Loch Ness Marathon

I travelled up to Inverness on Saturday for this well-organised Sunday race, along with my friend Andre who was running it for the second time, and my girlfriend Cheryl who had kindly agreed to provide support, logistics, and to drive back on Sunday.

We checked in on Saturday and the stadium, and had a stroll round the shops, stands and food outlets at the tented village which had been put up for this “Festival of Running”, incorporating the marathon, 10k and 5k runs.

Sunday dawned bright and clear and cold, with an early-morning mist which would burn off, and we were bussed out of Inverness to, well, nowhere! We then had to run back to the town, or face being eaten by wolves, and having the bones stripped of flesh by vultures. Or neds. Or something.

After a short warm-up, we trundled off down the road, and enjoyed great views of Loch Ness and great support from the local villagers along the undulating route. The water and Lucozade stops all appeared as promised, and as I strolled through the 19.5 -mile one, I saw a stray Westies vest pass me, having escaped from the Pentland Skyline and other such madness. It was none other than our own Graham Kelly, so I wished him luck as he left me for dead.

The whole day was fab, and I was grateful for the massage service (no chaps, not “to completion”) after I finished in a near-crippled state.

My own race? Well, I ran to about 19 miles with my friend Andre, but I hadn’t really shaken that fatigue thing, and after wheezing up the slight inclines on wobbly legs, and shivering in the sun, I struggled to make half-way in about 1:35:00. The second half was bound to be slower, and I was hit by waves of cramp and a stitch, which made for grim(Orr) progress from 20 to 25 miles, as I intermittently walked and ran. I really need to take some time off to shake this problem, and while it’s rare to feel 100% for an event, I definitely wasn’t right here.

In the end, I was very pleased with my marathon debut time of 3:28:24, under my 3:30:00 target on a day when I wasn’t at my best. I was light-headed and blue-lipped due to lack of oxygen by the time I finished, but I got over my shakes to make it out for a curry and well-deserved beers on my return to Glasgow.

Great day, much enjoyed, and thanks to all the staff and volunteers for organising such a good event.