I've been meaning to blog for the last couple of weeks and never quite got round to it...I had 2 themes..."weebles wobble" and "boing said Zebedee", so anyway, here we are, and with some sofa surfing, justified by yesterday's ultra, time to begin the tale....
It's fair to say over the last month or so, I've been having a wobble about the impending Glen Ogle 33. Following Glenmore, while I wasn't "broken" I was tired for considerably longer than anticipated. That combined with manic times at work, I was finding it hard to get back on the wagon and get any decent training done.
I did a couple of challenging runs, including missing supporting Clark run the Aviemore Half to try and sort my head out with a solo run around Ben Ledi's lower slopes with Cori dog, and a "Bob Special" of 5.5 hours in the pissing rain around Balquidder Glen, Glen Dochart etc, where the only saving grace was witnessing the deer rut!
And an 18 mile recce on some of the GO route, where I trailed behind the boys for the whole time :-(.
On the plus side, I also managed a (minor) PB in the Mealle a Bhuchaille hill race last weekend (albeit a week away with work, full of long days and over-indulging probably means this is a greater achievement than I give myself credit for!)
So, on Monday, I was still having a wobble...mainly about the terrain (concerned about the amount of tarmac/paved conditions under-foot) and an ongoing niggle in my left calf. Most people didn't understand, trying to reassure me that 'it will be easy for you, you ran 95 miles at Glenmore'. But when Clark confessed he probably wasn't going to run because of his ongoing back problems, I figured I really ought to MTFU and be thankful I could run...take one for the team...
The forecast for the weekend wasn't looking clever, but hey, I had more fun in DOTH in the rain this year, so, prepare for it, and crack on. The excitement of the build up on Facebook helps suck you in too...so much so, that I went panic shopping on Friday afternoon to fill drop bags I didn't really need.....
I had no real plan for the race, other than to get round. I'd looked briefly at the times from last year, and thought maybe 6.5 hours would be a rough enough guess.
It was great to arrive and see so many familiar faces, and the time quickly passed saying hellos, toilet stops, drop bag organizing and registering. Soon we were given the pre-race briefing (well, Bill stood up and I assume he was saying something useful) before being shepherded across the road to the start line. After a quick hug of Noanie and Johnny Fling it appeared we were too busy blethering and missed the start signal...ooops! 
And......walk! A lovely uphill start kicked the calves into scream mode, but Bob and I settled into a fairly matched pace, and with Bob's training having been going so well, I tried to just tag on, and said I hoped he didn't mind (which he didn't!)!
The miles seemed to tick along nicely, and before we knew it we were up onto the climb behind Lochearnhead and over the viaduct. Eating (I'd decided SIS Gels were order of the day) and drinking (nuun lemon tea) were going well.
It was great to see Clark taking photos at Kingshouse, and again at the top of the glen...and I even managed a smile!
A quick stop for some coke and some new gels at the checkpoint. And ditched my gloves....the weather had been kind....so far!
As we set off for the loop around Killin forest, we saw the race leader exit the loop "like he was floating" said Bob, and I hoped we'd look the same in 7+ miles when we got there!
We ran well the declines, and got into a wee group with Carol Martin (& John?) which kept spirits up for the inclines. I was certain Bob would have dropped me by now, but we were still keeping a consistent pace and my legs and lungs felt much better than our recce run a few weeks earlier . As we got to the 'straight' coming out of the forest, I started to feel a bit sick....sugar overdose I think (whatever possessed me to decide today would be the day I ate gels only??!)...and hoped this wasn't the start of a bad second half! Oh...and the rain/sleet started....
By the time we got back to the checkpoint my hands were FREEZING, and I was having much less fun (as you can see in the photo)! And that was after having been cheered by Clark, Cori and the cowbell ringing Munros who were braving the elements to do super support duties and the sight of Fiona Rennie in her amazing rain poncho and kick-ass boots!
By this point, Bob and I were on our own again, and after a brief stop for gloves, supplies (and thank you Karen D for the crisps to help me feel less sick!), we put our heads down, and soldiered off down the glen. Before the rain became biblical, we were having a chat...Me: "only a half marathon to go" (me trying to share my motivation patter which I usually only get from the voices in my head), Bob: "Arghhh...don't say that, it must be less, so and so's Garmin last year showed 31.5 miles not 33..."...and we pondered how our friends were getting on. The rain showed no mercy, so it was hood up, and knuckle down, keeping the pace shifting to try and keep warm. I was convinced I could hear Bob's steps keeping time with mine until a mile or so later, a girl passed me, and as we went though a gate I was dis-heartened to see Bob had fallen some way back, and was outwith closing distance. I was freezing and my knees were aching, so made the split second decision not to wait. In hindsight, maybe I should've stayed, given how Bob's tale unfolded, but at that point I hoped he'd pick up and soon catch me.
I popped my head-phones in at this point to distract me from the squealing in my quads and knees...I couldn't get the 'shuffle' option on as my sausage fingers were fat, numb and dripping, but managed to get the playlist to start at 'A'...bizarrely I seem to have a large number of duplicated tracks, and the repetition was bloody annoying, but I managed a wee sing song, and some "conducting" as I "bounced" along to the tunes!
I'm feeling "in the zone" as I hit checkpoint 4, only to find Alan Doig there, stretching and complaining of cramp...the marshal brought over my drop-bag and cracked open my Red Bull as requested...and a couple of gulps, and a few salt & vinegar crisps later I set off at a shuffle through the floods shortly behind Alan. The road was running (faster than me) and the puddles were deep...no thought for dodging the swells now...just push on, push on....less than 10k to go... Alan was doing some "interesting" stretches and squats in the road as I passed him...I tried to give him a friendly thumbs up as I kept on for what seemed like an age until the turning point in the road for the "final stretch" home.
I passed a few folk on this section...all dripping wet, some trying to stretch out their cramps, but we all exchanged a friendly "hello"...gotta love ultra runners! I felt ok, and started thinking sub-6 would be a reality, and was starting to wonder why, other than the hard tarmac, people hated this section....and then, into the last 1.5 miles....up, down, up, down....grrrrrrr....is it ever going to end??!?! And then, having not fully recce'd the route, I was dismayed when we didn't turn into Strathyre when I expected. Thankfully, just a couple of hundred yards later, the big arrow signal relief...I could see the final bridge, and through the trees, John and Helen, clad head to toe in fluro waterproofs! Thank f*ck!!
The finish 'straight' is kinda weird and you double back into the car park. It was great to see the cheery faces of David and Julie, Clark, Fiona, Noanie (of whom I very untactfully asked "did you win?", "why not?!") etc...who all looked dry and cosy compared to my freezing, sogginess! I vaguely remember getting a goody bag and having some chat (including with the XBionic Rep, who I'm sure I could've convinced to give me some free kit...)...and then flat-lining....blue, uncontrollable shaking... Clark took me over to the car and I tried to get into some dry kit...it seemed to take an eternity...and the shaking just wouldn't stop! We stayed in the car for a while, chatting to friends as they passed, and then popped back out, (where Julie was an angel and managed to get me a cup of tea) just in time to see Bob finish. And he was grey/blue/white...near death, having suffered big time on those last miles...but now he was Ultra Bob2
So, overall, I'm "glad" I ran.....on the way home in the car, I swore I'd never do it again because of the tarmac, and that was compounded by the pain I was in all evening (but maybe that was exacerbated by having to shift 2 tons of logs off the drive when we got home!)....but 24 hours later and I'm already thinking differently (if indeed I can get a place given how fast it sold out this year!!). It's given me a wee bit of "boing" back, and the motivation to get out there!
Thank you to BaM racing, and to all those friends, marshals and others who sacrificed their day to see us through (part of me thinks the runners had the 'easier' shift yesterday!). Here's hoping for some better weather for next year's event, because this is a great wee end to the season!
(credit to Fiona Rennie, Clark Hamilton, David Mooney & Muriel Downie for the photos)
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