Running Stories from Alasdair Meldrum!

With a bit of time between Christmas and New Year I decided to try and order my top 11 "events" this year (I did try and restrict to 10 but thought they were all worthy of a place)!! There were no massive PB’s, in fact for most of these events I have no clue where I finished, they were all done to try and keep a bit of focus on a very strange year!!  No 1 - 29th Aug Galloway Ring of Fire 48miles, 30 summits  No 2 - Oct 30th / 31st – Ayrshire Coastal path 100 and something miles FKT  No 3 - Oct 8th / 9th – Southern Upland Way – St John Town of Dalry to Beattock 54.5miles support runner for Jack Scott FKT run  No 4 - Sat 12th June 2020 Virtual West Highland Way Race – team of 10  No 5 – 15th Feb Carnethy Five  No 6 - Midnight Thursday 11th June –12:00 Noon Sunday 21stJune 2020 Virtual West Highland Way Race  No 7 - 8th Aug WHW Devil – Fort William to Tyndrum – 43miles  No 8 - 2nd Feb. 2020 - Falkirk Calendar Park 8hr ultra race  No 9 - 12th Sep...

The day started early with a 3.10am alarm call, and a 3.45am pick up by Mark Canning who was going to provide driving support for the rest of the day. The official start of the Ayrshire Coastal Path is a small carpark at Glenapp half way between Stranraer and Ballantrae. I have a bit of history with the ACP as 8 years ago I had bravely (or rather stupidly) suggested I could run it over two days. So with a 12hr run from Glenapp to Ayr, an overnight at home in Ayr, followed by a very painful 12hr stint saw me complete the 88mile route in 36hrs. This time I was aiming to do the extended route which took in local landmarks Burns Cottage, Dundonald Castle, Kilwinning Abbey and Knock Hill which according to the official guide book is 100miles. The longest I had run before was the 95mile West Highland Way Race in 2019 and I failed in my attempt to complete it in less than 24hrs https://www.blogger.com/u/1/blog/post/edit/4258126451196007456/2139774810999115412 After doing the Ring of Fire ( ...