Training complete, bring on the marathon!

It's been almost 2 weeks since my last post! The main reason for my tardiness is the Easter holidays. Not only do I have little free time as the kids are off school, but we've been away for a few days too. In addition to those excuses, I've been tapering rather than training, so there's not so much to say.

For Easter weekend, we went up to Scotland. It was out first visit since leaving our home there about 18 months ago, and the idea was to catch up with old friends and remind Robbie and Emma where they were born and where they used to live before they forget completely.

Mission accomplished! We stayed with some good friends in Fife, and managed to fit a lot in. We drove up on Friday and Saturday, stopping off overnight, and drove home in one long journey on Wednesday. We met up with a lot of people, if not quite everyone, and Robbie loved pointing out the things he remembered, such as his school, local sights, people's houses, where Pete and I got married etc. Emma had already forgotten a lot, as she was only 3 when we moved.

We were so lucky with the weather. After months of cold, cloud and rain, the sun actually came out. Although there was some snow around on the mountains, and it was still cold, everything looked extra special in the sunshine.

Our old home town!

Over the weekend we had a little Easter egg hunt, played football in the garden and visited a farm.

The kids absolutely LOVED playing football

On the Monday we spent the day going from sofa to sofa, catching up with our old neighbours, the kids' childminder and their friends from there, and other old friends.

On the Tuesday, we caught the train to Edinburgh, and met an old colleague for lunch, then played in Princes Street Gardens, in the shadow of Edinburgh castle.

Spot Robbie running around

And of course I had a few runs to fit in. This was my 2nd week of a 3-week taper, so I ran a couple of times with about 4 miles each run. It was a very hilly route compared to what I'm used to these days, but with lovely views.

Fife - not exactly the view from my runs, but something like it

So that was the end of another month, and March was my highest mileage EVER!!!

Ran - 18x = 141.95 miles (oh for another 0.05!)
1 Race - Eastbourne Half
Cycled - 1x = 3miles (!) Strength Training -  about 5 or 6 x ?? Stretches - Almost everyday

That Half marathon seems like a really long time ago! So loads of running, but I was a bit lazy with the strength training, and stretching. Not bad though. As for the bike, it went in to the local shop to get the brakes fixed, and has come out with amazing new effective brakes and the tyres pumped to within an inch of their life! The only ride I fitted in was a little 3 mile errand, but I'll be looking forward to a lot more cycling now.

Since coming back from Scotland, I've finished my 2nd week of taper, in which I ran 18 miles, and cycled 10m. I also ran fast at Parkrun on Saturday, and finished just 8 seconds slower than my all-time 5k PB! A good sign of fitness I hope. Less than a week to go to M-day - eek!