Glencoe Skyline

Glencoe skyline

Spending a week in Glencoe on a family holiday before this race was a great idea and meant that I had a relaxing time. Well, as relaxing as you can have with an 11 month old baby. A lack of sleep is permanent and days that start between 5-6am are the norm. I was quite excited about this race and was looking forward to experiencing the amazing ridges that I had "missed" on my recce a few weeks previously. In fact our recce took in about 4 miles of the route and the rest of our own route which was in a different valley.

I registered on the Friday eve and had my tracker fixed to my bag complete with SOS button that would alert the emergency services should I press it. Never done a race with that before.

I got a decent night sleep before a 5 am start and the race set off at 7am. The weather forecast was pretty good, but being Scotland of course this could all change in five minutes. As a result of this my bag felt pretty heavy as we set off.
I enjoyed the first 4 miles out on the West Highland Way and got used to my pack feeling a bit weighty. My foot was as normal painful but my hip and knee felt ok so I wasn't too concerned. As the climb to Curved Ridge began I was actually quite excited, I climbed a lot in my younger years, I have no fear of heights and I was confident that this may have been hyped up a bit.

Indeed it had and as Helen and I managed to,recce a much harder route I thoroughly enjoyed the real Curved ridge, although I took it far too easy and didn't push the pace at all. I couldn't seem to get into a race mindset and was hoping this would come later. As we approached to summit I was beginning to get more focused and starting to get into race mode.The approach up to Stob Dearg(?)was very hard to run and my legs just didn't want to work. I also felt really wheezy and took my inhaler to see if that would help. Anyway I tried to run best as I could but seemed to just be tripping lots and couldn't get going. The first descent approached and with it my adrenaline increased. I love running downhill. But I just couldn't seem to descend. I kept tripping up and I remember telling myself to get focused and concentrate. My left knee was starting to become quite painful and I was struggling to bend it straight and kept flicking my leg out to the side to compensate, also my left foot was really painful and it was all feeling like an uncomfortable journey so far.

I was hoping things would settle and I took a painkiller to see if that would help. The checkpoints seemed to be passing very slowly if I am honest and the "running" was difficult. In my opinion there was very little running on this course, the up hills were very steep and unrelenting and the downhills I just could not run. I think it may have been a combination of knee pain, foot pain, the wrong shoe choice, and maybe the steepness of the descents. I was feeling really down that people were flying past me on the downhills and I was "mincing " down them losing any progress.

I wasn't thinking of pulling out yet and was telling myself to stop being stupid, get on with it and keep going. I was also trying to convince myself that my foot wasn't a problem. An ultra sound, MRI and a Cortisone injection all showing no problem with my foot meant it must be in my head. But every footstep meant pain through the ball of my foot and this wasn't in my head.

It's a horrible thing when you start thinking about pulling out of a race. I had lots of things going around my head. One is just take it slowly and finish it but then that isn't a race and it isn't me, I,can't just finish a race and get round. I like doing well and I like racing. You also think about people who will be disappointed, friends who are supporting, family, sponsors, people who have helped you train etc and it always gets me really upset thinking about stopping in a race. Basically I wasn't enjoying myself. I felt out of control on the downhills which is totally out of character for me, I couldn't control my descents because my knee and foot were too sore. I kept tripping and was thinking that this would be a massive problem on the ridge on the other side.

I think the real point at which I decided to pull out was on the dogleg down from the peak at Check point 8 and and then back up to the same checkpoint for number 9. I couldn't run the descent, every time I landed on my foot it caused pain, I couldn't bend my leg properly and I could feel myself getting really upset. To be honest it was probably more frustration I kept saying to myself "How can there be nothing wring with my foot when it hurts this much!" I was also telling myself that I am not running until I get this problem sorted out, when it isn't as painful I forget how much it hurts when it does flare up but at this point in the race It really hurt!

I made the decision then I was going to bail but even on the descent which was horrendous and I had to just walk it all I was still thinking "oh just carry on, it will be fine." I had basically done 20 miles in 6 and a half hours. Ten miles to go. Another 3 hrs and feet that were very sore. If I am honest I just didn't want to run for another three hours on a painful knee and foot.

I think it was the wrong sort of race for me. I like running and i found this much more of a walking race, whether that be partly knee and foot or just the course I am not sure, I think a combination.

I had the most amazing group of friends and family (thanks P and J) out on the course and was really lucky to know lots of people who were helping out with the Marshalling offering a cheery smile and words of encouragement.

A "Sweaty Snog" from Stuart on Curved Ridge I think maybe could have been the kiss of death actually! Louise popped up in many places on the course, managed to catch me falling in a river and brought Coke for me too! Superstar.
Jim - your encouragement and support as always is much appreciated.

James and Simon saw me fall on my ass too and it was great having encouragement from them, James even ran part of the course with me too :)

Katey and Ben who had come to see me finish.....yeah Sorry!

And even one of my colleagues had come to see me descend towards CP 10 and I was very touched by that, it really does make you feel better having some encouragement.

The race itself was superb - fantastic organisation and huge congratulations to the organisers for arranging such a flawless event, especially after some of the negative media attention. You really showed them. Great work guys.

I am going to do the lakes sky race in September if my foot is ok and hope that my knee and foot copes better, and that the route is more what I am used to. Fingers crossed!