Today I did a linear there-and-back-again run along a section of the national cycleway between Carrbridge and Slochd in the Cairngorms National Park. Hubby came too as he was acting as Chief Support Person again. He cycled along and carried my water, took photos and kept me on the right track.
It was rather warm for me at over 22°C and I found the run tiring. Mind you that could be because we climbed 300m and covered 19km.
More of hubby's photos here: flickr.com/photos/swan-scot...
Wonderful place for a run and great to see these images.
Worked as a waitress at Landmark one summer when I was a student. Remember some very cold journeys on my little motor bike across the Dava.
Wow 19k that's fantastic, and it looks incredibly beautiful in the pic...well done you!!!
That is an impressive location and distance. Well done!
That's a long run, especially in the warm. Good job you had a water-carrier with you! Love the photos - you saw a wonderful range of bridges on your run - I particularly like the coffin bridge - is it on one of the old coffin paths - it seems incredibly steep to carry a coffin over!
Stunning picture and I love that you have your own running assistant! Think we all need one of those 
19K? 19K! That's a fantastic amount of K. No wonder you were tired! What a beautiful area to be running in. I think I would have been calling for a Double Dinking section!
Lovely blog, Happy running
Those are lovely pictures and I'm very impressed at 19K. Well done you.
What a run Sheila! And magnificent piccies. You must be very proud
Wow, 19k and hills too. Looks wonderful - but tough. Fantastic achievement.
Thank you all for your comments. But I've really got to thank my sweetie for coming along and taking the photos and carrying my stuff - in this case, mainly water.
Having a 'running assistant' is very nice and I'd recommend it to anyone who can persuade a partner/friend to accompany them by bike. But for me, it's more than just 'nice' - it dramatically improved my long run. As I've mentioned previously, in the past I've suffered with GI problems on long runs: feeling really 'icky', stomach cramps and even runner's runs. I think one contributing factor to this is wearing a belt bag. No matter how much I adjust the waist band, simply having a tight-ish belt around my stomach aggravates an already sensitive stomach. I've tried wearing this low on my hips, but haven't found a comfortable position.
On the last two long runs with hubby carrying my stuff I've not suffered with this problem. Yesterday I felt a little cramping in my stomach/abdomen for the last few kms, but nothing worse. This is a huge relief to me and makes the long run MUCH more enjoyable.
Just to clarify: I didn't mention the total distance run in order to boast about the distance, but to show that there are more ways to continue on our running journey than simply getting faster.
I think sometimes it's all too easy to be constantly striving to go fast (sub-30 mins 5K, sub 25 mins 5K, etc..) after graduation, when one other option is to go long and slow, especially long off-road and slow.
According to my stats I ran for about 2 hours, but we were out for about 3 hours in total. I stopped several times to wait while hubby took photos, or ran back a wee way for a "Take 2" so he could get a better video. I also spent almost 10 minutes helping him free the bike rear wheel and gears when they got tangled up in the bungee cord that pinged off the bike rack! Stopping when out trail running is not 'against the rules' - at least not in my book. I believe going long and slow-and stopping-is another, equally acceptable, way of running.
Great work swanscot, those photos make that run look idyllic.
Regarding your over-sensitive stomach and not wearing a belt bag to aggrevate it - have you looked at back-packs or a small rucksack, something that sits higher up your back but only really big enough for a bottle of water and the essentials (not a massive hiking bag or anything)? The idea being that it's not applying any pressure to your stomach?
w8r1 lovely run
Ooo what a lovely run!
That was just lovely 
OH WHAT A LOVELY RUN!
