Category: Events

Race to the Altar Recap :)

Race to the Altar Recap :)

by TartanJogger ♥ 45 Comments

Hello everyone! @TheWelshWookie and I competed our Race to the Altar on Friday, and have had a wonderful weekend with our families. This weekend involved plenty of fun, wonderful company, fantastic food and drink: it was everything I hoped for, and more!

Cheers!

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As you know, our Wedding Day had the theme ‘Race to the Altar’, and we had lots of running touches throughout the day. We had:

A huge banner outside the venue, marking the Start Line to the race that is the rest of our lives together:

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Each table was named after some of our favourite races, along with one of my ‘Wednesday Wisdom’ quotes!

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Our cake topper were runners:

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We had podium candles:

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And a balloon arch over the cake table 🙂

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We also had Nike IDs made especially for the day. We’ll be running in these in Madrid!

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Our favours were personalised medals. The guests loved them!

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We had a wonderful day, with a gorgeous Nuptial Mass in St. Margaret’s Church, Lochgilphead. I was delighted to see that the church was full!

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Our dinner and dancing was in the village hall in Tarbert, and the band we had, The Democrats were fantastic! @TheWelshWookie and his brother got up on stage and did their rendition of The Beatle’s ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ which was fab!

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We also had some ceilidh dancing thrown in, which was such a lot of fun.

At the end of the night, we finished the dancing with some Scottish classics: ‘Caledonia’, ‘500 Miles’, ‘Auld Lang Syne’ and Runrig’s live version of ‘Loch Lomond.’ Brilliant!

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As the guests were leaving, and only those staying locally were left, we had some races up and down the hall! A perfect end to a great day! 🙂

Supporting the Around the World Running Blog Relay 2014

Supporting the Around the World Running Blog Relay 2014

by TartanJogger ♥ 18 Comments

For those of you who haven’t heard, the wonderful Kyla over at Motivation came up with a brilliant idea last year, for all of us running bloggers who have connected over the internet, from the four corners of the globe.

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She came up with the idea of having a running bloggers relay race, and the inaugural event takes place during March and April this year 😀

The idea is pretty simple: we run a virtual relay race! It’ll allow us to see how far we get, in terms of:

  1. GLOBAL COVERAGE where we are from will allow a map to be drawn up, detailing where in the world we’re running – hopefully it will be truly global!
  2. GLOBAL DISTANCE we commit to a distance, which will allow the total number of kilometres run to be calculated. It’ll be really good to see how far we can get….. can we log enough distance to go around the world? 😉

It’s great!

And Kyla’s decision to run it in March and April will really help with Spring training!

So, who’s in? All you need to do is fill out this simple form to register where you are and how far you’ll be running. Remember it’s from 1st March  – 30th April, so hopefully it’ll be lots of kilometres!

For those interested in an extra dimension, fellow blogger The Improbable Runner suggested that we could use the Charity Miles App to raise funds for charity. I think it’s a great idea, as an added extra!

Visit Kyla’s blog post about the challenge here.

So, what do you think? Interested? Have you registered yet? Go on, you know the challenge will be great!

GNR: I’m in!

GNR: I’m in!

by TartanJogger ♥ 20 Comments

Well, the title of this post kinda gives the game away! I’m doing a very happy dance, as I’m in! I secured a place in the Great North Run! Squeeeeeeeeee!

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It’s one of those races that I watch on TV every year, and wish I was participating. And this year, I will be!

I think I’m right in saying that the Great North Run is the world’s biggest Half Marathon (correct me, or back me up on this, please!), and this year, the one millionth participant will cross the finish  line. Secretly, I’ll be running and pretending that it’s me 😉

It’s on Sunday, 7th September, and since that’s about seven weeks before my first full marathon, I thought it would fit in nicely with my training. I may have to tag on a couple of miles at the end, but that should be ok 😉

Unfortunately, @TheWelshWookie didn’t secure a place 😦 so, I’ll be running myself.

But I can’t help but be excited!

For anyone who has run it before, any tips?

The Invites are OUT!

The Invites are OUT!

by TartanJogger ♥ 36 Comments

****WARNING****WEDDING TALK AHEAD!****

We posted our wedding invites on Monday, which means that MOST guests will have received their invites over the past couple of days! 😀

If you are reading this, and you are a family member who has yet to receive their invite, then heed this SPOILER ALERT and stop reading NOW! 😉

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Our wedding invites were non-traditional. They were……….

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Race Bibs! Yes, we had TYVEK race bibs made up, with the date of the wedding in place of the participant race number. We also sent out safety pins, so that guests can take photos of themselves wearing their bibs, and send them to us 😉

We included ‘race instructions’ along with the invites, which included details that we’d usually find at any race event: race registration (RSVP), start line details (Church details), race photos, post race refreshments, post race entertainment, etc. 😉

We also had a QR code printed on each letter, which means that all guests have access to a specific wedding website, where there’s information about the wedding itself, accommodation, things to do in Tarbert, links, etc.

It’s so exciting!

So, what do you think of our wedding theme: Race to the Altar?

In many ways, marriage is like a race. The wedding is only the start line…. I’m having great fun, combining my love of running with my wedding planning!

Looking Towards Late Summer

Looking Towards Late Summer

by TartanJogger ♥ 24 Comments

So, it may still be January, and freezing outside for many of you. But I’m already looking towards late summer!

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Already, I have my summer holidays all authorised at work, so I can now look forward to a few trips. 🙂

I’ve also been mooching around various running sites, lining up potential races.

So far, I’ve entered the ballot for places in the Great North Run:

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I watched last year’s race, wishing I was there! I know it’s always over subscribed, so I’ll just have to wait and see if I’m lucky 😉

I’m also still considering the Loch Ness Marathon, and I am definitely leaning towards entering it…. I just haven’t actually committed to it….. yet!

Back in the present, this evening I’ve done my plank-a-day, my squat challenge and some rowing. Gosh, it feels great to be back to it!

Have you signed up for any late summer races yet?

TartanJogger’s 2013 Review

TartanJogger’s 2013 Review

by TartanJogger ♥ 12 Comments

If you had told me this time last year that I would have run a much as I did in 2013, AND become an amateur running blogger, I would not have believed you. What a difference a year makes, eh?

On 31st December 2012, I set one goal. To run a half marathon in 2013.

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How far I have come since then!

I’m sure your blog feed will have been overflowing with the 2013 reviews frm your favourite bloggers. So, let me add mine, though I promise, I’ll keep it short!

Favourite Race of 2013

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This is a difficult one, and it changes every five minutes. I’d have to go for the Mull of Kintyre 10K. Not only did I PB, but it was great fun, with fantastic support and a brilliant goodie bag!

Most enjoyable race of 2013

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The inaugural TT10K. Not only was it on my doorstep, but it was a great balance of easy running, hills and trail. The organisation for this event was fantastic.

Most fun running trip of 2013

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Hands down, this has to be our trip to Dublin for the inaugural RnR Half Marathon. The run was great, and the craic as mighty! Second place was the Color Run UK in London, back in July.

Best Family Event of 2013

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That’ll be the Perth Kilt Run back in August, which we ran with Joe, Stacey and RJ. Great Fun!

Favourite non-road running Event of 2013

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The inaugural CowalFest 5K in October. As my first proper trail/hill run, it was great. And I placed! 🙂

Now, bring on 2014!

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GB Relay 2014

GB Relay 2014

by TartanJogger ♥ 24 Comments

The events for 2014 continue to gather momentum in the TartanJogger/WelshWookie household: we’ve signed up for the GB Relay 2014!

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The aim is to break the world record for the longest continuous relay, around the coast of Britain. Did someone say record attempt? We’re in!

The British coast has been split into 594 stages, and the run is done continuously, 24 hours a day, during June and July 2014.

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@TheWelshWookie and I will be running stage 138, from Duror to Strath of Appin Primary School, which is at the very north of Argyll and Bute. Our stage is on 8th June, at 18:19, and our stage is 12.5K long.

We’re really looking forward to being part of such a brilliant event! For ore information, or to sign up, visit GBrelay.com

Has anyone else bagged a stage yet?

The 5×50 Challenge 2014

The 5×50 Challenge 2014

by TartanJogger ♥ 13 Comments

@TheWelshWookie and I have signed up for the 5×50 challenge 2014!

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This is our second year of participating: we had such fun last year!

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Here’s TheWookie sporting his 5×50 challenge t shirt at the Perth Kilt Run earlier this year.

The challenge is to sign up, make a small (or large) donation, and commit to running, cycling, walking (or doing a class, or equivalent)  5K each day, for 50 days.

The challenge begins on Sunday, 30th March 2014, and since @TheWelshWookie and I get married on 11th April (have I shared that news? I can’t remember!) the challenge will be running right through our wedding weekend.

That should keep us on the running straight-and-narrow!

We’ve set up a team, #a5x50wedding, which was coined by Raymond Wallace on twitter. Raymond is one of the founders of the challenge, who RT’d my tweet when I signed up on Saturday! Thanks for that, hope you don’t mind that I’ve pinched it!

You can read all about this fantastic challenge here.

Anyone can sign up and join in: will you? Fancy joining our team?

MoRun: Done!

MoRun: Done!

by TartanJogger ♥ 16 Comments

Well, Glasgow Green was frrrrreeeeeezing this morning!
But, despite the cold and later the rain, we did it!

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ZNR: done!

ZNR: done!

by TartanJogger ♥ 8 Comments

We did it! Full race report to follow, but this race was brilliant fun!

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