a quick check of my e-mails before heading through to Glasgow for a SAMH board meeting. I arrived back in Edinburgh about 7.30pm, finalised a few race bits and pieces in the office, put on my Out of Office, and headed home about 9pm. By the time I got home Sandra was in bed; I had hardly seen her all week.<br />
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Friday arrived – I always think of the Friday as race day – and I was up at 7am. I had to pick up a few things from the office before meeting Donald and Elaine at Run and Become at 9.30am to hand over numbers, pins and race info for the relay. I also met Steven, who was kindly helping out by transporting goody bags and race merchandise from Edinburgh to Milngavie in the van. Once the van was packed Steven dropped me off at Arnold Clark in Sighthill where I picked up my own van. I popped in to Sainsbury’s to pick up a few bits and pieces (including an extra packet of sandwich bags for the runners’ medical cards, as I was worried we might not have enough), had a quick bite to eat and headed home to pack the van. Sandra was already packed, and we left the house at 1pm. We had something to eat at McDonalds at Straiton then headed to Milngavie. The traffic was heavy but we got there about 3pm, and after a bit of a mix up about what Premier Inn we had booked we checked in for Sean and Laura, who were going to stay there for a few hours’ sleep after the race had started.<br />
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We didn’t stay in Milngavie but headed up to the Oak Tree, where we had a room booked. We stopped on route at the Beech Tree to check Lynne (the owner) was able to leave the car park gate open for race traffic, had a quick drink, then arrived in Balmaha around 5pm. After something to eat and a shower, we left at 7.30pm to set up registration at St Joseph’s Church from 8pm. Most of the helpers arrived shortly afterwards and before too long everything had been set up. It was clear that everyone knew what they were doing and there were a lot of experienced helpers in the room; it certainly made my job easy having such a good team around. This was something that happened throughout the whole race - the quality of people helping with every aspect of the race was great, and I am hugely appreciative to them all for all their efforts. Martin Stone from Sportident, the timing people, also arrived and set up the electronic cards.<br />
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As usual, there was a bit of rush when registration first opened, then it quietened down until closer to the start of the race. I did a quick interview with John for the podcast, went to see the Trossachs people, and said hello to many of the runners arriving. I had a bit of a panic when I couldn’t find the medical sheets, but thankfully they re-appeared amongst the car park passes. All seemed to go smoothly; as ever the lady from the church was a fantastic help, and great to work with. We are lucky to have people like her helping with the race.<br />
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At 12.30am Sean and I gave the race briefing, and it was almost time to start the race. I love the last half hour before the race starts. There is an incredible atmosphere – a mixture of excitement, nerves and general terror – but it is a fantastic sight to see everyone line up beside the tunnel. It meant a lot to me to see that Nigel Holl, the CEO of Scottish Athletics, had cycled down to see the start; I was also delighted that there had been no sign of the ‘Challenge’ which I later heard had started with its five runners further up in Milngavie. At exactly 1am I blew the hooter, and the runners were away. It didn’t take long for the runners and their support to clear, and Milngavie Station started returning to normal. We packed various bits and pieces in to the van, finished tidying the hall, and headed off. The first milestone – a successful start – had been reached.<br />
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Sandra and I headed up to the Beech Tree, saw the first runners come through, and had a quick word with George and Karen. In the darkness I didn’t recognise Alan, Rosie Bell’s husband, which was a bit embarrassing. We didn’t stay there too long, but headed up the road to Balmaha, making a quick detour to Garadhban Forest. We were too late arriving there to see Paul Giblin and Robbie Britton go through – it was already clear that these two guys had made a great start and were capable of something very special. We also saw the first of the ‘Challenge’ checkpoints which I thought looked a bit pathetic. From there we did a quick turn and travelled to Balmaha, said hello to Davie at the checkpoint - providing a couple of new people for the midges to devour - and quickly went in to the sanctuary of the Oak Tree. We were able to get Wifi in there and follow the runners going through the checkpoint via the Sportident app, while enjoying a welcome coffee and bacon roll. <br />
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We stayed in the Oak Tree for quite a while, following the race and chatting to the support crews who came in. After a while we decided to take a drive up to Rowardennan and see how things were going there. The road up was quiet, but Paul and Robbie had already passed through by the time we arrived. We didn’t stay long; had a quick word with Richard and Robert from the safety of our car – the midges were as bad as I have ever seen them – then returned down the road to the Oak Tree. We didn’t see many runners at all and were able to get some idea of how much the field had spread out, even at this early stage of the race.<br />
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On our return the Oak Tree was jumping and after a bit of chat we decided to head to bed for a couple of hours’ sleep. I have to give a huge thanks to Lucy, Sandy and family for opening up the Oak Tree for us on race night. It makes a fantastic difference to the support crews to be able to get something hot to eat and drink, and to be able to use the facilities. We went to bed about 5.30am, but I was wakened by two phone calls and two texts and decided at 7.30am would be as well getting up. Still, two hours of disturbed sleep was better than none, and after a shower and some breakfast we were ready to head further up the course.<br />
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As we travelled along the south side of Loch Lomond I spoke on the phone to Sean. It was clear that Paul and Robbie were continue to run at a record pace, and our biggest problem was ensuring that Martin (the Sportident timing man) arrived in time at each checkpoint. We had a fairly slow trip up Loch Lomond – the traffic was already heavy and moving slowly through the roadworks. We called in to Beinglas and I was pleased to see it all looked calm, both at the field where everyone was parking and at the checkpoint. We spoke to Helen and John and watched some of the runners come in. Many of them looked shattered, but I always found the section in to Beinglas one of the hardest and I was confident they would pick up on the next section.<br />
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Just before leaving Graeme told me that there had been an accident on the A82. I asked one of the Trossachs guys about it, but it seemed to have been cleared so we continued north. I would have liked to have gone in to Auchtertyre but we needed to go to By The Way and check the relay registration. From all the feedback Auchtertyre worked extremely well this year, marshalled in the usual professional way by Lee and her family. This was a theme throughout the weekend: people at checkpoints who knew exactly what they were doing, and looking after the runners and their support teams superbly. The race is really lucky to have so many experienced people giving up their weekend to help, and I am hugely grateful to all of them. It certainly makes my role as RD much easier to know everywhere is in such good hands.<br />
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It was no surprise to see the relay registration at By The Way working well, with Donald and Elaine fully in control. At around 11.40am I headed over to the relay start, gave a quick briefing 10 minutes before the start, then set the 32 runners off at exactly 12 noon. The runners coming through Tyndrum just before the relay start were given a fantastic reception – the race instructions had asked all relay runners to make a point of congratulating the full race runners as they passed, and it certainly seemed to happen at Tyndrum. Hopefully it happened elsewhere too. We didn’t hang about long and drove to Bridge of Orchy, said a quick hello to Sean and Laura, then continued on to Glencoe. I was already aware that the car park was going to be full of people taking part in a biking competition, but my heart sank when I saw it. This was normally our easiest checkpoint in terms of parking; today it had the potential to be a nightmare, particularly later on when more runners were arriving. Still, not much we could do at this stage, and it was just something else for the experienced team of Alan, Silke et al to cope with. I think they did an excellent job; although very busy at times, they managed to get everyone through successfully.<br />
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We would have liked to have headed to Kinlochleven, but Paul was going so quickly that we would not be able to get there before him. We had just left Glencoe when we received a text from Julie, saying Paul had already been through Kinlochleven, arriving there at 12.42pm. That was incredible - he was motoring, and a new record now seemed a certainty. We did a quick calculation – not easy when you haven’t had much sleep – and reckoned we should be able to get to Lundavra in time to see him, but didn’t have much time to spare. The traffic remained slow, and the wee road up to Lundavra is never the best, but we got there about 15 minutes before Paul came through and had time for a quick chat with John and Katrina, who were setting things up. They were in for a long shift, but on the positive side there was a nice breeze and it seemed to be keeping the midges away. Paul passed through, didn’t stop for more than a minute, and looked very strong as he ran up the hill out of the checkpoint. We jumped in the van and down to Lochaber Leisure Centre, let the team there know Paul was on his way from Lundavra, and headed out to Braveheart car park to see him coming in. We had a bit of a chat with his crew before he arrived; once he reached Braveheart carpark we jumped back in to the van, headed back to the Leisure Centre, and waited for him to reach the finish. It was very emotional seeing him cross the line and record his time at 14.20.11, 47 minutes faster than his time from the previous year. We had seen something very special indeed; a truly world class performance. We didn’t have long to wait for Robbie, who finished in 14.47.48. That was another outstanding performance, one that was 20 minutes faster than the old record. It had been an outstanding race between the superb athletes.<br />
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We stayed at the Leisure Centre for a while, watching the faster runners arrive. Fionna Ross, the first lady, arrived in a time of 18.45, the third fastest time ever by a lady. Not far behind was the female winner for the last two years, Rosie Bell, who recorded a PB of 19.02 and the fourth female time ever. It had been a day of incredible performances at the front end of both races. Conditions were good – overcast, not too warm, with a dry course – but there is no doubt Scottish ultra-running performances have moved up a level over the last few years, both on the male and female sides.<br />
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I would have liked to have seen every finisher, but also wanted to see how things were going at Kinlochleven, so we headed back down the road. When we arrived I said hello to Dr Chris, Julie and team and remarked that it all seemed very calm, although we all doubted if that would be the case later on! There is decent internet access at Kinlochleven so I was able to get an update of how the race was developing, and we stayed there for an hour or so, seeing various runners come in. Most looked tired at this stage – not surprisingly – but they knew they were in to the final straight, and most left in a positive frame of mind. The only downside was that the midges had made a reappearance, even inside the community centre. We left Kinlochleven and headed up to Lundavra again, where by now the bonfire was going well with quite a few people waiting for their runners to pass through. We stayed there for the best part of an hour then headed back to the Leisure Centre.<br />
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Alan and his finishing team had things well under control at the finish, with the finishing runners going through the routine of recording their time with their card, being given a printout of their splits, being weighed, then given some tea and toast. By around 5.30am I could hardly keep my eyes open, so popped in to the van for a quick nap. I woke up just after 7am to the noise of Fiona Rennie approaching her 10th race finish, and I managed to dive out the van, just in time to see her crossing the line in one of the race’s emotional moments. For the next few hours the runners finished in various states, ranging from very tired to absolutely shattered. We grabbed a quick breakfast at Morrisons around 9am, then at 11am I headed down to Nevis Centre to set things up for the prizegiving. <br />
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The seats had been laid out in theatre style and it looked fantastic. I was glad I had scripted it all the week before, as I was far too tired to do much thinking at that stage. We started the prizegiving just after 12 noon, and as always it was a very emotional occasion. Paul received a well deserved 5 minute standing ovation for his outstanding run, then every finisher received his or her goblet. There were special presentations for the first 3 men and women, for the five people who had completed 10 races, and for the oldest finisher. Finally we reached Frits, the 157th (and last) finisher, with race winner Paul presenting him with his goblet in another of the race’s emotional moments. I tidied things in to the van, we had a couple of drinks in the Nevis Centre, went for a bit of sleep (although had slightly more than expected as we both slept through the alarm), had a great night out in the pub, had a good catch up with quite a few runners over breakfast the next morning, then travelled back down the road. I returned the van on the Tuesday, tidied a few things up, and that was it. The race was over for another year.<br />
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More than one week on, I am delighted with how it all went. I’ve mentioned them a number of times already but the team who helped out in every area were superb, and played a key part in making this race the wonderful event that it is. Ultimately, though, the West Highland Way Race is about the runners. I witnessed some wonderful performances over the weekend, at the front, at the middle and at the back of the field. Paul’s performance was exceptional, but everyone who earned their goblet achieved something special; something that will stay with them forever. It is a privilege for me to be the Race Director of such a fantastic event. <br />
ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-90761246557272255112013-06-25T17:46:00.003+01:002013-06-25T17:46:54.129+01:00Race Director's Story: the 2013 West Highland Way RaceWe were heading down the road yesterday and Sandra said that a lot of people would be interested in hearing my story of the WHW Race. I'm on holiday today (Tuesday), and I realise if I don't write it all down now it will never happen. So here goes...suspect this might be a long post but I'll start typing and see where I get to....<br />
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I'll start this story on the Monday before the race. Less than a week to go, and it is obvious from the various posts on Facebook and Twitter that all of the runners were going through their various stages of taperitis, getting more and more excited. Only a few more sleeps to go. I realised I was going to struggle to do much running this week, so got up and 5.30am and ran with Sandra in to the city centre when she was doing one of her last runs, the headed back to the flat at a bit of a faster pace. Run done by 7am. I had a busy day at work - there aren't too many quiet days - then headed out to South Gyle to chair a Scottish Athletics board meeting. The meeting went really well. There is a real positive feel at the moment in Scottish Athletics; I feel that the whole sport is coming together, right from the top level where hardly a weekend goes by without more athletes achieving the Commonwealth Games standards, through to the clubs where we are seeing some fantastic results with the Club Together programme. The quality of the Scottish Athletics team is superb, and I left the meeting at 8.30pm on a real high, greatly encouraged by the way things are going. I stopped at the office to leave my suit and change in to my cycling kit, so I'd be able to cycle in the next morning, then stopped on the way home for a Chinese as it was too late to be cooking. Sandra was in bed when I got home and it was about 11pm by the time I had unwound enough to go to bed.<br />
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I went in to the office at 7.30am on Tuesday to spend an hour and a half on WHW stuff before starting my (paid) work. We were meeting at night to pack the goody bags, so I needed to make sure we had an up to date list of runners, along with the details of everyone's garment size. I had another full day but stopped at 5.30pm for a call with Martin Stone, the owner of SPORTident who were providing the timing equipment for the race. It was really useful to go through everything with Martin and by the time our call had finished I was confident we had (almost) everything in place to make sure it all went smoothly at the weekend. The only thing that I hadn't thought of was the fact we needed tables at each checkpoint to sit the timing stations on; it wasn't a problem as we still had time to get them. At about 6.40pm I headed round to Run and Become where Adrian, Murdo and Julie had already started packing the race goody bags. It didn't take us too long to get through them, and when we finished at 8.30pm I headed back to the office to work on the support crew and medical information. Everyone had submitted the information on time and in the correct format, but it was still a bit of a job to go through it all and ensure it was in a format that could be easily used if we were faced with an emergency situation on race day. By 11pm I had done more than half the entries, felt I had broken the back of it, and left the office and cycled home. Another late tea on my own and it was time for bed. No run for me today but that was fine; anything this week was a bit of a bonus.<br />
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I had set myself an objective of having everything done for the WHW Race by the close of play on Wednesday, so got up early again and headed in to the office. There were 5 things on my 'To Do' list in respect of the race: speak to Alan Kay about the Glencoe checkpoint, in particular making sure the route to the checkpoint was clearly marked so no-one could go wrong (there had been a bit of discussion on Facebook about people missing the checkpoint last year and I didn't want this to be an issue again); meet Adrian at 8am for a coffee and final de-brief to ensure we hadn't missed anything; ensure all the support crew information was in the correct format and had been sent to the Race Control team, along with all the contact numbers; script the prize giving for Sunday; and write up the race briefing for the Friday night. I was out of the office at various meetings for most of the day, but by 5.30pm I was able to start working on WHW stuff and had finished everything on the 'To Do' list just after 8pm. I cycled home with a feeling that everything had been done and was under control. Sandra was still up when I got home - I think she had forgotten what I looked like - and we had a couple of glasses of wine before heading to bed.<br />
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Thursday is always my busiest day at work as we have a board meeting in the morning, and I was pretty much back to back with meetings until 1pm. After that I travelled through to Glasgow for a SAMH board meeting, but managed to get a slightly earlier train which gave me time to pop in to the Blackfriars Bar and say hello to those at the WHW lunch. I had a quick coffee and headed along to the SAMH board meeting at 3pm. It finished about 6.30pm, I headed back by train to Edinburgh, then cycled home from the office. When I arrived home Sandra was still out at the Barefoot Ted presentation at Footworks Colin McPhail's shop, so I decided to head out for a run. I don't know if it was the adrenalin, the hot weather, or a combination of both, but I was absolutely flying - 5 miles in 7.04 pace, which is much faster than I've been running recently. Sandra arrived back, we had some tea, and I headed off to bed.<br />
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Although the race doesn't technically start until the Saturday morning, I always feel it is race day when I wake up on the Friday morning of WHW Race weekend. I had taken the day as a holiday but had a lot to do, so set the alarm for 8am and got up then. I packed all my kit for the weekend and at about 10am I headed out for a run. I combined this with collecting my van for the weekend from Thrifty at Haymarket - killing 2 birds with the one stone - and again I was delighted how well I ran, 7.25 pace for 5 miles, a decent pace considering how hot it was. Before going home I called in to the office to collect all the things needed for race day, such as the medical cards, the parking permits, the emergency contact information, pens, and the trophies for those who were in line to finish their 10th WHW Race. Sandra was ready when I arrived home at about 1pm, and after a quick sandwich we headed through to Milngavie.<br />
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Stan had collected the finishers' goblets from Glencairn Crystal a few weeks earlier, and I had arranged to meet him in Milngavie at 3pm to hand them over. That all went to plan, and shortly afterwards two of Sandra's backup team (Susan and her partner Howard)arrived at the Milngavie Premier Inn, where Sandra had booked a room to let her relax for the few hours before the race. Susan and Howard headed out for a run. I went along to Tesco in Milngavie to collect a few things and, more importantly, to give Sandra the chance to have a couple of hours sleep. I arrived back at 6pm and we headed through to the Beefeater for our pre race meal. Unfortunately the service was terrible, and I didn't have time to finish my meal before I needed to head along to set up registration at St Joseph's Church at 8pm.<br />
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When I arrived at the Church Hall there were a few helpers already there, including Davie Hall (who was in charge of registration) and George and Karen, who were involved with the sweeping. Martin Stone arrived shortly afterwards with his timing equipment, and everything was set up and ready to go by the 'opening time' of 9pm. As in previous years, we had quite a crowd wanting to register at 9pm, presumably so they could head back and relax a bit before the race. After the initial rush things quietened down a bit. I headed out to see Stuart Ballantyne and his team from Trossachs Search and Rescue - they were already set up at the far end of the car park and collecting drop bags for Rowardennan and Inversnaid. The Trossachs guys provide great support to the race, and I was delighted to see that everything was working in accordance with the plan. The atmosphere in the Church Hall was great - I love seeing so many nervous and excited people in the few hours before the start of the race. It was a pleasure to work with the lady from the church. She couldn't have been more helpful, even making tea and coffee for the team working on registration. I later found out she was supposed to be on holiday that week, but changed her arrangements because she enjoys the race so much and the people associated with it. Not for the last time, it brought home to me what a great race this is, and what a fantastic group of people it is who are associated with it.<br />
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At 12.30am I headed out and gave the race briefing. As always, I could smell the tension in the air. It is a magnificent sight to look out and see so many people who were about to head off on this massive challenge. I was a bit nervous about quoting Fiona's inspirational words - I hadn't been able to do it when I was practising the night before without tears running down my face - but it all went well, and I hope it sent people off with a poignant reminder of what this race is really about. At about 12.50am I headed to the start line, gave the '10 minute to go' announcement, saw Sandra and wished her all the best, and got ready for the start. At exactly 1am I pressed the hooter and everyone was off. We had 181 runners, all hoping to make it to Fort William before noon on Sunday. It was a nice feeling to see everyone head off - it felt like the first part of the planning had been completed successfully - and there was an odd silence in the car park which had been so noisy just a few minutes earlier. I collected a few things from the hall, which had already been tidied by the registration team, and headed across to the van.<br />
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I left Milngavie and started to head towards the Beech Tree. Lynne on the Radio was on Radio Clyde - she's had a bit of banter with Sandra in the past about her running, so I sent her a tweet saying I had just seen 181 runners head off on the WHW Race to Fort William. She read it out almost right away, which amused me greatly, although I suspect few people heard it. Soon afterwards I arrived at the Beech Tree which was busy, with the car park almost full. The owner there is lovely - she opens her wee hut each year and sells hot rolls and coffee - so I had a quick coffee, said hello and thanked her. It is one of the things I love about the WHW Race - there are so many people who appreciate it and want to help out in any way they can. After that I headed to Drymen, expecting to have a bit of time before anyone arrived. But no sooner had I got there and the first 2 runners went through - Paul Giblin and Robert Souter. I looked at my watch and couldn't believe it; 1.29. What were they doing running at that pace? Surely it was too fast? It also caused a bit of panic - that was much faster than we had expected or planned; would the checkpoints be ready in time? I headed straight back to the car and drove round to Balmaha, to let the checkpoint team know they might be in action quicker than they had expected. Fortunately Davie was there already, and Martin arrived shortly afterwards to set up the timing station. It was all under control, so I headed across to the Oak Tree for a coffee and a roll.<br />
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Sandra and I have known the owners of the Oak Tree, Sandy and Lucy, for a few years. They are a lovely couple, and opening up the Oak Tree to serve coffee and rolls at that time in the morning is a wonderful gesture. I had a quick chat with Lucy, ate my roll, and headed back out to the car ark to see the first few runners coming through. We checked that the timing system was working properly - it was - and then I headed up with Martin to set up the Rowardennan checkpoint and timing station.<br />
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The midges at Rowardennan were bad, so I was glad when we had everything set up and the drop bags laid out. Paul Giblin arrived in a super fast time, and had opened up a large gap from the second runner. Already it was clear that, if he could hold it together, we were going to see something special. I headed back down the road, stopping between the camp sites to see the runners come through. Sandra passed looking strong, and I headed down to the Oak Tree where I had planned to grab a few hours sleep.<br />
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Unfortunately the plan to sleep did not work. I lay on the bed with my mind racing, adrenalin pumping through my body, and unable to get to sleep. Just as I had almost dropped off, my phone woke me with a text to sat the checkpoint team were not able to get in to Beinglas Farm because the gate was locked. I didn't even know there was a gate, but this was a problem. There is only an intermittent phone signal at the Oak Tree, so I wasn't able to phone Adrian or speak to Ross or Noanie who were in charge of the checkpoint. I felt pretty helpless; miles away, no phone signal, and no real idea of what was happening. There was no way I was going to get any sleep now. Paul came through there at 6.58am, before the gate had opened and with most of the checkpoint team still on the wrong side of the gate. Thankfully Noanie had managed to get in and was able to make a manual note of his time and give him a few gels to keep him going. I finally got a signal, spoke to Adrian and approved Paul's support team having special dispensation to meet him further up Glen Falloch, as they hadn't been able to get in to Beinglas. I don't even know if this message got through to them. Fortunately the gates opened at 7am and the checkpoint team (plus Martin) were able to get in, and record the times of the rest of the runners.<br />
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I got up and had a shower, a quick breakfast, and headed round the southern end of Loch Lomond. I stopped in Balloch when I had a decent phone signal, and updated myself with the race progress. By this stage I think Paul had reached Auchteryre in under 8 hours and was showing no signs of slowing. It was already looking like a remarkable performance was on the cards. I arrived at Beinglas and was met by Ross, who told me there had been a bit of a hassle with the owner. Ross had done a good job in sorting things out, but it was clear I would need to have a chat with him and make sure things were ok. I found the owner shortly afterwards, apologised for the hassle, and we agreed that next year we would sit down beforehand and plan things better. I waited to see Sandra come through then left Beinglas feeling that things were under control. It is great to have people like Noanie and Ross who have the presence to take control of a situation when something happens that is not in the plan. All of our marshals are like that - they are experienced people who I can rely on to work things out, and as a race we are very lucky to have their help.<br />
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After Beinglas I drove up to Auchtertyre. It was clear that the checkpoint team had everything under control, and there were none of the problems that had occurred last year. I said a quick hello and headed on up the road to Bridge of Orchy. By the time I arrived there the first 3 runners had already passed, so I stayed for about half an hour for a coffee with Tim, Muriel and Jane while the next few runners come through. I was aware that I needed to get to Kinlochleven before the first runner - I was looking after Martin here while he set up the timing system, while Adrian was heading to set up the finish at Fort William - so I headed straight for Glencoe. As I headed up the ski road towards the checkpoint I passed Paul running down the road, having been through the checkpoint already. At that stage I knew a new record was definitely going to happen, unless the wheels fell off which did not look likely; he looked remarkably good for a man who had covered 71 miles in 10 hours 33 minutes. I did a quick calculation in my head - 5 hours from here was more than achievable for a runner of Paul's ability, and if he did that he would come finish in about 15 and a half hours.<br />
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I arrived at Kinlochleven and met Julie, who was looking after the checkpoint, and Paul's mum, dad and sister, who were doing his support. We had a chat and I reminded them that while Terry Conway's time last year of 15.39 was the best time on the route since 1991, the actual best time ever recorded was Dave Wallace in 1989 of 15.26. I asked them to make sure Paul knew this - I didn't want him to coast in to Fort William thinking he had the best ever time if he managed to beat last year's 15.39. It was also a chance to put to bed the argument about whether the course before 1991 was harder or easier - if he could beat 15.26 that would be the best time ever, full stop. We watched Paul come in and out of the checkpoint. He looked a bit tired, as you would expect after 81 miles, but didn't look as though he was slowing. Chris Ellis arrived just as Paul was leaving. The look of disbelief on Chris's face was something I remember for a long time, as he had expected to have another hour to set things up before anyone arrived.<br />
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Martin and I went for a quick toastie in the Tailrace Inn, and we when we came back we saw Marco come through in 2nd place, also on schedule for an amazing time. I knew I didn't have too much time to get to the finish, given the pace Paul was running, so I left Kinlochleven and headed up to Fort William. Adrian and Alan had already set up the finish - we wanted to make it more of an 'occasion' this year with a defined finishing straight and a banner - and we prepared ourselves for Paul's arrival, with Martin setting up the final timing station. Paul's support crew were pacing around nervously, but they had seen him through Lundavra and knew he was still going well and on schedule. At 4.07pm Paul came in to the car park, crossing the line in a new record of 15 hour 7 minutes and 29 seconds. It was an incredible moment, one I will remember for a long time. His support team were very emotional. Paul looked remarkably fresh. It was a truly remarkable performance by a remarkable athlete.<br />
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After the photos were taken and the congratulations offered, we started to prepare for the second runner's arrival. Marco's support crew arrived - comprising a trio of international athletes who between hold many of the Scottish ultra running records - and we knew he wouldn't be far away. Marco finished just after 5pm with a time of 16.03.48 - the 4th fastest time, and a PB by around 2 hours. I was delighted for Marco. I have known him since we worked together in the 1990s. At that time he didn't run at all, and to see the progress he has made has been amazing.<br />
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Richie Cunningham came in soon afterwards in another remarkable time of 16.27.30. Richie won the race in 2010 and 2011, but DNF'd last year. It was great to see him return to this level of performance, and he wasn't far away from his best time. Shortly after Richie finished, I decided to head back down to Kinlochleven to spend a few hours there. I knew I was likely to miss the finish of the female race, which was a shame, but against that I was keen to see how Kinlochleven checkpoint operated. I arrived there about 6pm and saw quite a number of runners come through. I had a good catch up with Chris Ellis - it is great for us to have Chris involved, with all of his medical knowledge and experience - and I even managed to find time for a steak pie supper from the local chippie. The internet connection at KLL was much better than FW, so I phoned Adrian and Mags (the race control team, who were in FW) and suggested it would make more sense for them to base themselves in KLL. Sandra's backup team arrived soon afterwards, and at about 8.15pm Sandra arrived at the checkpoint. She was in good spirits, hadn't had any problems with her ankle, and as long as she held things together she was well on course for a sub 24 hour finish. She headed off with Nick as her support runner, and I got ready to head back up towards Fort William.<br />
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By that stage the only checkpoint I hadn't visited was Lundavra. I checked in for Sandra at the Premier Inn, then headed up the narrow and winding road to the Lundavra checkpoint. Neal, Caroline and Caroline's parents were there, and it looked like a party was already in progress. They had set up a big tent, and any time a runner appeared over the hill they greeted them with a blast of music (mainly the Rocky theme when I was there, but there were a few other variations). It was absolutely brilliant, and must have given the runners such a boost. I saw a number of very tired runners pass through, all knowing they were on the final leg and had only 7 miles to the finish. Sandra arrived at exactly 10.30pm (21 hours 30 mins); hopefully her sub 24 hour target was in the bag. I watched her head off on the last section, going really well, and headed back to the car to drive back to the Leisure Centre. She arrived there at 12.11 pm in a time of 23 hours 11 minutes, with a huge smile on her face. I was delighted for her, and for her support crew - like everyone else, she had worked incredibly hard for it and was totally elated by her achievement.<br />
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There was a rush of finishers in the period up to the 24 hour mark, then it quietened down for a while. I found the quiet sections quite difficult - I hadn't had a problem with tiredness at all, but when it was quiet it became a bit more difficult. It didn't seem to be dark for very long - by 3am it was getting light again, and we were in to the new day. Adrian, Alan, Silke and I took turns at doing the various jobs (recording finishing times, weighing, printing out the splits for the runners, answering various questions, and so on). It was great to see the elation of all the finishers - it is clear how much finishing means to everyone involved, and it is a real privilege to be able to share this moment with the runners and their support teams. The timing system made it really easy for us to know who was still out on the course. I had a shower at 6am and felt a lot better; before we knew it we were waiting for the last few runners, with many of the earlier finishers who had reappeared at the Leisure Centre to support those coming in. The last finisher, Peter Ritchie, came in just after 11am, and we finished packing everything up before heading to the Nevis Centre for the prize giving.<br />
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The prize giving was an incredible event. I have never seen so many people attending; there must have been more than 500 people in the room, with about a third unable to get a seat. As mentioned earlier I had scripted the format of the prize giving a few days earlier, as I knew I would be too tired to do it on the day. I was deeply moved by the emotion in the room. Paul received a wonderful and deserved reception when he collected his trophy, as did Gareth when he was announced as the oldest finisher. I was very moved by the reception I was given when Adrian thanked me for the work. People loved it when Paul presented Peter with his goblet as last finisher. The West Highland Way Race family is an amazing group of people, and this is an incredible race.<br />
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I left the prize giving with a feeling of satisfaction, a job well done. We went for a couple of drinks and something to eat before heading to bed at 5pm for a couple of hours sleep prior to the night out. I was in two minds about whether to go to bed - I had been awake for 57 hours without a sleep and was scared if I slept I wouldn't be able to get back up again in a a few hours for the night out. However I was falling asleep on my feet, so didn't really have any choice. Sure enough when the alarm went off I had no idea at all of where I was, or why my alarm was going off at 7.30pm, and promptly fell asleep again. I was woken 20 minutes later with a call from Susan wondering where we were, so struggled in to the shower in a state of semi consciousness. It took an hour or so to come round, but once I had had my first pint in the Ben Nevis bar (thanks Norma!) I felt a lot better. We had a wonderful night sharing race stories, and headed to bed about 2am. We met a number of friends he next day for breakfast, then headed back to Edinburgh, calling in at my Mum and Dad's house on route.<br />
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One day on, I am still buzzing about the weekend. It was brilliant. There are still a few things to do, but I returned the van this morning, dealt with a few bits and pieces, and should be able to put this year's race to bed in the next week or so. I would like to thank everyone who was involved, in any capacity: the runners, the support crews, the marshalls, the sweep teams, the medical teams, the timing people, and all the other helpers who help make this, in my view, the best race in the world. It is a privilege to be the Race Director of the West Highland Way Race. I look forward to seeing you all again next year.<br />
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ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-54475947568506843222013-04-12T17:01:00.000+01:002013-04-12T17:01:02.754+01:00Feeling like a runner again...After a dismal period of running I am starting to enjoy it and - wait for it - actually feel like a runner again. I've had some brilliant runs over the last few weeks, including a 26 miler on the snow covered Cateran Trail, a 4 Hills of Edinburgh effort with the Wednesday night gang, and the Kilomathon Race. I've been cycling in and out of work, which I've really enjoyed, and been walking up the stairs rather than taking the lift. We're on the 5th floor so it's not as insignficant as it sounds... every little helps and all that..<br />
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I'll do a steady run tomorrow with Sandra, then a few easy runs next week before the London Marathon a week on Sunday. I'm not expecting a fantastic time, but to get round it in one piece (ideally with a '3' at the start of my time) would be perfectly acceptable given my disrupted training and unexpected January stay in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. I'm looking on it as a nice weekend away, an experience to be enjoyed, and a long training run which should stand me in good stead for races later in May and June - the Sri Chimnoy 5k (what was I thinking entering this?), the Loch Leven half marathon, the Edinburgh half marathon and then the big one, the Strathearn marathon.<br />
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ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-81674244479288287392012-12-30T22:57:00.000+00:002012-12-30T23:00:49.647+00:00Review of 2012As we approach the end of another year - they seem to go by quicker each year, which I'm sure is a sign of old age - I thought I'd stick down a few thoughts on my 2012 experiences, running or otherwise. Some of you who know me well may be surprised that I have any running experiences to write about at all. But I've looked back on my detailed records and see that I've completed 17 races this year: 2 ultras (Cateran and Devil O' The Highlands), 3 marathons (Blackpool, Strathearn and Loch Ness), 2 half marathons (Alloa and the Antonine Trail), 2 10ks (Round the Houses and Crieff), and 8 other races of various distances and terrains, including one of my favourites, the National Cross Country Championships, which I did for the 19th time. I've run over 1,500 miles (it's 1,552 at the moment with a day still to go). While that is quite a bit lower than my normal 2,000, it isn't too bad when I look at what else I've had on. However it would be fair to say that it wasn't a year of much quality. I moaned all the way up the Devil O' The Highlands, I wasn't much better during the second half of the Cateran, I got fed up at the Blackpool and Loch Ness Marathons and I only ran 2 races where I came home feeling I had run well and had a good day out. So in the spirit of being positive, I'm going to concentrate on these 2 and put the others down to experience.<br />
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The first of these, and the winner of the award for 'My favourite race of the year' goes to the Strathearn Marathon. This was a superb new marathon that took place in early June, on a wonderful course from Cultybraggan outside Comrie, through the back roads of Strathearn to Crieff, then back along to Comrie. The course was challenging (in a hilly sort of way) but really scenic and enjoyable; the organisation by Phil T and his team from Strathearn Harriers was superb in every respect. I ran well throughout and was delighted with my finishing time of 3.33, which put me quite high up the field. This race should be on everyone's 'must do' list.<br />
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The second race I enjoyed was another new one, the Antonine Trail half marathon, which took place in October. It started beside Croy Railway Station and went along paths, across trails, through muddy fields, through a couple of towns, along the canal, up some very big hills, through more muddy fields and back to where it started at Croy station. It had a bit of everything. I got slightly lost at one point and even if I hadn't the race would still have been closer to 14 miles, but that neither of those things detracted at all from what was a brilliant and enjoyable event.<br />
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It was a busy year for me in lots of other ways. At work, we did 2 mergers which took up a lot of my time. I'm very pleased that both are going really well and have added some great people to our firm. I was appointed Chairman of scottishathletics at the end of April, stepping down from the sportscotland board at the same time. Things have gone well there too since I've taken over, and I've hugely enjoyed my involvement so far - there is a great team in place and it's going to be an exciting few years to be involved in the sport. I was appointed to the board of SAMH (the Scottish Association of Mental Health) towards the end of the year; already I have found it really interesting and I'm hoping that I will be able to make a positive contribution to their work over the next few years. And there was the organisation of the West Highland Way Race, which took place in the middle of June. It was disappointing from a personal perspective to see Sandra drop out around the half way point, and the weather was as bad as I have ever known it which didn't make it pleasant for anyone. However the race as a whole went very well, not least Terry Conway's amazing performance where he ran a record time of 15 hours 39 minutes. I saw every finisher come in to Fort William Leisure Centre over a period of 19 or so hours, and it was incredible to witness the emotion of every one of them on achieving their goal, then see them receive their goblet at the prizegiving. If you made it well done; if not then I'm sure you will have learned a lot that will help you finish in future.<br />
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I can't write a blog on 2012 without mentioning the Olympics. We were lucky enough to get tickets for the last night of the athletics, and saw Mo Farah's 5k win and the Jamaican world record in the 4 x 100m relay. It is an experience we will never forget, as was the marathon the following day. What an honour to be there and witness it live. The whole Olympic and Paralympic experience was incredible - our television never moved from the BBC for the whle time, and I don't think I've ever watched as much television.<br />
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So, what about 2013? I'm determined to get a bit more focused on my running, and try and get my times back down a bit to closer to where I used to be. For that reason I've decided not to do any ultras next year; I'm sure the break from them will do me good. I have a place in the London Marathon on 21 April; I will use the training I've done during December for the Marcothon as a base, and try and train for London in a planned and structured way. I feel I should be capable of getting down to below 3.20, but time will tell if that is too ambitious. We're also planning on doing the Dublin Marathon in October. I'd like to get my 10k time down to closer to 40 minutes, and get back below 1.30 for the half marathon. I have a place in the Great North Run later in the year and am hoping that will be my 100th half marathon; at the moment I've done 93, so need to do fit in another 6 half marathons before September.<br />
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May I wish you all the very best for a happy and successful 2013.ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-19691363988627875282012-11-04T20:04:00.001+00:002012-11-04T20:04:47.448+00:00Going back to the startI dropped out the Glen Ogle 33 yesterday after 4 miles. An embarrassing performance. A little more than 24 hours on, I'm feeling it was a pretty defining moment in my running career. I stopped because I seriously couldn't be bothered - one of the most classic cases of CBA you are likely to see. I can't remember feeling quite like that before. So what now? For the last few years I've been busier and busier at work, at my voluntary work (Scottish Athletics chairman, West Highland Way Race Director) and at home, and I don't think I can do the running at anything like the same level as I used to. I really enjoy doing all the work and non work things but my running is suffering. It's very frustrating. Maybe I need to accept I'm now an 'administrator', rather than 'runner'. Doesn't sit entirely comfortably, though.
I've decided to step away from running ultras for a while (at least for a year) and see if I can get back to some decent times at 5k, 10k, half marathon and maybe even marathon. And then if I get a bit more time (i.e. if I win the lottery and can retire) I'm sure I'll feel a lot more motivated and might be able to come back to the ultras. Let's see how it goes. One thing is for sure; at the moment it isn't happening on the running front.
ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-9462308770774554342012-03-26T06:11:00.002+01:002012-03-26T06:42:38.270+01:00Summer is here!I love this time of year. We've had fantastic weather for the last couple of weeks, it's been getting lighter in the morning and at night, and now that the clocks have changed it will get even better. I couldn't believe how good it was last week to be back out running in summer gear. Long may it continue.<br /><br />Since the Blackpool Marathon a couple of weeks ago I've done 2 more races. Last Sunday I went through to the half marathon at Alloa, and yesterday I went to Grangemouth for the 'Round The Houses' 10k. The target at Alloa was to try and help Sandra get a PB which I'm delighted to say was achieved: she crossed the line in 1.41.30, which was 75 seconds better than her previous best time. She had hoped to go for a PB at Grangemouth too, but had a bit of a niggle in her hamstring last week and decided not to risk it. We went through to Grangemouth anyway and I ran, pushing myself fairly hard all the way round but finishing in a slightly disappointing 43.13. I have meant to do this race for ages, especially as I used to live in Falkirk, but it always seemed to clash with marathon training or some other long run. I'm glad that I've now done it; it is a long established race and very well organised by Falkirk Victoria Harriers, with an excellent finish in Grangemouth Stadium.<br /><br />Things continue to be busy with work, WHW race organisation and life in general. This is the last week of our financial year, which is always a busy one. On top of that I have a couple of dinners on Tuesday and Thursday night, followed by a long WHW training run on Saturday, and then a trip with Gordon to the Newcastle v Liverpool game on Sunday. I've really enjoyed the Newcastle games this season. They have done better than anyone would have imagined, and at the moment are sitting in 6th place in the Premier League with 50 points, the same number as Chelsea and 8 ahead of Liverpool. We've seen some great games and had some great days out. We're going to renew our season tickets for next season, so hopefully it will be more of the same.<br /><br />Last Monday night was the West Highland Way Training and Inspiration night in Edinburgh. There must have been more than 100 people there, which was a brilliant turnout, and I really enjoyed hearing the advice from all the speakers, Ken and Sue Walker, Dr Chris Ellis, Adrian Stott, and Dr Andrew Murray. It's also a great chance to have a chat with people who are doing the race, particularly those who are doing it for the first time, and to pass on some hopefully useful hints and tips. There is no doubt that the period from now until the end of May is the crucial one for those training for the race - it's now the time to get in some long training days and some serious time on the feet. I'm doing the Cateran Trail race in the middle of May so really need to start taking some of my own advice and get out there for a few long runs!<br /><br />I've just heard the forecast and it is predicting a high in Edinburgh today of 19 degrees. 19 degrees in March, incredible! Better go and pack my running stuff and make sure I get out a run at lunchtime...ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-36125725683355359712012-03-12T21:01:00.003+00:002012-03-12T22:06:51.408+00:00Blackpool MarathonIt's been ages since I last blogged. In fact I can't even remember the last time. But on Saturday JK threw down the gauntlet while wishing me luck for the following day's Blackpool Marathon, asking if there was a chance he might read about it on my blog. Why not, I thought? So here goes.<br /><br />Firstly, the facts. I finished the Blackpool Marathon in 3 hours 38 minutes 43 seconds. It was my first road marathon for well over a year, and now I remember why I haven't done one in all that time. I didn't really enjoy it. The course was unbelievably flat: we started on the promenade, outside the Hilton hotel, headed south for about 4 miles, past the Pleasure Beach, before turning round and coming back north by the same flat boring road. Just after the Blackpool Tower we went on to the pedestrian bit of the prom (taking great care to avoid a huge dog poo) and headed north past the start, then kept going north for another 3 miles, before turning round and came back down to the start. That took us to 13 miles, and the half marathoners (including Sandra) were allowed to stop. The unfortunates (including me) who had chosen the full marathon had to do the whole thing all over again.<br /><br />I started the race quite well, covering the first 3 miles in about 22 minutes and feeling generally good. Beforehand I had been a bit worried about my left heel which had been causing me a few problems, but it seemed to be fine. By mile 4, however, my legs were starting to feel the effects of the relentness flat pounding, and I was struggling to run with any fluency at all. I stopped after about 8 miles to go to the toilet and that improved things a bit; the break from the constant running clearly did me good, and I managed to pick the pace up a bit. I caught up again with Sandra (she had passed when I stopped for the toilet) and then passed her, she hung on and passed me again with about 2 miles to go (for her) but I overtook and stayed in front of her from there to the half way point. I was through the half way in about 1.42; Sandra finished the half marathon in 1.42.46, which was two (yes, two) seconds outside her PB. Great performance from her, and she finished 10th lady overall and 3rd female vet.<br /><br />I'm afraid I lost interest after that. By 15 miles I was feeling a bit bored with the whole thing, and by 18 miles I was completely fed up with it. My slowing mile splits reflected this lack of enthusiasm; I noticed one particular mile took me very close to 10 minutes. Not good. My right groin was hurting as well. I continued to shuffle along to the top end of the prom, walking from time to time and watching a depressing number of people go past me, until I got to mile 24 and realised I had only 2 more miles of this tedium to go. Oddly, I seemed to pick up the pace after that and started passing people again; maybe it was the fear of failing to get under 3.40 that kept me going, or maybe I was just desperate to get it finished, who knows? I ran the last 2 miles relatively strongly, beating the 3.40 barrier with more than a minute to spare, and headed across the road to the hotel for a shower. Job done, but not very well.<br /><br />I've given the race quite a bit of thought throughout today. Less than 5 years ago I was able to go to Zurch and run a marathon in 2.59; yesterday I struggled to get below 3.40. That is quite a deterioration. What has happened?<br /><br />A few things, I think. I'm nowhere near as fit as I was. For the last year or so I've been unable to get my 5k time below 20 minutes, a time I used to be able to do with some ease. I can't get close at the moment to a 40 minute 10k, or a 1.30 half marathon. So I shouldn't be too surprised by my marathon time yesterday; the signs have been there for a while. For the last 4 years I've been really busy at work, which I'm sure has had an impact on the quality of my training. I'm still getting out there running, but I don't think I'm training at anything like the level of intensity I used to. Perhaps even more importantly, I've not been motivated enough to go out and do the hard work required to get better times. At the moment I finding it more enjoyable to go out running with Sandra, hopefully helping her with her West Highland Way training and improving her times at other distances.<br /><br />I think I just have to accept that it is not possible to do everything, accept that I'm busy, and focus on enjoying the running I'm able to do. Another good race at some point would be nice, though. I might even blog about it if it ever happens...ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-1098099609014521842011-09-26T06:58:00.002+01:002011-09-26T07:16:10.593+01:00A weekend of incredible performancesI haven't blogged for ages but there were a few performances that were just so incredible that I wanted to get back on to the PC and write about them. So, in no particular order, congratulations to<br /><br /><strong>Patrick Makau</strong>, who ran a new marathon world record at Berlin of 2 hours 3 minutes and 38 seconds. Yes, 2.03.38. I'm beginning to believe that the sub 2 hour marathon may actually happen within my liefetime.<br /><br /><strong>Debbie Martin Consani</strong>, who in her first ever 24 hour race ran an incredible 208.057 kilometres (129.3 miles) at the Commonwealth championships at Llandudno in Wales. On the way Debbie set a new Scottish record for 200km of 22 hours 28 minutes and 47 seconds.<br /><br />In the same race, and also in her first 24 hour race, <strong>Sharon Law </strong>covered 204.017 km (126.8 miles). Sharon broke the Scottish 100 mile record during her run, covering the 100 mile distance in 16 hours 51 minutes 56 seconds. The Scottish team of Debbie, Sharon and <strong>Pauline Walker </strong>won the team bronze medals.<br /><br />The 24 hour race was won in a new world record distance. <strong>Lizzie Hawker</strong>, who was first lady in the UTMB a few weeks ago, covered 247.076 km (153.5 miles). She won the overall race (men and women) and led England to the team gold medals.<br /><br />Equally inspiring was the performance of <strong>Hazel Macfarlane </strong>of Troon Tortoises at the River Ayr Way race. Hazel is blind, but covered the 40 mile race in just over 9 hours.<br /><br />And finally, the performance of <strong>the European Solheim Cup </strong>team needs a mention. The European team was behind with only 3 matches left on the course, but finished really strongly to win by 15-13. Suzann Pettersen finished with 3 birdies to go from one down to win her match by one hole.<br /><br />Incredible, and inspiring, from them all.ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-70434503260326614082011-06-10T21:31:00.002+01:002011-06-10T21:40:15.551+01:00A week to go...... until the WHW race and I can't wait. May not be running this year but in many ways that means I can enjoy the build up more, without all the normal taperitis symptoms. This time next week we'll be at Milngavie, registering the first few runners, and feeling the excitement build as we approach the 1 o'clock start. I'll be doing the checkpoint at Balmaha, then going up to Rowardennan to see the last runners through, then heading to Beinglas to see everything is ok there. After that I'll get a wee bit sleep in a wigwam at Auchtertyre, before heading to Fort William in time to welcome the winner in to the leisure centre. I reckon I'll be there doing the times until everyone is finished, and will then go on to do the prizegiving. Throughout the day I'll try and keep in touch with santababy's crew and make sure she's doing ok. I'm sure she'll be great.<br /><br />It'll be hectic, but brilliant. We're priviliged to be part of such a fantastic event. Good luck to everyone taking part, and to their crews. And a huge thanks to all the officials and helpers, cause it couldn't happen without you. Look forward to seeing you all at some point over the weekend.ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-47657297467350028212011-05-28T11:51:00.002+01:002011-05-28T12:32:44.128+01:00MayI've just read Debs' excellent summary of her May running, and shamelessly have stolen her idea of giving a quick summary as a way of getting round my pathetic lack of blogging. So here goes. <br /><br />The Fling took place on 30 April and once again I had a bit of a nightmare - in fact even more of a nightmare - than the last few years. Perhaps not surprisingly I suffered a bit of 'Couldn't Be Arsed' syndrom and didn't do much running for the first 2 weeks in May. The big exception to that was a long trip down the coast on the Wednesday after the Fling to my old home town of Troon for the 10k. There were a few reasons for going all that distance for a 10k: it's organised by my old club, it's a brilliant course and route, and all aspects of the organisation are superb, in fact as good as I've seen at any race I've done, anywhere. If you are looking for a fast, high quality 10k and can make it down to Ayrshire, then this is the one to do. I can't recommend it highly enough. Even the wind was the right way round this year, behind us just when we needed it on the last km up the prom. <br /><br />The main reason for going though was that it was my 100th 10k. I ran a lot better than I expected and finished in 41.41, a time I was more than happy with. Now, I accept it's still quite a bit away from the sub 40s I used to be able to bash out with great regularity, but the fact that I still had the Fling miles in my legs it gave me a lot of hope there are better times to come, especially if I focus a bit more on speed in my training.<br /><br />Most of my other runners were focused around Sandra's West Highland Way training. Last week we did 2 days on the route itself - on Day 1 Sandra ran from Balmaha to Tyndrum, then from Tyndrum to Fort William on Day 2. I followed the same kind of pattern on both days: dropped her at the start, ran up the route a bit, ran back to meet her and then back to (or a bit beyond) the car, then did it all again. I found it incredibly enjoyable, completely pressure free running, and ended up doing some decent and quality mileage - about 17 on Day 1 and 21 on Day 2, which worked out at half of what Sandra had done. As reported on Sandra's blog the weather was not great, particularly on Day 2, but it didn't really detract at all from what was an excellent 2 days.<br /><br />Last night we met a group at Balmaha at 10.30pm for our annual 'WHW Headtorch Run' We've done this for a few years now and when Richie e-mailed at the start of the week to see if we were up for it again I was delighted. As well as being an opportunity to do something a bit different with a good group of friends, it was a good chance for Sandra to try out her headtorch on a section of the route where she'll definitely need it on race day.<br /><br />We left Milngavie just after 11pm and had an enjoyable, although pretty uneventful, run up to Drymen and then on up through the forest. Not long after passing the car park at Garadhban forest I had a call from Richie, who was a bit ahead, saying the route was completely blocked with trees and that it was a nightmare to get through. He recommended giving it a miss and taking the diversion, which unfortunately meant turning back, down a back road into Drymen, the right along the main road to Balmaha. Sandra and I decided to take his advice and headed towards the road. Keith went on but took a wrong turn and finished up on the road, a bit in front of us. The rest made it through but with some impressive cuts, scrapes and bruises. Although it wasn't what we had planned, it didn't detract from the night and we ended up doing around 20 miles, pretty much what we had expected to do. We just hadn't wanted to be on the road that much, but hey ho. There were signs saying the trees should be cleared by 10 June, so here's hoping there are no delays - the race would be a nightmare if that section was still in its current state.<br /><br />So that's about it for my May running. We had a lovely training run round Glenartney with Phil when we were out there one Sunday. I've run to and from work a couple of times a week, often heading along the canal and River of Leith walkway to make it a decent run. We're doing the Dundlane Hydro 7.5 mile road race tomorrow, a race I've never done before and one that I'm looking forward to. My mileage this month is looking very low after the poor first 2 weeks - only about 120 so far - but I'm not concerned about that at all, and would rather get some more fast(er) work done at the moment than concentrate on mileage. Over the last couple of weeks we've spent a bit of time helping out at races: we were at the Scottish 5K championships at Granton helping Adrian (where it was torrential rain and pretty cold), and then marshalling at last week's Cateran Trail race (where it was torrential rain and pretty cold). There's also been quite a bit of work in pulling everything together for the WHW race, so things haven't been quiet. <br /><br />Less than 3 weeks to go now to the WHW. Bring it on!ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-5368890064806113592011-05-01T13:00:00.004+01:002011-05-01T13:39:33.639+01:00Ding ding the Highland Fling (or 'That was a Helluva Long Way')Yesterday was the Highland Fling. 53 miles up the West Highland Way from Milngavie to Tyndrum. I finished in 12 hours 24 minutes. Not a great time, and my worst of all 6 Flings I have done, but I got there. Eventually.<br /><br />It was a very hot day. I didn't start too fast and rached Drymen in 1.55, which felt sensible. As I made my way down Conic Hill with a few other 7am starters, we were passed by the first 3 runners from the 8am start. I had been running at that stage for 3 hours 10 minutes, so it only took the leaders 2 hours 10 mins to catch me. The 3 of them (Jez plus 2 others who I didn't recognise) came down the hill like it was a hill race. One minute we heard them approach from behind, and the next they were disappearing further and further away down the hill. It was incredible to see.<br /><br />I descended at a much more sensible (girly) pace and made it into Balmaha at about 3 hours 20 mins. Quick stop, then off again up the loch. Quite a number of the 8am starters passed me at this bit, including Neal who passed not long before Rowardennan. It was starting to get really hot and I wasn't feeling very comfortable, but was pleased to reach the half way point in just over 5 hours. Some of the Harmeny relay runners had a chat with me there as I sorted out my drinks, but I wasn't at my most chatty. Apologies to you all for my grumpiness.<br /><br />It was a long slog to Inversnaid, getting hotter and hotter, and then I had the usual slog scrambling over the rocks at the top half of Loch Lomond. I felt very emotional when I reached Dario's post - the first time I had seen it - but I was well behind schedule, and even more so as I came down the hill towards Beinglas Farm. As I got nearer the bottom I saw DQ who told me Sandra had fallen and had had to pull out. That was worrying, and more so as she wasn't there when I arrived at the checkpoint. Neil MacR told me that she had had a very heavy fall but seemed ok now; a few minutes later Sandra appeared, bandaged from head to toe, but in reasonably positive spirits considering the fall she had had. At that stage I had serious thoughts of pulling out too but decided to tough it out. Reluctantly I left the checkpoint and headed slowly up the hill towards Derrydarroch.<br /><br />After a few minutes I met Gavin McK, who seemed to be struggling at that stage too. We ran (or more accurately walked) together for a while before he managed to get himself going again. I kept telling myself to keep moving forward and eventually got to Derrydarroch, then the underpass, then passed the cows, then reached Bogle Glen, and eventually I found myself crossing the A82 again with just over 3 miles to go. The last few miles were no easier than the previous 20, but I kept running when I could and walking when I couldn't. Eventually I reached the wood at Tyndrum and ran slowly to the end, crossing the line in 12.24. <br /><br />I went right away for a shower, as I was starting to feel a bit cold. The facilities at By The Way were excellent - the shower was superb - and I though it was a much better finishing point, not least because it was about a quarter of a mile before the previous one!<br /><br />Andy Cole offered us a lift back to Milngavie - thanks Andy, it was greatly appreciated - and we arrived back at the car just before 10. A quick coffee and something to eat at Macdonalds, then the drive back through to Edinburgh. I had to stop at one stage and stretch my legs as cramp was coming on, but we made it home without further mishap.<br /><br />Sandra's feeling a bit sore today, but hopefully she hasn't done any long term damage and will be running again before too long. From my point of view I'm just glad I won't need to cover that bit of the WHW again for a while. It's a beautiful route, but I'm not sure I was able to fully appreciate it yesterday.<br /><br />A huge thanks to everyone involved in the organisation of yesterday's event. There is so much work put in by so many people, and it is all appreciated. A special thanks however to the main organisers, Murdo, Ellen and Tim. And finally an apology to anyone who chose yesterday for a quiet walk on the WHW, and found themselves having to step continually to the side of the path to let around 400 runners past. Apart from one walker who greeted me with a 'Oh for God's sake, we're allowed to be on this route too you know', everyone was very pleasant and encouraging.ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-87290157367687949732011-04-16T16:01:00.002+01:002011-04-16T16:39:11.696+01:00A few milestones on the horizonAt the moment I'm faffing around a bit with my own running: no real targets of my own, but quite enjoying going out and doing various events as they appear, without any great pressure about times or (perish the thought) PBs. However a quick look at my spreadsheet of races shows I've a few milestones coming up over the next wee while. I've done 99 10ks to date, so my next 10k will (somewhat obviously) be my 100th. With a bit of luck this will happen on Wednesday 4 May at my old stomping ground of Troon, which seems a very appropriate place for it. I would love to get back below 40 minutes but that looks well out of reach at this stage, and it won't help that I will probably have done the Highland Fling a few days earlier.<br /><br />I'm also not that far away from my 100th half marathon. I've done 90 so far and am doing between 2 and 6 a year, so will hopefully reach this one in the next couple of years or so. In the mid 1990s the half marathon was definitely my favourite distance, and I managed to knock them out regularly in the low 1.20s or even faster for quite a few years. Changed days indeed - 1.30 now looks an aspirational target for me - although it is still a distance I really enjoy. I've only done the Great North Run once (in 1994, when I didn't have a great run and still finished in 1.21!) but it is definitely a race I would like to go back and do again. I also fancy doing a few more of the Scottish island races. I've done island races on Arran, Coll, Islay and Mull, all great wee events, but there are a lot of others on my 'to do' list such as Stornoway, Harris, Skye (is Skye still an island?), Benbecula and Orkney.<br /><br />My 100th marathon/ultra will probably take a wee bit longer to get to, but will hopefully happen in the next few years. I've now done 81 marathons and ultras, doing between 4 and 7 a year for the last few years. Like the half marathon, there are lots of marathons and ultras I'd love to do. I think it's about time I went back to do London - the only 'real' marathon in the UK, or so a lot of the newspaper commentators would have us believe - which I have done 7 times before, but not since 2002. I'd also love to do New York again, although the race entry fee of 350 US dollars (ffs!) definitely puts me off. There's no way any standard road marathon is worth that. The Medoc Marathon has always struck me as my perfect event - a marathon with a different wine at every mile - and I am already thinking it would be a great one to do for my 100th. I'm also keen to keep doing Loch Ness - my favourite road marathon anywhere - and to go back again to visit my brother in the south of France for the French Riviera Marathon from Nice along the coast to Cannes. Of the ultras, I fancy doing the Comrades one year but perhaps surprisingly don't have any great notion yet to do the UTMB. I would however love to be around Chamonix when the event was on, and get a proper feel of what it is like.<br /><br />So much to do....ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-44447459438674299322011-03-28T06:27:00.002+01:002011-03-28T07:04:13.074+01:00Two more ultrasSince last posting a couple of weeks ago, I've moved into full 'ultra racing' mode. Last weekend we travelled up to Aberdeen for the D33, the first race in the SUMS series and a really nice 33 mile out and back route from Duthie Park in Aberdeen to Banchory. It was a perfect spring day, ideal for running, and I finished in 36th place in 4 hours 40 minutes, just 3 minutes slower than last year's time. My stomach wasn't great throughout, due I think to having breakfast too close to the start. Sandra took 8 minutes off her time from last year and came in a couple of minutes under 5 hours.<br /><br />There were a number of excellent performances but for me the performance of the day came from Marco, who finished 3rd in a superb 3.38. He has moved to a new level this year, which is great to see. Susan's performance was also fantastic - she ran very strongly throughout to finish in 4.56. Anne Noble from Troon just seems to get quicker and quicker, and picked up the prized for the first super-vet in a time well under 5 hours.<br /><br />My legs were a bit tight for the early part of the week, but greatly eased by a very pleasant run with Adrian on Tuesday evening. The pace was nice and gentle but it was great to be out there for a run and chat on such a nice spring evening.<br /><br />And then on to this weekend. Sandra and I had decided to do the Perth 50k, which was taking place alongside the Anglo Celtic Plate 100k at the North Inch. I've run there a couple of times in 24 hour races, and always found it to be a good venue - almost completely flat, but very scenic but great to see all the support at the end of each 1.5 mile lap. One of the main reasons for going was to give our support to the Scottish team, particularly to Thomas, Debbie and Sharon, who were making their international debuts. Unfortunately Sharon had problems with her stomach and had to withdraw, but Thomas and Debbie both ran absolute stormers - Thomas finishing in 7 hours 42 minutes, and Debbie in 9 hours 3 minutes. It was great to see. They had both worked incredibly hard for it and fully deserved all the congratulations that came their way. To make things even better Thomas was part of the winning Scotland team - the first time Scotland have ever won the men's event in the Anglo Celtic Cup.<br /><br />I ran a very sensible and steady race. It was 21 laps of 2.38k each, so in my mind I divided it into 3 sections of 7 laps each. The first 7 laps were probably my worst - I didn't feel very comfortable for the first few laps and needed a couple of toilet stops. After a toilet stop at the end of lap 6 I was about a quarter of a lap behind Sandra, who was running very steadily, and I knew I would have my work cut out to catch her. I managed to pick things up a bit and went through the 7 lap point in 1.31, continued to run better, then passed Sandra about lap 9. The 2nd 7 laps were faster than the first - 1.27 I think - and then I kept the same pace for the last 7, finishing in 4.26.30. Sandra continued to run well throughout and finished in an excellent 4.38.21, a full 9 minutes faster than her time for the same course last year.<br /><br />So that's us almost reached the end of March. I've always seen the period from January to March as phase 1 of the WHW race training plan, so we (or more specifically Sandra, as I'm not running in this year's race) are now at the end of that. Phase 2 in April and May will include a lot more specific training on the route itself, including the Highland Fling race at the end of April and a 2 day training run in May, before the start of the dreaded taper in early June.ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-74871102217238360932011-03-13T21:23:00.002+00:002011-03-13T21:33:06.166+00:00Inverness half marathonJust a very quick post to mention that we made it back safely from the wild Highlands, where I finished the Inverness half marathon in 1.32.40. I worked as hard as I could but there isn't a great deal of speed in the legs at the moment. The conditions were quite tough: very cold and windy, with rain and snow from time to time. Despite the relatively poor time (it is the 17th time I have run this race and my slowest so far) I really enjoyed it, and was even more delighted to see Sandra finish in a massive PB of 1.42.44. I'm sure she'll update her own blog in due course, but in the meantime a very big well done to her. John Kynaston had a superb 1.25 and made page 1 of the results, well inside the top 50, and Robert Kinnaird also showed the great form he is in at the moment with an excellent 1.29. Katrina Kynaston, in what I think was her first half marathon, finished well inside her target time and achieved an excellent 2.01. She'll be well under 2 hours on a better day. As ever, the organisation was great and it was a first class event. I'm sure we'll be back.<br /><br />It was my 90th half marathon. I'm beginning to think about getting to 100...ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-47337079540612812312011-02-27T16:59:00.002+00:002011-02-27T17:37:32.024+00:00Loads of runningIt's been a busy weekend. 24 miles yesterday along one of the most boring routes we could find - out along the main road past the airport and on to Broxburn, then back in to Edinburgh along the canal - then a much more pleasant 12 mile run in the Pentlands today. The boring run was chosen deliberately, to give us a bit of prep on a very flat route prior to the D33, and the hilly run in the Pentlands was a good training run on tired legs. That gives me 61 miles for the week, which is my highest for ages. I need to get a few more quality sessions in, which I'll aim to do this week, but apart from that I'm really pleased with how this year's training is going.<br /><br />I also managed a few holes golf yesterday afternoon at Auchterarder with my boy. That's the first time we have been able to get out this year and it was a lovely day, with hardly anyone else on the course. Neither of us had played for 6 months or so and we were both a bit rusty, but it was great to get out there.<br /><br />As mentioned on my last posting, I ran the National Cross Country at Falkirk last weekend. As always I enjoyed it, even though I seem to be finishing further and further down the field - 290th this year, from around 450 finishers. I've been doing the National for almost 20 years, and looking around the start line it was great to see many of the same faces. It's like a gathering of old friends.<br /><br />Finally, we had a West Highland Way Race committee meeting this week, and it's good to see that it all seems to be under control: there are less than 4 months to go now, so no doubt it will be with us in no time. It's a bit odd knowing I am not running in it this year, having done it for so long, but I have to say that I'm really enjoying the lack of 'WHW pressure' on me this time round. I'm also enjoying doing the long runs with Sandra, who is doing the race for the first time, and helping her put together her training plan for the race. I think she is exactly where she should be at this stage, and I'm looking forward to seeing her progress as she builds up the long runs over the next few months.ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-86785100267197693812011-02-17T15:04:00.004+00:002011-02-17T15:38:20.627+00:00The 3 Hills of EdinburghI'm on holiday today - my body probably needed to catch up on some sleep as I slept for 13 hours solid - and I managed to persuade (birthday girl) Sandra to come out a run round 'The 3 Hills of Edinburgh'. This is the abridged version of the slightly better known '7 Hills of Edinburgh' route. The route starts from my flat, heads along the back of Craiglockhart Sports Centre and up to the top of Craiglockhart Hill, and then across to Braid Hill. It then crosses the golf course and road, heads up to the top of Blackford Hill, and follows a choice of route back to the flat in Morningside. In total it is between 6 and 7 miles, depending on the exact route chosen. Today we took the longer route back and made it up to a 7.<br /><br />It is a fantastic run which, despite not leaving the centre of Edinburgh, is almost all off-road. Normally the views from each hill top are fantastic but today there was a thick fog, so no view at all. Despite that it was a thoroughly enjoyable run, and we both feel all the better for having been out there.<br /><br />What else has been happening on the running front? I did a the Forfar multi-terrain half marathon a couple of weeks ago. It was a great fun event with a bit of everything - trails, roads, hills, paths and even a 200m section through a knee high river - and I felt happy enough with my 1.39 finish, even though it was a half marathon PW (personal worst) by quite some way. This Saturday it is the National Cross Country at Falkirk. I love this event. All the top runners are there, and it is a privilege to be able to take part in the same race, albeit at the other end of the field. It will be my 18th National - the first was way back in 1992, at Irvine - and it is always a great chance to catch up with many old friends, as well as take part in a very tough and testing 12k cross country. I've always thought it is an excellent training session for some of the ultras coming up, even though it may not feel approaching the end of the second lap, knowing I have to do it all again.<br /><br />March will be busy with the Inverness half marathon on 13 March, followed by the D33 the following weekend. And then it will be time for the clocks to go forward - woo hoo! I've never been the biggest fan of the long dark winter nights, and I'm enjoying seeing the days getting longer and the temperatures getting a bit milder. It was light walking to work at 7.30am the other day, and still light that evening until almost 5.30pm. Before we know out we'll be able to get out on these Edinburgh hills, without a headtorch and in shorts and light top, long in to the evening. Bring it on!ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-45847857842718751592011-01-23T20:32:00.003+00:002011-01-23T21:28:45.141+00:00BackIt's been a while since I last blogged. In that time my life has changed significantly: I've separated from Alison, I've moved through to Edinburgh, and I'm in a new relationship with Sandra. It's not been an easy period, but I've had a lot of support from a lot of people, and hopefully things are now starting to come together. Thanks to everyone who has given me that support - it has been greatly appreciated. <br /><br />I've managed to keep my running going through the turmoil and through the awful weather. I joined a few friends in November in doing the 'Keithathon' (running every day for a minimum of 3 miles or 25 minutes) and, having quite enjoyed the discipline of it, decided to keep going for December's 'Marcothon' (the same type of challenge but, as it was in December, lasting a day longer). I completed that, ran for the first 9 days in January to make it 10 consecutive weeks of running, and then had a day off. To be honest I'm not at all convinced running every day is a good thing to do, but it helped get me out there at a time when my motivation might have been otherwise lacking. It also meant I managed to reach the 2,000 miles for 2010 - 2,035 miles to be precise - and so I finally achieved one of the goals I had set myself for the year.<br /><br />What about 2011? To be honest I haven't really set myself any targets or it given it a huge amount of thought. For the first time for many years I am not doing the WHW race - I'll be much more involved in the organisation this year, as well as trying to help Sandra who is running it for the first time - so that gives me a chance to do a few other things. Having said that I've already entered some familiar races: I'm in the National Cross Country championship (February), the Inverness half marathon (March), the D33 (March), the Cateran Trail (May) and the Devil of the Highlands (August), and although I haven't entered it yet suspect I'll be back at the Highland Fling (April). I'm even thinking about another 24 hour race later in the year, but that depends on how everything else goes. <br /><br />I'm also thinking about joining an Edinburgh based club. I'd like to get my 10k and half marathon times down a bit, but to do that I know that I'll have to work a bit harder in training. In that respect training with a local club would be ideal, so if anyone has any recommendations then please let me know.<br /><br />Yesterday, for the first time for ages, I was up on the WHW for a training run. 9 of us ran from Drymen, up and over Conic Hill to Balmaha, before I headed back to Drymen along the road. The rest of the group headed on towards Rowardennan, with a few completing the run back to Balmaha and Drymen. It was great to be back out on the WHW route - although a few sections of Comic Hill were a bit slippy - and really good to meet a couple of people I hadn't met before. I saw the boys in the afternoon then headed back to Balmaha, where we had a fantastic night at the Oak Tree Inn. It was a superb weekend.ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-71817138112699040152010-09-06T12:32:00.003+01:002010-09-06T13:42:17.054+01:00My 500th race - Perth 24 hourI've been running for a few years now and realised a while back that I was likely to complete my 500th race at some point this year. When I reached number 498 a few weeks ago (I keep a detailed spreadsheet of them all - you can always tell an accountant) I decided I would try and do something 'memorable' for the big one, and the Perth 24 hour race seemed to fit the bill perfectly. So I sent off my entry, did the Kilmarnock trail race a couple of weeks back to get to number 499, and tried to prepare myself for Perth.<br /><br />I had done two 24 hour races before. At Perth in 2008 I completed 106.74 miles, then did 100k at the Sri Chinmoy track race last October before stopping after 12 and a half hours. As I had failed to finish this year's West Highland Way race, I decided that my main goal would be quite simply to complete the full 24 hours; if I achieved that then I reckoned the distance would take care of itself.<br /><br />We arrived early at Perth to give us plenty of time to put up my tent and to get things ready. Allybea was involved in a school barbeque so I was not counting on having any support during the race, although I had had a number of offers of help from people who were going to be there. As it turned out George and Karen looked after me for the entire race, and were completely superb, and allybea also came back up to Perth to help out after the barbeque had finished. There were also a lot of excellent support from various friends from the ultra running community - most of whom seemed to be members of Carnegie Harriers!<br /><br />The race started at exactly 10.00 am on Saturday morning. My tactics for the early part of the race were to run very comfortably, and not bother about anyone else's pace or time. Each lap is almost exactly 1.5 miles, and I knew I could do 8 of these comfortable in the first 2 hours (6 miles an hour pace). If I did that I 'only' needed to average 4 mile an hour pace for the other 22 hours and would cover 100 miles. Probably a bit easier said than done, but that was the plan, and I completed my first 8 laps comfortably within schedule.<br /><br />At midday the 100k and 50k races started, which meant we had a bit more company. I went through the marathon distance in 4.28.08, the 50k point in 5.21.19, and the 50 mile point in 9.12.55. I was going well and in a very positive frame of mind; my feeding plan (basically Complan, bananas and water with electrolytes) was also working well, and unlike in previous ultras I wasn't having any problems with my stomach. Phil, John and Davie all arrived at various points to watch the race for a while, which gave me another boost. I reckoned if I could get through the 100km point in less than 12 hours I would be in pretty good shape, and was pleased to achieve this target in 11.55.46. It was all going well.<br /><br />I continued to work away well through the night, covering approximately 5 laps every 2 hours. After 16 hours or so I was a bit sick (the only time I had any problems with my stomach), but felt a lot better afterwards and managed to get going again right away. It started to get light again around 6am, by which time I was mainly walking but still getting through the miles at a reasonable pace. At that stage I knew I should manage 100 miles with time to spare, although it didn't stop it becoming more and more of a slog as I approached the magic figure of 67 and a half laps.<br /><br />At 8.10 am (after 22 hours 10 minutes and 17 seconds) I passed through the 100 mile point. I was absolutely delighted. For the remaining time my legs became sorer and sorer - particularly after sitting down for some porridge - but I was determined to stay on the course and complete the full 24 hours. I kept going, managed a few more laps and finished up at exactly 10.00 am yesterday with a total mileage of 105.54 (169.838km), in 13th place from 28 finishers.<br /><br />Although I can hardly walk today, I am really glad I chose this for my 500th race. Running a 24 hour ultra is an incredible experience, and this is an amazing event. A huge thank you to all the organisers, particularly Adrian, and also to everyone who offered so much support to me throughout the race. Someone described it beforehand as "just a very long run with some special people". I think that sums it up rather well.ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-33033146626313856402010-07-29T08:50:00.003+01:002010-07-29T08:53:14.686+01:00Update from the WHW Race Committee<em>I posted this update earlier this morning on the WHW race forum, but thought it would be useful to post it here as well.</em><br /><br /><br />Update from the committee <br /><br />The committee met recently to review the 2010 race. In general the race was considered to be a great success, with thanks due to the many helpers who played such an important part in helping things go so well. As with any event, there were undoubtedly a few areas where improvements could be made, and these have been considered for future years. The main points discussed at the meeting are outlined below. <br /><br />1. The 2011 race will take place on Saturday 18 June, which is the week after the Caledonian Challenge. It is planned to open the entries on 1 October with the entry process running through to 31 October. There will be no paper entries - all entries will have to be submitted online with payments being made by credit card. The race limit will remain at 175. The criteria for entry will be the same as this year - details have already been published and appear on the website. The cost will be £80 for member of scottishathletics and £82 for all others, including overseas entrants.<br /> <br />2. If an entrant requires to withdraw from the race, a refund of £55 will be paid as long as the withdrawal is notified on or before 31 May 2011. No refunds will be made for withdrawals notified after this date. It will not be possible to carry forward entries to subsequent years.<br /><br />3. All entrants will be given the chance at the time of entry to request a specific race number. The committee will endeavour to meet these requests on a 'best endeavours' basis, although obviously there can be no guarantees that everyone will be able to be given their number of choice. <br /><br />4. The first formal checkpoint will be at Balmaha rather than Rowardennan. This change has been made to help ease some of the congestion at Rowardennan, which has a smaller car park. Other formal checkpoints will remain the same as 2010, i.e. Auchtertyre Farm, Bridge of Orchy, Glencoe Ski Centre and Kinlochleven. The same drop bag arrangements will continue to operate for Inversnaid, Beinglas Farm and Lundavra, and a drop bag option will be introduced for Rowardennan. <br /><br />5. The parking arrangements at Beinglas Farm appeared to work well, although some concern was expressed about the length of time taken for food to be prepared and served. We plan to discuss this with the owners and see if a better solution can be put in place, such as a buffet type arrangement. <br /><br />6. There was a bit of confusion over the weighing guidelines. It was confirmed that weight gain or loss is only one factor in assessing the fitness of a runner to continue, albeit an important one. Any runner whose weight is outwith the guidelines will be referred to Dr Chris Ellis or Sean Stone, who will take any necessary decision on whether to withdraw a runner from the race on medical grounds. <br /><br />7. As in previous years, all runners will be required to have 2 support crew at all stages of the race. The committee are looking at ways of ensuring that all runners comply with this rule, such as insisting that support crew sign in at the checkpoints - further details will be provided in due course. The suggestion of allowing unsupported runners was considered, but it has been decided not to proceed with this due to the additional burden it would pass on to the race organisers in terms of participant safety. <br /><br />8. No dogs will be permitted to accompany any runner at any stage in future races. <br /><br />9. There was a bit of concern about the level of noise from spectators at the Beech Tree Inn. The owners of the property are happy for us to use their car park, but have asked us to ensure that there is no noise or other disruption. We will remind everyone of this in next year's instructions,and will look at putting a marshall there on the night. <br /><br />10. The committee are going to look at the issue of race day and post race communication, with an objective of providing regular updates on the website of the progress of the race. <br /><br />11. It has been decided to make a small donation to the WHW ranger service as a contribution to the ongoing maintenance of the West Highland Way. It has also been suggested that we could hold a 'WHW volunteer day', which would allow people associated with the race to get involved in the ongoing upkeep and maintenance of the route. More details will be provided in due course.ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-16913624318443749242010-07-19T08:03:00.005+01:002010-07-19T09:41:01.002+01:00WHW 2010 - a tale of failure, and of successThe 2010 WHW race was ages ago - more than 4 weeks now - and I'm only just getting round to writing a few words about it. Sorry for the delay - work and holidays have got in the way, as well as a lack of motivation to sit down and put together a few words.<br /><br />First, my result. I didn't finish the race, pulling out after 62 miles at the Inveroran Hotel. So another DNF. That's 8 goblets and 3 DNFs in my 11 attempts.<br /><br />I knew things weren't right when I arrived at registration. I wandered around a bit getting various cheques signed, and was one of the last to register. I listened to the briefing, and when I went back to the car told Alison that I wasn't up for it. She gave me one of those looks - I'm sure she knew then that it was going to be a long day.<br /><br />The first section to Drymen was ok. I managed to avoid falling - one of my main objectives on this section after a heavy fall a few weeks before - and my body felt fine as I arrived at Drymen after just over 2 hours. Despite that, I was already having thoughts of pulling out. As I told George, my legs were fine but my head wasn't in it. The backup team told me I'd be fine, I felt a bit better, and I headed off towards Balmaha having had my first Complan.<br /><br />The next bit was ok too. The sun rose really early, and the views from the top of Conic Hill were wonderful. A quick stop at Balmaha and I was on my way. I met Andy Cole and chatted for a while, but I was finding it tough as we approached Rowardennan. By the time I arrived there I was feeling really low. I didn't feel like going on, but the backup team didn't give me any choice and had me back out on the course before I could think too much about it. I then struggled all the way to Inversnaid, being passed by around 20 runners. If I could have pulled out at Inversnaid I would have done so, but the only option seemed to be to head to Beinglas farm. Ellen came in to Inversnaid just as I was leaving and said she would run with me for a while; that seemed to give me a boost and I head along the tricky section feeling a lot better, expecting her to catch up with me. Around Doune Bothy she still hadn't caught me and I was surprised to see George. He had heard from a number of runners that i was struggling, and realising I was so late thought he should run in to check I wasn't injured. I was actually in good spirits then, and feeling much more positive, so had decided to keep going beyond Beinglas.<br /><br />Beinglas to Auchtertyre wasn't too bad, and even though I was a lot slower than previous years I felt happy enough to be plodding on. I met George and Phil at Bogle Glen, where I was in reasonable spirits, then met them all again at the Auchtertyre checkpoint. My weight was fine and on I ran, meeting the backup team briefly again at Tyndrum. At that stage I was still doing ok. Shortly afterwards, however, the wheels feel off completely, on what is normally one of the easiest bits of the trail. I just couldn't get moving at all, and took an eternity to reach Bridge of Orchy. By the time I arrived at the checkpoint my mind had pretty much given up, although George and Alison persuaded me to try going over the hill to Inveroran and see how things were after that. It was no better. By the time I saw Murdo at the top of the hill I had decided to call it a day, and no amount of persuasion could convince me otherwise. I walked down to the Inveroran Hotel, jumped in the car, and we headed to Fort William. Race over.<br /><br />So, with the benefit of hindsight, what went wrong? I don't want this to sound like a series of excuses, but I think there were a few things that affected me. It was difficult to combine being part of the organisation with running in the race. I think I was more focused on the race as a whole than I was on my own race. That doesn't really work - when things get tough during the race (as they always do) you have to have the desire to get that goblet. I was more concerned about the race as a whole being a success than I was about getting that 9th goblet. I don't think I had the necessary hunger and desire this year to complete it. A few months earlier, after my poor Fling run, I had been having serious doubts about whether I should take part. Geraldine made a very apt comment - she said that she could understand why I was struggling, as I was "covering old ground more slowly than I had covered it before". On the day it turned out she was right. <br /><br />Perhaps Dario's death had more impact on my run that I thought it would. I found it very difficult at the start when Adrian gave the tribute to Dario and Davie, both of whom were very good friends. I know others were affected in a similar way.<br /><br />So from a personal running perspective, it was a failure. From an organisational perspective, it was a big success. I was delighted with the way it all went, and believe we managed to put on a race of which Dario would have been proud. Certainly the feedback so far has been very positive; most importantly, the camaraderie that makes this race so special has continued and I'm sure will continue in future years.<br /><br />What now for my running? I'm going to have a break from running ultras for a while and try and get a bit faster over some of the shorter distances, such as 10k, half marathon and even the marathon. I've done a lot of ultra running over the last few years and suspect that my body is crying out for a bit of a rest. It has been very frustrating to see my times get slower and slower, despite doing the same or similar training. It would be nice to get back below 40 minutes for a 10k and 1 hour 30 for a half marathon - these were times I achieved with relative ease up to 3 years ago, but I haven't been able to get near them recently. I am not going to enter next year's WHW race but will get more involved in the organisation side of things (assuming the rest of the committee will let me!)<br /><br />Congratulations to all of those who completed this year's race - there were some fantastic performances, too many to mention individually - and better luck next time to those who didn't make it. Finally, a huge thank you to my back-up team of Alison, George and Phil. As ever, you looked after me superbly well and could have done no more. From a running perspective, it just wasn't my year.ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-92035946355475112292010-06-15T12:25:00.003+01:002010-06-15T13:41:16.570+01:00Bad cold and sore ribs - must be WHW race week....3 sleeps to go to the biggest race of the year, and I'm sitting here with my nose dripping onto my keyboard. And for the last couple of weeks my ribs have been getting sorer and sorer - not only when I'm lying in bed, but also when I'm swinging a golf club.<br /><br />But in case you think I'm in a right panic, please be assured that I am not. I am completely convinced that it is a good thing to have a cold now, as it means it will be gone by Friday night. I'm actually feeling a lot better today than I was yesterday - yesterday the snot wasn't running out of my nose but I had a blocked head and sore throat. There's no doubt that snot is better out than in. I'm on the mend. <br /><br />As for my ribs: well, they shouldn't be a problem as I don't plan on lying down during the WHW race, nor do I plan to swing a golf club. In any case I don't feel them (much) when I'm running. If they get sore it will only take the pain away from other, more traditional parts of my body, such as my feet or legs.<br /><br />So I'm full of positive vibes today. As this might be my last blog post before the race, I thought I would take the chance to pass on some of my top tips to the many newbies taking part. Here they are, in no particular order (and based on my experience of 8 previous finishes and 2 failed attemps):<br /><br />1. At Milngavie Station you will probably be shitt*ng yourself. That is a perfectly normal reaction and everyone will be feeling the same. Don't follow the example of the guy a few years ago who was shitt*ng himself so much that he went home. It was only discovered when the Mountain Rescue people were about to start looking for him after he failed to turn up at Balmaha. He's never been allowed back.<br /><br />2. Don't give blood before the race. We aren't being asked to do so this year, but last year I gave blood and my arm came up in a lump the size of a football. "Don't worry, it will be fine", said allybea. She later told me (post race) that she had been lying through her teeth and was really worried about me. Just as well I didn't know that at the time.<br /><br />3. In the early stages keep an eye on the path. Last year I fell after 2 miles or so. I didn't do any serious damage but it was bloody sore, and looked quite dramatic when I arrived at Drymen covered in blood (I had wiped it on my face, which made it look even worse). On a similar theme don't follow the runners in front if they are going the wrong way. Instead shout at them and tell them to come back. In 2001 30 of us ended up on some golf course in Milngavie, rather than staying on the proper path through Mugdock Woods. I believe that Mike Mason has also gone off course in previous races, as has past record holder Kate Jenkins. <br /><br />4. Carry the right batteries for your headtorch. If the torch takes AA batteries, there isn't much point in carrying AAAs as spares, as I learned in 2003. Luckily I was fast enough that year I didn't need to use them. And make sure your torch works. A few weeks we went a night run with someone whose headtorch was as useless as a one legged man at an arse kicking competition. He shall remain nameless to save his embarrassment, but you would think a doctor from Comrie, ex president of Strathearn Harriers and member of my 2010 backup team would know better, eh Phil?<br /><br />5. Try not to fall out with your backup team. Yes, at various points in time they might be acting like the most stupid people on the planet - for example, why on earth have they given you a tea when you said you wanted a coffee? - but they are giving up their entire weekend to help you achieve your dream. At least make an effort to be civil to them. Like I always am.<br /><br />6. Bring a pair of sandals or loose fitting shoes for the prizegiving. To be honest I've never had any issue at all getting my shoes on the next day, and I've never brought a pair of sandals for the prizegiving. However Murdo the Magnificant has posted this tip on the forum for the last 5 years (at least), so it would be remiss of me not to include it.<br /><br />7. Avoid hooking up with anyone who can talk non stop for the full 95 miles to Fort William. In other words if you happen to come across Jim Drummond, it may be an idea either to speed up or to go into the bushes and pretend you need the toilet. At first that might seem a bit rude; in the long term your ears will thank you for it.<br /><br />8. Don't park your campervan on the lawn at the Kingshouse Hotel. Hard to believe, but it happened a couple of years ago. Even better, don't bring a campervan at all. They are too big for the narrow roads.<br /><br />9. The prizegiving is a great event and well worth attending. It is a chance to catch up with all of the runners, most of whom you'll not have seen at any point during the race. As allybea said on the forum, it does take a bit of time to hand out all the goblets to all the finishers, so please be patient and stay for the whole show to recognise everyone's fantastic achievement.<br /><br />10. Finally, at some point on the route, take a few seconds to pause, look around, and think of Dario. It will be strange this year without him, and it will be a difficult year for many of us who knew him well. I'm sure he'll be watching us. One of Dario's greatest achievements was generating a unique cameraderie amongst everyone involved in the race. Being a member of the 'WHW Family' remains a special thing to so many people and it is up to us all to build on this legacy in the years ahead.<br /><br />Good luck to all running, supporting, helping, or involved in any other way. I look forward to seeing you at Fort William on Sunday.ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-60446554778413510152010-06-06T17:24:00.004+01:002010-06-06T18:03:53.053+01:00(And I could run) 1,000 milesI reached my 1,000 miles for the year today. I reached it 6 days earlier than last year. I've now moved into my taper phase for the WHW race, so my longest run this week was a 10 mile trot with the dog today round the trails above Comrie. It was a superb run; I enjoyed every minute of it. I also ran a 10k in Auchterarder on Wednesday night. It is quite a tough, hilly course (although perhaps a couple of hundred metres short) and I was pleased enough to get round in 41.49. Other runs this week included a good blast along the canal/River of Leith with Adrian on Tuesday night, a similar run on my own on Monday, and a steady run in the centre of Edinburgh on Friday. <br /><br />I'm pleased with the way I've been feeling - I've enjoyed just about every run recently and I'm starting to get excited about the WHW race, which is now less than 2 weeks away. The WHW related blogs are full of nervous adrenaline with various people worrying about whether they haven't done enough long runs, whether they have done too many long runs, and so on. Race plans are beginning to appear, setting out in great detail the tactics for taking on the race. I've decided that I'm not going to do a race plan this year - my strategy will be to go out and run as I feel, smell the flowers, and (with any luck) enjoy it. Bring it on.. :-)ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29668877.post-39736962756761387152010-05-23T10:14:00.003+01:002010-05-23T11:16:00.848+01:00NutritionOn Friday afternoon I had a meeting with one of the country's top sports nutritionists, in an attempt to improve my eating for the WHW race. I have always had problems with my food strategy: I find it difficult to stomach anything when running, and I have had a lot of problems with cramp over the years. I was sure there must be things I could be doing better, and I was keen to get an expert's opinion.<br /><br />In a nutshell, there are so many things I could be doing better. It was a fascinating discussion. I am sure this is an area where a lot of us could learn - while the advice given was specific to my issues, a lot of the principles are applicable to anyone taking part in an extreme endurance event such as the WHWR.<br /><br />I've noted the main points below.<br /><br /><br />* As I find it very hard to stomach solid foods, I shouldn't even bother trying. For the race we have put in place a 'no dry food' rule; instead my main meals should be liquid foods, such as Complan or Build-up. These are specifically designed for people who have small appetities or find it difficult to digest solid food - in other words me when I'm running an ultra! They contain all the things that I need, so there is no need for anything else that will be more difficult to digest and is likely to lead to nausea and sickness. I should try and have one of these Complan meals every 3 to 4 hours.<br /><br />* We have also put in place a 'no milk based products' rule. Milk is a great food, but not a great food for extreme endurance events as it will upset the stomach and cause nausea.<br /><br />* One of the main reasons I have been getting cramp is because I am drinking plain water, which is flushing the electolytes out of my system. If cramp is to be avoided I need to ensure these electrolytes are replaced. So I should not drink water on its own, but ensure electrolytes and glucose are added to it. A good way of replacing electrolytes is by adding a rehydration treatment powder to the water (the same products used if you have had diarrhea on holiday). I should also add glucose polymers to the water - around 40 to 60 ml per litre of water. Both the glucose polymers and electrolyte replacement can be added to the same drink.<br /><br />* Fructose is a good thing to take - it was suggested that I might want to have a couple of spoonfuls of honey in the later stages of the race.<br /><br />* For optimal performance I should be trying not to lose much weight during the run but should be replacing the lost fluids and maintaining my weight at a similar level. To achieve this I need to know how much fluid I am losing during the event - it is known as my 'sweat loss' calculation, and can be worked out by comparing my weight at the beginning and end of the activity with the amount of fluid I have taken on.<br /><br />* Iron is also very important for extreme endurance, but building up iron levels will take a a number of months and require me to focus on my longer term diet, There is not much I can do now in respect of the 2010 race.<br /><br />* I drink quite a lot of coffee, and I was surprised to hear that this was not really a concern. On race day caffeine can be useful - it helps alertness and it provides a slight cushion against pain. However these benefits will only be achieved if the body is getting something it is not used to - therefore it probably makes sense for me to cut down a bit on my coffee prior to the race.<br /><br /><br />Yesterday was the ideal opportunity for me to test out the things I have outlined above, and see if it made a difference. I followed the advice very closely: I had no dry or solid foods, my eating was restricted to 2 Complan meals (one after 3 hours and one after 7 hours), I added glucose and electrolytes to my water, and didn't drink any water on its own at any time. It was probably the hottest day of the year, with temperatures for the most part in the low to mid 20s. We were out for just under 10 and a half hours, covering 41 miles. <br /><br />Despite the intense heat, I had no problems with cramp at all, which I found incredible. Had I not changed my nutrition strategy there is no way I would have been able to cover yesterday's run without serious problems. Also I had very few problems with nausea or sickness, apart from one small period just after I had taken my second Complan meal. I am sure the reason for that was the fact it was one of the strawberry Complans, with a higher milk content than the more savoury ones. For race day I plan to stick to the savoury ones.<br /><br />Despite following the advice I still lost a significant amount of weight, so perhaps I was not taking enough on board (I will follow up with the sports nutritionist on this and find out). I monitored all my food and drink intake very closely, as well as my weight. At the start of the run (just before leaving Balmaha) I weighed 87 kgs (13 stone 11). When I arrived at Bridge of Orchy my weight had fallen to 82 kgs (13 stone 0). So I lost 5 kgs (11 pounds) throughout the run - a significant weight loss. My food and liquid intake was as follows:<br /><br />2 Complan meals<br />3.6 litres of water/electrolyte/glucose drink;<br />2 small coffees (about 0.4 litres in total);<br />2 and a half cups of tea (about 0.5 litres in total).<br /><br />I am seeing the sports nutritionist again this week, so I'll have a chance to talk through yesterday's run in more detail.<br /><br />Although my original plan was to do another 35 mile run today from Bridge of Orchy to Fort William, I have decided to give that a miss. Yesterday was very hot and the forecast is for another hot day today. I think I'll benefit more from an easy recovery day today than I will from depleting my body further.ianbeattie1http://www.blogger.com/profile/04456828623243663117noreply@blogger.com12