Ultra update

As I haven’t written any race reports this year I thought a brief (it is, it is!) update on the ultra season was due. Also thought I'd get this on the blog before the Land O'Burns race report rather than push it off the 'front' page afterwards.

D33, Aberdeen 11th March

Despite professing to dislike this flat, out and back course Ruth and Jim had entered the race only a couple of weeks before to ‘get some racing miles in’. Jim would be unable to run the Fling and so they had both entered an alternative event, the Cateran Trail, and had decided to take part in this season-opener as well.

Like the route the race was fairly dull and uneventful, all the more so because Alison was prevented from driving along the course performing her usual super-supporter duties due to her worsening cataracts. A useful start to the year though as a race always forces you to push harder than any training run.

Three harriers hanging around in the park, photo credit to Alison

Jim was easily the fastest harrier on the day coming home in 5.14.53, followed by myself in 5.47.17 and Ruth in 6.15.53. I am pleased to report that, for once, the beer given out at the finish was actually a proper beer and not the lager-masquerading-as-beer handed out in recent years, win-win - I might well be tempted back for a seventh consecutive year in 2018.

Keilder Ultra, Saturday 8th April 
This was another substitute for missing the Fling so Ruth, Jim and families made a weekend of it over the border (just!) at the Keilder Ultra. This early in the season they chose the shortest of the distances available, 50k, but are already trying to persuade me to do one of the longer ones next year, the 80k or the 100k.
Some of the quotes from them afterwards were 'incredibly hilly and muddy', 'more of a tough mudder than a footrace', 'dense pine forest', 'boggy moss and peat', 'tough on the legs', 'no path, just markers', 'steep uphills' - I think we get the drift...Sounds like a fabulous training run and some great weather too once the sun broke through the mist and cloud.
Jim's concentration clearly slipped on the run-in to the finish and Ruth took full advantage by coming home as as leading harrier in 6.53.10 with Jim following in 6.53.13

Great Tartan Skidaddle, Callander 15th April

Having run the Loch Katrine marathon in the meantime I rolled up to Callander again for the second Skidaddle ultra. Unlike last year I turned up in good time (no mad dash to register), collected my number and boarded the bus for the start at Inversnaid Pier.

As seems to happens to me every year around this time the ascents are a severe reminder that I haven’t done enough hillwork in preparation for the bigger races to come. My quads cramped quite badly at times but I persevered and eventually finished in 6.03.53, taking three minutes off my time from 2016. What most pleased me was that I was able to manage a (very slow) 11 miles round Chatelherault two days later, a good sign!    

I couldn't resist adding this photo of me and a wee pal, Scooby, during the Loch Katrine marathon. Photo courtesy of Scooby's mum, Lois Simpson.

Looking almost speedy here 

Highland Fling, Milngavie 29th April
This was my fifth consecutive Fling and sadly nowhere near my best. Ever have one of those days where you wish you hadn’t bothered? This was one of those, my quads were tight and stiff from the off, with the hamstrings following suit by the time I left Inversnaid which left me toughing it out for the remaining 20 miles – and when my left hip flexor also started giving me gip I was left taking painkillers like sweeties! Not really, but a couple certainly helped.

Looking back I was pleased that at no point did it cross my mind to drop out, which would probably have been the sensible solution, and consequently managed my longest ‘training’ run of the year so far in 13.27.12. 
Ian Rae however, having felt his foot was improving during the build up, managed to tweak it again just a few weeks prior to the race. Not that I saw much of him that day as he was delighted to come home in 11.44.30, an excellent time in the circumstances and a great boost to his hopes for the big one in June. 

Coming over Conic Hill

Ian finishing on the red carpet at Tyndrum

Cateran Trail, Spittal of Glenshee 13th May
This fabulous low-key race involves a two night stay at Gulabin hostel which provides a great atmosphere for the runners having chatted to many faces, old and new, the night before. The start is at 7am on the other side of the main road and is the beginning of a (very) roughly circular, clockwise route up and down the hills of this part of Perthshire.

The Cateran Trail

A good omen for the harriers at the start. 
This race only allows 140 entrants in total, with much less turning up on the day, so the start is quite daunting to slower runners like me.

Precisely one hundred starters...gulp

 

Daunted, us? Naw

The three of us ran every step of the way together, a novel experience for us all. Jim and I both had bad spells which the other two were able to pull us through. Ruth, it should be noted, ran strongly all day and professed later to having thoroughly enjoyed herself. We were fortunate to have ideal running weather, cool and slighly damp although obviously not so great for supporters or marshalls. Did I mention the hills? When asked later I reckoned it's hillier than the Fling, with most of them not as steep but way, way longer. 
The checkpoints are particularly strong on themes which some marshalls took further than others...

The three Js - Julie, John and Jenni

A noteable highlight came when I, as Jim's watch had long since packed up, announced to the others that we had just completed 53 miles. This was highly significant as they were moving into unknown territory by running further than either of them had run before. Thinking about that I realised that, if I completed the race, the 55 miles would be the fourth longest I had ever done, only beaten by two WHWs and the Great Glen.
As harriers we are all familiar with shouts from the front of the group such as 'car', 'feet', 'stay left', 'mind your head', etc, but on this particular day I heard a new one from Ruth - 'slug!' Owing to the weather the trail was hoaching with big, juicy black ones. I always go out of my way not to step on anything, including slugs, but I've never been warned about them in advance!
The last section from Enochdu, in particular, seemed to go on up into the mist forever although allowance should be made for the 49 miles already in our legs and a four and a half mile climb really shouldn't be allowed at this stage of an event!
Finally topping the bealach we were rewarded with this view of the finish, only one and a half miles away and downhill!    

At last!

We were kept on our toes by the sight of a female runner we had been chatting to earlier on in the day remorselessly closing us down - the significance of the effort we all put in at this point was not to be realised until later. We finished the race as we started, side by side, in a time of 13 hours, 19 minutes and 1 second - sadly no photographs were taken at the line. 

Another noteable event of the day (apart from the male marshall in evening gown) occured in the marquee soon after we finished when Jim stood up too quickly, turned white and sat back down again speedily. The tent was full of newly-trained (only a few weeks before) first aiders, all eager to put their recent training into practice. Jim was soon cocooned in foil blankets and surrounded by folk wearing green bibs but was able to walk back to the hostel unaided - I believe the prospect of a left-over bottle of D33 beer may have had a revitalising effect!

Having showered and eaten we were made aware that the last runner was in and the prizegiving was imminent so we made our way back over to the marquee opposite. The highlight of our weekend came when Ruth was announced as second FV50 and was called to the front to be awarded her finishers' quaich, see below.

 

Her stunned expression was something to behold, telling us she thought at first that there must have been another Ruth Kelly in the field! Proof of her achievement is in the prize list below, a hand-written photographed piece of A4 - another example of the old school nature of this event.

Note the name immediately below Ruth, the 3rd FV50, only two minutes behind! Yes, this was the lady who had been chasing us over the final few miles - had we not dug deep Ruth would only have been third. I think she owes us big-time Jim!


All in all a great weekend away (thanks Alison, Majella and Kevin), one that will bring happy memories to mind many years from now. I'm very glad to say that any other runs between now and the 24th June will be noticeably shorter, the hard work is over until then.  

Stirling Great Scottish Marathon, 21st April 
As usual with me I had to go and run one race too far and this was it. My body had been feeling depleted in the week leading up to it despite me taking things very easily and woke up on Sunday morning with a little niggle in my throat. Hey, I paid £55 to enter this race - I'm damned well going to run it, I thought, and also justified taking part also by the fact that my chest and breathing seemed normal. 
As things turned out I was well under my predicted time of 4:30 - 5:00 and was delighted, not only with my time of 4:16:28, but with the consistency of my running. Four 10k splits with a difference of less than 2:30, and it would have been much less were it not for an extended toilet break during the first and slowest 10k. Overall considerably faster than my two most recent marathons, Loch Katrine and Dublin, and with 108 hilly race miles in my legs from the previous three weeks. As I type this I am sniffing and snuffling and desperately hoping I haven't passed it on to Sandy who seems to be struggling to make the Land O'Burns 10k tonight, hope you make it!       

Still to come...
I'd like to add here that I don't have the words to express how much I am looking forward to being one of four harriers on the start line at 01:00 on the 24th June at the underpass in Milngavie - I know it doesn't happen often but words do fail me. Think I might have a wee greet instead, come the day...I'm just a big softie really.