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As we approach our 4th anniversary at Strathclyde parkrun, it is time to reflect on how Strathclyde parkrun  has impacted on our lives. It is sometimes hard to imagine life before parkrun (B.p) mainly because it is such an integral part of life these days.  The biggest influence parkrun had on us was the change in focus about where we were going to live.  Suddenly, the focus was not so much on Location Dalkeith it was more Destination Harburn. Anyway just for a wee change, we thought we would answer the questions that appear on the parkrunner of the week feature on the parkrun newsletter, so here goes -

JammyJo

Number of runs : 139

Favourite Volunteer Role : Barcode Scanner - you get to interact with the runners, ask them how their run was - love it!

What do you do at parkruns :  My parkrun starts nice and early packing up the car with the gear, which usually constitutes either Moira or I asking the other if such and such has been placed in the car.  Moira drives to parkrun (I drive back), I get on the social networks and rally the parkrunners. On arrival at the park the smooth operation of erecting the funnel and scanning area swings into action.  Then it's either off for a warm-up or rallying the Dream Team (Volunteers).

How has parkrun changed your life : That's an easy one- met lots of incredible friends and feel part of something special.  Saturdays are now a time to run but more importantly to catch up with friends over a hot Chocolate.

What do you like about parkrun : That everyone contributes to parkrun, we are all in it together, we all show up run/jog/walk 5K and get the weekend off to a perfect start.

Most Memorable or Funniest parkrun moment: It has to be running along the beach at Portrush parkrun on holiday in Northern Ireland last year.  The welcome we got at Portrush was for me what parkrun is all about, you felt you were among family.

JammyMo

Number of runs : 115

Favourite Volunteer Role : Finish tokens eh no marshal eh maybe barcode scanning, actually maybe it's timer, no it's pacer or it could be run director. Oh heck I love them all!

What do you do at parkruns :  Have a great Saturday morning with great people

How has parkrun changed your life : It has made it richer, I have meet so many wonderful people and made some great friends into the bargain.

What do you like about parkrun : It's a run for runners volunteered by runners. It's there ever week and you can turn up at any parkrun and are made to feel like you belong there.

Most Memorable or Funniest parkrun moment: I agree with John, Portrush parkrun has to be up there, running along the beach is brilliant and the guys there were great. For me running my 50th parkrun was really special because it wasn't just me running my 50th then. There we were Pat Smith, Neil Robbins, Eamon Carr, Eddie Carr, Ross Goodman and myself all lined up on the start line getting there by careful coordination and timely volunteering to run our 50th parkrun together and that made it special. Oh and I baked a cake just for the occasion.

So there you have it after, almost 5 years on our parkrun journey and 4 years at Strathclyde parkrun -  we still love it more than ever - thank you parkrun (all one word all lowercase).

Another Year - another set of challenges.

JammyJo takes on Eglinton parkrun

After taking the decision to try and run through the dreaded ankle injury and successfully completing my third Marcothon, I concluded that the decision wasn't making my ankle any worse. So I signed up for Jantasic a challenge coordinated by Marathon Talk - how hard could it be? Before too long I was once again coerced into taking part in Jantastic as part of the Strathclyde parkrunners jantasic team - Thanks, Anthony Butler.  Basically the first four weeks you had to predict how many runs you were going to do, the second four weeks as well as number of runs in a week you had to say what your longest run was going to be.  In the final four weeks it was number of runs, length of longest run and a predicted time for a designated distance.

JammyMo finishing Tollcross parkrun

Moira and I had decided that 2014 was going to see us taking part in more races, as 2013 had been a barren time for both of us as far as racing was concerned.  Our first race we signed up for was the Inverness half marathon in March.  The Inverness half marathon was usually a regular fixture in our racing calender. We also decided that we were going to get our jogscotland group focused on a particular race as this had worked for the group in the past so we instigated a plan to get the group ready for the Loch Leven half marathon.  As we were on the site we entered a couple of 10Ks - Troon and Run with the Wind - can you believe how early you have to enter these races nowadays?  In order to complete the picture we are both taking part in the HOKA Highland Fling Relay and Clyde Stride Relay.

JammyMo and JammyJo in 'blue'

 January went passed in a flash as we focused on upping our mileage on the long runs. As always parkrun  was our regular Saturday morning hang-out - it was seldom dry these days at parkrun.  With the rain came the problems with the technology or rather the need to keep the gear dry. On the 18th of January 2014, we in the company some other 96,000 runners worldwide donned the blue tops in memory of Meg Menzies.  Megsmiles was a simple tribute that became a World-Wide phenomenon on the back of social media and runners blogs worldwide. It was particularly poignant for me as Meg was a relative of mine, I received an email from my Aunt Jean from Richmond, Virginia informing us about the tragedy surrounding Meg and asked if I would run in memory of her. As if to reinforce it when I logged onto facebook Meg's story came up on my news thread. As these things go by the end of the week it was made known that Meg's favourite colour was blue. At Strathclyde park that morning there was a lot of blue tops lined up in the Start pen.  A fitting tribute to a fellow runner mowed down senselessly by a drunk driver.

Towards the end of January, I had once last go at an alternative therapy in a bid to tackle the ankle injury. I had an appointment with Naomi for some Kinetic Chain Release (KCR).  I have to say  I noticed a huge difference right away. Naomi managed to free up my whole left-side.  I was hopeful that the nightmare was coming to an end.

February saw us up the long miles in preparation for the Inverness Half marathon.  It nicely coincided with the need to predict my long run mileage in Jantastic - you know me and a challenge!  We also embarked in a spot of parkrun tourism, we pitched up at Eglinton parkrun to take part in the parkrun closest to my birthplace.  Eglinton parkrun certainly looked so different from my last visit, mind you that was after midnight on the day of parkathon Scotland. It was a lovely trail run follwed by one of the best scones and coffee on the parkrun circuit.

March brought a delema, what was going to be my predicted time over a set distance - I went for the safe option - 5K.  I knew I would only get one shot at the half marathon time but two at the 5K. So after much deliberation I thought it prudent to go for a time, if achieved would be my fastest for 18 months. So I committed to run a 5K in 23:10.  As a consequence of this decision I decided to ditch my normal pacing vest (25mins) for the 24 mins vest at pacing Saturday at Strathclyde parkrun.  It was a real confidence booster coming in at 23:49, OK a wee tad fast but close enough.

On the second weekend in March we headed North for a long weekend in Inverness.  The journey up the A9 taking on a little more interest by way of the fact that we had watched the  documentary on the A9 the evening before our journey.  We didn't, however, spot Windy Wilson out surveying the weather. Inverness was cold and blustery.  On the Friday night we dined out at The White House (formerly the Corner Bar), highly recommended especially the Fish Starter Platter.

Saturday morning, was a wee jaunt round the Inverness parkrun - well, it would be rude not too!  Although three laps round the grass, we found it more enjoyable than on our last visit for parkathon Scotland. The scone and coffee in Cobbs was good but not quite as good as the Tournament Cafe in Eglinton park. Saturday evening, it was a return to Bella Italia for a bit of pasta loading ahead of the half marathon.

As always the Inverness half marathon was brilliantly well-organised.  We both hadn't great expectations for our times for the half marathon, I had secretly set myself a target of 1:55 but was thinking anything under 2 hours I would be happy with and Moira was secretly hoping for under 1:50 but decided 1:55 would be more realistic. We duly started in the pen that met our aspirations.  It turned out to be a masterstroke as we were forced to start of steady, which is just what we needed. I found myself quite comfortable at a fairly decent pace and ran very well for around 10 miles.  After 10 miles I started to struggle a bit but was absolutely delighted to come in 1:48:41. Moira, opened up a gap on me after 10 miles and came in at 1:48:16.  Needless to say we were both delighted with our return to the racing scene.

After my next appointment with Naomi, I was planting my left leg much better when running but I am sure I left the clinic with someone elses legs because as Naomi predicted - they had a mind of their own when it came to running. It didn't take long to get used to the new running legs.  I was still feeling a tightness at the front of the ankle which was affecting my comfort running.

Last weekend, I lined up at Strathclyde parkrun for my first attempt at my jantastic prediced time for 5K. All week I memorised my splits and I was focused on a plan. The weather wasn't perfect but I decided to give it a go but would reassess at 1k.  At 1K I was slightly behind but not so much as to panic, so I decided I would hang in there and give it a go.  At each split I was clawing it back and was just about spot on at the 4K mark. In the spirit of the challenge I never looked at my watch until I crossed the line in at time of 23:05.  Job done or so I thought, when I logged this run on jantastic I was deducted 1% for being 5 seconds too fast.  Decided to keep it as my logged run as I don't forsee me getting any closer.

With April fast approaching, we set off last Sunday for a reccie run of the Beinghlas to Tyndrum leg of the Highland Fling Relay.  Our luck on the West Highland Way, as far as weather is concerned held up and we were treated to breathetaking scenery both in the drive up and on the run itself.  The leg is quite undulating and we had a fantastic run with Ally Robb, Pauline and Garry Henderson.  The girls didn't complain too much about Cow Poo ally. I was particularly pleased with the way the ankle appeared to hold up in what was it's first off-road outing for a long time.  This past week the ankle did struggle a bit but managed to complete jantastic yesterday with 10 mile Bog and Burn run with Harmeny, giving me a jantastic score of 99.9% - not too shabby!

Back in the Groove

Almost a year has passed since our last blog so it’s time to bring you all up to speed on what’s been going on in MoJo land. The last post was on completion of the Marcothon 2012, which you recall was a struggle as a consequence of JammyJo’s troublesome ankle.  11 months on and the ankle is at last showing some signs of recovery, well training has resumed albeit a lower intensity.

Clyde Stride -VAMPs and Dream Team

Over the 11 months we have tried rest, Physiotherapist, an Acupuncturist, Chiropractors, Sports Therapists and Podiatrists – none of which have cured the problem.  Finally in October I decided to try and run through it.  The resumption of training was a real eye-opener – I hadn’t realised how much fitness I had lost.  My way of thinking was I was still dabbling in fitness so I would be fine. Looking back though I guess I always suspected that fitness was disappearing fast.  I had hobbled along the West Highland Way in April and in June I participated in the parkathon – running all 10 Scottish parkruns in a 24 hour period.  Neither of these achievements were the way I wanted them to be.  The parkathon was really a survival exercise so I planned to run each 5k in 30 minutes. It turned out to be a gruelling exercise but sheer will-power got me through the last three parkruns that day.  Over the year we have only taken part in two races which is well down in our yearly average.  The first was the Clyde Stride relay in July, JammyMo performed reasonably on leg three for the VAMPs but JammyJo hobbled the whole of leg 3 to set the Dream Team back.  The second race was Strathaven Striders Run With The Wind 10K, earlier this month, and we both did OK although a long way off our PB standards.  It was good to be back and we are planning more races next year.

Portrush parkrun

Our parkrun year has been a different story.  JammyJo clocked up his 100^th parkrun in May and Moira will clock up her 100^th parkrun on Saturday.  One of the highlights of our parkrun year was our holiday in Northern Ireland where we managed to take in the Derry City parkrun and the iconic Portrush parkrun.  Portrush was always on our radar after we had seen their homepage and the white sands stretching for miles.  Needless to say it surpassed expectations, the run along the sands that August morning will last long in the memory.

As December approaches I am giving some serious thought to taking part in Marcothon 2013, although Moira has stated she will not be taking part this year.  Currently I am down to do the double – Movember and Marcothon over the next two months. You can donate to the Mo at .

http://uk.movember.com/mospace/8804517

Over and Out!

Day 30 was an extraordinary tough one for some reason, every step required supreme effort.  We chose to forgo our usual longer Sunday run for a loop of Camilty.  Both Moira and I were struggling with niggling injuries which seemed to be curtailing our running.  Moira was still very much out in front and occasionally looping back to pick me up.  The wind and rain made for a pretty miserable mornings running.

The Other 'Nutters'  Photo by Fraser Connal

Photo by Fraser Connal

Having completed day 30 our thoughts turned to the final day of the challenge and we decided that it would be a good idea to join some our fellow Marcothoners in a spontaneous mass run in the West end of Glasgow.  So on the last day of the year, we were up early and motoring our way into Glasgow to meet up at Lock 27 on Clyde Canal for a four mile run.  Gone was the lethargy from to the day before which was replaced with a spring in the step.  For us this turned out to be the most enjoyable run of the challenge, running with around 50 other marcothoners, each having their own reason for taking part in this madcap challenge.  Everybody had a story to tell.  It was a great feeling to have completed the tough challenge which certainly challenged us in more ways than one.

After bringing in the New Year we ran Strathclyde parkrun on the 1^st of January – a great way to start the New Year.  Going into the New Year we promised ourselves some rest days ahead of the return to jogscotland duties.  The parkrun itself was largely uneventful and we were thankful to get round in one piece and in a decent time.  Moira, however, ended up limping afterwards.

After a couple of days rest I was down to run another parkrun before taking time off from running to try and sort out the troublesome ankle.  What better way to sign off than to run as 25 minute pacer, easy to remember your splits and a comfortable pace.  Job done, now for some well earned rest!  Moira was sensible and rested her troublesome knee.

Blinded by the Light

Well here we are at day 29 of the Marcothon challenge and the light at the end of the tunnel is clearly visible. Make no mistake it has been tough getting this far.

The second week, day 14 was completed with our standard fallback position of 3 laps of the hospital after work.  It is somewhat alien to be spending Friday night out running in the rain soaked streets on the biggest party night of the year but that’s where we were.  The following morning we were back at parkrun running our normal course for the first time this month.  It was great to get back to a bit of normality but it didn’t last!  On Sunday we were rather ambitious, well I was and we set out to run 6 miles but it was a struggle for me and made me rethink the mileage I was attempting for the challenge.

Monday arrived and we were up bright and early to greet a new working week, much earlier than normal as we had to fit in our run before we went to work.  Dragging ourselves out of bed at such an early hour was as big a challenge as we have faced.  Needless to say the run was the bare minimum - 3 miles.  Challenge met, Moira was able to go to her works lunch and relax and enjoy it without her run preying on her mind. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we were back to JogScotland duty and completed our mileage with our group. On Friday, as many of our work colleagues disappeared off to start their Christmas holidays we headed out for our last run of the year at Little France – an old favourite – The Innocent Railway.

Saturday and Strathclyde parkrun brought with it another challenge, could I improve on last week’s performance?  The answer, of course was only just, but 7 seconds is 7 seconds.  Sunday was a struggle; it seems that Sundays are turning out that way at the moment.  The plan for Christmas Eve was simple; Moira was going out for a 10 mile run while I was at work and I would come home and do my run when I arrived back. As it turned out this was my hardest run to date. Why so difficult?  Running on your own, knowing that your team mate had already done her run earlier.

Thanks to Bob Marshall for Photo

Christmas Day, is always perceived as the most difficult day to fit in a run but thanks to Edinburgh parkrun, it was a doddle. We both thoroughly enjoyed Edinburgh parkrun.  There is something nice just turning up at a parkrun and just running it.  No pressure or responsibility.  I was rewarded with my fastest time since my comeback although I am still not running freely as yet.

Thanks to Bob Marshall for Photo

Boxing Day, however, was a different story.  Again I had to go into work and I was longer than anticipated. Moira managed to fit her run while I was at work and on my retrun we headed for the traditional boxing Day festivities with Moira’s family. So while Moira tucked into the second round of turkey with gusto, I was mindful of my pending run. We returned home and I set off for my run by torchlight in the sleet and snow that was falling round Harburn.  So Boxing Day turned out to be every bit as bad as Christmas eve.

The following couple of days were spent running the Camility loop at home, battling the elements. It was a relief to get back to parkrun on the Saturday.  As it turned out this was my favourite run of the month and for the first time I was starting to feel I was running with a bit more freedom, while Moira seems to be developing a sore knee!!.  The end is now in sight!

When the goin’ gets tough the tough get going!

If only it were that easy, almost two weeks into the challenge and the going is getting tough.  Three miles or 25 minutes a day sounds easy but after a time the relentless run after run gets to you. Day 5, 6 and 7 were for me three laps of the hospital each day, pretty boring but necessary as I recover from the Achilles problem that has plagued my running since April.  Moira led the jogscotland group on day 5 and day 6 and joined me for the icy trot round the hospital.

Saturday saw us arrive at Strathclyde parkrun to face up to the third week of running the alternative course, again making our task just that little bit harder.  Our game plan was simple to get inside the time set last week and thankfully both of us managed that goal.  All In all it was a good start to the 2^nd week of the challenge.

Thanks to JammyBilly for Photo

Thanks to JammyBilly for Photo

Sunday morning saw us return to Strathclyde Park for this year’s Jogscotland Christmas Cracker. Billed as 5K, it turned out to be over 6K – who says Jogscotland don’t give you value for money? IT was definitely a PW for me on a 5K. I am still trying to work out what’s worse the ignominy of my first DNF last weekend or my worst ever 5k time this weekend!

Monday and Tuesday, Moira and I were on annual leave to get ‘Christmas sorted’! Our running both days saw us tackle the Camilty loop from home – a nice wee 4.25 miles door to door.  Once we negotiated the ice it was a nice wee run in the country.

Day 12 and Day 13, I was back with the University of Edinburgh jogscotland Group first with the beginners then with the speedy lot on the Thursday.  Moira, on the other hand had to be creative – attending her first aid course, ready to run. Both days running back to work from the centre of town. This challenge certainly opens up avenues of creativity when it comes to planning your running – all part of the challenge I suppose! Still 'in the challenge', which is the main thing!