It's been a few years since I wrote any race reports so I thought I would combine them as one in advance of my Arctic Circle Trail report.
Summer 2023
Trying to get more comfortable running marathon distance but struggling with old lady / postpartum mum injuries - hip bursitis and a strained hamstring.
September 2023 - Pilgrim's Ultra 50-something km
Holy Island to Craster. Beautiful, flat route. Hot day so we dropped like flies. I ended up getting lost on some sand dunes and then vomiting on a fancy golf course. Probably not what they usually pay their fees to clean up. My first ultra since having the children
April 2024 - Two Bridges Ultra 40-something miles
Longest run since having the children. About ten days previously I had felt an awful pain in my calf as I walked down the stairs in my house. My foot and leg ballooned but I was not sure what was wrong. So I started off the ultra in last place and took it slowly. I needed to stop frequently to loosen my shoe as I kept losing feeling in my foot due to the swelling. Eventually I got to the finish. A few days later I went to the physio... I had a torn calf.
July 2024 - Great Glen Way Ultra 70 something miles
Six weeks of physio twice a week and no running.I love the Great Glen but I was really going to have to plunge deep into the pain cave to get through. Isn't running just a bit in the head and a lot in the heart?
Spent the first marathon at the back with two other runners. Sometimes we would catch another runner and celebrate not having the sweeper riders behind us but then we would find out that the other runner was pulling out and we were last again. I started on the Espresso Martinis four hours in. It seemed like an appropriate beverage for breakfast drinking. At 30 miles I was no longer last but I was still at the rear of the field. That's the flat chunk of the run done and then there was plenty of walking up hills to drink my way through.
Relentless forward motion. I've switched to Pimms.
On the last climb I called Scott upset to tell him I wouldn't make it into Inverness before he had to take the children back to the hotel for bed.
At the last checkpoint I was a mess. I needed big hugs and decided to tuck my margarita into my backpack rather than put it in my drink bottle. Perhaps I'd had enough alcohol for the day.
I went under the same underpass three times in an effort to get to the finish in Inverness. Not a pretty sight.
August 2024 - Borders Abbeys Way 60 something miles
I had not run between the Great Glen Way and the Borders Abbey Way as my calf was still pretty awful. However, the run took place on my sister's birthday so I really wanted to do it. Jumping over puddles and off rocks is tricky with a torn calf, so physically it was still a pain cave with the help of some Pimms. I coped mentally much better though and there were no tears (although there was some swearing to my friend Sarah over the final 10km back to Melrose).
September 2024 - Pilgrim's Ultra 50-something km
Still not running between ultras. Calf is not healed. Went much better than last year though as it was not as hot. I still went over the sand dunes when I shouldn't have though!
October 2024 - Jedburgh Three Peaks Ultra 40-something miles
As we were approached the Eildons I asked someone which Eildon we were going up. Their answer? All three! I guess the clue is in the name of the event. I typically like climbing but I just wasn't feeling well.
I was going to do one of the Tweed Valley ultras in November but Scott and the kids had had enough of following me around ultras for the year.
May 2025 - North Penines Way Ultra 50-something miles
I chose this event because it involved following a map, which was experience I would need for Greenland. It was also meant to contain bog, experience I would also need for Greenland. May in Scotland was one of the driest on record, so there was not really any bog either on the day or during other training events. Usually a blessing! I could also drive down at 3am, sleep in the car after the run and then drive back home. This meant less faff for the kids as they could continue their clubs as normal.
A requirement was that we needed to show we could use a compass and map. I can, that's fine. The reality is that paper maps and running do not complement each other. The route would follow a perfectly good trail and then I was just supposed to intuitively think to get out my map and climb a fence to my left. So I went the wrong way often. I did a river crossing that was not part of the course and came at a checkpoint from the wrong direction. I was not lost per se, just off route. Everyone else had fancy watches that beeped at them every time they needed to turn or take a breath. For the last part of the run I chose to stick to some runners with fancy watches. I stumbled in the heather at night and hurt my hip flexor but made it to the end (where I slept in the car in my lovely new sleeping bag).
June 2025 - Glen Lyon Ultra 30-something miles
Bill and team had snuck another event in since I hung up my trail shoes and this was my first opportunity to try it out. Obviously we needed to buy a family tent which takes up an obnxoious amount of space. It was a nice route, I carried my giant bag and tried my new fancy beeping watch which I had just purchased. Although an hour or so slower than I used to be, I ran like the old days by starting at the back and picking up the pace as the miles went on. We'll be back next year.
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