Lochaber Marathon

I'm pleased to say it's all over! The Lochaber Marathon 2009 took place on a beautifully sunny and warm day in Fort William, so conditions weren't exactly what any of the runners expected!

Meg finished in 4hrs 16mins and I was a way behind in a few seconds under 4hrs 30mins (on my watch at least!). The full results are on the Lochaber Athletics Club website.

My own race started well and I was running between 8.00 and 8.30 miles for the first 16 miles, on target to beat my time from Edinburgh in 2007. But beyond 16 miles, I think the heat and dehydration got to me and - to coin a phrase - I hit the wall.

From about 19 miles, I walked most of the way. Meg caught and passed me around 23 miles and I only ran most of the last mile thanks to the guy who finished just ahead of me. He encouraged me to get moving again and we had a chat over the last mile, which ended in a sprint finish which I have no idea how I managed!

Thankfully, Meg has promised never to make me do a marathon again - so it's back to halfs, 10ks and cycling for me!

On your marks...

There are just a few days to go now before the Lochaber Marathon and we're just about ready to go - despite going to a wedding in Ireland earlier this week!

We've run up to 20 miles, a long run which we did a couple of Sundays ago (three weeks before race day). That was a fairly flat route taking in the lovely shore road between North Kessock and Redcastle, and back. We did an out-and-back route to try to prepare psychologically as well as physically for marathon day, when the route turns back on itself after 13.1 miles.

This week has just involved a few half-hour or less 'jogs' to keep the legs ticking over, and I guess it'll be pasta for dinner!