3m

Did the Tesco loop 3 miler today. Didn't take my garmin but it was around 24mins. I was out pretty early ant the frost had been out so it was the first really wintery run. Slippin' around all over the place. it was a beautiful crisp day though so no complaints there.

3miles and a birthday

Nipped out for a swift 3 today as it was Lucie's 10th birthday and wanted the evening free.

Did the Tesco Loop in 24mins, I have to admit it felt more like a chore, but I was glad I did it.

We went to Sauchiehall St Pizza Express (Lucie's choice) she was mainly looking forward to the Bambinoccino at the end! the service was fab and the waiters all sang happy birthday to her:-)

We then ended up in a second showing of HSM3!! (I confess I love it as much as she does.)

Firefighter Fit

Had yoga this morning. At the start of the class my focus was shot...it was a bit better by the end! I am sitting out of the shoulder stands at the moment but still working hard on everything else. Still can't get up into the headstand (the proper yoga way) I have begun practicing handstands against the wall, which according to Noddy is the best way to get good core strength (which will help with the headstands) and along the way get 'Firefighter Fit!'. It is bloody hard! Not to mention the rest of the book...no need for a gym though which suits me fine. It's surprising how many of the excercises in this book are similar to the yoga poses and actions.



Not many junior coaches at the club tonight so I sent pack B out with A to do some 400m reps and took pack D. I am really liking working with these kids they are such a laugh. We did some short hills followed by a few school type drills/games in the car park. making use of the domes and dishes.

Monday, Monday.

Had a really hectic weekend. It is Lucie's birthday on Wednesday and so she had a sleepover cinema thing on Saturday/Sunday. Rory had 2 football matches one on Sat (lost to Westerton) one on Sunday (beat Rangers) and so all in all finding the moment to slip out for a run didn't materialize. I did quite a bit of strength work though in the house.

After really struggling to do any push ups at the start of the summer I am now up to about 10! Thing the yoga has helped a lot.

Today I went out for 3, the Tesco route. 24mins

Trigg point found!

Remember that Trigg point I couldn't find the other week....in the daylight?

Well tonight I went out with Dave and Andrew from Clydeside Orienteers and they led me straight to it, in the dark.

I went out for a bit of night time hill running with these guys last winter but a foot problem cut my forays short. A small group of them go out every Thursday at 7 30 rain or shine!

I chose the wettest windiest night on record to go out, but that's sort of the whole point. I think.

It is a very invigorating experience. While everyone else was battening down the hatches we were heading out. Dave lent me his brand new head torch and we were away.

I slipped on a fallen tree within two minutes but no major damage done. Just face first into a muddy puddle! We ran into the wind up the hill, it was extremely wet and boggy and I could feel my tendons stretching out with the soft ground. Climbing the hill was tough and although I would like to say I ran the whole way I did take a few walk breaks just to get to the top. In the dark when you can only see right in front of you, you can't see the top or how far you have to go. This is probably a good thing and it really teaches you to take it 'one step at a time'!

The reward is great though . At the top of the hill, the wind howling, you look down on the lights of Glasgow. A glittering, twinkling display of street lights. You look up and see more stars than you ever manage to see from the 'ground' elsewhere and you feel VERY small!

Then the fun begins and you start careering down again. We took a longer route down. It took me a while to gain confidence...and technique. There are no paths just heather and grasses and bogs. I realised that you can go much faster slamming your heel down into the soft ground first as it gives you an anchor. (Never too sure which way your foot will land.)

I managed to stay on my feet the whole way down...till I got to exactly the same spot..avoided the fallen tree..and my foot went straight down a hole...that was me over again. No damage just a red face.


I really enjoyed it and will be back out with them plenty more this winter...might even have to invest in one of those snazzy headlamps too;-)

Yoga

Yoga this morning.

It was a good session and I feel I am getting a better grip of the whole thing. Jo is gradually trying to teach us to flow from each pose to the next.

I am definitely working hard each week and trying to fit in some practice between..I still find it hard to believe that i will ever manage some of the poses......this one for example!



I went up to do the kids session in the evening which was kenyan hills (continuous hill reps)
I didn't do more than the warm up and warm down.

Cleveden Loop

Ran 3 miles while the kids were in swimming tonight.

They swim at Cleveden secondary so it makes for a new start point!

I ran down GWR-Byres rd-Highburgh rd and back up to the school but it turned out I was half a mile short so had to add a bit on! It was a wet and miserable night and the last thing I felt like doing was running. As always felt good after and enjoyed tea twice as much when I got home!


3m -24mins

Muddy Mugdock

Ran from Milngavie clock today.


It was a nice morning, ran up the road to the waterwaorks then cut into Mugdock. Ran a little off the usual track for a couple of miles...practicing for a bit of hill running;-)

Came back out onto the road and scaled the hill up to Mugdock village. With relief dropped down into Strathblane and then turned for the long pull back up the ridge.

Came back through Mugdock splashing and squelching through plenty of mud and puddles...should have worn my trail shoes!

Timed it right as it was beginning to rain and the wind was really picking up towards the end of the run. No problems from my hip at all today :-) Only a little knee niggle in the last mile or so. All in all feeling ok!


9.2m -took forever!

DAAA x country relay. Posties Park.

We managed to pull together a junior team for the x country today.

The weather was perfect x country weather. Wet and windy. The sun did make the odd appearance.

Posties Park is on the banks of the Clyde in Dumbarton, and so it is quite open to the elements.

Unfazed by the weather 9 kids turned up and we had a great result with our 3 U11 boys coming in 1st,2nd and 3rd, scooping 1st team place and our U11 girls getting the 2nd team place.

For my sins I had made a deal with Rory, IF he ran I would. I have to say I was dreading it. I had not done a x country since 2006 when I got stuck in the mud at Kirky...

As it turned out I really enjoyed it. It made a nice change.

Maz had arranged for a really fast City of Glasgow runner, Donna, to do my first leg which meant I had a great start in the second leg...trouble was I didn't know where I was going. Thank goodness I was no where near as fast as the rest and they soon overtook and led the way! The third leg of my team was being run by Chris Kilshaw..standing in as a girl. He was still warming up when I got in...I actually thought he had gotten bored waiting for me to finish and had set off early!

Will need to work on those hill runs to up my strength.



The adults teams did really well too getting 1st and 3rd womens team and Ben and Stephen had success picking up the 1st mens team too.

Great results for the club!





U11's & Rory in the U13's

School Hols Walking round the Reservoir

Dawn Run

I always think one of the nice things about running early in the winter is seeing the dawn in! In reality unless I am in the countryside I am usually to sleepy to notice.

I had agreed to run with Robert this morning at 7...

It was dark when we set off. We did 4m easy...around Tesco then back via Kilmardinny Loch. By the end of the first mile I had woken up...but somewhere along the way dawn broke and I never even noticed.


4m 38 mins

4.5 m and kids

Last night I did Jo's drop in yoga class at Cairns Church hall. Jeremy was suffering from Man Flu so I took his place. I didn't feel particularly good...I still seem to be creaking and squeaking adn gasping for breath... where Jo moves so gracefully!

It was good to get the chance though as the Tues class is not on this week.

Today I went for a 4.5m run. I only felt my knee and hip towards the end and nothing to be too worried about.

In the evening I went down to the junior session. We had 24 kids so just split into 2 packs. I went with Rob and Dave with A + B. They did a Parlauf and Hare and hounds session. The kids worked hard but seemed to enjoy it! I was glad I had already run..it was wet and slippery. One of the kids dropped out and so I was needed as a stand in....then the kid in front of me caught our hare....phew!


Stockiemuir-Craigdhu-Milngavie Rd-Roman Rd-Gartconnel

4m 32mins
0.5m warm down 4:32 mins

Trigg point???

Glorious morning

It was a lovely morning here today. I love this time of year. The leaves are falling the colours are beautiful and the sun is low and cool.

I met Robert and ran out along the WHW and back along the ridge. We turned into Mugdock to do a loop of the park. My IT was fine till 6.5m then I felt the familiar stiffening in the hip so headed back. My knee was sore too by the time I reached the car.

In total we did 8.3m which I was happy with. Considering I was only getting to 2 before feeling the IT.

Later we all went out for a walk. Up the hill behind Craigton. The aim was to do a route I had done with the orienteers last winter...in the dark. It just didn't look the same in the day. But we still manged to walk for an hour or so. I will post some pictures later. There were great views over Glasgow.

8.3 approx 1h20

Tags alot

Thanks to Making Waves I have been tagged...I have to come up with a few random facts about myself!

Well random facts let me see!!

* When I was really little we used to go for walks and days out to Beeston Castle. At the time (clearly before electricity) you go to carry a candle into the caves there. My Mum enjoys retelling the story of how she found me crawling around the floor in the dark...my unlit candle in my hand. 'What are you doing?' she asked. 'Looking for my light, I dropped it' I replied!

* When I was at secondary school I was entered into a police quiz. Four of us represented the school. We won and the prize was 100 pounds for the school and a meal in MacDonalds for us!! As much as we could eat! Healthy huh!

* My dad was one of the first civilians to be given penicillin. Without it he may not have made it to adulthood!

* My primary school had orange covers over the electricity cables that ran into the office block. From the day I arrived -when I was 5 I thought they were carrots..

OK that's enough of that. Now I will tag:-

Debs
yogblog
Runners trots
Lesley McInally Ceramic Art
Davie



*

Brief catch up

Since last week I haven't done a huge amount of running. I decided to stick to running 3m easy till my knee was feeling stronger. I had a jaunt on Saturday and made it to about 2 miles before feeling any pain. I spent the whole day gardening on Sunday making the most of no long run!

Tuesday I did yoga..and worked really hard then a 3m fartlek with the kids on Tues- knee felt much better:-) Throughout all this though I have had the inevitable winter sore throat and impending cold. On Tuesday I received some fantastic news that I made it through the process..start training in Feb to be a Firefighter.

This called for celebrations...bit hung over on Wed! And sore from the yoga! It also turned out to be more than the throat could handle and so felt rather worse for wear on Wed!

On Thursday while Rory was at Footy I went to the gym- need to get my upper body strengthened up as much as possible before Feb.

So all in all not a lot of running but hopefully I will be back to it in the next few days!

Well done to everyone who did Loch Ness last week..specially Fi who did an amazing 3 35 and it was her 1st marathon!! Fantastic. And Debs who did the 10k...6 months pregnant!

Loosening up

Went out for an easy 3m to get everything moving again. Still have some discomfort in my left knee when running. It may have been uncomfortable but it was great to be out running...my kind of running weather too. Cold and wet!

Did my usual 3 miler past Asda clockwise.

3m 28:26

Berlin Marathon

9am Sunday 28th September!

Sunday was a beautiful day. Blue sky and sun...o-oh heat not good for me.

I met Anne and we trekked miles to put our bags in the baggage tents.

We then did the usual multiple trips to the bushes before finding our start positions.

I had a great start position due to my Lochaber 2007 time. It took me about 2 mins to cross the line.

It was a great buzz and music and support was bellowing out along every street.

There was some 'clogging' due to areas where the road narrowed. I was not bothered by this as the pace was still good.

I was feeling better than ever and the first 10 miles were bliss. After this though I started getting pain in my left hip and knee...good old IT band! By the half way mark I knew that in order to finish I would have to drop the pace. It was also hotting up and the sun was beginning to make me wilt.

The vibe was great and the fire brigade were out at various intervals with their hoses making showers across the roads to cool us all down.

As my hip and knee got more painful and stiff I began making each drinks station my goal...every 5k. I then took a good long drink at each walking the length of the tables lifting my knee high to stretch out my hip.

As with all marathons the last 3-4 miles seemed to go on for ever and I felt like I was going soooo slow. One step in front of the other.

Turning into the finishing straight was amazing. Seeing the Brandenburg Gate, what a sight. I made sure I ran through the very centre...then there was that annoying extra bit...the last few hundred meters where you feel as though you are on a treadmill going in the opposite direction..never getting any closer!

It appears I made it though! Right next to the Centurion!!

26.2m- 3h56.








Here I am with Anne underneath the Brandenburg gate.



Anne and I in Tiergarten park on Saturday 27th


The in line marathon-held on the Saturday. Awesome! You should feel the whoosh as these guys whizz past!