As many of you can't access uk.rec.running, I thought I'd bore you with my race report. It might
also [censored] Roger which can only be a good thing. ;-)
Firstly, the Loch Ness marathon is a beautiful beautiful race. If you enjoy marathons, do it. You
won't regret it. It starts in the hills above Loch Ness (see
lochnessmarathon.comcoursemap.gifOpen ↗) and heads steadily downhill for the first 4
miles where it then follows the loch to Inverness.
We were blessed with perfect weather, cool, windless and a bit overcast at the start with blue skys
and sunshine later. The sun wasn't a problem however as the most of the course is well shaded by
trees. The first 4 miles are gently downhill and once by the loch, the course undulates gently.
It's *not* a PB course though as there are some fairly wicked hill later on which rather took the
wind out of everyones' sails but you can forgive the course these as it's mostly just so gorgeous.
The first 10 miles were some of the most joyful running I've ever done.
After that it began to feel a little like work but not markedly so. The real work doesn't begin
until about 17 miles when you hit the first of the hills I mentioned. I possibly set out a little
fast (but being down hill pacing was a bit tricky but going by percieved effort, I felt I paced it
pretty well). I knew the hills would slow me down later so I wasn't too disappointed when it
happened. Less welcome was an ungent call of nature that just *couldn't* be ignored and necessitated
trip into the bushes. Fortunately there were no shortage of these. ;-)
Once we hit the outskirts of Inverness I was in familair territory having run two 1/2 marathons
there previously and when I reached the 23 mile marker, I was mentally running our 5K course to the
finish. Somehow couldn't quite manage to summon up my 5K pace though. ;-)
Finished in 3:25 (not 3:35 as I accidentally mistyped over in URR) (10 minutes better than
Edinburgh, 7 better than Dublin) which I'm happy enough with. On a flatter course I sure I could
have gone under 3:20 but that will have to wait till another day.
The overall organisation was excellent. Runners were bussed to the start from Inverness and hot
food and drinks were available in a big marquee at the end. The Stadium where we finished is
part of a new sports center with an attached swimming pool where many of us had a gentle unwind
after the race.
It may never be a big event (1,100 runners yesterday) but it's still a great event.
Tim
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