Scottish ultramarathon runner Caroline McKay talks training, friendships and the joy of trails

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For someone who started running simply as a motivation to give up smoking, Caroline McKay, 34, from Edinburgh, has embraced adventure with open arms. In seven years, she has taken on more than 30 ultramarathons, including the legendary Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB), twice. But just how do you go from unhealthy exercise-phobe to endurance athlete in a relatively short space of time?

“Like lots of people, I had an unhealthy couple of years at university”, Caroline reveals. “Afterwards, I really wanted to give up smoking and, as running and smoking are completely incompatible, I started training for a 5K. Then I discovered that I’m quite competitive…”

Caroline’s determined and competitive nature saw her swiftly progress to 10Ks, half marathons and marathons, including Loch Ness, in 2008. Her running was all road-based to start, but in 2011 a friend introduced her to the world of off-road endurance running and she entered the Highland Fling, a 53-mile ultra along part of Scotland’s West Highland Way.

“I’d never heard about this thing called ‘ultrarunning’, or even trail running, really”, Caroline laughs. “It was all completely new to me. I don’t think endurance-wise I was really ready when I did it – it was a catalogue of what not to do in a race and it was so tough in every aspect. But when you finish and know you could have done better, and if you’re a competitive person, you want to give it another shot. So ultrarunning just got under my skin after that.”