What can be better than a mid week run on a beach and through a forest? How about you throw in a cheeky wee crepe? Oh, go on then.
This is to be my last random mid week run as I move job to more regular working hours. I also just passed my driving test and so decided this would be my first solo drive. Tentsmuir forest, A place so brilliant It should be known the world over. It also meant I didn't had to travel too far as I've never filled the car up with petrol and some traditions should remain so.
Also, why didn't anyone tell me having a car is just so much easier. I didn't need to look at bus time tables, pack loads of spare kit to change into after so I don't get cold and a two hour run doesn't take up the whole day getting there and back on the bus.
Once setting off apart from nervously trying not to crash I also wasn't sure what run my legs were up for. I had to do either: 10 x 1km repeats, 15 km easy or 21km easy. My legs were still a little sore so I ditched the 1km's. They belong to a day that wont be made any worse by wanting to vomit at 5 minute intervals.
So we would wait and see how I felt and play it by ear on the 15/21km issue. Having arrived safely at the car park by Tayport and only checking 7 or 8 times I'd locked the car I was off. Considering it's winter and fife has been hit by some truly horrible weather recently it was a perfect day for running. I decided to head to the beach and try to see some seals. Once passed the entrance I didn't see another soul until I got back to Tayport.
I started off skirting round the forest toward the nature reserve and beach. Once there the views were great. There's something about the beach that makes you smile. It's infectious, I found myself running along with a huge cheeser on my face for no other reason than I was happy in that moment.
The smile didn't last too long though as sand is bloody hard work on the legs. 15km it was. once round the corner of the nature reserve I went closer to the beach to try and see some seals and get to firmer footing. Sadly I got neither, though I did run through the water. Yes I'm a child.
All this happy care free running though wasn't helping the state of my legs so I decided to head inland towards the forest looking for some of the fun single track stuff that the mountain bikers use. This is my favourite part of the forest as you never know which way it'll turn next.
After a while I got to some diversions where the forestry commission are taking some trees down by the main car park due to high winds. This meant either I turn back and go the way I came or I run round the diversions and do the 21km. A wee swither to myself and off I went in search of a new path. That mean running though the dunes. Finally I made it onto gentle well maintained forest path. Hallelujah. The last few miles flew by with the hope that I could get a crepe if I got a move on.
What's that I hear you ask. A crepe? Did I run to France? Oh no, Tentsmuir just got even better. Due to the forestry works the 'crepe shake has moved from the Main Car Park to the Tayport entrance of the forest and now sits perfectly for me to get a post run snack. It's like running god's blessed me.
On a serious note, the Crepe shack seems to have been established for a wee while now. It was my first time and I loved the product and the idea. Fife, Dundee and Scotland in general needs more of these great entrepreneurial businesses. If you fancy a wee walk or a cycle/run treat give it a go. Brilliant stuff.
My view to eat my crepe
Lastly this was my route and pace etc. The drops tent to be me either looking for a place to turn or taking a photo. The run ended up with 89m of gain which although not a lot seems crazy for such a flat route.
I know I say it a lot but don't you just Love this place.
For the last year I've had a secret dream. Something I've only dared whisper while sleeping. This week I was forced to either continue dreaming or wake up and step forward.
Last August Mrs A and I found ourselves in the centre of Chamonix town square where we came across the finishing line of the 5 UTMB ultra races. It was a truly inspirational setting and I found it utterly captivating, I posted about it here The emotion within the square was palpable and infectious. On one of the nights we sat having a beer watching everyone pass through the town, every finisher was totally spent and utterly happy. I decided there and then that I wanted to cross that finish line. The UTMB race is spectacular in its length and challenge. This would be too much. There is however a smaller race. The Orsières - Champex - Chamonix (OCC). If you can count 32mile/ 53km and 3,300m/10876 feet of ascent as short. Some bizarrely do.
Unfortunately the shear size and popularity of these races mean that in order to enter you need to have earned enough UTMB qualification points to enter. Fortunately as the OCC is the shortest and easiest (I cringe when referring to this as easy) of these races you only need one point to be able to enter. The points are allocated based on how hard/ long the qualification race is. Because I haven't researched properly I only now realised that you need to have 1 qualification point to enter the OCC in 2016. With there only being so many races left this year I have had to act quickly. The only achievable race that I felt I could do was in either October or November. With the weather in the UK a factor I choose to enter the Round Ripon Ultra in October.
The round Ripon Ultra is a 35 mile Circular route ultra that has 2856ft/ 870 metres of ascent and takes place on Saturday 3rd October through Yorkshire.
Ideally I would have longer to train and get ready for this but sometimes you need to step forward and take stake your claim. I wont break any records but if I'm willing to entertain the idea of entering the OCC. I need to be fit and strong enough to complete this. More and more I have been reading Ultra Blogs and podcasts. Mainly because of the sense of community they have. I haven't had any desire to enter an Ultra especially the huge distances but the smaller ultras do hold an appeal generally because they tend to involve beautiful places and great terrain.
All of this means that I have to ensure I am running regularly and at a decent level. I haven't posted recently but I have been running or hill walking but without any structure or even using my Garmin regularly.
I have 16 weeks to prepare but that includes a big US holiday and the inevitable nightshifts that my job brings. I'm not sure if that gives me enough time to prepare or if I have enough of a base, but that's life. I have spent the day looking at various training plans and am not sure what the best way forward is. One thing I have been looking into for a while is getting a running coach. Originally this would have been after Christmas to train for the OCC (last year you didn't need any qualification points). They aren't cheap though and although I understand that there will likely be huge benefits from getting some proper structured help I can't stop myself thinking 'it's only running'. A statement I'm sure I'll regret putting into ink. Either way I'll have to decide soon.
It's been about a month since the Loch Katrine marathon. Since then I've only been on a couple of runs, all of them 4 miles or under. Instead I've been out on my bike trying to ensure I can get pulled around the Red route of the Kinross sportive. So I've been trying to get out and so 3-4 rides a week of between 10-30 miles working under the rule that consistant training is better than one big session If I'm honest, my arse couldn't take one big ride of 50 miles without a little cycling acclimatisation.
This has had a number of effects on my overall fitness but to cut a long story short my mate Steve dragged me out on a 'long ride' to last week to see if we had the 68mile red route in us. After I had repeatidly begged him to cut it short, (alas the river tay is a fine natural obstacle) we ended up doing 55 miles from Fundee through to Fife, Perth and then back via Scone. This also married up rather akwardly with some great weather and a rare Friday off for my better half. So after 55 miles (the furtherst I have every cycled by a huge margin) I ended up going to Dunkeld and walking the inver route through the Hemitage and along the river. To my suprise the next day I felt good. Not great, but I wasn't walking as if I'd been spanked by and angry grocer for stealing apples. Not something I do often I might add.
So after all of that the only thing left to do was to pass myself off as a fitness expert, use all of the pseudo science I can muster. I'll be using ideas so shaky they're too insecure to look 'BroScience' in the eye and test my fitness
Bring in the Beast, or at least the Ben. No, not 'The Ben', my Ben. Ben Vrackie.
Ben Vrackie
This is by far one of the most fun walks to do if you want to get into hill walking as it is challenging enough for you to earn your pint at the finish. Also, low and behold there's a pub at the finish.
I ran this route roughly 6 months ago completing it in 89:51 I started that a little early so will cut of the appropriate time etc... (why let details get in the way of a good story)
Inorder to add a little scientific vigor I proceded to alter 90% of what I did in the lead up to this run, though I think I was post nightshift in both. Instead of cycling I walked from Pitlochry train station up but made sure it was at a good pace, I was in shorts and didn't want to get cold. It was also a lot hotter, a little less blowy but I still had much to much in my bag. So all things being far from equal but hopefully still meaningful I set off for the top. It was strange being on the hills so late in the day. I got into Pitlochry at about 12:10 but normally head out first thing. This did mean that I had plenty of people to reel in as I made my way through the first section. As is often the case with steep hills I soon adopted a run walk strategy of running past someone then walking again ;) Before the start I hoped that I could do finish in 80 minutes but that might be the disney dreamer in me. After all my last run further than parkrun was a month ago.
I tried to run more than I did last time thinking that a slower more consistant pace might be quicker than running up hill only to stand still and get my breath back pretending to take photo's as an excuse......
The going is pretty good until you get to the loch, after that it's about putting one foot infront of the other and focusing on moving forward consistantly. The weather was pretty good but I was still getting too hot and I was only wearing shorts and T-shirt. The sweat and snot was streaming off me quicker than a waterfall. At the top I was surprised to still see some snow as you come round the back of the top. There is something pretty cool about running through snow in shorts. Once I had got gotten over the Rocky daydream I decided to put on my cycling arm warmers. Yes runners, cyclists have far more, and better acessories. The start of the down was still far slower than I think it should be. I kept putting on the breaks as I didn't want to fall on what I view as technical downs. Once back onto the loch side I realised that my quads were shot. I remembered the last section being the most fun last time as you could just take of the brakes and go. The path is smooth, wide and easy but my legs were already gone. I kept having to slow down which probably put more strain on them. Once at the final wooded section I knew I'd 'beat' my last time but that I wouldn't make 80 mins.
Once I had finally finished my legs were screaming at me and I think the bloke coming down a minute after me must have thought I was mad as I wasn't running anywhere and stopped very suddenly. Pleased to have finished quicker and convinced my 'up' was faster than last time but that my 'down' was the slightly slower I was keen to compare.
shattered
As a committed scientist a checky wee half pint was in order before the analysis. Well it would have been if I didn't realise the next train was in 20 miuntes and the next one not for 3 hours. I drank as much as I could in one go (I'm not 20 anymore) and ran to the train starion as quickly as I could, via the chip shop. I made the train with not much time to spare looking a sweaty mess. About to infuriate everyone by being the bloke that takes chips on the train and stinks the carriage out. I'm not sorry though, they were good chips and I earned them.
SO what does the 'science' show?
Before looking at the numbers I was convinced that they would show improvements on the up but not the down. The down hill felt so hard I was convinced the lack of specifically running down hill in the last month would hit me hard. I was surprised to show only moderate improvements in my climbing especially as I felt I had climbed much better with more running than last time. I also thought that the last month of cycling would have translated into good hill running. So, having to throw out the projected hypothesis that cycling and consistent training would help me running up hill but not down what does it all mean? I think it shows that the last 6 months of consistent training had meant my CV fitness has improved and all the focus on down hill running for Loch Katrine is still in there somewhere.
(Update, one day later my quads are in tatters)
I also think the last year is the first time I've trained consistently 3-4 times a week for a solid period since leaving University. Because of this, my overall CV fitness has seen the benefits. Perhaps this is the reason for the improvements. It's sometimes nice to think that a short intensive block of exercise can dramatically change your overall fitness but I think the reality is long term habits and consistent training over a long period trump miracle cures. Sometimes shit is just hard and there aren't any quick fixes or miracle cures. Trust me I've looked for them. I'm slowly learning it's about small consistant patterns of behavior change. A slightly dull and simple truth, but true.
So.......
Next week I've got the cycle and then after I'm going to focus on getting out in the hills more. Although I don't have any firm races in mind I might see if I can do the Ben Ledi hill race, though that's all dependant on the God of Offduty.
The Frostbite trail series is set up and run by the Falkland Trail Runners, self titled the 'psycho squirrels'. The series runs over four races roughly once a month from November through to February. The top three races counting towards an overall score. You enter all four races and for £22 and you get to run around the trails of Falkland Palace four times covering 3.4ish miles a time and 'enjoy' a total of 16 stream/river/estuary crossings. Not only that, they throw in a shiny medal, some water, and even a wee protein bar.
Anna and I signed up to make sure that we ran through the winter months but it kind up snuck up on us all of a sudden. The first race on November 23rd came up quickly. With Anna run down with a cold I took a MTFU tablet and went via train and cycle (I can hear my Grantham friends screaming 'Does he still not drive?' sadly, NO!). The cycle was reasonably straight forward, not too taxing and made me feel a bit of a bad ass cycling to a race. Really I should have cycled all the way without the train, but lets be honest that would have broke me. Anyway, back to the race. Arriving into Falkland I was amazed to see signs and Marshall's everywhere directing people from the parking in the centre of Falkland to the start in the grounds of the palace.
This was well organised.
At the start area there was a really friendly atmosphere, but a LOT of club vests. Now of the few races I've done before club runners have always been friendly but they have also always been quick. So I was a little nervous that I might be totally outclassed but it turns out the mix of runners was really good, from some really quick ones to everyone else. With me hoping to be somewhere in the middle (almost average). At the start the MC/race director did a great job of getting everyone in the mood and was funnier than most.
at the start area, before the madness
Race 1
Once the race started we did two laps of a field to split us up a bit then we went out onto the trail for two laps of the large loop before a final lap of the field to finish. The route was varied with some tarmac at the start, then we headed downhill towards the trees and the first stream/river crossing. It was a distance that ensured you had to make a conscious decision about whether you try and jump it, or just run through. I went safe and just ran straight through. Short legs make these decisions easy. Coming out of the stream there was a cruel quick and sharp uphill with that got muddier and muddier.
steeper and deeper than it looks. Photo credit to Gordon Donnachie
We then continued round the trees and then went back through the stream which was slightly less deep but no less cold. After another short sharp up to get over the bank and another log we hit a gradual uphill back to the field. I found this uphill really hard, my quads took a pounding over the short sharp ups and downs but thankfully being a short race it was over quickly. The second lap was more of the same but I was able to pace myself a little better knowing what was coming and to save something for the end. As you came back up to the field we did a final lap with some more commentary for the MC giving people a wee lift heading into the finish. The atmosphere at the finish was great and the sun allowed people to hang about and chat to friends. All that was left was for me to pack up and cycle back to the train, motivated by the knowledge if I didn't catch the next one I would have to wait another 90 mins.
I Finished the course in 29:37 coming 75th/188.
Race 2
If the weather for the first race was perfect then race two was very different. Anna was feeling better so with the bike safely locked up we drove through to Falkland. The weather was really windy and with heavy rain forecast it was going to be a cold slog. Anna was a little nervous about the water elements and as I was still trying to complete Marcothon so I decided to run with her. The route was the same and as I knew what to expect I could enjoy myself and we blethered round until we got to the first stream estuary. The bad weather meant that the water was noticeably higher so you got really, really wet. After the second water 'feature' we headed back up hill and I think Anna also felt it hard on the legs and the lungs.
Photo credit to Cris Wilson
After a little walk we started the second lap and took on the stream and logs jumps with more vigour finishing strong but the weather was bad enough for us to head straight back to the car after collecting out medal, even managing a wee jog back into Falkland to make sure we didn't get too cold. To the credit of Falkland trail runners they dealt with the bad weather brilliantly despite it being too windy to put up the finishing line or gazebo they used the cricket club for registration and general loitering instead.
Anna and I came home in 112th and 111th/179 with a time of 33:11 (before my dad asks, no I didn't let Anna finish before me)
Race 3
Knowing that because of work commitments I wouldn't be able to run in the 4th event I was keen to try and beat my time from the 1st event at the 3rd event. The weather was promising to be horrid with some snow the day before at high ground and heavy rain forecast for the 11am start. Thankfully the rain held off for most of the race but the organisers made the decision the day before to change the start of the race from the field to the duck ponds.
Photo credit to Gordon Donnachie
This and several other changes to the route meant that I spent the first lap not laving a clue where we were going but it was a great route and in my opinion better than the original (both were fun though). With more up and down trail, less tarmac and the 2nd stream crossing moved to nearer the finish line it probably suited me a bit better. The start crept up on me a little as I was expecting a little more chat from the MC again but I'm not sure I could have waited much longer in the cold. As we went over I passed a few runners but seemed to settle into a good pace and matched most of the people around me except a few that flew passed me on the first down hill where I went over my ankle slightly. I managed to keep running and the pain disappeared quickly. The path through the Forrest was really boggy but great fun to run through. Not knowing where we were going next kept me on my toes. After about half of the first lap we rejoined the old route and went through the first crossing of the stream which surprisingly felt lower than before short legs meant I still ran through it. As we were more spaced out the log jump straight after was much easier as you had room to move. The last uphill was still harder than it should have been but I just need to run more hills. The second lap was hard and I seemed to yo yo a few runners making a small gain on the few ups. I slipped on the last stream but managed to make a couple of final place gains in the last sprint to the line.
Photo credit to Gordon Donnachie
I finished in 28:14 mins coming in 46th/157. Anna smashed her previous placing and finishing in 32:01 in 88th/157
A medal so good it ended up on the christmas tree
For this race the Falkland trail runners had hired the village hall and it seemed to work really well as there was a central place everyone could get changed and use the toilets etc.
As the course was different I don't think I can compare the first and third race times despite my placing improving dramatically. I think it would be dangerous to look too much into that. I'll have to wait until the final race to see my overall score but hopefully I'll finish around the middle of the pack. I'll certainly be entering more of the Falkland trail running races, of which there are many.
Below is a screen grab of the two routes.
The first being 3.39 miles with 142 feet ascent. The second being 3.49 miles and 157 feet ascent.
Route of the first 2 races
Route of the 3rd race
Ultimately I'm happy that over the three months of the series I
continued to run and train. These races being part of the motivation.
Thanks again to Falkland Trail Runners, all the Marshall's, volunteers and masses of people that helped out at this great event. There is a real sense of enthusiasm at these races and it was a great introduction to winter racing. There was also a huge amount of photographers and videos made around the event which is an added bonus and makes it good to look back on. I'm a big fan of taking photos of these sorts of events as I think they will make great memories and provide something to look back on later in life. So thanks again everyone.
Good luck to everyone competing in the final event in February .
Some videos below made by Malcy M
Frostbite event 1
Frostbite event 2
Frostbite event 3
Next up is the Forfar Half Marathon which I'm really looking forward to. I'm not sure I'll be able to beat my last time but we'll see on the day. If you read the blog and are there on the day please feel free to say hello.
Next post on the Blog will either be about the Forfar Half or I might try and write something on BIG running V's WEE running that I've been mulling over since reading Running Free by Richard Askwith.
Friday, 6am. My alarm goes off and because I watched the rather inspiring Adventure Show last night instead of hitting snooze, going back to sleep and repeating this until roughly 10am. I got up and went to Pitlochry for a run. The weather looked like a mixed bag of tricks, with some low cloud and a little cold wind. For anyone that reads this that doesn't already know me you might be wondering why I got up at 6 am to go for a run that's only an hour away by car.
I don't drive- what a relief to finally admit it. This makes getting to all those beautiful places that I want to run in a little harder to get to. As today proved, it's not hard to get to pitlochry, however it is a little frustrating with the 20 minute journey to Perth on the train followed by a 40 minute wait in a cold train station only for another 20 minute train to Dunkeld, Pitlochry and Blair Atholl et al. This means that my sometimes, okay mostly, I plan to go to these amazing places but forgo it for a long lie and a lazy morning.
Today was different, if you want to know why please just watch the adventure show and I dare you not to want to go out and do something cool.
So, With the bike in tow to make sure I got a little extra in bed I went off to get the 06:50 train arriving in the amazing Pitlochry (though if I'm honest I like Dunkeld a little more but it doesn't have the Moulin Inn). But Pitlochry is still pretty amazing and has at least 10-20 walks that are easily turned into runs to suit everyone. Arriving at 08:44 I got into pitlochry and cycled up to Moulin to begin the Ben Vrackie walk.
There are many great pubs that start/finish walks but this has to be one of the best, long enough to get views and work up a sweat and with the best post walk pint in Scotland. Especially for an Autumn run. If you haven't been to the Moulin Inn before then get on it. The walk itself is fairly straight forward and the best route is found on walkhighlands with many finer walk reports than I'm about to regurgitate. This is also a great website for anyone that wants to start walking.
It starts from a car park that was empty, with an initial slightly steep climb along a well made path through some trees before it opens up onto open moor land. You don't initially get to see Vrackie, but as you work yourself up and around towards Loch a'Choire It gently creeps into view. There was a lot of mist about at this point but visibility was never really a problem.
This first section through the Forrest and up to the Loch is fairly steep but runnable for most hill runners. I ended up run/walking as I'm not a proper hill runner ;) and to make sure I had enough energy for the down. That and a blog without photo's isn't much fun.
Near the loch is pretty flat and great fun, you then hit the steep section just past the Loch where I was power walking up. At this section there was a little more mist, but you could see not too bad. This is a blog not a public service post but please take a map and compass intot he hills and know how to use it. Either go on a course learn from a friend or learn from this book, just dont buy the kindle version.
my first time in any clag, strange but it lifted quickly
The route from the loch to the top to the top is pretty relentless but once at the top you are faced with some beautiful 365 degree views and when its clear you can see the Beinn a Ghlo hills that I would like to try running when a little better at this uphill malarkey.
Once at the top I went a little mad with the selfies. Not sure if man points subtracted is greater or less than man points gained for trying to run it. Either way, cue lots of my tired, sweaty face.
Made it to the top in 57 minutes. Once there, post selfies the only thing to do is head down. Having read about all these crazy fell runners I can only imagine the horror if they were to gaze upon my Bambi on ice footwork as I descended. In my defence wet grass, trail shoes and flat rock made me nervous about a slip. Though it's clear a faster descent would make me quicker. Once back to the loch the trail is perfect for fast descending and you can really let the breaks off (well for me). It was really fun going down and I made it back to the car park to complete the route in 90 minutes.
Once finished, I realised that I hadn't planned to be as quick. All you whippets remember this blog is called almost average runner. Finishing at 10:50 meant not even I could justify a pint in the Moulin at that time of day. However I ended up going into town and getting a coffee and Danish at a lovely cafe then making the 11:20 train back to Bonnie Fundee meaning i was back in the promised land before 13:00.
This is a great run and one that can be done by non drivers. Next week I'll try and get a run done in either Dunkeld or Blair Atholl, though it's maybe a little late in the year to head into the Munroes of Blair atholl to try and run them as most are fairly long runs.
Anyone got any trail runs that are good for Public transport? Or have you became an inadvertent duathlete by making sure you can get to the start of a trail run?
The weekend had finally arrived. Glen Clova is a beautiful and magical place. If you haven't visited please take a weekend and enjoy a beautiful area that isn't nearly as popular as it should be.
Anyway back to the event itself. I had arrived on the Friday with the aim of spending the weekend (more of that later) on the Friday there was a lot of relatively low lying fog. The event organisers Tayside Mountain Rescue (TMR) organised free camping in the field opposite the the Glen Clova Hotel and after work I set out to Glen Clova, pitched my tent and did what any highly trained athlete would do and went into the bar for a pint and something to eat.
A couple of hours later I happened upon Jurgen and her pals. Jurgen had been the one who had put me onto this event in the first place and her and her friends welcomed me into there group for a few beers and some fun chat. Perhaps not the finest of pre-race routines in the world but we were camping, it's Scotland and I'm not exactly a 'honed' athlete.
After heading to bed and getting a mixed nights sleep, I woke to realise two things, 1. If ever deciding between a self inflating mat and a a good old fashioned roll mat. Go with the good old fashioned roll mat. If it can break it will break. I've yet to see a roll mat 'deflate' 2. Despite number 1. Camping is fun, it just makes things feel like a bit more of an adventure.
Anyway, race day was upon us and I woke to find that the sun had come out and Glen Clova hotel had put on a wonderful set of breakfast rolls. Filled with a Lorne roll that contained at least three well fed pigs I relaxed in the baking sun for an hour before getting into zone- putting shorts and a T shirt on. Being my first ever Mountain race event I was a little cautious in the bag I used for the run and made sure I had full water proofs and some food in my bag for transition.
The Duathlon Route
The first leg of the Duathlon was a 16.7 miles Cycle with 580m ascent (sorry for mixing imperial and metric, it's just the may my brain works) around the base of the glen.We were to start in waves of 20. As my group started it soon became clear that I am a slow cyclist. I was bursting a gut to try and stay with people but even then I was quickly 'dropped' by the proper cyclists despite covering the first two miles in 6 minutes 38 seconds. After that I decided to be sensible and just stick to my pace and see how i go making sure not to trash my legs too much for the hike section, this is supposed to be fun isn't it. During the first half of the cycle I chatted to a few people and everyone seemed to be enjoying it. After about 4-5 miles the faster people from the later groups swooshed past me. At 6.3 miles we turned around to head back to the Hotel and I realised why I was going at such a high pace. The tail wind that had been helping was now well and truly in my face.Still after 16.7 miles I reached Glen Doll car park where the transition was set up.
From here we had an 8.7 mile 'hike' with 1000m of ascent following the well known walking route that takes in the Munro's Mayer and Dreish. Having walked the route a couple of times I was looking forward to this as it's simply beautiful with some bits you can run and some bits you walk due to the gradient (the fittest must have run both bits).
The first section is a gentle gradient along very runnable tracks if you don't have jelly legs. I managed something that looked like a run but much slower. As you get nearer Corrie fee it gets a little steeper and I started to do a quick walk and eat some food. This seemed to work well as those in front of me seemed to stay the same distance ahead. As you get into Corrie fee you are faced with a beautiful amphitheatre that can only really be seen to be appreciated. The section through this towards the waterfall is great fun and was where I remembered I had my camera. Strangely I used my camera more when I needed a breather ;)
The Summit of Mayer
Yep, I'm shattered
The route from the top of the corrie fee waterfall is good terrain but steep enough to reduce me to a walk. Mayer to the saddle of Dreish is a great track and a nice runnable gradient.
From dreish to the Kilbo path
The Kilbo path was the part I was least looking forward to as it's a very well worn path that has eroded into being split on two thin levels and reduced me to a tentative scutter.
Once into the Forrest the route is really fun but my legs were getting tired and I was starting to get sore knees from all the descent.
action shot
From there, the transition came quick. The last part of the cycle was short and thankfully that tail wind came round again. Sadly I got cramp on my bike and had to get off and stretch briefly, ended up running with my bike for a hundred metres then managed back on at an easy pace, easy cycle pace is always better than running pace.
My finish time was 3hr 50mins 47 secs in 59/139, which was slighly above average :)
As the above photo shows the finish area had a really relaxed atmosphere. The event itself was really well organised. TMR organise it all and all the money goes directly towards them which I really like. Speaking to the director the night before I found out that the guy giving out the medals was actually saved by Tayside Mountain Rescue which was a really nice touch. As part of the 'goodie bag' you got a brilliant mug, medal, free soup, free camping and free after party entertainment. All that for £45 which all goes towards helping volunteers help people who end up in trouble while in the hills. Brilliant!
After the party and a few hours relaxing in the sun with a drink I started to stiffen up and the thought of camping and waking up after camping having just completed this event made me wince. I ended up heading back to Dundee and more importantly my bed, sadly missing out on the entertainment and more of Jurgen and her pals company.
All in, this was a great day and a great event. Thinking about it I really want to do more running like this. Having just had a holiday in Chamonix and read Running Free: A Journey Back to Nature I think it's not important to 'run' a route. The important think is to do the route and work up to running it later. It's okay to walk a steep hill then run the flat while trying to get stronger.
Many thanks to everyone that helped out in the event and all the sponsors etc that helped TMR. It was great fun and I'll definitely to it again next year. Roll on 3 hours 30mins?
