Ken Matthews - Loch Ness Marathon 6 Oct 2019

“ The Edinburgh Marathon is billed as the fastest marathon on the UK circuit. It certainly produced some fast times for a few Spey Runners. 


The club was represented by Marianne Simpson, Vicky Burtt, Alex Mitchell and Ken Matthews. Pitching themselves against the heavy rain, high winds and a substantial loop in the route each of the club runners completed the course in respectable times. 


Starting in the centre of Edinburgh the route winds it’s way out of the city taking in the Royal Mile, and Scottish Parliament before heading towards the coast. Then it’s a windy coastal run through Musselburgh and onwards to Gosford House before looping back to Musselburgh and the finish. 


Despite the rain and horrendous high winds on the day, the seemingly never ending route loop, and the final six mile head wind, all four Spey Runners reached the finish line to loud and enthusiastic crowds. The crowds were a wonderful morale booster throughout the race it has to be said. 


Huge congratulations go to Spey Runner, Marianne Simpson who took first place female in her category. A fabulous effort. 


Whether the fab Four will decide to run the Edinburgh Marathon again remains to be seen. What’s for certain however is if they do, they’ll be hoping for kinder weather! “

Ken Matthews 

I was delighted to receive the Spey runners Club place for the London Marathon 2018.
My training began at the beginning of the year, giving me 16 weeks of training.  It was a difficult training period due to the weather conditions being particularly cold.  Lot’s of snow, slush, cold wind and rain to contend with.   My training was  simple consisting mainly of two "back to back” sessions .
On the Sunday and Monday I did  hill runs on the Slorachs Hill at the edge of Fochabers all off -road, doing 26 mies over  both days.  As the first days run got longer , the recovery run on the second day got shorter.    Tuesday was a rest day from running, however I did do a few miles walking  - keeping the dog happy.   Wednesday a shorter hill run about 6 miles gradually increasing, and the club run on a Thursday.  Friday was a strength and conditioning session, Saturday a rest day and then it was Sunday training again.   I found that these sessions worked well with my work / home schedule , gave me hard training and sufficient rest.  I also did  some road running up to  22 miles as a long run, again introducing as many hills as possible into the route. My weekly mileage grew to just over 40 miles per week about two thirds into my training.

Going into the Marathon I felt strong and well prepared, until I saw the weather fore cast!  That was something that Winter training could not prepare me for.  I did the Paris marathon in 2016 and the same thing happened. Winter training then a hot day of 21 degrees on  Marathon day , I knew it was going to be tough, and tough it was.  I prepared by hydrating as soon as I got to London on the Friday.  I don’t think I’ve drank as much water in my life.  Using Electrolytes and salt tablets on the day as well as drinking as much as possible worked well for me.  However I did get cramp twice at mile 15 and again a couple of miles later.  I’ve never used salt tablets before therefore it was a bit of a guessing game how many to take. Having not experienced cramp when running before I had no idea how painful and debilitating it could be.  I had to stop and massage my leg to be able to get going again, but thankfully I WAS  able to get going again.
The crowds on the streets off London were fantastic, every  inch of the 26.2 miles.  I have ran a few Marathons over the years and have never experienced such an exciting atmosphere.
It was the hottest London Marathon ever recorded, the temperature reaching  24 degrees, there were a lot of runners suffering on the route and after.  Every runner who crossed the line regardless of their time should be very proud of their achievement.

Thank you Spey Runners  for giving me this fantastic opportunity.  I ran London in 2015 in 4hrs 20 mins and was hoping for a similar time, however it wasn’t to be. My  finishing time was 4hrs 35 mins, I suppose under the circumstances I shouldn’t be too hard on myself - however you know what we runners are like!  

Hopefully Spey Runners will be allocated a place at the London Marathon in 2019, I would say to all Spey Runners, if you have ever contemplated doing a Marathon, then try for the Club place.  You will not regret it and will experience a Marathon like no other.  

Scarlett Courtney

Inverness 1/2 marathon was my first ever half marathon race - I’d been toying with the idea from the end of 2016 but never felt confident enough and kept putting it off!  However, after regularly attending Spey Runners club runs and picking up tips from the other members I found I was becoming much more consistent in my running and thinking that maybe I could.  So, I bit the bullet and signed up.    

Training consisted of the weekly club runs and a longer run at the weekend with some of my Spey Runners who are training for a marathon.  

Even with the training and building up miles to 16 miles in training I still never felt ready and was nervous.   

The conditions were great on the day, albeit a bit chilly and there were all abilities of runners with different reasons for participating.   My plan was just to keep running and  finish!  I was delighted to finish with a time of 2 hrs 13mins and collect my all important piece of bling lol!

All the Spey Runners who took part in this event had great runs and we all thoroughly enjoyed the day.