Blown Away By Scotland

Sunday was spent doing some last minute shopping for Christmas in Elgin. To be honest my holiday shopping was done, but I made the mistake of forgetting to pack some of the holiday parcels. I still blame my baby brain for this! Elgin turned out to be a great place to do this because 1) we got there as the shops opened, 2) there are a small amount of shops, and 3) the shopping is relatively condensed. With our last shopping hoorah over swiftly, we finished the trip off with a special treat at Costa (Coffee Shop). 

The treat was meeting some of the Souter Clan, some of which I had never met, and others that I haven't seen in two years. We all enjoyed a great catch up and yummy sweets. I have to say that Costa makes my new favourite hot chocolate, 'Black Forest Hot Chocolate'. I must warn you that it's probably one of the most unhealthiest drinks you can have, I found out later it has 60g of sugar in it...YIKES. As you can see, that's not all I had! I had a gingerbread muffin to go with it too! I'm not going to even go into the details of what that contained. It's Christmas and I don't eat/drink this way often. It's a nice to splurge once in a while and I knew I'd run it off later. 

Black Forest Hot Chocolate, and Gingerbread Muffin from Costa

Iyla, Annie and Fergus

After arriving back in Portsoy, Kevin and I quickly changed to go for a training run. This time we had a local friend and athlete, Scott Donald join us. Scott knows his way around the surrounding areas much better than Kevin (having left many years ago) and I, so he helped navigate the route. When running in Scotland you have to be mindful of the sunrise and sunset, at this time of year you only get 6 and a half hours of daylight. This is on a good day when it's not a 'dark and dreich day' (dull and wet). We left at 2:30pm on our run and finished in the dark at 3:45pm. During this run we were on a main road for a wee bit and I noticed that despite being in a single file, drivers were not too fond of us. Once off the main road we spent the next 30mins running into the wind while climbing a steady incline. Scott led us for this portion and kept us going strong. I could barely talk during this part, it was the longest and quickest pace I've done since my marathon. It's amazing how quickly you can lose your endurance post race.

Our run was supposed to circle around but both Scott and Kevin 'couldna mine' (couldn't remember) a road correctly so we had to turn back on the same road. With the wind and incline on our side we flew all the way home.

A-98, Main road leaving Portsoy

Scott and I on the steady incline into the wind

Lot's of sheep hanging a boot

Quick photo opp with Scott in front of 'Fordyce Castle'

Kev and I ready to call Canada, it's actually usable!!!!

Although an easy and steady 75min run was on deck, we completed 9.04 miles at a 8:18avg pace per mile. We certainly noticed and felt the difference the wind made both with and against. With gale winds beating the United Kingdom and causing airports, railways and traffic to reach a standstill, we are lucky to be in a pocket of the country that seems to be sheltered from the worst. Having said that we are certainly on the receiving end of stronger winds as the days are passing! We are mindful to spare a thought and our prayers to those affected by the adverse weather both here and in Canada over this holiday period. Merry Christmas everyone :)