Thursday, October 21, 2004
Have you found the perfect one and let them slip away? Did you even know it?
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Account of the Loch Ness Marathon...
I feel surprisingly well since Sunday... but am avoiding dropping anything on the floor, because if I do... it's staying down there! I need a zimmer frame to get down stairs, but otherwise, AOK. Went for a slow & flat 5k jog with Ben last night just to stretch it out. Both feeling oh so smug with ourselves.
Ah peoples.. if you put the 26.2 miles aside, it was a joy of a day. Although a slightly shaky start (having to put up with Ben snoring his head off sharing a twin B&B room in Inverness), we had a nice breaky and excited chat before a pleasant warm up stroll to the Queens Park Sport Stadium. Hopped on a free bus with the 1500 odd other runners and was dropped seemingly in the middle of nowhere; not quite up to Fort Augustus at the south easterly tip of the loch.
It was a cool, but clear and sunny day which made for perfect running conditions. Just look at the map http://www.lochnessmarathon.com/images/marathon_coursemap.jpg and you can see how beautiful a course it was... a pleasant start descending to the banks of Loch Ness at Foyers and from there, following the loch's south-eastern shore listening to the waves lapping along side. A glance across every so often and you saw sights like Urquart Castle lit up in the sun. Onwards towards Dores on the northern tip of the loch and from there, a rather challenging but steady ascent before heading directly into the centre of Inverness. Some great local support along the River Ness.
People asked me what the most difficult stint of the marathon was... there were two points that I can think of. The first was being overtaken by a man with an ironing board strapped on his back and an iron permanently in his right hand (to my satisfaction I finally caught up the lost ground around mile 22). Then there was the last mile and a half.. a killer and definitely the hardest not as much physically as mentally. Although beautiful alongside the river Ness and the islands, it just seemed to go on and on and on and on and on..... etc. you get the idea. One mile never felt so long!
Ben was at the end with a smile from ear to ear achieving his best imaginable goal of 3 hours 30 mins, which for a first time marathoner is just a scorcher of a time. I was also extremely pleased with my time. A personal best (P.B.) and totally unexpected considering how I'd felt on my last 3 hour run (aka like death) only a couple of weeks prior... So we patted each other and ourselves on the back umpteen times and excitedly recounted all the running stories (you can't imagine how much chat you can make about running 26.6 miles... it can go on for hours. Like listening to someone tell you about their round of golf... YAWN - sorry Dad, but it's true ;). There was a BBQ in the stadium, and I never thought I'd enjoy a cup of soup and hamburger so much!
A nice leisurely stroll, after a shower and change, back into Inverness for a coffee and biccies which we felt we so calorifically deserved. Spent up big and got quietly hammered on a fine bottle of red wine on the train ride home. Ben upgraded us to First Class for our efforts. Well, it was only £1.50 each, so worth it to avoid the riff raff ;) Lots of little head nods and snippets of snoozes between sips of wine.
Feelin' fine. Ben is already planning his next one. I think Paris is highly likely for us both. What out Lisa! I'm coming to crash.
Well my friends, here endeth the long and drawn out account of the marathon. By far the most pleasant a marathon experience as one could possibly hope to have.
I feel surprisingly well since Sunday... but am avoiding dropping anything on the floor, because if I do... it's staying down there! I need a zimmer frame to get down stairs, but otherwise, AOK. Went for a slow & flat 5k jog with Ben last night just to stretch it out. Both feeling oh so smug with ourselves.
Ah peoples.. if you put the 26.2 miles aside, it was a joy of a day. Although a slightly shaky start (having to put up with Ben snoring his head off sharing a twin B&B room in Inverness), we had a nice breaky and excited chat before a pleasant warm up stroll to the Queens Park Sport Stadium. Hopped on a free bus with the 1500 odd other runners and was dropped seemingly in the middle of nowhere; not quite up to Fort Augustus at the south easterly tip of the loch.
It was a cool, but clear and sunny day which made for perfect running conditions. Just look at the map http://www.lochnessmarathon.com/images/marathon_coursemap.jpg and you can see how beautiful a course it was... a pleasant start descending to the banks of Loch Ness at Foyers and from there, following the loch's south-eastern shore listening to the waves lapping along side. A glance across every so often and you saw sights like Urquart Castle lit up in the sun. Onwards towards Dores on the northern tip of the loch and from there, a rather challenging but steady ascent before heading directly into the centre of Inverness. Some great local support along the River Ness.
People asked me what the most difficult stint of the marathon was... there were two points that I can think of. The first was being overtaken by a man with an ironing board strapped on his back and an iron permanently in his right hand (to my satisfaction I finally caught up the lost ground around mile 22). Then there was the last mile and a half.. a killer and definitely the hardest not as much physically as mentally. Although beautiful alongside the river Ness and the islands, it just seemed to go on and on and on and on and on..... etc. you get the idea. One mile never felt so long!
Ben was at the end with a smile from ear to ear achieving his best imaginable goal of 3 hours 30 mins, which for a first time marathoner is just a scorcher of a time. I was also extremely pleased with my time. A personal best (P.B.) and totally unexpected considering how I'd felt on my last 3 hour run (aka like death) only a couple of weeks prior... So we patted each other and ourselves on the back umpteen times and excitedly recounted all the running stories (you can't imagine how much chat you can make about running 26.6 miles... it can go on for hours. Like listening to someone tell you about their round of golf... YAWN - sorry Dad, but it's true ;). There was a BBQ in the stadium, and I never thought I'd enjoy a cup of soup and hamburger so much!
A nice leisurely stroll, after a shower and change, back into Inverness for a coffee and biccies which we felt we so calorifically deserved. Spent up big and got quietly hammered on a fine bottle of red wine on the train ride home. Ben upgraded us to First Class for our efforts. Well, it was only £1.50 each, so worth it to avoid the riff raff ;) Lots of little head nods and snippets of snoozes between sips of wine.
Feelin' fine. Ben is already planning his next one. I think Paris is highly likely for us both. What out Lisa! I'm coming to crash.
Well my friends, here endeth the long and drawn out account of the marathon. By far the most pleasant a marathon experience as one could possibly hope to have.
