Conquering The Highland Fling

The 'fling is finished. What an experience. Possibly the best organised race I have ever taken part in. A huge congratulations to the organisers, marshals and medical staff - more of that later.
Who considers running a 53 mile race? One that is in the top 10 hardest unsupported races in the world? Well that's what happens when you hang out with "bad company". Athletes that don't have limits. I had the pleasure of getting together with my pals from tent 127 in the 2013 Marathon des Sables. We hadn't seen each other in a year but it was like yesterday. We had a blast.
If you think about 53 miles, double marathon plus a wee bit, you wouldn't do it. Especially if you look at the profile of Milngavie to Tyndrum - some big climbs and as I found out, some harder decents!
Loads of nervous excitement at the start. I wasn't going to run with my MdS pals as they were too fast. But I bumped into a running partner and we were the same pace. So David ran with me for the first 5k but wasn't feeling well so sent me on my way. I thought he was finished. 2k on there was a girl playing a fiddle in the middle of nowhere and everyone seemed to pick up their pace. This was giving the overseas competitors a flavour of the fling - a great advert for Scotland.  3k later I meet a runner with an ironman tattoo and we got chatting. This was a lucky break. Will and his friend John were up from England and didn't know the course. I knew 3/5ths of it and had run ultra marathons before so we decided to run together. We kept each other going and I can honestly say that the "chimp" didn't make an appearance because we were supporting each other.  I may have met other people on route but meeting Will and John was fantastic - thanks guys.
It sounds ridiculous but this race is all mental I.e. In between your ears. I had planned every step, every stage, every food stop and hoped it would go to plan. Therefore I knew the pace I needed to run to achieve my target of 12.30 - 13 hours. But in truth I had no idea if it was possible. So much could go wrong like the girl who "face planted" a rock and broke her jaw in 5 places. With help, she ran on to the next checkpoint along the most technically difficult part of the course - respect.
I had planned my food stops but as time went on it became difficult to eat.  I started to dig deep into my reserves. My body began to ache but we kept pushing on. The encouragement from the Marshall's was incredible. The supporters cheered and at times it was quiet emotional. Getting close to the end was really tough but the steep downhills on shattered quads was excruciatingly painful. It was as though I had no control over my legs.
1 mile out I tripped, again, over a rock and my hamstring took the strain. I had told Will and John early on that they should picture the finish line picture in their heads. As we approached we agreed that we'd run across the line together holding our hands up in the air. As we ran down the red carpet we joined hands and raised them above our head. 20 metres to go and someone shot me in the hamstring with a rifle! Bang! I almost collapsed but my new best pals were strong buggers and kept my arms in the air as I struggled to get across the line - hamstring gone. Greeted by the medics, carried to the tent, leg iced, foil blanket on and hot soup followed by beer. The ATHlete president Mark Russell ran around like my personal butler making sure I was ok - thanks Mark. Later I limped to my accommodation and curled up in my foil blanket feeling like shit. Shivering like a slapped jelly. My MdS pals delivered my clothes, I had a shower, followed by food and beer. Even better David who looked like death warmed up at 5k made it in 30 minutes after me - respect. And my pal, type one diabetic Roddy Riddle had his insulin pump fail after 18 miles and survived on water only while beating me by 90 minutes - respect. There are so many amazing stories in this race I really haven't scratched the surface. But what I do know is that it's amazing what you can do if you dare to try. For me it's a major achievement. I very deliberately treated it as a long training day (thanks Gen & Colin for that advice years ago) with fabulous scenery. A fellow ATHelite And relay runner John Young passed me at 24 miles and said I looked fresh. Thanks for that but maybe if I'd known it was 24 miles I would have shown it. And to answer your question, my time was 12 hours 16 minutes. I'm suitable chuffed. But the highlight for me was the journey. Thanks for your support. Now pass me the fucking wine. 😃