23 miles of mud, ice & a near death experience !

I was off on Monday 16 February so I decided to try and get a run in now that the snow was shifting. Loch Ordie near Dunkeld is the nearest place for me to get a decent off road run so I planned a route (see below) and headed off there.

The first 3.5 miles were all uphill and as I gained height the paths got icier. It wasn’t cold but there had been a lot of snow last week and it was melting quickly but the snow that had been compressed on the tracks and paths was very slippy, and those that didn’t have ice in them were running with streams of snow melt. My feat got very wet very quickly.

The optimistically entitled "Laird's House with Loch Benachally in the background - I don't think he lives there anymore !

After around 8 miles, following a huge leap over a burn in spate, I found myself on a very narrow path that was full of soft wet snow which went well up my calves. This went on for around 4 miles and my feet got soaked, becoming very cold.

Typical underfoot conditions

As I neared Loch Oisinneach the path became very muddy. I’ve walked in the Scottish hills for 20 years and am pretty adept at picking my way through bogs and assessing if a patch of ground will support me. At a particularly muddy stretch I launched for a tuft of grass thinking it would support me, the next thing I knew I was up to the top of my legs in an ice-cold peat bog. I couldn’t get my legs out as they were being sucked in by the soft peat my hands were just sinking in too.

I was getting cold quickly, couldn’t get my legs out and the nearest thing for me to grab, that wasn’t mud was over 6 feet away. This was the most distant part of my run, my mobile phone didn’t work there as I’d tried a couple of minutes before to make a call, and going by the lack of footprints in the snow there hadn’t been anyone along for a number of days. This was getting potentially serious, I was completely stuck and sinking.

I wriggled out of my new rucksack which was only on it’s second outing and managed to use it to bare my weight which let me kind of swim across the mud until I could grab some heather and pull myself out. The whole episode probably only took no more that 2 minutes but it felt like an eternity…

Lifesaver - My nice new rucksack after my "incident"

Thankfully my shoes stayed on and I got running as quickly as I could to generate some heat. After another couple of miles I came out the snow and the running became much easier, the 5 miles through the snow had slowed me up a lot.

The rest of the run was pretty uneventful, my knee seems to be holding up but the right hamstring gets tight after a while. I arrived back at the car in 4 hours 6 minutes.

Cruachin Hills

I didn’t run during the week since Forfar (but I did get my 1^st deep tissue massage – wow) and this weekend I wasn’t going to get any running either as I was going hillwalking with Gav, who was one of my support runners in the Race, but a couple of decent days on the hill would be more than suitable replacements.

Saturday 7 Feb - An Caisteal & Beinn a’ Chroin

We started at a snowy Derrydarroch Farm and despite having been there a few times now I had no idea where to park on the road ! It was a beautiful day with clear blue skies but it was freezing, -6^oC. But once we crested the ridge onto the high ground and entered the 50mph wind the windchill dropped the temperature to below -20^oC.

Gav heading up Twistin Hill

The summit of An Caisteal

Coping with the windchill






















A slippery descent

We were on the hill for 6 and half hours, covered 8.7 miles and 4,250ft of ascent with crampons and ice-axes most of the day. Walking in crampons really stretches the achilles and when you have tendons as short as mine they were pretty tight when we came off the hill.

Derrydarroch at the end of the day

Gav has a VW camper van so it was down to a quiet corner of the Drover’s car park then we went to the pub for many hours. It was a cracking night with live music and the pub was mobbed.

A very busy Drovers

Sunday 8 Feb - Beinn Dorain and Beinn an Dothaidh

The next day wasn’t too bad considering the amount of (what I like to think of as) carb loading we had indulged in the previous evening.

We met my friend Doug in Tyndrum for a spot of breakfast then it was on to Bridge of Orchy where we were climbing Beinn Dorain and Beinn an Dothaidh the 2 mountains that loom over the village.

Beinn Dorain from the road

It appeared that everyone else in Scotland had the same idea because the hill was very busy. It was another cracking day but this time there was hardly any wind.

Beinn Dorain summit photo

As we climbed the second hill of the day the peace was continually interrupted by a big yellow RAF Sea King which was doing helicopter training with the Oban MRT and dropping them off on the hillside.

We made it back down before the weather closed in from the south and had covered 7.6 miles and 4,200 ft of ascent in just under 5 and a half hours.

I’d had 2 good long days on the hill and my legs felt pretty tired after it.

Forfar multi-terrain half-marathon

Sunday saw the running of the 4th Forfar multi-terrain half marathon. This is a cracking wee race that follows a route around the Forfar footpath network. I’ve run it the last 2 years and the route takes in some road running, big stretches of unavoidable flooded paths, ploughed fields and a big 1 mile climb up Balmashanner Hill at 9 miles. You also have to stop and have your number punched by marshals at 7 different checkpoints which interrupts the rhythm and can be frustrating if there’s a queue.

Because the conditions underfoot are so varied all along the length of the route, and from year to year, it’s good to run without the pressure trying to beat the clock – just run for the hell of it.

There were 143 runners and this year they called runners up in groups of 4 for a kit check, we required waterproof top, hat & gloves – just to run around the perimeter of Forfar ! There were plenty of runners getting their kit checked then passing it back to their buddies, but I didn’t see anyone get refused permission to start.

In 2007 it was my first half-marathon and I ran 1hr 36min. In 2008 it was my first decent run back from ill health and I managed a 1 hr 40min. This year I planned to try and run around 7.30min/mile for the race which I felt I could maybe hold for 13 miles, this would get me in close to the 2007 time and if I could get under it I’d be delighted.

In the first mile I felt I was moving quickly backwards through the pack but got to the 1 mile marker in 6.40min. I was running well within myself but it was faster that I felt comfortable with. I quickly fell in with a chap, who I think was Alan Smith from Deeside Runners, and the 2 of us would end up running pretty much the entire race together.

Mile 4 – 5 was a farm track which was pretty much 1 long puddle interrupted by the odd bit of dry land. We reached 5 miles in 34.30, one of the fastest 5 miles I think I’ve run, but I still felt comfortable and I was moving up the field now.

I got to the foot of the climb at 9 miles in 62.40 – amazingly still under 7 min/mile, but the next mile took 8.30mins. From the top it was pretty much all downhill and I was feeling really good now, until I hit the deep mud in the field at 12 miles.

A dash through an industrial estate to the finish where the clock stopped at 1hr 31min 27s. Crazily – a half-marathon pb and 24th place. I’ve never managed to get under the hour and a half, but if the course had been on road and flatter I probably would have managed it comfortably today. I kept myself relaxed throughout the race and didn’t get too carried away at the start, in fact no-one went past after 1.5 miles.

Ged, Me, Morag & Dave at the finish

The other Dundee Road Runners ran –

Paul Slater – 1.26.35

Ben Newton – 1.27.19

Dave Rodley – 1.33.34

Mo Taggart – 1.40.04

Ged Savage – 1.49.44

Full results HERE

WHW Training run - 25 Jan 09

This was the 3^rd training run organised by John K and the 2^nd one I’d made. The original intention had been to run from Drymen to Beinglas, however sadly a couple of days before the run John’s dad passed away whilst on holiday in the US. Understandably John had other priorities so it was decided in order to ease the transport difficulties & in light of the weather forecast the route would be changed to Balmaha – Inversnaid and back, about 30 miles.

I met up with Ian and Phil but almost didn’t make it, the A9 was treacherous with snow between Perth & Stirling. Phil almost didn’t make it out his driveway.

The weather slowed our progress so we arrived a bit later than planned, quickly threw on our gear then headed off, 15 happy runners in total. Immediately on leaving the car park we were running through puddles and saturating the feet – a taste of things to come.

The group near the start.

Balmaha to Rowardenan is my favourite section of the route and even in the dreary conditions I still enjoyed the run through the trees. I quickly fell into step with John Malcolm, who recognised me from the Devil’s Burdens the previous day, he had been running the same leg as me. John got a last minute entry in 2008 and managed a 25 hour run, so with a bit of advance notice and better training he could be one to watch this year.

We were also joined by Jamie Aarons who is attempting the Fling this year. I got the impression she’s not too confident about finishing it, but from the way she ran she will not only finish it but put in a good time too.

Phil Tipping caught us near Rowardennan and we all ran together for a while. After Ptarmigan Cottage I had planned to run all the way up the hill using the opportunity to run a big hill with a decent amount of miles already in my legs. I normally walk most of this hill in the race and figured, especially for the Fling, if I could run some of it I could make up some time here.

It was a fair trackle but Phil and I pressed on and whilst he managed it easily I struggled slightly, but made it. Coming down the other side the heavens opened and it began pouring, it would not stop for another couple of hours.

Phil stopped to put a waterproof jacket on where the track changes to path, I waited for Phil, there’s not point in going out with others then running on your own, whilst we were stopped Jamie caught us up again.

We arrived at Inversnaid Hotel in around 2 hrs 39 mins, and stopped for a quick bite to eat. We had a few funny looks from the bus party which was waiting in the foyer.

Jamie & me at a rainy Inversnaid

Phil waiting for a bus ? (look at the woman in the middle window smiling for the photo!)

On the way back the rain chucked it down until well after Rowardennan, but the route was still surprisingly busy with walkers and there were even another couple of groups of runners, but I didn’t recognise anyone.

I decided that even if it killed me I was going to run again over the hill on the way back. Phil breezed up and dropped me as I struggled on, I made it but by the top Phil was a dot in the distance.

We went through Rowardennan in 4 hours but by this time I was cold, wet and hungry so quickly threw a jacket on and took onboard some food as I could feel my energy reserves were getting low.

Running back to Balmaha in a north – south direction is quite disorientating, I didn’t have a clue where I was a lot of the time, but it is still a pleasant route. As I ran through a large group of walkers near Arrochymore Point the ones at the back shouted a warning “runner coming through” which I thought quite flattering ‘cause I certainly didn’t feel like I was running by this stage !

I arrived back in the car park after 5hrs 36 min and felt quite fresh but my hamstrings were v v v tight. I’m going to get a massage …..

Devil’s Burdens Relay

A very icy morning on Saturday 24 January saw Dundee Road Runners enter 2 teams into the Devil’s Burdens relay race around the Lomond Hills in Fife.

The residents of Falkland must really love this annual event as their picturesque village is reduced to gridlock as over 600 runners descend on the village hall. After registering we went through the yearly ritual of working out the highly complex travel arrangements required to get the runners to & from their start/end points. Because we were heading to the beginning of our leg we missed the start, but this photo shows just some of the runners cresting East Lomond.

Legs 1 & 3 require the runners to be paired up and I was running leg 3 with Andy. The start of the leg has 5 yards of level ground then it’s straight up Bishop Hill for about 20 minutes of quads feeling like they are on fire. The next 6 ½ miles have very little flat bits until the end.

Unflattering photo of me with Andy just behind

The weather was fine with good visibility, but that didn’t stop us missing a checkpoint coming off West Lomond which we had to go back for – doh ! Someone has also tarred the last mile of forestry track which because I was wearing fell shoes, my shins really loved. We finished in 1 hr 20 mi, 3 mins slower than the last time, but the lost checkpoint probably accounted for that.

My mixed team finished 66^th out of 111 teams, the men’s team which was full of strong runners finished 17 minutes infront in 41^st – just shows how many good runners there are out there.

A special well done to Gill Hanlon who ran leg 4 for us, whilst doing a recce run for the 2008 race she went over her ankle which required surgery & pins, she’s had an astonishing recovery.

Results HERE

Am running the WHW training run tomorrow (sunday), which should be around 30 miles, hopefully I won’t suffer any detrimental effects – quads could be sore though.

Glen Prosen

On Saturday, mutt and I went for a run up Glen Prosen. Despite having been up the adjacent Glen Clova hundreds of times I’ve never actually been to the head of Prosen so I worked out a route on the map which was around about 20ish miles.

I parked at the entrance to Cramie Farm then ran down the road to Cormuir Farm (best get the road run out the way at the start). The climb over the Hill of Strone was fairly pleasant, a bit breezy but sunny, with great views down Glen Prosen.

Sunshine on Glen Prosen

The descent was wet and muddy through the trees down to a ruin named “Hole” on the map. (Note for next time – follow the track south to Glenhead Farm) Unfortunately I chose to run along a path over the Moss of Glanny which was marked on my 1987 map but isn’t there now. They’ve replaced it with a really wet bog so by the time I came through it my feet were soaking. Taking this route really slowed my progress.

There's a dog in there somewhere

I cut over the hill to the driveway for Glenmarkie Lodge and followed the well kept track down to Freuchies then headed north for 6 miles back through the forest. There is a lot of felling work going on and the logging vehicles have churned up the tracks so it was quite hard going. The track petered out for the last mile or so through the trees and the path wasn’t great, again slowing me down.

Mud, glorious mud

Once over the hill and down to the Kilbo ruin it was an easy jog back down the glen to the car, although due to all the sheep I did have to run with Cody on a lead, which is not ideal as he likes to bomb ahead and it can throw you off your stride a bit.

It had been a good day, the threatened rain never arrived, I only met 2 mountain bikers and a gamekeeper all day but had only been out for 4 hrs 33 mins. I would have liked to have done longer but with the terrain I had been covering I was still pretty weary.

Next weekend I have the Devil’s Burdens relay on Saturday followed by a 28 miler on The Way on Sunday – looking forward to it.

Devil’s Burdens Recce

The “Devil’s Burdens” is an annual relay race organised by Fife around the Lomond Hills. 2 years ago it was my first ever running race and last year I was in no fit state to run it so acted as a support driver, a job I found incredibly frustrating ! Happily this year I’ll run it again.

Dundee Road Runners usually enter a couple of teams and this year is no different. Due to the altitude of the course and the strong possibility of bad weather reducing visibility we usually have a recce run to show new runners the route and refresh the memories of those who have already run it.

I woke up on Sunday to hear the wind and rain battering against the window – I was sorely tempted to turn over and go back to sleep, but I’d no way of contacting the other runners so I forced myself along and met with the 5 other hardy souls also turned up - and of course the dog had no choice.

The hardy fools - Me, Grant, Morag, Daniel, Alison & Ged (note the rain on the lens and trees being blown over in the background!)

We ran from the Craigmead car park to the foot of East Lomond, which the howling gale deterred us from climbing, then we followed Leg 1 to Holl Reservoir (with only a slight route deviation!). We then took in Leg 2 passing 3 other groups of equally mad runners who I presume were also recce’ing the route.

Approaching Holl Reservoir (slightly off course!)

From the top of White Craigs, where the wind was blowing the rain so hard it hurt your face, we decided against the descent to Scotlandwell because we would have had to come straight back up again, so we followed the treacherously slippy paths through the mist past Bishop Hill and down into Glen Vale.

The spectacular views as we pass Bishop Hill.

"And that's where we're not going" says Ged pointing at W Lomond

By this time (actually it was probably well before ) everyone was wet through and cold so we ran to Harperleas Reservoir then cut over the shoulder of West Lomond across Balharvie Moss and onto the path and back to the car. The last couple of miles were pretty miserable. We ran a total distance of 11.8 miles which we covered in a leisurely 2 hours 40 mins.

Despite the weather being absolutely miserable I think it had been a worthwhile day, especially for me as I’ll probably run the 3^rd leg and there were bits I couldn’t remember.

A Year's Training Enough?

The following question was posted a while back on the WHW website forum

“Hi everyone, got interested in the race and I've now been keeping an eye on the site for a number of weeks. Started doing some running and I’m now contemplating next year’s event. Question would be – Is a year’s training enough?

I’m in the fortunate position where I can run to/from work so getting miles under the belt shouldn’t be a problem in terms of time (motivation and effort is another matter!!!!) and I’m already looking at half marathons/marathons as well as some other ultras such as Devil O'The Highlands to get used to longer runs (Would it be a good idea to do this if going ahead with entry for next years WHW?). Stay in the Falkirk area so fairly easy access to various off-road trails for training and noted that there is a good “social” side with organised night runs etc.

It’s all good and well looking at the various websites that publish training plans etc, but would really appreciate feeback from those that know best.

Cheers, Chris Buchanan”

A few replies suggested that Chris should build up to the race over a few years, but I thought differently and this is my reply -

”Having read the above comments and thought you might be interested in my experience / preparations for this years race, as you sound like you are in a similar position to the one I was in last year.

By posting this I may be criticised as irresponsible for encouraging you so I must stress the caveat that everyone’s different and what worked for me may not work for you. Oh … and I won’t be held responsible if your legs fall off !

I’m 36 years old, 6’3” & 85kg and took up running in late 2006 in an effort to halt the spread which was beginning to start thank to too many beers. I’ve never been a runner but swam competitively in my youth and generally kept myself fit. In February 2007 I did my first half-marathon (Forfar multi-terrain), then did 2 more halfs and a couple of hill races during the year. Training consisted of 15 miles / week max.

In August 2007 I stumbled across the website for the WHW race and thought it looked like a challenge so I entered. As I didn’t have any experience in ultra-marathons Dario (quite rightly) informed me that if I completed the Highland Fling I would get on the waiting list, if I didn’t finish there would be no race place. This was fair as I was an unknown quantity and I planned to do the Highland Fling anyway as part of my training.

Unfortunately due to illness I couldn’t run between October to mid-December and managed no more than 5 miles a week until February. By the end of March I was up to 25-30 mile / week and during April did weekend runs of 20 ml, 30ml & finished the ‘Fling in under 10 hours, which got me my race place. I was also doing around 100 ml/week commuting on my bike.

Mid-May to early-June I was doing 50ish ml/wk consisting of 2 x 10 milers with a longer hilly run at weekends and continuing the cycling. On my longer runs I concentrated on plodding along at race pace (around 5 mph) conditioning myself not to run too fast.

Don’t know if I was lucky but I managed to avoid picking up any significant injury and stopped running about 10 days before the big event so I felt fresh on the day. The race itself went well (tip - walking down Conic Hill makes a massive difference to the quads and only slows you up by about 3 mins !) and I finished in 10th place in 19hrs 54 mins, well under my 24 hour target.

So Chris, I in answer to your post it can be done by someone without a running background but it takes a lot of discipline, good luck staying injury free and a huge amount of mental determination during the event itself.

Having completed the race I would thoroughly recommend doing it (I’m still buzzing) when you are ready. Good luck with however you choose to tackle it.

Gav”