On Saturday, my running blog friend Bernie from Get Going – Get Running wrote about his pile of running shoes, that his girlfriend is (quite rightly) fed up with. And it got me thinking- this is a problem that most of us runner have.
And I’ll admit that I agree……. with both Bernie and his better half!
Both @TheWelshWookie and I have too many pairs of trainers: old ones, new ones, trail shoes, racing flats, comfies, minimalist. You name it, we’ve got it. As long as they’re Nike Lunars 😉
When @TheWelshWookie and I were completely fed up with tripping over trainers in the kitchen, we visited IKEA.
And we purchased this:
Voila! Suddenly, the problem was solved!
I use the little storage shelf for all of the running stuff I use all the time: gloves, waistpack, yurbuds, etc. We have an iPod dock on the top, which I use to charge my iPod or iPhone after my run. It’s perfect!
And all of those pesky trainers are tidied away, out of sight:
And I think I need another one already! 😀
Today’s Stats:
Run: 2 easy miles on the treadmill. I’m keeping it easy this week, since I have my 10K MoRun on Saturday.
Time: 23:34
Weather: cold – I had to scrape frost from my car this morning, the first time this autumn!
Trainers: Nike FreeRun +5
Pile on the Miles so far: 20K
How do you store your running shoes and peripherals at home? Any tips?
Since collecting my treadmill on Sunday, we’ve been working around the other stuff that was in one of our spare bedrooms.
What you can’t see in this picture is the desktop PC in front of the treadmill, the musical instruments on the other side of the room, and the storage unit filled with electrical bits and bobs including a DVD player, video recorder, PS2, etc, etc.
Here’s where we got to, mid way through the clear and sort, when I was just about ready to throw everything away….. @TheWelshWookie wouldn’t let me 😉
And here we are, with the new set-up: the desktop PC is gone, the MacBook has relocated upstairs, and the TV is wall mounted, so that we can watch it while using the treadmill.
And, yes. At my age, I do still have my TY Beanie Bears on display. Does that say something deep and meaningful about me?
The wires and cables still need to be hidden, so we’ll pick up some trunking for that next weekend, but all in all, I’m delighted with all of @TheWelshWookie’s hard work today, setting this up.
Me? Well, I helped a little. And I watched my first two Christmas movies on Christmas24. I did run 5K watching the end of the second one, just to test out the wall mounted TV, of course 😉
And in other news, not only did the Zombified TartanJogger and @TheWelshWookie make it into the Lennox Herald as reported earlier in the week, we made it into the Helensburgh Advertiser too!
Tonight, I gave my treadmill a wee road test (pardon the pun!)
I was late home from work; the clocks have changed meaning it was pitch dark outside, and the rain was pounding. Perfect treadmill testing time!
I ran for 20 minutes, just to give it a go, and get a feel for it. The machine was really steady and sturdy; it felt better than some gym treadmills I’ve tried. I set my Nike SportWatch to register my shoe sensor instead of the GPS, and away I went!
I was running reasonably fast (for me) but only registered at running around 10-11 minutes per mile. So, I increased the speed. I probably should have increased the incline instead- but I’ll try that out next time.
All in all, I enjoyed the novelty of it: being able to watch TV as I ran was fun, but in the long term I’m pretty sure that it won’t replace outdoor running for me 😉
Today’s Stats:
Run: 20 minutes
Distance: 2.1 miles
Trainers: LunarRacers
Weather: wet and windy, hence the treadmill run!
Today’s Life Lesson: the day after helping lift a treadmill is not the day for wearing a skirt- bruised shins is not a good look!
OK, so it’s new-to-me, rather than new, but it is a decent, solid, heavy duty electric treadmill. I figured that it would be better to buy a second hand one like this, rather than a new one that wasn’t up to much.
I love it!
This purchase isn’t designed to replace my outdoor runs: far from it. I only want to use it to enhance my existing running: maybe for speed training, and for days when the weather is really bad, now that we’re heading towards winter Me and ice don’t get on well at all: @TheWelshWookie calls me Bambi on icy days, as I struggle to walk if there’s even a hint of ice, let alone run on it!
Big thanks to @TheWelshWookie, as he did most of the work lifting this from the seller’s second floor flat, into the car (which I accidentally scratched 😦 ) into our house and upstairs to the spare bedroom.
It’s now in situ, and @TheWelshWookie has big plans to get the TV wall mounted on the wall in front of it, and setting it all up with the surround sound he has in the room; just to help encourage us to use it. Sounds like a plan to me!
I’ll get some pics up once we’re organised!
Any treadmill owners out there? When do you use yours?
Positives: great fun run, brilliant support from marshals and other runners
Negatives: the weather, no medal, cost
This was our first ever obstacle race, and @TheWelshWookie and I had planned our outfits far more than we had planned the run itself!
My sister-in-law, Janice, transformed us into zombies, and she did a great job:
We arrived at Helensburgh Rugby Club with plenty of time to spare, before registration opened, and so we were able to use the WCs before most people arrived, and watched the end of the rugby:
As soon as we were able to, we signed our disclaimer forms and collected our bibs:
And then soaked up the atmosphere. We had our photos taken with quite a few of the other runners: these are a couple from the ZNR FaceBook Page:
I wore my base layer compression top, and long running tights with my Nike LunarFly GTX trainers. I don’t have a pre-race gear check pic 😦
The facilities at the start/finish were good, with runners having full access to the changing and shower facilities. if I knew then how much these were needed…… more of that later! There was music playing, and the runners, both zombies and survivors, were milling about, chatting and taking photos. There was a mix of runners who were, and weren’t wearing fancy dress.
The race was due to start at 5.30pm, but we were told that there would be a short delay. At around 5.45, we were asked to enter an enclosed area for the pre-race briefing and warm up. As the ground was a little marshy, people (us included) were trying to find dry-ish areas. Turns out that was just daft!
The ‘survivors’ were then asked to head to the start line, and they headed off, with a five minute head start. Each survivor had a belt with two ‘life tags’, and the zombies were supposed to chase down the survivors, and take a life tag. After what seemed like forever, we were allowed to go; and we entered the forest in a cloud of dry ice- very atmospheric!
After only a couple of minutes, we were towards the back of the pack, but those in front of us took a wrong turn, and before we knew it we were leading the zombies! Of course, this only lasted for a few minutes, before we were swiftly overtaken!
The rain had just started as we began running, and the grass was wet and slippery. The light was beginning to fade, and I realised that this was going to be great fun! We reached our first obstacle, and had to crawl under a bridge, into a river, under a cargo net and up the muddy riverbank. Only then did I remember that I had my iPhone in my waistpack, and I was soaked through! Fortunately, my phone was OK!
So, even in the first kilometre my feet were squelching and I was dripping wet. We ran up a farm track, in the mud, where we were joined by a cow on the path! At the top of the muddy track was a large bog which we had to cross, and I managed to get my left leg well and truly stuck- fortunately I was able to drag myself out, and the next part of the race was through the dark forest, which was really, very muddy.
Some parts of the course were in complete darkness. Other parts of the race were lit with glow sticks, or had strobe lighting. It was slow going, but so much fun. On more than one occasion, I found myself hugging trees for dear life!
The marshals were excellent, they were very supportive and really encouraged us to keep going and kept us in character!
There were two water stops on course, with jelly babies at both, which was ideal, as much of the ‘race’ was walking, or wading through mud!
Towards the end of the run, I was able to pick up some speed, and run along a forest track road. Despite the squelching and the mud, I managed an OK pace! At around this time, the rain started to fall, really heavily, which didn’t help with visibility or the conditions; but added to the atmosphere.
At the last kilometre, we had to wade through a burn, which was icy cold. I couldn’t stop smiling! And there was one final surprise in store- a series of hay bales to climb over and cargo nets to clamber under. Fortunately, @TheWelshWookie was able to give me a shove over the hay bales: I’ll really need to work on my upper body strength! Finally, we crossed the finish line.
I’m happy to report that we finished ahead of several survivors, even though we didn’t get any life tags.
We then had to give our numbers, to make sure that all runners made it across the finish line!; and we were given our goody bags. We then grabbed our dry clothing and headed to the clubhouse to change.
Here’s the map of the race:
The goody bag was OK: a biscuit, a snack bar, a Buff sticker and tattoo and a bottle of water:
There as an after-run party which I’m sure was fantastic. We had planned on going, but I had a baby shower to go to and so we couldn’t stay for the party. Maybe next year!
I have two bruised and scraped knees, but I survived!
Here’s a short video clip:
My Stats:
Time: 1:35:42, but I came up a little short on distance.
The Medal: There was no medal, though I was sure that the website did originally say there was going to be one. Maybe I dreamed that.
Goody Bag: a paper bag which was sodden in seconds, with a biscuit, a snack bar, a bottle of water and a Buff tattoo and sticker.
T-shirt: a black technical T shirt. The design is good, but it was only available in men’s large, which was a little disappointing.
This run was a little on the expensive side, given that there was no medal or choice of t shirt size, but brilliant fun.
As you’ll have seen from yesterday’s post, we had some heavy rain yesterday. I know because I ran in it 😉
And so, as a result of all this rain, we have had a landslip. Actually, we’ve had three landslips today: two on the A83 at Glen Kinglas and Glen Croe at the Rest and Be Thankful, and a third at Tighnabruaich. The A83 is the main road into (and out of) Argyll, and this is the eighth landslip closure in six years, since we moved to Argyll.
Here’s the clear-up job today:
And just to give you some perspective, here’s a wee map.The dark blue line is the affected part of the road:
The road has just been re-opened for now, but as the forecast is for more rain, I’m obviously a bit concerned about getting to Glasgow tomorrow night for the Great Scottish Run weekend. 😦
The alternative route is a sixty mile detour, also marked on the map, and it adds about an hour and a half onto the two hour journey.
It’s just one of the joys of living in a rural area, on the west coast of Scotland!
I have just one thing that I puzzle over. This is the warning sign at The Rest:
When the lights flash, we’re advised to proceed with caution. Does that mean I should drive slowly, and keep an eye on the hillside; or drive fast to minimise the chances of being swept away? 😮
Wish me luck in getting through to Glasgow tomorrow!
When I was in Dunoon today, I watched the storm clouds brewing:
And my first thought was, urgh!
You’d think I’d be used to it. I live on the West Coast of Scotland. Rain is something you’d expect me to be used to running in. But I’m not!
In the past, I’ve always been a ‘fair weather’ runner; I’ve skipped any runs that would involve running in the rain.
Yes, I know, I know.
But over the past 18 months, I’ve run in all weathers, and I really do love it, but I still find that I need to drag myself out there when it rains. When I’m actually running, I enjoy it- running in the rain is great! It’s refreshing, it keeps you cool, the roads are generally quieter, I get to splash in puddles…… but why do I still find it hard to get myself out the door?
Tonight, the rain was torrential, and the wind was quite strong. I didn’t really want to run. But I did. And I LOVED it! We were pretty speedy (well, for us, that is). We only did a two miler, since we’re, ahem, lazy ‘tapering’ for Sunday’s 10K, but I’m really pleased with the run 🙂
And, I found another heart!
Here’s a heart I found a couple of weeks ago, that I forgot to share….
Run: 2 miles
Time: 18:44
Trainers: LunarFly GTX
Weather: very wet, rainy and windy
I listened to a Jillian Michael’s podcast again today, instead of music 🙂
Today’s Life Lesson: am I the only person who leaves their reusable bags in the car EVERY time I go to the supermarket?
You know what it’s like. You have a tough day at work. You trail around the supermarket. You head home, and the last thing you feel like doing is going out for a run. But you don’t sit down: you pull on your kit, lace up your trainers and head out of the door. And you have a great run. You know?
Well, that didn’t happen today. My run today sucked.
I moaned for the whole four miles. @TheWelshWookie was a proper cheerleader, keeping me going and making helping me get it done. He even had me laughing at one point. Thanks, Wookie, I owe you a tough run! 😉
We finished just after 6pm, and the lights along the harbour were on, for the first time this autumn:
Here’s hoping that’s my last tough run for a while!
Run: 4 miles
Time: 42:20
Trainers: LunarGlides
Weather: cloudy, and definitely much cooler today
I listened to a Jillian Michael’s podcast again today, instead of music 🙂
Today’s Life Lesson: Sometimes, running sucks. Fortunately, not always 😉
When did you last have a rubbish run that someone helped you out on?
Today’s run was a bit of a disaster. We set out to do a half mile warm up, a fast mile, and a half mile cool down. When we reached the half mile mark, I set off like a hare out of a trap (well, for me. Normal speed for most), thinking I was doing some sprints. After 30 seconds, I remembered that I was supposed to sustain my pace for a mile- not. a. chance.
I’d set off so fast that my heart rate was crazy, so I had to do a short walk to bring it down. And to shout at myself for being so daft! I set off again for the last 3/4 mile, at a more sensible speed!
@TheWelshWookie had a great run- he ran a great mile!
This arrived in the post today:
I’m so excited! This year’s Great Scottish Run has only two start waves: green and pink. We’re in the green wave, which goes first. I wonder if that’s because us slowbies need a head start? Surely I’m not in the faster wave?
Tonight, I’ll be delving into this:
It’s the long awaited sequel to The Shining! I re-read The Shining on Saturday, so I’m ready to get stuck right in 😀
Today’s Stats:
Run: 2 miles, 1 mile run in the middle
Time: 19:45
Trainers: Lunar Racers
Weather: cloudy, and still warm. Might be my last vest run of the year!
I listened to a Jillian Michael’s pod cast again today, instead of music 🙂
Today’s Life Lesson: Spread sheets are sources of pain and torture.
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
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