And then the sun came out!

It was taking us forever to get out the door today despite an extra hour's sleep as the clocks went back. I had an extra cup of coffee just to get going....and when we got to Gullane forced Peter, despite protests, to go and get another one, and a scone.

The combination of coffee and sunshine was dizzying and we had a very sparky run.

I'm not looking forwards to winter, but the low light is intoxicating when the sun actually comes out.

Mental Health Day

I was signed up for the Cumbernauld XC relays for today, but as the week went on my heart was sinking. What I was needing was a nice long run in the autumn wind, not a drive up the motorway and a 2.5 mile sprint against youngsters. And it's happening - on Friday I got into work before it was fully light and it was getting dark again by the time I came out. We're rocketing into the long season of darkness.

It had been a lovely day. I know because I saw other people's photos on facebook.

Here's the view from my desk, although not on Friday.

The gardens out at Carberry Towers where Peter's sister Caitlin was getting married.

The two photos above are the only ones I seem to have taken of Caitlin's wedding last Sunday.

I don't know who the man at the window was. Someone was waving from the window and I thought it was someone from our wedding party, until Peter pointed out the window was on the floor above. I wonder if he's ever allowed out.

Anyway, back to today. Despite having been warned by Mark Fry at club that he didn't want any drop outs for the cross-country this time, I decided to take a mental health day and cried out of it. 

definitely vampires I would say, parked next to the graveyard on Pilrig

I thought I might run about 12 miles and set out on the cycle path to Cramond to get the maximum wind cover, and then take advantage of the strong West Wind to get blown home.

It was an overcast day, but it was warmish and it was as good to be out for a solitary run as I hoped it might be. I'd almost forgotten how your mind runs over the events of the week, and sorts them out without conscious direction, while your feet tick along at an even pace.

I was slightly dreading getting to Cramond because at times I can find the Prom and then the next mile to Granton pretty grim. But today it just ticked by and before I knew it there were just 2 miles to go.

I had brought my Cashline card so I could get anything I wanted for lunch from Scotmid. I know how to live it up. The perfect thing turned out to be fried egg on toast and a cup of cocoa.

A surprise 14.6 miles done with a minimum of suffering.

Moody autumnal days

It was kind of moody and autumnal round Gullane and Dirleton today. I don't know what happened in Dirleton graveyard though. Woke up hours later feeling weird. Either that or got carried away with Photoshop. 

We were set to do maybe 13 or 14 miles today, but I was out of steam half way round, so trimmed it to 8. I think all the excitement of the last 2 weekends is catching up with me.

and then Gullane again

They're burning Peter's best butterfly bush! Hope the ticks get them.

This makes me think of the Fall of Icarus.

So after all the excitement of two weekends racing, and nearly winning and everything, it was a relief to get back to the shore. The wind was blowing hard and Falko's is now gone. The Gannet's Deli always seems to be closed so we got our coffee at the Village Coffee House. I say "we", but what I mean is I sat in the car while Peter obligingly went out coffee hunting. Came back with jammy scones too. Nice.

P hates the winter and had already been anticipating and bemoaning that there would be no wildlife as we drove to Gullane. What could he get obsessed about now? If only we were interested in people, there are streets full of them everywhere. But they're no good. Neither pretty nor interesting.

I realised when we got there how tired I was. It really was an effort to get out the car. But once we got moving, it was quite warm, despite the wind, and we started to have fun. But round at Aberlady nature reserve, on the way to the beach, we smelled smoke and then spied a burning bush and then saw to our horror that middle-aged people in stupid hats were burning down Peter's best butterfly bush. I don't know how Peter felt, but I was in shock - and I hurried him past. But what in the hell did they think they were doing? He's emailed the ranger to ask.

And on down to the beach. We'd promised ourselves to do no stupid sprint sessions on the sand following racing. We did it after a hard Pentlands run before and Peter strained a glute and I got the worst DOMs I'd ever had. So we kept it nice and even.

We extended the run to the woods, just to see if we could see any deer or anything - but nothing was showing itself at all. Just people and dogs. No points for that at all.

Today we're awaiting Hurricane Ophelia and the sky was a dirty brown this morning, and it poured with rain. I realised after a while that I wouldn't be going out a run at all. I am absolutely knackered. I had no ambitious plans for the day except going for a deep tissue massage up the road with Juan. Any fool can just lie on a table, so that's what I did.

Not looking forwards to cycling to work tomorrow in the hurricane winds - but taking the bus is just so boring.