A great race report from Jacqueline MacIntyre on her experiences at the weekends 'Adventures in Wonderland' Marathon. An excellent performance from Jac, coming 1st overall and winning the event outright in a time of 4:42:55. Also running was Isobel Burnett, putting in a strong run to finish in 5:43:13. We also had Zuleika Brett running in the half marathon, finishing in an excellent 2:59:04.
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It was around spring time when I first became aware of chat developing on FB regarding a new off-road trail marathon organised by 'The Mad Hatters', starting and finishing at Lochore Meadows (or 'The Meedies' as it’s more locally known). The initial posts were all about identifying the best time of year to hold the event, and a decision was made that the inaugural event would be held in October 2018, followed by February every year thereafter.
There were no second thoughts, 'I’m in' as this event ticked all the boxes; local, trails, hills, no chance of getting lost and minimal inconvenience in the form of childcare, where do I sign?! It took several months for numbers to pick up, but as interest grew, so did the events and we now had an ultra, marathon and half marathon all taking place on Sat 13th October at staggered start times.
It’s the first time for such a long event that I haven’t followed a training plan, but after consultation with my training buddy and ultra legend Joanna Murphy, I decided to concentrate on getting as many 18 mile training runs on the trails and hills as I possibly could. The majority of these took place around Blairadam Forrest, Benarty Hill or hiking up the Bishop and over to Holl Reservoir, everything was pretty much going to plan until I got into the month before the event and went on a boozy weekend away to Spain with the girls, followed by a niggly hamstring which saw me miss two long runs. However some enforced rest seemed to do me no harm, and with a week to go the taper was going nicely.
On the morning of the race Jo arrived to taxi me to the park at 8am, and the nerves were beginning to kick in. During registration we met with Izzy B and Lesley H who were also lining up at the start of the marathon. We caught a glimpse of Egle in the canteen who I believe had been there an hour or so earlier to say farewell to David who was tackling the 40 mile ultra. The weather gods were not shining and the rain was constant, I decided against any waterproofs and opted for my harriers T-shirt and skort, as I was of the opinion anymore clothing would just get soaked and add to the weight I had to carry. The countdown came and went then we were off!
I started at the front of the pack and settled into a rhythm running alongside Scott Robb, who has completed the WHW Race twice as well as the recent UTMR. It wasn’t really an option to set a specific pace from the start as the route is so undulating, and within the first mile we were making our way up the steep climb of Harran wood. This is when my common sense prevailed, and the four guys I was running with all pulled over to remove their waterproof jackets as I jogged on past them up the hill. My focus was to run within myself and not to feel like I was pushing hard from the start. The first 5/6 miles passed in no time, and we were arriving at the first check point at the RSPB, greeted by the smiley Jo and lovely twinnnies Pauline and Fiona, I was feeling in very high spirits. I continued along the Loch Leven trail and up towards Kinneswood, arriving at the next checkpoint and expecting my drop bag of Yazoo milkshake and Rice Krispie squares only to be informed the drop bags had not yet been dropped off! Oh well no time to hang around, and thankfully I had a few gels in my pack and was carrying some active root so had enough to keep me going.
Then began the steepest climb of the race, up Whitecrags, which given the weather conditions and the fact the ultra competitors had already left their mark, was pretty much hands and knees grabbing onto grass and heather to prevent sliding back down to the start. I do love a good climb though, and unbeknown to me by the time I reached the top I had worked my way into first place. It was around the 11 mile mark when I caught up with the tail runner from the ultra who confirmed I was leading the marathon and no one else had passed them on the route. Wow not quite sure how that happened but my plan was simple, head down and keep going as strong as I can then what will be will be! I passed through a further checkpoint near to Holl Reservoir and was pleased to see Jo and Lesley who became my chief supporters for the day. There was no hanging around, I knew what I needed to do and was going to give it my best shot to maintain this position.
After a pretty steady two mile climb up towards the golf ball (Whitecraigs), in knew I had a nice downhill section and fairly flat run back onto the Loch Leven trail ahead of me. I ended up running quite a bit of this section with a guy who turned out to be 3rd place in the ultra race. It was around 19 miles when I reached the tarmac at Kinneswood and began heading for Loch Leven, which strangely was my worst part of the entire race! This flat section which I had in my head would be one of the easiest seemed to make everything hurt, and I began getting the odd twinge of cramp in my calf’s and hamstrings. However it was only a couple of miles until I reached the checkpoint at RSPB and met with Team Carnegie. The focus remained and I had one climb left to tackle up the zigzag path heading to Benarty Hill, then down through Harran Wood and along the pit road towards the train.
The last mile along the concrete path seemed to zap the last bit of energy I had, but with my two wee boys waiting in the pouring rain and screaming at me to go faster, nothing was going to stop me passing through the inflatable finish sign and gaining the victory of being first home in the Mad Hatters Marathon. All in all an excellent event from start to finish, well organised and the best medal I have in my collection with a very unique design, a race which I very much plan on running again. ... See MoreSee Less
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