November...

I guess it followed October, but it wheeched past almost as quickly!  What did we do in November?  Not a huge amount of running, I should have done the Glen Ogle ultra, but my month of one wee sniffle/illness after another that was October culminated in a stonker of 3 days off in bed and feeling miserable at the end of the month, so although feeling better by Nov 2nd I knew I wasn't fit to run 33miles on some tough terrain.  We did however head up to support and dressed in many layers to ward off the foul weather, we rung the cow bells and handed out haribos to the hardy souls who competed.  Another great BaM event which as usual culminated in a fine wee 'evening in the pub'!
The following day dawned bright, warm(ish) and sunny, complete contrast to the day before, and as I had entered months ago and was feeling reasonably ok, we headed down to Strathaven for the Run with the Wind 10k. Dougie who had run his first ultra at Glen Ogle was going to try for a wee gentle leg stretch and so I asked him to pace me round (BIG mistake!!!)  I didn't realise that he couldn't pace... that aside, it was a great day out, I didn't get a PB but I did get fastest 10k so far for the year, and the sun shone on us.  It is an undulating course, which I will definitely go back and do again, well done Striders for putting on another great race.
The following week was the Jimmy Irvine 10k at Bellahouston park and we were both entered - again months ago, so John agreed that he thought he was fit enough to pace me round -  now he CAN pace - he does it brilliantly!  I took another minute off my time, so again no PB but an improvement for the year and still not 100% fit, happy with that.  Not such good weather this time, heavy rain at the start and a strong wind to contend with.  That was it then, I had said I was going to rest in November but I have agreed to be a guinea pig so we headed up to Abertay university day after Jimmy Irvine to undertake some interesting and tough tests.  So, while I rested as in didn't do much running, I've been training and have been thoroughly enjoying the change and the company - John has been doing the training with me.
Before we knew it, it was December 1st and of course that signals the start of the annual funfest that is Marcothon along with almost 1600 other hardy souls we are out running every day :-) whatever the weather - and today we have had weather!  It was also the opening for entries of the Glenmore 24 (G24)  This has been to date the most memorable running experience I have ever had, I loved it so much that when I finished in September I made the commitment that next year I was going for the 24hours.  I was fortunate to get a place and I am excited already - even though there's the small matter of  the D33, G2E, Big Sur Marathon and Great Glen Ultra to get through before then! (busy year next year!)
Last night I took a wee bit of a tumble and banged my knee - however,

I still completed my run and I was able to get out again tonight, thought it's a bit achy now and I'm hoping it doesn't interfere with our plans for the rest of this week - we're on holiday so as long as I stay in one piece and John's achilles continues to heal, we've got a few miles planned over the next few days.
Before we know it, it will be 2014 and then it's the frenzy of entering the D33 :-)

Back again

I knew I'd not been blogging for a while but didn't realise it had been over 2 weeks... I guess life just kind of got in the way!
It's been a busy couple of weeks both work and life wise, but it's been fun too. We left for Barcelona early last Thursday morning - 5am early! Flew via Luton and arrived in a rainy Barcelona mid afternoon. By the time we got off the train/metro and headed to hotel the rain had stopped so we had a pleasant wander through the city, a nice dinner and back in bed by a respectable 10:30pm
Woke late on Friday morning - 8am which was a pleasant surprise, and when I opened the curtains, the previous night's clouds were rolling away and the sun was shining. We had a gentle 4.5mile run along the old harbour to the beach stopping for coffee and pastries on the way back, what a lovely way to start your day :-) John's knee held up well so things started to look a bit brighter on that front too. After a shower and change back at the hotel, we headed up to the expo to pick up bib numbers etc. Sun was splitting the pavement by this time but it was still airy and about 12C which bode well for race day although the forecast for Saturday was rain. Picked up numbers and the nicest race shirt so far, except that John's shirt was blank! We decided to take it back on the Saturday after the Breakfast run. Rested up in the afternoon for a couple of hours then people watched and drank coffee before meeting friends who had flown in from England then another nice dinner & some vino tinto del casa.
Saturday morning's sky was also azure, (the heavy rain seemed to have fallen overnight) with a bright sun blazing down as we headed up to the marathon start for the Breakfast run. Almost 2000 people from all nations gathered together to run the last 4.195 km of the Olympic marathon course which we did last year and finished at the Olympic stadium, it's a lovely run up the hills with stunning views from the top. This time the course started off the same but the route altered and we passed boys playing rugby, children getting horse riding lessons and ran through a tunnel which was also a climbing wall! We were a tad perplexed about the change of route until we crested a small rise and realised we had reached the stadium and were about to enter the tunnel - what an emotional moment, to be running through this very quiet almost ecclesiastic space imagining what it was like for the Olympic athletes - you enter the tunnel from sunshine and supporter noise to absolute peace and cool air - it's quite eerie - then you turn a corner and there's a bright light and more noise, and it was noisy enough for us it must have been awesome when the stadium was full!!
To top it off, you have to run a lap of the blue track and the finish arch stands where the official finish line was, it's a tremendous track for running on and just an incredible experience. It was a truly magic moment!
After spending a wee while absorbing the atmosphere, we headed off down the hill - on the conveniently placed escalators to partake of the breakfast part of the Breakfast run :-)
Successfully changed John's shirt for one with the appropriate markings and then spent another hour or two (and some Euros) in the expo before we joined our fellow runners for the free pasta lunch - which was very good.
It was Carnival weekend in Spain so we wandered back down into the city stopping to watch a parade of children in fancy dress with drums, stilt-walkers etc. Rested for an hour or so then headed out for another quick bite to eat and to watch the parade of floats which lasted a couple of hours and was spectacular. Back to hotel, race number pinned on and kit sorted for the following morning then off to bed. Race report to follow in another post :-)

Friday again!

This week has flown by, it's had it's ups and downs... Monday brought a phone call from a dear friend to tell me that a much loved, mutual friend had lost her fight with illness and had died on Sunday. Even though we were expecting the sad news, it was still utterly devastating to hear it for real. The world has lost a wonderful lady, someone who loved life and with whom we always laughed. I hope that wherever she is now she is free from pain and loving her next adventure.

I have done my 2 Bootcamps, Tue in Stirling and Wed in Linlithgow and thoroughly enjoyed them once again. I had intended to run yesterday but my ITB is really tight and this has caused the ligaments in my knee to pull up causing quite a bit of pain so I rested and stuck a heat pad on it all day yesterday.

I am day off work today to travel to Annan for the funeral so I am going to go out this morning for my delayed run. I need to get 15-16miles in tomorrow so have to get out today and try to ease things off. One more coffee then will get ready and get out.