Fiona McGruer: Runner, whatever the weather

I have ' just your average belle' for you today.  Fiona's a neuroscience researcher (this is not average by my definition of average) and student from Scotland. She told me she's trying to exercise her way out of 'the Glasgow Effect'.  Let's see how that's done...

1. I started running 4 years ago and like any long relationship we've had our ups and downs, but I keep coming right back to it. I hope we’ll be together forever and I’ll be the weird 80 year old lady rocking the Nike Tempos…

2. I run because it’s the only sport that’s ever really ‘caught’ me and made me commit. I wear a pair of Mizuno Wave Inspire 9s for every day road, and Inov8 212 X-Talons offroad.

3. The last run I did was yesterday and I ran 4 fairly pitiful miles. It was classic Glaswegian weather- bright sunshine with cold wind and splattering rain- at an ungodly hour of the morning, but was still fun because I was with one of my many ace bully victims running friends.

4. My current fave bit of kit is my Nike Twisted leggings- they’re a vibrant mix of black and traffic light yellow. It helps that they’re clearly a bit oversized so they make me feel all svelte every time I look at the label ;-)

5. I'm eyeing up maybe committing to doing a marathon (so decisive!). If I do I’d probably go for a scenic Scottish highlands one like the Loch Ness Marathon in September. If I do I will likely run for mental health charities.

6. Running makes me feel alive every single time that I run. But most of all when its bucketing it down and thundering and everyone is looking at me like I’m crazy and I’m looking at myself like I’m a badass.

7. I'm currently listening to Timber by Pitbull and Kesha when I run. It makes me want to combine a sort of crazy run/dance move but I’m clumsy at the best of times so I’d better not.

8. I run with my university team, which has made me countless excellent running allies. However unless you happen to also attend the finest university on earth :P I’m afraid you can’t join so I recommend finding a local running club and getting involved there! You wouldn’t believe how friendly, interesting and motivating most clubs are.

9. I’ve recently started drinking/eating better in general- cutting out pointless snacking and focusing on ‘real food’  instead of chemical creations and it's changed how I feel quite a bit. In the long run (pun!) I’m hoping it will help me get back in serious shape for races and help me enjoy running for a very long lifetime!

10. I'm currently obsessed with running in crazy places. I like punishing windy hills and rough terrain underfoot. I recently went up Conic Hill in insane winds. It’s keeping my re-found running motivation fresh and nothing makes me feel more alive.

11. I'm bringing cross training to this blog, and throwing it down on the table. I believe in cross training. I believe it will make me a better runner. I believe it could work for you too. I believe in exercise variation and not getting bored. I believe that if I do both bikini season might not be quite so much of a sarong covered washout…

12. I'm currently having issues with getting back into it, it’s so depressing being worse than you were before! Can anyone offer any tips?

13. Finally, here's my inspirational quote. It gets me going when motivation has gone.

Find Fiona over at her blog, on twitter, instagram, Pinterest and google+.  Cheers Fiona!