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.
Nairn 10k 2025 (And Other Events)
by Russell Turner - 12:46 on 05 March 2025
Wind has been the theme of recent weather. And more wind. It’s not been fun.
Blustery conditions dominated last week, including the day of the Nairn 10k (two days after a 13-mile long run) when I’d hoped to improve on the 1:02:26 achieved a month earlier at the X-Border. The silver lining was that it was mild enough for the shorts to appear for the first time this year. A bonus was that Matchgirl chose to accompany me the 34 miles to the start line, despite the town offering little on a Sunday afternoon to perk the imagination. Even an open cafe was difficult to find, she reported.
I set off from near the back of the pack of around 300 runners, minus the water bottle I’d forgotten to bring from the car, into a suspiciously mild breeze. The full force of the wind became apparent when we left the shelter of the town and reached the open farmland that covers most of the route’s landscape, through which we ran on minor and single-track roads.
I coped for the first 3k, running straight into a headwind. The fourth kilometre was the killer, combining headwind with what would otherwise have been an innocuous 13m ascent. Much walking ensued until a 90º left turn and the wind resistance eased. (And being 6ft6 I’ve got more body to resist than some of the hobbits running nearby.) Just over half a kilometre after that, another 90º turn found us heading back towards Nairn, the wind now behind us. That was much better.
My pace picked up (marginally), I passed a few people, and apart from a brief pause at 7.5k to drink half a paper cup of water I ran until a twist in the course at 9k brought back the headwind and a minute of walking, after which I powered (relatively) to the end, crossing the line in a chip time of 1:02:26 – exactly the same as the X-Border. As the conditions were worse I’ll take that as an improvement, even if I was 244th of 296 finishers. The winner clocked 30:03 in a new course record; I bet he was sick about the three seconds.
I didn’t feature in any of the free race photos (which may be fortunate) so here’s a racing cat generated by AI and the Image Playground app that appeared on my Mac after the most recent OS update.
My two previous Nairn 10ks were both under 60mins. It’s not an exciting event, but I might have to try again just so I can get back under the hour. At least, as the second 5k of this year’s race was under 30mins (29:54 to be precise), the prospects for this weekend’s Inverness 5k are promising.
A hectic few days didn’t end there. On Monday, Scotrail took me on a surprisingly comfortable train to Glasgow where I enjoyed a Mike and the Mechanics gig alongside gig wife Carol. All the hits were there, plus several pop Genesis hits, and, because Andy Roachford, is one of the singers, his song Cuddly Toy, which came close to stealing the show. Definitely a gig worth the trip, the first night of the band’s 40th anniversary tour, and which went ahead despite 75-year-old Mike Rutherford breaking a hip 12 days earlier (he didn’t tell us how). He went on and off stage on crutches and played seated. The show must go on.
I’d planned to do the first run of Week 9 on my return yesterday, but a combination of poor sleep and the continuing wind left me disinclined to bother. Today, after an evening as a guest of the Black Isle Wine Appreciation Society (being Chatterbox editor has its perks), the wind still howls and inclination is still low. This means that Week 9 begins tomorrow, Friday is long run day, and I’ll squeeze in the delayed run between the 5k on Sunday and the first Week 10 run (50mins easy) on Tuesday.
The virtual marathon is only eight weeks away. I’ll be ready.
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