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Wednesday 10 February 2016

That One Time Andy Ran to Scotland

Well, that's it really. I was just out on a training run when I remembered I hadn't written about that one time Andy ran to Scotland.

Ok, it wasn't quite as long as it sounds. It was a run from Carlisle to Gretna for the X Border 10k on the 31st of January. (Throw in a nice medal and he'll run anything!) This run was the reverse route of a run which usually takes place in the Summer, but I think it sounds much more exciting running into Scotland than into England.

It was a bit of a windy, wet and very cold morning when we got up extra early to drive up to Carlisle. We drove up in convoy with 2 lovely Wind Cheetah ladies, K and S. Realising we were making very good time and would be too early for registration we pulled over at Tebay services for a coffee break. We arrived at Carlisle refreshed (somewhat) and Andy and the ladies went to register. The idea was that I would drive the boys up to Gretna and see them arrive at the finish line.



So we said good luck and legged it up to Gretna. I could see the route along a road parallel to the motorway and spotted the 7k sign at one point. I gave William my phone so he could be ready to take a photo of the 'Welcome to Scotland' sign. Well, he didn't get a photo of it, but my phone was full of photos like this when I got it back, hmmmm.



We eventually found the Greens of Gretna Hotel where the finish line was. I was using directions Andy had gotten from an internet route finder so of course we ended up lost (but only slightly and for a short while). To be fair, I had a 6 year old navigator using directions that took us around the back of the hotel. Once I figured that out, we went back out the way we came and discovered that we had passed the hotel as soon as we came off the motorway. We parked up directly overlooking the finish line.

I got Sam out for a stretch of the legs in the rain and wind and William preferred to stay inside with his book. Sam started enjoying things much more when the runners began to trickle in, he even clapped the first half dozen or so!




I spied Andy and the ladies heading up the road and into the finish, across the line in 56.28.




Once group hugs, photos, and examining of medals were done we headed back to Carlisle to drop the ladies with their car before heading back home.

The Bling

Monday 18 January 2016

First Post of 2016!

At last I've sat down to write a long overdue post! Life gets in the way sometimes, but never mind.

We didn't quite reach our family goal of running 2015 miles over the course of the year, in the end we made it to 1841.5 miles which I think is still pretty awesome! It's not a challenge if it's not a bit difficult and we enjoyed every step.

We squeezed in a few more runs over November and December, including the Jingle Bell Jog on the 29th November in Windermere. It was Christmas themed fancy dress so of course, we obliged!




On the 6th of December, both Andy and I took part in the Ulverston Pudding Run 10k and we all did the 1 mile fun run beforehand. I finally managed a PB at this one, with a time of 1.02.55 and Sam blew us all away with a new mile PB of 10.23, knocking at least 2 minutes off his last best time.







On the 12th December, we all headed to Penrith parkrun as our own dear Barrow parkrun was cancelled due to flooding. Andy then took part in the Grizedale Night Run 10k that evening. The boys ran the 1k fun run beforehand!




As the flooding at Barrow parkrun has become a more permanent problem, an alternative course was kindly arranged and we all headed back there again for the 19th of December. We also had special parkruns on Christmas Day and New Years Day as well. Sam must love the new course as he whizzed round and got new PBs on both Christmas Day and Boxing Day and is now at 35.08 which is fantastic.




We are well into January now and Andy has already taken part in the Grand Day Out run at Askham in Cumbria. It was a 10 mile trail race to raise funds for the flood appeal. He said it was tough and I believe him! Having seen photos of the snow they had to run through, I'm glad it wasn't me!

We've got lots of runs planned for this year, many of them brand new and a bit different! Next one is the X Border 10k where Andy will be running from Carlisle to Gretna!