Highland Fling 2013

Highland Fling 2013

What madness is it that makes someone want to run 53 miles through Scotland in April? Well, let's see...

How Did We Get Here?

4 years ago a work colleague, let's call him Clive, blogged about his experience of taking part in the Highland Fling race. I was just starting out as a fell runner after 5 or so years of road running and read it with great interest. Although inspirational, it just seemed crazy. The furthest I'd ever run at the time was about 16 miles and I struggled to imagine what it would be like to run three times this distance and then some. However, it inspired me and I made a mental note to have a go one day.

In itself, running 53 miles is a daunting task for most, but throw in over 6000' of ascent on varied terrain and only those with hill running experience will nod their heads knowingly about the effort involved. As someone with around a year of off-road running at the time, and just starting out in fell racing, I felt suitably daunted, but reading about Clive's experience made it seem like it was on the edge of achievable. Luckily, it isn't a continuous 53 miles of running for most entrants. There are hills which need to be walked; there are checkpoints where you need to stop and refuel; and there are parts of the route which are just plain un-runnable due to the terrain.

I won't bore you with the details, but I didn't feel ready for a 2011 attempt. I was ready for a go in 2012 but broke my ankle in the winter, so with a deferred place to the 2013 race, it was decided that this would be it.

For a variety of reasons, including the weather, I ended up at the 2013 'Fling with only a handful of 15-18 mile runs under my belt plus two 21 mile runs - the Grindleford Gallop race in March and a long training run in April when the snow had melted enough to give reasonable access to the moors. This lack of long runs worried me quite a bit when I thought about the race, but I couldn't do anything about it, so I pushed it out of my mind.

A couple of weeks before the race, I polled Clive for tips for the race. Of those he gave me, the one which stands out for me post-race was to take some de-fizzed cola along. He did, however, forget to give me one piece of advice that he was given during his 'Fling attempt: "if it looks like a hill, walk it". This has stuck with me since I read it in his blog and proved invaluable in the race.

I have a lot of virtual friends on Twitter, some of whom I've even met in real life. Mike Wells is one of these and is a great inspiration to myself and many others. He offered to run the 'Fling as my running partner which I gratefully accepted. I knew the race would be mentally as well as physically challenging and having a running buddy might just make it easier on both of us. Mike's blog of the race and the rest of his remarkable story about running is here.

I travelled up to the start in Milngavie on Friday before the race. Although it would have been a bit cheaper by car, I figured that I'd take the train just in case my legs weren't up to pressing the pedals or I was tired coming back on Sunday. Despite the occasional heavy rain showers, it was a great journey. I love taking the train and am glad I made that decision. Although my legs were probably up to the job on the Sunday, I don't think my concentration was.

I checked into the Milngavie Premier Inn at the same time as a couple of other runners and got some of my kit sorted before heading out to meet my running partner Mike and his fiance Sarah so we could grab some dinner and collect our race registration packs at the Burnbrae pub down the road from where I was staying. Although I'd planned to stay off the alcohol, I opted for a pint of Guinness. I'm sure I read somewhere that it has iron in it, so it must be good as a pre-race drink, right? The three of us had a good chat and a decent, if very filling meal of soup and lasange. I was happy to be feeling full on the basis that I would need to metabolise all of that food during the race. The registration pack actually only contained the timing chip being used for the race. I don't know what I expected really, but I thought there may be more to it than that. I had said to a few Twitter folk that I'd hang around in the pub until after 8pm to see if we could meet up, but at 7:30 I think all 3 of us were ready to leave so we could get sorted for the early start on Saturday.

After a reasonable night's sleep, spoilt only by a group of people in a nearby room talking loudly and laughing until quite late, I awoke at 4:30am and it was time to get ready for the show. Despite having prepared my stuff the night before, I still didn't make it out of the hotel until nearly 5:30am but as it's only 10 minutes walk to the start at the station, it wasn't a problem.

I met up with Sarah, then went and dropped off my bags at the various cars dotted around the car-park for the checkpoints & finish. Matt Surgeon from my running club and his wife turned up and supplied me with breakfast. Matt had been kind enough to pick up some banana's for me the evening before. A most welcome snack. Mike joined us and we had a quick pre-race photo of the 3 of us under the start banner.

Normally before a new race I'm either quite excited or quite nervous, but with a week or so to go before the 'Fling I was neither. Several people asked me how I was feeling and all I could say was that I was feeling nothing. Don't get me wrong, I was very much looking forward to the race, but I had no strong feelings about it which is quite unusual. Even minutes before the race start, I wasn't excited or nervous. Just ready to go.

The Start

Ready or not: Matt Surgeon, me and my running partner Mike
pic ©Matt Surgeon

Mike's back, me and my jaunty hat & Matt looking chipper.
pic ©Matt Surgeon

When the start gun went, Mike and I were well back in the last "pen". On the basis that we were aiming just to finish, there was no point being up at the pointy end getting in the way of faster runners. After a few hundred metres of running through Milgavie's shopping centre we passed under the archway for the official start of the West Highland Way. It turns out to be a very unsalubrious start - going down a couple of flights of steps and through a car-park at the back of some shops, but that soon turns into running on good trail through woodlands. Progress wasn't fast for the first couple of miles simply because of the number of runners. It didn't bother me much though as I was happy to keep to a very easy pace given the unknowns ahead. We walked the small hills even this early into the race, although some of that was due to congestion and the fact that everyone else was walking them too. I was astounded at the number of runners needing a "comfort break" so early into the race. There were portaloo's at the start, so how come so many of them still needed to go after just a few miles? I managed to last 20 miles before my first stop!

After around 5 miles of gentle ascent, the trail suddenly drops away into a valley and for a few minutes you have the most stunning views with a snow-capped Ben More in the far distance. I was reliably informed that somewhere to the left of this was where we were headed. It certainly looked incredibly distant.

Around 5 miles in with snow-capped Ben More slightly left of centre & the finish slightly to the left of that

The rest of the run to the first timing point at Drymen was a bit of a blur really. It was a mix of well-made trail and then an unexpectedly long stretch of road. We stuck to our plan of walking the hills, although we did run a couple. At some point along the trails here, we passed a lady that I thought could be Rhona Mitchell who I follow on Twitter. She was on her own and I wanted to say hello, but didn't want to look a complete idiot if it wasn't her. Later Twitter conversations and a picture from the finish showed it was Rhona and I felt suitably embarrassed for not saying hello! Rhona has a great blog of her experience of the 'Fling here.

Drymen: 2h07, 315th place

It was good to hear the bleeps of the timing mats as we arrived in Drymen and know that we'd got the first section out of the way. With a refill of my water bottle, a nibble on a snack and a quick hello to Mike's fiance we were off again, taking a slight detour out of Drymen due to logging work close to the WHW path. As we headed up the road on the detour route, Mike decided it was time for his second call of nature. I jogged on up the hill and a few minutes later got a phone call from Mike fearing he'd run past me and dropped me. He was actually only 100m behind but I'd taken my jacket off, so he was looking for the wrong coloured top :)

Into the Garadhban Forest we went, although there had been some serious logging work done which had cleared a lot of the trees. So not really a forest any more. It looked very desolate with no greenery to be seen for hundreds of metres all around the WHW trail. On the positive side, this logging did open up the views very nicely toward the bottom of the bottom Loch Lomond.

Runners spoling the view of Loch Lomond

It was around here that I was trotting along minding my own business when a runner we were overtaking suddenly called out and asked if I was Trevor. It turned out to be fellow Twitterer Stephen Johnstone. I'd exchanged tweets with him at around 5am telling him what I was wearing and he managed to recognise me from that. It was fantastic to meet another virtual friend from Twitter, if entirely unexpected. We ran with Stephen for a while chatting before Mike and I pushed on for Conic Hill.

Conic Hill
The path ascends on the right-hand side of the hill

If you look closely at the above photo, you can just make out some runners slightly to the left of centre. The WHW track certainly takes a rather convoluted route to Conic Hill, but since the scenery was so stunning, I wasn't going to complain.

Somewhere along the trail before the hill we caught up with Ken Hughes - a Twitter friend of Mike's whom we'd bumped into in the first section of the course. We bumped into Ken several more times during the race but alas he didn't manage to finish it.

The climb up Conic is on decent trail, and despite our plan to "walk the hills", Mike and I did run sections which were sloping upwards. Then we were over the top and the view out over Loch Lomond was the most stunning I've ever seen. The air was clear with a beautiful blue sky and the loch with surrounding hills looked wonderful. I did make Mike stop for a moment for a picture, which is slightly over-exposed so doesn't really do it justice, but you'll get the drift I'm sure.

Mike giving directions

A little further and Mike patiently waits for me to stop faffing with my phone

The descent off Conic is on well made trail and steps. After negotiating the first set of steps a little hastily and having a little slip on some damp rock, I decided that the best way down was at speed on the grass at the side of the steps. I headed off and could hear Mike charging down behind me. I've found my Inov8 Roclite 295's to have fantastic grip on most surfaces and trusted them totally on this descent. I gradually eased off the pace before the bottom to save my legs a bit. We dropped nearly 1000' in 13 minutes, which is awesome.

Balmaha

Suddenly we were in Balmaha. 20 miles into the race. The thought of another 33 miles was incomprehensible, especially as I was approaching the distance of my longest run in 18+ months. The helpers quickly located my drop-bag and I gobbled down a pack of Hula Hoops whilst chatting to Mike's family who were there to support us. I definitely prefer savoury to sweet on these long runs. I managed to stuff a pack of salt and vinegar wheat snacks into my pocket then reluctantly dumped the rest of the contents of my drop-bag before filling up my drink bottle and heading for my one and only "comfort break" of the day.

Mike & a rather pink fella at Balmaha (pic courtesy of Mike's Dad)

I can't actually remember much of the run from Balmaha to Rowardennen. Mike and I had a little celebration when we went through 21.5 miles, making this my longest run since I broke my ankle last winter and I know I had to stop to get a piece of grit out of my shoe at one point (courtesy of the hole in the upper caused by extensive wear), but this was only a couple of minutes. My legs were beginning to feel the effects of the distance (and probably the descent off Conic) and I began to wonder quite how they'd get through the rest of the race.

Although only 7 or so miles from Balmaha, Rowardennen seemed to take forever to get to. Whilst the trail was good, it just seemed to go on and on, with plenty of little hills as the track wound it's along the hillside above the loch. Finally though, we were there. Mike's fiance was waiting a little bit ahead of the checkpoint so Mike felt the urge to do a couple of twirls and run backwards for a few metres. I felt no such compulsion. I was ready for a sit down!

Mike & the stalker heading into Rowardennen (pic courtesy of Mike's Dad)

Rowardennen: 5h15, 254th place

The atmosphere at Rowardennen was absolutely fantastic. There was what seemed to be a huge crowd of well-wishers there applauding and cheering in each runner. It gave me a huge lift. We were now over half way and at 27.5 miles I was at the distance of my longest ever run, nearly 22 months ago. My legs kindly let me know that this was the case. We crossed the timing mat in 254th place, having picked up over 60 places since the last timing point at Drymen.

We sat with Mike's family in the checkpoint, munched on sandwiches, crisps and other stuff which is supposedly bad for you. Let's face it, 27 miles into a 53 mile race, nobody is going be lecturing you on what you should and shouldn't eat! I changed into a thinner top, and replaced my socks before Mike was chiding me to get going again. I managed to launch a quick text message off to my wife and then we were off again. 7 miles to the next check point at Inversnaid.

Mike, Sarah and Grumpy at Rowardennen

This part of the race has a sort of dream-like quality in my head. There was a lot of running on undulating forestry tracks which was initially a nice variation, but I get bored running on the same terrain for ages (which is why I gave up road running), so it became a little tedious and I switched off. I think I'd also run a little low on fuel by Rowardennen, so I was in a bit of a funk until lunch kicked in a few miles further on. Only 7 miles to Inversnaid though. I think the checkpoints were perfectly placed. 7 miles is small enough to make it seem easily achievable ("anyone can run 7 miles"), yet not so short as to be an annoying distraction. Despite the long distance, my legs and feet rather surprisingly weren't complaining. I had wondered if the Roclite's would rub or not have enough cushioning for this sort of distance, but I had no rubbing, no blisters and my feet didn't feel sore from the pounding along hard trail.

Inversnaid

We made it to Inversnaid. It seemed like a very nice place, although I was more concerned with my drop-bag and its contents. On the advice of Clive, my work colleague, I'd packed some mostly de-fizzed cola (of the full sugar variety). I hadn't realised I was thirsty, but this tasted absolutely great. Another snack consumed, a bag of salt & vinegar snacks stuffed into a pocket with an energy bar and the rest of the drop-bag was left on the rather large pile of unwanted food. I hope someone likes energy bars and gels as there were plenty of them left here. Nearly forgot to fill my bottle, but a nice marshal set me up. Another text message to my wife and we were on our way.

So far, 34 miles and I'd drunk 500ml of fluid between each checkpoint. I had a second bottle and a litre of water in a bladder in my pack neither or which I'd touched. That's 1.5kg extra weight I'd carried for 34 miles (not to mention the other cruft in my bag which was "in case of emergencies").

As we set out for Beinglas, it was feeling rather warm and the coke really perked me up. My legs felt great and for the first time in a few hours, I felt great. Sugar and caffeine is obviously all I need :) We headed out little suspecting how awful the terrain is for a long stretch between Inversnaid and Beinglas. The track quickly becomes a series of scrambles over rocks and tree roots with virtually no running at all. As we started out on this, I commented to Mike that this sort of terrain might be slower than the forestry tracks in the last section, but I preferred it. I was not so glib when we were still crossing it miles later. At one point I looked at my GPS and it said something like 57km done. 5 minutes later after much clambering over rocks and roots, it said 57.1km. Now that is slow going! We did however run the very short sections of reasonably clear trail. As I kept telling Mike, a few seconds here and there is a few seconds off our finishing time.

I think Mike was struggling a bit through this phase of the race. We got stuck behind a couple of ladies for a while and he didn't seem in any hurry to ask nicely if we might pass them. Eventually the path opened out though and I urged him past, but his speed and lightness of feet was definitely down on earlier in the race. I was still feeling bouncy and good though. Had someone laced my coke with something a little stronger?

Finally we were free of the awkward terrain and also away from the top of the loch. As the landscape opened up, I thought "great, we're nearly at Beinglas". Unfortunately, we were still something like 3 miles out on very undulating, but mostly decent paths. We pushed on, walking the uphills and running the other bits, passing a number of other runners along the way.

Beinglas: 8h56, 230th place

We rolled into Beinglas to great applause and cheering from those watching. It was fantastic and I choked up with emotion. I did manage to keep it in, but thought that the chances of me not shedding a tear at the finish were remarkably low. 41 miles and just under 9 hours in, and we'd made up another 20 or so places on the last segment. Mike's family met us again. I demolished another bag of crisps and Mike & I downed the cola from my drop-bag rather quickly. More food dumped on the big pile for recycling, a quick refill of drink bottles and we were off again.

Although I didn't notice at the time, somewhere between Inversnaid and Beinglas, my Gore windproof jacket had detached itself from my pack and decided to stay out on the trail.

It must have been warm out as I'd actually got through almost a litre of drink by Beinglas. Lucky I chose to carry two bottles after all!

The elevation chart after Beinglas looks a complete nightmare. Mike and I chatted about the 13-ish miles remaining and decided that walking 10 and running 3 was a likely scenario, but even so, we could still make it to the finish in under 13 hours if things went ok.

As it turned out, there was much more of this final section which was runnable than we imagined. We ploughed on with our strategy of walking uphill and running the rest. I should note that even when we were walking, we were walking at a good clip. No point in dawdling. Mike had picked up by this stage, and although I felt great again from the buzz of the coke, my legs were beginning to feel quite tired. This made the downhills quite slow for me, but I guess that was payback for tanking it off Conic Hill. Mike took all of the downhills with his usual style leaving me way behind.

Ben More (I think) from somewhere in the wilds after Beinglas

This last section has become a bit of a blur in my head. I clearly remember the cows and "cow poo alley". I managed to dodge most of the poo I think. What I do also remember clearly was passing other runners. Sometimes individuals, sometimes pairs and sometimes clusters of a number of them. Mostly walking but some running very slowly. I was amazed that we were still running quite well yet all of these people had clearly got problems. As we passed one runner walking, he quipped "you two look far too fresh". I replied saying we'd caught the bus to Beinglas.

It was in this last few miles that I made my only mistake of the race. It turned out not to be critical, but it could so easily have been. I forgot to fuel! I was still drinking regularly, but in between the running and puffing and panting on the walks up the hills, I forgot to eat properly. I think I managed about 1/4 of a 9-bar but found it too dry to eat whilst running so stuffed the rest in my pocket. It's easy to forget to eat after having checkpoints every 7-ish miles and then not having one.

Mike's family found another spot to cheers us on somewhere near the Falls of Falloch. It was a welcome sight, but we didn't stop this time.

At the turn at Crianlarich there were some friendly folk by the stile. We had a brief chat with them and then headed up the big hill which shows up rather clearly on the elevation chart. Mike had reccied this bit of the course, although I think he'd forgotten it because at each turn he'd say "we're pretty much at the top now", and then there'd be another uphill. On and on and on it went up the hill, but amazingly enough we did finally reach the top and then followed an undulating and sometimes steeply descending path back down. This would have been great fun on fresh legs but was a bit of a struggle on tired legs. However, we pushed on. Can't stop now, too close to the end. I was counting off the km on my watch as I tend to do in long races. It helps me focus on finishing rather than giving up.

6 miles out of Tyndrum and I really began to struggle. Even the small slopes were now an effort because I'd forgotten to fuel up. But Mike was still cheery and managed to drag me along promising I could leave my pack with his family when we reached Kirkton Farm with around 5km to go. I toughed it out. We were close to the finish and I was going to continue running where I could.

Mike's mum (hiding), Keiran, Mike and a bloke who looks like death couldn't come too soon.
Pic courtesy of Mike's Dad

We reached the farm and Mike's mum, Sarah and his son Kieran joined us for the final few km to the finish. Mike and I dropped off our packs and headed out. I was amazed at how light I felt. I reckon the pack probably weighed 10-12lbs and losing that certainly made a big difference. This was definitely my lowest point of the whole race. I was in no doubt about finishing, but I was beyond caring about anything other than just getting there. At one point, Sarah asked how I was doing. All I could manage to say was a grumpy "Don't ask!". Chipper as ever, Mike replied with "He's doing fine.".

At the 5k mark, it looked like we might just make 11:30 for the race, but I was slowing up badly and even the easiest slopes now required slowing to a walk. At one point Mike and I guessed at times, and I said around 11:34. He said 11:34 to 11:38 (ie bang-on). I'm beginning to like his ability to predict times.

We struggled on over lumpy trails. I was watching the km tick down on my watch just wishing for the finish to appear, then finally we were into the last km. I heard a Piper in the distance and recalled from someone else's blog that the organisers lay on Pipers to pipe the runners in. I don't really like the sounds of bagpipes, but I tell you they were welcome music to my ears at this point in the race - knowing that it was nearly over.

Sarah, Mike and the glorious sounding Piper

I began to pick up now. The finish was mere metres away and the effort was nearly over. We picked up more of Mike's family as we got closer to the finish. His sister was there to cheer us on and her kids joined us for part of the run in. Finally the finish came into sight...

Kieran leading us in

There were still quite a lot of people around and there was great applause as we headed down the track to the finish line. Kieran, Mike & myself all picked up our pace whilst Sarah and Mike's mum dropped off to go round the outside of the finish funnel.

Go Team!
pic ©Highland Fling Race

And then it was over.

Finish: 11h36, 192/3 of 416 finishers

11 hours & 36 minutes of running, hiking and eating. I had hoped for a sub-13 hour finish, but this was beyond my wildest expectations. I bit my lip and the expected waterworks held back. A kind helper placed my medal around my neck and removed the chip from my ankle (fortunately for me, as I wouldn't have been able to bend over to do it myself). Sarah and the rest of Mike's extended family caught up with and congratulated us. I just wanted to lie down, but a gravel path didn't seem to be the place to do it.

The first medal I feel I really earned!

Not only had our time been far better than I ever hoped, it turns out that we improved our overall position in the race by nearly 40 places in the last 12 miles. Only a handful of people behind myself and Mike completed this last section faster than us. According to Mike's stats, we had around the 123rd fastest time for the last 12 miles. Very pleasing indeed for me given my lack of long-distance running. The other figure which impressed me was that we made up 123 places between Drymen and the finish. Perhaps we started the race a little too far back down the field ;-)

My pack was returned to me without my trusty WindStopper soft-shell jacket which was some way back down the course. I liked that jacket, but envisaged it trodden into the mud and excrement of cow-poo alley. It turned out to have been wrested from my pack by a Hawthorn bush though and another kindly runner had picked it up & given it to the marshals. Once we'd collected our goody bags, fizzy wine, T-shirts and had a cup of soup, I desperately needed to lie down. I was also getting cold.

Slightly mis-framed Highland Fling fizzy pop

Mike's sister offered to help me back to the B&B I was staying in as it was only a couple of hundred metres away and she knew the place. On the way there I managed to remember to grab my celebratory bottle of beer which I would savour later. Although it was only a few minutes walk, by the time we got to the B&B I was shivering quite badly. It wasn't particularly cold out, but I think that once the adrenalin had gone my body decided it had had enough. It took every effort of will to walk rather than just sit down.

Heather, the owner of the B&B couldn't have been nicer. Even though she's younger than me, she clucked around like a mother hen making sure I was ok. A mug of coffee, sweet roll and hot bath helped soothe away some of the aches and pains and warmed me up. As did cleaning 11 hours of trail filth from the bath afterwards.

I sorted some of my kit out and then headed up to meet Mike's family for dinner at the Real Food Cafe. The fish & chips were fantastic, although I'm not sure they touched the sides on the way down. After a good natter over dinner, we headed our separate ways and I returned to the B&B ready for an early night. As it turned out, one of the other people staying at the B&B was a long-time friend on Twitter and veteran 'Flinger John M. He'd been marshalling the 'Fling this year due to illness, but it was John, along with my work colleague Clive, who made me want to take part in this fantastic event, so we chatted for a few minutes with another runner and I announced that this was a one-off race for me. A check-box ticked if you like, and in future I'd be sticking to shorter Ultra's. John politely ignored this and told me I'd be back after working out which bits of the route I could save time on. I thought not, but a week on, now I'm wondering if he was right. I took two ibuprofen washed down with the celebration beer from the 'Fling and I was off to bed. 

The Aftermath

On Sunday, my legs felt reasonably ok although my feet were quite sore. My quads were aching, but rather surprisingly, I could walk ok - even up and down steps. I caught the bus from Tyndrum to Glasgow. Not only is it quicker than the train, but it also leaves at a more reasonable time on a Sunday to make connections (9am vs 12:45pm). The bus was a little late pulling into Glasgow Bus Station. I think we hit every red traffic light coming into the city so I ended up having to do a speed-walk from the Bus Station to Queen Street railway station in order to make my 11am train to Edinburgh. Again, surprisingly, this didn't cause me any problems. My legs felt ok. There were no other public transport issues on the rest of the journey and I was finally home around 4:30pm. It was a long day of travelling, but I didn't really notice time going by. My head was elsewhere.

Monday was when the DOMS kicked in properly. My quads were screaming with every movement and getting downstairs was a trial. I could feel every vibration of the main quadricep as I walked. It's a really weird sensation as you never notice muscles moving in normal circumstances. Fortunately, unlike some runners after a long, hard event, I could actually get downstairs without resorting to going backwards. It was a painful day, but walking around did help to ease the yelling quads a little.

On Tuesday, my legs were stiff and tired, but the DOMS had mostly gone, so I went for my first post-Fling run. I managed 5k around the local school's running track and the legs were definitely loosening off more and more with each completed 400m lap.

Wednesday, my legs felt fine and I had a great hilly run on my local training ground, getting within seconds of personal bests on some of the Strava segments in the area. I felt really great about this and can only attribute it to the recovery powers of the RunStreak (running every day). I managed a good short road run on Thursday too, which was also very pleasing.

Every day for a week after the race, my head was lost in recounting the event. From the gathering at the start and the initial congestion through to the scramble after Inversnaid and cow poo alley then feeling quite rough towards the end. I still get a feeling of elation when I think about the race now.

Future Thoughts

Exactly a week on from the 'Fling, I found myself looking at my watch regularly and thinking about where Mike and I would have been a week ago. I also found I was longing to be back there running. This was a rather worrying turn of events (maybe a variant of Stockholm Syndrome?) as I had definitely decided "no more" immediately after the race and made that clear to everyone who would listen.

I really don't know whether I'll go for a second attempt at this race. I enjoyed it more than any other event I've done, despite the suffering in the last few miles. It's something I will remember forever (particularly now I've written it down). I told myself that I was lucky with the weather this year, lucky to have a great running partner in Mike and lucky to have a great support team in Sarah and Mike's family. If I do the race again and end up doing it solo and unsupported in poor weather, that could tarnish the memory of the first one and I really don't want to lose that. On the other hand, with another year of training and a few more (shorter) ultra's under the belt, who knows what I could do?

I guess we'll see in October 2013 when the 2014 race entry opens....

Acknowledgements

I'd just like to say thanks to a few people (in no particular order) who made this event possible for me:

• Clive King for writing a great blog of his experiences and inspiring me to tackle it
• Mike Wells for agreeing to be my running partner and doing a stirling job leading us round the bulk of the way.
• Sarah F. and Mike's family for their support and encouragement on the way round.
• All my tweeps on Twitter without whose encouragement I would have struggled to get fit enough for a race like this.
• Matt Surgeon and his wife for the pre-race bananas.
• The Highland Fling organisers and helpers who made it seem like a slick, well-oiled machine. Thanks to everyone who gave up their Saturday (and other days) to help out.
• Finally, to my wife for putting up with me. She thought I was mad attempting it, but I suspect is secretly quite impressed that we did so well.

Lessons Learned

What did I learn from this race that might possibly be useful to me in a future event?

• Pack less food in the drop-bags. A bag of salty snacks (eg Hoola Hoops) and an energy bar should suffice, at least at the first 2 checkpoints. Also a sandwich or similar in the Rowardennen bag is a good idea as it's around lunchtime by then.
• Definitely pack full-fat de-fizzed cola in the last 2 drop-bags. It was a great pick-me-up.
• Get a lighter foil blanket & don't pack waterproof over-trousers unless it's going to rain.
• The Raidlight pack rubs. Use plenty of vaseline regularly not just twice during the whole day!
• A single change of socks at the half-way point works fine (no need for 2 spare pairs).
• A change of shirt at the mid-way point was a good idea. Wear something warm for the first half of the race, then change into something lighter for the 2nd half (depending on weather of course).
• Unless it's a hot day, two 500ml drinks bottles are enough. Don't carry that bladder with the extra 1l of water in it unless it is hot. Even then, think about filling it at one of the later checkpoints (Inversnaid or Beinglas), not at the start!
• Although it was great fun coming off Conic Hill at speed, trashing your quads after 20 miles is not clever. Although it didn't kill them, it did make the downhills nearer the end slower for me (but not Mike).
• Take lots of photo's. They're great reminders of the route and day.
• Carrying a smartphone and separate camera might be overkill when pack weight is an issue.
• Use the "lap" facility on the Ambit to record checkpoint arrival & departure times for future reference.
• Most importantly: don't forget to keep fuelling after Beinglas. 13 miles is a long way when you've already done 40 (maybe carrying extra water at this stage would be beneficial too).
• A recce might be advantageous
• Never say never again ;)