Shetland Running

Looking North from Unst - th emost northerly inhabit isles in the UK

It's just that time of year again. I have a horrid cold and I just can't get motivated. A very snowy week on Unst (and my first Marilyn of the year) just showed me how bad I feel at the moment. A walk up Valla Field (200 odd meters) was more than enough for me, granted the snow was knee-deep, but I was shattered by the end of it.

After all my work visits up North, Unst definetly wins ' Best Island' award with friendly locals, a pub, a cafe (that is open and welcoming) and a swimming pool too. The less said about Whalsay, the better. Lerwick isn't bad for a storm-bound day and the sports centre is superb.

From a hill runners point of view I have been disappointed by Shetland. Probably due to it's strategic location, most high points on Shetland seem to be littered with communications (mostly military I think) paraphenalia. Invariably this means great big access tracks too, but the boggy nature of the rest of the hills together with a general lack of walking paths, sometimes makes them the only real feasible option. All of this stuff does reduce the raw asthetic beauty of the place. On the flip side the coastal runs and sea-scapes more than make up for it, which is why you would come to Shetland in the first place anyway.

Other than that since the XC season finished for me two weeks ago I have been mainly ski-ing. The dump of snow in Inverness was enough to even get Fairways Golf Course in to good nick. Plenty of hills, wide fairways (for bad skiers like myself) and being located next to the office surely make it the XC ski-ing venue of choice in Inverness. All gone now though, and even Abriachen on Saturday wasn't an awful lot of fun with about a foot of wet snow. Very slow going. We tested Owen's off road buggy today on parts of the Nairn XC course and it stood up pretty well. Just need to wait for the thaw and we will get his first hill bagged!

Shed loads of snow! At last!

Well the last 3 weeks have been hectic. Last weeks XC race in Nairn was a bit of a set-back. After such a good run at Inverness I was hoping for good things. A succession of interrupted nights though isn't the best thing for training or running so I was knackered before I started. The course seemed to be about half on sand-dunes and with a strong wind as soon as I was dropped from a group I struggled. No one to hide behind : ( The second half of the course was in the woods along technical single track. However, the course was for the most part flat so I lost time on those bits and to cap it off I got lost right at the end losing a couple of places. Still at 117% of the winners time not a total disaster.

Since then I have been cross country ski-ing and I think I will put the training on hold for a couple of weeks to get into this fatherhood thing! Anyway the snow has been great. The only issue has been finding somewhere to park! There must be a couple of foot in all the laybys south on the A9. It is great just driving 10mins to get to perfect snow.