March 2008 Day 1

Milngavie - Balmaha, 19 miles

Aaaah. Never has an inn looked so welcome. Not that I wasn't enjoying myself. I was. Immensely. I just hurt. Lots. My lost fitness is going to make this week a lot less comfortable than it should be. But the main problem today was my poor little tootsies. I think the combination of hard trail shoes and lots of downhills meant they got an unexpectedly tough bashing. The big toenails are now coming off, and both big toe ends feel painfully bruised, although there is no discolouration. All other toes have blistered ends. But enough of the whinging. This was my first time on the WHW. The route that I have been reading and dreaming about for so long. And it didn't disappoint. What spectacular scenery. For the early part of the run I was just stunned. Met up with Mags, Jim, and Mike at Milngavie station and we set off. It was a very sedate pace, almost 12 minute miling, but to my overly rested and out of condition body, it felt so much faster. After a few miles we were joined by Keith and Jon. The boys were naturally much faster and when I stopped to take a photo Mags dropped back to join me and we let the others speed off. We stuck to the rules - walk the ups and run the flats and downs. Unless of course you want to walk the flats and downs - something I did a lot of once I'd said goodbye to Mags at Drymen. In fact I did quite a lot of walking and dawdling. And stopping to admire the view. And take photos. And make phone calls. And send texts. And fetch. And blog. All in all, it was quite a leisurely run. Mags was great company and must have been keeping my head focussed, as within 2 miles of running alone, my head had switched off. I had been running down a road for over a mile, which on any other day would have been ideal as it was a lovely downhill slope. But today every downhill step meant painful toes. At the bottom of the hill, I reached Drymen. Ummm Drymen is where I'd left Mags 3 miles earlier. A quick check of the map confirmed that running down the hill had been an unecessary exercise, as I now had to run back up it to get back on the track. Grrr. I had actually written on my map 'careful' for that point, as it had highlighted it on one of the links that Loon Dod had sent me. I had laughed when I wrote it, as one path was a forest track and the other was open road. But apparently that didn't necessarily mean I could tell the difference. Back on track, I was running through a some lovely forested areas. The terrain all day had been varied - some open landscapes with beautiful views, forest tracks, old railway line, and some very quiet roads. Once I was through the forest it was time to climb Conic Hill. I have to be honest and say I didn't entirely enjoy this. It was steep, the track was very difficult and I was clambering over boulders and stones. And it went on forever. But near the top, the views were stunning - across Loch Lomond, the surrounding Highlands, and the snowy top of Ben Lomond. Wow. But if I thought it was tough climbing up, it was 10 times tougher coming down. At times I nearly cried. My feet were hurting so much and the descent was over tricky terrain where you were picking your way over rocks. All the time trying to stay balanced on the very steep slope. But it didn't last forever, and the trail eventually levelled out and became much nicer underfoot. There was even a lovely short forest section. And then I reached Balmaha carpark which the trail crosses. I was looking for where the trail picked up again, and realised I was standing outside the Oak Tree Inn, where I had a bed booked for the night. Woohoo. I could finally take my shoes off!! I have learnt a lot today. Mainly that I really cannot slack off with the training if I want to manage the race in June. That should be a good motivator next time I cba to go out. Total mileage 21.06 in 6.06. I know it's laughably slow but the last couple of miles took about 90 minutes as they included Conic Hill! Can't wait for tomorrow's run.