Clyde Stride 2013

I'm a wee bit late with this write-up, but let me tell you - in great detail because it was just that fab - about my day at Clyde Stride 2013!

The Clyde Stride is a footrace along the river Clyde, from Partick Station in Glasgow through to New Lanark heritage centre, about 40 miles away. Julie asked me if I would support her in her first attempt at running an ultra marathon, quite some time ago. While I'm sure it would normally be Davie's turn to support crew for her, after all her (hard) work supporting him hehe, he was also eyeing up a big PB at the same race, so they asked if I'd be there to help Julie out. I leapt at the chance, and in the run-up we did a recce drive so I could suss out where the checkpoints were and how to drive to the next one, etc. I was generally confident about finding them all, and only thrown very slightly a few days before race day by Race Director Lee's instructions that supporters were not to meet any runners at checkpoint 3, due to difficulty with parking and the fact that relay team members had to get in. I discussed it with Julie, and we agreed I'd meet her at Crossford instead, shortly after the third checkpoint.

The night before race day, I was up in Perthshire at a hen night, for my friend Ianthe. When she marries, she will be slightly related to the rather good ultra runner Andy Johns, a fact to which I'd been dead impressed previously. She confided in me that she'd explained to his brother than I was a (quote) huge fan - *facepalm* ....I managed to survive the Fling ultra-groupie "i read your blog!" day with my dignity intact, but now I was back to ultra-groupie again, haha...

I drove home late, and got about 4 or 5 hours sleep before waking excitedly and finishing my organisation for the day. On the motorway nice and early, I arrived at Partick train station for about 8am, when it was still quite empty. It started to fill up quickly, and I flittered around chatting to friends and familiar faces. Then across the station I spotted Julie. Yeah, that girl with her knickers on the outside, and several thousand bags containing anything and everything she could possibly need during the race, that would be my runner...

She really did have her knickers on the outside. She was channelling Wonder Woman for the day, and feck me if she wasn't doing it in some style!! I wandered over, as she was excitedly chatting to anyone and everyone. After a bit of a hello, I asked her to talk me through the bags, and she said yes, then got distracted by, oh, who knows, maybe some Davie Ross hugs (they are awesome), or showing off her pants to Noanie or Helen (they are awesome), or saying hello to more of the ultra 'virgins' like George, Ian, David Meldrum, John Yip, the Gannet (they are awesome....), or chatting to Tamara and Derek who'd come down to say hello and wish her well (also awesome....) - I don't know, she was a bit excitable. I tried to grab her to show me what she had in the bags, and what she needed when, but failed again, so I looked for Davie instead. Yeah.... Right.... Cos "Mr Clyde Stride" would be easier to pin down...... *rolls eyes* I caught him by registration, when I was chatting to Pete who was helping out before a dash to the airport for his hols, but then lost him again. I caught up with Julie Clarke for a wee bit, who was volunteering today (...maybe she'll run it one day? lets come back to this later.....), talked briefly with Johnny Fling, and a nervous looking Craig Reid who had only decided at the last minute to run this race, after a very mixed season since his son was born - longer distance training had been shelved a bit, and he'd been focussing on the shorter races since Perth back in March. I chatted with some of the relay runners I'm friendly with; Helen, Ally, Jon, Gerry, Angela, and so on... Andy Johns introduced himself to me, and we had a chat (while I desperately hoped Ianthe's words hadn't reached him in a Chinese whispers style as "this girl is a stalker" or something) - he was in knee-length denim and I queried why he wasn't in his running gear. "Oh, I'll wait til the last minute, then dash into a phone box to change clothes..." I laughed - and pointed out Julie across the car park: "MY superhero is already dressed in her crimefighting gear."

Finally, we got to the bags. Julie showed me what was in each, and ran down what she wanted at each checkpoint. Now, when I crewed for John at the West Highland Way race, he provided us with a typed out 8 page document for what he wanted at each checkpoint and other such useful info. Julie handed me a torn out scrap of paper from a notebook, on which she'd written about 8 or 9 words. And 3 of them were "checkpoint". Umm... bring it on!

Pay feckin' attention!!
Julie in her Wonder
Woman Pants. <3 p="">

It was red hot that day, and had been red hot for weeks. Scotland doesn't manage such heat well, so it was going to be a pretty epic challenge for the runners. Running the best part of 40 miles is one thing, but in sweltering heat? You can't fail to be impressed, as they all headed round the corner for the race briefing. Lee talked them through, explained also that Davie had marked the course very well with arrows painted on the floor, and as she reached the end of her talk, I tried to take a picture of Davie and Julie together. I say "tried" because, as with the whole of the hour previously, getting them to pay attention to anything for more than 2 seconds was impossible.... I told them to pose for a photo then snapped this picture which basically shows exactly what I mean.  Lee finished with "any questions?" - Davie shouted out "Whit way's New Lanark?!" - to a ripple of laughter around the group, and then they were off, being led to the start line.

I plonked myself up a hill about 50m from the start, and grabbed my camera. I'd only taken a few shots, but as I took a couple of pictures of the runners as they started the race, my battery warning light flashed. WTF?! I'd charged it, hadn't I? ......hadn't I? Oh, FFS. No, I hadn't. I'd charged my phone and my sat nav, but the camera? No. Idiot. But, not to be beaten, I remembered that in one of the several thousand bags I was carrying for the Moonertys, I had Davie's camera. Awesome, that'll dae..... Of course, he gets the credit for all the great photos, but I can live with that. *sniff*

Once they'd gone, I talked briefly with John H. who would be meeting Julie at CP3, and said bye to Tamara and Derek, got in the car and updated Facebook (a KEY support crew task, that) then headed straight to checkpoint 1, at Cambuslang. I used about 5 minutes in the car park to sort out the bags and what I'd need to take up to the checkpoint with me, then headed into Morrisons for a bacon roll and cuppa with Helen and John. Sufficiently recaffeinated, I headed up to the checkpoint. Now, spot the crew for a first time ultra runner, huh?! I was laden down with numerous bags, as I found a spot next to a guy with one small bag. It turned out he was crewing Izzy Knox, and in some highly efficient well practised manner, when she came through he had her fed, hydrated, electrolyted, and had completely rubbed her down with suncream, within minutes. I doubted I would be quite as efficient...!

Standing at this checkpoint, it was good to chat to other familiar faces, like Grant who was marshalling, and meeting Sharon for the first time. Jon and Ally had ran the first leg of the relay, and were looking mightily relieved to be done, and Angela was excitedly looking forward to running her leg, the second one into Strathclyde Park. Davie passed through the checkpoint early, looking strong, and didn't stay long by the dropbags. George, David Meldrum, Ian, and Al, all came through, all looking hot but otherwise good. I snapped a few photos, Antonia and Scott came through for their first ultra as a married couple, running with Johnny Fling (there's company, for your honeymoon run, huh?! Lol) - am I sounding like this day was just one big social get-together?? You know, for me, that's pretty much how it was feeling... But then, I wasn't the one running 40 miles in temps in the high 20s. Thank god!

Julie arrived in good time, and in high spirits. She was having a lot of fun, and I was thrilled by how happy she was. I kind of failed a wee bit in my support duties here, as my main task had been to get a bottle of electrolyte water ready, but the bottle I'd brought from the car was one of the ones she'd pre-frozen, and it only dribbled out a wee bit of melted water into the bottle! Ooops!! I quickly refilled her water from the checkpoint table instead, and made a mental note to sort out the water better for her next checkpoints. I had her backpack ready, but she decided she wanted to stick with the waistbag, so we tried to figure some food storage as best as we could, and with that, and a flash of the Wonder Woman pants, she was away - oh, no, nearly away - she went for a big hug with the Munros, "take a picture!!" - I grabbed the camera as John protested "never mind the bloody photos, you're running a race!" but he smiled for the camera regardless, and then she was on her way....

I packed up my bags, and headed back to the car. Now that I knew she didn't need her backpack, I would be a LOT less laden down at the next checkpoint. Before then, though, I'd decided to head to Blantyre and cheer folk on there, in a clearing before they reach the leisure centre. The Munros joined me, and I passed a very pleasant hour or so sat in the grass with Helen cheering on everyone who passed, and snapping photos of friends. Brendan came by, he'd been cycling part of the route cheering folk on, but he was having problems with a wheel, so was close to calling it a day - we chatted for a while, as more runners passed. Everyone was in good spirits, enjoying their run, and I have to say, it was such a lovely part of the day for me. It's about 16 miles in, so still before the suffering kicks in for the racers, I think. They might disagree, lol.

Then, after Julie passed (still grinning like a Cheshire Cat) we returned to the cars and headed to Checkpoint 2. Here, I sorted out the electrolyte water before I left the car, and getting the 2l frozen bottle of water from the cool bag, I poured a little of the other water in, and sloshed it about the ice, before putting it back in the cool bag. I was carrying a lot less with me up to the checkpoint, now, a wee bit clearer on what she'd need. At the checkpoint, I met Margaret for the first time, and was also happy to see Heather for the first time in ages. George's wife and daughter were also here, so it was quite good craic as we waited. We'd missed Davie going through, but Julie's sister and her kids arrived soon after, to cheer her on.

It was fun cheering on the runners, as they came through the checkpoint, or for the relay guys, finished their leg. Angela strongly finished her relay leg at a full sprint, as Gannet bounced through his second checkpoint happily in typical Gannet style at the same time. I spotted Ian looking a bit hot and bothered, with Ken who was supporting him, going for a change of top. This was past midday now, and moving into the hottest point of the day. It was more important than ever to get as much water inside you as possible.

Julie arrived, still proper enjoying herself. Her only "Diva demand" for the race was that at checkpoints she wanted to drink her Coke from a proper cup, rather than out the bottle, and so I'd found a plastic picnic set of wine glasses in the shop the day before, and picked out a fab big green one for my Ultra Diva to drink from. It was pretty hilarious seeing her drinking coke from a wine glass, as her wee niece gave her a hug, and her young nephew looked on, utterly bemused. I'm impressed neither of them asked why Aunty Julie had her knickers on outside her clothes, but then maybe that speaks to what she wears the rest of the time......

Here Julie wasn't sure what she wanted to eat, so I looked in her drop bag. "Do you want....." Oh. She'd carefully wrapped everything in foil. In identical looking foil parcels. Ummm.... "Do you want... Err.... Do you want... Oh, it's a mars bar! Do you want a mars bar?" Lol!!! She had a few bites of things, and tucked a ham sandwich into her waist pack, then after drinking a full bottle of electrolyte water, I refilled her water bottle with the ice cold water, and she was gone. :-) She was meeting Suzanne shortly afterwards, and was looking forward to running with her. I'd missed Helen leaving here, and as she would be heading to Maudslie Bridge to start her leg of the relay, I dropped her a good luck text message on the way back to the car. At the car, I drank some water, and scavenged a wee bit of food from Julie's leftovers, lol (so classy) - and as other runners came past me here I noticed the guys were starting to rock the look known colloquially in Glasgow as "taps aff" (i.e. topless) so I offered one particular pale guy my bottle of factor 30 suncream, lol. I'd previously given some to David Meldrum too, as he seemed to be a wee bit undecided on whether to wear his top or not, at this point. :-)

There's not really many points between checkpoint 2 and 3 to meet runners, and as I couldn't go to CP3, I headed straight to Crossford, which is approximately 33 miles in. As such, I was here really early, and I was pleased to note I would be able to see Davie come through. I checked my watch, and subtracted the time from a 6 hour finish, which would be an awesome result for him but one I was fairly confident on (or at least, would have been had the weather been kinder) - and then settled in to wait. A family turned up here with loads of bottles of water, and a huge pack of plastic cups, and started to lay out cupfuls of water just past the kissing gate. The young girls offered water to everyone who came past, which was ridiculously well received by everyone - what an awesome job the girls did!!

Susan and Courtney turned up again, waiting on George coming through, and Margaret and her hubby and dog also arrived. John arrived a wee bit later, after Davie had been through the gate and away - I was quite excited to note he had left himself about 68 minutes to run approximately 10km (a very hot and hilly 10k, at the end of a 40 mile race) to hit the 6 hour mark, and although I had said this to him, I don't think it sunk in. He ran off, stopping briefly to collect a bottle of water he'd previously stashed behind a post on the corner, which lead to the other people standing around with me shouting out "FOLLOW THE ARROWS!" to him, which made me laugh a lot. "He's the guy that put the arrows down!" I giggled.

There followed a very long wait, so I used the time to walk down to the visitor centre bit at Valley International, for a quick loo break lol! I thought about stopping for some food or something, but I decided I would nick a bag of Julie's crisps instead and make do with that. ;-) I headed back up, and cheered through everyone coming through the gate. Scott arrived on his own, and I asked what had happened to his wife - "she's opening gates for some other guy...." he replied, ahhhhh married life, lol! Sure enough, Antonia arrived soon after, with Michael. She was looking relaxed and cheerful, not racing today and just running for the fun of it - this is 33 miles into the race, in red hot temperatures, and pretty much everyone else I'd seen had been a red sweaty mess, but not the lovely Antonia, lol. What happened to Johnny Fling, I wondered, as they'd been running together for the whole of the first half. He turned up about 15 minutes later, telling me he'd stopped for a swim. I laughed politely. No, really. He'd stopped for a swim. In the Clyde. During the race. .....ohhhhh-kay.

Princess Diva in her
knickers on the outside,
drinking Coke in style

Helen ran through looking really strong in her leg of the relay, she was on the "glory leg", which is also the toughest section, but powering along well. Soon enough, Julie arrived, running with her friend John who had met her at Maudslie Bridge with Katy too. Where's Katy, I asked, as I led them over to the car which I'd parked in the shade. She's helping Alan.... He was suffering now, exhausted - after an unfortunate few months of injury in the run-up to the race his training had been less than ideal. Katy was determined he was finishing, though, and they were now running as a group of 5 - the 3 ultra first timers, Julie, John Yip, and Al, and two supporters John H and Katy. They refuelled at the car, as George also arrived and grabbed a drink with his family - wondering what the hell was going on as it looked for all the world to him like Julie was drinking a nice merlot..... (Coke in a wine glass, lmao.)

They left, and I wondered whether I had time to wait for Ian to come through, I was a wee bit worried as he'd fallen back a bit now - however, as I had no idea how far away he was, or indeed if he was still running, I decided I'd better move on, so I headed to New Lanark. I parked and got down the hill to find out Davie had finished in an impressive 6:01 - taking 52 minutes off his time from last year. An incredible PB, and even more so given the conditions!! So pleased for him, and he was looking pretty damn pleased for himself too! We talked about the fact that Craig had sadly retired early, the race just wasn't in his legs today, and I think it was probably the right decision for him, though sad he had to drop out. I also filled Davie in on how the others were doing, and then caught up with other folk around the finish area, Billy was taking pictures of finishers, proudly displaying his Sunday Social tshirt, lol. The vibe of the day, it really DID feel like a Sunday Social... just with less tea & cake. (But still with a Davie Ross bearhug, hurrah!!)  I spoke to Andy and found out he had also been for a quick swim during the run (?!!) - but regardless, he'd still managed a PB. By about 20 seconds, he reckoned... But hey, a PB is a PB, not everyone can be as good as David Mooney, right? *grin*

Then people started finishing.... And seriously finishing with style. Helen did an amazing sprint finish to her relay leg, right into the arms of Lee who gives everyone a hug when they cross the finish line. John Yip cartwheeled over the line. Gannet peeked around the archway, then managed to run the wrong way in the finish straight, as only he can. Everyone else finished looking thrilled, proud, relieved, and pretty damn awesome. Soooo proud of all the first timers, and really chuffed for all the others who faced up to a tough day in the sun.


WonderPants and RD Lee
at the finish line


Julie finished in about 8 and a half hours, with the biggest smile I'd seen all day - and that says a lot, as she'd not stopped grinning the entire day. So, so proud of her, and how brilliantly she did. She finished with a Wonder Woman spin, cementing her superhero status with us all. She was in great nick, but her feet were hot and a little sore so I grabbed a towel from her bag and poured half a bottle of ice water over her feet. Blissful pain, I think she described it along the lines of. 'Owww, that's amazing.' Lol!!!

Ian finished just before the 9 hour mark, having suffered a lot in the heat - so, so proud of him, though; this was his first ultra, and he suffers from a dodgy knee which affected some of his training, but he was determined he was going to do an ultra before he turned 50, which is about 3 weeks after the race. Lee had even allocated race bib number 50 to him, which was touching, and we presented him with a couple of gifts after he finished. The auld man was speechless, which is a pleasant first...

We all kicked around the finish area for quite a while, chatting, sharing memories of the day, and just generally enjoying each others company. It had been a fantastic day, and my drive home was done with a HUGE smile on my face. (It also involved a screech-stop outside a chip shop on the way home, for a bottle of coke and a wee bag of chips. I'd not eaten very much, had hardly ANY caffeine, and I had a pounding headache....) - What a seriously awesome day. I learned more about supporting ultras, and I learned more about how incredibly awesome my friends are. I didn't even know almost ALL of these people 6 months ago, and consider this year to have been such a huge privilege for me.

So, what about next year? Well, a few weeks before, Craig Reid offered to run the relay with me in the 2014 race. Oh. My. God. You don't turn down an offer like that..... And in the post-race banter sitting in the sunshine, I remarked to Julie Clarke "you'll run it eventually" - she laughed. "How about you join my relay team next year. I'm running with Craig." She spluttered "Craig Reid?!!!?" - lol, no pressure! And she thought about it. And said yes. :-) Two of the people who most protested about never running an ultra, will be running in an ultra next year. Who'd have thunk?!

So, Clyde Stride, thanks for an incredible day - see you next year...?! x

The Ultra Dafties at New Lanark. Photo courtesy of Billy Quigley.