The Lisbon Marathon, 10.10.2026

Mini break to Lisbon for some sunshine and running!

A cheeky wee drive down to Glasgow after work on Tuesday, ready for an early flight on Wednesday morning.

Off the plane, and into the sunshine in time for lunch! The marathon was not until Saturday, so we had a couple of days to explore.

After checking in to our apartment, we headed out for a sightseeing run/ walk. The city is so beautiful! I loved the patterned tiles, and pastel coloured buildings lining the steep cobbled streets (slippy!) stretching up to the blue sky. Finished off our tour with our first Pastel del Nata at Café Tradicional - wow!

On Thursday, we headed up to the Castelo de São Jorge. What a place! So many peacocks!

Afterwards, we caught the train from Santa Apolóina over to the Marathon Expo at the Feira Internacional de Lisboa, to pick up our running numbers. A massive expo - 15,000 runners in the marathon on the Saturday, plus a half marathon and 8km on the Sunday!

Friday was another day for exploring, starting with the Botanical Gardens, a quiet haven amidst all the hustle and bustle of the city. 

Then time for sampling of the Ginjinha, a Portugese cherry liquor which can be served in edible chocolate cups - drink the liquor then eat the cup.... a bit like the world's best ever chocolate liquor you get in boxes at Christmas. What a great invention! 

Then a quick stop for a Pastel de Nata at Pastelaria Camões, and the conclusion of our ongoing Pastel de Nata weekend taste test:

• Café Tradicional - first pastel de nata experience, and therefore my favourite. And I learnt you can sprinkle cinnamon on top!
• Pastelaria Herculano - award for most creamy and vanilla-ry custard.
• Pastelaria Camões - a more mellow custard, went well with coffee! 

Thus energized, it was time for a boat trip along the River Tagus.

Saturday was an early start, up at 4.30 am (still nice and cool at that time!), and ready to leave at 5.00am to head to the station at Cais do Sodre. The marathon starts at Carcavelos, around 12 miles west of Lisbon, and by entering the marathon, you get free transport to the start included by showing your race bib. It was all exceptionally well organised, and very easy to get to the start.

The start area was also great. Loads of portaloos, WITH water AND soap - luxury indeed!!! Baggage trucks were available to take your bag back to Lisbon. There were 6 colour coded starting waves, and all was very well organised and smooth.

My wave started at 8.08 and off we set, heading out west first of all, away from Lisbon, for about 7 miles to Cascais before the route turned round and headed back all the way along the coast to the finish at Lisbon.

I was already feeling too hot when we started 🤣 My summer in the Highlands providing no opportunities for any heat acclimatisation! But coming somewhere hot was the point of coming here, after all, so no point moaning! And, it was very nice novelty to feel too hot. Until about mile 20, when I did a u-turn on this thought, and started dreaming of rain and clouds (even just one!) My dreams were answered! There were several shower points along the route, including some hoses from fire engines!

I'd forgotten that European marathons do distance markers in KM instead of the miles at home. I quite like this, as they appear more quickly, which is reassuring for progress. Until you reach the 26th one and realise that that's not the end, and there are still another 16 to go. To distract myself from this somewhat crushing blow (which is always a suprise however many times it happens), I played a game trying to work out who else running was from the UK by which other watches were beeping at the same time as mine on the miles, and not on the KMs.

The route was gorgeous; alongside the sea and Tagus river the whole way, with many interesting things to look at, including the Forte de São Julião da Barra, Torre del Belém, the Padrāo dos Descobrimentos, Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, and then running underneath the Ponte 25 de Abril suspension bridge.There was a brilliant vibe and great support, and lots of water stations on the route with bottled water, and a couple with gels and power aid too.

The finish is amazing, coming back to the old town, looping under the Arco Triunfal da Rua Augusta, and over the finish line in Praça do Comércio. I finished in 3:43:33, and my happiness was increased further on discovering you were given an ice cream IMMEDIATELY after finishing! What a race!

Nice to sit down in the sun and meet up with Andrew afterwards, followed by refuelling with pizza, and another sightseeing walk to Parque Eduardo VII.

An absolutely fabulous mini break! I love Lisbon!!! And I thought the marathon was an altogether excellent event; I would love to do it again 🇵🇹 😎☀️

The Loch Ness Marathon, 27.09.2026

The Loch Ness Marathon is one of my top favorite runs of all time..... the scenery is beautiful, the vibe is awesome, and the entire weekend is a whole lot of Highland fun! 🦕🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿😍

​Saturday: including the Expo and monster hunting

​The weekend starts with the Expo on Saturday, where, along with collecting my race number, I also met a few members of the Nessie family and a giant can of soup! Of course! 🤣

The rest of the day was spent fuelling with doughnuts, continuing with the Nessie hunting, lunch, doing some essential Nessie-themed shopping, and a nice walk around town being tourists. Thanks Cors for my race day hair!

Sunday: bagpipes and a breakthrough!

​Sunday started at 5:00 AM 😴😫 with Theo wanting to get involved in getting ready....

.... followed by the 7:30 AM bus pickup from the ice rink town (so many buses - 6000 people doing the marathon!!!)...

....a big convoy all along the loch to the start near Whitebridge, and then standing around in the rain for an hour at the start line...

Standing shivering in the wet and cold isn't really in my top favourite list of ways to spend a Saturday morning, but Loch Ness has the absolute best start line in the world, so I can make an exception. Standing in the misty rain as the bagpipes played is such a splendidly spine-tinglingly atmospheric (if chilly) moment! Once we were off, I settled into my rhythm, and enjoyed the run, finishing in 3:33:02 which is a brand new personal best for me ☺️

I never thought I would set another marathon PB. My last one was back in 2015, and no matter how hard I tried over the years, a new target time felt as elusive as Nessie (well actually even more elusive —there have been 17 official Nessie sightings this year already!) 

​When I crossed the finish line, I don't mind saying that I had a good big cry (and thank you to the very lovely marshal who gave me a massive hug!). I think it was relief—not just for surviving 26.2 miles of managing my mind and it's negativity, but also for shedding 11 years of those thoughts, and finally proving myself wrong!

I do think that adding in structured weight training into my routine has been helping to build up my physical strength, which has definitely helped. But also (and more suprisingly to me!) I also think it’s helping to shift how I think about things. That to get stronger in what you can lift, you have to fail along the way as you build things up, and that's OK. And actually, without failing, you won't get stronger or progress. So failure is part of the process. And I have started thinking in that way with my running too. Before, I would look at speed sessions/ training plans and think, there's no way I can run that pace, I'm not good enough for that, and so I wouldn't try it. But now, although obviously those thoughts still circle in my mind, I more often than not ignore them, and just go out and try it anyway. It's so freeing! So what if I can't do exactly what the session says? Who actually cares! I'll probably still manage more than I thought I could, or would have done without it, and over time, by keeping on doing it, you'll get there in the end. 

Thank you Matthew at MKW Fitness! I absolutely love the sessions I do there with Andrew twice per week, and I never thought I would say I find weight training fun! But there you go: sometimes doing something completely different in one area of your life helps you get a little bit closer what you’ve been aiming for in another 😊

A soup-er weekend (thanks everyone for giving us your goody bag soup tins that are too big for the plane!🥫)

Three ultras and a marathon (#393 - #396)

I've missed the rhythm of multi-day events, so having an opportunity to experience a bit of that again was pure magic!

Part 1: Triple London weekend.....
It felt good to be back on a multi-day streak, and I quickly settled into an enjoyable and familiar cycle of running, catching up, falling over (OK, not so good!), recovering, enjoying London, and repeating it all a couple more times!

★Saturn Running Midweek Chasing Medal Madness (27.1 miles) 21.08.26
★Phoenix Running Duck & Run Day 1 (marathon) 22.08.26
★Phoenix Running Duck & Run Day 2 (29.5 miles)  23.08.26

Part 2: Laich o'Moray 30 miles with North of Scotland LDWA, 29.08.26......

Back up in Scotland for a family adventure with my Mum, Auntie Nicky, and cousin Sammy. Some days just feel good for the soul, and this was one! 🙏

An excellent hike, on a beautiful route. We set off from Rafford, wound along trails to Forres, and climbed up to Nelson's Tower, before heading to the coast at Findhorn (accompanied by the unexpected roar of car racing at Kinloss airfield!). From there, we enjoyed the views along the coastal trails to Roseisle Forest, before dropping down to Alves, then along small roads and forest trails back to Rafford. 

The 30 miles flew by, punctuated at frequent intervals with proper belly laughs (jellybums and wine gums, checkpoint cup confusion, and completely unnecessary sprints up grassy banks🤣). A reminder of how good it is, and how lucky we are, to be able to be outside, moving, and enjoying beautiful places with great company 💕 A first class day! 

The Moray Way 100 miles, with Moray Way Ultras, 27.06.2026

That was one tough, but beautiful and amazing, race! 

We started off at 5am on Saturday, from Grant Park in Forres!

Headed along the roads, up to the coast at Findhorn, then through the dunes, Roseisle Forest, and coastal trails, all the way to the beach at Lossiemouth. This is such a magical place, I could easily run here all day every day, and never tire of it! 

The first checkpoint was at Lossiemouth, and then it was back on to the beach for a bit, followed by the famous "5km to hell" section. I've renamed this, as I think it's longer than 5km, and also there's no 'to' about it - running on that bl***y shingle for miles and miles I would say is like being in hell already. So, the "several miles in hell" section went on, and on.... and on, until finally we reached Kingston-on-Spey. 

On leaving the shingle, I retrieved the tiny remaining part of my will to carry on from deep down within myself, and we headed inland, along lanes down to the next checkpoint at 35 miles at Fochabers (best name ever). 

I topped up my bag with 1.5 L water, had 500ml coke, and also topped up my snacks from my drop bag. Then onwards down the Speyside Way. The next section was about 19 miles, and went up Ben Aigen. I don't know how (well, the heat I guess!), but even with all that fluid plus an impromptu checkpoint and water top up at Middle Earth....

....I was just so thirsty that I completely ran out of water about 5 miles before the next checkpoint. Obviously, got very dehydrated, started to feel sick, and that was that. 

Made it to the next checkpoint at Carron, and had a wee rest and rehydrate. None of the foods in my carefully prepared drop bags were at all appealing anymore! I was very disappointed, as I was trying VERY hard to get my fuelling right this time, and had spent ages planning it all out and preparing my drop bags! But hey ho, we carry on....

The next section started off with lots of runnable miles along the old Strathspey Railway line, through whiskey country, and past several distilleries. Oh, how nice it would have been to stop at one! 

Then (and as soon as I got there, I remembered this nightmare from the Speyside 100 a couple of years ago!) the new "several miles in hell" to rival the original shingle beach "several miles in hell" began. The farmer has rerouted the Speyside Way around their land, following I think the top of an old wall. The path is thus made up of random rocks and stones placed at cheekily jaunty angles, between grass, holes, secret holes covered in grass, etc. This all provides endless opportunities for lurching off your feet in exciting and non-vertical directions, and to make it even more thrilling, your face will end up terrifyingly close to the barbed wire fence the farmer has decided to enclose the narrow path with on both sides. Oh, and there are chain styles every so many meters, just to make it extra fun. I think it's about 10km that section, and I can tell you for sure, that by the end of it, I was dreaming of shingle beaches and wishing I was back there! 

Anyway, I wouldn't want my excessive moaning to detract at all from how enchanting the majority of the route was. Aside from the evil farmy bit and the shingle beach, 93/102 miles were a complete DREAM!

After leaving the farmland, there was a few miles through forest, before dropping back down to the old railway line and then down to the River Spey.

Checkpount 4 was at Grantown-on-Spey at 74 miles. I was really struggling with feeling nauseous by then, and was feeling all out of energy. But, the checkpoint was in a village hall, and everyone in there - marshals, runners, crew - were all so lovely, and it also had luxury loos and nice smelling soap, so felt a bit better after a quick freshen up!  

Then it was off out to the final 28 miles along the Dava Way back to Forres. The Dava Way is along another old railway line (the old Highland Railway), and the first few miles are a gradual up, to the summit on Dava Moor, then the rest is all downhill! 

It was starting to get dark, but didn't need my headtorch until after 11, it's crazy how light it is almost all night here in midsummer! I've got a new one, as my old and trusty one was about as powerful as tealight flickering in a breeze, and it was so joyful to have such a bright view of the night! I loved this section, and managed to get back into more of a rhythm with my running. The most difficult part of this bit was trying to avoid all the frogs which were sat on the trail - it was mad, I've never seen so many before, for miles and miles! I think i managed to avoid squishing any! 🐸🐸🐸

The final checkpint at mile 91 was at Edinkillie. I tried a bit of kendal mint cake and a bit of a kendal mint cake gel, in a desperate attempt to take on some sort of energy. This did not go down well! About 7 miles from the end, in a dramatic finale, I started projectile vomiting, into the light of my headtorch, like something from the Exorcist. Luckily, no one else was around to see it!

Just keeping going, just keep going! Finally, it was off the Dava Way, and through Sanquhar Woods to Forres, where I got completely lost in the woods about a quarter of a mile to go. For the life of me, I could not orientate myself to work out how to get back on to the route! In the end, I summoned enough mental energy to manage to get back on track and in the right direction, and crossed the finish line back in Grant Park, phew!

I was so relieved to finish! 

My time was 23.40.51, and I was 2nd female to finish, and got a lovely wooden trophy and a Moray Way Ultras coffee mug! 

Met some lovely people on the way around, and had some excellent chats. At the checkpoints, some other runners' crews asked me if they could do anything, as I didn't have a crew myself; how nice is that! The marshals were all outstanding, and so very kind! The Moray Way Ultras community is so so lovely! Thank you Kyle, Debbie and the whole Moray Way Ultras team for a truely epic adventure! 🧡🧡🧡

Also 📸 : Steven Simmers Photography, Ray Liversidge, Andrew, and me.