Now that I have a short break before my next official race, and with a week before my autumn 10k training begins properly, I’m feeling a little nostalgic and retrospect.
As part of this, I’ve dug out my bibs for my official runs this year.
Two 5ks, two 10ks, two half marathons 😉
When I think back to 30th December last year, when I decided to run my first half marathon, I had no idea how addicted to involved in running I would become. I had no idea what this year would bring, in terms of travel, runs, and such a lot of fun!
Not a lot of planning went into any of these- most were booked on a whim, and there’s no sign of this changing, since I signed @TheWelshWookie and I up for his first half marathon: the Rock ‘n’ Roll Madrid half in April 2014! It looks like autumn/winter 2013 and 2014 will be filled with similar surprises!
I still have four races this year- who knows if there will be any more?
The weather was very kind to us: it did, unexpectedly, involve some sunshine.
Yes, I found both off-road sections pretty tough, as they were both uphill, but what an amazing sense of achievement!
I’m pretty pleased with my time, considering the course, and I was definitely helped along by the really positive marshals and fantastic support.
We’ve been to the Village Hall, to take part in the Tarbert Harbour Authority Centenary Celebrations, and partied with free beer and BBQ! I wish all races ended like this!
I’ll post a full race report soon, but for now, the hot tub is calling; and I actually have a mud-related blister to tend to (there’s a new experience for me!).
Who’s up for next year? You’d be crazy to miss this one from your calendar!
Today’s Stats:
Run: 10K race: hilly, part road and part trail
Time: 1:06:00 or so. Forgot to end my run on my Nike+ SportWatch GPS at the finish line!
Weather: Cloudy with sunny spells, warm and humid
Trainers: LunarFly +3 GTX
Motivating running track today: This track played just as I got onto the Castle Loop- it’s one of my Power Songs. I LOVE it. And I needed it!
Today’s Life Lesson: Even older trainers and socks can still cause blisters, especially when caked in mud!
It’s the night before is the inaugural Tarbert 10k run, the TT10k.
It’s also Friday.
It’s also sunny, which wasn’t forecast.
Woop Woop!
@TheWelshWookie and I went for a short run, mainly to look like runners when we visited the registration marquee because it was such a lovely evening, and I wanted to have a wee stretch/limber before tomorrow.
I took some pictures, just to show how gorgeous it is tonight. The forecast for tomorrow is torrential rain and high winds, so I wanted something to compare with my photos tomorrow!
We then went to the registration marquee, and I collected my bib for tomorrow:
It was lovely, being greeted by the ‘caution, runners’ signs on my way home!
I’m now organised, and ready for tomorrow.
Bring it on!
Today’s Stats:
Run: 2.5 miles, slow and steady
Time: 27:32
Weather: Glorious sunshine
Trainers: Lunarglides
First running track today: this will get stuck in your brain!
Today’s Life Lesson: if you see me standing in a queue at the supermarket, join a different queue. I’m likely to be in the slow moving one.
This Saturday is the inaugural Tarbert 10k run, the TT10k.
I can’t wait!
There are two runs: the 5k kicks off the day at 10am, followed by the 10k at 11am.
One thing that I’m really, really looking forward to is that I know the route well. Â Pretty much every step of it.
But I know it will be challenging: two parts of the run are off road, on trails, which is totally new for me. I’ve never done an official run on a trail before! Also, it has hills. Pretty sizeable hills.
OK, so maybe not quite a mountain, but still:
The view from Tarbert CastleThe view from the High Road
It’s definitely high enough for me!
Saturday also marks the 100th anniversary of Tarbert Harbour Authority! So, we have another fun filled weekend ahead, including a village barbeque after both runs. The organisation that has gone into setting up this event has been brilliant, and I’m sure it’ll all go very well, as the people behind the run really have put in loads of work, and obviously care about making this a great event for participants, marshals, volunteers, locals and visitors.
Here’s an idea of the route:
It’ll be worth it, for views like this:
Here’s my usual running route.
Today’s Stats:
Run: Not today, planning on some strength training
Favourite track from today: on of my most favourite songs ever!
With all of this running talk, I forgot my important news: I’m an Auntie again! 😀
My sis had a gorgeous baby boy yesterday, he arrived weighing 7lb 14oz, and looks just like his brothers! My family now has a rugby sevens team: seven boys, no girls!
Can’t wait to meet him!
Today’s Life Lesson: as soon as you walk away from your desk, you can guarantee that an important call will come through, and you’ll miss it….
Does your village/town/city have any running events?
Yesterday, I had another lazy day, to recover from the Perth Kilt Run on Saturday. As usual, running/jogging wasn’t too far from my mind…
After I wrote my review of the Perth Kilt Run, I found myself browsing more races between now and the end of the year. Â Yes, I know I have the TT10K on Saturday. Then I have the Great Scottish Run (10k) in October, and the Mo-Running 10k in November. But, I was just looking….
Before I knew it, I had signed up for my fourth ‘inaugural’ event of the year (the first was The Color Run UK event in London, the second was the RnR Dublin, the third is this Saturday’s TT10K), and my FIRST EVER trail run: The CowalFest 5k.
Now, I have never done a trail race. Ever. This Saturday’s TT10K has two trail sections, and so that will be my first proper off-road run. Â I do have trail running shoes, but I mostly wear these when it is raining, to keep my feet dry! Now, they are going to be put through their paces! This run takes place as part of CowalFest, which was originally a walking festival, but it has now branched out into other sports, including cycling and now running. The run takes place in Benmore Botanic Gardens, so it should be beautiful!
I’m pretty sure this is what the trail run will be like…
@TheWelshWookie and I have registered for the 5k cause we’re too scared to sign up for the 10k to see how we get on, I’m sure it’ll be an experience! This run is a week after the GSR, so it’ll be another pair of back-to-back weekends of running!
Today’s stats:
Run: no run, but I did go for a 5k walk instead 🙂
Time: I didn’t time it, but I think it was about 50 mins or so
Trainers: FreeRuns
Weather: Sunny
Favourite  radio track of the day: a little bit of Dario G. This would be good for a warm up/cool down too, I reckon 😉
As I said in my blog title, I was just browsin’, but that can be dangerous! Now that I’ve signed up for my 9th run of the year, I’m now on the lookout to make it a round ten…..
I also came across this while browsin’, and it made me chuckle… 😉
Today’s life lesson: Always lean forward in a sprint finish- Christine Ohuruogu did, and it won her Gold for the 400m at the World Champs in Moscow today. Go girl!
What do you find yourself browsin’, and spendin’ on when on the internet?
OK- so it was very hot, at about 25 degrees, and very humid which is not something I Â need to deal with every day! So, my run was very slllloooooow and pretty short as a result. But I did it!
It actually felt great, to get out and stretch my legs, since I hadn’t run since Friday. Except for the sticky suncream. Yuk. Factor 1,000,000 30 since I burn as soon as the sun appears, even if I’m only out for, maybe, 30 seconds 😉
Today’s stats:
Run: 3.5 mile recovery jog
Time: 35:37 slow and steady
Trainers: Free Run +3
Weather: bright and very sunshiny!
Best running track of the day: Hey Boy, Hey Girl, Chemical Brothers:
As it was a short run, I decided to wear my free run +3s. I only wear these for really short runs, as I much prefer my lunars for longer runs.
Here are my fabby coloured free runs:
And here’s a wee pic of my Nike trainers:
As you can see, I quite like a wee splash of colour! I do like to keep my trainers in rotation, to extend their wear and to make sure they’re in decent condition next time I run in them.
Tonight @thewelshwookie and I are toasting Andy Murray’s success having cracked open this beauty:
Today’s life lesson: whenever you take a day off, your workload is always waiting for you, including a couple of surprise challenges! For me today, that’s gone for both work and running!
Which suncream do you use when you run on sunny days?
Woo hoo! It’s Friday! And I’ve kicked off Seafood Festival weekend with an early long run I say early because I had to do two things:
Run before work (I usually run in the evening) so I was up early, and knackered raring to go;
Do my long run a day early. I usually try to get my long run in on a Saturday, but I don’t want to disappear and leave my visitors for over two hours tomorrow! Not very hostess-with-the-mostess!
Today’s stats:
Run: 11 mile long run
Time: 1:55:34 slow and steady
Trainers: Lunarglide+5
Weather: cloudy, with a little spot of rain during the last two miles
First running track of the day:
As I said, my run was early in the morning, which was a bit of a shock to my legs! For the third time, I donned my new, bright pink, compression socks, to give them another try. The jury is still out as to whether I think they are helping- I think they are, but I’m not entirely sure! Do you want to see how fetching they are?
Lovely, huh? Nobody tells you that it takes about 10 minutes to get them on! Or maybe that’s just my chubby legs 😉Â
It was lovely and cool outside, and the rain had stopped awhile, leaving a bit of humidity in the air (no laughing- we do occasionally get a touch of humidity on the West coast of Scotland!). It was surprisingly lovely to run when the village was still quiet and peaceful.
Here’s a pic I took with the Cafebarge just peeping into the foreground:
And here’s another from the harbour:
Can you see the boat to the left of the picture, with the yellow trim? That’s Singing Sands. She used to be parked along the side of Garvel Road, out of the water. She marked the first mile of my run, most days, and was always a welcome site. Now, I have to rely on Nike+ for my mile marker, but it’s lovely to see her in the water.
Today’s life lesson: it’s always a good idea to make sure your Nike Sportswatch is charged before a long run: had to use my iPhone instead!
We have the Seafood Festival this weekend: what do you have planned?
This picture, from The Perth Kilt Run’s Facebook page, are of two tartan-clad mascots meeting for the first time :
The handsome mascot dressed in red is the brilliantly named Hairy MacKilty, he is the mascot for www.perthkiltrun.co.uk/  I’ve signed up for this 5k race and can’t wait to join many others in breaking the world record for the number of kilted runners! This event is open to all, with a day full of fun and entertainment planned- including music from the Red Hot Chilli Pipers!
The mascot on the left  is the über-cute Baxterbear. He is an adventurous bear indeed, whose mission is to provide positive support to various good causes. He started off his adventures as a WWII reconnaissance co-pilot, and he continues to provide support to people who need it today. You can read more about his many adventures at worldofbaxterbear.com
Baxterbear was on-hand with Hairy MacKilty to support ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, who are one of the main fundraising partners of the Perth Kilt Run.
Today, I met the DreamTeam for a spot of lunch, where we promised that we would not talk about work for a whole hour. We didn’t even last five minutes! Anyway, we had a lovely lunch at The George Hotel in Inveraray. It was busy, and as ever, the food was great. We all had dessert, as their selection is fantastic. Knowing that I would be heading out for a run after work, I still decided to have a Hazelnut Pavlova served with blackberry & cream ice cream. It was amazing! Want to see?
I knew that I’d need to head out for my hill run this evening, but being absolutely stuffed a little full after lunch, I was able to have a quick flick through my BodyFit magazine, which arrived in the post today:
When I felt that I couldn’t put it off any longer I could actually begin to run, I headed out for a hill session. Now, this is something I’ve been putting off for quite some time! I’m the first to admit that I like to run on the flat, and any incline is difficult for me. Anyway, having signed up for the TT10K in August, I thought I’d better try out a couple of the hills that I know are en-route.
I headed out along the harbour as usual, and along to Garvel road end, which is the start of the TT10K. I ran along Garvel Road, and turned onto the main road to face the first, and the smallest, of the hills I was tackling today:
Doesn’t look to bad, eh? It was actually ok, I wasn’t heaving and gulping in air when I got to the top. Immediately after this one, though, I crossed the road, and turned the corner onto the high road, to face the second hill. Don’t be deceived by the next picture- this is only the start of it, and the rest of the hill is over the brow of the one in the picture below:
Yeah, right, I hear you say. It can’t be that high? Well, just to show you how high it is, I took a pic of the harbour where I started, from the viewpoint at the top of the hill:
Pretty high, right? And gorgeous, of course. So lucky to live here.
Anyway, I managed the second hill OK too. I continued my jog back down the high road, and back along the front of the harbour, making my way to the hill that would take me up to Tarbert Castle and the Castle loop, which is a trail part of the run. This is the monster biggest of the three hills, and it snakes and winds its way up to the Castle. Here’s the first part:
Well, by this point, my large lunch was beginning to take its toll and my legs were a bit heavy, so I lumbered powered up as best as I could. I admit that I had to stop and walk for about a minute, then I continued to run to the top of the road and onto the trail.
I had planned to finish here, but as I am totally crazy it was such a lovely evening, I thought I’d just take on the Castle Loop too.  😮
This was tough going- much more hilly to run than I remembered from walking it in the past, but I’m glad I stumbled, walked and jogged my way around it. I stopped at a bench because I was knackered to take a picture, but it doesn’t really show much, I’m afraid, though it is really pretty:
I then headed home, to watch Andy Murray win! Woo Hoo!
Today’s stats:
Run: 3.5 mile hill run
Time: 40:25 (lots of walking!)
Trainers: Lunarfly GTX
Weather: sunny- yay!
Fave running track of the day: Gotta Get Thru This, Daniel Bedingfield. This track came on as soon as I reached the hill up to the castle!
Today’s life lesson: Don’t expect to have lunch with work folks, and avoid talking about work.
Also, don’t have a big dessert and expect to run as if you haven’t!
Have you ever regretted doing anything before going for a run?
Well, we’ve arrived at the 6-month mark in 2013 already: wow! Happy Canada Day!
Today’s stats:
Run: 10k training run
Time: 1:00:11
Trainers: Lunarglide+5
Weather: cloudy, but bright
Fave running track of the day:
Well, I headed out tonight, thinking that the heavens might open, but fortunately, that didn’t happen. I ran two slow miles, along Tarbert harbour, and out to Garvel road end. While heading out along Pier Road to the concrete, my legs took over, and I was running quicker, which was good: felt OK tonight! A little boost of disco always helps, right?
Glad I got the 10K in, as I was tempted to chuck it after two miles. Go me!
Then, I came home to have a wee dip in the hot tub to find it had switched itself off, and was cold. Bummer. Oh, well, something to look forward to tomorrow night!
A taste + rate / debate of gluten free dining in Glasgow Scotland. By newlyweds team The Murphy’s. Want the latest on her fashion updates too ? Join writer/ blogger @cityslickerinthestix.com
TartanJogger 