Recovering & Reflecting

So it's been 5 days now since my first DNF and have had time to reflect and think about my decison.
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First of all thanks so much for the many comments, emails & txts I've had, I'm truly touched by people's concern. I was one of lucky ones & didn't end up in hospital, hope the ones who did have a very speedy recovery.

Waking up on Sunday i was stiff & very sore, didn't stop us waking up stupidly early though. I got cooked a rather wonderful breakfast and afterwards i decided to put some savlon on my now unbandaged legs. Biggest mistake ever. I have never in my life experienced pain like it, i was pacing the floors and trying hard not to cry and try to get the cream off but it was too painful. About half later i threw up my breakfast,never again do i want to go through pain like that. Not sure if there was maybe still some grit in leg or what caused it but I'd rather get a tooth out without anaesthetic instead of that pain.

Few painkillers and about an hour of dabbing leg to get rid of the Savlon aka acid off my leg and i started to feel better. It was a beautiful day and we decided to head out into sunshine for walk to stretch legs and sit in sunny beer garden. Great decision, beautiful day and legs were fine (except for the cuts bruises and sore knees) no after effects from my run, but i guess i only did the 41. Ian was fine too though and had finished the whole race. All good.

Unfortunately i was working on Monday but luckily only til 12 so at least it eased my legs into being back on feet all day. I'm waking up way before my alarm every morning, clearly my body is confused by the concept of rest and wants to run. I've ran wee bits to bus stop to test out how knees felt last 2 days and felt OK but achy by end of day but I'm certainly healing as the days pass.

I thought I'd get a big comedown and that I'd be angry/upset about pulling myself out Fling, i expected it to hit perhaps a few days later but it hasn't. I know i did the right thing,last year I'd have carried on, i know i couldve got to the end even the heat wasn't bothering me so much. But last year my focus was the Fling, this year the focus is so much bigger and luckily i have some common sense deep inside my blond head. So it's all good, really it is.

Last night saw us roaming, not in the gloamin but to Troon. Few months ago Ian decided that was going to be the race to mark his 100th 10k so duly entered us both then told me it was few days after Fling. Fine and dandy i said, I'll be ok. Clearly i hadn't anticipated events and i wasn't so i had to put on my supporters hat for this one. I'll leave all the details for Ian to blog about as it's his moment but most people probably know from Facebook or JK's blog. First people we bumped into were JK & Katrina who was looking very relaxed and happy and went on to get cracking Pb, well done!

It was 11.30 by time we got home and my leg was really achy by then having been up since 5.30am and on feet for most of day. Today has been ok so i may or may not attempt a wee run to work tomorrow. This will determine a whether i should turn up for the cateran 23 on Saturday or not. If leg/knee feels ok by end of day (ie-10hours on feet) then it's do-able, if not then it's a non starter, i guess we'll find out tomorrow.....c'est la vie and all that

Weirdly this week i feel like I've been eating more, not less. Does anyone else get like this when injured? Is it just boredom or is my body genuinely hungry from the weekend's efforts? Usually i get hungry the day after not the week after! I wont need to worry about falling down hills soon I'll be rolling down at this rate......

Not quite to plan

Best Laid plans and all that....

I reckon my training has been spot on for this and i was as ready as I've ever been for a race. No nerves just excitement. Even getting up at 3am wasn't so bad. Not what i said at 3am though, oh no.

We headed off around 4am to pick up one mad Aussie and safely ensconced we set off for Milngavie. Arrived to find carpark full of excitable. First were the Running goddesses that are Sharon & Debs, looking fab as ever. Nervous excitement at start and wasn't too long before Briefing from the ever lovely Murdo "the rules are, there are no rules"Excellent, I'll just get a lift to Tyndrum then shall i?"

Hmm maybe not, not done all this training for nothing you know. So off we go, in first 12 miles i met Iain who's video I'd watched from previous years race the day before, he lives in Twickenham but is from Aberdeen. Also met Louise from south coast who lives in Aviemore doing her 2nd Ultra who'd already had a tumble but was soldiering on regardless. Love the people you meet in Ultra's we're all a friendly bunch aren't we?

Got to First checkpoint bang on schedule and headed off for next section. Sun was shining and it was quite frankly a glorious day to be out on WHW, i felt happy & relaxed. Just past the Drymen where the Forests are being cut down i took a tumble, luckily 2 very nice young men walkers picked me up and offered to patch me up (i was bleeding) but i needed to shake off the shock and carry on running so i thanked them and ran on. They called me "hardcore" lol

Before too long i got first glimpse of Conic Hill, looking amazing in the sunshine.

I really don't mind conic hill at all, i think there are far worse climbs later on in course too worry about. Coming down is harder than going up though.

Caught up with Susan & Fionna here and had chat with them, up and over Conic hill without too much problems and i was very cautious on my downhill having fell earlier. Lots of people were bounding past me but i didn't care,i was tad nervous of falling again and knee/hip & ankle were hurting a bit. Met George & Soph on downhill. Soph saw my leg and offered me her vast medical kit but again i declined and carried on. Got to Balmaha , picked up stuff and carried on. Toilets were trashed, and i don't mean a mess i mean trashed, smashed to bits. Thankfully the ever wonderful Oak Tree was across road and i popped in there. My garmin was telling me it was low on battery and although it's done that before and been fine i decided to take it off. This was after all a training run, it had been drilled into my head enough by Ian and with falling i decided i was going to be a bit careful and not worry (too much) about time.

Lots of uppy downy bits on road to Rowardennan & again i was being bit cautious on downhills. Duncan Mc passed me here and gave me a squeeze, he was powering up those hills (and finished sub9!)Got to Rowardennnan at 5.05, 5mins off target. Had quick chat to Phil the doc and asked how Ian & Liz were getting on. Good & i don't know were the answers.

I was running fair section of this part with Tony & he said to me "crikey this is a really rocky part" I warned him that was nothing, wait til after Inversnaid! Again i only stopped to pick up my bags from Dave & Caroline at Inversnaid and headed off. Ran (ran, who am i kidding?) lots of next section with Ellen, Robert & Penny the dog.

I think i was probably a lot slower over this section than last yr, splits will prob tell story but i was tripping over every stone and banging my knee on every rock i climbed over. Gritted teeth and carried on though. At this point we were starting to get passed by the loads of boys who'd started later, not best place for passing but hey ho. I let Ellen & Robert go ahead of me and just plodded on myself, stopping briefly to say goodbye to the Glory that is Loch Lomond

I'm one of few folk who normally enjoy this section, but the constant banging on knee was starting to hurt. I headed off towards last checkpoint. Only few miles to go, Me & Susan had done this section few weeks back and bounced back along there. I wasn't quite bouncing this time but i was moving forward at least. I knew once i was at beinglas i had made it and I'd "only" have 12miles to go. Really you shouldn't think like that because you really don't know what's around the corner.

Penultimate Style climbed and headed down hill. When i say headed down hill i mean that quite literally. I tripped on a big rock and landed on more big rocks, i was lying face down on hill whimpering and luckily bloke who'd just passed me ran back and picked me up. I could barely stand and was shaking like leaf and close to tears. I told him to go on that I'd be OK and after walking few steps i tried to run. ouch. Walked bit more, tried again, ankle was really hurting, i thought i'd broke my bloody hand and my knee was smashed open again along with few more bruises cuts & scrapes to add to it, along with other leg too. Great.

Tried to keep calm and keep moving, kept trying to break into a run, it was a no go. I knew it was over. Decided there that I'd pull out at Beinglas. Got into there and after being cheered and clapped initially, the Marshall asked if i was ok and i said nope. Paul from my club spotted my legs, and my tears by this point and led me towards checkpoint. George came and hugged me & i cried on his shoulder. He took my hand and took me to the wonderful Neil who thankfully was there waiting to patch me up along with his helper Soph and her extensive medical kit lol

I told George to take my chip off, few people had said why not sit down for bit and see how you feel. I knew if i did that I'd make stupid decision to go on, i knew i could finish, and knew I'd prob still get around 11hr30 but at what cost? The WHW race had to take precedence. So that was that. After my chip was gone i calmed down a bit. Until Neil & Soph started cleaning me that is. ouch. Everything was hurting at this point.

I was bandaged up like Mr Bump, and getting shocked looks from people coming through. And even more shock when they realised id pulled out. Susan somehow found out before she'd even arrived at checkpoint! Everyone was really lovely and looked after me big style. I decided to hang around there til Ian came through in case he also heard before arriving (he did!) and was worried. He made noises about pulling out too but i wasn't having any of it, no way were we having 2 DNF's to go home with! I assured him i was OK and I'd see him in Tyndrum soon enough.

Paul drove me to Tyndrum and bought me an ice cold crabbies. Never has a drink tasted so good. After that we headed off to finish to watch everyone come in. Great too see some cracking times and wonderful to find out Kate & Debs were first & Second. Susan, Karen, Mike & Andy all scored Pb's and were super happy. David had come a long way and was so looking forward to this race and I'm glad to say it lived up to his high expectations Well done everyone, so proud of all of you who finished with a smile.

Got stopped every 2 mins by people asking what the heck i'd done and hugging me. Ian came in then headed for shower and we stayed to watched presentations before getting lift back to Milngavie with the lovely Andy Cole, thanks for saving us from bus!

Thanks to everyone for your concern. Hopefully most of it is superficial , I'm very sore this morning but being well looked after. Weirdly enough my legs are feeling no aftereffects from the 41 miles i've done, just pain in my knees from the bashing and smashing. Hand feels much better than yesterday so i think my drinking days are intact ;)

Bandages are off and here are results.

Are there any lessons here? I don't think so. It's my first DNF and that hurts but it's a fleeting disappointment, i couldn't have done anything different.I'm happy i made it 41miles and it was only a training run after all. There's bigger fish to fry this year. Gutted not to get my bubbly, especially as it was pink stuff, my fave!

Well done to Ellen & Murdo for yet another fantastic race. I fell in love with WHW only 2 short years ago after doing relay and it's changed my life.

Nearly There

So the working week is over, of course i slept badly last night and woke up with sore hip/leg with has continued to be sore throughout day at work. Clearly I'll need crutches by tomorrow.



I've not ran today, I'm tapering.I'm not going to start going on about why everyone annoys me on the bus, or on Princes st, or anywhere in my path actually. Nope, I'm staying calm and happy as can be. No one will spoil my mood, much as I'm sure they'd like to try.

I'm not even nervous!Nothing to be nervous about right? It's a training run, coach keeps drilling that into my head, even whilst handing me the schedule he said it. Saturday will be about running in a beautiful part of the world, enjoying the glorious views and seeing all the other crazies/lovely people who think it's normal to get up in middle of night to eat breakfast.

Just watched a video from last year and it gave me goosebumps, i was more than a bit emotional when i finished after managing to raise £2602 for Marie Curie a charity so very close to my heart. I hope my Mum will watching over me again on Saturday.

In case i don't see you at the start, very best of luck to everyone.

Onwards & Upwards

I've ran every part of the WHW route,having done the Devil & The Fling that much is obvious. But i know the Fling section so much better having done so much training in the lead up to it last year as that was my main focus.

I've covered various sections of upper route in training but i've only covered Kinlochleven to Fort William twice. Once was when i was supporting Jen 2 years ago in WHW race, it was a very long weekend and Jen finished in 34hrs.I ran from Kingshouse to FW so my first ever time up that section was after getting kicked out of community centre and dragging our sorry tired bodies up that godforsaken climb followed by two sweepers. I can remember little about it tbh, or prehaps i've blocked it out.

The second time was during the Devil last yr, having raced 8 times that year already (5 of them Ultra's) it's fair to say i struggled up that section and again managed to delete some of it from my memory. This was clearly something that needed to be addressed. It's Ian's favourite section and with it being kinda crucial to me finishing i needed to find that love, or lose the fear & loathing at least!

Although we've got a scheduled double run covering it next month Ian decided Easter was perfect time to head up there and tackle it from fresh legs point of view. So that's what we did. Arrived Saturday evening in the misty weather & woke to more of same. Hearty breakfast was had and we headed off to get bus to Kinlochleven to run back. Rickety shoogly bus arrived with bus driver cunningly disguised as Dick Turpin as she demanded almost a tenner for 2 single tickets to a place no one in their right mind actually wants to go to ;)

An hour later we arrive feeling like we've taken a trip in a washing machine instead of bus, quick loo stop and i put on my long sleeve top as it was pretty damn cold, yes, even i get cold sometimes too....

So the climb out was as i remembered it, i think in fact i have exact same pic from devil race, except then it was bathed in sunshine. No sun today. Misty, breezy & cold. Not cold enough to stop me taking off jacket, then top. Then 15 mins later putting it all back on again lol !

It does make it look rather mystical & very "highlandy" though, don't you think?

That's Ian in the distance, yes i was ahead of him. Only because he stopped for loo though and i powered on ahead ..as told, always do as I'm told ;)

The mist did start to clear as we headed towards Lundavra though, now I've always called this loondaavraaaah but apparently it's Loooondavra , it's all about the pronunciation you know, bit like Tyndrum. I nearly got my head taken off in wee shop on corner once by Mr shopkeeper for calling it Tindrum. I was told sharply "there's no Tin in Tyndrum, only gold lass" errm ok. Don't mess with the locals is what I'm saying and get those names right OK?

So, we arrived at Lundavra and i was in a happy wee place quite frankly, this wasn't so bad after all, the climbs didn't seem so bad, the endless trek through the barren bits didn't seem to last as long either. I've got wee landmarks to watch out for to signify mileage, I've got tips on how to break it down, mental things (in my head,not crazy mental) things to do to help me get to Lundavra and to that last stage.

So off we trek to the Forest, we even get glimpses of sunshine. Just after saying to Ian that i was really enjoying this section i went down like ton of bricks. Had to happen eh? i should just keep trap shut really. I quickly got up and carried on running, think it's only way to get over shock really. Hand and knee were bit sore but i bit lip and carried on.

On through the Forrest til we found the section that's been preventing people from running there for past few months. What a shocker that was.

So so bare, it made me really sad actually. I love the Forrest's and it just looked so barren. Ian was as pragmatic as ever and said "at least it'll be lighter when you come through here on race day"