In the film Gone In Sixty Seconds, Nicolas Cage’s car “Eleanor” is fitted with a cylinder of nitrous oxide to give it an extra boost in emergencies. I’ve got an emergency booster too; he runs on methane rather than nitrous oxide and his name is Biggles. Today on our canicross run round Whitelee wind farm he really came through for me as we attempted to reach the top of a particularly testing hill!

Rather than running a circular course, the eight of us (Lyndsay & Suko, Carol Rogers & Jack, Susan & Beanie and me and The Boy) just set off on one of the major routes from the visitor center and ran as far as we could for 20 minutes, then turned right around and ran back. The route took us through some undulating terrain with one long, pretty steep climb on the return leg. I was really dying on that hill, but The Biggly Boy got a timely burst of enthusiasm that helped me keep going all the way to the top.

By the time we got back to the starting point we’d clocked up nearly 7.5k. That’s quite a distance when you’ve only got short white furry legs and your dad is tied to you like a millstone, but there was no sign of flat batteries when we got back home; as I served up his breakfast he jumped up so high he nearly headbutted me, and though he did crash out in style on the sofa later, he couldn’t resist coming to investigate any time one of us went into the kitchen.

Beanie on the other hand snook into our her bedroom and disappeared under the covers for a couple of hours. I don’t think this was indicative of extreme knackeredness though, it’s just what spoilt princesses do on an afternoon. Beauty sleep must never be neglected!

Here’s a little snippet of video from our run: