A marathon the easy(er) way

Having been a part time runner for quite a while now, I approached the Spring season of 10K/Half marathons with some anticipation this year.

For once I was feeling fit thanks partly to a new exercise regime instigated by my SO and also a lower alcohol consumption rate than has been the norm in recent years.

Now, I’ve never had the ambition to do a marathon as I think this would be masochistic and would finally do for my knees and end my running career forever. However, what about running a marathon over four weeks (nearly a marathon)?

The Polaroid Series of races had been mentioned to me a few years ago by J when one of her work colleagues had mentioned it to her. This year I found that it was the 20th Anniversary and thought that it might be nice to do one or two of the races. After investigating the website I decided to entire all four 10K races and take things as they came plus it was cheaper that way (and I got the race t-shirt)!

First up was Helensburgh on the 25th May at 7.30pm. Although it was a wee bit further out of town I had the advantage of an afternoon off work to relax and get an early enough train through to Helensburgh. Arriving in town late afternoon I sauntered up to Queen Street Station only to find that the train I wanted to catch at 6.10pm was cancelled and that the only other one I could catch was at 6.40pm, which would arrive at my destination at 7.27pm. Now, even if this arrived on time there was surely no way that I could reach the starting line before the starter’s gun went off! After a quick phone round I managed to get hold of the mobile phone no of one of the race organizers and gave him a call to try and hold the race for a few minutes.

When the train pulled into the station another couple of runner’s got off and started sprinting with me towards the school where the race was to start. Amazingly, the race hadn’t started. Unfortunately, I was dying for the loo and nipped off for a pee. Of course, when I got back the race had started and I could see the back markers just passing through the start line. Quickly, I managed to get a starter to take my bag and I took off in hot pursuit.

The race passed off uneventfully after that. I managed to miss the worst of the congestion at the start because of my late arrival, so for the most part it was an enjoyable run. The weather was perfect and the views out into the Firth of Clyde were fantastic. Although the clock at the end showed 50 minutes +, I knew I’d run the course in about 47-48 minutes which was very pleasing given the stress I had at the start of the race.

Second race was in Clydebank. This was easier to get to due a more frequent train service here. I arrived in good time at the Leisure Centre which was the registration point.
This time the weather was still sunny but a little cooler and breezier. The race started off in a service lane at the back of the Shopping Centre. About 200m after the start there was an absolutely crazy route taken through a very constricting path and the whole race seemed to grind to a halt for a few seconds. This was stupid. Fortunately, after that the race opened up even though it did follow the canal for a while. There was a couple of laps of the course and then a finish back at the starting point. Amazingly, I had done a new personal best time of 45.53 which wasn’t bad for an old fogey like me.

Third race was in Dumbarton. Again the weather was set fair for this race, but perhaps a little hot for me. Hot weather doesn’t do me any favours when running as I found to my cost in the Great Scottish Run last year. This time I drove over to Dumbarton and found a reasonable spot behind the start line. Again after the start the race was beset with congestion problem at several points. Particulary where there were bollards across the path! No-one was posted at these point to warn us, very dangerous I thought. The route mostly followed the route of the Glasgow-Loch Lomond cycle route towards Old Kilpatrick and back. I found this race much more difficult due to the heat and was happy to finish it in a slower time of 47.21. At least, there was a bit longer until the last race in Vale of Leven.
Sunday 18th June dawned a dreich, damp day with no forecast to give cause for cheer. Never mind, at least I wouldn’t melt like last week! The race was down to start near to the Loch Lomond Shores visitor centre for the National Park so at least parking wouldn’t be a problem this week.

I arrived in plenty of time and went for a warm-up to scout out the start for later. Fortunately, a map of the course had been posted so it was quite easy to find where the race was due to finish although the description of the start was a bit vague. Oh well, I thought, just follow everyone else I suppose!

I went back to my car and waited out of the rain until 10 minutes before start time and wandered over. I joined a large bunch of people milling around on the Pier Road where the start was supposed to be but found little evidence of an actual line as such. A couple of minutes later a megaphone asked everyone to move back as they had passed the start line, not that anyone could see it! For 5 minutes we were moved back and forward until suddenly the race was started.

Two minutes into the race, disaster strikes, my lace became undone! I had to find a spot to tie it up while precious seconds passed. I quickly got back into my running though and not 1K after the start we climbed up the hill to Balloch Castle Park. Fortunately, this was the only hill climb of the day. I had been warned about the undulating nature of the course but on the whole found it to be flat enough. No different to the various hills you have to deal with around Kings Park!
Although every single kilometre was marked out it was difficult to keep an eye on my time because of the rain and also the fact that I hadn’t taken my accurate stopwatch. So it came as something of a surprise when I came round the corner of the building at the finish to find the clock just ticking over at 47 minutes. I put on a good sprint and managed to cross the line on my watch at 46 minutes and a few seconds. Despite the conditions I had managed to achieve my second best time ever. Excellent. Roll on the Great Scottish Run

Pitlochry to Aviemore via 7 (Not the A9 for a change!)

As part of our preparation for a cycling holiday in Ireland this September, the SO and myself decided to take the bikes up to Pitlochry and cycle up the National Cycling Network to Aviemore and back over a weekend. Well, that was the plan at least, fate and aching buttocks had a part to play!

Fortunately, an anti-cyclone had decided to anchor itself over the whole of the UK so the weather was set fair when we started off on Saturday morning. Must admit, I thought that my bike wasn’t as heavily laden as J’s but she was happy to go ahead with the distribution we had.

First climb of the day was over the Pass of Killiecrankie, Although the road is marked at 14% for a short stretch it didn’t seem that bad. From there until Dalnacardoch, the route followed the old A9, which was mostly traffic free and in reasonable nick. The climbing was steady and none too steep going towards the Drumochter summit.

After Dalnacardoch, we joined the recently built off road cycle path which connects both sides of Drumochter but excludes road traffic. This was gravelly and had the occasional barrier, where landowners have decided that cattle grids don’t actually work, so they put barriers across. Don’t know why this has happened.

The ride down from the summit to Dalwhinnie is a joy as you follow the downward slope coming down from the Drumochter summit. We lunched at Dalwhinnie, before continuing past the distillery onto Crudenbeg. Sadly, any visits to the distillery were off the agenda.

As the day wore on the sun seemed to get brighter and warmer as we got pinker, but it didn’t stop our progress to Aviemore, although J seemed to slow down after Kincraig.

We finally arrived at the Rothiemurchus site at about 5.00pm where we quickly put up the tent and had a much needed shower prior to going down to Aviemore for our well earned dinner.
We had a great meal in the Old Bridge Inn by the River Spey. Best thing about it was that there was not TV showing the England-Paraguay match! Additionally, it was in contrast to the shoddy meal we had in Pitlochry the night before.

Next morning, we rose refreshed and raring to go, only to find that there was a problem with J’s bike which seemed to be the cause of her slowing down the night before, her front brake was binding. There was no obvious reason, so after much discussion, J decided to get the train back to Pitlochry and I undertook to continue by pedal as far as I felt going.

Going onwards, my knees were getting painful and my bum’s complaints were getting louder and louder such that by the time I got back to Dalwhinnie, I decided to get the midafternoon train back to Pitlochry. Not the cheapest journey. Two stops cost me nigh on ten quid!

Got back to the car to find the cycle racks on the roof and J waiting for with a big smile. While waiting for the train a fellow cyclist had spotted the problem with her brake as being a missing spring which he was able to replace. Unfortunately, she was unable to change her travel plans and get off the train at Kingussie, so she had to forego any further cycling.

All in all, a good experience and a very good introduction to long distance cycling with a load.
Next time I’ll try and take some pictures.