7.30 run: 5 go running… on a lovely evening. Not too cold, full moon and lovely sky, not wet or windy. An invigorating 5 miles to the Braidburn Valley park and back via the Hermitage and up Blackford Hill. Digby After weeks of high turnouts there were few folk in the groups last night. Are you all doing Xmas shopping?! |
7.00 social: And then there were three…The 7.00 social group were left rudderless without Gordon tonight, so in the absence of any vocal opposition to my Caerketton idea, that’s the direction the 9 intrepid runners went – skirting round the summit of Blackford and through the Hermitage with only slight directional issues. Through the Braid Burn and up towards Swanston, it became clear that this initial enthusiasm wasn’t necessarily shared by all, as we lost three runners at Fairmilehead. We were committed now, though, so we continued onwards over the bypass and up through Swanston village. Three more runners decided to take the low road back to Hillend rather than go via the summit. The final three made it over a relatively wind free and clear summit and back down via the usual downhill route. At this point I normally slow down a bit – either because of tiredness or because it’s all downhill from here, isn’t it? But the pace was kept relatively high on the way back. From there on we followed the route adjacent to the bypass and across Frogston Road before skirting round Mortonhall and on past the Braids golf course. 10 miles/16 km with some decent climbing and we were still back before 9. David Harrington |