In two weeks time it’s the Midsummer Highland Relay where David Mackintosh, Norman Groves and myself are teaming up to take on the second half of the West Highland Way starting from Tyndrum at 12pm. David will run the first leg to Glencoe (17.5m), Norman will then take the “baton” (probably a chip time card) and make his way over the Devils staircase and into Kinlochleven (10.5m), before I climb out of Kinlochleven and run along to the finish at Fort William (14.5m).
Over the last few weeks we have bumped up the long trail runs and competed in a couple of hill races in preparation. Whangie Whizz and Kilpatricks hill race.
As part of said preparation earlier in the year I entered the Killearn 10k trail race, the timing ended up being pretty perfect as a hilly trail race ahead of the WHW relay.
It would be good to practice going up and down the hills at race pace and also get more used to the terrain.
Saturday 7th June arrived and an 11am race start meant there wasn’t any need to set the alarm too early as Killearn is only a short 40 minute drive from Paisley.
After some porridge and a cup of tea myself and Kirsty headed off with the sun shining all the way up the road.
The town was pretty busy as a lot was going on today, there was a fete in the park, a beer festival later on in the afternoon and a market in the town hall!
We got parked in a residential area just round from the park and made our way to registration at the Killearn Hotel, we had stayed here a few years ago when it was called the Black Bull Hotel and it looks just the same as it did then.
Despite only 200 entries there was three tables setup for registration and no queue at A-G so number collected and plenty of time left over to attach to my vest and warm up.
The forecast for the morning was warm sunshine and it was very accurate as the sun beamed down and off I went for a short warmup of just under a mile up and down the Main Street.
As 11am approached a bus decided it wanted through so the crowd of runners ready to depart on the course parted either side and the bus driver got clapped through and off he went.
So shortly after 11am it was 3 .. 2 .. 1 .. Go and the combination of trying to hold a megaphone and blast a hooter at the same didn’t really work but everyone set off on go anyway!
A sharp downhill start got the blood flowing and a few headed off at a pace they may pay for further along the route, I tried to start off conservatively as I knew there was some tough hills to come which I would need my energy for.
Just after leaving the main road we were straight onto a trail path and climb up through a farm. This was to be the terrain for the majority of the race. I had opted for Nike Lunarglide shoes as I wanted to keep my speed up and struggle to do so in the heavier Salomon Trail shoes.
This part of the route was out and back so the ups would become downs on the return but there was also some quick downs that we would have to climb back up in a short while.
The second mile was pretty tough and mostly climbing but the terrain was decent so I managed to keep a decent pace going and passed a few of the earlier exuberant runners.
I was starting to feel pretty warm at this point as I’m not that used to running in such hot temperatures and naturally struggle with the heat. Thankfully we got to the turn point and could start to make our way back down towards the town again.
Just after the turn was a water station, I don’t normally take any water on during a race but I needed to wet my mouth as I was starting to feel a bit dehydrated.
At the end of the track we went straight on rather than turning down left towards the way we had came via the Main Street. This meant a short section on some long grass. It was like running on soft sand! I could not get moving at any sort of pace and felt like I had stopped moving forward, didn’t help that we were doing uphill at the same time!
Once finally off the grass we had another long climb up a road and a left turn made for some welcoming downhill Tarmac. Managed to find some energy for this and just before the last climb a local resident had setup his garden hose to spray on the road, Thank You Sir that was a most welcome sight at just the right time.
When you start to hear music and announcements you aren’t normally too far from the finish, and after a right, left, right, left the finish line was in sight and I ran down the grass and over the line. I felt pretty exhausted but within 3 seconds I had a banana, bottle of water and my finishers medal thanks to some very efficient scouts and brownies.
I didn’t really pay attention to my watch on the way round as it was a tough route and a very hot day, 46:27 was the end result, a pace I would be very happy with for any trail race. As you can see I was pretty happy as I was just about to cross the line.
Photo by Kirsty
Official results came out in an email this morning and I finished in 28th place, so happy with that result.
The organisation of the race was absolutely superb, the route was well marked, the marshals and volunteers were brilliant and the route was very enjoyable. Weather was probably perfect for most, I would have enjoyed it a bit cooler but can’t complain too much about sunshine in Scotland!
A very nice medal and customised water bottle was great as well.
Steven Hill 