Sunshine, Wind, Rain and Royalty by Marriage – this year's Highland Cross had it all!

The Highland Cross is a fabulously well organised event. With 720 people entering the event, there is a huge challenge to looking after the well being and safety of the competitors whilst they cross Glen Affric on a track which is mostly inaccessible by even the most hardy of landrovers - not to mention the logistical nightmare of getting everyone to the start, their bikes to the changeover, and ensuring everyone is reunited with their belongings at the end of the race. I know this from my previous entries, I know this from my younger years helping out at Camban Bothy passing out water and Gatorade, and I was reminded of it again this year as the weather gods couldn't quite decide what to throw at us.

The underfoot conditions were 'soft' to say the least, this translated into 'wet, slippy and difficult' as soon as a very drizzly head wind hit us as we came round the brow of the hill section. We'd been horribly misled by waking up to glorious sunshine and, despite the forecast being for sunshine and showers, the sun deserted us after approx 4 miles running and was never really seen again. I don't know if it was a good or bad year from a casualty perspective but I saw a few folk who had twisted knees/ankles on the treacherous ground and the support helicopter certainly had to land on a few occasions. I was very grateful for the network of radio volunteers who man the route every few miles and can get warm blankets and medical help to folk whilst a plan for helping them get off the hill is put together. I made a point of thanking every one I saw as well as the teams of volunteers who hike into these remote spots just to hand out water and cheer support as we rush past in pursuit of our own personal goals. Whether or not my wheezing thanks could be distinguished as a word I'm not entirely sure but I hope they understood!

Despite the difficult running conditions, I have to say that I felt really strong and enjoyed the event immensely this year. I suspect this has a lot to do with being better rested and looked after before the race; however even in bad conditions the run section is beautiful, which makes it so much more enjoyable than it would be otherwise! As a team we had agreed to run at our own pace and would see each other at the end, over the first 4 miles of track to Glen Licht House we leap frogged each other whilst we found a comfortable pace but once we hit the steep hill pass of Allt Granda Colin surged ahead leaving Jo and I struggling to navigate our way through folk who were walking the single track path in front of us. However once the hill section was done I was able to find a steadier pace and slowly started to make good progress, finally catching Colin at the 10 mile mark of Alltbeithe Youth Hostel. From this point the track becomes much easier with the majority of river crossings complete (!) but the continual Easterly head wind was starting to wear me down; and for the first time ever I was looking forward to the Yellow Brick Road section where I hoped to get some shelter from the trees! I ran the whole distance (apart from sections of the hill where it was unsafe to pass people so walking was a necessity) which is something I've never been able to do before, completing the section in around 3 hrs 30.

Behind me Jo finally caught Colin at mile 18 and they both hit the changeover in around 3 hrs 45. Jo had a very quick changeover and got a good lead on Colin, who had no idea he was so close behind me. We had calculated that based on our expected cycling speeds I needed to be over 20 minutes in front of Colin at the changeover to get to the finishing line before him! Somehow I knew he was on my tail and my little legs have never pedaled so fast; spurred on by the chase, along with the the extra effort I had put into bike training this year, and the loan of Mum's race bike, I achieved the 30 mile cycle section in under 2 hours – my best bike time ever by a long way – and I was in front of Colin by just 3 minutes! Jo crossed the line around 1 minute later, all of us finishing in under 5 hrs 40 giving us a hugely respectable team time. A brilliant effort all round.

There is nothing quite like the experience of cycling into Beauly where the whole town turns out every year to cheer the competitors on as they complete the last mile into town. I read in one of the papers on Sunday that they believed the crowds to be fans of Pippa Middleton who entered the race this year. I would like to correct them in that respect: the locals always come out in force for the event which supports local charities and has been taking place for the last 29 years, they deserve recognition for being out in all weathers for all the competitors and we are very grateful for their cheering – it means the world as you approach the finish line after expending every ounce of energy you have. Never the less its great to see such a wonderful event getting publicity from someone who is becoming a star in her own right, I believe Miss Middleton is a very accomplished athlete and she certainly finished the race is a superb time of 5hrs 05 minutes so she deserves the recognition for that – even if she did 'cheat' by getting a helicopter to the start line rather than joining the rest of us on the bus at silly o'clock in the morning!!!

At the end of the race, we are treated to a buffet prepared by the 'Ladies of Beauly' and this year's prize giving we were also treated to the wonderful sounds of a German Brass Ensemble – one of this year's team entries was from a trio who play with a German Opera. It was an absolutely fantastic end to a fantastic day, and the memories of the wind and rain are already fading. I've heard Colin mention that 'next year' he is going to be quicker at the Changeover.. so I fear that this won't be our last Highland Cross; maybe next time I might beat Mum's record of 5hrs 15 but for now she remains the family record holder and I shall continue to wonder if I'm nearly there yet!

Participating in an event like this requires much dedication from many people so I'd like to make some thankyous. Firstly Thanks to my Mum (Norna Hall) and Stepdad (John Hall) who were a very welcome support team on race day, and particularly to Mum who set me this silly challenge in the first place in 2007 to beat her time which I'm STILL trying to do!! Thanks very much to Angela Mudge & Knead to Relax for their support and helping get my muscles ready for the race. Thanks to Colin for being cajoled into being part of the family team and being patient with me during training! thanks to Gordon Stewart our previous team mate who we were very sorry to have to replace, we hope we did you proud; and thanks to Jo for stepping in at the very last minute with no specific training and still managing to get in a superb finishing time, not to mention raising some money too! A great big thanks to Calum Munro and John Fraser and the huge team of volunteers at Highland Cross for putting on yet another superb event;

and most of all thanks to YOU for your support and donations. You can still sponsor us and check out our total at Just Giving - it's for great causes and is the reason that we put ourselves out in the rain and do it atall!

Our photos of the day are on Flickr for you all to see

there's nothing left to do but taper taper taper .....

... & to raise some money!

Well that's it folks, 5 days until the big event. Colin and I went out for a lovely 10 mile run round Glen Ogle on Saturday to make sure the legs still worked and now we just need to rest. recover and stay injury free ready for the weekend. We had talked about doing a few miles on the bike yesterday but in true pre-Highland Cross style my knees have seized up and my legs ache and I just didn't want to risk doing myself an injury so we spent the day organising our kit instead! I wish I could say it's helped, but I still ache a little today so I may need to and get some Sports Massage treatment to make sure I can definitely move again by the end of the week!!!

Jo popped around to ask us lots of questions on Friday night, and to fill in the paperwork. She mentioned that she intended to try out a run to bike changeover on Saturday, just to check that her legs work on a bike after running, so I hope her training went well too.

All that remains now is to reach our fundraising target. So here are the many ways that you can help to support us in our quest to complete the Highland Cross

• Jo has come up with a brilliant idea and is running a book on her finish time for the event, with a prize of homemade jam. Stick your guess as a comment on this post and add to the 'just-giving' page if you want a shot of some this tasty prize. (T&Cs can be found here !)



• If you like the idea and also want to guess on Colin or I's finishing/drop out time then I shall be offering up homemade shortbread for the closest guess. Same rules as above.



• My brother has pledged an amount of money per finisher of the event (he is hoping to get a place in the event next year!)...



• You can sponsor us via http://www.justgiving.com/arewenearlythereyetmum2011



• and we'd love to hear from you on the day. You can add comments to this blog, You can tweet me @sajatweet or you can yell really loudly from wherever you are and we shall be listening out for you. (It gives us an excuse for that strange squinting look on our face which could otherwise be construed as pain!)
  

Getting in the miles and ticking off the milestones

I've mentioned on a previous post how satisfying it is to be able to tick off milestones on a training plan, and this past week has had a stack of them so I should be feeling very satisfied. The truth is that with under 2 weeks to go I'm more nervous than I've ever been at this point in the run up to the Cross.

During the week I tried out my first run to bike changeover. This turns out to be quite tricky when you live in a small top floor flat with no bike storage apart from the spare room; never the less with a bit of pre-planning and organisation I still managed the changeover (including running down the stairs with my bike!) in just over 5 minutes. I'm going to try it again this week just to make sure I'm confident which gear I need to put in my changeover bag.

On Saturday we had our last long run. We went for 16 miles round Loch Ard, a route we did on the mountain bike earlier on in our training. The running was hard going as it was forest trail all the way round, the theory had been this would be better for our ankles but it was pretty hard going on the knees and relatively boring scenery compared to our more recent runs. I am also nervous it was not long enough (though I did 17 miles if you include mustering*); but Colin has a pretty active job and has been knackered after the runs, so we didn't dare push our distance further for fear of causing injury. Running magazines say that not making the distance before the race shouldn't be such an issue as excitement and adrenaline gives you an extra push on the day, but I'm not so sure it applies to runs with a 30 mile cycle on the end!

The big milestone for both Colin and I this week was a cycle ride up Duke's Pass between Callander and Aberfoyle. Colin had been wanting to cycle this pass since before we'd moved up to Stirlingshire. It's well known amongst local cycling enthusiasts, and personally I had been dreading having to do it as it had reached iconic epic status in my head! Our research informed us that there are two ways to tackle this pass: head North, the short steep way; or head South, the long slow uphill grind. We decided that because our knees were a bit tender from the run on Saturday, and I suffer from sore knees cycling up steep hills at the best of time, that we would do the Southern route and went out to Callendar via Doune, then across the pass to Aberfoyle and then back via Thornhill. Around 45 miles in total and right at the top of my daily distance since I first got on Mum's road bike in April (actually, possibly the furthest I've ever cycled in a day!!!!)

As we reached Callander and Bridge of Turk I was feeling great, and the sunshine picking out the hill tops around us made for really enjoyable riding. However I couldn't help but feel a bit of trepidation as we passed the sign for Dukes Pass. As we started the up and I heard a voice say "don't put so much effort into the cycling" I may have said some rude words, but much to my surprise steady pedalling got me to the top much quicker than I had expected... I suspect the strangely East/North Easterly wind giving us a push had a lot to do with it but I wasn't complaining! Then came the down, and I actually enjoyed some of it - well, until the steep hairpins which I think I took at around 5mph with my new back brakes being tested to the limit, but honestly I do think my confidence has improved a little bit!!!! We had reached Aberfoyle after 28 miles in 2 hours & 10 minutes so I was really pleased, in fact I was practically beaming and at that moment there was hope that I would be convinced to keep up road cycling after the cross; something that has never been done before. I've only ever done it for training!

We then had a discussion about whether or not to stop for a cuppa. I felt fine and wanted to get the miles under my belt but Colin wisely reminded me that we were returning into a head wind the whole way back from there, and so we stopped, and he got his chocolate slice. I was very grateful that we had stopped as the head wind back was absolutely draining, by the end of the relatively shorter 17 mile return journey which took just over 1.5 hours I was very thankful to be home. I now know what way I hope the wind is blowing in a fortnight, 30 miles of that effort after a run and I'll be a wreck!

Now for 2 weeks of taper with my fingers firmly crossed for favourable weather. Please do remember to support us on the day, you can do so by:

• keeping your fingers crossed for good weather and the best wind direction between now and then


• cheering loudly between 11am and 5pm


• and even if you don't have time or inclination for the above then you can sponsor us too
  

*Mustering is when the front runners run back to the back of the pack, in this case my running back to Colin, to keep the pack together.

The reason we do it....

I had a really interesting discussion with someone this week about the Highland Cross and the reason they do/don't enter events like it. For them the issue was fundraising and this made me sit up and take notice as I'd not really considered this aspect as a negative before.

Fundraising is something that is very close to my heart and something I've always been involved in one way or another: from my days at university when I was heavily involved in the student charities group RAG (organising and participating in events or running around streets with a collecting can) to my various attempts to run silly distances for charity to, more recently, the professional work that I've done with charities to help them find new ways to fundraise online. I had never really considered that fundraising might be something that would put people off entering an event. In fact, for me, more often than not, it is the whole reason for doing the event in the fist place!

The other side of the coin, so to speak, is that for people who do events like this because they enjoy them or because of the competitive aspect, then they do so many events that asking people for donations/sponsorship for each one could be seen as taking a liberty. This leads me to wonder whether there is a fine line for charities to balance between attracting the 'club' runners and other people who run for the enjoyment, and insisting on entrants raising money.

For large events such as the Great North Run or the London or Edinburgh marathons it is possible to pay an entry fee through a ballot system, if you subsequently choose to raise money for a charity then that is your choice. The events are large, always over subscribed, and have a good mix of abilities. However for smaller charity specific events is there a large section of potential competitors who just don't enter as they don't want to ask people for sponsorship, and are these the competitors who would potentially add prestige to the event and guarantee press coverage?

For the Highland Cross my understanding is that this has never been an issue as they are always over subscribed and can basically accept applications by invite only. The event numbers have to be kept to a small due to safety reasons: the cross country trail really isn't suitable for vehicular transport if there is an accident and in places the trail is steep and single track so overtaking your competitor just isn't an option; if they had more than the 750 entries it would just be too crowded. The event focuses on different local charities each year and so is heavily supported locally, all of which means that it can be self sustaining; but I wonder if all competitive fundraising events have this luxury. You only have to see the adverts that Cancer Research UK has out at the moment to try and drum up interest on the Race for Life event to realise that even large charities with this sort of event can struggle. Have people finally reached fundraising event overload or is it just a sign of the hard times that we are going through?

For my part I expect to find fundraising alot tougher this year. Colin and I have recently moved and therefore are in the process of meeting new friends and changing jobs. It seems horribly rude to meet someone for the first time and then thrust a sponsorship form under their noses! However the world of the web means that we are able to keep in touch with friends and family on email and Facebook which does help greatly; and one of the main reasons I write this blog is I like to try and prove to those folk we know around the world and who do follow us that we're earning those donations and sponsorships received. I can't say how pleased I am to see we've already reached over £100 so for those who've donated so far - thankyou very much.... and for those who've been holding off please don't forget to visit our Just Giving page. We really do appreciate it.

Sometimes training is just plain hard work

In training for an event, just like anything, you have good days and bad days.. and sometimes you have bad weeks. The tricky bit is reminding and convincing yourself that this is just part of the journey and that it doesn't mean you are failing in any way. In fact you need the bad days to make the good days better - it just doesn't seem like it at the time!

From a training perspective, I have had a bad week, not a terrible week, but I've just found it hard work: my legs have felt heavy on every run and though my confidence is definitely improving on the bike I'm suffering from knee and back aches - probably as a result of lack of prior use! The fact that for much of the week it has been showery making it difficult underfoot and resulting in a lack of nice views has merely compounded the issue.

On Saturday for my 'long run' I returned to Lochearnhead and Glen Ogle to do a 12 mile circuit of the old railway (endless boring hard tarmac) and the old military road (mud, river crossings, marsh and route finding challenges). I had got the route out of a walking book and surprisingly it stayed dry for the whole time I was out, but I hadn't anticipated the effect of the recent rain on the terrain - not a mistake I want to make again in the near future!

On the plus side, last week I really felt I was making good ground on the bike, and even didn't mind getting a little wet when I got caught in a shower. So yesterday - inspired by the local Etape Caledonia in aid of Macmillan Cancer - we aimed for a 25 mile cycle ride from Dunblane to Callander via the backroads, returning via Thornhill. It was the most beautiful cycle ride and I finally managed to cycle over a reasonable (and undulating!) distance with an average of above 10mph!!! If I hadn't ached so much when I'd finished it would almost of have made up for my poor running this week. Maybe we should enter the Etape next year?!

However, though I seem slightly down about my current performance, I can console myself with the knowledge that hard work does pay off. I'm not just saying this from past experience or from reading too many articles about top athletes! It's true in all walks of life. To illustrate this I can proudly point you towards Julie Broadfoot who launched her first exhibition last week, containing the beautiful image of rain which I've borrowed for this blog. A very good week for her indeed, but not without much hard work and I'm sure many days out with her camera in moody weather!

Lets hope I get a good week again soon.

It's all in the planning....

I'm a project manager.
I mean this in more than a professional sense, it's not just what I do but it's who I am. It's quite scary really and it's not always something I'm concious of; however there is no doubt about it that I am far happier if there is a plan/list/map on hand for reference purposes. This doesn't mean I don't enjoy being impulsive or winging it, in fact some of my best trips have been where I've just followed my nose, but you will normally find a fall back of a guidebook, map or something similar in my bag - just in case!

The most recent case in point is the training plan for Highland Cross. I've always used a training plan to prepare for big events like this. I don't force myself to stick to it rigidly but it is a good guide for me to see what distances I should be running or biking and helps me to think about how I can fit it around my other activities (or work!). Truth be told, if nothing else, having a list to tick off milestones really helps me feel like the task of getting up to distance might be possible!

The real benefit of having a training plan was brought home to me this past few weeks since recovering from being struck down with laryngitis. It is just over 3 weeks since I was able to start training again after 2-3 weeks of doing absolutely nothing except sleeping. The training hadn't really kicked in before I had got ill so it left me very behind where I should have been. By having a plan I could adjust, I was able to work my way back on track. It's difficult to strike that balance between slowly increasing time/distance and pushing yourself to get back on plan, but it's much easier if you can see where you need to be so you can set yourself interim goals. I've never really thought about it in terms of the job I do but actually this planning and replanning is exactly what I have to do in my work as a Project Manager. Just like reading a map when you are out walking you don't need to refer to the plan all the time, and the plan isn't there to be stuck to, it is there to remind you of how you are going to get to where you want to be - if you need it - and most importantly it's ok to change the plan/route as long as it still gets you to where you want to be.

With this all in mind and the plan suitably adjusted, we've found some lovely local runs to do around Dunblane, Doune and Callander over the past couple of weeks. I'm so lucky that we live in such a beautiful area with plenty of walking routes around to turn into runs. We've possibly not got in enough hill running which seems odd considering we are surrounded by them here, but I am confident that will come now fitness is improving. I just need to plan them in! The good news is that if I can achieve our milestone this weekend of a ten mile run tomorrow, then we will have hit our mid plan target, which will be a huge relief.

So now I'm off to look at maps and guidebooks for some inspiration for tomorrow's route; after all, planning is what I do!

Learning to cycle all over again - it's a piece of cake?!

For those who followed my endeavors at learning to ride a bike for my first Highland Cross in 2007 (or maybe those who have foolishly and somewhat dangerously tried to follow me on a bike since then!) it will be of no surprise that it is the cycling section of this challenge that fills me with most dread. There is a popular saying “it's like riding a bike” which suggests that you never forget how to ride a bike. However, I can confirm that not only is this a falsehood, despite 4 years between getting back on a bike and today, I still feel like I'm learning!

Several of my friends have tried to convert me to the hobby of Mountain Biking, and I have to confess I really do enjoy pootling around hill tracks and forest trails on the bike. You can get so much more distance covered and get into areas which would take hours to walk to. Never the less I think these same friends often despair that my enjoyment of Mountain Biking is nothing to do with going fast down trails, in fact entirely the opposite, I like to think I'm very sedate in my descents (if slightly wobbly) – other people of course may just call this slow.

In the my two previous attempts at the Highland Cross I was left convinced that it was the cycling section that let me down. So many people, who I had probably passed on the run, passed me on the bike. It's not that I was worried about my time or placing but it is incredibly disheartening to finish the event in such poor style. My mother on the other hand, who loves her cycling, always says that being able to finish by passing people in the second half of the event helped boost her morale. All I know is I was worried about her being on my tail. Therefore, this year, I have vowed to work harder on my cycling skills. They say practice makes perfect and that things become more enjoyable the better you are, but as well as practice I also have a new secret weapon.... my Mum's race bike!

As Mum isn't competing this year she has kindly lent me her race bike with assurances that this will take at least 10 minutes off the time I managed on her touring bike; Colin told me that Mum's bike was a model that not long ago was used on Tour de France. All that sounded good to me and I gladly accepted the offer, only to find myself the subject of refitting and requiring coaching as both Mum and Colin got me cycling round a car park to learn how to ride this race machine!!

It seems that a race bike is not only different to a mountain bike but it set much lower in the handle bars to a tourer. This did not do my fear of falling over the front of the handle bars any good at all and much raising of the handle bars took place to minimise the wobble factor on the road. The gears are in the wrong place, there isn't enough of them, and you have to lean forward to brake. All of these things are going to require some getting used to, but I am determined to learn, and so yesterday we went out on my favourite local cycle ride to the great coffee shop at Kippen for cake. Cycling may not be a piece of cake for me yet, but I don't mind using a piece of cake as a training incentive.. Yummy!

For the first time ever I was out in front of Colin, it was slightly unfair as he hasn't got a road bike for the event yet, but it was impressive how easily the light race bike handled in the head wind on the way home. I did have some hairy moments setting out and I may even have 'grumped' at Colin when I got the gears back to front, making it slightly harder to go up a hill than I intended, not to mention a huge wobble when a bus passed too close to me. (I really don't understand why when riding a motorbike you put on leathers and a full face helmet yet riding a push bike you apparently just need a bit of plastic on your head?!) However the sunshine, beautiful scenery and quiet roads, not to mention the cake stop in the middle, all helped with a great introductory cycle, and meant I really enjoyed my trip out on the bike. It was a 26 mile trip with a cake stop in the middle; so now I just need to practice more and increase the mileage.. and I suppose I'll have to drop the cake stop too!

Upping the distance

Well, the aim of the past 7 days has been to start pushing the distance so I'm pleased to report that yesterday an 8 mile run was completed and today a 16 mile bike ride. I'm a little nervous about how quickly I'm ramping up the distance on the runs but there's no doubt that the long holiday is helping as there is ample opportunity for resting tired muscles. With any luck I shall be back on the original training plan by next week. Fingers are firmly crossed.

The weather has been fabulous for training this past week, making getting out into the great outdoors a real joy. Today we went to Loch Ard to cycle round the forest tracks there. I did the cycle route on foot as a training run for my first Highland Cross nearly four years ago and I think it will be a great one to aim to repeat this year. We found a peculiar sculpture of a hole which looked like something out of Star Treck - Colin tried to jump through it but he didnt seem to change time or space dimension!

Tomorrow is a cross training day so our plan is to go and hike up Ben Vorlich at a nice gentle pace. I am determined to make the most of this sunshine whilst we can.

Back on Track

The training is back on track. A couple of weeks ago when Sara was nursing herself back from a bout of laryngitis, I was nursing a knee injury, probably due to pushing myself too hard too soon. A couple of visits to the physio and a few easy runs have helped me get back into running from a lost couple of weeks training.
Recently we spent the weekend north of Inverness staying with Sara's mum and John. We enjoyed a mountain bike ride around at the newly opened Learnie Red Rocks.
Friday where we did a run up Tain hill taking Skipper for along for the ride. Followed with a sunny barbeque enjoying the views over the Dornoch firth.

The rest of the weekend was more relaxed as we met up with Sara's dad at Culloden battle ground where in 1746 the last great battle was fought between the Jacobites and The Duke of Cumberlands government army, definitely worth a visit if your in the area.
Were now pushing the distances and with a good run to Doune and back today. Tomorrow were on the bikes for a ride around Aberfoyle.

So i can firmly say we are back on track with the training plan and i just hope the knee holds up.

A very bad start

Training is not going well. In fact it is fair to say that it is going decidedly badly. After a slow but steady start I then came down with laryngitis and have been out of action for 3 weeks.

It was one of those nasty bugs that sneaks up on you and takes you out without any warning, which was most annoying. There I was running up Dumyat in the Ochils and I started to feel unwell, I walked alot of the route and then finally gave up and went to bed after lunch. I then stayed in bed for nearly 2 weeks!!! and this past week has definitely still been recovery time with even walking or a gentle cycle ride wiping me out - needless to say I'm very nervous about setting out back on the training plan. When you take 3 weeks out of a 15 week training plan it doesn't fill you with confidence but I'm no quitter and I shall certainly be giving it a shot.

So there you go, I think I need to replan. Any tips on how to get back on track as quickly as possible would be very welcome. The good news is that I am no longer commuting to London and have some time off so at least I can focus on both training and recovery for a while. Fingers firmly crossed I can see some quick returns.

This is another fine mess I've gotten myself into

.. well I know I probably said this the last time but I'm not entirely sure how I've ended up in this race again. It's nearly 3 years since this picture was taken of the family team finishing and alot has changed since then. I've moved back to Scotland with my partner Colin and, though I still do alot of hills and climbing at the weekends, I have kind of let the running and cycling take a back seat whilst I've been commuting to London from Stirlingshire! With that in mind - I wouldn't say Im at my peak fitness. So how did it happen? Well my brother Martin sent off the application form saying they may be short of someone, and at the time there was at least 3 or 4 of us saying "sure - no worries - we wont let the side down"; so when I got back from our ski holiday in March to a text message saying "you're in" my first reaction was to hide!! Never the less I'm slowly coming around to the idea and a few tentative runs have shown that I'm fitter than I should be, if not as fit as I need to be - which is alot better than not being fit atall. Now, I just need to see if I can still ride that bike :O)