It's been a while since I last blogged. In that time my life has changed significantly: I've separated from Alison, I've moved through to Edinburgh, and I'm in a new relationship with Sandra. It's not been an easy period, but I've had a lot of support from a lot of people, and hopefully things are now starting to come together. Thanks to everyone who has given me that support - it has been greatly appreciated.
I've managed to keep my running going through the turmoil and through the awful weather. I joined a few friends in November in doing the 'Keithathon' (running every day for a minimum of 3 miles or 25 minutes) and, having quite enjoyed the discipline of it, decided to keep going for December's 'Marcothon' (the same type of challenge but, as it was in December, lasting a day longer). I completed that, ran for the first 9 days in January to make it 10 consecutive weeks of running, and then had a day off. To be honest I'm not at all convinced running every day is a good thing to do, but it helped get me out there at a time when my motivation might have been otherwise lacking. It also meant I managed to reach the 2,000 miles for 2010 - 2,035 miles to be precise - and so I finally achieved one of the goals I had set myself for the year.
What about 2011? To be honest I haven't really set myself any targets or it given it a huge amount of thought. For the first time for many years I am not doing the WHW race - I'll be much more involved in the organisation this year, as well as trying to help Sandra who is running it for the first time - so that gives me a chance to do a few other things. Having said that I've already entered some familiar races: I'm in the National Cross Country championship (February), the Inverness half marathon (March), the D33 (March), the Cateran Trail (May) and the Devil of the Highlands (August), and although I haven't entered it yet suspect I'll be back at the Highland Fling (April). I'm even thinking about another 24 hour race later in the year, but that depends on how everything else goes.
I'm also thinking about joining an Edinburgh based club. I'd like to get my 10k and half marathon times down a bit, but to do that I know that I'll have to work a bit harder in training. In that respect training with a local club would be ideal, so if anyone has any recommendations then please let me know.
Yesterday, for the first time for ages, I was up on the WHW for a training run. 9 of us ran from Drymen, up and over Conic Hill to Balmaha, before I headed back to Drymen along the road. The rest of the group headed on towards Rowardennan, with a few completing the run back to Balmaha and Drymen. It was great to be back out on the WHW route - although a few sections of Comic Hill were a bit slippy - and really good to meet a couple of people I hadn't met before. I saw the boys in the afternoon then headed back to Balmaha, where we had a fantastic night at the Oak Tree Inn. It was a superb weekend.
