Glenmore 24 Trail Race

I made the most of the crappy cards I got dealt.

Running was almost impossible for me after around 7 hours because of sharp pains coming from my outer knee, "Uh oh, the bloody IT band" I thought, so went to see the onsite physio.... Twice!

But rewind a few days back for now:

Disney theme

The format & the course

Glenmore 24 is a 24 hour race round a 4 mile loop with the objective of completing as many loops as possible in the 24 hours, and the smaller 400m loop opens up in the last hour and you plant a peg in the ground where you finish with your number on it.

The route has one steady incline and a few other shorter inclines. I walked the hills which was about 300ft per loop, and ran the rest. The route started as you ran round the camp and out through some high bushes, then alongside Loch Morlich in the most technical section (avoiding puddles) then up to the bigger forresty track towards the hill, fantastic views back over Loch Morlich for the descent back to the Hayfield.

The terrain

The crew

Vicky – Head of support AKA 'Crew Chief'. She knows what I want and when I usually want it so a perfect addition to the support for G24.

Fletch & Penny – The expert campers, they have *everything* we would ever need for camping! And did a fantastic job at supporting!

(Unofficial) Sean - Came along with Stuart but ended up helping out at my camp filling bottles and stuff, great work!

The Boxes all ready with contents labelled

Rewind to Friday (Pre-Race)

We'd both agreed to take half a day at work so we could get home, pack the car and take the 3 hour drive up to Aviemore, arriving while it was still light outside – That went according to plan, we got there around 5.30pm.

Earlier in the week I had thoroughly packed all the essentials into small clear boxes for the crew to see where things were in a flash and I think that worked a treat for them.

When we arrived at the Hayfield I parked up and we went to meet our old friend Fletch from Elgin, who'd agreed to come down and crew for the weekend. We also got to sleep in his bell tent for the first night because his wife Penny couldn't make it and so he slept in a tiny wee pokey tent :)

The Hayfield

 After getting a lay of the land we got into our costumes (way too early) and went for some food and to ride on the Bucking Bronco before it chucked it down!!! Freezing and wet we headed back to the tent to relax and chat.

By 9pm I was wanting to try and get some sleep but it was so damn cold, Fletch went away to the pub and I think I was awake most the night anyway! I had all my dry clothes on but was still freezing, stupid crappy sleeping bag!!

Saturday:

I helped put the gazebo up, the tarp up and laid out all my kit/food/drink - We had fairy lights and glow sticks for the evening!

I spent a good 20 minutes in the tent getting ready, but most of this time was actually spent taping my feet up to prevent any more blood blisters and any heat spots I'd noticed earlier in the years races. I decided last minute to wear my favourite trail shoes. This should have been fine, I ran in them for 64 miles in the Lakes and 42 miles at the Devil, they have a 4mm drop.

Base Camp

Laps 1 to 10 – All hunky dory

The race started and I was loving the atmosphere, for the first lap I was speaking to Chen and Andrew and it flew by. Vicky and Fletch decided to go on a walk with Sean round the course so I wouldn't see them the first time I got back to camp. I planned to do every lap between 50-60 minutes but I came in at 41 minutes - Far too fast but it felt great!

First 50 meters

I picked up my Inov8 handheld and headed out for lap 2. There was multiple people I spoke to on these laps and it was great to speak to everyone, I was really grateful for the company and chat to pass the miles and take my mind of running, I think me and Lois passed each other on that hill for the first 5 laps or so, and Fiona was full of helpful advice for my first 24 hour race.

I was ahead of schedule and still walking every hill as planned, trying to remain slow and steady so I had enough in the tank for later on in the race. At around lap 4/5 I was getting a bit sick - I hadn't eaten enough so was struggling a little bit here so was due some spaghetti and that really hit the spot!
 

With Chen

With Andrew

Laps 11 to 20 – Pain hits, the night section and the next day

It was sometime between 7:30pm and 8:30pm when I first noticed the pain. I changed to my supportive road shoes to try and alleviate it but the damage had already been done, descents were really sore and I had to walk them.

A burger on a 'Carry On' plate

When I got back to camp I asked Vicky to go and see if the physio was around while I sat in a chair and ate some mashed sweet potatoes – delicious and easy to digest! The physio was there but wouldn’t see me unless I had leggings on because I would get cold lying around for so long. I changed from my shorts into my 2XU leggings and foolishly put shorts on over the top (urgh) – Never done this before and I apologise for what it must have looked like! I put 3 tops on under my red waterproof and I set off just about running/hobbling.

I finally got round and saw the physio, Vicky came to help me get on the bed. The physio was really nice, she did a great job of finding out where the pain was and she taped my hamstring saying the pain was coming from further back due to my hamstring pulling. She said to do 1 more lap and come see her again and let her know how I got on!

Back at camp, Vicky was really worried and wanting me to stop if it was causing pain, but I didn’t want to because I’d built this race up so much to everyone at work and my family I couldn’t face my first DNF. Fletchs wife had now arrived at the camp, Penny and she was trying to encourage me along with Fletch and Vicky.

I walked round the next lap fully, it took so damn long! And went straight back into the physio to tell her it didn’t really work, she massaged my leg until it started to go numb and off I went back out again, I think the time was around 10.30pm by now. I had a choice really from this point on, I could either:

1)      Quit, and let down everyone who I’d spoke to on the build up to the race

2)      Carry on, but walk the rest of the time

Vicky was getting worried about me so she went to get a few hours sleep, Fletch and Sean were around the camp and I told them my options and they wanted me to carry on if it was best for me.

So from now on I managed to finish the big laps by walking all the time, I did try running a few times throughout the night and into the morning but it was too painful so kept walking.

The scariest time was when it was coming up to midnight and my first lap out was so quiet, I hated the lochside section in the dark, all I kept thinking about was Blair Witch Project, arghh!! I kept looking into the woods too as I slowly walked round, thinking what would I do if someone or something came out and tried to get me. Luckily every lap in the dark after that I managed to tag along with someone so I was never along again.

At 3am I picked up Fletch as a support runner to keep me company and give me some chat, I told him to wrap up warm because there was no running, just scary Blair Witch woods and possibly Werewolves! It was great to have some company round a loop, and I think he had been struggling at the camp to fight off the midgies and an ungodly urge to sleep. It was fun when we turned out our head torches and just stood there in darkness looking up at the sky, I think we both enjoyed that first loop together and I was glad of the company.

From probably the first loop of the day

At 5am I asked Sean if he would walk a loop with me, he had his bloody army boots on but was cool to walk a lap with me. My aim was to have a support ‘runner’ come with me every other loop which was allowed from the race rules. I remember earlier in the day Sarah saying I wouldn’t need any support runners when Sean was around but I was just wanting company for the early hours, especially during the night sections when all the 12 hour runners had finished at midnight. Sean was good company and the next lap on my own was fine because it was starting to get light!

Again, from the first loop of the day

 The finish:

I came into camp with and awesome plan I’d conjured up: Wake Vicky up, and take her out to see the sun rise over Loch Morlich while we sit on that bench by the loch side.

As it was getting light out

I had some Sweet Potato and Kendal Mint Cake at camp before I set off with Vicky for our first lap together, I was so excited to carry out my well documented plan but it turned out there was no bloody sun, the sky was pretty much grey all round! We chatted a lot round the loop about how things had panned out and she did a great job at motivating me. After her lap I did my 2^nd to final lap on my own (19^th lap), but ended up spending most of the lap walking with Patricia the official photographer for the event, and then for my final lap I was able to pick up a support runner again so I already had it planned out to bring Vicky along again. My final lap took 1 hour 40 minutes!!! 

Managed a selfie by the Loch

To be fair I sat on every single bench along the way complaining about sore feet and taking my shoes off hahaha. By the time I got back to the Hayfield I initially thought “I’m done, 80 miles is enough no more small loops”, so I sat down for 10 minutes resting my feet.

Thanks to Lois for the photo

Just before starting the small loops

 

The home straight

No idea what came over me but everyone was running round so I said Ach I’ll do a loop, and when I did it everyone was electric, it was great to see everyone cheering on the runners, the kids there were fantastic – awesome job keeping spirits up all weekend! When I waddled back down to the finish area somebody was shouting my name, I had no idea who it was but it was really uplifting. I did a few more walking loops and the crowd were electric so I tried to run, it was a bit like Forrest Gump but after another 2 or so laps the run started to feel more normal. It hurt but the crowd made it worth every second! Des did a great job at this point, he was saying “Just 1 more”, but it always stayed at that, I think I did about 7 or so after planning to do 1. As soon as the horn went signaling the finish I collapsed down to my knees in the wet grass and planted my leg, thank fuck that was over!

Goosed

82.94 miles - Official result

I walked over to Vicky and gave her a big hug, she was really relieved it was over and really proud of me, Fletch and Penny came over to congratulate me – I think they had a great weekend there and really glad they offered to come and keep Vicky company! Sean came over to say congratulations – He did a fantastic job around our camp supporting me (and others) making sure to always top up my drinks etc. I spoke to a few of the familiar faces before retreating to a chair, my leg was in agony and my foot was playing up so went to collect my medal barefoot.

Thanks to Clark for the photo!

After the award ceremony we headed off to the Glenmore campsite (where Penny & Fletch were spending the night) - We went to get some real food and I managed to get a quick nap in their tent before driving home.

Glenmore 2015

Huge thanks to everyone who made this race possible, the runners, the marshals, the organisers, the support crews, the motivational children, the people who kept me company on the loops! Really good event!

What went right: Food, Drink, Support, Clothes - All spot on!
What went wrong: The leg
What is next: I'm meant to be doing the Great Scottish Half (Oct) and Glen Ogle (Nov), but may pull out of both of them to fully recover. Its been a week since the race and the pain has subsisted when walking. I plan to start running again in a few weeks and build up from scratchto try and correct my form ready for a heavy hitting 2016. *cough* Disney *cough*