Success stateside



Smiling at last!



With Federer crashing out in the quarters and  Nadal still out with injury, there appeared to potentially be only one man in the way of Andy Murray winning an elusive Grand Slam - the joker Djoko. Progressing to a two sets to love lead all the Scot had to do was win one more set and his dreams would be realised but who are we kidding?!  The Serb and world number one was not going anywhere taking the following two sets in 2 and 3. I have to admit at this point approaching 1.30am I decided to bail and drive home. Immediately I turned on 5Live in the car and Muzz had broken in the first game of the decider and the dream was still alive!! Listening to the whispering excitable commentators curled up in bed, it had finally happened 76 years since Fred Perry at the US Open, Murray had struck gold!! Finally he could  put all his doubters to rest as he elevated into a whole new world of tennis stardom- could this be the start of a British male dominating in tennis?
Murray is now defending his Japanese Open title and has continued his impressive run form by seeing off his Slovakian opponent in just 57 minutes in the first round. He is also featuring in the doubles with his older brother Jamie whom have now reached the quarter finals- good luck boys!



"Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard"

Surprised medal didn't melt!

Over two months ago, I wrote my second post stating that I had entered the Great Scottish Run half marathon for my second year running. In the summer months I began to start taking my training seriously again with the help of an amazing friend and her personal training expertise. After listening to her advice I decided to switch from the half marathon to a 10k as it would be more achievable for me to train for a shorter distance while not disrupting my weekly training.

After receiving an email from my sister asking if I would like to enter the Clapham Common 10k my competitiveness took over and I couldn't say no. Unfortunately for me, Sunday 19th August turned out to be one of the hottest days on record! Waking up to 30 degrees heat was not ideal and I was nervous to say the least. Fair haired, peely wally and as many know I like to get my "sweat on" I was not looking forward to the challenge ahead. Aiming for under 50 minutes I finished the race in 52mins 42secs. I was disappointed although at the same time was happy to have not passed out from heat exhaustion! The course was full of turns and bends, different terrain and so it was not a straight forward road race but enjoyable to run in a well known area of London.

 Finish line!

My attention then turned to the Great Scottish Run 10k today and wanting to better my time and reach my goal. Setting off from George Square up St Vincent Street, I tried to ease myself into a good tempo in the first ten minutes. To be honest I wasn't feeling particularly great but I hit the half way mark in just under 25 minutes so I was on track for running under 50 minutes. Lots of different thoughts flash through my head while running but I thought this is my opportunity to  prove to myself that I can do it. Each kilometre from then on I was tracking my time and passing each marker in under 5 minutes. The final kilometre was a battle to the finish line in which I crossed in 48 minutes!

Tomorrow I will be able to find out my official time in the Sun newspaper but nonetheless this is the fastest time I have completed a 10k race. It has proven to me that my hard work over the summer in the gym, out in the field and on the road has paid off so far. It has only encouraged me even more to keep improving and pursue my dreams.
Let me know if you joined in the Great Scottish Run today or yesterday or have participated in a race recently? Feel free to comment below!!




Glasgow Green