Run to Infinity

With Storm Ciara followed by snow, wind and even "thundersnow", and then Storm Dennis, outdoor events were being cancelled left, right and centre. The weekend of Storm Ciara had seen a closure of most parks and forests - often with no refunds of entry fees for events that were due to be held there, so I was rather expecting the Saturn Running Event I was going to participate in this weekend to have been called off due to "Dennis the Menace".

The Saturn Running crew were amazing - updating us regularly via their FB page as to weather forecasts, predicted river levels/flooding and potential reroutes of the course. They were doing their utmost to keep the event on, and eventually they decided that they would offer participants the option of an alternative date in 4 weeks or to participate on the Sunday as planned, but with a 30minute delay to the start and with a rather altered course. Saturn Running is so named as their events consist of loops (or "rings" as around the planet Saturn), but unfortunately they were rather restricted by Mother Nature on this occasion so each "lap" would have to be an out and back run, though they did manage to keep each lap the same planned distance of 3.2 miles.

The event was due to last for 7 hours (after which I had to drive back to Scotland, so the delay of the start wasn't the best thing for me, but at least the run was still happening) during which time you could run as much or as little as you liked. Unlike Falkirk a fortnight previously, you did not have to provide your own supplies as they had a fantastic aid station that you would pass every time you finished/started a lap. My mouth watered when I saw all that was on offer - cookies, flapjacks, cheese, crisps, nachos, sweets, fruit, falafels, sausage rolls, macaroons (well I'd be avoiding those) and drinks. Registration just consisted of you picking up a number (there was no chip timing, you would just be given a wrist band to put on at the end of every lap you completed) and buying/renting a collapsible cup. These cups were to go in racks by the aid station - the racks had slots numbered to correspond with race numbers, but unfortunately the numbering only went as high as 340 (and my race number was 350 as we were lisetd in alphabetical order) so I just had to put my cup on the edge of the table and hope....

I'd bumped into my friend Rachel at registration and as we huddled together trying to keep warm near the start line, we marvelled at a young girl who was there in the shortest of shorts, a running club vest and some arm warmers - for comparison I was wearing a thermal top, arm warmers, capris, a jacket, a buff and gloves - none of which I was going to shed before completing at least 1 lap! The bravery of Northerners (famed for going out to the pub in the snow wearing little more than a boob tube and hot pants)!!!

The short/flat/paved start/finish section
 towards the old swimming pool

The event started with an anticlimactic countdown from 10 to 1, and everyone trundled off....well everyone except a few faster guys, and said girl in the short shorts who shot off at some crazy pace (though maybe it was just to get warm!). We started off down the riverbank path away from the boathouses towards the old swimming pool, along the junior parkrun course (which had been cancelled due to the flooding) and by the time we'd gone a few hundred metres, she had already opened up a large gap ahead of the rest of the field. I guess that running such events is definitely a case of "each to their own" but it struck me as a trifle odd. I was at the other end of the scale, as within that first short section I was already asking myself exactly what I was doing there....as I had "nothing to prove" and was just not feeling up for it, either in my legs or my head.

The riverside path

We soon hairpinned back on ourselves and follwed the path up a short sharp slope to run along the top of the cricket pitches. This uphill section of path was tarmac, but many moons ago (over 20 years!!), it had been a rough grassy track that I'd walked along every day to school (and indeed, it was on this very section that I'd met a flasher one cold snowy January morning). The trail path along the top had a few overhanging trees to dodge and a narrow gateway to squeeze through, then some potholes and cars to dodge as we found ourselves back by the rowing club, but there was nothing too extreme. There was a marshal to guide us across the "road" into the rowing club, but his job was more to warn everyone about the slippery mud than oncoming vehicles, as all rowing had been canceled due to the height and speed of the river. We ran through the trees and back to the river but unfortunately could not continue on that path ( as it was underwater) so signposts directed us onto the rugby pitches. Running round the edges of the pitches was quite interesting as cross country spikes would have been the footwear of choice for this section....it was very "soft-going" and only became worse as the day progressed....though one of the slippiest bits was a tiny down and up onto the tarmac at the far side.

Having run back round the other edge of the pitches we rejoined the riverside path on a slightly undulating, very muddy section which ended with a kissing gate, through which you had to plodge in ankle deep brown water. Then it was over a slippery woooden slatted bridge and onto a firm trail the other side (the route of the adult parkrun). By this point I could see that the leading man had reeled in and overhauled the speedy starting girl, and I was almost on her, though I didn't feel as if I had increased my pace at all (in fact, I was still wearing all my layers of clothing). We had been told that the rest of the loop was flooded so we would have to turn around and retrace our steps, but I think I expected more than a random sign at the sign of the path saying "turn around" - there was not even a marshal there, but I guess if you turned early, then you were only cheating yourself out of distance!

The path (as would have been)
for the looped course

After turning I soon passed the young lass but the guy ahead of us was a long way away and so almost out of sight. In a way it was good to know the route back, as then the mud and puddles weren't so much of a surprise, but what I hadn't thought about was meeting all the other runners coming tghe other way. many of them were running 3 or so abreast, which made it rather difficult to pass on narrow sections of path. Some of them were very kind and seemed to hold back to let those going at a slightly greater speed dash through the gates ahead of them....but then again, maybe they were just wanting to take their time to avoid the splash from the puddles and mud!! I had started to warm up by now so was ready to shed my outer waterproof jacket and so I took it off as I ran back along the riverside bath towards the boathouses and put it down on the tarp with everyone's bag just after crossing the start/finish line. This line was also a bit vague as when you got back to about where you'd started, there were helpers standing by the aid station who (once they'd noticed you) handed you a band to put on your wrist to mark each completed lap. I didn't feel the need to eat or drink after 1 lap, as each lap was about 3.2miles, so after depositing my jacket, I just turned round and headed back out again.

Sporting mud tattoos...

To help me mentally (trying to overrule my legs which were telling me how nice it would be to just lounge around in front of the TV at my parents' house), I set myself little targets...such as trying to keep the guy ahead of me in sight...or making sure the gap opened up behind me to the aforementioned girl. It was also nice to see people at various times en route, so the out and back format greatly helped this, as Rachel and I encouraged each other every time we saw the other one...and after a few everyone was getting more and more familiar!! Another lady I know had come done to run a few laps with a friend of hers so I got to see her too....and on laps 3 and 4 I spotted my parents who'd come out for a morning walk to cheer me on (and take a couple of photos!!).

Various people on various laps

The ethos of the event was for participation rather than competition so as long as you completed at least 1 lap, you got a medal and goodie bag.....you just had to ring a "finisher's bell" rather than pick up a band at the end of whatever lap you finished on, and the marshals documented how long you'd been running for and how many bands you'd collected. People obviously had every different goals...some for a distance, some for a time, and others just to be there. I never saw the young lass after the thrid lap so presumed that she'd stopped then, and I caught up to the leading man at the end of our 5th lap, and then he rang the bell, but I was no longer running alone, as there were people on all sorts of different laps by this time, so noone really knew who was where. People often said to me "Last Lap" as I passed them, but I didn't really know what they meant, but I guess they probably thought I was aiming to run a set distance/number of laps (though I'd no idea what distance/number they thought it was).

My aim beforehand was just to have a long catered run and try to keep going for the whole 7 hours (as it was flatter and less time than the Falkirk event), but I soon realised that that would not be in my best interests. If I wasn't up for it mentally or physically, then I'd probably end up doing myself some mischief rather than good. My left hamstring had tightened up within the first 5 miles and never really loosened off at all, so I decided to curtail my run. To give myself a bit more of a mental challenge and not quit too easily, I decided to run at least a marathon....and then get to 50K....as long as it was just tight, rather than sore. Having passed both of these targets, I decided that 5 hours sounded like a nice round number and so I rang the bell at the end of my lap just before the clock hit 5 hours (I think it was something like 4:56 but I did pick up the pace for the last halfmile or so in order to make sure).

Medal, reclaimed cup and "ultra"pin

I didn't really need a medal or "ultra" pin, but the goodie bag was full of chocolate, crisps and a drink...all of which I needed (and consumed whilst walking abck to my parents' house). Although the aid station had been really well stocked with sweets, biscuits, cheese, crisps, fruit, sausage rolls (!), falafels (!) etc and I'd actually eaten way more than I'd run in miles....I was rather thirsty by the end. The fact that there had been no cup holder for me, meant that my cup probably blew off the table straight away, and so I actually didn't drink anything until I'd run beyond the marathon distance as by that time most people had finished and so there were spare cups lying around. The added bonus of finishing early was that I had time to wak back to my parents' house and luxuriate in a bubble bath with several mugs of hot tea, before getting into the car to drive home (and it was still daylight)...so not a bad day out...though soem R&R is definitely what both my body and head are calling for now!!!

Falkirk 8 Hour trail Run

The calm before the storm (the night before!)

Long runs are often rather uninspiring to think about, when they're just a case of getting the miles in the legs, without actually going somewhere or having amazing views to look at. Depending on what route you choose, and if you are running alone, you might have to work out when and where you are going to get anything to eat and drink, or if you will have to carry it with you.

My friend (and running mum) Fiona mentioned that she had taken part in an ultra event last year as a relay team of 4, but was going to have a go at doing the whole thing herself this year and so I looked it up. It was a looped course - never that inspiring but it does mean there are regular opportunities for food and drink - and classed as "trail", which meant that it could be an ideal long run, as running speed would be irrelevant. I still balked a bit at the idea of it being a timed run (ie run as many laps as you can/want to within the time cutoff) but at least it was "only" 8 hours so a good 1/3 less time than the one I'd done in Australia. 

Some of the on-course flooding, which
led to some rerouting

This one would also be done in daylight (8am-4pm) which was a bonus, the fact that there were lots of relay runners would make it less lonely (in fact there were 350 entrants in total) but the course did look a lot harder - for starters the loops were longer at 3.8 miles (which actually sounded better to me, as I'd rather run fewer longer loops), but it was also entirely within Callendar Park in Falkirk (my only experience of Callendar Park was for the National XC championships many moons ago - and from memory it was rather hilly and very muddy!). Still, if Fi could do it as her ultra debut in her 50s, then I could certainly take the kick up the backside and do it as well, as we'd been saying that we needed a good catchup for ages.

I didn't fancy getting up in the middle of the night to drive up there, so found somewhere to stay the night before....but unfortunately it didn't mean i got much more sleep as I was awake from about 2:30am worrying that I would sleep in through my alarm. The sun rises fairly late in winter in Scotland so it was still pitch black when I walked to registration soon after 7am. Although it wasn't raining, it was rather cold and just walking there set the scene for the day as my shoes got soaked in the huge puddles on the rough path into the park (the course had actually been changed the day before, due to excessive flooding, though they'd reassured us that the laps would still be the same length).

An early start for registration?

I spotted Fi as she was one of the only people to have her "head"torch strapped to the front of her chest, and we joined the registration queue. Most people were there with clubs/groups/friends and so had tents set up for their supporters to be able to hand them things as they passed every lap. I was there on my own and could not find a general aid tent in which to leave my bags of food and spare clothes, but luckily Fiona's friend Karen was also stepping up from the relay and said that her partner had a huge tent and table and they were happy for me to keep my stuff there too (a massive bonus as by now it was starting to rain!). In fact, Karen's partner Tommy was amazing and whilst I was running, laid practically everything from my bag out on the table with military precision, so that I could find whatever I wanted to pick up really easily (the only thing I missed was my big bag of jelly babies....but I think that's because someone made off with them when Tommy was away from the tent).

The registration tent

The start was delayed by 15-20 minutes due to the long queues at registration (I totally understand the delay as it would not have been fair to those not registered, but it was slightly irritating for me, as I had a long way to drive after the end of the event.....which would now also be delayed). At least it meant that we would be starting in daylight, but unfortunately it had also just started to rain, which added to the general frozen feeling of myself, Fi and Karen (wondering why we were there) as we huddled together in the starting pen. Finally we were off....which I guess is rather a non-event at a long ultra, as there is no point haring off when you've to run for so long. Still, I was midpack as we headed out through the tent village and along the rough track to the edge of the park (the very same one I'd come into the park on, soaking my feet in the puddles) and then turned a sharp 90 degrees to the right to climb up a grassy hill. The first section was all grass (and was actually the same route as the XC race I'd done there many moons beforehand), up along, down, up again and then another steep down with a very sharp left hand bend onto a short section of tarmac (a couple of hundred metres at most).

The aid station I never spotted as
you came from the left and turned
90 degrees the way the runner is going

At the end of the tarmac (just before another exit from the park) we turned right and headed up a gravel track which climbed up and up becoming steeper and narrower as it went. Some of the guys I was running behind were discussing if this was the "steep hill" or if there was a lot more later, but unfortunately I couldn't really hear the answer....but I did realise that after a few laps I'd probably know the course fairly well anyway! The top of this climb took us into the really muddy section of the course, though at first it was possible to avoid some of the deepest slippiest stuff by treading on rocks and veering off to the side of the narrow track, but later this became completely impossible. The path was too narrow to overtake with ease and so I found it quite tough on my first lap, as I couldn't really see where I was putting my feet due to being in a train of runners. This mud section started out level and then climbed and descended so actually had a bit of everything, before spitting us out on to gravel trail again.

The gravel trail was wider and so I passed a few people (including a couple of ladies) as it was very runnable, with a nice short but steep descent to relax down as it was much more secure underfoot. I think there was an aid station just to the right of the bottom of this descent, but I actually hardly took it in, as the route turned 90 degrees to the left, and so the downhill momentum carried your away round the corner with only a brief acknowledgement possible for the friendly cheers of the marshals there. The next section was a lovely long runnable trail with a good surface that only undulated slightly so you could get into a decent rhythm until a muddy hairpin corner which took you into a descent down to a roadside footpath which led you in and out of the park over the space of about 100m. A cheerful marshal directed us back into the park (carefully avoiding some strategically placed bollards) and to the next "playful" section. I believe that this section had been rerouted due to flooding but it was still a mudfest...and became more so as the day progressed. We turned 90 degrees left onto the grass, along to the edge of the park, down into a dip and then climbed steeply up the other side, before contouring round to the main "tourist" part of the park.

Callendar House with its "grassy lawns"!!

You'd be forgiven for thinking that you'd almost completed the loop by then as you ran back towards Callendar House and could hear the start/finishline MC on the microphone, but no....another marshal sent us away again to do a lap of the lake - the first half of which was on trail, and then second half of which was in mud...with a final short scramble back up to regain the tarmac where we'd started. Then it was round past the portaloos and a 90degree to the right over the timing mats ready to repeat it all again!

A marshal selfie?

I will not give you a blow by blow account of every lap...as somehow I exceeded anything I thought I'd do and managed 15 of them but just some highlights (and lowlights) I have from the day. The looped format meant that you could pick up your nutrition as and when you wanted it (provided that you'd left it somewhere handily accessible), which was a blessing as unfortunately nothing was provided by the organisation. I know that I stopped and took on nutrition earlier than a guy who had been running with/slightly faster than me, but later on this appeared to have been a good call, as he started to fade well before I did and I actually lapped him by the end. Steady pacing seemed to be the order of the day, as my laps were pretty consistent (well, except for the end but I'll come to that), whilst some people took off really quickly and then faded/dropped out (the early leader is famed for doing that so it was almost a case of watching and waiting to see when he pulled the plug and dropped).

The nature of the course meant that you actually had no real idea where other runners were after you'd passed them, so although after my first lap, I spotted a lady running towards the finish as I was descending the grass back towards the lake on my second loop, I then did not know our separation until I lapped the second and third placed women. It may sound strange but lapping people was actually quite nice as you could encourage your friends (Fi and Karen were walking up the steep muddy hill from the dip near the end of the lap the first time I caught them, and then the second time I passed Fi we had a quick bit of mutual encouragement {it was on a surfaced trail section, whereas when I got Karen the next time it was in the long undulating/uphill muddy section and so we had a "never again!" moment!!}) and I could also let the second and third ladies know the relative gap between them.

The lovely surfaced trail towards the
lake at the end of the lap

You need things to take your mind off the actual run, and the variety of the terrain/course did that to some extent...as did breaking it down into segments/laps in my head (eg this lap for the marathon distance, this one for 50K etc etc)....but also seeing how long it took you to catch/lap people could spur you on. I didn't realise that I'd been wondering where the other ladies were until I noticed relaxing after lapping them, and even more so the next time. The announcer must have been trying to spur me on too as he eventually started announcing my overall position and wondering if I was going to catch the leading man. My body definitely had other ideas about me catching anyone in the latter stages of the event, but I have only myself to blame for that. To be fair, I hadn't prepared enough bottles of liquid calories as I really hadn't expected to do that many laps, but I started to struggle with taking in food because I was just so cold. I had started the event wearing a thermal top, arm warmers, a waterproof jacket and another jacket over the top of that, along with a buff and gloves - it was only after 2 laps that I took the outer jacket off, and then another few before I discarded the buff. After about 4 hours I realised that my sodden gloves were making my hands even colder so I left them behind when picking up food and just used the mitts on my waterproof, but there was no way I was taking any of my other layers off!!!

The "least" amount I wore all day,
heading downhill on a good surface
towards the marshalls/aid station

The rain lasted from the start until about 30 minutes before the finish and I don't think I ever had proper feeling in my fingers or toes all day. This made opening wrappers a bit of a saga, hence I ate less than I should have done/had expected to, but again I can blame no-one but myself for that. I was debating/making deals with myself on lap 14 whether I should just run it really slowly so that I did not have time to even attempt another lap (if you started and failed to finish a large lap within the time period, the distance would not count....but I did not really fancy doing several short laps of 600m near to the finish line). Unfortunately (!) I made it round with enough time for another lap, but as it was my last one, I did not pick up anything to eat (I hadn't the previous time either as I talked myself into lap 14 being my last one). I realised that I needed to put in a bit of effort if I was to make it home safely, but whenever I tried my legs wouldn't respond and I felt like being sick. I was the last person to start that that lap so it was rather a lonely one, as many of the marshals had already headed back to the finish area. Finally I spied another man ahead of me and managed to catch up to him. he seemed to be "adopting the run-walk strategy" and although I was "running" the whole time, we weren't moving at very different paces. He reassured me that I would definitely make it in time....which should have been an amazing thing to hear, but it seemed my body reacted to it by going into shut down. By the time I reached the final muddy section round the lake, I was struggling to run, and on reaching the grassy slope I was staggering and hardly walking in a straight line. Although I could see the timing mat about 200m away, I really doubted I would make it - a marshal offered to help me, but I worried about being DQ'd and my whole day being "in vain" so I waved him away.

Freezing at the prize giving!

I remembered that I had an "emergency" gel in my pocket...this was just such an emergency and it revived me enough to get across the line with enough time to be waved onto a short loop. I confess to not running much of the short loop - it was rather in inelegant stagger - but as I had not been aware enough to pick up a peg (which would be used to measure how much of your final short loop you'd covered). Therefore I was able to hear the countdown and know that as long as I crossed that mat at the end of the short loop, there was no point going any further as it wouldn't be counted. I managed it but was then "done" so luckily Toni (one of my friends who'd come to watch the finish) revived me with hot sweet drinks in order for me to get back to Tommy and Karen's tent for a cup of tea and pancakes covered with lashing of jam and butter - they tasted like absolute bliss!!!

Weekend spoils :-)

All in all, it was a good solid long run, except for the self-inflicted wobbles at the end, and I was happy to have run much further than I'd set out thinking I would manage, but the real heroes of the day for me (apart from Tommy and his table of supplies, and Toni at the end) were Fi and Karen who achieved amazing distances in their first ever ultrarun - running 46 and 45  miles respectively as 4th and 8th placed females - epic!!