Spring and Autumn Madness: Part II. The Loch Ness Marathon
The Loch Ness marathon – or the Baxter’s Running Festival was held on the 5th of October. I flew up to Scotland to run this event with my daughter – and have some fun together. Flying into the UK via Heathrow’s infamous Terminal 5 there was actually very little drama – didn’t lose any luggage, didn’t get blown up – just never ending queues . There were maybe about 5 separate queues in all, just to get through to the bags.
Heathrow
Queues I think are different in each country. At home, the lines have a certain irritable tension. The British lines just hummed quietly. There was none of that crowding or pushing from the back. The only excitement we had was during the fifth and final queue when one of the security personnel spotted a lonely bag left on the floor. ‘Whose bag is that?; the young uniformed one asked – and with each repetition there was escalating panic in his voice . It actually belonged to a fellow who had gone already through the security xrays – the bag was in the queue about half an hour’s wait behind him. I don’t think he was very popular with the security personnel that morning. As for the rest of us in the queue, we did not run or panic or move. We just stood where we were because we did not want to give up our place in the line. Such is life .
Aberdeen to Inverness
It was a short 2.5 hour drive into Inverness from Aberdeen. The drive was lovely except for the innumerable little roundabouts in Aberdeen . Those I found really trying as most times, they were so nondescript, small and flat that I did not even see them. We arrived on a Friday evening and stayed at a small bed and breakfast establishment called Winston 9. The B& B is situated on the banks of the River Ness, about equidistant from the race expo and the city center – quite a good find. Bright and early the next morning – after a lovely breakfast, we went to see if we could find the run route. We drove round the Loch, found Urquhart Castle, found the Loch Ness Monster exhibits and also discovered how cold and wet Scotland could be. We tried to look for the start point but after climbing several unfriendly windswept hills, we decided that a hot lunch was far more inviting and turned back into town.
Inverness Run Expo 
The run expo was at the Queens stadium. This was also the point for bus pickups to the marathon start line and also the finish line. Like the Sydney run, the expo was inside a large tented structure – but unlike Sydney where I was anxious to get out of the tent, here I was happy to be inside and out of the cold! Every exhibit was visited several times and the goretex gear was fingered several times. I came away with goretex run tights and a yellow Ron Hill jacket. And I sincerely regretted not getting a warm goretex jacket.
And I could not carboload at 3pm.
Run Day.
The run in Inverness started at a very sensible time of 1030am. We had plenty of time to have more of the lovely breakfast – this time with oatmeal porridge on menu. We found other runners at the breakfast table and it was quite fun to hear that at least a few of them had some worrisome tummy troubles as well. So we were not alone! A brisk walk aided by the wind – took us to the stadium where there were several busses ready to take the runners to the startline. They dropped us at what they called the start line. It was in the lonely wind swept hills that we had driven through the day before. Clutching our little run bags, wrapped in jackets, woolies and plastic bags – we looked around cold and forlorn. As did the rest of our bus – then we saw several other runners walking with purpose. We headed towards them and only then did we see the start line – a little banner across a country lane. This was the epicentre with several lines of portaloos radiating away. And yes, of course we 
joined the hardy Scots in the portaloo queues. And by the way I can vouch that using a portaloo in strong winds is a rather surreal experience! Its something like using a ship toilet/ head in a gale except that the ground doesn’t move in tandem with the rest of the loo.
The run
The run was piped off by the swirl of bagpipes . It was so cold and windy I just stumbled along with the crowd unable to feel my feet, The route though was really picturesque, wending its way round meadows , farms and cool woodland areas. We had several miles where we were watched by horses and cows – who stuck their heads through the fences and watched silently and intently as this strange two legged rag tag parade rumbled past. What a strange sight it must have been for them. I could almost hear the chorus of 4 legs good, 2 legs bad. The rolling hills, gurgling streams and little villages made my shuffling run almost pleasurable once my feet unfroze.
The course was marked in miles – and I just could not work out the equivalent in km. So I lost my bearings within the first 10miles As usual I found a group to tag along with / This time I found a lion and a tinman – two gallant young men in costume, raising money for a cancer charity. They sang at every mile marker and it was great to have them around. – 19 miles and we don’t care! Yay! Yay Yay.
I think the second most difficult part of the course was the long climb around mile 18 I took this opportunity to walk and eat my carefully hoarded chocolate bar – still cold and not melted! The hardest part, to me, was around mile 23 when we were nearing the town and I started to miss the rolling country and the trees. Or maybe it was my head saying enough!.
Garmin and Toilets
I lugged my precious new Garmin 405 together with all its paraphernalia all the way to Inverness and to my horror, it refused to charge! We tried all the plugs in the room and the thing remained on low battery before slowly blanking out entirely! It was only after the run that we figured out this was because the watch was cold. It started to charge nicely once it was warmed up in our hands! Apart from that minor disaster, the other problem was the serious lack of toilet amenities for women. Once the race had started, it was either the bushes or the solitary toilet with about 6 people in front. At one village there was a (wait for it) a queue of more than 5 minutes – in time for one lady to go and get some panadol. As one woman put it -” Never you mind the time love, I just want to finish the marathon without smelling of wee! ”
We also invaded the men’s toilets en masse! – and realized that if you are in the male loo, its better to announce your exit with a loud shout – just in case the males are exercising their right to use the gents..
Run Support
The support provided by the run organizers was fantastic with wonderful marshals and lots of lucozade drinks and gels. We also saw mini marshalls decked out in the official t shirts playing with the farmers cats under the drinks tables!. At the finish line, there were bananas, muffins and electrolyte drinks. The goodie bag was heavy with Baxters products and best of all there were warm showers in the stadium and a warm runners tent with hot soup, warm bread and comfortable chairs.
A lovely Scottish experience!
Matasaya 