Back in the "Long" Game...

I was a good girl and started Day 5 at my allotted time, which unfortunately meant no chat from Iestyn (as he was long gone!) but I did still have some company. Poor Filippo had not had a good night as he had been up being sick, so he thought it better to start earlier than planned as he didn't have as much energy as usual and, at 45miles, it was the longest day (and I made sure to carry some diarolyte sachets and glucose tablets with me in case he needed them). The first part was rather hairy as we had to run a brief section along the main road to Ullapool, with buses, coaches, lorries and cars roaring alongside us. Luckily we soon headed off onto some wide double track/forestry roads climbing up through remote glens. I kept chatting to Filippo as a way of making me pace myself and checking that he was OK, but as we got higher, he suggested I continue at my own pace. One thing I did find slightly dispiriting, was that if you start later, it takes an awful lot longer to catch anybody up, and this lets self-doubt creep in. Nevertheless, I was still enjoying myself as beautiful views opened up in front of me.

Some of the early forestry track

I navigated myself what I hoped was a good route as the terrain became trackless, contouring round a summit shrouded in mist and then descending down towards a pretty loch where I finally began to see more people (needless to say that Filippo galloped past again on this rough ground). This section was really beautiful as you has to run up and down small hills and round little corners following the line of a stream, whilst ducking under overhanging tress and avoiding muddy sections underfoot. At the loch the route rounded some fences and doubled back on itself to join a track (I gather some people massively cut that corner in order to make the cutoffs but I'm not sure how they thought they would get away with it when we were all carrying trackers!) and then the long track run began. It started off as a rough double track which meant you had to remain switched on not to trip on loose stones, but luckily it was still overcast and so not too hot. The later start did actually mean that, for the first time, I got to see the leading 2 men chasing each other down as they passed me by (ok so they were run/walking up a slope whereas I was just plain walking, but at least I got to shout some encouragement).

My tentmates Kirsty and Kate
on the endless track

The skies cleared and the track became smoother and so it was harder to keep the motivation to keep running along it. I had passed someone I knew (Matt) earlier in the day but he seemed to have had a new lease of life and passed me on the endless track. I thought I'd quickly lose sight of him but he seemed to stay a fixed distance ahead of me for a while so not letting him out of sight became my new target, which in turn meant that I had to keep moving forwards at a decent pace. I knew that the first manned checkpoint (CP) of the day was halfway along this section but it seemed to take forever to get to it. Although it cheered me up to catch groups/people and chat to them (including Matt on the tarmac road just prior to the CP), I was very tempted to consider stopping when I reached the checkpoint, especially as it was just beside a pub (though the event rules did allow us to go and buy cold drinks and fresh snacks in the pub....bliss!!).

Not a bad CP setting

As I ran into the CP, I talked myself into "manning up" and continuing with the day by making a private promise that I would stop the next time my number was scanned (these marshals told me that it was 10K to the next CP, but I think they meant 10miles!!) but the double track just seemed to continue on endlessly. You could see it winding away ahead of you for what looked like miles! It descended down to the river and from there it looked like there would be some welcome shade from the map. Unfortunately, this was not the case as the trees had been felled, so there was a rough scramble uphill around many treestumps before joining another higher level very exposed track. Although we had been warned that there would be little water on this section and we should look to the sides of the track for nearby streams, I found myself having to fill up at some of the tiniest trickles but I preferred the chance of a stomach upset to dehydration!!

The track descended to what I thought was the next checkpoint, but unfortunately (for me...thanks to my earlier promise to myself) the marshals did not scan us but just cheerily waved us through. I caught up with Karoline - Filippo's partner (and also South African) - who was the third ranked lady in the overall standings. She called me the "Comrades Queen" as I passed her so I thanked her for the compliment but reminded her that my highest Comrades finish was 4th - to which she replied that I was "a winner in her eyes, having been beaten by 3 Russians before they were banned". Not much further up the track ahead of her was Filippo, who was having a low spell, but as this was where the double track finished, I thought he would soon perk up again on the rougher terrain.

Heading up the valley and spotting
it would be a "decent" climb to get
 out of it

By this time I was into the last few miles of the day but, looking ahead of me, I could see that they weren't going to be very quick miles (no change there then!!). The route appeared to go up to the head of the valley, and then you had to climb out of it and down the other side towards the overnight camp....and there was no trail. As I worked my way round some slopes along one side of the valley, I caught up to Sarah (the second place lady in the "competitive standings") but she didn't seem especially chatty as she was rather concerned about how much of a gap there was between herself and Karoline. I reassured her that I wasn't being put into daily results and so she could happily let me pass and then get an idea of the way ahead by following me as I crossed some streams at the bottom of the valley and headed up the long climb to the col.



Climbing does reward you with some
amazing views!

Although it seems hard at the time (especially when you are also trying to eat and breathe) I do prefer climbing to descending. Unfortunately I slightly overdid it and went a wee bit higher than I needed, so had to head down to the small trail leading over a narrow pass and down towards the overnight camp. I couldn't see anyone ahead of me again so got my map out to confirm I was on the correct path as two diverged of opposite side of a stream, one descending and another one climbing more (yeay...it was the uphill one I wanted). Being "slightly" tired at this point, I missed the note telling us to "stay high above the gorge" and I accidentally strayed into said gorge. I found myself on a very narrow slippy precipice overlooking a long drop, and so when I'd finally managed to slow down my panic-breathing, I backclimbed up to where I should have been (and shouted a warning to those that were now cresting the trail behind me).

Tent city....finally...and food o'clock
Happy Days!

The descent down to the camp was far from "simple". After a decent run down the narrow trail, the route appeared to head off back over rough ground again, so off I headed (and as predicted I saw Filippo fly past). Still, I'm not really sure that this was the optimum route choice as I then had to climb down another near vertical slope to cross the stream again and rejoin a path that looked remarkably similar to the one I'd been on earlier, only this one had the other ladies now hammering down it. Karoline chatted as she caught me up, but Sarah was keen to push on to gain as much lead as possible. I let them go as they were happier bounding down than me and my dodgy leg but they remained in sight and I could see them switching positions ahead of me.

The view from the tents by day

As we gained a wider stable trail lower down I closed the gap back a bit, and also passed the long suffering Filippo again as he was fading fast. I asked him if he wanted to come with me, but he assured me that he'd be fine and make camp solo as he was now into the final mile. A special treat when we got to that camp was that the nearby loch was a freshwater one so I got another delightful fully clothed dip to cool and rinse myself (and my minging kit) off!!

And the view at night

Although I would never find out how I'd done each day as the results were only published for "competitive" runners, we had "Ultramail" delivered every evening (ie messages from friends and family at home), so I would find out whether I'd had a "good day" or not by this circuitous route. I hadn't managed to catch up to Iestyn all day so thought that I must have been one of the slower runners (especially when I think about how close I'd come to stopping - it was only the fact that I never had my barcode scanned again from the halfway CP to the finish that kept me trucking on) but my confidence took a big boost when my Ultramail told me that I'd been the fastest female overall on the day !