Runs Writes Code

I was pretty nervous about the final race of the fife midweek series. I had not run the route before but had found it on Garmin Connect and it was quite clearly more a hill race than a trail race. The first 2.5 miles were pretty much all up, with the route climbing to the top of Lucklaw Hill. Still, I like running downhill... I drove over with Andrew and after entering we went for an early warm up. After the dynamic I was feeling a bit foggy so took my blood sugar levels and was horrified to find it was low. Not a good place to be before the race had even started... I rummaged in the boot for the old box of Viper that had been there for several months and added three scoops to the one already in my bottle. I won't pretend that it tasted good at that concentration. My fears seemed well-founded as, over the first half mile, more and more people overtook me. Then the Viper kicked in and I picked up my pace. The grass sections had suffered from the recent high rainfall and had di...

6.1 miles of sand, trail, steps and sea. Mostly sand and mostly wet. This was my first attempt at this race, and quite possibly my last. Having been off of running with shin splints it seemed quite a good idea to do a race on a soft surface, however I don't have as much leg strength as I would like, so found the heavy sand and the tough climb to the cliff top really hard work. At the start it looked as though the weather would hold so, having discussed clothing options (and boys, obviously) on the longish warm up with Amie, I decided to pin my number on my bra top rather than my Fife vest. The race set off from Lower Largo at a smart pace before bunching at the gateway onto the first beach. The sun was still out and strong on our backs, the wind in our faces. I tried to keep up with Amie but she was running too well and my new focus became getting some distance between myself and Rhona (another Fife AC runner). This was tough work on the sand, especially as the guys I was running w...

Antwerp is a city of supremely sedate cyclists. Like little horses the bikes wear their panniers with their handlebars held high, the riders sit upright and by-and-large obey the traffic laws. I didn't get to cycle in Antwerp, so I just took some photos of the bikes... But I did get to run in Antwerp and discovered that the law-abiding citizens have an annoying habit of only crossing roads when the little green man says so - regardless of whether there is no traffic for 1/4 mile in each direction. Fine when perambulating in search of bikes to photograph, less fun when trying to run without freezing to death. When I made it down to the river though I was able to follow the bike path (which scooters used too...) and enjoy the sights. The best sights in Antwerp cannot be seen on the run. The Plantin - Moretus museum was the reason I was in Antwerp in the first place, and it didn't disappoint. As a trainee book historian and bibliophile, the sight of so much printing paraphernalia...