A monster marathon

Ever since I started running I had a desire to race in the town I grew up in. This weekend provided my date with destiny. The Loch Ness Marathon.

Duracell has done LN before (I think) and yesterday was my chance to take on the 26.2 mile monster. We drove to Inverness from the hotel in Nairn. The car bounced as we chatted nervously about our race plans. There was four of us in the car KKD, the dark knight, barfy crampo and myself. We all had our own hopes and ambitions and were excited at the prospect of what lay ahead.


Traffic was mad so we parked up sort of the start and walked to the buses. No room on the buses - we queued along with a few other hardy but cold souls. Eventually we were told to get on and stand on a bus. As you can imagine, standing on a bus for an hour and a bit is not great prep for the race. To conserve the legs we sat on the floor, on the steps and in the luggage racks. The chaos continued on embarkation. The buses weren't moving and hoardes of runners were milling around getting colder by the second.

Soon we were off. The start was downhill. I was being paced by a good friend called Straycelt - a Scottish wanderer living in Wales. The course was at best undulating and at worst blooming hilly.

We started at 9 minute per mile pace and carried on at that. The sun was shining, Loch Ness was sparkling and running was a joy. We reached the half way point bang on target 1:57 ish. Straycelt knew within a second how far ahead or behind schedule we were at any given point - he was a fantastic pacer. During the second half we started passing other runners who had told us that they were also targeting a sub 4 time - they had blown up by starting too fast and were struggling with energy levels dropping.

We picked up the pace to 8:30 per mile. The strategy was going well. My foot which had been causing such problems had been fixed by Peter the Podiatrist in Dunfermline on the Friday before the race - a genuine miracle worker! There was no pain from my foot.

At 19 miles I flagged briefly - took on my final gel and got moving again. I was going fine - the crowds were building as we reached a sun soaked Inverness. I was on target.

Then like the dementor's in Harry Potter the life was sucked out of me. My legs felt like lead and I was shuffling along finding it hard to lift my feet. My pacer encouraged me every step of the way. I was moving as fast as the slow motion scene from Chariots of Fire! I could hear the music as I shuffled past the Bught Park. The last mile was still slow but as we finally turned the last corner we cranked up the pace and sprinted at a cantor to the finish. 3.56.35 - I'd broken the 4 hour barrier and finished 885 out of the 3000 entrants. Dead chuffed!

The race was done. Straycelt had finished his 27th marathon and told me it was the hilliest he had done - a PB on a monster course. I got quite emotional on the phone to Waverider - funny how the combination of exhaustion and energy depletion brings out your emotions.

Yesterday was fab - I really enjoyed the whole experience. Barfy Crampo finished in 3:50 - a fantastic 1st marathon effort. KKD, the dark knight and U-Kaz rolled in together in an excellent time having really enjoyed the run.

Dinner after was great fun as we shared our race stories. All up heading to home ground and achieving a PB was brilliant but to share the weekend with great people made it all the more special.

Life is good!