Taper Time and Snowy Bennachie

So, it's taper time, my least favorite part of marathon training. Why would I hate running less miles you ask? Because at this point, I'm ready for the race, I've put in the miles and just want the race to be over and done with at this point. It's been a long 3 months of training in the snow, ice and freezing temps! However, tapering is essential to the training and I had a successful 12 mile run Sunday morning. I usually do my long runs on Saturdays but things kept getting in the way on Saturday.  I had a hiking commitment with Falene on Sunday so I knew I would get up and get it done before the hike because there was no way I was doing it after.

Falene and I, along with our labs, headed out to Bennachie. Falene is training for the Caledonian Challenge, a 54 mile hike that takes place in a 24 hour period, and the doggies needed a good long hike! We knew Bennachie had the potential for snow on the ground since we've had such a snowy winter/early spring and it snowed a little in Aberdeen the night before but I don't think we expected quite what we got.

Most of the hike we were trudging through several inches of snow and at one point we went off piste (trail) in which we were trudging through knee deep snow. Needless to say, we were tired and my legs felt like dead weight especially after a 12 mile run that morning.

We rewarded our 6 mile snowy hike with some yummy hot chocolate and a brownie from Gadies at Touched by Scotland, one of my favorite places in Aberdeenshire!

And this is what Angus and I did the rest of the day :-)