How did it feel to run the Lochness Marathon?

 How did it feel to run the Lochness Marathon?

By Daniel Ferguson

During a standard day in Newcastle, me and Noah were doing some work in a cafe. After meeting each other at Northumbria University, we had got in a groove of running together most weeks. We both had our eyes set on running a half marathon. I said to Noah we could do it for charity, that's when he said, "if we're doing it for charity, why not do a full one?" This felt like a huge challenge, but I told Noah I would; give it a few weeks and we had booked the Lochness Marathon: a hilly one for a first...

Training began. I found a training plan using an app called Runna. It created a plan based off my 5km and 10km times and I set a target time for the marathon (3hours45 to 4hours). It created a plan with 2 runs a week, I chose this amount as I knew it was realistic. It consisted of various runs: long runs, hill runs, intervals, tempo runs and 'easy' runs. The long runs were a challenge: building up by 2km each week, which eased me into the big ones nicely, however, they were still a great challenge. Reaching the 20km and 30km heights was crazy to me, but I loved it. Planning runs, using gels, drinking water and motivating myself with the incentive of completing the marathon pushed me through, preparing me for the big day. There was also another great incentive: Club Rafiki.

Club Rafiki

Noah's family have connections with a youth centre in Kigali, Rwanda known as Club Rafiki. They're known as a platform for collaboration and cooperation between young people. Noah's grandparents have helped push the hip hop and basketball in particular. We were informed the girls who play soccer there play in the boys' used kits and some play barefoot. We chose to specifically raise money for these girls. We did various things while fundraising: posted on our social platforms, put posters with QR codes around our local area, placed sponsors on our running tops and used word of mouth. We've raised about £3,000: the support has been incredible with over 90 donation contributions. 

A big thanks to the VictoriaBeeston, Imprinto, CycleInn and YellowWood for sponsoring me, you can see their logos on my marathon top, as well as SignIt for printing these for free. Also, a major thanks to anyone that donated and supported the both us. It's very much appreciated. 

The Big Day

It was a beautiful morning, the sky was painted pink as the sun began to rise. It felt like we were a couple side characters in a movie. Many people surrounded us as we walked down to the event village. We hopped on one of the many buses and off we went to the start location. As the bus went further and further, as much as we knew we would have to run this back, the scenery around us was picturesque. We arrived at the start location and as time grew closer to us crossing the start line, things felt more and more real. It was surreal. The Scottish bagpipes were playing and after our tactical toilet stop we made our way to the start line. Before we both knew it, we were running. Firstly, the initial few kilometres felt dreamlike: we had been thinking of this day, preparing for this great challenge and now it was here, we were in it. As the first few kilometres felt like cruising lightly on a treadmill, we still noticed our pace was too quick, everyone's was really. We steadied it for the next 10km and embraced the big event. The hills were up and down, with a few flats in between; we were very conscious of pacing ourselves right, the goal was to start comfortably and end strong. Once we hit half-way we checked our time so far: 1:59.54. Even though simply completing the run was our target, we both had under 4 hours in mind. We stepped it up. Throughout the 20s we were at a strong pace, however, we had, 'the monster' in mind.


'The Monster' was a hill we had been warned about at the 19th Mile (30km). It just went on and on and on. But we attacked it with the energy we had preserved. We used the momentum of attacking 'the monster' and with 10km to go, we gave it our all.

I remember thinking to myself, "you have 10km left of a marathon, just go for it." I just kept pushing, it was nice after the big hill too as there was a hill going down back into Inverness. Before I knew it, there was 5km to go and that's where I really thought, "go for it." 

As we ran closer to city of Inverness you could hear the noise surrounding the finish line. Hearing this really pushes you over the final hurdle. At this point, it was tough, but we got there. Wow. What a feeling. We had completed the Lochness Marathon (in under 4 hours).

Dan: 3hours49, Noah: 3hours53

We celebrated with some free Baxter's soup, live Scottish music and then a few pints. It was an immense day with fantastic scenery and a great achievement. We wouldn't have done it without each other. 

Thanks to Noah to insisting we do a marathon and thanks to all those who I was running for and thinking about during the race. 

Final Thoughts

Honestly, we are capable of doing so much as humans. It's individual for everyone, but if you have any challenges you know you want to do one day, although, you push them to the side. Start tomorrow. Create a plan. Set yourself realistic and achievable goals. Smash what you really believe you can do within yourself. It's worth it. Focus on being the best version of yourself everyday, aligning yourself with who you want to be in this life and where you want to go. The path is never clear or easy going. In spite of that, trust the process of becoming who you really want to be.








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