Trail vs Fell Running

As part of my birthday present, Anne & Bob and Helen got me a £50 run4it voucher. I'd always fancied trail running and used the voucher toward a great pair of Salomon Speedcross trail shoes. Before yesterday, I'd only ever worn then out once and that was on Storm's second outing (a previous blog). So pretty much they were virgin and very clean. Not any longer!

Yesterday being Guy Fawkes night, we were needing to prepare for a bonfire and firework party at Rab's house, so he and I couldn't really go far for a hill walk. We decide that Dumgoyne would be a good candidate as it was close and we could be up and down in an hour. As we had 2 hours, we could even go beyond and run back the side of Dumgoyne.

I decide to wear my Runner's Forum hat, my new Nike running gloves (replacements for a similar pair that were finally falling apart!), my running tights, long sleeved running top that Kerry & Craig got me for my birthday, the Adidas compression pants, two sock system and the black wind-proof jacket that Jane purchased for me. It was 2 Celsius when we were in the car travelling. I actually had a layer of ice on the windscreen for the first time this season! The weather was perfect with wee patches of wispy fog here and there. I put pics up of this excursion on Facebook. I'll really need to start using photos here or putting them somewhere I could link to them.

Rab and I got there at 8:50 and got the last parking place in the layby. Once we got the footwear sorted, we were off at 9 AM. The trail is roadway for a bit, then grassy field and then once it gets to the hill itself, almost straight up. Wet and boggy in places and pure mud in others, but practically straight up for most of the journey. I can tell you, the term fell running had no place in this part of the excursion! We walked the early part of the journey, I trudged heavy-legged for the straight up bits, and then when we got to the summit, we enjoyed the views for 10 minutes. At this point, I decided it was too hot to keep the wind proof jacket on any longer and dumped it into my rucksack.

We walked down a very steep trail down the back of Dumgoyne, and at this point, my Salomons were gripping pretty well. It was mega steep in bits and some scree so I did slip now and again. Once that was past, grassy slopes meant that I could finally run a bit, so we jogged along at a nice wee pace before the next uphill. After another half hour of walking, we decided to turn round and head back. As it was mostly downhill grassy slopes, we ran/jogged quite a bit, and the feeling is one that is hard to relate in writing... Really liberating! I was gripping well for the most part, losing my foot in mud and bog, and really getting those Solomons dirty! The front slope of Dumgoyne (we avoided the summit and just went round the worst bit) was the alternate path, grassy and smooth for the most part but still quite steep. I managed well for the most part and only really slipped once, but righted myself before crashing! Once we got down to the road part of the trail, we stated the cool down and made it back to the car truly invigorated!

I meant to bring my Garmin, but when uploading Cycle to work data, I left it on, and the battery was dead! Some detail here from Rab's RunKeeper app! http://runkeeper.com/user/GregUsrey/activity/58751412?utm_campaign=frnd-tag-st&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Op

It was a great morning out, complemented wit a wee trip to Glengoyne Distillery. Too much temptation not to pop in!

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Location:Dumgoyne, East Dunbartonshire, United Kingdom