Catching up

It's 4 weeks since I last wrote anything here... where has March gone?  I cannot believe how quickly the days have passed!  Last time I wrote an update, we'd been at By The Way for a Fling training weekend, there's another one this weekend, but we're not participating as tomorrow morning we're off to Berlin for the Half Marathon on Sunday. 
To backtrack a little, after the horrendous weather at Tyndrum, we had a nice day in Glasgow and then on the Monday we had a fine run on the canal.  Falkirk Wheel to Linlithgow, 14miles including a wee detour as the hated 'darkie tunnel' was closed for repair (phew...) lunch in Linlithgow then the train back to Falkirk with a 2 mile jog back to the car, arriving just as the snow started - and kept falling!  It snowed heavily overnight and again the next day then fortunately the weather broke and the sun started shining. Before we knew it, it was the weekend and the Saturday was back to the usual horrendous weather, heavy rain, grey skies and high winds.  John braved the elements and ran 9 miles in it, I didn't.  However we woke on the Sunday  morning to bright sunshine and blue skies and headed up to do some recceing on the Cateran Trail. 
I dropped John at Glen Isla, and drove to Blairgowrie, he was going to run across the hills and meet me there.  Just as I parked up, the heavens opened but undaunted, I put on my jacket and headed off onto the trail that leads to Bridge of Cally.  I like this part of the trail, it's well marked and easy to find your way, it's party tarmac and partly fields, and a few hills for good measure. 

sunshine after the rain

For 20minutes the rain and wind was horrid, then it stopped and the skies were blue as far as the eye could see!  I went 5miles and turned back, getting caught a second time in a short sharp downpour - if you can call horizontal rain a downpour!  I got back to the car only a minute or so after John so that worked out well, with neither of us having to hang about waiting for the other.
Another week of circuit training and short runs, then it was D33 Weekend.  We had the Friday off work and I had a hospital appointment before we headed up to Aberdeen and we had agreed to be part of the marquee building team, so after lunch we met up in Duthie park with our fellow erectors and got to work.  Johnny Fling has a huge marquee which we helped to erect and dismantle last year and mostly the same folk turned up again this year so we had it up in no time! 
(it helped we didn't have to battle gale force winds!)
Friday evening was spent catching up with friends in the Station Hotel in 'Stoney' then it was Saturday and an early breakfast before heading back from Stonehaven to Duthie Park.  For a number of reasons, I was unsure right up until the start whether or not I was going to run the full distance and in the end, I didn't.  I did however have a really good run with Bill to Milltimber and feel I made the right decision.  We were back in the park in time to get warm clothes on and a coffee inside us before the winner Ross Houston came flying home shattering the course record!  I was delighted to watch many friends finish the race smiling, many of whom got PBs and some of whom were finishing their first ultra.  The post race party in the Station later that evening allowed us to catch up with others and hear their tales.  Sunday morning we had a fab run through Dunnottar woods to the castle with Karen, Mike and Graeme then John and I went to Auntie Betty's for ice-cream before popping in to see George and Karen before we headed home.
A good week followed, the Inspiration Evening in Stirling on Tuesday, preceded by nice burgers with Amanda and Clark.  Bright sunny early morning runs, circuit sessions and then it was the weekend again... Up on Saturday morning and off to train on the West Highland Way.  I'll write about this wee (mis)adventure in a separate post :-)

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)

A wee (slightly lengthy) update...

I've not written up my 'diary' for a few weeks, I'm never sure whether to do a little each week or wait til there's something to write...
 I've just completed my first back to back weekend of the year, physically it was good, mentally it was much better :-)
For a number of reasons, some health related, some weather related, I've struggled to get any long runs done yet this year.  I've really enjoyed the snowy weather and the challenges it has presented, the health issues are not so enjoyable and not for further discussion except to say that old age doesn't come by itself is fact, not just an old wives' adage! 
To backtrack a little...
I've chosen this picture as it is one of my favourite places in Scotland, it's a ruined croft on the Lairig Mor and two weekends ago we decided to go up for a run from Kinlochleven, thinking that there might be a couple of inches of snow on the top and knowing that the climb up would be good practice for me.  It was a beautiful sunny, clear morning and apart from the hideous traffic queuing on the A82 to get into Glencoe ski centre, we had a good early morning drive up the road.  There was plenty snow on the tops as we drove through the glen, but nothing to speak of at the lower levels and the climb up from Kinclochleven, while icy in patches was manageable and the snow at the top was pristine - and MUCH deeper than we'd expected (2 feet deep with 4 feet deep drifts).  John ran ahead of me and had fun making the first footsteps in the virgin snow, I followed his footsteps, happily plodding along and enjoying the views.  A solitary walker we met along the way, thought that we were 'pretty mental' but as it had taken him 3 days to come from Fort William and he was camping along the way - I didn't like to ask which was more mental...
(he'd spent the night before camping inside the croft!)
Last weekend I ran from Milngavie to Drymen and it was torture!  My legs were solid and screaming and it was also probably one of the coldest mornings I remember so my lungs were also screaming!  By the time I got to the wee (completely frozen) loch on the way to Carbeth I had started to warm up and my legs were easing off, the sun was out and I was settling into the slog.  I met John at the gate on Tinker's Lane, got a slurp of coffee, moaned about being too hot, took my jacket off and set off on the next leg.  I'd a great run down to the Beech Tree and then along the old railway line to Gartness.  I really don't like this next bit, it's hilly and tar and messes with my head, I plugged in my headphones and listened to Dave Troman reminisce about Chamonix last August, it helped me to lift my mood out of the doldrums and by the time I got back on the trail I was happier again.  I met John again at Drymen and discussed whether or not to stop - as planned - or carry on over Conic hill to Balmaha.  I was a little scared that Conic might be icy ( I have real issues with ice...) and I think John was a wee bit bored, so we headed home, I'd done what was on the plan.
We've both been doing circuit classes for 4 weeks now, I've been going 3 times a week, and until John popped his calf 2 weeks ago, so was he.  He managed one session last week and will hopefully get back later this week.  Still no running for him yet though :-(
This weekend we had a couple of days off work which was lovely, Thursday I went to donate my platelets and John had physio.  Friday we headed up to a dreich and dismal Aberdeen which was brightened immensely by spending the afternoon visiting George in hospital.  We popped back in again in the evening to see if he'd enjoyed his food parcel :-) After visiting, we took a brisk walk up Union Street to Six degrees north a bar that John had been researching, a bit noisy and full of students and 'rich young things' but the beer was good and the choice immense.
Back to the travelodge for a reasonably good sleep, breakfast in the nearby 'spoons on Saturday morning and then on another grey miserable morning we headed to Drumoak.
Not exactly a heaving metropolis, but the starting point for my run.  The D33 as those who've run it or been there, will know, is in the main, flat, I naively assumed that it would continue thus... Oh how we laughed!! After Banchory it's all uphill...
Fantastic forest trails in Scolty woods, apart from the ones that were covered in sheet ice!  Views to die for - I guess - it would be nice to go back one day in sunshine and see them, there were parts of the route where I could barely see 10 feet in front of me as the cloud was so low/mist so thick.
Long story short, I was extremely grateful I had my kahtoolas in my bag, and as the steep hills and ice slowed me down more than planned, John suggested I stop at Kincardine O'Neil - this was 16.5miles and I had originally hoped to get to Aboyne (20miles).
We'd planned that I would run again Sunday and had thought about staying over in Aviemore so that we could watch the Scotland game in the pub on Sunday before heading home, however it was Valentine's day - bad planning on John's part, and there wasn't much available accomodation.  So, we ended up in Newtonmore and on the road there I noticed a sign for National Cycle route 7.  Oh I said - 'there's a cycle path now, I could run back to Aviemore tomorrow' where do I get those stupid ideas from???  Needless to say that was a suggestion that met with coach's approval so after a delicious dinner, a glass of wine and a reasonably early bed, it was Sunday morning and time to go...
Newtonmore to Kingussie was on a designated cycle path, nice surface and easy running. From Kingussie you head uphill on the B road to Ruthven Barracks,  very pretty, with a nice wee downhill, then up again, and again, and again!  I was pleased though that I was starting to get more confident on the uphills and event trying to run some of them, not giving up as soon as the gradient increased.  It turned into a lovely day, blue skies, sunshine and an increasingly strong wind which was fortunately at my back!  Again John popped up in numerous places with words of encouragement and refreshment.  The most surreal thing was the 3 wee ponies making a dash for freedom at Insh!  The rest of the route stays on the B road although I believe that there may be cycle path from Kincraig to Aviemore now too, I didn't turn off to Kincraig I stayed on the road, as directed and we agreed that at 15miles I was going to stop- 15.01 to be exact and it turns out, another mile or so and I'd have been on the main road again at the Old Bridge on the outskirts of Aviemore, but I'm happy with what I did and actually ran and felt better than I had on Saturday.  Soup and coffee, a wee walk, then to the pub for the rugby and an early dinner rounded off my weekend.  Not bad, 31.51 miles with 603m of climbing!
Back to the GP later this week and hopefully things will keep improving and the training will keep on track.
(if you're still reading, well done! Sorry it's a bit wordy)

So Far So Good!

Read and Repeat...
My year is shaping up into quite a busy one with a few big goals so I am going to keep reminding myself about this for the next 8 months!

After the exciting and terrifying news at the start of December that I had been one of the lucky ones drawn in the WHW ballot for 2015 I decided that I had to knuckle down and get on with things.  To that end I have got back onto the healthy eating and exercising train, and so far so good.  John and I had an amazing Christmas and New Year break in Toronto and I managed to come back 1kg lighter than I went away so that was a good start to my year.  11 days later I had managed to shift another 2kg so already I am half a stone in old money, lighter than I was at Christmas and I am happy with that.  I have also attained new personal records with my weights at both deadlift and bench press - this is a relatively new-found love and I really enjoy it as a form of training so to see improvement always makes me feel good!  So far so good...
I am enjoying the cleaner eating again and the fresh juice everyday - although I have broken my juicer and will need to get a new one - oh dear, another parcel for poor long suffering John to bring home :-)
Last Sunday was my birthday and I was a little bit down about how incredibly old I was going to be, but in the end it wasn't so bad.  We headed up to Bridge of Orchy on Friday evening and had an enjoyable evening in the bar, people watching before a reasonably early and not too disturbed night - it was still very stormy but a good old stone building keeps you feeling remarkably safe.  Saturday morning we had a leisurely and very tasty breakfast before donning our foul weather gear and heading to the hills.  We ran/tramped our way up and over Jelly Baby Hill where we were able to lean back into the ferocious gales which held us up then on to Ba Bridge.  We met Norry McNeill along the way, similarly attired and equally enjoying the exhilaration you get from being out in 'mental' weather.  We turned at Ba Bridge and headed back to Bridge of Orchy in occasional glimpses of sunshine rapidly followed by whiteout conditions, arriving safely back at the hotel to the astonishment of the young man on reception who offered to take our boots to the drying room only to discover we didn't have boots on but running shoes lol!  The bar beckoned and a revivifying coffee and Laphroaig was most welcome.  A long soak in a nice deep bath prepared us for a delicious dinner with a celebratory bottle of Malbec then another hour or so in the bar to round of the evening.  Sunday was another tasty breakfast then a short trip down the road to Tyndrum where the snow was lying thick and white and we had another wee hour's run on the track back to BofO and back.  Hot chocolate at the Real Food Cafe and then we headed home.  It was a great weekend and the most miles I've covered for a few months.  It really set my head in the right place and reminded me how much I love that part of the world, particularly in Winter, and also how much I love 'being able to get out there and do it!'
Today brought another exciting ballot result, John got a place in the UTMB and I was lucky enough to get another bash at the OCC, so our flights to Chamonix are booked and I am ridiculously excited at the prospect of being out there again for a week with a bunch of incredible people!
So as we approach the middle of the first month of the craziness that 2015 is shaping up to be I am going to keep on eating lots of green stuff, lifting heavy weights, running and hopefully sleeping well.  In turn I hope this helps me to lose some more weight, keep as brimful of energy and loving life!  I am sure there will be some down times too but I will try not to let them get to me... So Far So Good!

Yessir!!

New Year - New Me?

Erm nope, don't think so - I will always be who I am, I am too old to change now!

However as we start a fresh new chapter in the Big Book of Life, it is good to have goals and aspirations to look forward to.
2015 is a big year for me in lots of ways, not least a birthday which takes me into a 'really really old' age group and as you do when you get old and addled, I am setting out on the journey to achieving my biggest goal to date - I hope to be the recipient of a coveted WHW Goblet on 22/06/15.
I have tackled many BIG things in the past few years, things that I would never have thought achievable a few years ago, but this is definitely the biggest so far!
I haven't blogged much in the past 12 months - for various reasons, however it is my intention to get back to recording my training and progress if only for my own reference and to provide me with a record to look back on.  Along the way to Milngavie I have a few other goals to be ticked off, and I'll write about those as I go.  So, fingers crossed, with a lot of hard work and determination along with the help and support of some pretty awesome people I will get there.
Thanks in advance for the encouragement and support and occasional gentle abuse that I hope I can count on along the way.

We had a fantastic holiday to Canada to end 2014 and bring in 2015 so "Here's tae us, wha's like us?"

'Twas the night before Christmas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, just the clicking of a mouse;

The two-finger typist was skimming the keys

John was blogging again with well practised ease.

 

I've not blogged for months

I've not had much to say.

It's been a funny old year, 

- not all gone my way.

 

But now as the year is drawing to a close

I thought I'd try verse instead of usual prose.

Keith fae Dumfries he was my inspiration

(Only rhyme I can find seems to be perspiration..)

 

I've had fantastic adventures with wonderful folks

I've spent 29hours listening to George & Bill's jokes! 

From Big Sur to Chamonix and all stops between

with new friends and old friends and sights rarely seen.

I've run further (or farther) than ever before,

I've even got a prize and I'm coming back for more!

There have been disappointments, injuries and bugs

Outweighed tenfold by sweaty-runners hugs

 

Races are planned for the next 365 days,

It's going to be a biggy in all sorts of ways.

Another new age category, more miles to run

no doubt lots of tears, maybe even some fun

Our cases are packed as we're off in the morn,  

we'll be out the house early before the first dawn.

It's really exciting to fly Christmas Day,

We might see 12 reindeer pulling a sleigh!

To the friends who stuck with me through times dark and bright —

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”