Loch Ness Marathon

Martin said: I'm typing this in a bar in Ibiza doing some post-marathon recovery training, please forgive the spelling. I'm not sure why we chose the Loch Ness Marathon for our main Autumn race this year, but I'm really glad we did. Its a race whose organisation and "ambience" feels like a much bigger event, but it is small enough not to be overwhelming. I was really impressed by the race organisation, in fact I was impressed by the city of Inverness, and the highlands of Scotland. I think we'll have to return, maybe not to do this race again, but there must be loads of other things to do beside run a marathon. I've heard that they get snow there.I'll leave out the details of our trip up, and the rest of our stay in Scotland, and hit the high points of the race.
Here's Lin's bit which she will type in while I go to the bar for some mas cerveza.

Lin says: OK it took Martin 20 minutes to type that - whilst he's at the bar I'll bash out a few hundred words. What a great weekend! We had no idea when we entered that Richard and Lesley were also planning to do this event, and also Fred and Sue Fox from Yeovil. Having driven about 700 miles (via Durham) to get to Inverness we found ourselves camping next door to the Foxes - who invited us to "dinner" on Friday evening - no mean feat in a camper van!!. (Thanks to Fred and Sue for a great evening).
Our training may not have been perfect but our pre marathon preparation was spot on - we stayed off our feet, relaxed, carbo loaded and parked the van about 5 minutes from the bus pick up for the trip to the start.
Sunday morning was mild but a little damp around the edges. Martin has just arrived back with more beer, I feel my interest in typing a blog waning, so I may hand back to him for the next bit.

Martin said: We were driven to the start in style, a coach with a portaloo on board! pity it didn't flush, but you can't have everything - at least we were two of the first to discover it. On arrival at a remote location somewhere on the highlands we were deposited on a road with several thousand similarly deranged people from all over Scotland, the UK, and many exotic locales, such as Ethiopia and Somerset.
We managed to negotiate the path to the start and waited almost on the front line for the race to begin which it did, surprisingly given the apparent disorder, and a troop of highland pipers, spot on time. A very fast start made it impossible to keep to a target race pace, but after the initial drop, we settled into around 7 minute mile pace. Lin and I were running together, which was not planned, but she was feeling strong. I was worried that she might suffer for it later, but I didn't want to suggest that she slow down, and despite the numerous undulations, we were still pretty much on my scheduled pace for a sub-3-hours at about 8 miles when we hit the first of the big hills. The hill was not extreme by Dorset standards, but it was enough to slow the pace to a still respectable 7 minutes miles, but I was starting to realise that sub 3 was not going to be.
The rain by now was getting annoying, and I was starting to feel a bit tired, but otherwise it was going pretty well, and I was enjoying it, despite having only seen a very occasional glimpse of the much vaunted scenery of the famous loch between the trees. I think I'll have another beer now.................

Lin said: OK feel the need to condense this down a bit. Ran the first 12 miles with Martin, an unexpected bonus as his target time was 10 seconds per mile faster than mine. Feeling pretty good till 8 miles when the digestion started giving cause for concern. At 12 miles had to dive into the woods for a "Paula" with Martin yelling "don't go too far" to draw maximum attention to my dilemma. Horror!! Not the situation but TWO women got past me whilst I was indisposed not to mention my speedy husband disappearing into the distance. Soon overtook both the women which put me back into 5th place, however one of them subsequently overtook me and stayed 20m or so ahead of me until she was similarly afflicted and made her own foray into the woods!!
I had been worried that we had not done enough long runs but I felt really strong in the last 6 mies and overtook loads of people including two women who had evidently gone off too fast. At 23 miles I could see Martin ahead which really spurred me on and I was frantically trying to work out from the average pace on my GPS (7.04) what my likely finishing time would be. As we reached Inverness and Martin turned onto the bridge over the River Ness he looked back and we waved - I don't think he reaalised until that point that I was so close behind him. Need more beer - back to Himself for the finale.......

Martin concluded:- Yes, it was a shock, but a very pleasurable one to turn on the bridge and see Lin only a couple of hundred yards back, and with no other women between us, by my calculations she was in 3rd place, what a great performance. It helped the last mile to go less painfully, and I finished, amidst great support from the crowds lining the river bank path in 3:05:31 - a very respectable time, given the hills, although not enough to gain an over 50's prize.
At the finish, I stopped (obviously!), and turned to see Lin closing, with - oh no! - another women behind her, sprinting for the line. I gestured urgently for her to get a move on, and fortunately she had plenty left to respond with her own sprint and remain in 3rd position in the ladies race. Wow! I was so proud of her. I was also more than content with my race, which is easily my second fastest marathon time.
I think I could manage another Birra....

Lin said: OK I know "conclude" implies an end to the saga but I'm a woman and I have to have the last word. I had no idea the other woman was behind me but there was NO WAY anyone was overtaking me at that stage. I had plenty left to outsprint her to the finish but I was grateful to Martin for the warning that she was there. The stats: Finished in 3.05.53 - my second fastest marathon ever and 7 minutes faster than anything I have done since I broke my hip - starting to think maybe a sub 3 hour marathon is not such a wild fantasy after all. Third place also meant a cheque for £500 - result! Holiday paid for!!
And this is really the last word (from us) - as we left the finish line - Martin said (loudly) - "if you hadn't had to stop for a poo you would have been second" and the guy walking behind us said "Nice feedback!!" Well that was an expensive (£250!!!) pit stop!!!
Richard and Lesley will be adding their own race reports - watch this space.