So, the weather is definitely changing: sunshine and occasional showers has given way to winds, rain and much cooler temperatures. It is most definitely autumn!
Running at this time of the year is a real joy, as there is so much colour everywhere. And who isn’t tempted to kick piles of leaves, and crunch on dried leaves as you run?
Isn’t this just gorgeous?
Speaking of gorgeous, I’ve turned on the TV to find Tarbert and Kintyre on BBC2 😀
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03fh1n6
Enjoy!
It’s a wild, wet and windy Wednesday. So what do you do?
Do you:
1. Man up, and go for a run: get blown around the harbour, soaked to the bone, but feel smug and thaw out when you get home.
2. Do some indoor exercise: strength training. Yoga. Fitness DVD.
3. Do those stretches you know are good for you, but you neglect. Foam roll.
4. Sit on the sofa and watch TV, listening to the rain battering on the window.
Can you guess which I did tonight?
Date: 19th October 2013
Profile: Hilly
Terrain: Trail
Weather: Raining!
Website:Â Zombie Night Run
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.
There are some great pics on Dougie Coull’s Website you should check them out!
Date: 12th October 2013
Profile: Hilly
Terrain: Trail
Weather: Cloudy, and cool
Website: CowalFest
Positives: relaxed event, well organised, good & supportive marshalls, fab goody bag
Negatives: I missed hearing the pre-race instructions
This race was the first ever CowalFest running event held as part of CowalFest, which is held every October celebrating walking and the great outdoors! This was our first ever, proper trail race, and so we opted to sign up for the 5K rather than the 10K event.
@TheWelshWookie and I left in plenty of time, as we had an hour and a half’s drive ahead of us, and we wanted to make sure that we had plenty of time before hand. as the traffic can be slow.
We managed to get there with plenty of time to spare, so we registered and collected our bibs, and then soaked up the atmosphere while debating whether to wear jackets or not!
It was a cold, fresh day, but we knew that we’d warm up when the run started. As I was wearing my brand-new birthday jacket 😉 I opted to keep it on.
Here’s my pre-race gear check pic:
The facilities at the start/finish were great. Benmore Gardens, the location of the race, has a lovely coffee shop, and so toilet facilities were better than the usual portaloo! The staff had set up an outdoor sales area, with tea, coffee and snacks available for runners and supporters. It was great!
The race was due to start at 1.30pm, and about five minutes before, we all walked towards the start area. The 10K runners were asked to keep to the front of the group, with the 5K runners further back, which made sense. There wasn’t a loud speaker, and in the beginning, I could hear what was being said. Then, after about 30 seconds or so, the people to my left started talking and laughing, which meant that @TheWelshWookie and I couldn’t hear a thing. Nice one – so thoughtful!
Not only did I miss the briefing, but I actually missed the start of the race! 😮 People headed off, and so I was playing catch-up early on. I pressed the button on my Sport+ watch, and ran!
After we settled into the run, we decided to increase our pace slightly, as we were running well. That was until we reached THE HILL. Never having run here before, I had overheard other runners talking about The Hill, but I thought I’d wait and see it for myself. It was a long, winding monster of a hill! I managed to run for the first third of it or so, and then I power walked the best I could to the top of it. I was pretty out of breath!
The downhill was amazing, though, the view was great (sorry about the finger in the pic!):
I did take it easy, as I was a little worried about slipping on the shale. But I didn’t. 😉
Next, in the middle part of the race, was an out and back section, which was great: I saw that there weren’t many runners ahead of me who were running the 5K, and so my confidence grew a little. I ran a little faster (having recovered from the hill) and began picking off other runners.
In the final part of the race, I just ran. It felt great, I was really enjoying myself, and I picked off another three or four girls heading into the final stretch.
I had a couple of false finishes, though! I came around one corner, and saw a large group cheering, including my sister and three nephews. I assumed that was the finish line, and slowed down! People then started shouting ‘keep going’ and, literally, ‘this isn’t the finish line!’ lol!
I then reached the start area, and thought that I must have missed the actual finish, so again I slowed, and jogged over to the goody bags (priorities, and all that!) when I realised that I hadn’t quite reached the finish line for a second time! Doh!
I had a quick chat with the race officials, told them how much I had enjoyed the race, and then @TheWelshWookie finished.
The whole event was very relaxed, well run, and I loved it, even the big hill. I’d love to do this one again!
The gardens were beautiful:
Here’s the map of the race:
The goody bag was really great: I love the reusable bag. Here’s the contents of it:
As the 5K was a fun run, it was untimed. BUT- I placed! I was the third female home! Yay! I’ve never placed before, and will probably never place again, so I’m going to enjoy this for a long time!
It was a great run!
My Stats:
Time: 30:02, but I came up a little short on distance.
The Medal: I was glad to have one, and it was engraved
Goody Bag: reusable tote bag with a lovely logo, 9bar, water, an orange, jelly beans and some great money off vouchers from local businesses including Portavadie Marina and Loch Fyne Oyster Bar.
T-shirt: no t shirt, but we didn’t expect one, given the entry fee.
I’m hoping that this run will be a regular feature!
Thanks to the wonderful ladies on the fabulous Facebook group Run Mummy Run (yes, I know I’m not a mummy, but they are a very friendly lot, and they let us non-mummies take part 😉 ) I found myself rushing to Aldi last Friday night.
Now, I don’t usually find myself rushing out to discount supermarkets very often, especially not on a Friday evening, when I have wine chilling in the fridge.
But, I had read on a few of the member’s posts that they had a fab, and pretty cheap, range of running gear for the winter on sale. WHAT? Yes. Exactly.
Now I’m sure you understand why this led to me cancelling all other plans, and instructing @TheWelshWookie to drive the 1 1/4 hours to Oban, home of our nearest Aldi.
Because that’s exactly what we did.
I bought:
A fetching fluorescent yellow technical Tshirt, a pink long sleeved compression top, a grey/pink compession base layer set ( shorts and vest), a pair of short compression socks and some fuorescent armbands, with LED lights. Bargain!
@TheWelshWookie also got a ton of stuff.
I’m looking forward to road testing it, so I’ll keep you posted as to how I find it!
I know that I’m very lucky, since @TheWelshWookie supports my running, and also runs with me.
For my birthday last year he got me my Nike LunaryFly GTX:
I love these shoes, they’re great!
This year, he got me a new Ron Hill running jacket; perfect timing, since the weather has definitely turned cooler!
Thanks, Wookie! I love it! I know I’ll get great use out of it now, and again in the spring.
I also received another wonderful surprise last night: I PLACED in a run!  I was the third female across the line at the CowalFest 5K on Saturday! I’m going to be crowing about this for a long time 😀
The plan for the rest of my birthday is playing football with my nephews, dinner at the cafe, and more Harry Potter. And perhaps a celebratory glass of vino!
Date: 6th October 2013
Profile: Flat
Terrain: Road
Weather: Cloudy, cool, dry
Website:Â http://www.greatscottishrun.com/
Positives: well organised, goody bags, well supported
Negatives: narrow route in places; poor water station placing
After the excitement of the Family Mile, we had spent the evening before the race at my sister’s house, celebrating two of my nephew’s birthdays, Ryan and Aidan, who’s birthdays were on Monday and Wednesday. We had a great family party; but @TheWelshWookie and I were very good and only had a couple of beers to celebrate 😉 We carb loaded with fish n’ chips and birthday cake!
I had my gear all prepared and ready:
We drove to Glasgow Green, and parked the car near to the finish line, for a quick get away later and walked along with lots of other runners to the start line in George Square.
Well, when I say George Square, we didn’t get near the square itself today, as the green muster area was just along Cochrane Street, back towards Merchant City. We had a long wait of about 20 minutes for the portaloos, but fortunately we had left plenty of time for this. We then headed into the corral, and it wasn’t too long until we heard the elite runners start, and we could see the big hill facing us to start the race, heading up St. Vincent Street. Here’s my view from the start:
Very quickly, we were moved to the start line, and we were off!
We headed up the dreaded hill, and this year there seemed to be far fewer walkers here than there were last year; or maybe we were just more prepared for it? Who knows, but it was much better. The hill finishes just at the 1K mark, and by then @TheWelshWookie and I had settled into a comfortable pace.
We ran along, past the slip road we used to use, to head over the Kingston Bridge. This year, we ran along the Clydeside Expressway instead, past a few highlights of the Glasgow Skyline: the SECC, the Armadillo, the Hydro (which is a brand new venue, opened earlier this week).
As we came off the expressway, we ran around the amazing Transport Museum, which is a fantastic building.
But, here’s my biggest criticism: the running width narrowed substantially here, at around the 3K mark, and it stayed quite narrow for the out-and-back to the ‘Squinty Bridge’ at 6K. This definitely affected my time, and that of many other runners, who had to dodge and weave, and run on the soft verge to get past.
Fortunately, a lot of runners followed race etiquette, and walked to the right, but not all did this.
As @TheWelshWookie and I carry water, we didn’t need to pause at the water stop which was at the 5.5K mark; it was a crazy place for a water station, as it was far too narrow, the rod as still open to traffic along our left hand side, and runners were tossing bottles right into the way of traffic! That’ll need to be thought out again!
We then ran over the Squinty Bridge, and I was feeling great!
We headed past Pacific Quay, and could see the Glasgow Science Centre, before we turned around, headed back over the bridge and ran along the Broomielaw alongside the River Clyde, towards Glasgow Green.
At around the 8K mark, @TheWelshWookie was slowing, but only ever so slightly. We had a half kilometre of a slightly slower pace, and with one mile to go, he told me to run on. I set off, still feeling really good, buoyed by the fantastic support along this stretch.
The final kilometre took me though Glasgow Green, to the finish point: again, the road narrowed, which I remembered from last year; but it was difficult to weave in and out; so my finish wasn’t as strong as I would have liked. But, all in all, I was pretty happy with my whole run!
Here’s the map of the race:
As I crossed the finish line (and remembered to stop my SportWatch this time), there were a lot of runners  taking sick bags, and using them. A LOT. Yuk. I kept walking, and had to de-tag my trainer myself, with no scissors. I’ve bruised my leg, accidentally punching it as I pulled it off. Oh, well.
Shortly after, I saw that @TheWelshWookie had finished, so we queued to collect our goodie bags, which contained our medals and finisher T shirts. Here’s the contents:
And we posed for a couple of photos:
There was then another bottle neck, trying to get out of the finisher’s area, which was crazy. Then, we weren’t able to get out because so many spectators were standing about waiting to met finishers: hello, people- that’s what the meeting area is for?? Hmmm.
Other than that, it was a great, well organised event, which we thoroughly enjoyed!
My Stats:
Time: 57:45 19 seconds short of my PB, but given the issues, that’s OK. I finished 3331st out of over 8000; 484th in my age group, and the 960th female to finish. @TheWelshWookie PB’d with 58:32
The Medal: pretty simple; the same medal was given out for a events this weekend.
Goody Bag: draw string bag, discount leaflet, chocolate bar, power gel, gel shots, Eat Natural bar
T-shirt: A grey marl T shirt, with ‘Finisher 2013’ on it. I already had the technical shirt.
Now, do I register for my third GSR 10K in a row, or for the half next year?
So, today I’ve been thinking about our upcoming run this weekend, the inaugural CowalFest trail run.
CowalFest is a 10 day event which celebrates walking and outdoor activities, and it is held every October. This is the first year where a run has been part of the festivities!
We could choose between the 5K and 10K trail run, and we opted for the 5K, for three two reasons:
1. I’m lazy
2. It’s our first ever, full trail run: we usually do road runs
3. It’s sandwiched between the Great Scottish Run last weekend, and the Zombie Night Run the following weekend.
I’ve visited Benmore Gardens only once before, and it is spectacular. Would you like to see?
The 5K route is a full run of the perimeter of the gardens, and the 10K route is two circuits 🙂
The gardens are famous for their avenue of giant sequoias:
I’m really looking forward to this event!
Here’s a picture of the website- as you can see it’s very well organised, and great value too.
We had quite a lot of rain yesterday, and pretty cold temps today, but the forecast is for dry weather for the rest of the week: it should lead to ideal trail running conditions, I hope!
@TheWelshWookie and I had a day off from running yesterday.
Today, we headed out for a slow, 5K recovery run. At least. that was the plan. My legs and my brain had something else planned!
Before I was even aware of it, we had run about 3/4 of a mile, and our pace was just over 9 minute per mile! I had to consciously try to slow down, but it still resulted in a first mile pace of 9.39, which is pretty speedy for me!
Here’s the splits- faster than I had planned:
For the rest of the run, I felt like we were on an elastic band- bounding forward at speed, then trying to hold back and run slowly. It was tough, in a weird way!
It’s funny, how after a race it’s difficult to just get back into recovery mode. We need to keep it light this week, so that we have enough energy in the running tank for Saturday’s CowalFest trail race!
…BREAKING NEWS….
The NFL are going to play three home games in the UK during 2014! And which will be the home teams? Well, would you believe this:
Jacksonville Jaguars- my team
Oakland Raiders- @TheWelshWookie’s team
Atlanta Falcons – my brother-in-law’s team
I wonder if I can swing three trips to London next year 😉
Today’s Stats:
Run: 5K recovery run
Weather: cloudy and cold. It’s time for long sleeves and tights, I think
Trainers: LunarGlides
Today’s life lesson: just when you think your day is going well, the other boot falls. Sometimes quite heavily…
How do you find recovery runs?
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!
Here’s the BBC coverage if you’re interested.
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!
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