A few hills more...

On Satuday Peter was going on the Carnethies' equinox run. "More of an aquanox run" I quipped wittily as he ran out the door into the rain. "More like an alconox run" I further quipped as he came in, slightly the worse for wear, somewhere around 9pm. How had I stayed so witty all day?

Well I'd initially thought I'd go for a hill run myself earlier in the day - but that hadn't happened - and the weather got less and less inspiring, so I went for a canter round the Seat and settled in for the rest of the day with a pile of books beside the sofa, where I lounged and ate snacks...

Sunday was looking a whole lot better - on paper anyway. But come the morning the skies were all grey and we had a hell of a job getting going. And so it was well after 2pm when we rolled into Flotterstone car park. It started to spit with rain and I gave Peter the option of us just calling it day - driving home and forgetting all about it - but he wasn't for it.

Once we got moving we were grand. Peter was a bit less sprightly than usual because he had run c. 16 miles the day before and was also somewhat delicate. This made me feel better in comparison.

Pretty soon the rain packed itself away and we got hesitant sunshine from time to time for the rest of the trip.

Just after Scald Law Peter noticed two runners were suddenly on our trail, if not our tail. They were moving fast and I thought they must be super-fast if they had suddenly caught up to us like that. We made it our business to stay ahead as long as we could. I was the limiting factor, obviously. To our surprise we held them off all the way to Hare Hill. I was nearing the summit (Peter was already there) and I realised there was someone panting just behind me. He passed and said a courteous hello. I was at pains not to let on I was panting. "This is just a slow jog for me!" I said with my demeanor, while my mouth said "hello" back.

After they'd passed we could relax again. We'd packed away some goodies and some juice so we had a sit on a wet hillock amongst the sheep poop and gathered ourselves.

I'm supposed to tell you that Peter was eating a peanut protein bar at this point. Hence the funny face. He was at a low ebb though, declaring he didn't like running uphill or downhill. Hearing this made me feel oddly good - like I could run forever.

After Capelaw Hill it was pretty much all down hill, and the team were happy with themselves. Everything lit up with the low evening light.

Peter tells me this sheep was giving me "an old-fashioned look". Any insights on this?

So 14 miles, and 4000 feet. My longest hilly training run for a while. The Skyline should be alright after that shouldn't it?

Afterwards, on Strava, I figured out that the guys who had passed us had come up Scald Law on the Carnethy route from the A702. No wonder they were fresh! I assumed they'd been running at that speed all the way from Hillend.

Anyway - I was very sore this morning, but I have been for a deep tissue massage this afternoon and now I feel great.

The End.