Run The Blades 50k - 23 July 2016

Plan A, finish under 5 hours
Plan B, finish under 6 hours
Plan C, finish

Set within Whitelee Wind Farm, Run The Blades is a 50k (31 mile) event. Some would call it undulating, I would say it has some killer hills in there!

Set off at 6:30am, expecting to get there for registration by 8am, and I duly arrived spot on time. At the car park met up with Steven, Fiona and Simon. Steven was doing the 50k as well, Fiona and Simon doing the half marathon. There is also a 10k event for those of you interested in next year?

There was supposed to be a shuttle bus to take us from car park to the visitor centre for registration, I never saw it yet! So we had about a half mile walk to the visitor centre, all the time feeding the midges who were out for some breakfast. Once registered I was getting a wee bit stressed that we would miss the race briefing and start, we were due to start at 9am, it was now 8:50 and we had a 10 minute walk to the start. All of the races were starting from the same point, with 10 minute breaks in between. When we got to the start I was relieved to hear that the start had been delayed by 15 minutes. Chill out John!

Fiona's pal Susan arrived and there was time for a pre race photo before the off.

Simon, Steven, Fiona, Susan and Me

A very quick race briefing, an even quicker 3,2,1 and we were away.
My aim was to run 6.2 miles an hour (roughly 9 minute 35 second miles) and maintain this throughout. That worked...for the first hour! The second hour got off to a crap start...literally. Stomach cramps had me down to a shuffle, anyway moving on. The wind turbines felt and sounded like they were right above your head, and going around at some speed.

The elite runners will run all the way, most ultramarathon runners will walk the ups and run the flats and the downs, and that was my strategy. Plan A was gone my mile 9 and the focus was then on Plan B, under 6 hours. Although the event was set in a windfarm, it was bloody warm.

Wind turbines

Another strategy I use in ultras is to pick someone out ahead of me (around a half mile) and aim to cut down the distance between me and them over the course of the race. If the person in front stops to walk up a hill, I make sure I run a wee bit further than they did before I walk, and I also make sure I start running again before they do on the flat/downhill.  I also found myself talking to the snow poles either side of the tracks, I would use these as a start/stop run point, saying 'alright guys' but quickly turning to 'f**k you guys'
At least I knew I was doing it this time!

Just after mile 16 was a real downer for me, my whole body ached, I was hot, uncomfortable and not really enjoying myself. Then, on a bit of an incline, there was a wee shower of rain, which cooled me down a wee bit. I stopped (to check the colour of my pee) and took a wee breather. Pee check was spot on (straw colour) and this put me in a good place. I was using Tailwind nutrition mix for the first time in an event and it worked perfectly. Basically, the claim is that it's 'all you need' for running all day, providing carbs, salts and electrolytes. I'm not confident enough to go without whole food for 5-6 hours, so I had banana, jaffa cakes and pork pies (and as always, flat fat coke) at checkpoints. I ate the jaffa cakes and pork pies, but only because I'm greedy! The tailwind did it's job.

Between checkpoints 2 and 3 seemed to take forever, the distance was around 8 miles, but felt like 12, from checkpoint 3 there are 6 miles to go to the finish, a lovely downhill to start and then back to up/down, up/down...aaarrrgghhhhhh!

Somewhere along this six mile stretch I realised if I ran 10 minute miles I'd get in under 6 hours...wisnae happening (finished in 6 hours 6 minutes), but you learn a lot from these times. At mile 16 I could've chucked it, but I've somehow developed a stronger mental toughness, or maybe stubbornness and almost thrive on these situations. 'This is what you came for' (copyright Scott Jurek) was the wee mantra that got me through a bad spell.

Up and over one last hill (ye think) and your almost there, then there's another wee cheeky hill and you see a sign that reads '400 metres to go'...I sure it felt longer! Turned a corner, saw the banners and the finish, man what a feeling. Steven very kindly videoed my finish, and I love watching it!

Also at the finish, Katie Hall! Was great to see Katie and have a quick catch up. Delighted to hear she's recovered well from the Great Glen Ultra and is gearing up for her next challenge.

And so am I...

Thanks to Garry and Lee the event organisers and to all of the marshals and checkpoint volunteers, everyone had a smile and encouragement in abundance. It does make a difference, thank you all.

A great ultra event I'd recommend to anyone thinking about having a go at a distance further than 26.2 miles

Lessons learned:

• Don't fixate about shuttle buses
• Tailwind nutrition works for me
• Injinji socks work for me
• If your giving someone faster a run home, give them the car keys
• Running two ultras three weeks apart, is maybe too much (further tests required)

#inabootit