It’s the season to be jolly

Where has the year gone?  Blink and you’d have missed it.  You plan a goal and before you know it you’re at the startline.  My first startline next year will be the Highland Fling in 17 weeks time and there’s a lot of work to be done.  Going from 5 miles to 53 miles in that timeframe won’t be easy, but it will happen as it’s only the warm up for the main event where I’ll repeat this mileage another 3 days and 40,000ft of climbing.  As Muhammad Ali said, “if your goals don’t scare you then you haven’t set them high enough”.
This week my running mileage took a hike and it felt great.  My heart rate is a bit high but that will be sorted in the next month as the consistent running starts to show in the results.  The temperature certainly has an effect and today I was running in -3 degrees and trying to stay upright on the icy country roads.  My heart was working hard but not hard enough to stop the pain with the cold in my fingers despite wearing gloves - it will be ski gloves next time!
But it’s not all hard training.  On Saturday a large group of triathletes met at Chatelherault in fancy dress and to the amusement of the other walkers we did a slightly slower lap than normal.  The highlight had to be our T-Rex who had dogs either attacking him or running for their lives.  While we all work and train hard during the year, this is the season to be jolly so make the most of the time off if you are lucky enough to have some.  I’m enjoying two weeks off and while I will continue training I’m looking forward to some wonderful food, plenty of rest, the odd glass of wine and time with the family.  I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and thank you for following my journey.  Merry Christmas.