The Actual Soup Run...Again.

Wednesday was the latest of the actual Soup Run Races.  It’s actually called The Roamin’ Nose 4 Mile Summer Run, but there is free soup so it’s the Soup Run!  

Rachel was involved in organising it this time because the usual organiser has left The Royal Bank of Scotland (where we work).  I actually ran with her a couple of weeks ago to help find a suitable new route to (presumably) mark the start of a new era.  Kata isn’t racing at the moment so was on hand to help ‘marshall’ the race by puring the water and cava for the thirsty runners afterwards. 

Here is the route, 

As the name suggests, it’s a 4 mile run around the cycle paths close to the office.  I enjoyed tis new route as it was entirely on cycle paths with no roads to cross anywhere.  Rachel had been out earlier to chalk arrows on the ground to guide the runners, and I was given a piece of chalk to add any extra arrows that I thought necessary during the run.  Marking the route while running the race!  No pressure there to stay up the front!  I am notorious for getting lost (see previous blog update) so I have a good ee for where directions are needed.  In the end I stopped twice to add new arrows and I think this cost me one place.  The first time I drew an arrow I was overtaken but I made the place up again.  The second time I was overtaken again but couldn’t catch up.  

My Garmin shows where I stopped to draw arrows.  Not sure what the middle dip is all about.  

My pace was pretty poor.  I was running my 10k race pace but by the end of this 4 mile (6.4km) race I as flagging and exhausted.  Must start some speed training.  Really.  I have no problem running the distance at the moment, but I need to up my fitness and pace.  

Started.  Organisers Rachel and Kate on the left.  

Finished and looking pretty happy about it too.  

Great fun race, well organised by Rachel and our colleague Kate, and well marshalled by Kata.  Thanks a lot to The Roamin’ Nose for providing the free soup.  It’s a great wee café/bar/restaureant with great food and occasional live music.  I can recommend it to anyone visiting Edinburgh.  Also it was a good effort in raising money for The Yard, a local playground for children with disabilities.    

I really enjoy these Soup Runs and I’m glad that they will be kept going. 

"Bonus" Update

Ran to OCP today.  Here I am enjoying a pint in the beer garden during this wonderful Scottish Summer. 

I've been drinking this pint for 45 mins.  It keeps filling up.  

Sóller to Deià - The 'Top Gear Challenge'

News has recently broken that Chris Evans will be the new host of BBC’s Top Gear and will be holding open auditions to find the rest of his presenting team.  Kata and I would like to put forward the following application to be the personalities he is looking for by describing the Top Gear Challenge that we set ourselves while on holiday in Mallorca. 

We attempted to walk to walk from our hotel in Soller, to the picturesque town of Deia.  We had to abort the attempt just under half way as it turned out that walking through the mountains of Mallorca in 30 degree heat while almost 6 months pregnant is ill advised.  Who knew?  Still keen to go visit Deia, we decided the next day that Kata would take the bus to Deia, and I would run there and we would meet about 12:30.  Well…Kata then suggested we make it a race and I said that it sounded like a Top Gear Challenge.  The rest of the idea thought itself up.  We chose a finishing point, the church on a hill overlooking the village.

11am and I have a 1hr head start.

Kata would catch the 12:05 bus that was scheduled to arrive in Deia at 12:25.  At 11am I took the Son Castelló Path from Soller to Deia and set off at a brisk jog into the already 26 Celsius heat to attempt to beat that bus.  I wasn’t sure of the distance I had to run but the owner of our hotel said it was “at least 12km”.  I knew from the walk the previous day that the first 4km was all uphill on very rocky terrain.  The uphill finished at a restaurant (of sorts) called Son Mico and this is where we stopped for coffee and cake the day before and then decided to turn back.  It had looked as if Son Mico marked the end of the difficult, uphill terrain and I hoped that would be the case.  

Typical terrain

Nice views along the way

I reached Son Mico (3.76km) in 27 mins.  Yesterday it had taken us 1hr 43mins to reach this point so I was doing well.  I sent my first update to Kata and confidently (arrogantly?) predicted that she should “get an earlier bus”.  It wasn’t much longer before I reached another sign telling me that it was 40mins to Deia and 1hr 35mins back to Soller where I had started only 40 mins ago.  This was too easy!  Worst Top Gear Challenge ever!!!   I was wondering what I would do to kill time in Deia while waiting for Kata to arrive.  It was another 20 mins before Kata actually boarded the bus and I was already a 60 minute WALK away from the finish.  

1h 35min? Ha! As if!

But Kata is leaving the hotel...

However, as with the best Top Gear challenges, there was a twist in the tale.  Some jeopardy to make the  story more interesting, and the victory more sweet.  Basically, I got lost.  A few times.  Even one time when I wasn’t lost I thought I must be and retraced my steps to make sure I hadn’t missed a turning.  The signage did deteriorate and get more sporadic in the last 5km and there were AT LEAST two occasions where I reached a fork in the road with no indication of which way to go and naturally I chose the wrong way.  I’m afraid to say that I did get a bit annoyed at one point and also a bit fed up with running down dead ends and around in circles.  The first cross roads I reached brought me out of the woods and onto a road, as in a road for cars.  I updated Kata on my progress and this obstacle, and she told me that she was on her way.  Now it was starting to get interesting!  After deciding to run downhill, I reached a busy main road with no indication of whether I should run along the road or across it.  I searched across it on the other side but couldn’t see a path so ran along it for a bit.  It was frankly dangerous.  No pavement, a windy road, chances of getting run over on a blind corner quite high.  I thought that this couldn’t possibly be right and retraced my steps all the way back to the woods.  Seeing a post with screw holes on it where there had clearly once been a sign, I decided that this must have been the right way after all and with not a lot of confidence headed back to The Road of Death.  Finally I found  another sign pointing to a trail off the road which was a relief in two ways; 1 – I was going the right way, 2 – I could get off this awful road.  

Oh there's a wee blue warning sign.  Thank God!

But Kata is at the bus stop, hot on my tail, and I am assured that she is fully clothed.

A bit further on I reached another fork in the road with literally no indication of which way to go.  I guessed wrong and ran down a steep hill where I found the beautiful Cala Deia where we would eat our lunch later.  I later discovered that I could have ran down to Cala Deia and then picked up another path leading to Deia, but without the benefit of this knowledge I ran back up the steep hill to reach the fork in the road and go the other way.  Annoying.  Seriously.  

So......which way?

Not this way.  Cala Deia.  It's good but it's not right. 

Finally, after another couple of minor deviations from the correct path, I reached Deia at 12:28 to find a map (hallelujah!) with no ‘You Are Here’ marker (aaarrghh!!!).  I ran around for a bit more before giving in and breaking out the iPhone and Google Maps.  Kata texted at 12:34 to let me know she had arrived in Deia.  Oh no!  Looks like I was beaten as I was still about 1km from the church which was at the top of a very big hill.  I ran up the hill half heartedly, already mentally beaten, exhausted and shirt saturated with sweat.  I paused on the stairs to take a photo to document the last leg and plodded the rest of the way to the top where I found Kata smugly sitting on the wall waiting for me.  Turns out she had arrived there and had had been waiting for me for a whole 5 SECONDS!!!!  :-D  There is a lesson to be learned here I am sure about running the race to the end.  Ah well, Kata had got a bit lost as well and had to find her way to the church from the bus stop so fair’s fair.    

Kata attempted to slow me down by sending me texts during my run which I had to stop to read, but in fairness one of those texts was a helpful map.

We have been back from Mallorca for 3 days now and Kata still reminds me of her victory at any opportunity.  I don’t really mind, the run was great and if I ran it again I would know where to go and I would be able to relax, and be able to knock about 15 mins and 2km off the route!  

The route.  10km?  I ran 12km.  Oops!

The best Top Gear Challenges are close affairs and this is how it proved for us.  If Mr Evans needs my phone number or further evidence of our suitability to present, then I can be contacted via the Comments link below.  

Defeated by a pregnant woman in flip flops.

Red Moss Kip Race

My first blog entry since I completed Most Runningist Year Ever.  I have now decided that the title of this blog refers to a figurative ‘year’ rather than a literal year.  So figuratively speaking, the year of running runs on….

On day 370 of consecutive running, I ran the HBT organised Red Moss Kips.  This is the second time I have ran this race, and the second time I have blogged about it.  In fact the second ever blog entry was on this subject.  The blog has evolved somewhat since then.  

I always look so tense when I run.

I was given a last minute place in the race and was kindly given a lift there and back by our neighbour and fellow HBT runner, Mark.  Thanks Mark!  The route is 10.5km up one steep hill, another not so steep hill, then back again.  The scenery is ridiculously beautiful and the weather was fantastic.  Too hot to run really (I'm told it was 24 Celsius) but I am not going to complain about that.  The sun was low which meant on the way back it was right in our eyes and made it difficult to see, but again, not complaining, it was fantastic to be out in the hills on an evening like this.  The only downside was that I had to run a hill race!  I am seriously considering retiring from hill races.  I just do not enjoy them at all.  I don’t really enjoy the forced, power walk up the side of steep hills, but that’s nothing compared to how much I hate the descent.  I went over on my ankle really quite badly this time.  The world seemed to stop spinning, everything went into slow motion, and I was all like, “NNNNNOOOOOOOO!!!!!”.  I really thought it was going to be very bad and that the running streak was over.  In fact so slow was the slow motion that I remember thinking, “Well at least I managed a whole year.”  In the end nothing was twisted or broken.  I stood to one side, lost a few places, started to walk, then decided that would take too long as I was almost slap bang in the middle of the course, so started a tentative jog.  I resolved not to race, not to push an just jog back.  And so I did.  The last flat section I sped up a bit and ten when I reached the  last descent which was on tarmac, I stopped myself from going too fast again.  The truth is I was miserable pretty much the whole way around.  I just don’t enjoy hill running at all and if that’s the case then what’s the point?  I am seriously considering retiring and calling short my already short career in this type of racing.  Roads, trail, cross country, all good fun in their way.  Hills, not so much.  

This would have come in handy last year

No official results yet but I think I finished in 1:02:14 which is a nine minute improvement on last year.  I didn’t get lost, run off course, and have to double back, back uphill this year though.     

And The Award for Most Runningist Goes To...

Me!

This bit is going to read a bit like an Academy Award acceptance speech, but the following thanks are needed and overdue. 

Thank you to Kata for getting me into running in the first place.  It’s been life changing.  Thank you to Kata, Jess, and Chris for running faster than me on those first lunch time runs and making me push hard  to keep up.  I used to run before, years ago, and it came to nothing; I think it was being pushed out of my comfort zone by you guys that really made the difference this time.  I remember vividly the time I really wanted to stop and puke but I didn’t want to look weak in front of Kata in particular. Kata’s response to my repeated ascertains that I felt sick of, “either be sick or shut up” become a bizarre mantra!  Despite a few close calls, I’ve yet to actually be sick.  

Thank you to Kata, Brian, Steve, and Blonde Rachel for turning up at Parkrun that time to celebrate ‘Day 100’.  That was a highlight and a really nice surprise.  BIG thanks to everyone who turned up on my last day to run and/or drink with me.  Absolutely amazing.  

And thanks to my parents for the balloons!!!

Now I'll always have a balloon with my face on it. 

Thanks to Kata and Brown Rachel who are “The Committee” referenced at the top of this blog.  Although the idea was mine, they were the ones that encouraged me to turn it into a reality and also helped set the rules of ‘Most Runningist’.  

Thanks to Jon Sutherland whose idea it REALLY was. Thanks to Jet2 for putting his story in their inflight magazine! 

Thanks to my sister, Kirsty, for the free entry into Cumbernauld 10k.  I hope it’s OK to mention that on the Internet!

Thank you to everyone that has driven me to races.  Brian to Calderglen, Gala, KB Dash.  Rachel to Dunbar (the weather that day was awful).  Hector to Dumyat.  James to Falkirk (sorry about your car and all that mud).  Martin to Kinross.  Kata to….too many places to mention.  

If anyone had given me their place in a race because they weren’t able to make it then I would thank them too.  But obviously that’s not allowed so I didn’t do that and so there is no need to thank  Bobby and Ross.  If I’ve missed anyone else who definitely didn’t give me their race place then it’s just as well that there is no need to apologise.  

Thank you to everyone who took an interest in this madness and who spoke to me about it (usually in the pub).  Many times I found it embarrassing to talk about and often tried to steer the conversation away in case I sounded boring or conceited, only for people to keep coming back to it because they wanted to know and talk about it.  What was especially bizarre but rewarding for me was to be told a few times that I was “inspirational”.  Being told this is very embarrassing, but also makes me very proud.  On the really hard days I realised that failing would be a failure for me, but it would also be disappointing to all the people that were genuinely interested in what I was doing. This is the conversation that haunted me…

“Hey, Steve.  How’s your running every day for a year going?”

“Oh I gave that up.”

“Oh.”

Thanks to Kata for putting up with me on the bad days/weeks and pushing me out the door with kindness or with force as required.  Your encouragement was invaluable I don’t think I would have completed this challenge without you.  In fact I know I wouldn’t have.

I wish I had a montage.  This post needs a montage with music by M-People.  Instead, here are some second-rate photos from the last year that were considered not good enough for the blog. 

Lake Zurich.  Just as well I didn't get the job, running in Zurich wasn't as good as running in Edinburgh.

Outside Edinburgh's Gallery of Modern Art

Hard to imagine why this picture never made it!  Blackford Hill. 

My rejected t-shirt design for HBT

Harris Half-Marathon recovery beers

Day 50 at OCP

Kata before The Beast.  Probably the best race I've ever taken part in. 

Day 100 - Parkrun.  It's Elderflower wine

Where's Wally Steve? Cumbernauld 10k

Dunbar 10 Mile and Gala XC.  Two races, one pose.  

Survival of The Fittest, before I got my biker leathers on.

Nemesvamos in the snow

Bakonybel.  There's that pose again.  Shoe gazing!

Before Ben Lomond.  I had no energy to do this after Ben Lomond.  Possibly the toughest race I have ever taken part in. 

Running for 365 days in a row isn't the highlight of my year.  Kata completed Black Rock 5 with an extra person on board.  One more runner in the family due to join us in October.  

Here Comes The Science Bit

Running every day for a year has not just been about recording the miles - it’s been about recording the kilometres.  

But seriously, it’s been an adventure, but after 365 of consecutive running, here are the cold, hard, verifiable facts;

Races

1 mile x 1

2 mile x 5

5 mile x 1

10 mile x 2

5km x 27 (God bless you Parkrun) 

10km x 5

Half-Marathon x 4

Trail x 7

Hill x 7

Cross Country x 5

Plus the races that refuse to be categorised;

Chase The Bride x 1 (Congrats Rachel & Hector)

The Soup Run x 2

Kilomathon x 1

Survival of the Fittest x 1

KB Dash x 1

Total Stats

Here are  all the stats.  

Count:	392 Activities
Distance:	2,639.65 km
Time:	226:48:26 h:m:s
Calories:	220,851 C
Avg Time:	34:43 h:m:s
Avg Distance:	6.73 km
Avg Speed:	11.6 km/h
Avg HR:	143 bpm
Max HR:	177 bpm

Worth noting perhaps that I ran a total of 2,639km (1,639 miles) and according to Google Maps, it's 2,357km (1,465  miles) to Budapest.  This challenge started in Budapest.  I could just have ran home!

Or I could have ran to Leith and back 507 times.  

Minimum distance set by the committee was 3km.  I averaged 6.73km a day.  Not bad.  

The two questions I was asked most often last night during the celebration drinks were;

Q:  How often did you run the minimum distance?

A:  I ran the minimum distance of 3km a surprising 24 times.  3 of those were 2 mile races.  

Q: Why did you start doing this?

A:  Because of this article that I read in an inflight magazine on my way to Budapest.  I thought that running for a year sounded like a good challenge and Kata and Rachel said I should do it.  So I did.

http://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/california-man-sets-us-run-streak-record

The longest run was the Seven Hills route - 25.96km (16 miles).

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/717540783

Second longest was North Berwick to Seton Sands - 23.85km (14 miles).

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/698737181

Then it was the 4 half-marathons.  

I am going to keep running, keep the streak going.  Maybe I won't have the motivation that came with aiming for a target and an end date, or maybe I will be more relaxed about it?  Time will tell.  This has been life changing and I am not ready to stop. 

Day 365. Mission Accomplished. And What A Day!

I don't know where to start.  Really.  What a day.  There is so much that I want to record on my blog that there might be three separate entries.  I will just start typing and see where it leads.

Yesterday, on the 5th June 2015, I completed my challenge of running for 365 consecutive days.  I had known for some time that barring a disaster in the realms of a leg break, I was going to manage it, so there was no feeling of euphoria leading up to the end.  I did start to feel some excitement in the half hour before heading out for the final run, and I did crack a big smile when my Garmin ticked over to 3km during the run, but what was ahead of me on this day I could not have guessed.  First off all, thanks to Kata, Rachel, Keith, Iain, and Matthew for joining me on the final run.  Or what I thought at the time was the final run.  

The finishing line

When I entered the bar that marked the end of the run, the first thing I saw was a table full of champagne glasses and then I saw the cake.  In almost the same moment I realised that Chariots of Fire was playing on the stereo!  I was shell shocked.   Kata had arranged all of this for me and it was utterly fantastic.  When the very kind barmaids started the three cheers "hip-hip hooray', grateful as I was, I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me.  I was mortified.  It was so nice of Kata to make such an effort to mark the occasion like this and I really wasn't expecting anything at all.  Words escape me.  So, so nice.  Thank you!

Thanks to these two girls from OCP who were super friendly 

Champagne!!

Cake AND Champagne 

Old Chain Pier isn't just a great bar, it's also a route (OCP), as in "shall we run OCP today?"

Cake eaten and champagne drank, we headed home.  Later on Kata said that our friend Carrie was sorry that she couldn't make the lunch time run, and wondered if I wanted to go out again at 6pm as she wanted to be involved in the last day.  I thought that was really nice so accepted the invitation and headed off to meet at another pub - The Stockbridge Tap.  

Leaving the flat we immediately bumped into another friend and HBT runner, Mark.  I thought that was an amazing coincidence but didn't suspect anything.  When we arrived at the pub and I saw not only Carrie but also 6 other HBT runners, I realised something was up.  I turned to Kata to ask if she knew about this but I didn't need to ask as the huge gin on her face told me all I needed to know.  Again, there are no words I can use to accurately describe how I felt, but I'll give it a try; shocked, proud, excited, embarrassed, delighted.  

I chose a run for us and we all (me, Kata, Carrie, Brian, Mairead, Dave, Jamie, Jon, and Mark) headed off along the Water of Leith to run one of my usual 5km routes that would bring us back to the pub.  It was a beautiful night for a run and it was great to run with a group of friends and chat about the last year.  

We arrived back at the pub and went in to celebrate with another beer or two.  I was amazed when Carrie went home to "change her t-shirt" and came back with a cake and cards!  She did change her t-shirt as well.      The surprises kept coming and before long the pub was full of HBT members who apparently had all got an email during the week telling them that this was my final day and to join me for a beer.  Well I can't list everyone that was there because there were so many, but thanks to everyone.  It was a great night.  I am still stunned.  

Thank God someone took all these photos because I did have a lot to drink and can't remember some of the evening.  I had a bit of a fuzzy head this morning!

The candles say 365 (days), the card says 1 (year)

Dave, me, Mairead, Brian

Dave is a bit sad that the candles are being blown out

Uh huh.  

It's possible that some of these people have had too much beer. 

Thanks so much to everyone that joined me and was involved in making this a day that I remember forever.  A truly unexpected and fitting end to this amazing year.  I'm gobsmacked.  

And now, the end is near, and so I ran, the final road race.

Yesterday, the 3^rd June was Day 363 of The Most Runningist Year Ever and I ran what will the final organised race of the challenge – The Corstorphine AAC 5 Mile Road Race.  

http://caac.org.uk/caac5

Still aching a bit from the Edinburgh Half Marathon, I took the short drive with Kata out to the start of the race which was near Edinburgh Airport.  When we arrived there were a lot more HBT runners than I was expecting and in fact the race in general was a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be.  This is perhaps not that surprising as it was a beautiful, sunny, June evening, you could register on the day,  and the location was handy for all of Edinburgh.  One thing that I did notice before the race actually was the number of race vests from outside of the usual Edinburgh and East coast suspects. There were runners there from Cambuslang Harriers, Garscube Harriers, Hamilton Harriers, Kirkintilloch Olympians (‘Harriers’ not good enough for them?!), and even from my home town - Cumbernauld AAC!  

And we're off...

Sure, it was a sunny, June evening, but it was still Edinburgh so to the sound of a starter pistol we got underway straight into a strong headwind.  Running along the road alongside the airport runway, it was a relief to then take a right hand turn into a quieter road and out of the wind.  I had completed the first kilometre in 3:50 which was too fast but I had been keeping pace with runners from HBT and other clubs that I recognised from previous races as about my pace.  The consensus afterwards was that the start was generally too fast.  The course was the definition of ‘undulating’.  It was up and down the whole way around, with one particularly brutal hill balanced out by a nice downhill just before turning back on to the home straight.  Ah….the home straight….

Turning back on to the road that we started on, I could see the industrial estate that marked the finish.  I kicked on and started racing the runners around about me to protect or even gain position.  Unfortunately I kicked on far too early and far too fast.  Giddy with the excitement of running downhill and then onto the home straight, I pushed to fast too early and about 400m from the end I was exhausted and had no speed left in me at all.  I could feel the pasta that I had had for dinner in my stomach and I dearly hoped that it was going to stay there!  It did.

Handles well in corners

Results are in and I finished 83^rd out of 164 in 34:06.  Actually, me and the guy in 82^nd finished in exactly the same time and contrary to the official results I recall that I crossed the finish line slightly ahead of him.  Denied of a top half finish. Stewards enquiry! 

A really nice race and I would definitely recommend it.  Very well organised by CAAC and brilliantly marshalled at every corner.  It was a nice route on some back roads that I otherwise would never have been on and I got a very interesting and close look at this tower which I’ve often wondered about from afar when driving to the airport.  

But what IS it?

It was a challenging race ran by quite a fast field.  I underestimated it a little bit because the name of the race had a ‘5’ in it.  I mean I knew it was 5 miles, but my subconscious was thinking kilometres because that’s what I’m used to when a race is a ‘5’ something.  

The bananas and baked goods at the end were very welcome.  Good cheering on from Kata (taking photos) and Ian (marshalling) who were standing at the  top of the final hill, although I can’t help but notice that Ian’s promise to shoot all runners not wearing brown was not carried out.  Probably for the best – it’ not really in the spirit of being a race marshal.

Everyone in this picture looks far too happy.  I've dropped my banana.