In the six weeks between my February marathon in Pateley Bridge and my March marathon at the John Muir Way ultra, the world tipped upside down, COVID-19 arrived and we all went into lockdown! One by one my next marathons were cancelled….
I was still keen to complete the challenge so I started doing virtual races instead – i.e. make up a route, run the distance and get a medal. Some would say this makes it easier, no race pressure etc, some would say it makes it much harder with no crowds to cheer you on. I would agree with both and certainly there were times that the virtual races seemed easier, and sometimes they felt never-ending!
With lockdown looming, my excellent friend, Tracey, who is always up for a challenge and an adventure, organised the virtual Mischief Managed March Mayhem marathon for me. Not forgetting what the challenge was about, I ran this one for Xena-Grace and Patrick:
We met at Tracey’s and she had made race numbers which made it feel a bit more authentic. We joked about how far 2m was as that was how far we were supposed to stay apart, so we measured it out…
The route was an out and back over Cookney, along to Durris and turn round at 13.1miles. Around ten miles we realised that we could make it to the Mains of Drum for some halfway refreshment. The café was only open for takeaway and there was sanitizer everywhere, it felt so weird, a bit like the end of the world was coming. Still we grabbed a delicious scone and headed back towards Newtonhill feeling refreshed and refuelled, maintaining our social distancing of course!
Yum! 
2m apart
When we were nearing Newtonhill, Tracey went a bit quiet and seemed to be messing with her phone. She was also adamant I needed to run all the way back to her house even though we had already passed the 26.2m mark … turns out she had organised a finish line which her boys were holding!
So the virtual Mischief Managed March Mayhem marathon was complete. I naively thought this might be the only virtual race I might have to do, how wrong I was! Here are the race results plus an awesome limerick from the equally awesome Rhona and her hubby! And the medal!
Robertson Family Fundraising 