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.
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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.

Don't try this at home, folks

Following my recent race report, I've been accused of making the 24-hour sound "quite nice". In reality, the aftermath was much less pleasant than the event itself.

When I finished the race, I was congratulated by an official from UKA ...only to be informed that I was selected for random drug testing. I thought this would have been a simple affair. Wrong. I was whisked off to a campervan, where I had to be helped up the two steps. Sonic was required to join me as my official witness. I had to fill in numerous forms, sign confessions, declare all medical consumption and wear surgical gloves to open and close various tubs and tubes. Then the representative had to escort me in the portaloo to watch me wee. Quite literally watch me. I would have been mortified, but I was totally passed caring. At first I thought I was going to have stage fright or be too dehydrated to perform, but when it started flowing I didn't think I would stop. So I was standing squealing and cursing as the tub overflowed and covered my clothes. After wearing the same pants and tights for 24 hours, I doubt it would have made any difference.

Anyway the result was so horrifying it deserved a picture for the blog. This is quite special, don't you think? More water, less coke maybe?


(Yes, this was my first post-race pee!)

After my ordeal was over and I was seated and covered in a blanket to control the shivering, I watched the GM violently puke in a bucket before her lifeless body we carted off to the hotel. She has turned a cartoon-style colour of green. I thought it was quite comical that Val and Sue (team Scotland volunteers) had to strip her and put her in the bath. Until of course Sonic had to get me out of the bath, dry me and put my underwear on. Ah, the romance.

After I was escorted to bed and slept for about 20 mins (damn that adrenaline!) - and the majority of that was spent trying to turn over - we went out for nice Italian meal. It more a case of devouring every carb on the menu. We were so scooped, we couldn't even finish a GLASS of wine. I've never been know not to finish a BOTTLE of wine.

And this, dear reader, is the classy restaurant exit of the international athletes...



That evening my calves and ankles became one - and ballooned quite specularly. Sonic woke at 3am to find me clutching the door frame of the bathroom and wailing about how it took me 30 minutes to get there. I needed assistance for quite a few days and got lots of bizarre looks when shuffling about the streets.

My legs took about a week to resume normal shape and my "cankles" were the joke of the office for a few days. Thankfully, they took pity on me and published a nice story. I think the Editor felt obliged :-)

Last arrow in my quiver

"It'll be FUN!" That's what the chipper Canadian girl said as we waited outside the portaloos before the start of the 24-hour race at Commonwealth Championships. As the GM and I looked at each other, she finished: "FUN stands for F**king Unbelievably Nasty". And that statement became the event strap line.

Ultrarunning isn't fun. You don't play ultra-running like you play football or hockey. It's all about the journey. And if the journey is blessed with a scenic backdrop, then it's a litle more pleasant.

On Thursday, when we made the trip down to Llandudno, North Wales the views across the hills and open water were spectacular. So why did I travel 300 miles - to an area I instantly fell in love with - to run a one kilometre loop around a central reservation in a housing estate? Two reasons really 1) I actually wanted to run a 24-hour race 2) I had the honour of being selected for the Scotland team.

In summary: I finished 4th lady with 208.57 kilometres (or short of 130 miles in my speak). 1st lady being the global phenomenon that is Lizzie Hawker, who broke the world record. I was first Scot - and that includes all the boys - and broke the Scottish 200K record. Together with the Gibbering Midget (who broke the Scottish 100m record) and Pauline Walker (who retains her 24-hour record) we took bronze for the ladies team.


Click here for full results

Team Scotland: The before, the after and the happily-ever-after...



Sharon AKA the Gibbering Midget (204km), me (208km) and Pauline (193km)


Jk put together a fantastic video of the race. See below. Lucky for you and me, that saves me writing a real race report :-) Let's be honest, 24-hours around a 1K loop is never going to be a right riveting read.





Some things I noted...

Blast Off: The race goes off too fast - even if, from the outside, it looks ridiculously slow. Australian, Jo Blake went off like sh*t off a shovel (as my Granny would say) and left me feeling way out of my depth. The uber-experienced, William Sichel told me that the race completely changes after four hours, and he was so right. I have never seen the wheels far off anyone like that before. And by hour 12 it was a whole different set-up. Although the neightbourhood had started to resemble a scene from Dawn of the Dead. Given the average age of a Llandudno resident, this probably wasn't out of the norm.

Walking isn't cheating: It's planning. Towards the end I was walking way faster than I could possibly run. I ran for the first 50 miles and then played some games: I'd run for 20 minutes and then walk for two minutes. Then I would run 3/4 laps to the feed station and then walk to the top corner. Later in the race it was run for 100 counts, walk for 50. And in the last hour - when my calves had exploded and my hip flexors had their own pulse - I just gave up all hope of running.

The laps weren't that bad. Actually they didn't bother me at all. Mainly because the race is about time, not distance. The clock that didn't move on the other hand...aaahh! It was a LONG 24-hours. If a marathon is a games of two halves: 20 miles and then the last six, then this race is certainly 20 hours and then the final four.

Lapping, not napping. I've never been one for faffing about at checkpoints. The longest I stopped for was to put my calf guards on. Although with Fiona Rennie within earshot screaming "keep moving!" there was little danger of over staying my welcome.

Who's where?: I had no idea where I was in terms of position, so I relied on Sonic for information. I seemed to spend a few hours at a time playing catch up an individual runner - but never the same one. It was good though, as I pretty much got to know everyone in the field. Well, apart from the unsociable ones. I ran a good bit with Sharon Gaytor, before she pulled away. Her race didn't quite so to plan and I caught her a few hours later. Sonic was on hand to give me the required information: "Come one, you're going to catch Sharon Gaytor on the next lap. She's totally burst" I had to giggle and point out that her husband was standing right next to him. With absolutely no one else about. I don't think they were bessie mates after that.

Some blether on the weather: To be fair, we were really lucky. Not a drop of rain. It was fairly breezy though. And muggy. One straight was warm with a tailwind and the other was straight into a headwind. It was essentially blowing hot and cold every three/four minutes for 24 hours! Although I'd packed for all eventualities, I wore just my vest the whole time.

Keeping the points in check: When you're used to fuelling at 10 mile section points, seeing the feed station every kilometre throws you a bit. Sonic was even coming behind the tent to see if I needed anything, so I was seeing him every three minutes! I kept telling him to go and sit down. At one point I felt like I'd taking in too much, so tried to stick to every five miles (I still can't work kilometres!) It will probably come as now surprise to you that my food intake was pretty poor. I had a few bit of tablet, a couple of sandwiches, handful of sweets, two Goodness Shakes...and then mainly survived of coke. I've learned that I can take Gu gels, as I long as I throw them back and take a gulp of coke. We came home on Monday with so much stuff, I'm sorted for Halloween. Although Sonic's been trick or treating all week!

It kinda hurt. But as I sit here almost a week later, I've forgotten all the nasty stuff. Yes, it's like childbirth. And as with childbirth, it's going to take all the king's horses and all the king's men to put me back together again. But hey, it's the best time to happen. I'm not only done in, I'm done. That's all from me this year, folks. The quiver's empty.

I'm off on holiday on Monday - to Madeira. I had a big f**k-it moment when I booked it, and we're going five-star. Before we go, we're off to Inverness for the Loch Ness Marathon this weekend. Cairn's taking one for the team and doing the Wee Nessie again.

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HUGE thanks to Sonic for putting up with me for the whole 24-hours. Considering how short the laps are, it must be been pretty relentless. I thought I was on my best behaviour, but he had a different opinion. I guess there were a few diva moments then.


Thanks to Team Scotland - Adrian, Mike, Val, Sue, Ken, Fiona, Les, Tim, JK and anyone else who chipped it. Also, thanks to the organisers, lap counters and everyone who came out to cheer us on (an up!). The support was amazing - especially the random strangers who got caught up in the excitement. I lost count of the amount of times I heard gasps of: "They're do what?"