I woke up yesterday and decided to try out my head torch. It an Alpkit Gamma and it worked brilliantly so no new head torch required for the night race on the 13th in Dalkeith Country Park. I'm heading over with John Woodrow and Iain Taylor, for the people that don't know these guys they are two speedy runners that will finish ages ahead of me. Last night I spent an hour on the turbo to loosen off the legs - slept well last night!
Today I did my long, slow run. I set out with the dog early for his morning walk planning the route for my run. As we turned at the top of the village the rain hit us and I changed plan and head into the gym in the house. Now the treadmill takes a certain amount of patience and today I needed a load of the stuff. I targeted 1 hour and 20 minutes and set the treadmill at a fairly slow pace of 7mph - Sky Sports News kept me company and my mind drifted off to think of other things. So I managed to get into double digits completing 10 miles which was great, over 1200 calories burnt. This weeks weigh in was good as well with another 2lb gone making it 9lb since new year, bang on target or even a pound ahead!
I think I've said before that running is the time I use to clear my head and today was no different. I tackled a few business challenges and soon had a few ideas which I knew would set me up for a good work day.
I thought back to the last of the marathons that I raced in Inverness, the Loch Ness Marathon in 2008 (or 2009 - scary how the memory fails!). I'd arranged to meet a few friends up in Inverness and was looking forward to the social side of the race as much as the marathon. The pasta party near the registration start was too early so a group of 6 of us met in an Italian near the River Ness. Inverness is the town of my birth and I still love it. There are many great restaurants, like my favourite Cafe One, but we wanted pasta and lots of it.
One of the guys that was meeting me was a Scotsman, living abroad in Wales, called Mark Williamson. Mark is an awesome man who has raised a £1,000,000 for Macmillan Cancer Care running marathons all around the work. Mark is a giver and had offered to pace me round in a sub 4 time. Dinner was fab and the chat better as we all caught up with each others news.
The chat dried up in the morning as we jumped on the buses to the start. Loch Ness is an unusual race in that you get on a bus drive 25 miles out of Inverness and get out to run back into town. I met up with Mark after the usual 10 trips to the portaloo (or bushes). Mark has run some very impressive times around the 3 hour mark - today was a breeze as we had an hour in hand on that!
The start was stunning, sunny and in the wilderness. It's funny because although you are running 26.2 miles the start was a sprint. Mark held me back, despite my desire to charge off, and people flooded past us. The race is hilly, one huge hill but loads of ups and downs some of which are quite steep. Mark held me back on the downhills, little steps little steps he kept muttering as he checked his watch.
Every time I started to speed up I was slowed down and we ran a steady pace for the first 10 miles. As usual I was loving taking part and we both chatted to fellow runners as we made our way along the roads. Don't you hate the headphones that would rob you of the chat! As the miles past the undulations settled down and the road flattened out. I bumped into a few Carnegie Harriers on the way round swapping stories of running in Dunfermline.
My pacer kept me at bay, checking my enthusiasm and reminding me of my target. Mark was relaxed, running well within himself and great craic. We laughed and joked passing mile after mile and Mark spent his time whooping up the crowd into a frenzy as we passed through the various villages. With about 18 miles done you hit the hill. The hill that everyone talked about before the start, the hill that runners spoke in awe of and the hill that would break the spirit of the unprepared racer.
I was still feeling strong and kept a steady plod going to climb the hill fairly easily. Mark continued with the encouragement and kept checking time was still on our side. About 4 miles from one I started to slow down. I was beginning to struggle with the pace and my knee was sore. 2 miles later and I was down to a crawl. My feet scraped the ground and the pace dropped. Mark ran backwards in front of me shouting motivational stuff.
Loch Ness finishes in the Bught Park which means that you can hear the cheers at the finish line when you still have a mile and a half to do. This was quite dispiriting but with my running mentor jogging backwards I managed to keep running, or moving forward dragging my feet along the road. The only really good thing was that I knew the route to the finish so always was aware about how far we had to go. An advantage and disadvantage at the same time!
Never has the 800 metres to go sign been more welcomed and as we turned into the running track I waved Mark ahead of me in a lone guard of honour! He had been fantastic and I finished in 3:56 and broke my 4 hour target. It felt brilliant having a marathon time that started with a 3 and to be honest I didn't care it was only 4 minutes inside the 4 hours my finish time began with a 3. I crossed the line, gave Mark a hug and a bit teary called Danielle to tell he mission accomplished. I was chatting away to her when I looked round to see Mark sitting down and people getting him a glass of water. He told me it was his slowest marathon and he wasn't used to spending nearly 4 hours on his feet!
It was brilliant having the support of someone running purely to support your efforts and I owe Mark a huge debt of thanks for what he did that day for me. It cemented our friendship and he remains convinced that I have a sub 3.30 marathon in me. I hae ma doots but if I trained and Mark paced me who knows what I am capable of!
Loch Ness was my favourite marathon to date. Not because I beat my PB but because it is a stunning course in my favourite part of the world. If you fancy doing a marathon I'd recommend it!
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