I made it just, I had not trained for this one and knew I would suffer big style..
I collected my race number on the Saturday which meant I got to see the finishing line in the stadium, it reminded me of my school running days when I was er fitter... The set up was good and the organisation seemed well up to par...
I met Karen an friend from the runners world forum and we arranged to meet at the mini Expo to run with a 10 min mile group (finishing in 4:20), to be fair this is a slow pace for me but due to the lack of training I was concerned that when I got to about 18 miles the lack of training would cause me real issues if I went out with at my normal pace, the plan was set.
We were based in Aviemore and so on the way home from Inverness we went on a mini adventure heading towards Fort Augustus and we accidentally came across the start line in the middle of no where on some small country lane, a couple of portaloos and the start sign. We then followed the route to the end back to near Inverness so I knew what was coming it was stunning and a bloody long way if I'm honest....I was nervous and wasn't convinced that id make it through the full distance.
We were up at 5am as we were based in Aviemore and the drive was about 50 minutes to Inverness stadium, we arrived and we were all put on a bus which would take us to the start which id seen last night about an hour away.
The atmosphere was good on the bus and I felt good, I felt for the first time in weeks that I could do this if I went slow, I was going to take my camera on route to take some pictures as when I did my first one in Edinburgh it all seemed a bit time based and I nearly forgot to enjoy the day and the event for what it was...this time I would stop and take a few pics and record the event. So I would remember it for the stunning and picturess event it is supposed to be and was not let down.
I finished the race in a respectable 4:17:07 secs. this is a good time for someone who had only trained up to 8 miles and had not committed in anyway to the training.
A Video of the race....good if you want an insite and plan to run it one year..
During the race I suffered severe cramps after 18 miles, it felt as though I had no cartilage at all, but some how I struggled home with the base fitness I had from earlier in the year, I do not recommend blagging a marathon ever !!! it hurt real bad near the end.
Even so I had a sprint finish in which I over took 3 people, ohh how the youthful competitive spirit seems to still remain even though I am now 40 years old....yes -
I AM NOW A VET RUNNER AT 40....
The goodybag was awesome full of, well Baxters stuff really, and the medal was cool.
So my second Marathon has been completed in Loch Ness. I have already booked a third in Connemara in Ireland near Galway, but that's in 6 months time, plenty of time to train..
......... 4:17:07 at Loch Ness.
Cheers all........
No comments:
Post a Comment