Daily archives: September 21, 2012

Report from Craig. All week at work I had been looking forward to a long lie in my bed so on Saturday 15th September when my alarm went off at 5am I was less then happy. Maybe the people at work were right, maybe I was mad. After all how else could I explain getting up at that time on a Saturday morning to go for a 41 mile run?! I dragged myself out of bed and after a quick shower and forcing down some food I headed down to the Citadel in Ayr. I collected my race number and boarded the bus along with another 80 or so runners which would take us to the start of the race. Eventually we arrived at Glenbuck and it felt like we had been dropped in the middle of nowhere. At 9 oclock the horn went and the race started. The first 5 miles or so were into a strong headwind along trail paths. I decided to set off at a steady pace and see how long I could hold it for. There were two runners just in front but I decided not to try and keep up with them and quickly I was on my own as the runners behind me were already a good bit back. I passed the first checkpoint with ease and felt great. I had been full of the cold a couple of weeks before and I felt like the extra time off was really going to benefit me. By 7 miles I had almost caught up with the two leaders, I could see them not too far in the distance but a wrong turn followed by a quarter of a mile scrambling through nettles, long grass and a burn that I could hear but not see due to the long grass (I know it was there as I fell in it a couple of times) meant that soon they were out of sight again! Miles 8 – 18 were almost like cross country underfoot. There was plenty of running through fields with mud up to my ankles and splashing through puddles. By mile 18 though I could see 2nd place again and passed him as we went through the checkpoint on a good road section at 19 miles. By mile 23 my legs were feeling heavy and I was beginning to struggle a bit. My times were still steady and I caught the race leader who was also struggling. I ran with him for a couple of miles but he was really struggling by this time and as as we ran/walked together we were overtaken by the eventual race winner. By mile 28 after negotiating my way through a section of bushes where the path had been washed away by a landslide, I decided that I had to run my own race and left the runner I had been with for the last few miles, his hip was in a bad way and to be honest […]