Water of Leith Half Marathon

Yesterday was the Water of Leith half marathon. The event for me was coloured by it having been the Portobello Running Club xmas night out the night before. I thought about not drinking, but not for very long. I managed to stick to only Guinness and wine, with mineral water at times. I have no idea how much I had. It really was a good night out. Its amazing how having been running with people makes you feel at ease with them even if you've never had a proper conversation.

So we were in bed just before 2 am and alarm clocks set for 7 am.

7 am did not feel very promising. I had a headache and could still taste wine. It never occurred to me not to run though.

We were meeting in Leith to get a bus up to Balerno. Peter and I did the best job we could to improve our physical state and walk jogged down to the bus, there to meet Richard and Ben who were in similar condition. Also there were many familiar faces from Heb3 races. Peter and Ben knew more of them than me.

The W.O.L half is a small invitational affair which keeps the organisational hassle to a minimum. Its run as a handicap race so that there are not too many runners all charging down the water of Leith at the same time as this route is also littered with dog-walkers, mountain bikers, and families with small children.

At Balerno we set off on a sheet of ice and there were stretches of ice for the whole route making the going very hairy and slow at times. Some people managed to clock good times despite the surface conditions. Maybe a different style of running or a different mind-set.

I kept a close eye on my condition as I ran, the challenge being to push as hard as I could without getting into hangover trouble - particularly gastric trouble. As it was I was scared to drink any of the juice I had brought in case it upset the fragile balance within. By the end my legs were crampy but otherwise I was alright. Slower than I would want to be.

Its not really a half-marathon. Varying Garmins give it as somewhere between 13.5 and 13.8 miles.

The sunny, icy cold weather was enjoyable to run in. Its been a nice time for running this last week. Today we're back to warmer, darker, windier weather.

The photos below were sent to us by Lynn Hanley, who thought my blurriness might be as a result of my drinking the night before. I sharpened them up in a way not approved by Peter, but I quite like them. I think the light in the trees looks like a Turner painting.

Black Run, Glentress.

We looked at the weather forecast for yesterday and saw it was to be cold, sunny and still, so thought we should go further afield for a run and planned to go down to the mountainbike trails at Glentress. Yesterday dawned sunny and still as predicted but we were still asleep and only surfaced about 11.30am.

I thought it was too late to go all the way down to the borders before running and that we should go somewhere nearer but Peter clearly had his heart set on the original plan so I relented and we went. We took head torches as it was pretty clear we'd be finishing off the 16ish mile run on steep and bumpy forest trails after dark.

It was a delightful day and although cold we warmed up nicely as we set off up and up and up. There was lovely diffuse light in the trees, red pine needles coated the paths and bright green mosses lined the way. We reached the hut, a mile from the top, and 7 miles into the run just as the sun was going down so Peter got some good sunset shots. Above the hut we were pretty much above the treeline and the path was frozen and the heather was frosted over. We thought we might have a really difficult time descending if it was all like this but as soon as we got back into the trees (which was now very dark) it was warmer and there was very little ice.

The navigation was easy most of the way as the trails are well sign posted - until we emerged out of the woods, now in total darkness, onto a main track and there was no clue as to which way to go. First of all we went the way I wanted to go which took us eventually to a sudden complete end of the road. At least it was decisive! We then went the opposite way with some trepidation which eventually took us back to the trail network and signs telling us how to get back to the carpark.

Peter was delighted by the many stars we could now see above us but I was more concerned with watching my feet. Didn't fancy taking a tumble into the night.

We arrived back at the car at 6pm. It was frosted over so we sat in it for a while with the heaters on eating apples and bananas and thawing out. We both felt we'd had a good adventure.

My new Garmin 405 coped fairly well and only struggled under the thickest foliage. Totals were 16.77 miles of running in 3 hrs 30mins.

Lakeland weekend

A weekend down in the south west area of the lake district. We were at a 50th birthday party which sounds sedate but wasn't. We ran for 4hrs in the hills with only some champagne hidden under a rock and then a lager shandy for refreshment. This felt surprisingly good. My legs are sore now however, this being the first run in the hills of any substance since the Pentland Skyline over a month ago. I took a leap over a stream that went quite well but something went wrong with Sharon's takeoff...

The Garmin unexpectedly dumped all its charge despite having been fully charged in the morning, so we've got no objective data of how far we went.

The bridge before Dingboche

We're getting excited about making films in my house having recently got a new hdd video camera and having last night ordered a waterproof helmet cam for those essential action pics... So I wanted to have a play around with uploading film clips to the blog.
This clip is from a trek to Gorak Shep to run the Everest Marathon last year. This river crossing was shortly before Dingboche. The bridge had been swept away so there were a few swiftly nailed together pieces of wood put down to replace it. What you can't see in the film is that the wind was gusting to 30mph and that any falls into the river would almost certainly have been fatal. The only way I could force myself to cross in good style (meaning not on my belly) was by shouting all the way across so I couldn't think. Quite an effective strategy as it turned out. For this I earned the title YakHunter.

East District League X-country part 1 - Livingston

Dechmont Law in Livingston. Not the easiest place to find and we drove 3 sides of Livingston - not so much a place as a motorway with shops - before we found signs for the Deans and knew where we were.

Having run the Pentland Skyline quite slowly the previous Sunday and still having a lingering cold I wasn't quite sure why I'd turned out for this race, expecially as I was in a team of 1. Still we ran the Dechmont Law 10K c. 2001 and really enjoyed it. Peter said this was the best cross-country course he'd been to.

Portobello men had 5 men which gave them a vet team but not a senior team (6 to count). I had held some hope that there might be some other Portobello ladies there but it was not to be. Shame.

Having only been running long hilly stuff the intensity of the cross-country was a shock to the system and I had a kind of whimpering notion that I would like to drop out when I realised at one point that although my lungs were burning and my legs were folding I was less than half way through.

Some good points were that I was overtaking on the uphills and the downhills, surely down to a summer of hilly stuff. On the flat I could be passed!

Checking my %age of max heart rate on my Garmin to see if I was working hard enough I was surprised to see I was giving it 106%! My American cousins would be proud. After a while it settled down to 93% - a more likely proposition.

As soon as my race was over a camera was pressed into my hand and it was my turn to get out on the course and photograph the men. The sun came out for a while so it was a bit warmer and I enjoyed shouting on all the people I've got to know over a few years hill and cross-country running. Its much friendlier than road running.

Peter still had enough energy for some showboating towards the end of his race when he realised I was there with the camera, as pictured.

Skyline Recce

Decided to run the whole of the Pentland Skyline route yesterday. Getting up when we woke up and taking it from there. So I was up at about 11am after a hectic weekend at a course in Glasgow.

Apparently it was a bright sunny morning but I never saw it myself. It was overcast all the way round. We set off at 2.30pm and left the hills in the car at about 7.30pm. Too tired to cook we got takeaway special fried rice.

Garmin says 16.96miles. We were running for 4hrs 36 mins.