Hiya pals! There’s been a lot going on since we caught up last. But rather than bore you with an essay or thesis, I’ve scribbled a few updates instead…so you’ll get bored with a series of short paragraphs instead. A sprint not a marathon, if you will!

Fundraising – Let’s start with the big news first (don’t stop reading after this bit though!). Thanks to incredible generosity of family, friends, colleagues and fellow runners, I’ve reached and passed my fundraising target for RMHC and my bib for the race is secured (check out the pinned post for all the mile sponsors). This money will help support some incredible work that the charity does to help keep families close when children are receiving treatment in hospital, and they need each other most. I’ve had the pleasure to work with the charity for 15 years and it will be a privilege to be representing Team RMHC in a few weeks’ time. I’m also really grateful to them, for giving me the opportunity to run the dream race and get back to running in a city where I feel at home.

I’ve always said that support isn’t just financial and there’s an ever-growing squad of people, who have been invaluable in helping to get me ready for this. Training partners, Strava kudos givers, blog readers, car horn beepers and wavers when I’m out running and even my mate who lets me turn his garden into a drink and fuel stop at a weekend – you are all part of Team Chicken Legs (whether you want to be or not) and I appreciate every bit of support you’ve given me.

A number of ‘Firsts’ – Since I was last here, I’ve had my first ever visit to the lovely city of Cologne and in the last week or so, it’s been the first runs in the rain (that I can remember) since training started 15 weeks ago.

And a quick shout out to my first sponsor, Terry. Terry started running during lockdown and has recently been upping the mileage on his solo runs, 5ks > 5 miles > 10ks > 10 miles and completed his first solo half marathon distance run the other day. Brilliant to see – well done again mate!

Cologne was SO warm when I was there, and I made the big mistake of thinking that it would’ve cooled down a bit when I set out after work about 5pm for a sight-seeing recce run (the best way to discover a city IMO). I took a little water bottle, but 40 minutes in, not only was it nearly empty, it felt like drinking warm water from the tap! Every other run after that was done in the morning before the sun came up, but it’s a great city to run where my routes would take in the stunning Cathedral, crisscross the bridges across the Rhine (including the rail bridge, the length of which is covered – and I mean covered in padlocks) and the massive Rheinpark (home of a parkrun) that runs along the banks of the river.

Up until a few weeks ago, I couldn’t recall the last time it had rained, or when I’d ran in the rain. Of course, the first time it happened recently was during a storm and the second time coincided with my longest continuous run ever – the 20 miler!   

The weekend long runs have been going pretty well; fitness wise I’ve felt pretty strong, I’ve been recovering from them quickly and the knee pain is a bit hit or miss but has been manageable. I’ve been doing variations of loops of Dunfermline and whilst it can be a bit repetitive, it does allow me to set up drinks stops at different points and I don’t have to carry a lot of food or drinks with me.

The 20 miler was going to be a solo run and I woke up feeling rotten and lethargic, not helped by hearing the rain battering against my window. I started off conservatively, showing respect to the distance ahead – maybe too much respect in hindsight – and took the first hour pretty slowly. I ditched the waterproof jacket that turned out not to be waterproof and tried to kick on from mile 7 and up the pace…but it just wasn’t happening. At mile 10, everything felt really labored and while the splits don’t show any big drop off in times, I was having to work hard to keep it going. That feeling lasted a few miles but I found a second wind for the last five miles and felt pretty comfortable on the home straight, helped by the fact that rain had stopped and I was drying out a bit. I’ve not read too much into those horrible middle miles or dwelt on it too much since. There’s every chance I’ll have highs and lows on race day and it’s all about managing them as it happens, not getting carried away with the highs, not getting too despondent with the lows. But as you can see from the photo, I was happy to enter the 20 zone!

Auchterarder Half Marathon: It seems like a long time since I ran in a half marathon race (even if we are doing those distances and then some, most weekends) On Sunday, Gav and I travelled to picturesque Perthshire for the Auchterarder Half Marathon, part of their weekend running festival. The plan had 13 miles scheduled, so it was perfect timing and would make a nice wee change from laps of Scotland’s newest (ancient) city. It’s a class wee race and I’ll be back again next year all going well. A field of about 250 runners, about 100 of whom were doing the ‘double dare’ with the 10k on Saturday and the half on Sunday, really well organised with friendly marshals all of the way along the route.  I’d heard about the ‘profile’ of the route (but didnt look at it before the race) and Gav pointed out on the drive up that it looked like a fair bit of climbing after half-way. We’d agreed that this was definitely a training run, nothing crazy, just go out and enjoy it and we stuck to that…for at least 10 miles.  First six miles was a really gentle downhill, felt really comfortable but we knew that what goes down, has to come back up and I was bracing myself for the climbs…but they were actually fine. A few of them were short and steep but you could always see the end of them, so just needed to get the arms driving for a bit and up we went. We got running alongside Rhona from the Perth Road Runners and got chatting – and that always helps take your mind off the hills. By about 10 miles, we knew we had a couple of miles of gradual uphill towards the finish but we could get under 2 hours if we upped the pace a bit….so we did (Gav and I blame each other for this idea). We were moving through the field and it’s great for the confidence to find a change of gear that late in a race. With a fairly generous downhill bit on the last mile, we clocked our fastest mile of the race, finishing in 1:58:26

I’m a big fan of the brilliant Young Hearts Run Free podcast so it was great to meet presenters John and Steven who were both part of the (excellent) race crew – John kindly added Big Country’s ‘In A Big Country’ to the pre-race playlist at my request, helping put that wee spring in my step. We also got chatting to Scotland’s legendary amateur weatherman, Windy Wilson, who is also heading for Chicago (Windy in the Windy City – perfect!) to take part in his fourth of the big six marathons. The long-range forecast (not Windy’s) for October has Chicago cloudy and 15 degrees (ish) for race day – which would be perfect, but I’m not going to get hung up on the weather. I’ve ran in Chicago on warm days, rainy days and bitterly baltic days so I’m looking forward to it come rain, hail or shine (well, Cologne type weather would actually be brutal, so none of that).    

So it’s just a really long blog post with bold paragraph headings isn’t it? Aye, sorry about that! Less than four weeks to go, the chicken legs are holding up but have their moments. One more ‘long’ long run this week and then it eases off. At this stage, I’m listening to my legs, trying to stick to the plan, but not beholden to it if I think I need a day or two off between now and October 9^th! 

Cheers to everyone for your continued support, you’re all stars.