29th – 30th of September – Visiting Nessie

Going through security my carry-on went through a new fancy machine that didn’t require you to remove anything from your bags – not even fluids. For the first time in a long time my bag got flagged, though; energy gel, basically fluids in small bags, understandably looked suspicious. The employee turned out to be an avid runner and with no one waiting after me we bonded over that for a few minutes before I was let go.

Getting to Inverness required a layover and I had mine in Amsterdam. My connecting flight ended up being an hour late which was annoying but on the other hand it resulted in a perfect connection with the train departing from the airport to Inverness. Though had I known how long a walk it was getting to the train station I would have been much less relaxed on the flight.

It was a short walk from the station to the hotel and I was soon checked in and settled in. It had gotten dark at that point but I ended up going for a short walk to get a feel for the area. It turns out that the hotel is just across the River Ness from the finishing area (the course passes the hotel with app. 1½ km left after which you cross a bridge over the river and end up running in the opposite direction to the finish line) and it was perfect with a pedestrian bridge connecting the two sides making a nice shortcut for when I’m returning to the hotel after the run. Unfortunately that bridge will be closed for most of the day during the run.

Inverness castle overlooking River Ness and Loch Ness.

The hotel I’m staying at is more of a hotel/apartment place; they own quite a few buildings along the street, so while they have normal hotel rooms they also rent out actual apartments – and at the end of the row of houses they had their restaurant. The main building where you’d find the reception they had several quite large function rooms, and being Scotland they also had their own distillery. 

Fanciest funeral home I've ever seen.

After getting breakfast at their restaurant I went to the runners’ expo and picked up my number before having a walk around town. After walking around for a bit and getting away from the center I must admit that I don’t think Inverness is the world’s most interesting town. To kill time I ended up entering their botanical garden, probably the smallest I’ve ever seen.

After a short break back at the hotel I went out for dinner at a restaurant that was connected to the local golf course. Not because it being my first choice as it was close to an hour’s walk away, but when you try booking less than a week in advance in the weekend of an activity where thousands of runners have signed up in a town of less than 50.000 people, places suddenly tend to get crowded. The walk there and back again were through areas I hadn’t been in previously so that was nice, and the weather was pleasant throughout th entire walk.

Visiting the botanical garden.