Another week has went by and another race completed, this time on the stunning island of Skye for their famous and sold out Half Marathon. The race itself was hilly, well organised, beautiful but for me - really sore! I think the 6 hour drive irritated my injury and it was a very slow slog to the finish line at Portree High School. I recorded my slowest half since (I think) my very first about 8 years ago! Even though I went out on the day to just take it easy and enjoy the race, I found it a struggle. Lovely scenery but I was bored - I had noone to chat to. I wanted to make conversation with those around me but all I could think about was my injury and getting the race over! I didn't look at my garmin until near the end and realised how slow I was actually going - gasp, I could maybe be over the 2 hours?! So I tried to lift the pace for the final few miles which thankfully were downhill. As I neared the finish it was great to see Stuart and Kenny R cheering me on. Although there was another friendly chap cheering me on too, he was being very kind but he said something along the lines of "you're under the 2 hours!" as if to motivate me. Well, if looks could kill! Haha, I know he was being nice but I felt horrible and the thought of being nearly 20 mins off my best time made me feel embarrassed. I know I shouldn't have been but I did. Boy, I was so glad the race was done! Oh well, another medal and another tshirt at least!
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| What to do after a half marathon? Climb of course! |
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| A bit cloudy at the top |
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| Dunvegan Castle |
Nevertheless, post race soup and cakes were excellent and it was nice to catch up with Kenny R and Margaret. Both of them did very well in the race and my husband Stuart (who had done a 10k and 5k already that week) managed to come in 8th position! Even with such a great achievement he was still disappointed in his time, 4 minutes off his half time from earlier in the year but I thought it was a tremendous performance from him! Despite my pain, we had amazing time on Skye and treated it like a mini-holiday. Tourists for the weekend we climbed the Old Man of Storr, pottered about Portree, walked (and swam) in the fairy pools, visited Dunvegan Castle and dined at The Three Chimneys. I'd thoroughly recommend both Skye and their half marathon. Yes, the route is hilly so maybe not a PB course but it's a challenge and worth doing if you can combine the 2. But my bad experience I think has put me off, I may return to Skye but definitely not for the half!
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| Stuart dips his feet into the fairy pools |
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| Taking a dip! |
Still IM training, but now tapering (yay!), I cycled 60 miles on our way home on Sunday and whilst I was doing that one of my training buddies Alix was taking part in the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon in San Francisco! She smashed it! She has been training hard for months for this event and did fantastic - jumping off the boat to swim in shark infested waters to the shore line 1.5 miles later, followed by an 18 mile hilly run and an 8 mile trail run. Wow, that couldn't fail to impress or motivate! And the best thing is she enjoyed it every step of the way - just look at her photos, she didn't stop smiling! Well done Alix!
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| Smiles from Alix on the bike section. Photo from a screen shot, sorry but you can see the smile! |
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| Crossing the line all smiles! |
After the race I've decided I'm going to limit my running for the next week as I taper, maybe a few easy runs but that is all! The less the better probably just to ease off the pain. As much as I don't want to I also know I'll need to take some 'proper' time off after Arran. At least one full week of nothing - no running, no cycling, no swimming, no PT sessions, no classes - argh! But it's necessary.
Another week has went by and another race completed, this time on the stunning island of Skye for their famous and sold out Half Marathon. The race itself was hilly, well organised, beautiful but for me - really sore! I think the 6 hour drive irritated my injury and it was a very slow slog to the finish line at Portree High School. I recorded my slowest half since (I think) my very first about 8 years ago! Even though I went out on the day to just take it easy and enjoy the race, I found it a struggle. Lovely scenery but I was bored - I had noone to chat to. I wanted to make conversation with those around me but all I could think about was my injury and getting the race over! I didn't look at my garmin until near the end and realised how slow I was actually going - gasp, I could maybe be over the 2 hours?! So I tried to lift the pace for the final few miles which thankfully were downhill. As I neared the finish it was great to see Stuart and Kenny R cheering me on. Although there was another friendly chap cheering me on too, he was being very kind but he said something along the lines of "you're under the 2 hours!" as if to motivate me. Well, if looks could kill! Haha, I know he was being nice but I felt horrible and the thought of being nearly 20 mins off my best time made me feel embarrassed. I know I shouldn't have been but I did. Boy, I was so glad the race was done! Oh well, another medal and another tshirt at least!
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