Loch Ness Marathon

Sunday 4th October 2009

What a fantastic day! After the horrendous weather on the Saturday it was amazing to have such a calm sunny day for the Loch Ness marathon and also for the wait we had before the start , an hour late!! There were a lot of stressed runners at the start of the race as transportation from both Fort Augustus and Inverness had problems. The bus from Fort Augustus broke down 3 miles from the start and the runners were left to walk uphill. They arrived thinking they had missed the start then soon realised that the majority of runners were still to arrive from Inverness. The runners from Inverness arrived eventually at the start 3 hours after they had boarded the buses and half an hour later than the race was scheduled to start. I had chosen the best option and got the bus from Drumnadrochit arriving at the start at 9.30 with 1.5hours of drinking tea and chatting to other runners!

The race was great running through hilly country roads what a setting ! The course is well marked and plenty of drink stations offering both water and Lucozade Sport.
I ran well for the first 17 miles before starting to tire a bit, but after a drink and a gel I continued a bit slower but steady to the finish. I didn’t wear a watch so I had no idea of my time until the end. All I knew was that I had none of the gut or calf problems experienced in Paris. When I realised my time was sub 4 I was really pleased , 3hrs 56mins. The winning ladies time was 2hr48mns.

I did go through a phase of looking at all the women ahead of me to see if they were over 45 as I had noticed that there was prizes for the first 3 over 45 women, must have been the endorphins! I was soon brought down to earth when I looked at the results and saw that the first 3 were in around 3hrs 5mns, you can dream!!

What’s next? Edinburgh 2010!! Entry already accepted!

Full results