Tales of a Leaky Bladder

I've been threatening to write this blog post for about a week now, so some of the memories are fading, and my bravado about revealing both leaky bladder stories has faded....(Fiona 'Chief Grumpy' MacDonald you get a reprieve......what happens on tour, stays on tour....)...

Ready for "the off"

Anyway, what a great weekend we all had at 'Highland Fling "Training Camp"' last weekend...there was fun, laughter, old friends, new friends, fear, frights, food, drink....oh, and a good dose of running too!  

Arriving on the Friday straight from work I dumped my bags in the cabin I was to share with Johnny Fling, Lorna and Carol and headed across to the hostel for a coffee with the ever chirpy Fiona (who'd "just come down fae the Isle of Skye" (she's not very big....but she ain't very shy....;-))) and then off for a wee 4 mile warm up with Dawn, Frank and the 2 dogs, just as the sun was setting.  Great start to the weekend to clear the head after another busy week at work! And then followed later with a few drinks, and some lovely dinner cooked by Mr Fling himself (he obviously know's I'm used to being catered for (before Clark makes any smart comments!!)), which we shared with Vic O'Reilly who'd arrived late from Bute and missed the other's trip to the Real Food Cafe (cue the funniest story I've heard for a long time from Fiona.....(leaky bladder part 1....) which had tears rolling down our faces!

A few more drinks and introductions in the hostel......lots of chat about who was running where, with who, how far and how long....and then off to bed!

Saturday dawned fairly clear...a wee flurry of drizzle and a wee bit cold...but turned into another beautiful day to be running on WHW.  I had my heart set on a 30 miler, so headed north with a big group, who, after a short interlude to ensure Ian Minty picked himself out of the icy stream, spread out pretty quickly.

I love this part of the WHW - the views are stunning and the terrain is pretty runnable (except the power march up Murdo's Mount, which called for a snack stop and photo opportunity at the top!)

Admiring the view from Murdo's Mount (photo by Dave Hetherington)

The only downside of the day was my leaky bladder...and if I'd had a fiver for everyone who mentioned I had orange squash running down my legs for the first 2 hours, I'd be rich by now!  And it wasn't very pleasant as it froze in the cold!  Wrapping it in a poly bag didn't make any difference either!  On the plus side, once the fluid higher than wherever the mystery holes is had leaked out, I still had enough to keep me going for the rest of the day!  So now it's time to re-evaluate hydration packs and work out which to go for next!  I have about 6 Camelbaks already, but am tempted by one with bottles instead of a bladder next....

The 30 miles seemed to pass in a flash with time to chat with loads of different folk, stops to take pictures and have a bite to eat, as the pace and hills affected everyone differently...and we were 'soon' back at the By The Way accommodation for food, showers, a trip to the shop for some soup...and a wee disco nap before the communal (and delicious) chilli and sticky toffee pudding scoff later that night.  I was surprised how well I felt I had run, and that I didn't feel too 'burst'...and that I managed to stay up eating, drinking and chatting til past midnight (almost unheard of these days!!)

There was much chat of a run the following morning at 9....but as it transpired, there was just me (I know Dawn went earlier with the dogs and Fiona, Vic and Dave were going cycling)....so I managed to hijack John and Katrina Kynaston's (and Caroline) first couple of miles south (I think they were off for a 32 miler having not been with us the day before), before turning back, just to get a few extra wee miles in.   And then back to the cabin to deal with clearing the devastation....you'd think the 4 of us were planning a month's survival/feeding of the 5,000 the amount of kit and food we'd all taken!

After many sad goodbyes, had to head back home to see how much mess I could make before Clark got home, in the house which he'd tidied before he went on his wee jolly to Aviemore.....it's fair to say I succeeded, before lighting the fire, wrapping myself in a blanket and falling sound asleep in front of the rugby.....

Happy running, good times....and still feeling the effects a week later....!  But there's still training to be done.....as always!  Here's hoping this good weather is here to stay!