Half Marathon a Month Challenge 2015 - Q3 (July to September)

This post covers the half marathons that Chris and I ran in the third quarter of 2015. Details of Q1, Q2 and THE WHOLE OF 2014 can be found in previous posts.

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12th July 2015
Chris - Dundee Half DRAM  - 01:54:33
Frank - Dundee Half DRAM - 02:10:27
(Results) - have to navigate to 2015 results via 2014 for some reason

The first event of Q3 took place in sunny Dundee and I met up with Chris at the start in Camperdown Country Park. Unfortunately my support team lead, Clare, had been carrying a bit of an injury, so I had travelled to Dundee on my ownsome. It also meant that I couldn't partake in the usual post run electrolyte replenishment as I had to get back to Glasgow straight away to make sure she was getting the appropriate attention, the wee soul.

Chris had actually run this event in 2013, before we started the HMAMC, and he had some particularly useful insights into managing the first few kilometres, which were effectively a 'trail run' through the country park on very tight paths.

I was already a few weeks into my full marathon training plan at this time, and it just so happened that this week coincided with my 13 mile long run! Should or shouldn't I make this my marathon training run? If I did then my pace would be (deliberately!) much slower than it would be if I tried to chase a sub 2 hour time. 

My running form in the above photo contains a major clue to the decision I took. It was taken by either Chris or Margaret-Ann during the last 100 metres of my run. As you can see I am belting along towards the finish line, and of course I could only have done this if I had strolled the previous 13 miles. Which I had! And you know, I'm glad I did. It was a beautiful summer's day and I was able to really enjoy the event without stressing myself out chasing a time. There's a lot to be said for adopting this approach occasionally!

The big news of the day though was that Chris finished sub 01:55 for a new PB of 01:54:33. He certainly wasn't taking it easy!

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9th August 2015
Chris - Isle of Mull - 01:58:11
Frank - Isle of Mull  - 02:07:46
(Results)

Until this trip I had never been to the Isle of Mull, and I was looking forward to a wee excursion involving the West Highland Train Line (voted top rail journey in the world in 2009), an overnight stay in Oban, and a short sail on the ferry from Oban to Mull and back. Chris and I chose The Vale bar beside Queen Street Station as our rendez-vous point, and that's where the pre-race electrolyte loading commenced, continuing on the train!

Our first stop when we arrived in Oban was at Aulay's Bar. There was still Saturday footy being played and we wanted to see the results come in with a couple of refreshments. Then we made the short trek along The Esplanade to our digs, which were at the Columba Hotel. The room we were allocated had a great view of the The Esplanade and the beach. However, I have yet to understand what on earth was going in the photograph below, which I took from the main window of the hotel room. Any ideas? It's like some sort of Viking ritual, but involving bedroom furniture!

Anyway, it was time to make sure we were well nourished in advance of the run the next day, so we quickly headed to the very nearby (and very good) Ee-usk, where we partook of various carbs, seafood, and electroloyte options. After that it was an early night in preparation for the trip to Mull the next morning.

We arose bright and early, and munched a humongous hotel buffet breakfast in preparation for the day. I also found out that you should never put a slice of bread in a toasting machine more than once. Flames! Scenes!

After that size of brekky I hoped there would be no resultant sea sickness as we headed for the ferry to Mull! I'm glad to say that the journey was sickness free, but it was a very busy ferry, containing quite a few runners, but many more tourists. Unfortunately for the tourists it was a classic wet West Highland day. Of course for the runners that could be seen as an advantage.

Above is the official photo at the start line. You can just make out Chris and me in the third row. By the way, the guy at the front in the red top and white bunnet absolutely scooshed it in 01:09:11. It was one of those events where the route doubles back on itself, so there was an opportunity to see the fast runners as they passed us after they had turned, but we hadn't yet. This guy was absolutely belting along, at what turned out to be an average pace of 3 minutes 16 seconds per kilometre for an entire half marathon distance!! Intriguingly I saw the same chap again the following Saturday running the Strathclyde Parkrun. It's an out and back course so I spotted him when Scarlett and I were about 1.5k in, and he had already run 3.5k. His finishing time for 5k on that occasion was 00:15:23, an average of 3 minutes 5 seconds per kilometre. Awesome.

We also met someone in this smallish group of runners who had run the Barcelona Half Marathon, as we had done in February 2014. We knew this because he had the t-shirt! Small world, etc...

For me the race itself ended up being a bit of a struggle. Not right away, but I did start really feeling it with about 6k to go. If you're a regular reader of this blog you'll notice that I'm having more and more of these episodes and, to be blunt, it's down to not enough training and a lack of conditioning. As you may remember from my heady and enthusiastic post at New Year, this is the opposite of how I wanted to treat 2015, as I wanted to build on a relatively good 2014. I've learnt my lesson though, and will be much more conscientious in 2016. Honest!

One of the highlights of any event is that first cooling glass of electrolytes, as is being enjoyed by Chris here at the finish line beside the Salen Hotel. After the prize giving we then got on an event organised coach which took us back down the running route to Craignure. And we still had time for a couple of swift ones at the Craignure Inn. What a fantastic trip!

 ps If you ever do visit Mull by the train/ferry combination, don't expect one to wait for the other if it's slightly delayed. Our ferry was late in and we just made the train with seconds to spare! Fortunately 'cargos' had already been purchased on Mull, with much foresight.

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5th September 2015 
Frank - Highland Perthshire Half - 01:58:33
(Results)

19th September 2015 
Chris - Scottish Half Marathon - 01:53:12
(Results)

This was the month that the PB for the Half Marathon a Month Challenge went sub 01:54, and it was Christopher who took the honours at the Scottish Half Marathon. More of that later....

I was unable to run the Scottish Half Marathon this year due to a clash with the Ayr Gold Cup race meeting, to which Clare's mum, Frances, had arranged a VIP trip as a Christmas pressy. And what a great day it was too! However, it also meant that I had to find an alternative event for September, and I end up in deepest Perthshire.

Although I'd been to our friends Craig and Julia's wedding in Dunkeld, and visited Pitlochry many, many years ago, this isn't a part of Scotland I am very familiar with, other than passing through it on the way to Aviemore or Inverness. Getting to run around 13.1 miles of it was certainly going to help with my familiarisation.

I have to pay credit to the organisers of the event. It was exceptionally well organised. They even arranged a camping area beside the 'event village' for those were hardy enough to do such a thing. This was not for me of course, I just had to get up exceedingly early and drive from Glasgow to Aberfeldy for the pleasure of running this race. (Not quite as far as Chris's trip to Peterhead in Q2, but still quite a distance).

A nice touch before the start of the Half Marathon (there was a Marathon too), was all the runners being piped down to the start line. I captured a few seconds of this in the video below.

It was a nice and sunny, if somewhat chilly, day, so there was a real opportunity to take in the spectacular scenery around the route. One of the towns we went through was Kenmore, which is beautifully set at the north end of Loch Tay. It also contains the entrance to Taymouth Castle and its grounds, which were a joy to run around until....the big eff off hill! For those of you who know the road around Arthur's Seat in Holyrood Park, Edinburgh the best way I can describe the hill is that it is similar in gradient and distance to the one on the clockwise route. So, it was a good job that I've trained a number of times on the Edinburgh version. 

After that it was almost downhill and flat all the way back to Aberfeldy, so I got a bit of a good pace going, culminating in my first sub 2 hour Half M since May. It felt good.

In keeping with the excellent organisation shown so far at the event, even the post run refreshments went a lot further than the typical fruit and nut bar and bottle of water in a plastic bag. As you can see from the photograph there were loads of goodies! I stuffed my face!

Another nice touch was the opportunity to get your name and time engraved on your medal immediately after the race. They really had put a lot of thought into this event, and I might try and persuade Chris to give it a go next year, even if we have to run the Scottish Half M as well two weeks later.

One regret I have is that I didn't get the chance to visit the Birks of Aberfeldy, which I was only aware existed because of the Burn's song. It is sung at every Hamilton Burns' Club Dinner I've ever been to, and I will never hear it again without thinking of this day!

Leaping forward a fortnight, we find ourselves in East Lothian, where Chris was running his first Scottish Half Marathon. What a great day it must have been. Weather ideal, course fast, and the Cockenzie Power Station chimneys were still there as a landmark to be used during the race. And what an outstanding performance it was with a time of 01:53:12! Chris not only set a Personal Best, but also the best time ever for a HMAMC event. The bar has been raised significantly. Can either of us (i.e. Chris) now go sub 01:53??

Christopher enjoying some well deserved post PB electrolytes.

COMING UP NEXT.....

... The Robin Hood Marathon in Nottingham !