Cobblers & 10Ks

By way of a change from running, my wife and I took advantage of yesterday's fine weather and walked up the Cobbler, a hill that neither of us has ever climbed before . As you can see, it was a glorious day but the heat wasn't suiting our collie cross mongrel very well.

The old adage "better late than never" springs to mind with this hill, it really is a jewel and it's easy to see it's popularity. Here's a view taken from the "back side" (oo er..) looking towards Beinn Ime. The Yorkie is our other dog. Very unfairly, she gets all the sympathy from other walkers because she's so small and "cute". She has no problem with hills or distance (she did 17 miles on the River Ayr Way once with us without turning a hair). Roger, our big dog is getting on now (11 yrs old) and wasn't really enjoying the heat or the climb. We had to make frequent stops by the stream for him to drink and cool down.

Still, he made it in the end as you can see here. Fantastic views all round. Next time I come up here I think I'll try to take in Beinn Ime and Beinn Narnain as well as they're both accessible from the same plateau at about 2000ft.

This was just me playing with the camera trying to photograph a flower. Very pretty but I'm no botanist. Maybe someone can identify it for me.
Regarding 10ks, tonight was our annual 10k time trial which we hold once a year following the Troon 10k. After my miserable 10k in Kilmarnock on the 14th of this month (44:02) I didn't have high hopes for a run tonight, particularly as it was quite blustery and I'd been shivery most of the afternoon. I was beginning to think that I was coming down with something but in the end, I think I was just under dressed! As the old saying goes, "Ne'er cast a clout 'til May is oot". ;-)

Anyway, I didn't push myself in the first 5k and picked it up a little after that and was pleased in the end to finish with 41:33. I'm sure I ought to be able to run a 10k faster with a solid sub-20 5K under my belt back in March (19:21) but somehow things never quite work out and as it happens, it's a lifetime PB so I'm not complaining. It's a timely confidence booster to have before the WHW race even though I know a 10K time is of little relevance to how I'll do on the big day.