Month: May 2014

The Playlist Swap (Part Three)

The Playlist Swap (Part Three)

by TartanJogger ♥ 4 Comments

It’s been a while since I posted about the Playlist swap. It has been a lot of fun!

Frequent visitors will remember that Girl Runs Wild and I swapped MP3 players earlier in the year, and it was a fantastic experience! I also shared with you that I’d received an MP3 player from Kyla at http://earlybirdfitness.com and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying her music.

Lots of tracks are upbeat and really good for running to. There were a few oldies I had forgotten about, including a track that reminds me of a holiday to Ibiza with my sister (The Ketchup Song, if you’re wondering 😉 ) and I’ve been loving the Justin Timberlake tracks!

As with Julia’s MP3, it’s been really good to hear music I didn’t know, and songs from both MP3s that were previously unknown to me have become firm favourites.

I’m looking forward to getting another MP3 in the future from The Running Princess, who has been busy running the Paris and Edinburgh marathons recently. Go, Allison!

There’s another running track that I just love running to at the moment. It’s a little slow, but very powerful. It’s from a BRILLIANT album, too. I’d highly recommend it.

‘What is it? What is it?’

I’m sure you’re shouting that out loud, while reading this post and rolling your eyes at my dramatic build-up…. 😉

It’s….

Yip, Iron Sky from Paolo Nutini’s album Caustic Love.

And I love, love, love it.

Do you have a favourite new running track at the moment? What is it?

Wednesday Wisdom

Wednesday Wisdom

by TartanJogger ♥ 8 Comments

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I struggled to select a quote for today. Many, many of my favourites are from the wisdom of Maya Angelou.

Rest peacefully, Phenomenal Woman.

Marathon Training Tuesday

Marathon Training Tuesday

by TartanJogger ♥ 16 Comments

I ran today! Woo hoo!

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Today’s Hal Higdon marathon training called for 3 miles. It was great to get out there. I sported my Great Run t-shirt for the first time 🙂

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As we headed to the harbour, it was sunny and a little warm, but by the time we got to the end of the first mile it was chucking down! But, it actually felt really good to run in the rain.

When I uploaded my Nike+ SportWatch data, I saw that the Nike+ running site has had a facelift, and I like it! 😀

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I was really pleased with the pace tonight.

I also received an email today from the organisers of the GB Relay. It contained a link to the contact details of participants, so I’ve emailed the people on either side of our stage, so that we can arrange the baton handover. Hopefully it will all go very smoothly!

Did you run in sunshine or rain today?

 

Monday Motivation

Monday Motivation

by TartanJogger ♥ 16 Comments

Welcome to Monday.  Is it a holiday where you are? It isn’t here in Argyll, so I’ve been busy working all day.

Today is day one of my Hal Higdon Marathon training programme. And it’s a rest day 😉  I’ve been really inspired by everyone’s running this weekend, be it at the Edinburgh Marathon Festival, Mull of Kintyre runs, Rock ‘n’ Roll Liverpool, Bupa 10K or many other runs. Well done!

Here’s something to set up your week:

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Absolutely. How are you going to be of value this week?

Great British Menu

Great British Menu

by TartanJogger ♥ 8 Comments

Are any of my fellow UK-based bloggers (or BBCWorldwide watchers)  fans of the Great British Menu?

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You all know how much I love to eat. I love to watch programmes about delish food too! I watch loads: Masterchef in all its forms, Hells’ Kitchen. The Great British Bake Off, Saturday Kitchen…. I could go on and on……

Well, this week is the Scottish heat of GBM, and I’m fully supporting Jacqueline O’Donnell 🙂

I LOVE her pink apron:

source: jacquelineodonnell.co.uk
source: jacquelineodonnell.co.uk

You may remember that back in January I wrote this post about The Sisters Restaurant? I had the sea bass in a lobster cream sauce:

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It was absolutely delish!

Well, Jacqueline runs The Sisters along side her sister, Pauline. I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed for Jacqueline, and all will be revealed tonight in some areas, and tomorrow in Scotland.

What’s your favourite foodie show?

Wednesday Wisdom

Wednesday Wisdom

by TartanJogger ♥ 8 Comments

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The Garden

The Garden

by TartanJogger ♥ 20 Comments

While I was out running, in the rain, on Sunday, I was admiring the fields full of bluebells and the primula that were blooming by the side of the road.
@TheWelshWookie and I had decided to run the Glen road in reverse: and it turned out to be tougher than expected! So it was good to be distracted by the beautiful plants and the lambs gambolling in the fields.
When we got back, I realised that our own garden is getting to that point in Spring where the colours are beginning to pop and burst out all over. The fushia, clematis and roses aren’t yet out- they’ll give some late summer and autumn colour. But the peonies and azalea are showing off their style!
Wanna see?

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How’s your garden looking at the moment?

Monday Motivation

Monday Motivation

by TartanJogger ♥ 24 Comments

Happy Monday! Did you have fun this weekend?

I’m happy to report that we’re really pleased with our route for the GB Relay. Most of it is along a cycle path, and is reasonably flat/undulating with no stonking great big hills!

But here we are, back to the working week. Do you sit at a desk while working? I used to. For the past year or so I’ve been standing most of the time. I moved my laptop stand from my desk, and rearranged my office so that I could stand when using my laptop. My phone is right beside it, and all of my important files are in the drawers below, as I’m using a three drawer filing cabinet as a ‘standing desk’. It’s the perfect height for me to work at comfortably.

When I need to focus on a piece of work, I can sit at my desk and concentrate, without being distracted by incoming emails.  I have plenty of room for laying out work, so it’s much harder for papers to go AWOL, or be abandoned due to other distractions. For me, it’s a win-win 🙂

At first, I thought I’d perhaps do it for a few weeks. I’ve now been doing it for so long it’s second nature. Also, as my ‘standing desk’ area is looking out of the window, I get to enjoy the views too!

Here’s an interesting infographic I found on Pinterest, which I thought I’d share:

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Do you sit, stand or walk all day?

Fast verse Fun…the “Proper Runner” saga continues.

Fast verse Fun…the “Proper Runner” saga continues.

by TartanJogger ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

The Fat Girls Guide To Running

Ok so firstly let’s get one thing straight, the twitter debate last weekend between myself and Jason Henderson (editor or Athletics Weekly) was nothing at all to do with the concept of “Fun” runners, that is not a term you will ever hear me use, neither do I describe myself as “a Fat Jogger” else the website would be called something else wouldn’t it? No the debate last week was purely down to the suggestion that plodders and joggers were not “Real” runners.

You can check it our here if you haven’t seen it yet

20140517-143509.jpgDespite this minor discrepancy over terminology, Jason hits back this week in a two page spread on page 28-29 of his magazine summing up his thoughts. He makes some interesting points about what running actually means using the stats he has to hand about world record speeds for walking, and in competitive running through the…

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300

300

by TartanJogger ♥ 11 Comments

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Welcome to my 300th blog post! And, I had to find any excuse to celebrate by posting a picture of fellow Scot Gerard Butler as a Spartan ❤

This probably reminded him of the weather at home:

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Anyone out there doing a Spartan race this year?

If so, this might be the workout for you, courtesy of Men’s Health 🙂

GB Relay Update

Tonight, I saw this post on Facebook:

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So, with FREE STAGES up for grabs, now might well be the time for you and your team to bag a few stages!

Happy Friday, all!