Long Lammermiles

A wall to wall working week meant I only managed to squeeze in 3 runs last week. Its nearly August and we're signed up for the 36.5 mile Speyside Way race at the end of August so today had to be about doing longer runs again. Our last attempt at a long run petered out at 16 miles and ended up with us eating sweeties on a bus. So it was with trepidation that we headed back to the Lammermuirs for a repeat of the 21 mile run we did there at the start of July.

Peter ran 2 races yesterday and one on Wednesday so he was pleasingly handicapped for today. I hadn't run for two days so my legs were relatively fresh but my head, despite a good night's sleep last night, was a bit foggy and tired. Still, the weather was absolutely beautiful and there was just enough of a cool, fresh wind to help blow the flies away. As last time, the Lammermuirs were hoaching with life. Lots of hares. Plenty newly shorn sheep and glossy cows. Crickets chirruped in the undergrowth. The sun beat down and we ran.

The first "half" (8 miles to Carfraemill) seemed to go by much faster than last time. The route is loaded so the 2nd half is much tougher and hillier. The streams across the road on the return journey were deeper than last time we were there and required some negotiating. Still, it all went easier than last time. By 15 miles our feet were sore and we were complaining quietly but it didn't seem long until we were on the last 2 mile sweep back down to the car. Home, exhausted, a couple of pounds lighter despite drinking well on the way round the route and back at the car. We should probably be getting in some longer runs to prepare us for our 36 miler and we will try but the week's coming Tour of Fife means it might have to be the week after next...Still today was a lot more encouraging than last week's long run and the hills felt easier.

Lo Mojo

Attempted a long run today. Yesterday I suddenly developed a "knee" but fortunately that improved as I ran today. I think we're both still suffering from the rigours of the Maddy Moss. Both got stiff and tired early on. Even chocolate and fizzy coke at Prestonpans didn't help. By Aberlady I was ready to call it a day and offered to wait for Peter if he wanted to get some more miles in and come back. He didn't want. The bus home took a long time but I enjoyed our tour of Wallyford and the Pinkie Road.

Jellyfish Jeapardy

There I was, minding my own business, having a bit of a swim in the sea in the evening at Gullane and feeling pleased with myself that my swimming was improving when not suddenly but gradually I became aware of a bit of heat in my right wrist. Earlier when I was swimming my ankles had burned a bit too. Like the heat of chillies in food - hot but not even unpleasant. And that seemed to have gone now. My wrist was red when I looked at it. We were just coming out the water so I didn't give it much thought. Hey I've been stung by a jellyfish or something - there's a first.

We went back to Lucy's for tea and I tried soaking my wrist in red wine vinegar to see if that would help - and then had a bit of a Google to see if I could see anything else to do. Since it was unlikely there was anything very toxic in UK waters then the main worry would be anaphylaxis. My legs got very restless and tingly and I couldn't settle, meanwhile my wrist kept burning. I assumed it was going to be a short-lived thing but it didn't go away so we left Lucy's rather promptly and I put plan B in place which was to get some antihistamines and painkillers on the way home. I'm not really up on my antihistamines but Cetirizine for hay fever looked like a good bet also being for general allergies. We got lucky and caught the Prestonpans Coop before it closed at 10pm and I got what I wanted and took it right away. Its difficult to explain or even relate to how I was feeling but I felt like I had little electric shocks running up and down my legs and my hand was throbbing and I felt just generally very irritable and very tense. I tried to get Peter to distract me but all he could come up with was a list of all the things that were really really irritating him at the moment and it felt like this was just making the irritation in me intensify! I'm getting itchy just thinking about it...

I had a long day of work planned for today with my new job running from 8.30 - 12.30 and then a bank shift from 1 - 9, so I knew I needed plenty of sleep - but as the hours ticked by the chances of that happening receded. I couldn't lie still in bed and I couldn't put the light out without everything getting worse. My hand was a big red puffy thing with no veins and little drops of moisture on the surface. At 4 or 5 in the morning I phoned my new job and left a message about blah, blah jellyfish (I'm not really looking forwards to seeing them on Tuesday morning when I'm due back in!) and finally about 6 in the morning I fell asleep - 1st for just 10 minutes - but then for longer. At 8am I was awake and thought about phoning my GP but didn't think they'd be able to help or tell me anything and I needed sleep more, so slept through til 10.30 or so and got up to go to my second lot of work.

So now my hand's the normal size and although writing this has brought back some itchy feelings, its mostly resolved. But what am I to make of it? Was it a jellyfish? Was it a more-than-usually-toxic jellyfish? Or did I have a reaction to it - am I allergic to jellyfish? Is there anything I can do to avoid further stings from jellyfish?
Why is life acting weird? What does it all mean?

Maddy Moss Hill Race

Getting hounded up the rocks by Jablonski!

photo: Neil. G. Campbell.

You don't have to be Maddy Moss to run this race (haw haw)...but it would surely help. I've heard of it for years and put it off for all kinds of reasons. This year's reason was that I'd read the course description on Chris Upson's Scottish Hill Racing site and phrases like "frighteningly fast and tricky" and "near vertical plummet" gave me much pause for thought. The downhill aspect of this hill running business - not my forte!

Still, come Wednesday, I was idling, on a day off, doing stuff around the house so I'd be fresh for the club session and I happened to notice on the PRC noticeboard that Tony S. was going thru' for Maddy Moss and had seats in his car. I like a trip out with Tony because he's so buoyant and I knew the mad MacMillan was going too, so if only for the fun of being out at a race I went and prodded the Buchanan into agreeing that we would go. His only reservation was that as I'd been saying that I wouldn't do the race he'd gone to Tuesday night intervals at the Meadows and his legs were already trashed.

It was a hectic afternoon involving the council's noise team, our neighbours and the police and it was good to get out in the air and away to the open plains of Stirlingshire and the surrounding Ochils. Standing in Tillicoultry glen in the warm evening sunshine I was wondering what I was doing there. I was feeling sleepy!

Anyway - up the hill a wee bit to the start - a little recceing that only served to confuse me and we were off.

It was then, except for one short and alarming rocky down on a narrow path with a good drop off to a river, all up. Up and up and up we went and I made my way slowly forward. Early cries from the ever-feisty Derek Jablonski that I'd need to get  5 minutes ahead of him to the top or he was going to wipe the floor with me died down as I moved on up. I enjoyed and was rather flattered by Jablonski's attentions but I think some of the runners around me were not sure how to take it...I was glad when it stopped though because he was making me laugh but I was also breathing hard and he was breaking into my rhythm.

The sun felt very hot and it was a relief when it was veiled by the odd thin wisps of cloud. My face was frankly dripping with sweat. I disciplined myself to do the 50 steps of walking, 50 steps of running thing - which was  very effective. I had to lie to myself after a while saying "just one more set of 50 and then you can walk the rest" over and over in an attempt not to just give up. I had no conception of where the top was but had been warned it was a considerable up - I'd say about 1.5 miles to the first summit. At the top we turned back on ourselves for a while so it was a chance to see who was behind. I'd also seen some of the sharp end coming back the other way as I'd neared the top, including Peter who was looking focused. For a while it was nice to run steadily downhill and let gravity work for me rather than having to push, push, push...and I seemed to open a bit of space between me and a pack behind me fronted by some purple Ochils vests. After a while my lack of downhill skill started to show though and they started to gain on me and I was losing my zen-like sense of spaciousness and delight. It is hard to get caught on the downhills after you've put all that effort into the ups.

It was not even into the difficult down territory either - that was to come soon in the shape of the narrow trod I'd heard about, where overtaking is very difficult. I didn't need to overtake anyone except one chap in yellow with combat trousers late on, other than that was the awareness that people kept catching up to the back of me and then needing to get past. There was very little I could do to accommodate this other than stop and stand to one side which I wasn't willing to do. Some people managed to overtake skillfully at corners and others took daring leaps of faith across the rough stuff and I hoped I wouldn't be responsible for anyone launching themselves into space off the vertiginous side of the hill while the sheep looked on...

It was a narrow, rutted, rocky path and took a real toll on legs, feet, ankles and concentration. Towards the end of it my nerve and my legs were shaken and I couldn't bring myself to do much to get past the aforementioned man in yellow. I hovered behind him for some time til a natural space opened out. By now I was insanely thirsty and even the wet mud was looking somehow appealing. My brain wasn't working too well by then either and as the final marshal said "straight down here girls" (another female had appeared at my shoulder and overtaken) - I thought he meant go straight into the ferns and thistles which is what I did until I saw others running down a clearly marked path! ...a last few stumbles on shaky legs down a mercifully dry slope ( last year it was wet apparently and everyone fell) - the Mudclaws bit and held and I was still vertical...and...finish! A little while later I saw Jablonski crippling in on what looked like crampy legs. At the time I felt it was right to shout abuse at him... along the lines of "stop pretending to be injured Jablonski, I beat you fair and square"...and only later had a little worry worm that maybe he was injured! If you're out there DJ - I'll see you at the next one!

Results are not out yet but times seem to be similar to Carnethy times. I was a little disappointed with myself in the second half of this race but I'll just need to get out and do more.

It was a spectacular drive home with a big yellow moon hanging over the horizon and the pink glow of sunset behind the hills. We arrived home filthy and bruised at 10pm - another late dinner. I'd lost 4lbs out there in the hills and had a razor sharp thirst on me for the rest of the evening. If the shops had been open we'd have bought some beers to reward ourselves but perhaps luckily we were too late.

I better get myself ready for work now.

Crieff 10K

Photo: Michael Nowicki

Another Porty championship race yesterday - the Crieff 10K. Peter and I had done this one in 2004 and 2005 and not since as it tends to clash with the weekend of the Harris Half Marathon each year.

It was interesting to see both how our form would compare with 6 and 7 years ago and also how much my memory had edited about the race in that time.

Its becoming a bit of a theme but  come Sunday morning at 7am when my alarm went off the last thing I wanted to be doing was getting up and racing. Emily and Jim Ramsay were coming with us though which helps with the discipline of getting up.

The journey through in the car raised my spirits as Emily and Jim soon had me laughing. The roads were pretty empty and with only a few moments of uncertainty we found our way there with bags of time to spare.

There was a large turnout in general and of Porties in particular. It was hot and humid and blackish clouds boiled up in the sky but it did not rain til afterwards when we were sitting on the grass eating cake.

In my memory the race was pretty much triangular - up a hill, down the other side along a flat bit by the river and finish. The reality was ever so much more complex and confusing. There was a long up on muddy forest paths which I liked and was doing relatively well at. It was very busy where I was but it was still feasible to get past people if need be. Then a long down where I did less well. There were so many people that you couldn't see what was coming up under your feet. There were quite a lot of rocks and roots so care was needed not to trip or bend an ankle too far. The path turned and evened out for a while on forest trail. On the flatter bits I was suffering from a lack of oomph, trying instead just to hold steady. Another winding single track downhill needed concentration again and there was a chap right behind me who probably wanted past but there was not much I could do as we were hemmed in with gorse on either side. Out the bottom onto a path and into the field of humidity. I suddenly remembered this from 2005! Not that remembering it would do me any good. A path took us along the side of a field and the heat was intense and it was incredibly humid. I had the feeling that the people around me were making heavy weather of this as was I...

Back down beside the river the temptation would have been to go for a swim. The trees provided welcome shade but it was still very warm. Here the road runners came into their own and quite a few men went by me,  albeit giving kind encouragement as they passed. Up ahead in 70s Bjorn Borg sweat-band tennis-chic head-dress I saw Andrew Stavert. He's been improving a lot in the last wee while so in a way it was encouraging to see him although I suspected it meant that he was having a bad day rather than that I was having a good day...He gave me a point of reference in this endless battle to keep going in the heat so I mentally hung onto him...

The usual mental chatter was keeping me company. "I hate this. I can't go any faster and its taking forever. Its too hot and it hurts and I want it to end." "But love is meant to be stronger than hate, what do you love?" "The river is, erm, nice and shiny..."

At last we were beyond the nice, shiny river and nearing the end. \It was a series of searing twists and turns where the hope that the last bit was just round the corner turned into the realisation that there was still further to go. I was closing on Andrew Stavert and fearful that we'd end up having some god-awful battle for the line across the 3rd of a mile of playing field to the finish I gave away my position and shouted to him "Go ON Andrew YOU'RE NEARLY THERE!"

I'm not sure but I think he swore and he did indeed raise his pace considerably and overtook quite a few other men on the last stretch to the finishing line. Nothing for me to do then but make my own, solitary way over that vast carpet of green with the air getting drier and the heat intensifying.

Just as at Haddington 10K, just after the finishing funnel, collapsed on the grass was Kevin Clark - so just as at Haddington I joined him to recover myself.
I then had a peep at my watch and discovered my time was 50.14 - Crieff isn't a normal 10K so usual times don't apply! My time was 2 seconds slower than in 2005 which in a way is heartening as I'm 6 years older...I was trying to remember what was happening in 2005 - I think I was a bit knackered having run the Edinburgh Marathon in the middle of June and then the 7 Hills the week after that. I was taking a while to recover.
In 2004 I ran the course in 47.59 - and at the time was in a good mood because I was coming back from a knee injury I had from April to June. I didn't have much training behind me - and I wasn't even in Portobello then so it must have been the love of running that got me round.

After the race there was an amazing array of cake and we lay around on the grass eating cake and talking until the rain came on. Then Emily and Jim made me laugh again on the way home. Emily was trying to make me think about what I need to do to get my basic speed back up a bit and I was trying not to think about it. I think its suffering that gets your speed up isn't it?

Thunder over the Sea

Wednesdays off work are a mixed blessing. While I wouldn't complain about not working it means I have the dilemma of whether to put off running all day so I can do the club session or whether to get out during the day and run solo. Both scenarios have pros and cons. Today I shilly-shallied, leaning this way and that. At first the forecast said it was going to rain all day and dry up at night so club looked like a cert. But then the sun came out  and the forecast had changed itself without a backward glance saying it was going to be dry in the afternoon, with  more rain in the evening. I was bored and tired and after a half-hearted attempt at doing some housework I went back to bed and had a sleep. I dreamed about having an argument with someone on the back of a trailer and woke up sure in the knowledge I wanted a coffee and then a hot chocolate and then to run 15 miles. Its ages since I've run on my own and it seemed like an opportunity to see where I was at.

Seconds after I left the house the sky darkened and maybe 3 minutes into the run the sky had burst and  it was chucking it down. I had emergency bus fares just in case this happened and it all got a bit much but for now it was quite intense and very enjoyable. One of these low slung nugget cars deliberately went through a deep puddle at full tilt and soaked me which was also exhilarating though not as exhilarating as dragging the driver out his car by the hair and punching him in the face would have been. Still, as I can't run at 30 mph this wasn't an option.

As I was running along Portobello Prom there was a thunder storm behind me - which was a bit of a shame because I couldn't see it. So I don't know if there was lightning. But there might have been...There were very black clouds anyway and very grey sea which was tight up to the shore.

I'd like to say I flew along - I was working hard - but the Garmin said NO. Not flying along. I kept pushing along anyhow.

It wasn't a very well thought through plan - in fact not thought through at all - except in that I thought I didn't want to carry anything and I thought it was pushing it but I could get away with no drink for 15 miles. My legs really tightened up at about 12 miles but by then there wasn't far to go. So - 15 miles. Average pace a bit slow but not for the lack of trying.

In a fit of madness last weekend we signed up for the Speyside Way race. 36.5 miles of joy at the end of August. Because...because...well an over-distance run might turn out to be good training for Steve Cram's Kielder Forest Marathon that we're going to do in October... This weekend however, its the Crieff 10K because its a Porty championship race. Another opportunity for the fast club women to pull me apart. I find I'm LONGING to be 45. Not because there are no fast women in the over 45s at Portobello - just fewer of them...

Long Run in the Lammermuirs

Having slept in too late to travel through to make the start of the Dollar Hill Race (I was awake in the middle of the night to listen to gulls, Leith's finest singing and fighting and Peter snoring, but then got into a deep and lovely sleep), we had to quickly think of a plan B which would be substantial enough to wipe the stain of idleness from our snowy white vestments. (???) We hatched a plan to revisit the path in the Lammermuirs which we tried to do in the winter but got kinda lost  in lumpy fields full of snares and had to eventually turn back on ourselves running 12 miles where we had intended to run 20...(as blogged here).

We found the way back to the start without much difficulty and by 4.30pm were on our way! The bright sunshine had been replaced by a thin layer of cloud which was probably a mercy. The run starts with a near constant 2 miles uphill.

We were determined to do the full route this time - which we had measured as about 20 miles on Anquet maps. The running was a lot easier without huge snowdrifts and we didn't have to worry much about impending darkness so we were easier in our minds than last time. The path starts off very broken up and drossy but after you come over the top its generally easier. One noticeable thing was the burgeoning wildlife. The skies were filled with peeping marsh birds (peewits?) and the odd silent buzzard. There were lots of tiny rabbits. Quite a few hares. Sheep and lambs. Flies! (but not too many mostly)...some dancing ferrety things that were too far in the distance to properly identify...

We ran one way all the way through the hills to Carfraemill  and there hung a left along a main road for a while. There wasn't much in the way of pavement and the multitude of picked bones and little furry bodies were a warning to get away from this stretch of road as soon as possible.

Not far along we turned back up into the hills and the unknown.  This part seemed wilder and the path became very stony and rutted and at three points there were streams crossing the road big enough to merit some exploration to find a way of getting over them with dry feet (we still had a good way to go). There was a thought provoking amount of death heaped along these roads as well and we both independently christened this stretch the valley of death. We saw quite a few myxomatosis rabbits and others dead for no apparent reason. Also squashed and dried frogs (like dried bananas) in the road - and one very swollen Mr Rat with most of his fur off. There were also scattered bits of birds. It was all a little ominous and the marshy ground increased the number of insects. One diversion off the road to avoid a stream led to some minor rock-climbing and then wading through reeds and thistles and nettles leading to a good number of scratches and bites. We also came across frequent traps that looked like they were set up for...who knows what? Something ferrety...

It was a relief to climb to the higher ground again. We were a bit perturbed to have our road suddenly run out instead of continuing as the map seemed to indicate but we could see the road that ran alongside the electricity pylons just a field away so we had no difficulty joining up with this road. By now it was getting quite late and the peeping birds had mostly gone to bed. There were still hares and sheep around and oddly a whole flock of gulls. I was getting mighty sick of hills by this time and was trying not to whine as we'd only covered 16 miles and I wasn't relishing the thought of the next 4. As it turned out there were actually another 5 to go. I'm glad I didn't know that.....We'd both brought plenty fluids  but were thirsty none-the-less as we'd been sweating constantly in the sultry heat. At last we hooked up with the original road and there were just a couple of ups before the 2 mile downhill and views of sunsets across the Forth back down to the car. We managed to pick up some beers in Haddington before  everything closed and were home in time for a very late dinner - 11pm, and back to bed.

21 miles in 4 and a bit hours and the God of exercise has forgiven us for missing Dollar Hill Race.