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.
Running With Dolphins
by Russell Turner - 15:57 on 24 December 2025
Week 4 of (possible) Manchester training ended yesterday with a 10-mile run/walk up the Cromarty coast road and back in cool but windless weather. The resultant time was only four minutes slower than in Lossiemouth, which was mostly run, proving that run/walk is still the way to go. Shame I didn’t feel more sprightly at the end of it. The marathon is still in the balance.
Despite that effort, Adrenalines were donned again today for a Christmas Eve jaunt with some of the Black Isle Runners. The Glasgow trip for Gladiators meant I’d skipped a training run so this made up for some of the missing miles.
I stepped out of The Rural Retreat to find our environs shrouded in haar and Big Blue uncased in ice. Much defrosting took place. Two miles up the road, the haar was gone and I arrived in Rosemarkie under blue sky. Garmin later claimed that the temperature was -2ºC but, with not a breath of wind, shorts were fine, although I kept on the hoodie I’d intended to ditch before the run.
Black Isle Runners at Chanonry Point.
Catching up and gossip done, we walked from the slightly slippery road down to the beach for a restrained run to Chanonry Point, just over 2k away, accompanied by two very happy dogs, where we were lucky enough to see two groups of four or five dolphins. There was no leaping, sadly. We returned via a slight detour into the village so we could wave hello to a runner’s granddaughter, who’ll be either inspired to join us when she’s older or scared off running forever by the weird sweaty people.
More chat was had afterwards at Crofters cafe, with added tea, coffee and rolls. Back at the Retreat, haar still held sway: from the high ground, on the way back, I could see that the whole inner Cromarty Firth was covered. Maybe that contributed to the collision at Newhall Bridge reported on Facebook a short time later.
I’d intended a Christmas Day run, which might still happen, but after two running days and Week 5 beginning on Boxing Day it’s more likely that I’ll enjoy a day of festive sloth. Merry Christmas!
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