Another Step Towards Durban – original post 4/9/13

The start of September seems to have brought the Loch Ness Marathon date very close.  With less than four weeks to go, I wanted to start by reminding everyone that, as well as taking a major step on the road to Durban, I will be raising money for the Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) Charity.  I am delighted to say that more than £2,000 has been donated so far.  If you still feel able to give something, please visit http://www.justgiving.com/Kenny-Fraser or use Just Text Giving by texting an amount and the code KFLN68 to 70070.  You can also find out more by visiting their website atwww.pkdcharity.org.uk.

Hopefully, the running preparations are going as well as the fund raising.  The weekly mileage has been building up and I am hoping to be over 50 miles this week in my last week of heavy training before starting to “taper”.  This is just code for having a few easier weeks!  I am finding the really long runs tough but anything up to about 20km now seems pretty manageable.  Adding new routes has also helped as I mentioned in the last post.  Bellahouston Park for the first time this last week and some great views from the little hill in the middle.  It also brought back vivid memories of watching Nat Muir win tough international cross country races there in the early eighties.  One of Scotland’s best but never received the international recognition he deserved.

I have also been continuing to enjoy Stewarton Road and pushing further up the road onto Fenwick Moor.  It is a tough and hilly route but very quiet and with great views all around.  The solitude and peace seem to be working.  Not sure whether that will be sustained when the Winter is blowing over the moor!  It has set me thinking though and with so much hill country around, my plan is to use this over the winter as I build up my endurance for Comrades.  I have dug out an old  book with 100 hill walks around Glasgow and will be using these plus some coastal routes down by Troon and Turnberry to give some variety, especially on the longer runs.

The view from the top of the hill is well worth the effort.
For now, another batch of pictures from Stewarton Road and Bellahouston Park.  I also have a mental note to find a better way of presenting these photo pages as they seem a bit dull at the moment.

Let me finish this week with two other pieces of news.  I have mentioned a couple of times that my daughter Lorna has been enjoying parkrun, in fact achieving another personal best of 35’24” last week.  Well she is now entered in the 5k run on the same day as the Loch Ness Marathon and is genuinely disappointed that she is too young to have a go at the 10k!  However, I have also discovered that my cousin’s husband, Mark MacLennan, and the wife of my closest friend, Carole Spy, are both running the 10k.  All in all a real family day so even more reason to donate or just get out and put your running shoes on.

Final announcement, entries for Comrades 2014 opened on Sunday and after checking through a few things, my entry is officially registered.  Another big step on the road.