Well, hello there, Monday, you’ve come around too fast!
Today, I received a reality check, after spotting the following goodies in our local Co Op:
Erm, hello, the Hallowe’en goodies haven’t even hit the shelves yet, and you’re selling Christmas goodies?!
Anyhoo, how has your day been?
Tonight, we’ve headed to my favourite cafe for dinner. I’m pretty sure that I’ve mentioned it before. It’s called Cafe Ca’Dora, and it’s in Tarbert, conveniently located easily within walking distance. And we love it!
What is really tempting is that virtually every run goes past it. It’s difficult not to just pop in!
We visit it regularly- too regularly, and every time we have visitors, we’re guaranteed to be in there a few times: for breakfast, or lunch, or coffee, or dinner. Or any combination of those!
@TheWelshWookie loves the burgers.
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I love the nachos, wraps, pasta and fajitas.
They also make their own ice cream. It is delicious!
All of this talk of food is making me hungry again! 🙂
And I’m having a rest day; so no running to burn any extra calories off! 😮
I’ve entitled this post ‘A Ridiculous Run’ for two main reasons:
1. Some of the hills we tackled today were so steep, it was ridiculous:
2. I went out, looking nothing short of ridiculous!
After such a lazy day yesterday, I was looking forward to getting out in the fresh air, and blowing away some of the cobwebs. Also, I wanted to run, in honour of fellow running blogger 278toBoston’s first ever marathon, which he is running today.
@TheWelshWookie had a complete moment of madness, and suggested that, instead of running our usual route, we should go off road, and run one of the trails behind Tarbert Castle. It sounded like a great idea!
I started with an espresso, though:
We decided to run with camelbaks, instead of using hand held water bottles. And it was raining. So I’m sure that I’ll have drawn some weird looks!
Instead of heading straight for the Castle, we decided to tackle my nemesis from the TT10K: Big Brae. So, we did. And we ran up most of it. Result! We then ran/walked the blue route, which takes in some of the steeper hills along the trail.
We ran up the hills, and walked some of the straight and downhill sections, to make the most of the day. It was tough, but in a good way!
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Some of the viewpoints along the way give some great views down towards the village.
We ran past the Millennium Cairn, where is was particularly muddy today, due to the rain. It actually felt great, to be caked in mud for a change! Weird, huh?
I need to admit that the final mile and a half was virtually all walking: the downhill sections were pretty steep, and I don’t have great balance at the best of times. But, we got out there, and we did it!
And the heather was blooming:
Here’s a map of my run today:
When I returned home, I caught up on 278toBoston’s progress: marathon done in 4:14:32 – amazing! Well done, what an achievement! I hope that some of the cooler air from here made its way over to you 😉
Today’s Stats:
Run: 4 mile trail run/walk
Weather: cloudy, with both rain showers and sunny spells
Trainers: LunarFly GTX +3
Favourite Running Track of the Day:
Today’s Life Lesson: sometimes the tough runs are the ones you enjoy most!
What do you find yourself thinking about when you run?
It’s a wild, wet and windy day out there. Autumn is definitely on its way!
We’ve had a busy few weekends recently, and we also have several busy weekends coming up. So, what to do today?
Well, really, we have loads of domestic stuff needing done- but life’s too short, right? Hmmm?
So, we’re having a movie day here. @TheWelshWookie and I have a whole stack of films we want to watch, but haven’t gotten round to. Well, today’s the day.
We kicked off with Baz Luhrman’s version of The Great Gatsby.
What’s not to love? I think Mr Luhrman’s movies are fantastic, and The Great Gatsby is amongst my top three books, ever. I know it inside and out. I was a little worried that it wouldn’t meet my expectations, but it was a joy: a visual feast, with musical greatness and artistic beauty. Very well done. And I bored @TheWelshWookie by quoting throughout the film.
Next up, was OZ: The Great and Powerful, which was great fun.
As I watched, something rather momentous dawned. I already have my outfit for The Wedding of The Year. Now, the wedding isn’t until 28th December, but I have been so excited that I’ve been working on my outfit for months. And it is almost entirely ready. But, as I watched this movie, I realised that everyone is going to think that I have based my look on Evanora, the really evil witch. Oops. I swear, it is entirely coincidental!
We then had a pause in the movies for the Strictly Come Dancing launch show: glitter and sequins at the ready!
Finally, as darkness set in outside and we drew the blinds, it was time for World War Z.
All in the name of research, of course, in preparation for the Zombie Night Run UK, of course! For those who don’t know, the scenes meant to be Philadelphia were filmed in Glasgow. It was amazing, seeing the city, especially George Square, being taken over by Zombies! Wow!
This picture from the movie is taken from the exact start line of the Great Scottish Run, which is in four week’s time: the hill you can see is the first challenge at the very start of the run… I’m sure I’ll be telling you all about that start in just over four weeks! I’m hoping that there won’t be any zombies at that race, though! 😉
So, no running today. We’ll definitely be out there tomorrow, though… have a lovely Saturday night, folks!
So. Did you see any of last night’s season opener? Wasn’t Peyton Manning on fire? I’m so pleased that I have Wes Welker on my fantasy team! Roll on Sunday……
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had won a competition on Run Eat Repeat which is  fab blog!
Well, my prize arrived on Wednesday, and I am delighted with it. I love being a
These are ID bracelets designed for runners, walkers, cyclists, swimmers, etc. especially those who train by themselves. You can decide exactly what text you want included, but suggestions are name, address, emergency contact, medical conditions, allergies, etc. So, if the worst does happen, anyone coming to your aid would have the information they would need to help you. Smart, huh?
The bands can be made of silicone, or fabric. I opted for a fabric one, with a pink reflector band, for extra safety. And because I love pink.
After filling out the order, I noticed that there was no delivery option for the UK (the company is based in the US), so I emailed them, and the customer service I’ve had from David has been brilliant!
He agreed to send me the band, at no extra cost for postage- how amazing!
As soon as it arrived on Wednesday, I decided to take it out for a test drive:
It matches my visor 😉
I wore it on a 6 mile run, in sunshine, so I was sweaty and sticky. It was a proper road test.
It fastens with velcro, and I thought it might rub. But, no, it didn’t rub or chafe at all. In fact it was really comfortable to wear, and I easily forgot I was wearing it! That’s exactly how an item like this should be, I think.
As the nights are drawing in, and the autumn is getting closer, I think I’ll feel much more secure, running with my CrosstrainID. Thanks, David at CrosstrainID, and thanks Monica over at RunEatRepeat! 😀
I’d mentioned earlier in the week how pleased I had been when runningtoherdreams nominated me for the Shine On award. My first reaction was delight; my second was, fab, what is it? Being new to the blogging world, I had no idea that such awards existed, but now I do, and I’m delighted to have received this from runningtoherdreams: thank you! If you haven’t visited her blog, you really should: I’m now addicted to looking for hearts in nature while I run, but I think they hide from me!
The rules for this blog award are simple:
1. Visit and thank the blogger who nominated you.
2. Acknowledge that blogger on your blog, and link back.
3. Share seven random, interesting things about yourself.
I’m not sure if any of these things are interesting- you can judge that for yourself!
1. I’m left handed
2. I can drive a fork lift truck
3. I can read ancient Latin and ancient Greek
4. I’m a synesthete
5. I have an addiction to handbags
6. I can tap dance
7. I’m learning Spanish
4. Nominate up to 15 bloggers for the Shine On Award, provide a link to their blogs in your post, and notify them on their blogs
Today, I was at a networking event in Glasgow. As I left the house this morning, still half asleep, I keyed the post code into my sat nav, and I set off without thinking too much about where, or what, the venue was. It turns out that this was the venue:
It’s the Emirates Arena, one of the brand new facilities built for the Commonwealth Games, being held in Glasgow next year.
And do you know what venue is located within it? Go on, have a guess….. I’ll give you a hint…
Oh wait. Today’s post title gives it away!
Yip- the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome. Our event was held in a room overlooking the velodrome itself, and it looked pretty impressive! I didn’t even think to take a picture though.  I was obviously too busy gossiping networking 😉
@TheWelshWookie and I are going to enter the ballot for tickets at the weekend- we have an idea of which sports we fancy watching, so we’ll see what happens.
So, I headed home feeling inspired, and went for a six mile run. Unfortunately, after 4 hour’s driving yesterday and 5 hour’s driving today, I had lead-legs, but the final mile was fast, at 9:17! 🙂
Today’s Stats:
Run: 6 miles: 2 steady, 2 with lead-legs, 2 quick
Time: 1:02:58
Weather: Sunny and warm
Trainers: Nike Lunar Glides
First Running Track Today:
Today’s Life Lesson: remember to take photos when you go somewhere interesting! Doh!
Have you ever unexpectedly ended up somewhere before?
It’s been a while since I shared some of my good and bad foodie choices with you. So, I thought I’d do a bit of a tasty photodump today, so you can see what kind of stuff has been fuelling my runs recently.
I must be honest- there’s probably much more ‘naughty’ in there than there should be!
There’s the good:
The bad:
And the down right ugly (but tasty!):
But I’m back on track this week, I promise!
I was recently nominated by the wonderful runningtoherdreams  for the Shine On award 😀
I really want to post about this separately- so it’s coming soon, as I want to do it justice. Also my Cumberland Pie is now ready 😉 Don’t judge me- it’s almost winter!!
Today has been one of those days….. and so I arrived home thinking…..
So I did! But it was grey, and wet and windy out, so @TheWelshWookie and I got thoroughly soaked. It felt great!
There’s only really one word that can be used to describe today’s weather: dreich.
I took a couple of pictures, just so you could see the village in the rain:
I probably had too much fun, stomping through these on my way around the harbour:
Today’s Stats:
Run: 4 miles
Time: 43:26 slow
Weather: Dreich!
Trainers: Nike LunarFly GTX
@TheWelshWookie’s first Running Track: he listens to the same playlist every day, so it is always
Today’s Life Lesson: sometimes, no matter how hard you try to convince someone that they need to listen to what you are actually saying, they just cannot hear it- they subconsciously choose not to.
Beer? Check. Popcorn? Check. Hot dogs? Check. Cheat Sheet? Check. Draft Strategy? Well, kinda-check. Tonight is draft night!
I’m not as well prepared as I’d like to be; I’m drafting using a new laptop, and on a website I’ve never used. But I have some ideas about how I’m hoping to navigate this evening, which is something!
No running talk from me tonight; it’s all about running backs for now!
I’m looking forward to a new season, which is bringing with it some significant changes, too:
A taste + rate / debate of gluten free dining in Glasgow Scotland. By newlyweds team The Murphy’s. Want the latest on her fashion updates too ? Join writer/ blogger @cityslickerinthestix.com
 
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