Friday 24 December 2010

Busy Bee

Yikes, been a while since i last posted, this wont do at all!

Last week was spent concentrating on those damn Christmas lunches. Lots of hard work went into it, the first day was bit shaky and i went home exhausted & in tears after not sitting down )or eating!)the entire day after bloody running there but 2nd day went extremely well. Do hope people appreciate just how much hard work goes into these things.

Friday i finished early and headed off home to put heels & dress on then back into town to meet Jemima & Thelma for dinner.Two of them are selfish enough to have birthday's mid December! Jemima & i decided we'd get a spa day with overnight stay booked and that would be both our birthday/Christmas presents to each other. Had lovely meal and catch up then headed off elsewhere for more drinks. Rolled home around 4am. great night.

Had fairly lazy day on Saturday, wandered up into Morningside for bit of Christmas shopping then by 2pm realised i hadn't eaten so popped into Gregg's for sausage roll, proper athlete food clearly. Talking of Athletes, cant say I've been much of one this month. Only done around 100 miles hasn't helped that I've been so busy at work and pretty poorly this week with bad chesty cough. Coach says it's no big deal when i fret about it though as I've had bit of mega year.

On Sunday we went to the Christmas Market, it was snowing and although it was Baltic it looked just lovely. Ian had mulled wine with rum and i had raspberry wine with raspberry liqueur, it was enough to keep us warm whilst we wandered around. Princes street looked stunning in the snow, made me feel very Christmassy.

this blog is boring me so I'm going to get dressed and go Christmas shopping then drop off pressies to my family maybe I'll be inspired to blog later, who knows!

Sunday 12 December 2010

Long week


The dreadful weather continued to bring Central Scotland to a grinding halt.







It also brought my the same to my running. Ian fell on Monday and that sealed decision for me to take rest day on Tuesday. Finally managed to get to Asda after trying for a full week in preparation for party and to prevent Stephen from starving lol




By wednesday i was pissed off that the weather had stopped me and i thought fuck it, i'm getting back out there, it will not beat me!

Only been to gym twice this week as it's been superbusy trying to get Ian moved and into new place.No mean feat in this friggin weather i can tell you. Got there in the end though thankfully. Gym has been unsuprisingly quiet, with only 6 people in on Monday & 4 on Friday. I certainly prefer to go at6am now and know it's done & dusted along with run before most folk are out of bed :o)


By Friday i was pretty shattered and getting home to bath run and glass of champagne was most appreciated i can tell you. Was falling asleep by 7pm on sofa though but got second wind from somewhere and managed to go out for chinese.

Saturday was spent cleaning house, faffing aroud on PC and changing beds in preparation for party. Susan arrived around 4.30 and we donned our santa hats & set off out for 6mile run, it was really quite icy and we had to take it pretty carefully. Got few beeps and thumbs up from drivers and lovely encouragement for few folk we passed. Back home and i was barely out bath when Jules arrived, seeing me answer door in only a towel he asked if he was early lol. Didnt take me long to get into my party dress & heels ready for rest of guests arriving.


Party was great fun, everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. The plan was to order a massive takeaway so after a quick vote we settled for Indian. We ordered 2 set meals for 4 people & few extra naan, this ended up feeding around 15 of us with and there was still loads left!



Alistair, Ian & Susan did all the dishes too, bonza! Lots of people arrived with champagne, you'd think they kn0w i liked it or something!;)Soph & Jules both got me stuff which is now nestled under tree for Christmas, the rest was opened and drunk. After everyone left , Susan, Jules & I all watched xfactor. Well Jules watched it reluctantly it has to be said and ended up falling asleep on sofa. We all sloped off to bed around 2.30 , setting alarm for9 for morning run. original plan was to head out for run with Harmeny but an executive decision was made to just do fairmilehead loop instead of driving all way to Balerno to do same distance.





Great run it was too, very precarious on the trails where the little snow that was left was rock hard & icy and the road parts were covered in black ice! fab fun though. Quick detour to shops to pick up Sunday papers & rolls and back for well earned breakfast.




Another busy week beckons. Christmas lunches on Wed/thu for 400 people. joy.

Sunday 5 December 2010

Snow Joke

Been a very weird week. Edinburgh has never seen snow like this. We had lots of it last yr but not all in one week!
I've never known the Forth Road bridge to be closed and I've never seen snow quite so deep in my estate,it's up to my windowsill now. madness.


Work has been funny, staff were getting (paid for) taxis and and i arrive in my shorts after running there. Lightweights. It's tough running in it, especially when the pavements are all churned up and roads are iced up,but i do think it makes us stronger runners. Running through adversity and all that. Still been surprised to actually fine people at gym when i arrive there at6am, i do think I'm only one who runs there though, and runs after it lol



So I've passed the 2000 miles mark for the year now. (2018 to be precise) and after looking at my training log i was amazed to find that Aug/Oct & Nov i did 176 miles. How weird is that?It's not like i do exact same thing all time.November for instance i had the S2S Ultra & Newcastle Marathon, weird that it's came out same mileage for 3 months.



The Snow has also messed up plans for weekend. Ian was meant to move into his new place on Friday but John Lewis couldn't deliver bed so that scuppered that. Fetch Mile race/Social was meant to happen on Saturday but again snow halted proceedings. Ian's car has been under several feet of snow for last week so he's stuck and unable to get where he needs to be. So now we just want a thaw please. It can come back for Christmas but stay away til then please.




Still, it did mean that the Christmas shopping finally got going on Saturday .I've done few bits n pieces online but needed to get out and actually wander the shops. It's Jemima's & Thelma's birthday mid December too so had to also get Birthday presents. Day was broken up a bit by the occasional drink to ease the pain. That and trying on nice things in John Lewis. Rather successful day all in the end.



Talking of Christmas i put my tree up on Thursday. Stephen came home from work with his pal Jordan and i made them pizza while they climbed into attic to get it all down. Stephen kept finding stuff he'd squirrelled away up there, signed man utd shirts, old programmes, games etc


Once everything was down we all got stuck in and put tree up together, it was great fun and it looks fab, even if i do say so myself!



















Thursday night it finally stopped snowing but iced up overnight, so when i left house in morning i found this hanging from porch! Run to work was mainly on road but i had to keep throwing myself into the mounds of packed icy snow to avoid the snowploughs ploughing me along the with snow. Dangerous stuff this running lark!




Next weekend is also superbusy. I'm hosting the Fetch Christmas party this year after leaving it too late to book anywhere. Lets hope snow melts a bit by then cause people are coming from all over for it and i think a lot of them are staying. My parties tend to go on into small hours of morning as you can imagine! Think will have a lot of house guests that night. All beds are booked as are the sofas, think few camps beds will be in order too.




On Sunday I've got Christmas lunch with the girls, that should be interesting, lets hope i don't fall asleep in my soup!


oh, I've finally got my camera back! hurrah. Popped into jessops on Wednesday and found out it had been back since bloody early October! :-o they were supposed to email/call/txt me ffs. muppets. Still i have it back and I'm happy.



Having mentioned in my last blog about my injury, i had to rethink how i ran, this link gives bit of insight into rethinking everything i thought i knew and had to change. I started a thread on fetch whilst i was still injured titled *learning to run again* someone recently resurrected it and it was really quite astounding to look back on it and see how far i've come since then.

I hope it's gave people who are injured some hope and some drive to realise that with some changes we can run injury free

Tuesday 30 November 2010

Changes & tough decisions

I've decided to turn my training upside down a bit as bit of experiment and it seems to working ok.


I'd gotten into bad habit of having really hectic day and work and not going to gym due to tiredness aka laziness. I'm fine when i get there & i do enjoy it but it's a chore to actually go after work.



So I've been leaving earlier and running to gym, then going to work. It's working out fine so far and it also means once work is done it leaves me time for the more important things in life.


Talking of which... i made tough decision to postpone the trip to Old Trafford on Saturday for 2 reasons. Stephen had an important football match and didn't want to miss it and one of his Friends was off to Oz for 2 yrs and it was his night out. So i asked the lovely Nick who'd very kindly got me the tickets if i could postpone our trip down if he could resell them and he could, thankfully.



Only one problem there. SNOW. It's like the North Pole here at the minute and the game was called off, as was the night out! And we only went on to win 7-1!! how gutted was i???



Still, the snow will not stop me running that's for sure. It's bit tricky getting out of my estate as it's at top of hill but once I'm out it's fine. TBH if i hadn't run to gym/work yesterday i wouldn't have got there at all as all bus services had stopped til gritters got out. I was like a walking snowman by time i got to gym haha
Security at work just shake their heads at me now, i guess they're getting used to seeing me run in any weather and have stopped making the "you didn't run in THAT did you?"comments now...


Went for lovely run on Sunday morning, and although i was in shorts i conceded and wore a jacket for a change, oh and a hat too! Ian said people were still giving me double takes when i passed them though and i got a fair few comments fired at me!


Now i although i said it was lovely it was also bloody tough. It's a bit of a slog through the deeper snow and really works your legs, not helped by coach making me run fast, not sure i like it or him!He keeps throwing these crazy figures at me about what he thinks my capabilities are and i just laugh at him. Maybe i should stop laughing cause i think it makes him work me harder. When i said i felt sick the other day he was delighted ffs.

Day was finished off with bit of shopping, footy fest & Sunday Roast. Perfect.

Almost up to 2000miles for yr now, should hit that by end of week. I used to be a mileage chaser and that stopped for me when i got injured and it became secondary to getting back to full fitness and staying fit & healthy. Still nice to see I've hit such 2000 though, well nearly...hope don't break leg on way to work this morning :-o

Finally started my Christmas shopping last night. I get stupidly excited at Christmas, only time of year i enjoy shopping really. I like shopping for other people, just not myself, love to try and fine the right present rather than copping out and buying vouchers. Got busy few weekends ahead with various stuff so really need to get organised. Yikes, its 5.42am, too late for gym. Not too late to run though

laters....

Wednesday 24 November 2010

Recovery



My legs seem to have recovered remarkably well from the Marathon,which has surprised me really. Although did spent entire day Monday doing pretty much nothing i tried to go up & downstairs as often as possible to keep legs moving.




Back to work on Tuesday so i decided to run in. Did the middle distance route of 6.5miles. Had really busy day at work then i ran to gym.It's first time I've been to gym for about 2 weeks. it was packed! Maybe folk are trying to shape up for Christmas or something?




I got through my workout fairly quickly & efficiently and was literally sweating buckets by time i fin shed,nice thought i know! After gym i ran up to my Big Brothers house.Not seen baby since he was week old, he is now 7 weeks old! Bad Auntie.Met Stephen just as he got off bus. He said he saw me about a mile back and i beat the bus :)


Got to Alan & Marie's and was delighted to find Mick & Grainie (Marie's bro & niece) who were over from Ireland visiting so had good catch up with everyone. Fiachra (still have issues with the name!) is gorgeous and Stephen was singing to him and making him smile.


Stephen then headed off to football training, not before having a shower at Alan's though! lol, who has shower before training? I wearily headed off home the day/weekend finally catching up on me.

In bed before 10 exhausted. I guess 3 runs, busy day @ work, gym and Marathon few days previous might do that to you....
So i decided i needed a well earned rest day today. Mind you not much of rest day when you're short staffed at work and it's month end,stock take & paperwork day. Hey ho

Got call from Roger tonight, asking me to do some modelling for him for his coursework, said i would as it doesn't sound anything too daunting!

Football tonight, if Rangers play like they did last time i will be shouty at TV again i reckon. Stephen has his earplugs ready....

Monday 22 November 2010

Looking forward

Need to start making plans

Phil is coming up next weekend and planning on basing himself at Oak tree Inn so i might just have to join him if he has space for wee one.Had lots of folk asking me to let them know when I'm planning heading up to WHW for training runs so think we're going to have some fun weekends if it's anything like this yr was anyway.

Yesterday's race really surprised me. I actually didn't think i was capable of running that fast. I know it's not *fast* compared to lots of folk but it's fast for me. I guess I'm always surprised when people tell me I'm a good runner,i certainly never see myself as that. I have a huge lack of confidence in myself sometimes and people who've met me find that quite surprising.

I guess my next step is tackling a sub3.45 this makes me more than a bit nervous because it lays down the gauntlet. If anyone had said I'd come close to that yesterday I'd have laughed in their face. I'm a bit rubbish at short distances and i know i have to tackle that too, as someone said to me recently we have to run faster to run faster.

So i'll try that i think.

From now on my focus is the WHW race,everything else will be training towards it.I have a great crew, i just need to start believing i can do it justice.

I guess I'm mentally strong and i think my life has shaped that. There's many things I'd rather have not happened to make me that way (My mum dying when i was 21 for instance)but we cant go through life with regret

I think I'm stupidly naive sometimes and stupidly trusting. And I'm always paying for it. It then makes me look at my life and think of how i can protect myself from the inevitable. But when i say that i get told I'm amazing just the way i am (to quote a song) I'm lucky to have good friends to tell me that and to make me believe that not everyone is the same.

Been up & downstairs few times now and my legs seem fine, quite pleased with that.There's always a positive if you look hard enough.

Newcastle Town Moor Marathon

or Newcastle moorathon as we were calling it.

After dreading this race last year and then finding i enjoyed it i decided to revisit it and try and beat my time. After getting offers from 3 sets of people to take me down there i finally decided Alistair should be the (un)lucky one to have my company. nice to be so popular though!

Had a perfect Saturday morning then got home & spend rest of day ensconced on sofa. I'd had a sore throat since Wednesday and it got worse as week progressed to the point of me coughing my guts up every 10mins or so.Things wre not looking good for this race at all! Had some lemsip (disgusting stuff) and some paracetamol spent day watching football then had early night. Up at 5am and after bath a cup of tea felt not too bad.Not great, but not too bad either.

Alistair arrived at 6 prompt and off we set for Newcastle Got lots good luck txt on way down, people thought i was mad to even consider running it after way i'd been feeling but hey ho nothing ventured nothing gained. I could always pull out.Arrived in car park and it was raining, this set mood for rest of day. Hugs all round from loads of familiar faces and special hug from Phil who ive not seen in Way too long quite frankly. Popped down to bandstand where Lesley, Helen and few others had set up fetchpoint, hats off to them to stand cheering us in that weather!left bags and drinks there. Al decided he wanted to wear a tutu, so he got one off Helen and ran in it lol!




Wasn't too long before we were called to start and we were off.Yikes it was wet, huge puddles and a mud bath at certain points. The hill was only real part you run on grass and it was like a bloody ice rink, i tried running on side where it was less muddy but my poor wee adizeros were not coping well with it at all! Really wished i'd worn my roclites & my sealskins. My poor feet were soaked to bone!
Still i ploughed on. weirdly i hadn't coughed at all since i started running, wasnt complaining though!

I had my rain jacket on for first lap and Alistair's cap but i discarded both ot fetchpoint which was based at bandstand again. This was a 5 lap course so i could easily pick it up again if needed.I rather like the lap thing as it was great to highfive folk on way past and it kept you motivated when you saw folk all time. The rain was relentless, every time i got into most exposed part of the moor it got torrential, sideways in face and just awful. Heyho,i wasn't expecting great weather in middle of moor in November!

What i genuinely dont get is walkers in marathons, i dont mean people who take a walking break, i mean those fast walker folk. I think the guys doing it were part of the 100marathon club and i guess they were adding another notch to thier belt, i just dont get it. I cant see point in doing marathons for marathons sake, each to thier ow though...

The Marshall's were brilliant, really cheery and supportive. The hill got worse every time i went up it but i was on a countdown by saying we hey, only 4 times more, only 3... etc By time i was on my 4 lap i was starting to lap people! me, lap people!
By time i got to hilll for last time i was taking a few walking steps, it was so slidy i was convinced i was going to fall ,soon found out it was harder to stay upriht walking though so just ran again.

I also knew at this point i was going to PB so i reckoned it wouldn't do me any harm to walk a few steps.I was soon running again though and then powering back down hill, After looking at my spilts my last mile was at 8mm. woop!:o)

Passed fetch point for last time and headed up the river, sorry path towards finish line. Crossed line in 3.45.59 official time shows it as 3 secs later though so i guess its 3.46.02. Either way its a PB of around 12mins. Not too shabby for those conditions and my poorly body doing everything it could to scupper it! Not forgetting the Ultra last weekend.Got over line and started coughing like i smoked 60 a day i was hanging onto fence whilst folk looked on in horror.
Popped to bandstand to get my bag back and headed off to get changed whilst Phil got me much needed cup of tea. Took about an hour to start to thaw out everyone was in same boat though. After watching some of prize giving we headed off to pub for some lubrication, where it was all warm & cosy. Great to see everyone and many thanks to all those who stood out in the cold wet moor for hours upon hours cheering us on and handing out goodies and hugs. Huge thanks to Al for chauffering me.

Got home around 7ish exhausted. In bed early again with strange sense of foreboding. It would seem that once again I've been too trusting too naive and just plain utterly stupid. I should've learnt by now that people lie and will tell you what you want to hear.

C'est la vie.I should be used to it by now.

No more races this year.That was my first Marathon this year & I'd forgotten quite how hard they are! Give me an Ultra any day. Legs were really sore last night and i had dreadful sleepless night coughing and fidgeting. Feeling better this morning though and I'm glad i have day off to just chill out. although sometimes it's best to be busy and distract your mind from other stuff.

Next weekend I'm down at Old Trafford with Stephen, need to start my Christmas shopping too. Christmas lights go on in Edinburgh on Thursday, i love seeing them. so I'll probably go then and it might put me in proper Christmas mood.

Monday 15 November 2010

The Road to Tyndrum

Can be a rocky one!

Had pretty quiet week and only ran 3 times, work has been really busy though. I wanted to be extra rested leading up to race as although i wasn't racing it, it was going to be my longest run since perth and i needed to make sure i was going to be strong enough to get Susan through the latter part of race.


Was out for drinks and lovely dinner on friday but in bed fairly early. Sat morning was spent cleaning house then watching the fottball as it was early kick off. Before too long Susan said she was @ penicuik and i realised i hadnt even packed yet! ffs.

Threw stuff in suitcase and Susan arrived. Quick coffee and we left, Susan put my case in car commenting that it was very light. It was then i realised i'd not packed any trainers! jeez, had to run back in and grab them and off we went. Roadtrips with Susan can be an adventure, a few years ago we headed up to do Lochaber Marathon and somehow managed to go round Loch Fynne and through Oban. Seriously.

THis time we'd got instructions and we kepy kinda foccused on road ahead. We made it to Tyndrum without any worries and after checking in to our Luxury Hotel we went off to grab some supplies and get food. Clearly the Tyndrum Hotel is anything but luxury. I'd stayed there few times before but Susan hadnt had the *pleasure* Our room was baltic.Radiators freezing, luckily there was a convector heater to compensate, that and a *fat* telly with no remote control. And a sticky carpet. Lovely, really it is.


Anyway...we had great burgers in Paddy's bar and few glasses of wine. We decided to head to our room with bottle wine we'd bought in greenwelly to watch classic saturday night telly. Susan emptied out all her supplies ont bedside cabinet, here is her side of bed.
Here's mine >

lol, i did have some supplies honest. And because we were leaving too early for breakfast the hotel kindly made us packed lunches. You cant fault the service there I'll give them that, they couldn't have been more friendly & helpful. We decided it would be warmer to watch xfactor actually in bed but not sure this made us any warmer, as Susan quite rightly pointed out it was a 0.5tog duvet. lol.


Up at 6am to have breakfast and get organised. It was then i realised I'd not packed my garmin ffs. Oh well, i wasn't racing no big deal. I was wearing my kilt as the race organisers were trying to break record for most people wearing kilts in a race.

Before too long it was time for off, got lift up to start (kinlochleven) from Phil & Liz, many thanks. Logistically it wasn't exactly easy to get to and they saved us any major running around next day.


Got to start and register and we got our fabby tshirts, we had choice of jacket or tshirt but opted for shirt, they're techy ones and at least will get used again.Met Dr Andrew Murray @ start, what an incredibly lovely humble guy. Most people had long tights on under their kilts, i was only one with wee shorts on lol, most folk told me i was nuts lol

Ian & Lorraine arrived and after few hugs and pics it was time for offski. Susan was more than a bit nervous but i told her I'd look after here and get her to end.


Conditions were just perfect, a proper sunny winters day and the higher we got the snowier it got. It was really icy on some parts too which made it bit hairy but it was great fun. Everyone was chatty & friendly and it was a very social race. It was pretty snowy at top of Devil's staircase which made it all the easier to run on instead of the patchy ice. Ian had done that part before but it was all new to Susan and i was explaining that the descent is far quicker than then ascent (going from kinlochleven to tyndrum anyway! the other way takes FOREVER)


We had great fun bounding down devil and we got to bottom before too long. We enjoyed the run towards kingshouse and everyone was still in good spirits. The road up towards the ski centre was really quite icy and horrid to run on, we passed a couple of walkers who congratulated us and suddenly one was lying flat out on ground after slipping, we checked he was OK and headed off along Rannoch Moor.

We overtook MrsMac, her hubby & few others on moor and we eventually lost Ian here too.I think our eagerness to get off it meant we pushed on that bit faster. Sun was beating down on us by this time and i decided to change into my vest, so there i was standing in my bra when who appears from nowhere but Andrew Murray! lol, of all the times.. He told us we were flying and we had quick chat before he took off , we kept him in sight for about 20 mins before losing him. He'd apparently taken a wrong turn somewhere and did extra couple miles hence he was behind us. lol too funny.



Soon enough we were off moor and heading towards Victoria Bridge, it was here that Susan started to wobble. She told me i should go on ahead without her when we got to bridge of orchy, i told her in no uncertain terms that wasn't going to happen, this was a recurrence for rest of race.

we had nice view of way up hill ;)

<<





She would keep stopping & tell me she couldn't go on, I'd tell her she had no choice unless she could fly to end. Then she said she wanted to sit down, i told her that certainly wasn't going to happen! Then she got cramp every time we climbed a stile, then she felt sick. lol, i was used to all this after buddy running her last 12miles of fling 2 yrs previous so everything she threw at me i was ready for.
I lost count of times she told me to go on ahead to leave her. I lost count of times i told her to fuck right off. She said she was spoiling race for me because she was so miserable, that she was making me miserable. I turned to her and said *do i look miserable to you?* she agreed i didn't
I was actually having the best day ever, totally chilled out and loving the scenery, the run, everything. The fact i wasn't racing was party to that, the other fact was i had said to Susan I'd run the race with her and that was exactly what i was going to do.

Susan doesn't realise just how Strong she is, she was running really well but it didn't matter what i said, her head was saying something else.Considering our stopping and starting we still managed to overtake several people on last last stretch, and before too long we were at gate top of hill where a smiley Lorraine was takin
g pics having completed the 7 miles run and was on her way back to bridge of orchy. We ran down that last hill like the wind and we crossed the line hand in hand to huge cheers & applause. we finished in 5hrs 43mins

Just brilliant.I was so proud of her but she still couldn't see how well she'd done, i think after a few days reflection she will though. With few more back to back training runs in she'll be more than ready go tackle the Fing again.


We went off to collect our medals, have chat with Andrew Murray & few of marshalls and missed Ian coming in. It wasnt until we were safely enconssed in green welly with tea & a crabbies ;) that i realised it was Ian's first Ultra! Because he'd done so many training runs with us up WHW and in braemar last yr i completly forgot that was his first,felt bad about not seing him in after that! doh.
Went back to see Liz coming in but missed her , seemed to be theme of day! was starting to get cold by then so after saying our goodbyes we headed off to Hotel. Oak tree Inn is like the polar opposite of Tyndrum Lodge. Amazing rooms, warm, cosy, inviting and fantastic views. What more could you ask for? Had lovely dinner and drinks n front of roaring log fire, perfect. Had many a drunken in night there last yr with Karen, George and the motley crew, we were always last ones in bar and usually got thrown out haha

Out this morning for 4 glorious miles along Loch Lomond, it was a stunning but very c
old day. great way to end a brilliant weekend.











Wednesday 10 November 2010

In Demand

Crikey it's been bit of busy week. Work has been bit mental and I've been catching up with lots of old friends.


Friday night i was at a surprise party for Kim who i used to work with in Woodmac. Met Martyn for few drinks beforehand in wetherspoons, place was packed and we stood at side of table which was occupied, old bloke started chatting to me about everything from football to music. As we were leaving he told me I'd made his night and said to Martyn that i was vivacious! How come i only ever get chatted up by old men? lol

Finally got to meet Martyn's boyfriend too,he is rather lovely and i invited him along to wedding next day as my guest.


Got to Living Room & there were masses of hugs all round.I've really missed all the woodmac folk so i was wee bit sad too :( Kim arrived about an hour later and was hugely surprised to see us all. Martyn had said to me before we'd even arrived that he was only staying for few drinks as had had wedding next day (as did i) and i said same thing. So after that statement you'll not be surprised to find out we were still there at end of night! lol Great night.
Saturday was Claire & Joe's wedding. I headed down to Jemima's for dinner and drinks,then he all headed off to wedding. More old face and loads more hugs to be had! Claire used to work for me in Museum, that's where she met Joe, 2 of the bridesmaids also used to work for me and I'd not seen them in aaaages.Jemima & i were of course first on dance floor as per usual and it stayed that way most of night. We had brilliant time. Claire & Joe looked really happy, he thanked me for my part in them meeting and i threatened to beat him up if he didn't keep her as happy as she clearly was :o)




Sunday was spent running round pentland hills in the first snowfall of year! Some parts were bit icy and scary, slightly reminiscent of conic hill last January but nowhere near as bad. There was only snow on 2 highest peaks though rest were icy or just bit slippy from all the rain over the week.Weather was glorious though and me being me i was in my vest which prompted a few surprised comments from people we passed lol




Been really busy again so far this week again, work is super busy and last night i went to a reception at Scottish parliament with Jane.I arrived at her hotel and txt to say i was downstairs, i was told to order a drink and charge it to their room. Jane arrived 5 mins later asking why i hadn't ordered champagne, lol. I told her i didn't want to be quite so presumptuous but off she went to bar and got some anyway. The exhibition was great and really interesting. We got chatting to an MSP (Jamie Stone) and after telling him it was our 1st visit there he insisted he show us the chamber. So off we went, we met another MP in there and were kept amused to stories about a certain Tommy sheridan haha. I sat in First minister Alex Salmond's seat and got pic taken, wasn't until we were leaving we saw sign saying *no cameras,no sitting in minsters seats* LOL ooops, they were on Facebook by then so if you don't hear from me again it's cause I've been dragged off and thrown in the tower...
Mind you Jamie wasnt exactly discouraging me, he even gave me his email address so i could mail him the pics.Jane said he was totally chatting me up.

Many thanks to Jane & Allan for inviting me along, had lovely night.

Was bit tired this morning but i still ran. Deliberately taking it easy this week as I've got Kinlochleven to Tyndrum race on Sunday. Although I'm not racing it. I said to Susan I'd stay with her and get her through it. She is starting to get bit nervous now as it's going to be longest distance since return from injury, but i know she can do it. I got her through the last 12miles of the fling which was no mean feat i can tell you (I'd already done first 12 miles in relay,it was before my ultra days!) Really looking forward to it and hope weather is ok as i plan to wear my kilt, don't fancy the chaffing I'll get if weather is pretty wet.

Footyfest with my boy tonight (and his pal) woohooo, we so better win..

Thursday 4 November 2010

Leave me alone....

I mentioned recently about running through the lovely crisp piles of leaves and loving the Autumn weather. There is a bit of a flip side to this though.

The last week has seen many a downpour, one day i even wore a jacket! The hailstones bouncing off the window and it being windy, and dark and 5am i conceded and wore a jacket, and a hat, and gloves!

Anyway, back to those lovely crisp leaves. The ones now lying there in a soggy slimy pile just willing some poor person to dare step on them and see them flying through the air faster than Eddie the eagle..... It's now like an assault course.And living at the top of a hill having to dodge leaves on a fast downhill sprint pushes running into the dangerous sports category at the mo.

So far i've manged to stay upright, but now that I've just typed that i expect to be borrowing Stephens crutches anytime soon ;)Oh talking of him... I crumbled and for 1st time ever in his life gave him money, this was indeed a surprise to him as i kinda don't agree with giving money, i prefer to give gifts. Wouldn't appreciate anyone giving me money either, much prefer the thought that goes into present buying. I did also buy a shirt which he liked thankfully, and last but not least tickets for Old Trafford. Wooohoo, clearly this is wee present to myself too, we didn't get down last season and we cant wait to get back. Mind you with our current form at mo i fear it might just be our first visit down there that doesn't see us winning....

Still been gymming it as well as running and it never fails to astonish me some of things i see there. For instance, is your life so damn important that you cant put your iPhone in the locker whilst you work out? ffs i want to go over and rip phone from them and smash it under the current weight I'm using and tell them to get a life. I love my phone truly i do but i don't need to take it inside the bloody gym with me. numpties.

Work has been mega busy this week but enjoyable.Busy weekend beckons.

just perusing this website and liking it, running porn at its best...
http://www.equipio.com/home-auth?wicket:bookmarkablePage=:com.equipio.ui.signedin.productsbrowse.ProductsForASport&sportId=3

Sunday 31 October 2010

Resting & running in heels

one kind of counteracts the other I've found!

So rested Friday to ease ankle and didn't go to gym either as my routine involves lots of squats, which think is where i picked it up in first place. Was out on Friday for drinks then onto pics to see the Social network (good film) I thought i was going to miss bus though and stupidly ran (in my heels) all way to bus stop,only for bus to be 10mins late. Made ankle not very happy at all, neither did walking to other side of town to cinema lol

Alcohol helped ease the pain though...

Saturday was meant to be "up early and go shopping" day. Kinda turned into a *oops,slept til 11am" day instead. Still, the shopping happened & i came away with a shiny new Blackberry Torch, i love it a lot already. After many yrs with O2 I've dumped them due to very poor, or complete lack off that should be! service in the shop. Off i went to car phone warehouse where i signed up to vodaphone instead. Shame really as I've always had great service previously with O2. Their loss, i told them this on phone when getting my code to transfer number.

Quick lunch before heading off to get Stephen's birthday card and few bits & pieces for him. (are you reading this Stephen?) Anyway, not telling what i got :p
Feet were truly aching by time i got home so i kicked off my knee high boots and put my feet up to watch soccer Saturday. Ankle was bit niggly.

Woke up early this morning, got up, cleaned house and after several trips up & down the stairs, including hoovering them i realised ankle felt ok. Time for tester run. Did 7 gloriously sunny miles on my usual loop up to fairmilehead & back .no ankle issues at all! woohoooo
Then i nipped to shops to pick up some groceries and back to watch Newcastle Sunderland game. Very productive day!

*waits*

:o)

Thursday 28 October 2010

Tourists!

aaaargh, go home!

Yes i know it brings much needed money to the economy but please stay away from my bus! Someone got on today, asked driver for day ticket *then* asked how much it was.She then said to driver " can i use it tomorrow?" errmmm NO does the word day ticket not give it away?She took her ticket and just stood there waiting on her pal behind me, i asked her to move then she stood at bottom of stairs! jeez. *deep breaths*

running home from gym yesterday, get to edge of meadows and pedestrian crossing. Press button, lights change to amber. Car decides to drive through anyway, even though the traffic was backed right up and all he did was obstruct the fuckin crossing! what an utter twat. I shouted wanker to him as i squeezed between the cars when green man came on.

Talking of gym, i arrived bit later than normal and went off to collect my weights. kettle bell and bits and pieces i need but some bloke was on equipment thing i needed. Except he was one of those *wandering* blokes. He'd do a set of about 5 and wander off! i stood next to it eith my arms folded with all my weights at my feet glaring at him. He then fucked off to another piece of equipment leaving his stuff still attached (you're meant to return everything) i walked over and tapped him on shoulder and asked if he was finished with it or not.jeez, give me strength!

Anyway,I'd started my routine my then by switching it around but it still kept me a bit behind.So i ploughed through it without my allocated rest breaks. Then i ran home.bit faster than normal.

Got up to run this morning, and i got less than 3 mins from house & had to turn back. Something in my ankle isnt quite right. Couple days rest are in order methinks.

crikey this is a ranty blog! Sorry. Had stressful couple days but i'm in calm happy place now, albeit with a sore ankle.It's Friday tomorrow that itself deserves a smile! It's Stephen's birthday on Monday, i'm organising suprise pressie which i wont blog about cause i think he might read this when i leave myself logged in.

oh no new phone just yet. Going shopping Saturday....

Tuesday 26 October 2010

Decisions, Decisions

So it's upgrade time for my phone. I could have got iPhone last time but didn't then regretted it. Now there are sooo many choices out there and everyone loves the one that they have so everyone has an opinion on what i should get.

I'll probably end up with something completely different to what i think i want.

Had rubbish sleep last night & woke up at 4.10am so just got up. Sounded awful outside with rain battering window so for once in my life i decided to not dice with hypothermia and wore a jacket. BIG mistake. It was off within a mile and squished into bag before i melted into a heap on pavement.

Which left me with just a vest on, well not *just* a vest obviously, don't want to get arrested or scare people.. Saw few runners in meadows and everyone, except one old bloke was wrapped up for Antarctica. everyone else i passed looked at me as if i had horns but hey, I'm used to that.

Day started off well and deteriorated as it wore on, i wont go into it but hey ho I'll deal with it.

Phil called tonight,he managed to not call whilst i was in bath for once, although not through lack of trying! My ear nearly fell off as per usual with him and that was with him cutting it short. Did manage to finish off cooking dinner, eat it and make cup tea all whilst talking to him. Good to catch up though. After pulling out of my last few races i feel kinda cut off from people i regularly see, it's a bit rubbish.

So, IPhone, Samsung Galaxy, Blackberry Torch... aaaaargh watch this space.

Sunday 24 October 2010

Had chat with Mary Queen of Scots...

on Wednesday.

Yes i was drinking ;) I was invited to Stirling Castle to see recent renovations it was through work and i was kinda dreading it but it was fab. They had a piper piping us into castle and fire eaters & jugglers in courtyard. We were greeted with champagne (or wine , beer etc) no prizes for guessing what i had! And there were lots of folk all dressed up in character.Hence the Mary Queen of Scots title. She stayed in character whole time we were talking to her, Robert the Bruce popped over for chat too,lol was great fun. They are going to have them as guides when castle reopens, think kids ( & adults) will love it.The castle is stunning, cant believe I've never been,have vowed to go back and see it properly. Great night.

Thursday i met Martyn for drinks, not seen him for far too long and it was great to catch up. It's never *just one drink* with Martyn though,he really is terrible influence on me.

Busy day@ work on Friday and with Susan arriving it meant i missed gym, also missed it on wed because of castle visit, bad Sandra. Need to make sure i try little bit harder this week. It's not all bad though as I've ran a fair bit.

Susan arrived on Friday afternoon and i was in full throes of making 2 pots Soup to feed to hungry runners the next day. We drank wine and chatted til too late as usual then headed off for well earned sleep.Up around 8ish Saturday morning ready to hit Pentlands. Ian arrived about 9 and we headed off shortly after to meet the rest at flotterstone. Richy arrived not long after us quickly followed by Lucy. Weather was bit Baltic and wet, it had been torrential overnight and for once i actually wore a jacket!As we set off we were joined by Kenny from my club, dressed in shorts & tshirt i might add, he totally put us to shame!

Kenny had limited time as he had to get back home so he skipped off on 2nd hill and said his farewells. Although it was super windy at the top of the hills it was actually really clear and we could not only see for miles we could actually follow the correct route we'd planned this time! Richie was giving us lowdown on pentland skyline race and pointing out route, might just be tempted next yr!

Sun came out as we headed towards Wester bavelaw and rest of run was in glorious sunshine. Because of all the rain we had trails that were completely covered and it was like river running, me & Susan splashed on happily through them.Run was great and passed way too quickly i felt fab and couldve easily gone round again. Didn't though as we had 2 pots soup waiting so we all bailed back to mine to dig in. Everyone had showers and we drank lots tea & coffee to wash the soup down. Although i gave everyone choice (yellow split pea or carrot & coriander) everyone went for latter. Was bit worried i'd made it too spicy as the chilli's i used were tiny & lethal, but everyone said it was great.

Today, we had our 2nd running of the Fetch Edinburgh 10k, basically the idea was borne after few people balked at cost of Great Edinburgh Run so we decided to organise our own, exact same route,numbers, timekeepers, Marshall's the lot! Special thanks to Alistair for top job organising it all again. Was fabulous day out and i got a PB!! Then we all traipsed off to bar for refuelling purposes, was brilliant to catch up with everyone.Great weekend all round, goes waaay too quickly though....

Tuesday 19 October 2010

Reclaiming the streets

My gym days are essentially Mon-Wed-Fri but being someone who loves to mess with up a so called training plan/schedule, just because it says i "should" do it I'm ever so eager & willing to do so.

Having the option of going out on Friday kinda won over the gym. So that's what i did, cause i can.And I'm ever so glad i did too. I decided seeing I'd no plans for weekend I'd run to gym on Saturday instead. So i did, cause i could.

I decided I'd take my favourite route which is the fairmilehead/Morningside one as it's longer route into town. What i forgot is that I'm used to running at 5am, I'm used to having those streets to myself, even the roads are extremely quiet. Leaving the house @1pm was not conducive to a very peaceful/quiet/stress free run in slightest. Morningside being the vibrant little village within a town that it is was a fuckin nightmare.I actually wanted to shove old grannies/families with buggies/loved up couples/people enjoying drinks in sunshine outside all the cafe bars/random people in my way and ANYONE who came near me or got in my way in front of nearest number 15

But i didn't, i gritted my teeth and jumped off and on road playing chicken with the buses and all the people in cars heading to waitrose/M&S /whatever...

I was so relieved to finally to get Bruntsfield links and down into the meadows.
The rage meant for pretty good workout though and i vowed not to run home that way. I instead ran through meadows which is looking just spectacularly autumnal at the mo and i skipped through the piles of leaves with big smile on my face. Getting strange looks from the many other's enjoying the meadows i may add.

I'm still in my vest and shorts at mo, even in the dark @ 5am, another reason for getting looks from people.Yes i ran up the Mound in Edinburgh battling against wind and rain and people brollies, getting astounded looks from said brolly holders.
I will not be beaten down in October to wearing long sleeves just yet!

Got busy few weeks ahead, why do people wait til 2 weeks of yr and cram in every invite they can throw at me? i doubt I'll make half of them due to lack of funds. But so far I've got :- catch up drinks with pals, Reception,Race and drinks after, Hen night, Fashion Show, Birthday Party & Wedding all between now & early November ffs.

Think I'll need to start selling body parts if this carries on. Or go stick my head in sand and ignore everyone, which is the likeliest choice i think. It's no wonder I'm single huh.

rant alert....

Really fucked off with Wayne Rooney for fucks sake.

that's all.

Friday 15 October 2010

Women really *are* from venus

if not from Venus then definitely from planet earth.


The men who sent me these messages on a dating site however are not on this planet. For some reason this week I've had a surge in messages which is odd as you normally only get a flurry if you go online and I've not checked the site for weeks. Anyway, how could i resist some of these guys...

1. " hi, very very knew to this.... " knew? new perhaps FAIL


2. "SEXY GIRL LOOKING FOR SEX FROM YOU" yes, in capitals. Yes you're a moron

3. "hi, how you doing, check me out" errmm no, you've been watching too many episodes of friends, now fuck right off

4." hi, i'm looking for love, any shape or size, if you're interested let me no" NO know, NO I WONT.

5." hi im new here if u want to no anything just let me no" Yes,i will once you go back to school mate.

6. titled *relasionship" I didn't open it


7. "I am a guy who is fun loving and likes a some good sex. Can you cope with some 3nights all night activity. then we might be compatible. Get back to me and see our common denominator. Other than that we can check the bearings.waiting for you!!!!!!" oh goody, how can i resist?

8. "Shrek here having trouble finding his princess Fiona,call out so I know where to look" quite a quirky message, if he didn't *actually* look like Shrek

9. "I am Thomas, im 37 and looking for a girlfriendrelationship.lease get in touch" errm NO.

Spoilt for choice as you can see. Which one to pick?

Wednesday 13 October 2010

Women are from venus

apparently.

Men from Mars? perhaps. Is there life on Mars? Been watching some on the men at gym. My programme is very bishbashbosh. 30mins of supersets. I get it done and get out of there.

I'm usually only girl in weights section so i get *looked at* specially cause i don't stomp around in between doing sets of weights. Why do blokes do that? One guy was really annoying me today. Kept giving me the eye every time he went past. He'd walk around the weight machines like caged animal then come back to his weights and do more. Freak.

He's not only one though. I'll bet most guys go home from gym and say *hey look at me, I've spent 2 hours in gym* but have actually done fuck all

I'm a meltering wreck by time i leave there, these guys are barely breaking sweat. Muppets

oh and i run to gym, then run home.

Talking of which, did my morningside route again this morning, i bloody love that route. Long climb up to Fairmilehead then big downhill to morningside followed by long climb out of there. Last 2 morning I've been racing the buses. Yesterday i raced the 15 from Bruntsfield right to Princes and won! wooop!

Got beat by number 16 this morning though, i only made it to Usher hall. No 15 in sight though which was weird as it was same time as day before. Still, i had my fastest morning run in long long time. Maybe it's thought of Coach IanB looking over my shoulder telling me to run faster, or maybe my big fat lazy day on Sunday did me world of good. Whatever it is, it's all good.

Tuesday 12 October 2010

Bit Naughty

I mentioned broken camera in last blog.Anyone who is daft enough to be a regular reader here will recall i lost my Camera in pub after WHW race. Yes that's twice cameras and alcohol have been involved to my detriment.

There's a third time but I'll get to that in in a minute.

When i bought said camera i also bought accidental damage insurance, people who know me know i can be a bit of dizzy blond and i thought this would be good purchase. I was right. Except it didn't cover loss due to drunkenness. Hmm, should've looked at policy closer.

So i bought another one. From the wonder *edite edit* I bought the exact same model and colour cause
1. i like red, it's my favourite colour
2. The camera takes great pics
3. i still had extra battery, charger, software all set up on PC etc so seemed silly to buy different one.

Most people would put number 2 above number one is guess but hey, I'm a girl and i like red.

So all's good. Til Susan broke it but then i remembered i have inurance *edit edit edit* lol

*more edits*

Sorry about the edits, my legal team have advised me i might get carted off and thrown in the tower. I told said legal team it would be ok cause i'm just like rapunzal and i'd throw down my hair when my prince came to save me.

Going back to the Third incident.

I agreed to take part in a "naked" Calender. All in name of charity i may add. Roger booked a studio and took the pics and i drank a lot of bubbly. He said the pics are great, as have other folk I've shown them to. But I'm ever so critical and I'm dreading it popping through my letter box soon! aaaargh

In other news, Stephen stil hobbling round on his crutches with his non broken leg. I've ran and gymed like a good girl and work has even been ok this week

S'all good in Sandraland at present.

Sunday 10 October 2010

Misty delights of the Pentlands

Susan decided to join me & Jules for our run in Pentlands so said she'd come up night before which made jolly good sense and good excuse for girls night. Ian B also txt to say he'd join us too, but neither him nt Jules were invited to girls night.. lol
We usually take easy option and get Chinese but seeing as we're both got our *training* heads on and are both *trying* to eat healthily i decided to cook.



Cod wrapped in parma ham with red pesto stuffing, baby herb potatoes and nice healthy veg for those interested!I did kinda cheat though and bought everything from M&S, gotta love that place! So a very pleasant evening was had where we put the world to rights about lots of stuff, well tried to anyway. I doubt it gets us anywhere but it's good to get stuff off your chest for sure.

We of course drank lots of wine and went to bed too late. Oh and we thought it be good idea to take few pics. culminating in camera getting dropped and lens getting broken. damnation's, that's 3rd time the same thing has happened and i know it means i should get different camera next time but it takes bloody good pics, is light,compact and its red! i love it :( Cant afford new one either.



Up at around 8ish next morning and Susan was already up and had done dishes bless her. Jules surprised us by arriving at 9, i so thought he'd be late. He does love his lie In's that boy! Ian arrived not too long after and we all piled into Jules' car to head to flotterstone. Car park was busy as ever, considering weather wasn't too great. It was was fine on lower ground but mist was shrouding the hills making them look rather alluring and mysterious. I laughed at Jules' girly cat buff so he ended up leaving it behind. Cursing me later once on top of hill but i saved him with my WHW buff :)


decided we should do the route that me & Dave had done at end of July which took in 5 hills and covered around 12 miles. perfect. Well that was plan anyway... We neared we got to the top the mistier and windier it got. By time i was at top of Turnhouse I'd decided to stop and put my jacket on as i was Baltic. Was very funny trying to get it on though and it made me recall the Bastard ochills race where i struggled to put on my jacket at top of some godforsaken hill!




That first climb is always the worst and before we knew it we'd covered 3, turnhouse, Carnethy & Scald Law, the highest one. Next up was West & East Kip. At top of West kip we headed downhill but turned back as i thought we were heading wrong way (couldn't see a bloody thing!) so we ended u missing east kip and heading to another hill instead which had quite a descent!





We ran along a track to a farm and decided which route to take. It was here (on flat bit) that Susan went over on her ankle, took a spectacular tumble, smashed her knee open,and cut both her hands. After the initial shock i gave her my mismatched gloves and she bravely dusted herself down and trotted off leaving Jules, Ian & I in her wake lol!


Once we got to top of hill we took a Right turn where we'd ran before this taking us back along toward the descent to loganlea Reservoir. It was quite boggy & muddy here, Karen would've loved it. Ian did liken it to Cateran trail a bit. It was here that after seeing Jules & Ian skip over a muddy boggy bit i ended up in it, i don't have big long legs like them though! Susan was on hand to capture the moment though!




Very nearly lost shoe but we manged to fish it out.




I do love this view when we get to descent towards Loganlea. I've done it many times now and its a great run down. Once we got to bottom we headed along towards the reservoirs and homeward bound. Got too hot once out hilltops and took jacket off again. Run ended up being 10.5miles so we lost about mile & half getting lost in mist. It didn't matter though, we had cracking day out.
pic on left in stark dfference in weather to last run on same route! you can clearly see the hills we were heading to n background this time!


Managed to have a good chat to Ian about my WHW training. I'd already been picking his brains at Ayr about it and seeing as I'm being proper serious for once he agreed he'd coach me.


Me , with a coach, Can you fucking imagine it? Susan actually LOLLED in car and said "i cant wait to see anyone tell Sandra what to do" He's not getting paid btw, i might buy hm a drink if he's lucky, and if he's really unlucky he might end up wearing the drink.Actually after telling me some targets he has for me and me telling him i don't like to run fast that might just happen.


And seeing as he's looking fr a club in Edinburgh to join i told him he had to join the BEST club in here which is quite obviously Harmeny. Makes sense really, he likes hills, they train in the hills.


Watch this space!


Once everyone had came back, been fed watered showered then left. I sat and watched commonwealth games for wee while I then decided to go run a bath. Was about to head into bath when phone rang. Now i rarely answer house phone cause its never for me but i was n study so i did." Hi, is that Sandra? its Stephen's coach here, don't worry but we're waiting on ambulance for him"


ffs. Here we go again. I asked if i should head to hospital and he told me he'd call back when he was in ambulance. So i waited til he did then ran down to hospital, still covered n mud from pentlands, even managed to beat bloody ambulance so at least i was there when he arrived.(i ran fast Ian, if you're reading this) He was gulping on gas & air by then and in fair bit of pain.


Few hours later, xrays, docs coming & going and ruling out broken leg fractures etc they gave him drugs and crutches and a reappointment for Tuesday to rule anything sinister out. We got home and ordered Chinese but i was too tired to care by then and left most of it. Went fr my long awaited bath after falling asleep watching xfactor then went to bed. bloody knackered.


Lazy day today. very lazy.

Wednesday 6 October 2010

Beware

this is a bit dull and boring.


i've been neglecting my poor wee blog.




Gym is going well and i dont feel like i've been run over by a truck next day now, i think that's an improvement. Friday i ran to work, had fairly busy day, ran to gym, did my usual routine then went out straight from gym for "few" drinks.Needless to say it was more than a few. lol, no off switch me.




Decided to have a rest day on Saturday and after getting up and entering WHW race (woohooo!) i spent rest of day cleaning house and chilling out. Had

quiet night in with Stephen eating chinese & watching Xfactor. Sunday i went to see my shiny new nephew who was 6 days old by then.I ran over there & Stephen met me there. He is adorable! The baby that is,not Stephen.although he is adorable in his own 18yr old way i guess!



Even better to hold and hand back though :o)


I bought him his first pair of trainers too, i'll get him running when he takes his first steps :P


Had fairly nice week this week it has to be said. Work has been pleasant & i've been running, gyming and spending it with people who make me happy indeed.


Got few plans in my head for training runs & races going forward. looking forward to weekend as Jules is coming down to run in Pentlands with me, he is just back yet another bloody holiday so he'll be all golden and i'll be all pale & interesting next to him, think few other folk probably join us too.


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you wont us on on any comparetheboringblogwebsites.

Thursday 30 September 2010

Going Clubbing

Something i hardly ever do, haven't for long time actually.

But it's time to up the ante and make more of an effort. My club does a *pub* run every so often, starts & finishes at pub. My kind run. Normally it's at other sde of town ie- Balerno end, cause thats where club is based. It's 2 bus rides away from me though hence i dont often make it along. Yes i know it's daft to join a club on other side of town but they run in the pentlands a lot (hence the name(Harmeny pentland runners!) and it's full of lots of lovely people.

Anyway.. last nights run was starting just up road from me, bonza! So off i go armed with hi viz and head torch as ordered. Gav was first to arrive, quickly followed by Ian then everyone else. Iain, our supremo guide warned us it would be, muddy, boggy, wet & dark! It was :o)

Great run, loved it. Up into lower end of Pentlands quick skirt round bottom and back to pub. Brilliant.I ran mainly with Alistair as he wanted to chat me abut a very excting project he has coming up. This was only 2nd time ever i've ran with headtorch, frst time was suporting Jen on WHW race last yr, i need to find a way of making it bit more comfortable as i was fiddling around with it fair bit. Back to pub for few drinks then Alistair took me home and i caught 2nd half of game.
The club are big on thier headtorch runs so i'm really looking forward to getting up there and having bit of fun in the hills in the darkness! :)

WHW entries open tomorrow! woohooooo

Wednesday 29 September 2010

The Thighs have it

Ran up to gym yesterday for my session with Pascale.He'd done me a plan and was taking me through it showing me correct way, timing me, pushing me etc aaargh! bloody hard work it was too. I wish i could afford to pay him everytime i go to push me but i cant so i'll have to see if i can push myself, i really hope i can

I predicted i'd be incredibly sore this morning but weirdly i was ok...

Decided not to run anyway and take a rest day, then i realised i said i'd go along to club run so it's not really a rest day lol. Anyway, as the day has worn on my inner thighs have got tighter & tighter.


Does this mean i'll have thighs of steel soon? :)

Got my number for Abingdon Marathon today :( Getting jealous of everyone heading up to Loch Ness @ Weekend too.waaaah etc

Tuesday 28 September 2010

Dumfries Half

I was meant to do Glasgow half & ditched it for Perth 50k. Susan asked me to go down & do this race and seeing how she is always visiting me, how could i refuse?

On Thursday i did the photo shoot @ the studio with Roger, went to pub first and took a bottle along with me(dutch courage!)then pub after. Not big or clever on a school night...Still ran to work in morning though. Had very quiet night on Friday jumping between fetch, twitter & Facebook keeping updated on hardmoors and nervously waiting on news of Phil. Luckily he was Mr Sensible again and pulled out when his foot started to niggle a little *phew* he is a worry that boy!

On Saturday morning i ran to gym for meeting with Pascale to go over what i was looking for in a gym plan. Had good chat with him then headed off home to catch back up with Hardmoors. Headed off for train to Lockerbie at 4pm and Susan picked me up@ station.

A very girl night followed of mucho catching up, talking about boys, Chinese , xfactor & wine, followed by cocktail. The film, not *actually* any cocktails ;) Honest.

Woke up around 7ish and got up even though alarm set for 8. I made my intentions clear on Facebook that i wanted a PB.This was last chance saloon for the yr. I thought the extra pressure of telling everyone might just help. Susan was marshaling so we headed off sharp so she could get her instructions then we drove to lovely grounds where it started about and sat all warm n cosy in car. Caught up with Gav & Soph @ start and also made my intentions clear to them s0 after a quick rundown of my plan to Gav (run as fast as i could) it was time for off!

Caught up with Bobby on first mile and we chatted about future race plans for next yr, then he took off never to be seen again... Gavin overtook me around mile 2 and i kept him in sight for few miles before he too disappeared. hmmm, this is Gav *taking it easy* Decided to try & keep Marian in my sights instead and i managed to do that for rest of race. Really lovely course with quite a few long drags, not hills as such, not as us Ultra runners know them but then we tend to get a rest on hills, there was no chance here. I had a PB to chase.

But it wasn't to be. I did put my all into it but came around 18secs short of it. I guess it's surprise really, that was fastest I've ran since March. I never run that fast in training and I've done no other short races. I guess my legs need to be retaught how to run fast? It's no big deal, i didn't throw myself to ground and have a tantrum, except when i found out i got a mug instead of a medal anyway! ;)

So I'm quite glad I'd decided i was pulling out of Loch Ness & Abingdon before that, takes pressure off big time. Newcastle looking doubtful too for diff rent reasons.

Got kinlochleven to look forward to, and that's all about enjoying it, not racing. no more races for yr planned. Just lovely training runs to look forward to. I think if I'm at loose end anytime I'm just going to head up WHW and just run, just because.

In other news, I'm an Auntie again. My sis in law had wee baby boy last night(all boys in our family!) well except me of course lol 3 big brothers have all only had boys now. Stephen is excited to have a new wee cousin, he loves kids and would've loved a wee brother or sister. He'd have had to find a new Mum first though! haha :P

Wednesday 22 September 2010

SUM(ing) it up

See what i did there? :p

By Thursday i was feeling pretty much ok but made sensible decision not to return to work til Monday as i didn't want to push myself. Instead i booked decided to go down to Ayr a day early and just chill out. After scouring net i found an amazing B&B and managed to get booked in for both nights so i cancelled my other hotel. I really wantd to be well enough to enjoy the SUMS Ball.

Friday i felt pretty good, hurrah :) Had deliciously leisurely lunch then schlepped off for my 2 train journey to Ayr. It wasn't too bad actually and i arrived there around 5pm. My room was just amazing. Happy Sandra. Popped up to local pub for bite to eat and few glasses wine then headed home with bottle bubbles, look closely in pic! ;) Drank it in my bed. Bliss.

Lie in next day with late fabulous breakfast. Then i got ready for run. Ran down onto seafront then right along beach & back. Have to admit it was quite hard work, week of complete inactivity does that for you! Stayed on seafront for wee while watching the kite surfing competition and enjoying the sea air.
Got rescued by Ian B who was supporting Dave W on RiverAyrway and we spent rest of day jumping ahead and meeting him & Lee at various checkpoints. It was good to see the route and i had tiny pangs about not running it, only teeny tiny ones though! Dave was on top form and we knew he'd get to that finish line!


Watched Dave finish then Ian kindly dropped me back off at my B&B. It was great to kick back and just get ready nice & leisurely whilst sipping on more pink bubbles. I still had no clue what i was wearing as I'd taken 2 dresses with me so i sought advice from B&B owners :) He immediately picked the red dress so that's what i wore



Met Karen, George, Donald & Elaine in pub before heading over to ball. Cracking night was had by all i think! Danced loads, drank loads and was thrown across dancefloor by random and landed in heap on floor! Had bloody great night though, Murdo, Tim and everyone involved did brilliant job. Was great to everyone all dressed up too.


I managed to pick up a wee award for doing most Ultras of the the series. >


This was in street after and juggling 2 bottles and a box, oh and a handbag whilst being a tad tipsy is not clever. Seconds later my box fell to ground and i heard a sickening smash. Glass was in smithereens. Seriously gutted :o(
We toyed with idea of heading t nightclub but after seeing the horrendous queues we headed to kebab shop instead. I was about to eat my own arm by then as i'd only had my breakfast and half of plate of rank chips in a skanky cafe earlier on in day.
Chicken kwababa went down an absolute treat. Karen was getting chatted up in shop whilst George stood patiently waiting outside, i was getting chatted up at taxi rank and George gave him a parting shot of " guess who's going home with 3 gorgeous girls" as we climbed into our cab! lol
Another late breakfast and i very kindly got dropped off by B&B owners at cafe to meet, Karen, George, Sarah, Keith & Lucy. Managed to blag a lift home with Lucy and Keith and we sang all the way home to some top tunes, many thanks for an enjoyable journey home!
Headed into town and went down to see my friend Graeme who was marshaling at World Archery competition, stayed for wee while there then headed off to watch 2nd half on Man Utd game in pub, managed to not get thrown out and stayed quite well behaved.
And that was that. Fantastic weekend.thank you, all of you who made it happen.
Back to work Monday. Booo.Didn't run in but did on Tuesday, then went to gym. I'm only girl in the free weights section, men are funny when trying to show off :o) Loving it. I've got my meeting with pasquale on Saturday morning to go through a training plan. I was using the kettlebell yesterday and today i feel like I've been run over by a train! ffs.Actualy feel sorer than i have after any of my ultras this year!! Still ran in though, thought it would help loosen me up but I'm still bit stiff so didn't run home. Nice bubbly bath helped a bit though.
Rest day tomorrow. I'm meeting Roger tomorrow as I've been asked to do some "naked" shoots for a "calender girls" type calender for charity. Roger is taking the pics and has booked studio for tomorrow. Think might need glass wine.. or two!
gotta go, Man utd game just started

One Year + on...

Oh Dear, more than a year since my last blog when i promised myself i would blog more. After SDW race i was more than a bit broken. Luckil...