When we started at 1am I felt sick, 32 weeks I had been training for this and I was already feeling tired and sore going over the start line. At the fling I had felt so strong and was having delusions of grandeur. Going through Mugdock country park I glanced behind me and saw the mist on the ground with a trail of headtorches behind and a nearly full moon with Mars off to the side. The view was spectacular and I was glad I had started.
The plan had been to go as slow as possible over the first sections of the course but the pain in my right foot was stopping me from clear thinking. 2Km before Drymen I decided I couldn't take the pain any further and was going to drop out. It was just at the first hill on a road and I started to walk. Within seconds the pain vanished from my foot, my first thought was that I must have done serious damage for the pain to go, then I thought that maybe it had been a trapped nerve and it had freed up. The last km into Drymen was pain free and I even dared to think that the fat lady had not sung.
Going through Drymen my crew notified me that I was too fast at 2hr 15mins. Next was Conic Hill and I took it at a leisurely pace with a spectacular view at the top. Balmaha and the first Food intake came next-here was the lesson learnt from the fling (If I'm going to expend 15000 Kcalories I need to eat!). Then onto Rowerdennan and the midges. Very short stop due to the small carniverous beasties. How the marshals do it is beyond me!
Inversnaid was bliss as our little biting friends appeared to not know about it. Martin was going to accompany me on to Bein Glas where the second support team would be starting.
Bein Glas and the second support team arrived. As I was conviced of failure I had told them not to start but this now meant that they were fresh from a night's sleep allowing the 1st team to take a break. Onto DerryDaroch the halfway point and I was starting to feel good about myself and still running. The attractive marshall at Derrydaroch was causing a stir with 2 of my support team but they still managed to get me rehydrated and on the move.
The steep hills after the road crossing which had caused me pain during the Fling were now ok as I was moving slower than the Fling pace. I even managed to run down them. Then over the main road and round to Auchentyre Farm where I noted I had lost 3Kg. Several cups of tea and a bowl of pasta and I was off again. Tyndrum meant new ground as I had never run between here and Kingshouse.
The Team at Tyndrum
Over the hill and under the railway and a beautifully runnable path - sadly I abused this by going too fast and reaching Bridge of Orchy (BoO) much faster than I should have done. Spent probably 20mins in BoO eating and rehydrating before moving on. The hill leaving BoO was at its worst on the down slope and I was unable to run.
Tony now started his mammoth task of cajolling me to the finish from Victoria bridge - still 50km but I knew if it came to it I could walk the rest of the way in the alloted time if only I could keep going. I was now favouring a run walk strategy my legs favoured the walk while my head favoured the run.
The section from Victoria Bridge was hard as you can see just how far you have to cover and it's a lot! Thankfully it past quickly - mainly due to me counting the deer that didn't exist.
Kingshouse and again both support crews were there some more food and tea, while watching the Kingshouse chimney go up in flames. I did spot one deer at Kingshouse but Tony reckons it was a goat. Then on to the Devil's Staircase where thankfully the crews were waiting at the bottom as I had forgotten to vaseline myself after leaving the checkpoint.
The slog up the Devil's Staircase is thankfully shorter than the name suggests and we were soon on the path down but the weather was not helpful. I was running less and walking more by this time.
Kinlochleven (130km) was by far the most comfortable checkpoint but I was surprised to see I had now lost 5Kg so we stayed longer than intended while I gulped down several flasks of Tea. Some of my support team made their only mistake by attempting to eat fish suppers in front of starving debilitated runners - thankfully nobody was strong enough to start a fight and they quickly noticed the drool and zombied looks so they retreated to their cars to eat their hard earned meals.
Leaving Kinlochleven was one of the hardest things I did that night. It would have been very easy to find an excuse to stay but thankfully my support crew were not going to listen and I was booted out and sent on my way. Up onto Lairig mor and the weather turned vicious with howling wind and horizontal sleet. Slowing slightly caused our core temperatures to drop and so we moved as fast as I could (which was sadly not fast enough to keep Tony warm but he stuck by me' if a little quieter than usual). At Lundavra, again the support crews were waiting in the same vicous conditions, standing dangerously close to a large fire trying to stay warm. Here was probably my shortest stop. While Tony pulled on an extra layer, I drank 2 more cups of tea and we moved on. I ran very little of this last section and certainly none of the main road to the Sports centre. At 04:27 on the Sunday morning I finished - 27hours 27mins after leaving Milingavie. All along that road I swore "never again". Amazingly the first thing I was offered after crossing the finish line was a drink of whiskey.
First and foremost I would like to thank my Support Crew, Karen, Al, Martin and Tony who selflessly gave up their time to help me. Without any of them I would not have made it. I would also like to thank the missing man Chris who I told not to come as I didn't want him driving from London to watch me drop out after 10km. I would also like to thank both my parents for looking after the kids and Karen's parents for looking after me before and after the race.
And finally to all my sponsors - thank you very much. Admittedly I did not raise the 10,000 GBP target but I will continue raising until the 21st August. Which is about the time when the registration opens for next year ..... 52 Weeks
1 comment:
Awesome stuff Brett, well done!!
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