For John with love

I really am starting to enjoy the long runs with the West Highland Way crowd now.  Will miss them after the race although I am sure that a couple of months recovery before running the Way might be a good idea.  Today I was asked if I run for a club.  Normally the reply would be "I run for Garscube Harriers" but today there was a pause.  I still run for Garscube but now I feel part of the WHW family.  Yes I belong to two clubs.  Garscube and the WHW.

Today's run was from Beinglass to Kingshouse.  A 31 mile run through what Ian B described as an easier section than last month up the bonnie banks of the loch.  My plan for today was not too feel as knackered as last month when I really struggled over the last four or five miles.  I wanted to finish strong but still at a manageable pace.  I think that the problem last month was my energy intake so today I would be running with my bra-pack full to the brim with energy drink and flapjacks.

We arrived at the Drovers early so that Debbie and Sharon could start at 9am with Graeme and Jim, the plan being that the faster group would start at 9:30.  This would mean we would hopefully be arriving at Kingshouse together for beer, soup and more beer.

I decided to leave my bra-pack in the boot of the car until the last possible moment.  Sharon would find something to slag Brad Pitt about so there was no way I was prancing about with my Ann Summers Hydration System with her lurking close by.

The 9:30 group consisted of John K, Ian B, Neal, Ian K, Thomas, Davie, Mike, Stoo and George.  It was good to see Thomas again as I hadn't seen him since the first training run and Neal who had got injured in the last run was back again no worse for wear.  Stoo and George were two newbies that I hadn't run with before.  Stoo knew Davie Aitken who is in my support team so we chatted for a bit before we where all away.

I started to run with Neal at the beginning when we left Beinglass.  It is the first time that I have chatted to him although I have seen him before.  We spoke about his injury on the last training run and how he was running two days after it.  I couldn't believe it as he couldn't even walk when I saw him pull out.  The last time I met him I thought that he was maybe a bit fanatical with mileage etc and that he would have to watch what he was doing, but as we spoke today I started to warm to him and found that he is just as fanatical as the rest of us doing this run. 

At first I was a bit worried that Neal would hurt his knee again especially as we both pushed the pace up towards Crianlarich but by the downhill towards the wigwams he was striding ahead so I thought that he would be fine.

Neal and I reached the wigwams first and I really didn't feel like stopping but these training runs are just as much a social event as they are about running and so we waited for the rest of the team.  Silke (Thomas's wife) was waiting for everyone with a boot full of goodies.  She has supported Thomas on all his long training runs and does a great job.  I am sure Debbie would do a great job on my support team.  Thinking of how I could talk her into giving up running and joining my support team would involve either breaking her legs or getting her pregnant.  Neither would go down too well.

Once into Tyndrum, Thomas started to run with me.  We picked up the pace as I knew that Debbie wasn't far ahead and I wanted to check how her sore hip was.

We caught up with Debbie and Sharon and stayed with them for a bit.  Debbie's hip seemed okay so Thomas and I pushed on and met up with Ellen, Mags and Aileen.  Ellen had had a fall and her hand was swollen quite badly.  Luckily Silke is also a doctor and so fixed her up when we got to Bridge of Orchy. This was when Ian appeared and he had fallen too and looked quite shaken by it.  I didn't really get a chance to speak to him before we were off again.

After the hill out of Bridge of Orchy,Thomas started to push the pace.  I read in his blog later that that this was his secret plan.  I couldn't keep up so let him go but soon got my second wind and caught back up with him.  We kept up the increased pace right into Rannoch Moor.  I love this section of the Way and today the scenery was gorgeous with clear skies, mountains with snow and the sun making it really quite warm.  Only thing was that my neck was starting to hurt a bit and I didn't get to look at the mountains much without shooting pain up to the base of my skull.  Just bad running posture and I really must try to relax a bit more.  This was where I started to feel really good.  In fact the last three miles ended up as 6:30 / mile which I was really pleased at.

I pulled away from Thomas and arrived at Kingshouse feeling very good at my strong finish.  Silke, Jon and his wife were there and cheered me to the end.  I felt like I was in a race.  Everyone more or less arrived within the next hour and so it was in to the pub for some soup and most of all some beer.

This was a really enjoyable run and I think that everyone had a great time.  Although it was only a third of the entire run it gave me a lot of confidence as I felt great at the end.  The skins seemed to do there job too as my quads and hamstring were not sore at all. 

Now taking a two day break from running before reps on Tuesday and an easy week.

I just read John K's blog and he was wondering where my posting was.  So this is for John.  Thank you for organising everything.

He also has a great slideshow on the day.