It's party time in Glenmore

The Glenmore 24 hour ultra race, 1st - 2nd September 2012

Not quite sure why I entered this race a few months ago.  It could have been the promise of a fun weekend, or the lure of Glenmore where I spent many New Year holidays based at the local Youth Hostel with my family when they were younger, or the fact that it provided the opportunity to run somewhere around the magical 100 mile mark.  Above all was the thought that it would stand me in good stead for the 2013 West Highland Way Race that is my single main focus and goal now for this winter and next year.

Support was my youngest daughter Nicole and Sam, her rugby-playing, Everton-supporting fella.  The bribe for 900 miles travelling, several days away and no sleep on Saturday night was Friday night booked for them at Glenmore Lodge SYHA and Sunday at the Coylumbridge Hilton.  Mind you, they were great and seemed to enjoy themselves as much as me.  We drove up in the camper van after work on Thursday and ended up not stopping until reaching Aviemore in the small hours of Friday.  I managed to squeeze into the tiny roof space and we all amazingly managed a good night's kip.

It was lovely to wake up on Friday without having to drive any real distance.  We pottered around all morning and after dropping Nic and Sam off at the Youth Hostel, I made my way to the Hayfield, where there were just a couple of tents and runners, and Mike Adams giving me a warm greeting to set the mood of the weekend.  I set up the gazebo - which incidentally didn't survive Saturday night's wind, and found myself chatting to two lovely local guys, Martin and Ray who both later ran excellently in the G12, as they tried manfully to erect a commercial party tent next to us.

The calm before the storm

The Hayfield had been turned into a race track with route-marking tape by Mike, with tents and small campers (ahem) allowed inside the track, creating a lovely party atmosphere.  We had a great spot just 30 metres after the start / finish line, from where Ada would weave her magic in due course.  Norry and his lovely family came and set up camp next to us, which was really nice.  Then George and Karen, Mike Raffan, Johnny Fling and lots of other lovely people turned up.  It was quite a special atmosphere, everyone happy and relaxed.  I didn't stay up late Friday evening, though, but there were subsequent accounts - and pleasant wafts - of runners partaking in cuisine cooked al fresco and all washed down with Medoc.

Saturday morning was a leisurely affair, with porridge at 8am and I was joined by Nicole and Sam at around 10am, before I was presented with my only prize of the weekend - by John Kynaston for his "Guess the time" competition from the Lakeland 100.  

The race - 1st half

We all lined up at 11:30 for our race briefing from Bill Heirs.  It seemed to be devoid of strict rules and do's and don'ts; rather the attention seemed to be on us all enjoying ourselves and letting someone know if we or another runner was in distress.  Simple and heartwarming. 

Conditions were just about perfect: cool and rain-free.  And before we knew it we were off.  Paul Hart led the way with a sprint that he kept up for the remainder of his race, and I could see quite a few of the 12 hour runners ahead of me - Norry, Sandra, John Kynaston and Donald.  I wasn't sure where Mike Raffan was but assumed fairly reasonably that he'd be ahead of me.  We all did a lap of the Hayfield and then up the slope and away on the four mile anti-clockwise trail run.

Fashion FAIL (me, not Colin)

Nicole caught me wearing this dreadful buff at the start, which I sensibly discarded before meeting all the spectators at the end of the first lap.  No wonder Colin was grimacing!

The first lap seemed to pass very quickly.  I was led to believe that there was a big hill in the middle somewhere, and that it was the same hill I'd struggled up in the Aviemore Half the previous October - albeit in the other direction.  Well  the hill didn't seem too bad, at all.  Halfway up was a mid-lap checkpoint where the marshals discreetly checked off your race number to ensure you weren't cheating, and I gratefully grabbed a cup of water and a cup of High5 solution each time of passing.  I do sweat so much, and it meant that we didn't have to carry water bottles.  Then there was a lovely fast descent back into the Hayfield to complete the four-mile loop.  I was aiming for a lap time of 50 minutes but clocked myself at 37:04 for lap 1.  Oh dear - just over 9 minute miles - but it seemed so easy.

Karen, George and Rob (courtesy of Julie Clarke)

Grant and Mike (courtesy of Bill and Mike)

The rest of the first 12 hours passed quite quickly.  At the end of each lap I shouted my race number to Ada, the amazing official timekeeper, and then ran on to my camper van where Nicole was waiting with whatever I needed.  She was just fabulous and a natural organiser, ensuring my longest pit-stop throughout the entire race was no more than about 3 or 4 minutes.

After around four and a half hours, a familiar voice called out from behind on the hill: "Hiya Minty".  It was Mike, lapping me!  "How are you doing, Mike?", I asked.  "OK, considering I'm leading both races", he replied.  Apparently, Paul Hart, who'd gone out like a train had stopped with an injury after 6 laps, and now Mike was leading the 24 and at that time ahead of all the G12 runners.  Not bad for someone who made a fairly last-minute decision to enter!  Later on in the race Mike would be passed by the amazing Grant MacDonald, who went on to win with a new record 129 miles, but managed to keep going fabulously and hold off the impressive Bob Steel to finish runner up with a phenomenal 121 miles.

The hill - seems fairly benign in the photo (courtesy of Bill and Mike)

My lap times were pretty consistent between 37-39 minutes over the first 4 laps, and then eased out a little to 42-48 minutes for laps 5-11, and then between 51-53 minutes for the next five laps taking me up to 64 miles in 12 hours 19 minutes.

Proud dad (purchased from  Peter Diender Action Heroes)

One of my race highlights was Nicole coming out and running a couple of laps with me.  Bill and Mike are very laid back in their approach to race rules - including support runners - and it was so special to spend 8 miles running the lovely trails of the lower slopes of the Cairngorms with her.  She's only been running a few months and is really progressing well.

Mid evening, I unfortunately came across Norry, being helped back to the Hayfield in a state of some pain.  He was hoping to do very well in the G12 but was suffering badly with cramp.  However, even in extreme pain he had the presence of mind to shout out that I could use his headtorch, as he knew mine was a bit dodgy.  

Sometime in the mid-late evening I spotted Donald ahead and set about catching him up.  Just at this time the wind had picked up and I should have taken it easy, but you know what it's like...  It was so funny, when I caught Donald his face was a picture - I could almost here the cogs whirring "for goodness sake (or something similar) I can't let that fat old bloke catch me up".  He got his act together and left me for dust.  I'd like to think I played a major motivational part in getting Donald his 3rd place in the G12!

My lap times for the first 12 hours:

Official times compiled by Ada Stewart and published by Mike Adams

At exactly midnight I checked and was at the mid-lap checkpoint, so I'd have run just about 62.5 miles by then, which would have seen me on or near the podium in the men's 12 hour race.

The night hours

I managed to keep running (apart from the hill) for another 3 laps, taking me up to 72 miles completed in 14 hours and 10 minutes.  This is by far the furthest distance I've ever managed to properly run, and I was fairly chuffed about that.  Earlier in the evening I'd enquired what position I was in the race, to be told 17th. As it happened, at 72 miles, when I was flagging quite a bit in the dark, cool hours of the night, i was actually in sixth place.  If I'd known that at 2am I'm sure I would have pressed on harder than I did, but working out that I was comfortably ahead of my 100 mile target, and being quite tired and with fairly sore feet, I decided to change to a brisk walk.  I figured that if I could keep as near as possible to a 15 minute mile pace, I would be fine, and this is what I did right through to almost the end of the race.

Each lap I was running on my own, hardly seeing a soul all night, except for Ada and her team and also the amazing graveyard shift ladies at the mid-lap checkpoint.  It was worth entering the race just to feel the positive vibes from these lovely sets of willing officials.  The pinnacle was seeing my name "MINTY" laid out in glow-sticks on the hill some time in the wee dark hours - fantastic.

Morning has broken

What an uplifting feeling it was to see dawn breaking.  I didn't really mind the night but everyone's spirits soared with daylight.  I was still plodding round, and managed to complete each lap  between 1hr 4 and 1hr 21 mins.  Nicole and Sam again were excellent; Sam had been writing down my lap splits and shouting them out to me all through the race, although there was one dodgy time split at around three in the morning - fairly understandably :-)

I was getting very close to my target, and the thought of reaching 100 miles and stopping   had turned into a fixed plan.  I had just no appetite to run any further.  Here are my 2nd half splits:

2nd half race splits

Towards the end of the race I'd been unlapped and then overtaken by Fionna Rennie, who again was showing just how good a long-distance runner she is, finishing with an amazing 109 miles.  I was also overtaken by Ray McCurdy, who'd discovered a second wind after a break!  So as you can see I was slowing down quite a bit, but quite happy with myself and comfortable with my tactics.

Just after I'd completed my 24th and penultimate lap, on 96 miles, Norry came up to me and asked if I'd like some company on the last lap.  I almost bit his hand off, so thankful for the companionship after many hours alone, and we had a good natter about our respective races and training, and he recounted stories about last year's race when he'd crewed for Jeroem, who'd gone on to win the race.  At the top of the hill I sort of managed to run the last mile, but this was proving slightly discomforting - say no more.

Yes! - 100 miles in 22 hours 28 minutes (photo courtesy of Vikki Shanks)

I did put on what seemed like a spurt for the last straight up to the finish line, where after 22 hours 28 mins I received "the horn" from Ada to signify 100 miles completed.  Amazingly there were lots of people cheering me over the line, and it felt fantastic.  My longest previous race was 55 miles and I walked a fair bit of that.  Vikki and Iain Shanks had come over from Stonehaven with their boys and had just arrived 10 minutes beforehand, which was lovely. 

No more laps Ada - please!

Ada suggested in her own diplomatic style that I should continue running, but I was having none of it.  Too many hours spent thinking about the moment when I could stop after reaching this iconic target.

I think the photo tells a fairly accurate picture of how I was feeling at the time!





Then I took it easy and rested my legs in the camper van, feeling ever so guilty that Mike, Grant, Bob, Fionna, Pauline and all the other tough guys were pounding out the little laps right up to the end in order that an accurate distance could be measured for everyone.  Then it was 12 noon and the hooter went.  End of race.

After half an hour or so Bill and Ada presented a medal and lovely bottle of custom Glenmore 24 ale to all runners, and the prizes to all the worthy winners.
  

Prizegiving (photo courtesy of Julie Clarke)

Among my running buddies Mike came 2nd in the G24, whilst Sandra won her first ever race in the ladies' G12 with the fast-improving Jo Rae taking third.  John K came 2nd in the men's G12 with Donald seemingly extremely surprised to win 3rd male, undergoing a very quick reassessment of how his race went!  Fionna Rennie went on to win the ladies' G24, striding out almost as strongly at the end as in the first few laps.

Minty taking it easy (photo courtesy of Sandra McDougall)  

I get my medal and beer (photo courtesy of Julie Clarke)

Reflections

An amazing event!  A course thought-out so cleverly: it has lots of different characteristics, and some views to die for!  Organisation was quietly brilliant.  The atmosphere was warm and convivial throughout the weekend, and the attention to detail was second to none.  It's not just the runners who have to stay awake for 24 hours; Bill and Mike were popping up all over the course during the race, and Ada stayed in charge of timekeeping throughout.  In fact I thought I'd caught her napping as I arrived on one night-time lap, only to see her exiting the ladies'.  Hats off for some phenomenal performances, as already mentioned above.  I really am in awe of what some people - especially Fionna Rennie - achieved in the race.

Next year if I run I have a deal with Ada.  I won't wimp out until I've clocked 108 miles.  Or I may just come up to support.  Whichever way, I don't think I'll be anywhere else but Glenmore on Sept 7th 2013.  Thanks very much to Bill, Mike, Ada and all who helped make it such a special event.  See you next year.