Happily Ever After
Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running
Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.
River Ness 10k 2025
by Russell Turner - 17:23 on 28 September 2025
I wouldn’t say I was quietly confident about today’s River Ness 10k – I’ve done enough duff runs by now to know that nothing’s guaranteed – but I thought there was a chance of a decent time. A course featuring twice as much descent as ascent can inspire optimism.
Matchgirl offered to chauffeur me to the start, which was optimistic too. The roads were choked with shoppers and runners so I left her Mini at the Asda and trotted the final few minutes to Inverness Royal Academy where an inaudible Microphone Woman was offering advice and encouragement to the assembling throng. Left in the Mini was my baggage (hoodie, jogging bottoms, phone and banana) because I wasn’t certain I’d get there before the baggage wagons departed at 10am. As it happened, I would have been fine but better safe than sorry. The unhappy Forres Harrier who arrived five minutes late was less pleased. I don’t know what she did with her bag.
Fifteen minutes before the off we were called, in order of estimated finish time, to the start where I joined the humble group hoping to complete the 10k in under 60mins, although finding myself next to someone aiming for 90mins left me a little confused. No matter, and no pacers, so when the hooter sounded I set off at a very slightly less than comfortable pace with the simple race plan of staying under 6mins per kilometre. To aid this ambition I wore Shokz and an ancient iPod filled with upbeat choons, heavy on Stone Roses, Killers, Oasis and (don’t laugh) Sweet, plus several bands that merited only one song. Racing with music is still in the experimental stage.
Despite the first half kilometre being uphill, I completed the first k as required, in 5:51, dodging walkers and slower runners along the way. A good start, although maybe I should have put myself further forward with the less-humble people and avoided a few obstructions. Subsequent kilometres stayed within the sub-6min range, even through the country road bottleneck between two closed main roads. Halfway was reached in 28:45. The sun shone (but not too brightly), the temperature was mild (but not cold) and the wind was absent. All was well.
Another sub-6 kilometre followed, then at 6.3k I took a first walk break of 0.1k – around 40secs. This wasn’t planned, and I wasn’t struggling, but I felt the need despite the assistance of Brandon Flowers and Co. Even so, the kilometre was completed in sub-6; confidence that I’d cross the finish line in under an hour was growing. I took similar breaks at the start of the 8th and 9th kilometres but spoiled my sub-6 streak by walking over Ness Bridge to finish the 9th, taking a shameful 6:08 for the k.
By now the crowds were out, many waiting for the first Loch Ness Marathoners to arrive but willing to support us in the meantime. It wasn’t enough to stop me taking one more walk break, which was a shame: I completed another sub-6 k but finished 5secs over 58mins (although I hit 10k at 57:55 – there’s always a bit of overrun in a race). Who cares? I was delighted: the fastest 10k this year and the fastest since Nairn in March 2023 (which also featured five second half walk breaks, Garmin reminds me, although I remember them as less structured than today’s).
Interestingly (to me, at any rate), the second 5k today was only 25secs slower than the first. Did the walks help rather than slow me down? Should I run/walk the Lincoln HM? Maybe I’ll decide on the day.
Over the finish line were more bottlenecks as runners queued to collect medals, water and a very inadequate goody bag containing two cans of soup (Baxters is a sponsor) and a mini High5 energy bar. No crisps, chocolate or flapjack. Pathetic. I hope the marathon runners got more. I’d again traded in my finisher T-shirt for a tree so was able to skip that line and find Matchgirl, which I did with impressive speed (her waving helped) despite the humungous crowd at the finish funnel exit. Fortunately she’d brought my baggage bag: the breeze was only slight but enough to chill through a sweat-soaked shirt.
She, it turned out, had endured a less fun time spent exploring full car parks (she finally found a space at a reasonably nearby Premier Inn which offered paid parking to non-residents) then queuing a silly length of time for coffee which she didn’t get because she had to leave the line to meet me. Wifely duties are many and varied.
That’s my third Ness 10k, which I recommend despite the scrum at the end and the queues at undermanned food and drink concession stalls. Chances are I’ll be there again next year. It’s also this year’s ninth 10k, so a tenth seems obligatory to round off the numbers. Loch Rannoch, near Pitlochry, and Jedburgh are the contenders. I’ll decide soon because the Rannoch cut-off is the day after Lincoln (and the race the week after).
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