What a week! The weather has been dreadful but that hasn’t stopped me from getting out in the fresh Argyll air. Ok, so being off work all week has really helped as I’ve been able to make the most of daylight, and I’ve really enjoyed it. Here’s how my week went.

Monday

After being away for the weekend and clocking up over 1,000 miles in the car, it felt great to get back out on a trail again. I stuck to the timber route at Torinturk and kept my first run back short as I had new trail shoes to try out. I have a pair of Asics, which I’ve never worn before but it turns out they are super comfortable and I think I might grow to love them!

Distance: 3.25 miles

Time: 36m 13s

Pace: 11.09/m

Elevation: 469 feet

Tuesday

We went for a wander, and we didn’t quite manage to duck all of the showers! We stuck to the village, heading out over the high road, along to Garvel and over towards shell beach.

Distance: 4.3 miles

Wednesday

I wanted to spend the midweek point of our time off doing a long run, and so I headed to the timber route once again as I wanted to get beyond the 4 mile mark where I turned around a few weeks ago. Although it was dry when I set out, the rain soon started meaning I was absolutely soaked very quickly! No matter, I don’t mind running in the rain, and as it was unseasonably mild I didn’t bother fighting with a rain jacket. My new trail shoes were great, and I found myself running a lovely and comfortable half marathon- my first for quite some time! It was lovely to finish my run with a view of a rainbow!

Distance: 13.35 miles

Time: 2h 24m 14s

Pace: 12.09/m

Elevation: 1,415 feet

Thursday

After Wednesday’s escapade, we went for a trail walk on Thursday morning, heading up into the Kintarbert Forest, taking the climbing road rather than the loop. I had an afternoon meeting so although we were enjoying our ramble we had to turn back all too soon!

Distance: 3.6 miles

Friday

I pulled on my trail trainers once again and headed off to run the circular route by the Giants Grave. I took a short detour into the trees to reconnect to nature, but didn’t venture up to the Dun- it was pretty slippery underfoot so I’ll save than until the spring I think! The route was boggy, muddy but lots and lots of fun!

Distance: 3.5 miles

Time: 43m 14s

Pace: 11.2/m

Elevation: 418 feet

Sunday

I was tempted to take another test day but instead I though I’d get another short run in to round off my holiday. I headed to the West Loch, building in the hill at Carrick cemetery and finishing at the harbour itself. Boy, was it windy out there!

It was also my last run in my Lunarglide 8s, which have now done about 350 miles so it’s time to retire them. New trainers next week then, but these have been favourites for some time.

Distance: 4.1 miles

Time: 43m 59s

Pace: 10.43/m

Elevation: 218 feet

So that’s me now ticked off 13/15 runs for my Great Run Solo Hallowe’en Accumulator. Woo hoo! All in all, I clocked in 25.5 running miles this week, and almost 35 miles in total, with some pretty decent elevation too, at 2.315 ft. Not too bad! If only every week could be like this- but it will be back to lower mileage now that the clocks have changed and the evening will be darker after work. Winter running is now the focus!