I love running

This mornings run was humid and breezy.  Then it turned to light rain which was welcome to cool me down. The thought occurred to me, I love running.  How lucky am I to be healthy enough to be out in a running vest and shorts enjoying the beautiful scenery.  Today’s run was building on yesterday’s 20km mountain run. With tired legs I had to maintain a reasonable pace and keep my heart rate below 155 bpm.  All targets were hit.
Yesterday Michael led Stuart and I up the “Arrochar Alps” for 3hrs and 15mins of tough running / power walking with 4,000 ft of climbing.  I was wearing my rucksack with a 4.5kg load and that certainly made a difference. While we started the run in blue skies, by the time we’d reached the summit it was in cloud base.  Despite my gym work my legs were working very hard.  When we finished we walked straight into the Loch to cool our legs down - felt great.  There will be much more mountain running in the next 74 days.
On Wednesday I had an early morning run with my coach Genevieve and it was a fantastic run.  Low heart rate and fast pace is a good combination.  It shows that consistent quality training pays off.  I’ve run over 300km so far this month on top of my swimming and gym work and that’s including a weeks holiday.  But there’s a lot of work to be done, especially in the mountains so hears hoping the weather holds up.
I’m also addressing the logistics.  We’ve got a group together for Tahoe and are sharing info and asking questions.  One of my French friends had posed the question, what’s your bear strategy? Good question.  Mine is to outsprint the person next to me but his was to play Celine Dion music! Top tip so far.
But I’ll finish where I started. I love running.  We were designed to run and it’s so simple.  Just place one foot in front of the other. And it doesn’t need to be long distances.  Find yourself a Jog Scotland group and do their couch to 5k programme if you are a beginner or someone returning to running after a while.  Get outdoors and get fit.  There is no better feeling.