Just a gentle 33 mile out-and-back trot along the old Deeside railway; start in Duthie Park, get all the way to Banchory, then turn around and finish in Duthie Park.
The course, being an old railway line, is pretty flat; and therefore all runable. My previous ultras had all been hilly, so provided plenty of running breaks. I had to run all of this, and had no idea how I or my body would react.
A few of us from the Stonehaven Running Club met at Rustico on the Friday night before the race to gorge ourselves on pasta. Good food, great banter and excited talk of race times and strategies ensued.
A chat with Chris and we decided that we'd probably be going around the same pace, so we decided to run together for at least a while. This was based on a whimsical strategy of going faster than our marathon PB pace (we both run a 3h15-3h20 marathon, Chris being the faster runner), and just winging it... what could possibly go wrong?
So, the idea was to aim for a pace of around 4:30 min/km, which would have us finishing with an extremely respectable sub 4 hour time.
A couple of Peroni's with dinner helped calm the usual pre-race nerves and, once I'd laid out all my kit for the morning, it was off to bed.
With a feeling of intrepidation I left the flat early and walked the 3km down to Duthie Park. I had some uplifting tunes on the headphones and my legs were grateful to be shaking of the stiffness of a night's sleep.
I arrived at the race start, registered, and then set about preparing myself for the race. Despite the ability to use drop bags at the checkpoints, I'd decided that I was just going to have a couple of gels in my waist pack and a handheld bottle for water. I was definitely going light and fast for this one!
I met up with some of the Stonehaven gang and chatted the time away, before we were called to the start line for the pre-race brief.
I found myself standing side by side with Chris at the start, with no-one in front of us... we were going to be starting from the front, something I've never done before.
A quick brief, a countdown and we were off. Setting off far too quickly, I found myself inside the top 10 leaving Duthie Park! After the usual jostling for position, I settled into a steady rhythm catching up with Chris who had set off even faster than me.
At this point I was averaging 4:20 min/km. I knew this was far too fast, but I was feeling pretty good, so decided to keep going and see how long I could hold on for.
Some good conversation helped the time pass... Chris' knowledge of giraffes is second to none; exciting stuff!
I still had water, so ran straight past CP1 at Peterculter. The 10 mile point came and went in a new PB of 1h10m. Then the half marathon mark in a new PB of 1h33m (Forfar was a minute faster, but also measured short of a half).
I was still feeling pretty good when the halfway checkpoint appeared in just 1h56m. I was flying and well inside the sub 4 hour pace; I was also in 15th... but I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep it up.
A quick top up of the water bottle and I was heading back to Aberdeen.
One of the great things about this race is the out-and-back nature of it. You get to see everyone else who's running. Lots of smiling and familiar faces passed me in the opposite direction; a couple of high-5's and then I could concentrate on getting myself back to Aberdeen.
Pain and tiredness had started to kick in as I passed Chris heading back through Drumoak, but I dug in and got on with it. A handful of jelly beans at CP3 (back in Peterculter, and the same place as CP1...) before setting straight back on the trail.
I was spurred on by the lovely marshal at Peterculter station telling me that I looked really fresh, I felt anything but at that point but I guess I must have a good pokerface...
I'd really started to slow by this point and was struggling to break the 5:00 min/km pace, but still passed through the marathon point in a new PB of 3h15m.
On crossing Milltimber Brae, I had to stop for traffic so decided to take a walking break to get a gel down me. Chris passed me, and I had to endure the sight of his orange shirt just out of reach for the rest of the run... I'd spotted him checking over his shoulder a few times and he admitted at the finish that the thought of me overtaking him again had spurred him on to the finish... it's a good job neither of us are incredibly competitive!
I was back onto familiar territory now, and kept my mind occupied counting down the landmarks back into town.
Bieldside... Cults... Pitfodels... Garthdee... Under Anderson Drive... And then jubilation as I crossed over Holborn Street Bridge; I had this in the bag with just about 1km to go.
I finally turned into Duthie Park, and tried to maintain my composure as the crowd cheered me on to the finish line; I crossed the line in 27th with an official finish time of 4h13m46s.
Chris finished just over 1 minute ahead of me.
Here's the Strava link to my run
I was incredibly delighted to see my friend Karen bounding through the crowds to congratulate me on my finish. More so, as it turns out I was in a pretty bad way after I finished, and had to enlist her help to get me dressed in some warm and dry clothes. Thanks Karen!
All the finishers got an amazing jamjar lid medal and a custom bottle of beer (need to decide whether to drink that or not...) for their efforts.
A massive thanks to all of the volunteers, and George and Karen; without whom the race would never have happened.
So, a great day out. Definitely a race that's already pencilled in to my 2016 calendar. Maybe with some better pacing, I can get that sub 4 hour finish... And lots of positives for a busy 2015 of running!
