Happy ‘Hug a Runner’ Day, everyone. Have you hugged a runner today?
No?
What are you waiting for?
Month: November 2013
New Year, New Races
Do you have any races booked up yet for 2014?
This time last year, I was toying with the idea of running a half marathon. I had no runs planned, and I had no idea that I’d run quite as much during 2013!
I’ve been checking out a few sources for runs during 2014:
As well as listings inside Women’s Running magazine.
I’ve signed up for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Madrid Half Marathon, but that’s the only one…. so far!
Here’s the ones I’m thinking about running, or hoping to run, right now:
Rock ‘n’ Roll Liverpool, 25 May
The Color Run, hopefully in Glasgow as they’re meant to be having one there in 2014
The Kilt Run, Perth
Mull of Kintyre 10K. Maybe the half instead- part of it is on sand, though.
Tarbert’s TT10K
Spartan Race, Edinburgh
Great North Run
Great Scottish Run
I’m toying with a longer run: maybe a 20 miler, or maybe a Tough Mudder. Hmmmmm.
How do you find new races?
Do you have any runs planned for 2014?
Monday Motivation
Welcome to another week, laid out before us, full of possibility and opportunity.
What do you have planned? My plan is to get back to it. And to get my Christmas cards written, and pressies wrapped 😉
Hope this helps, if you’re struggling with your Monday Mojo!
Nathan’s Christening
Have you had a busy weekend, or a quiet one?
Mine has been busy. We had my nephew Nathan’s Christening yesterday, and we had a fantastic day.
After the church service, we had a family meal in Paperino’s, Byres Road, which was great. Pizza and pasta. Yum!
We then had a brilliant family-party night, with lots of food, fun, dancing, and a few drinks 😉
Nathan liked his cake:
We’re now home: @TheWelshWookie is finally feeling a little more human!
Back to the running, rowing and strength work tomorrow 😉
You Found Me By Searching What? Part Two
A few weeks ago, I wrote a short post abut how some people had found my blog by searching ‘depressed quotes’!
Well, things must be looking up for me, as someone found me this week by searching for this:
Yay! Cool Movember motivation? That’s more like it!
It’s ‘fess up time. I’ve had some late nights this week, and so my POTM has slipped. I’m about 10K off target, which is not good; but is entirely recoverable, I hope!
How are you doing with your November challenges?
Foodie (and drinkie) Friday
Happy Friday, everyone!
Do you have any plans for the weekend? I have my nephew’s Christening, so I’ll be heading through to Glasgow again tonight.
How’s the Christmas shopping going? All done yet? 😮
Recently, I’ve been eating like I’m still preparing for races:
This is a slight problem because, well, I don’t have any races, and I’ve eased off on my training. Hmmmm.
I’ve also been really enjoying Christmas coffees:
And, I’ve been enjoying the odd gin. My friend bought ne a bottle of Caorunn for my birthday, and it’s my favourite. If you only ever drink gin with tonic, you should try a Caorunn with elderflower cordial and ginger syrup. A-ma-zing.
Last weekend, we popped into the new Waitrose store in Helensburgh, and I was very tempted impressed with their selection:
It was difficult to walk away without adding any of these to my basket!
Do you plan to treat yourself to anything this weekend?
The Liebster Award
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been nominated by two of my favourite bloggers, The Improbable Runner and Jane Likes to Run for the Liebster Award! Thanks, you guys! 😀
The rules for this award are:
-Answer the 10 questions which are given to you by the nominator. Done!
-Nominate 10 other bloggers for this award who have less than 200 followers. Kinda done- I don’t know how many followers folks have, so I’ve nominated at random!
-Create 10 questions for your nominees to answer. Done!
-Let the nominees know that they have been nominated by going to their blog and notifying them. In Progress!
Here are the questions posed by The Improbable Runner along with my answers:
1) As a teenager, what was your most shameful celebrity crush?
Kevin Bacon. There’s no shame in that. I still fancy him, if I’m honest….
2) Pies, sweet or savoury?
Sweet, every time!
3) Free healthcare, yes or no?
Yes- but I don’t know anything else
4) How many pairs of trainers do you own?
At least six, probably eight pairs
5) What is the drunkest you’ve ever been?
Very drunk. Not my finest hour.
6) What is the most gadgety piece of sports equipment you own?
My Nike FuelBand and SportWatch GPS
7) Your favourite music album
Raintown by Deacon Blue
8) Movie currently in your dvd player/last watched
I’m watching Mrs Miracle 2 right now, so I’ll have to say that.
9) Have you had any tweets from celebs? If so who?
NikeWomen, but no famous people
10) cat or dog person?
Neither, I’m sorry!
And here are the questions posed by Jane Likes to Run, along with my answers:
1. What is your go-to drink?
Fruit tea in the morning, coffee mid morning, sparkling water any other time. Vino at the weekends 😉
2. If you could have a superpower, what would it be?
The ability to function with no sleep. I could do so much!
3. What is the best book you have read recently?
Recently I re-read The Great Gatsby. Does that count?
4. What is your special weird person trick?
I can’t think of one!
5. What do you do for a living?
I’m an Operations Manager.
6. Who is your role model?
I look up to lots of people, but not one person in particular
7. If you could take a vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Tenerife. Every time.
8. Do you prefer driving or riding shotgun?
Riding shotgun, being chauffeured.
9. Do you have any pets, or what kind of pets would you like to have?
None!
10. City life or country life?
Country life for me!
My nominations go to:
And my questions are:
1. What can you see from your window right now?
2. Which is your favourite season?
3. Do you prefer to lie in or rise early?
4. What’s your favourite dinner ever?
5. What would be your dream dinner party guests?
6. What piece of advice do you most often share?
7. Which album did you last listen to?
8. Are you a Techy geek or Techno phobe?
9. Which is your favourite holiday?
10. What was the best present you ever received?
Wednesday Wisdom
Another New Addition…
My fitness suite spare bedroom is coming along nicely. I’ve told you about the ‘mill, which has been kitted out with the TV on the wall, and the surround sound 😛
Well, there’s a new addition:
Yip! We’re now the proud owners of a rowing machine!
@TheWelshWookie and I have been talking recently about doing more cross training: I definitely don’t do enough. We talked about how a rowing machine would be great for me, as my upper body strength is nil not what it should be, and that a rower would be good for combining some leg work with upper body and cardio. And what happened next? You’re right: someone was selling one locally. It almost fell into our laps!
So, @TheWelshWookie and I collected it last night, and tonight I gave it a test run.
So far, so good! 😀
It sits nicely next to the treadmill, yoga mat, swiss ball, free weights and resistance bands.
Has anyone else accidentally ended up with a home fitness suite? 😉
Race Report: Mo Run 10K
Date: 9th November 2013
Profile: Flat
Terrain: Road
Weather: Frosty cold, wet
Website: http://glasgow.mo-running.com/
Positives: great fun, lovely atmosphere. very flat course
Negatives: lack of instructions
The night before the MoRun, @TheWelshWookie and I met up with my bestie Pauline, her OH Gavin and her two wonderful kids, my god daughter Olivia and her bro Christopher. We had a lovely evening carb loading, and swapping birthday pressies. Amongst other things, I received a fab new bag which has instantly become my new race day bag:
As we had packed on Thursday night, I had my gear all prepared and ready:
On race day, we were up early, and got ready before leaving the house. We must have looked a sight!
Our early rise was greeted with a beautiful sunrise, through the rain. It was cold and frosty, and I had opted not to wear a base layer. I quickly realised this was a mistake, and so it meant that I had to do a quick car-change 😉
We arrived at Glasgow Green, and parked in the same place as we did for the GSR last month. We walked down to the gazebos, in the rain, to pick up our race packs and our head bands. It was so cold! But the park was looking beautiful!
We headed back to the car, fixed on our race bibs and our head bands:
And then we had a gel block each. Soon, it was time to brave the cold and join the rest of the runners near the start line.
Our first stop was the portaloos, as the queue was pretty long. I saw that we weren’t the only people dressed up, which was great! I was the only one sporting a green wig and moustache, though 😉
The atmosphere was friendly, and we milled about a little, waiting for the pre-race warm up and instructions. There was a gazebo containing the PA system, and we kept warm tapping toes and dancing a little to the music (OK, maybe I was the only one). There was a guy with a mic, but no one could really hear what he was saying, which was odd. Anyway, I figured out that they were calling the 5K runners to the start line first, and they got off pretty quickly. Oddly enough, the start line was not the start. I was about 50 metres further away. Hmmmm.
Here’s my view from the start:
Soon, the 10K runners were moved to the start line, and we were off! I had a false start with my SportsWatch, as we ran over the finish line before the start, so I started my watch a little early.
The race itself was entirely inside Glasgow Green, and involved two laps of the route. The route was lovely and flat, with no hills at all. We ran past the Peoples Palace:
And we also ran past the new national hockey centre, which will host the Commonwealth Games hockey sessions. Our pace was slow and steady, which was our plan all along, as @TheWelshWookie hasn’t run since the Zombie Night Run. He re-injured his knee, and so has been resting it for the past fortnight.
We also ran along the banks of the canal, and watched the rowers out on the water. As the park was open to the public, we had to run around dog walkers and others who were out and about, as well as the slower 5 and 10K runners, but all in all it was fine. The support was great, particularly from the race marshals, many of whom had some really motivational signs!
I enjoyed the second lap, as I knew by then that the course was lovely, and the time seemed to pass quickly. There was one water stop, but was only manned by two people, so some runners were having to stop and fill up their own water.
At 6K, the clouds opened, and dumped an icy rainfall onto us, for the remainder of the race. Shortly after that, at around the 7K mark, we had to stop, as @TheWelshWookie’s race bib had come off- the rain had made the bib tear easily and so it had torn free from the safety pins. I reckon that cost us a couple of minutes at least, but as we weren’t worried too much about time, we just started running again when he was sorted.
The final half kilometre or so was great; running up towards Nelson’s Monument. Only, a few inconsiderate runners who had finished had decided to walk four abreast back down the path, meaning that those of us still running had to run around them while they laughed and joked as they walked! I’ll put that down to their post-race euphoria, but why they were allowed to do that, I don’t know.
Anyway, we were happy to reach the finish line, and collect our superb MoMedal 😀 and a bottle of lucozade sport. As it was so cold and wet, we didn’t wait about – we headed straight for the car, knowing that a warm shower was only a half hour away!
We posed for a couple of photos first, of course:
Here’s the map of the race:
I’d definitely do this run again!
My Stats:
Time: 1:03:29 which included the stop to sort out @TheWelshWookie’s race bib
The Medal: a cool moustache, with runners along it:
Goody Bag: no goodie bag, but we did get a MoRunning headband and a bottle of lucozade sport
T-shirt: no T shirt
@TheWelshWookie was running to raise funds for Movember, and he is still growing his moustache. Will give you a fundraising update when I have it! 😀
TartanJogger 