Before I joined the Harriers, I didn’t know what a “BQ” was (a Boston-qualifying marathon time), or anything about Boston marathon at all really. It was only after finishing Loch Ness marathon in 2015 that Vicky mentioned I might have qualified for it. Sure enough I had, and seeing as my brother moved there the same year, it seemed like a great excuse to give it a go and visit family at the same time.

I soon realised just how well-respected this marathon is. It’s 121 years old, folk cheat to get in, and some spend their entire running careers trying to qualify for it. It’s a huge event in Boston, held on Patriots Day each year (a public holiday), along with a Red Sox game and a Boston Bruins hockey match. The bars open at 8am and the whole city has a party. The place was buzzing already when I arrived on the Friday. I was glad of a few days there before the race to get over any jet lag and explore the city, which is stunningly beautiful.

On the morning of the race, my brother drove me to Boston Common to get the shuttle bus to the start at Hopkinton, a pretty little town to the west of Boston. The shuttle buses were proper yellow school buses and I might have gotten a bit too excited about getting the chance to ride in one! I took a seat next to a guy from Brasil who now lives in Boston, and had a nervous chat about the race. The long line of yellow buses racing along the highway was a sight to behold, and after what seemed like ages (but was only an hour) we arrived at the athletes village in Hopkinton. The weather was already hotting up, with temperatures predicted to hit 21ºC. That’s the trouble with spring marathons, you train all winter in the cold, wind and rain, then rock up to the actual race and get thrown off by the heat! I caked myself in factor 50 and chugged down some Tailwind before the start to make sure I staved off dehydration. Armed with another couple of bottles of Tailwind in my running belt, and 6 pieces of Kendal mint cake, off I went to join my corral at the start line.

The race goes off in 4 waves, with your wave assigned depending on your qualifying time. The faster your time, the earlier you set off. I was in the second wave, and at 10:25am we were off. Despite the wave system, it still took me 4 minutes to reach the start mat. The route then infamously drops for two miles, but it was so busy there was not much you could do except go with the flow and wait for the throng to spread out. At about two miles in there was a huge bikers bar, whose patrons had already spilled out, drinks in hand, to cheer us on. The support all along the whole route was like this – one big supporters party with hand-made banners, cheering crowds, music, trays of orange slices, ice-cubes, sweets and bags of encouragement. I’ve never experienced anything like it. There was a row of kids on mini trampolines bouncing up and down and clapping, people spraying garden hoses, plenty of little hands (and big ones too) proffered for a hand-slap, and inexplicably at mile 8, Father Christmas! The famous ‘scream tunnel’ at Wellesley College didn’t disappoint either, with about a half-mile of shrieking girls holding banners begging for kisses, with reasons such as “Kiss me, I use tongue!”, “Kiss me, I’m gay!”, “Kiss me and you’ll run faster!”. A few game souls took a moment to grab a smooch, but I gracefully declined!

My pace was pretty consistent for the first half of the race, hitting the half way point at 1:42 and on-course for a PB. The heat was getting to me a little though, and I was taking water at every mile – a few sips and the rest poured over my head. I spotted a guy running in a kilt at mile 9, a proper woollen kilt which was swinging nicely in front of me. I ran up beside him and asked if he was Scottish, to which he replied in a strong American drawl, “No, but my grandparents were!”. I said I was from Scotland and gave him a fist-bump and massive respect for running in it, and he said he was regretting the decision a little as he hadn’t realised how heavy it was! I dread to think what the state of his legs were at the end, I hope he was wearing shorts underneath.

Just as things were starting to hurt at mile 16-17 and the Newton hills were beginning to kick in, I heard my name being bellowed from the sidelines. My mum and brother were there, and it was amazing to see them. I hadn’t expected to as it was so busy, but it gave me the boost I needed. The infamous ‘Heartbreak Hill’ is at about 20 miles in, but it was the hill just before it that I found hardest. Nobody warns you about that one! I was beginning to get pretty fatigued, and had a headache but no energy to take a paracetamol out of my running belt. Heartbreak Hill came and went, and I was looking forward to the relatively kind descent of the route into Boston from here on in. I tried to focus on the crowds, who were shouting my name (which I’d printed on my vest) and really encouraging everyone that passed them. Despite the heat, I was still getting the chills from the vibes of the crowd. I concentrated on the creative handmade signs – “Remember you paid to do this!”, “Toenails are for pussies!”, “Chafing is sexy!”, “Good job random stranger!” and at least 10 signs saying “You’re running better than our government runs this country!”. Just awesome. My face was hurting from smiling.

At mile 21 my quads started to spasm really badly. I had to stop a couple of times to press my palms into them and try to stretch them out. This is the Boston College area though, and these guys don’t let you give up! They roared my name and encouraged me to keep going, and as soon as I set off again they gave me a massive cheer. At this point I stopped looking at my Garmin, forgot about my PB and decided to just finish the race, even if I had to crawl. This was the Boston marathon, just being here was a privilege! Man up an get it done, Dawson!

At mile 24 I had settled into a graceless limping running style, but at least my quads had stopped rippling. I passed my sister-in-law, niece and nephew who were holding up a beautiful home-made sign with my name in gold letters. What a boost! The CITGO sign which looms above mile 25 was soon in my sights. There were quite a few runners lying at the side of the course being attended by medics here. How sad, to make it that far and not get across the finish. One more little hill that felt like a mountain, a sharp right turn onto Hereford Street then a left turn onto Boylston Street and there it was, the finish line. What a sight, and the noise! You feel like an Olympian as you stagger towards that line. Amazingly, despite the crowd being about ten people deep, I saw my brother and mum again and they cheered me over the last few feet. They’d just made it to the finish by train a few minutes before, what a pair of troopers! My Garmin had died about 2 miles ago, so after I’d collected my medal and guzzled a bottle of water I checked my phone. 3:36:06! 10 minutes shy of my PB, but despite the tough course, the heat and the stops to deal with my quads, I was very happy with that. And it’s another “BQ”.

The Boston marathon was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. The main reason was the crowd and volunteer support. Bostonians really love their marathon! You are made to feel like a hero from start to finish. I’d do it again just for that, I really did not stop smiling the whole way. My sister-in-law is already searching cheap flights for next year!

Official time 3:36:06
Overall pos. 8654
Gender pos. 2205
Division (age category) 279

This is a fab little race. The John Muir Way Ultra Marathon is run on
‘East Lothians most stunning and iconic coastal stretches, rural landscapes and woodland trails. The route will begin at Port Seton Promenade and primarily follow the well-established John Muir Way. Meandering through a number of historic towns and villages including Aberlady, Gullane and North Berwick with the race finishing at FoxTrail HQ; Foxlake Adventures, Dunbar.’
I really enjoyed it this year and knocked a few minutes off last years time so well happy. We got medals this time as last year a few entrants complained about the lack of a momento, its nice to know runners wishes have been taken on board by the organisers.

Out of 153 runners:

Place Bib Name Age Gender Time

36 98 Sadie Kemp 40 Female 4:44:44.2
67 162 Tracy Philp 44 Female 5:09:08.5
81 47 Tim Doyle 52 Male 5:16:14.3
100 216 Lori McCrae 45 Female 5:29:27.6
115 122 Gilly Marshall 45 Female 5:50:16.4
120 124 Susie Maxwell 44 Female 5:52:26.7

Full results here: https://www.webscorer.com/racedetails?raceid=96633

On Sunday 7 Harriers set off to run this race, the longer of two hill races last weekend at Birnam, Dunkeld, and part of the Highland Boundaries series. The race is just over 19 kilometres with 700m elevation, with lots of forest trail and a lovely hill. We were really lucky with the weather – pretty much unbroken sunshine, but this made for a very sweaty run!

Having said I’d never run this race, as we approached the car park I began to get a sense of having been there before – worryingly I ran it just last year. It’s been a busy year, but still…..then I began to wonder if I’d been so traumatised by it last time that my mind had blocked it out!

The start was very relaxed – except when race organiser Adrian told us that some of the course markers had been removed, cue utter panic for those of us who are not so hot on the map skills and prone to getting a wee bit lost! However, as it turned out the route was actually really well marked, with helpful marshals too.

The route is mostly runnable, except for Deuchary Hill, which was a welcome chance to stop running and slow the pace a bit. The view up there was just amazing, snowy hill tops in the distance. If I’d had food, I might just have stopped for a picnic – summer may have come and gone :-). I’d spotted Michael on the climb up, but he vanished quickly from
sight on the descent.

I was relieved to reach a point where I realised the finish was close, I definitely didn’t drink enough on the way round and the surprising heat did take its toll a bit. Stuart, Rob and Michael were in, and Gregor arrived soon after, looking extremely fresh and clearly fitter than he was giving himself credit for! Then Sadie and Andrea finished – both smiling as always!

This is a lovely race with lots of trail and a great slightly longer one even if you’re not so keen on hills. Hopefully I will actually remember it this time around when it comes to booking races next year! It was a good turnout for us Harriers, which was commented on. Go us :-)!

Stuart 12 1:37:41
Rob 17 1:45:04
Michael 18 1:49:48
Gill 20 1:50:42 3rd lady
Gregor 35 1:58:20
Sadie 41 2:04:34
Andrea 45 2:08:26

PBs for me, Andrea and Rob – Stuart managing to get the same time as his previous PB!

As part of Margaret’s training for the Vienna Marathon next month, she wanted a couple of 10k races and the Elgin / Milton Duff 10k was one of the chosen ones. It was a great day for a race, first time this year with no gloves, no thermals, no waterproofs – just a buff to protect my baldy heid from the sun (temperature 17 deg). Course was all road, and someone described it as ‘undulating but fast’, I could only agree with the first of those adjectives, but it had some great views.

Lovely friendly crowd and I could be easily persuaded to give it another go.

One thing I’d never seen before – the race organiser won the race; over to you Susie!

Fantastic turnout for the harriers marshalling and running this event. We are very happy to have been involved with getting this Parkrun off the ground and so proud of Michael Philp for all his hard work in making this dream of his become a reality. Its a great route and a fine addition to the Parkrun family.

Pos parkrunner Time
62 Tracy PHILP 23:07
79 Sadie KEMP 24:30
145 Ngeme NTULI 29:02

Full results: http://www.parkrun.org.uk/vogrie/results/latestresults/

Before the race Sarah Burthe invited us all, runners and marshals to her house for some delicious veggie stew with homemade bread. We topped this off with a lovely chocolate cake that Yan had made. (I think I need this treatment before every race please ;-)) Then we headed off to Innerleithen to register and get moustached up. Michael was keen to get going so headed off to the start while we watched the wave 1 people go off.

Its been a few years since Gilly and I attempted this race. The last time we did it there was snow on the ground so this year it was much warmer. Not helped by the fact we were sporting tweed hats. The first obstacle is a pile of hay bales. Later there is rivers to wade through, balance beams to negotiate and ropes and cargo nets to contend with. By far the biggest obstacle confronting you is the two large hills that you climb, especially the second one which is covered in shale and so you find yourself crawling by the time you get near the top. It was on this hill that our harrier friends were to be found dishing out hugs and loud encouragement. Yan, Susie, Sarah, Allan and Mark were all stationed at various points on the hill and could be heard from some way off, particularly Yan (true to form :-)) So that was fantastic. The final obstacle is a water slide that was so much fun and very muddy. Once we were changed it was off to the ‘party tent’ for a well earned can of juice and to swap stories with our fellow runners. This was a super event, but we were very saddened to hear of the death of one participant and our hearts go out to her friends and family.

Out of 1597 runners we came:

Pos name time cat catpos gender genderpos wave
6 Stuart Sanderson 01:31:18 VET 50 1 Male 6 Wave 1 (first in his category!)
28 Michael Greens 01:42:28 STD 18 Male 28 Wave 2
77 James Bell 01:54:17 STD 46 Male 72 Wave 1
503 Gordon Campbell 02:33:43 STD 281 Male 429 Wave 5
572 Sadie Kemp 02:38:39 VET 40 21 Female 96 Wave 3
573 Gilly Marshall 02:38:39 VET 40 22 Female 97 Wave 3

Full results here: http://www.racetecresults.com/Results.aspx?CId=40&RId=7139&EId=2

A new race for me – the Eildons Trail Race – and at 16.4kms (540m climb) a nice wee race to keep the training up for the looming longer races that are not that far away!!!

11 Harriers escaped the Jan imposed storm warnings of the Lasswade 10K (fake news alert!) and we were blessed with generally perfect weather conditions but with modest amounts of mud (there was talk of hippos at the race briefing!!). This was not a race for trail shoes – mudclaws were the shoe of choice!

For those who have been involved with the Jedburgh Ultra, then all the tracks would be familiar. The race starts on the road just off the A6091 towards the Rhymer’s stone. The start was rather quick. In typical fashion I was initially in the fast starting group and felt pretty good for the first 500 m, but then the route turned right and we started the climb. My legs turned to rubber and Billy passed me (BpR on map). However, I managed to keep just behind him up the slippery muddy slope and passed him just before the first summit. Now the fun bit. The trails on the top are more gravel than muddy so it was time to start pushing and, just like with this leg of the Ultra or the Eildons fell race, I simply kept my eye on the next guy ahead and tried to gain some places.

Eildons Trail Race Route

Somewhere behind, there was periodic loud grunts and curses. A wild animal or abominable mudman? No – just Michael Greens – although, he was covered in a lot of mud at the finish and may have taken the hippo comments too literally.

Alas, the hills were over way too quickly and the route soon came down into the lower valley trails which got muddier as we descended. I have a finite speed on the flat (I really should try to get to Tuesday sessions!) and all I could do was keep my speed as quick as possible knowing that at some point Billy would come loping past. Indeed, he did, about 1 km before Newton St Boswells, he briefly ran with me, stated that his legs were tired, and then sped off. When I crossed the road in St Boswells, he was nowhere to be seen. Curse him!

The muddy trails continued and before long the route came down to the river Tweed. A very swollen river Tweed indeed, with the track perilously close sometimes. This was definitely not the time to slip off the bank for a swim – unless you wanted to visit Berwick of course!

Running along the river, I quickly realised that I could see Billy a few hundred metres ahead and in fact, appeared to be struggling and walking in some of the muddier sections. With gritted teeth, I ploughed on (literally actually) and soon passed Billy on the gentle climb out of the river valley. I was determined to keep the pace up. I could see the Eildons on the left so it could not be that far surely. The last few kilometres were tough. Luckily for me, there was quite a lot of gentle ascent which Billy was struggling with so when I finally hit the road at the Rhymers stone, I ran like a madman to ensure I kept ahead.

Well – that got rid of the late winter blues. Thanks to Billy for making it so much fun (LOL 🙂 ). I look forward to the next battle at Deuchary in 3 weeks – maybe Mike B will be back!!!

Of 125 runners, here are the results:

15th Rob Wilson 1:29:54

17th Billy Colvin 1:31:18

24th Michael Greens 1:34:36

26th Allan Dunbar 1:35:12

27th Gillian Cairns 1:35:32 (2^nd Lady)

52nd Chris Downie 1:48:33

61st Sadie Kemp 1:52:40

64th Melanie Dunbar 1:52:51

71st Zoe Fowler 1:55:11

74th Kate Crowe 1:56:21

79th Gordon Campbell 2:00:07

The weather wasn’t quite as bad as forecast, although a little windy and rainy. Most of us were quite overdressed and didn’t get far from the start before we started taking off jackets and layers. The first lap of this race is quite manic as you are being overtaken by the 21k-ers for a considerable length of it. The second lap is much more enjoyable as you have more space to run at your own pace. It was great to see Rachael Lees and Sarah McKecknie at the halfway point where we picked up our drop bags. Their smiles and hugs gave me a great lift.

Out on the hill was much less sheltered and considerably colder.

This part of the track resembled a stream and there was no way to keep your feet dry here.

The steepest of the hills and a real calf burner.

I was trying out my new ankle gaiters and they were great for keeping out the debris even if I did still have wet feet.

21K:
213 503 Andy Briggs m Male 17-39 2:42:42
325 754 Mandy Macmillan f Female 17-39 3:00:38

42K:
92 1126 Sadie Kemp f Female 40-49 5:31:18
97 1073 Tim Doyle m Male 50-59 5:34:18
98 1219 Tracy Philp f Female 40-49 5:34:51
115 1154 Gilly Marshall f Female 40-49 5:51:09
148 1157 Susie Maxwell f Female 40-49 6:12:26

Very well done to all the harriers who took part in the Borders cross country series. Great turn out to the races and superb effort by all.

Number Forename Surname Gender Cat Best4
Ladies:
181 Julie Hand F FJ 6 (2nd FJ)
31 Gillian Cairns F F40+ 13 (4th F40)
142 Rachael Lees F FS 35 (8th FS)
44 Tracy Philp F F40+ 40
371 Zoe Fowler F FS 43
174 Sadie Kemp F F40+ 44
87 Sarah Burthe F F40+ 48
100 Margaret Forrest F F50+ 58
199 kirsty loudon F F50+ 69
90 Gilly Marshall F F40+ 79
12 Sandra Vick F F40+ 102

Gents:
99 Ian Forrest M M60+ 8 (3rd M60)
175 Michael Greens M MJ 18 (5th MJ)
287 Des Crowe M M50+ 20 (7th M50)
385 Allan Dunbar M M40+ 85
378 Chris Downie M M50+ 116
232 Charlie Crawford M MS 116
384 William Dickson M M40+ 129
176 Daniel Greens M MS 133
45 Michael Philp M M40+ 142
194 Ngeme Ntuli M M40+ 144
235 Andrew McDermott M MS 148
50 Yan Horsburgh M M50+ 1023
370 Billy Colvin M M40+ 1049

Juniors:
349 Lewis Cairns 9 M M8-9 49
347 Calum Hind 10 M M10-11 77

Full results here: http://bordersxc.blogspot.co.uk/

Cracking weather and a great turn out for the last of the borders cross country series. Massive well done to all who took part and especially to Julie Hand on finishing second junior lady in the series and to Ian Forrest, 3rd M60 in the series.

Thanks to Cathy Holms photography for these great photos:

more pics here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/125100284@N03/albums/72157678948072830/page1

Juniors:
Position Number Time (mmss) Forename Surname Gender Cat GenderPos CatPos

68 349 18:29 Lewis Cairns M M8-9 51 14
76 347 19:33 Calum Hind M M10-11 0 56 17

Seniors:
47 175 30:54 Michael Greens M MJ 44 5
56 181 31:42 Julie Hand F FJ 6 1
59 385 31:56 Allan Dunbar M M40+ 53 19
65 31 32:53 Gillian Cairns F F40+ 10 5
87 142 35:15 Rachael Lees F FS 16 6
88 99 35:20 Ian Forrest M M60+ 71 1
100 371 35:55 Zoe Fowler F FS 23 11
111 44 36:53 Tracy Philp F F40+ 29 11
119 174 37:47 Sadie Kemp F F40+ 33 13
136 90 40:13 Gilly Marshall F F40+ 41 19
143 45 41:51 Michael Philp M M40+ 96 32
157 176 44:20 Daniel Greens M MS 102 33
160 100 45:22 Margaret Forrest F F50+ 57 11
165 12 46:30 Sandra Vick F F40+ 62 24
173 199 51:32 kirsty loudon F F50+ 69 15

Full results here: http://bordersxc.blogspot.co.uk/

It was bitterly cold this year for the race and when we went to pick our numbers up at Beeslack High School we were warned that it was the worst weather they had ever had for the Carnethy 5. Long sleeved tops and leggings were added to the kit list in the days leading up to the race and most people took this on board and dressed accordingly. It was great to see Bill there at the start and we all did our best to warm up our legs a bit before the charge towards the hills. The piper at the start is such a nice touch and made all our hearts a little braver. The first push up Scald Law was the usual frenetic battle as runners tried to get a good position. The higher up we got the more slippery it got and I lost my footing several times here. Usually its a relief to get to the top, but this year it was like the arctic tundra. Several hardy marshalls were there to point us in the right direction. Up on the summits the wind and sleet was blasting us in the face so it was an effort to see which direction to go and at times I was just looking at the feet of the runner in front for guidance. Once over the kips we got a bit of respite from the wind and slid and tumbled our way to lower ground. There is a nice stretch of running to the ‘Howe’ where Dave was posted diligently taking numbers. Jan and Ellie were there giving support which was lovely. As we made our way up the hill there was Billy Colvin with his camera and dog, I think he had managed to find the only vaguely sheltered part of the hill.

The slog up Carnethy was tough as ever, but I was glad of the fire created in my calves to stave off the cold. The sleet was like needles on my thighs, I have no idea how anyone managed to run that race in shorts (Des!). The top of Carnethy was just wild and once I rounded the top I could not wait to get down out of the tempest. Once at the finish I wasted no time getting into one of the tents and getting some more layers on, even with a cup of tea and something to eat I pretty soon started to shake uncontrollably, so we headed home for hot showers. Even after that it took a bowl of hot soup and lots of warm clothes before I felt myself defrosting. That said I think we all enjoyed the race in a masochistic sort of sense and were so grateful to the organisers and superhuman marshalls for enabling the event to go ahead despite the difficult conditions.

60 534 01:04:37 Stuart Sanderson M50 4
65 189 01:05:18 Duncan Ball M50 5
86 24 01:07:01 Des Crowe M50 10
150 611 01:13:12 Rob Wilson M40 37
157 343 01:13:44 Michael Greens MJ 4
174 369 01:15:30 Alasdair Hind M40 45
180 289 01:15:41 Allan Dunbar M40 46
196 381 01:16:16 Yan Horsburgh M50 28
215 65 01:17:45 Julie Hand F 20 13
220 243 01:18:15 Billy Colvin M40 60
317 337 01:24:28 Gregor Gorjanc M 115
351 158 01:27:54 Andrea Wilson F40 58 24
352 588 01:27:57 Robert Walker M50 66
353 286 01:27:57 Tim Doyle M50 67
361 268 01:29:39 Craig Davenport M40 92
369 29 01:30:30 Christopher Downie M50 71
391 83 01:33:35 Sadie Kemp F40 71 27
415 206 01:38:33 Andy Briggs M 127
419 105 01:39:22 Susie Maxwell F40 84 30
432 102 01:41:34 Gilly Marshall F40 87 31
471 492 02:06:13 Ngeme Ntuli M50 88

Our guys came 8th in the team results.
8 Stuart Sanderson, Duncan Ball, Des Crowe, Rob Wilson
Our ladies came 5th.
5 Julie Hand, Andrea Wilson, Sadie Kemp

Penicuik 10k Road Race 2017
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