Don’t give up if you fall at the first hurdle

Every race can’t run smoothly and last weekend I discovered that the hard way.

I’d had a pretty good start to the year at the Devilla 15k on the 19th February. As usual it attracted hundreds of runners, keen to kick start their racing season with a wonderful mud bath and as always it didn’t disappoint! Not the muddiest I’ve seen it in the 5 years I’ve been taking part, but definitely a competitor for the top spot in places. The race started bang on time and I’d tried to sneak my way up the field in order to get ahead of the masses before the bottleneck about 2 miles in. Unfortunately I was still further back than I thought and again slowed to a shuffle though the narrow sections of the trail as the crowds went single file through the bogs. Anyone who did try to overtake in this section usually ended up face planting deep into the mud or losing a shoe in the deeper sections of the bog, so I decided to hang fire and wait until the trails to open up again before trying to pick up some speed. This is much easier said than done when your shoes are caked in mud and you’re carrying the extra weight of the mud. The track was much slippier than usual due to the forestry commission having done some tree felling recently and I found myself having to work a lot harder in places that are usually pretty simple trails.
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2016 – A year of adventure, thousands of miles and a million more smiles.

I can’t actually believe I’m sitting writing yet another yearly review. They say that time goes by more quickly as you get older, and I don’t exactly class myself as old yet but that year seriously flew by and yet I managed to fit so much in. As has become customary, here’s a wee look back at another fantastic year.

JANUARY

The year started with the annual plod up the Ochil hills with some running club buddies on the 2nd of January. It was cold and misty but as an annual tradition to kick start the year, we braved the elements and had a great day out.


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Goals

Everyone needs a goal or a target. Whether it’s work related, sport specific or just something personal, it’s always good to have something to work towards.

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Now that 2016 is coming to an end, the goals for 2017 are being set. I’ve had an incredible year and to be honest, I’m not quite sure how I can top it but I need to keep focused and the best way to do that is to set new targets. And then plan to absolutely annihilate them. I’ll leave the 2016 review for another post, but I still struggle to get my head round what a magical year it was. I get a real shiver down my spine when I think about what has been accomplished and I wish I could go back and do it all over again!
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Glen Ogle 33 2016 – RACE REPORT

GLEN OGLE 33M ULTRA MARATHON 2016

TIME: 4 Hours 54 Minutes and 39 Seconds

Overall position 56th/349 finishers

11th/154 females

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Glen Ogle round 4. My last ultra/race of 2016 and a bee in my bonnet to finally push under 5 hours was the motivation I needed to get me round this race. I’d been ready for weeks, had felt good and confident when training and was ready for it until an almost race ending act of carelessness the weekend before race day. A round of Footgolf at Palacerigg with my friends had been a great experience, but as I’m the worst footballer in the world, 18 holes of toe punting the ball around lead to a ridiculously sore vastus medialis and lots of hobbling around in the lead up to race day. Not ideal, but I’m stubborn if not determined and nothing would see me pulling out of this race (within reason of course!).
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River Ayr Way Ultra race report

The River Ayr Way Challenge

TIME: 7 Hours 03 Minutes and 21 Seconds

OVERALL : 20th/70 finishers (2 DNF)

GENDER: 3rd/16 females

I entered the River Ayr Way race in a total moment of madness. I’d heard really good things about the race from a couple of club mates who ran it last year, and then when I discovered they were going back this year to run the relay I thought I might as well stick in a last minute entry and join them for a lovely day out and run an ultra I’d never done before. Silly, silly decision. I manged to write the dates down wrong in my diary and only discovered the week before Glenmore that the RAW race was actually only 2 weeks after Glenmore, not 3 as I had initially thought. But never mind, the season is coming to an end and it was a pretty quiet race, so I thought I might as well give it a bash and at least enjoy a nice day out with my Wee County Harrier ladies.
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