Sporo!

Not a miss-spelling, but the usual call which goes up from the guards’ house when I go running. It also applies to our walks : the idea of walking for pleasure or exercise is quite foreign and incomprehensible.
It’s not easy to run here, I tell myself as an excuse for only having started 3 months ago. The paths are rough, muddy when it rains, it is very hilly and people will stare. However, the decision to take part in the 20km Great Scottish Run in September provided the necessary incentive, as it has in previous years. I’m now running every 4-5 days, usually accompanied by Boss, the dog from next door. She is good company and at least solves one problem – people pay more attention to her than me, especially children. Most of them are petrified, although a more docile dog you could not find.
Meanwhile, I also tell myself that a 25-minute hill run, first thing in the morning with low blood sugar and at an altitude of 1700m above sea level, must be worth at least an hour in Scotland. We shall see.