S.A.D.

SAD, that's how I've been this past week or so (apart from weekends) I always find this time of year difficult, the shortening days and the change in the weather means that the past week or so we seem to have had lots of grey 'hingin' days, it's been barely light as we've driven to work then the low rainclouds along the hills have meant that it's never got fully light and then by lunchtime it's been getting dark again :-(  I don't mind the black darkness, that's ok it's the lack of sunlight I really struggle with...
The picture is of today's lunch, in contrast to the last week or so, today we had some pale blue sky, some white cloud, and weak sunshine, but it made a huge difference to my day, and to how I felt, and when I was looking for a picture for this post, I thought that this was appropriate, it's bright, fresh and colourful...
if you're interested it was a prawn and avocado salad :-) The nuts and fruit were to snack on during the day.

One of my colleagues brought me in a special light on Monday and it also made a big difference to how I felt so I think I will be investing in one for the house!  Weekends have been ok as so far we've had fair weather with a good smattering of sunshine, although the forecast for tomorrow is atrocious and I've not looked for the weekend yet :-)
However, we have been lucky at Pinpoint-fitcamp we've had it dry for our workouts - even on Monday when it was hellish right up until about 6.25pm - we start at 6.30pm :-)
I am really enjoying being back in the 3 sesssions a week zone, and after 3 weeks, can already feel and see the difference :-)
Friday night is the pinpoint Xmas night out, we had a meal out together a couple of months ago and it was great, we had a special 'clean' menu, however on Friday the 'Food Polis' are off duty so we can eat whatever we like off the menu, I have chosen a goats cheese salad, cod with a sundried tomato risotto and of course xmas pudding :-)  (I'm not a fan of the turkey dinner at the best of times, so it's nice to have options).  It is 9 days until I do my firewalk and at the moment I am quite calm about it - don't know what I'll be like come the 30th though!!!!
If you would like to help us raise funds for Cancer Research UK please donate here, every little helps xxx

That will do for tonight, just felt the need to pop in and blog tonight... fingers crossed that all the good feelings I have from my endorphins and the nicer weather today carry me through tomorrow!

Here's a photo I took yesterday as I came back from a meeting and parked to go into the office - perhaps it was the harbinger of better things to come...  I've never seen a FULL double rainbow before.

Random Ramblings part 2

I know this is a bigger picture than usual but I just love it I think it's stunning!
I took this at the halfway point of the friendship/breakfast run on Saturday morning the day before our 2nd marathon of the week.  This was a 3km(ish) run led by Captain Canada followed by a hearty breakfast in Planet Hollywood.
It was a fun run, we met another Scots lady who comes from Ayr and whose name I don't know - though I guess we could look her up in the results :-)  A guy from Surrey called Robert whom I passed at 14.5miles which gave me an enormous ego boost - sorry Robert :-)  A lovely young Mexican couple who have travelled nearly as much as we have to run international marathons and many others - a 70something guy from the Isle of Man who has run almost 200 marathons I think John said... and so it goes, it's a great thing to do the day before a race and some people - us included, wear their national colours and flags so you get a lovely atmosphere.  Planet Hollywood and Tim Hortons provided us all with a substantial free breakfast which was very nice as it gave people a chance to sit and chat with each other.
Unfortunately this was the best of the day weather wise, it clouded over mid morning and then got quite rainy.  After lunch we had the joy of standing in a queue for 50minutes to clear US customs, even though we have a valid ESTA as a land borne immigrant you still have to fill in the green form and get it stapled into your passport - 21st Century USA and they don't have their computer systems linked up yet.... I ask you!!!
So having stood for forever and as always been dealt with very efficiently if bordering on churlishly by an official it was a pleasure to walk back across the Rainbow Bridge into Canada where the customs official on that side asked what we'd brought in with us, laughed when we said nothing we only went for the I-94 so we could run tomorrow and wished us a nice day!
We spent an hour in Starbucks using their free wifi then headed back to our hotel to sort out kit have dinner and get ready for an early night.
We had to be up at 5.30am even though the race didn't start until 10am, this is in order to get on the buses and clear immigration - AGAIN! then be driven to the race start...
It was like NYC all over again!  Sunday  morning dawned dry if cold, the rain of previous day had long gone and the forecast was for it to get sunny and warm up to 20C - It Did!!  There didn't seem to be too much wind either though John had spent all week assuring me that any wind would be at my back for most of the race so not to worry too much about it.
We got our bus at about 7.15 drove to the bridge and yes sat another 50minutes!  We then had to traipse off the bus, passports sighted by a much more pleasant young guy, then back on the bus again to be driven to Buffalo - about 20mins journey - yellow school buses are not the most comfortable coach transport on the planet though ;-)
However all the discomfort was more than made up for when we got off the bus (once the driver managed to find his way into the park) we were ushered into a building which turned out to be the amazing Albright-Knox Art Gallery it is definitely the most impressive pre race accomodation we have ever been in and the staff were lovely too.
It's not every race you get to warm up and stretch beside Van Gogh's and artwork made by adults with learning difficulties.  It was such a pleasant surprise it really calmed the morning.
Quick visit to the wobbliest port-potti I have ever set foot in, drop bags on buses to go back to Canada - slight fear here as we'd had to take our passports and leave them in our drop bags... then it was up to the start line.  This isn't a huge race so standing on my toes I could see the start line and the open road ahead - can't explain how it made me feel it's something you'd need to experience, but as there were no corrals it was really cool to be able to stay together at the start.  Both anthems were sung and the hooter went!  Off we headed into the leafy suburbs of Buffalo - not at all what we were expecting :-) lovely big houses, people out cheering, wide roads, and blazing sunshine, so far so good on the wind...
Almost 6 miles through Buffalo and you approach the river over a hill, phew it was windy!  Never mind I thought it's just blowing off the river so buckled down and got on with it, as we turned towards the bridge it was at my back which was pleasant.  We then had to run over the Peace Bridge which is one of the main road bridges between the two countries but although there was a fair bit of traffic there was a lane coned off and a sidewalk as well -  I really don't like high bridges over water so I had a bit of a fight with  myself to get to the half way point, however I made it and once I started to run down the hill into Fort Erie felt better again.  A wee loop off the bridge and under it and out along the shore for another 3miles or so to a turn around point, I saw John on the other side of the road - we'd passed in Toronto as well and that always gives me a lift to see him :-) especially if he looks like he's running well which he did.  Round the turn - some nice support from some residents along the way - fabby houses too!  Then back along the river and through the town of Fort Erie itself - great support from some firefighters who'd put flags on their platform- ladder and raised it across the street.
There were water/cheering stations every mile from here on in and the kids manning them were great - there was a competition to involve local high schools so they were all different themes and music and stuff.  It's the first marathon I've run which is only marked in miles not kms or both and I was surprised that they seemed to come round fairly quickly, though I'm sure this is because you heard them from way off :-)  By this time it was getting hot and I wasn't drinking much water but was wearing it, oh and the wind??? The bloody wind was a headwind for the whole way for the 20miles from Buffalo!! There I promise John I won't mention it again lol!
Anyway apart from the headwind (oops!) it was a beautiful run, this has to be the most scenic marathon course I've ever run and I'm sure there can't be that many  better, the sunshine and the Fall colours were magnificient.
Mile 24 there was a jelly bean station :-)
Mile 25 you see the cloud of spray that's always over the falls and can be seen for miles
Mile 26 and as you turn the corner to the finish line if you can look up, you can see the rainbow - I have to confess I didn't see it til I'd finished, but I did see our friend Eric who came and took photos, I didn't see June Ann who ran along in front of me but I was looking across at John at that point as he was waiting for me and taking photos.
When you cross the finish line you are wrapped in a foil blanket by a young cadet from the Mountie School, then you get your medal, some water, food if you want it, your bag and that's another one done :-)
Great Great races both of them and two lovely  medals :-)

Well done John!

Up at 3am yesterday morning to head off to Tyndrum for the start of the Devil O' The Highlands. This was John's first ultra as unfortunately he'd been injured in April and was unable to take part in the Highland Fling - this was when we marshalled at Rowardennan (see earlier post for info) and I suppose if I'm honest, it was this day that inspired me to enter the Clyde Stride.
It's a different type of person who runs the longer distances, and a much smaller number but all really nice folk :-)
We had a nice clear run up the road, not much traffic in the middle of the night! Arrived in plenty of time for registration at The Green Welly, a big bowl of porridge for John and some not so healthy rolls and sausage for Dave and I. Dave is a friend and work colleague who is also an Ironman twice over who had agreed to be John's support runner, this race has to be supported as there are no aid stations along the way and you have to be able to carry your own nutrition & fluids so it's vital to have someone who can feed you at checkpoints etc, but you also need someone who can come out and run back in with you if you get lost along the way - there are long stages of inaccessible mountains and moors to cover. Pacers aren't allowed if you're in contention for one of the prizes, but you are allowed company if you fancy it for sections of the course although you must always carry your own backpack.
The weather forecast had been for rain but I was sure it was going to be sunny and warm having watched the satellite forecast earlier in the week, and I was right, it was a beautiful day if a bit hot for the competitors!

This is one of the most spectacular parts of Scotland and very popular with tourists who walk the West Highland Way and yesterday it was in it's full glory.
John did brilliantly, he finished the 43 miles in 9hrs 20m - unofficial time - from my watch, and was still mobile and coherent at the end - for those of you who know him, this is quite significant ;-)



Well Done you are now officially an Ultra-Nutter! xx

Busy but productive day :-)

Woke up just before 5 this morning and it was a beautiful morning. I tried to lie still a while longer and was trying to decide whether to run at lunchtime or in the evening or now? I realised I wasn't going to get back to sleep so I got up, got organised and was out the door about half past 5.
It was a still, peaceful and fabulously clear morning with the ground mist rising along the valley. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and by the time I was heading home into the sun, it was promising to be a hot day - Yay!! Only about the second or third one this year!!

I ran the same route as Sunday in reverse, and with an extra half mile added on at start and finish so I got the full 4miles which was on my program for today. I took it steady, my legs are still tired deep down inside, there's not much spring in them even though they're willing and my head is trying hard to spur me on, they just don't have it...

I know it will come back though and I am actually really really pleased at how well I have recovered from my ultra, I have to remind myself it was only 10 days ago!

As it was such a beautiful morning we cycled to work which was lovely - we are very fortunate that we have a great network of cycle paths around where we live which all link into the National Cycle Network and which are increasingly being used by locals to run/jog, cycle, walk their children/dogs etc.
The route to work is great, it's all downhill! It's not such a pleasing prospect at home time :-) I did however manage to cycle all the way up to our house which is a really gratifying measure of my increased strength and fitness as it is a hard hill to cycle up - I was reminiscing a week or so ago about how when we moved in here, fat, couchloving and unfit we never gave a thought to buying the house at the top of the hill, I couldn't in those days walk up the hill without needing to stop to catch my breath, and now we run and cycle up it without any great stress... I like these little measures, they help you take stock.

I lit the fire bowl this evening so it was BBQ for dinner which was nice and great to be able to sit in the warm sunshine and enjoy it. I then spent the next 2 hours scarifying our "lawns" an extremely satisfying if mucky and dusty job - we now have a brown bin full of moss and clover!

Tomorrow's run is scheduled to be 7 miles, I'm not overly looking forward to it as my calves/achilles are both a bit sore and stiff but I'll give it a go, I'm sure I'll warm up and get into it and it is true you do always feel better afterwards.

I chose this photo to put on my post, because tonight we had a frog in the pond - he hopped up the waterfall and under the big green frog :-)

First post -race run (jog)

I have been taking it easy this week so although I went to the gym on Tuesday at lunchtime I haven't run since last Saturday. I cycled 3miles in gym and walked 1mile on treadmill with a couple of 1minute jogs for the last 10minutes.
It's been beautiful here this weekend - at last! Probably this will be our summer, if we're lucky it will last another couple of days...
Yesterday John ran the new Falkirk Parkrun and I marshalled on the course, it was great to see all the runners twice from my marshalling spot and I'd definitely volunteer to do it again.

We've had some downtime this weekend and it's been lovely, went to Edinburgh to the Jazz Festival yesterday and Glasgow today for the Merchant City Festival, so sunshine and culture!

I had it in my head I was going to get back out again this weekend, but the motivation hasn't been great, I jogged half a mile back from marshalling yesterday with the tailrunner, and it felt pretty good, but it didn't really count as a run so I really wanted to get out today, eventually about 5.30pm the wee voice in my head said "come on then shoes on!" So off we went. We've a new path been finished nearby so that's given me another nice 5km route with only a couple of stops to cross the road and a couple of cattle grids on the path, a nice steady trot in the warm sunshine complete, I feel much better :-)
So that's it, back into training programme again now, although I might be a little behind I'm sure I'll catch up in plenty of time for Berlin, I keep reminding myself
1.. You've plenty miles in your legs and
2.. it IS OK to be tired! :-)

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 :-)

Lakeland Trails Marathon 3 July 2011

It's not the most flattering photo - then none of them are :-) but I hope it gives you and idea of
a) how high up we were
b) how high up we'd been
c) how b****y hard I was working!!!

oh and d) what a scorching hot day it was!

What more can I say...
I can categorically state that this was the hardest, toughest, most challenging race I have ever done, but at the same time it was fantastic! We climbed and climbed up out of Coniston village then climbed some more, (1000ft of climb!) ran along the top of a hill ran down over boulders and rocks - dried waterfall beds I'm sure, through bogs, over a stile, over barbed wire fence, through a fast flowing river, then another 5 miles or so (in soaking wet shoes) down single track sheep trails in shoulder-high bracken followed by the last couple of miles along the lakeside trying not to trip up on tree roots and stones! What a day - oh and all that in the scorching sunshine :-)
I could rabbit on about this for ages but that's pretty pointless, I am just immensely chuffed to have finished this race upright and still able to move my legs - if you want to read the reviews of others then have a look at Runner's World it's great to know I'm not the only one who thought it was tough...
Spent a really enjoyable couple of hours in the park afterwards with fellow finishers, enjoying the beer, the ice cream and the live music. Wandered back along into the village to the Black Bull for scampi & chips and another beer then back (slowly) to the campsite for an early night :-) Wonderful breakfast in Ambleside and a lovely drive back up the road in the sunshine.

Oh and YES I would do it all again!

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!)...

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?
:-)

Blown Away!

Well almost!! Whilst nowhere near as bad as the conditions suffered by the people of Missouri, we have had some incredible weather this week! It has been reasonably sunny and in places warm, but we have had gale force winds certainly across Scotland, since last Wednesday. We took our Canadian friend up to Aberdeenshire on Thursday and found the house that his Grandmother had been born/lived in until she emigrated, and we also found in Fyvie churchyard, a number of graves of his ancestors. It was a beautiful day weatherwise, just windy! It kept us off our feet for most of the day though which was good marathon prep, although it was nearly 400miles of driving but he saw a lot of Scotland on the way.
Friday I had a taping appt at the physio and left duly taped up in pink tape and set for the marathon, most of the day was chores and baking a banana bread which has to be the most delicious banana bread I've ever had. The chef has run 15 consecutive Boston Marathons so I reckoned if it worked for her it was worth a try! Risotto for dinner started the carb-fest.
Saturday morning dawned bright and fair if a little windy - though not too bad and we set off to Edinburgh to watch a friend complete her first ever race, she was running the 10K as part of the Edinburgh Marathon Festival. We picked up our friend's race pack for the Sunday, watched the 10K - cheering her in to a fabulous finish with a huge banner ;-) then met other friends also up for the marathon for a pasta lunch. By the time we got home on Saturday afternoon it was starting to rain and it was forecast to be like that for the next day too - wasn't really looking forward to running in it I can tell you. More pasta for dinner to enhance the glycogen levels and after pinning on the bibs and laying out the kit, it was off to bed at 10.
Sunday 22 May 5.30am - not a cloud in the sky and the wind seemed to have dropped, felt more hopeful... porridge, banana and honey, coffee and a slice of home made wholemeal toast, dressed, numerous visits to the loo and we were ready for the off by 0725. As we left it was raining gently but looked promising towards the East with bluer skies and whiter clouds - ever the optimist me :-)
Parked easily in George St., made our instant porridge and ate it as we walked along towards the start area for the marathon. This is the time when the real collywobbles start, when you are heading towards the start and you see the first other runners heading the same way - this is the OMG moment for me - you realise then the enormity of what you're about to undertake and why you have spent the last 3-4 months training and clocking 500+ training miles - it's quite overwhelming and sometimes tear inducing!
The start area was very well organised, plenty of porta-loos (that flush and had paper) well marked corrals, easy bag drops and MC on the radio bus doing a great job.
We met up with friends, took some photos, sheltered from a passing shower then went off for "one last visit" and to our separate start corrals.
I won't go into detail on the race, it's 26.2miles so rather a lot to write, it was rainy, the sun shone, it blew gale force winds, fabulous people braved the elements to come out of their warm homes to cheer us on and hand out jelly babies, there were spectacular views across the Forth, got blinded by sand some times, plenty of banter amongst fellow participants.

Highlights for me include:
1. passing my super fast husband going the opposite direction as Seton Sands, having the energy to shout to him that I love him and to high 5 him in passing - it brought a smile to more than me I can tell you.
2. being stung to bits by giant hailstones at mile 16!
3. free range chickens wandering across the course at mile 17-18 :-)
4. battling into a 25-30moh headwind for the last 6 miles of the course - it was unbelievably strong, there were a couple of gusts - apparently up to 50mph - I believe that!! When I could barely stand.
5. passing lots and lots of people who either couldn't keep up their pace or had simply given up trying in the wind.

6. being able to finish strongly and then meeting up with John again afterwards - that's the best bit :-)

We met up with everyone in the pub for a welcome beer/coke then another friend who had come to support us and he kindly drove us back to Edinburgh to our car.
I got a new PB, I managed to finally break the 5.30 barrier - not by much clocking a 5.29 finish, but given the conditions on Sunday I am absolutely delighted with my performance and time! This was my 10th marathon so I guess that's something of a landmark :-)

Yesterday we visited Glasgow and had an eventful journey home as all the trains were cancelled due to the horrendous weather which blew in from the Atlantic. This morning we took our friend back to the airport - he as made it down to Heathrow and is en route back to Ottawa.
We are enjoying the last day of our holiday just chilling and recovering, legs almost feel up to a wee jog - though not in the gales which are still blowing! Think I am nearly hydrated again and am almost back to normal - whatever normal is!
To everyone who has inspired me to run, to keep on going when injured or feeling down, and who make me keep on wanting to put myself through this torture again and again - Thanks! :-)

I don't B**** believe it:-)

It's been 2 full weeks since I last posted! Crazy crazy times, it's all been running, training, sleeping oh and work... I feel kinda guilty that I haven't been on here for so long, because I really want to keep a diary of our year and that's 2 weeks missing out of it already :-(
Apart from me completing the 100 days challenge, we also had a good running weekend that weekend, we did the Strathclyde parkrun on Saturday morning which meant up at usual work time and out the door by 0745, it was a beautiful day and my new "coach" coached me to a new PB for 5k! Then we headed off up to Fort William for the Lochaber marathon on Sunday 10th. As it was such a lovely day we drove all the way up the road with the top down on the car which was great, lovely to get the sun on your face and you get a much much better panoramic view of the scenery than you do from a car with a roof on.

see what I mean?

We stayed overnight in Kinlochleven and after a lovely dinner, an early night and a good sleep we were up and preparing for the race on the Sunday morning. I wasn't racing, but I did have a long run to do so I had decided to leave before the start and run to the bridge over the Caledonian Canal so that I could get John's photo as he crossed the bridge.... Unfortunately I took a wrong turn, which gave me a good long run but meant I missed him crossing the bridge, I did however get some photos of the runners who were further back the field. Then I decided to head off up Neptune's staircase for the rest of my own run. Neptune's staircase is a set of 7 locks to allow boats up and down the hill and each of the locks has it's own wee hill so it was a fabby wee hill session - made all the better by the admiring and genuine "Well done Lassie" I got on topping the last one from the Lock keeper who had been watching my progress :-) Lassie I ask you!! Mind you he was getting on a bit!


I took his advice and crossed to the other side of the canal at this point and headed off for another few miles before I turned and retraced my steps. I stayed on this side of the canal all the way to the road and this gave me a long steady downhill as opposed to the individual hills on the way up. I headed back the scenic route I had inadvertently taken to get there and back into Fort William ultimately completing a nice 15 mile run in scorching sunshine and a strong headwind.
In the meantime John who was still rehabbing remember, was on his way back to the finish on the Shinty park and came racing home in an amazing 3:31!!! A new PB for him even though he was going to go and "take it easy"!!! Honestly... Men!!!
Glad to say he had no adverse after effects and made a good recovery, the post race beer possibly contributing some well earned carbs and hydration :-)
A leisurely and scenic evening drive down the road, back to bed and up for work next morning! A hard week's training followed and we decided that we would do our long runs on the Saturday this time and for a change we decided to run on the West Highland Way.
We started off from Mugdock Country Park and headed towards Drymen, what a fabulous, fun run! There were some cracking big hills and I had a blast running down them and dodging the boulders and muddy puddles - didn't manage to avoid all of them I have to confess - oops!
I really enjoyed the experience, I think I am growing to love trail-running. I wouldn't have tackled it nearly as robustly a year ago so I am really proud of the improvement not only in my strength but also and perhaps more importantly in my confidence.
Another crazy week of training and work, including Bootcamp on Tuesdays as usual and before I knew it it was Good Friday - yay Holiday!! Guess what? Still woke up at 6am :-) It was another beautiful sunny morning and we decided to take a drive through to Glasgow as it was time to buy new shoes in preparation for Edinburgh marathon in 4 weeks. A visit to Achilles Heel where once again I got exactly what I was looking for and new socks too :-)
After a lovely lunch we came home and spent the rest of the day working in the garden, no weeds left but what a workout for the hamstrings & glutes!
Yesterday dawned dull and drizzly and we went back to Strathclyde parkrun, this time John was chasing a PB and I was going to try very hard to pace myself properly on my own, he missed his PB by 4 seconds as he had to stop and tie his shoelace! I was 45 seconds slower than when he'd paced me round weeks ago so I still haven't got it quite right, but will keep practising. This morning's long run was on the old railway line to Dunfermline, and it was a shocker! Legs were just shot and although I managed 22km I had hoped for another 10km but I didn't have it in me I was so so tired, both mentally and physically.
Tomorrow is another holiday as it's Easter Monday and hopefully it's going to be another nice day so we will see what that brings :-)

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.

April tomorrow!

Unbelievable it's April 1st tomorrow and that's not a joke! Apart from the rain and gale force winds today, it's been a real taste of Spring this past few days.
It's been a good running week, after Sunday's run with my new coach :-) we went out again on Monday evening for a couple of miles which were good fun - ok maybe not fun but we had a nice wee run in the extra hour of daylight and the sun was shining and it was really nice company. I had come home from work tired and more cranky than usual and really couldn't be bothered, but I worked hard and felt sooooo much better as a result.
Tuesday did a 5k treadmill run at lunchtime and then went to Stirling for Bootcamp. Although the Diehard programme has ended - it was a quick 10 weeks! I signed up for a 6week block of once a week sessions. Tuesday's was predominately upper body and core work, good workout. Wednesday morning my shoulders were telling me they'd had a workout! I decided to go to the gym again yesterday lunchtime and did a 13min warmup on the elliptical trainer and then got on the treadmill and knocked out a 10minute mile! That's pretty impressive for me who is comfortable in the 12min mile zone and usually has a walk break at 10mins. I finished with 5mins on the bike to 'cooldown' then showered and back to work.
Last night however I was done! I was so tired and stiff and couldn't drag my bones out for a run so baked instead - a batch of my 'quickly becoming legendary' courgette & blueberry cakes, great stress relief :-) My new breadmaker arrived yesterday and I resisted the temptation to dive straight in and wait until today to use it once I had all the extra ingredients I didn't have in the cupboard.
Today's achievement of which I am VERY proud is that - bear in mind I said I run in the 12min mile zone with walking breaks - today at lunchtime I went to the treadmill and ran 3 miles at 11:06min pace and NO walking breaks :-) :-) :-)
*quiet grin* Still feeling quite proud of myself as I write this & loving the almost straight lines on my Garmin output*quiet grin*
Have had my fortnightly ironing session with the physio so calves have been well and truly dewrinkled and are now aching ever so slightly, breadmaker is doing it's stuff and it's starting to smell like fresh bread is baking, so now it's time for a wee seat in front of the telly and a moan that there's nothing on worth watching!
Rest day tomorrow and I think I will take it as it will be a busy weekend again.

Definitely Good tired :-)

Did my long run this morning - say long, was 17km from Dunfermline back to Clackmannan along the old railway line, it's a great route, gently downhill and a good surface. Very popular with dog walkers and cyclists, but have never yet met anyone who's anything other than courteous and considerate of other users of the path - dog walkers all called their dog(s) to heel and cyclists rang bells or called a cheery greeting. It helped I guess that the sun was trying to shine and it was a pleasant spring morning :-)
We drove to Dunfermline and I bade a cheerful(?) farewell and set off down the track. You get a fine view of the River Forth as you're quite high at this point, but it's also a tad breezy! After a couple of kilometres, you are into the railway cuttings proper and this provides welcome shelter from the breeze and lots of trees offering shade and a soft carpet of leaves on the path - though in Autumn these can be a bit slippy. There was a fair assortment of walkers, folks with their kids on bikes and even a tiny wee tot on a pony - she was all kitted out in the proper gear and looked very competent but it was a pony big enough for her mum, she would have looked small atop a Shetland!
I thought I had set off a little fast as I was passing the Km markers and thinking "you shouldn't be here yet" and I wasn't really settled into a good rythm, however I kept going and when I got to Bogside which is just over half way about the 10km mark, I was ahead of my virtual partner on my Garmin by nearly 2minutes. This wasn't a bad thing, I just wasn't sure if I could maintain this... Help was at hand, there jogging towards me was my hero, he'd decided to walk/jog out to meet me and see how the injured calf held up, I was really surprised he'd come this far, but was great to see him and by staying alongside him he held me into a sensible pace and I settled quite comfortably. We trotted along, enjoying the sun which had come through by this time and making steady progress, albeit with the occasional "slow down" reminder to me :-)
I thought we were starting to edge up just a little as we got closer to home, and with a mile to go my new found coach suggested we "blast it" for home, I said eh NO but he said no just maintain this pace - by then I had no idea what that was because he told me not to look at my watch. As we passed the last km marker it had definitely notched up a bit further, but I was able to maintain the effort if having to work hard, he was great, he counted down the last 300m for me on the telegraph poles - by this time I wasn't capable of talking anymore, was working too hard for that! I finished triumphantly :-) I only hope the wee girl who was getting ready to cycle along the way we'd come with her Dad wasn't too concerned as I was grunting with effort by this time!! However, I am really pleased with myself, I took 10 minutes off the time from my last outing on that same route and I managed the last mile at about 9min mile pace which I wouldn't even have attempted on my own, so huge huge thanks to my impromptu coach and who knows, maybe we'll do it again some day.
PS glad to say that John's leg held up well so things are looking more hopeful for him :-)

Dum de dum dum DOMS!

OK not quite, just a bit achey but have a sneaking suspicion they'll bite tomorrow...

Got up yesterday feeling good after Saturday's run, no recovery issues, did the hoovering and then it was time to set off for my special "Die Hard" Bootcamp, this is for the souls who are taking part in three sessions a week and lasts for 1.5 hours instead of the usual 1 hour weekly session.
Little bit of trepidation as it was as yet an unknown, so arrived in plenty of time and then spent 20mins wishing I'd detoured via supermarket to avail myself of their facilities.
However we gathered in the biting wind- but at least there was no rain and a feeble sun was attempting to break through, and after the introductions off we set for a trail run =:-0 Just what I needed to make me realise that whilst not painful I had rather stiff and tight legs! 20 mins or so on a nice mixed trail and I'd started to warm up so enjoyed the second half, especially as it was hilly and muddy - I used to be really prissy round puddles and mud but now I just plough through it :-)

Second half of the session involved pairing up with a partner and was a mixture of running round a small area of grass - on the path, as it was very soggy, in quarters, walk, jog, run, sprint - of course sprint quarter was uphill and into the wind just for good measure. One partner used the equipment whilst the other ran the circuit, a good range of equipment which really worked us out - my arms were dead by the end, I didn't know I could do squats while holding a medicine ball straight out in front of me or swing a kettlebell weight before yesterday! Thoroughly enjoyed the session, and we got our snazzy black Die Hard T Shirts as well.

Sunday evening we have an hour of pilates and we'd been told last week that this would be a foam roller session, both John and I were looking forward to that as he'd run 11miles on Sat and 16 on Sun so was needing the stretch as much as I was. We turned up in the "I don't really want to do this but I know it will be good for me" frame of mind and guess what? The whole session was done using 2lb weighted balls, one in each hand! By the end of it I couldn't feel my arms!

However, I do feel much better and healthier than I did last week so hopefully all this exercise has banished the bugs. I have to run tomorrow at lunchtime then it's bootcamp in the evening, sure makes the evenings fly in!!