Mussy 15

The Selkirk "Feel the Burns" Hill race is a Portobello RC championship race so it seemed like most everyone was heading there today, despite the snow and the ice. I planned to go a low pressure 15 miler, with a camera and at any old pace. Before I knew it, it was too long since breakfast though and I didn't want to eat anything else before running as my tummy has been a little "odd" (this phrase throws a veil over quite a lot of unpleasant experience). I took my cash-line card in case I needed to buy something to eat or drink en route and rolled out the door anyway.

It was a surprisingly nice day and it seemed like everyone had gone mad for snowmen. The sun was shining from time to time and the birds were singing. I was by no means an inspired athlete but I enjoyed being out. I knew I was too empty, but there didn't seem like much I could do about it. I know some people think that running on empty helps you utilise fat so I hoped I was utilising fat and kept going anyway. I went round the lagoons at Musselburgh and headed back towards Edinburgh. By the time I was arriving back in Portobello I was sorely tempted to get some cash and get something to eat and get a bus back from Porty. I'd only run 11 miles though and what stopped me more than anything else is that I've done this before and the bus takes ages and it's cold. I headed onto the prom and hoped I would just feel better or forget about it and think about something else until I got home. That kind of worked.

Home again and I've had a banquet of fish fingers and toast.

While I was out there I started to think about all the things I've meant to tell my blog people but have not.

Here are some of them;

I'm reading Seb Coes's autobiography and I'm really enjoying it. It started off a bit stilted, giving some background about his family etc. but as soon as he gets into talking about his running it takes off. Peter keeps saying "BUT HE LIKED MARGARET THATCHER". I know this is a problem, but when you're reading what the man says he is by no means simplistic. I remember watching the Moscow olympics and the epic rivalry between Coe and Ovette. Reading about what was happening behind the scenes is engrossing.

Also, partially to ensure I survived my operation, I bought myself a new Garmin. How could you die having just got a brand new Garmin? I got the 310XT because I admire its chunky orange looks and chiefly because it has a 20 hour battery. I'm still hoping to do the Highland Fling this year and I wanted the whole thing recorded. My old Garmin never gets much past 30 miles. I think it took me to 36 miles in the 2010 Highland Fling and then went blank. There's a lot of things about it I don't like so much. For some reason it's a hassle to get the computer to download from it. I have to "enable pairing" every single time, or the computer doesn't know it's there. It doesn't upload automatically to the Training Centre anymore either. I have to send my workouts to the Garmin Connect site and then export them and import them into the Training Centre program. I don't want to abandon Training Centre because I've got runs since 2005 in there. I can hear your soft snores...
The other thing I really don't like about the Garmin 310XT is its calorie counting policy. I can go out a 6 mile run and it'll go "yeah that was about 200 calories, maybe a little bit more, don't be snacking my friend!". This is patently unfair. Today, for my 15 miler, it grudgingly gave me just over 1000 calories to play with. I've googled this "issue" and find there are other people in the same boat. I haven't found a fix though.

In many ways it doesn't matter in the slightest. I don't count calories so it doesn't make any odds. What bothers me is it's just a bit like having someone around saying "but you know that wasn't really as hard as you think". I feel undermined by my Garmin. I'm still enjoying its orangey looks though and the battery is great.

Well it's getting dark and I should be having a shower and maybe even doing the dishes so I'm off.