Starting again from the beginning!

i do think you are right - trouble is a 5 hour run is going to take a large part of your day - so I think for your sanity you really have to do it on a weekend morning - Now I know you have the gig on Thursday - but I think if possible you should do the run on a Saturday - two reasons - one it gives you Sunday to recover (assuming you don't work Sundays) (or Saturdays for that matter) also I used to find a long run on a Sunday tended to hang over you - whereas getting it out of the way on a Saturday it was done and dusted!!!! Good luck though am routing for you!!!!!.

It's snowing! A bit of light snow this morning settling on the ground in the village after last nights -5 degrees. The forecast is for it to brighten up a bit this afternoon but probably won't get above about 4, so I shall wait until mid afternoon and the 'heat of the day' for todays run. Quite a bit of snow fell on the mountains yesterday and a few of the walkers staying with us ended up turning back.

Did a new 7k route yesterday and nearly came a cropper. To join 2 roads I had to cross a couple of fields and use a footbridge to cross a stream. Trouble was the footbridge had been built on to a rocky area and I discovered the rock was very smooth and greasy. Legs flew in all directions but I managed to grab hold of the bottom part of the hand rail. As I fell my back hit the rock but I still held on and I ended up half way down the banking. If I had lost my grip I would prpbably have slipped all the way down into the stream.

A bit shaken and bruised, but like a true runner my first thought was to get going again as the stopwatch was running. Got to the other side of the bridge and slipped again and ended up with a grazed knee. Final ignominy was a boggy bit leading to a wet foot. Don't think I will be doing this run again any time soon, which is a shame as it was a good route.

Different world up there Half Runner!!!!  but luckily you are OK - and to carry on running shows you have indeed morphed into a proper runner.

Have you thought about buying a good trail shoe which would give you far more grip than an ordinary road shoe and then perhaps with a little care you could carry on running those trails for a bit longer?

Do you run a guest house or an outdoor pursuits centre or something?

Grendel - I was in trail shoes, the description from Mizuno is 'A trail running shoe that gives fantastic grip, stability and protection; perfect for when you go off road.' Unfortunately it was just a really greasy bit of rock that I think anything would have struggled with, trouble is it was not possible to get on or off the bridge without going on the rocks and it just caught me by surprise. I tend to run about half and half on roads and tracks but I will have to play it by ear when it gets properly snowy and icy up here.

We run a hostel so get plenty of walkers bagging the munros as well as lots of other outdoorsy types here to enjoy themselves.

What an amazing lifestyle you must have up there.

grendel - It sure beats the 9 to 5 and long commute I had for 25 years. Most of my work is mornings and evenings so I can always get out to run - walk - cycle -fish etc. in the afternoons and enjoy lots of daylight.  It's a 9 month season with 3 months off but you just work your finances to suit.

The downside is working every weekend and 4 evenings until 10pm and never having the same days off with my wife during the season. Also lots of beds to make and toilets to clean but that's the price you pay for the lifestyle. Been doing it for 10 years and would find it hard to go back to a 'normal' life.

This is a great time of year, the red deer are rutting and can be heard roaring on the hills, the red squirrels in the garden are burying nuts, the Autumn colours are coming alive and snow is returning to the hills. It's a pleasure to go out running and so many route options to choose from.

thanks Grendel, yeah im going to give it ago, the only thing really stopping me on a saturday is getting up crazy early so it doesnt take over my saturday!

Have to see how my lady feels about this, will have to leave the bed like a ninja! 

Right, let’s try a quick catch up, finally!

No run today as the wife is at college for the best part of the evening so it’s avoid the fridge night instead!

B2B, I see you finally got the garmin! You won’t regret it, I cannot believe how I ever coped without one although the last two runs I have done have been without it lol. One good thing is the fact you can run a known course or distance every now and again while leaving the stopwatch at home, and  when you’re in training for something you can get all the data you need! Also, early in a race it can keep you from getting carried along with the rest of the ‘starting too fast brigade’ while effortlessly overtaking them 2 or 3 miles later. I’ve heard about beetroot juice before, some people really rave about the stuff. Unfortunately for me, I can’t stand it so will never know its magic qualities. Nice swim too lol, I’m no better and I feel your pain. 500 up!!! Fantastic!!! Used my headtorch too last night, it takes a bit of getting used to I find.

Grendel, I get where you’re coming from with your wifes grandad, sounds like my kind of bloke. That’s a decent age to reach too. On a lighter note, these things come in three’s so heres hoping this thread has had its dose of bad news for a while. I haven’t discounted going out early but recently I’ve been tired just doing what I’m doing if that makes sense, not sure I need to add to it. Anyway, I should get back into the swing of things now and I’ve even signed up to a free fitness site, “my fitness pal” as I hope to get into shape over the winter and make next year the best yet regards running. The 8 ½ hours of football certainly kicked the shit out of my Achilles lol, thatll take a week or two to settle down again. Lol at the beach incident!

Welcome to the nuthouse Panda Bear, you’re in good company on this thread. That’s some impressive stats already, I wish somebody slower than me would join in! Good on you for having a rest day, otherwise known as an easy 3 miles to Gredel A boxing day 10k eh? Good for you. A sub 60 10k training run there too, nice one J

3:30, I have also given up with London. I may make one huge effort for a charity one day but for now lifes too short for race rejection. I’ve also had just 2 runs in the last 2 weeks, here’s to many more!

Bananas 1989, you’ve already taken the biggest steps by the look of it, welcome aboard. Thanks for your kind words also, my granddad had a great send off, there wasn’t enough room in the church for us all! He was one of nine children, and had nine children himself, this led to grand children and great grand children totalling 48! That’s NOT including his 8 brothers and sisters or any of their offspring! Just his immediate descendants. The eulogy was spot on and it was great to see so many people, even at such a sad time.

This thread inspires me every time I visit it so hopefully it’ll do the same for you. There are people of all kinds of ability on here, some post almost every day, others come and go. Feel free to post away whenever you like. I have just signed up to a site called “my fitness pal”, its simple to use, counts calories  and exercise and best of all its completely FREE! As far as books go Born To Run is a must, Feet In The Clouds I found compelling despite not having a clue about fell running. I started reading I run, therefore I am nuts recently, got about half way through and binned it, way too americanized for me, I found it bloody boring to be honest. Eat and Run by Scott Jurek was pretty good and had lots and I had lots of pages marked for future reference.