Spring at Last?

What a glorious day it has been today,sun shining, hardly a cloud in the sky and just a light breeze, so glad it was my day off.

A perfect day to get the cycle helmet on an go for a wee jaunt along some quiet country lanes. The only thing that spoils my bike rides are the 2 miles at the start and end of my run, along a very busy, lorry laden main road!!! Ah well, it is only a couple of miles, and after that its sheep in the fields with their newborn lambs, buzzards in the sky, squirls and rabbits in the hedgerow and even the odd pheasant.

Today I decided to push myself a bit, been to Biggar a few times, that's about 23 miles round trip, so thought today I would try to go as far as Broughton, which is another 5 and a half miles along the road. It was a lovely, easy run to Biggar, didn't stop, just wanted to keep up the momentum and push on. Got to Broughton in just under an hour and a half so stopped at the Laurel Cafe and Bistro for a wee cup of tea, (love a good cup of tea), and had some lovely fruit crumble and cream, then it was time to get back on the bike again and head home. The wind had picked up a bit and it was in my face the whole way home, did walk up a couple of the really steep hills, but surprisingly I managed the whole 34 miles in 3 hours and 24 minutes!

Really need to try and get out on my bike a bit more often though, maybe not 34 miles every night, but as the clocks change this weekend, should manage my 17 mile route a few nights a week and then do a longer run on my day off. Do need to take my bike to Next Level Bikes though, the gears are doing my head in!!!

Next big target is to cycle to Peeble (approx 30 miles), stay overnight then cycle back the next day. Will need to study my map a bit more for that one, but hopefully it won't be too long till I try it!!!!

Long Time, No See!

A few weeks ago I met up with an old work college, Craig, who I haven't seen for 11 years, (surely can't be that long)! During our gossip, Craig happened to mention that someone else we used to work with now had a bike shop in Castle Douglas.

So, as you can imagine, I thought to myself "I really must pay Mark a visit." And, as it happened, I went down to Newton Stewart at the weekend, to catch up with my cousin Audrey who was home for the weekend for my aunty and uncles wedding anniversary, (we had a great night out),so I popped in to Castle Douglas on the way.

It was so good to see Mark again, he's not changed a bit, well maybe a bit older and grayer, sorry Mark!!!! Anyway we had a cup of tea and a chat, it's amazing what your learn from people, like the guy who works with Mark (sorry, can't remember his name, I have a memory like a sieve), has been in Kenya and was saying about how the humidity will be hard to cope with and how I should make sure I have a camel pack so I have a constant supply of water and I should take some boiled sweets to keep my mouth moist. Then he was saying about all the dust and dust storms, so to have a proper cycle face mask, and other things I would never have thought of......

Anyway, Mark said that next time I go down to Newton Stewart I've to hand in my bike and he will service it for me, and if I need anything he'll get it for me at cost, all I have to do is sport a Next Level Bikes tee shirt, and email reports back on my trip to Kenya. All I can say is a great big thanks to Mark and Next Level Bikes and please check out their web site.

Listen to your body!!!

Thursdays are my usual day off, and as it was a lovely day yesterday so I deiced to go a wee run on my bike. Wasn't feeling quite up to it, had a bit of a cold, but nothing serious, but it took a lot of self persuasion to get my cycling gear on and out the front door.

I really should have stayed at home, curled up on the sofa, watching the TV, nice and cosy.

But I didn't!!!

I got on my bike thinking "once I get going I'll be fine!", and I was fine for a while, but then the hills all seemed to be twice as big as usual and every mile seemed like 10. But I eventually got to Biggar, had some lunch, a wee look about the shops then back to Lanark.

Now I don't know if it was just coz I was tired from my cycle yesterday, or if it was because I have a bit of a cold, or because I haven't been sleeping very well, but I have had one hell of a bad day today! I though I had been coping with my Dad's death quite well. Focusing on raising money for Women V Cancer, organizing fund raising events, researching Kenya and what vaccines I need for going,

but today!!!!!!!!

Well, lets just say I went through lots of hankies this morning, enough said!

Thankfully I'm feeling a little better now, got it out my system, but for how long? Been told grief is like that, one day your fine, the next - your not. So, back to focusing on Kenya again, and raising lots and lots of dosh, coz I know I started raising funds because of the scare I had this time last year, but any breakthrough against cancer is well worth the effort of putting my body through all this training, just as long as it helps in the fight against this monster most of us have come into contact with, we need to find a solution against it!!!!!