Great drive through Glencoe and we made it to Fort William without going the wrong way
Met up with fellow fetchies in the pub and it was great to see some familiar faces and to meet Santa and RuthB2. Then off to various hotels and met up again for a meal and met lots more new Fetchies.
I didn't sleep well Saturday night and I hadn't done on Friday either, but that was the same at FLM so I didn't worry too much. Made my way to the start, it was still cloudy, so I didn't think of suncream or a hat. Pre race briefing, met even more Fetchies, group photo of all the Fetchies runners and then started.
As soon as the we started the clouds parted and the sun started to beat down.
I started fairly fast, slowed a little, but I was still averaging 8min 45s in the first half roughly.
This went great for a while, got to half way in 1hr 53m, way ahead of schedule, I could do the second half 14m slower ! Here are the first 13m
8min 28sec(1m)
8min 28sec(2m)
8min 36sec(3m)
8min 20sec(4m)
8min 40sec(5m)
8min 38sec(6m)
8min 41sec(7m)
8min 47sec(8m)
8min 42sec(9m)
8min 48sec(10m)
8min 49sec(11m)
8min 45sec(12m)
8min 43sec(13m)
Got to 20m in 2hr 57m which meant I could do 10m/miles and still get under 4 hours,
8min 43sec(13m)
8min 43sec(14m)
8min 51sec(15m)
8min 55sec(16m)
9min 14sec(17m)
9min 24sec(18m)
9min 30sec(19m)
10min 03sec(20m)
but then the wheels came off big time. Bad cramp in both legs, thighs and calves. Stopped to stretch and jogged on but it came on again and I decided that I didn't want to aggravate anything so I walked the last five miles or so, cheering on everyone who passed me.
10min 03sec(20m)
12min 17sec(21m)
14min 11sec(22m)
15min 18sec(23m)
14min 23sec(24m)
15min 05sec(25m)
14min 52sec(26m)
2min 44sec(finish)
4h 26m 8s
Basically, I think I went out too fast, I should have done 9m miles and stuck with that. Even that would have been a step up from the average at London of 9m 17sec. I could not maintain the firest half pace and I was starting to slow by 16m, but I may still have got under 4hr if it hadn't been for the cramps, I will have to think about what caused these - I had had four gels by this point and had drunk water at each station. This could have come from doing the FLM two weeks ago or maybe the heat, it was sunny all the time we were running and I was very red after the race.
Fantastic support from Santa, Loon, Haggis and OM and family on the course - thanks ! Going to mention three Fetchie runners in particular: Great performance by Souxsie, great pacing by Debstir and great courage by SparkyMarc in finishing after injury.
A final Fetchie meal and drinks took place on Sunday evening, but I was the first to leave as I was very tired.
A great weekend
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