Anglo Celtic Plate 2012: A sunbathers' perspective

As per my previous posting, I bowed out of participating in the Anglo Celtic Plate 100K...which turned our to wisest decision I've ever made.  The weather forecast predicted a warm day for the race, but the forecast fell short by quite a few degrees.  I would have been burst. 

Plus, I could put my non-participation to good use by providing long overdue support for Sonic.  He had worked really hard - following months of injury - to secure a place on the Scotland team.  I've said it before, but Sonic is really slick on support, so his long-term injury came in quite handy for me last year ;-)  Actually, he only thought he was injured.  I just gave him a swift kick to the achilles every night, to keep him on back up :-) Kidding, obviously.  Anyway, he'd set the support standard and after last month's epic adventure he'd already raised the bar.

We flew down to Cardiff on Thursday, along with the Crazy Germans, the Gibbering Midget and Matt Williamson (the runner, not the designer).  We booked a seven-seater - dubbed the happy bus - for the weekend.  It was just that, seven seats.  No luggage space.  For runners who make Coleen Rooney look like a light packer  - The CG even had a whisk for heavens sake - this was the catalyst of the comical weekend.  Unsquashed running legs and drivering visibility are overrated anyway.

Click here for Scotland team information from Scottish Athletics

Friday evening was spent doing the Tesco dash and on Saturday morning we went down to have a look at the course.  The boys went for a run and the girls opted for the happy bus tour.  I wasn't long before the boys passed us though, as we were stuck behind a herd of cows sh*tting all over the road - with the GM dry boaking in the passenger seat. 

After depositing the divas back at the hotel, Mrs Crazy German and I went out for a leisurely 18-miler.  We did an out and back on a lovely coastal path and then a random out and back on the circuit of the race course. It was most enjoyable, although we did feel guilty moaning about the heat...considering the pending drama.  I did get to try out my new UltrAspire TWITCH Bottle Waist Pack - awesome! - but I'll save that for another post.

On return to the hotel we discovered that the maid had tidied the Crazy Germans' room and had cleared out all the empty water bottles he had packed and carried from home. So Mrs Crazy German and I went on another Tesco dash to purchase bottles that met CGs very specific requirements. 

Race morning arrived - along with blue skies and blinding sunshine.  After we set up the Scotland camp, the runners were called to the start...and so it began.  32 laps of a two mile country road loop.

There were a total of 33 starters, including 23 internationals - with teams from England, Scotland, Wales and one from Ireland.

The first few laps were pretty easy, so we checked supplies and sorted buckets and sponges (which was the best idea ever!) and chatted with other teams.  We ended up adopting the Irish team, which consisted of one sole runner, Keith Whyte and one super-support, John Collins.

Although the forecast was for 21 degrees, I think it was closer to 26/27 in the sun - and there was no shelter/shade.  By mid-morning I expected the feed stations  to look like scene from Dawn of the Dead, but the runners really held it together.  There were, obviously, a lot of issues from overheating, salt loss and cramping, but there wasn't a single tantrum.  Although I have learnt that the CG can only speak German in races, so maybe there were a few cross words.  For a while, Irish John actually thought they were speaking Gaelic!

From the outset, there was a battle between between Keith Whyte (Ireland) and Allen Smalls (England), which lasted the duration. In the gals race, Emily Gelder, winner of the last two ACP events started like meant business and by half-way had a clear lead and was on target for 7.5 hours.  Second and third position was anyone's for the taking.

The Crazy German led team Scotland from the start, followed by Sonic, Matt and Gareth. And that was the order for the entire race.  There was a bit more leap-frogging in the girls team. 

The Gibbering Midget was struggling to get into it from the first few laps.  She tried to quit on three occasions, but we managed to patch her up and send her out again, before she finally called time at 40 miles.  More deflated, than broken.  My sparkling motivation chat had run it's course, without even so much as a spat from the GM.  Although she did call me "Deborah" more times than I've even been called my Sunday name in my life.   I guess that's when I knew her word was final.

Click here for race pictures

Later it became apparent that Izzy Knox - with boyfriend Stevie on support -  was going to be first Scottish gal.  The Izzy and Stevie show was worth the visit to Wales alone!  There's certainly no messing about with Stevie.  A policeman by day, he'd set up his support station like a F1 pit stop and was barking orders/demands - Move in to me. Hat off. Drink this. Eat that. Slow down.  - as Izzy approached. Izzy followed these orders quite willingly, although with a fair amount of back-chat. It was fantastic viewing.  Kind of like the ultra-running equivalent of Super Nanny tricks for taming wild children.  I felt a bit of an amateur in comparison, with my camera and £2 Tesco folding crate of supplies.

Although each of the nine runners had their designated support, it was pretty much all hands of deck.  Every time a runner came through there was a swarm of attendants trying in vain to ease the discomfort and cool their frazzled heads.  Water was becoming sparse - and disgustingly warm - and we were just grabbing what we could.  Bottles were cooling in buckets alongside sponges that had be used to wash down half the field! At the time, we adopted was what-they-don't-know-won't-hurt-them approach.  Dishing out supplies, hugs and high fives and wiping away sweat, tears and snotters, I probably had more DNA on me than an ten dollar whore!  It's not a sport for the precious. 

Adrian Stott was the Scotland Team Manager and he just oozes experience as he jots down lap times and stats and analyses splits, pace and positions. I don't really do numbers, so even counting laps was taxing my brain. Adrian has even advanced his technological skills and was updating the virtual crowds on Twitter. Although his tweet to the masses stating that Sharon was "looking hot" evoked a few sniggers.

All our runners looked fantastic and they all dealt with the race in their own way.  Both Sonic and Matt were very relaxed and barely said a word. The CG flew past shouting in German (wearing a Scotland vest), Izzy was a bit more vocal and came out with some really random (but hilarious) stuff.  I forgot to ask her why she wanted to know how far away Essex was anyway.  Gail was always very smiley, Sandra is a wee tough cookie and lost so much salt her black tights became white.  I'm not sure she will forgive for putting a wet hotel flannel on her head and sending her out again..



...and Gail's glory lap

Gareth, celebrating Sonic's glory lap

Gareth has had a fantastic year since he shook up the sharp end at the D33 in March. Well, he took out Grant Jeans.  He's been a littel demon, but you can only get away with so much and he started to flag as the race went on.  Fair play to him, because he really knuckled down to just grinding it out.  His hamstring was playing up and he starting stopping for a  bit longer every time he came round.  At one point he sat and drank a full cup of coffee, lapping up the rays for the what seemed like an hour.   I honestly thought he was done, but we all did a double take when he put down his empty mug and casually got up and started running again.  He did a couple of laps with Sonic - including the glory lap - and then did a few laps with Gail - including her glory lap - and then just jogged around and finished his own race.  Considerably slower than expected, but what a trooper.  He genuinely just looked happy to be there.  Although we kept sponging him down to cool him...until he told Sonic on his final lap "you run it first and keep them away from me with those bloody sponges"  Apparently he loves the heat and we were ruining the experience for him.  He was just too nice to say! 

Huge congratulations (and respect!) to 26 runners who completed, let alone achieved a little bit of greatness. Especially to those in the open race. Why anyone would "volunteer" for that is beyond me.   The conditions were really tough - especially for my fair-skinned Celtic compatriots who were frying.  Some of the English team seemed to be getting more bronzed with every lap.  Except for Marcus Scotney who is really a Scot in an English vest :-) Keith Whyte should have one a special award just for his sunburn.  The arm sleeves he wore - to keep him cool - throughout the race left their mark.  He was burned in a reverse t-shirt style. Only an Irish man could go home with an inside out tan :-)

Very well done to Sonic on both his Scotland team and 100K debut.  7:51 is a fantastic time.  Not quite sure it's worthy of the 3D TV he treated himself to though... 

Mick McGeoch wrote a fantastic race report, which can be viewed HERE. Scroll to the bottom of the page.

Keith Whyte - UltraRunning Ireland; Ireland 7:16:42

Allen Smalls - Colchester; England 7:25.04

Craig Holgate - Ely Runners; England 7:26.12

Thomas Loehndorf - Greenock Glenpark; Scotland 7:28.32

Marcus Scotney - Road Runners Club; England 7:40.27

Marco Consani - Garscube; Scotland 7:51.28

Matthew Williamson - Bellahouston; Scotland 7:55.54

Emily Gelder - Dulwich Runners; Wales 8:05.07

Paul Fernandez - Abingdon Amblers; England 8:15.19

Isobel Wykes - Truro RC; England 8:45.09

Jason Scanlon - Pontypridd; Wales 8:50.22

Jen Salter  - Les Croupiers; Wales 8:56:05

Isobel Knox  -Hunters Bog Trotters; Scotland 9:13:12

Sean McCormack - Abergele; Wales 9:18:19

Gail Murdoch - Carnegie; Scotland 9:25:57

Scottish 100K champs. R-L, CG 1st Sonic 2nd and Matt 3rd

Karen Hathaway - Road Runners; England 9:33:13

Ian Coldicott - Skipton AC 9:39:20

Gareth Mayze - Tenotdale; Scotland 9:39:34

Helen James - Barrow Runners 9:47:46

Sandra Bowers  -Winchester; Scotland 9:48:58

Jeremy Mower - Gloucester ; Wales 10:09:06

Karen Galpin - Almost Athletes; England 10:16:35

Heather Foundling-Hawker  - Road Runners; England 10:51:29

David King  -South West Vets 11:00:08

Francois-Xavier Faure - France 11:31:20

Stuart Wilkie - Hogweed Trotters 11:40:48

Male International Teams
England Smalls 7:25:04; Holgate 7:26:12; Scotney 7:40:27 22:31:43
Scotland Loehndorf 7:28:32; Consani 7:51:28; Williamson 7:55:54 23:15:54
Wales Scanlon 8:50:22; McCormack 9:18:19; Mower 10:09:06 28:17:47

Ladies International Teams
Wales Gelder 8:05:07; Salter 8:56:05 17:01:12
England Wykes 8:45:09; Hathaway 9:33:13 18:18:22
Scotland Knox 9:13:12; Murdoch 9:25:57 18:39:09

Race Stats: 33 starters, 26 finishers

More from the-gal-who-fell-in-the-canal

I think that's what I will be known as forever more now.  Hey ho, it could be worse.  It did have a happy ending and it did fast track my selection for a little race I was so hoping to do this September...which hasn't been announced and I've not been given the go-ahead to blog about, so I won't :-)

Selection for said (not very) cryptic race has been my main focus since I got over the never-again factor from my first and last similarly timed race last September.   Hence my new found love of long and flat training runs and races in 2012. Although since my notification - and due to the fact that I've banked enough boring miles -  I've rekindled my relationship with my beloved Inov-8s and some bumpy trails. Ah hills...how I have missed them.

I turned down the chance to run on the Scotland team at this weekend's Anglo Celtic Plate, as I'm not comfortable with the idea of running the GUCR, a 100K road road and the cryptic one in such quite succession. I felt a bit of a a*se turning down the opportunity, but I had to be realistic. Two, yes. But three would a big ask. I have, however, put myself on the waiting list to get a place on the Devil o' the Highlands race on August 4.   With experience of four Devils races and one 100K, I know which one causes the less destruction.

So since the GUCR...and for reasons unbeknown to be..I've done far too many midweek runs on the canal path. Maybe it's like Stockholm Syndrome!! Or just because it's handy from home/work/club. Either way, you can imagine how many jokes I've heard about falling in. Boom, boom!

I've had four consecutive weekends off road and loved every minute of it! To summarise:

The first on June 23 was with the GM, when we took on the duty as the unofficial moral boosting department for the West Highland Way Race. It's been well-documented that it was the worst conditions in the history of the race and I can vouch for that. We ran backwards (not literally running backwards) from the Glencoe Ski Centre to Auchtertyre. I didn't even want to get out of the car the weather was so bad. We dished out whoops, hugs and high-fives for 20 odd miles. Despite the conditions, there were some fantastic performances. Firstly, Terry Conway breaking Jez Bragg's long standing record (by five minutes) in an amazing time of 15:39. Rosie Bell finished first lady in her seventh race finish. I was absolutely delighted to see Rosie storming through. She's always been a really good runner, but she just had to step it up a bit. And step it up she did. Congratulations to everyone who battled (or waded!) through the course. Especially to my hard-as-nails buddies and first time finishers Silke and Caroline.

The second on June 30 - again with the GM - we did a 30 mile out and back on the WHW from Balmaha to Inversnaid. It was a lovely day. Muggy, but dry. After a wet and warm week, the midges were out in force. There was certainly no hanging about.  There are lots of up and downs and gear changing on this section, so it was just what I needed.

July 7 was 19 miles on the Kilpatrick hills, again with the GM. It's a right ol' mix bag of a route, which starts with a steep ascent out of Hardgate. Regardless of the conditions, wet feet are guaranteed.  The circuit takes in fabulous rocky trails, grassy slopes, faint tracks, armpit deep flora, tree and fence climbing, a stomp up and over the whangie, along the deathtrap that is the A809, on to the WHW, rolling country roads, across the fields and back the way we started.  Until we came face-to-face with a bull (remember I'm even terrified of cows) so we had to back track through shin-deep mud.   I'll admit, I'm sometime prone to a bit of exaggeration, especially when blogging.  During post-run texting with the GM, she admitted may have exaggerated the situation too.  I said "face-to-face was a bit of stretch" and she replied "I've said we were chased :-)".  Regardless, we were scared sh*tless!

Last weekend (July 14) I did a  36 mile (from Bridge of Orchy to Fort William) Devil's training run with Bob and Lucy - the latter claiming to be "unfit" and had done "very little training lately". From the supremo that won bronze at last year's IAU Trail World Championships (oh and also holds the WHWR record and won the CCC in Mont Blanc), this should be misconstrued with anything less than awesome. As we left the car, Lucy was up Orchy hills like a rat up a pipe, leaving Bob and I looking anxiously at each other. Although I was running really well - by my standard - they were both very gracious about hanging back for me. I think Bob's performance was more to do with testosterone rather than athletic ability though, especially when he challenged Lucy to a race up the Devil's Staircase.  I knew it would end in tears. Man tears. And I was right.

The West Highland Way is always pretty busy with happy trekkers during the summer. The scene on the Devil's Staircase was what I imagine a UFO sighting would be like. Knackered trekkers, mouths a jar, stopped on their zig-zag tracks to look up and watch this slip of girl running up to the route's highest peak.  No prizes for guessing who won.

A fabulous day out with great company and lovely weather.  Skint hands and knees after a spectacular fall though.  Shock! Horror!

So, now I'm just watching for my name to move up the reserve list so I can actually get a place in the race.

Tomorrow, we're off to Newport, Wales for the Anglo Celtic Plate 2012.  Sonic's first Scotland vest, so it's a proud moment for Team Consani.  I hope to put some updates on the ACP Facebook page over the weekend.

Happy Old Year

As I might not get another year like it, I thought I'd best write it all down. And possibly frame it!


Anglo Celtic Plate 100K: I was lucky enough to be selected to run on the Scotland team. I'll never forget my first Scotland vest, and I'll never forget this race. It was probably the hardest race I've ever done, but it was great to try a classic distance and push myself out of my comfort zone. I just missed my sub:9 hour goal, but was happy to finish in 9:03. Maybe that's just the incentive I need to give the distance another bash.


Highland Fling 53 miles: I wasn't holding out much hope for this race, as it was only a matter of weeks after the 100K. Plus, I hadn't really done that much hill and trail training, as I was predominately focusing on road. I was fairly relaxed about the race and went out with the suck-it-and-see attitude. I followed splits (devised by Sonic) that had me running 10 minutes slower in the first section than the previous year. It started rusty, came together in middle and fell apart at the end. I was delighted to finish second female in 9.39. As the event doubled as the UK Ultra trail championship, I also went home with that silver medal. And the bronze team medal. One event, four medals and a new PB. Not bad for a day's work. Sonic is now my official split co-ordinator :-)


West Highland Way Race: This was my key race for the year and I was ecstatic to achieve my dream sub:20 hour goal. 19:39 to be exact. I finished third female and 13th overall. After three WHW races, I vowed not to sign up for next year's. Not because I didn't enjoy it, because I did. OK, maybe enjoy isn't the right word, but you get the gist. I just want to try something new. I'll always be happy with my time, but I know I'll go back and try it again some day.

Clyde Stride 40: Probably not my wisest move just four weeks after the WHW, but I signed up with a view to completing four of the races in the Scottish Ultra Marathon Series (SUMS). It was a bit up and down. Some parts I felt great and in others I was burst. All in all a good race and I finished second behind Lucy Colquhoun in 5:56. My main goal was sub:6 so no grumbles from me.
T

Devil o' the Highlands (43 miles): This was my first ultra back in 2007, so it's always been quite special. Although, to be honest, this year I was only in it for the SUMS point. As it turned out, it was by far my best race of the year. You know when people talk about how some races just "click" or "come together on the day"? Well, this one did. I finished second behind Lucy (who incidentally smashed the course record by over an hour!) in 6:56. Again, my ultimate goal was sub:7.

SUMS award: Guess what? I finished second behind Lucy :-) Julie once hit the nail on the head when she said "if she wasn't so nice, you'd hate her". Wise Julie also said, "finishing second to Lucy is a win", so I'll take it.


Commonwealth Mountain and Ultra Running Championships: I guess you'll know I ran on the Scotland team at the 24 hour race, because I haven't shut up about it. I finished 4th female. 1st for Scotland (overall). Broke the Scottish 200k record and was part of the team that took bronze. It was worth the destruction.

Sponsorship: After the Highland Fling I was contacted by Montane, as they wanted to give me some shiny new gear as a way of saying congratulations for being 2nd in their sponsored race. Result! Then a few months later they asked me to come on board as their first ultra-running female sponsored athlete.

Garscube Harriers' Meritorious Award: I won the award a few years ago and I was honoured enough to receive it again. As far as I can see by the listing on the trophy, I'm the only member to have won the award twice.

International Association of Ultra Runners Athlete of the Year nomination: It's a pretty safe bet that the uber-awesome Miss Hawker will walk away with this one, but I'm still in shock about making the shortlist.

Marcothon: Well tomorrow's the last day. And there will be nearly 1000 nutters (including those who haven't fessed up to bowing out) celebrating their last run. It will be a fabulous end to an amazing year. Although I have to do a 5k first. Yikes.

Happy New Year everyone.

Anglo-Celtic Plate 2011 (100K)

I've spent most of this week trying to compose this post, so I'm just going to summarise some thoughts and lessons learned - otherwise it could take me longer to write than actually run. You would have thought I would have had loads more time on my hands this week, but in reality it's just taking that bit longer to do basic tasks. Starting with 20 minutes to get down the stairs on Monday morning.

Well, I survived. Just. My hips have just about forgiven me and my calves have almost stopped screaming. In a nutshell, it was tough. Really tough. Although I'm still traumatised, I'm elated. I'm glad I pushed myself to try something new and it was an honour to wear the Scotland vest.

I finished in 9:03:09 which is an average pace of 8:44m/m

Click here for 50K and 100K results

You could skip the drivel and just click on JK's video below, it's much more entertaining. Don't forget the tea and biscuits though, as it's 35 minutes long.



Pre-race: I didn't taper as much as I should have, mainly because this race wasn't the be-all and end-all of 2011. I'm still not sure of my race plans, but I don't like to put all my eggs in one basket. Like most long-distance races, the training takes over your life, but when it comes to crunch time you always think it's never enough.





Expectations: Non really. As it was my first 100K on the road, the jury was out. 100K veterans are fairly keen to tell you their horror stories, which not only involve pain and fatigue, but tears and lots of vomit. I thought physically I could hold it together, but it was the mental aspect that I was most concerned about. My dream time was sub:9, but realistically I was hoping for 9-10 hours. I'm less analytical than may better half - who is still scrutinising D33 splits - but the Crazy (Scottish) German sent me a link to runningforfitness.org for a race time predictor based on my 2008 marathon time. I'd like to think I could better that now, but I based it on fact rather than fantasy.



Competitors: Although I was told I "looked nervous" quite a few times on race morning, I think I was more overwhelmed than anything. Looking at the starters list from other teams (I resisted the temptation to google them, as to not freak out), I knew I would probably come in last of the country runners, so I just concentrated on running my own race.

Course: 42 laps of a very flat 1.5mile loop in North Inch Park. In hindsight, I learned that laps aren't actually that bad. I'm not saying it didn't do my head in. Far from it. But it didn't really take it's toll until I was 30 laps down. Although Adrian informed us at the pre-race briefing that counting laps was just mental torture, I just couldn't help it.

Conditions: Perfect. We couldn't have asked for a better day. Glorious, fresh and sunny. The flip-side to the rare sight of spring, was that families, dog walkers, skaters and cyclists were out in the hoards. There was even a football and rugby game going on in the middle of the course. It was like running in a goldfish bowl, with nowhere to hide. I even saw one of the English girls getting hit square-on by a rugby ball. Thankfully most people were really courteous and accommodating - or maybe it was fear of the snottering zombies coming anywhere near their kids.

Pacing: Started out very conservative, running with the uber-experienced, Pauline Walker at the back of the pack for about the first couple of hours. I pushed on and started picking off a runners in the open race. I haven't seen the splits yet, but from the laps times that Sonic supplied, I was steady at the start, picked it up in the middle and then the wheels started to come off in the last 10 laps. I wasn't alone, as I was passing runners who had lapped me a few times at the start. During the last five laps, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to get sub:9, so lost my drive and just concentrated on finishing. If only I knew how close I would be to it. To be honest, at the time, I gave what I had.



Pauline is the Scottish 24-hour record holder (130+ miles!) and nothing sort of phenomenal. Where most runners fell across the finish line like something from Dawn of the Dead, she crossed and sauntered along like she had just strolled out of Marks and Spencer.



Food: I still can't get my food right. Even more so on a race that requires a bit more constant effort. I managed two bars of tablet and then would only consider coke and sports drink after a few hours. Sonic tried to get me to eat a sandwich, which I spat out in front of a horrified family. Actually the vast majority of the things he gave me, ended up in the bin. I ran out of energy after about five hours and just got through on determination.



Cramps: This isn't something I've ever suffered from. My legs didn't cramp, but my calves were pulsing for the last couple of hours and I keep expecting them to spasm. It wasn't sore, just concerning. Actually my legs felt OK most of the time. I was trying to pull myself together by reminding myself of this. Pete - there was a lot of foul language and warrior talk.

The finish: This probably ranks has one of the happiest moments in my life. Not for the achievement, but for the total relief.





Team Scotland: The guys did really well. Craig Stewart won the race and helped secured the first team prize. As I was lapped quite frequently by all five guys, I can safety say they are all awesome. In the girls team is was no surprise that Gail Murdoch was first, with a massive PB to boot. Followed by Izzy Knox and then me. The Gibbering Midget had to pull-out after falling ill, which was awful. After training with her for the last few months, it was so sad to see her so upset. She's a real trooper though, so watch out for some unfinished business on the Highland Fling later this month.



And now to the thank you bit. There are so many people, I don't know where to start. Thanks for to the organisers and timekeepers, especially Val and Adrian. Thanks to everyone who came out to support and pick me up, especially JK, Katrina, the Pacepushers, Lady Sadie, Davie, Tim and Izzy. Huge thanks to JK for the video, which is the perfect keep-sake.

My biggest thank you is to Sonic for his top-notch back-up and for the support during training. Apparently back-up is "way harder than running". With short laps, I'm sure it's pretty relentless. I hope holding in that pee for nine hours doesn't cause any lasting damage, Sonic. Although I'm sure that's dramatic license. I've seen the video, remember :-)

All in a week's work

How do you taper? There is lots of conflicting advice, isn't there? This year started with cram-training because I was scared of undertraining. Then with the rapid increase in miles - mainly road miles - I was concerned about overtraining. Then I hit taper and someone mentioned the concept of de-training and then there was more panic.

Personally I like to knock back on the miles, but stick with some speed work. Not de-training, but possibly overtraining? Who knows?

Mon, March 14: 8 x 3 mins (60 sec)
6.58,6.52, 6.59, 6.29, 6.32, 6.55, 6.44, 6.41
Tues, March 15: 6 miles easy
Wed, March 16: 3 x 10 min (2 mins)
7.10, 6.58, 6.51
Thurs, March 17: Club session with 2 x 2 mile tempo
Fri, March 18: Rest
Sat, March 19: Rest
Sunday, March 20: Get this. I did 42 laps round the pond in Victoria Park. Even the ducks wanted to throw things at me. I thought it might help get my head round the repitition. It didn't. 12.5 miles all in. Although I felt so good doing a normal long run and being home for 10am.


Mon, March 21: 15 x 1 (30 sec)Average 6:30 - although the last one was 5:57!
Tues, March 22: 5.5 miles easy
Wed, March 23: 8, 6, 5 (90 sec) 4, 3, 2, 1 (60 sec)
7.11, 6.50, 6.58, 6.44, 6.43, 6.52, 6.07
Thurs, March 24: 5.5 easy

That's all from me, folks. I've hung up my trusty Garmin and my ipod for the foreseeable future. I just need to stop eating my supplies for Sunday now.

Waterboarding, anyone?

As some/most of you will know, my next race is the Anglo Celtic Plate in Perth at the end of the month. Some of my trail-loving friends may find it hard to comprehend the idea of 100K on the road. Flat road at that.

To be honest, it's not something I would have willingly signed-up for, but to wear the Scotland vest is not an opportunity I can pass up on. But for those who remain aghast at the concept of 62 miles on tarmac, please allow me to delve into the true layers of horror.

Firstly it's a 1.49 mile lap. Now, I'm not good with maths (terrible, in fact) but I knew that was a lot of laps. 42 in fact. Ultra-running supremo, Jez Bragg informed me that it was "42 opportunities to eat, drink, change kit, lap up the atmosphere from the roaring crowds". Personally, I think that’s 42 opportunities to throw myself in the river!

Then I was informed all GPS and pacing devices are prohibited. I haven't run without a Garmin - even when I was preggers - for about five years. I'm not sure my feet will work without it. Thankfully we're allowed to wear a watch and I had the sense to go pace the course last month.

There are also strict rules about feeding/supports stations. Runners must pick up and drop off at the tables only. Support can't move along with the runner, which is incidentally what I was going to get Sonic to do.

The race starts at 7am on a Sunday morning. Now I quite like an early start, especially for travelling home afterwards. But the day chosen for the race is the day the clocks go forward, so really it's 6am in my head. I probably won't sleep for worrying about what the real time is.

And finally, runners are also prohibited from using ipods, MP3 or similar devices. Of course I discover this three days after buying a new ipod nana with inbuilt radio - specifically for this race. All not lost, as I'm sure I will make good use of it. But really? 62 miles of just me. Alone. With only my crazy thoughts.

Next time I'm going to opt for waterboarding as a more humane and civilised form of torture.

...and then the postie delivered my lovely new kit, and all is forgiven and forgotten. I've put in the miles (I think!) and I can't wait.

Taper time, folks. Don't you just love it?