New route comeback

After our weekend in Glencoe I was feeling wiped out so I decided to have some rest. The good thing about not racing is you can have a rest whenever you want and not feel guilty. I certainly didn't have any feelings of guilt but I did miss getting out, especially as the weather has been gorgeous this week.

I decided to run without the dog today, as I just wanted to do it without having to stop and pick up poo or shout at her for jumping in and out of the river. It turned out I missed her and wished she'd been with me, but given how tired she was all day it's probably better she stayed in bed. During the first mile of my run I was thinking I should have stayed in my bed too, my body was not happy.

I headed from Ruby's school, through the golf course and down to the river. It was such a glorious day and even though my body was telling me to stop I soldiered on. Once I was on the Tyne path I started to enjoy myself. I was accompanied part of the way by 4 Jays who were 'screaming' at each other and slightly spoiling the peace and quiet, but they are very pretty so I didn't mind too much.

I had set myself an 8 mile target and had thought about running out and back on the river walk, but as I reached Sandy's Mill (about  4 miles in) I thought I'd like to do a loop so I headed up the track towards the A1. I lost my satellite signal in the very strange tunnel that passes under the A1 but that didn't matter too much as I'd stopped to take a photo anyway! I crossed the old A1 and then into the wood that leads to Beanston House. The house is really nice and is where we've bought several Christmas trees over the years. You can actually cut them down yourself with a big saw :)

The next part of the run is a bit tedious as you have to run up the side of a field. Like most farmers in East Lothian at least, there is no way they'd leave even the slightest bit of walkable path so people can actually enjoy our wonderful Scottish access laws. Instead they plough right up to their boundary so you end up having to run in the mud! Ho hum!

The next bit makes up for it though as you run up into the Garelton Hills on a nice grassy track, and the stunning views of East Lothian appear all around you. There's an old ruin at the top of the hill which is really pretty, but also very spooky. I did stop and take some pictures but didn't hang around for long just incase the chainsaw weilding freak I always imagine in abandoned buildings appeared! You have to keep climbing until you finally reach a smelly cow field at the very top of the hills. Lucky for me the cows were in their barn, but they had left some rather large 'gifts' for me :/ At this point it's just a case of negotiating your way though some dense gorse and then it's all downhill through the shelter belts that lead back into Haddington.

By the time I got home I felt really good and was glad I'd chosen the harder, but more interesting route into the hills. I really need to explore more and find myself more new places to run. It was certainly a good way to comeback after my rest. It was 8 miles in total, although my Garmin said 7.69, but that was because I stopped it for about half a mile by accident!

This weekend I have a Trail Cycle Leader course in Linlithgow. It should be fun, but at the moment I'm just feeling anxious about it. I've been cycling for years without ant serious incidents, but somehow I imagine I'll keep falling off or crashing. Let's hope I prove myself wrong!