Last Monday (22 May) my after-school plans needed some rethinking when I drove over the hill from Strontian to Polloch, got changed for a run up the side of Loch Shiel, then discovered I’d forgotten my shoes! So that run had been doomed from the moment I’d left home at 7:25am and, even as I’d looked forward to it (despite the rain) through a school day some miles and a ferry crossing from home, my shoes were sitting smugly on the kitchen floor waiting to greet me where I’d taken them off the previous day. I’d particularly wanted that run too… miles and miles of good-going, smooth, wide track to counter some recent concentration on gnarly wee paths and open hill. So I was planning, say, 14 miles fast and free linking the previous week’s turning point at Loch Doilet to a 2011 foray from Glenfinnan to Scamodale, but had to settle for 8 more variable when I got home. So I was keen to get the same run yesterday, and made no mistake this time…
And it was good, if singularly lacking in 2011 pace with c.10:43 miling (perhaps just sub-10:00 ‘moving time’) for 14.1 miles replacing 8:28s for 15.9, but perhaps I was still affected by my stint on Alicia’s Ramsay support? For sure I’ve lost top speed since 2011, but know I’m still fit/strong enough to be hoping for something more like low 9:00s on a track like that, so why? Whatever, it was good to run somewhere I could get going a bit (even if not quite enough) without fear of hitting my head or breaking any more bones!