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.
Off To A Sub-zero Start
by Russell Turner - 17:40 on 06 January 2025
January: four runs so far and a temperature range of two degrees either side of freezing. It’s been a character-building beginning to the year.
Run number one, after an evening spent seeing in the New Year with City Limits at Nairn Dunbar Golf Club, found me splashing through standing and running water on a route bounded by two properly flooded roads (cars were turning around), so no surprise that I bailed out after less than 2.5 miles.
Run number two, two days later, was a mile longer and much swifter despite being a run/walk. The roads were still sodden, though, although my feet remained dry thanks to waterproof Hemy socks. Such fun.
Yesterday, the running year began properly with the first run of the 20-week Marathon Double training plan. There was much less water on the roads because most of it had frozen, which gave me the excuse to downgrade 40mins steady to 40mins easy. A temperature of -2.2ºC could have made it a miserable effort but tights, hat, gloves, Runderwear base layer, a substantial Karrimor top, a neck buff and no wind or precipitation made it almost enjoyable, in a perverse kind of way.
Today, the temperature was a balmy, windless 0ºC; as a bonus, the forecast sleety rain failed to materialise and some (but not all) of the ice had gone. Fifty easy minutes, including a bit of a hill, turned out to be easier than yesterday’s flat run. At least I’m moving in the right direction.
Light snow is forecast tomorrow, when I’m due to run some intervals. I may be lucky again but should get out whatever the weather: the first race of the year is on February 2 when the conditions might be even worse. I should prepare for anything. Tempo intervals in snow could be inadvisable, which could mean a third easy run instead.
The ballot for the Great North Run reopened today. There’s a chance I’ll be home cat-sitting on September 7 while Matchgirl fulfils her Patagonia Marathon dream but it’s worth a shot, even though my previous GNR appearance, in 2019, is way down the list of favourite HMs. If necessary, I can defer a place, although that would mean paying full price of £67.50 for a second time. What a swiz.
Much cheaper, at a mere £17, is the Nairn 10k on March 2, which opened for entries a few days ago. It’s not the most exciting course but it’s close to home and means (touch wood) that I’ll run races on four consecutive weekends in March – five if I find something for the 29th or 30th. The Dunvegan 10k on Skye is on the Saturday, and Miltonduff 10k near Elgin on the Sunday (TBC) but a late-finish Saturday night gig at Gellions might have to be taken into account. We’ll see.
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