Well, it was a long time coming, and it took a long time to recover but on the 29th September 2013 I ran my first ever marathon!

In the weeks leading up to the main event I tried out different hydration with electrolytes and carbohydrates and opted for SIS Electrolyte, High 5 gels with carbs and caffeine,  different running clothes and even changed to the dark side and became a user of the ‘fanny pack’ aka marathon belt! lol

I got my own charity vest printed and it arrived with only a day to spare!  My running water bottle was ready, my pre-race clothes had been selected for warmth and comfort and I knew my old faithful trainers would be the best thing to keep away the blisters!   Considering the 110 mile pedal for Scotland cycle only a couple of weeks before it, I chose to have a sports massage by a local physio and despite the pain I felt it was worth every penny!

So Claire and I headed up to Inverness on the Saturday before the race on the Sunday to calm the nerves, to register and to participate in the ‘Baxters Pasta party’ which at £10 a head sounded fair and would avoid the city centre restaurant congestion with all my fellow marathon runners.   The drive up from Glasgow to Inverness via Perth was beautiful with stunning scenery all the way up the A9.  I was on a real high but also pretty nervous so it was with great relief that we arrived at the event village to register in once piece!  We headed through the tent full of things to spend your money on and I picked up a hooded top, thinking, it might be my first and last marathon so I might as well get a decent memento!

Once we’d filled up on pasta and listened to Bryan Burnett hosting guest athletes and giving us lots of information about marathons, we headed out for a few photos

Then we left the village and went for a wander through the Islands (the romance of the location from my last visit was still with me) to let the pasta settle then we headed to Claire’s flat mates parents house over in Culloden where we had a wee cuppa and some of Claire’s banana loaf!  I was still nervous so I took the offer of a wee glass of wine whilst watching Strictly come dancing!   I filled my water bottles and got into bed for about 10.30 p.m. then woke up a number of times thinking I’d missed the bus!

The alarm went off at 6 and I crept about getting my Golden Syrup porridge with banana accompanied by a can of red bull and exited the house.  On arrival I was already aware I’d drank a lot of fluid so queued for the loo before selecting a modern bus and getting on… we sat for quite a while and I was on the verge of getting back off the bus for the loo before it headed off along the A82 towards Drumnadrochit.  Yes that’s a real place name!

Well, as you can imagine, on a bus without a loo and all the liquid I’d consumed, by the time we were passing Fort Augustus I was pretty desperate!  Thank goodness my brother phoned to distract me for a while as the bus turned off the main road and headed up the B862 and crawled up the big hill towards the start line.  By the time he was off the phone I was dancing in my seat but at last I could see the portaloos in the distance… HOWEVER, just as I was thinking the end was in sight, a Steward stood out in front of the bus and directed us off the road and round into a small circular hard standing!  As I lept off the bus I decided it was about a mile to far for me to make it so, like some of my fellow passengers, I had to nip behind a parked van! PHEW!  What a relief to know that I’d not be starting the race with wet shorts!

It was only 8.30 a.m. when we were dropped off so we had 1.5 hrs to spare before the start.  Thankfully, God was with us and the weather was amazing – clear, high pressure, dry and lots of blue skies!  It was a bit nippy though!  So I queued for a coffee then queued for the loo, then drank some juice then queued for the loo, then took off my outer gear and popped it in my bag along with my baggage label and with just minutes to spare, had another loo stop!

I joined the crowds hoping to finish around the 4hr 30 mark just next to the team of army guys running with full packs for the Erskine charity who support veterans.  I could hear the race start announced over my iPod tunes but it took us a few minutes to walk the mile down the road to the start line and I just remembered to start my Strava App to capture my stats!

The first two miles were really nice… I went at a steady pace, I didn’t feel too cold and I was delighted there wasn’t much jostling for position on the road.  The only thing was my marathon belt was bumping about a bit (woops,  yes this was the first time I’d used it but I’d always done laps for my big runs and stopped off at the car to avoid having to carry supplies.  There was method to my madness – at the 110 mile cycle they were completely out of gels by the time we got to some of the feed stations, which was a bit crap plus the gels they were giving away for free at Baxters were really thick and gloopy so I’d wanted to take my own High 5 plus gels with caffeine as I knew they were easy to digest and didn’t choke me while I was running and swallowing).  I tightened up the belt and jogged on down hill.  At the 5 mile mark, I felt my hill training really paying off as there was a significant steep hill to climb and despite the gradient, I was able to kick in, keep a strong wide stance and actually pass people (probably people from Denmark or somewhere else flat!).

2013 Loch Ness Marathon Map

I knew that had taken a bit of energy out of me so I took the second of my gels and made a mental note to take one every 3 miles if I could…  The water stations came and volunteers passed out bottles without the lids so that saved a lot of faffing about which was great.

The course was undulating and though some people were passing me on the down hills, I was strong in passing them on the uphills!  The same faces kept jogging past then me passing them!  At one point there was a girl with a bright pink top to keep my focus, then a man with knee supports, then a couple of older ladies who really really made me dig in… they must have been in their 50s!  Hope I’m that fit when I get to that age!

Well, I was pretty pleased with my efforts and I remember thinking how quickly we’d got to the half way point and how I still felt strong and steady.

2013 Loch Ness Marathon Profile

As the course carried on with its ups and downs, I could feel the effects of the up hills catching up with me by the time I got to the 16 mile mark.  I had a wee silent prayer, ‘Dear God please help with this bit! ‘ and then, I caught up with a man with ‘Jonny’ “WE ARE MACMILLAN CANCER” green vest on and then he seemed to recover a bit and kept pace with me…  he was tall with floppy brown hair and in fact looked like a tanned Jesus!  Ah just the ticket!  Strangely enough, I jogged with him for about 2 – 3 miles until I had cramp in my left calf and had to have a few limping hops!   I made sure I took on electrolyte drinks at the next available station to combat the cramping.

Oh it was getting painful now…  as I approached the 18 mile hill I caught up with a girl I’d met in the loo queue and had a bit of a chat and we both agreed we were a bit spent so we had a very fast walk up a bit of the hill before I decided to jog on again then had to walk with another attack of cramp – I stretched it out and watched a gap open up between us as she jogged on ahead.

As the hill tapered off at the top, there were a number of people I’d seen before running a bit faster than me and I realised my stride had shortened significantly and I was getting shooting pains down the outsides of my knees… but I knew that going slow would just prolong the agony so I dug in and kept going and for a little while it was a relief to be going down hill a bit.  At 22 miles I was overwhelmed with delight to see two familiar figures – the people we were staying with in Culloden had come to support me… I shouted to David to get their attention!

“Only 4 miles to go Lorna, go on you can do it!”  Well you will see by my split times those 4 miles were a struggle (not as much as mile 20 which was the killer)… it was amazing, from running in the middle of no-where, I was suddenly amongst houses and realised with delight that I’d made it in to Inverness.  The road turned left down through an estate and then along past some massive houses which sit next to the river.  The crowds were cheering me on with my name on my top and it really lifted my spirits.  My legs were now very very sore – the calfs were so tight I was finding it hard to run and the tendons had moments of shooting pain.  However, with thoughts of the end I carried on, down to the river side, along past the cafes, restaurants and hotels then up to the bridge and back down the other side.

I was elated to see Claire sitting on a bench cheering me on – “you are doing brilliantly you’ve got a really fast time… its just round the corner!”    AYE RIGHT! – I’ve done this to her before during the West Highland Way and the Great Glen Way – “yes yes I’m sure we’re nearly there, just round this corner” and made her walk another few miles!

Well she was telling the truth – it was only a matter of a few hundred yards…  I encouraged the guy running beside me to put in a sprint finish, and as we approached the finish the crowd were shouting my name to which I responded with a few leaps and a cheer before crossing the line and stopping the app completely astonished that I’d done it in 4hrs 34 minutes!