ROLI'S CORNER
Running to a better life...
Running in Scotland
The 1,219km car drive to the Scottish highlands
The day after xmas, my husband, my son and I set out on our one week holiday to scotland. It was a two day drive to get there. Our first stop over was in a hotel in Carlise, by the time we got there we had been sitting in the car for nearly 12 hours!. The next morning I HAD to go running before we continued our journey into the Scottish highlands, otherwise I would have ended up killing my hubby or son!. I set the alarm for 06.30 and I just ran up and down the pavements of Carlise for about an hour. It was crispy and cold but I loved it and I was ready to face the next six hour drive into Scotland. The day after we got into Scotland I decided to take a day off and give my old bod a rest. However, my husband took time to map out a 10.4 km route for me to run while I was there.
Running in the Scottish highlands
Early on Monday the 29th, I set out at 08.25am in the morning, I was rearing to go. I ran for 1hr and 20mins and hardly saw another car or human being.The views were stunningly beautiful. It was another world. It was very hilly and steep, I had to stop twice at the top of two steep hills to catch my breath and admire the views of rolling countryside with nothing else in sight. The run was tough, I ran 10.4 kms in new hilly terrain, however, I took the time to be thankful about the good things in my life. I felt a sense of acheivement. I set out every morning for the next four days doing the same distance, on some days it was freezing cold, temperature plummeted to -14 degrees, but I hardly felt the cold, it was just me, myself and I. It was so peaceful and quiet, all I could hear was my breath, the air in my lungs and the crunching of the snow, there was frost on the ground, the sun glistered on it making it look like tiny diamonds. During the week of our stay I had run over 50km over a 5 day span, my body was lean and mean. I was like ... wow! ... It is at moments like this I understand why I run and why I am still loving it years later.
The effects
The effects of that week in Scotland on me were immediate and profound, the moment we got back home, I decided to train to become a web designer. I have designed this website myself from scratch and the sense of seeing something I have created materialise from scratch is unbeleivable. It has been tough and a loooot of hard work but I really do beleive I can reach for the stars if I want it bad enough.