Loch Ness Marathon

Marathon day dawned and much like last year it was a drizzly and misty scene across Loch Ness. I was picked up by one of a fleet of buses at the Drumnadrochit Tourist Centre at the back of 8am and we motored down the A82 to the next pick up point at Fort Augustus where I’m sure at least 100 runners were waiting. There was a good jovial atmosphere on the bus as people chatted about the race. We arrived at the mist-shrouded scenic race start high above Loch Ness with half an hour to spare . It was a frantic scene as thousands of runners queued impatiently for the toilet, packed up their bags for transit to Inverness and generally geared up for the start. Bryan Burnett of BBC Radio Scotland fame was there reading out runner’s requests and keeping us motivated as the rain fell harder. And we were off. As it’s such a pleasant downhill start it’s hard to rein yourself in and as I found myself further back in the field as I didn’t notice the timing signs I had to try and gain some ground. I covered the first 10k in around 51-52 minutes, which I figured was a bit too fast but my pace slowed when things started getting more hilly around Foyers and Inverfarigaig. I feared at around mile 9 I’d maybe gone out too fast as suddenly felt quite overwhelmed by the distance I still had to travel. But, I just kept plugging on and things were fine. The rain eventually gave up the ghost and the sun came out not far from Dores – around mile 17. My family were waiting for me there so it gave me a push. And I was even more spurred on to see a “Go Linda Go” banner crafted by my sister’s boyfriend! And my sister shouting “you’re doing really well”. This was the part of the race I was dreading the most: the long slow pull out of Dores and the final thigh burning push. I kept my head down and plugged on regardless and was relieved to get to the top. I suddenly felt quite strong and kept a consistent pace towards Inverness. As we came into the city it was a great site to see so many people lining the route cheering us on – a man and woman with a bell and a horn (!) a personal highlight. Someone shouted out “you’re really strong, keep it up”, and that gave me a wee boost. I was pretty certain I was going to finish under 4 hours so was intent on keeping the pace up despite the pain. As I hit the bridge and rounded back down towards the finish line my legs were killing me but I plugged on and was relieved to cross the finish line. A text later confirmed my time as 3:56:49, Rank 849, Cat F40+ 52. I was delighted as I’d taken almost 17 minutes off last year’s time! Roll on 2012.