Nipping over the Irish Sea

The Frank Duffy 10mile race in Dublin was my first chance to wear a Scottish vest in a roadrace, so I jumped at the opportunity, especially as I hadn’t run a 10 mile race for a couple of years. Flights were booked for us by Scottish Athletics and we checked in online, so it was funny to play “Spot the Runner” in the airport as none of us on the team knew each other very well.

We had all googled the hotel before leaving….and let’s just say that appearances can be deceptive!!! Sarah Inglis and I had a few comedy moments trying to turn our old key in the lock of our room, and listening to the alarms clock next door going off every 15minutes from 6am the next morning.

We had a good evening team “bonding” in the bar after checking in, though it meant I only managed a short catch-up with an old Irish friend living in the neighbourhood who popped round to the hotel to say “Hello”.



Niamh and I after our cool-down jog/gossip



It was a great shame that we couldn’t do justice to the full Irish breakfast pre-race the next morning, but headed off on the bus to the race in good spirits (if not in matching kit)!



There were over 6000 entrants in the race, so it was actually nice to get there early and use the portaloos before the rest of the field arrived. An announcer was telling us to “inspire a generation” that day, on the back of the Olympics, which brought out a smile as we warmed up. I thought I’d been very cunning in spying a large tree to hide behind before the race (and so avoid the portaloos), but the small “lake” on the far side of it, showed me that many others had had similar ideas!

Spotting my friend Niamh on the startline, who was also aiming for the same time as me, was a great bonus and we ended up actually pushing each other to the fastest times we’d ever run, with me finishing just 3 seconds behind. I’m not used to running with others, and so appreciate the opportunity to run in big races with others of a similar speed. I guess it was a compliment that my friend ran on my shoulder for the first 5 miles as she thought I’d be good at pacing the race. She then passed me, which I’d been expecting right from the start, but trying to keep with her spurred me on, and I guess the same applied to her through the hilly second half of the race as our 10^th mile was the fastest of them all! We were both so happy to finish well under our estimated times, and I actually PB’d by almost 4 minutes.

Hmmmm.....getting the flowers back safely might be harder than running the race!



It was a great day for Team Scotland, as the men finished 1^st, 3^rd and 5^th, with the ladies 3^rd and 7^th (so taking the team victory in the Home Countries International), so we celebrated together with a drink at the airport bar….which led to a very giggly flight home from some of the junior team members!

A new generation of races at Moffat

Last year I spent a great weekend participating in the Annan Festival of running. This event consists of 4 races run over different distances and terrains over 3 days. On Friday evening, there is a mile track race followed, after a short break, by a 3.75mile cross-country race. Saturday morning brings a handicapped <6-mile road race and the festival finishes on Sunday morning with a short sharp hill race. Everyone's time is age-sex graded,so making the competition wide-open, with everybody pushing right to the line in every event.



The runners before their mile race

This year, I wasn't able to take part in the festival but I went along to help the organisers, and what better way to spend a sunny Friday evening than cheering/encouraging/timing your clubmates, friends and rivals on the track?! I was then inspired to run my own lonely timed mile while the others were away caking themselves in mud on the cross-country run.

One of the best things about the weekend is the banter and atmosphere........and another is the food provided after the hill run on Sunday. I missed seeing everybody finish racing up and down Hind Hill, but made it to Moffat in time to see the presentations - as the Festival was won overall by the awesome 75yr old Jim Buchanan for the 8th time - and to eat up all the leftover food and cake!!!

The highlight of the weekend was yet to come, as Moffat was also holding Scotland's first ever sheep racing competition that very day. Could you think of a better way of banishing the Post-Olympic Blues? We headed down to the High Street (along with about 3500 other people) to watch the races being held to celebrate Moffat's heritage of sheep farming and the woolen industry.



The Moffat Races!



There were several heats as the sheep (complete with custom-made knitted jockeys) raced down the high street, before the winners went head-to-head in a grand final at the end of the afternoon. Before placing your £1 bet, you could see the sheep in an enclosure by the start, but unfortunately for our friendly sheepstake, my "Lady Ba-Ba" lost out in a sprint finish to both "Sheepshank" and "Sheepshape"  (I just hope the losers didn't end up near the stalls selling lamb chops!!).

The day proved so popular that there was talk of making it an annual event, and even of extending it over 2 days, though whether the reigning champion Lingonberry will return to defend her title is unknown!!

Not so miserable at Moffat

The Moffat 15K run is one of the best “hard training runs” around - where else can you get a good undulating 3.75mile tempo run, a hard trail 1mile up a steep hill as a strength workout, and then 4.6miles of quick road downhill to get the speed up and the legs turning over?

Knowing this doesn’t mean that my enthusiasm for it doesn’t dwindle over the day (it starts at 7:15pm on a Tuesday), especially as the rain didn’t seem to be letting up this year, but then again….the thought of running with clubmates and having the obligatory chips and cider afterwards got me there as usual.

I remembered it being rather hot and windy last year, but my over-riding memory was of a guy tailing me all the way down the long road run to shelter from the headwind, only to sprint past in the last few hundred metres, and I really didn’t want that to happen again.





A rather damp start

It was an interesting start with a couple of guys shooting off in to the distance, but I settled in with the next group of men. It was still drizzling and the puddles stretched all the way across the road so the most direct route wasn’t always the driest. I had thought of trying to tuck in behind some of the guys, but that doesn’t come naturally to me, as I generally just run my own pace, so I found myself leading the group out. I was surprised to be up running with my clubmate David as he’s much quicker than me, but it was fun to push on in front on the inclines and then watch him speed away from me on the downhills.



David and I after the finish



Most runners dread the uphill (especially on such a wet, muddy day) but I was actually looking forward to it. That was the last I saw of David as he comes into his own on hills, but although several of the men pulled away from me initially, I overtook them again one by one as the relentless climb continued.



Downhill is not my forte, but back on the road, the main aim was just to keep the legs turning as quickly as possible. Two guys ran past chatting as if they were just out for a stroll, but I noticed that they then stayed the same distance in front of me all the way down into town.

It was lovely to see the tape at the finish line and discover I’d improved on my time from the year before by 40 seconds, despite the trail marathon just 10 days previously…..and be only 2 mins away from Edinburgh Commonwealth Games particpant Lorna Irving’s course record. Most of the guys who’d been in front of me were there to shake my hand as we got our tea and Mars bars - including Mickey Breen, who won the race by a considerable margin in another quick time.

Many locals were out to line the roads at the finish and we could stand there with our cuppas, cheering everyone else in……2^nd lady was my clubmate Lisa who had a fantastic run…..and I was really impressed to see 29 members of my club racing on a miserable night.

A very muddy day in the Lakes

After Comrades, I though it was important to get some off-road running in before the Davos Swissalpine, and spend some time out on my feet, so when Graham Patten of Lakeland Trails offered me a place to run the Coniston Trail Marathon, I thought it was an ideal opportunity. Unfortunately, a relatively sleepless night courtesy of a youth hostel group room didn’t bode well for a good run.

The course itself looked quite challenging, with >2200 feet of ascent and descent over the marathon distance. The weather seemed to have improved somewhat from the torrential overnight rain, but this was just the lull before the storm as it recommenced while we were marshalling for the 9am start. My waterproof jacket was so wet within 5 minutes of the start that I decided to hand it over to Doug who was waiting for the later half-marathon start. Skin is meant to be waterproof and it was definitely comfier without sleeves but it wasn’t fun with the strong winds, driving rain, and poor visibility on the upper parts of the route.

Through the village, having already ditched the "waterproof" jacket

 The initial course involved a lap and a half of a muddy school field (trying to avoid falling in the longjump pit in the crowds)  then went straight up through the village towards the coppermines, before heading off on a variety of trails and roads. We ran on both steep tarred roads and rocky trails along the route of Yewdale Beck (quite literally so in places) and over Oxen Fell, before crossing over to lap Tarn Hows. I was running alone for much of this portion, and there were few people out in the bad weather, though a “friendly walker” told me at one point that he’d left the gate ahead unlatched and I just needed to push it. This made a welcome change as every other gate needed to be unlatched, opened, closed and relatched, so I ran full tilt into it with my hand out to push it……only to find that it had become relatched…..owwww!!!

Round the final field, still carrying the gels!

The lap of Tarn Hows was a great feature as it meant you could catch up and run with runners further back in the field starting their Lakeland run before being directed up onto the fells to run along the length of the lake. It was a great shame to miss the amazing views due to the thick clag (a friend later told me how uplifting he found it to see the clouds breaking over the lake as he ran along), but I breathed a sigh of relief to be down the horrendously wet, slippy, muddy, shaly descent at the far end of the lake. The relief was shortlived as the route then directed us away from the shoreline for a couple of miles through deep bog which was completely unrunnable, due to ankle-deep mud with many hidden slippy rocks underneath. Many people ended up wearing more of the mud than they waded through. The last few miles really took their toll on tired legs as they were on narrow paths by the lake, and if not concentrating 100% competitors would trip and stumble on the roots and stones. The challenge event had started 2 hours prior to the marathon race and followed the same course so there was great support and encouragement as faster runners passed the earlier starters (though this was not always easy on the narrow paths). We again finished by running round the muddy school field, though this time I was so focussed on just getting to the end that I don't recall even seeing the longjump pit, so I guess I was lucky not to end up in it!

"One-size fits no-one"survivor t-shirts!

The race was run by International Mountain Runner Ben Abdelnoor in an amazing 2:53, but I was very happy to finish 5^th overall and 1^st lady in 3:21, especially considering that I hadn’t taken on the gels I’d been carrying round the course, as my hands were too cold and I just wanted to get back to the warm hall and hot food at the finish. Doug was back from the half-marathon ahead of me, even though a missing marshal had meant that several of them ran off route for some extra training. All in all, it was a great course (and good solid Swissalpine training – weather included) and I would have really enjoyed it in slightly better weather…….in fact, I cannot believe I am actually thinking of taking up my prize of another free entry to the race next year!

A week of education in Davos

It was an interesting week in the Alps leading up to the Swiss Alpine K78.

I was gutted to have missed out on the podium by 4 seconds last year, but the 4^th place prize was 3 nights accommodation in a 5star hotel in Davos so it was actually very enjoyable using it this year. Checking out the hotel’s facilities, I have to say that I’m not quite sure about the continental love of naked saunas…….it doesn’t leave much room for runners to display their sponsor’s logos!

The Davoser See - a lovely lake to run around

 On a day when my clubmates back home were running a 5mile race as part of our Grand Prix, I decided to join in and so ran a local time trial….almost the same distance, just at a mile higher in altitude. This consisted of a choice of 1 or 2 laps around a beautiful lake (the Davoser See), and even though a friend from Glasgow suggested the best thing to do was to stop when you were ahead, I continued on for a second lap even though I was the leading lady on the first lap. Amazing how tough it can be to put in the effort when you’ve just arrived at altitude, but it was a great confidence boost to hang on for the win, finishing 3^rd overall.

On another day we wandered into town to hunt down a coffee shop, but I was easily persuaded up a mountain by the promise of a slice of rhubarb cake to go with said coffee. Unfortunately the trip down the mountain proved rather more exciting than anticipated as lightning stopped the cable car while we were in it…….but I guess a night spent at that increased altitude would have helped with the acclimatization!!

On the roads early in the race

A day trip to St Moritz for some posh birthday cake rounded off the week of carb-loading, but somehow none of it made the race seem easier, though that might have been affected by the late night pre- race, watching the Olympic Opening ceremony and trying to understand what was going on (not being able to understand the German commentary didn’t help this!).

The race itself was slightly different to the course of the previous year. In 2011 there had been a lovely stretch of trail along a river and through woods, winding up over a pass to drop down into Bergun (which is where the K42 runners started). This year that section had to be altered due to landslides, and so unfortunately we ended up having to toil up a winding tarred mountain road for what seemed like an interminable time….and very nearly broke me!

On the podium!

As we headed up into the high mountains, the weather really closed in, and it was quite scary having thunder and lightning bouncing all round you. In a way though, the weather helped me, as I could only see a few yards ahead and so I could only focus on myself and pushing on to keep warm in the rain and hail. It turned out (as I saw when the cloud lifted) that I had significantly closed the gap on the lady ahead of me, which encouraged me to push on ahead of her after the first summit, and I never looked back. The sun came out in the latter stages of the race, which made for a great atmosphere at the finishline, as we could all sit around and chat (and drink the free beer – even though it was alcohol-free) as we waited for friends to come in. I was delighted to have finished on the podium this year behind 2 amazing ladies that both live and train at altitude in the Alps – Jasmine Nunige and Lizzy Hawker – especially considering that I am a sea-level dweller myself.

I have to confess that while actually running the K78, it seemed much harder than I remembered from last year, but a few days afterwards, the tough times have been forgotten and all that remains are the memories of beautiful scenery and mountains, and awesome weather. How often do you run an ultramarathon that includes track, road, forest trail, steps, crosscountry, tunnels, viaducts, suspension bridges, alpine trail and high mountain passes while experiencing a muggy haze, rain, hail, thunder and lightning and then sunshine all in the one day?

The Karrimor Great Trail Run

My first Scottish vest!

It may seem like a very unusual thing for me to be doing, running a 10K trail race 2 weeks after Comrades, but for me it was an important run as it was my first official outing in a Scotland vest. I had made the difficult decision to “declare” for Scotland rather than England a couple of weeks previously, and this was making it official, as once you’ve run in a country’s vest, then the only way to change allegiance is if you have a 2 year break from competition.



I was very apprehensive about the run, as the Elite field was setting off alone, well ahead of the main races. Looking at the programme, I definitely seemed to be the odd one out as all the others were more trail/hill runners, and all seemed to race shorter distances than myself. I figured that at least there would be no pressure on me, as there were 3 of us ladies running for Scotland, and only the first 2 count in the International Competition, so I could just try to push down other lower placed counters for the other countries.



There was a problem with kit, but the only option I had was to run in my Scotland vest and knickers…..not the usual dress for the muddy, wet Lake District. Lewis (1 of the Scottish men) and I went for a warmup run up the main descent on the course and I decided that I would be happier in my road shoes than trail shoes, as there was little distance actually to run on grass, and the extra cushioning would help my Comrades-battered feet.



The senior men, junior men and senior ladies all started together, with the junior ladies starting at the same time, but from halfway round our course. I have never been a sprinter, and so hate starts, but there’s usually a big field to hide in. Unfortunately that was not the case for this event, so within a couple of seconds I was several meters behind and actually heard someone in the crowd say “Ah, the poor thing!”

By the time we’d run a lap and a half on the field….which was rather boggy and “undulating”, I’d rejoined the others and made up a few places and so was just behind Clare, the 2^nd Scottish lady. After making our way down a narrow path, we then had to climb up steps to the old railway line, but you could only go the pace of the person in front. The railway line was rough but easy running so I worked my way gradually past ladies here, knowing the hill and especially the steep downhill, would probably be my undoing.

My leg strength always surprises me…..and this race was no exception…..so I managed to reel in more positions as we climbed up onto the shoulder of Latrigg, so as we started to descend I was just behind the last junior man and the last English counter. I tried to disengage my brain and let my legs take me down the hill (knowing how long and how steep it was from a very useful run down it earlier in the week….though admittedly in nicer weather), and so was only passed by one flying lady. My road shoes held out well, though they did make the final 100m run-in quite comedic for the spectators as it was ankle-deep mud there, but I suspect any shoes would have slipped.

I was overjoyed to be first home for Scotland, and find out that we were 2^nd Nation overall…….who better to celebrate it with, (over a Father’s Day lunch) but my father who’d come over to watch!

Almost Galloping at Grasmere

What better way to recover from a huge road ultra, than to enjoy running on the Lake District trails with your clubmates?

This weekend’s Grasmere Gallop was the first of the club’s Grand Prix races that I’d taken part in, due to having the dreaded PF earlier in the year. I had enjoyed the run a week later last year, but this year was less than a week after Comrades….eek!

It is a nice walk through the village to the start behind a piper, checking out pubs and cafes for future visits. A nice low-key run like this with mates is great as there’s always banter at the start, eyeing up others…and certain types of running gear, and deciding who our targets were. I couldn’t run too hard, with a big race just behind me, and an important one coming up the following weekend, but I just had to make sure I came back as first lady for the club for the GP points.

We started off climbing steadily up hill on road, and then were led off onto the trail proper. This part of the run became very scenic as we kept high above both Grasmere and Rydal Water before winding down on slippery shale to the lakeside path. The big decision of the course is usually whether to climb over rocks by the shore or dash through the water. Last year the water was shallow and I made up a place or two by opting for that route. I had no option this year as a marshal and a runner were blocking the rocky path, but the water was much deeper so it was a definite slow thigh-deep wade. At least it meant that afterwards I had no worries about running through streams, while others were still trying to keep their feet dry.



Round the carpark towards the cakes!



We climbed up away from the water and then descended to the next beach, but this time we could stay dry along the shore. As we got back up to the road where we’d left it, we started passing people who were out for the shorter race option which led to nice shouts of encouragement. I had not seen any other ladies so knew I could relax down the hill again and enjoy the run through the village and round the carpark into the finish where the cakes were waiting.

It was a lovely race and well-marshalled, with lots of tasty cakes free for runners at the end, but yet again I missed seeing the famous “caves” en route…..and I was surprised to see myself in the results not as 1^st lady, but as the 2^nd V50male, but then again another clubmate Doug (who is a V50man) was recorded as an 11yr old girl!!!