Gerrof my land

So the Edinburgh Festival is over, well the fringe is and that's what brings most of the people to town. As i ran to gym on Monday morning around 5.30am, i saw hoardes of people making their way home. Bruntsfield links was awash with people clearly squeezing every last drop out of the late drinking hours. Nearly every bench had people on them, i had to check my watch to see if I'd inadvertently slept til lunchtime. Tuesday night Phil returned from Chamonix with a nasty cough, He was having a stop over in Edinburgh so we caught up over a drink or five and talked running and stuff, and talked and talked (and he coughed)

Yesterday i got the bus home as i wasn't feeling too great(Phil's bigs?) now those of you who are my facebook friends will have seen my many bus rants over past few weeks. I was therefore stunned to get on bus, go upstairs and find this.  > > > >

It's like someone has got a big human dyson and sucked everyone out the city in one day. Or maybe aliens have taken them all away. Whichever it is it's almost eeerily quiet compared to craziness of past few weeks.

When i run home i usually run by the Canal, it's lovely and quiet so no one around to bother me. Because bother me they do.

Today i ran my old route as Natalia called me at work as i was about to leave and said she'd left her house keys, so i kindly said I'd run her way home and deliver them, save the day and all that. Old route is St Andrews Square-Princes St- Lothian Road- Bruntsfield- Morningside. All very busy roads, made worse by schools finishing and narrow pavements last 2 miles which are scattered with signs for cafes etc.

So, i was prepared for a bit of a bun fight. Off i went along Princes st, wow. There was space to run, i only had to stop once when a bus came along and everyone moved and blocked pavement. Things got a bit different as i headed up Lothian Road, pavements still fairly quiet but no one wanted to move. Didn't matter that they could see me, they clearly though they had far more right to be on that pavement than me, and that i should jump on road onto oncoming traffic to get out their way. Tossers.

Why is that? Why as runners do we get scowled at by non runners? we're not bloody inconveniencing them are we? I'd understand if i was on a bike on a pavement, or a skateboard, but no, I'm only running and if I'm running then i must therefore be scowled at. Pavements are for walking you know. Of course not everyone is like that, plenty people so move. Some grudgingly, some with a smile. It's mostly middle ages woman that don't move for some reason. Most odd.

Cant believe it's September tomorrow. Where's the year gone? This month i've managed to get my mileage back up to a fairly respectable mileage of 170miles. And i've gone to gym 10times, only one more Ultra penned in (Glen Ogle/Ben Fogle) & perhaps 2 Marathons. This scare me a bit. Havent done a Marathon since last November, not entirely sure how i'll do. I suppose i'll have to go fit in a long run somewhere too? hmmm

 Oh and it's really dark when i get up in the mornings now. Not sure what that has to do with anything but it just popped into my head.

Up and downs of a weekend

I'm back to doing a lot more double runs again. This makes me feel far more normal. This week i ran 8 times in total so i decided to have nice lazy day on Saturday  spending the day watching for updates on UTMB  When i heard Karen had been timed out i felt sick and almost cried, i was proper gutted for her. Sent her txt to see if she was ok and she said she was, gutted but ok nonetheless. Never have i wanted someone to finish a race so much, after all the dispapointment of the previous year :(

Rest of day was spent endlessly checking facebook and twitter watching people progress, exciting stuff. Phil txt me to say he was having breathing problems and was pulling out as he reckoned he'd be timed out at next Cp, i txt him back to see if he was ok and he said he was in back f a landrover and apparently in Italy, lol. He seemed pretty cool though, i was just releived he was ok. Next one we lost was George who was also having breathing problems. Not the news i wanted to hear at all.But again, once i checked with Karen we knew he was safe and ok it was relief. UTMB is damn hard race taking no prisoners. I take my hat off to all who even attempt it. Think we awoke to news that Ritchie had aced it and was finished, woohoo.

Sunday morning we were up early to head down to Melrose for a race.

Chris & Caroline organised same race last year but i was up doing Speyside so i missed it.It's not an official race at the moment, it was pretty much just fetchies and a few locals. But it had everything an official race should ie- registration, a race director, Marshall's, routes, disclaimers...
 I knew there was hills involved and that was about it. After leaving a rather dreich and windy Edinburgh we set off for the Borders and drove towards the  sunshine. Although still breezy (the car was shaking) at least it would be sunny for the race.. We arrived and registered soon enough the hall was awash with people who were either marshalling, running or just arriving with a plethora of cakes!

Race was meant to start at 11am but someone was late, bit unusual for Sophie to be late ;) but she got there in the end.... Chris asked me to quieten everyone down by shouting so he could do his pre race briefing. I listened intently for a change as i had no clue of route and wasn't sure if there would be anyone to follow. One tip he said was to make sure we had the Eildon hills on our right, and if they weren't then turn back because we were lost. lol

We all followed Chris up to Railway station and after waving my garmin in air, putting it on my head and lying it next to road it refused to grab a signal, as everyone was watching and waiting on me i told them i wouldn't bother with it and would wait on it kicking in as i ran. And it did.  So off we went, the local boy took his place at the front and it wasn't too long til he was in the distance with Ian on his heels. I was behind Ian with Al, IanS and Soph.

Al said he was taking it easy as he'd been doing time trials and hills the day before and was chatting away, clearly running at a leisurely pace. I was working hard and gasping answers out occasionally to him lol  I could hear Soph yap yap yapping away behind me to Ian lol As we came to a second gate and a hill Al mustve got fed up with my heavy breathing and took off into the distance. My aim was to keep him in my sights.

I soon lost the dulcet tones of Sophster so was on my lonesome but keeping sight of young Al. The hills were relentless, there didn't seem to many downhills at all to make up for what seemed like endless drags. My lungs and my legs were working hard. I last saw Al as i approached the village of Bowden, he was just leaving, it was still going uphill. Through the village and a small down followed by more ups and dodging some Combine harvesters & tractors as i took in the climb ahead. I'd completely lost sight of Al by now and had to keep wits about me to make sure i didn't take wrong turns. Thank god i listened to breifing. Chris was out on the course around mile 3 i think, right at top of a hill where i gasped and said *fuck, this is hard work*

I realised at this point that i was 1st lady, wow, me, 1st lady in a race. This must be how Lucy Colquoun feels all the time! woohooo Ok there weren't that many girls in the race but you can only race who's there right?I kept close eye for the arrows and there were few Marshall's out pointing us in right direction too.
  On and on the the climb went and windier and windier it got making it even more tougher. My legs were screaming stooooooooooop, I'm an Ultra runner, i walk up hills not bloody run up them. I did relent and took few walking breaks, walk 10 paces, run 20. Did that til got to top whilst vowing never to come back and eventually there was a downhill.

And wow what a downhill, finally! Mile and bit of downhill where i just let myself go with flow, i was finally loving this race haha. Then i got to the bottom and a fork in the road, with no arrow or no Marshall's. I stood there and racked my brains, left or right, left or right? aaaargh. I look at the hills and made decision to go right. Damn, more climbing. fuck, i thought the climbs were over? I'm sure he said the last bit was down then flat. Light bulb moment.
 I'd gone the wrong way.

I turned myself around and ran back cursing my stupid self. As soon as i turned the corner i saw Sai in the distance marshaling and waving at me. She pointed across the road to a pathway and shouted encouragement at me. As soon i saw entered the path i saw Soph and Ian ahead at end of path. Fuck, there goes my lead, i ran like a loon and busted my lungs trying to catch them but they disappeared. 

Out the pathway and i could see the train station and i gave it all i could. Soph ran back towards me with a perplexed look on her face wondering what the hell had happened to me lol. I crossed line just a minute behind her & Ian having done and extra half mile! ffs, Muppet. total time was 1.14.02 Race was officially 13.1k or 8.14 miles. Or  if you're me 8.55 miles and 13.8k  ;)

I was handed a medal and a goody bag and got huge hugs by the gorgeous triplets who were doing a damn fine job on finishing line. :o)  Ian had a cracking run and came in under the hour. We saw a few folk in then headed down to the hall to get changed as it was more than a bit windy and cold by then.

Quick change and back into hall where we were met with a tremendous buffet. Sandwiches, cakes, crisps, sausage rolls, you name it. Let me just point out that this race was free, all Chris had asked for was a donation to his charity.We got a medal, a goody bag and fed! Incredible that all his friends and family had pulled together not only to Marshall, time keep, but also to go to all this trouble too. Nothing short of fabulous.

I had about 4 cups of tea and enjoyed sarnies and cakes whilst catching up with everyone. We all agreed it was bloody tough race but also that is was lovely route and superbly organised. I was only numpty who took wrong turn and i blame myself for not listening properly. Ian is always telling me i have 2 ears and one mouth lol

Chris did bit of prize giving and gave out few spot prizes. . He picked Ian's brains a bit about what else he needed to do and i have to say, put this one in your diaries for next year folks. Yes its tough but its a lovely route and worth it for the crazy downhill at the end, and for those of you who like your cakes then you certainly wont be disappointed.

Massive well done to Chris, Caroline and their small army of helpers. Top work.

Got home and settled down to watch one of best football games i've ever witnessed,i had to drink a bottle of bubble to celbrate. Happy days.

Rest of night was spent constantly checking on rest of random scottish punters doing UTMB, it was exciting typing in the race numbers and watching the wee red line progress across those mountains, cracking website they've got and superbly organised. John K had spreadsheets and a dedicated site updating everyone too, top work as usual John!

Yikes, just noticed time and meant to meeting random Scottish punters in town who've been evicted from Chamonix.......

Space Invaders

Not talking about the iconic  80's electronic game, nope. I'm talking about the Tourists that descend on our City during Festival time.

I probably sound like a broken record at this time of year but jeez, it never gets easier. It's bad when you're trying to get from A to B, bad enough walking. Try running, i reckon it must be like being in the boxing ring, ducking and diving and dodging from side to side, don't even get me started on the brollies.  God knows how I've managed to avoid the buses and lorries that trundle towards me at speed when I'm forced out onto road at various times.

And then there's the buses. We  are very lucky to have a superb bus service in Edinburgh. Buses are regular, drivers happy,they're pretty much on time and we have wee monitors to tell us when they're expected. All good. Until you find 5 buses turning up at once cause the traffic has come to a standstill, that's after waiting 30mins for the buses that are every ten minutes. Normally.

So the bus arrives and six million people pile off, you climb on to find another six million still there, all standing at the bottom of the stairs. I peer back the bus and see free seats, i enquire if there are seats upstairs. Yes, plenty I'm told. SO WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU ALL BLOCKING THE WAY!!!

I squeeze past the numpties and climb up the stair only to have to beat a hasty retreat because someone has either forgotten they wanted to get off here, or are trying to get down stairs for next stop. "deep breathes" Up i go again, to find an almost empty top deck. *sigh*

Hey, at least I've got a seat. I'm on my way home. It might take longer than normal (about twice as long) but sometimes there is no option (hurt my toe during Devil) But why oh why is every crazy person on same bus as me? I'm sure i have radar, a crazies radar. When I'm on the bus i look down on the streets and it's like ants crawling over the pavement. Every square inch is taken. There are queues everywhere. There are venues everywhere, there are tents, marquees, upside down cows and bars everywhere.

If you walk down the royal Mile and hear a blood curling scream, don't worry, there's not been a MURDUR,  it's just the thespians giving us a little taster of their show. I'm sure we'll all be rushing along to that one.

It's actually the only time i ever feel a bit threatened running at 5am in morning. Most of the clubs are granted late licenses and take full advantage, which is fair enough, there are certainly enough people in town to fill them all! Apparently the population doubles at this time of year.The strangest venue i've seen this year so far is in a carpet shop in brunts field, i kid you not.
 Back to the running, i go to the gym Mon/wed/fri and my gym is at Quartermile, right next to the meadows, which is right next to lots of said venues. In past 2 weeks I've passed several crowds of rather drunk people.

I've seen a guy getting a blowjob in middles of meadows, I've seen girls on walk of shame and I've seen huge crowds of drunk people making their way home. I get the occasional one attempt to run alongside, i get the occasional comment but no one has actually been threatening, i just feel that way.

Apart from all that i love the Festival. No really i do.

I love the vibe it gives to the city, i love the way that it's no one turns a blind eye to a punk nun in suspenders, and that's just the men. It also obviously brings a shed load of money in too and I'm happy that people get to see just how beautiful this place is.

Last weekend i was was supposed to be heading up to Torridon. For the last 3 years now Andy (3rd Male at Devil dontcha know) has been taking us fetchies on trips up the mountains. He is an experienced Munro bagger and is also a Duke of Edinburgh Assessor. The first year we all headed up to Mar Lodge and spent a glorious few days in the Cairngorms and climbed up Ben Mcdhui (thats only one i remember lol) We ran some spectacular trails and it was truly fabulous. Last year we stayed in Ballaculish and although i arrived later after doing Clyde Stride the rest of crew had spent a fabulous day up Glencoe area (until Phil broke his foot again!) We arrived late in day and drank til small hours then headed back out next day to explore.

So Torridon was the place of choice this year. But it wasn't to be, for me anyway. We've been so busy every weekend and trying to fit everything we want to do and everyone we want to see that something had to give. I'd not done any Festival stuff with Ian, I'd not seen Jemima for months and the club Handicap race was on so i decided to can Torridon and see more of my loved ones instead.

So Ian took the opportunity and booked us tickets for the Tattoo, something I'd always wanted to see. Before that we had some people to see before they were heading off to Chamonix to play in the Mountains. Karen & George just happened to bump into Jane and her hubby and before you could say "mine's a Guinness" they were all holed up in the Hebrides, along with Keith, Norm and Ian King. We completed the set but had missed Ian King. Norm left citing "I'm 2hours late home" then returned much to our amusement! It was great to see them all, have maybe too many drinks then everyone went their separate ways around 8ish to go to various shows/eat/home.

Tattoo was great but cold, it hadnt rained all day of course, it just waited til we were sat in Castle Esplanade high up closer to the clouds! Actually I'm being a bit mean it didnt start til about halfway through and stopped before end.The castle looked spectaculour.  We were bloody cold though, and starving! A very late dinner was had around 11pm and after getting to out street and seeing our local open we though it rude not to go in (til it shut at 1am) Which of course meant we needed more wine when we got home right? hmmm

Next day Ian was off doing VIP stuff and i was doing same. I finally managed to organise time with Jemima. We'd been trying for 2 months to go an Spa day that I'd got a good deal on and couldnt get our diaries to match.  Finally we had a free day so off we got booked up and headed off to Norton House for a superbly relaxing day.Jemima surprised me with a beautiful engraved picture frame with West Highland Way Race, at top and my time at bottom,  she'd put a picture of me with my goblet in it too, incredibly thoughtful present.  We had such a superbly realxing time i fell asleep in relaxation room even with J yapping in my ear ;) We sat afterwards having our champagne (all part of the fab deal we got) and i was wiped out.

Ian came and picked us and after trying to decide where to eat he dropped us in city centre whilst he popped hometo drop car off and rejoin us. Cue us traipsing from restaurant to restaurant trying to get a table. we were in at least 12 different places and it was like Jesus & Mary, there was no room at the Inn. Anywhere. We contempleted grabbing a tourist and eating one of their arms at certain points, neither of us had eaten since breakfast and it was now gone 8pm. Eventually we headed to Tempus thinking it would do for a drink at least but managed to procure a table, with menus!

Ian arrvied back and we had long wait on food, i occasionally nibbled the table and sipped my wine and got tireder and tireder. I am either turning into a super lightweight or the Spa just wiped me out totally. Once we'd eaten Jemima's OH arrvied and we headed off for another drink before heading home. Was in bed by stroke of midnight, just before i turned into a pumpkin.

Up with the lark on Sunday to head to Balerno for our club Handicap Race. It's billed as a 10k but is actually 6.5miles, nearly 11k. Great race and tough on legs as it was my first 10k in about a year or so. Great to see everyone though and it was superbly organised by Norma and her crew.

I ran back home aftwerwards and Ian ran back way we came to get car, then we headed out for for well earned brunch after. Followed by a donder into town to have a wander through the Festival crowds , have wee drink and watch world go by.

Was almost glad to get back to work for a rest.

I said almost.....

It's all in the mind

Or is it?

After getting a last minute place in Devil and after Ian dithering all week about whether he was going to run or not the decision was finally made for me to run and him to support. I'd ran no further than to work since the WHW. 3 weeks off completely to fix ankles and short runs and races were the order of the day.

So i was a little nervous about whether I'd get round tbh, it is after 42 miles, quite hilly rocky ones at that.

Arrived in Tyndrum around 9pm and everyone was very kindly and patiently waiting on us before we all schlepped off to Paddy's. Pub was full of Ultra runners & supporters. Proper serious athletes that we are.The really serious ones ie- Karen, Tim, Anne etc all went back to cottage after couple drinks. The really silly ones stayed on to talk to everyone left in pub and drink even more.

Probably not cleverest idea but hey ho. In bed around midnight, up around 4am. Think i was still bit drunk when got dressed and ate my weetabix. I managed to remember my Chanel ribbons and a quick squirt of number 5 and it was time to head to start. 6am is perfect race start time for me, I'm usually out for my run way before that so i was raring to go. And son enough we were off.

I settled into a nice  pace and ran all the to BoO with Lorna & John Mac Lean, we chatted quite happily the whole way and we seemed to arrive in no time.(1.07) I hadn't expected to see Ian here as he said he was going for breakfast so i just said a cheery hello to the man in the midgie net until he started running next to me and demanded a kiss.

Strange man in midgie net chasing me....

Spotted Gavin just as i was about to head up hill and he rubbed me down with Skinsosoft and retied my laces, still on support duty even though he wasn't supporting me this time :) By stopping here (i never normally stop) i lost Lorna & John, both went on to have cracking races.

I was feeling pretty good here and got caught by my club mate Tom. He decided he was going to stick with me as he'd passed me early on in Speyside last yr and i ended up beating him by over an hour. I was quite happy to have someone tag along and it made the miles pass easily. Even on Rannoch Moor which was a hell hole of Midgie fog. Tom kept scratching and trying to get rid of them, i took one look at my arm and decided not to bother as it was exact same as last yr ie- pointless exercise.

evil, no other words.

Few miles from Glencoe and Ian appears, another unexpected surprise.I knew he was meeting me here but hadn't expected him quite so far out. He told me Julie was ahead with her Saltire and it gave me wee spring in my step, wish I'd stopped for photo now but i was on a roll. We got to Glencoe (3.15) after picking off around 6 runners, we ran straight through CP and said our goodbye's to Ian. Midgies seemed to disappear on this bit, same as they did last yr thankfully.  Tom was still with me and still happy as larry. It was good having the company for the road bit after Kingshouse and rejoin the Way as i really struggle on that bit for some reason.

The run towards the Devil's staircase passed really quickly as Tom was telling me the names of all the hills around us, he is a Munro bagger and knew them all so it was taking our minds off the running and the heat. The Devil loomed ahead of us, now here's a strange thing. I struggled up here last year and remember thinking "how the hell will i get up here on WHW race if I'm struggling now?"

My ankles were pretty damn painful by time i got to Devil on WHW but weirdly i seemed to get up there quicker, or were my ankles so sore i blanked out how long it took? Whatever the case it was a long slog up, and hot. We got to top and got a very welcome Jelly baby baby from the ever smiley Fiona. I was out of lucozade again even though Ian gave me new bottle at Glencoe,  i suddenly remembered a can of irn bru in my bag. I'd bought it after leaving the pub thinking I'd wake up with raging thirst, as you do. But it wasn't required and and it was like amber nectar at the Top of the Devil

The descent down was fun, we overtook a few people on our descent and with a few miles to go Ian appeared after trekking the 2 mile uphill. We overtook about 4 people just as he appeared and someone mentioned Ian's starring role in the WHW DVD to him just as we were passing them. This pleased him greatly, he then tried to take the credit for us passing folk, even though we'd passed around 12 people without his help so far! ;) It was brilliant getting on the move updates from Ian as to what was happening ahead, so i knew Lucy was pretty much going to win with Debs 2nd. Thomas was fighting it out for a win and Andy was in 4th. I may have mentioned in pub the previous evening to him that this could well happen but he is way too modest and poo poohed the very idea....

As ever the road to Painlochleven never gets closer and we headed on down passing John Pickard just over the bridge. Passed through checkpoint(5.35) and Ian ran after me with more drinks for me, i shouted on Tom to keep moving and he dutifully joined me on the road to hell aka the climb out that damn place.

This is where i think i broke him :(   he was slowing down and i kept waiting but he told me to go on, that he was slowing me down. I heeded his advice and plodded on but i really struggled here too and was much slower than last year. I stopped for last pic. If you look closely you can see Tom looking back to where we'd came from

So i was on my own again and it was to stay that way pretty much most of way across Lairig Mor, got plenty of cheering and well done's from the many walkers and it was a joy to once again see the Wilderness Response Team again.  I stopped at their 2nd checkpoint and refilled my bottle and drank 3 cups water. Many thanks guys, great job as usual.

Just as i left here i bumped into Karen & Helen who after mucho hugs and laughing at the Midge's stuck to me also gave me updates on the happenings ahead. Not long after i left them Ian appeared, i was still a couple of miles of Lundavra and was more than surprised to see him, turns out he got a lift up so ran out from there instead of the long trek up the hill. I was starting to fade a bit here and for the first time since the Devil i was passed by someone. My feet were really sore, my toe specifically which was odd as i hadn't particularly kicked  that many stones but i mustve gave it a bashing at some point.

My feet in general were sore actually and this was more of a problem than general tiredness or sore legs. I guess it's understandable after running for no longer than 45mins in the previous 7weeks.

Ian pushed me on as ever, thankfully. I didn't moan like i had that double day from hell, and i was thankful i wasn' in same world of pain that i was during WHW race. I recalled evey step i'd painfully hobbled down, and wondered how the hell i'd managed it on those ankles, made me quite proud of myself  & proud of Gavin for putting up with me!

Loved the run down but still walked the flat bits! And i ran walked the road part too, until i was *told* to run rest of it. So i did.

Finished in 8hrs 55min.

Around 20mins more than last yr but you'll not hear me complaining. Ian was as ever,just brilliant support.

But there was time for stopping, oh no. I managed a quick 5 min chat to congratulate Andy and say *told you so* then it was off to Leisure centre where i got a hug and congratualtions from Lucy. to quote Julie -his is on a par with David Beckham praising my performance in a pub team kick-around. Ridiculous but delightfully satisfying!

Lucy mentioned my neck was covered in Midgies, how delightful! Yet she still hugged me, maybe cause she'd borrowed Deb's clothes ? ;)

Quick shower which i nealry leapt out of after discovering horrid chafing on my back. I'd worn a tshirt, not sure why as i always wear a vest but it mustve been riding up all day and i had a mark the shape of my bag on my back. Ouchy.

Quick scout round hall to congratulate Debs, say hi to John, Katrina and few others then we sped off towards Edinburgh as we had a festival show to go to. Arrived home, dumped back and 5 mins later we were in cab (pre booked) in torrential rain heading towards Playhouse to see our show.Half way through, a few glasses of wine down and we were both fading fast. We'd shared a sandwich and half heartedly shared a bit of pasta in Leisure centre. That was it since 4am. Decision was made to ditch show before In started eating the person in front's arm and off we went to La Tasca.

Wine, food, bed. In that order.

Rested Sunday, ran to work Monday but my toe was superhurty so i rested for rest of week. Friday i was down in Leeds for a meeting, 4 hours in car leaving at 6am, 5hour meeting then 4 hours back. Long day but productive meeting.

On Saturday i had girls day out.  Lunch, champagne followed bymore champagne and few cocktails for good measure followed by more champagne.

Sunday we were up early to head through to Stirling and run a mile. Yes really. We do this a few times a year and iv'e missed last few so i promised i'd be there this time. Fuelled by said champagne i managed a wee pb and did 7.09. Some work to be done to get my sub 7 but it's all going in right direction.

Yikes, just noticed the time, i'm sure i started this blog when i was 22......

Step by Step and Day by day

Every second counts, i cant break away.



For some reason I've been thinking about my WHW race a lot recently, afterwards i suffered the inevitable comedown. A year's worth of training, for what? Was it all worth it? Ending up in hospital, all that pain i was in, the stress i caused my loved ones, my crew? To be honest it's taken me a while to say yes. Don't get me wrong, i was chuffed to finish. But it was tinged with the *but i could've done better* though. And actually that's kinda selfish and a bit rude to anyone finishing behind me or who DNF'd
comedown

But we each run our own race for our own reasons.
Pointed out by Andy Cole only recently in his blog, for me it's "because i can"  I think as runner's we are constantly looking to others and thinking " i wish i could be like that"  I guess some of us could stop wishing and just get off our butts and do the hard work and be just like them. Of course some people are just Natural Born runners.  I'm certainly not one of those. I think most runs are hard work, but hey if it wasn't hard everyone would be doing it, right?

Getting back to WHW race. I can now talk about it with pride, i can now stop beating myself up over the time, stop asking why on earth did i pick up an ankle injury that's never bothered me before. The simple answer is why not? I should be (and am!) delighted to have finished despite it all getting chucked at me not to. I'm proud of my goblet and i now want a shirt that says i RAN the WHW in 25hrs 57mins. I want to stand up and be proud of what I've done.

be proud     I am.

Last weekend was one of best weekends I've ever had. As mentioned in previous blog we were at Scone Palace in Perth for Rewind 

Parkrun in morning, home for breakfast, pack and offski. We arrived just before check in time so we sat in the sunshine and had glass wine til we could get in room. Soon as could we headed off for shuttle bus. Arrived to find a  neon coloured queue snaking round the concert hall but it actually only took about 10 mins to board buses. There were some fantastic and outrageous costumes around, I'm not too sure too many of us dressed like that in the 80's.
  Once we arrived we got drinks and quickly found a good spot and settled there for rest of day. Weather was glorious and the whole day was just brilliant.







We quickly realised the best route to
A. The Bar
B. The Toilets
C. The food Areas

ABC were playing too btw.....

We also quickly decided that tomorrow we'd go to shops and bring fold up seats as we were some of the few without them.I even to mange to locate my pal Debbie after 15 missed calls and pics to show where we were/they were, it's fair to say she was a bit tipsy. ;)

And that's what we did.

Some people even had tables ! We also got a blanket so it gave us wee bit of space around the seats too. Very civilised.

A certain Mr Waterman was saying earlier in the day that he too wished he was there as he knew Rick Astley was playing and was gutted  to miss it. Ian very kindly called him up a few times and played some songs down the phone, much to Mr Waterman's delight. True Friendship that is.

Weather for Sunday wasn't quite so good, overcast but still warm, it didn't matter a jot. We had yet another brilliant day and played some more songs down the phones, some people were appreciative than others... ;) 

On Monday we did our own Tour of fife. Not of the running kind like that crazy lot last week though. We headed to St Andrews and spent a lovely day there then followed the coastal route back down. Stopping in the lovely Elie for a wee glass wine and vowing to go back to sample the food which looked great. Some really lovely towns on that route but also some godforsaken ones too.

Apologies to anyone in Buckhaven if your reading this but omg i was scared being in the car there. Saw one guy running and as he glanced at his watch I'm sure i saw the surprise in his eyes that it was still on his wrist.....

Back to work yesterday and been flat out since. Ian is on holiday for next 2 weeks and doing VIP stuff  and I've got busy few weeks at work working towards this award. I'm amazed at just how dark it's got in the mornings again. On my gym mornings I'm not long past 4.40 and it's been pitch black, its light before i leave about half hr later but it's sad to summer on it's way out already.

Who's up for a bit of Devilling around this weekend?  Doing this purely for fun and wont be chasing any times. Hopefully see lots of you there.