Hazel Robertson reports on a happy day (following a spring of colds and sinus problems):
Result 3:27:46

Position 8/110 Females, 2/23 in F 45-49 category – and I got a prize for that !!!

It was an absolutely fantastic day – beautiful sunny dry weather all day with just a slight breeze to keep cool. After a few setbacks late on during training, I had downgraded my expectations, however, felt good on the day and set off strong. Felt great at the half way and realized I could make my target if I could just keep plodding on at the same or even a slightly slower pace. It is the best of 4 marathons I have done in terms of feeling good most of the way round (who feels good after mile 22?!!). I overtook a couple of women around mile 21 and that gave me another boost – one of whom crept up on me and slipped by at mile 25. We sprinted to the finish line and I’m a bit embarrassed about how competitive I was, just beating her by 1 second in the end! Anyway great result for me, a PB, and improvement of 13 minutes from last year. I was stunned to receive a prize for being the 2nd in the Female Vets 45-49 and picked up a nice wee trophy and a bath sheet (odd prize but I guess it was what a sponsor offered!). Good advert for Vegan Runners as well.

Recommend it to anyone who does not like crowds – only around 400 people strung out along “the Road to the Isles”, running along a lochside with Ben Nevis and lots of other mountains in the background. Just fabulous. Can’t wait for next time.