Jan 21^st.

Weather: Sunny, mild but with stiff westerly wind. Warm in sheltered sunny corners.

We were lucky – race was sandwiched between heavy rain showers on the way to and back from Falkland (which is nice village by the way).

Route:

31 km, 1250m ascent.

Four leg relay. Details at this link:

http://www.scottishhillracing.co.uk/RaceDetails.aspx?RaceID=RA-0015

Intrepid runners:

Leg 1 (6.5 km, 450m): Rob Wilson and Alasdair Hind

Leg 2 (6 km, 250m): Julian Hall

Leg 3 (10 km, 560m): Duncan Ball and Mike Brooks

Leg 4 (8.5 km, 100m): Kevin Anderson

Leg1: A quick start through the narrow streets of Falkland which quickly turns into an ever increasing gradient up the lower slopes of East Lomond zigzagging through a picturesque woodland (with much tree wind damage). On leaving the wood, the real sharp ascent starts up to the 1^st check point on the peak. Although one’s calves burn, it is made easier knowing that it is pretty much all downhill on the other side. Bar an initial steep descent off the peak (which my [RW] knees complained about), the rest of the leg was a real pleasure of tracks and paths.

Alasdair is normally a little slower than me and although I took the chance to go a little slower than usual (aiding my preparation for the Glentress Duathlon the next day – see blog post by Susie ), he admirably kept up, although was a little resistant to running ALL the way back to Falkland afterwards [AH: walking is good for stretching worked muscles, honest!! ]. The real advantage to Leg 1 is that we were the first back to the village hall allowing us a nice relaxing time to stock up on cake, juice, tea and soup (the pea and spinach was delectable) from the many cauldrons that were bubbling away.  

Leg2: Felt great on the warm-up, but this was with the (cold) wind behind me! Running the first half of the leg was a different story! I felt really slow on the 2.5km of farm track, but there were almost no changes in the gaps, let alone the order. Into the shelter of the trees, the route started to climb more noticeably and was grassier. I warmed up a bit and started to close some gaps, although a couple of runners flew past me like whippets. The exit from the forest brought the end of the climb and after a few ups and downs over White Craigs, we began the descent to Scotlandwell. Although not in condition to go flat out, I overtook a few teams and re-took the place lost to the Bellahouston C runner with whom I’d had a sporting battle. Duncan’s brief words as he and Mike sped off were enough to find Rob’s car in Kinnesswood. After that the only challenge was to find reverse in Kevin’s Merc! Another vote for the quality of the DB soup. [JH]

Leg3: The logistics of getting runners to their respective starts and ensuring that finishing runners were not stranded are quite tricky. However, as we had two cars and Rob and Alasdair had been bullied – I mean had volunteered to jog back to the start at the end of their leg 1, things actually went pretty smoothly. Ten minutes before Rob and Alasdair were due to start at Falkland, I borrowed Rob’s car with Mike and Julian and drove the long way round (because of a road closure) to the start of leg 2 at Holl Reservoir. The sun was out and it wasn’t too cold, so Mike and I dumped Julian there and set off back to the start of leg 3. As parking was restricted at Scotlandwell, we had to park near Kinnesswood School and jog the mile down the road to the 2/3 changeover (a good warm up). Kevin with the second car was free to drive to the start of leg 4 in time for his start (and our finish).

With the help of Julian texting us just before he set off on leg 2, we could time our last minute warm-up and tree-watering to perfection. Hopefully no female runners were traumatised at this time. We eagerly kept watch for Julian coming down the precipice that was the start of our leg. On time he appeared looking remarkably fresh and we shouted where the car was, handed over the keys, collected the punch card and set off. It was really steep for an awfully long time, but eventually the gradient eased off and the landscape opened up with initially a track winding up towards the crags of Bishop Hill. A couple of orienteering checkpoints later, we could see West Lomond in the distance looking very inviting in the sunshine. Navigation was a doddle with the great visibility and the scores of other runners, and the carefully prepared map and compass stayed in the rucsac. Most of the terrain is very similar to the Pentlands with narrow paths, mud, bogs, loose rocks, grassy tussocks, steep climbs, etc. It was quite steep coming off the hill and took a lot of concentration until we hit the plantation where a path became forest track and then tarmac for the last km to the finish. We tried not to grin too much at the leg 4 runners just starting off. We could see Kevin straining on the leash and sprinted for the line. He was off so quick that I forgot to ask him where the car was. But of course Julian was there, caretaker of both cars. Both of us feeling elated and quite chuffed and not really noticing sore legs, we drove back to Falkland to await the arrival of last runner Kevin (and to queue for spinach soup).

Leg4: After being let of the leash I was off like a greyhound after a rabbit! A bit of a gradient to kick off, followed by some smaller hills. A few obstacles in the way turned this part of the race into an Olympic class hurdles course….great fun & I really enjoyed my Winalot for afters.

         Thanks to the boys for organising a fab race. Practising for next year already!

Results:

Leg 1: 46.57 (43^rd)

Leg 2: 34.31 (43^rd: 42^nd overall)

Leg 3: 68.42 (40^th: 37^th overall)

Leg 4: 33.59 (59^th: 38^th overall)

Total: 3.04.09 (38/122)

A great race – all the better to run as a team. Next year we certainly can break the 3 hours. Now we have 12 months to persuade the girlies to put a team together. There are legs that will suit everybody. It’s a great day out, a good team experience and – in JH’s experience of 6/7 DB’s – the weather is always good.

Rob, Alasdair, Julian, Duncan, Mike and Kevin.

There was some snow in Penicuik when we left but the weather in Peebles was relatively balmy by comparison, well until about halfway through the race when the snow started.   It was round about that time that I thought that I was holding off the last person in the race: it turned out later that the chap that I thought I was holding off was the sweeper.   Fortunately I made a few places in the second half of the race when we hit some downhill, and I didn’t see the sweeper again.   The other runners from the Harriers all ran much better than me.   Duncan Ball in 38th place was only 4 minutes behind the winner; Sarah Blake was 46th, Mike Brooks 55th, Chris Downie 126th, Jane Hart 128th, Rachael Campbell 149th, Gilly Marshall 161st, and Bill Bennet 182nd.   It was alovely run up the Tweed, a bit muddy, but not as muddy as Gala.   It’s an even lovelier run in the summer when the mud has dried.   You should try the run from Peebles up the Tweed to Barns in February; there are thousands of snowdrops which are absolutely gorgeous.   Full results can be found at www.bordersxc.com .

What a wonderful day at Dunbar: wall to wall sunshine and really quite warm. So warm in fact, that a fair number of runners cooled down in the sea; and I heard that one very brave chap called Mike Brooks had a swim. Whitesands is located east of Dunbar just below the Cement Works. Fortunately you cannot really see the Cement Works from the beach if you look out to sea.

The course was quite challenging in places. It started off going west along the beach towards Dunbar and turned in the middle of a big patch of slimy sea weedy stones. It ran back through the start and then headed east past Barns Ness Lighthouse where we got a superb view of the Nuclear Power Station at Torness. Well, a superb view if you like Nuclear Power Stations. There were a couple of wee climbs on the way back which was along some trods. All in all a well conceived course, apart from the slippery stones, and slightly longer and harder than last year’s course in the same area.

The Harriers’ stars were Mike Brooks in 35^th place, Janice Smith 95^th, Gilly Marshall 122^nd and Bill Bennet 142^nd. A great day out which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Travelled down with fellow West Linton runners Sheena Livingstone and Helen Ryall to the 10th Jedburgh Half Marathon – this run is always a pleasure and Sunday was no exception. It’s well organised without being ‘fussy’ (although there is nae braw baking at the finish like some other well known events), the company was good (also caught up with Carole Fortune + Ruth McCann), weather was warm and stayed dry (though there was a strong westerly to contend with on the way home) and finally, after my dignity taking a serious dent at Haddington, I recovered some pride with 1:52:28 – another step in relentless drive towards some crazy runs next year !

The last long hill race of the year, the Skyline (26.6km, 1600m)
http://www.scottishhillracing.co.uk/RaceDetails.aspx?RaceID=RA-0107)
is always my personal nemesis, but in the context of the Ochil2000s and Breweries, it is probably the easiest of the three. The difficulty of this race, is that for us locals, we are used to running the Pentland Hills at a faster pace than what we should do when running the whole Skyline route and it is very easy to go too quickly at the beginning.

Three intrepid Harriers started: Moi, Paul Pollard and Chris Downie. Chris had warmed up the day before on Manor Water so was raring to go.

Conditions: Very wet underfoot, strong head wind which peaked around midday when we were running over Carnethy/Scald Law (with rain in the face). Weather improved substantially for second half with wind mostly from behind.

Paul zipped off at the beginning but as I was worried about my groin (see Breweries entry), I did not even try to keep up. For Paul and I, the first half went very well despite the strong head wind. I could always see him in the distance – usually he was nearing the summit of a peak when I was at the base. At about the 1hr mark, I started to feel my groin pull. Despite this, I got to the drove road in 1:52 – only 2 minutes slower than my PB so I was quite happy under the circumstances. Paul was nowhere in sight.

I should note that the Marshalls along the route had a much worse day than any of the runners. The poor buggers on top of South Black almost looked comical as they tried to take down numbers and ensure that their notes (or themselves) did not get blown away.

The drove road normally provides a nice rest bite from ascents and descents and is the only place where one can get into some sort of rhythm. However, it was here that I realised that my groin was in worse shape than I thought. I just could not lift my right leg properly which made running annoyingly difficult and uncomfortable. My pace started to slow, which continued to crumble for the rest of the race. Giving up was not an issue. I had done that 5 years ago, and I was determined to complete the race, even if I crawled over the line.

So I started a mental battle of concentrating on putting one leg in front of the other. Coming off Hare Hill was particularly boggy and I guess it was from this point that I started haemorrhaging places which continued for the rest of the race. Ironically, walking up was not so bad, so I used the Black Hill ascent to stoke up on supplies, so by the time I got to the top, I felt generally OK except for the groin. Descent was slow but steady, but my first minor bout of cramp hit me as I crossed the small stream at the bottom to begin the ascent up Bells. I managed to walk through this and as I started the short but very steep climb, I realised that Paul was again in view. Over Harbour Hill, Capelaw and up to Allemuir, Paul kept ahead and in fact pulled away as he still seemed to be OK going uphill. Little did I know at the time, that is was downhill which he was having a nightmare with.

Andrea’s tennis had been cancelled so she was a welcome site of shouts and encouragement on Capelaw and jogged with me for a while. I think I was a little grumpy at her positive energy though – I apologise. Susie then added her 200% worth of screams and excited hugs on top of Allermuir. Hopefully I smiled back a little.

It is so frustrating to be so close to the finish and yet be crippled to such a slow pace. Runners were passing me all the time – all seemed to bounce, skip and look fresh. I could not even raise my leg to kick them. After Caerketton, it is a downhill cruise to the finish. It was just off the peak when I finally met Paul. He was not a happy site. He had been basically cramping on all descents since Black Hill. I was in a dilemma as I felt I should stop and come down with him, but he was hardly moving. So, a little guiltily, I wished him well and continued to hobble on down.

Despite the pain I was incredibly happy when I crossed the line. I had set out to do three long race over 6 weeks, and I had done it. At 3:51, this was my slowest time for the Skyline but under the circumstances, it could have been much worse. Paul finally came in (I am sure he was walking backwards down some of the last slope) at ~4hrs with Carnethy Kate at ~4.02.

The real Hero of the day however was Chris who crossed the line in around 4.30 but looked fresh as a button. To have ran both Manor Water and the Skyline deserves some real respect.

Rob

Manor Water hill race (and sheep dog trials)

It was drizzling when I got up, drizzling at Halfords, drizzling
driving towards Peebles and still drizzling whilst I was getting
changed into shorts. Shorts! However it wasn’t too cold or too
windy and four other Harriers had turned up to brave the damp.
There seemed to be a lot of people clad in mega-waterproof
garments and rucsacs containing even more stuff, and I even saw
a compass being flourished, but I reckoned that once we were
puffing up the hill, a long-sleeved top plus hat would be
sufficient.

At the start whilst trying to see whereabouts in the mist the
hill might be, I was beginning to regret not having packed a
bivvy bag and was wondering if any of the sheep dogs did
‘guide dog’ or ‘mountain rescue dog’ as a sideline. But I hid
my trepidation and calmly told Andy (his very first hill run)
that he would be sliding a lot in his trainers and to watch out
for stones, heather, very narrow paths, sheep poo, etc.

Once started, the run was actually slightly enjoyable! I quite
like this hill run – although rather too long, the gradient is
never very steep except for the last bit up to ‘The Scrape’ and
the turn. You were supposed to yell out your number to the
marshall at the top, but you first had to find him in the gloom.
He looked very much as though he would prefer to be running than
sitting on a clump of wet moss and managed to raise no more than
an eyebrow at my yell.

The run down was quite tricky – although there was a ‘path’,
it was only the width of a tyre and very slippy with hidden rocks,
but the alternative was springy heather or sloshy bog. It was
all going well until two runners looking half my age and going
twice my speed passed me in the last half mile. However, my
dismay quickly turned to pleasure when somebody handed me a
bottle of Broughton Ale at the finish.

I had to admit that I wouldn’t be running the Pentland Skyline
Hill Run the next day and would have to be known as a ‘mouse’
for a while. Chris on the other hand was threatening to be a
‘man’. Kevin didn’t think there was any shame in not running
two days on the trot and went off to get the mud and sheep poo
off by sitting in the burn.

Harriers times were me 10th at 79:21, Andy 32nd at 93:49,
Kevin 45th at 100:39, Chris 61st at 109:34 and Gordon 67th
at 114:21. Sandy of Carnegie was 18th at 87:19. Well done to
Andy – a terrific effort for his first hill run. And thanks
to Broughton Breweries for the very short-lived momento.

Duncan Ball.

Similar in length and elevation to the Ochil 2000s (30km, 1500m), this was race two of the 3 ‘biggies’ I am trying to stumble my way around. Pentland Skyline next.

More info on race can be found here:
http://www.scottishhillracing.co.uk/RaceDetails.aspx?RaceID=RA-0103

Conditions were almost perfect, sunny with a head wind that helped keep the flies off but possibly could have slowed the pace down a little.

The race goes east to west from Traquair House to Broughton. Driving from one to the other is a bad idea as it seems to take forever and you cannot help thinking, “ ****, I cannot run that”. Luckily the race route is more direct than the road.

Resisting my normal urge to sprint at the beginning, I took it fairly slow and easy at the beginning as I did not want my troublesome left calf to go ‘ping’ in the first few miles. By the end, my calf was the least of my worries.

Compared to the Ochils last month, this is an immensely runnable race. Albeit a tad soggy in places (but after this summer, this is no surprise), the Breweries does not really have anything like the latter nightmarish half of the Ochils. The first 8kms is fairly straightforward until you come to the big plunge down into Glensax. I have run in this area before (up slope of Fairy Glen) and there is a perfectly nice horseshoe to the south which would be much more enjoyable than the steep descent and ascent in and out of this valley.

I was feeling pretty good up to Stob Law, but the descent down to Glenrath seemed to take something out of me. When I hit the road at the bottom of the valley, I really felt the tiredness setting in. Although I was sucking on the hydration drinks to help with cramp, I wonder if I need to eat more energy bars as well. Difficult when you constantly feel a little nauseous. The drink stations at Glenrath and Stobo are well placed and help to minimise the amount of fluid one needs to carry I think.

The second half of the race is well marked which is nice as navigation gets harder when you’re tired. The run through the wood up to Whitelaw hill was a lot of fun somehow and I managed to overtake a few people going up. However, my first bout of cramp (back of the thigh) set in just off the summit which probably reflected my push up the hill. From Whitelaw hill to the base of Trahenna, I would normally say that the route was gorgeous, potentially fast, pleasurable and would make a great cross country route. However, by the time I hit the drink station at Stobo, I had really hit the wall. No amount of Hula Hoops, sweets and water seemed to get my energy levels up. The next 2 kms were along a gently rising forest road which normally I would cruise along. Yesterday, it was endless and all my legs wanted was for me to walk. I battled on, but probably would have been quicker if I walked on my hands.

At km 25, the final ascent begins – up Trahenna Hill. This hill broke me (physically!!). On the Scottish Hill Racing website, it states, “This is where all the runners appear to be hung out to dry, and is a good place to make or lose places! The final descent to Broughton is generally accompanied with various degrees of cramp. Well – indeed – it was tough – I lost places. I am pretty sure it is the steepest ascent of the whole race and after having run for 26 kms, there aint a lot left in the reserves. Going up, the muscles around my shins cramped up and going down, my calves wanted to cramp. To top it all off, my inner right groin starting hurting quite badly. By the time I hit the road in Broughton (the one we are more used to in the Green Mile Dash), I was probably a wretched site – trying to run so I would not cramp up, and also trying to run in a way that would not hurt my groin. A losing battle.

Anyway, I stumbled across the line in 4.06.57. (62nd from 111 runners). Alasdair Hind also ran (4:39:45)

I had really wanted to do it under 4 hrs, but my fitness was just not up to it in the 4th hour. At least I did not cramp up too badly and my left calf, albeit stiff, did not snap. My relative place was much better than Ochils and I would not be surprised if the Breweries was just a tad longer and higher than the Ochils. Unfortunately, my Garmin died on the finish line when I pressed stop and lost all the data. I’ll just have to find out next year.

See you at Skyline.

Rob

With 50 mins before I leave for the Breweries (gulp!), I thought I would quickly tell you all about the Cairngorm Adventure Triathlon (CAT). Andrea did it with a friend last weekend.
More details can be found here:
http://www.cairngormadventuretriathlon.org/

Compared to what Stuart probably did in the day, this is a more relaxed affair but in a beautiful part of Scotland. It is based around Loch Morlich in Glen More (northern Cairngorms) and encompasses 3 kms canoeing around Loch Morlich, 25 kms mountain biking around the area and then a final 5 kms run around Loch Morlich.
The route map is:

I did the route with Andrea last month and it is a lot of fun and nothing is really difficult. If anybody knows the mountain bike trails around Rothiemurchus, they are not technical at all – nice and fast.

Anyway Andrea (and Lisa) did the course in 2:30:05 and were 5th in the ladies categories.

It would be fun maybe if a few of us did this next year.

anyway – time for some food

Rob

Chris Downie had a great race at Caerketton, 28th out of 56 starters, in an amazing time for an over 50 of 6mins 54secs, just over 90 secs behind the winner.   We all know now why Chris was looking a wee bit tired at hill reps on Thursday.   Well done Chris, a great run.