This was the first official running of a new ultra in the Scottish Ultra-racing calendar. Last year a small group of selected volunteers ran the route as a test to see if it would make a viable race. 

The route is 73 miles long, following the Great Glen Way from its start point at the end of the West Highland Way, in Fort William; finishing on the sports track at Bught Park,  Inverness.  

With the lure of a race which finished under an hour from my home, it seemed rude not to enter. Unlike races such as the West Highland Way, it did not require support crews which made logistics perfect for me as the challenge of childcare AND crew are just too much on top of actually taking part in the bloomin’ thing.  Not having support crews meant we were to use a drop bag system, assigning a bag to each of the six checkpoints.  Quite a big point was made of the fact that support of any kind was not encouraged, with just a couple of checkpoints permitting vehicular access. This was to minimise the impact of the race on the environment and actually, I like this set-up, makes you feel like you are doing it all yourself properly!

Training was the usual mix of injury and family commitments, and spending the first couple of months of the year out of running with back/hip/knee problems didn’t fill me with confidence once I finally got running again after Easter. That said, training did go well, getting in regular runs, even if the accumulated mileage didn’t seem that great (25-45 mpw maximum). I did however start to add in a longer bike ride when I could each week (up to about 40 miles at a time), and I also did a couple of shorter races to remind me what it felt like to run fast!! I think the cycling definitely helped with overall leg strength. I also started to orienteer with our local club and recently ran a couple of harder courses (for me – Green), where, let’s be honest, I had some complete epics, spending several hours running around on pathless terrain -this is fantastic for building stamina!!  I’m spoilt for training areas, runs were on coastal path, forest trail, Cairngorm trail, and pathless forest.

Thursday night – any hope of a good night’s sleep before a night of no sleep was a complete fail after commuting husband returned and fidgeted and snored the night away – bah.

Friday – school run and then lining up six Lidl carrier bags and flapping about what to put in them. Made what I will now forever call ‘Rocket Fuel Flapjack’ and put several lumps of that in each bag along with bananas and salted cashews/almonds/raisin/chocolate drop mix and randomly threw in some peanut butter or honey sandwiches plus a pair of spare socks and a spare base layer for approximately midway.  A (very) brief power nap after the school run did at least make me feel a little more with it … 6pm dishing up tea to the family … 8pm I have ditched ‘mum’ head and after some rummaging found the ‘ultra runner’ head.

9.30pm, Inverness Leisure Centre in the sunlight of a North Highland summer -it still doesn’t get properly dark until almost midnight. A large group of people are gathered surrounded by varying piles of carrier bags and kit. I’d been flapping about what to wear along with the Lidl bag contents. How cold was it going to be waiting at the start? Did I need to ship stuff back to the start?  Ah well, I went for wearing my long-sleeved base layer over my vest and hoped it would do.  We all shuffled onto the luxury coach ready for the trip down to Fort William, stuffing our bags around our feet.

The journey passed quite quickly, the scenery was stunning in the dusk and we chattered amongst ourselves and dozed too.

I really wasn’t convinced of the concept of a race starting at 1am, thus starting with sleep deprivation, but then again, it does seem pointless going to bed the night before a race when you never sleep for fear of sleeping through the alarm!! No such problem here.

We arrived at the start at about 11.30pm I guess, and it was almost dark. The midges swooped with ferocity upon us as we put our drop bags in piles by numbers for the checkpoints, ready to be transported.  Registration was in a hotel with a couple of rooms for our use … and more importantly LOVELY toilets [Symbol].  With registration sorted Ifound a space at a table with a lovely couple of ladies from Stonehaven and Audreywho’srucksac I coveted because it was purple!!! Number pinned on, I made the most of the lovely toilets, ate the rest of my tea that I couldn’t stomach earlier in the evening and generally wile away the time until THE START …

Finally, 12.30am, briefing time; we’re herded out to the canal loch gates in the dark to await the countdown to 1.00am (and of course I needed yet another wee, so off into the bushes for that).  Eighty six people dancing around with nerves and cold, torches on, a quick countdown and we were off into the darkness. The first six miles are along the canal towpath andvirtually dead flat but there were plenty of deep potholes and puddles to look out for, as I found to my cost when I tried turning off the head torch and stuck my foot straight in a puddle – lovely, wet feet and I’ve not even run a mile!  I start the race running with Matt Weighman whom I met on the bus to and from the start of the Dirty Thirty(shorter event on West coast)I completed in June. It is lovely to see a face you recognise, it seems many of the runners know each other and sometimes, despite the extreme friendliness of these races, it can seem a little lonely if you are not one of the ‘regulars’.  But, I also realised I was running with Sarah Sheridan who I met on the LairigGhru Race last June, … maybe I am a ‘regular’ after all!  

Lots of chatting and joking in the darkness along here, and the group of four Irish guys in front had me chuckling away listening to their banter.   We jogged along nicely at 9.5ish min miling, sometimes overtaking the odd person but just keeping steady. Matt had a torch of wonder, my torch is quite bright but it seems totally feeble in comparison (I see a new purchase coming on for The Spine Racein January!!).  Sarah drops slightly behind but Matt and I press on.

The skies gradually lighten even though it’snot remotely near dawn.  We leavethe towpath, cross the canal onto tarmac with a short sharp climb and drop onto the most delightful lochside and beach path. It swoops in and out of woods and feels magical in the darkness – I LOVED this bit.  Lochside turns into forest track, the pace slows a little but remains steady; there were a few more undulations than the route profile suggests but they are all perfectly runnable.

Checkpoint one is about 10 miles. I restock with a piece of flapjack and head out really quickly as I don’t need much this early on. I leavemy Matt here and head out on my own; I do miss his torch beam though!  Somewhere along here I ran for a little while with Antonia who jogged comfortably past me after we paused briefly at a junction to decide which way is correct. I am quite happy to see her go as I know she will end up way ahead of me anyway (1hr:20 in the end).  The skies keep lightening with a faint pink glow on the horizon but it is still quite cool (glad of my highly technical £1.99 fingerless gloves from Tesco). Early mist is hanging in the valleys over the waters of Loch Lochy and I just have to stop and take pictures as the beauty is breath-taking.

For a while I run with Colin Meek, a runner from Ullapool.  Our pace evenly matched and we chat about the joys of juggling training around family, and discover a mutual passion of rock climbing (albeit no longer something we no longer do regularly – that family thing again!).  I’m still knocking out steady 9-10mm with the odd 11mm for undulations.  Checkpoint 2 came and here I ditched my compression shorts which I’d purchased for the SDW 100 a couple of years ago but actually now seem the most uncomfortable things ever. I tell the checkpoint lady I never want to see them again and she can throw them in the bin!About 19 miles covered although this checkpoint arrived a bit sooner than I expected.  I’ll be honest, I didn’t really know WHEN the checkpoints were going to appear, the information we received before the race seemed to contradict – and even on race day it didn’t all quite stack up! Keeping us on our toes I guess!

The run into Fort Augustus is along canal towpath … for six miles … and it’s absolutely grim. Whilst I was pleased to see I’m clearly not the only one finding it a struggle, it’s a little worrying to realise that we’d not even reached halfway yet!!! My right knee was beginning to ache in an ominous fashion, this on top of the sleep deprivation and I felt myself descending into one of the ‘dark zones’ so dug out my Ipod. I hardly ever use this on races, but after scrolling down and finding Supertramp the world started to look a brighter place and I managed to jog into the checkpoint feeling a little more positive.  As before, my drop bag was open and ready for me to grab and run. I couldn’t believe how quickly I was getting through the checkpoints.  More flap jack and some nuts/raisins, refill of water/Nuun tabs in flasks and I am off down the road.

As I leave the checkpoint someone steps out on the road and asks if I know where I am going? Should I? “Um no, I have absolutely no idea” I say and am directed up a small path beside a fence that I really wouldn’t have spotted.  All good except we emerged onto a road and the way still wasn’t exactly clear, so a bit of guesswork, and the guys behind me follow so I guess I was looking convincing.

I underwent a complete mental/physical transformation at this point … practically skipped along waving my hands around to Supertramp which goes round about four times before I got bored and sought out something different – I was feeling so good I am afraid to break the mood!! On I cruised, keeping in the good place mentally despite the aching knee; overtaking guys here and there and somewhere along the way I left Colin behind (although not that far behind).  Coming into Invermoriston (40ish miles) and checkpoint no. 4, you know the first of the proper big climbs is on its way. The midges were evil here and one of the lovely checkpoint ladies dowsed me in a very chemical-tastic, but effective midge repellent. I grabbed some more of my ‘rocket fuel’flapjack and salted cashews mix and ditch the long-sleeved top as it’s warmed up properly now.

I set off up the start of the hill, passing two guys who tell me there is a lady in front I can easily catch, I was intrigued as to who it could be but just keep the pace steady but brisk. It started quite gently and I ran more stretches than I imagined I would, I met and passed the aforementioned lady, and then a couple of other guys and the climb begins to steepen.  Soon I was onto really steep switchbacks, I mean REALLY steep, but the steepness felt good as I could stretch out muscles that hadn’t had a chance to so far. I was now completely on my own and seemed to have lost sight of anyone in front or behind me. The route is marked throughout by blue marker posts with the Great Glen Way symbol on them, but there is an ever constant fear that if you take your eye off the trail then you might miss an important marker taking you away from the more obvious trail (as the trail did do this at times).  I sent a couple of updates by text to back home and worry I have done just this.  

The switchbacks just keep on coming, with more and more views and then finally, the top of the hill arrived; then it’s a long old down, down, down towards Drumnadrochit.  The descent down on the forest trails is actually not that bad, but my knee was really beginning to scream a bit, and my mental calculations were telling me that there really should be a water station somewhere around here.  My Garmin is beeping to tell me that its batteries are about to fail too.  After what seems far further than the 45 mile point (rumour has it at actually about 48 miles), I emerged into a little car park where two very lovely souls make sure my water bottles are topped up and work very hard to reassure me that the next checkpoint (Drumnadrochit) is a mere three miles away – a few little undulations of road and then it’s all downhill apparently…  

Well I can say it is the longest three miles I have ever covered, and it bloody hurt!!  I gave up on the mental calculations and my Garmin officially died.  I set up my phone to record the rest on Endomondo and then bury the phone in my bag; I really don’t want to know the real-time details at this point.  This stretch of road is soulless and looked like it went on and on (and I don’t enjoy road running anyway!!).  Eventually, hurrah, the route leaves the road and joins a trail over a smaller but far from insignificant, hill. No, we were back on road again, this time downhill zig zags, oh joy … knee was REALLY sore now, and I really just wanted to see the checkpoint, surely it must be close now.  Eventually the route joins the main A82 and I turn onto the pavement hoping I’ll see the checkpoint poking out somewhere very soon.  But no, the pavement drags on, as do I and my body, although apparently I am still running 10mm splits at this stage.  When my Garmin died at 43.93 miles it read 8:04 – I have NEVER covered that distance in that time [Symbol]

FINALLY checkpoint Four came into site. For some reason I can be in the depths of despair but upon sighting a CP I will transform into smiles and jokes … why?  The usual efficiency and friendliness saw me moving through pretty quickly, desperate not to hang around here, I think these check points are the speediest I’ve ever passed through. Drop bags really help – no queuing for food and with it being a small race there were plenty of helpers on hand to fill water bottles etc. In fact the helpers were all absolutely fantastic.

So, 22 miles left to go. This should have sounded a really positive thing, but I hit another dark place. I think perhaps I’d mentally had in my head that the wheels would fall off about 50 miles because I’d been feeling too good – bad brain – I should have kept up the positive thinking.  I stopped shortly after the checkpointand put some KT tape on my knee (so much for dashing through the checkpoint), not that it would help much as was too late for that but any psychological boost was welcome now!!  I also took some drugs finally.

I hadn’t realised that the route doesn’t leave the pavement for a couple of miles, so it’s grim plod along the pavement beside the A82. Despite this, I am doing 9.4mm for those pavement miles which is pretty miraculous for me at 50 miles!! Yippee, the pavement runs out and there is a huge signpost pointing off to the left. It’s pretty obvious hill climbing will be involved, but that’s all good because I can legally walk the hills (in my mind anyway)… The path was narrow but kinder to the body than the pavement. It undulated following the contours of the hill but at least it doesn’t drop back to the road (my secret dread).  Eventually the path widened (I think, but it’s really beginning to get a little hazy). I know we needed to climb back up to get to Abriachan, and it was not likely to be a subtle climb. Abriachan is the only of the Great Glen Way I have visited, taking the kids and their new bikes up there last Tattie Hols, so I knew it was up a large hill!!  The inevitable undulations and I am definitely slowing – a lot.   A guy overtook me, but I couldn’t find any enthusiasm to try and keep with him, just one foot in front of the other. The drugs are making very little difference to my knee but I guess they took the edge off. The trail is hard-packed here and the heat seemedreally intense.  Suddenly, the trail starts to gently descend, and I can see a table beside the path, and some people goofing around … checkpoint SIX … OMG … less than 10 miles to go (possibly …).  Some cheeky backchat with the goons, more lovely assistance from the checkpoint ladies, more ‘rocket fuel flapjack’, and I was off on my way to Inverness.  

An extra water station was laid on in ‘about’ four miles, so that was a mental aim. Leaving Abriachan and crossing the road, the next stretch seemed quite surreal.  The trail is very narrow and overgrown, and there is a café tucked away in there. It is quite well known in the area, the owner has placed various signs in the undergrowth advertising the various drinks and snacks on offer, but I can summon up no enthusiasm for the potential treats (not that I am planning to stop anyway).  I am definitely on walk/run mode now, the run bits getting shorter and shorter.  Ultimately of course, we pop out onto the road now, and it’s back to undulations.  A guy came ambling past looking very comfortable. He tried to assure me that looks can be deceiving but he’s eating up the miles and it motivates me to put more effort into my run sections and I make good progress along here despite really being in an awful lot of pain.  Just my bloody knee, and the hip-flexor, the rest of me feels pretty good so would be interesting to know how I would have fared if knee had behaved.

The trail turns away from the road again, and becomes a really rather nice path (except for the hill it climbs).  Eventually it heads into a leafy glade and set up in here is the water station and more wonderful checkpoint ladies.  Looking at later photos they were offering up all manner of treats to runners depending on their state, they clearly decided I was in good shape and needed to be moved on with no delay as I was offered nothing other than the little gem that I was third lady, only six miles from the finish and was that enough to make me get going again!!!  They did do a great job of getting me going again anyway … I take my first gel of the raceas am feeling a little spaced and even manage 9mm for the next mile.  The trail is actually lovely, narrow but slightly downhill in pleasant green shade, soft and squishy underfoot and no midges.  I pass various walkers, cyclists and families who all smile at me in a slightly quizzical fashion … personally I don’t blame them, I would do the same!  Finally I emerge from the trees to distant views of INVERNESS, the end was in sight, albeit still looking a bit too far away for my liking.

Apparently this descent is meant to be nice.  Hmmmm, perhaps if your knee is not shouting loudly at you, you would enjoy steep switchbacks … as it is, I whimper quietly to myself andwalk some bits,but, downward and ever closer to the finish.  I was slightly confusedby diversions around a building site but happily discover it didn’t mean I had to walk further and pick my way around.  I eye up the crossing of a road at the bottom, hoping I don’t need to do a manic dash to avoid cars.  A guy appears from nowhere behind me and overtakes but doesn’t do much more than stay just ahead. Onwards and downwards towards the canal we head, crossing the canal via the bridge (thankfully not swung to let a boat through) and then the A82 with buses, but marshals ensured we didn’t kill ourselves.  

Finally I am on a stretch I recognised again, the canal towpath – although I could have done without the out-of-control dogs chasing us staggering runners … and finally the path into the stadium at the leisure centre. Oh god, the joy of hitting the running track – I’d never run on a track before, it’s so soft and springy!!! Suddenly I discovered a sprint finish and positively bounded across the finish line in 13.38.  Given I’d imagined a finish time of about 15-16 hours, based upon a couple of Highland Flings I’ve done, I was absolutely gobsmacked to get a time starting with 13. In fact I really don’t know what to do with myself so I kind of hang there, bent over, hands on knees, getting my breath back after the sprint and deciding whether to laugh or cry!!  Wow!!

Sadly, domestic duties called with my husband due to depart the following morning on an overseas trip, so any thoughts of staying over, socialising and attending awards ceremonies were not to be.  As we cheer in more runners coming over the lines, I am handed my post-race goodies.  The heavens then chose to open and it absolutely threw it down as I retrieved my kit bag and stagger into the changing rooms to attempt a shower before driving back home and re-locating my ‘mum head’.

So statistical analysis:

73 miles run 

10,800 feet (3291 metres) climbed

Zero blisters

One buggered knee (12 weeks to heal)

Food: 2 bananas, 1 x peanut butter and jam sandwich, 1 x honey sandwich, god knows how many pieces of ‘Rocket Fuel Flapjack’, salted cashew nuts/raisins/peanuts, 1 gel

Drink: not sure how much but clearly enough and supplemented with Nuun tablets

Pack was fantastic - Solomon S-lab 12, definitely like not faffing around with bladders to refill

Shoes (Inov8 Terrafly) were great from a blister perspective and very comfortable but a wee bit more cushioning would have saved some of the pain from the impact of harder surfaces

This race is fantastically runnable – with the exception of the extremely big hills – so much so that I managed probably my best ever ultra run BUT it’s not to be underestimated … the hills are big and aside from the two obvious ones, there are other smaller ones that it’s easy to overlook on the map but they come back to bite you.  Running on dead flat is HARD, there are no natural breaks provided by inclines – this can be tough mentally and physically.  

It’s a fantastic race, the team that put it on a brilliant fun, and the checkpoint teams are absolutely amazing, providing just the right balance between a kick up the bum, and sympathy and efficiency.