Buchlyvie is a small village near Stirling, the race entry therefore quite small at only 250 runners. The conditions today were perfect for running. Sunny and cool (but not too cold). A proper crisp winter's day. The course itself was an out and back course, following a disused railway line, meaning that it was also flat! A beautiful course, mostly off-road and through woodland, especially nice this time of year with the autumnal leaves. I felt good throughout, average sub 8 minute miles all the way round. I tried to run at a consistent pace and felt strong over the last few miles picking off as many of the other runners as I could. The Achilles heel problem seemed to have disappeared, although my knee (which I've had problems with before) was making itself known in the last couple of miles. Nothing a quick trip to the chiropractor won't sort out! I was aiming to run under 1hr 45mins. I finished in a time of 1hr42min35s, so was very pleased. The last half a mile of the race was round a very muddy field, felt more like a XC than a road race! I was grateful to be handed a nice chunky medal and food goody bag at the finish. I'm pleased to say, the marathon training is on track!!
Well, the theme for this weekend was mud, rain, cold, mud and wind! Oh and did I mention mud?? Saturday was the Scottish Cross Country Champs in Cumbernauld. 3x4000m (4 legs for the men) around a country park. Conditions were 'difficult' to say the least. There had been heavy rain overnight and throughout the morning. Along with that were very strong winds! The nature of the race also meant that the later runners were going over well trodden, churned up paths. I was in a team with fellow club members Gillian and Megan. I was on the third and final leg. Having sprained my ankle the week previous, this was my first run in over a week. With a heavily strapped up ankle I ran carefully around the course with no problems. This was also my first XC race
in almost 4 years, and despite the tough conditions I really enjoyed it!! Cross countries will feature highly in my weekend running over the next few months, so I think the washing machine will be working overtime! All good marathon preparation i'm sure?!?
Swim: 0:08:50 (37)
I hadn't run a 10km race for a few months, so was looking forward to this one. It had the novelty value of starting in England, crossing over to Scotland and finishing back in England. Norham is a nice little village right on the border. It made me laugh how the race crosses over a bridge, you see a sign saying 'Welcome to Scotland' and then head straight up a hill....haha! Typical!
d our bikes onto a lorry and got on the bus to Glasgow, along with many other riders taking part in the event. On arriving in Glasgow we were reunited with our bikes and we made our way to the start line. It was quite chilly to start with, but at least it was dry and the sun was out! The organisers set groups of cyclists off every minute or so. We led out our group of cyclists as we set off through the streets of Glasgow. What an amazing feeling to have cyclists as the majority on the roads, pushing cars out of the way! Great!
We reached the first station after about 8 miles. We stocked up on a few essentials and then carried on along the course. The second 'feed station' at mile 23 included home baking which seemed to go down pretty well with all the cyclists. We of course felt obliged to try some home baked tr
eats! At just over 30 miles we reached 
n, we thought we'd be pretty safe weather wise to go for a week in late August. How wrong we were! After the long drive to Skye on Saturday, we woke up early on the Sunday morning, excited and ready for day one of our challenge!! The sky was grey, and there had been torrential rain and strong winds the night before. Oh well, this was only day one, surely things were set to improve. We drove to Glen Brittle Hostel and met our guide, George Yeomans. A veritable mountain dude - has hiked all over the world, knows the Cuillin like the back of his hand, and is a member of the Skye Mountain Rescue Team...we were in safe hands. Our plan for our first day in the mountains was three Munros, Sgurr na Banachdich (965m), Sgurr a Greadaidh (975m) and Sgurr a Mhadaidh (918m). The climb to the first summit was a steady hike, just 2.5 hours in total. The first one was 'bagged', only a bit wet! Getting to the next two summits was a little more challenging, with the ropes being needed to get across some of the trickier parts. We got the next two summits with no problems, although unfortunately the heavy cloud meant we had zero views from the top. Three down, 9 to go!
ne summit today. We battled
our way up the side, against the rain and strong winds. The winds were so strong that it would actually blow us a few steps back at times! No ropes needed this time, just a steady hike to the top. Unfortunately, the cloud cover meant no views at the top once again. However, 15 minutes or so off the summit and on our way back down, the clouds cleared and the sun shone (if only we'd reached the summit a few moments later). We managed to find a break in the rocks and glimpsed a view of the North End of the Cuillin. Stunning! We also had a nice rainbow appear...the sun continued to shine on our descent....maybe the weather was taking a turn after all! 
er, but no rain, so the climb was pleasant. However, about 1 hour in, the rain started and it didn't stop. We got the first two summits and finished off with 'Big Al', the highest of the summits in the Cuillin. The fun part involved coming back down, which involved going down 'The Great Stone Shoot'. A mass of stones and rock, that you can literally just slide down. Much quicker than coming up, but not that great if you are wanting to keep your boots looking nice! haha! This was a long day, we got back to the car at 7:30pm, having set off at 9am that morning. We came across the campsite shop just before reaching the car. After fighting our way through the midgies (Scots will know what I mean!), we dived in to reward ourselves with a chocolate Magnum. I've never tasted anything so good! Despite the poor conditions, we were still on track for our 12 summits. 
Day 5 Today the plan was to do 2 Munros: Sgurr Mhic Choinnich (948m) and the Sgurr Dearg (the Inaccessible Pinnacle) (986m). The In Pinn, as it is known, is a rock climb up the one side, and an abseil off the other...we had all the gear and were raring to go. The weather again was pretty horrendous. We set off in the rain. Was quite a long steady climb to the ridge, and then a long traverse along it to get to the first summit. The rain was lashing down and the winds were easily reaching 40mph. Our guide decided that to attempt the In Pinn would be scary, not to mention dangerous. As he put it 'It's the type of conditions I go out to rescue people in!' We had to accept defeat as Mother Nature told to head back down the mountain. A shame...we weren't going to manage all 12 summits this trip.
Day 6 Our final day on the Cuillin, and we were to attempt the final three Munros up on the North end; Bruach na Frithe (958m), Am Basteir (934m) and Sgurr nan Gillean (964m). The sun was actually out (as were the midgies) as we set off, and we felt a glimmer of confidence that we would manage all three. The hike to the top of Bruach na Frithe took us around 2.5 hour
s. The last 100m or so took us along the ridge to the cairn. It was here that we realised that the mountain had been protecting us from the strong winds on our way up. Gusts of around 50mph were pounding down on us as we made the final effort to the cairn. In the picture, me and Alison are showing our pink t-shirts, which we'd been saving for a sunny day, this was the only show they got!It was to be too dangerous to go for the final two summits today. They, along with the In Pinn would have to wait for another day.
After a night of torrential rain, I woke up at the crack of dawn to beautiful sunshine. A bowl of porridge and a bottle of lucozade later, I felt ready to go!
ange from swim to bike and bike to run! I put on my wet suit and swim hat and headed over to the lake with the rest of the competitors! I was a little nervous as I stepped into the lake...this would be my first race with an open water swim. The pool seemed so much more appealing as I stepped into the cold, murky water. After a bit of a warm up though I soon got used to it. There was a fair bit of hanging around as the marshals got into place and the automatic chip timing system was prepared, but after 5 minutes or so the horn sounded and we were off! 
head of me, so I made it my mission to catch her up. I managed to claw past her with a couple of kilometres to go, which spurred me on for the last part of the race.
