Month: October 2016

Monday Motivation 

Monday Motivation 

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Happy Hallowe’en to you all! 🎃🕸

How was your weekend? Any parties? We had Tarbert Book Festival, and we enjoyed it with my bestie Pauline, Gavin, Olivia and Christopher. We had a great natter and catch up on Friday night, followed by a couple of very interesting sessions on Saturday. Early afternoon we enjoyed Janice Galloway’s talk about her latest book, Jellyfish. She was very honest, forthright and thought provoking, as well as being a wonderful reader:  Our next session was in the Anchor Hotel and was a Date with Death, about historical crime fiction by Shirley McKay:  Listening to authors describing their work, how they craft their stories and how their books come to life is fascinating. 

We had a meal at the Anchor, which was delicious, before heading back home for our own book group. Gavin had chosen Robert Harris’ new book, Conclave, which we all read in advance so that we could discuss it. I loved that we took the Festival weekend a step further for ourselves, and after a few glasses of wine we had plenty to talk about! 

On Sunday we had yet another lovely lunch at the George Hotel in Inveraray. The fires were lit and the food was as amazing as it usually is. 

Tonight, Body Conditioning was cancelled; and Pound is cancelled tomorrow night:( so I’ll need to work extra hard on Wednesday and Thursday nights. This Friday is the first of the new Salsa classes, I can’t wait!

Here’s a little motivation to start the week:  Have a good week! 

Wednesday Wisdom 

Wednesday Wisdom 

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Monday Motivation 

Monday Motivation 

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Hello everyone, how has your Monday been? I was back at work after a week’s holiday. I had a very relaxing week, but didn’t skip out on my classes and running. It’s so easy when having a staycation to just give ’em a miss, but I didn’t. Mind you, I then ate a few extra calories so it’s just as well I stuck to it! 😉 I did manage to get most of my Christmas shopping done, it feels great to be organised!

Tonight’s Body Conditioning class was amazing. It’s tough – don’t get me wrong- but I love the sore-muscle feeling immediately after working out that I know will develop into DOMS tomorrow or Wednesday. Tomorrow I have Pound, with Jog Scotland on Wednesday and then both PiYo and VeraFlow on Thursday. I’m then looking forward to the Tarbert Book Festival with my bestie and her family at the weekend. Yay!

So, to match my positive mood tonight, here’s a little positivity to take away:  Have a great week!

Wednesday Wisdom 

Wednesday Wisdom 

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Monday Motivation 

Monday Motivation 

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Hello, everyone. I hope I didn’t bombard you too much last week, while I was catching up on my race reports. It feels good to have them done, and up to date.

How was your weekend? Mine was amazing: we had a night out in Glasgow on Friday night for my birthday, followed by Stacey’s baby shower on Saturday which was such great fun. Yesterday, we had lunch with Pauline and Gavin before seeing Miss Saigon’s 25th Anniversary show at the cinema. What an awesome weekend!  Tonight, we are back in Tarbert, and instead of lounging about after a busy weekend, we’ve been to Body Conditioning, to start the week off right. 

My autumn fitness fun is looking something like this:

  • Monday- Body Conditioning 
  • Tuesday- Pound
  • Wednesday- Jog Scotland
  • Thursday- PiYo and VeraFlow
  • Friday- Salsa

Yes- you read that correctly- dance classes for adults are coming soon to Tarbert and the first session will be Salsa! I’ve never tried salsa before but I’m very much looking forward to trying it. I’ll also try to get a weekend run in at some point, but not at the expense of some rest of course. 

Here’s a little Monday Motivation for you, if- like me- you need it: Have a lovely week!

Race Report: Tarbert 10k Dookers Doubler

Race Report: Tarbert 10k Dookers Doubler

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This year’s Tarbert races featured a new challenge: the Dookers Doubler! Thirty or do of us set out to run both the 5k and 10k runs, and I was looking forward to it.

First up was the 5k, which took us from Garvel road end along the harbour to the end point and back. It’s such a fast and flat route that a PB is a distinct possibility: not for us, though; knowing we had the 10k still to come meant we were taking it easy! 

As ever, the support was tremendous. The marshals were excellent and the runners all supported each other, too. It was a pleasure to run. As we crossed the finish line, we collected our first medal, changed over our bin for the next race and lined up, ready for the tougher 10k. 

While the 5k is fast and flat, the 10k is hillier, with two off road, trip sections. Although these are tough, they give runners cracking views over the village. @TheWelshWookie pulled his calf as we turned the first corner, so I found myself running on my own for most of it. But, given the excellent support, that was not a problem. I walked the first trail section up to Maggies Cottage, as runners were heading back downhill towards us slower runners and I didn’t want to hinder any of them. Next we headed back through the village, along the harbour past the crowds and back again, this time heading up Big Brae and around the Castle loop offering fabulous views over Tarbert. I love it up there! I kept asking the marshals if they had any gin for me….. but no joy. Maybe next year someone will oblige! 😉  Next, it was back down Big Brae and along the harbour front to the finish line. Although my legs were tired, the support really kept me going. 

I collected my second medal (yay!), goodie bag and specially designed Doubler t shirt. We were treated to masses of goodies: home baking, tablet (the thought of that tablet kept me going), water, bananas, sandwiches galore. It is brilliant! 

I then headed out to cheer @TheWelshWookie across the finish line and we stayed around chatting and to support those who had placed. There are loads of awards up for grabs at this event, with fantastic prizes. 

Overall, my 5k time was slower than last time, but I took three minutes off my 10k time from last year, so I was very, very pleased!

When 2017’s event opens, I’ll be first in line to sign up 🙂

Wednesday Wisdom 

Wednesday Wisdom 

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Race Report: The Color Run, Glasgow

Race Report: The Color Run, Glasgow

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Last year, @TheWelshWookie and I signed up for the inaugural Color Run UK Glasgow event. Unfortunately, it was cancelled, and I was a little worried that we wouldn’t see the event in Glasgow any time soon.

Fortunately, that didn’t happen, and this year I took part with my bestie, Pauline, Olivia, my Goddaughter and her friend Holly. And so it was a dry but overcast morning that we hopped on a train, ready to take part in what I knew would be a fantastic event.

It wasn’t my first Color Run: Angie and I took part in the UK’s first ever Color Run in London back in 2014. I was looking forward to the event once again!

By the time we arrived at the SECC start line, the warm up was well underway. Local DJ Des Clark had the crowd going, and I loved the Clubbercise routines that were used for the warm up. We had plenty of time for a few pre-race snaps before it was time to join the line up for the start itself.2016-07-17_095424380_AB7C9_iOS.jpg 

We walked, and jog-walked this event, which was great. We took our time, soaked up the atmosphere and made the most of it. The route took us through the city centre, which was fantastic! As you’d expect, there were four colour zones en route, and we were doused properly at each one 🙂 

 One of the highlights for me was the bubble machines which filled the tunnel at Central Station with multi coloured bubbles! 

The end of the route took us to the Merchant City, which was set up with a stage. a DJ and some brilliant music. There were some freebies at the end: the usual water and snacks, but also some wipes, to help clear off some of the powder. Before we did that, of course, we took part in the final colour burst, which was fab. 

I really enjoyed the event – walking it was a little different,  but it meant I was able to really soak up the atmosphere, and have fun en route skipping, jogging and laughing our way around.

Will we be back next year? You bet!

 

Monday Motivation 

Monday Motivation 

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I’m writing this while I should be at Body Conditioning 😦 Unfortunately, I was caught up in traffic as there was an accident, meaning I’ve missed two Mondays on the bounce, I’m not impressed with that as I’m a firm believer in never missing a Monday. Sometimes it can’t be helped.

On a much more positive note, my first ever interview has been published! It’s an article about my favourite race, and it features in the latest Run ABC Scotland magazine. I’m very excited! The article is about the Tarbert 10k, and I’m very pleased with the end result. There’s one typo and it’s a mistake in the link to my blog (of all things!) but it can’t be helped now. Oh, well!

 The photos of the village have come out really well, I reckon!

Last week, I returned to Jog Scotland after a gap of around eight years 😮 and it was fantastic. Everyone was so welcoming and we found the three miler that we ran to be spot on for pace for us. I’m looking forward to going back this Wednesday. Why have I taken so long to get back to it? I have no idea!

I saw this quote from Tribe Sports and thought I’d share it this with you all this week: Have a fantastic week!

Wednesday Wisdom 

Wednesday Wisdom 

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