Partially sighted, limited oxygen intake, heat exhaustion, leg cramps and I’m only just hitting Conic Hill – 18miles in…!

Lying in bed, night before the race, the rain is pouring down on our tin shelter. All snug in our sleeping bag, I lie there cuddling into Eil and Turry. This morning reminded me of a previous one, Devil o’ The Highlands, a VERY wet and cold, long day out on the hills. This time was much different though, today I was suiting up and running The Hoka Highland Fling race as Spider-Man!
With my Gore thermal and wind proof base layers on, I was ready to take on the elements and was sure that hypothermia concerns were well looked after.

The elite runners kick off and soon after that, I’m away in the second wave, finding myself running with my buddy Martin Bell, who I met in Chamonix last year.
We shoot the breeze together for a while but as the sun appears for the day, all runners notice the lack of forecasted rain and see the clear skies ahead and feel the early promise of a hot day ahead. With my core well protected and mask offering no cooling option, I begin to feel my body temp rising as I continue to run along. It’s a comfortable pace and Martin and I chat away with each other over the miles until we reach the woodlands just beyond Drymen, heading towards Conic Hill.

With my body heat maintaining at a high, the early morning humidity feeling like is not going to drop, mixed with sun that’s beginning to shine, my breathing becomes deep and laboured but comfortable. I have trained in the suit, as well as a previous year with a training mask, so although it’s a laboured process of trail running, I find myself in a groove and running along. This laboured breathing would be my rhythm for the rest of the day.

As I hit the accent of Conic Hill, my calves decide to explode and cramp up. I haven’t cramped in years and this hurts! I’m reminding myself to drink fluids but obviously with the change in weather conditions, my layers are not lending themselves to the pace and trails ahead. From out of nowhere a good friend of mine, Kirsty Burnett joins me and asks what’s the matter with my legs. I tell her it’s cramp and with that she introduces me to Succeed tablets. Salt tablets that she promises will sort me out in no more than 5 mins. Just as well, as I was about to approach Graeme Hewitson, the official photographer for the race.