70 wild miles

Whilst not half as crazy as the west highland way race, my midsummer madness was to attempt the charities event '70 wild miles' in Glen Coe. For the last couple of months I've been trying to convince myself I was ready for the 47 miles cycle, 10 mile kayak and 13 mile uphill run, and last Saturday was d-day. The cycle is a road cycle from the ski centre at Glen Coe, up and over to Tyndrum and then back along the Oban road to Taynuilt to the shores of Loch Etive, the kayak runs up to the end of Loch Etive and there starts the run back UP Glen Etive to Glen Coe.

How did it go?....well..... my cycle was terrible, despite ditching my trusty university stead for Rob's skinny thoroughbred, my limited training resulted in a horribly cramping bum rendering me unable to do anything other than try and complete. My left leg wouldn't support my by the end and I feared it was game over (2 hrs 24 mins: 35/58). However, the kayak is a mass start, so the intervening time the body rallied and the kayak went much better than expected. Thankfully only the middle section was windy and I unexpectedly finished nearer the front of the field than the back. I was pretty tired, but really pleased and the views up the Ben Starav were fantastic (even if it took forever to get any closer!). (2 hrs: 6/58).

The run was just the slog I expected. Like in a triathlon when you have no bounce or feeling in your legs, I had no idea how fast or slow I was moving....but just kept trying to. The first part of the route is good as it has lots of bends as well as undulating up, but as the Glen opens up it starts to look a little relentless - I just thought 'run Forest run'! Was very happy to finish and thankful that my day had improved. (1 hr 35 mins: 2/58).

My sister, bro-in-law and friend were also doing it as a team, and Rob had been a great 'manager'. So as we all adjourned to the after event party and bopped the evening away to prevent stiffness, the weather turned and the rain and wind picked up. As we headed back up to the Kingshouse, through the windscreen wipers we saw the trail of head torches of the hardy west highland wayers. Good on them.

For me, lucky weather, fun day. Thrilled and amazed to finish in just under 6 hours and 6th overall, 2 secs behind 5th!.... now I can get back to the garden and eating chocolate!

Posted by Valerie Houston on Sun 29 Jun 2008 | 6 comments

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