Race Report: Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon, Dublin

August 7, 2013 by TartanJogger ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Date: 5th August 2013

Profile: Flat

Terrain: Road

Weather: Cloudy, not too hot

Positives: good expo, great course, excellent organisation, friendly runners

Negatives: lack of support around the route, pacers (what pacers?), goody bags

As @TheWelshWookie and I were making a weekend of it, we flew into Dublin on the Saturday afternoon, giving us plenty of time before the race on Monday. We headed to our hotel which was on the outskirts of the city, as we had a hire car.

After we checked in and organised ourselves we headed into the city itself, to find the expo. We took the Luas, or tram:

We headed to the expo, which was well organised, busy, and had lots of stands. I had to pose, of course:

I collected my bib, my race pack and Tshirt. The goody bag was a bit rubbish- but that’s not hugely important to me anyway. I then collected my World Rocker medal, albeit a bit premature as I hadn’t actually run the second half yet!

We then browsed the stalls, and I treated myself to some Yurbud earphones, which lock in place and don’t fall out. They also allow you to hear what is going on around you, for safety when out running. And the sound quality is great I LOVE them! I also bought some CEP calf compression sleeves, in neon green!

We spent Sunday sight seeing, shopping and scoping out the start of the run at St. Stephen’s Green so that we knew exactly where we were going, and where would be best for parking.

On the morning of the race, we were up at 5am, had breakfast at the hotel, and drove into Dublin. We were greeted by some motorway signage 😉

We parked right at St Stephen’s Green, so we didn’t have to walk too far. @TheWelshWookie headed off at 7am to find where he’d be doing the gear check, while I waited in the car for another half hour ~~getting more excited~~ just chilling out. At 7.30am, I headed onto St Stephen’s Green and took a walk around, just to soak up the atmosphere, and to keep warm- it was a little chilly, given that I was wearing shorts and a vest!

The facilities at the start were great: loads of portaloos, and the gear check was easy to use, spread out well, and manned by the wonderful @TheWelshWookie amongst others!

The start itself was really good. From 8am, we were advised to go to our corrals, which was ideal. The build up was pretty slick with a very brief warm up, and the excitement built to the sounds of U2. I was in the last corral, so anyone slower than 2:20 were all lumped together- all slowbies together!

Here’s the map of the race:

The race started at 8.30 sharp, and the final corral (including me) headed off after about 10 minutes. We were notified that the pacers would be wearing coloured balloons, and I was hoping to track the 2:15 balloon, at least for part of the race. I only saw one pacer for each time- there were more in Edinburgh- and for some reason, the 2:30 pacer started in the corral BEFORE us? Huh? That made no sense to me, as I was running 2:20!

Anyway, we headed out of the start, and the support for the first kilometre or so was really good. Within about 10 minutes, I had caught up with the end of the previous corral, which was great, and I caught sight of the pacer. But, before I knew it, they had raced away on ahead! So much for running at 2:30 – I’m pretty sure they must have come in much quicker than that, as I didn’t see them again! So, after such a great pacing experience at Edinburgh, I was disappointed that this pacer didn’t seem to do what was needed for us slowbies, anyway. 😦

As we headed towards Phoenix Park, the support dwindled, and that made the course pretty quiet. A large part of the race was in the park itself, which was gorgeous. It also meant that you could run on the grass, if you preferred. We ran past the zoo, and there were some families out, showing support. I got a high-5 off of a boy of about 3, at mile 4, which was great!

At the 10k mark, we began to head slightly uphill, which was a shock as it was the first hill of the race, but wasn’t too bad. There were sensors at 10k, but I haven’t been able to find my 10k split anywhere on the website. Hopefully, I’ll come across it!

As we headed out of the park, I noticed that we ran along whole streets, with no one out supporting. I thought that was odd, but maybe support isn’t as good as elsewhere? What it did mean was that I really, really appreciated the support that we did get- it was greatly appreciated!

The route wound its way back towards the city centre, and at mile 9, we came to The Hill. Now in most races, it would probably have just been a hill, but for this lovely, flat course, it was THE hill. Pretty steep! But, at the top of the hill was a water station- whether that was by luck, or by design, I was happy to see it, and to fill up my water bottle.

From about mile 10, the support began to pick up a little, with some fantastic crowds over the last mile. One of the great things about this route was how quickly we seemed to come cross the finish line- it just appeared, out of nowhere!

What made up for the lack of support were the brilliant bands at every mile marker. They were all really great, and this time, there were only two finishing songs as I came past, so I got to hear lots of them! And, unlike Edinbugh, the mile markers were all present and correct!

As I crossed the line, I was handed my fab medal, and I managed to bag a bottle of water and a powerbar: the isotonic drinks were all finished 😦

I had to wait for @TheWelshWookie to finish giving back gear bags, so I headed back to the car, got changed, then came back to the square, where I found a wee spot to sit and listen to the bands. It was brilliant!

My stats: 2:16:04 only 5 seconds short of 2:15!! I have no idea how many participants there were, but I finished 3990th. Here’s the only stats I could find:

The Medal: Really good, fab, sparkly and heavy!

I also had my brilliant World Rocker medal:

Goody Bag: money off vouchers, leaflets, blister plasters & a packet of crisps

T-shirt: It’s a fab. neon green number!

After a quick shower and change, @TheWelshWookie and I headed first to the Guiness Storehouse, where we enjoyed a Guiness, for it’s restorative powers only, or course 🙂

And we finished our evening partying in the Temple Bar area, listening to some fantastic music.

All in all, we had a brilliant weekend, and can’t wait to visit again!

Race Report: The Color Run UK, London

July 25, 2013 by TartanJogger ♥ 2 Comments

Date: 14th July 2013

Profile: Flat

Terrain: Road

Weather: Hot, hot, hot!

Website: http://www.thecolorrun.co.uk/

Positives: great course, brilliant atmosphere, well organised

Negatives: it was hot! ‘jump’ photo queue was a bit of a disaster

As the run was late afternoon, my sis and I caught the red eye from Glasgow to London, Gatwick on Sunday morning. We had breakfast at the airport, but as we were flying British Airways, we also had breakfast on the flight: result!

Fortunately, we’re pretty comfortable with travelling around London, and as the race was at Wembley we knew exactly where we were going, as we’ve been there several times for the NFL games. We headed straight to our hotel at Wembley, had a 15 minute chill-out while they prepped our room, then we took our time getting changed and getting excited for the run! Here’s the view from the hotel room:

Pretty handy, huh?

We were able to see others heading towards the start at around 2pm, so we grabbed our water, and headed around the stadium. As we walked around, we could see the crowds beginning to gather in the muster area:

The facilities at the start were great: loads of portaloos, clearly marked information stands, merchandise stalls, check in desks, etc. We headed for the sunglasses pick up, as we were getting them as freebies as part of a LivingSocial deal: there was no queue, and the staff were lovely and friendly. As the event is sponsored by Dulux, there was an opportunity to have your picture taken with the Dulux dog!

In the muster area itself, there was a ‘start’ line, but the actual start itself was under the Wembley arch. Here’s some pics of the pre-run build up in the muster:

The MC was pretty good, keeping the crowd entertained and trying to keep them distracted in the heat! Here we are, before the run:

That’s my sad attempt at a MoBot….

After baking in the sun for about 45 minutes, the crowd moved towards the actual start. The MC told us that we’d be running in waves, with about 7 minutes in between each group. As we were pretty near the front, we were in the second group, which we were very grateful for, as there were apparently 15,000 runners! I would not have wanted to stand about for one of the later groups! 😮

The start itself was really good. The staff were throwing freebies into the crowd, Nicki Minaj (yeah, I know) was being played and runners were jumping around with excitement!

It was a great way to start the race: spectators were able to line the walkways, and stand on the bridge above the runners: they were waving, taking pics and enjoying it as much as the runners!

We started off by running pretty slowly: as you can see, the crowd was pretty tightly packed, so the first k was more of a walk/shuffle. I wondered why so many people had their phones and cameras inside plastic pouches, or wrapped in cling film: as I saw the first k marker in the distance I realised why:

I could see a cloud of pink shimmering in the sky, and I had an instant realisation- if I keep my phone out, it’ll be clogged up with dry paint! Doh! So, I’m afraid that this is the only picture I took en route!

Running into the arch was so much fun: the volunteers at each side of the road were having a great time, using squirty bottles to cover the runners in colour! As it was warm, dry and humid, the paint was almost hanging in the air, so as you ran through the cloud of colour, it was a little difficult to breathe, but no real problem at all. My legs were covered in pink!

My sis realised that, despite being 15 years younger than me, she was definitely not able to match my slow running (that’s saying something, huh?!) so we did a walk/jog for the rest of the course. That as actually ideal, as we got to really enjoy the event, without pushing for a time. We could soak up the fun, we weren’t pushing past families or kids, we could talk and just make the most of it.

At the purple marker, a lady ~~very kindly~~ hit me full in the face with purple paint, so in all of my ‘after’ pics I look like I have a purple beard! 😮

The race ended just outside Wembley stadium, and we could hear the music, and the DJ, but being in the second wave, it was still pretty quiet. We were handed bottled water, and a VitaCoco drink, which were both very welcome!

We made our way to the crowd, and started to queue to get our photos done doing the Color Run ‘jump’ but the queue rope was too short for the number of people waiting, and no one was supervising the queue, so it dissolved into chaos. Instead of getting upset or bothered with people jumping into the queue, we just left it, and just as we started to head to the merchandise stalls, we heard them call all tutu wearers to the stage! I grabbed my sis’ hand, and dragged her behind the barrier, where all of our fellow tutu wearers were dancing and jumping about to Katy Perry’s Call Me Maybe:

I decided to take a quick pic of my sis and I here, and we were photobombed. Possibly the best photobomb I’ve seen:

Well done that girl! Love it!

Here’s our after pics:

After we had finished jumping about, we went back into the crowd for a bit, and did the finish line colour cloud: we had yellow paint for the end.

We then headed to the merchandise stall, and I treated myself to some socks, which are pretty cool:

Elsewhere in the finish area, there was a guy, soaking everyone with a hose, and there were plenty of food stalls, first aid staff, and volunteers for anyone needing help at the end.

We headed back to the hotel, where we got some really weird looks, sitting at the bar, enjoying a beer:

As we were heading out into London, we headed for showers, and clean clothes! On our way out that evening, we could see the aftermath!

My stats: No official time, but we finished in around 39 minutes

The Medal: None, but that’s OK!

Goody Bag: None, but water and VitaCoco was available

T-shirt: I love the shirt, but as it’s cotton I won’t be wearing it for running. I didn’t run the race in it. I’ll be wearing the sweatband, though!

I’ll be planning on doing more than one of these next year: I’ve heard that there’ll be one in Glasgow in 2014- cannot wait! 😀

Foody Friday

July 19, 2013 by TartanJogger ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

It’s a balmy 29 degrees in Tarbert, and according to the forecast, the West coast of Scotland is set to be the hottest place in the UK this weekend!

Today’s stats:

Run: Fortunately not, it’s too hot for me to run today! It’s a yoga and stretch day for me.

Time: 30 mins yoga, 15 mins NTC Shawn Johnson Stretch Guide

Most relaxing yoga track: Teardrop by Massive Attack. Love.

Well, to round off another week, I thought I’d let you have a sneak peek into some of my good (and bad) eating habits this week.

In London, I had a few naughty treats:

Lemon something-or-other Krispy Kreme donut

We had dinner on Sunday night in a place in Campden called Ay Caramba!

We had:

We also came across a wee shop selling mahoosive watermelons- I wish I could have taken some back home with me!

On Monday, we had a spot of lunch at Union Jack’s in Covent Garden:

Braised brisket, oxtail, horseradish & watercress pizza

While, back at home, I’ve tried to be good:

Nachos with low fat cheese, quorn pepperoni and jalapenos

Wholewheat tortilla pizza with quorn pepperoni, low fat cheese, red onion, peppers, chilli flakes and balsamic vinegar

wholewheat tortilla pizza with salady stuff

Total Greek yoghurt with melon, pineapple, grapes, chia and flax

But I haven’t always succeeded……

Today’s Life Lesson: double-check your text before you accidentally send it to the wrong person….

Which yummy treats have you had this week?

Is It The Weekend Yet?

July 18, 2013 by TartanJogger ♥ 2 Comments

Evening, all!

Well, I made a bit of a silly mistake tonight: Usually I go for a wee run as soon as I finish work, mainly because ~~if I didn’t go then I wouldn’t bother~~ that suits me best. Tonight, it was overcast, and about 22 degrees when I got home. I thought I‘d be smart, and wait a couple of hours before running, in the hope that the temperature dropped a little. Big mistake. The sun actually came out, and was beating down on me for all of my ‘speed’ session, and the temperature had actually increased! 😮

Oh, well.

Today’s stats:

Run: 5K ~~slow~~ speed session.

I did: 1K warm up jog; followed by 6x 300 metre sprints/200 metre recovery walk. I finished up with a 1K so-called ‘cool’ down

Time: 32:56

Trainers: Lunar Racers

Weather: bright and very sunshiny! Again! Woop Woop!

Best running track of the day: Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey. It kicked in just when I needed it!

So, as we head towards another weekend, there’s another event on in the fantastic village where I live. It’s the Tarbert Traditional Boat Festival, which kicks off tomorrow night 😀

There are quite a few boats in already, and while I ran along by the pontoons, I could hear fiddle music filling the air, which was lovely!

The village was pretty busy for a Thursday evening, with people eating at tables outside the cafes, and strolling along the harbour, enjoying the view and the weather. It looks like we’re in for another cracking weekend!

Today’s life lesson: Sometimes I say things to try to make things better, and end up doing the opposite. Mental note- think through what I say before I say it!

What have you said, and instantly regretted?

Sticky-Speed-Session Squee!

July 10, 2013July 10, 2013 by TartanJogger ♥ 2 Comments

Evening, folks, and a Happy Hump Day to you all!

Today’s stats:

Run: 2.7 mile sticky, sweaty speed session. Lovely, huh?

I did: 1 mile warm up jog; followed by 7x 30 second sprints/30 second recovery walk. I then walked/jogged home, but I’m not too sure how far that was!

Time: 28:56

Trainers: Lunar Racers

Weather: bright and very sunshiny! Again! Woop Woop!

Best running track of the day: Matinee, Franz Ferdinand. I love this. It reminds me of a former boss I had 🙂

I’d had a meeting in Helensburgh today, so I’d spent about 4 hours cooped up in the car, driving, so it felt great to stretch my legs tonight. I knew it would be hot, after last night, but I think I was better prepared for it tonight! I think it was around the 25 degree mark again. Hot (for here!)

I fancied a change of scenery, so instead of running along the village harbour I headed out to the West Loch, and ran down to that harbour instead.

It made a lovely change, but is quite a short run, on its own. The first mile is downhill, then it flattens out a bit to the harbour itself, and the final mile home is back uphill, which was tough, but what I needed! I felt great, hence the *squee* in the title, even though I was icky and sticky with suncream….again! 😮

I also took a pic of this old sign, which I thought was quite quaint:

Today’s life lesson: carry your camera, or have your iPhone to hand when you’re driving, ready to pull in and take a snap. I saw the paddle steamer The Waverley today, but didn’t get a pic of it 😦

Which photo opportunities have you missed?

Back-to-Training Tuesday

July 9, 2013 by TartanJogger ♥ 4 Comments

I ran today! Woo hoo!

OK- so it was very hot, at about 25 degrees, and very humid which is not something I 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?

Tarbert Seafood Festival Weekend: Part 2

July 8, 2013July 8, 2013 by TartanJogger ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Well, I’ve had a fantastic weekend at Tarbert Seafood Festival, along with family: it’s been really busy, really fun, and filled with eating, drinking, laughing and having a wonderful time!

The picture above shows just some of the fresh seafood caught and sold locally, in our wonderful fishing village: langoustines, spider crab, brown crab and lobster, just to name a few. We were also inundated with wonderful scallops, squat lobster, mackerel, velvet crabs and lots of other tasty treats.

The weather was simply fantastic- glorious sunshine and warm. The village was busy with both locals and tourists, milling around, browsing and shopping from many of the fantastic stalls, including crafts, home baking, fresh and cooked seafood, home decor, handmade toiletries and fun stalls like ‘splat the rat’ and ‘play your cards right’.

Would you like to see some of the fantastic stalls?

You can see some of the other fantastic seafood we feasted on in my earlier post. Deee-lish! Fresh, straight from the loch!

There was a Seafood Queen accompanied by her Seafood Princesses:

And a wonderful parade, led by the Mid Argyll Pipe Band; with floats: this year’s theme was ‘the Wild West’ which was fantastic!

There were wonderful cooking demonstrations, which were really interesting:

My brother started bidding for a box of fresh seafood in the auction, much to the horror of my sister-in-law: not because she didn’t want it, but because they weren’t heading home for another three days!

I had three favourite stalls this year: one was the Spingbank Whisky stall, where I sampled the Old Raj gin, which is flavoured with saffron. It was so delicious that I bought a bottle which will last me for ~~about one night~~ some time:

My next favourite stall was the Arbroath Smokies, which were absolutely delicious:

And then there was the ‘guess the number of midgies in a jar’ being run by Tarbert Academy Parent Association. How many would you guess are in the jar?

My guess was 167,600,000. Turns out that the answer was 148,000,000! And- I was closest! Woo hoo! I won!

Here’s my prize:

We finished off the evening with some ice cream sundaes from the cafe:

Sunday saw the arrival of more family, ans the day started early with a dip in the hot tub and a wee beer:

It was a scorcher!

Doesn’t the village look great in the sunshine?

The main event for the Sunday is ‘Beer on the Pier’, with bands playing at the Fish Quay, and beer, soft drinks and ice cream for sale. We had a fantastic time, listening to The Democrats and a Steps tribute band 😉

Of course, it was also the Final of Wimbledon, so we kept an eye on the score, and watched the final couple of games in the Islay Frigate. What an amazing result for Andy Murray!

Our evening was filled with fun, laughter, good food and good company: we watched the tennis highlights and then, at around 11.30pm we had a power cut! But we continued to celebrate by candlelight, which was fantastic!

Day three has been a little more subdued, but it has involved a lovely 6k walk to Shell Beach and back:

Can you see the jellyfish in the first picture?

We’ve said goodbye to our visitors, but before we did, we made sure that some of them signed up for the Perth Kilt Run 🙂

We’re now relaxing in the garden, after the busy weekend:

Normal running routine will resume tomorrow, albeit probably slower due to the short break and warm temperatures 🙂

Roll on next year’s festival- I can’t wait!

Race Report: RnR Edinburgh Half Marathon

July 3, 2013 by TartanJogger ♥ 2 Comments

Date: 14th April 2013

Profile: Hilly (my view, that is!)

Terrain: Road

Weather: Wild! Wet, windy, very stormy

Website: http://uk.competitor.com/edinburgh

Positives: great course, lovely medal, fab experience

Negatives: goody bags, weather!

I was so excited about running my first ever half marathon!

Training began on 30th December 2012. I wanted to start the New Year with a bang, and so I started with some cold, wet, windy runs. Turns out that this was a good plan! @TheWelshWookie and I were looking forward to our weekend away in Edinburgh, and had booked into the Holiday Inn at Cowgate for the night before the race.

We chose that hotel because it was within easy walking distance from the start and finish. Perfect!

We had a lovely walk on the Saturday, past this aptly named pub:

I took that as a good sign! I noticed at this point in the walk that the route was going to be quite hilly, and on the cobbled streets for part of it too. Hmmmmm.

We walked past the office of the Children’s Commissioner, who is Tam Baillie, who I knew from working with Barnardo’s. I just love the pic of him on the window! Looks just like him! 🙂

@TheWelshWookie and I then headed for an early dinner to the Hard Rock Cafe, and we were seated under a cool piece of memorabilia:

After an early night, @TheWelshWookie was up and out early, as he was a volunteer marshall on the course. I was looking forward to having a supporter at some point! I headed for breakfast, to find the restaurant filled with fellow runners (and joggers like me) from all over the world! I knew, by then, that it was raining outside, but the forecast was, apparently, OK.

But nobody told the weather that….

It was wild! So much so that the T-shirt marquees blew away, and there was a delay at the start until they made things safe 😮

I was soaked through, despite wearing my anorak, before the race begun. There was little race build up (probably due to the weather) and I was in the fourth wave, just eager to get going!

Here’s the Scottish Government building- the starting point of the race:

When it was our turn to start, I started slowly (ahem… more slowly than usual), I didn’t want to get carried away in the first couple of miles! The first miles took us through Leith, and along the waterfront, to Musselburgh. The rain was pelting, the wind was blowing, and I felt good!

By the time I got to the 5 mile mark, I found @TheWelshWookie’s posting- he was the gate lock keeper, on the main road. It was a welcome wee boost to see him!

I turned left, and realised that the road ahead was cobbled and uphill. This seemed to go on forever, and was quite slippery underfoot. We made our way back to Edinburgh city, to head around Arthur’s Seat, which was both hilly and wet. And windy. So windy, in fact, that in some places I was blown backwards, and could barely make any forward movement!

Then, at around 9.5 miles, disaster struck! I had been using my iPhone both for music and for measuring my progress on the Nike+ Running app. But the battery died! Argh! I had enough juice left in it to call Tony and let him know that I wouldn’t be able to call him when I was done. Lesson learned! That was the low point in the race- but I pulled myself together, and pushed on.

Things got much better after that- though the weather didn’t change! As I reached mile 10.5, we arrived back at Cowgate, for the final run through the old town, when I slipped on a metal cap in the road, and almost fell- almost! I walked for about 1/4 mile, just to check that I wasn’t injured, and I plowed on uphill again.

The final couple of miles were great- the crowd support was good at the end of the race, and that certainly helped. There were supposed to be bands at eery mile mark, but perhaps some cried off because of the weather. Those who did perform were great, and a welcome boost for joggers like me!

The pacemakers were also good- upbeat, friendly and encouraging.

I crossed the finish line in 2:22:49 feeling really proud, elated and full of energy- not quite as shattered as I thought I would be! And I knew that this was the start of a new jogging phase for me 🙂

@TheWelshWookie was waiting for me, which was great. Can’t wait for next ear- though I see that the date has changed to June- because of the weather, I assume?

My stats:

The Medal:

Brilliant. Shiny, sparkly and heavy! I love it!

Goody Bag: there were no bags, so I had to try to pick up and balance what I could, which wasn’t much. I managed a PowerBar, an energy drink and a bottle of water. That was all. Hope the bags are available next year.

T-shirt: I love the technical shirt, so much so that I wore it for the MOK10K:

We had to queue for some time to get the shirts, but that’s because of the problems with the tents blowing away! Fortunately, the organisers were handing out foil blankets, which were essential given the low temperatures. Don’t I look fetching after all of that?

Bring on next year!

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TartanJogger

Adventures in living well, quotes and very slow running

Tag: weather

Race Report: Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon, Dublin

Race Report: The Color Run UK, London

Foody Friday

Is It The Weekend Yet?

Sticky-Speed-Session Squee!

Back-to-Training Tuesday

Tarbert Seafood Festival Weekend: Part 2

Race Report: RnR Edinburgh Half Marathon

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