One more off the bucket list!

The 35th Vatenfall Berliner Halbmarathon, Sunday 29 March 2015.
In 2008 when John had progressed to half marathon distance, we went to Berlin for him to take part in the Half Marathon.  I remember the excitement of the event - it was about 20000 runners that year - a lot for a Half!  There were crowds out supporting along the route and the start and finish area was great with stalls selling bier, bratwurst, brezels etc.  He thoroughly enjoyed this race and I remember the excitement and emotion of watching him power down the finishing strait.  I said then that I'd like to come back and run this myself one day.  In 2011 we planned to go back and both entered, but I was ill with 3 chest infections at the start of this year so we didn't make it... Last Autumn, the race opened and we decided to try again, both getting places in what is now a Huge Half! 35000 places!
This was before I knew I'd got a place in the West Highland Way race.  As a result, my training has been focused on the WHW race, not on racing (?) Half Marathon or even Marathon distance.  My taper consisted of a 34.7 mile race on the WHW, a 4 miler midweek, and 3 hard circuit sessions, not the most conventional :)  We arrived Saturday evening to our first 'mishap' arrived at our hotel to be told that they'd had a problem with their booking system and had overbooked so we didn't have a room.  Before I had a chance to draw breathe to complain, the charming receptionist told us he had already booked us a room in a sister hotel and they would pay for a taxi to take us there.  True to his word, the taxi arrived and took us across the city to our new abode, ironically a lot closer to the race start than the one we'd chosen.  We spent the next three nights in the Park Plaza Wall Street and it was very nice.  Being closer to the start meant we'd time for breakfast before we left, bonus!  There were a few other runners and an Italian gentleman met John at the buffet and asked if he was ready :)
It was raining as we jogged the mile to the start, got heavier as we picked up our numbers, however there was plenty of shelter and the rain went off after about half an hour.  Like a big city marathon, there were baggage trucks, and an abundance of porta loos.  Half an hour to go, we dropped off the bags with our clothes for after, said our cheerios and went to our start corrals.  Second 'mishap' there was a problem with the chip timing system which meant the start was delayed.  John was 10mins late but I had to wait 40mins until I started and my left leg started seizing up and getting quite crampy and sore :-(  Eventually and after a quick exit from the corral to the porta loo, a fast jog up the pavement and hop back into the start corrals and it was time to go.
Off we went out to Charlottenburg and back, I enjoyed the route as I'm familiar with the city landmarks and having done the Marathon the second half of the route was well known.  We'd a bit of a headwind on the way out and a couple of large puddles to contend with if following the race line - yes there was a racing line in a Half!! On the way back it was cool to see the green lines for the race alongside the blue ones from last year's Marathon.  There were crowds most of the way and at least 7 bands to keep us going.  I am used to being in a fair bit of open space as I'm often near the back, I'd to run with elbows out a fair bit, this time there were 10,000 people who finished after me!
Ticking off the landmarks in my peripheral vision I was concentrating on trying to keep my pace consistent and to keep the work rate up, at the same time telling myself that I could keep going even though my left leg was killing me - nothing that can't be fixed when I go to physio on Tuesday, but really sore all the same.  300m from the finish I heard John shout my name and I waved as I kept on going and worked hard to overtake as many people as I could in the last 250m, I honestly think I managed to overtake about 20 people just by keeping going.  Job done, ticked off the list!  Medal, space blanket, water, banana, beer, met John, picked up bag from luggage truck, passed the showers and changing rooms (yep seriously!!) then walked back to the hotel (the long way...)
We spent the next two days being tourists, cocktails, cake & wine in KaDeWe, La Boheme at the Deutsche Oper, running in the snow to the East Side Gallery, pizza at 12 Apostel then the third 'mishap' our train to the airport was delayed!  (it didn't matter as we'd plenty of time) they say that things happen in threes :-)

We'd a great wee break, a decent run and more training miles in the bank.  I thought about including photos of some traditional landmarks, but decided to share these instead as they made me smile

Marching on...

 No pun intended given that today is the 1st of March, but 'marching on' is a fair assessment of how I am feeling at the moment. 
I've done a few fairly tough and fairly hilly sessions over the past few weekends, and in the main I've enjoyed them, however the last 7 miles of yesterday's was definitely a case of 'head down and keep on moving!' 
We were at By The Way in Tyndrum for the second of the three Fling weekends and as always, Johnny Fling put on a great weekend.  We have a long weekend this weekend so we travelled up on Friday afternoon and after checking in and getting changed I had a good run round 'Kirsty's wee loop' especially enjoying the second half through the woods where there was thick snow and I was able to run confidently in it both up and down the hill.  I am still sticking with my run 4m30s and walk 30s intervals and they are becoming easier to maintain
Saturday's planned run was from Beinglas to Inversnaid and back but I wanted to go North to get some more hill practice and John is recovering from a calf tear, so he agreed to come out with me.  I said I would go out for 5 or 6 hours depending on the weather, the miles being the secondary objective, the main objective being time on my feet and climbing metres in my legs.  I was out 5h32m and climbed 615m so goals achieved.
It was pretty wild going over Jelly Baby Hill but nowhere near as bad as when we went in January but the real shock was on the way back, I climbed up from the station at Bridge of Orchy and the wind was so strong that I could hardly stand in it never mind run in it! 

This is what Beinn Dorain looks like on a nice day, I've climbed it twice but the horizontal sleet/hail/snow/rain and gale force winds changed my perspective of it yesterday as I trudged and shuffled my way back to Tyndrum - it is still a spectacular mountain though!

Once back at BTW, showered and 2 cups of warm soup inside me, the world took on a more amenable glow and thanks to Donald's laptop and the big screen, we were able to watch the rugby as the other drookit runners started to come home, chittering and dripping. 
The rest of the evening consisted of the usual great meal, followed by the quiz -  we really missed Emma's presenting skills!  This morning, a few folk went for a run on the 'wee loop' we decided not to - the legs felt fine, but the thought of another battle with the winds and rain held no attraction. 
We decided to head down the new road at Crianlarich and so ended up in Glasgow where a spot of birthday present shopping and a nice lunch was enjoyed.
Tomorrow we have another day off so another run is on the cards.  Fingers crossed for some fairer weather, but I'm not too hopeful...

(ps I chose the marching ducks as they reminded me of Boston)

One more off the Bucket List!

Most of us have one, we don't all own up to it, or share it, but most of us have things we want to do in/with our lives...
Since I started this running malarkey, I have always wanted to see if I could
a) run for 12 hours
b) run 50miles or more

This weekend I was lucky enough to achieve both!  I was fortunate to get a place in this year's Glenmore24 hour trail race, a fantastic event organised by Bill Heirs and Mike Adams, widely known as BaM, ably supported by a fantastic race crew.

There are 2 events, the 24 hour race and a 12 hour race, both of which start at noon on the Saturday of race weekend.  As you might be able to workout for yourself, the 12 hour finishes at Midnight and the 24 hour at 12 noon on the Sunday.  Format is that you run a 4mile loop around Glenmore forest, varied and undulating terrain I think is a fair description, as often as you can in 11/23 hours, then with 1 hour the small loop is opened.  When runners finish the loop they're on after this point, they don't go back out into the forest but stay on the small loop until the time is up.
I entered this race after the disappointment of being ill in April and unable to run the Fling, and wasn't sure how I'd cope with the lap running, as opposed to point to point, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was a beautiful route, there was stony 'rooty' trail, then smooth forest road, there were steep uphills and a phenomenal downhill, there were stunning views of the forest and Loch Morlich, huge fat slugs and toads in the road when it rained at night, the biggest ants I have ever seen, the cheeriest marshalls manning the water station just past half way, the ever-smiling Ada with her helpers and the clock, registering every lap (not a job I fancy! Way too much responsibility and hard sums!!) and awesome support from all the supporters camped in the field as well as the other runners out on the course.  Maybe you've kinda got the gist by now, but I had an absolutely brilliant time :-)
We drove up to Glenmore on Friday after work and pitched our tent in the Hayfield, then we pitched another 2 tents which we were loaning to friends for the event.  Once we had organised our accomodation we took our chairs and John took his sweeties and his carry out and we joined fellow runners and friends in the 'cinema' to watch the latest Anton Kupricka film, the film itself wasn't outstanding but the giggles and tears of laughter (or induced by the smoke from the bonfire) made for an enjoyable evening, we headed off to bed at a reasonable hour.  The rain was of monsoon proprotions during the night but it didn't prevent me sleeping although I dreamt that I'd forgotten to pick up my shoes before leaving the house, half-woke and convinced myself it was ok, I could run in my new ones which I'd worn to travel up the road in, then just after 6 woke again and told my long suffering and still half sleeping hubby that I'd forgotten my shoes but it didn't matter... (and no I'd not been drinking the previous evening...) 
The field was like a marsh as we sploshed our way to the well appointed portaloos - ladies and gents(!)  and it looked like it was going to be another wet ultra for me - both my previous ones this year have been in pretty hellish weather...
A wee hour snoozing then it was time to get up and make coffee/breakfast.  No porridge for me this time, I'd decided to try something different and had sirloin steak and fried eggs.

As we enjoyed our breakfast, the rain eased a little and as others started to rouse and go about their business, the conversation turned to the forecast being that the rain was to stop by about 10am.  True enough, the sky started to brighten and by 10ish, the sun was out and the rain had stopped.  I picked up my number and vest from Ada at the registration tent, then we had a wee mooch around the x-bionic 'shop' and I treated myself :-)  I had pre-ordered some 'bionic pants' for both John and myself but I also splurged on a new running bag/vest...
Soon it was time to get kit sorted, number pinned on and then it was the race briefing.  By this time we were enjoying glorious warm sunshine and the first point Bill made was "there's some flooding on the course so you're going to get wet feet"  He wasn't joking either!
12 noon and the horn went, the race was underway!  It was a bit surreal to be heading off on a long run with no bag on my back, no gel in my pocket, nothing, however as we passed our support tables every 4 miles it was the potentially running equivalent of the all-you-can-eat-buffet (however I hardly ate anything but that's another conversation for another day... steak and eggs is definitely the way forward for me now!)

Ok I'm conscious I'm starting to ramble a bit here so I will try really hard not to give you a lap by lap account, suffice to say that I ran the first four laps too fast - but fortunately didn't suffer in the long term - even though I saw a facebook post from John which said at 2 hours in I was going too fast and it wouldn't be pretty 10 hours later - glad on this occasion to have proved him wrong - my theory such as it was being that if I could gain some time in first few hours it would hopefully be in the bank if the wheels started to fall off later.  My ultimate goal was to see if I could get to 50miles, but I was happy to accept anything over 44miles as that was a PB.  The weather was stunning, really hot for first few hours, course was beautiful and the banter and support out on the course was fab ( I think I've maybe said this already...)
I managed to settle myself after about 4 laps and was happy by then that if I could do a lap an hour I should manage 12 laps (48miles) so might just make the magic number.  It's weird and I don't know if others felt the same, but 2 things really struck me, I didn't really feel like I was going round and round, and I also wasn't really aware of the passage of time.  Starting at noon meant that race time/real time were pretty much the same but I had no real concept of  the rest of the world, the time didn't mean anything, for me it was just about ticking off the laps.  I think I was pretty consistent with my lap times and it certainly felt good, at no point at all did I have a slump of any sort, neither mental nor physical, I just enjoyed myself, I exchanged pleasantries with fellow runners when I saw them, I was happy with my own company when there were no others around - bear in mind that the 24 hour runners were doing the same course, and I expected to see more people than I did but there were some long gaps when there was nobody else in sight.
After 9 laps it was time for headtorches as it was almost dark by then, at the same time David Ross asked if he could keep me company for a lap, it was great to have him to blether with and the extra light just to build my confidence running in the dark, having been round the course a few times already, it wasn't too different trying to navigate in the dark, it almost seemed easier at times, as you didn't see the up hills, you just felt them!  Next lap I ran on my own and that was the only rain, I was up at the top of the hill when the heaven's opened, it got quite cold as I got wet and the toads came out to enjoy a soaking but it made for an interesting run downhill trying not to stand on them and not knowing if it was a toad or a stone on the path, I'm sure one of them jumped against my leg as I definitely got something cold, wet, and solid splat against my left leg as I ran down the last hill (fortunately had my calf guards on so didn't get a slimey leg!)
I was absolutely elated when I ran through the arch at the end of lap 11 as this was me into PB territory and still had time to go around again :-)  I stopped to change back into my vest and put my jacket on and David asked if he could join me again, so off we went on lap 12 - it's hard to explain but lap 12 had such a magic ring to it :-)  Stopping at the water station to say thanks again to Alice and Julie, I finished Alice's G&T in preference to water or energy drink then off I went again on the last big climb of the night, last run down and past the tiny wee bit of the route where you could meet runners heading out on the loop, there were still the 24hour folk passing and there were still calls of 'well done' and 'good job' going in  both directions :-)
Last pass under the arch, last wave from Ada and it was onto the short loop, manned by George and his crew.  This loop was round the outside of the campsite and apparently 0.22 of a mile in length, it had the horrid wee uphill and then a steep wee downhill then round we went again, and again, and...
I couldn't believe how competitive I felt at this point, I remember John saying to me when I'd done 12 laps that that was me at 48miles and still had 35minutes so I could do it if I pushed hard, and boy did I push hard!  After one lap of this course it was off with my jacket and back into vest and shorts - almost midnight and I'm racing round a field in the dark as hard as I can in vest and shorts???? (at my age??)
What a buzz!  Everytime you reached the bottom of the wee hill you had to shout out your number so that it could be recorded, then with 10mins to go George handed each runner as they passed, a tent peg with a label with your number on it.  The instruction was that when the horn sounded the end of the race you had to put the peg into the ground beside the marking tape, and I remember thinking 'what are you giving that to me now for I am going round at least twice more' :-)
Then the countdown started, less than 5 minutes, less than 2 minutes, 1 minute to go, 5,4,3,2,1!  I pushed the peg into the grass near the top of the wee hill and Jenni who was just behind me called to me, a quick congratulatory hug and we headed down to meet our folks.  John had come over to the finish to meet me, so after a few hugs and well dones from/to other finishers, we went back to the tent so I could get a jacket and trousers, we sat by our table for about 5mins or so watching the 24 hour hardies continuing on their way, and admiring the incredible display of stars in the inky black sky then made our way over to the big tent to join others and get a warming cup of tea and a seat.  I was in a funny place at this point as I was delighted I'd run for the 12 hours, delighted I'd definitely got a new PB, but at the same time just a little bit disappointed as I thought I had managed 49miles and odds, my watch hadn't started bang on the start so I knew it wasn't going to be accurate but didn't know how close or far off I was...
The gazebo was adorned with banners and balloons and at about 20 past midnight the assembled company burst into a rendition of Happy Birthday for Victoria Shanks from Stonehaven (who celebrated her 40th birthday by running 100 miles!) She declined the offer to carry her birthday balloon on her next lap but did wear her badge and stopped long enough to blow out her candles and take a piece of cake!
A wee while sitting/standing/stretching and blethering then off to bed for a few hours.  Shivering and chittering I eventually fell asleep and slept until just after 5am.  I got up, dressed and headed out to see how the all-nighters were doing, had a cup of tea and a chat with some friends then went back to the tent as John was getting up.  After breakfast and catch up we supported our friends who were still out and John took over support for Noanie to allow David an hour or so's well deserved sleep.  Noanie is an absolute phenomenon, who went on to smash the Ladies course record by running 126.2 miles but it is her story to tell and all I will say is WOW!
Sitting in the sun supporting the finish of the 24 hour race was great fun, these runners too, many of whom were on their last legs, were going through the same as I 12 hours earlier, you could see them pushing harder and harder to get as many short loops in as they could - our brain does weird things to us...

I think this is probably more than enough, there are lots and lots more memories and tales and reminiscences, but to sum it up, it was absolutely definitely the best race of my life.  I watched some wonderful friends achieve incredible distances in the 24hour race, I shared a great 12 hour race with other friends, some of whom have run further in other races, some like me who had reached new heights, but all of whom gave their all on the day/night.  The icing on the cake for me was when we got our official results at the prizegiving and I had run 50.36 miles :-)  I'd done it!  I'd ticked off 2 bucket list goals in one go!!
We spent a great weekend in a lovely place with friends and made new ones, witnessed all sorts of feats of human endeavour, shared smiles, tears, elation and disappointment and had an absolute ball!

vest and medal

 beer

'I couldn't find you, you're not on the last page...'

One of the nicest things my husband has ever said to me!

This might sound a little strange but it has topped off a fantastic weekend for me :-)
Yesterday I ran the Devil O' the Highlands 43 mile Footrace from Tyndrum to Fort William.  An undulating route which climbs from the start, and keeps on climbing!  Over 6000 feet of ups and downs across some of Scotland's most beautiful countryside in what can only be described as 'challenging' weather.  When the results were published today I wasn't on the last page :-)

A little bit of background... last year I wanted to take part in this race but I got injured in May after the Women's 10K and couldn't get the distance training in on time, so had to withdraw my entry.  However John indulged me and we went up to Glencoe the night before the race and stayed overnight in a Hobbit house at the ski centre, had a lovely meal in the Kingshouse Hotel, enjoyed an impromptu jam session and then on Saturday morning, ran up and over the hill with two large flags and a supply of jelly babies to support the runners at about 16miles.  We have since become good friends with many of those whom we spoke to, photographed and shared jelly babies with - that's the beauty of the running community :-)

This year, my goal was to complete the Highland Fling, however on returning from Boston, we both had nasty chest infections, so neither of us were able to toe the start line... Topped up on antibiotics we still managed to go and support our friends and it was lovely to be part of such a great event.  Bitterly disappoined at missing my race of the year, for which I had trained all winter, I sent an email to the Devil crew, the race was already full, but they operate a reserve list.  I heard nothing for a few weeks, and then got an email saying I was on the list. Not long after I broke a wisdom tooth and developed another really nasty infection which completely floored me, so in all, I missed about 9 weeks of training and had resigned myself to not being able to take part this year either.  Checking the reserve list, there wasn't much movement for a few weeks and then there was a wee bit of activity so I started to swither about whether I could up my training in time or whether I should withdraw?  2 weeks ago after much ummin and ahing, I decided to do a run on part of the course and then I would categorically make up my mind whether to hope I moved further up the list or not.  Long story short, on the Saturday I wasn't going, I was fed up and full of doubt, John convinced me I should go so we got up at 5am and headed off, not particularly well prepared for a long run but off to give it a go... I was to run from Tyndrum where the race starts, to Kinlochleven, about 30miles into the race and the start of the last big climb.  Cutting the story even shorter, it was a scorcher of a day, I've never seen the sky up there so cloudless, there was NO water on the mountains, but I had a brilliant day out and completed the run in just shy of 7 and half hours.  First thing I said to John when I met him at the finish was "I'm still not doing the race"  He asked if I thought I could have gone up over the hill to the end, and I said yes so we then had a lengthy debate as to whether or not I should hold off on withdrawing my entry.  When we got home that evening we looked at previous results, and my garmin data for the day, I reckoned I could do the run in about 7hours if it was a race, and we agreed that I'd need to do that in order to finish within the 12 hours. Then a friend messaged me telling me I was no. 37!! Soon followed  by an email offering me the place, and true enough my name was on the start list!  I really didn't know what to do... I spoke to a couple of friends who said I should do it, and asked my very experienced ultra running friend Karen, her advice.  She said if my head was in the right place, I'd be fine, I had plenty training from earlier in the year and that I should go for it.  So on Monday I accepted the place.  12 days til race day!

Hurried arrangements were made for a place to camp at By The Way for the night before, then at the last minute wonderful friends offered us a room in their cabin - fortuitous indeed, given the monsoon rain that fell on Friday night.  We drove up to Tyndrum and shared a lovely dinner with Bob and Amanda, Said hi to Jenni, Rob & Jo, then walked over to the pub for an hour and met George & Karen, Noanie, Sarah and a few other running acquaintances.
Saturday morning 4am, alarm goes off... no major queues for the loo, no fighting over the kitchen, breakfasts made and eaten - except for me, first time ever I've not been able to eat before a race!  Registration was between 0430 and 0530 at the Green Welly, we headed over in the car and got there about 5ish - I honestly can't remember what time it was!  Collected number and T Shirt, said hello to a few other friends, one last visit to the loo and then race briefing.  Soon as Gary was finished I wanted to go outside as was too warm in the building in my waterproof jacket - that would be the jacket I'd hoped to carry in my bag not wear!  It was freezing outside, blowing a gale and raining heavily.  The huddle of runners trying to shelter in vain grew ever bigger and before long we were all heading to the start and then it was 3,2,1 and we were off.  The route starts straight up a hill and I was determined I wasn't going to run up it as with no warmup it is a calf killer, a few hardy souls sprinted off, but it was reassuring that a large contingent seemed happy to march smartly up the slope, I fell in at the back and settled down.  I was convinced I would be the last finisher but I was quite happy about that, as long as the sweepers weren't breathing down my neck.  They were great, I only heard their voices once and they kept a respectful distance as I slowly eased in to my run/walk pattern, it was still p'ing down and blowing a hoolie!
Checkpoint 1:  Bridge of Orchy - 6miles into the race, I reckoned 1h30 was as slow as I could afford to be and I think it was about 1h20 when I got there, it's a lovely run along the side of Ben Dorain, but I had slipped going up onto a large rock and my foot slipped downwards putting a lot of strain on my achilles/lower calf, I was a bit worried as the pain was shooting under my foot and I was getting a fluttering in my mid calf - I remember thinking 'I can't pull out at Bridge of Orchy, I have to keep going even if it means the rest of my races this year are out the window'... John was waiting for me and I took a drink and a babybel from him and set off to climb the first proper climb of the day.  There is no official time taken at this checkpoint, it's just a check that everyone is through in one piece.  I was pleased with my climb and was soon up at Murdo's mount and then running down to Inveroran.  This isn't an official checkpoint, but John was there to meet me and David Meldrum was there too, it was nice to see them, I took a sandwich to walk with, and drank some coke.  Off down the road to Victoria Bridge then the climb up to Glencoe.  I was still in last place at this point but comfortable having had a good run down off the hill.
The journey up Telford's parliamentary road to Ba' Bridge and then across Glencoe is undulating (ok lots of ups and downs!) so I marched up the hills and ran on the downs and the flats, again I felt like I was strong and coping well, the sandwich went in the bushes for the wildlife as it was just too hard to eat, but I had my first pouch of organic baby food and it went down fine.



Checkpoint 2:  Glencoe ski centre - about 18miles.  4h04m.  I had a fab run down into the checkpoint, there was a beautiful full rainbow and it looked like we were going to run under it.  I passed about 10 people though they didn't stop here so they passed me back.  Sarah Self, David Mooney & David Meldrum were here with John, I ate a boiled egg and I think I'd an espresso shot (can't remember) then set off down the road to cross the main A82 and into Kingshouse.  The group I passed on the run down to the checkpoint had stopped here for a cup of tea/refuel and I passed them again.  By now the weather had got even worse, wild headwinds and driving rain blowing right up the glen into our faces.  A tough run along the road in the wind, then a wee climb up the hill before the trail descends again to parallel the main road in the approach to Altna Feadh.  David Mooney was waiting with John at the start of the Devil's staircase, I picked up a gel from them and a bottle of irn bru, assured them I didn't need a change of clothes, I was soaked but warm and had no chafing issues, was delighted to report that nobody had passed me back and by this time I'd passed another couple.and it was off up 'The Staircase'.  This is a mighty climb, it just goes up and up, then there's a cheeky wee false summit about 200m from the top, but I climbed well and didn't stop at all, passing some walkers who were finding it tougher than I was.  At the top I stopped for a few seconds and raised my irn bru to the cairn in a toast - 'made it' :-)
Of course, what goes up must come down and down you go, all the way to sea level in Kinlochleven.  When I'd been up a fortnight ago, it was hot and dry, so the run down was tough but I'd felt reasonably confident about my footing, yesterday was a completely different story - the water was roaring down the hillside in all the burns and gullies, and places I'd hopped and skipped down were now slippery slopes that I took more cautiously.  It's deceptive too because although it's a big downhill, there are some sneaky 'ups' in it, however I got onto the road to the Alcan works and that's the start of a non stop descent to the river, across the mdf bridge and along past some houses, then back into the woodland and up to the road.  

photo thanks to Dave & Julie

Checkpoint 3:  Kinlochleven - almost 30 miles, 6h55m (bang on target) John and David Mooney were here again and we were joined by David's girlfriend Julie (wonderwoman) Docherty who had run from Glencoe to Kinlochleven supporting a friend Katy.  I'd another boiled egg here and a can of Gin & Tonic! It was delicious!!  I also ate a couple of spoonfuls of rice pudding - John was sure I wasn't eating enough although I felt fine, I'd had a pouch of yoghurt on the way down the staircase and was feeling in great fettle, I also took a banana which I nibbled half of as I checked in and out of the checkpoint and walked along the road to the start of the climb.  Here I met George & Karen so quick hugs and reassurances that I was looking great and it was across the road and ready to tackle the third and toughest climb of the day.  It is a tough climb, relentless upward slope and some big stone steps all of which take their toll on you, respect to all the runners who ran WHW in June, it's 83miles into their race!
Eventually you get to the top and I was delighted to discover that my legs were still happy to run on the flats and downs and even on some of the gentler ups.  At no point so far had I suffered any slumps in my energy levels and it was great to get a break from the relentless rythm of climbing.  By now the weather could be best described as FOUL!  The wind was blowing from all directions and of course the Lairig is a pass - a valley - so it's like a wind tunnel, I don't think the rain stopped at all up here, I just think it's ferocity varied!  There was water running across the paths, some of the times it was calf deep, but I just ran right through the middle of it, I don't bother trying to skirt round it and it's quite refreshing on hot tired feet :-)  After about an hour I could see a saltire fluttering in the distance and a mile or so later at the top of the hill, there was Jeff from the Wilderness Rescue team with his supply of drinks and his camera.  A welcome sight indeed!  A quick cup of irnbru and a few cheery words then off I went.  In the distance I could see the ruined cottage which is a landmark I love as I try to imagine what it was like to live up there in the middle of nowhere, I ran up there in May with John so it was familiar territory and similar weather so I kind of felt I was on the home stretch.  The next few miles passed and soon I was running down into Lundavra and there he was again, my amazing supporter, with hot coffee, a puff of my inhaler and words of encouragement about how brilliantly I was doing - 7 miles to go and I had 2h40m to get in under the 12 hours.  I remember excitedly telling him that STILL nobody had passed me - this meant I wasn't last! 
A climb out of Lundavra made all the more interesting as the sandy soil was gloopy, sticky mud but I managed to get up the hill and along the wee track on the side of it without incident and was able to run down to the gate then into the woods.  Through the woods which in places were as dark as night and disappointingly unable to get a good run down due to the slippery conditions, then back up the other side and at long last the horrid, horrid wee climb up to the Fire Road.  The Fire Road marks the end of the trail and is a fabulous couple of miles of downhill on a fairly good surface.  I was really pleased with my performance here as I settled into a nice steady rythm and was able to keep it going all the way down, I passed a couple of guys here and my wonderful friend Bob.  I had a few pangs of guilt here because I'd been joking on Wednesday with him that if there was the remotes possibility of me catching up with him we'd cross the line 'oldies' together - I asked if he was ok, and he said yes but he could only walk, 'can you not jog with me?' No he replied on you go I'll see you at the finish.
At the bottom of the hill the Run Route sign pointed left and there at the end of the road was John again - this was a HUGE surprise as I didn't expect to see him there and it was lovely to see the huge grin on his face when he realised I'd passed the guys who'd been ahead of me earlier - that was, it I was at Braveheart car park 1 mile to go and it wasn't quite 11hours!  I was going to be in under the 12 hours and I wasn't going to be last!  I was on a real high and he topped it off by telling me our friend Noanie had had a storming run to finish 3rd female!  If ever I needed something to push me on to the end that was it :-)
I ran/walked in a steady 50/50 rythm to the end of the houses, then I saw Karen across the road, waving like a true daftie and shouting encouragement, I could feel myself starting to well up and I shouted back to her 'I think I'm going to cry!'  I kept on running and as I rounded the corner I was met with a wall of cheering and a crowd of our friends all whooping and hollering!  I found myself somehow managing to run just a wee bit faster as the line approached - not quite a sprint finish but it felt like it - and the most amazing sense of elation and emotions overwhelmed me - I genuinely could not believe I'd done it!  It wasn't about the distance, it was about not being last and about having passed people and never being overtaken and about feeling strong and healthy at the finish and having wonderful friends to support me/us and I flung my arms round John's neck sobbing!  But they were happy tears!  A few friends have told me that everyone joined in :-)  It was amazing!  Oh and the bloody rain stopped about 3miles from the end!

photo thanks to Fiona Rennie

Finish: Fort William - 43 miles 11h08m42s
So there you go, I did the Devil and I wasn't last and when the results were published today, John couldn't find me because I wasn't on the last page...
I can't put into words what that means, but I'm sure there are some of you who will understand :-)

footnote (no pun intended - no blisters, no chafing, no injuries, just a sore big toe from stubbing it on a rock!)

Back Running - at last! Hoorah!!

It seems like it was ages - ok it was ages it was 3 weeks...
However, Saturday 2nd May I managed to run/walk 2.5miles - up the Devil's Staircase in Kinlochleven - John was doing a long run that day - Bridge of Orchy to Kinlochleven, so I drove to the end to pick him up and decided to try a wee run while I was waiting.  It took me 20minutes to get up to meet him with 4 cough-stops, but only 9:30 to fly back down the hill, in my element, with no coughing :-)
Then on Sunday 3rd May we popped through to Chatelherault for the Sunday Social, a mottley crew who meet at random, run round the trails in various social or anti-social groups depending on your speed then all meet for coffee, cake, soup, breakfast etc and a good old blether.  I did 8km that day and ran on the hills which pleased me - less coughing though still had a rattle.  Best laugh of the day was the cakes hanging in the trees - One of our crew had been round the course earlier to hang cakes in the trees every half mile, to motivate another of our crew to make it round the course - not that she can't make it round but it added an incentive with a difference!  Only problem is that she is about 5'4" and he is about 6'4" (all measurements are approximate!) so I untied the cakes for her but when I got to the last one I had found a conveniently long stick to which I tied the last cake and ran home with it over my shoulder - to add a further incentive...
Another 5miles in my legs with lots of laughs!  Monday 4th May was our local holiday so we headed up to the West Highland Way again as John wanted to do another long run.  This time he did a cracking run from Tyndrum to Lundavra (ryhmes with wunder bra...)  I drove to Lundavra - that is an interesting exercise in itself, then I ran 4miles out to meet him and 4 miles back with him - it was ACE!! It had p'd down with rain all weekend and the path was running like a river, I crowned myself Queen of the Burn Runners lol!  It was fab, my cough was pretty much away and my legs were happy to be running again, it's tough terrain up there, but even on a dreich day, the views are still spectacular.  John posted some photos on his blog which will give you an idea of the day :-)
I didn't do any more running that week, I was saving myself for the weekend - Kintyre Way Ultra Relay - 67 miles from Tarbert to Campbeltown.
Friday night we finished work sharp and drove down, met our friends for dinner, lovely food if terribly slow service... again John has beaten me to it and written a great blog so pop back over for a look :-) if you follow the link above just read the Wee Ultra Run post...
Saturday morning bright and early, 5am(!) up to get John organised then head down to see our friend David set off on the first leg.  The weather wasn't bright it was p'ing down (again) but the smiles of the runners brightened up the morning gloom.  Alastair had unfortunately picked up an injury during the week so was unable to run so David did the second leg as well.  He arrived at the checkpoint like a drowned rat but with a grin of a cheshire cat!  His first experience of the ultra world and he had had an absolute ball!
Margaret took over to run leg 3 and she got lucky, the rain stopped!  9.5miles later she came storming up the hill to Tayinloan with an equally large grin and tales of water "up to here"!!  James set off up the hill towards the windfarm and over the top to the other side of the peninsula, he ran 15miles then Sheela took over.  6 scrambly miles later - and the rain had started again when she was about half an hour away - she also arrived smiling - at least I think it was a smile not a grimace!  Then at last 10 hours after I got up, it was my turn!  Up the farm road in the torrential rain and through the lovely mucky puddles, the wind battering the rain into my face, and loving it!  After about 1km I came to a big gate, and nearly burst into tears, I couldn't open it!  My gloves were sodden already and the bolt on the gate was really stiff, I couldn't get a grip on the bolt that would slide it open... at last I got it open and remembered to close it behind me.  Up and up and up and up and so it went for 4km - it was a bit more sheltered as we got into the forest, but still torrential rain.
Crested the top of the hill and time for the first downhill - the bits I like best, guess what?  A headwind that felt like someone was holding me still by putting their hand on my head and holding me in the one place - it was tough!  It's a lovely run down to Loch Lussa and at this point the rain had eased a little so the next couple of kilometres were almost pleasant.
Round the loch and then on the other side - and I quote from the race instructions.. you are now on an undulating tarmac road - tarmac yes, undulating? Eh naw.... bloody hilly!! Oh and also torrential rain and hail and winds again - but I was loving it :-)
I had anticipated it would have taken me 3h20-3h30 to finish the leg so I was absolutely delighted to get to the finish in 3h04 - and the rain stopped!  It was great to see Margaret and Alastair, David and John waiting for me at the start of the town, really gave me a wee boost to push for the finish.  This was a great race, fab people, lots of laughs, and a free feed in the hall at the end.  Best of all, my legs were tired but my lungs were in good nick. 
I got back to fitcamp on Monday evening for the first in 5 weeks, tired legs, but happy to be back in the zone, I had intended going Wednesday too but unfortunately work got in the way :-(  Last night I went to a 10k race, 63min, not my fastest but definitely not my slowest, and given how tired my legs still were I'm fairly happy with the result.  Made it along to fitcamp at 6:15 this morning so now my quads are NOT speaking to me!  Tomorrow we're heading off to Glenshee to support friends running the Cateran Ultra, so more later...

I know I can...

 

AND I DID!!!

Friday 30th November 2012 and I firewalked! 


Along with 4 friends from Pinpoint-fitness and a number of staff from Tesco Craigmarloch, I did something I never thought I'd do - I walked on hot coals to raise money for Cancer Research UK...

What a fantastic experience, organised  by Blaze Firewalking from Nottingham we had loads of fun, laughs and interesting preparation exercises with Adam beforehand, then we all went up to watch the fire being lit - it was freezing and sleety rain was falling but it didn't dampen either the flames or our spirits.  

 

It does look quite impressive especially with the reflections in the puddles :-) but it's not actually very hot at this point, by the time it gets to the state where we walk on it, it's MUCH hotter 620C! 

It was such a pity about the weather as we'd had a week of clear cold evenings with an enormous full moon and great views of Jupiter beside the moon, then on Friday evening it started to rain and then it froze so paths and roads were like ice rinks!  Toes were numb with cold before we walked, but you could still feel the heat from the coals!  After the fire lighting, we all went back to finish off our preparation with Adam, then he let us loose, Amanda, Vicki and myself had a brilliant laugh as we ran up 2 flights of stairs and raced through the store to get to the fire first, if I hadn't gone first I might not have gone at all ;-) the faces of the shoppers who hadn't a clue what was going on were brilliant and the three of us really enjoyed that part of it!

Everybody did really well and we all walked without any 'fire kisses' (burns) or other incidents, though it was a wee bit slippy at the start and again at the end we all stayed on our feet!

After we'd finished and had more photos taken, we retired to the pub for a celebratory soda and lime.

Thanks to everyone who has generously donated to our fundraising efforts, we are currently sitting at 73% above target which is incredible.

I was gobsmacked and slightly overwhelmed by the number of wonderful (if slightly mad coming out in that weather!) friends who came along to support and cheers us on - HUGE ENORMOUS THANKS TO YOU ALL!! XXX

ps when I read this back I realise that it doesn't go anywhere near describing the event and the fantastic sense of achievement from having accomplished something else a bit out of the ordinary... you have to try it for yourself to feel it for real :-)

And now the end is near...

It is hard to believe it's now 31st December! It's been a pretty good year all round, the last couple of posts were a bit gloomy but in the grand scheme of things I guess they were fairly minor setbacks.
I managed my 5km on hug a runner day in November and then it was a case of gently breaking myself back in in preparation for Marcothon 2011. There are some who doubt the sanity of folk who do "streaks" (does not involve removal of clothing) and there were times when I doubted my own, but I am so so pleased that I managed to run every day in December - 31 days giving me just over 100 miles.
Some days were better than others, some were hellish if truth be told, we ran early in the morning in the rain and the dark, we beat "Hurricane Bawbag" by running at 6am before the gales hit - this was a particularly ferocious storm on Thursday 8 December with winds of almost 100mph! It was affectionately named by some wag, as only a Scots wag would...
Other runs were in the middle of the day in glorious sunshine and crisp white snow, others involved negotiating large icy areas - this is a particular phobia of mine :-(
Some were treadmill runs squeezed in at lunchtimes or after meetings but at the end of it all there was one run every day for the month. During this adventure we have made new friends through the facebook group, all at various stages of madness and we had runners from "a' the airts" taking part.
A particular mention must go to all the parkrun friends who took part as their encouragement and support was invaluable as well as humorous and amusing - each day's highlight was looking forward to the various posts and Alan Lindsay's photos of Islay who looks like one of the best trained dogs ever!
This morning was the finale of Marcothon, runners came along to Falkirk parkrun wearing something red and joined by Marco and Debbie Consani who are the Marcothon parents :-) It was great to see the smiles on so many faces and the sense of achievement was tangible. As always with running it changes your perspective on so many things, I never thought I was capable of running 31 days in a row, I stressed a bit at first about the logistics, but as it became a habit it just worked, it was possible to fit a run in at some point of the day, even setting the alarm clock 15minutes earlier was no hardship...
I also managed to get back to bootcamp twice a week which I am still really enjoying and which is undoubtedly helping with strength and conditioning work.
Now as the new year approaches, it's traditionally a time to reflect and at the risk of getting maudlin, it's been a great running year with loads of new friends, loads of new experiences, a PB at 5k, 10k and marathon distance and my first ultra race all under my belt, lots of new runners are joining our merry band, some more willingly than others and there are already new adventures planned for 2012.
So all things being equal and my wonderful physio earning his money, and with the support and encouragement of my wonderful husband and friends I'm looking forward to whatever it brings!
Happy, healthy injury-free year to everyone xxx

p.s. might change the title to 2012 and come back and do some more, it's been fun reminiscing and writing it all down :-)

Grumble, grumble...not fair!

oh well, it was all going pretty good in the end, then wallop!! I've now got a rattly cough! I'm extremely cross, having worked hard to get the legs working properly again and I think doing a reasonable job - physio said he noticed a difference in a week - I do my exercises :-) this happens... just NOT FAIR!!!

I made it back to bootcamp last Friday and had a fantastic hour running around doing circuits in the mud and the rain, I've missed it over the summer, but it was too much to fit it all in, so I was all set to go back again tonight but have decided to stay in the warm and try not to cough too much.
I've not run much during the past 2 weeks, but I have had a couple of good long runs and half hour sessions on the treadmill and cross trainer, I was hoping for an even longer run this weekend to convince me that I would be ok in Frankfurt but I don't know now it will depend whether the cough stays up high or sinks down in which case I won't be running.

I know I shouldn't grumble I should be really grateful that I don't have anything more serious than a cough, but it is really frustrating when life slaps you in the face :-(

Fingers crossed that a good night's sleep and maybe a little medicinal rioja will do the business and I'll get my long run in at the weekend.

Well who'd have thought it?

I am officially an Ultra-Runner :-)

Saturday 16th July I successfully completed the 40mile (65km) yes 40 miles, Clyde Stride

I haven't mentioned this before as I wasn't 100% sure I'd be able to complete it and didn't want to set myself up for a fall, but I am happy to tell you all about it now, any time you want, and over and over if necessary :-) Poor John he must be fed up of me coming out with random thoughts, memories or anecdotes...
Seriously though I couldn't have done it without his support, he was there at every checkpoint for me with nutrition, fluids, changes of shoes & clothes, kind words and even an ice spray at the last one :-)

40miles is an awful long way to try and retell so have a look at the website and have a look at the route maps etc there. The route goes from Partick Station in Glasgow city centre to New Lanark visitor's centre, with some fabulous but varied and challenging terrain in between. The Race Director - the wonderful Lee McLean states that the course undulates in parts - she tells lies!!! There are a couple of nasty hills and some really steep steps along the way.

We follow the Clyde Walkway for the whole race, it's worth doing as a walk even in manageable chunks if you don't fancy it all in one day, but the last half especially is quite stunning. If you want to know a bit more about the trail look at my previous blog post about my Long Run that turned into an epic adventure :-) This was the day that I ran the second half of the route as a recce...

Fortunately the temporary bridge had been opened in time for the race so I didn't have the extra 5 mile detour this time, although the two big fallen trees are still lying across the farm road near Carbarns Farm. Guess the farmer will get round to moving them when he needs access to the road.

I was very tired when I was finished, but on such a high I couldn't stop chattering on about it =:-0
Didn't sleep particularly well and then we'd another early start on Sunday morning to go to Dundee as John was running in the Half marathon. I managed to get a brisk 3-4miles walking in which helped my recovery and today I managed to get to the gym and do 3 miles on the bike, 1 mile walking on the treadmill and 5mins at the end jogging :-)
I'm not going to say anymore about it there's too much... oh and BTW it was supposed to rain all day and instead we had roasting sunshine!

I've included a few photos but there are more on the Clyde walkway site which do it better justice :-)

Ten Tough Trail miles...

that's what I did yesterday!
Looking for somewhere new to run, I decided to run on the Clyde walkway again. This time I ran from Cambuslang towards Strathclyde park for just over an hour and then turned and retraced my route, this let John run on to Maudslie Bridge to get his long run in in preparation for next weekend's Lakeland Trails Marathon.
It was a tough trail run! The start was on cycle path for the first km, then it left the path and quickly entered fields with hills!
The trail is very narrow at this point and it was quite tricky going but it was interesting and challenging and certainly more fun than pounding round the familiar roads near home.

Legs bore up reasonably well, I ran out for 1hr 6min and back in 1hr 2min and then after a quick drink and use of a supermarket's facilities, I drove down to meet John. It was a fine day for running, there wasn't too much of a wind blowing, and although it was really quite dull with heavy cloud, the rain didn't come to much and there were brief spells of sunshine. It was however warm, much warmer than you'd think if you were looking out from your cosy bed! It looked like a dull cold day out :-)

Last night, we made it to pilates so a good stretch for an hour made us feel much better and as a result not quite as stiff and sore this morning. I have been moving furniture at work today so will probably be really achey tomorrow but never mind, the office looks much better now :-)

Having a gentle week this week as we race on Sunday and hopefully will be able to have Monday off and make a long weekend of our "romantic weekend in the lakes"!!! (there's an explanation...but it's lengthy!)...

Runtime Error

This post isn't about my adventures per se, it's about a group of 13 fab guys who accepted my challenge :-) 10 of the group were non-runners, 1 fell runner, 1 Ironman and 1 19 times marathoner were the others.
As the team all work for IT they decided their team name should have an appropriate feel to it hence runtime error :-)

The challenge laid down 12 weeks ago was to train for and take part in the MHFS 10K in Glasgow on Sun 19 June. They all took on the challenge with various levels of eagerness and a little reluctance in some corners :-) Much encouragement, some gentle nagging and bribery with healthy cakes, and a pre-race pasta party along the way, race day dawned...
Absolutely perfect race conditions, overcast, 14C, occasional light showers forecast - it rained while we were travelling and stayed completely dry before, during and after the race.
Everyone turned up in plenty of time and got themselves organised, toiletted, lubed up and soon it was time to get into the start waves. As always the race organisation was superb, each wave of the pulse start was called forward and led by a piper to line up. Nice wee downhill start and then they were OFF!
First of the team home was
Will in a cracking 35:37
John M was next in 41:32
Dave R followed in 43:52
Callum was 44:55
Rab in 57:08
Colin was 57:49
Brian in 57:50
Steve was 1:06:40
Mark in 1:12:47
John A in 1:20:03
Dave K in 1:21:49
Ross was 1:22:40
Rob in 1:41:43

Each and everyone of them achieved something or learned something about themselves today - I think that shows in the grins in the "after" photo
As well as the personal achievement, they have also managed to raise £1000 for CHAS and they are already talking about what they are going to do next!

I'm really glad they've all been bitten even if it is only a tiny scratch by the "bug" and I am immensely proud of each of them :-)

Another long run

Yesterday was another long slow run, I had hoped that I might be able to manage about 50km and had mapped out a route that I thought would do - an extensions of a 32km route that we do regularly on the Friday evening. When we woke early Sat morning it was quite blowy and raining - no change there then - when are we going to get a Summer????
I was also cold, which is unusual in that I am by nature a warm person and only feel the cold when I'm tired, I should have taken heed of this, however I had a think about the weather/route etc and decided to run the opposite direction to my original plan to avoid as much of the wind as possible. I set off ok, then a mile or so in, realised that I should have added a couple of miles to the start of the route to extend it so decided to take a previously un-run path to try to make up for the mistake. It was a really nice path to run, but, it was very hilly and not exactly the best way to start a long run! It was tree lined though so offered some shelter from the wind & rain. It was hard going when I left the shelter behind and had to run the 2miles from Alva to Tillicoultry straight into a strong headwind. Fortunately I turned at Tilli and the wind was at my back for a while, I decided to take the Devonway bridlepath to Sauchie to avoid the steep climb out of Tillicoultry, it's an old railway line so the gradients are much gentler than the road's. Huh! about 1km onto the path "Mixed Leisure Route Close" for upgrading! This is definitely a matter for some debate, upgrading means tarmacadam on top of what was a great trail, yes I appreciate that this makes it more accessible for wheelchair users, parents with buggies, cyclists etc but spare a thought for us poor runners who really appreciate a break from the road under our feet and leave us some trails!
The closure meant that I had to run up the roadside, steep hill! Hey ho, rain wasn't too bad at this point and wind was at my back, so it was a case of "suck it up!" Through Sauchie to Clackmannan by which time it was raining properly, wind however had almost completely gone, so ever onwards... Nice run in the rain down on the Kennet Pans, this is reclaimed farmland along the river Forth, and although it's still a tarred road it's a nice run downhill from Clackmannan on to the flat lands of the valley bottom or the Kerse as it's called in these parts.
Quick stop for a bit of bagel to nibble on and over the new Clackmannanshire bridge, then into Kincardine over the old bridge. I usually run Kincardine Bridge first when I do this route but I was really struggling with the tedium of familiar territory - quite a contrast to last week! so decided to change the order. John met me as I left Kincardine with a welcome Coke and a change of top, was about 25k by this point so half way through my hoped for distance. I was feeling good mentally but was struggling with a tightness in my left leg which just wouldn't ease off so this was slowing me down a bit. I left Kincardine, headed back along the Kerse it was only light drizzle by now, and when I got to Clackmannan I followed a new path back to Alloa. This was the best bit of the run in terms of underfoot as it soon left the tarmac and headed onto a track between fields, this came to the BlackDevon Wetlands and the path became a path through a grassy meadow, it was a joy to run on but by this time my leg was so tight and I was wet & tired that I didn't get as much of a lift from it as I should have. I was also by this time, conscious of the clock and worrying about getting home to cook dinner for some guests we were having over for a pre-race pasta dinner so I gave in at 35km and John picked me up back in Alloa.
Mixed feelings about the day, did I set my goals too high? Not sure, a positive though was that I was able to do 35km for the second week in a row and this one was on tired, sore legs.
Home, quick epsom salts bath then dinner organised, who for and why is for the next post :-)

Interesting run or epic adventure?

It was both :-) it was an interesting run which turned into an epic adventure!

My long run for Saturday was 18miles from Strathclyde Park to New Lanark visitor centre, this route runs alongside the River Clyde for nearly the whole journey with only a couple of departures where it climbs away from the water for a couple of miles before dropping back down again - this is actually a nice description of what a friend commenting on my run called "Killer Hills" she wasn't wrong! Worse, I wasn't expecting them :-)
The run is mainly on trail with a few miles on country lanes/farm roads a mixture of tarmac and concrete, with the worst parts for me being the very narrow trail through the fields of long wild grasses which meant that due to the rain my shoes quickly got soaked!

OK to try and give you the proper chronology...

We set off early as usual to parkrun although only John was running, I was spectating and setting off to run after he'd finished.

It was unusually, a beautiful morning, the sun was shining and even more unusual there was no gale blowing across the loch, nor were there any "beasties"!


John ran the first mile with me on a lovely wooded trail with the sun dappling through the leaves and river running along on my right hand side, he turned back to go and get the car so that he could drive on ahead and meet me along the way, so I was off on my on on a totally new trail :-)
I met a few fellow joggers and a couple of dog walkers along the first couple of mile, then at around the 5mile mark I met my first obstacle:

Should I go over it or under it? In the end I had to go under and over it as I was approaching it from the other side to this photo - it was about 4ft off the ground at the point where I'd to climb over! Once safely on my way the next obstacle was a sign which said that the riverbank was prone to flooding and an alternative route was available which rejoined the river 2miles on... John's parting advice was "keep the river on your right hand side" needful of this I started off down the "path" through a field of cows until I got to a point where I couldn't pass as the cows were grazing right across the path - the path was in truth only where the grass had been worn by the cattle and sheep. Now I should explain that I grew up in dairy farming country so have no fear of cattle, in fact I find cows really friendly gentle animals - most of the time - these ones however were nursing very young calves and this meant I was giving them a wide berth! I met a man walking the path and asked if he knew where the alternative route went but it was his first outing too so I headed back the way I'd come to look for the route mentioned above... Long story short I couldn't find it - an extra km or so back and fro over really lumpy terrain and I decided to give it one more shot. Fortunately by this time the cows had moved away from the path so I headed onwards. Another couple of miles along the way and by this time I'm on a farm road, when...
Fortunately I could walk around the edge of the root stump so managed to get on my way again - oh and by this time it was raining!
Only about another mile further on there was yet another tree across the path but again I was able to walk around it.
By this time I had still only covered about 8 miles - it seemed much further :-) I wasn't tired, I'd just had to contend with so many obstacles along the way! About half a mile later I met John who ran a mile or so with me until we came to Rosebank, he went back to the car and I carried on along the river. The track here was more like gravel which I didn't particularly like but it was flat so I made good time, soon I headed into the woods, again a really lovely place to run, it was still raining but in the trees it was mainly dry, and the trail underfoot was much more enjoyable to run on. It started to get hilly here with a few sets of wooden steps and boardwalks over burns etc - these are fun to run on as you get a wee "bounce" and the changing terrains while challenging add welcome variety.
Then I met my first hill, and it was probably the worst! It was a really steep 87m ascent and an almost immediate descent! The next 4 or 5 miles were hilly and wooded, but I was listening to a podcast where a guy was retelling his experiences on a German trail run, and it was really funny so took my mind off the pain :-) I do believe in the "psychic ipod" theory...
John caught up with me again as I reached the next flat section and he had a banana with him which we shared and chatted as we ran along, I really like doing my long runs on my own, but I really really enjoy when I meet him like this for a mile or so and then I can look forward to catching up with him again later - especially when like on this route, I don't know where. It's a lovely surprise :-)
I had my fuel drink in my backpack and a bagel to nibble on as well as a couple of gels so I was feeling comfortable in terms of my nutrition etc.
This is becoming an epic post so I will move swiftly on, another few miles - I think it was probably about 16miles in but by this time my Garmin had thrown a wobbly and was somehow displaying in Lithuanian or Romanian or similar, and it had already stopped and I'd had to restart it - I think it was the heavily wooded sections to blame - if it loses a signal for too long it will think it's stopped and do a reset and I didn't hear the warning beep... as for the language change? Who knows I must have managed to press some combination of keys with my jacket cuff or something!

Then... the final injustice!
I came to a sign which said the bridge ahead was closed, it also mentioned the construction of a temporary footbridge, so as I had no need to cross the bridge until a mile or so further downriver, I thought ok will keep on going... WRONG! Not only was the bridge closed - the temp footbridge wasn't opening until Mon 13th June - remember this was Sat 11th! But worse, the whole path was closed off by the repair works. I retraced my steps to the sign which also had a detour map on it - unfortunately it didn't have that little red dot with "You are here" so I hadn't a clue where I actually was on that map! My iphone mapping wouldn't work as I couldn't get a reliable phone signal in the woods... I rang John and left a message saying the bridge was closed and I was going to try to find the diversion but if I couldn't I would retrace my steps back to Crossford which was the last place we'd met.
I then met two young men who were hiking, but it was also their first time on this path so they had no clue either, however one of them had his OS maps for the hike on his phone and they were able to confirm my suspicions that the detour was indeed through some long grass and up a big hill across some fields... This was indeed the way, and I climbed up until I came to the village of Nemphlar, village is a loose description, I think there were about 5 houses... I decided then to stay on the roads and not try to get back to the trail as I knew that if I stayed on the roads and headed back downhill towards the river I would end up close to my intended destination. I was trying to call John reasonably frequently at this point to let him know that I was safe but wouldn't finish where he expected me to, but by this time he'd headed along to look for me and he had no phone signal!
I made it out onto the main road and headed in to the town of Lanark from the far end by which time I managed to get in touch with John, poor thing he'd all sorts of messages on his phone including a funny one where I had called without realising it on the redial function and the message I left was the sound of my shoes squelching as I ran down the road :-)
It all ended well, he met me in the car in Lanark and we set off for home, I didn't quite make it to the visitor's centre, but I did add another 4 miles on to my run so it was indeed an epic adventure! It has taken me almost an hour to type this up so if you manage to last to the end I am Well Impressed!!

Hmmm wonder where my long run will take me this Saturday?
:-)

Lazy Days...

Sounds good but they haven't really been lazy days :-) just not running days.
I had a rest day on Friday which was just as well as my legs were aching from the pummelling they'd had the night before, and I wasn't feeling very great :-( I guess I can put it down to age and gender, but I don't like it! My internal thermostat seems to have gone on the blink! However, I got through the day at work and had a lazy evening reminiscing as we watched reruns of old TOTP shows from 1964-75 remembering all of the songs and cringing as we recalled some of the fashions =:-0 but it passed the evening. I didn't have a great sleep and despite setting the alarm for later as it is the weekend I still woke early so was up by 7am. I decided to leave my long run until tomorrow in the hope I'd get a better night's sleep tonight. However, I felt much better today so had a very productive morning getting through a mountain of ironing, baking my first wholemeal loaf - pictured above and as delicious as it looks, washing windows, doing laundry and generally just catching up with the hated chores.
A trip to the supermarket to do a big shopping this afternoon a nice steak and baked potato dinner and a chilled evening and it's almost bedtime. Tomorrow I think I will run the reverse route of the run I did along the Forth & Clyde Canal on 12th February and posted about on 15th, then I ran from Falkirk to Bishopbriggs, tomorrow I will do it from Bishopbriggs back to Falkirk. Hopefully the gale force winds we've had for the past 3 days will be less and will at any rate be behind me the whole way - with luck the rain will stay off too! Will be nice to see the changes that have occurred along the canal in the last 6 weeks as Spring takes hold.

Catching up

Another busy week has passed by already! Work wise it's busy and stressful, thank goodnes for exercise and running to relieve the stress...
I didn't run as much as I'd planned second half of last week, but I did get out on Saturday morning for a good 20km run, the sun shone and there was definitely a hint of Spring in the air. As usual though there was a strong headwind along Hillfoots Rd - a 4m straight from Tillicoultry to Alva which is a natural wind tunnel!
Sunday morning dawned grey and drizzly, but now wind whatsoever, perfect racing weather - It was the Alloa Half Marathon, this is our local race and it was the route I ran on Saturday. It's a well respected race which attracts a lot of club runners and is traditionally used by them as a sharpener before the London Marathon, it also has it's fair share of "fun runners" and this year there were 901 finishers. We went along to watch the start and then again at the 2miles mark before heading to Edinburgh for my last Diehard Bootcamp, this means I kept it up for 10 weeks which I am really pleased about :-) We met in the Pentland hills and headed out for a trail run with "challenges" it was about 5 miles in total in varied weather - some sharp showers and cold winds up high, but pleasant on the lower ground. We included hill sprints on short sharp grassy slopes, then on a narrow stoney footpath up a bigger hill, pressups and situps using the incline - that was interesting as slipping back down head-first was a definite possibility! We ran on all sorts of terrain, through burns and bogs, on shingle and grass but there are a good selection of paths/trails up there and a large number of "ramblers" as well as a couple of serious runners and mountain bikers. At various points along the way there were mystery challenges to complete including eating a doughnut without licking your lips, and we got to set challenges for the instructors as payback! As always we had a good laugh at the same time as working out and the 2hours passed quickly. I will miss the routine and the camaraderie which has built up over the last 10 weeks, but I am going to concentrate on training for Edinburgh over the next few weeks so will sign up for the one session a week option for the next 6 weeks at Stirling. I may well do another 10week programme over the summer months. It was definitely a good thing to do though and made getting through the dark winter evenings much more fun - I would have found excuses not to go out if I hadn't signed up to the program.
Yesterday the legs were a bit stiff, and I had an interval session on my program, I wasn't looking forward to it I can tell you! I went to the gym about 6pm and managed to complete the workout, it wasn't as bad as I'd feared it might be and in a slightly masochistic way I enjoy intervals, I think it's to do with the challenge element of it... Was very hard and I was tired when done, but sense of achievement of completing it is greater than the tiredness/pain. Today's workout is a 3mile run, which I would usually try to fit in at lunch time, but I have back to back meetings with only travelling time in between so I can't do it then, I have a bootcamp at Stirling tonight so will have a wee run before it and then do the session and that will be my training for today.
Talking about achievements... yesterday was day 80/100 of the 100 Days Challenge! 80 Days of intentional movement! Quite impressive - some of the days have only been a walk from the office at lunchtime into the town and back but they all count!

Busy weekend

to follow a busy week :-)
Yesterday I managed to do my 18mile run with a reasonable degree of success, it was hard but it wasn't nearly as much of a struggle as last week and the route I chose was varied in terms of scenery and weather! I ran from home (Tullibody) to Dunblane and back, all uphill on the way there and gently downhill on the way home - after you come out of Dunblane that is - stiff climb out of the town...
I left home in pleasant almost springlike conditions with the sun starting to shine albeit watery - watery is the word for the run by the way- the fields were all flooded by the River Devon where it hasn't so much burst it's banks, just overflowed. There is a bridge which is normally 6-10 feet above the water which would be lucky if it was 18inches clear.
I headed along to Bridge of Allan and the normally peaceful Allan Water was in fine spate as you can see above. From there it's a fairly steep climb out of the town and then a nice downhill into Dunblane. As I arrived in Dunblane the rain was just starting to drizzle, I took a detour through the town to add on an extra kilometre and also to find the conveniences ;-) when I came out it was tipping down, horizontal sleet and driving winds, it was like Florence all over again. "suck it up" they say across the pond, so I sucked it up and headed for home, there is something really satisfying about battling the elements I always feel like I'm saying "ha ha you can't beat me, I can still do this". By the time I got back to Bridge of Allan it was almost dry again and as I headed the last 5miles home the sun tried to come out again but not very successfully and the black clouds were gathering over the hills as I ran towards them. Half a mile from home my knight on his white charger appeared - well in a dirty green megane to be truthful but it meant I got home without getting drenched again - and it was half time in the rugby :-) I still clocked just over the 18miles so was pleased with the day's work.
Today I woke gingerly - you know that way you gently try every muscle and joint to make sure they're all still working before you get out of bed? I was in surprisingly good fettle so headed off to the Diehard session of bootcamp with some trepidation but feeling more confident than I thought I might have been. I really enjoyed it! It was definitely the toughest session we've had so far but I found my legs again and had a good wee 2.5mile trail run interspersed with some push ups, and then lunge and sprint sessions. Wet and muddy :-) This was followed by a tough circuit which Paul had set up for us while we were off on our run. All good fun and although legs are tired now - as is the rest of me, it's time for pilates and then that will be my "quiet restful" weekend over...
Bring on next week =:-0