Scottish Mountains rock!

I am so lucky to live in a beautiful country and have amazing mountains within 60- 90 minutes of my house.  Last week was an important week in my build up.  From the Friday through to Tuesday I had a really heavy training schedule as I needed two days off as I was going to Wimbledon for a day and then Belfast.  I had four very early starts that week so come this weekend I knew I was going to have to dig deep. My quads were shredded from my 5 day schedule before my two days off, and walking, never mind running or squatting in the gym was painful. But I knew more mountain running would make me stronger.
Saturday was amazing. My friend Michael had planned an hour route in the mountains - only 1 hour from my house.  It involved three summits with a total of 5,000 ft of climbing over 20 km.  I got some good practice in with my poles in varying terrain.  As we were approaching the top of one mountain it got technical.  I was squeezing in between rocks and didn’t dare look back as I don’t have a head for edges - glad I didn’t have to go back down that route as I don’t think I could have done it. We ran down the mountains and this is to prepare my legs for the Tahoe 200.  We finished the run by bathing in a cold Loch to help our legs recover.  The views from the tops of the mountain were amazing.  We bumped into two people and a dog on the top and I consider it a privilege to be in these places and to listen to the sound of silence - blessed.
Today I went a rece of the leg of the relay race I’m doing next Saturday.  It was a beautiful sunny day and I’m glad I took the time to refresh my memories of the lumpy 18km route.  My legs felt great which is a sign I’m getting stronger and used to running down hills at pace.  Tomorrow will be a real test as I have a 5 hour mountain run planned.  Again Michael has set me a beautiful route with plenty of climbing but nothing technical as I’ll be on my own.  As I get closer to Tahoe, 67 days to go, there will be more back to back mountain runs but with so many mountains on my door step, it’s going to be fun especially if I have my pals to keep me company.