The sound of silence

68 days to Great Glen Ultra seems a long way away but it's approaching fast.  Yesterday I was reminded watching the Highland Fling athletes and times how difficult 53 miles was, never mind 71. - difficult to imagine really.  Another great week of scheduled training.  I can't say that I wanted to jump out of bed every day as it was a busy week at work and I was tired.  However Saturday's run was another test and it went well.  Training for a ultra you don't do many fast runs but every so often my coach throws one in as a measure of my process.  More importantly it was the warm up to a long day on the hills today.
Today was special.  One of those days that will stick in my mind forever.  My good pal and superb ultra runner / mountaineer Graham Kelly took Stuart Auld (who is doing his first ultra next Sunday) and I up Ben Oss  As those of you who follow my blog know, I've not been particularly lucky getting to a summit and there is a view, and today I thought the same would happen again.  We, or should I say Graham, decided against 2 of the summits we were scheduled to climb so we headed up Ben Oss and found ourselves trekking through the snow.  What struck us was the sound of silence.  If you ever get the chance, climb a mountain, pick a spot, sit down and listen.  Absolutely nothing - like wearing a set of sound cancelling headphones except you have the most stunning view opposite.  We took amazing pictures which showed views of the snow capped mountains all the way down to Loch Lomond.
We then headed over to Ben Dubhcraig and were up to our knees in snow.  The way down provided very interesting.  At one stage I thought it safer and quicker to slide down a gully filled with snow rather than walk down.  At one stage Graham filmed us sprinting down hill in the snow - it was great fun.  5 hours of fun and a great days training.  It was Stuart's 2nd and 3rd Munro and to see the joy in his face made our day.  He's a mountain runner that's for sure.  We are so lucky to have these mountains on our doorstep.
So the journey continues and I'm getting fitter while having fun.  Why not get on on those mountains and listen to the sound of silence - you don't get many opportunities in your busy life and we know this is no dress rehearsal.