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!