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.

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.

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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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

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

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

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