One Way Only

One of my pupils this morning was driving down a dual carriageway road in Paisley. I had been explaining the reasons why we should be in the left hand lane and she was happy enough. The road then became single carriageway, she got flustered and asked, “but which lane should I be in now?” I pointed out that there was only one lane and that seemed to answer her question! The same could be said for the WHW route, there is only one path. However for some reason I can’t find my way out of Milngavie alone. So after her lesson, I headed to Milngavie to see which lane I should be in…

12:03 8 miles 1:07:10

No Splits  Average 8:24 min/miles

Today’s run was tough, I’ve done a lot of running over the last few days. With hindsight, I probably should have stayed at home and rested for Sundays long run. However, hindsight’s a wonderful thing and I didn’t, so here’s the gossip…

I wasn’t really in the right frame of mind for the run which may have been part of the problem. I had been really looking forward to it until I got to the official WHW toilet in Tesco. I decided to buy a few bits for Sunday whilst I was there, but things weren’t that simple (I’ll come back to this later). Having escaped from Tesco, I then had to get out of the car park. Old people should  not be allowed to drive, fact! I pulled out of my space, but was blocked from escape by an OAP trying to reverse out of his space. It was a big space with loads of room behind, yet with a worried look on his face, it took him at least 27 turns to get out. When he did, he was facing the wrong way, i.e. right towards me on the one way road. I decided it would be quicker for me to move, so I did. I then indicated that he was going the wrong way. He wasn’t wearing glasses (he probably should) and he just thanked me as he passed.

One problem over, I headed toward the train station, getting stuck behind OAP number 2, and reason why they shouldn’t drive number 2. At less than 15 MPH I followed their car out of the car park and onto the main road until the station turn off. Hurray, freedom! I sped into the car park then drove up and down, up and down, before finally giving in. There were no spaces at all! I begrudgingly headed back towards the Tesco car park. On my return, repeat all that you have read, and now imagine me really annoyed!

                         A Picture Paints A Thousand Words!

Finally parked, I got changed and headed off. I went the wrong way! All the paths thankfully come back to the same place eventually, but I wanted to go the right way. It isn’t signposted and that’s why I got it wrong… now I know. Once back on familiar trail, I couldn’t settle into a pace. I wanted this to be easy, but kept pushing the pace. Whatever speed I ran at I felt awful. Originally I was going to do 10 miles today, but decided I’d just run to the Carbeth Huts, knowing that this was an out and back of about 8 miles. As it was, it was exactly 4 miles to the gate onto the road just after Carbeth. By the time I got there, I had walked a few hills, been annoyed by walkers not looking where they were going, and felt generally rubbish.

Remembering the words of WHWR legend Kate Jenkins from the night in Edinburgh, I realised the problem. I had lost the spirit of the West Highland Way. I started to run back and things were different. I was enjoying the scenery, the terrain, saying hi to the walkers, and running in the countryside. I ran the whole 4 miles home regardless of incline, and was probably sub 8:00 the whole time. Unfortunately I didn’t lap the GPS at Carbeth, so I don’t have the splits but I’m pretty sure it would be very negative!

  
                           One Of Many Carbeth Huts

So, back to the Tesco incident, and a ‘How Annoying?’ award (you wondered where they’d gone didn’t you?). I had selected my purchases and headed for the tills. I was buying two of one thing due to the offer that was advertised, however when I went to pay, the offer did not register with the tills. “It’s because they’re different flavours” (what? ed.) said the woman, “well it doesn’t specify that” said I. She called for backup. 

Backup arrived in the shape of a so called ’supervisor’. The woman on the tills (who incidentally was the same age as the people in the cars outside. If you ever want to feel young, head for Tesco, Milngavie) explained to the supervisor the problem. “hang on” said the supervisor, who went to use the phone. She returned, and I followed her to show her what it said. I got there, she didn’t. She was now walking around with tomatoes in her hand. That, incidentally, is not what I was buying! The women on the till saw this, so she got off her seat and used her Zimmerframe to follow me. She was too confused/senile to understand, so I opted for two of the same flavour to put an end to it, and get my discount.

But now we needed a void on the other flavour. Supervisor called, but supervisor walks past to use the phone again. I am now really angry and about to walk out the shop, however it’s not Grandma’s fault on the till. Someone else does a void for her and I begin to go through the ritual of payment. Supervisor returns. “I couldn’t sort that problem for the customer” said women on till - now here’s where she clinched her award – “where is she?” said the supervisor as she walked off to use the phone! To be fair to Granny Checkout, she said at the end, “I’m not going to make excuses for her, I’m sorry though”.

So Mrs-so called-Supervisor, I will send your certificate via your manager, with a covering letter detailing the events. The good news though, its ‘Buy One Get One Free’ today. You don’t have to pay a penny, but you do have to BOGOF!!!!!