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When I joined my running club, Bella, I was keen to try different types of running event. Largely that meant different distances, and a spot of cross country and trail running. But hill running just wasn’t something I’d thought I’d find myself including. Hill runners, to me, seemed one stop short of ultra-marathoners, and to be looked at a bit carefully…

But as time passed, I’ve got to know one or two, and rarely heard a bad thing said about the activity. Whilst on holiday, I also read a wonderful book “Feet in the Clouds: A Tale of Fell-Running and Obsession” (highly recommended to any runner), which sowed a few seeds in my mind, and began to feel that perhaps it wasn’t quite so bad after all. After all, you don’t have to run up the hills – just do your best to get up and down again as quickly/safely as possible, and enjoy the experience.

So when my Road Running club decided to organise a hill run – The Bella Ben Venue Challenge – it seemed like a custom made opportunity to try it out. I knew there’d be plenty of hill-running newbies taking part, so I wouldn’t feel completely outpaced.

The weather forecast though, wasn’t too promising. High winds and rain seemed to be on the agenda, as a low-pressure decided to sit over the northern reaches of Scotland. The Forth road bridge was closed to high sided vehicles. 80mph winds. I’d been assured though that a run would happen, regardless of the forecast, so seemed rude not to go and see what it was all about. It was all in a good cause too, proceeds going to Lomond Mountain Rescue team, so despite a slightly concerned wife, and baffled comments from my Glasgow parkrun co-organisers, I set off up to Aberfoyle and into the Trossachs to run up a hill not that far from where I was married last year.

After parking up, I headed through the paths to the start area, and sorted out registration. £5 is incredibly good value for a race, particularly for such a good cause, and given the marshals had a heck of a way to go to get to their various points.

Given the high winds, the course was altered. Quite sensibly. That the marshals – Mountain rescue team members I should add – couldn’t stand up on the ridge, it was felt appropriate to adjust the course. Even though it looked delightful at the start, we were sheltered, and I’d seen how changeable the weather was.

After the start, we headed up through hard-packed forest paths, which were really quite delightful. For a road-runner like myself, quite a novelty, but the steep inclines were taken steadily, and it felt quite odd (for a road runner) to be “allowed” to walk as much as I did. I was also determined to enjoy the experience, and not push too hard. Nonetheless, I had perhaps set off a bit too fast, so deliberately eased off and let a few folk past.

The checkpoint at the edge of the forest marked the start of the ‘real’ hill running. We were out onto exposed hillside, which had a generally visible path up, but it was heavy going. Very muddy indeed, and quite disconcerting to place your feet into what looked like wet grass, only to sink knee deep into quite slurpy mud! Thankfully my shoes didn’t come off, but it was a close thing! I put the prospect of having to wash my clothes out of my mind and just enjoyed it: It’s not every day you’re able to get quite as muddy

It was tough going at points. A few scrambles required, and if not a scramble then a bog to navigate, but my legs seemed to hold their own, although I was very grateful to finally see the lead runners approaching in the opposite direction. Fellow club runner Matt Williamson was just in the lead, and haring downhill at quite a rate. Impressive stuff, but I knew I had nowhere near the confidence to do anything like the lead runners were managing!

The top was approaching, and I was passed by plenty more fellow club runners, one or two of whom warned about the winds at the top. And I was grateful for the warning, as no sooner as the cairn that marked the turning point came into sight, the winds hit, and it was quite something. I was blown in all directions, and it was everything I could do to get to the cairn and see the incredibly resilient marshal note down my number, before turning and struggling back down, passing on the warning about the wind to everybody I passed!

The descent was, at first, wonderful for the fact that I had my breath back and could enjoy the experience a bit more. But soon found focusing on finding a safe path at the higher speed I was travelling more than made up for it. A few slips and a nearly twisted ankle made me certain to be careful, but also not to think too much. Instinct felt more reliable than trying to rationalise which path seemed better. Just get on with it!

Getting to the bottom of the exposed hill and on to the hard-packed forest paths was a welcome relief, and it was a thoroughly enjoyable run down through the forest. Rather than belt it out, I decided to enjoy the run, and fell into an evenly paced run with another runner, and we had a lovely chat as we descended. Some absolutely stunning views out over the Trossachs, with Loch Achray in the distance. After a while though I felt strong enough to push on a bit harder, and set off in search of a needed cup of tea!

Crossing the finish line (a time of 1:22:09, the winner finishing in 51:17!) was a great relief, with an enormous sense of achievement, but nothing as compared to the wonderfully warming cups of tea the club had put on in abundance, and a marvellous spread of home baking. Plenty of post-run analysis with the many experienced (and newbies like myself) hill runners. All seemed to agree the decision to adjust the race the correct one, and all seemed to feel it was a great new addition to the hill running calendar.

Looking at the course profile here (via Chris Upson), it seems there was 860m (1,800ft) of climb involved, over a 6.4 mile (just over 10k course). A few years ago I’d have felt that would be quite a decent achievement for a hill walk, but the idea of running up and down just not something to ever consider. Madness. Yet delighted to have felt able to have taken on the challenge, experienced hill running for the first time. Amusingly I even now find myself with an athletes entry on the Scottish Hill Racing website!

My legs aren’t too bad, two days afterwards. Much better than I expected to be honest: perhaps the hill work paid off! Whilst not a hill running convert just yet, I’m absolutely delighted to have taken part, and certainly going to try another hill run in the not too distant future. Living in Scotland means I have some of the best scenery in the world on my doorstep, and being able to combine seeing it and experiencing it through my passion for running, just seems an ideal combination.

The SNP are currently making lots of noise about the leadership debate, even now threatening (sorry, “not ruling out”), legal action to block the broadcast.

It’s bizarre that a party that seeks an independent Scotland should be interested in taking part in a debate between the three possible candidates for the UK prime minister, or feel that blocking broadcast would make any difference. The UK is, after all, a country they seek to dismantle. The iPlayer would certainly render any attempt to block broadcast impossible, and even if they succeeded in that, it would be, in my opinion, political censorship

Let’s face it though the debate itself won’t make much difference, but rather the heavy analysis in the papers comment pages, the selected use of key exchanges on television, are actually what will affect our judgement. That and, hopefully, careful consideration of the political situation in our own constituencies. After all, we’re electing representative candidates, not prime ministers.

If there was even a slight chance the SNP could actually form a UK government, based on polls and candidates standing, it’d of course make some sense. But a line really has to be drawn somewhere, not least the dilution too many candidates would create to an effective debate between large egos keen to score points.

I’ve certainly no objection to there being a specific Scottish leaders debate (we had one for the Scottish parliament, after all) ahead of the Westminster elections next year, but there’s absolutely no sense in the SNP, or other very regional parties, being included in the national leaders debate. After all, the topics being proposed are UK wide matters and therefore largely entirely ‘reserved’ to Westminster. The vague claim they make about such matters affecting Scotland (such as defence policy affecting the future of nuclear submarines on the Clyde), simply holds no water: There’s simply no chance the SNP can drive that policy.

“Come to me with your solutions, not your problems” is a line I like, and try to adhere to. The SNP’s posturing is entirely unconstructive, bordering on petulant. It does nothing at all to convince me this is a party that deserves consideration for a vote, unless they realise what fools they are making of themselves. One heck of an own goal so far in advance of the next election.

I’ve just stumbled on this marvellous collection of running frustrations at DebsOnWriting. Well worth having a read: If you’ve ever been out running, I’m sure you’ll agree with most – if not all – of the items included! I’ve certainly tried writing my own compilation of frustrations and annoyances, but don’t think I’ll come quite as closed (or anywhere near as well written!).

More here at DebsOnRunning, from the same author.

Whilst locking up the house last night, I noticed the postman had wedged a package behind our storm doors. Annoyed that they’d not at least tried to ring, I dug it out and wondered who on earth had sent me a fleece. I’m afraid I’ve reached free-garment overload with all the free t-shirts I get as a runner and a techie.

Only after a moment of silence that must have been quite noisy in the way that important moments are, did I realise this was the official are-you-in-London-2009 Marathon letter. So after ripping open the package, the magazines words of “It’s not over yet”, and “You have been unsuccessful” stared back at me. 

Oh well. According to wikipedia, in 2007, as many as 125,000 people applied to run, but only 49,963 applications were accepted. So that’s quite a ratio, especially given there are charity places allocated out, good-for-age runners, and places made available to running clubs to take out of that figure. So my chances were always slim, and I really don’t know if I fancy trying to raise money for charity – the minimum figures for guaranteed entry are quite high. Oh, and I rather like my running club top

So as I decided some months ago that I would run a marathon of some sort, I’ve today applied to run the 2009 Edinburgh Marathon, which is a bit easier to get to, still has places, is much smaller, and according to their publicity at least, has a fast course. It’s also very popular with my running club, so there’ll be a good number of people to train with. Plus a hotel we rather like is a short train journey away from the finish line, and it has rather good spa facilities. Which I expect will be very welcome indeed after the event.

I’m probably still going to have a go at London 2009, through my clubs allocation, but as I write that I’m wondering if that’s going to be such a good idea. I quite like the idea of a smaller race (If 11,500 participants is ever considered small? Compared to London it is!) for my first marathon, and perhaps leaving the ballot to people in the club who want it more. Plus the Edinburgh entry is non-refundable…

No matter. That’s still some months off. In the meantime I suppose I need to have a think about what sort of time is reasonable to aim for in this, and all the other distances I’ll be running next year.

Next week is the MHFS 10k, which is my target race for the XT Wings Challenge. You can see my mug-shot on Salomon’s challenge website.

I’ve been a bit slow(!) with weblog posts over the last few weeks, so I figured an update was somewhat overdue. Mainly because I’ve been very busy, and simply not had the time or motivation to actually sit down and write very much.

I’ve been doing most of my training with my running club, which has had a focus on the 10k distance over the last month or two because of the Polaroid 10k series, the Women’s 10k and next weeks Men’s 10k. So in that sense, I’ve been getting on with it and doing the right things.

I’m starting to get a bit anxious that I’ve not done enough endurance work recently, and sustaining my target pace of at least 04:30s over the 10 kilometres might be a bit tricky. I’m not very good at pacing myself either – I frequently set off too quickly, and keep going at that pace for too long and then suffering, and dropping below my target pace, in the long-run.

Runners know what I’m saying when I say that this sport we do is at least as much a mental challenge as it is a physical challenge. Knowing you can sustain a particular pace, and then actually sustaining it requires mental effort to battle the demons. It’s often not – at the time – a whole lot of fun operating at high heart rates, so you need a lot of determination to push through the thoughts and doubts that it’d be really much easier to stop, walk or just slow down for a bit. The solution is endurance work, which is what a lot of winter training involves. Simply running for longer distances at a slower pace. Mixed in with plenty of pace work, involving exertion over shorter distances.

The reward in running for me, and I imagine most other runners, comes from pushing through the personal doubts and challenges, and going on to achieve goals and targets. Even simply completing a particularly hard training session can be just as rewarding as pushing a PB by a few seconds. Just the other week we were doing 8 x 800m sessions at 10k pace. It was a lot of hard work, and a few of us taking part weren’t sure we could manage it – largely because we’d made the mistake of trying to keep pace with faster runners in the first few repeats. So finishing it felt very good indeed (as well as a timely reminder about pacing!). The 3k run home afterwards wasn’t so much fun though – I didn’t have much left in me! But that particular session was, in hindsight, probably one of the most useful I’ve had in a while.

My doubts with the MHFS 10k are that the course isn’t particularly level in the Pollok Park (PDF course map here – Pollok park is the 3.5k – 7k section). It’s certainly not hilly, but it’s not flat, and my PB does come from a flat course (doh!). There’s only one nasty hill in Pollok park, and the race course takes us down it, not up it! But as the course through the park is then very gradually back uphill, it’ll be important to push hard in the main downhill section to compensate for the loss of time later on, and not let the change in pace through the park throw me off. The “average pace” indicator on my Garmin should help here.

So whilst I’m getting a bit worried it is probably more pre-race nerves and worrying about pacing. I probably have done enough training to put on a reasonable challenge on my PB next Sunday. I’ve been running to and from my running club (ok, our training is frequently in Pollok park, so not far to return from), so I’m averaging well over 10k in the weekday club sessions, and getting decent runs in over the weekend (a nice 10 miler at 8am this morning was especially enjoyable). I managed to get my current PB by being careful about pacing, so I’m intending to do similar this time and ensure I focus on being consistent. I know how I feel when I’m at the right pace (runner, know thyself!), so if I can find that “sweet spot”, I just need to hang on in there.

Bigger than the challenge though is that this race is the first anniversary of my very first race (the 2007 MHFS 10k, so the same course) since taking up running. I ran that in around 54 minutes, so to be even considering a 10 minute improvement from a year ago still feels like a huge achievement, and I’m looking forward to comparing my performance from the two race to see how my general fitness has changed. Fingers crossed for good running weather too!

So not long after getting a jury-shortlist letter, I actually received a Jury service citation. Whilst I’m clearly not going to go into the specifics of when or where I’m serving, I’m still very much in two minds about it.

On the one hand, I’m quite aware it’s a part of my civic duty. Indeed, I’m very curious about the process, and quite looking forward to seeing how it all works. I’ve only been in a court once before. That wasn’t a pleasant experience, as I was seeing through charges after a pissed football “fan” punched me in the head one evening as Frances and I were heading out to a nearby restaurant. I have only very slight recollections of the court itself – other than it was all rather intimidating. I’m still rather miffed I was never told the “fan” was restricted from visiting the borough in which the incident happened, and other than that he was found guilty (thanks to the police officer leading the case giving me a call), I’ve no idea what sentence was given. So I have a lot of sympathy with arguments that the legal system in the UK doesn’t put victims very high up the priority list, even if it was a relatively minor incident: I just felt like an afterthought.

I doubt it’ll be that different, at least initially, if I do find myself sitting on a Jury, but I’m intrigued by how the court system works, and am very curious about how it’ll feel to be presented by evidence, testimony’s. Whilst I’m a bit of a fan of the occasional American court drama, I’m in no doubt the process here in the UK (and, within that, in Scotland) will be very different, so quite how it works will be fascinating.

But curiosity will only last so long, and the rest of it is what’s weighing heavily on me, and making me feel I won’t exactly relish the whole experience. Even before I sit down in the room with the jurors, and have to decide matters, listen to others, make points and generally deliberate. A group of strangers with differing views, in a slightly stressed situation, will probably mean it could get a bit tense.

I’ve not been exactly enamoured by the process to date. Badly photocopied letters and bulk process the jury service seem to employ, and the expectation of wasted time (’bring something to read’ etc etc). I appreciate there’s uncertainty in it, not least they need to have more jurors available than they need for various reasons, and then there’s the ballot. So the chances of me serving are still reasonably slim. But in this technical time I’d have expected something a bit more, er, customised. Maybe even a website service. As it is I have a freephone number which I’m given to understand has a recorded message explaining who and who isn’t needed. It all feels very mass-produced, impersonal and, to be honest, ungrateful. OK, so the time-passing is necessary. The judicial system isn’t by it’s nature a swift one.

There’s also the inconvenience. I simply cannot afford to spend more than a couple of weeks doing this. In the context of the compensation forms, I don’t fall under the term ’self-employed’ (rather, I’m director of a small company, and have a salary that’s not time dependent). I’m not paid by the hour. Rather my company loses out as a result of my not being billable, not me personally in the immediate sense. The system doesn’t deal with that. So whilst my company does have insurance for this eventuality, it’s very limited. And that’s even before my clients inconvenience (Something that can’t be measured or compensated). I won’t be contactable (as I normally am) during business hours. I will have to plead special consideration if there is a likelihood of a trial going on for more than a couple of weeks, and I expect to have to do work at the end of each day to keep up with matters. Some projects and issues I’m involved with simply can’t be put on hold.

I suppose I’m annoyed too that it seems so commonplace it is that people I know here seem to have been called to serve on a Jury. It only took four years of living here before I was called. It really doesn’t speak very well of the city, unless the people I know are simply unlucky.

So I’m all a bit mixed up about it. This post is a little mixed up, which I’m not going to apologise for: It’s how I feel right now. It’ll be fascinating at first, I’m sure. Most likely frustrating (if I have a lot of time wasted, or don’t get “used” after all this build-up). Even if I do actually serve on a Jury, I’m not exactly excited by spending a lot of time with strangers in that sort of environment, with important decisions to make.

Civic duty is important to me, but – much like my experience with the courts down in London after being assaulted – I find myself feeling like a small and insignificant part of the process, and one who’s situation is different from the norm, so I risk losing quite a bit more than a few days pay. All very impersonal. Perhaps I’m simply expecting far too much of an over-stretched bureaucracy, but other than a small bit of curiosity, I’m not too optimistic this particular obligation will be one I look back on positively.