Well done, Vikki - another PB

Phew. What a weekend.

I was fair shattered and I didn't even run a half marathon, unlike Vikki who completed her first in approx 1hr 55min (yes, that is quicker than me!).

We went up to Aviemore on Saturday morning and took the boys (except Magnus who stayed in Stoney with Vikki's mum and dad) to Landmark where we all had fun on the water coaster and climbed the big tower and watched the squirrels. We camped at Rothiemurchus which was really nice - a fairly peaceful camp site with nice clean toilets and showers. We went to bed expecting to either freeze to death or drown in the middle of the night, but were lucky in that the weather stayed reasonably mild and dry.

Our friends, Pete and Eifiona were staying at the same place in their VW camper and were kind enough to cook up some porridge and tea for us in the morning. Eifiona was also running in the half marathon and got an excellent time as well. Looks like I've got some serious training to do in the next couple of weeks to keep up the high standards being set round here.

Click on the picture below to see all the pictures...

2008-18-10 Aviemore

Cool Runnings

My official race time has come back at 1:59:42, but the timing system doesn't appear to have taken time to reach the start into consideration, and some of the people who lined up alongside me reckon we can take about 1min30 off that time.
It was a really good weekend, nice to have some time away with Vikki and no children, and an enjoyable run with some great views of the hills and of Loch Morlich.
I managed to keep a fairly steady pace, helped by finding myself running along with a bloke I'd never met before (I found out at the end he was called Mark) and chatting a bit to him. The legs started to feel sore at about 11 miles but I kept it going, and resisted the temptation as we passed the Old Bridge Inn (one of the drinkers there could clearly tell I was eyeing up his pint as he insisted it didn't actually taste very good). I managed to up the pace very slightly for the last little bit round the back of the holiday resort - at this point the route goes round a stony path and I heard Mark fall behind me. I turned to see if he needed help but he was back on his feet almost straight away so I sprinted (as best I could) for the finish. It felt great to cross the line and see Vikki waiting to cheer me on (and talking to Dave Morrow who had finished in 1hr36).
There were a lot of great runs from the jogScotland folk - the jogScotland ladies were the 3rd placed ladies team (although were too shy to go up and collect their prize which was maybe just as well because there wasn't actually a prize) and could have been even higher (we think) if everyone had put "jogScotland Stonehaven" down on the entry form.
I've uploaded some photos (fine photography from Vikki) here:

2007-10-14 Aviemore Half Marathon

That'll do.

I can tell you're on tenterhooks out there, so just a quick post before we head off to the pub for the traditional post-race bevvy, to let you know I completed the Aviemore Half Marathon in around about 1hr58 or so. Thanks to everyone who bothered to vote in the poll - I think Vikki was the only one who got it right.


More pictures to follow but this one shows the jogScotland Stonehaven members who took part.