Despite the
forecasts of snow for the weekend the weather was nigh on perfect for the 29th
running
of the
Lochaber marathon last Sunday. After catching up with ex-harrier Alan Cullie
before the race
I was soon
watching him disappear into the distance as I started cautiously having blown
up badly
over the latter
stages of the D33 ultra four weeks before.
My longest
runs since then had only been a couple of ten milers so headed off in the direction
of
Mallaig with
a conservative target of ten minutes per mile (4.20 pace)
Thankfully
the benefits of the long winter months training were still in my legs as I seemed
to gain
a little time
with every passing mile but still tried to keep my pace under control. I had a
bit of a
wobble around
mile 22 on a gentle but seemingly unending hill which led, surprisingly, to a
strong
last four
miles. I was aware of having something in reserve and managed to finish in fine
style,
overtaking
around a dozen runners within the last mile and practically sprinting the final
500 yards.
As it turned out
my last gasp effort should have been unnecessary as numerous Garmin wearers had
already forcibly
told the organisers that the course was around 26.5 miles in length, around 500
yards too long
– can I therefore claim this as another ultra?
As Russell
can see from the photo above the swing bridge over the Caledonian Canal was in
place
both times I
needed it to be, no diversions over the lock gates for me!
Alan
meanwhile had been spotted running strongly just past the turn but must have
faded badly as
his official
finishing time was 3.28.07, well outside his usual capabilities. Needless to
say he wasn’t
around by the
time I finished, in 4.17.01, as he had to travel back to EK that day. Alison
and I, on the
other hand, headed
back to the Ben Nevis Hotel, for a very relaxing swim and an even more relaxing
session in
the jacuzzi!
I was 323rd
from 415 finishers in times ranging from 2.38 to 6.04
Davie
PS all the
very best to Mary, Scot, Stephen and Graham in the VLM this coming Sunday, I’ll
be
watching out
for you from my sofa!!
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