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Back at home and I seem to have bought the good weather with me. Here is a sketch I did from woodland a mile or so from our house. There was enough of a breeze to keep the midges away. The view is looking towards Aonach Mor which looked magnificent in the late afternoon sunshine.

Here's a picture I've just finished. It is from a photo taken on one of my runs to work showing early morning cloud drifting across Meall an t-Suidhe. I took the photo from Inverlochy and I'm afraid I cheated by missing out a lamp post.

Yesterday I did the sketch below from the Commando Memorial. The grey Corries and Aonach Mor were obscured by cloud so I turned round and painted the view to the west.

view

Sketch of view from the Commando memorial watercolour plus some  coloured pencil

Visit to Essex

I'm just back from a visit to Essex to see my parents.
The journey down was a bit different because the train service was canceled due to lack of staff. In place was a minibus which  took me to first to Roy Bridge then Tulloch station then back towards Glasgow ( so I passed my front door for a second time after about half an hour of travelling ) Despite this the driver got me to Glasgow quicker than the train would have done. During all that time I was the only passenger!
From Glasgow I took the overnight bus to London . After a coffee I took the tube all the way out to Epping. My plan was to run to my parents house about thirty miles East of there using the Essex Way footpath and then the St Peter's Way footpath. Unfortunately I was suffering from a flare up of the anterior tibialis tendonitis that started on my West Highland Way race attempt. I enjoyed running through the woodland and  on the footpaths but was forced to walk more and more as the pain and swelling in my leg increased
.I stopped for a while at the ancient Greensted Church. It is the only wooden Saxon church still standing. It was constructed about 1060 replacing an earlier building. The wooden walls are made from grooved vertically placed oak logs .Originally they would have been hammered into the ground but the bottoms have rotted so they are now on a brick plinth. Even so it is very impressive to think of the generations of people who have worshipped, been baptised , married or had funerals there all the way back to the 11th century. I sat in the quiet cool dark church and sketched some of the roof timbers .

From there I walked to Chipping Ongar  and then threw in the towel. I took a bus to Chelmsford then phoned for a lift from my Dad. I was disappointed not to do the run but there was no point in hurting my leg further .

My niece Olivia was staying with my parents as well so it was good to catch up.We spent a lot of time in the garden talking and drinking tea. On the Friday we went to London as my niece was going back to Derbyshire.After we had seen her on the train we went to Dulwich Gallery which had an exhibition of John Singer Sargent's watercolours. This was quite exciting or me as I have admired his watercolours for a long time. It was really good to 'see them in the flesh' and try to work out his technique. It was interesting to see that he used quite a lot of bodycolour for accents and used varied washes and negative shapes very effectively.
As my running was curtailed I was able to do more reading and sketching than is normal . I picked up Alain De Botton's " Status Anxiety" in a charity shop and  found it very readable. I have also been reading  "Tools of Titans" by Tim Ferriss which is a beast of a book filled with inspiration.
I did manage a few slow jogs to some of my favourite haunts at Beeleigh and Purleigh.

West Highland Way Race

Two weeks ago  the West Highland Way Race took place. On the Friday night.the station car park at Milngavie was jam packed with cars and motorhomes. It was great to meet up with old friends from the West Highland Way family. At 1am  we set through Mugdock Park on the way to Fort William.
 My training has not gone well over the last few months. After the Highland Fling race, I didn't recover and at one point was struggling to run at all.I cut my mileage drastically which helped but as a consequence I didn't do the long runs necessary to get fit for the W.H.W. race. I seriously considered withdrawing  my entry but after a lot of soul searching I decided to give it a try . I was prepared to be slow as long as I got there. Unfortunately to add to my training woes I developed a mild cold a few days before the race - just a runny nose and catarrh, it didn't seem to develop into anything so I decided to start and see how far I could get.
The forecast was fairly grim but actually the weather in the morning was perfect- not too hot nor too cold and with enough of a breeze to keep most of the midges away.The view from Conic Hill was understated and cloudy . I really enjoyed the run along Loch Lomond. I love the views and the varied terrain and I was running quite well.I was much slower than my normal pace but I felt ok despite my cold. This was the first year that I had raced on the low route- the recently upgraded lochside path which is far more scenic than the higher track.
At Beinglas I met Helen at the checkpoint and took on food and drink. I always find the next section past Falls of Falloch quite tough, the track always seems relentless. Beyond Bogle Glen the switchback through the forest never gets any less hilly .I know the forest but there always seems to be one more hill than one expects (or hopes for)
By Auchertyre Farm I was feeling a bit tired. From then on my pace dropped and people started to pass me. My lack off fitness was starting to show and my quads were really sore .At Bridge of Orchy  I was pretty much done in, I took forever to climb the hill behind the hotel and was really pleased to see Murdo at the top and to take a jelly baby. The weather was now as promised, very windy cold with violent squally showers. Murdo must have been frozen standing up there for hour after hour.
My cold which I thought  had dissipated now started to make itself felt , I started to cough up some quite revolting sputum and my throat felt raw. Across Rannoch Moor what had been sporadic showers became a continuous  downpour.I was passed by quite a few people running at an impressive speed up the long climb up onto the Moor. I was only managing a survival shuffle. I did manage to catch one runner who was struggling with the cold, he said that his mate had gone ahead to get some extra clothing. I lingered at the ski centre putting on more clothing and trying to force down more food . Helen ran with me from then on. I tried to keep the pace going but it was very slow especially the climb up The Devil's Staircase. I didn't get much faster on the descent into Kinlochleven my quads made it too painful to run  and I now had a shooting pain in my left shin which turned out to be anteror tibialis tendonitis. On the steepest sections I resorted to walking backwards.
At Kinlochleven the Leisure Centre was warm and dry . Silke the race doctor approached me and said I didn't look too good.I asked her to look at my shin  which she and the physiotherapist strapped up. I was pleased to manage to eat some mashed potato, but then felt very ill . Not sure whether I was going to have diarrhoea or vomit I managed to stagger to the loo ( where fortunately I had neither.) After some time I felt a bit better and after another cup of tea decided to get going. The  climb out of Kinlochleven was painfully slow. I was coughing more and more and felt dreadful.I knew I had plenty of time to get through to Fort William but gradually it began to dawn on me that carrying on might risk damaging my long term health.. So sadly I decided to retire . I think it was the right decision . Other runners said that conditions up on the Lairig Mor were savage with very high winds and heavy rain. I feel it would have been irresponsible to go there in the state I was in.

The prize giving was as emotional and  uplifting as ever. We were all blown away by the new course record set by Rob Sinclair of 13 hours 41 minutes. We had thought that Paul Giblin's successive lowering of the course record to 14 hours 21 minutes was incredible, (Mind you many thought  Jez Bragg's record unbeatable). I really cannot conceive how anybody could run that fast over that terrain;what a tremendous achievement! We also heard lots of other stories of endurance and fortitude. I was very disappointed to pull out but I'm happy that I made the right decision. After a few days suffering from the cold I recovered quite well.  I feel that it might have been very different if I had continued.