Tess and the girls took me through to Aberfeldy bright and early the next morning, so early in fact that I didn't get any breakfast, but I had plenty of energy bars and gels with me so I hoped I would be fine.
The race was organised by the local Rotary Club and the atmosphere was very relaxed. Runners were directed to a field on the edge of the local golf club where we picked up our race chips. Just before 9 am we were led back onto the main road where a piper escorted us along to the start line. It was actually a longer walk than most folks expected and I heard some of the other runners saying they were going to class the race as an ultra if we didn't get there soon :-)
We eventually stopped outside the Aileann Chraggan hotel where a microphone was set up and the Lady Mayoress could be seen waiting to start the race, but unfortunately the race start was a further 20 metres or so up the road so after a brief pause to say good morning we all walked on past her to the start line. This seemed to confuse everyone so we had to wait a bit but eventually the gun went off and we started off down the road. A very interesting if somewhat chaotic start to the race.
The race starts off along the B646 with flat farmland on your left and views up towards some hills on your right, all very nice and pleasant and I chatted to some other folks who like me were happy to sit towards the back of the field. Everyone I talked to seemed to be doing the race as a training run for either Loch Ness, Keilder, Dublin or other races so were as happy as I was to coast along.
After a couple of miles we ran through a little village called Weem where there was lots of vocal support and encouragement. The road was still pretty flat through here and the traffic was light so even though the roads weren't closed, it was still a nice atmosphere for running and the runners were forming little clumps of 5/6 runners going along nicely together.
Even though we had stayed on the same road all the way to that point there were still plenty of marshalls (one at every bend in the road, or so it seemed) making sure we kept on the right route, all of whom were friendly, cheerful and supportive. We passed to the left of the villages of Camserney and Dull which were up on the hill to our right.
You may have heard of Dull as it has gained some notoriety recently by pairing itself with a suitably named town in America called Boring. Several of the runners stopped to take pictures of the newly famous sign.
 |
| The famously Dull sign |
The river Tay was now close by and a little further on we turned left over the river and towards Kenmore. The route, which had been almost completely flat to this point, started to undulate but only gradually, and it wasn't until about mile 5 that we hit anything that could be described as a hill. I stopped at the top of the hill and took a gel and mentally ticked off the first 5 mile section. I was surprised to see that my time to 5 miles was faster than it had felt, i.e. 46:11, with splits of 9:15, 9:15, 9:09, 9:16 and 9:16.
The road continued to wind upwards slowly to around 6 miles and a short while later we hit a downhill section and we started to come off the smaller roads and into Kenmore Village, on the shore of Loch Tay. There was a large crowd here supporting the runners as we ran through the impressive entrance to the grounds of Taymouth Castle.
 |
| Entrance to Taymouth Castle grounds |
This section through the castle grounds was a little tougher as the path was quite rutted and difficult to run on, although it was very scenic. It was eerily quiet too as there was no traffic, just the sounds of other runners working hard. As I ran past the castle at around 8 miles I was passed by the first of the half marathon runners, who had started half an hour after us. He was going very well and seemed to have a good lead.
Shortly after I hit the big hill which takes you out of the castle grounds and back onto the main road. I slowed down and ran it quite well without stopping but I was wondering how it was going to feel next time around with another 13 miles under my belt. The main road (A827) was much busier with traffic but there were plenty of marshalls helping and thankfully most of the drivers were being pretty sensible and slowing down as they got to the runners.
The good news here is that the next few miles is downhill or flat so I was able to speed up a little and make up some of the time I had lost on the hill. I got to 10 miles in 1:33:01 (46:50 for miles 6-10) with splits of 9:23, 9:07, 9:20, 9:49, and 8:51 so I was still going pretty well and just outside 4 hour Marathon pace which was a bit quicker than I was expecting to run but I was feeling good.
The last couple of miles to the half marathon distance was pretty steady, mostly filled with half marathoners flying past me as they came to the end of their race. They were all running strongly but many of them still found the time to shout encouraging remarks as they overtook me which was very decent of them. It reminded me once again that runners are generally nice people who take as much pleasure in encouraging others as in running well themselves.
There's a slight uphill bit as you approach the half way point back in Aberfeldy, and the half marathoners peeled off to finish at the Black Watch monument while the rest of us went on past with another 13 miles to go. I was feeling pretty good at this point and running strongly and the first thoughts of a PB were entering my head, something I'd not planned at all.
 |
| The Black Watch monument, 13 miles to go before I would see this again |
As I headed back alongside the golf course it was immediately evident that the half marathoners were no longer on the route as from a fairly busy road of runners I could now only see one runner in front of me and no-one near me behind. I mentally prepared myself for a lonely second half of the race but wasn't overly concerned as some of the marathons I've done this year have had very small fields so I'm used to running on my own.
As I got back to the Aileen Chraggan corner where the race started I came across a bigger issue as I was hit with a really strong breeze which hadn't been there first time around. It was hard to make any headway and I felt myself slowing down so I had to work hard to up my rhythm to just keep going at the same pace. The same marshalls who had been at each corner the first time around were still there and I was very grateful to them for their encouragement as I was finding it hard going.
I carried on to the 15 mile point and got there in 2:19:33 so the time for miles 11-15 was 46:32 with splits of 9:07, 9:06, 9:31, 9:19 and 9:29. I was surprised to find that I had speeded up a bit even though I had felt I was struggling. I had a bit of faffage at that point as I had to stop completely to find my pain killers that I always take at 15 miles during a marathon. I had thought I had stored them in a zipped pocked of my water bottle holder but it took me nearly a minute to locate them in a totally separate pocket.
I got going again and at around 17 miles I took the left turn towards Kenmore for a second time and started back up the hillier bits. Having run it once I knew that it wasn't too bad and I managed to keep a steady pace going even though I was tiring a bit in the wind. I caught up with another runner who had come to a halt due to an ankle injury so I stopped to wait with him and to call for assistance but luckily a race marshall came by just then and we managed to get the runner safely into his car so I headed off again. I struggled a bit to start but gradually settled into roughly a 10 minute mile pace for the next couple of miles.
I got to Kenmore Village again around 20 miles and I was grateful for the downhill section through the village and to the crowd gathered there who cheered me past. I took another gel and checked my time and found I at was 20 miles in 3:08:31 so the 16-20 mile section had taken me 48:58 with splits of 10:13 (painkiller faffage), 9:20, 9:47, 9:48, and 9:50. I had slowed down a bit but with only 6 miles to go I was feeling good and I basically had 70 minutes to run a 10k to get a PB which was very doable.
I carried on through the castle grounds but even the smaller hills through there were feeling much tougher than first time around and I was not looking forward to the big hill at the end. There were quite a few runners walking at this point so I chatted to them as I went past, and it was clear the wind had had a big impact as most folks were struggling. I plodded on to the bottom of the hill and decided I was not going to walk but just to slow right down and ease my way up as best I could. It was tough going but I managed to wind my way up and was delighted to see the top of the hill. At that point at around 22 miles I knew the rest was downhill or flat and I had a little whoop to myself as I thought the worst was over.
I started off down the hill feeling great. The sun had come out now and it was getting warm so I settled into a nice rhythm and caught several other runners over the next couple of miles as I ran along in good spirits. I got to 24 miles sure that I was going to PB but as the downhill section stopped and the flat bit began I suddenly ran out of steam and just came to a complete halt as I had totally run out of energy.
The lack of energy came on me so quickly that I didn't know what to do. I had gone from running at a decent pace to barely being able to move in the space of about 30 seconds. I've never really hit the wall in a marathon so I wasn't sure if that was what I was feeling. I realised then that the lack of a proper breakfast had come back to haunt me and that was probably why I had nothing left. I walked on as best I could and tried to eat the energy bars I had in my pack. I found it very difficult to get them down and used all of my remaining water trying to digest them.
I walked on slowly to the 25 mile point (while eating everything in my pack and taking every gel I had left in an attempt to get some energy from somewhere), getting there in 4:04:29 and all thoughts of PBing were gone and I was just trying to get to the end in one piece. It had taken me almost 56 minutes (55.58) to do the miles from 21-25 with splits of 9:59, 11:20, 9:15, 10:24, and 14:54.
That was the worst point and the closeness to the finish coupled with the energy bars kicking in meant I could keep going and I even picked up the pace a bit over the last few hundred yards to the finish. I was very pleased to turn the last corner and see my family waiting for me. I heard the announcer call my name and I ran in with my kids to finish in 4:19:20, just over a minute outside my PB and in 77th place out of 103 finishers. The last 1.2 miles had taken me 14:03 with splits of 13:04 and 0:59 to finish the race.
We headed back to the hotel and I had an hours sleep before having dinner and returning to Aberfeldy for a ceilidh which was organised as part of the race weekend. The atmosphere was very friendly and the girls had a great time dancing and even though my legs were feeling it a bit it was a great end to the day.
Overall I enjoyed the experience and for the inaugural running it was well organised and supported but I was frustrated that I ran out of steam so close to the finish, especially as it was my own fault for not getting a decent breakfast. A few weeks on I'm happier with the run and as one of my friends commented afterwards I had overachieved on my goal for the race as I had gone in with the intention of doing a long slow run and I had actually done a strong 24 mile marathon paced run.
It was a very friendly, well organised race and one that I would recommend to anyone thinking of doing it next year. It is a tough course, especially with the wind in the second half but a welcome addition to the marathon calendar in Scotland.
No comments:
Post a Comment