Morning! I’ve just been exploring around Center Parks, during my 5K run:
It’s lovely!
Back home, @TheWelshWookie has run 3 miles- go, Wookie!
We’re heading for lunch soon, but for now, we’re having a breakfast beer 🙂
Tag: run
Welcome to the Weekend!
Now, before reality bites, and I realise that I’ll have to spend some time doing laundry, housework and other domesticated stuff this weekend, let us revel in the joy that is Friday evening:
Amen. Thanks, I’m sure you know who you are…. Meanwhile, here’s this weekend’s format:
And heres’ my brain’s repeat track right now:
This is what I’m looking forward to, on Saturday Sunday morning:
Have a great weekend, all. For those of you who have races, I’m looking forward to reading your reviews! 😀
Is it a Harvest Moon Thing?
Hi, everyone!
I have a question for you: do you find that people around you tend to go a bit, well, loopy during a full moon?
If you’ve had a couple of days like I’ve had, you might be asking this very same question!
I’ve just found out that today’s full moon is a harvest moon: the full moon closest to the autumn equinox. I have no idea if that has any ‘meaning’ or ‘significance’, but I’m happy to have an excuse to blame all of my problems and craziness on! 😉
I’ve had two super-long working days, so haven’t had a chance to run: back on it tomorrow, though!
Product Review: Bib & Medal Hanger
I recently purchased a bib & medal hanger for myself, and a medal hanger for @TheWelshWookie.
We bought them from Running on the Wall who make these by hand. They are based in the US, but post worldwide. I waited, with anticipation, for the parcels to arrive, and within a couple of weeks they were here!
I chose a pink one, with the slogan ‘Celebrate every mile’ as it reflects my feelings about these races. @TheWelshWookie selected a blue one, with the slogan ‘hardware’ on it. Nice!
They’re made of a really sturdy MDF, and painted with a bit of a vintage feel to them.
We’ve been arguing debating where we should hang them, and we’ve gone for hanging them on a side wall, that leads into the living room. Perfect.
Would you like to see them in situ?
I think @TheWelshWookie needs to build that collection next year!
Positives: well made, solid, will definitely take the weight of the medals
Negatives: they’re a little expensive; and of course they incurred import tax of an extra £12 on delivery. Ouch!
I’d recommend these to anyone wanting a good display for their achievements.
Rainy Run Road Test
I’ve been waiting all day, to road test some of the new gear I bought over the weekend. I decided to try out my cool stripy tights 😀
We’ve had dreadful weather here, with gale force wind and really heavy downpours, but nothing was going to stop me from trying out these babies!
Instead of heading to the harbour, we turned left, and ran along the Campbeltown road. @TheWelshWookie suggested running up the hill on the main road, instead of running to the West Loch: a suggestion he later regretted when he realised how steep the hill was! It was tough, but I’m really feeling the benefit of the hill training paying off.
You can see the elevation 🙂
The hill gave me a chance to put the tights to the test. OK- so I know these are workout tights, not running tights. I know that I’ve gone for style over substance. BUT they are really comfortable to wear, and ideal for short runs. They did slip a little, so I probably won’t wear them on longer runs, or to races. But I do really like them.
@TheWelshWookie liked his new gear, too, including the new knee support, which is for his oldmanitis!
We were absolutely soaked by the time we got home, but I felt great! Autumn has definitely arrived, and I might have to dig out my running gloves soon…. my fingers were a little cold; it was around 10C/50F
On another note, the ticket ordering for the Commonwealth Games 2014 closed tonight: I hope I get some of those I’ve requested!
Today’s Stats:
Run: 2 mile, hills
Time: 20:26 pretty good!
Weather: Rainy, and quite cold
Trainers: Nike LunarFly GTX
Today’s Life Lesson: Why do socks always come out of the washer in odd numbers?
What is your favourite running outfit?
A Weekend Round Up
Evening all, have you had a good weekend? I’ve had a blast!
My shopping spree yesterday went better than I had anticipated (although @TheWelshWookie was driven bonkers by other shoppers barging in front of him 😮 ). We popped into the Nike store, only to find that they had a SALE on! Yes, that’s right, I accidentally walked into a sale. In the Nike shop. Oh. My. Goodness.
And so, IÂ was very controlled went a wee bit crazy, but at least I stocked up on some winter running gear, and not some frivolous stuff!
I bought two pairs of full length tights, one pair is a funky blue stripy number, and I also bought the dri-fit knit long sleeve top that  I have been coveting for months, since it was on SALE! Yay!
@TheWelshWookie also got some gear. including this rather bright number:
And, as it was the day before the Great North Run, I made @TheWelshWookie take my photo with the picture of Mo, in the Nike Store. Yes: I have no shame….
I then had a great night celebrating my god daughter’s birthday, which included a shedload one or two glasses of vino….!
This morning began with some more shopping (grocery shopping, bo-ring) and then we settled down to watch the build up of the GNR. I might have mentioned once or twice (or maybe more) to @TheWelshWookie that I really want to run it next year. It looked brilliant! I’m sure everyone will have seen the final couple of miles of the elite race, with Mo Farah just losing out on first place by one second: his sprint finish was just not enough. It was so exciting!
Congratulations to everyone who ran: I hope you enjoyed it, and are celebrating tonight.
We’ve been to a family Christening, and are now home, watching football. My team, the Jaguars, are facing @TheWelshWookie’s team, the Raiders, so tonight is going to be fun!
In other weekend news, Carolyn and Dougie have successfully completed the Beatson Challenge! They are so amazing, and I’m in awe of what they have achieved! We drove past them on our way to Glasgow on Saturday, and they managed a wave and a smile: they were looking really strong!
You can see their photos here
I’m looking forward to running tomorrow, road testing a pair of my new tights 😀
Day off Work = Day on Running
I have a long weekend off! Woop Woop!
And so, I’ve made use of my day: I’ve been a domestic Goddess, been shopping in the village, (and on the internet), packed for our weekend trip and gone for a run! Today is the first day that @TheWelshWookie has been for a run since our trail run on Sunday. We did a pretty solid 5K relaxed run, which I really enjoyed.
As we were heading home, the kids were having sailing lessons. By the sound of their whooping and laughter, they were having a great time! 😀
We’ve been healthy kids, and had a lovely salmon salad for dinner:
Beatson Challenge Update:
Day two of their three day challenge is over. Today’s section included running up (and down) The Rest and Be Thankful: a big hill which marks the half way point to Glasgow. It’s called The Rest and Be Thankful for a very good reason 😮
The report is that they even managed to run a little further than they had planned today, which must be a really good sign. They are doing absolutely brilliantly!
It’s likely that we’ll drive past them tomorrow on our way to Glasgow, so we’ll give them a wave from you all!
Today’s Stats:
Run: 5K easy run
Time: 31:12
Weather: Cloudy. It’s definitely getting cooler
Trainers: Nike Lunar Glides
Favourite Running Track Today:
Today’s Life Lesson: When you switch on the dishwasher, remember to check that you’ve put the tablet in properly 😉
What are your plans for the weekend?
The Beatson Challenge
Tomorrow, two fantastic local runners, Carolyn and Dougie, are taking on a huge challenge, which they have called the Beatson Challenge. They are running an ultra marathon, over three days: running from the Beatson Oncology Unit in Glasgow to Tarbert, raising funds for the Friends of the Beatson. They’ll be running 100 miles, over three days.
Wow.
They have been keeping all of their supporters up to date on their facebook page, which you can find here. I’m hoping that you’ll pay their site a little visit, to offer support to them in their amazing challenge.
They are raising funds for a fantastic cause, and if you are interested in supporting them, you can do so here.
I’m wishing Carolyn and Dougie the very best of luck and support over the next three days: you can do this!
Short and Sharp
Short and Sharp. No, not my temper- though usually it is 😉 but my run this evening!
I thought I should head out, and do a short, sharp threshold run, to see if I can build up some speed in advance of my races in October. And I ran pretty slow by most folks standards fast- for me 😉
During my first mile, I kinda forgot that I was supposed to be doing a threshold run, so I managed a mile in 9:27. My second mile was much better, at 9.05, so I was really pleased with that.
It was just as well I only planned to do two miles, as I definitely could not have maintained that for a third mile tonight!
On my way home, I found my first heart! 😀 runningtoherdreams has some beautiful pictures of nature’s hearts on her blog, and I’ve been looking for one for weeks. And tonight, I finally found one 🙂
Today’s Stats:
Run: 2 miles, threshold run
Time: 18:32
Weather: Cloudy with still some warmth in the air. It’s definitely getting cooler, though
Trainers: Nike Lunar Glides
Favourite Running Track Today: I’ve waited ten days to come across this one on my iPod!
Today’s Life Lesson: Some days, you just make good, steady progress. Be grateful for these, they don’t come often!
When did you last do a threshold run?
A Ridiculous Run
I’ve entitled this post ‘A Ridiculous Run’ for two main reasons:
1. Some of the hills we tackled today were so steep, it was ridiculous:
2. I went out, looking nothing short of ridiculous!
After such a lazy day yesterday, I was looking forward to getting out in the fresh air, and blowing away some of the cobwebs. Also, I wanted to run, in honour of fellow running blogger 278toBoston’s first ever marathon, which he is running today.
@TheWelshWookie had a complete moment of madness, and suggested that, instead of running our usual route, we should go off road, and run one of the trails behind Tarbert Castle. It sounded like a great idea!
I started with an espresso, though:
We decided to run with camelbaks, instead of using hand held water bottles. And it was raining. So I’m sure that I’ll have drawn some weird looks!
Instead of heading straight for the Castle, we decided to tackle my nemesis from the TT10K: Big Brae. So, we did. And we ran up most of it. Result! We then ran/walked the blue route, which takes in some of the steeper hills along the trail.
We ran up the hills, and walked some of the straight and downhill sections, to make the most of the day. It was tough, but in a good way!
 
Some of the viewpoints along the way give some great views down towards the village.
We ran past the Millennium Cairn, where is was particularly muddy today, due to the rain. It actually felt great, to be caked in mud for a change! Weird, huh?
I need to admit that the final mile and a half was virtually all walking: the downhill sections were pretty steep, and I don’t have great balance at the best of times. But, we got out there, and we did it!
And the heather was blooming:
Here’s a map of my run today:
When I returned home, I caught up on 278toBoston’s progress: marathon done in 4:14:32 – amazing! Well done, what an achievement! I hope that some of the cooler air from here made its way over to you 😉
Today’s Stats:
Run: 4 mile trail run/walk
Weather: cloudy, with both rain showers and sunny spells
Trainers: LunarFly GTX +3
Favourite Running Track of the Day:
Today’s Life Lesson: sometimes the tough runs are the ones you enjoy most!
What do you find yourself thinking about when you run?
TartanJogger 