A little bit of drizzle....

Good evening from a rather rain lashed, wind swept not so sunny Stratheven.



Well, It seems a few people read the tile of my last post and got a little mixed up. You were supposed to do something that scared YOU!! not for you to scare ME!!


So I get a text last night telling me about the nightmare on the OMM telling me about some WHW family members who are there. Scary stuff. Cut to this morning and I get a text from my Ma asking if I've heard from Rosie Bell, whw'er, strathaven strider, and bloody good friend. She and Tony Thistlewhaite are both doing OMM and I knew nothing about it !!! Holy crap. A frantic frenzy triyng to google OMM, news of OMM etc to no avail.


Sometime later I'm informed that Rosie and Tony are safely back in Strathaven via a hospital in the Lake district and Hairmyres hosp too. Rosie being the skelf of a girl that she is got blown away by the light breeze which was gusting and only saved from being washed away in a torrent by her hero Tony T. Rosie now has a fractured wrist to reminder her of her weekend away to the Lakes. Same time next year guys?







As could be expected my Da' scared me this week. Not for the reason you may think. Mainly due to the fact that following his epic 8 hour surgery to remove the monkey from his back he has looked and indeed been fantastic. A little bit sore, but on top form. It was my Maw and Da's anniversary on Monday and 4 days post op we took the party to him. NA wine, munchies etc, you know the form. All good. A surprise visit from an old friend, Paul Jenkins, a guy my Da' taught Karate to from the age of nine. In he comes and promptly hugs my Da' putting his arm round his shoulders..... eeeeekkkkk DONT TOUCH HIS SHOULDER as my Da' tries to slink under the blankets. He has not to move an inch for the next 6 weeks as the muscles "knit" around what bone is left in his arm. Anyway, not much sympathy from Paul, a big burly bouncer type, more stories of the good ol' days of Karate competitions all over the UK. Good times.


I also got a bit scared this week when my sat nav sent me up a road that was closed, in a city I had never driven in and I had to be somewhere at a particular time. Cut to a one sided telephone call of " where are you", "what can you see", "where are you near" to be met with the reply....."a dunno" All's well that ends well.



I did learn something this week. Think about a question before you ask it. You never know, you might be able to answer it yourself. Or at the very least save yourself a ribbing for the next 6 months....

TTFN, LMx

Do something that scares you......

So, I've said before that to be a marshall or whatever there is no real need for actual running but I do try sometimes. Just to stave off the madness you understand.

This week though has been a bit rubbish and its only Tuesday.

Friday was a bit of a crazy night with the Dream Team so Saturday running was binned. Replaced by some gentle retail therapy with my Maw and Aunite, swiftly followed by a couple of Baillies for medicinal purposes.


My little girl wanted her wee cousin to sleep over so the morning of my first anti-versary I wakened up to this wee face.


I decided that as it was such a strange day I would take the dog for a run. As I had the kids it had to be something that included them. So off to the local park which has a mile loop around the perimeter. A whole 3.5 miles later I had to jack it in!! The dog kept running off to play with the kids or random folk with prams taking up the whole track. It wasn't to be, but at least I tried. The rest of the day was some more strangeness. I spent the evening downloading videos from my phone. Its amazing what you find on there.

My daughter is a feisty wee 11 year old. She was the little blond girl dishing out the baked potatoes and coffee at Auchtertyre (whw checkpoint) this year. Feisty and gobby but not very confident. So I have come up with a plan. We have a deal that we need to do something that scares us whenever we can. So when we were up in Aviemore a few weeks ago we gave it a good go.





Crazy girl. She makes me laugh


This is the Landmark Centre at Carrbridge. We were here last year at Easter. She and her brother made it to the top but were not very happy about it. Different kettle of fish this time!!

Just a quick update about my Da. He is going in tomorrow and his op is on Thursday. We are all going around like headless chooks right now. If you pray: pray hard. If you meditate: send positive thoughts our way. If you don't do any of that keep us in your thoughts, it gives me/us strength.

PS, did you see that wee skinny Eton guy on LMS? he's got nae chance!!

Mrs Mac xxx

All well the ends well.

It's been a while but I'm back.


There's lots been happening in the madness of the Mac household.

I couldn't decide whether to go for multiple posts a la Tomo or all in a oner a la Mike Mason UTMB.

So.... are you sitting comfortably? I would go for a quick pee and get a glass of something before you sit down, this might take a while....


Anyway, RAW: the final chapter. I have a new best friend in the form of one lady race organiser. I must have stated my case with enough gusto that she relented and allowed me to attend the presentation. Either that she was feirt if she didn't I would continue to stalk her and she would need to take out a restraining order. Made it just in time for Pirate Boy to receive a medal and certificate and no mention of a 30 mile marker. All runners and walkers received their awards not from the "wummin wi chains roon her neck" but a bloke this time. I wonder if they share the chains or if they have a set each. Do you think the sit at home in the evening and compare chains? mmmmmm I wonder.

The following day a trip to Sunny Prestwick was in order to return some DVD or other to DQ's maw, lovely lady, very hospitable giving up her house like that to a bunch of random vagabonds.

Rather windy affair but beautiful none the less. There is something about the sea when it's crashing against the pier walls and spraying water everywhere.



September weekend : galavanting off to Aviemore wi the weans +1 -2 for a nice jolly. Not the best start when my Da landed up in the hospital the day before we left. Weather was changeable but gorg at night time, how flamming big is the sky. Orion was in top form.

No running, apart from a wee jog into town, but lots of walking. The dog loved it. Sitting on a rock looking across to Cairngorm bathed in sunshine divine.




Good running on the Monday and Wed sessions, good banter wi the girls, talking utter rubbish as usual!!


Its October, how the hell did that happen. I was only WHW weekend a couple of weeks ago.....

So its off to rural Perthshire. Me and my mate Scanners for an outward bound weekend with 11 of our staff. OMG 2 girls, an old guy and 8 testosterone fuelled 18-21 year old boys (and they ARE boys regardless of what they think!!) An afternoon of team building exercises saw Scanners and I become the butt of many a practical joke. Great dinner and a DVD. Pleads of please can we go to the pub, its only a mile away fell on deaf ears. Scanners told me to beat it I'd need to manage for one night without a liquid refreshment. The troops were disappointed in me for not pulling that one off I think!

They seemed to manage fine though. Playing at chases at 2am around the landings did not make them most popular with Scanners or me. We took revenge at 7.45am by playing Clubland classics at full blast!!! sweet revenge. A great morning of mountain biking with a superb guide, everyone had a blast. It was great to hear the guys reaction to being is such beautiful surroundings. If the rest of the Cateran is anywhere near as nice as the section I saw its gonna be a memorable race May 09.






Its been a bit rubbish here too. It's not all good for Mrs Mac.
I have had a few requests for updates on my Da, so here goes.

He came through the first cycle of chemo pretty well. Was feeling ok and was quite upbeat. Fast forward 4 or 5 days and he's got a dose of the trotts and the pukes. Puts it down to chemo. Next day more of the same. My Bro chibs him and gets a drip up and fluids iv. 1st bit of good fortune, if it wasn't for the family business he'd be in trouble. Next day a trip in the works van to Hairmyres Hospital and the start of 9 day spell detained at the pleasure of the NHS. Turns out he has renal failure as a result of chemo and dehydration. If he wasn't sorted by my Bro though, It would have been multi organ failure. Oh joy. Anyway he's been "unlucky" to have a stomach infections which is a bit crap to say the least.

So the here and now is this- his kidneys are not strong enough to cope with more chemo so its straight to surgery. His mantra over the past few weeks is "i just want the monkey off my back". the call came today to say into the GRI on Monday and surgery on Thursday. Good your thinking, not Fast Eddie, it freaks him out. As of tonight is on a proper downer.


If you've read this far you either know me or a bit of a sadist. As Ronan would say life is a roller coaster.... how true that is. There is light at the end of the tunnel, its a bit dark right now but I know its there, Tick Tock.


Thank you all for your concern and words of support.
Mrs Mac x

I proper luv ye's man xoxox