Happily Ever After
Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running
Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.
Doing Things By Halves
by Russell Turner - 11:22 on 17 January 2026
The snow may have (mostly) gone from the Black Isle but the temperature still struggles to get above 0ºC, illustrated by the frost-topped lawn, the water solid in the bird bath, and the need to scrape cars before we can use them. The good news is that the wind remains light, which makes sub-zero running less of a chore than it might be.
Yesterday there was no wind at all so the Week 6 long run, even at -2ºC, wasn’t too challenging – apart from the distance, of course. The training plan called for 12 miles. That’s 19.3k, so obviously I rounded it up to 20k as I’m still training in kilometres. And if I can do 20k, I can add another 1.1k to make it a half marathon, as you do. That was the plan.
At 11am, after much faffing, I set off towards Cromarty clad in tights, base layer, jacket, woolly hat and two pairs of thin gloves, with a Camelbak filled with 2.5 litres of Tailwind and the intention of a 5:1 run/walk along the coast road. Progress was slow but consistent; after 9.5k I reached the village boundary and turned for home, reluctant to enter the village itself. I don’t know why.
The return was more of the same, apart from a brief photo stop to capture the snow on Ben Wyvis. Traffic was light, mostly respectful; I had to step off the road only twice, both times because an oncoming vehicle meant the car approaching me couldn’t pull out.
After 2:06 and 18.1k of run/walking I reached Newhall Bridge, 5mins from The Rural Retreat, and regretted not having run to the far side of Cromarty. However, I resisted temptation and found three more kilometres before returning home in 2:28. Before the run I was inclining 60:40 to doing the Manchester Marathon; today it’s back to 50:50. I’ll see how I feel in five weeks when (if) I’ve reached 18 miles.
Despite that, I’ve signed up for the Middlesbrough Half Marathon on March 1st, which will be the year’s first race after having to scratch the X-Border 10k on February 1st. I’ve booked off the weekend from City Limits duties, just in case, but odds are that nothing will appear in the diary before then. My spring HM times in the last couple of years have ranged from 2:12 to 2:24. I’ll be happy with anything between.
Once race I won’t be doing is the Great North Run. My official confirmation landed earlier this week, although it wasn’t a great surprise. I’ve no idea how many applicants there were for ballot places but 1.1 million for London Marathon must be a bit of a clue.
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