On Sunday 27th March I undertook the Transcendence 50k. This race was taking place in conjunction with the Anglo Celtic Plate and open 100k. It was also the Scottish 50k championships.
The race was held at North Inch Park at Perth and involved running a 2.38 k loop 21 times. Whilst certainly not appealing to everyone, I found this mentally quite easy and meant you were never far away from food, drink or the toilet. It was also great seeing Gareth every lap, and he was as fantastic as ever at providing me with support.
Weather conditions were mixed with a head wind on the most exposed part of the loop. There was a small incline going up to this section which seemed to get longer and steeper with every loop.
This was the first time I had attempted a long race since my brain surgery in 2014. Throughout my illnesses I hardly dared believe I would ever be able to undertake a challenge such as this again. This caused me to struggle with lack of confidence, I genuinely wasn’t sure if I would be able to finish or not. The week before the race was a disaster training wise for various reasons, though in hindsight the enforced rest probably did me good.
As ever the worst part of the race is just before it starts, it was a relief to begin running. I found myself settling into 
the pace and can genuinely say I enjoyed every minute of it.
I was ecstatic with my time of 4 13 and even happier when I discovered I was 2nd in my age category and had therefore won a silver in the Scottish 50k championships. This made all the hard training worthwhile, especially the long training runs on my own sometimes in horrendous conditions.
Many thanks to Gareth for his support both on the day and throughout the months of training.
Report by: Elspeth Jenkins