A Short Burst

18:13 3 miles 20:15

1 6:55 2 6:43 3 6:38  Average 6:45 min/miles

I decided to just do a short run tonight. I was going to have another day off as me and Mrs pacepusher are planning a long run on the West Highland Way tomorrow, but having finished work and seeing my trainers as I walked through the door, it seemed rude not to!

I didn’t set out to run this quickly, but I’d forgotten about the fact that it’s the last day of school/first day of study leave today. As I drove past Barshaw Park this evening the, usually litter free, grass slope looked more like a landfill site. The kids had an all day party on the hill (I saw them all arrive at 9:30 this morning!) and didn’t seem too bothered about using the bins! Why is this relevant? Because Linwood has a school too! There were a number of staggering teenagers carrying large bottles of cider around the woodland path. The very same woodland path that I had chosen to run around! The first mile felt quite comfortable, but once I started blasting my way through drunken kids, I was flying, and once I’ve picked up speed, I have a strange desire to maintain it when I’m running a shorter distance. To be fair to the kids (I should probably call them, ‘Young Adults’ but come on!?) they all moved to the sides of the path to let me through. The speed I was going it would have hurt them more than it would have hurt me anyway!

Speaking of being hurt. Have any other WHW runners developed an obsessive fear of injury? I’m not talking about just whilst running here, I’m talking about it taking over your life. I now hold onto hand rails whilst going down stairs, I’m terrified of having a shower in case I slip, I look too many times before crossing the road, and kerbs should carry a Government health warning! I swear I’ve been using my dual-controls more than normal with my pupils too!

As for tomorrow, we’re thinking of running from The Drovers Inn (Inverarnan/Beinglass Farm) to Bridge Of Orchy (about 19 miles), with me pushing on a little at the end and going up and down the hill to finish at Victoria Bridge, where Mrs pacepusher will pick me up. Let’s hope the weather holds out for us.

As for my last run on the West Highland Way… here’s a few extras from Monday:

Click to see us Arriving At Beinglass, a short video clip taken by JK Spielberg. There’s also a few photographs at the end which show the damage the run caused to my trainers!

…and these photographs were taken by Thomas and Silke. I’ve borrowed (?) them from Thomas’s blog.

Me Arriving At Beinglass Farm Having Lost My Right Arm!

The Beinglass Social - note my use of the shelter to stay upright

The 3 Of Us Arriving At Derrydarroch Farm

The Three Musketeers - Thomas, Me & Marco

Keep safe folks, and remember, kerbs are the devils work!