About Lorn

I’m a happy, fun, positive and energetic person and this blog is about the exercise I do in order to train for events and keep fit and stay sane.  I live in Glasgow Scotland, work full time at the BBC and work part time for Glasgow City Council (Glasgow Life) as a Lead Swimming Teacher.  For more see Who is Lorn?

I work at Bellahouston Leisure Centre and teach swimming one afternoon a week, 40 weeks a year.  I’ve done this now for over 10 years now and I love seeing children and adults progress to being able to swim.

In 2009 I completed my first Triathlon (Wick Sprint - where I raised over £1,300 for Leukeamia Care), 10k event, half marathon and Munro and in 2010 I went on to complete a 10k event (injured: dressed as a Wolf!! where we raised £470 for Parkinsons), The Mighty Deerstalker (almost the worst experience of my life I think), 2 half marathons, 4 Munros and ran a Marathon distance (up Loch Lomond).  I like to have fun and ran the Glasgow Half Marathon in 2010 and Halloween Spinfit dressed as Supergirl.

In 2011 I ran the Lochaber Marathon: my first official marathon! I was lucky enough to raise almost £1,350 for Breast Cancer Care with that effort. 

After that I decided I’d enter the Clyde Stride 40 mile ultramaraton, however I had to pull out due to injury.  I’d done lots of long run training in preparation including a marathon distance from Glasgow to Greenock, and a 31 mile run (where I aggravated an old IT band injury, 16 miles in – and continued to the end, ouch!).  I learned a lot and am now considering dipping my toe(s) into the ultramarathon world to see if I like it!

In September 2011 I ran the Great Scottish Run in Glasgow – the 10k and the Half Marathon.  I wore a Saltire flag on my bag for fun and ran 20.25 miles in total.  We flew out to Chicago the day after, and unbeknown to me, I got my picture in the Sun newspaper!  And when we were in Chicago, I was lucky enough to run the Chicago Half Marathon. 

In Autumn/Winter of 2011 I decided I would try to aim towards doing more trail running and try myself out to see if I could do ultra running (over 26.2 miles).  I seem to have done ok - I ran lots of long trail runs and managed my furthest (road) run of 33.33 miles in November. And at the end of 2011 I managed to run 26.2 miles on 30th December and 11 miles on the 31st of December to take my annual mileage up to 1,300 miles.

Now I’ve entered the Highland Fling Ultramarathon: a 53 mile trail run up the West Highland Way in April 2012!    Wish me luck!

I love teaching swimming and I love to run, swim, cycle, hike, spin as well as doing strength work about 1-2 times a week (gym work / circuits / Insanity DVD workout).   Oh and I sometimes play basketball at Tollcross with the Tollcross Ladies Recreational Basketball - but  I’ve been scared off a little I fell badly and hurt my ankle.   Feel free to go along and join in though – Thursday nights 8pm (check it’s not in the middle of a refurb though!)

I own two cats… Asda and Jasper who come on most of our adventures with us.  I hope to help motivate and inspire others to take up fitness, develop themselves and achieve great things.

I hope you enjoy this blog, and please leave comments if you want.