Half BraemarAthon

My crazy month of races began today with the Braemar Half Marathon – after forgoing last weekend’s planned 10K in favour of a wee ride on the choo-choo train. I am a bit disappointed with my time, but as I went into the race with the plan to go slow and just finish, I’ll not complain too much.

I realised early on that I will be unlikely to meet my 2015 time goals, and decided that I wouldn’t try to push myself to make it happen. Instead, I just enjoyed the scenery and tried to think about my running form. Oh! And I ran without my iPod for the first time since acquiring it as a widow crutch more than six years ago. I’m sure I’ll take it with me for future runs, but it felt empowering to be able to run without it – knowing that my grief emotions are now on an even enough keel that I don’t need the distraction.

The best thing about the race, of course, was that it was another opportunity to travel to Inverness. And travelling to Inverness means visiting with some of my favourite people! (As I seem to do more often now that one of them is my racing partner!)

Next weekend will be my second running of the Scottish Half Marathon. Then the following weekend will be my fourth Loch Ness Marathon (first, second, third). I am really looking forward to a less active October!

But for now, there are smells of lovely food cooking so I’m going to get ready to eat some of it.

Oh, and I ran it (with a bit lot of walking) in 2.30.37. Slow, but at least I showed up to play! And as always, more race photos can be seen here.

[Photo credits to my race partner, David Knox.]