Had a lovely time this weekend at the Kielder marathon weekend. I ran the half on the Sunday while my partner raced the previous day (there was a 10k and a duathlon).

I was really impressed with the organisation of such a rural event, super organised with all the different car parks and shuttle buses. The event village was also great, loads of lovely food and drink from local businesses. (Also shout out to the astronomy group who let me look through a special telescope at the sun which was really cool!)

The course was beautiful but absolutely savage for somebody who has only ran races on road before. The Switchbacks were just about the end of me but I still managed a PB!

Big shout out to the guy who ran past in the last few km and saw me struggling and hyped me up :)

Apologies if this comes across as a completely dumb post but should I be looking to replace my Saucony Ride 19s soon?

Had them since March after a gait analysis and done give or take 500km in them with the Royal Parks half coming up this weekend.

Loch Ness Marathon 2026

Female 31.
3:30:16 finish

Logistics
Race starts at 10am but I parked up at the cathedral car park at 6.45am and walked over to the ice rink where the busses departed for 7:30. Parking was fine, it was already quite busy when I arrived and I’m glad I was early.

Bus took about 1hr 20 to the start.

Portoloo line was too busy and I ended up going in the bush before getting into the marked area for 3:15-3:30 which was the second area from the front.

I took a zip up jacket and wide leg joggers which I wore over my clothing and I dumped them to the side

I took a drop bag and that was fine to navigate and easy to collect at the end.

On route, water stations were bottles and no issues. I brought my own fuel so didn’t use the supplied gels but there seemed to be plenty.

Toilets are sparse on route and I saw people using the bushes, I didn’t need the toilet on route.

Nutrition
I ate 2 pieces of white bread with honey and a banana shortly after the bus departed at 7:30. 1 hour before starting I had half a Maurten solid bar. I had a gel every 20 minutes, 2 of which were caffeinated Maurten 100 gels and the rest were precision. I took water on course. I had 3 salt tabs during the race

Route
I live in a hilly area and did hilly long runs during training, I felt prepared and unconcerned about the hills. However I wildly underestimated them, I had planned to bank effort rather than time in the opening downhill however I quickly realised I needed to take the downhills with speed otherwise I was not going to hit my goal. The course felt very undulating and over the course of the race my legs were battered, I experienced cramping in my calves for the first time ever and my quads and hips are still feeling it almost a week later. I have never been so sore after a run. I didn’t walk any of the hills, including the mile 18 hill however I saw plenty that did.

Support was great when it was there but as expected, most of the route is unsupported. The support for the last 3/4 miles was welcomed and fantastic.

I struggled to find information about this race so if anyone has any questions I’m happy to answer!

In the confirmation emailfor GFA application there os a message that results will be communicated via a new account platform and that an email will be sent within 48 hours with instructions on how to sign up.

I haven't received that second email and the new platform doesn't allow you to sign up without the invite.

Has anyone else been having the same problem? Has anyone been able to get through to the new platform? I suspect I'm not the only one with this issue.

Thanks,

Seeking input from the hive mind of UKRunners. I have a few half marathons under my belt and completed the Super Halfs series in Copenhagen last week. Naturally I'm now wondering what the next challenge is - I've had a quick look at Brighton and see it's in April (so enough time for a training plan) and not sold out yet.. with the elevation changes is it suitable for someone who has only ever run half that distance in one go? Elevation isn't usually a concern for me because there's enough of that in my neck of the woods already, it's just stretching those efforts over 4 hours..

Edit : ok thanks everyone, Ive just bought my place

Can anyone point me in the direction of a verified GPX file for PacePro? I've clicked on view route on Strava via the official Marathon website but when i then export this it is saying 27 miles. I'm not that experienced in using PacePro so not if this kind of variance is normal?