One week to go……………..

The last week has been spent resting up my ankle in an effort to get back running before December the 1^st.  Moira has been out running at every opportunity and is racking up the miles and parkruns completed. With the deadline fast approaching I chose to take things in hand and seek professional help in the form of Grant McLullich, our sports therapist on Saturday.  To my shock Grant recommended I start running again and gave me a series of exercises and stretches to build up my Achilles tendon and strengthen my calf muscles.

On Saturday, I took up my position as Run Director at Strathclyde parkrun and instigated the use of our alternative course, used  when conditions become too icy for our regular course.  There were a   few raised eyebrows when the finishers looked at their watches after they crossed the line and realised that they were slower than usual. As far as I was concerned it was job done – can’t have a new course record set on an alternative course.  

So on Sunday, John tentatively set-out on a four mile run while Moira completed her ten mile long run.  I don’t know if it is the fear of another set-back or lack of confidence but it was a struggle to get out there again.  The run went OK, but I did feel it in my muscles and my breathing, I was shocked by the amount of fitness I had lost in month. This made me doubly determined to complete this year’s marcothon and regain some of that lost fitness. On returning home,  I managed a rigorous stretching routine - so fingers crossed!

On the subject of the marcothon, we have spent time getting the PR and fundraising page together. It is so difficult tying people down for a photo shoot, well the Head of Tommys Research Facility in Edinburgh is a busy woman.

5 days to go to the start of our next challenge, are we ready – we hope so!

Fast Forward two months - another challenge

It’s been a long time since our last blog and No we haven’t burned out after the Speed of Light!  After the speed of light we took ourselves off to sunny Spain for much needed R & R.  The running kit was not packed, the plan was to get over those little niggles that surfaced during our stint on Arthur’s Seat.  Regrettably it didn’t turn out that way well at least not for John. The troublesome ankle found more and more ways to play-up!

The highlight of September was the reunion of the runleaders, I say a reunion but in reality we had only been three weeks in the real world before we all had the urge to the return to hills.  The convenient excuse was a reccie for the Pentland Skyline challenge set for October. An impressive number of runleaders turned up for this the inaugural event for the group.  It was obvious to John early on that the ankle was not right, gone was the usual Hell for Leather pace on the descents to be replaced by the dead slow plotting of one foot in front of the other!  Moira, on the other hand, was tackling the hills like a seasoned hill runner!

Thanks to Peter Buchanan for Photo

October saw the JammyMoJo’s return for the final outing of the Cairngorm Charmer, a brilliant event that will be sadly missed from the event calendar.  It’s a two person relay with each runner completing a four mile run down the mountain, a four mile cycle round the woods at Loch Morlich and a four mile run back up the mountain.  Well to cut a long story short Moira and John will be forever “the best mixed vintage couple”, and we are proud of the accolade – I think!  

Thanks to JammyBilly for photo

The arrival of November saw us focus on our next challenge – Tommy’s December Challenge!  OK we are high-jacking the ever popular Marcothon for our challenge to raise money for Tommy’s. The rules are simply you must run every day in DECEMBER (any other month doesn't count). You must complete a minimum of three miles or 25 minutes – whichever comes first. The challenge starts on December 1 and finishes on December 31. And yes, that includes Christmas Day.

So that's where we are at, two weeks until our next challenge and Moira is running well and John is resting his troublesome ankle ahead of what is going to be a very challenging month in more ways than one.