a scottish adventure

oh my, bute

following a fantastic week of work in congleton, uk, the lads from the office drove me up to manchester airport on friday afternoon and i headed up to glasgow for a weekend with my photography master friend and keeper of all knowledge of scottish history, patrick. patrick, another internet friend for the past several years, has been a constant source of inspiration with his amazing photographs of the wild and beautiful places in scotland. known by his rap name, pMo; he met me outside the concourse in glasgow, holding a beautifully crafted placard with the "AH", amazing hip, symbol clearly displayed.

with a head full of cold, i did my best to be witty and chatty, but generally just let pMo fill me in on all things scotland (which, of course, i could listen to for days on end). after a week of the english accent, i was surprised to see just how much i enjoyed the scottish accent over the british one. so much richer, not as nasally and with the rolling of the r's and glottal stops, it just seemed less forced and more comfortable to listen to. anyway, on the agenda for the evening was a quick stroll around paisley, then a quick train into downtown glasgow and dinner at a nice italian restaurant. the walk around paisley introduced me to the fine architecture of the abbey and the town hall, beautiful pieces of stonework and just calling to be photographed.

the plan for saturday was to hop the train from paisley down to wemyss bay, take the ferry over to rothsey and cycle around the isle of bute. we were on the train by 10am and the weather looked like it might be challenging. it was a right dreich day, with a steady smirr (yeah, i'm showin' off). by the time we hit wemyss bay, though, the cloud had cleared away and the warm sun was out in full force. in rothesy, we saddle up and headed off on our trek around the island. the route wound around the southern tip of the island, through some beautiful forest, up a wee hill called mount stewart and past the home where stella mccartney was wed and then down into the bay town of kingarth. from there, we broke off the main road and headed toward st. blaine's, a church/monastery/village that dates back to the 700's. at the end of the road, we hiked up the hill to the beautifully treed plateau on the hilltop where the ruins were. it was absolutely gorgeous. the wind was blowing through the numerous hardwoods and creating a quite serene, yet mystical feeling to the place. we wandered around the grounds while patrick told me stories about the history behind the place. after a short visit, we were back on the bikes and reconnected with the main road.

from here, we headed down to scalpsie beach (correct me if i'm wrong, pMo) where i introduced pMo to the joys of stinger honey gels and he returned the favor by warning me not to touch the dead jellyfish on the beach (get it, both can sting? haha...i kill myself). anyway, we spent quite a while down at the beach, shooting the shore and annoying the seals trying to sunbathe. a little while spent there and then it was back on the bikes to head to one of pMo's most famous photography locations; the shipwreck at kildavanan. we wandered the beach, shot the wreck and then took a break for some ice cream. the wind started picking up a bit and the temperature dropped a bit. we hopped back on the bikes before we got too much of a chill and headed on our way back to rothsey.

we took another quick detour to explore some standing stones and a couple beautifully weathered trees and then stopped at a church missing it's roof where we wandered the graveyard and the grounds, shooting the ruins and remains of history. the ride back into rothsey was quick from that point and we made the ferry just before she left and then made the train just before departure in wemyss bay. our timing was perfect! it was a long day, but filled with great history lessons, lots of goofy jokes and splendid time spent with one of my favorite photographers and amateur adventurers.

sunday morning gave us a chance to do something a little more low key so we headed back into glasgow to visit the kelvinhall museum, recently re-opened, and then browse pMo's old stomping grounds, the university of glasgow. we wandered around, smirr attempting to soak us and shot a few photos here and there and then headed back into paisley where it was time to say goodbye. i promised i wouldn't give out the secrets of how beautiful and exciting scotland was, because pMo doesn't want it crawling with american tourists wearing shorts and flip-flops, but God help me, i can't stop myself. pMo was the genuine deal when it comes to hosting a tourist like myself. he hooked me up with all the cool, relevant history and took me on an adventure that hooked me on the beautiful and wild places of scotland and you can't beat a holiday like that. thanks pMo, you're a real friend and a fair dinkum scotsman.

you can't thwart the amazing hip

it appears that the amazing hip's arch nemesis, the arthritic hip, has indeed found out his mild mannered (up for debate) alter ego. when you last tuned in, our superhero's attempt to get to the british isles had been hampered by the untimely cancelation of his flight from chicago to manchester. it turns out that it was not a random occurrence, but part of a larger, much more sinister plot to foil the adventures of our superhero in the british isles. let's catch back up with the action:

fast forward to friday, sept 15th and terminal three of the manchester airport. no sooner did i arrive and i found out that my 3pm flight was now a 5:25pm flight. no problem, a little delay, but then mild disappointment turned to frustration as we watched 5:25 come and go while the airport support slowly off loaded several of the arthritic hip's minions from the plane. as we boarded nearly an hour later, the sight of the wheelchair brigade, all wielding scowls and oxygen bottles was almost intimidating enough to keep me from walking up the ladder into the plane.

while the scotland trip was a brilliant piece of holiday, the return back to the states was nearly as challenging as the trip out. upon returning to the states news was sent to me that again, the arthritic hip had struck again, this time using his agents at united airlines. he had somehow canceled my flight, again, and they were attempting to route me through san fransisco. an obvious ambush. so, i foiled their plan and had me placed on a later flight. so, with nine hours in chicago o'hare to kill, i did the only thing that i could think of. i sprung into superhero action.

i spotted a fellow wearing a boston marathon t-shirt, so i walked up to him and congratulated him on his race. i liked the hair of a girl serving me food at one of the concession stands, so i commented on it. a fellow riding the escalator in front of me had a nice, rich purple shirt on, and i told him how much i liked it. while eating some cake at the gate for the flight to paris-degaul, an old frenchman was watching me intently. i offered to share it with him, to which he decline. he continued to watch me intently, so i offered again. he refused. i couldn't finish it, so i wrapped it in wax paper and offer the rest to him, indicating it was going in the trash if he didn't. he refused again. i guess those french are just tired of eating cake. i headed to the san diego gate and gave encouraging advice to the recruits waiting there to head to mcrd for bootcamp. i wasn't about to let the arthritic hip get the best of me, and to mock him, i walked the length of the concourse in slow motion several times.

so, hours later, i landed in lax and headed down to baggage claim, only to find out that the arthritic hip had made an attempt at waylaying my belongings. after a exhaustive search, i finally located my missing bag tucked deep in the bowels of the united airlines baggage office. soon, i was finally in the long term parking lot and headed to the car. happy to be free of the plot against me when out of the 1:30am gloom, i spotted the kayak racks on the roof of the xterra. the roof was tilted at an odd angle. sure enough, the icing on the cake (i swear it was a frenchman that the arthritic hip had sent to do his dirty work), my rear right tire was flat. i fumbled through the tire change, laughing like a madman at the situation.

despite the ridiculous attempts at my sanity and well being, i was finally able to collapse into bed at a reasonable hour of 3:30am. you may have won the battle, arthritic hip, but I will win the war!

kickin' the sheriff's arse

so, i thought that a delayed plane was as bad as it could get, and then the real dilemma unfolded. they canceled our flight at 10:30 at night, sent us off to hotels for the night and we didn't get to bed until 1am. up early the next morning, we called the hotline for bmi to find out when our flight would be and were shocked to hear that we wouldn't be leaving until 8pm on friday, arriving in manchester at 10am on saturday. ugh. my plans for the race were quickly coming into jeopardy.

i was so frustrated that i decided to throw on the shoes and find someplace to run. the staff at the front desk suggested some woods across the street, so over i went and discovered several miles of trail back behind a historic park called 'the grove'. it was heavenly. i cruised along the heavily wooded singletrack for about five miles and the fiasco with the airline was a distant memory.

the plane arrived on schedule (to a cheer in the terminal) and we left on time, and arrived on schedule in manchester. i quickly caught a cab to the hotel, showered and then hopped on a train to meet up with karin and andy. we scratched our plans to head to nottingham and recon the course and instead, just headed out for dinner at a really nice italian place. i gorged on pasta and chocolate cake and had a great time getting to know the two of them. karin is just as groovy as you'd imagine from reading her blog and her husband, andy, is a really thoughtful guy with a fun sense of humor. just let me say what a great couple they are and how comfortable they made the whole trip and experience. seriously, you guys, you rock. thanks again.

anyway, i was so wiped out from the trip that i passed out at about 9pm and didn't wake until 5:45am. how's that for beating jetlag? woohoo! i woke feeling rested, ate some porridge and got ready for the race. we headed out and made it to the race at 7:30 where i was able to pick up my packet without any difficulty. we milled around, chatting and exploring the race grounds, visiting the toilets numerous times.

just before 10, we lined up and got ready for the gun. i lined up with karin and decided to run the first 5k with her to get myself warmed up. i wasn't sure just how my legs would respond to being called into action after the trip. we cruised along at a nice 9:00-930 pace for the first 5k, and then i said farewell to karin and off i went.

the first half of the race runs around nottingham proper and through the university grounds. it was moderately rolling hills, but nothing that was really challenging. for the first half, we were running with the half marathon runners as well, so the route was thick with people. the half had 11,000 registered, with only 1,800 running the full. i cruised along comfortably right at an 8:00 pace and didn't feel like i was pushing. i drank my gatorade endurance (forgoing the lucozade sport drink on the course), water and took my stinger gels at about every 6 miles. the sun had come out and it was warming up, but that said, warm is a relative term. i was very comfortable, after having trained through the so. california summer. and with a cool breeze most of the time, i never really felt warm.

we split from the half marathoners at 12.5 and i saw andy right as we split. we crossed a bridge and the race took on a completely new dynamic. with the loss of the half marathoners, the runners were now strung along in groups of 2-3 with 50-100m in between. i continued to motor on at a really steady pace, feeling quite nice. by mile 18, things were starting to warm up a little bit more, but no sooner had i noticed the increase in temperature, we ran into some nice wooded areas and then down to this massive aquatic center. the aquatic center was several miles long and completely exposed to the sun, but there was an amazing cross breeze blowing. as we ran up and down the two sides of it, we never were without a cooling breeze. the conditions were perfect.

at mile 21, i decided to kick it up a notch and bring the race home with a solid push. i dropped down to a low seven pace and held that. by mile 23, my right calf started getting a little crampy, but never seized up to where i had to stop, nor did it slow me down. i continued along nice and hard, and before i knew it, i was at mile 25 and realized that i had never hit the wall. i decided to sprint in the last mile+ but my plan was foiled by a narrow bridge where i had to shuffle behind some folks that were blocking the route, and when i finally got past them and surged again, i nearly had to stop as my calf wigged out almost to the point where it seized. i slowed back down to a seven min pace and kept that for the remainder of the race.

andy was at the finish cheering and taking pictures and it was good to see him. i kept smiling, along with a gritted teeth grimace as the calf threatened on and off to seize. across the finish in 3:32, i was very happy to be done, checking the european continent off my marathon to-do list. i cooled down, ate some crisps, got a free massage and then we waited for karin to finish up.

afterward, we headed back to their place to get cleaned up and karin comes into the kitchen and says, "we got something for you" and hands me a blue version of the race t-shirt, a really nice technical shirt with great design. i'd had my eye on it at the expo tent and andy had snuck over and purchased one for me. awww...shucks. what groovy folks.

so, despite the conditions and circumstances, i was able to turn in a fabulous race on a course that ties for second with seafair in my favorite races. a great adventure, with great people in a great location. it couldn't have turned out any better.

stranded

well, the trip got off to a fine start this morning. i hit the airport just in time, despite the rough traffic on the drive in. the plane was on time and we left lax exactly when the flight was supposed to. but then everything quickly went downhill from there. i was seated on an aisle, which i don't mond, but the couple sitting with me brought along their two toy doberman as carry on baggage. one of the dogs would not shut up and kept whining and scratching at his carrier. i won't rant about them, though.

the flight was smooth and we landed in chicago for the connecting flight on time...no problems. so i make the trek to the international terminal checking all the departure information, seeing that the flight is on time and planned to leave as scheduled. but at the security screening, the tsa agent looks at my boarding pass and says, "you need to head back to the bmi counter and get a dinner voucher, you're not leaving until 11pm". ugh. it's currently 5pm.

so, i've got 6ish hours to kill in chicago o'hare. guess i'll catch up on my blog reading. i don't mind the delay, really, as i'm pretty good at entertaining myself. the concourse here is quite long, too, so i could always go for a run. the only real bummer is that i won't get into manchester as early as i'd hoped. i was looking forward to an entire afternoon of roaming congleton and taking photographs, followed by a run on the local forest trails. we'll see how that pans out.

saturday i hop on the train to go hook up with karin and andy and get the race packet/drive the course/gorge on pasta routine. really looking forward to hanging out with karin and andy. karin was one of my first bloggers and it's been fun to follow along for the last year+

sunday is the race, which i'm really looking forward to. i'll try to get a race report posted as soon as possible on sunday night.

here's hoping the rest of the trip goes smoothly and that all the bumps are out of the way now.