Pied nus in Pollok

I've been feeling a bit guilty because I've not been running enough barefoot over the last week. I ran BF with the club on Tuesday and then went for a romp over the Carrick Hills on Saturday but that was in shoes. I would love to be able to run trails BF but there's just no way I could have done that on Saturday and enjoyed it. Maybe when my Vibram 5 Fingers arrive...

Anyway, we were in Glasgow yesterday to drop my baby girl off at the airport. I say "baby" but she's 18 and taller than me. She's off to Oz for 2 months with her boyfriend. I'd suspected that it might be a bit traumatic for me (I'm such a crybaby) so we'd planned to visit my mum and go for a run around Pollok park which is near my mother's flat by Maxwell Park in Glasgow (as a sort of displacement activity).

As I'm sure it was just about everywhere yesterday, it was another hot day and I was a bit concerned about the streets & pavements in Glasgow. None of Bristol's nice stone or concrete flags, just lots of rather gritty tarmac which isn't nice to run on.

Despite this, we found a quiet route from Maxwell to Pollok and once into the park, the paths were mostly smooth & gravel free tarmac. It was an absolutely gorgeous day to be out jogging round the park and the dabbled shadows underneath the trees through the woodland paths were entrancing.

I had no real problems with the paths although Muriel was finding the heat a bit harder to cope with. Whilst it would be rude to say that she was sweating somewhat, I think you could say that she was "glowing like a horse". (I'll probably get into big trouble for that description). ;-)
I'm trying hard to keep repeating the BF runner's mantra "relax" in my head but it's not always easy when some b*stard bit of stone catches you unaware but mercifully, this doesn't happen anywhere near as often as you fear.

One of the reasons for trying to get more BF "time on my feet" is that I'm hoping to run our club 5K time trial tomorrow night shoeless. I really don't know whether I'm ready for this but I reckon it'll be interesting to try. For comparison I suppose I ought to re-run it next Tuesday with shoes but I'm not sure I'm really that desperate to compare times.

My replacement Vibram's still haven't arrived but I'm not too worried as I'm still enjoying road running without shoes.

Meanwhile, at the back of my mind (and getting closer all the time) is the thought that Muriel and I have committed ourselves to walking the WHW in 4 days starting in just over two weeks time. Whether either of us can realistically do that much walking in just four day I don't know. Whatever happens, I'm not going to be too purist about it. If we fall behind we'll just hitchhike. The important thing is to be at Kingshouse on the 19th so that we can start the last leg on race day.
I've really missed all the group runs and the camaraderie this year and I almost don't want to read about other folks great training runs. I still think withdrawing was the right thing to do. I probably could have completed it but I don't think it's fair to put a support crew to all that trouble for a poor run. Next year hopefully I'm be back fitter & faster. Probably not barefoot (even the Tamahumara don't race over long distances BF) but maybe in my Vibram's.