If Carlsberg did half marathons.....

It would be the Coll Half Marathon. Why else would a crack team of 11 runners and supporters from Dumfries Harriers, make the epic 400 mile drive and 3 hour ferry trip to the remote Scottish island of Coll for the second time?

From the moment we arrived in Oban on Friday evening through to our bleary eyed and foot sore return to Dumfries late on Sunday, it was a fantastic weekend, great company, magical venue, brilliant weather, epic ceilidh, hilarious non-stop banter and superb fun.

Arriving in Oban we checked into our accomodation at the Backpackers plus hostel, well laid plans for a pre-race carb loading meal quickly went out the window, tempted by the mouth watering smell from Norie's fish and chip shop, we succumbed to fish suppers whilst overlooking the harbour. Our plans for "just one drink", early to bed and a good nights restful sleep were similarly torpedoed as we rolled and giggled our Guiness fueled way into the hostel close to midnight, settled into the spartan but bizarely high bunk beds and one of our company (you know who you are) managed to lose their underwear between the downstairs bathroom and our top floor room. With the 5:45 phone alarm, pipped by the 3:00 bladder alarm we enjoyed probably about the worst pre-race preparation you could have....................and enjoyed every minute of it.

Harriers pre-race relaxation

Along with around 400 fellow travellers 7am Saturday found us on the ferry bound the magical inner hebridean island of Coll, meeting up with some familiar faces from last year and settling down to a runners breakfast of porridge full Scottish fry up. The journey flew by and we were soon disembarked and eagerly marching through the islands "capital" Arinagour to the brand new community centre where the majority of runners would be enjoying the free camping included in your entry fee. The 2pm race start allows ample time to pitch tents, register, relax and get your race-head on.

With the afternoon warming up, the wind swirling and photographic duties entrusted to Steve, Eileen and Jystina, Andrew Amos and 84 runners in the 10K race headed off to their start point, the 155 starters for the half headed down to the Calmac ferry pier for their start. After my usual 4 pre-race toilet stops and a quick briefing we were off!

Harriers at the front of the field

This race is optimistically described as undulating, add to this a headwind for the first 5 miles, it's no Sunday afternoon stroll. By mile 1, the eventual winner, Ciaran Doughertey from Bellahouston Road Runners had already established a commanding lead and the front pack was spreading out, lead harrier Steve Carroll, in his first ever half marathon was powering along and my long-suffering training buddy Andy Beattie seemed to be running a well paced start, ahead of me.

Settling into my own planned race pace (7:20 - 7:25min/miles), and passing the old Coll community centre there is a 2 mile uphill run into a persistant headwind, about halfway up this stretch I was aware that some-one was drafting behind me, so being the sporting gent I am I started to zig-zag, to allow him to pass ....... of course. When he eventually took the hint I noticed it was a tall and tanned chap who had been performing some very ostentatious stretches before the start, either a serious runner or a poseur methinks. I paid him back in kind by trying to draft him, but his 7:08 pace was too ambitious for me and rapidly he pulled clear.
By the first water station at the top of the hill, it was obvious it was going to be a very hot run, so the first cup went over my head as I've never have mastered the art of drinking from a cup whilst running, perhaps some relief from the wind? No, in fact as you crest the slope, the wind if anything, gets even stronger!
Despite a population of only 200, virtually the whole island supports the races, with water stations manned enthusiastically by locals in fancy dress sprinkled liberally along the course. Feeling pretty smug that I was mostly passing other runners, rather than being passed, I made the right turn after the airfield and a- somebody turned off the wind b - somebody   turned on the heat and c- another sodding hill, another reminder if I needed it that this is a challenging half!



Me - almost looking like a runner

 Coll is a pretty small island and shortly after this you run out of road and cover a couple of undulating (yes its that word again) miles along a sandy track behind the dunes, I'd been picking runners off one by one and about half-way through the dunes I saw my next target, Oh deep joy it was Mr Stretchy Poseur, he must have heard me closing him down, not difficult as my breathing was doing a creditable impression of the Big Bad Wolf blowing down the house made of bricks! A quick spurt of effort and I was past him and pulling out ahead. Dodging some deeply dis-interested cows on the route, you leave the sand behind and hit the tarmac again. My next target was a chap wearing a brightly coloured buff round his neck who'd passed me in the first half mile, he ran into the next "special" water station about 100 metres ahead of me and I noticed he was walking out of the far side, as I maintained my pace and passed him, I asked him if he was OK and he cheerfully waved the can of lager he was gulping down at me, another one down. My next target was friend and training mate Andy Beattie around 300 metres ahead, easily spotted with our distinctive "Where's Wally?" red and white striped harriers race top. Andy is a consistently strong runner and his training for Iron Man Wales in 5 weeks time means he's in cracking form right now, but cresting another small hill the gap was down to 200m, was I really running that well?
Well no I wasn't, the reason soon revealed itself as Andy stopped up ahead, doubled over and promptly decorated the grass verge with his lunch, although he quickly got running again, the gap closed rapidly and I passed him. I could feel him trying to close me down, but was able to hold him off and open up a gap. With this milestone, my challenges now multipied, I still had 5 miles to run, the next runner ahead was so far away that realistically I wasn't going to catch him unless he was hit by a bus (unlilely on an island almost devoid of traffic), despite now running in the opposite direction the headwind was back and the undulations had returned.
With a water station strategy that involved one cup over my head and a second lobbed in the general direction of my mouth in the vain hope that I might swallow some, I thrashed along like a big grey haired drowned chicken

Me - not looking like David Rudisha

With my brain broiling gently in the afternoon heat, my mental calculations, which are never quick at the best of times told me I was in line to beat my time of last year and get a pb!, on Coll!, in this heat!, with these undulations! steady now Keith. So running to my Garmin pace and giving myself a mental prod every time I slipped back, the steeple of Arinagour church eventually broke the skyline. I knew from last years run, that I now only had about half a mile to go and the last 300m was all down hill.
Over the hill, round the corner, finish in sight, my inner mental picture is one of Mo Farah or David Rudisha, sadly the camera doesn't lie.

Not praying - just knackered

I crossed the line in 1:37:03, 19th overall, 3 minutes quicker that last year and a PB by over a minute, to say I was chuffed would be an  understatement, to say I was tired would be a down-right lie, I was truly, completely, overwhelmingly and spectacularly knackered, and again there is no hiding from the camera lens!
Steve had put in a blistering run finishing 12th overall in 1:32:26 and was standing on the line looking disgustingly fresh.
I stumbled up the banking to join the cheerleading team of Eileen and Justyna, just in time to cheer Andy through in a gutsy 1:39:37 and to find out that Andrew Amos had won the 10K race, well done Andrew.
The harriers pair of Ian Anderson and Neil Jeffrey sandwiched Lochaber AC's and WHW runner Peter Duggan over the line with Neil Jeffrey completing the harriers male line up.
Lesley Gilchrist "chicked" Eileen's brother Donald on the home straight with Hazel Smyth completing the girls line up in 1:50:42, but the stand out run of the day was honorary harrier Zoe Newsam from Troon who knocked a full 13 minutes off her 2011 time, setting her up well for the Loch Ness Marathon in 6 weeks time.

With the racing now over, it was time for some rehydration and post match analysis, or alternativly we could lie in the sun (even the wind showed its support by disappearing) doing some proper rehydration and gorging on local hand dived scallops, any guesses which way we went?

I was originally planning to include all the gory details of the prize giving ceremony and the epic post race Celidh, but with this post assuming War & Peace proportions, I think I'll give it the space it deserves in a post all for itself.

Cheers

Supporting the Devil

When fellow Dumfries Harrier Caroline got the email to say she had made it onto the start list for the Devil of the Highlands ultra on August 4th  with only 10 days left before the race, it was always going to be a challenge to find a support crew.
I'd half promised to support, but had double booked the date with my lovely daughter Sarah's move to a new flat in Glasgow, sorry Sarah. Cashing in my steadily dwindling stock of brownie points, sons Andrew & Steven were roped in to help Mum and Sarah with the logistics, whilst I soared straight to the top of the "Crap Dad League" and headed off to Tyndrum.
Never having done support on an ultra, I had a vision of a lazy afternoon, driving through the Highlands, waiting at checkpoints reading my Kindle, fillling an occaisional water bottle, doing a bit of cheer leading, all in all a pretty easy going day.......wrong!
It all started off so promisingly, lovely drive up from Dumfries to Tyndrum, Caroline had booked a luxury Octolodge at the Pine Trees, definitley more glamping than camping, what luxury!, fellow Harrier and WHW veteran Ian Anderson and his support Ian Gray, had already met up with DRC's Craig Malcomsom and his support Seb and Ali and were enjoying a beer whilst Olympics watching, a quick stop for some superb fish and chips at the Real Food Cafe then my first fail of the weekend.
As a former Scout Leader I generally take enough kit on any outdoor trip to rival a NATO exercise, whilst I had packed everything from Loo paper to pre-cooked ration packs of Beans & Sausage, I'd had a major logistics oversight on the beer front.
With off-sales at the Tyndrum Lodge hotel limited to cider or Tennants, I plumped for the latter, note to self Tennants lager is dreadful stuff.
After some more Olympics watching it was off for an earlyish night and a 4am alarm call.
Registration at the Green Welly Stop was extremily civilised, steaming mug of hot coffee, nice clean loos, some familiar faces round about and a gnarling feeling of "I wish I was racing".
Wished Caroline, Ian and Craig good luck and charged up the hill to catch some start photos, with the sun rising and the midges not too bad, the race was underway.
The plan was to meet at Bridge of Orchy, with Ian G up at the station and me on the bridge, as the midges enjoyed making a late 5 course breakfast of me, despite my all over cover, I marvelled at how Eileen, supporting Peter Duggan, could wear a skirt and remain unbothered by the winged hordes!
Ian A (aka Choppy) loped down the hill after about an hour with Caroline only about 5 minutes behind, no re-fill or re-fuel required and they both looked pretty comfortable, so a hop into the car and it was off to Glencoe Ski Centre, we managed a quick coffee at Glencoe and then decided to run out to meet Ian and Caroline as they came off Rannoch Moor, wait a minute... this wasn't in the original lazy day plan, oh well.
We ran out a couple of miles and it wasn't long before Choppy hove into view and Ian headed back to Glencoe with him. Caroline had texted to say her Camelbak valve had fallen off and a few minutes later we met up and I decided the easiest thing would be to use my bladder as without the valve Carolines was pretty useless. We kept up a pretty good pace on the downhill towards the A82, quick swop of bladders, refilled and she was off, still running strongly.
With the mercury rising, an extra unplanned stop at the foot of the Devil's Staircase seemed like a good idea, Choppy arrived first with a huge smile cracking the mask of dead midges adorning him, Caroline seemed to have closed the gap somewhat, but given the heat we decided to speed hike up the Devil with her. It was my first time up the Devil and the views made it worth the wait and effort, and with Fiona Rennie dressed as a devil handing out jelly babies at the top as an added bonus.
So after a quick photo stop at the top, Caroline trotted off and Ian and I careered back down to the cars, wishing all the runners good luck on the way, I bet they wondered who the two pratts going the wrong way were.
Its a bit of winding drive to Kinlochleven and we'd only just arrived when Choppy appeared, refill the bottles, quick application of Ibruprofen gel to a tight hamstring and he was off. Caroline had closed the gap even further and arrived 5 minutes later demanding Coke and company on the climb out from Kinlochleven.
Not expecting to do the whole climb we left the cars wide open and off we went, 2 miles out and 2 miles back down, with many of the same bewildered runners that we passed on the staircase experiencing Deja Vue to the two loonies going the wrong way again.
Quick dash round to the finish at Fort William, parked up and we decided that we'd run out to meet them on the last leg, I've not run this section before, so was quite up for it. We ran to Braveheart car park and speed hiked up the hill, through the forest, just as the WHW rejoined the forest road we met Choppy, cue a pose for the camera and again the two Ians headed down the hill.
We'd been counting the ladies as we ran out, and when Caroline appeared I reckoned she was around 10th lady with only 4 miles to run, not bad for her first Ultra!
Gels were given short shrift and more Coke demanded, which promptly exploded as I opened it, hot weather and sticky paws, a lovely combination.
Caroline still looked strong and we maintained a steady 9 min/mile on the run back, although a tad concerned about the amount of Coke that was being downed, I reckoned it was better than not drinking at all. Back through Braveheart carpark with John Kynaston videoing the runners, then the last mile on the road, with only one runner passing us, Caroline finished in 8:25:32 43rd overall and 10th lady, only narrowly behind Choppy in 8:18:51, 39th.
Relaxing on the grass on a glorious sunny afternoon, job done!, real credit goes to the 124 souls who completed the 42 very hot miles.
As we packed up the cars for the trip back a slightly green looking Caroline uttered the imortal words "I feel a bit queesy", uh oh this could be a long 4 hours back to Dumfries, not to worry though, its amazing how quickly 1.5 litres of Coke comes back up, stomach cleared we headed South, a quick pit stop at the Real Food Cafe again to refuel on more fish and chips (I'd not had a chance to eat all day), driving through a couple of tropical rain storms en route, made it home in time for Mo's 10,000m Gold.
Weekend totals - 440 miles of driving, 18 miles of running/speed hiking, 3500ft of ascent and descent and no sunbathing or kindle reading, this supporting lark is quite hard going, my legs felt like I'd realy had a hard training weekend.
Oh and for all you ladies who'll cringe at me dropping my daughter for a days running............. in a pathetic attempt to improve my standing in the "Crap Dad League" I've promised Sarah a night at the Oak Tree Inn.

A mile, cross country and the long run

Fiday evening saw me toeing the line at the Annan Festival of Running, first up was my annual attempt at a one mile track race, I was chuffed to manage 6:11, 6 seconds quicker than last year. In slightly muggy conditions 20 minutes later we set off on the 3.5 mile cross country race, starting at the Everholm running track and following a narrowish track out and back alongside the River Annan.
With the faster runners quickly pulling ahead I was passed by a couple of guys in the first mile before I gave myself a kick up the back side!, I run marathons, this is only 3.5 miles and we're not going that fast, get a grip Keith! so lurching through knee deep nettles with an alarming lack of grace I overtook the older guy and shortly after passed the younger chap, then it was over the suspension bridge with that bizarre feeling of running on jelly and then its a fast trot back to the finish. Completely forgetting the instruction "straight through the gates and finish on the grass" I veered through the gates heading for the running track for an Eric Liddell style finish, the shouts of the crowd ringing in my ears......................no wait a minute, they're shouting "run on the grass, not the track", you pratt, sprintish finish looking more Eric Morecombe than Eric Liddell, then my customary collapse on the grass at the finish line. My Garmin time was 26:08, nearly 90 seconds faster than last year, WOW well chuffed.
This is a great event organised by the very friendly crowd from ADAC, and with friends from Dumfries Harriers and Dumfries Running Club, giving both encouragement and abuse in equal measure, its got to be one of my favorite events of the running year and I was slightly sad that I'd decided to sacrifice the Saturday road race in favour of a long run with Andy B, in preparation for Berlin marathon for me and Iron Man Wales for Andy.
So less than 12 hours after my double header it was off to meet Andy for an 8am start for a 3 hour long run. We've been concentrating on trail running recently, so it must be 3 or 4 months since I did any distance over 10 miles on the road, whilst Andy has been cycling to work from Lockerbie to Carlisle most days as well as his running, would I still be able to keep up a decent pace or would I embarass myself?

Dumfries delivered another beautiful morning, sunny and bright with an breeze into our faces on the outward leg, we followed our usual route South East out of Dumfries, with the hills of the Lake district in the distance looping round the coast at Caerlaverock Castle, through Glencaple village, up the killer hill and then back tracking for a loop through the fabulous Crichton Estate. The first 17 miles felt pretty good, with our usual random conversational mix, stunning views and picking up the mile pace every time we talk about a race, we really are the worlds worst at judging pace!
I was trying out my new Saloman XT Wings Backpack for the first time, I'll do a full review in the future, but first impresion is very good.
After a good first 17, the last 5 felt realy tough going, no conversation, well none from me, Andy looked fresh as the proverbial daisy, I was just grinding it out to the finish. On the plus side we completed the 22 miles in 2:59:18 a respectable 8:09 average pace, the fastest long run we've ever done, on the down side my legs were in bits, so instead of running the ADAC hill race on Sunday, I had an enforced rest day instead.
I'm very happy with the weekend's efforts, with the training all focussed on trails and ultras it was great to still be able to batter out some quick (for me) road miles.
Club training on Tuesday evening, then I'm going to take it easy before the Coll Half Marathon this Saturday.

Everyone seems to have a blog!

I've been thinking about writing a blog for a few months now, lots of other runners write blogs, so why not me? In truth its because I couldn't think of a catchy title for it
So thanks to Kelly Clarkson for coming to my rescue last week. I was also a little bit stumped over how to describe myself as a runner so thanks also go to Olympic double gold medal winner Mr Bolt I can now desribe myself as "like Usain Bolt only much slower".
So tonight I'm off to the fabulously over titled Annan Festival of Running possibly the most low key but high fun event of my running calendar, starting with a one mile track race followed 30 minutes later by a 3.5 mile cross country run, followed tomorrow with a 6 mile road race and a 4 mile hill race on Sunday. I'll miss the road race as I've a 3 hour road run lined up for tomorrow in preparation for the Berlin Marathon.
Next weekend myself and the die hards of Dumfries Harriers are heading to the Island of Coll for the Coll Half Marathon a deceptivly tough race with an epic ceilidh afterwards.
The one mile race will be a major challenge for me as virtually all my training has been about marathons and ultra-marathons, with a good chunk of long trail training sessions thrown in for good measure. Last year I took my first and to date only fall, whilst running the cross country race, ending up with the entire left side of my body decorated with enormous blue and purple bruises, I'll be using the Inov8 315's tonight to avoid a repeat.
So what's my motivation for joining the blogosphere? well despite swearing initially I'd never run anything further than a 10K race, I've now got 3 marathons under my belt and joined the glorious world of Ultra running this year by completing the D33 and the Highland Fling and I've decided I'd like to run the West Highland Way Race next year.
So I'm going to share the process of training for the WHW race with the world, I bet you can't wait Eh!