…(rhino)virus! i.e. common cold!

After 2 days recuperation then a full long day back at work in Edinburgh, I reached the end of my working from home day on Thursday (waiting on the elusive new company car which they forgot to load onto the truck! hmmm!  I am now looking forward to Monday to receive it!).

I zoomed over to the Lifeline Monthly Team meeting where we discussed the vision, success stories and fundraising activities which gave me motivation to get my trainers on and go for a run.

First things first, over to ‘Auntie Claire’s’ to help her fix a puncture on her maheesive hybrid bike.  Two metal spoons helped get the tyre out the rim of the wheel, quickly pumped it up and found the offending hole hissing air and then cracked open the puncture repair kit.  Where’s the chalk? and the sandpaper? and what’s this cheese grater for?  Thankfully the instructions indicated the cheese grater was for the same purpose the sandpaper used to be for but no chalk required… about 10 minutes later the patch was administered and we were fitting the tube back into the wheel and I tightened (maybe overtightened) the valve in place with a little washer.  Sorted!

Claire got into her cycling lycra and i got into my running gear, clipped the leads onto the dogs collars and made it down the stairs…  (for Claire and I who usually require on average 2 false starts, this was amazing efficiency!).   Ok, Strava app started and off we go….

Issue 1 – communications!  Ok, I admit I wasn’t exactly 100% sure of my route but I had a general idea to head along Albert Road, over to Pollok Country Park and back round via Shawlands.  What I forgot to to was to tell Claire, who on her bike was going very slow to stay beside me and hence there was a little frustration from the off!

Jings its hot!  It was a pretty flat route but the heat of the day is not something I’m used to running in and, unlike cycling, I wasn’t going fast enough to create my own full on breeze!  The dogs, in their hairy summer coats were also showing signs of being rather hot and bothered and I was looking forward to getting them to go for a swim in the River Cart.  I’m so glad Claire suggested I borrow her running bottle of water (one like a doughnut but the sports mouthpiece didn’t let enough air in when I was trying to drink so I had to take the top off for refreshment!).

Issue 2 – Hairdo! My goodness, will this hair stop flapping into my eyes and my ponytail stay put?! Half the hair had loosened itself out of the bobble and was now irritating me by bouncing off my back!  Quick stop, dogs attached to lamp-post, hair sorted, dogs released from the lamp-post and off we go…. now what did Emma (who’s run marathons before) say?  Oh yes, kick your legs up at the back…  hmm this is more energy zapping but I’ll try my best!

Issue 3 – Pop!  Claire’s, ‘just fixed’ inner tube has given up the goat and the front tyre is flat! Argh!  I suspect it was my over tightening of the washer. Anyway she’s quick to suggest that she take the hot dogs back home for a drink with her as she pushes the bike home.  Good plan!  Bye bye dogs and Claire!

Issue 4 – Breathing!  I really didn’t realise how loud my breathing is when I have no distractions, and given that I was going a run with Claire it would have been most rude to run with earphones.  So now I’m left trying to self motivate myself with not so much as a beat, a tambourine or a cymbal playing in my ears!  Worse still, I can’t even remember any songs to sing!                lol  T in the Park drinking may have damaged some brain cells!

Oh well nothing more to do than to dig in and try to keep going!  I got to Pollok Country Park, jogged in via the golf club / rugby entrance and stopped for a well needed drink (can’t seem to do drinking on the move very well on either a bike or whilst out jogging) and checked the Strava app…  Oh no my pace is mince!  So thought I’d up the pace a bit to the other end of the park just for a mile or so and see how I go.  Well its really easy to run faster past a pipe band full of young men and then past a rugby team practising at the Police Sports Ground but when I went into the woods on my own I found myself running out of breath and had a lot of stop start along past Pollok House and also when I was jogging next to the beautiful river, the Clydesdale Horses Stables, the flowers, the police dogs out training and the cricket ground.   I stopped to take a couple of snaps (any excuse for a break really!) and before I knew it I was out the other end on Haggs Road.

Back out to the main road past the 1901 pub and up over the hill, down past the Granary, through the lights and back through the park before giving in after completing 10k!

My suffer score says it all – I was suffering!

Hopefully the cold will be gone by the weekend but my pace and how exhausted I feel now indicate that I might have been a bit silly! Time will tell…