Dark nights....

Winter is well on the way! Freezing cycling to college this morning. Scotland has had some snow already so hopefully it will be a good winter again.Going to buy some big silly boots and crampons and have some fun this winter instead of sulking and watching tv,one thing that wont be fun is the dark nights,which mean either snapping an ankle on head torch runs on the fells or hitting the roads.This will be my first winter of full training instead of just hitting the booze and hibernating so i intend to run on the tarmac for about 50 % of my mileage,luckily i have a free morning every wednesday so i intend to get out for a long hill run midweek and hit the hills again on the weekends,the rest will have to be road,which will hopefully bring me into the spring with a good solid base ready for the summer.

I do think something good has come out of being injured the whole year in that i am so motivated going into the winter,i'm finding it quite hard to reign myself in at the moment but i need to be sensible and remember that my main goal for next year is not until August.Speaking of plans for next year,i want to run the Duddon Valley race after last years super bonk on Dow Crag and that should lead me into some alpine adventures in July and August.The provisional plan is to head out to Italy at the end of July to run the Dolomites Skyrace then head into Switzerland for Sierre-Zinal....the greatest race in the world! then might pay a vist to Chamonix for some adventures on mont blanc but that is only a provisional plan.

Going to head up to Kettlewell for the Great Whernside race next saturday,my first race since.......Great Whernside 12 months ago!! Great race and beer afterwards.

Happy Running

                                             Great Whernside 2010

                    Summit of Piz Boe,Italian Dolomites,at 3152m/10334ft