Happily Ever After
Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running
Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.
Destination Yorkshire
by Russell Turner - 20:35 on 09 June 2025
After a week spent recovering from Edinburgh’s meteorologically challenging marathon, I returned to running with a very modest 10-minute outing. Injury, weather or lack of enthusiasm weren’t to blame – Garmin was.
City Limits gigs mean I’ve got to take my races where I can; the diary for June, July and August is crowded, so a blank weekend which coincided with the Leeds 10k, something I’ve fancied for a while, seemed like an opportunity not to be missed. The only drawback was that, after my week off, only two weeks were left to prepare for the race, on June 15.
Garmin’s latest challenge badge has proved the answer: ten runs in any of 14 consecutive days with each run 5mins faster than the previous one. Beginning with 10mins means I can finish at 55mins, three days before race day when I’ll be delighted if I can cover 10k in 59mins. To make it even more interesting, after discovering pre-breakfast running at Killin I decided to stick with that.
Lucky number 7 for Leeds.
The first run, accompanied by Edinburgh-strength wind, was last Monday; five more followed until Sunday when I took a day off – much needed after a 1am finish playing at a rowdy Rogart Gala. Much of the week featured showers or heavy rain but my early starts were rewarded by missing it all. And the wind calmed down after the second day. There was even the bonus of roe deer sightings on two of the runs.
Today’s run was 40mins. All have been easy/steady pace (although I did thrown in a hill last Thursday); the final three will include a few speedy bits. It may not be a recommended 10k training plan but with luck it will work for me.
After that I’ll begin a new marathon training block, even though there might not be a marathon at the end of it. I’m still undecided about the climax of what will be the Yorkshire Quartet: Leeds 10k; York 10k and Dales HM in August; Yorkshire 10 Mile/Marathon in October. There’ll also be a few Scottish 10ks along the way, gigs permitting.
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