Chatting and running

Two of my favourite things to do rolled into one on a jogscotland night out. We ran from Furnace to Inveraray in two waves more or less getting there together....ish. the run is really nice almost totally along the shores of the Loch, we then had a lovely if a little tardy meal with lots of chat and banter...




Weekly runs 10.62

I am still in the slightly unreal, un-anchored state that I usually assume when the children head back to school...I have sort of got used to having them around. Yesterday I did not really notice too much as I shot off to the Osteopath halfway through breakfasts, I did actually leave Garret to finish off rather than leave the poor couple with forks at the ready wondering what was going on. I battered my way through torrentially impressive rain to Helensborough for a bone crunching time and an amazing correction of a displaced thingy (a well known medical term, e mail me if I am too technical for you) round about my knee cap leading to tight hamstrings. he is the magic man!! Onwards to TK Max for me to not purchase any new sheets and to be generally very disappointed. I then hit Primark and had a hugely interesting time earwigging to other peoples conversations. It is a close fought competition between the mother and daughter flipping effortlessly between English and some other language mid sentence giving me tantalising glimpses into the conversation and a couple of women swapping tips on how to sneak out to meet a paramour (!) of a night without ones partner getting wind of it...apparently tonging or straightening your hair is a dead give-away "men notice these things"....... After I had been released from custody on the charge of stalking I made my way back through the rain to little old Inveraray. As life swings back into its normal term-time routine I was back at jogscotland mid-argyll for a 5 miler along the canal bank and some catch up gossip, then home for a wee glass of red and the breakfasts to sort.

The “Then” blog. For details see entry for March 7th 2009. In brief the restoration of Claonairigh House
Sunday 16th August
(Garret) Rain/sun intervals a few midges in the shade
Opened up dining room fireplace, removed rubbish and rubble from Kitchen and the dining room. Found old spit mounting eyes, some nice old fire bricks and 2 very ornate bricks which we’ve kept (obviously I have been away from Fee too long when i have feelings for bricks). Had quite a lazy day, really back in the caravan for 18.00hrs. Dad had a bit of a doze and I read The Oban Times. Had to re use the two catch plates and plane the porch door again for the umpteenth time. I swear the door or door frame is growing 1cm/day. In fact it is growing so much I am looking for leaves! Marjorie arrived 1900hrs, looked round house, had a cup of tea and I took her to the B and B. Walked Tess down to the campsite to phone Fee, phone u/s for the third night. I am falling asleep and Tess has got the best place on the bed.

Monday 17th August 1992
We have decided that Claonairigh is Gaelic for “Place of the trench foot” Rainy in morning, sunny afternoon. Midges few but hungry.
Started on last of the safe lintels over lounge doorway when the wagon from Bonawe Sand and Gravel came with 10T sand and 5T gravel which he could only tip in the gateway. 4 hours later we had moved it. Cost £122.70. Marjorie painted windows until 3pm. G and P then replace the lintels 3 type C and 1 type B 1,500m Didn’t get them all reblocked above the lintels as we went to the George with Marjorie, she had salmon and seafood cause, G had steak in pepper sauce (Tess had ¼) and P had steak too.
Tuesday August 18th
Cloudy/sunny Intervals
Midges 7pm onwards
Finished lintels over lounge doorway started on dining room fireplace. Had shower and rang Fee/ Linda at campsite. Saw two lads carrying about a 6lb salmon that they caught this morning.
Wednesday 19th august
Cloudy/sunny Intervals. The wee timorous beasties were out in force pm
Went to Lochgilphead. 3 bags of cement and provisions from the Coop and Harcros. In the afternoon had a delivery from Harcros, 100Ltrs of 5 star, 10bags of cement and two packs of concrete blocks £400.74. Patched up the dining room fireplace. Put warning notices on Mill and boarded doors “There’s trouble at T’Mill” Needs safe lintels repairing quickly.
Thursday 20th August
Changeable Midges 7pm onwards
Finished patch dining room fireplace. Started tiling the porch roof. Fee arrived 7.40pm.

Refused my 10%.....

Rosie and Freya refused to give me my rightful cut of their winnings at the Inveraray highland Games this week. They had a great time collecting their little brown envelopes with cash inside them for the first three places in each event. Finally a point to all that exercise!! Toby found it harder as he was against older competitors but had the ultimate satisfaction of beating his Dad....worth more than gold. he did manage an envelope of his own in the last event..local mile 3rd place.

Flying high on Friday

Friday started normally enough as Fridays often do with the children chivvied off to school slightly happier than usual with the weekend looming and then into puzzling over who ordered which breakfast and how many don't want sausages etc etc. I ignored the ringing phone as is my wont as it would be 1. the quarry 2. the woollen Mill 3. someone silly cold calling. In all three of these scenarios it is by far preferable if Garret picks up the call. Once breakfasts were on the table I delivered the usual cuppa to Mr C. lying in state upstairs to find that after all the call was for me. The offer of a trip out in Howard and Mynra's plane if I could get myself to Oban. Hmm difficult choice, doing the rooms and then running 7-8 miles with Liz or going flying on a gorgeous day. An hour later I was on my way to Oban with cold box in the boot so I could shop before hand. With typical Fee like behaviour I started my worrying when approaching the airport, no, not about the flight but about where to park, where to meet H and M and what if I could not find them.....worry worry worry...However as I drew into the neat and small car park there they were leaning on the railings outside a toy sized modern terminal building. It was so lovely to see them and they gave me the treat of a lifetime and a memory to treasure for ever. that sounds such as easy thing to say but it was a sliver of time that will always remain special. We flew from Oban over Loch Awe and onto Inveraray, in miniature Dun Na Cuiche does not look so high as it does from sea level! Over Inveraray we went and then over our house (I spotted a few new tracks for running.....) and then down Loch Fyne to Lochgilphead. The return journey up the coast was magical, and I was resistant to an offer to take the controls in case I missed something! Man may have done some terrible things to the landscape but the wee sails in all colours racing along below and the wind farms lazily turning on the hillside were all part of the day's tremendous beauty. Down again safely we headed to Benderloch to round off a perfect day with a perfect coffee and a perfect scone. By the time I got home Garret had taken off on an offer to go riding and so it was back into family life and teatime. I tried to sneak out for a quick run, just 5 flattish miles or so but got caught by Garret returning so the five flattish turned into 7 challenging.....Only problem now is which photos to publish out of so many perfect ones. If you can bear to look at more the full album is on facebook.
In the usual way i have managed to upload the pictures all in the wrong order and my tummy is grumbling for it's lunch now so no re jogging today.
1. Coast going North to Oban
2. Our House with Loch Fyne in the background
3. Our House
4. Inveraray
5. Loch awe
6. Coming in to land
7. plane and passengers
8. Howard and Myrna
9. Parking the plane without the benefit of parking sensors.

Ten weary miles on...even the dogs were knackered!

A wee trip round Loch Glashan with Liz and the dogs today before the rains came. Lucy realised what was afoot early on and paced herself but Ginny did not need to. Every so often her little black head would pop back over the crest of a hill to check our plodding progress. My legs were definitely heavy and the brain sore too I think. It took me a good long time to add up my mileage over the last two weeks and to come up with 53.3 miles. The litany of aches and pains grew as the miles clocked up and it made me feel so much better to list them all out loud. liz generously tolerated this foible for at least a mile. Who needs way markers when, for example,the tummy gets hungry at 2 miles,the right hip reliably and regularly starts to ache at 6 miles followed by various ailments both imaginary and real roving up and across the body with abandon? Liz beat me with a sprint to the car fair and square...(well, she did have Molly pulling her along on the lead but who would be churlish enough to note that, not me for sure......). We had a mutual confession as soon as the car was reached that internally we had been willing the other to drop to a walk at any point. However we are obviously made of sterner stuff and so celebrated by falling upon a packet of Rollo's lurking in my car. Fab soup at Liz's with toast and salmon finished a perfect (I can say that now) exercise routine nicely. All aches and pains forgotten and forgiven.The finger nails are rapidly disappearing and so that can only mean RACE DAY next weekend.
1hr 29 mins and 57s!!

Yipee...a PB!

Today was a day of sunshine, showers and hail...the perfect choice for a 10k over the hills and far away! The intrepid Trio (Garret, Liz and I) arrived at the start in Lochgilphead in a hail storm....The others were smug in their preparedness whereas I worried about getting soaked to the skin just getting to register. Never mind, I like to run cold I thought, it is what I do. The run started in pleasantly warmish sun and continued to stay warm for the first 5-6k or so until I crested the brow of a hill running alongside a guy from Glasgow. This is the great thing about running, get yourself attached to someone just slightly faster and let them do the running for you, plus you get a good old chat too! So,I had company as I toppled over the top of the hill and into the accompanying hailstorm simultaneously.This was made soooo much better by the self satisfied feeling I had had less than three minutes previously about a vest and running shorts being the appropriate way to dress for such a warm day! Anyway, Mr Glasgow headed off after hearing that my estimated finish time was 50 minutes but by keeping him well in my sights I managed 46 so well chuffed, Garret did 43, and Liz 48 something and so no grumpy, long depressed faces here tonight, until the next race that is.

PS Cake made by Toby on our return.

PPS I didn't mention that I was second female home did I???

A week with no running.... Arghhhhh!!

Not only that but a 10k tomorrow with muscles that have inexorably slid back into moaning about running a mile or less. A twinge or two (or three or four) of some kind of tendinitis along the front of my left leg forced me to abandon the 1/2 marathon training temporarily in an attempt to stay in tomorrows race. This came on following the sponsored walk, or to be more accurate during it,my solution to this is not to walk anywhere any more. I shall run or be pushed by an available off spring in an upright metal tipped up thingy with wheels like delivery men use to trundle around heavy packages. I did potter along with Inveraray jogscotland (we had an article in the local paper no less...in the sports pages too!!) but missed the sprints having to watch the poor souls from the sidelines. Hopefully next week I can join in too. A peaceful week here with some very amicable guests who like some kind of flip side to me walk everywhere...well they have to really as they have no car! They are very committed to this and don't even accept lifts offered into Inveraray! They do it for fun, still it is a very nice walk. Off now to rescue the burning chicken from the oven...no, it is not the one previously featured although I am keeping my beady eye on her!

Legs ache so it is Thursday.

A good slog last night at jogscotland mid Argyll as we tackled the 6 mile/10k course set for The Anthony Nolan run next Sunday. We shivered and shook waiting for the off as the day had turned really chilly but all that was soon forgotten as the first hill approached. With Garret off like a hare from more or less the off (there was an enquiry as to whether my training plan said slow or fast for this one? The reply seemed to make his mind up and he cruised off easily) leaving me with a guy tracking me for the first two miles and then he too effortlessly swung away from me and my tired legs.It is a lovely course with decent but not too steep hills (I can say this now!). The rest of the race was uneventful, up to a point. This point was near the end when my oxygen starved brain told the legs to do an extra (very short) bit and then cut off a longer bit. Garret kindly pointed out my error as I approached the finish so I ran back a-ways until June put me out of my misery by telling me that she thought I had made up the distance. She also scooped up the in-front-of-me guy who had gone more wrong than me.....It was great to see everyone finishing and smiling as they did it, cept me of course I was CROSS!!!

jogscotland inveraray

Finally we got to the big night and headed off to the school to wait with trepidation for any takers. The first one hove into view at just before 7pm and we anxiously watched her approach the school whilst trying to guess if she was in running gear or not! Happily she was as were the other 10 or so folk that arrived to join us. There was a mixed range of abilities which makes things more interesting and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves. The weather was great not too warm, no rain and no MIDGES!! We did an "out and back" run with the fastest off the blocks scooping up the rest on the way home. All survived and so watch this space for how many come back next week for more!! Garret and I collected the dogs when we got home, they were not happy to see running gear going off without them an hour earlier and did a training run which just about finished me off!!

End of Term

A good pick me up last night at jogscotland after saying goodbye to Howard and Myrna that morning. Our lovely regular guests disappear off home to Ayr (they stay with us two nights a week in the winter months)in the Summer and are flying off to USA soon to see their daughter. Great company and so roll on next winter!! We had a lovely run to a high point overlooking Crinan Canal and beyond, well worth the stop for a breather and then on up some fiendish steps and into a fantastic hillside/wooded run. Lots of bounding up rocky bits and careering down rough slopes...good fun! To crown the evning we all got our certificates for the time trials that we have done over the last term and Yes, it is official I am the fastest woman in the group and have the paperwork (and flowers!!) to prove it. Not bad for an old bird... Garret was fastest man and so we felt a very speedy family by the end of the night. No pressure for next term then!!!

Mud, Mud Glorious Mud

Running and piggy antics seem to have take up most of the day today despite my best intentions to get out in the garden.I Met Liz at Furnace Village Hall and did my best to drag legs that appeared to have two or three hard tennis balls lodged in the place where my calves usually are round and about and up and down. This condition is a legacy from Wednesday night (see last entry) and stayed with me for the whole soggy 8 miles but were most obvious on the hilly (up) bits. I was truly scared near the end as Liz began to sprint for it in earnest just as we went through Furnace Quarry until she remembered that we had parked further away than usual and still had 1/2k or so to go.....she also had Ginny pulling her whereas Lucy was flagging (excuses, excuses, I can dredge them up from nowhere).
In order to sooth my legs and render movement tomorrow a vague possibility I eventually got into the bath mid afternoon accompanied by a good book. Halfway through a chapter dedicated to a curious mixture of Christian fundamentalism, pornography and bombers (don't ask) I heard suspicious banging noises from the pig food shed...Yup, Miss Oldest Piglet had done it again, another piggy dash for freedom and food. Linda and I eventually bullied,cajoaled and bribed her back to re-join the other good (and hence probably with a longer life expectancy) piglets and Mrs Pig on the right side of the fence.The pigs being, well, pigs and having done their job well this was a very muddy job and meant another quick dip in the bath and so the afternoon passed away. As Garret is away until Sunday it was left to Toby and me (until he hit himself on the knee with an axe, wooden bit luckily,again an explanation of how this happened exactly is really not necessary or indeed fathomable) to try to barricade the fence against further attempts. Hmmm been there and done that before. ..WATCH THIS SPACE

Tuesday and Wednesday

Well, it had to happen but the snow is rapidly receding with the last weeks mild weather. We made it up for an afternoon when skiing was limited to the main basin and around about with good snow but narrow in places which did make me scream. My runs slowly improved in style and decreased in squawking until I decided to call it a day and retreat to the bottom cafe for a delicious bowl of soup whilst Garret swooped down released from a weeping wife for a few more runs...indeed I think that he was last down (again). It was pretty hard on the legs as there was no warm up and not let up on the way down. I was definitely the least experience one up there so nothing new there then! Fingers crossed for a dump of snow this weekend........
Last night saw a different form of torture (sorry, exercise) as we had another time trial at jogscotland which involved staggered starts along the 6.5k tri route with Garret starting 13 minutes after the leader. It was HARD going as neither of us could see who we were chasing (in his case me!) for a good long while and then it took a long time to catch them up. however, fantastic result as all the group knocked time off in some case minutes from a month ago. the handicapping was very well done and meant that there was very little hanging around. Result....very tired legs today!

Why you need a friend to run with....

A short run before a swim turned into an 8 or so miler through the hills at the back of here. The weather was great, perfect in fact and we just kept on going doubling back as paths disappeared into bogs etc and taking a detour (photos) up to the Old Village. We both felt we needed the leg stretch and despite the aches and pains at the end (it is quite hilly...) it was all worth it. Having run Dun Na Cuiche on Thursday with Garret I feel well exercised this week. That one is a real grueller in the middle section and fast on the way down all 220m of it. For any runners out there we were rekkying for an organised run on May 30th as part of Inveraray's Bluebell festival, get in touch for more details...Kate, are you reading this?!

Back to running

All quiet on the B and B front this week so I am a lady who lunches today with my friend Lyndsay...always good food at her gaff.Nice to have time to relax if only I could stave off the guilty demons that lurk around me at this time of year. I can justify the downtime in my head but somehow the message stays in there mired in a pit of anguish.
Attending jogscotland last night turned out to better than expected as we set of in a splatter of rain and hailstones combined with a pitch black night. The aforementioned guilt kicks into touch here in a positive way at the thought letting others down, being a wimp at not turning up, setting a bad example and worse of all the fear of others getting a rung higher on the training ladder as no way was last night a good night for training...or was it? The rain cleared just before Lochgilphead and jackets and gloves shed on the 10k run down Loch Fyne through Ardrisaig. Roughly 53 minutes...okay for a stiff under exercised Momma.

Excuses Excuses Excuses.....read on

Shame on me...so long without a post but I do have an excuse or two honest! Firstly we had the sweaty, panicky downward slide to the Triathlon (hence the pictures)coupled with an end of season rush for rooms with some very nice guests indeed. You know who you are......So, back to the triathlon. The day was good with kind weather, just a bit of a breeze on the cycle. I had a better swim than I expected pulled along as I was in the wake of a friend and better swimmer. I hauled myself out for a rather frantic transition to bike losing precious seconds by forgetting to fasten my helmet strap, a big slap on the hands and an ignominious return to the bike racking if you try to set off on the cycle so woefully prepared. The cycle leg was so so 42 minutes with the usual leg crunching start to the run when one's thigh muscles become so disproportionately large and heavy that even a slow crawl along the pavement seems unachievable. Luckily after a km or so of torture it begins to subside and I finished in 34 minutes...oh blessed finish line. So, then we went to Liz's for a little glass or two of bubbly to celebrate and...Toby decided to round the evening off nicely by tripping outside and (we subsequently discovered) tear a tiny artery at the top of the nose. This naughty little blood vessel dominated my life over the next two weeks or so as it continued to bleed at varying degrees for the following week until a humongous eruption on Saturday night which saw us moving late at night from home to Dr's surgery to ambulance to ENT ward in Glasgow at a fast rate of knots. Our heads were reeling but not as much mine was 5 days later after several joyless nights sleeping in a hard chair by his bed. We actually reached discharge twice during the week but had to return.After numerous goes with a rigid scope the eventual cauterization was achieved with a GA. So, 5 days later a paler son (and mother) returned to the bosom of the family in time for Rosie's birthday on Friday.
We have now had several discussions on what not to say to complete strangers i.e "my mother was born in 1950" to the porter on the way to theatre and "do you know what you are doing" or words to that effect to the consultant surgeon just before theatre and (worst of all) "hospital food is really good". I hope I am forgiven for my absence.

Wednesday night aches and pains.

Another Wednesday night run, this time no Garret who is working in Glasgow. To say that my legs are aching is to...lets think of a good one, ahh yes, is to say that the Earth is really quite big. Ow,ow and ow!!! A fast, or so it seemed clamber around some bogs, a loch and some rooty paths and the last mile round a small Lochan. The speed was set by Peter with legs about twice the length of mine and clearly the capability for more speed as he chatted to Bill and me over his shoulder most of the way. I managed quite well until the last mile and then floated along in their wake foccussing mainly on the pain in my legs.....homeward bound I received several messages from Toby about the Oban Games tomorrow and arrangements for getting there. In the parallel universe in which he dwells with the Potato men and pink fluffy clouds it was possible for me to be here cooking breakfasts for 6, and the girls and be driving him to Oban. The beds, as always would be made by a flash of my magic wand whilst the bathroom pixies clean the bathrooms and kitchen etc....actually I would like to live there too. So therefore, Garret will be going to Oban tomorrow.
Run total 9

PS Car we went to see AWFUL so sticking with the devil we know for now......

Reasons to be motivated parts one two and three....

1.Other peoples achievements always seem much better than your own
2.Far too many fit people on TV over achieving in a shameless way.
3.Sheer terror.

Suddenly we are overwhelmed with Dutch guests attending a wedding nearby, a very happy experience for us and hopefully for them. Spurred on by one couple, who ran 14 miles this morning after breakfast (I was of course able to advise on the perfect route and nearly bored them to death with my overly enthusiastic local knowledge) in preparation for The New York Marathon I got on the bike yesterday and whiled away ½ an hour staring at the hut floor and listening to a spooky Play for the Day. Today, still on the up crest of the exercising wave we had a Corner Family style Duathlon. Toby, Rosie, Freya and I cycled down to the shore with the dogs (they ran) and then Coach Freya and I took off, me on my pins and her monitoring everything from speed, distance and possibly wind speed to for all I know for a 5 mile run. She was fantastic especially once I had encouraged her to give me distance updates only every 10th of a mile not every 100th. Even as we approached the turn round place which was up a hill meaning she dropped behind I could hear a distant shout giving me the distances run (if you are trying to make sense of the map we were going to go 4 miles but I was shamed into 5 so we carried on past the finish line and doubled back...psychologically this is quite shattering!). We had a wee rest with the others in a shelter thoughtfully built by Toby and then cycled the 2.5k or so home. Running along by the shore we thought of Lizzie on Coll doing her ½ marathon…it s a perfect day here for running so hope they had more of the same.

Big Day for Rosie (and her Mum!)

Rosie started "big school" yesterday and survived with a smile. The last minute decision to allow Garret to accompany her down to the bus was tempered with a request that he stay out of sight...the same was applied to Freya and me at the tail end of the day.We duly complied and all was well. Lack of photo is due to operator error (forgot to put the battery on charge) and the stress of trying to say goodbye on this big day and make sure that the correct guests got the correct breakfast. I may be able to sneak one later when she has forgotten about me and my camera...and when I have charged up the battery again. Off to rescue banana bread out of the oven now and watch the Olympics....as I write I have cringed over the mens 4 by 100m relay DQ. Oh that reminds me. Obviously now the children are back at school I will attempt to right the ravages of making beds and no exercise in a couple of days...no pressure as we officially entered the triathlon yesterday (caught by Steven, the organiser who has kindly saved us a couple of places so no getting out of it now). So Garret and I cycled a soggy 3.5miles to the pool, attempted to time our swim whilst frankly terrifying the legitimately holidaying folk of Loch Fyne Hotel. We did manage to leave about 3" water actually in the pool and damply cycled home. Jogscotland has recommenced and so a 4 miles along the canal in 32 mins (dragged along in Garret's long legged wake). We are half crippled today. Ooops, forgot the banana bread.....

Rainy run.

A quick run whilst the girls were at a nearby party. This is a road at the head of Loch Fyne that I have not been down since Toby was about 2. An Austrian friend lived there with her American husband who worked for the RSPB specialising in golden eagles. We used to walk along this road with our babies in back packs and Tess, in her much younger days running along enjoying the smells. Today was a bit faster than we would manage in those early motherhood days, helped in places by Ginny still confined on the dog jog lead. The first incident involved two bikers, sheltering from the slight precipitation that was belting down at the time who acted as a magnet to her and so I was dragged inexorably along to invade their personal and private cigggie smoking space. Then I really skimmed along when a deer popped out from a nearby copse. Luckily a fence halted progress and stopped my heels from spontaneously bursting into flames. Our quick out and back was rather faster than intended as we skidded round a corner to be confronted by a group of hairy and immovable highland cows with young in tow. They were very unimpressed by the silly border collie bouncing around on her toes and barking frantically. We conceded to their total right to occupy as much of the road as they wanted and went back to harass the bikers once again.
running 15.5 (ish)

Meanwhile the work at home went on

Well someone has to tickle Mr Pig......and it has been a while since a pig photo. Lucy takes up guinea pig and bunny watch position, a stance that can be held for many hours when there is nothing better to do. A lovely day all in all. The girls went to Karate pm so a run for me on a very pleasant evening with a bit of breeze. Toby felt that Karate could do without him for the night as he dropped an anchor onto his leg and it made a hole. The gaping wound must have been dealt with very competently by Mrs Skipper as after one day only a small round scrape remains. Hooray for the healing powers of the young man, or for their powers of exaggeration...what a naughty cynical mother I can be.

11.8 total running