Glen Ogle 33 feels like unfinished business. More accurately it’s actually non-started business but that doesn’t sound quite as dramatic and unstarted would be ruled out by Dictionary Corner. 

I entered the 2019 race and was looking forward to a good day out with my pals. Pitreavie had a sizeable contingent that year and for many it was their debut ultra. It would have been mine too. But I got the chance of a lifetime to go and live and work in Chicago, continuing my love affair with the city and it started a process that would set me off on the road to the Chicago Marathon (the subject of the last blog that you can still read underneath here if you scroll down a bit). 

Speaking of scrolling, I know this doesn’t look great if read on a mobile. I’ve done all my uploading on a desktop and it was only the other day when dusting down the blog that I spotted the visuals on mobile weren’t the greatest. I’d say I’ll have that fixed soon but you might need to roll with it unless there’s a WordPress expert out there who comes to the rescue. 

So, four years later than planned, I am heading for Killin in November for the 2023 Glen Ogle 33 (GO33). If it’s purely based on times, then I’m not as good a runner as the 2019 version but as I hinted at a few times in the Chicago blog, in many ways I think I’m a better runner than I was back then. I know my body and how to manage it better, I’ve got a wee bit more experience with Chicago and a marathon training block under my belt and I’m feeling the benefits of doing a bit more cross training. Get the stretching and diet sorted and I’m Western States ready! 😊

However, before we all get carried away and think this is going to be a walk in the park, my achilles tendinosis is back. Thankfully this time it’s just in the one leg rather than both but from the minute you wake up in the morning and take your first few steps out of bed, you get an uncomfortable reminder that all is not well. It feels a bit like the tendon has gone 12 rounds with an apprentice welder or me back in my soldering days! It does ease off with movement but there is a lingering tightness that can feel a bit debilitating when you are running and if you let it get into your head, it can convince you that you’re a step away from the A&E. But I’ve managed it before – I had it for about 18 months the last time – and I’ll manage it again. Admittedly I wasn’t trying to train for and run an ultra last time.  I am trying to do more of the stuff they recommend that you do to help it…but I’m still running too. Stopping running is just not an option for a few reasons all of which feel like good ones to me. The last time I was convinced I had the tendinosis for life and then one day it felt much better and the next day it was pretty much back to normal. A similar ‘cure’ before November would be great.

Just as Chicago was the perfect place for the debut marathon, Killin and Glen Ogle is the perfect location for the debut ultra. I know it’s a popular choice for many ‘1^st Ultras’. Killin is a place that I associate with escapism, relaxation and serenity. It’s where you can go to hit the off switch for a bit or recharge the batteries. It’s a place where I can enjoy myself in good company, but also times where I enjoy the solitude. It’s also a place I associate with rain, fishing, music, laughter, midgies and fish and chip vans. On the entry form for Glen Ogle, you are asked to give an estimated finishing time. I told them it was my first ultra, gave them my Chicago marathon time and told them not to worry, I’d try to get home as quick as I could in time for the fish and chip van opening. If ever there was a carrot on the end of a stick luring you to the finish line, it is the Killin Fish and Chip Van. I was in the village a few weeks ago on what was Global Running Day (or something like that). I’d spent most of the afternoon walking, taking in the great route along Loch Tay and up towards the Falls of Dochart and had no real plans to run. But by 6pm, the sun was still shining and I grabbed the trainers and headed off for a shortened version of a loop I drew up for one of the marathon long runs. The loop leaves the village and takes you out to Lochay Power Station on a single track road, before heading back with a tree canopy shading you from the sun but also camouflaging the amazing hills and mountains that tower above you. If you ever enter the Killin 10k, you’ll take in a fair bit of this loop and despite never having ran the race, I’d recommend it, although part of the fun is when you have the place to yourself or more likely sharing it with the cows and sheep. It’s not part of the route for GO33 sadly, but if I can manage a few training runs up there, I’ll probably run that loop a few times. The best bit about it? You finish at the Fish and Chip Van (I’m not sponsored btw, but I’m open to offers, even if it’s a wee pizza crunch on the side).

The day after that, I got up really early and walked along the Glen Ogle viaduct towards Lochearnhead. It wasn’t lost on me that I was quite high up looking down across the village and the loch and that on race day, what goes down, has to come back up! So plenty of sessions on the stair-stepper between now and November to build up these chicken legs the best I can. I’m looking forward to it. Looking forward to the training, to the writing and the race weekend. I’ll try to blog regularly without getting spammy, and might try and few different bits and pieces with the tech too (I got an older version GoPro recently and want to try it out). However much you pop in for a read, cheers for coming along for the ride!