THE FINAL QUARTER
I might as well race through these reports as the idea was to do an Ultra/Marathon in every calendar month from Feb to Jan. It all started in Feb 07 down near Rugby and I see our own Richard is going down this month for I believe is his first Ultra. So good luck and remember failure is not an option.Right first stop is France and I fle
w out on the Tuesday for a Sunday marathon in La Rochelle. My French is getting a bit better but I bumped into the Kaiser himself at Edinburgh Airport. Werner Kittel was flying doon to the South East for a bit of interpretation for some folk that cannae speak German.
I still thought I could get under 3 hrs like the last time but I had a bit of a cold. The flights were hellish on the ear drums but the mother-in-law opened a bottle of champagne on arrival and the bubbles soon cleared the pressure.
This was followed over the next week with some of this stuff. Pineau that is made from Cognac (old stuff best) and wine. Great stuff and I took my father and son on the trip so with having a bit of a cold I decided to just let the Celtic Gene out of the bottle. Ran the marathon on Sunday 25th Nov in 3.12 approx so not a great performance but the mother in laws après marathon mange was. Seafood Platter (incl a bottle of Champagne), fillet steak (a point) and then the fromage (cheese) and wine plus a chocolate desert. It won my meal of the year for 2007 award. The weather was not great with it pissing rain at the start but the last hour was dry. Good marathon for a PB as flat sort of figure of 8 cse that is great for spectators as my Dad could go to a bar and watch most of the action and plenty of music etc on the cse. Nice city to visit and the cost of the flight from Stanstead was only £23 incl. taxes. Entry was £20 and you get a jacket and a box of Oysters which were the green one’s this year and were superb.
The marathon finishes at the tower on the left and is a great finish with plenty of fans and sorry Musselburgh but it is no contest.
13 days later and it is the charge south to Rotherham (50 miler) for a race I love on Saturday 8th Dec. I travelled down with Colin Hutt who has won Edinburgh to North Berwick I think 3 times as well as the 2 Bridges Ultra race. It was his first time at Rotherham and he really enjoyed the course so hopefully since Richard will soon be an Ultra Runner, Peter, Mary doing one in USA and Ben Kemp has signed up for Devil ‘O’ the Highlands (43 mile) plus half of Mont Blanc. We also have John Pickard and Space Cadet Jeske then we might see some of you giving this one a go. It was my 3rd time and I changed shoes after getting badly injured last year with both knees failing after slipping in the mud. This year I took the advice of an experienced female runner who wears a stud. The difference is she is 8 stone and I am over 12 stone and by 31 mile my back, hips and feet were killing me so I decided to pull out. So Richard wear your best road running shoes and you will be alright. The weather had closed in and I had lost my map then somebody did a bit of theft by finding as I knew where it was (the boot of a spectators car, it was left in as I took on some extra food) On seeing him later he advised it was there but somebody had taken it as I had it in plastic so I decided as I had done 31 mile that was enough to qualify for my challenge. It is good when you make up the rules. £10 to enter and this year it was a casual dress shirt for the 25th year of running this epic event. The organisation, food, changing facilities, marshals etc make this race best value for money, course etc. Always a great day out.
The final act was to get down to Leatherhead for a 30 miler on Sunday 13th January. As I flew into Gatwick I knew it was going to be very muddy. The race is called Winter Tanners with a 20 or 30 mile option and follows a different route every year so you really have to read the instructions and there is no map so I did my usual and ran with a local called Geff Campbell who made sure we did not get lost. Wise move on my part as a lot of the route was through a forest and I would never have navigated that course on my own. Great course with plenty of mud and very rural with many stiles to cross. Think I finished 11th and was 1 hour behind the winners. Time was not great on paper at around 6hrs 30 mins but you had to keep stopping to check the instructions. Got on great with Geff who was not quick but very steady and told me has never run on the road but did do the full Mont Blanc in 2007 and is doing it again in 2008 so I knew he would finish. Job done.
2008, well good luck folks, I am going to have a bit of a rest this year. Only thing heavy this year will be the month of May. Edinburgh to North Berwick followed by 3 marathons in 10 days in the North West of Scotland.
TRIPLE CROWN (Nuts in May)
Just to let you know folks instead of the Edinburgh Marathon there is a great opportunity to compete in 3 Marathons in 10 days in the greatest country in the world.
We kick off on Saturday 17th May with the Cape Wrath Marathon. The best marathon I have ever run. The top 4 are declared joint winners so you have a chance to be a winner. The race finishes at the top of a climb so it is tough. You also stop at 22 miles to get a boat. Not to be missed.
To add to the fun Stornoway Running Club have shown their character by arranging two marathons in 3 days on Saturday 24th May from Stornoway and then on Monday 26th May there is The North Harris Trust Marathon.
After both Saturday Marathons there is a cool down Ceilidh.
There is an outside chance the Triple Crown could become a Grand Slam as Jet2 have started direct flights from Edinburgh to La Rochelle in France and there maybe a suitable run around that time.
Any Portobello completing the Triple Crown will be entitled to enter a free prize draw for a 3 piece suite. I cannot comment on the quality but it will be in its original packaging. Sponsor R McIntosh.
Graham Henry
DISCLAIMER
PRC accept no responsibility for anyone killing themselves following Graham's advice.
