Pentlands jaunt

I've been feeling a bit weird all week. I felt like I was coming down with a lurgy, but it never materialised. My body has felt tired and my motivation low. This morning I was teaching a balance bike class and then straight after was a meeting about the new bike club we're setting up - East Lothian Trailblazers c.c, so by lunchtime my brain was frazzled!

I go to see my Mum and Dad on a Friday afternoon in Edinburgh and I'd already mentioned I'd like to head up the Pentlands for a run, so when I saw what a beautiful afternoon it was I dropped Ruby off at her grandparents and I headed off with the dog to the hills...

I had intended to do the Balerno loop (7 miles) but because I was still sitting in a traffic jam on the Sherrifhall roundabout at 2pm I knew I wouldn't make it around that course in time. So I decided to park up on the main road at Hillend and run up the track to Swanston, then onto Allermuir. This is a very tough ascent to start with. It's 1024ft from Swanston to the top and today there was the added obstacle of snow and ice! I still find hill running a strange thing, you spend a lot of time walking, but as long as your brain is prepared for that it's great fun.

At the top of Allermuir you get a great view to the rest of the hills further South, but you also get an icy blast of Arctic wind in your face, so we didn't hang about for long. The descent would have been fun if it wasn't for the ice. I ended up walking most of the way down that bit too! The next bit - Caerketton Hill ridge was awesome. I had a great big grin on my face, and so did Nethy. I slipped several times on the downhills, but nothing serious. We also stopped a few times for snowball fights!

Because of the ice and very deep snow (knee deep in some places with a very sharp icy layer on the top) I was quite relieved to be down level with the ski centre. The trail from there was pretty nice, and only a bit boggy. I did stop to have a look at the people skiing as the slopes were mobbed with children. Although I don't ski it gives me a warm fuzzy glow to see kids out on the slopes, instead of being at the shops!

Nethy and I had a definite spring in our step as we ran back to the van. She was covered in mud and I was glowing :)

Spending the weekend in London so no running for me. Will be nice to have a few days off as it makes it even better when you come back to it.

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