Ali's Blog

October 2nd, 2010

I got an email from Lea Cowan a few weeks back. Now Lea was a fellow ‘Tourist’ this summer who took part in the Tour of Fife and she’s now tackling the Loch Ness Marathon. In other words not satisfied with running 6 races in 7 days she’s now putting her body through the trials of running 26 miles next to Nessie!

 She’s running to raise funds for the Greyhound Awareness League and she’d appreciate any support you can give her via her Just Giving page. All donations very welcome. Click on the link above to donate.

September 19th, 2010

Okay so you’ve got to do something first… you’ve got to run a 10K. This weekend coming is the Anster Haddies East Neuk 10K which (as far as I know) the last Fife 10K of this year. If you race you get a medal and a milky way, if you come along and support you get to spend time in a beautiful part of the Kingdom and get an enormous sense of well being.

If you fancy taking part you can enter this week at Entry Central and join me at the start line on Sunday. It’s a flat, fast, out and back course which is great for getting a Personal Best (PB) which I did last year even though I picked up an injury at 8K. After today’s race I’ve just heaped the pressure on for this weekend after knocking 2 mins off  my previous PB. Come along on Sunday and see how I do - you’ll not miss me in my luminous Carnegie Harriers vest.

September 4th, 2010

This weekend the British Touring Cars are at Knockhill racing circuit flying round the track at phenomenal speeds but on Tuesday there were a few hundred of going round the track a wee bit slower. It was the Graham Clark Memorial race organised by the Carnegie Harriers (who I joined this week but that’s another story for another blog) and those of us taking part were treated to the most beautiful sunset. The Dunfermline Press were present and their photographer captured it perfectly as you can see on their website. Click the link for more details.

August 1st, 2010

The called it the Twisted Chicken and how apt as they sent us up the hill behind Strathmiglo for one final ascent. I believe we climbed 450 feet (800 in total with the ascents and descents) in the first mile and a bit. As it was the last race of the Tour it was one where everyone could just go for it safe in the knowledge that they didn’t have to race again…. well apart from the folk doing the hill race this morning. For my part I climbed every hill as best I could and opened up on the downhills but the week had taken its toll and the lower leg muscles were lacking life as we ran the mile from 3.5 miles. Always one for the grandstand finish I went for it on the final run downhill to the end, spurred on by the noise of the runners that had already finished and the sudden rush of adrenaline. I ached so much as I crossed the line by it was so worth it just to feel that sense of pride and achievement.

Now if you wonder why we all do this I can report that it’s got to be in part due to the post race cakes. I’ve experienced this once before at last years Graham Clark Memorial race and I can assure you that Fife AC provided an excellent spread. There was more than enough sweet treats to make up for the abuse that I’d given my body this week.

So that’s it - 27.11 miles covered over 6 races and I’ve proved it can be done but there’s no rest now as we prepare for the Forth Bridge 10K next Sunday. One final word of appreciation to the marshals, photographers, innocent bystanders and other Tour competitors for all their kind words and support over the week. I worried that it might be clique and that the club runners would stick together but nothing could be further from the truth. I met some genuinely nice people this week and I look forward to bumping into them at other races over the next year.

The Tour is done but I already know I’ll be entering next year. Like the Black Rock 5, the Strathcarron Hospice 10K and the Stranraer 10K, I can see this becoming an annual event for me. Bring on 2011!

July 31st, 2010

I always expected that one would descend into Hell - last night the road was uphill. Day 5 of the Tour was the aptly named Up Hell Time Trial which took us on a short but steep climb to a familiar landmark. For the past 9 years I’ve been staring out of the studio window at one of our Kingdom FM transmitters which sits near the top of East Lomond. At no point did I ever think I’d run up the road to it. If you want to get an idea of the scale of the run, then drive up the road to the East Lomond car park from the main road and there you go. Even my car struggles up there!

Now I learnt a valuable lesson last night - be at the start long before your start time otherwise you’ve got to wait until everyone else goes before they let you start. I made this mistake and so instead of starting at 7.40, I had to wait until just before 8.30. Worse still, I started with the leaders which was an eye opener. They shot off from the start at a high rate of knots - there was no danger I was going to keep up with them even if I’d wanted to. Then to make it worse (or perhaps it helped) the time keepers followed me uphill in their car. I could hear them always just a few metres behind me even though I’d signalled for them to pass. All I got was a “No way, we’re tailing you” from them.

 So we’re finally here at the last day of the Tour. Hoping that last nights post-race chilli will help rather than hinder and that the Twisted Chicken won’t be to heavy on the twists. As ever the vodcast will be  online just before 1 at YouTube.

July 29th, 2010

I’m sitting watching Jedward on This Morning performing their new single and, as much as I don’t really like the Jedward phenomenum, I’m thinking that I could do with their energy. Seriously - they’ve just jumped up and down for 4 mins!

Yesterday was the rest day on the Tour and it came at the right time. While the muscles didn’t feel too bad, I think the stomach was complaining about the abuse it’s been getting. I say the muscles didn’t feel too bad, that was until I attempted to run up stairs to catch a train and realised that my calf muscles fairly took a pounding on Tuesday. They’re the muscles at the back of your lower leg and if you’re not sensible while running up hills, you can over stretch them. This is exactly what I did - I lost my footing going up the hill and ended up over stretching them. It’s the equivalent of standing upright then leaning forward while keeping your feet flat on the floor. Give that a try and see how quickly you start to hurt (stop when it starts to hurt - I don’t want injuries).

Tonight we’re off to St Andrews and the beach race. There are 2 races that are worth viewing and this is the second of them. I imagine the sight of 150 or so runners stretching out along the beach at St Andrews will be pretty memorable. As one of the runners bringing up the rear I’ll get to see it - something that the leaders miss out on. I’m pretty sure they can live with that. If you’re around St Andrews tonight then we’re running along the West Beach from 7.45pm and if you fancy a dip afterwards you’re more than welcome to join us. I’m told it’s mandatory and I’m not wanting to incur the wrath of my new running friends.

By the way the other race worth viewing was the Lungbuster - the sight of runners climbing West Lomond is something that’ll stay with me for a long time. The Vodcast is back tomorrow but if you’ve missed the previous ones then you’ll find them here at You Tube. 

July 28th, 2010

Ah, the Lomonds Lungbuster… the race I was dreading and it almost was a really good race. Actually it was a really good race except for just before the end but, hey, what’s done can’t be undone now. If you’ve never walked up West Lomond I’d encourage you to do so especially on a sunny day. The view from the top is amazing not that I had time to appreciate it but I’m pretty sure you can see the whole of Fife from up there. Once this race series is done, I’m going back up there but at walking pace.

Anyway, the second half of the race was better than I thought it might be. The first part racing to the top was every bit as hard as you’d imagine but the descent was alright. It was like having a fresh pair of legs and I made up some ground. I’ve always liked hills in race because for every uphill there’s normally a downhill section where you can let gravity help you.

Today’s a rest day and a chance to catch up with some other stuff I need to do this week while I’m off work. If nothing else, I’m looking forward to eating dinner at a normal time tonight. This eating after 10pm can’t be doing me any good!

Tomorrow we’ll look ahead to Day 4 of the tour and a race that you might want to consider coming out to see. As ever the Tour vodcast is on YouTube. It’ll be there just before 3pm today.

July 27th, 2010

So if you’ve ever run a race before then you’ll know that the day after your muscles tend to complain a wee bit. You’ll also know that running is the last thing on your mind but that was exactly what we had to do last night. Day 2 of the Tour took us to Lochore Meadows for two 3.25 mile laps of the loch. All the details on todays vodcast, which will be online just after 2.30, along with a look at some of the technology behind the run.  

July 26th, 2010

On Saturday I wrote about what I’m getting up to this week. Yesterday was Day 1 of the Tour - the Teddy Bear race at Giffordtown. If you can imagine getting into a sauna wearing a winter outfit and then running then you’ll have an idea what it was like running the 5 miles. The winner (and tour leader) took the sensible option of running bare chested (although how you’re meant to pin your number on …..) but then he had the appropriate shape for it. Not sure anyone wants to see me do the same.

The details are on the vlog which you’ll find here. Tonight it’s the Loopy Loch Trail Race, Lochore Meadows which is around 6 miles long so slightly longer than yesterday and with slightly tired legs but since we’re starting at 7.30pm it should be cooler and more bearable.

It’s 1 race down, 5 to go and still feeling alright.