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 ;)

The Rights Shoes For The Job

When Inov-8 first announced the Oroc range of shoes, I was mentally hooked. A shoe with great grip on snow, ice, rock, tree roots, etc, etc was just what I thought I needed for winter running. Although I coped ok in snow and mud with other shoes from the Inov-8 range, ice was pretty much all about just trying to get enough traction to stay upright. Unfortunately for me, the Oroc's weren't available in the UK until late Spring of 2011 and by that time the need for something which coped with ice was pretty much gone.

Wait.

Winter 2011/12 came and I resisted the urge to buy a pair of Oroc's as I was managing to get around fine in my Mudclaws or Roclite 295's. Still slipping and sliding away when it was icy, but those days weren't too common in the early part of that winter. Then came the fateful time in early February when I set out on a snowy Saturday for a long run out to White Edge and beyond. Ice had formed on the moors and it was a challenge to keep upright, but experience helped and I managed it. This was the stuff Oroc's were made for. So why hadn't I bought some yet? 4 miles into the run, as the snow got heavier, I hit a patch of snow-covered ice. Not normally a big problem, but my concentration had momentarily lapsed and I happened to be turning slightly to position myself straight on a track. Over I went and there was a loud crack. That was me done with running for 3 months. No need for Oroc's then.

Rest & Recuperation.

By the time I was eventually allowed to run again, it was almost summer. I began running every day as soon as I could. Sometimes just a mile, but I figured that if I tried to run every day, it would speed recovery. 9 months on, I can't say whether or not it did speed my recovery as I have no baseline to compare with. However, I am definitely fit again, and I think faster than before the accident - although not necessarily up the hills.

Winter Comes.

Winter was a bit slow in getting started this year. Apart from a cold snap at the beginning of December there was barely a frost in the latter part of 2012. As a result, buying a pair of Oroc's hadn't actually occurred to me. Mainly because I've been told by my better half that if I go out on ice and get injured again I have to make my own way to hospital and I needn't expect any sympathy! By chance, however, an opportunity raised its itself for me to acquire some Oroc 280's at a reasonable price. This was early December and there were some icy pavements around in the evenings which made progress tentative in fell or road shoes so I bought the Oroc's and wore them once before the weather warmed up again. First impressions were a great fit, like my X-Talon 212's and a decent amount of grip. Just how much grip wasn't clear at this point.

Wait.

After plenty of wet weather, winter arrived with a vengeance in Sheffield on January 11th 2013 with a few cm of snow. Great! Now it's time to use the Oroc's in conditions they were designed for. As of writing this blog I've run in them every day for 10 days and they do not disappoint. I've taken them out on a mix of road and off-road runs. Grip has been better than expected and every time I wear them I trust them a little more.

On-Road

I'm pretty sure these shoes were not designed with road running in mind. The metal 'dobs' clatter on the tarmac and the lack of significant cushioning can lead to some soreness - particularly under the ball of the foot where one of the primary studs is located. However, when it's icy, needs must. There's a road local to me which is just under a mile long uphill. The last part of the uphill is extremely steep, so much so that I've almost stalled running up there in road shoes in the past. I ran my best (recent) time up there just prior to the 'big freeze' a couple of weeks ago in road shoes. I ran my second best time up the same hill in Oroc's when there was frozen packed snow on the steepest sections of the road. There was only a couple of seconds difference. To be honest, I thought I'd beat my PB by a few seconds, but it was not to be. I wasn't disappointed though, given the conditions and the shoes. I went on to do a decent road run that day with good overall pace on a mix of frosty pavement and frozen snow. This was when I began to love the shoe. On a run a couple of days later, when it snowed heavily, I was able to run downhill at sub 7-minute mile pace comfortably on packed snow without any fear that the Oroc's would not grip. I defy anyone to attempt that safely in anything other than orienteering shoes.

Off-Road

Although I prefer off-road by far to road running, most of my recent off-road runs have been in the 5-9 miles range on a variety of tracks and trails through local (hilly) woodland and a bit of moorland. The Oroc's have shown good grip in almost all of the places my Mudclaws have, but they have also clung on to wet and icy wood in the form of tree roots, fallen trees and a wooden footbridge. Landing on the local gritstone rock is sure-footed as I expected, even when it's wet or icy. The metal dobs bite in and the rubber studs just build on that grip. I set new PB times on a few sections on one of my tougher local routes last week wearing Oroc's instead of Mudclaws. I was quite impressed as it didn't seem any faster at the time. Maybe the Oroc's just require less effort to go faster so I ran harder to get the same perceived level of effort I would have in the Mudclaws?

Are they for you?

Well, that's a good question.
At £80 (Internet prices) they're some of the more expensive off-road shoes on the market and you'll probably only use them a few times a year unless you're an orienteer or climate change brings us lots of cold, snowy winters. That said, if you want to be able to get out and run without too much fear of slipping over, whatever the conditions, then I'd recommend these shoes.

If you are used to wearing highly cushioned road shoes, then you might want to try the heavier Oroc's (340's) as these have more cushioning and have a greater heel to toe height differential (9mm) which makes them a little closer to the feel of road shoes.

What do I like about them (if it wasn't obvious enough already)?

• Great grip on tarmac/rock/snow/ice/wet wood/firm mud
• Great fit. Feels like a slipper rather than a running shoe
• Speed. Despite the clattering of the studs on hard surfaces, these shoes don't just feel fast, they are fast.
• Did I mention the grip?
• Lightweight. At 280g for a size 8, they're at the lighter end of the spectrum of off-road shoes. They actually feel light too.

What don't I like about them?

• Clattering on hard surfaces prevents stalking
• Running on hard surfaces: e.g. hard ice or tarmac/concrete can lead to sore feet after a few miles.
• Price: £80 is a lot for a shoe you might only need to use a couple of dozen days of the year.

Conclusion

In case you didn't already figure it out, I love the Oroc 280's. So far, they're everything I need in a winter running shoe. I'm a big Inov-8 fan anyway, so the shoes didn't need a big sell, but I wouldn't praise them unless I thought they deserved it!

I have to say, though, that they have not yet had a dunking in a peat-bog. It seems a shame to do that to them really, but next weekend is the Tigger Tor race which might need them to ensure a safe passage around the Peak District. The race has a mile long crossing of peat-bog and two marsh crossings which if not frozen solid, will give the shoes something less pleasant than woodland trail to contend with!

A Cautionary Tale

A cautionary tale for those of you who are out running on the hills in this wintery weather.

I waited for it to start snowing last Saturday afternoon and set out on a 10-12 miler up over Totley Moor, White Edge Moor, with the aim of eventually heading on to Burbage and Houndkirk. I love this weather for running in and it was fantastic having your face cleansed by tiny bits of snow blown on a strong wind.

I was following the footsteps of a walker over White Edge Moor until just before the White Edge Lodge.

White Edge Lodge

Normally I'm pretty good at judging what's underfoot but I suddenly hit a patch of snow-covered ice and went straight over. There was a loud crack from my left ankle as I went down. I won't tell you what I shouted out, but you certainly wouldn't say it polite company, and possibly not even in front of other fell runners!

Managed to get back on my feet, but it became clear after a couple of minutes that I wouldn't be running any further. Luckily there were some people staying in White Edge Lodge, so I disturbed them with my sorry tale and they kindly allowed me inside to put on an extra layer top and bottom in preparation for struggling back to the main road for my wife to pick me up. A quick call to Mrs W and I was hobbling along the track to the main road.

Now, I should say at this point that despite the blasting I was taking from the wind and snow over the moor, I was quite warm - wearing a thick top and my OMM jacket and a pair of Gore Windstopper tights. So what I layered up with in White Edge Lodge was a pair of windproof walking trousers, an extra fleece between the running shirt and OMM top and a pair of thick gloves. Sounds like I should be toasty in that.

Well, it turns out that in the 10 minutes it took me to curse my way the 400m to the entrance gate and then the extra 5 minutes standing waiting for Mrs W to turn up, the clothes I had on were not enough. My legs were actually warm, but the heat was soon sucked out of the 3 layers I had on top by the wind and I ended up rather cold by the time rescue arrived.

Anyway, enough of the waffling. The cautionary tale is not, as you might think, about being careful where you put your feet. We fell runners are almost always careful about that, but stuff happens. No, the cautionary tale is about carrying enough layers to keep you warm in the event of an incident like this. Normally I carry waterproof over-trousers and an extra top layer (fleece or similar), but yesterday for some reason I stuck my walking trousers and thick gloves in my pack as well as a slightly thicker fleece. That was good luck, as was falling right outside White Edge Lodge where I could get some shelter whilst I changed - and could probably have got a lift back to Sheffield if necessary.

Not everyone will be that lucky! I know that some of you run without packs or with small packs containing just the bare essentials on training runs. I'd like to present this slightly wandering tale to you as a reminder that in winter you *need* to carry extra layers - top, bottoms and gloves. I think most of you would be surprised - as I was - at how quickly your body temperature drops when you aren't running. I've always thought that if anything happened, I could slip the extra layers on quickly and then drag myself to a road. Firstly, you need thick or multiple layers, secondly you don't just "quickly" strip down in the middle of a snowstorm to add extra layers - especially with an injury and finally it takes much longer and is much more painful than you imagine getting even from a trail to the road, so imagine how long it would take, say, from the middle of a moor or top of a mountain.

Bear in mind also that even if you do get a phone signal and manage to call Mountain Rescue, you have to be able to keep warm whilst waiting for them to find you!



After a couple of days limping round the house, my wife persuaded me to go to casualty for a checkup. It turns out that rather than a bad sprain, I actually have a spiral fracture of the fibula and a small fracture at the bottom of the tibia. I am in a cast now for 6 weeks whilst it heals.

You Can't Win 'em All!

Last night's race was Blackamoor Chase - 6miles / 1450' of ascent. This is home territory for me as I regularly train on most parts of the route and know it inside-out.

Having managed to run up the two final hills of the race in training earlier in the year, I was pretty confident of easily beating my time of 54:30 set 2 years ago when I'd just started fell racing. I'd also had a week off training to recover from a bruised foot sustained in last week's Grindleford race, so should have been on peak form.

Before leaving the house for the jog to the venue at Totley, I mentioned to my wife that I didn't really feel like racing, but that I'd go anyway. Usually I'm really keen and enthusiastic, but yesterday: meh! After a gentle warmup around the cricket pitch, I still felt the same, but just put it down to not having run for a week.

I had a reasonably good start, getting away at a good pace near the front and up the short steep hill before catching my breath a little along Strawberry Lea Lane. Only a couple of people passed me, so it felt ok at this stage. Up the first climb, and I seemed to be running ok. A few people passed me, as is normal, but then a couple of club-mates came past. Not unsurprising, given that they're both on form at the moment, but I had hoped that my week off would have given me an edge over them. They both gradually edged away from me and I ended up having a mini-race with 3 or 4 other runners, changing places every few minutes.

Things started to go a bit wrong on the long descent from Piper House Gate to Blackamoor Stepping Stones. I had quite a bit of pain from the heel of the foot I bruised last week. It felt like a blister, but I never get blisters, so I just attributed it to banging down on the bruised area of the foot. This slowed me on the descent. Not by a lot, but enough for me to notice and allow one of the guys I'd been racing with earlier to get away. Then we're onto the last 2 hills. By my reckoning, I should have been up there like a whippet. In the end, though, I gave up and walked the steepest part of the first hill. I think this was a mental issue - I had decided that walking would be almost as fast as running it, so I might as well save some energy for the last hill. It's only 100m or so anyway, so not much time to lose. I managed to run again up the next part of the hill and caught the guy who'd left me on the descent, encouraging him to run when he started walking. After a short downhill stretch, we're into the final hill. I've run this several times this year, after never being able to run up it before, so it should have been easy. I ended up walking most of it. Again, I think it was mental: it was easier to walk and I wouldn't lose much time! I disappointed myself here.

Finally we're over the summit of the hill and it's downhill all the way. By this time, my heel was exceptionally painful, so I was trying to land on the forefoot rather than heel striking. This is very difficult when going downhill! I guess I lost a few seconds and a couple of places here, but managed an ok pace.

Time at the finish was 54:34. I hadn't felt that I'd been particularly slow, but was very disappointed not to have knocked at least a minute off my time from 2 years ago. That should have been easily achieved given that I've done it in the preceding two races.

So, what went wrong?

Well, I think I knew that I wasn't 100% yesterday. As I mentioned, I'm usually bursting with enthusiasm for races, but last night I wasn't. So there's a mental hurdle I created for myself as well as the possible physical problem that created it. I do have a bit of a sniffle and have been a bit grouchy, so maybe that's a bug I've picked up after the stressful 27+ miles of Baslow Bootbash a couple of weeks ago. Other than that, I don't know what else could be wrong. I had the same preparation and pre-race nourishment as last week, and if anything should have been stronger because of the lack of training.

I'm not going to get downhearted about it though. It's just one race and lots of different factors affect performance, so I'll look forward to getting it back together at next week's race.

Oh, and the cause of the heel pain: a blister the size of a 2p piece. This was wearing SmartWool socks and Inov8 Mudclaw 272's. I don't normally wear these shoes for summer racing and I think my heel was moving around in the heel cup of the shoe causing the rubbing. Note made to alter sock choice and/or stick to the X-Talons or Bare Grip 200s for summer.

Dude, Where's My Car?

Our cat and next-door's cat woke me at 5am today fighting. They also woke my wife and son.
We think our cat is being bullied by next-door's, so my son snuck off downstairs to attempt to separate them, then with the sounds of a herd of elephants, rushed back upstairs and charged into our bedroom to tell us that my pride and joy had been stolen off the driveway. I can't begin to tell you what a rude awakening that was!

Thieving scum had broken the locks on the patio doors, nipped into the kitchen, grabbed both sets of car keys from the kitchen drawer and then left - apparently without me even noticing, and I'm supposedly the light sleeper in the family :(

Luckily, no-one was hurt and that's the most important thing. Even my wife is more stoic than last time someone attempted to break in a few years ago. However, that might be the end of performance cars for a while, which is somewhat disappointing, but if it helps my wife to feel more comfortable in our own home, then that's the price we have to pay.

I don't hold out much hope of the Police recovering it really. In one respect it would be good to get it back, but in another, you don't know what the thieves did in/with it, so maybe it's better gone. Hopefully if it doesn't come back, the insurers will settle quickly and we can get back to normal.

I used to have a blog but I'm alright now

I used to blog about running and other nonsensical stuff through my work blog, but a change of company policy means that those days are long-gone, so after a couple of years of being an idle blogger, I thought I'd get back on that horse.

Why "Studded Flip Flops"? Well, I'm a fell and trail runner and "Studded Shoes" was already taken. So, with the current trend towards minimalist running, flip-flops with studs are obviously the next big thing. Does that mean that this blog be the next big thing? Errr...

Anyway, I hope you'll forgive the rambling, this is as much for me to read when I'm old(er) and grey(er) as it is for anyone vaguely interested to read now.