After the last few weeks worry about my heart rate I decided to take things a little easier than normal so instead of racing the Scottish Ultra I headed up to Islay and Jura intending to run a few days and crew a couple of days too.
The weather this year was a lot better than last year, no 70mph gales and torrential downpours this time. We actually saw the sun at some points though it was  a bit cold and occasionally wet too.
The scenery throughout the week was amazing and I wished I had been running the whole event but knew I would find it too difficult to take it easy if I was competing. As I was not to be in the rankings I was free to use the days I ran as training runs.

I used the week as a great way to test out some new kit that I had got from sandbaggers. First was the Yeti VIB 250 sleeping bag which packs up fairly small and is nice and warm, in fact some nights I was a bit too warm so this will be perfect for the gobi challenge. I also tested out the raidlight Olmo 20 rucksack which I loved, except for the fact that the bottle tubes sit too high but that can be solved easily. Next new stuff to check out was the Mountain House food which I was initially not expecting to like as they seem to have less calories than expedition foods. Their serves 2 pack, however, don't appear to be much bigger or heavier than the normal expedition packs and are obviously higher in calories.

Well done to everyone who took part, the spanish teams were great entertainment  and one of thir teams took the team prize.
The Welsh team showed great teamwork and determination as 2 succumbed to painful injuries, Mark and Matt showed amazing strength to pull out then join in again and get to the end. Dan accompanied Matt while he was injured and wouldn't leave him so he would be able to finish the stage and Dean came back to complete this year after a painful injury prevented him from finishing last year. For pure team spirit these boys get my vote as the outstanding team of the event.

Team England didn't really know what they had let themselves in for but did the whole event as a team and did well with a couple of injuries slowing them down but seemed to enjoy it (sort of)
Mark Howlett was running well and I ran part of one of the stages with him before he was forced to slow due to a painful ankle. He managed to get through the next 2 days and finished with the Welsh boys so well done.

On the out and back stage (day4) I ran with Sam who really seemed to be enjoying the event. We had a great run and came in 3rd, not far behind  Donnie and Robert who were joint winners. From the start it was obvious they would do well. I look forward to competing against them in the Gobi in about 6 weeks!

The race took us across all sorts of terrain, a bit of road, track, up some hills through some bogs, through some more bogs and just in case everyone hadn't had enough the final day was a mix of tough coastal and of course some more bogs with a few miles road to finish.
The scenery was stunning, it made a nice change to see it this year and I hope it will be just as good next year when I will go back.

The crew were, as always, very well organised. Great race so thanks to Dave, Phil, Al , Neil and Bob (who carried on massaging despite having cracked a rib) and all the other marshalls and crew
My only gripe about this race is there are no female competitors which is the second year I have been the only female runner. So come on girls this is a great race, get signed up to it!

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