Being our local trail and nearest ultra, this event has steadily attracted more Spartans year by year and now has a special place in my calendar.

 I have run the full distance about 9 times now, so I am pretty familiar with the route.

This includes two epic, cold December night time headtorch runs, with my last pilgrimage coming on a hot Easters day with Dave and Andy. I guess we must like this trail!

When I walked the West Highland Way (WHW) last May, I thought it was a great way to recce the Highland Fling, and the idea to run it soon percolated to the front of my mind as firm goal for 2015. The difference of course is that I’d be running what we took a leisurely 4 days to walk!

I help out with the Trailkidz as part of the Montane Trail 26 series and entered the Trail 13 event whilst I was there.

After I'd done my foxy impression for Trailkidz I made my way to the start and got kitted out ready for the race and saw a fellow chilly looking Spartan - Jon Hawker.  It was -5C and not damp and miserable like last year.

The marathoners set off 20 minutes before us.  The claxon went and we were off hunting them on the undulating fire trails.

I've been meaning to get back into running for a while now. It's been a roller-coaster return from the UTLD, punctuated by highs, lows and bio-mechanical inadequacies.

In any case, after a confident assessment of my current endurance level on the Sandstone Assault, it felt about time to 'test things out' and restore any last lingering lost-mojo before the season's forthcoming challenges require some proper attention.