Leicester Marathon 10th October 2010

Well this was to be my second marathon of the year.  Normally I only run London, but as I missed out on my good for age time by THIRTY SECONDS this year  - yes THIRTY SECONDS - I had to run another one.

It seemed a good idea at the time.

Leicester was really the only one that fitted in and still had spaces and was flat. Well they SAY flat  - but they fib.

Training had gone OK  - but was hampered by my 'A' race of the latter half of the year - my Coast to Coast.
I'd had some good long runs in, and my Yasso Interval training had gone better than it had for the London Marathon.  The only thing against my training was that it had kind of finished in September for the Coast to Coast as after that I got a heavy cold and my running was curtailed after that.  I'd planned to carry on after the C2C  and get another 20 miler in before tapering down, but that didnt happen.

We turned up on the Saturday afternoon - to a small race riot going on. Shed loads of Police and the Police Helicopter hovering overhead - keeping a watchful eye over everything. Some out of town idiots were protesting against suicide bombers. I dont know anyone in favour of them to be honest - so they were wasting their time.
Good thing was that our hotel wasnt directly in the area where the protests where - so we werent disrupted - but we didnt bother nipping into the centre for tea.

Race morning dawned and the forecast was for warm weather. 20 degrees or so - which wasnt in my plan - I'd thought London was a bit warm in April and that was only 17 degrees. I dont run well in the warm.
(dont run well in the cool either to be honest - but warm isnt my favourite)

Race start was 9.15 and I was up in plenty of time to get there - hotel was about 30 mins walk away - so a nice leg stretcher.  The family were going to come with me, but Sean said he'd a poorly tummy and didnt want to walk so far - so early on in the day. No worries really - unfortunately they cant do the running for me anyway.

Got to the start in Victoria Park - nice setting - dropped my fleece and kit in the luggage and lined up with about 20 mins to go. Not that many people running the marathon - 700 or so, and 2000+ in the half marathon that was going off at the same time.

Plan was to aim for a 3hrs 10 finish and allow for a bit of slippage in the second half. 

Gun went and first mile was slightly downhill - which meant I went off a bit too fast and was 40 secs up at the first mile marker. At least I knew though, so tried to ease it back in the next couple of miles. As a result I was running pretty much to pace by about mile 5 or so as we'd wound our way out of the city centre.
The sign to the Leicester Outdoor Pursuits Centre and with a picture of a mountain on was very intriguing,  especially as it was only a mile or two away from the centre and in a residential area seemingly. I must google it !


From about mile 8 though I knew I wasnt having a good day. Tum didnt feel good - think I may have got a bit of Seans bug. Sadly my plan hadnt allowed for extended toilet stops - so I was off the pace by about half way, and even more off the pace after yet another loo stop. No GFA time from this race, but I had no chance but to continue on. I was probably looking at a 3.35 finish or so. Still respectable but not good enough.

By now the sun was shining and it was getting hot out there. My determination had left me a bit now I knew my race time wasnt on, but I still had to finish.

The last few miles were through a nature reserve and some parks alongside the river - very scenic. It was a nice course - not flat but nothing too hilly.

At mile 23 I was running through the country park and rounded a bend to see a runner going straight down in the grass on a bend. I couldnt really run past him (although if I was on for a pb I'd have had a dilemma). I stopped as did 2 other runners and we checked him out.  We grabbed a marshall (great marshalling all the way round by the way) and she rang for St Johns Ambulance.  Turned out that their rapid response unit wasnt THAT rapid, but the guy wasnt too bad - just not in a fit state to continue - although he tried. We had to hang around for 20 mins or so until the first aid turned up and we could hand him over.

After that - it was a bit hard getting started again. Ow my legs had stiffened up !  But nice mile or so past the UK space centre (who knew we had one ?), then through the new shopping centre, and the last mile was a bit of a git - uphill all the way to the park.

Struggling in the last 200 yards

Final time 4.05 - my slowest yet - but I'll be back next year - its a good marathon.

Leicester Marathon 2010

Liverpool 10k - 3rd October

This was a tester for my forthcoming Marathon next week.  A lot of plans seem to say a 10k the week before is good. Er not that I actually use a plan...  I'd figured 40 mins would be a good target - especially as its very easy to set the timer on the watch for 4 min intervals to go against the km markers.

Training since the Coast to Coast hadnt gone particularly well - I had a few days off, during which I caught a cold - so thought it best to rest up. So since Scotland - I'd done a handful of runs and ridden the bike a bit.
At least I'd be rested.

Come Sunday I opened the curtains to torrential rain. Oh fabulous. And I was still a bit snuffly too. Its taking a while to clear this cold.

Liverpool 10k is basically one and a half laps round Sefton Park over in Liverpool. Its a staple for the local 10ks and half marathons, and I'm sure the forthcoming Marathon will make use of it - if the Council ever sort out a date that is....

The rain didnt stop on the drive over - luckily we had binbags for the waiting round at the start. It could get cold without them, and Jean Paul Gaultier would have been jealous of my creation. The finishing touch was the Pirate Yellow tiecords at the bottom. Matched the Pirate kit perfectly.

This makes it look drier than it felt....

 
The start line was getting muddy from so many peoples feet over it. It was going to be a slow start.
I wasnt as high up the field as I should have been - I was checking out the approach to the finish - always useful to see where you go - when they called everyone to the start.

I was probably about 1/3 of the way down the 1600 strong field as we lined up.

The start was on time despite the weather and we slowly trudged off the field and then after 30 meters or so - onto the perimeter road.  This is where I was really going to open it up, but there was a lot of traffic. Slower people chatting as they went so I had to duck and dive to get through them, and then I decided to take the longer line down the outside of the field, and try to avoid the odd oncoming car, and the traffic cones.

This helped and I did start to make my way up the field, but by the first km marker - I was a few seconds down on my time. Oh well.

The good thing about the rain was that it had washed a lot of the leaves off the roads and into the gutters. Every cloud has a silver lining... And there were plenty of clouds.

The rest of the race was me just making up placings - I dont think anyone passed me and I must have passed loads - just shows how badly I'd placed myself at the start.

The km markers came and went and I was still off the pace - oh well 40 mins was only a rough idea. I cant remember the last time I properly raced a 10k ? Oh Abersoch in the summer, but that was offroady and I did 43 mins I think ? (must have been a short course).

After 8 km of dodging puddles, we were off on the last leg - up through the centre of the park. Slightly uphill - nice. The ducks and the swans seemed to be enjoying themselves in the lake alongside the path.

Last few hundred meters and we were onto the grass - not too muddy to begin with as not many people have run that part ahead of me, but as the Finish gantry was where we started too - that was very muddy.
I was still picking off people all the way and ended with a sprint finish trying to catch the guy ahead - not sure if I did it or not - he kicked strongly - luckily neither of us fell in the mud.


Finish time 41.09 - so fairly pleased. Most people seemed to be about a minute or so slower than they'd wanted - all the mud and the rain made for heavy going. And obviously - without my snuffle - sub 40. ;-)

Home to a hot bath and a nap and then its off to Leicester next week for my attempt at sub 3.15.  I'm not overly hopeful, but you have to have a go.

Must remember to a. Book a hotel and b. Find out what time the race starts and where.

After my precise planning for Scotland - I'm a bit lax on this one..

Useful Links
Run Liverpool - organisers of the 10k


Similar Events 


Pirate Ship of Fools - my 'club'

Ironman Wales - this looks like it could be a good one ?

Week after the Race - Sunday 26th September.

After a very lazy week - somewhere I picked up a stinking cold, and with a Marathon 3 weeks away, I thought it best to rest up and try and shake it off as quickly as possible.

I was easily lured out on the bike though with the thought of Coffee and Cake so did a gentle ride up to Summertrees in Kelsall with my bro in law.

Not only did I forget to take any energy bars with me (no biggie its only 50ish miles), I forgot my water bottles ! Really cant remember doing that in decades of cycling.

Oh and I snapped a spoke on the way back - on flat road.

After the meticulous preparation and no doubt luck of last week - I'm back to being a bumbling idiot. Still, the coffee cake was fantastic.  No photos of it this week - I ate it too quickly.

Will try running this week.

Nokia Scotland Coast to Coast Adventure Race - 2010

About the Race You start on the East Coast of Scotland - Nairn.  You finish on the West Coast of Scotland - Glencoe. Stages. 7m trail run 48m road cycle Mini Kayak and Run. (for 2 dayers - this is the midpoint and you stop overnight in Fort Augustus) 33m off road and road cycle - split about 50/50 14m trek/run - 12m of which are off road 1m Kayak Run through finish line. There are 3 class options. 1. Challenger - 2 day race - starts at 7am each morning and you have 2 days to do the full 105m route. 2. Expert - starts at 6am Sunday and you have 14 hours to do the route, but you do less road bike and a longer kayak down loch ness. You can use 2 bikes, your own kayak but you need a support crew to follow you round and help you swap over. 3. Racer - starts at 7am Sunday and you have 13 hours to finish. No bike changes allowed. This is the option I went for.    About my preparations Firstly - Scotland is a big place. Somehow my O level geography didn’t emphasise this enough. We spent most of our time looking at Oxbow lakes round Ludlow for some reason. I think that was the only OS map the school could afford.  Knowing about oxbow lakes has not helped me at all in my life. Knowing that Scotland is massive would have done. Its a pretty long way across country, but its a loooong way just to get to the Start !  My wife wasnt impressed when I gave her the fine details...... Secondly  - if a country starts to invent its own words for weather - theres a very good reason for it. Scotlands weather word is 'dreich'..... So - after steadily building up all of  the necessary kit over the last 6 months since I entered, I'd been getting more and more excited. More excited than I was about my Ironman Triathlon this year, but mainly because it was a completely new adventure, the first race across Scotland and I really didn’t know what to expect.  Trail shoes, new rucsac, new 'cross bike  all were bought and tested.   I got used to running  21 miles after work with a loaded pack - over hilly routes - that was tough.  I rode the local trails on the cross bike - nothing too technical as I didn’t want to crash and was pretty sure (or hoped) that the trails in Scotland would be gentle. I even rode my bike with my rucsac on to check nothing got in the way. The bike was superb and I did a 120 mile sportif on it (with road tyres) just to see if it was comfy enough.  I bought a new front mounting feed bottle for my rucsac after it became apparent that my arms arent double jointed and struggle to get the bottles in and out of the side pockets.   I'd already bought a kayak identical to the ones we were to use in the race and had paddled that quite happily with a small child in the front whose main aim of the day was to paddle as little as possible, splash his Dad loads and sing Take That medleys. I figured if I could cope with that - I could cope with any paddling partner across the lochs.  Sean relaxing when he's meant to be paddling With the help of some Facebook friends I'd seen pics of their travels across some of the last trekking stage - that looked tough and not great terrain for me and my crumby ankle - but if I was careful I should get through. I'd identified a problem with my IM feeding strategy - after so many long bike rides chomping energy bars, by the time race day came around I was well and truly sick of them, so my plan was to fill my bento box with flapjack bites and alternately scoff them, energy bars, and energy gel in my bike bottles.  As a fall back I had jelly beans, snickers and a can of redbull for extra sustenance. I'd set my watch timer to beep every 20 mins so I'd take on something 3 times an hour. I couldn’t run out of energy then… I'd have to find something else to blame for my poor performance. My preparation had been pretty thorough for me I'd thought. I'd even written a pace band out with the key events on and the times I thought I'd do and the times of the 3 cut offs along the route - so I couldn’t lose track.  I'd printed out all 3 hotel reservations and route mapped the directions to and from everywhere - just in case the GPS broke or got stolen, or GPS didnt work in Scotland. And all of this was chronologically filed in a perspex folder. Damn I'm good.  Friday before the race I'd packed my stuff the night before and we were setting off to Scotland after my wife finished work. We got as far as Perth before we stopped for the night - 5 hours driving seemed about right, leaving us with just 2 and a half hours the next day.  Hotel nice. Bed comfy. TV worked. Nice breakfast to fill up on.  It was going well. Just SOME of my kit. Bike and Track pump not pictured Saturday Glorious sunshine - off we set. Perth isnt very Scottish. No deer roaming. Dual carriageways out of town were good and we made nice progress until the road turned into a windy B road over the moors. And the rain had started. So glad we had daylight to get through this part. A local told me that was best too - theres a decent chance you'll adorn your car with antlers otherwise… Arrived in Nairn by lunchtime - it’s a seaside resort and the season was winding down. Plenty of hotels though and we had found a room in one that was literally around the corner from the Race HQ at the community centre.  After a Laurel and Hardy moment were we couldn’t get into the hotel - somehow they hadnt unlocked the front door and it took 2 staff to work this out - we were in and checked in. We dropped our bags and then nervously set off for the race registration. Sneakily eyeing up people who looked like racers. This seemed to be most of the town.  I put on a brave face and registered for the 'Racer' Category, hoping there were other people less fit than me who had accidentally entered the wrong class or hopelessly over rated their fitness. I'd like to not be last to finish ideally. As I was registering - a bloke seemed to be complaining about the last leg. He had been told that the experts would be running it in 3 hours, so what hope was there for the rest of us.  I tried to ignore him as clearly a loon. Its only 14 miles and my schedule clearly allowed 3.5 hours for it. Simples. I ciuld run it TWICE in 3 and a half hours. (assuming it was flat, with a tailwind, and I could rest overnight) Looked round the RatRace shop, bought a less heavy emergency jacket than I'd brought with me, bought more gel shot energy things, and 2 souvenir bandanas. A fool and his money are easily parted. I was tempted by the winter jackets - but hey - it would be nice weather tomorrow. That was part of my plan. Then we looked round Nairn for food, inadvertently stole a 4 pack of snickers, went back to hotel and I got out my rucsac again to triple check what I’d brought.  There was a list of emergency items that we all had to take with us all the way round. First Aid Kit Full waterproofs for legs Waterproof for body Warm hat Warm gloves Extra Thermal layer Whistle Food Water Bivvy Bag or Tin Foil Emergency blanket. I tried to lighten the load by taking the leggings out of their bag, taking a few less plasters and throwing a bandage away. There. Much better. I also put my headtorch in. Just in case.  Sums it up nicely !   After that - we were off to rack the bikes at a muddy Cawdor Castle. Shakespeare had told us that Macbeth lived there.  I had to pump the tyres and build the bike here - so we were faffing around a bit. And I'd forgotten the midgie spray dammit.  That helped hurry things along anyway.  Racking was very informal - little security - and I just tied my helmet and bike shoes in a plastic bag round the top tube. At least they'd not get wet if it rained. Eww wet shoes… And anyway - if my bike got nicked overnight - I'd be able to spend the rest of the day looking round the shops or something.  Racked and ready to race Back to the hotel, had something to eat, layed out my race kit and tried to relax and sleep. Must have got about 4 hours sleep - so that’s a result.  Sunday Up about 5.30. It was a 15 min walk to the start at the beach so no need to be too early.  Got into my kit, drank my Iso drink and tried to eat. Failed really. I don’t have appetite at 6am. There were a lot of people at the start - I think about 160 racers plus supporters.  My pirate cycling top got a few 'Go Pirates' from people - so that was a nice feeling.  The beach was fantastic golden sand and the sun rising was making gorgeous red streaks across the sky.  Not photoshopped ! Whats that saying ? Red Sky at night  - Shepherds Delight. Red Sky in the morning  ? Oh. Shepherds warning.  Bum. I dipped my shoes in the sea - it seemed to be the thing to do when you do Coast to Coast. Race briefing was friendly and low key. Don’t litter. Don’t leave people lying injured. Have fun and smile.  And we were off just 40 mins behind the experts as they had a late start. A murmur went round - hmm - maybe we can catch them….. Yeah, right..... Barely awake at this ungodly hour 7m Run Gun went and we're off. I started my timer for the 20 min feeds and then realised I needed to reset the stopwatch to time my race and had to step off the track to get that sorted out. It was quite dark and I couldn’t see the little words on the watch. That’s my excuse. For a race that’s going West, we set off due East. This should have been a hint of the things to come…. I notice a couple of girls with no pacs, not even a bum bag and no jackets. I think they're playing clever and have left their packs at the bike so they have an easier run. So much for the compulsory kit at all times eh ? Nice steady pace at the start, down to the beach and along the coast path and round the harbour there. No point in hurrying too much so happy to go along at the pace of the bloke in front, unless there was a person sized gap in front of him, then I went round.  Nice flat terrain on the concrete and paths. Then we turned inland and followed the course of the river.  This was off road and muddy, narrow singletrack, off camber with roots and stones. Sometimes we were right next to the river, and other times right next to a barbed wire fence. I didn’t have time to see any sights - I spent the entire 7 miles watching my footing. Really didn’t want a DNF due to twisting something on the first stage.  My watch had beeped twice at me so I knew it was 40 mins in, and figured we should be out of it in an hour or so.  My own race schedule allowed 90 mins for the run and transition to the bike anyway.    Coming into Cawdor Castle My timings were pretty decent as it turned out. Before an hour passed we were onto the road at Cawdor and running up to where we'd left the bikes.   I was happy with this, and didn’t rush my transition. Packed the run shoes in my backpack, put helmet and bike shoes on, had slurp of drink and off we went. Thank god for the cross tyres - I could ride out of the muddy field.  People were carrying their bikes here - I wondered how they'd cope with offroad if a muddy field was a problem.   48m Road Bike I set off at a decent pace taking on my energy gel laced water as soon as I'd left. There was no chance for me to eat or drink on the run so far. The rain had started now after a dry start, but it wasn’t to bad - just drizzle. I'd got my bike top on and arm warmers and mitts - I was fine with that. Just needed to ride fast to get warm. Cyclocross bike was definitely the best option. I passed everyone in sight, and nobody came past me. Maybe I'd gone out too hard, but I was enjoying it anyway.  Drafting wasn’t allowed - but then you were allowed teams of two anyway - so they could draft each other ?  I passed them all anyway. Riders eye view of the race The rain got worse as the ride went on. Very quiet roads though - hardly any traffic around and it was well signed. I kept the pace up and kept eating - breaking into my flapjack store, and hydration wasn’t a problem in the cool and wet conditions. The road carried on rising over the course of the morning - at one point visibility was down to  200 meters. I think that was the highest point of 1000 feet or so.   Not exactly the weather I'd planned. Then we had the descent on the way toward Fort Augustus, we saw Loch Ness briefly - that looked dark and deep but then our route seemed to turn away from it a bit and we lost sight of the massive body of water - and found other rivers and streams instead.  It was around this point that Adrian - a Scottish Pirate drove past beeping  - he kept leaping out of his car in laybys and cheering me on and then leapfrogging to stop again further on. Very kind of him to come and support in the crappy weather - it did cheer me up and typically - he first found me on a nasty climb - so I would have been crawling up like a snail… Cheers Adrian ! Note my blue croc trying to escape Anyway - nice twisty descent down to Augustus and into transition. Racked the bike and asked some racers who were just having a feed about their kayaks - apparently it wasn’t a long run and theyd done it in their bike shoes, so I did the same and clomped thru the town to where the kayaks where - right at the bottom of loch ness.  I grabbed a lifejacket and a paddle and bundled into a double kayak with the bloke in front of me. I went at the back so I could steer.  Kayak was very short - probably 200m or so across the bay to go round a nokia inflatable and back again.  I had a masterplan of taking my crocs with me so I wouldn’t get wet shoes. But that was a stupidplan as my feet were soaked anyway - so didn’t have anything to lose by walking though the loch.  Little jog back to the bike and I was half way done. The leading time for yesterday had been reported as 4 hours. I was on about 4.25 back at the bike so about an hour up on my schedule now, and feeling fine at the half way point.  Scoffed some more and off again. 33m Offroad/Road Bike The last long descents on the road bike had made me a bit chilly now, and I'd decided to put my thin rain jacket on and my leg warmers. Anything would be good to keep the chill off, so I clothed up. There was no sign of the drizzle stopping. Set off from transition and straight away there was a problem. The bridge was down and traffic building on the road. I sneaked down the side of the cars and then a marshall shouted that I could carry the bike over a footbridge over the canal a bit up the hill. So I did that - pedalled up the road and leapt off the bike. Tourists let me whizz through over the bridge very politely cos they could see I was in a bit of a hurry. We were heading up the canal path alongside Neptunes Locks (I think) it’s a flight of about 8 or so of them that takes the boats higher up the hill pretty quickly.  It looks pretty anyway. Tried to get a picture but got the railings instead. Thought about going back but then realised I could nick a photo off google easier. Road was smooth here and then we hit the canal path. I seemed to be on my own here -  nobody ahead of me and nobody behind. I was a bit concerned about having gone off course until I saw an arrow half a mile down the course.  The path was basically dirt and gravel and very wet. I was soon covered in thick brown spray, and the bikes transmission started to grate. Lots and lots of grit around, and all the puddles around seemed to be very muddy anyway so no point in riding through them to clean the gears. This was shiny before ! Pace was very good anyway and I was in full Cancellara mode flying along and determined to win the Scottish version of Paris Roubaix…. Then the smooth mudpath ended and flung us across a crazy paving of really broken up rocks.  I came upon it too fast - it looked too dodgy to ride with the big gaps in between, but luckily my speed just got me across safely.  Then I get confused over what happened where exactly. I think we did a bit of road section that took us up to an offroad singletrack path through the forest.  By this time all 600 challenger racers had gone through the woods, and a fair few racers too, so the path was pretty churned up. The short but steep upramps were slick with mud and I couldn’t get grip to ride them, so hop off and push. Then the downhill bits were torn up by the tyres and you'd end up riding a muddy rut. Some of the downhills were trickier than I'd expected and I hit them faster than I'd wanted to - I was basically just hanging onto the bike and hoping it wouldn’t crash me too hard. There were some really nasty dips in the track - you could see bottles scattered all around them were they'd been shaken off the bike, or the riders had crashed - again  the bike pulled me through there somehow. I just tried to edge it away from the worst of the rocks. A broken wheel would be the end of the game. I had three innertubes with me too, but had deliberately gone for some really thickly protected tyres. A slower ride on the road, but you'd lose minutes with a puncture - so it all evens out.  There were a few true off road sections, linked by forest trails. All in all I'd say about 30 mins of muddy singletrack.  I passed a couple of people riding their roadbikes here. They'd had the advantage on the road stage, but slick tyres werent helping so much in the mud. I was impressed that they'd managed so well so far though. The last part of the singletrack threw us down a steep slope and out onto the road. Apparently too steep for some - I'd heard of a few people stacking it there and bikes and people being broken.  Climbing and Cameraing After a bit more descending on roads going past warning signs for the race with 'Caution - Steep Descent with Loose Gravel'  (steep roads I can cope with, but I back off if theres loose gravel around !) we hit the Highland Way.  This was an undulating fire road through the woods. Then on a climb I caught one of the expert racers.  He was pals with the organisers and knew the bike leg well. We chatted as we rode along and he told me what to expect for the rest of the bike leg and then for the off road bit.  His idea of 'not far to go' varied a bit from mine though and I let him go on the last road section into Fort William as my timer went off and I rummaged for food.  About 15 mins later we are on the road proper and there are road signs to Fort William = 3 miles. Hurrrah !  Not far now.  I pass a bloke running with his bike - he's snapped his chain. Dunno why he's struggling in bike shoes though - surely he's got his running shoes in his backpack anyway ?  Fort William looks er, a bit more industrial than I'd imagined. Maybe cos the transition is in the industrial estate. Right in the Fort William FC ground. They were playing as I racked the bike.  Not sure who was winning. Footy is a silly game. Scenic ! It wasn’t quite Ironman razzamatazz here. More like 20 anoraked supporters cheering and a marshal or two. I took off my mud caked bike shoes and helmet and put them in the plastic bag I had my running shoes in, and tied the bag to the top tube of the bike again. I thought it safest rather than try and leave them clipped into the pedals.  I didn’t see any water that they said was there so toddled off to the toilets there for a wee and fill the running bottle I had with me. I'd already primed it with about 5 energy gel sachets decanted into it and figured a half bottle of fluid would be enough for the last leg. I washed most of the mud off my face in the loos and I drained my bike bottles and scoffed the last piece of flapjack in transition. Couldn’t have planned it any better. Looking at my elapsed time - I was still about an hour up on plan. The offroad bike had taken just about as long as I thought it would. So ahead of plan was good. I'd allowed an hour for the kayak at the end and was pretty sure that would be a lot less than that anyway. An hour of kayaking is a long time ! 14m Run/Trek Leaving the footy players to their game in what must be the most picturesque ground in the UK - with Ben Nevis looming over it - I set off on the run. First mile or so was out onto the road and up to Glen Nevis - the path starts off here and it was steep so the running stopped and the marching began. It’s the footpath up to Ben Nevis apparently, so it was quite busy with walkers coming down, most of whom seemed to be running out of cheer. I tried to say hello to most, but they were mainly mardy, so I stopped with the jaunty greetings. My knees werent that keen on all of the steps up the hill, but it wasn’t too bad and after 30 mins or so there was a direction arrow down the path to the right, with a marshal there to make sure none of us tried to make it harder by heading up to summit Ben Nevis en route. I was relieved by this but this didn’t last for long. The path down from there was big smooth stones on many hundreds of steps. My trail shoes decided they didn’t like this at all, and I fell on my bum 3 times - just no grip at all.  Its a slippery slope down Ben Nevis... Mountain goat runners came hurtling past me - no idea how, but then I was passing people even slower than me, so I wasn’t the worst at it.  It was with some relief that I got down to the bottom of the steps with no broken bones and onto a mud path that at least gave me more grip. Then it was across a nice wooden bridge and over to the other side of the valley.  We'd done the Ben Nevis path for no good reason - it wasn’t even in the right direction !  Evil race organisers ! At least the view up to the mountain was better over here.  Ben Nevis, or a close relation anyway. The route was now along a road and past a few cafes that looked quite tempting. I wanted to nip in for a coffee but knew I'd be kicking myself if I missed a cut off for the sake of a hot drink, and also I may not be able to get going again after a rest, so I pressed on. Then the route turned off the road and  up onto forest tracks. I could see a few people ahead of me here, and a few people behind me. I ran when the path wasn’t too steep or downhill and marched when it was uphill or dodgy terrain. Which seemed to be a lot. Still eating all of the time.  I started to pass some of the Challenger racers. Including a bloke wearing his bike helmet for the walk. He was probably having a bad hair day. If they'd taken all day to just do the bike leg and some of the run - I didn’t think they would make cut off. And they fell behind me quickly. The path climbed steadily into the mist with forest all around and waterfalls coming down through the trees. Very Scenic anyway - but the views were limited by the clouds.  After we reached a summit, the path descended again and then turned into a singletrack path that looked like a mountain bike one. The good thing was that the ground was very spongy so almost like running on a treadmill here. If your treadmill can do a 10% downward gradient with stones on anyway. It was about this point that I realised the insoles in my trail shoes were slipping badly. They would ruck up underneath my toes on the downhills and flatten out after a bit on the flat. I hoped they wouldn’t give me blisters with half the run left or so. I decided not to think about it.  After this the terrain got more rocky. Stones everywhere and a narrow trail. Plenty of people to pass though, and eventually it brought you out onto an exposed path across the moorland. About 6 foot wide, but paved with rubble really. The rain had now flooded a fair bit of the path, so impossible to keep your feet dry as you had to ford the streams going across the path.  A lot more of the challengers were now marching on this so I'd caught up quite a few already.  Every 5 minutes I'd be looking at my watch and then my wristband to make sure I was on target. My 3.5 hours seemed wildly optimistic for this leg, and I calculated with other guys that it would be more like a 4 and a half hour last leg.  This should mean I'd make the last cut off for the kayaking - they wouldn’t allow anyone on the water after 7.30 as it would be going dark by then.  So keep the pace up. No slacking.  Dear Council, my pavement is crap... After the endless trek across the moors I met the first marshall I'd seen since Ben Nevis." How long to the finish I asked ?" He held up three fingers. "Three miles ?! Fantastic". Another hour and it would be boxed off.  And then he pointed across a peat bog "Its that way" I had to check myself here - really ? Across that ? Within a minute of setting off I'd lost the path that really was just the muddy footprints of the previous competitors, but a quick check up ahead and a little trail of brightly coloured rainwear told me that I was on the right path. Just making headway through the peat and the tussocks and the floods was hard enough here. I was still overtaking people though in my determination to make cut off. At one point my foot sank into a bog up to my calf. It'd be a bugger to lose a shoe here so I carefully extricated myself. And then we came to a river crossing. To be fair it was probably a stream when the organiser tested the event, but it was bigger now with all the rain. Nothing for it but to wade across. At least my muddy shoe was clean at the end of it.  I could have used my crocs here... The terrain changed a bit here - we were out of the peat bog and the rocky path upwards was heading over the shoulder of the mountain. Up to 1500 feet I remember from the race info.  So it was climbing all the way. Just checking now and then to see if I could see people ahead of me and was I getting nearer them. The path was also a stream now - the water had decided that was the easiest way down the hill so we splashed step after step higher and higher up the hill.  This would make a kick ass log flume. Off to our right now, across the valley and the river you could see the trailpath we'd come along until we turned off it. Still plenty of people seemed to be making their way along it. A long day out for them. Just as you thought you'd got to the top you would turn a corner only to see it go up a bit further. After a few false summits I was there though. And a photographer appeared out of the mist. Clad top to toe in waterproofs. And cheery with it - the mad fool. I told him it would be easier just to photo us at the bottom of the hill and then photoshop the mist in. Scotlands Next Top Model auditions.. At least it was all downhill now, so could it be any easier to finish ?  Turns out that yes, it could be a lot easier. The path was now a sea of mud with something like 1200 feet and 12 hours of rain helping it along nicely.  I slipped and slid down here for the next 20 minutes or so, falling about a dozen times, and almost falling lots more. Everyone seemed to be in much the same boat here so we amused each other as we slid down the hill, at times on all fours to get through the worst of it.  Then I decided that trampling through the heather gave me more purchase. Sorry Scotland, but you do have lots of other heather than the bits I wrecked.  My companion in this farce was a Spin Instructor from Edinburgh who now lives in London. We compared notes on spin and marked each other for artistic merit of our muddy triple salkos and double axels. At one point my legs must have been a good five feet apart.  I would have taken pics here - but I needed all my concentration.  I'd make a crap war photographer.  "What do you mean I didnt take any photos - it was like a war zone out there  - I was keeping my head down !" As we came down the hill we got to see the loch. We couldn’t really see much of it with the mists and also if you looked at the loch you'd fall over in a heap and I didn’t want that on the last stretch, so the scenic bit would have to wait until the ground was firmer flatter and grippier. Which it soon was. We slid off the mud and onto a small road at the lochside. In the distance was a marquee and a steady trail of yellow kayaks heading across the bay,  like a very small scale evacuation from Dunkirk.  The Glencoe Beachhead I found my legs again and ran to the kayak departure bit. It was now about 11 hours 30 on the clock - so doing well.  We had to partner up again here and whilst my partner needed water (Water ? Now ? Here ? We're finished in a little bit!)  I was getting my lifejacket on and finding one for him and thrusting paddles at him too. There was no need for this haste as they'd stopped our timers as we arrived at the tent and started again as we got in a kayak, but I was VERY keen to get the bugger over with.  Again I went in the back and so loaded him in the front and waded us out to the sea-loch. So I'd now gotten my shoes wet in both seas. Job well done there. As we set off on the last leg across a millpond flat loch I was really enjoying this bit. We got to sit down and it was pretty, even if it was a bit murky. My mates legs cramped up pretty soon and he had to straighten them out and row in a horizontal style.  Not very efficient, so I had to paddle a bit harder, but no worries - we were almost there. We took a good line across the loch and laughed at the kayak that seemed to be veering out to sea. At least I could steer mine.  It was probably about 20 mins worth of paddling to do the mile or so. We rounded the islands and then we got our first sight of the Isles of Glencoe hotel and the finishing line.  Put your feet up mate - make yourself at home ;-) We put a spurt on for a good finish and my wife managed to recognise us from the finishing line - must have been my yellow pirate bandana !  Onto the rocks there - ditch the jacket and paddle and unfurl the pirate flag from the rucsac, clamber up the bank and the finish was all of 20 meters away.   I strolled the last part wrapped in the sodden flag and met up with my wife.  THANK GOD FOR THAT !! It was over. The hardest race I'd done, not just physically but mentally. Concentrating on footfalls for so much of the event, and technical riding and largely not knowing where I was.  Glad I'd done it and very glad I'd trained so well for it.Quite often the training is the best part of the event, but none of the training lived up to the weekends fun. Finishing time. 12.03.54 51st out of about 160.  As far as I know - theres still half the field out there gone feral on the Scottish Moors, living off energy gels and worshipping the great adventure god Nokia.  Oh the weather word of the weekend - Dreich - it means bleak, miserable, dismal, cheerless, dreary. That certainly describes the conditions we had for most of the day, but the competitors and marshals and supporters were anything but that.    I think that’s enough rambling for now. Approximately 105 miles or so.  If you are interested in the race - here are some sites that could help : Nokia Coast to Coast Race Runners World Adventure Race Forum Probably the most useful link If you're interested in other multi sport events - especially the Ironman long distance triathlon - check out these sites : Ironman Nick Rose Blog My Triathlon 'club'  Reply Reply to all Forward

New window Print all