Falkirk parkun.
I arrived stupidly early - I haven't been to this one for a while, and left my flat at the sort of time I'd need to leave it I were going to Glasgow! ooops. :-) Anyway, it meant I got chance to catch up with Andrew, Douglas and Laura as I helped with a little of the set-up, before actually (shock horror) going to get a little warm-up ran. I tried switching on the Garmin, but it just kept freezing-up, and no matter how much I tried over 30 minutes or so, it wouldn't switch on, or off! Just stuck on the 'Garmin' screen that comes up before the home screen. So frustrating!!! It's been a long while since I last ran without a Garmin, and I have zero confidence in my running ability without it. Admittedly, I don't have any confidence with it too, but still...
I haven't ran for a couple of weeks, really. I've allowed work stress and general anxieties to get in the way of 'life' somewhat, and while I understand that it's a poor choice I'm making when I do that, it all felt a bit too tough to fight against this week. The good news was the shin pain I had been experiencing a couple of weeks ago has completely subsided - so I plodded alowly along the path and back for a warm up of about 1km in total, I'd guess.
The 5km run itself was... okay. Not great, but not as bad as other runs I've done this year. Ups and downs, both figuratively and literally! The main problem was I had no way of judging my speed - and I realise how crazy that sounds to people who run lots, but it's true. I didn't have a clue. So when I was running, it felt a reasonably comfortable speed, which in retrospect means I was moving too slow for a 5km timed run! I walked on most of the hills, and on the long downhill I tried to keep my running steady and controlled - again, I most probably could have gone faster, but I just can't judge these things well at the time. I walked most of the big hill in the middle (known locally as 'heartbreak hill') and actually found even walking it to be harder than I'd like. I'm definitely a lot less fitter than I was last summer, need to sort that!! About 5 minutes before the end of the 5km, my Garmin watch sprang into life, sarky wee bastard. I crossed the finish line in a time I later found out was 41:02 - oh, brilliant. *rolls eyes* I'm not getting quicker yet this year, having only managed one or two 5km runs under 40 minutes, when I used to regularly average 36 mins when I started running about 2 years ago - but I know that this week's result was a combination of (a) not pushing myself to run faster, (b) not being able to judge/trust my own running pace, and (c) lack of training over the last 3-ish weeks (or, arguably, the last 6 months...). So I can't be unhappy, I just have to take it as a lesson, and move on. I didn't have a horrible time when I was running, perhaps because I'm trying (so hard) to stop the negative self-talk, but mostly because I wasn't pushing myself at all... so I need to think what that means for moving forward. I need to find that place, that... nirvana? where I'm running without the negativity, but also pushing myself to improve - be it in running further without walk breaks, or running faster, etc.
Glasgow To Edinburgh ultra.
After a coffee (and shhhhh, cake) with the girls in a fabulous little artisan coffee shop tucked away in a side-alley in Falkirk, I headed along the road to the Falkirk Wheel, where one of the checkpoints was for the G2E. This is 22 miles into the 55 mile race - and I got there about 20 minutes after the race leaders had gone through, which surprised me but was quite exciting in terms of what the race might hold in store. I caught up with Noanie, who I've not seen in aaaages, and was volunteering here today. We had a chat in between runners coming through, and I was cheering on runners as they arrived and gratefully refilled water bottles, and grabbed something to eat. James came through with a smile and a wave, looking strong, and I gave him a quick hug as he left the checkpoint. (Gotta love those sweaty runner hugs! Well, in this case, it was more rained-on runner hugs, but still...) - John also arrived, not racing today but on a wee training run along the canal, and doing some supporting. Johnny Fling, and Antonia, came along soon after - quick supportive wee chat with Antonia (including pointing her in the vague direction for leaving the checkpoint and getting onto the Union Canal path, which I really hope were helpful because I was just guessing based on what others had said previously, lol!) and she was away, chasing Johnny's heels.Shortly after, Noanie was momentarily confused by a DNF who had (it turns out) informed one of the other marshals that he was dropping out, and Noanie hadn't realised, so when he walked off back the way he'd come, with his pals, I was told to run after them to check their numbers. Me? Run?! FFS. So I trotted off after them, shouted them and checked the number, and then was about to head back when I was POUNCED ON by a cheerful Helen who I've not seen in months. :-) I love it when Helen's happy-bouncy! Like John, she wasn't racing either today but was just running a few training miles along the towpath - it'd originally been a plan, I think, but she's had some injury niggles, illnesses and suchlike this year, so it's good to see her running along with a big grin on her face. She'd been snapping photos of runners along the way (I hardly took any photos myself, really not very organised!) and generally having a sociable time of it. :-) Hopefully she can do the race herself another year.
I stayed around the checkpoint for another hour or so I think, waiting on Greg (one of the UltraDafties) to come through. When he arrived, he was somewhat worse for wear, and dropped out. More hugs. Shortly after that, I decided to move on to a different part of the route. After buying what was possibly the worst-tasting cup of tea I've ever had, from an icecream stand nearby (I should have gone into the visitor centre perhaps) I drove up the road. I decided that having missed Marco at Falkirk, I'd quite like to see him at some other point, but worked out that by the time I got to Edinburgh, he wouldn't be too far from the finish. Once I reached the city ring road, I pulled off onto a side road almost immediately, and parked right next to a stretch of the canal that google maps told me was 4.5 miles away from the finish line. Perfect!!
I went for a little wander along the path for a bit, then back to the car, and I was just deciding whether to try drinking any more of that revolting tea (I was getting hungry) or risk a quick trip to a shop, when I spotted a tall runner come round the bend. I dashed back down to the towpath, in plenty of time to cheer Marco on and snap a quick picture to upload to people looking for news on facebook. He was running well, it seemed to me, and grinning, which is all you can ask. I checked my watch, and did some quick calculations - he was also on for a course record, I thought!! Even better, not only was he in the lead, but the second place runner didn't come past me for another 50-ish minutes! Go Marco! :-)
The next hour or so was largely spent sitting in my car listening to the radio, and jumping out whenever I saw someone approaching. I cheered every runner on for a couple of hours, mostly getting a nod of thanks, or a quick "how far now?" - I'd lost count when James arrived, but I think he was about 11th at that point (I may have been slightly out, I realise in retrospect) so going really well, but he was struggling, and was walking for a short spell when he reached me. We chatted briefly as I walked alongside him for a little bit, I was happy to see him doing well, and I was proper wittering away - to give the man his dues (considering he'd ran over 50 miles at that point) he was keeping up his side of the banter rather impressively. We had both done some calculations by then, and knew his sub-8 hour target was no longer a possibility, but he was only 4 miles away and I thought finishing sub-8:30 was perfectly reasonable (read: bloody impressive) for a 55 mile race! A minute or so later, he decided it was time to start running again, so I gave him a quick hug, took his rubbish, and watched him go.
I headed back towards my car, and had just got into it when I spotted Antonia coming round the corner - so I quickly dashed back down to the path and gave her a few encouraging "wooooo!" type yells. "I'm in EDINBURGH!" she shouted excitedly. "Yep, about 4½ miles to go!" - she looked thrilled and shot off. Yes, seriously, shot off. If you'd seen her running at that point, and been asked how far you thought she'd ran, I seriously doubt anyone would have guessed 50+ miles. Madness. :-)
I knew Johnny Fling had been running close to Antonia at Falkirk, but I also realised that Antonia had really moved up the field since then, so I hung around for a bit longer, cheering on the runners. After an hour, I decided to call it a day there - I was starving, thirsty, and desperate for a pee, lol! Plus I wanted to see how James had done, and find out the news about Marco's win. So I jumped in the car and headed to the finish line. Found out Marco had won by almost a full hour, and beaten the course record by about 3 minutes. Fantastic running!! James was pleased to have finished around 8:15-ish I think (I'm not sure the official finish times yet) and told me he'd really picked up after he saw me, and ran the whole way in. So pleased for him to have a good finish, and recover after a bad spell. I walked down to the road with him when he was heading off to the train station, with his well-deserved Topic chocolate bar clutched in his hands. I had previously explained to him that Davie had told me that if he didn't make the top 10 (I think he was 13th, which is pretty damn awesome) I was to withhold his bag of Wotsits at the end - he had explained, in return, that perhaps I might not be aware of the fact that withholding a man's Wotsits is one of the very few hanging offences left in the UK. *nods* So, I made a sensible choice to leave his Wotsits alone.
After he left, I went to speak to some of the gang by the finish line, catching up with people I've not seen since, probably, Glenmore24, or before. Then I was away home early, sadly probably about 20-30 minutes before Johnny finished, as by this point I'd not eaten anything except a small piece of cake in the 12 hours since breakfast, and also my bladder was screaming at me, I was tired, and my head was pounding. Home, happy, after a pretty decent day with lovely runners. :-) So, when's the next one??? Oh, yeah.... Bring on the Fling!
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