Take the High Road

The Games Mascot - Clyde

Clyde-spotting became
an every day activity

The Floral Clyde on Glasgow Green

Although our recent Scottish adventures didn't quite take us to the "bonny bonny banks of Loch Lomond", we did get to join in several Loch Lomond sing-alongs at various venues for the Commonwealth Games, as well as walking on many high and low roads to get to our events. There were also ferry rides, train rides, bus rides and the occasional panic jog as watched 6 different sports across 10 different sessions at five different venues and sometimes struggled to find our way quickly around Glasgow. We got soaked by torrential rain storms, blown away by the wind and baked in the sun. It was a brilliant trip  - we also had time for crazy golf, afternoon tea and to catch up with old friends!

A links course -
the wind was definitely a factor!

Afternoon tea at Kimble's!

In between all the Commonwealth Games action, being away from home and off work did give me the opportunity to run in some new and very different locations. On the way up to Scotland, we popped in to Carlisle parkrun and had a lovely morning in the sunshine. Despite earlier good intentions of going for a fast effort, I opted instead for a chatty run with Sarah, part of the core volunteer team at Carlisle. It was great to chat with her about all things parkrun. We also really enjoyed the post-run bacon butties and al-fresco results processing.

My next running opportunity came after a very hectic weekend of games action topped off by the Rugby Sevens at Ibrox late into Sunday night. We travelled by train and ferry to Dunoon on the Clyde Estuary - about an hour from Glasgow. After a few problems with hotel check-in, running around the bay from Dunoon into Holy Loch took away most of the stress and filled our lungs with fresh air. I even dragged Mr T for one of his longest ever runs... the only disappointment was the failure of the Mr Whippy machine at the ice cream shop at the end of our run!

Clouds over the Clyde!

View from the top of Morag's Fairy Glen

Athletics, bowls, gymnastics and netball kept us busy on Tuesday and Wednesday. Being the only spectators watching Samoa vs Norfolk Islands in the lawn bowls was probably the most surreal experience of Glasgow 2014, especially when we got to shake hands with the winner at the end (it was Petelo Gabriel of Samoa just in case anyone is interested). Hampden Park for the athletics was definitely the noisiest venue, especially when local athletes were competing, although Scotland v England at Ibrox in the Rugby Sevens was a very close second. The tension for the penalty shoot out at the hockey was intense too.

A Samoan victory in the bowls!

England won the semi-final shoot out against NZ
but lost in the final to Australia!

All that games action meant I didn't manage another run until Thursday. This time, I ran the other way from Dunoon out towards Innellan, with a slight detour into the woods at Morag's Fairy Glen... I didn't spot any fairies but it was great to get in a few off road miles. Our rest day from Glasgow 2014 action gave me the opportunity for a second run later in the day, managing five miles. We also fitted in that that game of crazy golf. Mr T celebrated his victory with a degree of humility and then we walked on the beach and skimmed some stones!

The golf champion!

Searching for the perfect stone!

Our final running opportunity in Scotland came at Tollcross parkrun on Saturday morning. It involved a very early start from our hotel in Edinburgh (we'd relocated from Dunoon on Friday) with the rain already pouring down. We'd arrived early - parkruns in Scotland start at 9.30am - to much excitement from the volunteer team. Apparently, we weren't the only parkrun tourists that day, with marathon runner and Poole parkrun regular Steve Way also popping in for his first run after setting his epic performance in the Commonwealth Games marathon. It was a very challenging course (with 11 hills apparently) and I was really pleased to finish my 96th parkrun without being lapped - I saw Steve Way coming to the finish just as I went round for my final lap!

The celebrity photo op!

Sheltering from the rain at the hockey

After a mad dash from Tollcross parkrun to the hockey semi-finals, our final Glasgow 2014 action was at Hampden Park for the last night of the athletics, slightly delayed by more rain. We got to see the inspirational Jo Pavey take bronze in the 5,000m - a precursor to her gold in Zurich this week - and the Usain Bolt show came to town too. He was pretty good value for the less than 10 seconds of running involved in the last leg of the 4x100m metre relay.

Women's 5,000metres - Helen Clitheroe
and Jo Pavey leading in early stages

Usain Bolt steals the show!

Home again now, my running mileage over the last few weeks might have been slightly lower than I'd hoped, but my walking mileage in Scotland definitely hit the heights and I'm still working towards the Spitfire Scramble - just two weeks away now. This coming week will be final big effort of training. I'm planning a weekend of running (5 runs from Friday evening to Sunday morning) and then one more long run before resting in the final week before the event. I'm counting down the days now - thinking about kit, sleeping bags, tents, head torches, food, snacks and Haribo!

My Write this Run team mates have been preparing in lots of different ways too - 24 hr team events, solo endurance runs, 12 hr runs, ultramarathons - and I'm really looking forward to hearing about their summer running adventures in between all those laps over 24 hours at Hornchurch Country Park.

Happy Running

Liz T