I caught up with experienced 24-hour runner James Stewart, a member of the Pyllon team, after he set an impressive record running the 134-mile John Muir Way in 21 hours, 53 minutes and 22 seconds on July 3rd and 4th, 2020.
The previous FKT (Fastest Known Time) for the same route was set by Kristian Delacour in December 2019. Read my report. Kristian went on to run the route again in the other direction.
Who is James Stewart?
James is one of Britain’s top ultra distance runners. He is a former winner of the 95-mile Altra West Highland Way race (2016) and a key member of the GB 24 hour team.
His his best distance in a 24 hour event is just over 160 miles. This was set on a 400 metre track when winning the Sri Chinmoy 24hr Race in Tooting Bec, London, in 2016.
James targets the John Muir Way
It was as far back as October last year that 44-year-old James, of Croy, North Lanarkshire, set his sights on a non-stop run of the coast-to-coast John Muir Way.
The Covid-19 pandemic meant that he had to postpone his planned weekend in June to the following weekend (when lockdown restrictions were finally lifted a little) but it was a challenge he had always be working towards.
James, who is married with two sons aged eight and 13, was attracted to the waymarked route from Helensburgh, Argyll & Bute, on the west coast, to Dunbar in East Lothian, for a number of reasons.
He says: “I live near the route and so I am familiar with parts of it around Croy. I often train on sections towards Strathblane and in the other direction, towards Edinburgh.
“Also, I like an A to B route and because the John Muir Way is also coast to coast, this appealed even more.”
James, who is Head of Learning Experience for Sky, reveals that lockdown was beneficial to his training. He says: “I never find it difficult to motivate myself to run and train. It’s what I really enjoy doing.
“In lockdown I have had more time and more flexibility because I am not commuting for work.”
What is the John Muir Way?
The John Muir Way is one of Scotland’s Great Trails and offers walkers, runners and cyclists a route from the west coast to the east coast, or vice versa.
The official distance is 134 miles across Scotland. At one end is Dunbar, which is the birthplace of John Muir, also known as America’s “father of national parks”. Helensburgh is where Muir sailed from to reach America with his family as a boy.
The route includes some off-road trails, canal towpaths and tarmac. It has around 2100m of total ascent.
The full John Muir Way was opened in 2014 in the centenary year of the death of Muir. Read my article about the opening of the John Muir Way.
James runs the John Muir Way
James told only one other runner that he planned to try to set a fastest time on the John Muir Way. He says: “I spotted that Kristian was doing the route last December.
“I went along and ran a section of it with him and I mentioned it to him that I had a plan to do the same. I didn’t want a big build up and fanfare about my run.”
Still, as soon as word was out on social media last week that James, a popular face on the Scottish ultra running scene, was setting off on July 3 at 8am to run the width of Scotland, many people decided to go along and join him.
James says: “One of the highlights of the run was the number of people, those I knew and others I had never met before, who popped up on the route and ran with me or cheered me on. It was very humbling.
“I think there was only about 10 miles of the entire route where I was on my own.”
Start of the record run
The first section from Helensburgh to Strathblane has the most ascent and by the time the route reaches Croy, people have completed the bulk of the total ascent.
Another ultra runner, Paul Giblin, founder of Pyllon Coaching and a very successful ultra runner, ran with James at the start.
James says: “I was really grateful to Paul for starting the run with me and getting me going. The weather was really bad. It was so wet and there was very little visibility.
“This part of the route is new to me, too, and it has lots of ups and downs and quite rough trail. It was the hardest part in terms of running skills.”
At the other end of the run, another acclaimed ultra runner Robert Turner joined James for the final 50km from Musselburgh. Rob is a GB 100k international and former GB 100k champion.
James says: “It was great to have two of the best ultra runners of recent years book-ending my run. I was very grateful to them.”
While James was confident he would be physically capable of running the distance, he knew there would be sections where he would struggle.
He says: “It doesn’t matter what distance of event you do, it’s always around the 65-80% mark that you start to find it tough mentally.
“I knew this would happen because of my previous experience and for this run it was at about 100 miles that it became tough.”
James was also sick just after 100 miles and he had to dig deep and rely on his prior experience to get through the next section of the run.
He says: “Whenever I run long distances I always end up feeling nauseous. I was sick at 100 miles this time. I knew I needed to work out was was wrong and so I did a few things.
“I had some salt tablets and ate salt and vinegar crisps. I took on more water. I also find that if I slow a bit at this point I can then recover. It took about half an hour of feeling nauseous before I started to feel better again.”
A supported long-distance run
James was crewed for the first part of the run by his friend Alan MacCuish and then by his dad Andy Stewart. James says: “The level of support was brilliant. It is a good route for people being able to reach you and so I was able to make requests for what I wanted or needed.”
He changed his shoes and socks three times on the John Muir Way. James says: “It was just so wet with all the rain. It rained for the first 11 hours. Thankfully, living in Scotland, I am used to the rain and I’d rather that than hot sun but, still, I did end up pretty wet for much of the run. After the rain stopped, the trail was still water logged.
“It was great to be able to change my shoes and socks so many times. I think this saved me from having any blisters although I was surprised by how well my feet coped in all the wet.”
The mental game of a long run
James broke the ultra run into sections in his head. He says: “Rather than thinking in geographical terms for targets to reach, I preferred to think about connection and community. If I knew that someone would be on the route in the next few miles I would focus on that.
“It was great when so many people told me where they would be and I could aim for these points. Seeing so many people along the route was amazing and really kept me going.”
James did not check his pacing until the final 14 miles. He says: “I just ran at a pace that felt comfortable for me. It was only when I reach North Berwick that I realised I might be able to finish in less than 22 hours.
“I worked out with Rob that I would need to up my pace a bit and that is when I started to hammer it. The last eight miles I ran hard and I was really pleased to finish well under 22 hours. I didn’t have a goal time until I was closer to the finish but I felt that going under 22 hours was possible.”
John Muir Way run highlights
Arriving at Dunbar was an obvious highlight after spending so long on his feet but James says among the most memorable parts were the sunrises and sunsets.
He says: “I set off just after sunrise from Helensburgh and as I reached Prestonpans I was treated to an amazing sunset. Then at North Berwick there was an incredible sunrise again.
“I had been hoping this sunrise would be special and it really was. The views over the countryside and the coast were incredible.
“It was perfect to have a sunrise at the start and finish of this run; just perfect.”
Praise for James
Mark Munro, CEO at Scottish Athletics, described James’ performance as “absolutely stunning”. Mark rode his bike alongside James as he ran the final miles to Dunbar, where Mark spent his childhood.
He says: “The combination of physical versus mental toughness is truly inspirational. To run the final seven miles in 53 minutes while chatting away to me was phenomenal.
“He is a great athlete, who gave an inspirational performance and he is a fantastic role model for the ultra running community.”
Adrian Tarit Stott, a manager with both Scottish and British ultra distance teams, also had praise for James.
Adrian, who works with his family at the Run and Become store in Edinburgh, says: “The John Muir way is not too technical and pretty much all runnable. This played to James’ strength as a 24-hour runner. James is very much a rhythm runner and can lock into a steady effort for hours.
“However, you don’t just wake up and decide I am going to run the John Muir Way – and then run it in under 24 hours, too. It takes years of building a mileage base and honing a competitive instinct.
“An FKT like this one is, in many ways, more difficult than a competitive race such as the West Highland Way or a 24-hour event with competitors to keep you focused for hour after hour.
“An FKT is just you against your self and it becomes almost a journey of self discovery of keeping motivated, as well as an obvious challenging physical endeavour.
“James has really thrown down a marker and it will take a very good athlete to challenge it, but, have no doubt, others will be tempted”.
James thanks Kristian
The first person to congratulate James on his record time was Kristian. James said: “While I have run the fastest known time from west to east on the John Muir Way, Kristian did it twice, once unsupported and another time self-supported.
“My fastest time is while I was being supported. You could say that we both hold FKTs for this route.”
What’s next for James?
With much of the ultra race calendar cancelled for this year, James is hopeful of being selected for the 24-hour world championships in Romania in May 2021.
He says: “It would be good to have that as a focus but I am sure I will think of something else to run before then. I really enjoyed the John Muir Way.”
See James Stewart blog.
Other ideas: If the John Muir Way is too far for you, check out these other routes that are part of Scotland’s Great Trails.