I did it I did it I did it!!!!!!
Hee hee – I can hardly believe it. Little me who was never picked for the team in PE at school – I have just run my first Half Marathon in…………

2hrs 25mins!!!!

It was a fantastic day. The usual nerves that I get are due to making sure that I am there on time, and that I can get parked etc. but we had come up to Aviemore for the weekend so I just had to make my way out of the hotel into the car park and the organisers had laid on buses to take us all up to the race start. Got chatting to lovely lady on bus who was in her mid sixties, she had taken up running a couple of years ago cause she wanted to do a marathon before it was too late!! She now runs a Jogscotland group near Inverness.

The sun was shining and the air a bit nippy at first – but we were quite high up – everyone seemed to be quite relaxed. The start was delayed by about 10 mins as we waited on the last bus arriving, but that was fine – a wee bit extra time to sneak another visit to the loo! The first 7ish miles were on forest tracks and there were quite a few up and down hills which were a surprise. but the terrain was perfect – it is quite sandy up in that area. The views over Loch Morlich were stunning and it made me feel calm. The early morning chill had gone – and it was now roasting – for goodness sake – this is the highlands in October – the first snowfall is usually within the next couple of weeks!!

Once we came out onto the road section there was a well trodden grass track at the side of the road which again provided a bit of relief. It was mainly flat or slightly down hill from this point. I got to the 10 mile point at 1hr 50 which is faster than I have done on my training runs and was feeling confident that I might just surprise myself. But I also reminded that I had never managed to run any further than this distance so didnt know what to expect. I brought my pace up a wee bit – but I couldnt sustain it and started to slow down. After I passed 12 miles I then seriously had doubts that I could make it I was knackered – but there was a wee women sitting out at a pub cheering us on – and she just shouted ‘come on you’re doing great’ as I was going a bit slower at this point I looked right at her and she looked right at me and I really felt her willing me on. As I turned into the last stretch I could hear the music and crowds cheering and I totally relaxed and started laughing. When I ran up to that finish line I had the biggest grin, but was kind of sobbing all in one. This feeling is out of this world.

I will never ever forget this day – I still cant quite believe it.

My muscles are a bit sore today – and I have just come back from a hobble round Tesco’s. The outside of my left foot is a bit sore – other than that I am on top of the world.

When I started with Jogscotland I could barely run for 10 minutes and 16 months later I am able to run for 2hrs 25 mins (had to get the time in again) without stopping and it just shows what a great programme this is. In providing support and encouragement it has enabled me to do something I could never have imagined.

And that is just fan-flipping-tastic!!

Shirley Ann Duncan

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 15th, 2006 at 10:00 am and is filed under Race Diaries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.