I come over all ' Waltonsey!'

I spent the day deliberating. Eventually deciding to go for an easy 3 with Daisy along the west highland way.

I left it quite late in the afternoon, but made it to clobber car park by about 3.30pm.

I have a dull ache in my lower back now but it is a lot better. I reached the 1.5mile turning point at the base of the khyber and just carried on. My feet led the way and Daisy followed. We just kept on running. It was not fast but I was so glad to be out the pleasure out weighed the slight discomfort that I am pleased to say did not worsen. As long as I kept an easy pace it felt manageable.

Sometimes I take running for granted, I expect to do it and it can almost become a chore, but today I smelt the freshly cut trees and savoured every lung full of cold fresh air. I know it's a bit 'Waltonsey' but it's true, I felt so lucky to be fit and healthy enough to be doing it.


I ran as far as Carbeth huts then turned back up the ridge up to Mugdock, returning through the park.

I can't imagine not running. I will have goals and I will make some and miss others but I really hope I can keep running for a long time!

The other revelation is that Daisy managed it no bother. She wasn't even tired! she has 4 tiny legs and she just runs....it's like no one's told her she can't do it so she just runs. Maybe she has a half Marathon in her? I have been restricting her to 3 mile runs!

7m 1h 08m

Jogging

Last night I went up to Garscube with the boys, Rory was keen to do the extra Thursday session after his hour of football and Cody was even keener!

I stuck around to help Rob and Stevie out with the prescribed 400m reps. It was a good session and once more I was struck by the determination in the kids! Pain is nothing!

I was restricted to the warm down as still suffering.

Today I pulled on the trainers with the hope of feeling better but a 3 mile jog is about the extent of it! Just can't hurry these things!

Itching to go

Well I am trying to be sensible and NOT run. I was going a bit stir crazy by 3pm having taken Daisy on an extended walk and done some yoga practice I was still feeling antsy!

I decided to take the kids swimming, so we walked down to the Allander and swam for an hour or so. I am NOT a swimmer so I was quite pleased with 24 continuous laps, (no I am not that slow we mucked about, practicing dives a bit too!). Whenever I get in the pool I think I should give it a try and apply myself to learning better technique and speed, then maybe even do something MAD like a triathlon! I just hate the changing rooms part of the experience!

MMmmMMMM New Shoooooes :-)

Nothing like a pair of new shoes to cheer a gal up!

Here they are in all their glory, my new Jalas Black FLX's. No excuses now for slow ascents or slippery descents!


The super chunky studds topped of with millimeter sized metal dobs.

I have had to go down half a size in these as I know they expand a little when they get wet, and Thursdays experience showed me that there's no point having amazing shoes if your feet won't stay put in them! I bought them from the very helpful Compass Point who, given that I was a little unsure what I wanted, were very patient with me! I can't wait to try them out. Will probably have to wait till next week though....if I am being sensible!

Discomfortable yoga and a warm up

I decided to attempt Yoga this morning despite the ongoing discomfort from Saturdays fall.

I managed most of the class better than I had expected and I am sure it did me good! I missed out the poses that involved sitting on ones tail and had to lie on my front for relaxation!

The kids session was a parlauf, we do this by pairing the kids up then setting the course. We used the empty carpark at Garscube last night and set up a circular course with two bases on opposite sides of the circle. Runner one starts (at 1st base) and sprints to runner two (at second base) runner 2 then sprints the second half of the circle while runner 1 does a recovery jog to 1st base ready to be tagged by runner 2, runner 1 takes off and runner 2 jogs back to 2nd base. This continues for around 3 or 4 mins (or when they seem tired enough :-)) Then they break before we change direction and do it all again. It's a great session and the kids really go for it.

We followed that with a few short Hare and Hounds sessions, another great sprint and endurance session.

I only ran the warm up and down, unfortunately my lower back is still to sore to do more.

Results from Sat

The results are now available here

Making an A**e of myself at the Kids cross country!

The first runner in the P5 race appears over the hill.


Today was the third and final in the Garscube schools league.

I decided not to run up as it is just too cold to run, get hot and sweaty and then stand around outdoors for hours. I planned to run after the races were over.

I went up in the car with the kids and reported as a first aider.

It was a really cold morning and the roads were pretty treacherous. One of our club members was involved in an traffic accident on her way up..fortunately she was not injured but her car was a write off!

There was no salt down at Mugdock and the whole place was a sheet of ice!

Having squeezed the first aid pack into my rucksack I headed of to my allocated position. Striding across the fore court in front of the visitor centre, surrounded by parents, kids and fellow Garscubers, too late I realised I was also surrounded by ice! In cartoon style I fell right on my tail bone with a huge thud, trying to save my thermos cup full of tea and not breaking my fall. (I failed to save anything!) A few of the parents rushed over to my aid..while those who knew me made the observation that 'it was your kids skidding on the ice that made it such a deathtrap' Who needs sympathy anyway!


Slightly embarrassed and sore I hobbled off to my allocated spot about 1k from the visitor centre. This was by a wooden bridge and the marshiest boggiest bit of the course....we deduced that this was a possible high risk spot. The bridge, being wooden, was pretty slippy. Tony..fellow marshal and helper had the brain wave of using the soil from mole hills to reduce the slipperiness. It worked and he only got a few strange looks from dog-walkers!
Tony champion shoe finder with a mole hill!

Finally the lead runner in the P5 race appeared over the hill..charging down towards the BOG and us. The front runners careered through..no bog was going to slow them down. Made it over the bridge and away around the bend like a swarm of bees. Then the rest came hurtling towards us. Some getting stuck in the mud. Some loosing shoes! The messy work began. Pulling children out of the mud...and searching for lost trainers that the mud had swallowed up and engulfed. It was icy cold and clinging so that even when you pulled your hand out it continued to freeze! Eeeew.

Quite a few kids just ran on, not letting a lost trainer slow them down!


It was a similar story with the P6, P7 and S1-3 race...I had repositioned myself next to the bog to see if I could spot where the shoes were lost...increasing our chances of finding them. As a result as the kids threw themselves through the mud I was splattered from top to toe...but our shoe finding percentage went up:-)



Lucie made it through!
Tony turned out to be a champion shoe finder, digging deeper than I could bare! When one parent turned up looking his sons red and white shoe, Tonys' fast reply was, 'Sorry we've only got brown ones!


The older ones managed to keep their shoes on thanks goodness as I really wasn't wanting to plunge my hand into any more icy mud!



Rory, in yellow, searching for his shoe!

Kirstin making light work of the mud!

As the last race went through we gathered up the course markings and signs and headed back to the visitor centre and a bacon roll and coffee.

The kids did brilliantly again, the results aren't out yet so I can't post. Cody was convinced he came 11th which considering he is still a year younger is pretty great.

In the afternoon we had been given a day pass for Esporta. I did a few laps of the pool with the kids then spent a long while between the steam room, sauna and Jaccuzzi...in an attempt to ease the sore butt and thaw out my freezing hands and toes!



Gathering the course up at the end.

I came down hard, and anticipate that I am going to be out of running action for a couple of days at least:-(

Scotland 2009 Homecoming Ad

I was listening to the radio and this ad came up for discussion. Most of you will have seen this ad..it is supposedly broadcasting all over the world...can any world bloggers/readers confirm this?! Would it make you visit Scotland?



I think it's a bit of a cop out, using the celebs to sing a bit of Dougie MacLean’s classic song ‘Caledonia'. It's a lovely song can't really go wrong. You can even play identify the locations, then see if you're right by following this link!

The thing is this ad cost just over £150,000. Money well spent? Is this really what Scotland's about?

Considering Sean's line is 'Let me tell you that I love you And I think about you all the time' do you think that means he wants to move back here!

It's all a tad bit cheesy methinks!

Anyway the whole point of this was that the guy on the radio mentioned the Tennants ad from 2007. He reckons it was much better and get the message home far more effectively. So here it is for your enjoyment. The alternative homecoming with a pint of Tennents at the end! I know which one I prefer!

The Slacks

I was out with Super-fit Dave, Steve 'The Professor' and Fiona Outdoors tonight.

Rachel (Steve the proffessor's wife) was kind enough to let me borrow her Jalus orienteering shoes for a trial!

We headed out to "The Slacks" the starting point of which is right next to the Erskine bridge. I was keen to christen my new head torch.

This is the route we took, and as you will see from the elevation it's a steep start! These guys are made of tough stuff and the mere thought of doing anything sissy like warming up is out of the question :-) Straight up the hills no bother!

The route and elevation profile

Unfortunately I am not quite as tough as I would like to think...and I watched them making the hill ahead look easy disappearing over the mounds of HILL infront of me! I was forcing my aching muscles to keep going and my lungs to calm down..slowly but surely I inched my way up the hill!

The general rule is that the front runners loop back to touch base with the slow coaches like me. "Super fit" Dave is great at doing this...he MUST run twice as far as the rest of us!

As the Jalus shoes started to get wet they began to expand and soften up, that along with the fact I had silly thin socks on caused my feet to start slipping around in them. I did find that their grip was beyond my best expectations. They weren't moving anywhere! My feet however had other plans and therefore I felt pretty wobbly in them on the way up. Not wanting to stop and tighten them for fear of falling further behind!

By half way up my achillies tendons were agony, I had adopted the tip toe high knee approach as I dug my toes into the soft boggy side of the hill. But the stretch on the tendons is unavoidable...I am not sure that this would be improved my a short warm up or just more out and up practice!

You know when you are mountain climbing and you reach false summits? Well when you do hills in the dark it's a bit like that too. You think that you're there only to find that there's more stretching away into the darkness. One way to gauge this is the wind levels..it nearly always gets very windy at the top. Last night there were also still patches of snow dotted about as we neared the top.

Did I mention, yet, that I fell down a rabbit hole? No injury and no blushes as the rest were too far ahead at that point to witness the expletives.

Once at the top we took the necessary photos that have now become a bit of a ritual! Given that they had already waited for me to arrive, tighten my shoes and check out the view, I didn't want to insist on a picture...but it seems camera shy they are not: "Come on get your camera out then" so here is the evidence!"Superfit" Dave, Fiona Outdoors and Steve "The Professor"


With newly tightened shoes we flew down the hill. (Except for the uphill bits!)

I loved the grip of the Jalus's. Areas that I would previously have had real trouble staying on my feet were no problem. That said I did trip over a tufty grassy mound the less said about that the better.

Once we hit the bottom we had to run the short distance along the road to the cars. We got some very strange looks from the occupants of a passing car. It ground to a halt unsure what was coming towards it. When we reached the car I looked back and saw Steve "The Professor" that is I didn't see him but I saw his light. It was instantly clear what a sight the four of us must have been to that poor couple in the car! It did look for all the world like there was a camel running down the road...the action of the lamp was just how I imagine a camel with headlights to look. Not that I've ever seen one. But there you go!

7k 62mins

Wednesday Chatterbox

I met Robert for a 5 mile run this evening.

I think that the plan had been to make it a bit of a tempo session but I was sore from yoga. sometimes when you go out you feel tired and then you surprise yourself. This wasn't one of them!

I seem to have been quite talkative..perhaps a subconscious way of avoiding the possibility that he could suggest we up the pace? However at the end he said he hadn't got a word in-and hardly noticed the miles ticking in!

Oh well...it felt fast enough to me! What I was talking about is any ones guess...ask Robert.

Route: Mosshead Rd, Milngavie Rd, Milngavie Town Centre, Milngavie Station, Strathblane Rd, Rugby club, Milngavie Rd, Canniesburn, Drymen, Gartconnel.

5.72m-51.24mins

Crazy Yoga

Yoga this morning. The picture above is of Jo holding the position that she seems to think I, one day will achieve. It is the latest progression in the Ashtanga practice.

some of the other members of the class have just gone into this pose without batting an eye lid. I however can barely get my feet past my hands! After wiggling around and adjusting, (not very smooth or attractive!) I manage to get my legs the right side of my hands....but then I can't get my hands to stay flat on the floor! I feel a bit like Mrs Bean...you get one appendage in and another pops out, Ok that may have come across wrong.

Apparently it's all down to my hips...another common runners complaint...along with the tight hamstrings and tense shoulders.





Did a hill session with the kids tonight. They sprinted up the Murrayfield hill eagerly with enviable energy. The sum total of session for me was a mile down and a mile back.


2m

Easy Sunday

This morning's run was from the house. 8 15am start and daylight was just begining to creep in.

I felt pretty tired but quite enjoyed the run chatting and paying little attention to pace.

The route was down Drymen-Canniesbur-Drumchapel Rd-Maxwell Ave-Canal-River Kelvin. Back along the river to Dawsholm wood where we looped around to add an extra mile on-Through Garscube estate-MAryhill Rd-Drymen Rd-Home!

10m-approx 1:40

Weeks mileage: 32.47m
Years total: 85.37m

Throw Down Your Heart and an 'I saw you!'

Last night we went to a gig at the royal Concert hall. I am writing about this because it was brilliant.

I hadn't paid too much attention to the gig as it was one that Jeremy had highlighted to see. He has 'interesting' taste in music and it doesn't always work for me!

So we ended up taking the boys with us...due to a mix up I won't go into. Lucie was at a sleep over so it all worked out great!

The night was billed as "'Throw down your heart' with Bela Fleck." Here's what the programme said:-

US banjo legend Béla Fleck journeyed through Africa in search of his instrument’s roots. This unique musical odyssey was chronicled by his filmmaker brother, Sascha Paladino, and released in 2008 as the award-winning documentary Throw Down Your Heart. For his first ever concert based on this project, Fleck is joined by three of his star collaborators from Mali: the stunning singer Oumou Sangare, pioneering kora maestro Toumani Diabaté and Bassekou Kouyate a contemporary virtuoso of the ngoni, an ancient, lute-like antecedent of the banjo. A recent collaboration of these artists was described by The Guardian as “one of the events of the year”.

Completing this magical reunion of kindred spirits and cultures will be Scotland’s own highly acclaimed Gaelic singer Kathleen MacInnes and Ireland’s Liam Ó Maonlaí. Liam strongly believes every country has its own séan nos, “when in the company of other cultures, the singing of this style opens a window into what it is that connects us”.

It was a fantastic night and Oumou was stunning. A true diva who totally filled the stage. I have never heard anything like Toumani Diabaté's Kora playing. I swear that if I closed my eyes I would have imagined a stage full of musicians when this man played solo. He is surely the Man with a Million Fingers!

The biggest sin was that the place wasn't packed to the seams with this caliber of musicians!

Looking around in the break I noticed a fellow Garscuber....I didn't manage to catch him to speak to so took a long distance snap. I wonder what he thought of it all?

Do you recognise this couple?

Tagged

I was tagged by she who makes waves! Here are my answers!

My favourite memory of 2008!
Getting the email to say I got into Strathclyde Fire and Rescue!

My favourite movie of 2008!
Terminal. Watched it on dvd last month and thought it was brilliant.

My favourite food of 2008!
My Dads Christmas dinner! Just gets better every year.
My favourite place in 2008!
On holiday in France relaxing in the sun. Happy kids...happy parents!
My favourite event in 2008!
Berlin Marathon! A great city and what a great thing to say I ran in the world record marathon! (Ok I wasn't that fast)
What I am looking forward to most in 2009!
Passing basic training and starting a new career- oh and bringing down my 10k times!

Ok my turn to tag...Debs, Fi , Jo and Davie

Jack Crawford 10k

Well I thought I wasn't going to make it. With the kids activities in the morning I had given up on the race by 1 when Rory was still not done with Footy. I had resigned myself to a late run in the afternoon.

Then at 1 30 they all arrived. Teetering on the edge of will I/ won't I, I decided to go for it. Jumped in the car. Texted Robert to get me an entry and hot footed it over to Bishopbriggs.

I arrived with little time to spare at 2:15 pm for a race start of 2:30! As I drove through the car park I spotted a fair few Garscubers...Mary and Joseph (Debs & Marco), Jill, Maz, Anne C, Kaz, Joe and Chris to name a few. I also saw Stuart skulking round the car park attaching Balloch Clydebank fliers to every one's windscreens!

I had just about time to pin my number on and dash to the loo when the horn went, signaling every one to the start.


I have been pretty wimpish about the weather lately...running in fleeces and jumpers, so it was a real chill to take off all the layers and don the running vest. I wimped out and put a long sleeve under it!

Realising at the start line that I had not put my Garmin on...fully charged, logged in but on the car dash board!!

I hung at the back feeling quite half hearted about the whole thing. This was the only way I was ever going to convince myself to do the race...looking on it as a run with lots of other people rather than a time goaled race. It's the first one since the Marathon and I have not been feeling that competitive or motivated to run fast!!

Needless to say as soon as the started gun went I wanted to go faster. I paid the price for hanging back and struggled to pass anyone. The road was totally clogged with big long lines of girls chatting. As we hit the canal path it got worse. The conditions were muddy and wet and the chance of passing anyone were almost impossible.

I even had a tussle with a girl who just would not let up. Running with i-pod and cap, seeming to block us all from passing. I eventually passed her running up the bank and giving her a wide birth.

Two mins later she jumped a puddle...landing on my calf! 'Ouch' I yelled. She muttered 'sorry I had committed to the jump before I realised I wouldn't make it!'

AGAIN a few strides later she pulled up alongside me and another guy, barged right into him...nearly knocked us both over then proceeded to run RIGHT in front of us...... BUT slower! This led to quite a funny moment when me and the guy looked at each other with mutual exasperation, then in a moment of like mindedness, we sprinted past her along the mushy banks. Didn't see much of her after that!

I continued to struggle past a few people for the first couple of Kilometers, it wasn't until about 4k the runners spread out enough to run without taking the long way round.

As I didn't have my watch I decided to run at perceived effort...just enough to hurt a bit but not enough to have to stop.

One of the great things about running for the club is the support, there's always plenty of faces along the way. Cheering you on and making you give that extra bit!

As I approached the 8k mark I saw Flash, my First running coach and inspiration. I saw him glance at his watch as i approached...'How 'ma doin' I gasped pointing to my wrist. 'You're doin' great, keep pushing' he said with a big grin. Bother. I was desperate to know the time! Argggggggg

So as I approached the finish I felt quite strong but not as far up the field as I would have liked. I got over the finish line and walked up to the goodies table! Steve 'The Professor' Wilson (Thurs night hill runs) was there already! just pipped me to the post. now had I seen him I would have gone the extra mile to get ahead:-)

I had no idea what my time was but felt it was probably 48 something. Turns out it was not so bad. 47:07 so not so bad!


ooooo and the goody bag (well there was no bag actually!) but it included an asics shoe care kit! Does any one out there clean their running shoes??!!

Well done to all the other Garscubers. Marco did well coming in as 1st Garscuber and 16th place overall with 36:12. Robert managed a great 45:05 a great time, marking his climb back up the road of recovery!

10k 47:07

Kids activities morning.

It was another Interschools x country today at Oxgang primary in Kirky. Jeremy took Rory and Lucie along. I stayed home with Cody as he has a bit of a cold and I wasn't keen on him standing out in the gales all morning. See Fiona outdoors blog for more about it as she was there!.

Lucie was third girl home for Mosshead and here she is... thanks fi for the picture.
Rory was freezing by the time his race came round and wasn't very pleased with his performance. I am sure he did fine. He managed to make his Baljaffrey footy match at 11:30am which despite defeat he thoroughly enjoyed.

No Brainer 4

Ran 4 today following a lack of running yesterday! Just the usual 4m no brainer to Canniesburn and back at a recovery pace....half a mind to do the Jack Crawford 10k tomorrow!

4m-34.48
k splits 5.29, 5.28, 5.22, 5.28, 5.27,5.18,

Slushy 5

It was a really miserable night tonight.

I could easily have stayed in and skipped the run! Fortunately I had arranged to meet Robert and so donned my running gear.

It was even colder than it looked when I get outside and there was persistent sleet falling blindingly as we ran!

That said by the 2nd mile I was starting to warm up a bit.

I had a bit of a stomach ache so was happy to plod along with no garmin. It was pretty slushy underfoot too making it rather too slippery to go any faster anyway.

I was feeling that uninspired when we set off I was keen to make it a short 4 miler. By the time we had looped back my enthusiasm had increased, and so we continued, to make for a slightly longer route.

Passed fellow Garscubers Ali and Euan (at least I assumed it was him but couldn't see all that well!) on Milngavie rd. Obviously they were going the other way!!

5.77m- 50 mins

Route: Stockiemuir-Mosshead Rd-Milngavie Rd-Mingavie town centre-Strathblane Rd-Rugby Club-Milngavie Rd-Canniesburn-Drymen-Gartconnell.

Yoga and the Mighty Deerstalker

Had a great yoga class today. Back to my favourite Ashtanga practice. Feel the muscle burn and quiver...and breathe at the same time.

Anyway I got home and decided I could wait no longer. I needed to enter something.

I've had itchy "online entering fingers" for a while now,as I would normally have a race goal or something by this time of year.

Fiona outdoors has been blogging like mad and her recent chat about the Mighty Deerstalker was enough to tempt my interest further.

Check out these pictures I have nicked from the site!








If I am shattered from the training at Gullane I figure I will still manage round this course for the hell of it. And I will even get to use my fab new head torch.




Now tell me you're not tempted? :-))

Here's what it says about itself!

The Deerstalker is a turbo-charged roller coaster of a run. It's fun, it's fast, it's action-packed and it's as tough as you can bear. This is Fun Run meets Fell Race meets Hellrunner meets Tough Guy. It's Rat Race in the countryside and it's much more besides.

Kids Fartlek

Did a fartlek with the kids tonight. I didn't get much sprinting in as I was bringing up the rear tonight.




It was a slightly longer route than planned as I went a bit off route to cross at a green man!

3.6m

Waning Gibbous

It was the usual run while the kids swam tonight.

I had been caught by the swim co-ordinator who wanted to talk to me when we arrived at the swimming class so my run time was slightly depleted. As a result I rushed out in my Fleece and then I ran at a slightly more steady pace than the usual 'easy recovery. I was seriously regretting the wearing of the fleece by the end of the 1st mile!

It was quite mild and there was a beautiful big moon in the sky. My curiosity was aroused, as I ran, as to whether it was actually as full a moon as it looked. The wonders of the internet confirmed that it was not. Apparently it was a Waning Gibbous 92% of Full. A whole 8% missing!

Like a minute or two would have made that much difference!

3m-26min

Canal Rats

Up early this morning for a ten mile run with Robert. I had woken a few times through the night listening to the howling wind and lashing rain. It was no different at 8 am. Still dark and VERY wet and EXCEEDINGLY windy.


It was a battle to say the least as we headed out towards Clydebank Roundabout along Drymen Road. The wind was so strong conversation was difficult..almost impossible as the elements seemed to snatch our words and whisk them away. I am not much of a conversationalist at that time anyway :-)

I had thought that as we changed direction at Clydebank Roundabout and headed back along the Great Western Road we would benefit from the wind behind us. The wind had other ideas though and seemed to change direction, determined to make us battle through the whole run!
Me looking like a drowned Canal Rat


We joined the canal and with rain still hammering down we came up at Westerton, cut through Garscube estate and back along Maryhill and Drymen Rd.

Peeling the layers of gear off back at home it was satisfying to know that 10.6m were in the bag and a long hot bath was well deserved...especially when the other half was still in bed!

Following this I took Lucie and her friend out to spend their Christmas money...5hrs of city centre shopping. Perhaps that was the endurance bit of the day! Both equally enjoyable though!

10.6m- 1:37

I have decided to keep a tally of mileage this year so here goes!
week total: 39.7m
Year total: 52.9m

Out and Back

This morning I met Karen for a familiar out and back along the west highland way.

We began at the clock.

It's the first time I've seen her for a few weeks so chatting was the goal. I forgot my garmin so no stats.

Despite the thermometer saying 4 degrees there was an icy wind that seemed to cut straight through all layers. As a result we were forced into Costa Coffee at the end for a warming Latte :-)

5m

The Khyber and Stockiemuir Rd??!!

View of Dumgoyne from half way up Stockiemuir Rd


Today I joined Carol and Margaret for their regular Thursday run.
It was a bright morning and the temperature was about 1 degree.

I met them at Clober carpark on the West Highland Way and we set off for a sociable 10 miler.

Now I make this my starting point for runs quite often but I would not have the will power to do today's route by choice! We ran out and hit the first hill, a sharp incline at the start of the run. It's a while since I've done this as when alone or determining the route I take the second route option which gives around .75 mile warm up before the climb! Heart and lungs working hard we were well warmed up within the first 5 mins!

The next delight was the Khyber....the infamous hill that goes on and on. If that wasn't enough we dropped down into Strathblane knowing that we had another mammoth climb back up Stockiemuir Road...two whoppers in one run. And I opted for this instead of tonight's hill running session!!


It was quite slippy in parts although the areas that were thawing out were pretty muddy and wet. Never happy!!


Here's the elevation of the route...decide for yourself!

Unfortunately Carol was suffering and her heart rate was going crazy. As we got to the last 3 miles at Carbeth Margaret and I ran on and I returned with the car to collect her where the road crosses the WHW. By the time I got to her she was feeling much better and could probably have run fine. It's just too cold to walk for long after a run though especially when feeling unwell.
10 miles 1h 36

Wee extra 3

Did an extra 3 miles tonight with Colin.

1st mile easy then the middle mile we did at 7.45mm pace we were forced to take the final mile easy due to Colin having back pain.

3m

Tired Legs

Felt totally wrecked today after the yoga.

Hips and legs were quite stiff and a bit sore so I skipped the planned speed session. Considered taking the day off running instead of Fri but decided it would be good to bring in a bit more discipline and at the very least go out.

I ended up running with Robert in the evening, a 5 mile route that loops out to the Renault Garage on Maryhill Rd. It was quite mild but that weird kind of misty drizzle that gets everywhere!

I had decided to take it quite easy but got a bit carried away as we sped down the bumps/hillocks along Rannoch drive. By the time we hit Maryhill road my legs were in a state of confusion and I felt like I crawled home along Drymen Rd.

It was good to run on tired legs though I think I have been going a bit too easy on myself!

Route: Gartconell-Bearsden Cross-Drymen Rd-West Chapelton-Milngavie Rd-Boclair-Rannoch-Maryhill Rd-Drymen-Gartconnel.
K splits for Deb:-)5:37, 5:18, 5:47, 5:20, 4:43, 5:12, 5:23, 5:37.
5.14m-44:34

Alternate Nostril Breathing and more

Having not done any yoga over christmas...(I did try but kept getting interrupted...honest)I was prepared for a tough return to the class today.

We all rocked up and Jo put us through our paces. We are making the move from Flow back to Ashtanga so todays' session was a hybrid of the two. God help us when we get back to the full Ashtanga sessions!!

We did some good breathing excercises too, alternate nostril breathing! Now that's not something you boast about but it did have a very calming effect. Probably wouldn't do it in public though!

Tonight did a 3 mile run with the kids. A good way to break them back in to training. They all did really well and it was a nice gentle session.

3m slow

-4

It was very cold tonight. I dropped the kids of at swimming and headed out for a frosty 3.

I did the new improved route (see 1st Dec '08) from Cleveden High. It was so Frosty even the middle of the road felt like it was teflon coated! I felt quite good and enjoyed the run.

3m-25mins

Ten point two

Met Robert for an easy 10 mile run this morning. We did a regular 10 mile route, and took the pace easy. It was a cold clear morning, -3 and I kept my fleecy gilet on the whole way without once wishing I had left it behind!

Coming back up the ridge we were forced to walk and practically slipped into a load of other Garscubers heading down. Carol, Mairi, and others along with Kelvin Runner Jude. There is always a fair flow of water down this section and today it was totally frozen forcing us to walk and pick our way around the edges of the 'path'.

It seemed to be a day for Garscube spotting as I saw Ben later in the afternoon as I headed down Maryhill rd into Glasgow to see the Snow Queen at the Arches.

He was easy to spot in his trade mark orange top, hat and fast long stride!

Whw-Carbeth- Stockiemuir Rd-Mugdock.
10.2m 1h39

Loch Sloy

We did make it out today...for half the day at least. We have got out of the habit of getting up and getting out after two weeks of late nights and late mornings. All plans of a whole day out slipped away as we all overslept and didn't even have the picnic made till 10:30.

It was a lovely day and so we set of for Ben Vane as recommended by Debs as one good for the kids.
Clearly we were not going to get to the top due to our late start so we set our sights on a good walk and a bit of research for the future.


We began from Inveruglas car park and followed the road. It runs all the way to Loch sloy due to the fact there is a power station there. As a result it didn't really feel like we were 'hill walking' as such! As we never reached any peaks we spent most of the walk in the shadow of the Arrochar Alps....boy was it cold! We had our sandwiches just below the Damn at Loch Sloy before deciding to head down again, it was a bit disappointing as it felt as though we hadn't even touched the bottom of the mountain. It was still a good 2.5-3 hour walk though.


The kids returned with a healthy glow and they were all delighted to find real icicles! (No batteries required) It was a good taster of what 2009 could bring and strengthened my resolve to get up early and Bag a few munros in 2009.

Quiet Run

Felt like I had a hangover all day which is disappointing as I haven't had more than one alcoholic drink since leaving my in-laws in Essex on the 30th. Ummmed and ahhhed about running and eventually went out for a 4 mile run in the dark.

It was a quiet contemplative run (as I couldn't find my garmin or my ipod.) I pondered my guilt over the fact that I hadn't managed to get motivated enough to get the kids out into the great outdoors...so far this year;-)

I arrived home feeling refreshed and energetic only to find the boys were still killing Narnians on the wii (as they have been all day.)

Think we will have to have a day out tomorrow!

4m approx 33mins

Happy New Year

Having been away visiting family for the last week I haven't been able to blog quite so regularly. After spending Christmas in Cheshire we passed an afternoon in Derbyshire at my uncles 75th birthday celebrations, then 3 nights in Essex with my in-laws. 9 children and 7 adults. Need I say more. We arrived home last night travel weary and promptly exited to a NYE party to bring in the new year with friends.

Throughout the festive period I managed 3 5 milers and 2 3 milers. Not too bad. It was good to run in different locations, my old stomping ground of cheshire and the pretty essex countryside.

Looking forward to getting a longer run in this weekend though. The first of 2009 so I had better make it a good one.

This is the year of change for me as I start training to be a firefighter in February. Until I get through the 12 weeks training and settle in to a new life style, see what the impact is on the family, who have always had me at home,(or at the bottom of the garden!) I can't even begin to plan any running goals. So for now my motto is "run and enjoy".

Happy NEw year to all my fellow bloggers and those of you who have checked in on my progress. Hope 2009 brings you all health and happiness.