Had another wonderful hill run on Saturday. Another beautiful day weather wise – sunny with a bit of breeze – just one of those days when it’s good to be alive. Taking in the views from the tops, the purple heather starting to come into bloom in the pass and swans on the reservoir near the end – it was just a run that was good for the soul. There’s not much else to say. Distance approx 10 miles.

View from South Black Hill

Heather coming into bloom

Reservoir view

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I enjoyed a wonderful run out on the Pentlands this morning. (I use the word “run” euphemistically – there was a certain amount of running mainly on flattish and downhill sections, some v slow plodding on uphill bits and some walking on v steep bits!).

The weather was near perfect – sun with a breeze – was glad I’d remembered to apply some sun cream, and everywhere looked lovely.

I find the hill runs such a different experience from road running. I love the variance of pace. On the long road runs I can get fixated with maintaining or achieving a certain pace and can spend most of the time watch watching. On the hills, at the moment certainly, pace is not an issue. Getting to the top of uphill sections without expiring is the goal and then enjoying the downhill and flatter sections where I can stretch out and go a bit faster. There is also not the same mental challenge of coping with monotony as there is in the LSRs on the road. In fact, I extended my planned route today because I was enjoying it so much.

As to how far I went, I’m not sure until I can persuade hubby that a Garmin 405 would make a lovely (late) birthday present or (early) Xmas present! Armed with string, a ruler and a Harveys map I reckon somewhere 10 – 11 miles.

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Yesterday evening I had the most wonderful run. You might find it strange I say this as it was one of my slowest and more difficult but I loved it. We had waited until the evening in the hope that it would be a bit cooler (not usually the problem here I might add!) and set off into the Pentland Hills.

I was testing my new Camelbak FlashFlo waist pack for the first time and after a slight readjustment we were off. I can only say I know why people can get addicted to running in the hills. There was just no comparison between this run and one done on pavements. The hills were swathed in golden evening light, the moon appeared in a cloudless blue sky with the trees silhouetted against it and there was peace.

We covered 7.5 miles taking into West Kip, East Kip and Scald Law. Yes, I had to walk on the steeper bits and my downhill technique is sadly lacking (or completely non-existent might be more honest) but these things can be worked on and improved. For the present I drank in the surroundings, the fresh air, the stillness, and loved every minute of it.

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