I arrived on Islay, where the race would start a couple of days before the rest of the competitors with the intention of getting a few long swims in. This, however did not happen. I got a couple of short swims in but for safety purposes could not get much longer in during these days (it was pretty difficult to be kept in sight at times). I had hoped to swim after a couple of the shorter stages in Lake Tarbet but the weather certainly put paid to that idea. I may be crazy but even I wouldn't go out in those conditions.
The first day of the race started easily enough with a 10km run to the foot of the hills before a steep climb. I had run most of this route last year and found the hills to be considerably easier this time round thanks to doing plenty of mountain running in the last year. As I came into the finish of the stage the wind appeared to be picking up and by the following morning the weather had got a lot worse. I had assumed that this stage would take maybe an hour longer than the first day. How wrong I was. The tough conditions underfoot made it a pretty long day with most people having a serious sense of humour failure as they waded through yet another bog. Spirits were raised, however, when we were informed we didnt have to sleep in the tents and could stay inside on the floor and get a good night sleep. It was a chance to dry off our soaking wet kit so it was ready for the next stage.
The third day of the race was to be a pretty similar route to the second day last year. It was during this stage last year that I got pulled out so I was pretty desperate to get this one done. The difference in how I felt compared to last year was incredibel. Once we passed into the paps of Jura I was pretty happy. Myself and Andy ran this section together. The mood compared to the previous day was quite different. We were pretty hyper really as we laughed when we fell over a lot on the route down the hills to the road. Before we reached the road we came across what should have been a stream only to find Dave (the race director) stood in the middle of it with the water up to his thighs. He was there to help us get across safetly and the water came up almost to my waist. We were pretty used to being soaked at this point so it didn't make much difference now. As soon as we got onto the road Andy told me to run on as he could see I was itching to get going. I could see the lads from Fife about a mile ahead so made it my mission to catch up with them. How they never saw me coming I have no idea as the first they knew about it was when I said hello as I ran up behind them!
As the wind and the rained had picked up considerably during the time the decision was made to put us up in a barn rather than attempting to erect the tents. It certainly made for more of a family atmosphere around camp.
The next day's course had to be changed as the original route needed boat cover and, with winds hitting 70mph, it was not possible. The route was now an out and back with the halfway point giving us a view of the Coryvreckan whirlpool. On the way back the wind was blowing pretty strong against me and I swear I was running on the spot at some points. After a low spot earlier on during the day I was really enjoying myself. Wind, rain, a bloody tough course, what's not to love?
The fifth day ended up being the final stage, no mileage was lost though as we had done a couple of longer routes during the week and the last stage was not to be a sprint finish. Instead we had a few miles on the road followed by a bit more on the hills, a beach section and then a few short miles on the road to the end of the race. I had finally finished what I had started the previous year and it was worth the wait.
As there had been no other females to start the race I was technically the winner but I was pretty happy with my overall position of 7th.
This was a fantastic race so thanks to Dave, Phil, Al, Gordon, Karyn and all the rest of the crew for all your hard work. Even if we didn't always show it we are very grateful for all the hard work you put in to making this event a resounding success.
Now its back to my normal training
