What a great weekend

It has been a brilliant weekend. The sun has been shining - how unusual is that - and I've been for a couple of runs on the West Highland Way, sandwiched by a trip to Hampden on Saturday for the Scottish Cup final.

On Friday night a crowd of us met for a night run along the WHW from Milngavie to Balmaha. We met up at the car park in Balmaha where John left his minibus, then I drove us all back down the road. We dropped Dario and Sue at the Beech Tree Inn - they were doing a shorter run - then started running from Milngavie about quarter to 11, just as it was getting dark.

I'm not sure there is any real benefit to be gained for the race from running in the dark, but that didn't matter at all. It was something different and great fun; and a really good chance to catch up again with a few of the guys. We didn't push particularly hard and arrived in Balmaha at around 2.30 am, having been running for 3 hours 42 minutes. My headtorch worked very well and I had no problems following the path at any stage. By the time we arrived back at Milngavie around 3 am it was starting to get light, and when I finally made it to bed just before 5 am it was broad daylight.

So on to Saturday. I got up about 11 am having had a few hours sleep and started to get ready for the Homecoming Scottish Cup final. My team, Falkirk, were playing Rangers, and as Falkirk don't get to too many finals it was a game we could not miss. Allybea, son No 3, WHW Race Director Dario and I arrived at Hampden more in hope than expectation. Unfortunately the result didn't go our way - Falkirk played really well but were a bit unlucky to lose 1-0. The atmosphere at Hampden was fantastic, and the fact Falkirk were far and away the better team made it an excellent day out, despite the result.

As today was the last day of May, and as it is now less than 3 weeks until the WHW race, I was keen to get another decent run in on the WHW route. It was yet another glorious day and the hour drive to Tyndrum - with the car roof down and the Pogues' album Rum, Sodomy & the Lash playing - was an absolute pleasure. My car is made for days like today. It is not so good when it is icy, but that is long forgotten when summer finally arrives and the sun comes out. Anyway, just before I started running from Tyndrum I noticed that the temperature was 24 degrees. That is hotter than I am comfortable with, and I knew it would make it a hard run, but at least I would be running at a relaxed pace, unlike those poor souls doing the Edinburgh Marathon.

I reached Bridge of Orchy in exactly an hour, stopped for a couple of minutes at the hotel, then ran back in almost the same time (well okay, I was a couple of minutes slower, but on a day like this the 2 minutes didn't really matter). I felt good and enjoyed the run. I got a bit hot towards the end, not helped by the fact that my water had heated up inside the bottle and was almost impossible to drink. However I made it in one piece, and after a quick stop to try out my Magic Mug at the Good Food Stop (it worked - I got my free coffee) I put the roof down and headed back down the road.

All in all, a great weekend.

Cateran Trail

Yesterday I took part in the Cateran Trail race, a 55 mile run starting and finishing at Spittal of Glenshee. I finished in 11 hours 34 minutes, right in the middle of the field in 10th position. The weather was awful for most of the day, but despite that it was a first class event, in some lovely countryside (when we were able to see it), and very well organised by Dario and his team.

I set out at a very cautious pace, aware that I had gone off too fast in the recent Highland Fling and that it was only 5 weeks until the WHW race. This proved to be a sensible strategy, as I felt really good for most of the run and seemed to get stronger as the race went on. The last couple of sections were without doubt the hardest of the whole course. It was quite tricky coming across the hill into Kirkmichael, partly because it was so muddy and slippy, and then the last section from Enockdhu to Spittal of Glenshee was a killer, incorporating a climb of around 1,400 feet to the highest point before dropping steeply down to the finish at the Spittal of Glenshee hotel. The weather on that section was terrible: a strong wind and really heavy rain, turning into sleet near the high point of the route. I was glad I had made the decision early on to put on my tracksters - my legs would have been absolutely frozen if I had been running in shorts.

Another difficulty was the number of stiles which needed to be climbed throughout the route. Some of these were huge, and although they did not present much of a problem in the early stages (apart from the fact they were very slippy), they were much more difficult to negotiate later on with my legs starting to tire and my muscles showing some signs of cramp. There was even a stile about half a mile from the finish. I was cursing race organiser Dario at that point, I have to admit.

So, another ultra completed - my 3rd of the year so far - and a very enjoyable one at that. Many thanks to Esther, who not only did my backup throughout the race but also provided me with accommodation in Alyth on Friday night. It was greatly appreciated.

Racing

I like racing. It doesn't matter how far up or down the field I am, I always enjoy the whole racing experience and find that I push myself a lot harder in a race than I would if I just went out to do a training run. This week I have done 2 races, the Troon 10k on Wednesday night (organised by one of my previous clubs, Troon Tortoises), then the Glen Lednock 8.5 mile road race earlier today. That makes it a total of 9 races so far this year.

Wednesday in Troon was a wild night. When we turned right towards the sea at the 8km point, the rain was so torrential and right into our faces that it was a struggle to see where we were going. Then the last km up the prom was a case of splashing through the puddles and trying to avoid the deepest ones. Despite the foul weather I thoroughly enjoyed the race and was really glad I made the long trip through from my work in Edinburgh. I was even happy enough with my finishing time of 40.38 - my days of being upset at being over 40 minutes for a 10k are long gone, I think :) Well done to all the guys from Troon Tortoises: as usual, the organisation was excellent, and I would make special mention of the on-course marshalling, which was as good as I have seen in any race. It was my 91st completed 10k, so I'm into the home straight as I head towards the magic 100.

Today was the Glen Lednock 8.5 mile road race, a new event which starts in Comrie (which is only 12 miles from my house, so this is one of my local races). The route heads right up Glen Lednock to the Ben Chonzie car park, then turns round and comes back the same way. The first half is almost all uphill, but as it is an out and back route we had the benefit of the hills all the way back. It was quite a small field - only 39 took part - and I finished 6th overall in a time of 57.22, having been almost 4 minutes faster for the 2nd half. Like Troon it was a really enjoyable, well organised event, and I'm sure the numbers will grow in future years as more people get to hear about it.

I'm now intending to have an easy week (at least in terms of my running) before the 55 mile Cateran Trail race next Saturday. I'm looking forward to seeing the Cateran Trail route, most of which I have not been on before, although my plan is to run at a sensible pace throughout, not push things too hard, and to use it as a long training run for the WHW race in June.

Doing the Highland Fling

Yesterday I ran the 'Montane' Highland Fling, finishing in 11 hours 24 minutes. That means I have finished all 4 Highland Fling races and I think I am one of only 4 people to do so, along with Jez Bragg, Ellen McVey and Rob Reid - not a bad group of which to be a member :)

To be frank, however, I did not have a good run, and the fact I finished it is one of the few positives. With the benefit of hindsight (which I know is a wonderful thing) I probably went off a bit too quickly, going through Drymen in 1.45 and then Balmaha in 3.04. I felt fine at that stage, but had a tumble on the path after Balmaha and didn't feel quite so good afterwards. Liz (Phil T's wife) was providing both Phil and me with backup during the first half of the race and had arranged to meet us at Sallochy car park, about 3 miles before Rowardennan. I was really relieved to meet her - by the time I got there my legs had been showing the first signs of cramp, and I wolfed down 2 cups of chicken soup, followed by a Muller rice. It was a bit of worry to have cramp so early, and I was also concerned about how hungry I felt. Something clearly wasn't right.

The next section proved that I was right to be worried. About an hour after I had eaten, I started to get cramp again. This was to be the pattern for the rest of the run: eat, run for an hour, get cramp and have to walk, eat, then repeat the whole cycle again. I ate some beans at Inversnaid which saw me through the tough section along Loch Lomondside, but the cramp came on again about a mile before Ben Glas farm and I could hardly get down the hill to the checkpoint. By that stage I wasn't bothered about my time at all but just had to finish - 2 DNFs in a row in WHW races was not an option at all. I had arranged to meet Allybea and Liz at Ben Glas Farm and was desperate for some food, but as I staggered towards the checkpoint and looked around I realised they were not about. When WHW Race Control Geraldine told me that there had been problems with the parking and most backup crews were not able to get parked I thought I was going to burst into tears - how was I going to get rid of the cramp with no food?

Thankfully Geraldine and Hugh came to my rescue, giving me some of the surplus food from the faster runners who had already passed through. The food was enough to get me going again, and I actually felt quite good as I came into Derrydarroch farm where Allybea and Liz were waiting with the long-awaited soup. After that, though, it was just more of the same. The cramp returned about a mile before I crossed the A82 north of Crianlarich, and I had to walk up and down all of the hills from then on: flat bits were ok, but unfortunately there are not many flat bits on that section. Allybea met me at the A82 crossing with yet more soup, and once that had been digested I managed to run more strongly over the last section past Auchtertyre and up to the finish. As is often the case I finished strongly, getting in under 11 and a half hours, but it could have been so much better if it hadn't been for all the problems with cramp.

We stayed overnight in Tyndrum and went to the ceilidh for an hour or so. It was good to catch up with everyone, although we were all a bit tired after the run and headed back to the cottage for a early night. I didn't really get a chance to speak to Ellen and Murdo and pass on my thanks for, once again, organising such a fantastic event. To see so many people taking part was incredible. I remember when Murdo first came up with the idea for the race, but I doubt if even he would have imagined it would grow to such a size in 4 years. Thanks also to Liz and Allybea for all their support during the race, and to Liz for the excellent breakfast!

I have spent some time today on the internet researching cramp in endurance events. The general consensus seems to be that it is caused by a lack of magnesium, which can be aggrevated amongst other things by too much caffeine. I know that I drink far too much coffee, especially when I am at work, so I am going to try and cut down and see if that makes a difference. I will also plan to increase my fruit intake and pay more attention in general to my food strategy. Having said that, I'm sitting writing this with a large glass of wine beside me - not sure I see that changing :)

The Cateran Trail

I thought I would post to let everyone know that I've decided to do the Cateran Trail race on 16 May, a 55 mile circular jaunt starting and finishing at Spittal of Glenshee. I'm very aware that this is only 5 weeks before the WHW race, but I'm hoping 5 weeks will be enough time to recover fully, particularly if I take the Cateran race at a steady pace and don't do anything daft. I'll know whether or not it was a good idea on 20 June :)

Yesterday Phil, Dario (who is organising the race) and I went up to recce the section from Alyth to Blairgowrie. This section isn't part of the official, main route and therefore isn't signposted, so I wanted to make sure I could find my way. The thought of getting lost 25 miles into a 55 mile race isn't hugely appealing.

It's a nice route, not too difficult to follow the course, and I think I'll be fine with the navigation. I was on holiday the week before last and used the chance to do a recce of another section, from Blairgowrie to Bridge of Cally. That bit was very well signposted, as is the rest of the trail, so I'm hoping that I won't have any problems finding my way round. On both occasions I hardly saw another soul. It is a lot quieter than the WHW, which in many ways adds to its appeal, although I suspect it will become more popular in the years ahead as more people hear about it.

Before the Cateran Trail I have another ultra: the Montane Highland Fling, which takes place this coming Saturday. This is a 53 mile race over the first section of the WHW, from Milngavie to Tyndrum. It's the 4th year of the race and I've done them all so far. In 2006, the first year, there were only 17 of us, but it has grown dramatically and there are more than 300 entries for this year's race. I would be interested to know how many people have done all of the races - there must only be a handful of us. The event is superbly organised by Murdo and Ellen but it will be interesting to see how it copes with a field of this size, particularly the associated traffic and parking on some of the narrow roads. I'm really looking forward to it and also to the post race ceilidh in Tyndrum - although whether I'll feel like dancing after running 53 miles remains to be seen.

See you all on Saturday.

The perils of ultra running

Saturday's run reminded me of some of the things that make ultra running so unique and enjoyable. The joy of stopping for a number 2 in the fresh air, miles from anywhere, and then witnessing the shock on the faces of the two old ramblers who had just come round the corner to find a runner in mid squat. Or stopping for a quick streamie, only for one of the women in the race to choose that very moment to catch up - thanks Aileen. Or the odd sensation of running a bit too soon after eating a pot of Muller rice (with apple), not entirely sure whether it would stay down or not. Or watching my chicken and rice soup blow away towards the Falkirk Wheel. Or finding that both my legs had decided to cramp at the same time, with my arms joining them seconds later in a painful spasm. And finally, the serious embarrassment of trying to spit into the canal but making such a hash of it that most ended up in my hair and on my backpack.

So, dear reader, ultra running is not all glamorous, at least not where I am in the middle of the field. I am sure it is much more attractive at the front end, where Lucy, Jack, Thomas et al run with great style and panache - no jobbies in the trees for them, I suspect: I doubt they could afford to stop for that long and still get as good a time.

I am of course aware that I do all this for fun, and of my own free will, and that no-one forces me to take part. I paid the princely sum of £52 to experience those pleasures on Saturday and, even worse, had to decline a full hospitality invitation for the two of us to attend the Scotland v Ireland rugby match at Murrayfield. Allybea was not best pleased. Standing in a 40 mile an hour cold wind beside a smelly canal at Falkirk, Linlithgow and Ratho does not compare favourably with a free piss up at the rugby. This is a point she has made, and continues to make, very clear to me.

However the oddest thing of all is the fact that I am unable to sleep well after an ultra race. Does anyone else experience this? There is no doubt that I should be tired - on Saturday I was up at 5.15am and then I ran 54 miles, after a hectic week at work. I normally sleep like a log. But not on Saturday, nor after the last West Highland Way race. I lay awake for ages, then gave up around 1.30am and headed down the stairs to watch some football highlights. I returned to bed about an hour later but slept in fits and starts, and was first up the next morning. Even on Monday morning I was not tired - I normally sleep on the train into work, but instead I gazed out of the window, occasionally noticing the canal along which I had run just 2 days earlier.

I can only conclude that the body is a funny thing. Particularly mine.

Running across Scotland - the Glasgow to Edinburgh canal race

When I wrote my report of the 24 hour race last September, I said something like "Went round the 1.5 mile circuit. Then did it again. Continued to do this for 24 hours". Well, yesterday's race almost matched the 24 hour race in terms of excitement. I would describe it as follows:

'Ran from Ruchill Park in Glasgow down to the Forth and Clyde canal. Continued to run alongside this canal for 22 mile or so until the Falkirk Wheel. Crossed the Forth and Clyde canal and joined the Union Canal. Continued to run alongside this canal (which looked very like the last canal) for 32 miles or so, until the finish at Harrison Park in Edinburgh. Then stopped and went home'.

It is strange running along a canal towpath. It is completely flat - no hills at all - which is actually more difficult than running an undulating route, as it is constantly sore on your muscles. For most of the route there isn't much to see at all. The canals were built for commercial purposes rather than recreation, and pass through Scotland's industrial heartland, with only the occasional town or village on route. The Falkirk Wheel is quite interesting, and it was good to see a group of youngsters out canoeing at Linlithgow. There is a nice marina at Auchinstarry, and a traditional looking pub at Ratho. And that's about it - the only other highlights along the way were passing the Young Offenders Institution at Polmont, going under the M8 just after Broxburn, and going through a tunnel that is more than half a mile long just after Falkirk. Keith Hughes was just in front of me going through the aforementioned tunnel, so we amused ourselves by making loud noises (such as 'oooooooo') and listening to it echo. What a laugh. I spent most of the rest of the run listening to my radio.

Anyway back to the race itself. I finished in 11th place from 19 finishers in a time of 9 hours 39 minutes. I was quite pleased with that. My stomach was not good for the first few hours, necessitating a couple of emergency pitstops. Thankfully that improved as the run went on, and I finished quite strongly. Allybea and Liz T, despite being frozen, provided excellent backup at various points on route - their support was gratefully appreciated, as was the high quality chicken soup allybea had made. At one point the wind was so strong it actually blew the soup away. We were really lucky, however, that it was behind us for almost all of the race - it would have been a lot harder if we had been running from Edinburgh to Glasgow.

Inverness half marathon

Sunday was the Inverness half marathon. It was the 15th time I had done it in the last 16 years, and probably the worst in terms of the weather. It was definitely the worst in terms of my time. I crossed the line in a chip time of 1.29.38, a full 2 minutes slower than my previous worst for the course. Still, at least I scraped under the hour and a half, which I think was one of my targets for the year. Phil T was 3 minutes ahead in 1.26; Thomas set a new PB of 1.18; and Silke also set a PB of 1.51. Well done to them all. It's just a bit depressing when I look back on some of my previous Inverness times and see two 1.19s, two 1.21s, a 1.22, a 1.23 and five 1.24s.

Despite the weather I really enjoyed the run. We set off in a blizzard, but as the wind was behind for the first mile it didn't have much effect. I was a bit disappointed to look at my watch at the 1 mile marker and see I was around 6.30 - I had thought I was running a bit faster than that. The wind hit us full on when we turned at the bridge over the River Ness, and it was hard work for the next 4 miles or so. Just after the 5 mile mark I had to empty my bladder - the last coffee was definitely a poor idea - and I realised then I would have to work to stay under the hour and a half.

So work hard I did. Despite my hamstring tightening over the last few miles, I took advantage of the wind being behind for most of the way in, and crossed the line with 20 seconds or so in hand. My coughing at the end was a phenominal, record breaking performance, even by more own high standards, and attracted the attention of most of the first aid people who had been milling around in the hope of finding someone like me who needed their services. They were quite disappointed when I told them (cough) that I (cough) was always like that (cough) (cough) at the end of (cough) a race and (cough) there was really nothing (cough) to worry (cough) (cough) about. Then I topped it all by being sick.

As we were leaving Inverness we received news that the A9 was closed at Dalwhinnie. A choice had to be made: chance it and hope it wil have opened by the time we get to there, or go the long route along the A96 to Aberdeen, then down the A90 to Perth. Overruling allybea, we went for the long route which, with the benefit of hindsight, was the wrong decision. It added at least 2 hours and 100 extra miles to our journey, but at least we got home and weren't stuck in a car for the night in one of the most remote parts of Scotland.

I now need to recover in time for the Glasgow to Edinburgh 54 mile race along the canal on Saturday. My legs were quite stiff this morning, but I went out a very easy run at lunchtime and they felt a bit better after that. I'll do another easy run tomorrow, then rest on Thursday and Friday.

A great WHW run

As you may have guessed from the title, I really enjoyed today's WHW run. We ran the 31 miles or so from Inverarnan Hotel to Kingshouse Hotel, neither of which is recognised for the quality of its bedrooms, but both of which offer very good quality food. I started near the back of the pack and, after stopping to take off my tracksters, ended up right at the back with only a mile or so of the run gone. But that meant I had plenty time to chat, and spent a bit of time talking to Neal, Karen, Alasdair and Thomas. Thomas had made a particularly conservative start, but was to pick up the pace later. I pushed on a bit at Tyndrum, just as the weather deteriorated, then ran from the start of Rannoch Moor to Kingshouse with Davie. I felt good at the end, always a positive sign, and enjoyed a bowl of soup in the Kingshouse Hotel before we headed home. All in all a quality day's running. Many thanks to John for organising and best wishes to Sharon, who had to stop after a particularly heavy fall just before Bridge of Orchy.

National XC - so much to say

It was the National Cross Country Championships today at Callendar Park, Falkirk. It was my 16th national, as shown below (extract from my race spreadsheet):

Feb-1992 Irvine 45.51
Feb-1993 Falkirk 46.32
Feb-1994 Irvine 42.51
Feb-1996 Irvine 45.16
Feb-1997 Perth 46.49
Feb-1998 Irvine 44.41
Feb-1999 Cupar 48.07
Feb-2001 Irvine 49.10
Feb-2002 Falkirk 50.05
Feb-2003 Linwood 49.00
Feb-2004 Perth 44.17
Feb-2005 Irvine 50.09
Feb-2006 Falkirk 51.06
Feb-2007 Falkirk 49.58
Feb-2008 Falkirk 48.31
Feb-2009 Falkirk 49.27

So where do I start my report? Probably with today's winner. What a pleasure it was to finish the race and hear that Ali Hay from Central had won his first national cross country championship (he has won the short course title before, but it isn't really the same as the big one). I was absolutely delighted, not just for Ali but for his mum and dad David and Julie, who are members of Central and two of the nicest people you could hope to meet. There was a tear in my eye when I congratulated David at the presentation - what a fantastic achievement for 'their boy'. David is a member of the WHW family and is doing the WHW race again this year. By an incredible coincidence, he was just coming down the home straight at the end of his 2nd lap when Ali passed on his way to win the race, so Dad managed to see him win. Absolutely brilliant. I'm delighted for all of them.

Congratulations as well to Freya Murray, who won the women's race by almost 2 minutes. She is a class act and hopefully will gain selection for the UK team for the world cross country. Also a big well done to Toni McIntosh, who is in fantastic form at the moment and proved it by finishing second in a high quality field.

I was also really impressed to see that Thomas Loehndorf made it into the top 100, finishing in 98th place. This is a quality race with all of the best runners in Scotland, so to finish in the top 100 is no mean feat. Will Manners from our club is running out of his skin at the moment and finsihed 127th, so it shows what a good run Thomas must have had.

And what about me? I was pleased with my run. I had a steady first lap, then picked things up over laps 2 and 3, passing a lot of people along the way. Amongst those I passed (and managed to stay in front of) were Phil T from my club (although to be fair Phil had been out last night, and a few late night 18 yo Springbank whiskies may not have been the best preparation for him); Neal Gibson (aka pacepusher), who I passed near the start of the second lap, and WHW regulars Davie Bell and Ian Rae. I finished in 237th place from 413 finishers in a time of 49.27 - about a minute away from the top half of the field, but overall I was delighted with my run and performance.

A pleasant meander along the canal

On Sunday I decided to run along the Forth and Clyde Canal from Glasgow to Falkirk, a distance of 26 miles or so. While there was a very good chance it would be the most boring run I had ever done, it was also likely to be good training for the Glasgow to Edinburgh canal race, an event which I have entered and is now less than 4 weeks away on Saturday 14 March. So I got up a bit earlier than normal for a Sunday and drove to Falkirk High Station, parked the car there and jumped on a train into the centre of Glasgow. Just after 10am I left George Square at an easy pace and headed north, through Possilpark, and eventually found my way onto the canal.

It would be exaggerating if I said it was an exciting run, but it was nothing like as bad as I had feared. I listened to my radio for most of the way, which probably helped, and I played a game called 'Count the Supermarket Trolleys in the Canal' that helped keep me entertained for the first hour or so. Before too long I passed through Bishopbriggs and Kirkintilloch, then arrived at Auchinstarry after about 2 hours and had a quick stop for some of allybea's home-made carrot cake. The Old Firm game started - it sounded like a shocker - and in no time at all I was going past Banknock, under the A80, through Bonnybridge, and then along to the Falkirk Wheel, where I had a quick stop to refill my water bottle. We used to stay in Falkirk, so I know that area pretty well, and I was soon onto the last short section along the Union Canal. I hammered along there at a fine pace (well, I jogged a bit quicker than I had been going earlier) and arrived at Falkirk station after 3 hours 51 minutes. It was a faster time than I had expected, with the added bonus that I had felt really good for most of the way.

So that was encouraging. A good couple of week's training and who knows? I might even begin to record some half decent times again. I improved a bit in our club's 5 mile time trial on Saturday, but my time of 33.47 was still a bit embarrassing (John - note the spelling) and doesn't suggest I'll come close to a place in the top half of next week's National Cross Country champs. Still, I'll give it my best shot and see what happens.

Run and Become Training and Inspiration Night - My Talk

Last night I was talking at the Run and Become Training and Inspiration Night in Edinburgh. A full version of my talk is attached below for anyone who couldn't make it, or for anyone who is interested in reading it again.


THE 2008 WHW RACE: LESSONS LEARNT FROM A YEAR OF FAILURE

The title of my talk tonight is ‘Lessons Learnt From A Year of Failure’. I’m sure the more perceptive of you will already have worked it out from the title, but I didn’t finish the 2008 WHW race. In fact I didn’t even come close to finishing it – I dropped out at Rowardennan, a mere 27 miles into the route. The day had hardly started when I dropped out – it was just after 6 am, before most people had woken up. I didn’t even get the chance to find out what it was like to be weighed during the race, as I didn’t get far enough.

I’m sure some of you are sitting there thinking – that guy spoke at last year’s Run and Become Evening and told us what to do – didn’t work for him, did it? That is very true, and indeed I may have a bit of a cheek standing up here again this year and offering advice to you all. However I am a great believer in the old saying that you learn every bit as much from ‘bad’ experiences as you do from ‘good’ ones – in fact I think that you possibly learn even more from the bad ones. So hopefully I will be able to pass on a few useful pointers to you all as you set about your preparation for this year.

If I can maybe give you a bit of background about my involvement in the WHW race. I first heard about it at the Inverness Half Marathon in 1997, when I saw an old looking guy sitting in a corner, flask in hand, wearing a WHW t-shirt. The WHW t-shirt caught my attention and I went over to ask him about it. He turned out to be race legend Alan Kay. After chatting to him for 10 minutes or so, and hearing all about it, I thought it sounded like the type of challenge I would quite fancy. I had no idea how I would manage it, or whether it was possible, but the seed was planted. A few days later I entered the 1998 race.

Now, things were quite different in 1998 compared to now. There was nothing like the same number of people taking part – only around 50, compared with the 175 or so now along with the many others who would like to enter but can’t get in. There was no internet then: some of the more recent entrants must find it difficult to imagine preparing for the race without access to the hundreds of blogs that are around today! Back then all the advice came from phoning Dario, although he was not the race organiser (sorry – race director) then, but a regular runner in the race. It started at 3 o’clock in the morning, rather than 1am. At the end you were allowed to crash out on Lochaber Leisure Centre floor and many people did – by the Sunday morning it looked like a battlefield with all the injured bodies lying around. There were no organised training runs or Run and Become nights – or, if there were, nobody invited me to them. In short, you were left to work it out for yourself, and to learn from your own mistakes.

Andy, boy, did I make plenty of mistakes in that first year. I’ll not go through them all but having a back-up team who knew what they were doing would have been good. Running up and down a few hills beforehand would also have been a good idea, and might have helped me get down Conic Hill on race day without trashing my quads. I’m not sure I needed to carry a spare pair of shoes in my rucksack all the way from Rowardennan to Beinn Glas Farm. In hindsight it was a miracle I made it as far as Tyndrum before dropping out, but I had learned a lot, and learned even more backing up a friend the following year. By 2000, the year of the Millenium, I was ready to do it properly.

I managed to finish the race successfully in 2000, and then completed it again in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005 (when some of you might have seen me on DVD), 2006 and 2007. I missed 2002 because I had dislocated my shoulder. So when I arrived at Milngavie Station for last year’s race, with 7 finishes under my belt, it never crossed my mind for a minute that I wouldn’t finish. But I didn’t finish.

So what went wrong?

I guess it is hard to ever know for sure. By the time I reached Rowardennan I felt completely shattered and knew there was no way I would be able to go on. Those close to me will know that it took a while for the pain of failure to go away – probably about 3 months, if I’m being honest – but once I had started to get over it I was able to look back a bit more rationally, and analyse some of the mistakes I had made.

The first worrying signs were there during the organised training run at the end of February. A large group of us were running the 30 miles or so from Beinn Glas Farm to Kingshouse. Just before we got to Bridge of Orchy station I tripped over a stone and, for want of a better term, went arse over tit. It left me with a painful knee, a sore hand, a ripped pair of tracksters and a severe dose of wounded pride. I think that one of the reasons the fall happened was because I was running at a faster pace than I felt comfortable: I was trying to keep up with the other guys, rather than doing my own thing. I think there is a lesson there for everyone – the organised runs are great fun, you meet some fantastic people (many of them here tonight) and you learn a lot from other people’s experiences; but there is just no point in running at a pace that isn’t suitable for you. Far better to hang back a bit at a pace where you are more comfortable, and make sure you enjoy it. I’ll certainly be taking that approach on the training runs this year.

Another possibly questionable aspect of my training last year was my decision to do back to back marathons, in Stornaway and Edinburgh, 4 weeks before the race. At the time I thought it was a good idea and it was something I had wanted to do for quite a few years. I wonder, however, if this took a bit too much out of me and didn’t leave enough recovery time. Ellen Thomson also did 2 marathons that weekend and felt that it affected her WHW performance – she found the 2008 race the hardest of the 4 she has done. So maybe back to back marathons close to the race are not a good idea. But who knows?

I don’t think I took enough account of the different work situation I found myself in last year. I had started a new demanding job and found myself a lot busier than I had been in previous years. I was also Acting Chairman of SportScotland for the 4 months prior to the race, which took up a lot of my time. I should have taken these 2 things into account, accepted it was a more difficult year workwise, and not been too bothered about my WHW time. Instead I was really focused on beating my best time from the previous years, and beating others in the training group, particularly John. That was not realistic, especially given how well John was running. It was a poor approach for me to take.

However, even after making all of the mistakes I have just mentioned, the situation should have been redeemable if I had done sensible things on my race day itself. Unfortunately I didn’t do sensible things, and paid the price. Phil Mestecky, who runs with my club, Strathearn Harriers, caught up with me around Carbeth Huts. Instead of letting him go I speeded up a bit and and tried to stay with him. What was I thinking? I should just have done my own thing and let him go. Phil ended up finishing in just over 19 hours, which was a fantastic performance, but it just emphasised how ridiculous it was for me to stay with him in the early stages.

I also made a mistake not stopping at Drymen. In each of my successful WHW races I have always stopped at Drymen, had a quick coffee and got on my way. Importantly it gives the back-up team a chance to see that I am alright, or whether I need anything. This year, my wife and backup team supreme Allybea told me on the Friday evening that she always found Drymen a difficult place to stop, because of all the race traffic around that area. And guess what I did? Rather than point out that the Drymen stop was important, I told her that I didn’t plan to stop there anyway - it would just waste time, I said – and told her just to go straight to Balmaha instead. When I arrived at Drymen I could have done with a coffee, but of course my backup team was not around, as they had gone to Balmaha. Lesson from this? Don’t change a successful formula.

I have to say though that the Drymen mistake paled into insignificant compared with the complete cock-up I made at Balmaha. In previous years I had stopped for up to 10 minutes at the big car park, taking on some food and not worrying about the time – after all, it is a long race, and a few minutes here or there is not really going to make much of a difference. This year – the complete opposite. My schedule said I would stop for 5 minutes, so I was determined not to hang about. I came in to the car park, rushed into the toilet (and that used up 3 of my 5 minutes), had a quick mouthful of soup (but not nearly enough) then rushed out again without remembering to full up my water bottle. Instead of having had a proper stop and refuel, I left in a bit of a state, without taking on the carbs I almost certainly needed. Because I had given such strict instructions to my back-up team to get me through the checkpoints quickly, they let me go – no doubt against their better judgement.

Well, the inevitable happened. By the time I reached Sallochy car park I was struggling big style, and a mile or so further on I could hardly run the flat sections, let alone any of the hills. I walked into Rowardennan car park and knew it was not my day. After some discussion with my backup team, I walked back to the checkpoint and told the marshall there that I was pulling out. I was absolutely devastated. I hung around and watched the rest of the race, but it was a bit odd – on the one hand I was desperate for so many close friends to do well, but on the other hand, I was completely gutted that I wasn’t running with them.

So that was it. A year of failure. I’ll never really know the reason - It may just have been “one of these days”, a day where I wasn’t right, a day where it wasn’t meant to be. But it is clear that I made a lot of mistakes. Hopefully I’ll learn from these mistakes this year, and put things right. I would like to think some of you here tonight will learn from my mistakes as well. But if there is one piece of advice I would want you to take away from my talk it is this. Remember that this is your race. It is you against the course and, most of all, you against the distance. Just because something worked for someone else doesn’t meant it will work for you – the ‘someone else’ will have a different running background, and will have followed a different training programme. They will have different family circumstances and will have different work pressures. They will prefer different foods on race day, and will have different backup arrangements. They will have good spells during the race when you are feeling terrible. They might even have bad spells when you are feeling good! But it doesn’t matter, because it is your race. Your race and no-one else’s.

Last year brought home to me in no uncertain terms that the most important target in this race is to finish. If I can leave you with one final thought from my experience, it is this:

The pain of failing to finish is 10 times worse than any disappointment from missing your target time. If you finish you are a winner, regardless of your time. If you don’t finish, you aren’t a winner.

I look forward to meeting up with you all again, at the prize giving in Fort William on Sunday, 21 June. And hopefully we’ll all be there as winners.

Thank you.

Balmaha to Inversnaid to Balmaha

Yesterday was cold, wet and miserable. I woke up to around 6 inches of snow in the garden, delighted that Phil was picking me up and I didn't need to get my car out of the drive. According to the various blogs between 15 and 18 of us met at Balmaha car park for the long out and back run to Inversnaid - I thought there were only 15, but I might have missed one or two when I was counting. Maybe I missed myself?

Despite the weather, it was a fantastic run and another great day out. We made good progress through to Rowardennan, then kept a good pace going most of the way to Inversnaid. After a quick coffee in the hotel (although not quick enough - the service was dismal) 5 of us turned round and faced the worst of the weather on the way back. I felt great until about 5 miles to go, then an enforced stop in the bushes disrupted my rhythm (and, I am sure, upset a lot of the local wildlife) and it all became a bit of a struggle for a while. However another piece of fruit loaf helped perk me up, and I finished feeling stronger for the last few miles. All in all a first class day out - hard work, definitely, but I suppose 30 miles in January was never going to be easy.

I have a few races coming up over the next couple of months. Saturday is our club 5 mile time trial - not really a race but a hard session nonetheless. Then it is the National Masters (aka 'Old Gits') cross country at Irvine on 7 February, followed by the National cross country at Falkirk on 21 February. The Inverness half marathon is on the 8 March, followed by the first ultra of the season on 14 March: the Glasgow to Edinburgh race, which is 55 miles along the canal path. Couldn't think of a more exciting route :)

A run with the Glee Club

Thanks for all the comments on my slightly negative post yesterday about my completely rubbish start to the year. I'm glad to say things are looking up a bit - I met a great crowd of the WHW Glee Club this morning at Balmaha and ran 15 miles or so to Inversnaid with them. I felt fine, the company was great, and I really enjoyed the run, but as I didn't want to overdo things I took up the offer from Jan of a lift back to Balmaha from Inversnaid. That must be one of the worst roads in the world, so I'm extremely grateful to Jan for getting me back in one piece. 30 miles would probably have been too much given how I have been feeling, so I thought it was far better to leave on a high and bale out after 15. I think it was probably the right decision.

The worst start to a year ever

There is a lot of excitement out there in WHW blogland, what with the imminent arrival of Debs' and Marco's baby, the start of the build up to the 2009 race, entries being accepted to the UTMB, and so on. I don't want to put a downer on things and I hope this post does not come across as being unduly negative, but as far as I'm concerned it has been a really crap start to the new year. We are now 17 days into January and I have run the amazing total of 41 miles - an average of less than 3 miles a day - and most of these have been a complete struggle. I ended up being off work for a couple of days last week, but whatever bug I've picked up seems to have stayed with me for a lot longer than I would have liked. Last night I woke up 3 times with cramp in my right calf and the sweat pouring out of me. What the f*ck is that all about?

Anyway I'm hoping there is some light at the end of the tunnel. I took the dog out for a gentle jog over the nearby fields today and felt a bit better than I had for the last few runs. I'm planning to go up to Balmaha tomorrow and meet the Glee Club for a run - not sure that I'll go as far as Inversnaid, but I'll see how I feel and if it is too much of a struggle I can always turn round and come back. At least it is only January, so there is plenty of time to get sorted out for the challenges ahead. In the old days I didn't even think about my WHW training until the end of January, so there is certainly no need to worry at this stage. In fact an easier month might not be the worst thing for me - it will give my body a chance to recover for the months ahead.

Full of the cold

I'm full of the cold and feeling miserable. I managed to keep it at bay (just) for the full Christmas holidays, but no sooner had I gone back to work on Monday when it arrived in all its glory. I ran 5 miles or so on Monday lunchtime and couldn't stop coughing - not much different from normal, I hear my regular running partners say - but haven't run again since then.

I'm hoping I've recovered by Saturday morning in time for the Strathearn Harriers 5 mile time trial. This is a new initiative to try and get us all into the way of running a bit faster. The plan is to hold these time trials every second Saturday, and then watch the 10k and half marathon times come tumbling down to levels last seen in the mid 1990s :)

Best wishes to all those who, like me, are suffering with a cold. I share your pain. And tell me this: how do you manage to find a dry bit on your hankie to blow your nose? Mine are absolutely soaking by the end of the day.

Nigel Barge 10k

For the last few years I've opened my racing account for the new year with a trip to the west end of Glasgow for the Nigel Barge 10k. I did the same this year, heading along to the excellent changing facilities at the university's Garscube complex with Phil T. It was a cold, crisp day - not bad running conditions at all. I ran ok, but for the 3rd 10k in a row I failed to beat the 40 minute mark, finishing in 40.23. It is clear that a bit more speedwork and hard training is required if I am to get back below the magical 40 minutes. Phil T has had a series of colds over the Christmas period, and in the circumstances was happy enough with his 41.09.

Incidentally today was my 84th 10k, so am edging towards the 100. It was my 80th best time. That sounds slightly better than saying it was my 5th worst.

2009 targets

2009 is only an hour away, and as my middle son is in Germany (GMT +1) new year has just arrived. Happy new year to him.

I don't have long to put down my 2009 running target, so here goes:

1. To finish the WHW race;
2. To finish the 'Big 3' WHW races (the Highland Fling, the WHW race, the Devil O' The Highlands);
3. To complete 5 ultras (including a 24 hour race);
4. To run at least 25 races;
5. To run 5 new races;
6. To run a race on a Scottish island I haven't visited before;
7. To beat 40 minutes for a 10k;
8. To beat 1 hour 30 minutes for a half marathon;
9. To finish in the top half of the field in the National XC;
10. To run 2,000 miles.

After my run at Kilbarchan today, where I was more than 2 minutes slower than last year, the 10k, half marathon and national XC targets all look quite challenging. The biggest target of all, however, is to enjoy my running.

Hope you all have a great 2009.

2008 targets - how did I get on?

As there are only a couple of days left in 2008 I thought it would be interesting (at least for me) to look back on the targets I set this time last year and see if I actually achieved any. I've shown the original targets in italics below, with my comments in normal text. So let's see how it all went:

1. West Highland Way race - to set a new PB, which means beating my 2007 time of 21 hours 11 minutes.
NOT ACHIEVED. In fact I didn't even finish the bloody thing, dropping out at Rowardennan. Definitely one of the year's low points. I've said enough on the subject already and don't plan to say much more, other than to thank everyone for all their kind comments afterwards - even though hearing all the nice things being said was a bit like attending my own funeral. Keith Hughes kept things in perspective when, in his inimitable Aussie style, he reminded me it was only a bl**dy race. He was right, although I'm not sure it felt like that at the time.

2. Marathon - to beat 3 hours 10 minutes. Last year's 2.59 was great, but it was probably a bit of a "one-off" (he says hoping that it wasn't a 'one-off'). I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself by setting a sub 3 hour target, so anything under 3.10 would be a good result.
NOT ACHIEVED. I did 4 marathons, with a slightly disappointing best for the year of 3.19 at Dumfries in March. On the positive side, I did something new by doing back to back marathons in May, at Stornoway (3.39) then the following day at Edinburgh (3.34).

3. Half marathon - to beat 1 hour 26 minutes. That will be tough, but should give me a focus in the early part of the year leading up to Inverness.
ACHIEVED! I did 1.24 at Inverness in March. It was undoubtedly my best running performance of the year. Looking at the rest of the year, I'm not entirely sure where that bit of form came from.

4. 10k - to beat 38 minutes. I didn't achieve this one in 2007, so it needs to be carried forward to 2008.
NOT ACHIEVED. And not even close. I started the year with a 38.57 at the Nigel Barge, but that was as good as it got. Finished it with a couple of 40 mins+ efforts - maybe old age has finally caught up with me?

5. National XC - to finish in the top half - same reason as 4 above.
NOT ACHIEVED. I didn't have a great run at this year's National XC and missed the top half by 10 places or so.

6. To run 2,000 miles. I accept that this target doesn't mean very much, but it helps me get my running shoes on when it's a cold and dark November evening. For that reason, it stays as a target.
ACHIEVED! So far I've done 2,050, with 2 days still to go.

10 other running related things I'd like to do in 2008 but which aren't formal targets:

1. To beat John K in every race we do.
FAILED DISMALLY. After beating John in the first 2 races he moved up a gear or three, and I never got close to him again. He ran an absolutely phenomenal 19.59 in the WHW race, and his burst through the Fort William Leisure Centre door wins the award for the 'Most Dramatic Entrance of 2008'. By the middle of May I was deeply regretting ever mentioning this as a target. I won't make the same mistake again.

2. To beat Kim T in every race we do.
SORT OF ACHIEVED... I think we only raced twice, at the Inverness and Glasgow half marathons. I won at Inverness, and Glasgow doesn't really count as it was the week before the 24 hour race...

3. To finish in the top 20 in the WHW race - haven't been outside it so far, but it's getting harder and harder as the field gets bigger.
NOT ACHIEVED. See comments above.

4. To win the Strathearn Harriers club championship.
NOT ACHIEVED. My faint hopes disappeared completely when I was held up at work and missed the Comrie Fun Run, an absolute 'must do' event because of the way the points system works. Congratulations to Phil T who won by virtue of his performance at the very last event, the Aviemore half marathon.

5. To run at least 5 marathons and ultras.
ACHIEVED! I actually finished 6: the Highland Fling, the Perth 24 hour race, and the Dumfries, Stornoway, Edinburgh and Nice to Cannes Marathons. On reflection, fair to say it was a year of quantity rather than quality.

6. To run at least 25 races in total.
ACHIEVED (but only just). I've done 25 races so far, but hope to add the Kilbarchan Hogmanay Handicap on the 31 December to bring it up to 26.

7. To run at least 5 'new' races, i.e. races I haven't done before.
ACHIEVED. I think this has been my main achievement of the year, and has meant that I can view 2008 as a successful running year. Of the 25 races completed, 12 have been new ones. I had never done a 24 hour race, so that was new; I did marathons for the first time in Stornoway, Edinburgh and Nice to Cannes; and I did the Heaven and Hell, Stonehaven and Coll half marathons, all for the first time.

8. To persuade enough Strathearn Harriers to enter a team for the Round Arran Relay in July (come on guys, great event, we could make a weekend of it - only needs me plus another 5 - can even be a mixed team).
NOT ACHIEVED. Even if we had been able to get a team together, we wouldn't have been able to get a place in the event due to new restrictions on the numbers.

9. To learn how to navigate properly, so I can do some of the fantastic hill races that are on the fixture list.
NOT ACHIEVED yet, although I did find my way up and down Ben Chonzie with the dog, without getting lost.

10. To try a few new malt whiskies (possibly not running related, but I was struggling for a 10th...)
ACHIEVED! And, even better, I got a couple of great bottles for Christmas - an Ardbeg Uigeadail and a Rosebank 12 yo.

So, that was 2008. The positives were definitely getting over 100 miles in the 24 hour race and taking part in so many new events; another major positive was having the opportunity to chair sportscotand for a 4 month period from February to June, which was a fantastic experience. The big negative was of course the WHW, but I plan to put that right in 2009.

Next post - targets for 2009!

2,000 miles

8 miles into today's run, just at the isolated house a few miles before Inversnaid, I reached my 2,000 mile target for the year. I was running with Brian, John, Stan, Sue and Mandy, on the WHW from Sallochy car park to the Inversnaid hotel and back. We covered 20 miles all in and had a great run, with a lot of good chat, finished off with a lovely bowl of soup in the Oak Tree Inn in Balmaha. It was a first class day out. I feel I've earned my glass or two of red wine tonight.

I was also on the WHW on Saturday, running from Milngavie to Drymen and back with a group of 20. John K has written a full report and produced a video for his blog http://west-highland-way-race07-training.blogspot.com/ , so I won't say much more other than it was another great day's running. On Sunday I travelled south to Strathaven for the Striders' 5k Christmas handicap race, following a very kind invite from El Presidente, Mrs Mack. The first mile was all uphill and I struggled badly, but I picked up a bit of pace after that and finished reasonably well. I was 3rd overall and had the 2nd fastest time of the day, despite going slightly off route on a couple of occasions. Unfortunately I was driving and had to miss the post race piss up in the Bucks Head - from the looks of the video clip on Dave's blog http://subversive-running.blogspot.com/ a great time seems to have been had by all who stayed on. I definitely missed out on quite a session - maybe next time, if I am invited back :)

In case I don't get the chance to post again before the 25th, a very Merry Christmas to all.

A quick round up

I am very aware that I haven't blogged for ages, so thought I would give a quick round up of what had been happening over the last few weeks. Well, it has been cold. Very cold. When we started last week's West Highland Way run from Inverarnan, the temperature was minus 7, and it didn't get much warmer as the day went on. The path to and from Inversnaid was quite icy in places. I took it very cautiously, didn't fall (although had a few near misses), and really enjoyed the day. I've decided that is going to be my only objective for the 2009 WHW race - to enjoy the whole experience: training runs, the build up, the race itself, and the post race celebrations. So far I feel that I'm very much on course.

I've had a busy week with a dinner almost every night, so I thought I did quite well managing to run on 5 of the last 7 days, including a good 13 miler on the roads round here earlier today. Most of these runs were in freezing, dark conditions - there really isn't much light in Scotland at all at this time of year, which can be quite depressing. The Subversive Runner was up in Scotland this week and I was hoping to meet up with him on Tuesday for a beer, but unfortunately he had to call off - probably a good thing for my liver, I suspect, which is liable to take a bit of a hammering as we get nearer Christmas. Allybea and I had the pleasure of attending the Sunday Mail / sportscotland annual awards dinner in Glasgow on Thursday night. It was a great night, with loads of big names attending, and I was delighted to see Chris Hoy win the main award, the 2008 Sports Personality. I was even more pleased that he couldn't collect it because he was training - I was starting to get a bit concerned that all these award dinners could not be doing his training programme any good at all. Sir Alex Ferguson was presented with a lifetime achievement award by Alex Salmond, the First Minister, with his acceptance speech being described as 'inspirational' in today's Sunday Mail. I would have described it as 'ok', but Sir Alex is probably now operating at a level where anything he says is now considered 'inspirational' - I guess you are entitled to that kind of status when you have won the Champions League twice and the Premier League 10 times or whatever.

Talking of inspiration, mine at the moment is trying to reach my target of running 2,000 miles in the year. I have decided that 2,000 miles is a good target to have - it helps motivate me to get out running on these horrible cold nights, when it would be a lot easier not to bother. I think that my run today means I have now run 1,926 miles, so I have 74 more to do.

Lucy's 1st Munro (and my 3rd)

It was a lovely day today, so Lucy and I headed out through Comrie to the car park at Invergeldie which is at the start of the easy way up Ben Chonzie (pronounced Hone-zee). We had an absolutely brilliant walk/run to the top, where I took this photo, then an even better run back down. The whole trip took 1 hour 59 minutes and 54 seconds - as you might have guessed it was a bit of a sprint finish over the last 400 metres or so.

Ben Chonzie is our nearest Munro. I found this description of it on 'Munromagic' (http://www.munromagic.com/):

Ben Chonzie is a solitary Munro at the head of Glen Turret, but is normally ascended from Glen Lednock to the SW as there are tracks leading high on its slopes. Ben Chonzie is a heather clad hill with moderate inclines leading to gentle grass slopes on the crests of the summit ridge. The biggest problem with Ben Chonzie would be finding the summit but for the line of iron fence posts on the crest of the "L" shaped summit ridge which lead you there. There are crags E of the summit.. Ben Chonzie is famous for its many mountain hares.

Well, we found the summit ok by following the iron fence posts, and we saw quite a few of the mountain hares which looked more like small sheep than rabbits. The views at the top were absolutely brilliant, particularly looking back down Loch Turret to Crieff. I'm sure there would be a great run from the car park at Loch Turret, along the east side of the Loch, up the steep slope to the top of Ben Chonzie, down the route described above to Invergeldie, down through the trails to Comrie, then over the hills and back to the starting point at Loch Turret car park. Maybe we could get a WHW training run over that route some time?

The picture below shows me at the top of my 3rd Munro. 3 in 42 years - at this rate I think I am unlikely to complete all 284, at least any time soon. I have previously done Ben Lomond (when I was still at school) and Beinn Ghlas.

Nice to Cannes

Last weekend allybea, Phil T, Liz T and I were in the south of France for the first ever Nice to Cannes marathon, staying with my brother in Antibes. What a contrast to the depressing weather here: the daytime temperature was a very pleasant 20 degrees or so, warm enough to walk around in shorts and a t-shirt, but not too hot for running. I could certainly get used to that.

The marathon was a great event, well organised and passing through some beautiful parts of the Cote D'Azur, although I'm sorry to report that I didn't have a very good run. My back had been bothering me a bit in the week prior to the race and after about 7 km it started to hurt quite a lot. I decided to go into 'just finish' mode, and spent the next 35 km shuffling along and feeling generally uncomfortable. The section up to the half way point was a real drag, with loads of runners passing me, but things improved a bit after that and I managed to keep going at more or less the same pace until the finish in Cannes. My time was 3.36 - definitely not one of my better marathons - but at least I managed to scrape into the top 2,000 of the 8,300 finishers. Phil T finished in 3.21, having found the last 10 km a real struggle.

Despite my poor run it was a first class weekend. We spent most of Saturday in Nice, which is a fantastic place, then spent a bit of time in Cannes after the race, enjoying a few leisurely hours in a pavement cafe having a beer and some lunch - a very pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon. It was also great to spend a bit of time with my brother.

Since arriving back I haven't done much running at all, due to a combination of a heavy cold, a busy week at work, a sore back and a general lack of motivation. Running wise I've had quite a busy year: I've completed 2 ultras (the 24 hour race and the Highland Fling, as well as my unsuccessful WHW attempt), 4 marathons and 6 half marathons, so I suppose my body is ready for a bit of a break. There is not much coming up in the way of races, although the WHW training runs are due to start at the end of November, so this seems like as good a time as any to take it a bit easier.

myRace

There must be a new edition of myRace out soon. I wonder if I will be in it this time?

Simon

Last week I was saddened to hear of the untimely death of one of my Strathearn Harriers clubmates, Simon Wake. Simon was one of the club's finest hill runners, regularly competing in various events on the hills and making the occasional appearance on the roads. He was a member of our winning team in the Comrie Hills relay last year, and this year competed in various races such as the Inverness half marathon, the Three Peaks Race and the Highland Cross. Simon was always at the centre of club activities - he was a regular at the club training runs, and served as social secretary until recently - and I will always remember how welcome he made me feel when I first joined the club, as he did with all new members. During the summer we were shocked to hear that he had been diagnosed with cancer, and completely devastated to hear of his death last Thursday. My thoughts are with his wife, Shelagh, and the children, at this very difficult time.

OMM: on my high horse (again)

I was out at a dinner last night (the Commonwealth Games Scotland Awards Dinner - Chris Hoy won the main award) and the first I heard about the OMM problems was when I received a text from John K about 10.30pm. When I got home I checked out the BBC website and Sky News, both of whom were covering the story in some detail. I know Brian M was running and there were probably a few others taking part that I know, so it was a great relief today to find out that everyone was alright.

However that is not the main purpose of this post. It is to express my disbelief at some of the comments that appeared on the BBC website forum last night, from people who have probably never set foot anywhere near the countryside. For example: "I hope all these runners apologise to the emergency services". What is that person talking about? Doesn't he or she know that a lot of these runners ARE members of the emergency services, and if they weren't used to being out in treacherous conditions they wouldn't be much use when it came to some of the more difficult search work? I know a few people who do some of the more extreme mountain challenges (such as Brian, Marco and Pete) and these are amongst the most experienced guys on the hills you could find anywhere. If I was to be stuck out there in conditions like yesterday I would certainly feel happier knowing they were looking after my safety. It is no coincidence that there were no serious casualties - the people taking part yesterday were experienced and would not be allowed in to the event if they were not properly equpped and able to cope with the worst of the elements.

And while I am on my high horse, what about these comments:
Organisers of a Lake District fell run abandoned in treacherous weather had been warned about the risks, police say.
I don't know if any of you have had experience of organising a road race. If you have organised one in Scotland, you will know that a condition of getting a permit from the governing body is that you have to notify the police about the event. When you have done so, you receive a standard letter back from the police saying that they do not encourage anyone to hold any event on public roads, and if you do decide to go ahead then it is at your own risk and you may be held liable if anything goes wrong. Honestly, it's true. Just ask any race organiser if you don't believe me. Some encouragement to organise an event which will improve the health of those in the local community, is capable of boosting local tourism, and has been proved to play a role in reducing the level of crime, is it not? I know people who have cancelled races after receiving the police letter, which I think is really sad. However, as the police warn every event organiser about the risks, I am not sure there is really anything different about the warning given in this case - although the media seem to think it is a big deal.

Anyway, back to more mundane things. I went up to the WHW on Friday night and ran from Balmaha to Rowardennan and back. It was dark all the way back and I was completely on my own - I should probably have been "warned about the risks" in case I tripped over some stones or trees, fell into Loch Lomond, met some mad psychopath in the dark on the route, or met some other disaster. Thankfully nothing untoward happened, I really enjoyed the run, and finished off with a coffee and muffin in front of the roaring fire in the Oak Tree Inn. Had I not been driving I would have sampled one of their 39 malt whiskies which were sitting on a shelf at the back of a bar - maybe another time. I think we should organise some more 'Friday night runs' - it is good fun doing these in the dark, and would be even better with some company. Those not driving could finish off with a malt.

Then today I went to Kilmacolm, a small village in Renfrewshire near where I was brought up, and did the 10k. I finished in 40.26 which I thought was ok, given the strong wind and my run on Friday night. It was well organised and a nice route, mostly on quiet roads and the cycle path, which I am sure reduced the risks - except for the cyclists and people walking their dogs..

Aviemore

Today I ran in one of Scotland's best races, the Aviemore half marathon. The route goes through some of the most scenic trails in Scotland - round the Badaguish Outdoor Centre estate, up to Glenmore, round Loch Morlich, then down the new cycle track to Aviemore before finishing at the Macdonald Hotel in the centre of the town. It is one of my favourite races and I made sure I had plenty of time to enjoy the stunning scenery, finishing in 1 hour 31 minutes and 32 seconds - 4 minutes or so slower than last year. Phil was about 4 minutes ahead of me in a season's best of 1.27.50.

It was my first race since the Perth 24 hour ultra and I ran as hard as I could, but didn't feel I had any speed in my legs at all. Not to worry; it was an excellent day out. It even stayed dry for all of the time we were running, and the strong wind was behind us for most of the route. If you are looking for a half marathon in October next year, I would strongly recommend this one.

Now it is time to start training properly, and to get my half marathon time back down to the low 1.20s :)

Maybe I haven't fully recovered yet

It's Saturday night and I've nothing better to do than sit in front of a computer and update my blog. I know that is sad, but in my defence I'm hoping to get an early night as I'm going on an 18 km walk tomorrow as part of the Crieff 'Drovers Tryst' festival, from Ardeonaig on Loch Tay to Invergeldie, north of Comrie. I've never been on an organised walk before so it will be something new. I just hope it is dry. Unfortunately dogs are not allowed, so Lucy will have to stay at home - that will not go down well at all when I head off without her.

Today I did my longest run since the 24 hour race - a 13 mile loop mostly on road with Phil. We headed from my house down to Blackford, along the A9 for half a mile or so, through the golf courses at Gleneagles, and back home by the back roads. Although we managed to complete it at about 7 and a half minute mile pace, there were a lot of times it felt like a bit of a struggle, especially the last few miles back up the hill into a strong wind. I'm sure the bottle of wine and two large whiskies last night didn't help, although as is so often the case it felt like a good idea at the time. I felt so tired afterwards that I fell asleep watching the first half of the England game. I suspect I wasn't the only one.

Both Phil and I are doing the Aviemore half marathon next Sunday, so it was good to get a decent run in. Aviemore is a superb half marathon - mostly off-road, through some of the best scenery Scotland has to offer. I don't expect to run a particularly fast time but am really looking forward to getting out there and just enjoying it.

Good luck to Neal and Caroline at the Chicago marathon tomorrow.

Frustrated

I spent most of the day wishing I had been at the Loch Ness marathon - it's the first one I've missed - and it wasn't made any easier watching most of the UK doing the Great North Run on television this morning. My 'sensible' head tells me that you can't do everything, and that it would have been daft to do a marathon just 3 weeks after the 24 hour race. On the other hand, my instinct tells me that I was an idiot for not entering, and I should just have gone for it - even doing the 10k would have been better than not being there at all. Anyway, by the afternoon I was so frustrated that I jumped in the car with a surprised but delighted dog and headed to Tyndrum. It was sunny, I had the roof down in the car (even though it was freezing), and had an excellent run with Lucy (the dog) down the West Highland Way track to the bridge after St Fillans, then back the same way. It was only 7 miles but it helped blow away some of the frustrations of the day, if only temporarily.

A big well done to everyone who finished one of today's races. A particularly special well done to Thomas for his 2.48 marathon PB at Cologne - that is quality running.

New marathon world record

Haile Gebrselassie ran 2.03.59 earlier today in Berlin. Incredible. More details on his run here:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h3rIfRWd4KqpdcbjnCSV0MxQPfLwD93FLKEG0

Incidentally, isn't the technology available today quite amazing? A few years ago you had to wait until your friends got home before you could find out how they got on in a big city marathon. Today I've been able to look up the internet and find out that Robert Russell from Central AC ran 2.27 at Berlin in what was his first marathon - he was hoping for around 2.15 so will probably be a bit disappointed with that. Another of my ex club mates from Central, Phil Williams, was also at Berlin, and ran a very good 2.50. I have a friend Des McKeown who is in Toronto for the Toronto Waterfront Marathon. At the moment he race is still going on, but he is through the half marathon point in 1.38.36, so looking on course to be around his PB of 3.17.

Running clubs

Thomas's wife Silke posted recently on her blog that Thomas had joined a local running club, Greenock Glenpark Harriers. I think that is a great move for Thomas. I've spoken to a lot of people who run on their own and who are apprehensive about joining a club, normally saying things like "Oh no, I just run for fun, these people in clubs are much too serious, I'm not good enough to be in a club" and so on. From my experience nothing could be further from the truth. I have been a member of a number of different clubs over the years and have always found they are made up of great people with a shared love of running. Joining a club adds hugely to the whole running experience - you have people to train with, you can go to races together, there is normally a good social scene, and it adds a bit of friendly competition. Every club I have been in has had a wide variety of runners - some fast and some not so fast - but that doesn't matter at all: everyone is made to feel welcome regardless of where they are in the pack. So if you are reading this and are not currently a member of a club - go and join one soon!

My first club was Troon Tortoises, which I joined in 1990. At the time I joined there were still a fair number of youngsters who came along regularly, but they started drifting away and within a few years it was more or less an adult road and cross country endurance running club. Troon Tortoises has a history of producing some top quality athletes - Brian Whittle and Vikki McPherson both started their running careers at the Tortoises before going on to represent GB at the Olympics; others like Hazel Melville and Marsela Robertson represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. However the vast majority of runners at Troon were non elite plodders like me, but that didn't stop us having some brilliant training runs and races over the years. It was (and is) a great club and I was really sorry to have to leave when we moved away from Troon in 2003. I still try and get back in May each year for the club's 10k race - one of the best 10k races in Scotland and one which manages to attract more than 1,000 runners to the west coast on a Wednesday night. I still see a lot of the Troon guys fairly regularly, particularly George who has done my WHW backup every year and recently helped me out at the 24 hour race. Quite a few of its members have been involved in events like the WHW race, the Devil O, the Highland Fling and the River Ayr Way, to such an extent that the club proudly claims to be 'Ayrshire's premier ultra running club"!

When we were living in Troon we had a holiday place in Arran, so I joined Arran Runners for a couple of years as a 2nd claim member. That is another good wee club that organises a few high quality races, including the Goat Fell hill race (which I have never done - steep hills scare me), the Isle of Arran Half Marathon (which I have done a number of times) and the Arran 10k (ditto).

In 2003 we moved to Falkirk. I tried out the local club, Falkirk Victoria Harriers, but there were not many endurance runners there the night I went along. So instead I joined Stirling based Central AC. (I also joined Carnethy for a year as a 2nd claim member, but didn't get much chance to go along, and didn't renew my membership the following year). Central AC is one of Scotland's top clubs -it has some real quality athletes, both seniors and juniors, and also has a large number of runners like me who would never call themselves 'elite' but just enjoy getting out running on the roads, hills, trails or countryside. There are a lot of fantastic, high quality people who are involved with Central - runners, coaches, officials, and committee members - and like my ex clubmates at Troon, I still see a lot of the Central guys fairly regularly at various events.

We moved further north to Perthshire in 2006. Although I could have stayed with Central - Stirling is only 25 minutes down the road - I thought it made more sense to join the local club, Strathearn Harriers. Strathearn is a much smaller club than Central and is made up of adult runners only. I would describe it as a friendly, non elite club - although in case anyone is insulted by that, I should quickly point out that there are some very good hill runners within the membership, and should also mention that the club's first team won the Comrie Hills relay in 2006 and 2007 and finished a close second this year. The number of members has grown from less than 20 a few years ago to more than 50 now, and it has been especially pleasing to see that a lot of this growth has been due to women who only started running relatively recently. Like all of my previous clubs it is made up of some great (if slightly eccentric) people. In addition to the Comrie Hills relay that I mentioned earlier, the club also organises the hugely popular Crieff 10k in July each year for which my wife allybea is currently the race director.

I suppose I am a bit of a 'running club tart' - if you have been counting you may have noticed that I have been a member of 5 different clubs since I started running way back in 1990. Over the years I have probably come into contact with the vast majority of Scottish clubs, either through taking part in their races, or because I've met people who are members of those clubs at various events, or through my scottishathletics and sportscotland involvement. I wouldn't hear a bad word said about any of them. The CEO of scottishathletics, Geoff Wightman, is currently on a programme to visit every athletics club in Scotland. It would be interesting to know his thoughts on the various clubs, but I would be surprised if he did not echo what I have said here - Scottish clubs come in all shapes and sizes - some elite, some not so elite; some large, some small - but they are all made up of great people who have a genuine love of the sport. If you are reading this and are still not a member of a club, I hope I have managed to persuade you to join one; if you are still not sure give me a shout and I will try and put you in touch with someone from your local club. Come on, you know it makes sense. What are you waiting for? :)

It's not so easy

I found this on the web:

http://www.dgstandard.co.uk/dumfries-sport/dumfries-scottish-athletics/2008/07/18/dumfries-running-club-s-les-tackles-24-hour-track-race-51311-21360756/

Les Hill is an ultra running legend and a past winner of the WHW race. It was interesting reading this to find out that he had similar problems to the ones I experienced at Perth - bad blisters. Les, if you happen to read this, it is so reassuring to know that the same issues affect elite runner like you as the ones that affected me.

Slaying the dragon

I have been sore this week. I haven't done any running at all - I don't think I would have been able to because of my badly blistered feet - but it has given me a chance to reflect a little on my summer's ultra running. My main emotion at the moment is probably one of relief: relief at having completed a difficult and new challenge, and relief at proving myself capable of pushing myself through the tough spells without giving up. I wondered if I had lost the ability to do that. I'm sure it will not be a great surprise when I admit that this year's WHW race failure has left a number of scars, despite my attempts over the last few months to forget about it, to get over it, and to take on board the many words of consolation. Given the insignficance of running in the general scheme of things I do feel quite guilty about admitting to these feelings, but the truth is that I have felt like a complete failure since 21 June and last weekend has helped me put it behind me.

So, what next? I might try and get out for a gentle run around the middle of the week, but am not in any desperate rush. I'll just see how things go.

Perth 24 hour race

I'm sitting here not really knowing how to write this report on Saturday's race. I don't want to go down the route of "and the first lap took me 14 minutes, then the second lap took me 14 and a half minutes, and then I started the third lap..." as that would be really dull, even for me. So I think I'll just try and jot down the main things I remember.

First the stats. I covered a total of 106.74 miles in the 24 hours, finishing in 10th position out of 22. I went though the 100 mile mark in 21 hours 52 minutes. Stephen Mason won the race, covering an incredible 148 miles or so, and Pauline Walker set a new Scottish record of (I think) 130 miles. Absolutely incredible performances from them both.

We didn't arrive at the venue in Perth until about 9.20am, and I was the last to register. Although I hadn't wanted to hang about too long, and there wasn't any real need to do a warm up, I felt I had cut it a bit tight for the 10am start. I was quite unsettled and a bit grumpy with Alison, who was supporting me. I didn't even have time to go to the toilet just before the race started. We started bang on 10am and thankfully I felt a lot more relaxed once I had got going.

Each lap was 2.381 km (1.48 miles), all on tarmac and almost completely flat. We ran in a clockwise direction around the North Inch. I started very easily and was right at the back of the field, which suited me well - there were a lot of people running who had much more experience of these events than I had, and I didn't want to get dragged round too quickly. My times for the first few laps were fine - although I was near the back I felt I was going about the right speed, and this was confirmed by my early lap times. After a few laps George arrived to help out with the back-up. Derek Easton, Central's chief endurance coach, also turned up to watch for a while and I chatted to him at various points.

At 12 noon the 100k race started. This comprised 42 laps of the same route, and it was really interesting to see things unfold in that race. I stuck on my headphones and listened to the football as I was running, which helped the time pass. I was pleased with how the run was going - slow and steady, slow and steady - I was feeling good and very focused on the task in front of me. Just before 4.45pm my spirits were lifted even higher by Falkirk's last minute goal against Hearts - 3 points at last for the Bairns!

Phil T turned up round about 7pm, just as I was about to change out of my shorts and into my tracksters. That was probably my lowest point of the day. I couldn't get my tracksters on without cramping, but knew I needed to put on some warmer clothes as we headed into the night so had to get on with it. The pain was intense as cramp shot through all parts of my body, and a few choice words were uttered in everyone's direction. Thankfully I didn't have any problems at all with cramp after that, which I think was a reflection of the fact I ate well throughout the race.

John and Katrina turned up about 8pm to help with the backup, and Alison went home a short while later. Then Stan arrived about 10pm. Katrina went away to have a sleep at Neal and Caroline's, who had turned up to watch, leaving George, John and Stan to cover the night shift.

I ran really well through the night. I had managed to get into a nice steady pace, and was covering most laps in under 20 minutes, then having a quick stop and something light to eat as I came round to the checkpoint. Every 3rd or 4th lap I would eat something a bit more substantial, depending on how I felt. I went through the 100k point (42 laps) in 12 hours 15 minutes, and knew I was in a good position to achieve my target of 100 miles or more. The radio continued to inspire me, firstly Proms in the Park from Glasgow Green, then the 'Through the Night' programmes from Radio Tay. All of the helpers were hugely supportive as well, giving me and all of the runners a great reception as I finished each lap, and always being very positive and encouraging.

As I got to about 60 laps, the soles of my feet were beginning to get really sore. I was still able to run and walk, but it was getting more difficult because of the pain. I thought about trying to put some blister pads on them, but decided it would be more bother than it was worth and just kept going. By 6 am it was starting to get light, and I was edging closer to my 100 miles. At 7.52am I passed the 100 mile point. By this stage I could not run at all, but just kept walking at as good a pace as I could manage, which had slowed to around 3 to 3.5 mph (or just over 2 laps an hour). I picked up the pace a bit as we moved into the last hour, and just after I finished my 72nd lap the hooter blew to signal the end of the race. I had done it. 106.74 miles.

Today my feet are really sore and I am struggling to walk, but am completely delighted by my performance. My support crew were incredible. Alison, George, John and Stan - thank you for giving up a whole weekend to help me out - I could not have achieved it without you. Thank you to everyone else who turned up to support and offer encouragement - Katrina, Neal, Caroline, Derek, Phil, and Murdo. And to all the organisers who put in so much effort and were so positive and encouraging every time - it is greatly appreciated.

I now plan to take a bit of time off running and let my feet recover.

24 hour nerves

On Saturday at 10 am the Perth 24 hour race will begin. That is now less than 3 days away and I have to admit that I'm feeling a bit nervous. I don't know what to expect at all. 24 hours is a long time to run round a 2.381 km loop. I don't really have a plan, other than to go out and run as I feel. There are about 22 people taking part in the 24 hour race and 18 in the 100 km. A lot of them are WHW family members, so at least I'll know a few of my fellow runners.

I plan to listen to my radio when I'm running as that should help pass the time. Other than that I'll just see how it goes.

Glasgow half marathon

That was a strange one today. I set out determined not to do myself any damage for next weekend's 24 hour extravaganza at Perth, and even mentioned to someone at the start that if I finished faster than 1.35 I would be concerned. For the first 4 miles or so it was great. I was running about 7.10 pace (through 3 miles in 21.32) and felt really comfortable, albeit the sweat was pouring off me. Maybe that was due to 2 heavy golf days (aka drinking sessions) in the last 3 days? As I headed up Paisley Road West my hamstrings were a bit tight, and I didn't feel I was running as fluently as I had been before. By the time I reached Pollok Park my hamstrings and legs in general were giving me quite a bit of bother. It was an odd sensation - my legs didn't feel as though they belonged to me, although I wasn't really losing any distance on those round about. By 9 miles or so my legs were completely numb, and I had a very strange feeling of my shorts rubbing against my legs, even though they weren't. Weird. It seemed to loosen off around the 10 mile point and I ran at a reasonable pace for the last few miles, finally finishing in 1.35.13. My 3 mile splits had been fairly even: 21.32, 21.32, 22.19 and 21.55, then 7.56 for the last mile and a bit.

I have to admit that, disappointingly, running at that slower pace was not quite as easy as I had hoped. I had a very deep massage on Wednesay night, then played 2 and a half rounds of golf on Thursday and Friday, so maybe that had some effect. I also went out for a 7 mile run across the hills yesterday, so that might have had an impact too. Excuses, excuses, I know - Michael Johnston would no doubt say I just had a bad run. I'm sure I'll be fine for next weekend - won't I? Reassuring comments are more than welcome :)

I met loads of people I know - far too many to mention - indeed it took me 45 minutes to walk from Queen Street Station to Glasgow Green because I met so many people. A special mention to Thomas and Silke, who both ran PBs of 1.21 and 1.55 respectively; George also ran a stormer, finishing a couple of minutes in front of me; John K had a bit of a problem with his foot but still did a very satisfactory 1.27, and Kim in her first race as an elite woman took advantage of the pre and post race pampering to clock a very good 1.25. Finally well done to Robert Russell, who knocked a minute off his PB and finished 2nd UK man in a superb 1.05.20. He's looking in great shape for Berlin at the end of the month.

I got to hold an Olympic gold medal!!!!

I was lucky enough to be at the Scottish olympic medal winners' press conference earlier today and met Chris Hoy and Ross Edgar, our 2 medal winning cyclists. I even got to hold one of Chris Hoy's gold medals and Ross Edgar's silver medal! These guys are fantastic - the best performers in the world in their sport, but still so modest, approachable and completely down to earth. They are a huge inspiration to me, and I am sure to everyone else with an interest in sport. Many congratulations to them - they fully deserve the tremendous reception they have had from the Scottish and British public.

A good weekend but a rubbish run

At the weekend I went to Coll for the half marathon. For those not familiar with the geography of the Scottish islands, Coll is part of the Inner Hebrides, and is about a 3 hour boat journey from Oban. Unfortunately only one boat a day goes there and on a Saturday it leaves Oban at 7am, which meant I had to leave the house at 4.20am. I picked Phil T up on route and we arrived in Oban with plenty of time to spare. At the terminal we met Peter Duggan, his aunt and his cousin, all of whom had family connections with Coll. We ended up spending a lot of time with them over the weekend and very much enjoyed their company.

As Coll has a population of 180 and only one hotel with 6 rooms, we had little choice but to camp in a field behind the church. And it was windy. Very windy. I hadn't felt wind like that since I was on Lewis in May for the Stornoway marathon. It must be an island thing. At least it was dry when we were putting up the tents, although that was to change later.

The half marathon started at 3pm and followed a circular route round the island's only real road. I felt good for the first 6 miles or so and was tucked in just behind Phil, wondering when I was going to make my move. At 7 miles the road disappeared and we ran across a sandy path for a couple of miles, before joining another road back to the village. It was at that point the wheels fell off in terms of my run. Within the space of a few minutes I had to stop to go to the toilet in the sand dunes (never a good experience), the rain had started, and my legs had begun to feel like lead. The rain got heavier and heavier, and was right into my face for the last 4 miles. I just got slower and slower, eventually finishing in my 2nd worst half marathon time ever of 1.35. (The worst was in 1990, just after I had started running, and was also 1.35, so Saturday was very close to a Personal Worst). Phil was stronger and passed a few people to finish in an excellent 3rd place, in just over 1.30.

It was a half mile walk in the pouring rain back to the hotel for a shower, and by the time I got there I was absolutely frozen. The rain continued to get heavier and the wind just got worse and worse. It was a relief to see our tents still standing, although 2 girls beside us were not so fortunate: their tent blew away and they ended up sleeping in the church. At night we got another soaking heading up to the village hall for the ceilidh, then soaked yet again on our way back to the tent. All in all it was pretty miserable.

Eventually the rain stopped and the wind died down allowing me to get some sleep, albeit not of the highest quality. Sunday was a lot better weatherwise and we enjoyed a very pleasant breakfast in the local cafe and a walk along the shore, before heading back on the 2.20pm boat. I finally made it home by about 7.30pm.

On reflection it was a long way to go for a half marathon, particularly as I didn't run well. It was really interesting to see Coll, a place I had not visited before, but we were just unlucky with the weather - definitely not ideal for wild camping, and we would have been much better off staying in the hotel or a B&B. I would certainly go back to Coll again at some point, although perhaps I will leave it for a few years, and I would make sure that I spent more time beforehand checking the forecast :)

Amazing stats

I'm a boring accountant and therefore I like my stats. Normally I try and keep them to myself for fear of sending my readers to sleep, but I thought it was worth sharing these ones from Saturday's run, courtesy of my GPS:

Miles - 53.4
Calories - 7,110

Wow. That seems like a lot of calories. From looking at the scales before and after Saturday's run, it seems to equate to a weight loss of around half a stone, which I'm pleased to say hasn't reappeared yet. And as an added bonus my trousers now feel a lot more comfortable around the waist, which could save me the hassle and cost of buying a new suit. Isn't ultra running wonderful? I'm surprised more people don't do it :)

Sorting out some unfinished business

A few weeks ago you may remember I attempted to run home from my office in Edinburgh to my house, on a Friday night after work. I made it to my car at Dunblane - 44 miles all in - but didn't do the last 9 miles or so for a few reasons: my knee was a bit sore, I was cold, I was bored, it was 2.30am, the car was parked at Dunblane, and so on. No-one made any comments about not finishing the full run except my 10 year old son, who said "Dad, why did you not do it all?" That has been echoing round my head for a few weeks, so I decided I needed to "do it all", and set a target of running the full distance from my house to my office. Yesterday was the day to do it.

I left the house at 7.20 am. For the first time in my life I ran with a radio, which was absolutely brilliant and certainly helped pass the long hours listening to the Olympics. I ran down into Braco, along the back road to Dunblane, through Cornton and Stirling, along the back road to Larbert, through Falkirk, along the canal path past Linlithgow and Winchburgh, onto the road past the Glenmorangie factory at Broxburn, over the M9 footbridge, past Edinburgh airport, past RBS's HQ, and then right along the A8 to the centre of Edinburgh. I stopped a few times to get something to eat, and completed the full 53.4 miles in 10 hours 47 minutes, including my breaks. Apart from 2 quite bad spells of cramp the run went very well, although there isn't really anything interesting to report about it. I just did it. I found out that I could walk at a reasonable pace when I had cramp and not lose too much time, a lesson that I'll need to remember in the future.

Another reason for doing the long run yesterday was as a trial to see whether the 24 hour race on 13th/14th September is on. I'm coming to the conclusion that the answer is yes. I'm sure it will hurt, probably a lot more than the WHW race, but I think I can do it. My body feels surprisingly good today, which is very encouraging, and suggests I am getting back into reasonable shape. All being well, I'll enter this week.

Just a few of other things I wanted to comment on. Last week Allybea and I backed up Dario in the Devil O'The Highlands Footrace, a 43 mile race from Tyndrum to Fort William on the WHW. He finished in 10 hours 45 minutes, which was well ahead of his expectations. Well done Dario. Jez Bragg won the race in a phenominal time of 5 hours 22 minutes - that's 3 hours 15 minute marathon pace. Incredible. And finally well done to the British team at the Olympics, who at the time of writing doing are up to 3rd place in the medal table with 11 golds. It would be great to see athletics add to that tally.

A long injury free run at last. Woo hoo!

I returned to the North Inch at Perth today to the scene of the 24 hour race on 13 September. I wanted to see if I could have a run of at least 2 hours, at 24 hour race pace, and finish because I wanted to rather than my knee was forcing me to. And guess what? It happened just as I had hoped! Allybea came up with my and gave me water after every lap (2.38 km/1.48 m). I covered 4 laps in the first hour, 4 in the second, then an extra 2 in the next half hour for good measure. 10 laps/approx 15 miles in 2 and a half hours. And, even better, no problems with my knee.

So the 24 hour race is still possible. If I can get 2 decent weeks training and have no adverse effects, then I'll do it. Even though I felt I was going really slowly today, I was still averaging 6 miles an hour, a lot faster than the pace I would expect to average over a full day. That is encouraging - it means I would be able to build in a reasonable stop every couple of hours, and still be covering a fair amount of distance.

LEJOG

Last night I was reading the WHW forum and saw a post from Gaynor Prior, who ran in this year's WHW race, saying that one of her backup team Rob was running from Lands End to John O'Groats (LEJOG) and that he was now into Scotland. I followed the links to his run and found that he had just reached Dunblane. Dunblane is only 10 miles away from where I live, and when I looked at his route plan I saw that today's run would come right past the front of out house! I didn't know when he would leave Dunblane, but figured if I drove left the house at 9 and drove south towards Dunblane I would have a good chance of seeing him. I could then find out if he fancied any company, drive back to the house, and if he wanted company run with him for a bit as he headed north.

Well, almost as soon as I had driven out of the drive I saw a cyclist with a high visibility vest, a runner, and then another cyclist coming along the road. I guessed it was probably Rob, and this was confirmed when I rolled down my window and shouted 'Are you Rob?' I think he was a bit surprised anyone knew him, but was happy for me to join him for a while. He had left Dunblane at 7.30 and was looking really strong. I turned the car round and headed home, quickly threw on my running stuff, jumped in the car and drove a mile or so towards Crieff until I passed the group again. I then dumped my car in a lay-by and joined him on the run.

What an absolutely incredible experience it was. Rob was a first class guy, great company, and I just asked questions about the run for more or less the whole way into Crieff. This was his 13th day, and he hoped to reach John O'Groats in 18 days. He looked great - the pace for the 6 miles I ran with him was between 8 and a half and 9 minute miles, which was quite incredible considering he has been doing around 50 miles a day for the last 12 days. His support was superbly well organised. Every 10 minutes or so Sue, one of the 2 support people on bikes, would cycle a few yards in front, stop, and hand Rob something to eat or a drink. She would then drop back to her position at the rear. About 2 minutes later she would cycle in front again and collect the plastic drink container. Rob didn't need to ask - it just all happened automatically. It was hugely impressive teamwork. The ultra running world in the UK is a small one, so I wasn't surprised to find out that I had seen Rob before, both at the WHW and at this year's Dumfries Marathon, when he finished 2nd in a PB of 2.53 despite being at a wedding the day before and fully partaking in the celebrations. (Sometimes I wonder if we all take our training too seriously - maybe we are better just doing what we fancy, and not bothering about our eating drinking and so on? Just a thought....)

I ran with Rob into the centre of Crieff - 6 miles for me, which was probably enough given the problems I've been having with my knee - and wished him all the best for the rest of his run. He was heading to Pitlochry today, then on to Aviemore tomorrow. I'll be watching with great interest to see how he gets on, but have absolutely no doubts that he'll make it - his physical strength, willpower and organisation are quite incredible. Rob, good luck - I'll be thinking about you.

Details of Rob's progress can be followed here:
http://www.hinckleyrunningclub.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1